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The Cosmic Dead To Undergo Line-up Change

Noticing last week that The Cosmic Dead are playing MONO in Glasgow on May 12 I nipped on to bandcamp to see if there was a new release being supported. There's not so I bought a t-shirt instead.

A click on the band's own website, however, revealed the news that the gig's the final one with the current line-up, with two members set to move on after it. Seeing as The Cosmic Dead are one of the few acts in Scotland, let alone the rest of the UK, which I've been keen to see regularly in the past five or so years (shows such as this one being reason enough) this selfishly struck me as a shame (+ I can't make it through West on Saturday) but change is inevitable and replacements are obviously in the frame as other live dates are listed (including a set at Doune The Rabbit Hole) so thanks and all the best lads.

In their own words here's the duo's statement:-

"After 7/8 years of brotherhood on the road, in the studio, self-destroying, self-empowering, thrashing, trashing, howling and screaming - the time has come for change. I know what you're thinking - 'change is scary, I don't like change' - that's OK, but remember the waves never stop coming whether they're just washing over you or crashing down over your little floating lylo - Don't fight it too hard and you'll soon float right back to the surface.

The news is: Myself (Lewis) and Julian are leaving The Cosmic Dead in an act of metaphorical self-immolation: An act of devotion to the thing and people we've both held so close, that has defined most of our adult life, that has taken us across continents, that has connected us with the most beautiful lifelong friends all over the world, that has taken us to the plateaued peaks of human love and shown us the darkness that can lie beneath, that has allowed us to transcend these fleshy bodies so many times and be with everyone in that room together and whole - one big flame burning up to the heavens - passion, tears, blood, spirit and most importantly, love.

And it is with this feeling in our hearts, these experiences which will never leave us, that we each move on to the next zone - As our bodies burn, the energy released is a devotion to our eternal brothers, Omar and James, who will continue bounding boldly on this path we all carved together, recruiting new members, and taking the Cosmic Dead into it's next chapter.

The Cosmic Dead live on in this zone and in the next.
In the distance the calling is loud but unclear: Julian leaves with the knowledge that a recent vacancy as leading celebrity astrophysicist has opened up echoing round his mind - As for me, I'm thinking about moving to Oregon and starting up a devotional community (DM for details). Of course, what would this be if you too were not invited to the leaving ceremony?: Of course, you are invited to ride the crest of this wave with us. Of course, you are invited to have your face roasted by our burning altars.

This is all for you. One final show in this beautiful, tangled form, before the branches are untangled and new blossoms spring forth, ushering in the next chapter in the Cosmic Dead.

And to the vast majority of you who won't be able to be there on the night to hear us say this - let me say on behalf of both myself and Julian - Thank you thank you thank you for everything you've given us. You mean more than you'll ever know."

- Lewis and Julian, April 2018.

The Cosmic Dead's bandcamp can be perused here

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Festival Coverage : Freakender, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow

  • Published in Live

 

We like an urban festival here at Musos’ Guide so when a new one turns up practically on the doorstep it’s only fair to head West and see what’s going down. Freakender (the branchild of Fuzzkill records, Eyes Wide Open & El Rancho records)took over Glasgow’s The Old Hairdressers for two nights and a day & played host to 20+ international acts for barely noticeable ticket prices.

The overall organisation was spot-on and sound-wise you could only quibble about a couple of acts suffering less than clear vocals over the course of the event. Friday’s programming was possibly a bit unfortunate in that the melodic but also punchy at times Home Slice and the spiky afrobeat of Rapid Tan fired folk up but were followed by the slower paced The Pooches, Wedding and Spinning Coin thereby giving a bit of anti-climax (although that shouldn’t be read as comment on the latter acts’ actual performances, all of which were roundly and rightly applauded).

Saturday afternoon brought a 3pm start and the introduction of bands on the building’s ground floor. Mercifully the possible crowd congestion from folk moving en masse between the two performance spaces never seemed to materialise so it was possible to easily enjoy the propulsive Electric Gardens, Domiciles (think pre-disco Tame Impala), the jazz leanings of Lylo & the jazz fusion of Velvet Morning, Virgin Kids debuting a couple of new tracks, The Bellybuttons packing out the upstairs hall with Thee MVPs being similarly popular immediately after downstairs.

Fruit Tones brought a good dose of levity to the start of the latter part of the day whilst Feels were an absorbing example of music as scream therapy. Last on downstairs were the ever excellent Breakfast Muff, displaying it seemed a newer & more mature version of themselves. The Cosmic Dead crowned the whole thing off with a return home after 8 weeks of touring and theirs was the full-on, organised chaos and all round towering madness that you would expect from a band that remain one of the most exciting in the world today.

Confession time – due to tiredness and lack of ideas on how to fill the time (we know there’s plenty to do, just nowt appealed) until the Sunday night performances we bugged out early so apologies to the acts not covered here. We certainly though hope the event was a success as all involved can be deservedly proud of the results of their efforts & a return in 2017 is only just.

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