Swell Maps, Terry Edwards & The Whole Story

Baba Yaga's Hut presents Swell Maps + Terry Edwards & The Whole Story at 100 Club on Saturday, 27 June.

Swell Maps

In the mid-1970s, a collective of six English teenagers started creating music together in their suburban home town of Solihull. This project evolved into Swell Maps, around a core of three musicians: Jowe Head, his school friend the late Nikki Sudden, and Nikki's brother, the late Epic Soundtracks. Their 1977 debut 7-inch, Read About Seymour, came out on their own Rather Records. One of the first punk bands to set up an indie label, they mixed punk with experimental sounds. Swell Maps released four singles and two albums in a brief career, in partnership with Rough Trade, topping UK indie charts and influencing acts including Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Stereolab and Blur.

The original line-up split in 1980, but their studio albums, A Trip to Marineville and Jane From Occupied Europe, continue to attract new generations of listeners. In 2021, Jowe organised performances with ten musicians to play a diverse selection of Maps material over two consecutive nights at London's Cafe Oto, and did it again at the Rough Trade launch for Jowe's book on Swell Maps in 2022. Concerts followed across the UK and Europe. This ongoing project has resulted in a studio album, C21, released through Tiny Global Productions.

The material was composed at various times between 1979 and the present, including older songs never recorded professionally and a remake of Soundtracks' Jelly Babies. C21 offers melodies, riffs and hooks, while keeping their experimental approach. The current collective of musicians features Jowe Head, David Callahan of Wolfhounds and Moonshake, Jeff Bloom from Television Personalities, Alternative TV's Lee McFadden, Lucie Rejchrtova (Crazy World of Arthur Brown), Chloe Herington from Chrome Hoof, and Luke Haines, who led The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder and plays with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.

Terry Edwards

Playing saxes, trumpet and other instruments, Terry's solo sets highlight music from recent release The Köln Concerts 2002, plus the albums Cliches, terryedwards and Street Life, alongside newer electronica soundscapes.

Terry Edwards has collaborated with Madness, Tindersticks, Spiritualized, Siouxsie, Nick Cave, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lydia Lunch, Faust, Tom Waits, The Blockheads, Hot Chip, Robyn Hitchcock, Gallon Drunk, PJ Harvey and many others.

The Whole Story

The Whole Story began when Jane met Sally one night for a drink. Sally Young (singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist and keyboard player) is a member of No Wave experimental rock band UT. She had played with Jane Pickup, aka Pookie Jin (violinist and bass player), in a band called Quint in the 90s, after which Jane went on tour playing bass and violin with The Creatures. Sally suggested they play together again and recruited Jon Clayton (bassist, cellist, drummer and keyboard player) after seeing him play in Jen Macro’s band Hurtling. The final addition was drummer Paul May, who plays with UT, Duke Garwood and Carolyn Hume. The Whole Story’s debut gig will take place at the 100 Club on Saturday, 27 June, supporting Swell Maps.