Long ago, at a truck rental facility outside of San Francisco, a man in a dark blue jumpsuit with his name sewn into the chest pocket “Clyde,” it might have been—asked threefriends, recently arrived in the city, whether they weren’t brothers. “No,” one of them said. “Y’all scientists?” It was only days later, at a bar on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, that the friends agreed on a name for their new band; they would call it “We Are Scientists.” Good work, “Clyde.” Thirteen years later, W.A.S. are still called that. They live in New York City now, though, and have managed to turn an imaginary hobby into a real, full-‐time job that only a handful of their friends consider imaginary. They’ve released three full-‐length records, two with Virgin and one on their own, badly-‐titled label; have played every festival except for Lollapalooza and Rock en Seine; have toured with R.E.M., Arctic Monkeys, Au Revoir Simone, Editors, Oxford Collapse, Kings of Leon, Mates of State, ASH, Ambulance LTD, and The Chalets, among others; and have made music videos where one of them turns into a werewolf, and where one of them is killed by a bear. Their new, not-‐yet-‐titled album was recorded in New York City over the last year with Chris Coady (Smith Westerns, Beach House, Gang Gang Dance, Blonde Redhead). It’s their best so far. They’re looking forward to playing it for people, especially people at Lollapalooza and Rock en Seine. They intend to make a music video in which one of them drives a sports car off a bridge. (Don’t worry, he zip-‐lines to safety.)
MONDAY 22 JULY
THEKLA BRISTOL The Grove, Bristol BS1 4RB Doors 7:30pm Ages 18+
Tickets £13.50 advance www.alt-tickets.co.uk Bristol Ticket Shop & all other good ticket outlets
WE ARE SCIENTISTS
We Are Scientists have been playing for 10 years, right on the nose. (A little more.) They’re a three-piece, like Sting’s old band, Greenday.
WEDNESDAY 02 MAY
THEKLA BRISTOL The Grove, Bristol BS1 4RB Doors 7:30pm Ages 14+
Unfortunately this month’s We Are Scientists show at the Thekla has been cancelled. Here is a statement from the band:
“We’re saddened and annoyed and pissed off and, to be honest, a little embarrassed to announce that we have to cancel a few of our upcoming shows. In recent weeks, during recording sessions that have mostly been thrilling and optimism-inducing, we’ve learned that Keith — our fearless, warm-hearted, iron-lunged frontman — is suffering from singing-throat issues that, while totally curable and not long-term-scary, have put some temporary restrictions on the use of his voice. (Rest assured that Keith’s talking-throat functions and eating-throat functions remain as robust as ever.) The fine doctors who are treating Keith have told us in no uncertain terms that the schedule for our upcoming UK tour must change if his voice is going to last the course. So we’ve made the decision to cancel four of our shows. The hardest part about this process was in *not* simply choosing to cancel the four places we disliked the most, or the four places where we’d had the nastiest taxi drivers, or the four places where we’d accidentally ordered something we hated at a restaurant because pride kept us from asking the others at our table if anyone knew what “ris d’agneau” stood for. Instead we had to choose four places we love — Bristol, Portsmouth, Manchester, Glasgow; some of our favorite spots in the United Kingdom; places, all of them, that have shown us incredible audiences, late late nights stumbling into morning, raucous, insane concert-goers… We’ve made the choice, in the end, based on giving Keith’s throat consistent breaks, and in order to make sure that the honorable people we cancel on can get a refund for their ticket — something that would be out of our hands with festivals. To those of you who bought tickets to the Bristol, Portsmouth, Manchester, & Glasgow shows, we offer a sincere apology, and a sincere promise to make it up to you.”
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