Category: Performances

  • The Bottom End – 11 May 2023

    The Bottom End – 11 May 2023

    The Bottom End is Geoff Bright on bass saxophone, voice and stuff and Mick Beck on bassoon and other things. Overjoyed to be back at Noise Upstairs after the bad, bad days of Covid, we’ll continue our interrogation of the sonic basement possibilities of the timber grumbler and the brassy belcher – with a whoop…

  • Long Swan Tongues – 25 April 2023

    Long Swan Tongues – 25 April 2023

    This month we’re delighted to welcome Long Swan Tongues – an improv/noise/drone/doom/duo from Todmorden. Before and after their set we’ll have our usual jams, so drop your name in the hat if you want to play, or take a seat and enjoy xx See ya there! Edd Sanders – Violin, uilleann pipes Al Wilson –…

  • the three muses – 14 April 2023

    the three muses – 14 April 2023

    the three muses are: untitled woman – vocals & electronics keith jafrate – saxophone regular viewers might know them as 2/3 of pollen count (richard knight being the missing third). this new duo venture shares some characteristics with that trio, but also evolves the approach, with more live manipulation of the sound, and a stronger…

  • Birchall/Marks Duo – 28 March 2023

    Birchall/Marks Duo – 28 March 2023

    March Marks the first of Todmorden’s Duo of David Birchall Duos, with David Birchall and Phillip Marks, in this iteration. As ever we’ll have our jams before and after their set, so bring yer instruments and put your name in the hat if you want to play, or otherwise take seat and take it all…

  • James Coote and Andrew Rothwell

    James Coote and Andrew Rothwell

    James Coote and Andrew Rothwell will be performing with two drum kitsand assorted percussion. James will also be playing saxophone, and theaim is to investigate the possibilities of double percussion in a freeimprov setting. Who James Coote and Andrew Rothwell When Thursday, March 9, 2023 8:00pm – All Ages Where Fuel Cafe (map) 448 Wilmslow…

  • Tor Robot Band – 28 Feb 2023 – POSTPONED

    Tor Robot Band – 28 Feb 2023 – POSTPONED

    For our first gathering of the new year (remember that?) we’re delighted to welcome our first (as far as I know) non-human guests: Tor Robot Band is a new project from illustrator and musician Jake Blanchard. Jake has designed, built and programmed a band of musical monsters with most of the instruments specifically built to…

  • Sonic Potlatch – 27 December 2022

    Sonic Potlatch – 27 December 2022

    This month we’re hosting a Todmorden Year End Special. Everything will be a little bit different, but just like it was before. The plan is to welcome back : – – Sonic Potlatch 19. Long-form improvisation. Unspectacular collaborations for liquidating time. Expand hearing: new ears for new messages liberated from tradition, cut free from the…

  • Richard Knight – 29 November 2022

    Richard Knight – 29 November 2022

    This month we welcome Richard Knight back to the NUS stage, who last guested in DIGITAL FORM, sitting at home, but inside a screen (virtually real, seen by real you). Before and after the set we’ll have our regular jams, so pop your name in the hat if you want to play x See ya…

  • Thorn Wych – 25 October 2022

    Thorn Wych – 25 October 2022

    With her own unique hand crafted wooden instruments, Thorn Wych will attempt to communicate with beings from a different realm. Free entry – 7.30pm – everyone welcome – put your name in the hat if you want to play x Who Thorn Wych – 25 October 2022 When Tuesday, October 25, 2022 7:30pm – All…

  • Steadman/Bardon/Leach/Karlsen – 27 Sep 2022

    Steadman/Bardon/Leach/Karlsen – 27 Sep 2022

    Hi noisy folk. Below is what I know. Sounds perfect, aye? Hi Ramsay,That’s good with me and the rest of the chaps! There is going to be a string instrument joining us! Mick bardon, i don’t know whether he’s on Upright bass or cello… I’ll ask! But him and Joel (Wind instruments) will be able to…

  • Ripsaw Catfish – 30 August 2022

    Ripsaw Catfish – 30 August 2022

    This month we welcome Noise Upstairs legends Ripsaw Catfish! They’ve got an amazing new album out – check it out through Cath’s website (linked below). As ever drop your name in the hat to join the jams before and after their set. Anton might pull a few names out for old time’s sake. He’ll also…

  • Richard Chamberlain – 26 July 2022

    Richard Chamberlain – 26 July 2022

    Inverted guard room and doorwarden extraordinaire. Instrument: Guitar Home: Lancaster Power: 10 Speed: 9 Volume: 10 Who Richard Chamberlain – 26 July 2022 When Tuesday, July 26, 2022 7:30pm – All Ages Where The Golden Lion (map) Fielden Square Todmorden, England OL14 6LZ

  • Wolfscarers – 28 June 2022

    Wolfscarers – 28 June 2022

    This month we’re thrilled to welcome Noise Upstairs legends back to the stage – Wolfscarers. Simon Prince and Keith Jafrate formed Wolfscarers in 2010 as a tenor sax duo, and have assembled a number of different line-ups for the group since. For their upcoming set at The Noise Upstairs in Todmorden they revert to the…

  • The Dissonance Collective – 31 May 2022

    The Dissonance Collective – 31 May 2022

    The Dissonance Collective return to the Noise Upstairs for their Todmorden debut. Their aim with every performance is to fill a designated moment with unplanned sound. The fluctuating line-up is as undefined as the music they play and promises an unexpected experience. The collective have shared 8 objects to date; their most recent, ‘Marrowbones’, was…

  • Spaceship – 26 April 2022

    Spaceship – 26 April 2022

    This month we’re in for a treat from Spaceship: A musician, sound artist and educator based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, Mark S. Williamson’s work is often made in response to his environment, with his most recent major release, Outcrops (by his project Spaceship), being recorded within, and on the subject of, the geology of the…

  • Peat – 29 March 2022

    Peat – 29 March 2022

    This month we’re delighted to finally welcome Peat, and their ombrogenous tones from the moors. Before and after the set will be our regular jams – so bring your instruments and put your name in the hat if you want to play. Hope to see you there! Word of the day : Ombrogenous : (of…

  • Phantasy – 22 February 2022

    Phantasy – 22 February 2022

    PHANTASY is an encounter between two kindred spirits, forging a relationship through Dadaist amateur theatrics, guitar-drum call-and-response, the blurring of the personal and the performance, and cheap drum machines. Inspired by the likes of COUM transmissions, early Soft Cell, ‘Happenings’, Nervous Gender, MARS, tongue-in-cheek saccharine 80s synth pop and Leeds’ Guttersnipe & their adjacent projects.…

  • The Universal Veil – 25 January 2022

    The Universal Veil – 25 January 2022

    The Universal Veil is a duo comprised of Sam McLoughlin (Twisted Nerve/Pre-Cert Home Entertainment) and Folklore Tapes head honcho David Chatton Barker. Their improvised live performances with their own handmade “ritual instruments” are by turns meditative, trancelike, joyous and surreal. Unusual sounds are spontaneously generated, recycled and transmuted into a deeply strange, magical and psychedelic soundscapes.…

  • The Dissonance Collective – 12 March 2020

    The Dissonance Collective – 12 March 2020

    The Dissonance Collective is a group of musicians and artists who create free improvised objects. People often talk about projects, TDC creates objects. Projects are worked on and planned whereas each TDC performance represents a chunk of time (or time/space to be Einsteinian about it) which exists with or without their input. They choose to…

  • Pizdetz – 25 February 2020

    Pizdetz – 25 February 2020

    This month for our first Tod birthday we welcome Pizdetz. Georgios Stenos Frantzios and Stephen Summers from Noisy Toys bring a collection of re-animated miscellany and a cello upstairs. Springs, strings and interesting things with fans and pans and something else that we haven’t found yet that would rhyme with them as well. The audience…