We Bless This Mess
We Bless This Mess
Acoustic punk rock upstarts WE BLESS THIS MESS from Portugal headline INTERNATIONAL SOUND INVADERS’ second installment at North London’s Karamel.
Following acclaimed live performances in Europe and the US including renowned showcase festivals like Eurosonic Noorderslag, SXSW and Reeperbahn - Porto's 5-piece WE BLESS THIS MESS bring their adrenaline soaked positivity to the British capital supported by opening act Wushta’s uplifting Lo-fi SynthPop.
Doors 7pm GMT on 17/05/2017 - £6
WE BLESS THIS MESS: "For fans of Frank Turner, Against Me!, Mumford & Sons and Bob Dylan, there is the joy of We Bless This Mess. The 5-piece from Porto is in fact a solo project by Nelson Graf Reis, that takes the punk approach to folk music or equally, plays punk songs according to the ‚less is more‘ philosophy. Nelson’s We Bless This Mess is all about expressing positivity and carpe diem: “We breathe, we are alive. This is the greatest gift.” 60Minuten.net (Netherlands)
WUSHTA: His joyful live sets mix Lo-fi, Synth Pop and Electronica. The former drummer of Portuguese punk band ‘BlackJackers” has swapped the sticks for keyboards, drum machines and a bass guitar, inciting the audience to celebrate life in the here and now.
INTERNATIONAL SOUND INVASION showcases upcoming musicians from abroad in London. Now more than ever, our purpose is to enrich and strengthen the dialog between different cultures and backgrounds that create this diverse and colourful city, by hosting music events that bring together locals and foreigners in joy, with open minds and hearts.
Doors open 7pm.
Line Up
WE BLESS THIS MESS is a project created by the musician and tattoo artist Nelson Graf Reis, a guy moved through his passions and beliefs. WBTM arises created by the need to explore the premise “less is more” and the desire to externalize the positivity to the world - “we breathe, we are alive. This is the greatest gift and it’s so simple.”- Nelson tells us. In late 2014, a trip to Brazil resulted in the recording of the debut EP “Love and Thrive” at FM2 Audio Studios in Brasilia. Since he began this project, Nelson has proved to be a real shuttle. In the first year WBTM did 49 dates, both solo or with band, from north to south of Portugal and also dates in Germany and England to promote “Love and Thrive” and the next single called “Contemplate”.
Early 2016, Nelson and his brother Marcelo founded them own independent record label “Oh Lee Records” to support them musical projects and some friends’ too. With them purpose well defined, a collaborative work and a cooperation between artists, Nelson organized some tours (between PT and UK) with other folk-punk and country rock singer-songwritters connected to the label. Today, “Oh Lee Records” counts with a multitasking team providing services in different areas of the music industry along with the records: Bookings, PR and Publishing in collaboration with Lusitanian Agency runned by Nuno Saraiva (WBTM’s publisher).
Suddenly, with the growth of the “Why Portugal” movement, the platform to export national musicians, We Bless This Mess went to play all days in Reeperbahn Festival (Germany, 21-24 September 2016) with a bunch of networking actions related with the band itself and the label. The project was also selected to represent Portugal (as the country focus) at Eurosonic Noorderslag (Netherlands, 11-14 January 2017) along with other well known national bands.
