Karousel Music presents:

January East London Showcase - Karousel x SESAC

Ren Harvieu + The Wood Burning Savages + Maz O'Connor + FEHM

Paper Dress Vintage, London, GB

£7 Last Minute Advance / £8 Door
Entry Requirements: Over 16, 18 for Alcohol

The first showcase of 2018... this is how to start a year. As ever, 100% of the ticket proceeds go to the artists, so you know when you come to a Karousel showcase, you're directly supporting the best new music. In addition, this show is in support of Independent Venue Week.

Line Up

“Harvieu is the kind of Salford lass you can imagine a young Morrissey raving about… a fully formed star.” - THE GUARDIAN 5/5
“accessibly sumptuous…between easy-listening seductress and torch-song belter, her voice is soulful and dreamy with just a tang of something muskier in its sweetness.” - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 4/5
“Hers is an arresting voice, soft and sweet, but dark in hue and sharp with melancholy, like a vinegar smoothie…. this is an impeccable debut.” - NME
“Ren Harvieu is the real deal as an artist and performer, but also as a person…” - LOUDER THAN WAR
“Sit up and pay attention to a major new British talent.” - The Daily Express 4/5

Ren Harvieu is a darkly enigmatic singer/songwriter from Salford, Manchester. Her top 5 UK debut album 'Through The Night' showcased her supple yearning voice and leant towards 60's pop, country & soul. She has performed with an eclectic array of artists including the legendary Tom Jones, US rapper Nas and with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. She's currently putting the finishing touches to her follow up album with songwriting partner Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers, it promises to be something truly special.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjE4AuEwZzQ

"In Paul Connolly they have one of the next generation's great rock frontmen." - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music  ‘A tirade of virtuosic musicianship that needs measurement on the Richter Scale.’– Hot Press 'Ferocious intelligence, primitive abandon and excoriating tendencies! In troubled times, the world needs punk rock heroes - The Wood Burning Savages are punk rock heroes!'- Stephen McCauley, BBC Radio Ulster ‘They absolutely slay it. ' - Phil Taggart, BBC Radio 1


Formed in Derry City, Northern Ireland, The Wood Burning Savages are a fast paced punk rock band who proudly wear the rebel spirit of their hometown on their sleeves. With those pulsating riffs and a sharp political edge, comparisons being drawn to Manic Street Preachers, The Clash and Queens of the Stone Age is not unusual. Lauded for their frenetic live shows, each night serving up a full-blooded cocktail of breakneck guitars and frenzied anthems, they are led by enigmatic frontman and songwriter Paul Connolly. With each track The Wood Burning Savages share gritty real life tales of disillusion and indignation, giving a voice to a generation more marginalised and divided than ever before.

Recent shows include slots with fast rising rock acts The Amazons, VANT and Fangclub, alongside a hometown show with cult Irish guitar heroes And So I Watch You From Afar. Having played the BBC Introducing Tent at Glastonbury, the band have went on to play riotous sets at festivals throughout Ireland and beyond, taking in festivals in Scotland, Poland and Germany. They band will also join Death From Above to support them on the Irish leg of their European tour in 2018.  Their music has even been embraced by the world of wrestling with Philadelphia grappler 'The Product' David Starr selecting 'We Love You' as his entrance theme! 2018 is gearing up to be a breakout year for the band, with more shows than ever before and a fierce debut album set to be unleashed.

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Singer-songwriter based in London. 'Maz O'Connor's ace, apart from her remarkable songwriting talent, is her captivating voice ****' Q Mag

Her songs are always beautifully crafted, and range from intimate love stories, to epic creation stories, with the occasional tragedy told beyond the grave thrown in. She accompanies her uniquely pure voice with guitar, tenor guitar, piano and sometimes shruti box.

Still only 25, she has been touring around the U.K. And abroad for almost 3 years now, and her relaxed and easy charm with her audience makes for a gig that's both moving and uplifting. It's this reputation as a brilliant live performer that has led to support spots with David Grey and Thea Gilmore.

Her latest album 'The Longing Kind' was released in February and is her most accomplished yet. Compared to Joni Mitchell by The Guardian and given 5 stars by Songlines, 'The Longing Kind' is O'Connor's work maturing into something brave and beautiful.

“BBC Performing Arts Fellowship graduate Maz O’Connor is a real find, fusing influences from the past (Joni Mitchell) with those of the present (Bon Iver) to concoct a dazzling array of part electric, part-acoustically crafted folk that occasionally borders on the experimental.” (Drowned in Sound)

‘A perfect blend of youthfulness and gravitas ****’ The Observer

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Enthralling, continually evolving, intense vision of pitch black, post-punk that ripples with intelligence’ Clash Magazine
‘A slice of melancholy brilliance’ Too Many Blogs
‘Urgent and powerful post punk’ God Is In The TV
Turmultuous and brooding, FEHM present a contemporary ferocity through retro '80s synths and vibrant soaring vocals’ The Line of Best Fit

FEHM are a five piece post-punk band from Leeds who are part of Leeds ever evolving close knit DIY community. They started off as a 3 piece with Paul on vocals, Amy on bass and Chris on drums, Darren (synth) and Ben (guitar) joined earlier this year and this has seen the band take a turn into darker, more brooding, synth led, post punk.

The band combine influences such as The Sound, The Birthday Party, The Chameleons, New Order, and Lowlife to create music that is “startlingly brisk and wholly stark, (of which) the intensity of the delivery is married to a flood of fresh ideas” (Clash Magazine).

Their debut EP ‘Circadian Life’, released on Art is Hard Records last year was described by DIY as ‘Cut through with searing white heat…a fearsome stride forward’.

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