"I’ve actually been busier than ever during the lockdown," The Wedding Present's David Gedge tells us. "We’ve more or less been on tour solidly for the last 4 years and have done very little in the way of administrative stuff. I have had a lot of different projects that I just haven’t had the time to put into."
While "admin" doesn't exactly sound rock n' roll, Gedge -- who has led UK indie icons The Wedding Present for 35 years -- does have some cool things in the hopper, including livestream events. "We have had to cancel quite a few concerts now but I’ve been doing some rather ramshackle ‘live from my living room’ shows that have been both a technological education and also quite a lot of fun, really," says David.
Among those is a livestream festival happening this weekend. "The concert that has been the most disappointing to cancel is my At The Edge Of The Sea Festival here in Brighton. This would have been the 12th year and it had already sold out in February," David says. There's a silver lining, though: "So, since that was cancelled, as a lot of things are, we’ve moved it indoors and have renamed it At The Edge Of The Sofa, featuring artists have have played the real festival over the years, including Badly Drawn Boy, The Primitives, Darren Hayman, My Life Story, The Popguns and Louise Wener from Sleeper. It starts at 7 PM BST [2 PM Eastern] on Friday the 14th and 5:30 BST [12:30 PM Eastern] on Saturday the 15th. I have a feeling I’ll be having a lie-in on Sunday!"
You can watch the "At the Edge of the Sea" music festival via the band's YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Head below for the full lineup and schedule.
Additionally, on Saturday at 5 PM Eastern, David Gedge will take part in a Tim's Twitter Listening Party discussion (and listen-through) of The Wedding Present's classic 1989 album Bizarro. You can listen to Bizarro below.
In other news, Gedge, who is a noted comic fan (he didn't name a Wedding Present album Bizarro randomly), has releasing 'Tales from The Wedding Present' comics that are being collected into graphic novel form for release in November. "The individual comics weren’t in chronological order but I’ve taken this time to order them all so that they read like a biography," Gedge tells us. "This one will chronicle my life from my parents meeting until I form The Wedding Present."
We've also been asking artists what they've been listening to, reading and watching during lockdown and David has made us a playlist that includes Billie Eilish's Bond theme, Black Midi, Dream Wife, Jetstream Pony (ft. former Wedding Present drummer Shaun Charman) and more. You can check that out below.
On the literature front, David tells us "I also have a new hobby of finding ‘free to read during lock down’ books outside people’s house. It’s become popular in Brighton recently. So I’ve read about five random novels that I would have never come into contact with, had it not happened! I’ve especially enjoyed the Guido Brunetti mysteries series."
Head below for David's lockdown playlist, the "At the Edge of the Sofa" schedule and more.
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THE WEDDING PRESENT'S DAVID GEDGE - LOCKDOWN PLAYLIST
My Lockdown playlist :
Jetstream Pony - "Mitte"
Such Small Hands - "Do I Belong Here"
Dream Wife - "Hasta La Vista"
Billie Eilish - "No Time To Die"
Black Midi - "953"
AT THE EDGE OF THE SOFA VIRTUAL FESTIVAL LINEUP & SCHEDULE.
FRIDAY 14 AUGUST
Segment 1 [from 2 PM EASTERN] JAKE SHILLINGFORD [My Life Story], TERRY DE CASTRO [former Wedding Present bassist], THE POPGUNS, FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE, THE SLEAZOIDS [featuring former Wedding Present guitarist Paul Dorrington]
Segment 2 [from 3:15 PM EASTERN] THE PRIMITIVES, LOUISE WENER, AMELIA COBURN, SI-IRENE [from Japan], CUD, YOUNG ROMANCE
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST
Segment 3 [from 12:30PM EASTERN] MILES HUNT [Wonder Stuff], THE CATENARY WIRES [featuring Amelia Fletcher], SUCH SMALL HANDS [featuring Melanie Howard], UMUT ADAN [from Turkey], WITCHING WAVES, CINERAMA [live acoustic duo performance!]
Segment 4 [from 2:15PM EASTERN] THE UKRAINIANS [featuring former Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka], VINNY PECULIAR, HELEN MCCOOKERYBOOK [The Chefs], DARREN HAYMAN [Hefner] and MELYS
