10 YEARS AGO…

Happy new year!

Calum here. It’s been a while since we posted on here - mainly because we’ve been busy kicking ass, writing, performing and otherwise doing ‘band stuff’ - I’m not going to elaborate in any great detail here, but suffice it to say that despite the lack of gigs that typifies the life of a band during the winter months, there is much going on beneath the surface.

We have upcoming gigs;

Glasgow - Celtic Connections at The Hug and Pint supporting NoGoodBoyo - Tickets here

Edinburgh - 10th Anniversary Gig at The Liquid Rooms with The Honey Farm and Airdan - Tickets here

Anyway, where were we? Oh yes…

This year - 2023, for those of you who’ve lost count - marks the 10th anniversary of Yoko Pwno! I can’t actually remember when Lewis first appeared at my flat on Edinburgh’s Montgomery Street armed with a 4-pack of McEwan’s Export and his Grandad’s old fiddle. To be honest, it’s probably not that important. We weren’t really a ‘band’ in any meaningful way back then. We didn’t have any notion of what it would be to be one, and only a vague idea of what music we would like to make. No one had any grand plans, and the limit of our ambitions was to blag our way into gigs and festivals that we couldn’t afford tickets to.

The other member of Yoko Pwno in those days was a lovely man named Marco Salvatore Baressi, who quit the band in 2014 (amicably) and vanished off to the Philipines, only to resurface years later working as a parking warden in Dundee. I’m told that he didn’t tell anyone he’d come back, and I only found out because he got caught trying to give my friend Kulis’s mum a ticket. Away from his work at Dundee City Council, Marco is perhaps best known for his starring role in the video for ‘Skag Trendy’ by the View, which peaked at #33 in the charts back in 2007. You can watch it here.

(Marco, if you’re reading this, I still have your Yamaha acoustic. You can have it back, but please give me notice, as it’s the guitar I use for gigging at the moment!)

We must have been writing stuff together since 2012, but the first ever Yoko Pwno gig came on March 15th 2013, when - having been suggested to the promoter by Patrick Walker (a man who deserves more than a little credit for guidance and feedback in the early days of us trying to be a band) we supported James Campbell’s excellent solo project ‘Landings’ at Sneaky Petes.

No footage of our set from that night exists, but here is some of James’s set, and I’ve attached the one photo I can be sure came from that night - a rather blurry photo of Lewis sawing away as I do something ‘electronic’ with a 1gb windows notebook. Marco is grinning at me in a manner which - I think - means that the gig is going well :)

The only other thing I remember is that before the show James asked me what we were called. I told him we were called Yoko Pwno, because I thought it was funny. “It’s cool”, I told Marco and Lewis, “We’ll do one gig now with this name, and once we’ve got our shit together and are ready to launch again we can come up with a better one.”

CHECK OUT THESE UPCOMING GIGS

We’ve got some great shows coming up, and we’d really love to see you in the crowd! Check out the list below for more details.

JULY 28TH - RHYADAR (WALES) - LANDED FESTIVAL - CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

AUGUST 5TH - GLASGOW - JUNCTION 1 (W/ HOT CHIP!) - CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

AUGUST 6TH - NOTTINGHAM - RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL - FREE

AUGUST 12TH - NORTH BERWICK - FRINGE BY THE SEA - CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

DOUNE THE RABBIT HOLE!

We had a memorable return to festival fields at this years Doune The Rabbit Hole!

Playing on the Whistleblower Stage to one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever played to on the Thursday night was a real buzz, and we couldn’t be happier with how it went.

Calum, Helen and Lewis played a 'surprise ‘DJ + Tunes’ set in The Tum Tum Tree the following night, which was attended by an enthusiastic crowd of happy, dancing people.

You can check out what we got up to in our vlog, which you can find over at Youtube, or down below this post.

LIVE FROM PIANODROME

We recently visited the amazing Pianodrome in Edinburgh to record and film a live set.

Showcasing our new lineup, the three song session consists of performances of tracks from our new album ‘Part Machine’ (available NOW via Skye Records).

Check out the videos for ‘Horaces’, ‘Quorn Star’ and ‘Long Bath’ below.

Filmed + directed by Sandy Butler - sound recorded and mixed by our own Calum Cummins.

ALBUM LAUNCH: DONE!

Thanks so much to everyone who came to our shows at Room2 and The Mash House!

The gigs felt really special - it was such a joy to play for you all, and a total thrill to see audiences react so positively to this material we’ve been working on since 2020.

Huge shout-outs to our support acts Pocket Monicas, Acolyte and Jansky - you were all amazing.

Our album is LIVE now from Skye Records.

(pics by Joni Langdale)

'PART MACHINE' IS OUT NOW

Our second album - ‘Part Machine’ - is out via Skye Records today!

You can sign up to stream the album for free for a limited period. There are also options to buy - both as a CD and as a digital download.

There are also options to get access to Skye Records back catalogue - an awesome library of music including releases from artists such as Sketch and Adam Sutherland. Go listen right now at Skyerecords.com/partmachine.php.

NEW ALBUM AND ALBUM LAUNCH SHOWS COMING IN APRIL!

 
 

After 2+ years of enforced downtime, we make our grand return to live music with a new line-up and a new album!

Our brand-new album ‘Part Machine’ is released on April 8th, and we’re inviting you to celebrate with us in Glasgow on April 15th at Room 2 and at the Mash House on April 23rd in our hometown of Edinburgh ❤️

Support comes from Edinburgh electronic artist/singer-songwriter Iona Z, and beat poetry/experimental group Acolyte!

It goes without saying, but we're beyond excited to play this music for you all. Let's have a great, safe, but above all fun time.

Tickets on sale now! ➡️ CLICK HERE