The Utopia Strong + Bruise Blood
St Matthias Church, Wordsworth Road, London.
More information about The Utopia Strong + Bruise Blood tickets
The life of a psychonaut can take one to many plateaus of reality. Opinions vary as regards
which of these are either desirable or optimal. All things considered though, it's fair to say that
once the average cerebral wanderer finds themselves a stoned skeleton on a motorbike,
it's a sign that they're going places.
Such were the movements of The Utopia Strong, in making their third and arguably trippiest
full length album for Rocket Recordings. As the band explain: "When recording we tend to have
books, bits of art and interesting things lying around the place. (Kavus) had recently bought the
Paul Kirchner compendium, Awaiting The Collapse. Paul's character Dope Rider (the skeleton
in question) drives around the desert, getting into all manner of high jinx and spouting cosmic
philosophy, highlighting the absurdities of life, death and the American mythos. "When we had
created that particular track, one of our most beautiful and outré, it seemed to name itself.
Certainly, we were looking at the comic strips while listening to it and something about it's
wide-screen vibes and the beautiful desert seemed to marry together."
Serendipity has always played a strong role in The Utopia Strong, with the improvisatory
approach of Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi and Mike York - as well as the innate chemistry between
the trio - allowing them to take extensions through dimensions that frequently end up as much
of a surprise to the band as the listener.
