This Is Not This Heat, the band put together by former members of psychedelic rock group The Heat, Charles Hayward and Charles Bullen, have announced that they are to play their final show in London at the Albany on the 29th May 2019. Hayward says: “This Is Not This Heat has been a fantastic experience revisiting the music from 40 years ago and playing to audiences across the world, Japan, US, Europe and UK, so much love and enthusiasm. But moving forward has always been deep inside the music and we need to resolve that contradiction. Now.
To play our final London gig at the Albany feels right, This Heat played Rock Against Racism gigs at the old building and we look forward to returning to South London and a vibrant community of resistance and creativity.”
Hayward has also thanked other musicians who have made it possible to make the project work: “So much love, enthusiasm, imagination and skill from the musicians who have helped Charles Bullen and me to realise the new versions of the songs, Alex Ward, Frank Byng, James Sedwards, Daniel O’Sullivan, Merlin Nova and at the earlier gigs, Alexis Taylor, John Edwards, Chris Cutler, Thurston Moore.”
Before this there will be some US shows and a number of other UK shows leading up to the event which includes one in Glasgow. They will play at a residency in Copenhagen in March during the CPH:DOX event where one night will see them doing a rare set where they will be improvising the soundtracks of the early films by the British art filmmaker John Smith. Despite the announcement of the last show there is a hint that the band is not completely over: “This Is Not This Heat was always conceived as an umbrella project title. So while the band will be ending with some international dates by the summer there are ideas in development.”
Among the US dates is an appearance at the Big Ears festival in March in Knoxville, Tennessee as well as shows in New York and Los Angeles which are both currently on sale.
The Heat produced two albums and one EP which saw them pioneer a style of rock that has been massively influential over time on genres such as post rock and electronica. All though they are considered post punk, they actually started playing during the original punk era in London. They were very ahead of their time, proven by the fact that their music still sounds original in todays climate, making it just as relevant. 40 years after they played their first concert, the two surviving members of the original trio came together to play under the name This Is Not This Is Heat.
All dates listed below:
MAR 1 EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney) London, England, United Kingdom
MAR 18 (le) poisson rouge New York, NY
MAR 20 Zebulon Café Concert Los Angeles, CA
MAR 21 Zebulon Café Concert Los Angeles, CA
MAR 22-24 Big Ears Festival 2019 Knoxville, TN
