May 31

$12 / 15 - Doors 7pm

Pons

Dolly Spartans

Bosco Mujo

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Union Pool

Pons * Dolly Spartans * Consumables * Bosco Mujo 

Dog Tired

Pons

Dolly Spartans

Bosco Mujo

Consumables

Gigs

New York

The Bug Club - surely by now a shoe-in for everybody’s favourite three-piece garage band from Caldicot -have today announced their debut album, Green Dream in F#, and marked the occasion by dropping its first single: ‘It’s Art’.

Due out in October 2022 via Sheffield independent label Bingo Records, Green Dream in F# is a culmination of The Bug Club universe that has been constructed over the course of two sold out EPs, a couple of standalone singles, and the kind of relentless touring the band has quickly become known for.

‘It’s Art’ is a typically short piece of garage pop perfection, beginning quietly and with singer and guitarist Sam Willmett listing the band’s musical heroes in the manner similar to one of those he namechecks: Jonathan Richman. The band’s ever-present sardonic wit is at the forefront, as they question the meaning and purpose of art - and in turn themselves - before throwing in a blistering guitar riff and the trademark duel-vocals between Sam and Tilly Harris (bass, vocals) before things get too serious.

The band say this first single sets the tone for the album, and musically it presents us with a refined version of what we have come to expect on the basis of previous releases: whip-smart pop songs performed flawlessly and with humour by one of the tightest musical units going. As indicated by the names of both first single and album, The Bug Club’s debut LP shows the band taking a long, hard look at the way the music industry - and by extension the art world - takes itself so seriously, and deciding to ignore that and carry on doing things on their own terms.

Riding atop drummer Dan Matthew’s relentlessly solid foundation, Green Dream in F# packs in 14 tracks covering favourite The Bug Club topics including space, small town life, love and swearing. Sam and Tilly’s playing could be virtuosic if they were in any way arrogant, but they’re not, and so well-crafted and at times complex guitar work sits neatly within the sharp song structures that never stick around too long, and backs engaging and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny lyrical storytelling.

Following the remarkable DIY success of early EPs Launching Moondream One and Pure Particles (also available via Bingo Records), Green Dream in F# shows a band not at all phased by the prospect of putting out their debut full length. Instead, they use the space to stretch their abilities and create something as cohesive, involved and engrossing as you’d expect the imaginary, dog-directed symphony their LP’s name pokes fun at to be.

Green Dream in F# will be supported by a full UK headline tour, as well as dates in Europe and a date supporting Pavement at The Roundhouse in London.

Green Dream in F# is released digitally and on CD on October 14, with vinyl copies expected to follow in November.

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

The Bug Club • 2nd Grade

2nd Grade

The Bug Club

Emanuel Ayvas • The Eyeballs • Skyler Skjelset

7pm $15

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Emanuel Ayvas  • The Eyeballs  • Skyler Skjelset

Emanuel Ayvas

Purr

Sam and Louise

7pm

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Purr • Sam and Louise

Purr

**SUMMER THUNDER**

POISON RUÏN

THE SMARTHEARTS

*2PM FREE*

*\*RSVP DOES NOT GUARANTEE ENTRANCE • ENTRANCE IS BASED ON CAPACITY • FIRST COME FIRST SERVED\**

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

SUMMER THUNDER: Poison Ruïn • The Smarthearts

Poison Ruïn

The RT's "Imperfectionism" Album Release Show featuring Christina Courtin

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

The RT's "Imperfectionism" Album Release Show featuring Christina Courtin

Christina Courtin

Free! Every Monday!

This is a 21+ event. Physical ID is Required for entry.

Reverend Vince Anderson & The Love Choir

Rev. Vince Anderson

***\-April 4-***

**Mick Barr solo**

ocrilim.bandcamp.com

**Laura Ortman solo**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuzPspTqCwo&t=480s

**Melvin Gibbs solo**

https://melvin-gibbs.bandcamp.com/

***\-May 2-***

**Ka Baird solo**

https://issueprojectroom.org/video/ka-baird

**David Torn solo**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMy1pv3-tw4

**gabby fluke-mogul and Charlie Burnham duo**

***\-June 6-***

**Loren Connors solo**

https://lorenconnorsnyc.bandcamp.com/

**Little Black Egg (Georgia + Ira from Yo La Tengo)**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfQSg62tLhE

**Sebastian Alexander Johnson solo** https://avoiceiwanttoshare.net/writings/promotional%20biography

**\-July 4-**

**James Brandon Lewis + Chad Taylor duo**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3v4q3mcXbY&t=54s

**Matana Roberts probably solo**

https://matana-roberts.bandcamp.com/

**75 Dollar Bill**

https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Ava Mendoza's Free First Tuesday Series: Loren Connors • Little Black Egg • Sebastian Alexander Johnson

Business on Parade

Loren MazzaCane Connors

Little Black Egg

CVC, or Church Village Collective in full, named their band after the sleepy Welsh town they come from and, if they have it their way, will soon bring international renown to their hometown.

The six-piece musical collective are influenced by Snoop Dogg, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Super Furry Animals and Red Hot Chili Peppers and are comprised of singer Francesco Orsi, bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Tom Fry, keyboardist Daniel ‘Nanial’ Jones and singing guitarists David Bassey and Elliot Bradfield.

It’s worth noting that the latter two, despite never having met them, are related to Welsh royalty Dame Shirley Bassey and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, respectively. Maybe owing to genetics, Bassey states “I don’t think I’d be able to not do this, I don’t actively choose to, I’m just drawn to it”. But the band are all as equally talented with different skills that aid the cacophony of their sound. Simply put, CVC are a democracy, greater than the sum of its parts, and destined for world domination - perhaps!

CVC’s message is a universal one “peace and love and good times, stay real, stay true and that’s it.”

Their debut album 'Get Real', produced by the band and mixed by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys), was released at the start of 2023 to critical acclaim ("A cracking debut album of feelgood, uber-retro gems" - NME, "A remarkably fully formed debut" - The Times), a year in which they will be touring far & wide.

Come join the Collective!

www.cvcband.com

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

CVC 

Sophie

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) Monthly Residency!

May -> August 2023!

Every Second Thursday!

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) Monthly Residency!

Even When The Water's Cold

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)

Sophie Zucker (comedy)

Parlor Walls

Sahib Singh (comedy)

Kareem's Tiny gun

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Kareem's Tiny gun • Sahib Singh • Parlor Walls • Sophie Zucker

Goo (Record Release) + Pearla + Katie Von Schleicher

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Goo (Record Release) + Pearla + Katie Von Schleicher

Pearla

Katie Von Schleicher

**SUMMER THUNDER**

keiyaA

Carrie Stacks

*2PM FREE*

*\*RSVP DOES NOT GUARANTEE ENTRANCE • ENTRANCE IS BASED ON CAPACITY • FIRST COME FIRST SERVED\**

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

SUMMER THUNDER: keiyaA • Carrie Stacks

keiyaA - I! Gits! Weary!

keiyaA

Ms. Carrie Stacks

FONT • YHWH Nailgun • Shallow Halo

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

FONT • YHWH Nailgun • Shallow Halo

YHWH Nailgun

Jake Xerxes Fussell • Sam Moss \*Early Show\*

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Jake Xerxes Fussell • Sam Moss *Early Show*

Jake Xerxes Fussell - Three Ravens

Jake Xerxes Fussell

Jake Xerxes Fussell • Sam Moss \*Late Show\*

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Jake Xerxes Fussell • Sam Moss *Late Show*

bar italia is a London-based band.

w/ special guests... The Life

SOLD OUT

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

bar italia • w/... The Life

bar italia

The Life

“Things filter through in a funny way,” shrugs Jana Horn as she explains the

unconventional process that underpins her gaunt, playful second LP, The Window Is

The Dream. On opening track “Leaving Him”, the Texas-born writer sings about “going

to the door only to have it open from inside”, a neat encapsulation of the way songs tend

to come to her. She may have something on her mind when she unfocuses and picks at

the top two strings of her guitar, but she’s never quite sure what will come to greet her as

she enters “a world that is unconscious, and more mysterious, and where I feel like life

really exists”.

A Rothko-esque color field set to music, The Window Is The Dream ventures even

deeper into Horn’s inner space than her stark, acclaimed debut Optimism, whose quasi-Biblical epic “Jordan” became an unlikely sensation after it was picked up by

Philadelphia’s No Quarter label in 2022. Taking in fever-dream tropicalia (“After All

This Time”), Syd Barrett ennui (“Days Go By”) and lava lamplit Tim Buckley folk-rock

(“The Dream”), The Window Is The Dream emerged from a period of reflection while

Horn was deeply engaged in creative writing studies in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

“I wrote Optimism at a very transient time in my life when I was in no place at once and

everything was slipping through my hands, like a wet fish,” she says. “This album was

written in one room, essentially. When you have nowhere to go, you go into memory,

and memories of dreams… I was in a different headspace.” 

The backdrop to these songs is largely literary – the works of Clarice Lispector, Italo

Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, the Bhagavad Gita – partly because Horn had very little

access to music at the time she was writing them. “I was forced into listening to a Fall

compilation called 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong because it’s the only CD I have,”

she says. “The radio in my car broke, I don’t have streaming services and my laptop

doesn’t work well.” 

Her musical touchstones when she went up to her friend Jared Samuel Elioseff’s studio

in New York, to record were the electro-primitivism of the Silver Apples, austere rhythm

kings This Heat and The Raincoats’ time-bending Odyshape. Collaborators from her

days on the Austin, Texas music scene-- sometime Bill Callahan drummer Adam Jones

and experimental guitarist Jonathan Horne-- added stylish detail (listen for flashes of

Adventure-era Television, Red-age King Crimson, Judee Sill), while there was a

different kind of creativity during downtime. “They were making the studio at the time,

so I was part of the process,” says Horn. “I would be tiling the bathroom floor with Sarah

during the breaks, or helping Adam install the toilets.”

While Horn skews pretty esoteric, her creativity is rooted in something like old-school,

hard-graft showbiz. “I’ve been performing my whole life,” Horn admits. “I was singing in

country music revues as a kid; I did theater; I played in a marching band – I was a ham,

probably.” As a result, Horn possesses a versatile, powerful voice, but The Window Is

The Dream represents a determined attempt to underuse it. “I grew up wanting – and

being able – to play with my voice, but I’ve been in a process of making it more

essential,” she explains. “Less ornamental. Like Linda Thompson on ‘“The Great

Valerio’”. She’s just singing.” 

That determination not to get in the way of her work feeds into the vision Horn has been

honing since she was a teenager, with a yen for “wordsmiths” like Eminem and Weird Al

Yankovic. The music of Neutral Milk Hotel  and Leonard Cohen helped to usher her

towards her very individual style, and if she has some common cause with oblique

modernists like Cate LeBon or Aldous Harding, The Window Is The Dream is an entry

into a world very much of her own, where the words and the music only serve to

showcase the inviting gaps in-between. “I hope that I’m presenting things in such a way

that’s not ambiguous, but abstracted, so that you enter in. Some people describe my

lyrics as being not specific enough but I’m not interested in presenting a diary. I’d like

you to feel your way through it.”

These lyrics contain plenty of Horn’s personal detritus (“thoughts and thoughts about

thoughts,” as she puts it) but reach toward something intangible, universal. It’s not

always obvious what is happening, but as she sings on “Days Go By”, “maybe one thing

doesn’t lead to the next”. The magic lies in feeling the space, in waiting to see what

comes next. “There’s this wonderful mystical quality about writing,” Horn says. “It’s

always a surprise and a joy to uncover something that maybe was waiting to be

unwrapped.”

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Jana Horn • Zach Phillips

Jana Horn

Zach Phillips

Califone

Max Knouse

7pm $20/$25

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Califone • w/ special guest... Max Knouse 

Funeral Singers

Califone

**SUMMER THUNDER**

Marc Ribot's

Ceramic Dog

\+ Masaaki

*2PM FREE*

*\*RSVP DOES NOT GUARANTEE ENTRANCE • ENTRANCE IS BASED ON CAPACITY • FIRST COME FIRST SERVED\**

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

SUMMER THUNDER: Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog + Masaaki

Ceramic Dog

Windbreaker Comedy

Hosted by Emily Panic & Clare O’Kane

Featuring:

Dave Hill

Anna Seregina

Yedoye Travis

Jes Tom

Pamela Ross

& Special guest

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Windbreaker: A Comedy Show

comedy

Comedy

Lou Tides • Peg • Showtime Goma

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Lou Tides • Peg • Showtime Goma

Lou Tides

Showtime Goma

**SUMMER THUNDER**

DUENDITA

Isa Reyes

*2PM FREE*

*\*RSVP DOES NOT GUARANTEE ENTRANCE • ENTRANCE IS BASED ON CAPACITY • FIRST COME FIRST SERVED\**

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

SUMMER THUNDER: duendita • Isa Reyes

duendita

Isa Reyes

Drew Gardner and Band

Kendraplex

More Klementines

8pm $15

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Drew Gardner and Band • Kendraplex • More Klementines 

Breanna Barbara • + Special Guests...

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Breanna Barbara • + Special Guests...

Breanna Barbara

Hayden Pedigo: Night #1

w/ Special Guests!

7pm $15/$20

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Hayden Pedigo: Night #1!

Letting Go

Hayden Pedigo

Hayden Pedigo: Night #2

w/ Special Guests!

7pm $15/$20

This is a 21+ event (physical ID required)

Hayden Pedigo: Night #2!

Upcoming events

Union Pool opened in the year 2000, in a cavernous former pest control/swimming pool supply store on a street corner in the shadow of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, on the Northside of the area of Brooklyn commonly referred to as Williamsburg. In the ensuing 20 years, the bar has seen and weathered dramatic and sometimes bewildering change as the surrounding neighborhood has gentrified, and Union Pool has grown from a neighborhood corner bar (albeit a physically larger one than usual), where regulars played darts and everyone knew each other, into a multi-bar entertainment hive with a little something for everybody, including a full-service live music venue, a taco truck that lives on the patio and stays open all night, a black & white analog photo booth and a pinball machine, free outdoor daytime live music shows every weekend in the summertime, and an all-star cast of regular and guest DJs playing something or other seven nights a week.

Union Pool

About

Upcoming events