SPECTRES: DYING FOR TEN YEARS
This exhibition & series of events is happening because our debut LP ‘Dying’ was ten years old this year.
Spectres are a noise-rock band who formed in North Devon in 2009 before moving to Bristol shortly afterwards as their music was very much not appreciated back home. Instantly inspired by a new city full of new musicians and artists, two of the band, Adrian and Joe, set up Howling Owl Records and through this label and Spectres, they went on to put on countless memorable events and releases over the next several years.
This exhibition & series of events is happening because our debut LP ‘Dying’ was ten years old this year, and when you realise something like this is ten years old, you tend to ponder those times. For us those times were thrilling. When you could still work part time but put events on, run a record label and tour Europe.
The show will feature troves of unseen photography, video, illustration and more from the vaults as well as new work and installation pieces. Hopefully this won’t be viewed only as a nostalgia trip, but as a love letter to that incomparable feeling of being in a DIY band and getting to have fun with loads of other people able to carry out their DIY endeavours.
Dying was released in March 2015 on the Sonic Cathedral label to widespread critical acclaim, positioning the band as one of the most exciting new bands in the UK. If only critical acclaim translated into ticket sales. Three further albums, Condition (2017), It's Never Going To Happen And This Is Why (2020) and AM-DRAM (2024) cemented their reputation as one of the UK’s most visceral and uncompromising acts. However. Their situationist, subversive skirmishes with the music industry created many hot messes and cold shoulders. And here we are.
