Tony Wilson Talks In The City

Tony Wilson, famed owner of Factory Records, recently announced the lineup for the first US version of the 15-year running In The City, a festival that features up-and-coming British bands alongside veterans, both on stage and in panels. June 13-14 will see a real British invasion with newcomers Enter Shikari, the Pigeon Detectives, Blood Red Shoes alongside the Rakes, Biffy Clyro, and the Happy Mondays. Wilson will witness firsthand the New York premiere of a festival that has seen bands like Oasis and the Stereophonics become household names on both sides of the ocean.

"The fact that [the Sex] Pistols were never taken to any of the major markets, I've always regretted especially because punk is my love," Wilson says. "They just went to minor markets like San Francisco, never to L.A. or New York. So for me, taking a major new British band to New York is very exciting."

Wilson is most excited for Enter Shikari, a four piece "trance-screamo" band (as he categorizes them) from St. Albans, Hertfordshire who are only the second unsigned act to sell out the Astoria in London. The band has over 500 gigs under its belt, with In The City marking their first trip to America. Wilson found out about the band after his 22-year old son came home from a show, proclaiming them the best band in Britain.

"Finally, having put their record on and hearing them on the radio, I finally got to see them in October," he says. "And while I've been involved in bands like Joy Division and the Mondays and everything else, the actual live event, watching Shikari, was the most exciting thing I've seen since the Sex Pistols in June 1976. I mean, it was that exciting in my opinion."

Speaking of the Happy Mondays, Wilson divulged that he has in fact heard the new album, their first in 15 years. He said it is a completely new sound for the band that he first discovered in the mid-'80s, and after their Coachella gig, he's keen to think this could be a new beginning.

"I'd been listing to their new album, which is like, if the Mondays are like, now, or something," he says. "If they were just making a living playing their old songs, it wouldn't have been correct. I met [their new producer] Sonny Levine at Coachella and it was so fantastic because I'm so proud of those sixteen new tracks. They're just stunning. They're very different from normal Mondays from what I can tell."

Additional information regarding In The City, including official after parties and the schedule of panels, will be announced on their website.

www.inthecityofnewyork.com

Rachael Darmanin 15th May 2007
CMJ