New Show: A Certain Ratio

We’re delighted to announce that This Is Tmrw will be welcoming the legendary A Certain Ratio to Hare & Hounds on Saturday 30th June!

A Certain Ratio were key to their native Manchester scene and consequently post-punk. The band debuted near the end of the ’70s with a single as astringent as anything else out at the time, then separated themselves by incorporating aspects of other forms — most prominently brass-spiked funk — through four decades of intermittent activity. Named after part of a line from Brian Eno’s “The True Wheel,” the band was formed in 1978 by bassist Jeremy Kerr, guitarist/trumpeter Martin Moscrop, guitarist Peter Terrell, and vocalist/trumpeter Simon Topping. Joy Division manager Rob Gretton caught the fledgling quartet live and spread the word to Tony Wilson, who signed them to his Factory label and became their manager. The Martin Hannett-produced “All Night Party”/”The Thin Boys” introduced ACR on 7″ in 1979, after which drummer Donald Johnson was added to the lineup. Subsequent studio and live sides were released early the following year on cassette as The Graveyard and the Ballroom.

Their early recordings became touchstones for a new generation of bands that included the Rapture and Franz Ferdinand. Mind Made Up, technically the band’s ninth studio release (counting The Graveyard and the Ballroom), was released in 2008 on the French label Le Maquis. An update of their ’80s funk-rooted approach, it featured vocals from longtime collaborator Denise Johnson on three songs. LTM reissued the album two years later. ACR continued to perform into the late 2010s, and in 2017 announced a partnership with original Factory contemporary Mute to reissue and expand their catalog once more.

This a the first time A Certain Ratio have performed in Birmingham since the early 80s!

Tickets are on sale now and can be picked up here.