When: 7pm on Friday 19 March 2021
Where: YES (Basement), 38 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB

PLEASE NOTE: Sadly this show is cancelled. Refunds are available from the point of purchase. Here’s a message from the band:

‘Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances and the ongoing issues arising from the pandemic, Happyness’ spring UK and EU tours are no longer able to go ahead. Refunds will be available from point of purchase.’

We’re delighted to be working with Happyness again!

Happyness, formed of core members Jonny Allan and Ash Kenazi, have always been something of an enigma.

Formed as a three piece in 2013, the band quickly gained a reputation as an unconventional and defiantly independent force in London’s alternative music scene. With a staunch DIY outlook and fluid musical roles, they self-recorded their debut LP – lo-fi gem Weird Little Birthday – before ever playing to a live audience. They garnered critical acclaim for their wiry, 90s-indebted arrangements and haunting blissed out melodies, as well as their eclectic lyricism and ability to switch effortlessly between wry, twisted one-liners and aching soulful poetry, which would earn them the NME Award for Best Lyric in 2015.

Numerous festival appearances followed, as well as concert appearances with Mac Demarco, Ezra Furman, The Dandy Warhols and Speedy Ortiz, extensive headline tours of the UK, USA and Europe, an NPR Tiny Desk Session, two KEXP sessions, appearances in various Albums of the Year lists, and an eventual re-release of the LP on Moshi Moshi Records (UK) and Bar/None Records (USA).

The windswept harmonies and tighter, poppier structuring of much-anticipated sophomore album Write In saw Happyness grow from underground goofball phenomenon into established songwriters, and continue their trend of evading stylistic boundaries and defying easy categorisation. The period was marred by health-scares and inter-personal struggles, and after a year of touring the band took an unannounced hiatus, during which time they parted ways with bandmate Benji Compston.

In 2019, after a nearly two-year period, that the band describe as ‘the best and worst years of our lives,’ Happyness announced a handful of intimate headline dates which instantly sold-out, as well as a triumphantly oversubscribed appearance at End Of The Road Festival. The return was marked by drummer Ash Kenazi’s emergence from supporting role into fearless drag queen to co-front the project with singer Allan, as well as a five-piece live line-up comprising of Max Bloom (Yuck), Anna Vincent (Heavy Heart) and Scott Booker Roach (Social Contract).

Beautiful, stormy comeback single Vegetable followed in January 2020, and if it’s anything to go by, the stage is set for a major Happyness renaissance. Sitting in tone somewhere between the ragged euphoria of Weird Little Birthday and the lush balladry of Write In, and with a fresh injection of characteristically mad, artfully self-aware lyrical turns (the song references Chumbawumba, drag queen Jujubee, vaping and Scientology’s E-meter auditing process all in the space of less than four minutes), it seems the band may be entering their most thrilling era yet. A UK tour in April suggests that we can expect a lot more material very soon. And with the London date at Moth Club sold out two months in advance, their biggest headline appearance yet announced at the legendary Scala in November, and the newest version of their screwball vision in tow, it’s as if they never went away. Happyness, to the runway.

Main support comes from Oort Clod. Oort Clod are the bar band from the edge of the universe. Featuring members of Unpaid Intern, the Hipshakes, the Early Mornings, Dream Soda and Blanket Fort.

Opening the show are The Birthmarks. The Birthmarks are a band based in Manchester, England formed by the twin creative talents of Dylan Hughes and Edwin Stevens, who grew up together in the nearby welsh seaside villages Llanfairfechan and Dwygyfylchi. The pair moved to the North West of England and formed the pop band Sex Hands who established a cult following in the UK before dissolving, resulting in the establishment of The Birthmarks.

The band features Alex Hewett on drums, Bryony Dawson on bass and Henry Withers on keys and guitar, with Dylan and Edwin both playing guitar and vocals. Collectively they are/have been involved in many diverse bands throughout the uk DIY music scene, including but not limited to Irma Vep, Aldous RH, Lovvers, Egyptian Hip Hop and Inland Taipan. As a group they create something both familiar and slightly imperfect, through their process of constructing a melody and then tarnishing it.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are available from Vinyl Exchange, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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