A quick shout about this year’s Radioactive Lemon, the second one, a diy day of experimental prog, metal, psychedelia and things that verge on art rock over in Reading on Saturday February 21st at The Butler in Reading. more an underground gathering than just another gig and a follow up to last year’s Radioactive Lemon put together by those Zenden Greenpurp people.

A whole load of flavours, here’s a taste or two of what they’re serving up. Positively experimental (although probably in the great scheme of things of an experimental nature maybe not that experimental), lots of tantalising ear food, worth going just to see ChopChop live (they really are at their best live and feeding of an audience)

You get two stages, seven bands on the main stage, all featured here as part of this preview, and then another eight on the acoustic stage. The event starts at 3pm until 11.30pm, here’s that all important link for details and tickets

Shoun Shoun – With angular melodies and cascading drums, We Woke The Monster, Shoun Shoun’s most recent release, is a loud condemnation of every terrible relationship you’ve ever had as Bristol based Shoun Shoun loads up their genre defying playstyle to deal with the effects of gaslighting and emotional abuse. I’m guessing we can expect something new soon, this single is from 2024 as the band you pronounce ‘shoon-shoon’, originally from Berlin and now Bristol based get on with their “unflinching, atmospheric noise pop and art psych rock with the urban ennui of Nico and the noise of Sonic Youth”.

Sugar Darling are from Guildford, they sound like they’re enjoying musical life as they mix hints of early catchy 80s prog and a rather absurd sense of humour and songs about spiders and baboons rather well…

Mascot Moth are from Llanfyllin, somewhere in Wales, they blend some kind of coming together of warm engaging psychedelic funk, stomp and folk, here’s a recent single…

And here’s Mascot Moth’s rather mellow ‘Nôl i Annwfn album released on midsummers day 2024. Releasing an album on the day of the Summer Solstice probably tells you rather a lot about the band from Wales…

ChopChop are from Brighton, they’re rather compelling live, this is their latest rather straightforward (by their standards) single, they’re fronted by the incredibly watchable poet and performance artist called Xelís de Toro, they are a very fine live explerience…

Here’s some Organ coverage of ChopChop’s 2024 album and all those cars that are painted blue and it looked like a nice day, was it clouds? Three legged dogs and a carpenters with no nails… – ORGAN: Albums – Chopchop’s blue kites, the drawings of Howie Reeve and Friends, the full bodied prog rock of Rainbow Face, Trio HLK’s Anthropometricks, Tusmørke, King Gizzard’s flight and Needlepoint’s glorious Remnants Of Light…

Seas Of Mirth are from the rather landlocked Nottingham, they probably know Robin Hood, they are rather funky in a grooving psychedelic kind of way, they are a rather well kept secret, they are rather loved by those who know; “This might just be the bolt of neon sunshine we alll need!”

Zenden Greenpurp are your Reading hosts of this event featuring all these band, Zenden Greenpurp they deal out a rather urgent mix of full bodied psychedelic prog punk metal that could have you thinking your going sane for we are sane and we are not to blame, this is their latest music, do get into the meat of that mini album Darkspace Ltd that they released in 2024, it is well proggy as someone rather fishy once said (anyone remenber Deep Switch?).

The Scaramanga Six released a couple of well received albums on their own Wrath Records label last year and something about having all your cake and eating it. It is a thankless task and there never is time to eat cake or count how many beans you might have in any of your hands at any given time, read reviews of both those albums via this link Albums, albums, albums – The proper Prog of The Tea Party, Kandodo’s motorik flavours, the delight of Adam Walton, Roger Miller’s current rock band Trinary System and catching up with The Scaramanga Six before it really is too late… while the band from Huddersfield prepare to headline this second Radioactive Lemon Festival… Here’s a video directed by Cardiacs leader Tim Smith and made in his house back there…

And here’s that most recent Scaramanga Six album…

The Six do have quite a back catalogue, twelve studio albums I do believe, we have been covering them since the last century on these pages…

There you go, Reading rocks on Saturday February 21st…