ctrl LIVE: Humour [UK]

Tuesday, March 17, sees temperamental band Humour hitting our stage – a band that couldn’t be proper noise because of their interest in hooks and catchy melodies.

Surreal and absurd elements frame their take on nostalgia and memory, while the band stretch post-punk origins into post-hardcore and further. There’s intentional tension and chaos, but everything works well in their amalgamation of genres.

They formed across the 2021 lockdowns, writing and recording their material at home, with the music intended as a backdrop to Andreas' lyrics. Sometimes they’re about letting people down, sometimes they’re about pets dying, sometimes they’re about trying to say something when you don’t have anything worth saying.

“Glasgow punks are leading a pack of new, restless guitar bands” – NME

Summer 2023 saw the band perform at Lolapalooza, Truck Festival, 110 Above and Connect festivals in the UK, as well as a trip to Belgium for Leffingeleuren festival and a support show with Geese at Botanique in Brussels. An autumn tour supporting DoNothing followed, taking the band to new cities and venues across the UK and Europe.

The band released a second EP 'A Small Crowd Gathered to Watch Me' at the end of 2023, exploring new sonic territories, again to critical acclaim. The songs have received extensive airplay on Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 and BBC Radio Scotland, as well as being featured in Spotify’s All New Punk, Melomania, Hot New Bands, All New Rock and more. Following this, Steve Lamacq selected Humour as the spotlight artist on his New Music Fix show on BBC 6 Music.

They were featured in NME’S 100, BBC Scotland’s Top 25 for 2023, and three tracks from Pure Misery featured in The Herald’s Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2022.