Wharf Chambers

Karlsen // Mainwaring // Reuben + Casling //Clarke // Blandina // Milling +Rory Maslen
2025-01-15 19:30 - 23:00 (Europe/London)
Opener
Rory Maslen – Bass, electronics (@rorymaslen._)

Group #1

Casling //Clarke // Blandina // Milling

Iris Casling – Upright Bass (@iriscasling)
Desmond Clarke – Wind, electronics(@des_r_clarke)
Alex Izaak Milling – Guitar, electronics(@alexiizaak)
Gaia Blandina – Cello (@baiaglandina)

Group #1b
Karlsen // Mainwaring // Reuben

Emil Karlsen – Drum kit (@emil__karlsen)
James Mainwaring – Saxophone (@jmainsax)
Federico Reuben – Electronics (@fedreu)

FUCK ME I'M OLD: Queer, Single, and Over 40 (and that's FINE)
2025-01-12 20:00 - 22:00
Being LGBTQIA+ and over 40 isn’t easy. Especially when you’re trans, single, and A Bit Weird. A one-person show about getting older without growing up.

From shagging disrespectful twinks to embracing your inner Golden Girl, ‘Comedian’ River Scott shares stories and jokes while exploring how attitudes to life, sex, and relationships change in middle-age. (It was this or therapy, and this was cheaper.)

Includes: gender-neutral dirty talk, dealing with grey pubes, and how it feels to be the same age as grown-ups. Also, lots of nob jokes and swearing.

River Scott is a multi-award-winning writer, broadcaster, and tart. They host the long-running podcast Probably True: Stories of Queer Life and Even Queer-er Sex, they identify as non-binary, and they genuinely didn’t expect you to read this far.
GET TICKETS HERE

Seven by Seven
2025-01-12 15:00 - 21:00, 2024-12-08 15:00
Seven by Seven is a friendly open decks vinyl playing session. You can bring along and play us seven of your 7” 45rpm vinyl singles – hence Seven by Seven – or just come and listen to others play. The 7” 45rpm format is the only limitation. We don’t dictate the type of music – you can play whatever you want to, and we relish that variety!

No DJ skills are needed, and our ethos is – no pressure, no competition, no egos.

Please get there early to put your name down. We draw names out for the running order and later arrivals may be too late to be drawn. We also sometimes reduce the number of records that some people can play if we have high numbers attending – but we do try to fit in as many seven record sets as possible.

Seven by Seven is a non-commercial operation. We run our sessions purely for the joy of playing and listening to records as a shared experience.

Stuart Pearce // Nervous Twitch // Cry About It // The Richard Nixon Project
2025-01-11 19:00 - 23:00
I’m Not From London presents…
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Sat 11th January at Wharf Chambers

STUART PEARCE
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9.45 pm

The Midlands’ premier beat combo. Composite: dialectical materialism w/conventional instrumentation “As a Forest fan, I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t got around to seeing the band Stuart Pearce before! The already packed room seemed to suddenly expand and make room as more folks arrived, eager for them to take the stage. It may have been cold outside but The Chameleon crowd were turning up the heat for this sold out occasion and the chance to see their final Nottingham show in 2023. How best to describe the Stuart Pearce band: I’m settling for ‘The Fall if they were still around’, a band I’ve always loved. An explosion of brash aggression and raw sounds, think of Mark E Smith on one of his best nights and you’re somewhere near these guys. Raucous Rock collides with gritty chaos; however the anarchistic sounds are all managed into a near perfect delivery every time. If you’re making a list of must see bands in 2024, please consider these guys at the top. ” – Bassey/ Leftlion Magazine

https://stuartpearce.bandcamp.com/

NERVOUS TWITCH
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9.00 pm

Blending 1960s pop with a classic punk sound and ethos, Nervous Twitch have been a staple of the local music scene in Leeds since the release of their first EP, ‘Bad Reputation’, back in 2013. In the intervening years, the group has undergone various line-up changes and have released multiple albums and singles via various different independent record labels, including Odd Box and Punk Fox. Stalwarts of the Leeds music scene, lovely people and a must for fans of The Beatles, Shangri-Las, The Kinks, The Ronettes, TV Personalities, Jesus and Mary Chain. https://noisedelaysrecovery.com/nervous-twitch/ https://nervoustwitch.bandcamp.com/

https://linktr.ee/Nervoustwitch

CRY ABOUT IT
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8.15 pm

Your new number favourite melancholic indie punk band from West Yorkshire!

https://linktr.ee/

THE RICHARD NIXON PROJECT
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7.30 pm

The Richard Nixon Project is an indie punk band from the UK, forged in the fiery crucible of a ruthless Tory regime. With a mix of irony and outrage, these self-proclaimed “gentle old men” channel their unrelenting fury into catchy, provocative anthems. Their sound is a playful yet piercing critique of the political landscape, embodying the spirit of a boyband you never knew you needed. A standout track, “Eric Pickles is a Tory Cunt,” perfectly encapsulates their irreverent style and biting humour, making them a beloved fixture in the underground punk scene. Don’t look for them on the internet. They don’t want to be found.

£7 advance/ £10 on the door

Get your advance tickets here!

https://www.gigantic.com/stuart-pearce-tickets/leeds-wharf-chambers/2025-01-11-20-15

Licensed bar
Don’t Be A Dick
WHARF CHAMBERS IS A SAFE SPACE

Wharf Chambers Members’ Club is committed to creating an environment in which we prioritise each others’ safety and harmful or marginalising behaviour is not tolerated.

https://wharfchambers.org/safer-spaces/

Cellar Messiah // Deathtrippers // Die Schöne Familie
2025-01-10 19:30 - 2025-01-11 01:00
Join us for a night of psych that will throw the mid-winter blues into oblivion:
Die Schone Familie deconstructs song structure through processing and layering of sonic repetition, delivered with casual poetic self-deprecation.
Deathtrippers are a mix of goth and shoegaze.
Cellar Messiah includes ex-members of Leeds/Bradford bands Rent Boys and Jon Jones & the Beatnik Movement. They create noisy shoe gaze psychedelia that throbs off the radar.
GET TICKETS HERE

Conscious Pilot
2025-01-09 19:30 - 23:00
Birthed from a love of immersive beat-driven soundscapes, Conscious Pilot’s raw DIY sounds have made for incredible shows on every visit to Leeds. This time returning with Glasgow’s Bikini Body in tow, the band hit Wharf Chambers for what will be another rowdy night
GET TICKETS HERE

Mosquito Farm // Dolmen Dweller // Becky Mahay // Mic & Stand
2025-01-09 19:30 - 23:00
Heinous Whining congeales into 2025 with a braod sweep of the net through unpopular music. Lots of inventive self made instruments or self discovered self-sounds abound
No one turned away for lack of funds as always
Mosquito Farm – Electro-acoustics from self-built instruments and machines assembling and dis-assembling sounds and themselves
Dolmen Dweller – Solo vocal drone mission from Watts (of Lump Hammer, Plague Rider, Friend noise rock/metal fame) sounding huge and depp earth resonating. Like wind making a bridge sing
Becky Mahay – Longterm traveller through the thick viscous trench of unfiltered brain-stem to sound music. Psyched and spaced in different brains and locations to your normal fare. Buzzing synths, chimes, murmerattions and field recordings congeal you feel?
Mic & Stand – a mic on a stand making the sounds of a mic on a stand

Jingle Bell Frock
2024-12-21 19:00 - 22:00
Christmas is the most magical time of the year, and Frock Events is thrilled to present Jingle Bell Frock! Join the flabulous plus-size Barbie, Sian De Paul, and an extraordinary cast of drag performers for the ultimate Christmas party! Get ready to be enchanted by live vocals, campy comedy, and dazzling dancing divas. Plus, a percentage from each ticket sale will be donated to Make a Wish!

Note: This event is for a 16+ audience. All individuals under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

GET TICKETS HERE

Lilac Unknown: Momentum II feat. Girl Called Sim and Lotus Phaze
2024-12-20 23:59
Lilac Unknown returns on Friday December 20th at Wharf Chambers (11:59PM-4:00AM). We can’t wait to play some bassy, multi-genre goodness all night long! We have our Leeds-based co-founders Girl Called Sim and Lotus Phaze on the bill, and there might be a rumour that this event may be a F2F battle or just a b2b all night long; gotta be there to see it!. Early bird tickets are only £4 for a limited time before they go up in price to £8 Final Sale/OTD. Safer Spaces will be in effect. Reminder that this event series is for Female, Femme, and NB attendees only! This event is 18+ and we will be checking IDs. You must be a member or a guest of a member of Wharf Chambers to attend. Memberships are only £2 and more information can be found on https://wharfchambers.org/membership/ .
TICKETS HERE
INSTAGRAM

Wharfmas
2024-12-20 19:00 - 23:00
Whether it’s the most wonderful time of the year or the season you try to avoid, we’ve got the Christmas event for you.

Join The Hangout for Wharfmas, an Alternative Christmas night of Drag, Live Music, stalls, festive food, and our very own drag Santa! Think Nightmare before Christmas, goth snowmen, or edgy Christmas elves.

Celebrate the holiday season your way, all whilst raising money for LGBTQIA+ youth in Leeds. Dressing to the alt Christmas theme is strongly encouraged, so come dressed to impress.

Ticket Link: www.outsavvy.com/event/23924/wharfmas

Solidarity Saloon
2024-12-19 19:00 - 23:00
Them There Cowboys bring you a night of entertainment, raising money for organisations developing anti-imperialist solidarity and peace.

GET TICKETS HERE

EWY + CHEAP DIRTY HORSE + RAT PAKK
2024-12-18 19:30 - 23:00
three DIY punk bands!! only one will make it out alive!
come join for a show that is definitely not a pilot for an upcoming ewy tour, featuring:
Ewy is an explosive queer punk project based in Leeds that prides itself on aggressive vulnerability and DIY ethos. Their latest EP ‘SCREAM LIKE A DOG’ is a departure from their previous folk-style work into a screamy and distorted fast paced critique of relationships and politics. They take inspiration from bands such as Jeff Rosenstock, PUP and AJJ.
Cheap Dirty Horse are a big rowdy queer trash folk-punk band from Nottingham. Blending acoustic and electric guitar with banjo, accordion, bass, drums, and sometimes mandolin, they write energetic, joyful protest music. They sing about trans rights, dead billionaires, and the importance of doing the things you love. They sing about grief, washing machines, and stealing shit. Angry, but always empowering.
Rat Pakk are a Leeds based anarchist-queer-punk collective. Combining aggressive punk sounds with discordant noise, their music reflects the social realism and emotional disconnection of life in the post industrial north.

MESMAC QUEER CLINIC
2024-12-18 17:00 - 19:30
The Queer Clinic is a monthly sexual health drop-in service run by Yorkshire MESMAC and hosted at Wharf Chambers on the 3rd Wednesday of every month 5pm – 7:30pm. At this event you can access Sexual Health Screenings, The Gender Outreach Service & Free Sexual Health Resources in an inclusive and non-judgemental environment. We also offer referrals for PrEP, Contraception and 121 Peer Support. Further info: J.Keating@MESMAC.co.uk

Paul Taylor // Klôvhôvve // Amon Ra Collective
2024-12-15 19:30 - 22:00
Ambient Leeds: Paul Taylor // Klôvhôvve // Amon Ra Collective

Join us at Wharf Chambers and immerse yourself in a spellbinding night of ambient and jazz music!

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor is an accomplished pianist and keyboard player specialising in improvisation. The music is evocative, alluring and unique, combining unusual harmonies and sonorities with an original and fluid technique.

https://paulstephentaylor.bandcamp.com/track/the-long-process-of-incus
https://paulstephentaylor.bandcamp.com/album/avalon-of-the-heart-soundscapes-at-st-johns-church-Glastonbury

Klôvhôvve

Fragments of sounds, some known, some unknown, are processed and transformed into something recognisable or unrecognisable

https://dretskivor.bandcamp.com/album/is-it-it-is

Amon Ra Collective

composed and improvised music painting pictures of exotic worlds in space by combining jazz instrumentation and techniques with ambience and storytelling

Ticket link: https://skiddle.com/e/40371898

Dolls VS Twinks
2024-12-14 23:59
Na’ then, get ready t’serve cvnt… Dolls vs Twinks: Leeds We’re packing up our bags, putting petrol in the pvssypvssypvssywagon, and braving the hardy northern winds to come bring Leeds a taste of our unique brand of diva on diva violence. The DJs, putting the Dolls in the Dales and the Cvnt in God’s Own Cvntry:• ZESTY (@zest.y_) • Eveliz (@eveliz.dj) • NSFW (@nsfw______) • Mandy & Friends (@mxndyandfriends) • Karlie Marx (@karlie.wav)• Our delicious gogo girl: Antonia (@antoniaia_) Curated by your favourite dolls favourite doll @czech.hunter.schafer & the inventor of cummunism @karliemarx.wav <3Tickets available on outsaavy. Limited tickets available on the door.
TICKETS HERE
INSTAGRAM

Heinous Whining Presents: Annelies Monsere // Christian Rock // Goldscammer // Bop it
2024-12-14 19:30 - 23:00
Heinous Whine on company time with another troubador squad from the rayed edges of music. Four acts all skimming on genre and form to disarming and quasi-dream-inducing effect whether lifting from early music from some cavernous church, US country storytelling parable, blissed off and sunned out noise pop or broken system laptop DAWsaster soundzzz
£8 or 4 low or unwaged
not one ever turned away for lack of funds just any donation is fair game xx
Annelies Monsere
From Belgium to B…Leeds Bringing Blurry visions of what was once folk? religious prayer? vaguely forgotten and re-rememebered and re-imagined into something gothic but for late afternoons rather than full nights.
Christian Rock
Nottingham sonic iteriteriterator Hannah Banana in country rock duo formation as vehicle for strange sprawling tales and fables. Get off your horse and drink
Goldscammer
Mysterious psychy fuzzy guitar and fumbled electronics
Bop-it!
Blownout laptop beats and synth fizz and performance art? who knows? from local artgenerator Seren Oakley

Nox
2024-12-13 23:59
Gothic queer clubnight playing underground cryptic classics spanning dakrwave, industrial, post-punk, coldwave and all things GOTH
Expect: Goth, darkwave, industrial, post-punk, deathrock, no wave, experimental
EVENT PAGE

Xylitol + SDEM + Anna Peaker
2024-12-13 19:30 - 23:00
Xylitol (Planet Mu) is up from Brighton with her magnetic concoction of cosmic transfemme Junglist energy!! With support from local oldskool “Chavantgarde” badboy Tom Knapp aka SDEM + local eldritch seer of sonic shadow realms Anna Peaker!
GET TICKETS HERE

Cum to the Cabaret - Let's go Swinging
2024-12-12 19:30 - 23:00
Cum to the Cabaret is a queer-only night of burlesque, club singing and drag …..back again from our first SOLD OUT show we’re here to bring you even more seduction, sex and degeneracy 😉
Produced by King Butch, featuring performances from some of the North’s most devilish and decadent queer artists and performers.
Let’s Go Swinging will be channelling the energy and love of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the famous Cotton Club; featuring a swing dance tutorial and a night of phenomenal performers xxx
Free glass of wine or cola with every ticket !
Disclosure: This is an 18+ event, for LGBT+ individuals only (this means we ask cis-heterosexual individual to consider if this is a space for you before attending)

tickets here

Green Carnation Film Club Presents...BOOM!
2024-12-11 18:30 - 23:00
Got the winter blues? Tired of Christmas tyranny? Join us for a night of explosive cinema at Wharf Chambers!
Based on the Tennessee Williams play, The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, BOOM! is a tour de force of late-1960s weirdness. Elizabeth Taylor plays an erratic widow wafting around a lush Mediterranean villa in an array of fabulous outfits, before being visited by a sinister Richard Burton. Bizarre, melodramatic and immersive, this is a classic of camp cinema – and John Waters’ favourite film.
We will also be running a raffle raising money for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, with themed prizes!
GET TICKETS HERE

Tongue Depressor // Mia Windsor & Teresa Winter // K U D U // Þórisson
2024-12-10 19:30 - 23:00
Heinous Whine rolls onto into the embers of 2024. There’s enough wood stockpiled before the entire year goes out and here’s a piece of kindling for you. Deep drone and atmospheric blackened evening soundworlds on a Choooosedaynight
8 quid or 4 low or unwaged or pay what you feel xx
Tongue Depressor return once more from the apparently black-metal-album-cover forests of New Haven, Conneticut. I’ve never been but can only presume from the dread murk these two swirl and congeal. The sound of the Thing out there in the Woods. Tape whirr, contrabass up to violin tension and bagpipe circular huff abound and inside the lining of your head you get it?
Mia Windsor & Teresa Winter both excellent soloists in thir own rights arriving in similar ethereal realms from different starting point but now all together all at once. Layered voices, resonances and organ drone into music that could go on forever and maybe already is?
K U D U // Þórisson electroacoustic blownout guitar shred and improv twistings thrugh a quadrophonic setup with anti-extra rhythmical drumming to tether it

A Night of Local Alternative: Oxford Comma // Dave Dray // Araya // Grace & Millie
2024-12-08 19:30
a taste of alternative is happening at wharf on 8th of December as local band Oxford comma are headlining there first ever gig alongside great supports like Dave Dray, Araya and Grace & Millie
GET TICKETS HERE

T40: CLVB PENGUIN
2024-12-07 23:59
Step into a nostalgic throwback to the rawr xd era with T40 Clvb Pengvin. We’re going back to our roots with the ultimate Y2Slay winter wonderland to end 2024! Immerse yourself in the shimmering aesthetic of frutiger aero with iconic DJs and stunning performers. Cozy up in your fluffiest leg warmers and dance the night away on the 7/12/24 at wharf chambers!!!
TICKETS HERE

Dirt Dykes Christmas Formal
2024-12-07 19:00 - 23:00
Our most anticipated show of the year, the Dirt Dykes Christmas formal, is back! Don ye gay apparel and come on down to Wharf Chambers for a night of Christmas Cabaret!
In response to a lack of spaces for people like us, we aim to create a space that is EXCLUSIVELY FOR LESBIANS AND OTHER QUEER PEOPLE OF MARGINALISED GENDERS. We centre all those who identify as DYKES. We ask all cisgender men, and all straight cisgender women, to consider that this is not an event for them and to not attend.
We will not be policing this policy at the door, so no person needs to worry about justifying their identity in order to be granted entry.
This is an 18+ event.
GET TICKETS HERE

PSG X Scribe X Spoken Word Soc Open Mic
2024-12-06 18:00 - 21:00
OPEN MICS ARE BACK! ️
On Friday the 6th of December, Leeds PSG, The Scribe, and LUU Spoken Word Society are collaborating for an Open Mic night at Wharf Chambers . From 6 to 9pm the mic will be yours to share poetry, music, short stories, and any other audio experiences. No artistic/performance experience is needed and all abilities are welcome to share!
Tickets are available via Universe (Link in bio). Proceeds will be donated towards Palestine evacuation funds.
Can’t wait to see you all there for what will be PSG’s big end of term fundraiser!
Accessibility: Wharf Chambers has a ramped, wheelchair accessible back door, accessed via the alleyway to the left of the front door.

Please Please You & Brudenell Presents… One Leg One Eye
2024-12-05 19:30 - 23:00
As a founding member of Dublin experimental folk group Lankum, Ian Lynch explores submerged leylines of music and song. Forging a musical path that is all at once dark, mysterious and foreboding, but ultimately transcendental. His new solo project One Leg One Eye sees him taking a fresh approach to musical arrangement culminating in a sound that is more rooted in the raw aesthetics of second wave black metal than contemporary folk.
The project was born across 2021, a period in which Lynch was able to enjoy the freedom of experimenting and explorating different paths of sound design without expectation or pressure. Seeking out interesting settings to record music and gather field recordings, there are several environments, external and interior, whose respective essence have seeped into the spirit of the music and come to represent Lynch’s artistic approach and development with this singular debut album, …And Take The Black Worm With Me.
Rediscovered spaces in Dublin and the familiar enclave of his bedroom are intrinsic to the distinct and sometimes harrowing atmosphere conjured throughout the album’s five enveloping compositions. One particular location, an abandoned factory where his father worked when Ian was a child, provided a space of great inspiration and intrigue during this time. Lynch frequently visited the large abandoned warehouse and sang with his shruti box, contented in his solitude. ‘I’d Rather Be Tending My Sheep’, grew into existence from those initial sessions, eventually finding a home as an emotive centrepiece to the album. Reflecting on the overall recording of …And Take The Black Worm With Me, Lynch says, “Everything I was doing with these songs was all kind of new to me; experimenting with different sounds, textures and palettes and seeing what I could come up with by piecing it all together. I spent about a year making the album. I loved the whole process because it was basically just me in my bedroom recording everything. The experience of recording like this and having my own time to do it was amazing. I could focus on recording a specific element and happily spend all day working on that one part, doing it as many times as I wanted. At the end of the day if it didn’t feel right, I could just try it again the next day. When you’re on your own you can spend as much time as you want on particular parts until you feel that it’s absolutely perfect. I found that to be a really liberating experience. It was probably my favourite experience recording music.”
The collection of songs (and their chronology) featured on …And Take The Black Worm With Me tell a story unique to Lynch’s experiences with anxiety and recognising his shadow self. Whilst the album became an outlet of personal expression for Lynch, the overarching themes and subsequent journey to confront one’s internal dichotomy of light and dark before accepting this inherent duality is universally shared. The eerie and often unsettling world contained within the album’s texturally dense opener ‘Glistening, She Emerges’, driven by the captivating drone of distorted uilleann pipes, immediately immerses the listener in this transportative work. It descends with a great heaviness, yet woven throughout the arrangement is a fascinating and indescribable entity that draws you further into this otherworldly dimension.
This mood continues as the tracklist progresses and transitions into Lynch’s haunting realisation of ‘Bold and Undaunted Youth’ which further demonstrates a cinematic influence to Lynch’s compositional style. Sonically, Lynch effectively builds an impressively vast terrain with brilliantly murky lo-fi recording techniques and an unshakable curiosity to move beyond conventional structures and play with the timbre of the instruments available to him. From recording hurdy-gurdy or concertina to tape and experimenting with loops and effects pedals to stitching field recordings together, there’s an intimacy established between Lynch and his audience established through the simultaneously eerie and beautiful tones courting through …And Take The Black Worm With Me. This culminates in ‘Only the Diceys’, the extraordinary closing track in which we reach a place of resolution mapped into the album’s narrative structure.
Mixed by longtime collaborator John ‘Spud’ Murphy in his Dublin-based Guerrilla Sounds Studio and mastered by Harvey Birrell …And Take The Black Worm With Me features contributions from Ruth Clinton (Landless) on church organ and vocals by Laurie Shanaman (Ails, Ludicra). Of Shanaman’s participation, in particular, which further illustrates the lo-fi and DIY ethos to the recording, Lynch says, “Laurie is my favourite black metal vocalist of all time and so I reached out to her hoping to have her involved in some way. She did, and she features on the opening track by providing some incredible screams. She recorded them into her phone and sent them over to me; what appears on the album is literally a phone recording of her screaming in her kitchen!”
…And Take The Black Worm With Me continues Ian Lynch’s groundbreaking work with Lankum; recontextualising traditional forms and generating new spheres of music in his wake, confirming his status as one of the most interesting and innovative artists working in Ireland today.

Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £2 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.”
“You must be a member or guest of a member to attend. Joining costs £2. See wharfchambers.org/membership
