Shobaleader One
photo by Antonio PAgano

Squarepusher's band Shobaleader One touring, making NYC debut

Back in 2010, Squarepusher released Shobaleader One: d’Demonstrator, an album recorded with other musicians, and more recently he turned Shobaleader One into a fully-functioning live band. Squarepusher (aka Tom Jenkinson) plays bass in the band, and rest of the lineup includes Strobe Nazard on keys, Arg Nution on guitar, and Company Laser on drums. Talking to Q Magazine about why he decided to form the band, he says:

I got fed up with being in bands when I was a teenager. The whole format seemed stricken with creative inertia and conservatism. And the idea of negotiating with other people in order to get music made seemed like a massive waste of time when there was the option of doing it all with electronics. Even if using electronics meant that certain musical options were discarded, that seemed a fair price to pay. Albums such as Hard Normal Daddy (1997) and Music Is Rotted One Note (1998) represent my attempts to narrow the gap between what a band could do and the standard conception of what was possible with electronics – I tried to make electronics sound like an insane band. But I reckon since then electronic music has itself become well acquainted with inertia and conservatism (and possibly also smarminess and tepidity)… It’s time to make a band sound like an insane band.

Shobaleader One have been playing Europe shows and they have more on the horizon, but they’ll come to the US this month and make their NYC debut on December 14 at Le Poisson Rouge. That show is with Corey King & Mantra Percussion performing “Timber.” Tickets are on sale now.

Shobaleader One also play San Francisco and LA when they’re here, and Squarepusher plays the awesome Houston festival Day For Night. All dates are listed, with the video for Shobaleader One’s “Squarepusher Theme,” below.

Shobaleader One — 2016/2017 Tour Dates
Fri 09 Dec 2016 Kino Šiška (Centre for Urban Culture) Ljubljana, Slovenia
Sat 10 Dec 2016 Porgy & Bess Vienna, Austria
Wed 14 Dec 2016 Le Poisson Rouge New York, NY, US
Fri 16 Dec 2016 Echoplex Los Angeles, CA, US
Sat 17 Dec 2016 The Independent San Francisco, CA, US
Wed 22 Mar 2017 Ramsgate Music Hall Ramsgate, UK
Thu 23 Mar 2017 Village Underground London, UK
Sat 25 Mar 2017 New Morning Paris, France
Sun 26 Mar 2017 Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld (CBE) Cologne, Germany
Mon 27 Mar 2017 Strom Munich, Germany
Thu 30 Mar 2017 Berghain/Panorama Bar Berlin, Germany