Looking For The Magic Sunday Session with Pete Astor & Band, Luxury Holiday and Emma Tricca

Name: Looking For The Magic Sunday Session with Pete Astor & Band, Luxury Holiday and Emma Tricca
Start: 2025-08-31T16:00:00+01:00
Location: 216-220 High Street, SM1 1NU Sutton, United Kingdom

Schedule

Sun, 31 Aug, 2025 at 04:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

216-220 High Street, SM1 1NU Sutton, United Kingdom | Sutton, EN

Looking For The Magic Records' monthly (ish) programme of Sunday late-afternoon sessions of live music continues with a sensational line-up of artists! This month we welcome Pete Astor and his band, Luxury Holiday and Emma Tricca.
Pete Astor - ‘A songwriter who never falters and is maybe even getting better with age.’ (All Music)
‘The master of less is more.’ (The Guardian)
Pete Astor led Creation Records’ groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets, writing songs and releasing records that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie genre. He has gone on to a lengthy solo career since then; writing, recording and releasing music on a range of labels including Matador, Heavenly, Warp, EMI and Fortuna Pop. Since 2017 Astor has been signed to Tapete Records, home to Robert Forster, Lloyd Cole and Comet Gain among many reputable others.
He will be playing a selection of songs from his album Unsent Letters (Home Recordings 1984-2024), all unreleased material spanning Astor’s career from The Loft to the present day. He will be joined by a full band, consisting of Ian Button (Death in Vegas, Go Kart Mozart, Papernut Cambridge) on drums, Wilson Neil Scott (Summerhill, Denim, Felt, EBTG) on guitar and Alan Gregg (The Mutton Birds, Polite Company) on bass. Alongside the songs from Unsent Letters, he and the band will be playing some old and new favourites.
"A lifetime of listening has led me to believe that Pete Astor’s songs would have always found a way to reach an audience. If he’d been a Californian baby boomer, he’d have ended up in the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, laying down late-night grooves with the Wrecking Crew for a largely-neglected, slightly gloomy, pop album that’d now be worth a fortune. If he’d been born into post-War Britain, earnest girls in sweaters would’ve fallen in love with him, and his songs, in Embassy-fogged folk clubs." - Danny Kelly, NME
Luxury Holiday are a three piece suite fronted by John Bennett (guitarist and singer) with Ben Floyd on drums and Marshall Gregory on bass.
John Bennett was in Sid Griffin's Coal Porters, and guested for some London shows with Carshalton's very own Grand Drive. Joining The High Llamas, he toured Japan, Europe and the USA, and for one-night-only were Arthur Lee's band Love in London.
John played on The High Llamas' albums 'Hawaii, 'Cold and Bouncy', and 'Snowbug'.
During a European tour with Pavement, Stephen Malkmus invited him to become their guest slide guitarist for glorious swings through 'Range Life', at The Paradiso' in Amsterdam, Shepherds Bush Empire, Brixton Academy, and in 2023, the Kentish Town Roundhouse. Sean O'Hagan invited him to join Microdisney for their reunion show in Dublin, which got repeated at London's Barbican venue.
Coming up to date, John is fronting the band 'Luxury Holiday', playing tunes from his songbook- with the 1st album released on the late John Sweeney's label 'Turn Blue Records', and the seeds of the 2nd album being germinated in Brendan O'Hare's (Teenage Fanclub, and Mogwai) studio.
Emma Tricca was championed by John Renbourn and Odetta at the beginning of her career and subsequently supported by both Jane Weaver and Andy Votel who released her first two records, 'Minor White' and 'Relic'.
Songwriter/guitarist Emma Tricca's unique style has often been compared to a cross between the 60's Greenwich Village artists, Nico and Patti Smith.
In her latest work, 'Aspirin Sun', Emma teamed up again with Jason Victor (The Dream Syndicate) and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) forming a band that echoes 70’s folk-rock with a certain psychedelic allure yet again with a completely distinctive sound. She toured extensively with the likes of Jane Weaver, Nick Mason (Saucerful of Secrets band), and Robyn Hitchcock, to mention a few.
She also, notably, collaborated with likes of Judy Collins, Bridget St John, Jesse Chandler from Mercury Rev and more and has been continually supported by BBC6 music presenters such as Guy Garvey and Gideon Coe (again, to name a few) alongside USA stations such as WFMU and WFUV and the printed press including Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector, Shindig, PROG, The Guardian and The Times.
Pay what you can afford or just rock up on the day and make a donation.
Doors 3pm. Show 4-8pm