The Somnians are set to play at the first Under the Radar gig.

Fat Tuesday launches showcase gigs for emerging local bands

After a year of Covid closure, Hastings Fat Tuesday is back with a bang, launching its new showcase for emerging local talent and opening ticket sales for February’s Mardi Gras ball. Nick Terdre reports.

Encouraged by the success of the Hastings Rocks festival in August, Hastings Fat Tuesday is launching Under the Radar, a series of monthly gigs featuring emerging local bands and musicians and diverse genres produced in partnership with Melita Dennet of BBC Introducing Sussex and Surrey.

LibraLibra are also on the line-up for the first Under the Radar gig.

“This is an exciting opportunity to showcase some of the very best new talent both locally and across Sussex,” says Melita, who will curate and host the shows. “Hastings is seeing a golden age of new music makers and it’s fantastic to be able to celebrate that talent, as well as bringing new acts to town and really putting Hastings on the map as a destination for exciting original music.”

The gigs will take place at The Brass (ex Brass Monkey) in Havelock Road. The first, on Friday 29 October, features Shallow Honey, LibraLibra and the Somnians. Tickets are £3 in advance, either online or from Wow and Flutter (8 Trinity St, Hastings TN34 1HG) or Cloth and Wax (48 Marina, Saint Leonards-on-Sea TN38 0BE).

Further Under the Radar gigs are scheduled for the last Friday in the month in November, January, February and March and hopefully thereafter.

Also launching this autumn is the new Fat Tuesday Club, offering 12-18 year olds free creative music sessions focused on the process of making and playing new music, with guest industry speakers and opportunities to play at next year’s Hastings Fat Tuesday festival.

Both the Fat Tuesday Club and Under the Radar initiatives are supported by funding from the Arts Council of England.

Horse Meat Disco will headline at Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball.

Grand ball tickets on sale

Meanwhile arrangements are fast slotting into place for the Fat Tuesday festival, Hastings’ very own mid-winter carnival, scheduled from Friday 25 February to Tuesday 1 March. Tickets have just gone on sale for the flagship event, Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball: “Time to unleash the carnival spirit for a full-on night of fantastic revelry, embracing the spirit of New Orleans, add a touch of Venetian splendour and join in the spectacle that awaits,” the organiser says.

The headline act is Horse Meat Disco, the south London DJ collective. Live music will be provided by The Future Shape of Sound – “Rock’n’Roll Crime-Gospel outfit, spear-headed by accomplished music producer Alex McGowan aka ‘Captain Future’” – and Mr Wilson’s Second Liners – “New Orleans meets 90s club classics…a rave funeral without the body.”

The festival treads a familiar route, with the Friday ball followed by Unplugged Saturday, Preservation Sunday, Slim Monday and culminating with the Fat Tuesday Tour. Full details are promised soon on the website, where ball tickets can be purchased.

The Future Shape of Sound.

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