Muso’s Guide introduces… Performance

Performance

Here at Muso’s Guide, we particularly enjoy introducing you to new bands. And today, we bring you another of our favourites, Performance – think of us as your ever-convivial host, as the lead singer Joe Stretch tells you a little bit more…

I’ve taken a crap in every toilet venue from The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen to The Joiners in Southampton. I sat on the seat or, if there was no seat or the seat was broken or had piss on it, then I hovered above the bowl. I did this at The Castle in Oldham, The Cluny in Newcastle, Fibbers in York. I did this all over England.

My name is Joe Stretch and I am the lead singer in a band called Performance, a three-piece, hailing from Manchester in the north-west of England. We formed around 2003 and signed a record deal with Polydor in December 2004. We were, in no particular order, a gambling addict, an anorexic, a drug addict and a depressive. We made pop music. I dropped out of university and signed the record contract with a Ladbrokes betting pen. Like everyone else, I regret nothing.

I am pleased to say we are no longer signed to Polydor. After our first album I went into hiding. I started writing novels. I’ve published a couple. I’m thinking about a third. The other two formed another band while I was away. Kiss in Cities, they’re called. I’m told they’re more poppy than Performance. In 2009 I broke up with my girlfriend and I ended up hanging round with those two a lot more.  We wondered what it would be like if we made another Performance record. So we did. And then we got a deal. So here we are. Back.

Our album is a mix of uplifting pop songs and down-trodden tales. It was recorded over the past year and is finally approaching something that we can be proud of. The other Joe in our band likens it to “….an upbeat melody here, a lyric about someone tearing your heart out here, and other things.” I’m inclined to agree, to a certain extend. There’s certainly more upbeat melodies.

And so we begin our pursuit, our trivial pursuit? Perhaps? But we begin nonetheless, with ‘The Living’, our first single from our second album Red Brick Heart. I hope you enjoy.

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