By Dan Thompson
Celebrate the arrival of the new decade when one of England’s greatest songwriters visits Margate.
Julian Cope plays Dreamland on January 31 to launch his latest album, Self Civil War.
The album showcases Cope’s songwriting at its most searching since Jehovakill. It moves from kitchen sink psycho-dramas to insightful heroic ballads. In typical Cope style, the 13 songs brim with sound effects, enormous orchestral arrangements, timeless folk, and hefty near-Krautrock anthems.
Brought up in Tamworth, Cope went to a Liverpool college. He met Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen), Pete Burns (Dead or Alive), Pete Wylie (Wah!), and Bill Drummond (KLF), forming a succession of half groups with them before The Teardrop Explodes in 1978.
The band went on to have a hit with Reward, and after three albums Cope launched a solo career with World Shut Your Mouth in 1984. Since then, he has forged a career as a singular songwriter, releasing more than 30 albums with a neat sideline as an expert in standing stones and Druidic religion.
Self Civil War is the first release in Cope’s ‘Our Troubled Times’ series, and a fine temporary refuge from daily life.
Cope plays the Dreamland Ballroom on Friday, January 31 from 7pm-11pm.
Tickets are £25 plus booking fee in advance. This is a 14+ event. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.