Regressive Left

Photo by Luis Kramer

Name, where are you from?
Regressive Left (Georgia, Simon and Will), Luton and Bedfordshire.

Describe your style in three words?
Unimaginative, utilitarian, regressive.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
G: I hosted Kamasi Washington’s afterparty at The Lock Tavern a few years ago. Was at the time when the London Jazz scene was taking off and Moses Boyd, Ezra Collective, Sons of Kemet et al jammed until the early hours in that tiny room. Kamasi joined in, having just smashed a headline at Roundhouse a few hours before. It was a moment where I felt like I was witnessing something important and couldn’t stop smiling.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
The B-52s and Grace Jones. A vibe.

Which subcultures have influenced you?
DFA Records / NY proto-punk / UK jazz - those scenes have all borrowed and reinvented to push the restrictive boundaries of genre.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
S: Bedford Esquires will always hold a special place in our hearts because it’s where we met. It’s also the venue that introduced us to touring bands we wouldn’t have otherwise had access to see as teenagers.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
W: Julius Eastman - in an era where American new music and art, specifically the New York school, was dominated by white male academics, Julius Eastman’s mere existence caused controversy. He was written out of the histories of that time and movement and died homeless at 49 years old. Only in the past few years has his music come to light and his story is rightly being told, and with it making space for other subjugated and exploited artists.