One of the UK’s most heralded guitarists, Vini Reilly and his band ‘Durutti Column’ are set to play a one-off Shetland gig on Wednesday 16th February in Lerwick’s North Star in a joint promotion between Shetland Arts Trust and JWG Promotions.

The ‘Durutti Column’ originally formed in the late seventies in the wake of punk rock, which had swept away many musical boundaries and forged a path for many less orthodox musical acts to gain increased prominence. The now legendary Manchester record label ‘Factory Records’, formed by the equally legendary Tony Wilson, capitalised on this situation, signing bands such as Joy Division and Durutti Column to the then fledgling label, with the rest being history.

The Durutti Column, although far from orthodox with their instrumental based ethereal sound, still remained totally accessibly to a wide ranging audience, attracting a huge and still loyal following due the beautiful melodies that formed the centre-piece of their overall sound. Groundbreaking albums such as ‘Return of the Durutti Column’, ‘LC’ and ‘The Guitar and Other Machines’ were immediately acclaimed as classics, as have more recent albums such as ‘Someone Else’s Party’. All in all the band have released over 30 albums and almost as many unofficial one’s ,while they have also been featured in Hollywood movies and as well as being one of the first bands to have their own website.

“The basic idea behind the Durutti Column’s’ music is to break with whatever structure supports the foundations of musical formation, in order to try and create a kind of music which really can belong to everyone” say Vini, who is a classical and jazz trained guitarist.

John Frusciate of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers is a hug fan who says “Vini Reilly was a huge influence on my sound. He’s just a great guitar player, full stop”. Brian Eno also
cites them as a big influence and Morrissey also used Reilly as his guitarist and co-writer on ‘Viva Hate’ and the hit single ‘Everyday is like Sunday’.

2004 was one of the band’s most successful years to date with the release of their ‘Best of Album’ In the wake of this success the Shetland gig launches a series of all too rare live appearance for the band, highlighted by the fact that a significant number of fans plan to make the trip from the mainland to Shetland especially for the gig. It is also hoped that the gig will be the subject of a live webcast, to bring it to an even greater number of fans and highlight the bands ‘F4’ music download site.

Shetland Arts Trust Music Development Officer Davie Gardner said “This is a unique opportunity for local music fans to witness a legendary and totally original band and, in Vini Reilly, one of the world’s finest and most unique guitarists. The fact that fans are flying up from the mainland for the gig says it all, and the live webcast will certainly do us no harm in terms of putting Shetland further on the musical map”.

Tickets priced £10 will shortly go on sale from High Level Music and Mooney’s wake. 

For further information contact Davie Gardner on (01595) 697550.