The Spook School
+ Leggy + Happy Spendy
Entry Requirements: 18+
This year will mark the end of the project known as The Spook School. Whilst it is incredibly sad we really want to look back with joy on this journey. It’s easy to forget all the things we managed to achieve with close to zero knowledge of how the music industry works (we still don’t really understand a lot of it!).
We started as friends and we are ending the exact same way. We still love each other and in the future we will continue to work together on creative projects but real life has a habit of getting in the way and eating up time and energy. We just can’t devote ourselves to the band the way we want to anymore and we would rather go out with a fanfare than let The Spook School drift quietly away.
We have achieved so much more than we ever thought possible and we are so, so grateful for everything we got to experience. We have met so many people and seen so much of the world that would have remained hidden from us if it wasn’t for this band.
To mark our departure we plan to go out with an almighty bang. We will be embarking on a farewell tour of the UK in August and September culminating in our final show in Glasgow on September 7th. It would be lovely to see you, sing with you, and dance with you for a last time.
It has been 8 years, 3 albums, countless silly covers, hundreds of adventures, and one highly unofficial endorsement from Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian Sausages. We will never forget our time as The Spook School.
Finally, we want to say thank you to you. Thank you for your support, it truly has meant so much to us. We’re full of self-doubt and constantly questioning ourselves and to have such positive people coming to our shows and listening to our music is infectious. We have written about incredibly personal things and that sense of community and of having a support network has been so beautiful. If our music has made even the smallest positive contribution to anybody then we can be exceptionally proud.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to play for you.
Lots of love and always try to be hopeful,
AC, Adam, Nye and Niall xxx
Line Up
The Spook School are a Transgender Pop-Punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. Fun and empowering they are brim full of noisy, tuneful and triumphant queer pop songs about identity, sexuality and being awesome. They were the subject of a Rolling Stone documentary spending time with Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! Their new album, Try To Be Hopeful, released on Fortuna POP!, is the sound of a band growing up, embracing their identities, and taking charge at the world. But amidst the fight for a place in society for everyone, there’s still time for love, friendship, and fun. With their bold, fizzy and electrifying anthems, The Spook School are the shot of optimism we’ve been hoping for.
As seen with: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Joanna Gruesome, Iron Chic, Martha, Shonen Knife, PAWS, Los Campesinos, The BMX Bandits, PWR BTTM and more.
Some Press: "simultaneously critical, sensitive, and goofy." Pitchfork
"They make dance music for introverts, love songs for people who are too shy to be in love. They make it feel like everything’s going to be OK." Stereogum
We made a video with Josie Long and Pappy's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxnGUUgNlhc
We made a film for Rolling Stone with Laura Jane Grace http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-laura-jane-grace-and-transgender-fronted-band-spook-school-meet-20150723
Being nervous for The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/13/the-spook-school-transgender-one-to-watch
www.facebook.com/thespookschool @spookschool
Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio Leggy is a blonde-heavy indie-punk dream-garage trio exploding with empowered earnestness, an undeniably catchy pop sensibility and that ever timeless grrrl in-and-out of love allure. Their energetic live shows are laced with dreamy yet heavy reverb tinged hum-along hooks leading to tunes that'll make you move/swoon.
Following the strength of their 2016 SXSW performances, George Damnably, head of Damnably Records, signed the band and released their debut album just months later. Leggy spent the rest of the year on a whirlwind of festivals and tours, including a month long tour in the UK supporting Shonen Knife and a national US support tour with punk feminist legend Alice Bag.
For 2017, Leggy are currently on board to play SXSW, Foreplay Fest (Dallas, TX) and Valley of the Vapors (Hot Springs, AR).
Festivals Leggy played in 2016 include SXSW (Austin) Bunbury Festival (Cincinnati) , Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (Belfast, Northern Ireland) Ladyfest (Cincinnati) Midpoint Music Festival (Cincinnati) Treat Yr'Self Festival (Philadelphia) Dayton Music Art & Film Festival (Dayton) Ingenuity Festival (Cleveland) 50 Fest (Cincinnati) Secret Friends Festival (Detroit) Northside Rock and Roll Carnival (Cincinnati)
