International Clash Day London Broadcast Preview: Soviet Soviet

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Clash’s landmark album London Calling, KEXP will travel to London for a 4-day live broadcast and online event, featuring live performances and exclusive interviews. Soviet Soviet will take the Studio 9294 stage on Thursday, February 7 alongside UK bands IDLES, Heavy Lungs, Queen Zee and Goat Girl. Get familiar with the band before their performance below.

As the sole Italian band performing at the London broadcast, Soviet Soviet bring a gothic style of new wave and post-rock to the table. With dark instrumentation reminiscent of legacy acts like Joy Division and Bauhaus, as well as their contemporaries Preoccupations and Interpol.

The trio has been quiet on the music front since their sophomore full-length Endless dropped in 2016 but made headlines in 2017 when they were deported in Seattle on their way to play a KEXP in-studio session. Despite carrying a letter from their label that declared they would be performing a series of concerts for promotional purposes only and would not be receiving any form of payment for those shows, as well as a written invitation on the part of SXSW, they were handcuffed, detained, and deported in what seemed like an overly aggressive and controversial manner.

Luckily, they now have their shot at redemption when KEXP hops the pond to come to them on Thursday, February 7. KEXP spoke to Soviet Soviet about the significance of The Clash in a brief interview. Read below.

KEXP: What does The Clash mean to you and have they inspired your music at all?

Soviet Soviet: The first word that comes to mind thinking of the clash is "attitude." Genre and attitude. Saying this, perhaps even the Clash had a dark side behind closed doors like most of us do but we feel that Joe Strummer was a very influential and open-minded person/musician.

Do you find there to be parallels between the lyrical content and ethos of London Calling and the current state of England?

There certainly are parallels. I guess at the time that song was reflecting the Thatcher era and how everything at the time was coming undone. Obviously nowadays the UK is in a political turmoil regarding Brexit…so perhaps in 1979 London was drowning, but to be fair in 2019 we could say that for Europe. Rising unemployment, the worry surrounding the inevitable privatization of health care and poor management by the government around very basic things for the welfare of citizens.

What can audiences expect from your performance for KEXP's International Clash Day London broadcast?

We usually try to deliver a strong and energetic performance, to try to make contact with whatever audience there might be, present or just listening. The performing dimension is something we really enjoy doing.

Soviet Soviet will perform at KEXP’s International Clash Day London broadcast at 11:00 AM PST / 7:00 PM GMT on Thursday, February 7. Check out the full schedule of performances here. Below, watch the video for “Fairy Tale,” off of Endless, directed by Simone Pellegrini.