Whether it’s their mash-up of Kate Bush as sung by Kate Nash or their Weimar Republic version of the Friends theme tune, Frisky and Mannish bring a shockingly high degree of actual musical talent and satirical panache to the hugely under-rated genre of the spoof song.

And they’re appearing at White Mischief’s New Year’s Eve show at Proud Cabaret. Take a look at their unique twist on Christmas favourite “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by clicking on the image below.

For more details of the huge line-up and to book tickets, read our New Year’s Eve page.

Or click below to see a preview of Frisky and Mannish’s Edinburgh show:

Blending hip hop MCing with vintage jazz, there are few bands who can get a party jumping like The Correspondents, which is why we’re so excited to have them on the main stage at our “Journey To The Centre Of The Earth” party on Saturday 23 May. 

Having surprised crowds with their antics at The Secret Garden and Glastonbury last year, The Correspondents have become a super-hot name on the music scene and by this time next year it’s possible they’ll be selling out venues the size of Scala themselves.

Co-founders and hosts of White Mischief are Tough Love, who will be appearing on the main stage to celebrate the launch of their first ever mini-album.

Blending tribal, world-influenced drums and percussion with quirky, acerbic English lyrics, six-piece pop band Tough Love have been described by the Guardian as “the afrobeat Scissor Sisters” and by Flavorpill as “tribal pop ambassadors”.

Their dressed-up live shows are a riot of chanting backing vocals, face paint and Victorian-inspired finery, which might explain why Record of the Day has said that “they look and sound like nothing we have seen in recent times” and why Music Week called the group “brilliant – packed with pop hits and charisma.”

Having supported The Crimea, British Sea Power and Yeasayer, Tough Love are making an impact on audiences in London’s more eccentric and quirky clubs; one gig has seen Dexy’s Midnight Runners singer Kevin Rowland stood in front of the stage, mouth agog, looking quite appalled at the boundless energy coming from Tough Love’s two drummers.

A review from trendy blog Boing Boing called the band “completely kick-ass”, continuing “Tough Love played a show that felt like something from Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense tour, with funky, rhythm-heavy numbers that I enjoyed from the first song.”

Tough Love’s thirst for the unusual has inspired them to found White Mischief (www.whitemischief.info), a regular one-night indoor festival which combines live bands with wild circus and cabaret performances. At its last outing the night sold out the 1000-plus capacity Scala venue in Kings Cross with an assortment of revellers dressed as everything from steampunk airship captains to giant pandas.

Time Out called White Mischief: “The event of the week, the month, the year”.

The band has recorded with producers including Toby Smith (Jamiroquai), Phil Vinall (Elastica, Placebo), Cenzo Townshend (U2, Athlete, etc) and James Lewis (Arctic Monkeys, Wombats, Morning Runner).

For more information on Tough Love please contact Dominic Williams at William Bulldog Management.

http://www.toughloveband.com

Hooligan Night formed in 2006 when production maestro Nik Diezel met apocalyptic pin-up Ruby Blues, one of the superstars of the London neo-burlesque scene.

Joined by Orlando Harrison, keyboard player with cult-band Alabama 3; and Owen Rossiter, long-time drummer with the Stereo MC’s, they created their signature sound of outrageously infectious, genre-bending bass-driven beats, held together by killer hooks and Ruby’s unmistakable vocals weaving vivid tales of the sleazy side of city life, strange love, dances with Drag Queens and dream-like trips of the imagination.

Fast becoming known for their white-hot live shows which deliver an irresistible combination of punked-out delinquent showgirl in acid-bright colours, backed up by a line-up of dissolute Rock n Roll miscreants, Hooligan Night are set to bring their music from the underground to the mainstream…

http://www.myspace.com/hooligannight

The Outside Royalty are a 6 piece electro chamber rock band formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band moved across the water to England in the summer of 2006, and has ever since been attracting attention in all the right places.

On May 12th 2008, they release debut single ‘Falling’ as 7” on Bloody Awful Poetry records, produced by Phil Vinall (Radiohead , Pulp, Placebo, Elastica.) Aside from the single release party on 28th April at Madam Jo Jo’s, a series of other live shows and in-store performances across the UK and London will celebrate the release.

The story so far: cutting their teeth in the few live music venues that Pittsburgh had to offer, an article ran in a local music magazine ‘The Front’, which talked of the Pittsburgh music scene’s demise, and cried out to any talented bands: ‘get out now! Move to New York, move to LA!’ The piece led with a picture of The Outside Royalty.

Luckily for the UK public, they chose none of the above, arriving recently in London with four original members remaining. Tony Visconti, who was corresponding with Adam at the time, warned of the perils of London living – saying they’d need a “bucket full of money and a barrel full of work visas” to make it work. Having neither, they set off regardless – following little more than a “gut feeling”. After picking up a new bassist and cellist, and despite all living under each other’s feet in a drafty Victorian terrace just off the Archway Road, they remain intact and making highly revered music.

They’ve played with Babyshambles, The Duke Spirit, Juliette & the Licks, Spinto Band, The Shins, Good Shoes, toured with The Young Knives , been championed by Colin Murray with repeated spins on Radio 1, and had two sellout Club NME shows at Koko. Along with this, guest musician Rick Nelson from Polyphonic Spree has featured live with the band on numerous occasions.

With such a storming live show to boot, it’s time for the The Outside Royalty to be invited in.
The Outside Royalty are: Adam Billing (Vox/Guitars), Echo Wu (Violin), Frederique LeGrande (Cello), Paul Crawford-Smith (Bass), Eizan Miyamoto (Synths), Brandon Paluzzi (Drums/Percission).

“Highly charged, frenetic and emotionally wrought… they have the driving mo-mo-mo-mentum of early Roxy Music.”
The Guardian

“I fell in love with it immediately… How are these guys not signed?!”
Colin Murray, Radio 1

“The Outside Royalty are on the way up.”
The Independent

“The most engaging band I have ever witnessed.”
Road to V

www.theoutsideroyalty.com

www.myspace.com/theoutsideroyalty

When we started White Mischief, there was only one rule about the kinds of bands we’d book. It doesn’t matter what genre, what style of music they make…as long as they are completely different, brilliant live and a world away from the dour indie fodder that can be found at the usual toilet venues. If there’s an act that embodies the spirit of what we’re looking for in terms of risque theatricality and undeniable uniqueness it’s Ebony Bones. You may have heard Ebony Bones on Radio 1 as Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record in The World… now get ready to catch her and her band live in the flesh as headliners of the second stage at White Mischief. Read on for videos, photos and laudatory press quotes galore…

Ebony Bones is a cultural chameleon, everything she sees is an inspiration, she spins ideas out of everything and nothing. Everything in the air, everything beautiful and real goes into what make Ebony Bones so special.

Ebony Bones is wholly unique – a banshee, a redeemer, she sees everything and she has the devil’s tail in her hands. She is the real deal, no messing around, all ready to go.

Starting from a blank page, Ebony put up tracks on a blank myspace, and let the songs do the work. With the electricity and shock and awe these tracks conjured, it got the web in a spin, and the word spread like wild fire. Basement Jaxx took notice, Timbaland jumped out of his seat, Jarvis Cocker was blown away to meet her, Richard X couldn’t wait to get in the studio with her and Future Cut dropped everything.

Ebony Bones is globe-trotting, jaw-dropping proposition. Pro-pop, the real deal, she is more alive and exciting than anything else around out now. She is the future, and will cut through 2008 leaving a rainbow of excitement everywhere she goes.

There will never be another Ebony Bones.

What they’re saying:

“London’s answer to Karen O” – Dummy Magazine

“The coolest disco shit we’ve heard since Richard X disappeared” – NME

“Looks set for greatness” – Sunday Times Culture

“All the right people are making all the right noises about this talented Technicolor Londoner” – Music Week

”We Know All About You is at once celebratory and menacing, like being attacked by a pack of feral cheerleaders” – Time Out

“Ebony is the business” – Zane Lowe – ‘We Know All About You’ was Zane’s Single Of The Week

“A pop superheroine” – The Times

http://www.myspace.com/ebonybones

Over the last 6 years Oojami have produced 3 albums (internationally released on Miles Copland’s (ex-manager of Sting and the Police) label), played hundreds of gigs in over 15 countries, including a tour of the US/Canada, and featured on more than 30 compilations around the world. Recently he’s begun writing soundtracks for major Hollywood movies, and his music has been licensed to EMI Arabia – the biggest label in the Middle East.

The success of the Oojami’s album Bellydancing Breakbeats established Oojami in the international bellydancing scene, particularly in the US. He contributed to a new style of fusion for bellydancers, as exemplified by The Bellydance Superstars. As if life couldn’t get any better, sexy French actress Audrey Tatou was seen gyrating her hips to Oojami’s song “Fantasy” in the cult film Dirty Pretty Things.

Oojami’s next release Urban Dervish upped the musical stakes considerably, taking Calvi’s sound into a variety of multicultural directions. His latest release Boom Shinga Ling keeps the freshness and childlike enthusiasm alive, but production quality and composition has improved tenfold, leaving no doubt that Necmi Cavli is of the most exciting, innovative and groundbreaking producers in today’s vibrant global beat scene.

“I’ve been lucky to have experience of many cultures and certain elements of these cultures have become part of my emotional history.” He says. “For the last 20 years I have been based in London, which is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. But I don’t like just observing and analysing things; I like to take part in society. I’m never one to sit on the fence.

“It is risky as an artist to isolate yourself, ” he continues, “but you cannot please everybody. You cannot make an omelette without breaking an egg. For me song writing is like this. I don’t approach song writing as a project in which ideas are put together, without having any direct experience of the culture, as is commonly done in the fusion music. Different cultures should fuse in your heart first to make it personal.

Calvi always wanted to write songs that weren’t just fashionable, or faceless, pieces of background music. “Even though some of them work, at least commercially, I find it difficult to relate to that approach. If it is not evolving from and reflecting my personal experience, then I am not learning and growing as an artist.”

“I want to take my music beyond this niche and patronising “exotic sound and culture from other countries” ghetto, and be accepted first and foremost as a credible artist that can cross cultures.”

In its live incarnation Oojami combines belly dancers with mesmerising Sufi dancing, providing a vivid musical experience for the eyes. Therefore it is no wonder that the band is building up a strong fan base of open-minded music fans eager to appreciate new and exciting global sounds.

“Oojami’s music is groove orientated, but I like to use melodic parts to make it different,” he explains. “Although the major element is Turkish – because that’s what I’m most familiar with – I aim to be more global. A global band with Turkish influences, rather than a Turkish or Anglo-Turkish band. However it is not very easy to identify what Turkish music is. It’s really very difficult to tell where they originated from, whether from the Middle East or North Africa. For example, some of the most famous songs in Turkey are in fact of Arabic origin.”

Cavli moved to Britain 20 years ago to learn English but got seriously distracted and converted by the UK dance scene. His Turkish qualification as a teacher were not recognised in the UK, so he studied economics and became a teacher again, working with refugee children from several countries.

At the same time he found himself drawn to the capital’s thriving rave scene. He was excited by the emerging crossover culture, whose eclectic spirit he would emulate at his own Hubble Bubble Club at a church in North London. There the traditional sounds of oud and darbuka would mix with electronica from UK dance culture. So he decided to do something different – to try and break into the English market with Turkish influenced breakbeats. “That’s the perspective I started with when I opened the Hubble Bubble Club, which is where Miles Copeland first saw us.”

With bellydancing, a sufi dancer, and trapeze artists augmenting the mix of traditional instruments and modern beats, the club developed a flavour all of its own, and soon attracted a substantial audience, drawn from a wide spectrum of music fans. With the BBC broadcasting live from the club, and CNN, MTV and Japanese television spreading the word further abroad, the Hubble Bubble Club has quickly carved its own niche in the London scene, with Oojami at the helm of this burgeoning new scene.

Boom Shinga Ling puts the fun back back into World Music”
(Observer Music Monthly)

“A thrillingly frenetic, roosty yet hard-edged sound.” (Time Out – UK)

“West meets East on this tasty menage of UK beats and Turkish sound.” (Music Week)

“Every track is a distinctive combination of avant thought and primal beats,
crunched into a singularly vivid musical experience.” (Billboard – US)

“A big, bouncing face-licking dog of a record, put together with
an excited childlike enthusiasm which overflows out of every track…”
(The Wire)

“Impossible to define but utterly irresistable.” (Footloose)

“Bring the smile to the dial and wiggle to the hips.” (Lam – UK)

So who are Ta Mère? Three guys-about-town, on the town, getting down and swinging hard. A creation by special request of the BBC for the 2007 Glasgow Film Festival, they’ve been catapulted from these auspicious beginnings onto the London scene.

Embrace the sultry evening, suffused with the hint of yesteryear and awash with a fresh undercurrent crackling and sparkling away. Champagne flutes fully charged, and ice cubes clinking happily in their tumblers, dance those troubles away to the latest sensation.

Spanning all from slow grind, through jump jive and touching on the jazzy boogie and eclectic points in between, allow Ta Mère to escort you away from the mundane and sweep you up into a state of bubbling hilarity and joy as the joint gets jumpin’. Laissez les beaux temps rouler…

Ta Mère plays popular music from the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, French ball musette, gypsy swing, russian and balkan traditionals, bluegrass, Classic films soundtracks, cuban, tango, blues, jazz, bossa nova

What People say:
“Ta Mere exploded off the radar at Stranger Than Paradise on October 6th, 07 with their unique renditions of old style vaudeville gypsy romany and swing from the early 20th century, captivatingly cool , sleek and sexy, this string trio care well equipped to play sophisticated tea parties to dusty dance halls and transform you into another world… stranger than paradise.”
(Amanda Rodgers, Club Promoter www.strangerthanparadise.net)

“Ta Mere rocked the Weird and Wonderful tent at the first ever BBC Film Festival in Glasgow on September 9th with their unique brand of gypsy swing jazz. Their colourful presence and cheerful demeanor easily won over the crowds – a gig not to be missed!”
(Katy Leech, BBC Associate Producer)

http://www.tamere.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/tamerelondon

http://www.youtube.com/user/johnjohnrecords

A vintage songstress with her tongue firmly in her cheek, Tricity’s glamorous cabaret jazz act involves fabulous gowns, her very own horn section, and a small pink ukelele. Miss Vogue’s mischievously witty music harks back to a bygone era while at times sounding suspiciously contemporary.

For White Mischief, Tricity Vogue’s cheeky musical ensemble comprises:

Tricity Vogue on Vocals and Ukelele
Sir Fitzroy Callow on Trombone
Connie Vanderlay on Piano
Earl Mysterio on Guitar
Trousers Mercedes on Bass
Bobby Fresh on Drums

Tricity Vogue and friends romp their way through swing, latin, and blues, as they revisit old favourites, give unexpected songs a jazz twist, and introduce you to some originals that Tricity denies are inspired by her own romantic misadventures.
Larger-than-life jazz vamp Tricity Vogue is the creation of scriptwriter and jazz singer Heather Tyrrell, who invented her alter ego after a number of bruising romantic encounters prompted her to start composing songs about her misadventures.

Tricity burst onto the London scene in 2003 with a philosophical ditty about a one-night-stand, “Well I didn’t want you anyway”. She didn’t yet have a band, or even an accompanist, but she didn’t let that stop her, and sang a capella at performance poetry nights.

Proving the truth of the philosophy “if you sing it, they will come,” within months she was performing with a full band behind her, thanks to the musical genius of pianist Miss Connie Vanderlay, who provided the voluptuous jazz chords to complement her words and melodies.

Trombone player Sir Fitzroy Callow was found lurking in the back row of Ronnie Scotts polishing his brass, while guitarist Earl Mysterio first materialised in a disreputable after-hours club with cocktail in hand. Impish drummer Bobby Fresh wowed Miss Vogue so much with his rim-shots that he’s been behind the drums ever since she met him. Rumour has it that Tricity talent-spotted bassist Trousers Mercedes on a yoga holiday in Crete, and guessed that anyone that good at bending must have other hidden talents.

Miss Vogue took up the ukelele a year ago when the non-availability of her band for a gig on the Battersea Barge forced her to resort to desperate measures. She has subsequently fallen in love with the small pink instrument, which now rarely leaves her arms. Finally, every jazz diva needs a good gown, and Tricity acquired a suitably dazzling wardrobe thanks to the flamboyant genius of designer and dressmaker Stephane St Jaymes.
“The Gorillaz of Lounge Jazz”
Christian Miller, musician

“Real sweetness with a surprising edge”
Clapham or Bust, burlesque night

“Jazz Prozac”
Paul Wady, fan

“Devilishly fun”
Govinder The Holy Ukelele

She shares her insights into her life, loves and losses.

Let Pearl and her accordionist Jo Random take you on a journey with their sharp lyrics, demented clowning and wonderful musical hooks.

Pearlsworld is performed and written by Erika Engqvist and Simon Shannon, whose previous credits include work with Malcolm Mclarren, League of Gentlemen and Nick Treadwell.

http://www.myspace/madamepearl