NEWS
James Acaster has officially introduced his new band, The Wow! Scenario, alongside their debut song, ‘Zacuti’, featuring BC Camplight. More information about the project can be found below.
The Wow! Scenario began two decades ago and has now been brought to life by Acaster with his friend Graeme Wicks, BC Camplight and Emma Daman.
Their first album, ‘Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus’, will arrive through Bella Union on October 23. Preorders are available here.
Listeners have also been given an early preview of the album through the jazz inspired lead single ‘Zacuti’, which is available to hear below.
Acaster and Wicks formed the group in Kettering in 2004. According to a press statement, they had already chosen to end the band by the time they recorded their full collection of songs with producer Chris Hamilton in December 2007.
The statement also revealed that the group’s name was inspired by an intoxicated audience member who tried to say they lacked “the X factor”. However, the person repeatedly used the wrong phrase and told them: “You don’t have the wow scenario, guys. You need to get the wow scenario”.
The musicians revisited the recordings with Hamilton in 2018, removing the original singing and replacing the vocal melodies with saxophone, clarinet and fiddle. At that stage, they planned to release the material as an instrumental record.
After deciding they were not satisfied with that version, the group returned to the studio for a third attempt in March 2023. BC Camplight and Emma Daman provided vocals for the new sessions, while the album was eventually mixed and finished in March 2025.
1. ‘Diving!’
2. ‘Once More!’
3. ‘Golf Socks!’
4. ‘Alpaca Spinner!’
5. ‘Reality!’
6. ‘Instructions!’
7. ‘Zacuti!’
8. ‘The Curse!’
Acaster previously created the music project Temps, which brought together a collective of 40 performers, including Quelle Chris, Xenia Rubinos, Shamir, NNAMDÏ and Seb Rochford.
When the collective was first revealed, the comedian and Off Menu podcast host discussed its origins during NME’s ‘In Conversation’ interview series.
“I was doing bands when I was a teenager into my early 20s, and I was like, ‘This is gonna be my entire life, all I’m gonna do is music,’” Acaster said. “When the band split up I started doing stand-up as a placeholder, and then I fell in love with stand-up and got really obsessed with that.
“I’d never made an album from scratch that didn’t exist yet – recording it and writing it at the same time – and I’d never produced anything before, or mixed something as intensely as this one. There’s a lot of new things – if I had been doing it on my own, I don’t know how long I would have lasted.”
NEWS
Nick Cave has reflected on reports that his massive Preston Park concert with The Bad Seeds became “the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
Read More: In conversation with Nick Cave: “There’s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art”
The legendary rock band performed in Brighton on Friday, July 31, delivering their only UK show to more than 50,000 fans while celebrating their praised 2024 record, ‘Wild God’.
The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon and Warmduscher appeared as special guests, while Kylie Minogue joined Cave for a moving rendition of ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’.
Before the main concert, the group gave fans another unexpected treat by performing an intimate acoustic set on the rooftop of Brighton’s Resident Records.
Following the packed Preston Park performance, Cave has now reflected on the milestone event, revealing that the occasion felt like a “homecoming” for several reasons.
Responding to a fan through his Red Hand Files website, Cave explained that he spent the following morning sitting along Brighton’s seafront and taking in the “near-empty, early-morning streets” while thinking about the previous night. He also revealed that his manager had told him “last night’s show was the largest ticketed event in Brighton’s history”.
While remembering the concert, Cave called it a “big day for The Bad Seeds” and said he could not “overstate the pride I feel in performing with a band that can play the rooftop of a record store in the morning, and then perform to nearly 50,000 people in the evening with the same ferocious intention”.
“There is simply no other group that can summon pure chaos and the most acute intimacy almost simultaneously, and that is both tight and anarchic within the same song,” he continued. “They are a force to behold, and it is a sheer privilege to share a stage with them.”
Discussing Minogue’s surprise appearance, Cave shared that her outfit had been created by his wife, fashion designer Susie. He also praised the Australian star as “a performer who only gives, gives and gives, then retreats, as ghosts and great performers do.”
The ‘Red Right Hand’ singer went on to express his gratitude to “everyone who came to the concert”, explaining that the evening felt like “a homecoming in many different ways”.
“Although part of me is relieved the Preston Park show is behind me, sometimes my job is so completely and emotionally overwhelming, I’m happy we could, for a delirious moment in time, create a place where the absent and the present could dance together. Again, thank you,” he finished.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will now complete their tour with a final series of European festival appearances. The group has also suggested that another record may be approaching, having revealed earlier this year that they were “messing around” in the studio and considering what could follow ‘Wild God’.
Following the release of that project, Cave appeared on ‘Honora’, the first solo album from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. He has also created a fresh recording of ‘Red Right Hand’ for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
