Live News: Joan As Police Woman Starts UK Tour This Week

The gorgeous St George's Church in Brighton is an appropriate venue for Joan As Police Woman (aka Joan Wasser) to begin her much-anticipated UK tour on July 21 – as distinctive and mesmerising a venue as the performer who will light it up.

The tour (under the auspices of Melting Vinyl) will see Connecticut native Wasser dipping into the 15-year career chronicled on her recent triple disc Joanthology album - her first ever retrospective, and a perfect contrast to her acclaimed 2018 studio album Damned Devotion.

An acclaimed classically-trained multi-instrumentalist, Wasser found early recognition as a violinist in a range of hip 1990s outfits like The Dambuilders and Antony And The Johnsons, Wasser will focus on piano and guitar on this tour.



Right from the start of her career, Wasser's stunning stage presence and aggressive style of playing earned admiration from the likes of Radiohead's Colin Greenwood. Driven by the tragic death of boyfriend Jeff Buckley in 1997, Wasser began to forge her own path, forming the band Black Beetle with the remaining band members from Buckley's band to seek a path through her grief.

Wasser began writing her own songs around this time, before embarking on her solo career under a name that nods to the actress Angie Dickinson's starring role in the TV series Police Woman. “She was really powerful but sexy at the same time,” said Wasser at the time of her acting inspiration, before adding that she also liked the quirkiness of choosing a stage name "to be funny because, although my music is serious, I like to laugh at tragedy”.

Wasser's songs channel a starkly honest emotional heft, allied to distinctive textures and genre-hopping from soul to alt-rock, delivered via an incredible voice whose breathtaking purity has been compared to the late great Karen Carpenter.

Famously a collaborator and muse to artists as diverse as Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed and Beck, this tour will see Wasser re-imagining many of her finest songs, while also playing a host of distinctive covers.

Joan As Police Woman UK Tour Dates:

Fri, Jun 21, St George's Church, Brighton
Sun, Jun 23, The Tin Music And Arts, Coventry
Mon, Jun 24, Earth (Evolutionary Arts Hackney), London
Wed, Jun 26, The Quarterhouse, Folkestone
Thu, Jun 27, Glee Club, Nottingham
Sat, Jun 29, The Gate, Cardiff
Sun, Jun 30, The Guildhall, St Ives
Mon, Jul 1, Phoenix, Exeter
Tue, Jul 2, St George's Bristol, Bristol
Wed, Jul 3, The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool
Fri, Jul 5, Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
Sat, Jul 6, Sage, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Sun, Jul 7, Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh
Tue, Jul 9, St. Lukes, Glasgow
Wed, Jul 10, College Of Music, Leeds
Thu, Jul 11, Rncm (Royal Northern College Of Music), Manchester

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