S&M Presents: The Chords UK

The Chords UK play Sidney & Matilda on Saturday 12 December, presented by S&M. It's a single-act bill, so the whole night belongs to them.

For those who know the name but not the history, the band was formed in 2013 by founding member and songwriter Chris Pope. He put it together to keep the original songs from the band's 1980s heyday alive, including Top 40 hits 'Maybe Tomorrow' and 'The British Way of Life', and tracks from the album So Far Away. Pope describes the set as "my/our take on the CHORDS tunes I wrote back in the day" — a mix of the old and the new. They list their genres as Mod, Indie, Mod Revival, Punk and Rock, and Louder Than War has called them "an incendiary rock n roll outfit."

Since starting up again, they've put out a fair bit of their own material. The Get Famous EP went straight into the official Top 40 singles chart in 2015, followed by the debut album Take on Life in 2016, the critically acclaimed Nowhere Land in 2018, and the 2022 LP Big City Dreams, which took them on tour across the USA, Europe and the UK. They also hit No 1 on the legacy charts with the single 'All for nothing at all'.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with the set running from 7:30pm to 10:30pm. Tickets are £18 in advance and £21 on the door.