Grubby Mitts are a wilfully eclectic nine-piece art-rock ensemble from Bedford, fronted by artist Andy Holden. Expanded to include a full brass section, the band combine joyful melodic pop, cinematic production and avant-garde experimentation, moving freely between orchestral pop, classical minimalism and post-punk. Their latest releases, the Valediction EP and album Love in the Misanthropocene, explore vulnerability, hope and love amid contemporary political and ecological precarity. Guided by their manifesto, Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity, Grubby Mitts balance playful absurdity with genuine emotional force. Their live performances bring music, video and visual art together in what feels like an exhibition in concert form, building through shifting rhythms and emotional registers towards crescendos of cacophonous yelping. They have performed at the ICA, Hayward Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery, Latitude and Austria's Donaufestival, and toured UK artist-run spaces. Warm, strange and exhilarating, they create poignant songs that tread a fine line between sentiment and experimentation.
Website: https://andyholdenartist.com/grubbymitts
Instagram: @grubbymittsband
Portrait of Grubby Mitts. Photography by Eva Vermandel.
