There are some musical duos so meant-to-be-together, you’d hear people say they must be “joined at the hip.” It is fair to say that Aussie americana act Rain of Animals pair sits very squarely in that category and they’ve announced a series of UK dates for next month.
World-roving troubadors, Rain Of Animals are a richly euphonious collaboration between Pepita Emmerichs (of former Aussie chart-toppers Oh Pep!) and Theodore Barnard (from Wire & Wool) – the band grew from their love of all things mandolin, fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, bluegrass, old-time and swing among other genres. They first met and forged a name for themselves after an impromptu jam session in a Melbourne bar in 2018, and have continued to perform, write and tour together ever since.
Pepita and Theo are also regular fixtures in the band, Stereo Naked, and will be appearing in a double header show with them at the 2024 Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
That booking came about following the UK tour they completed late in ’22. Reviewing their Glasgow show, we were fairly glowing with our take on the duo: “Playing classic bluegrass numbers along with some self-penned songs and a grand cover of Gillian Welch’s ‘Dear Someone’, the duo played brilliantly with some scintillating solos on show on all three instruments, especially on a rapid fire version of Bill Monroe’s ‘Tennessee Blues’ while they also delivered a rousing ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’. From their recent album, ‘Nali’s World’, ‘Blaven’ was quite astounding with the pair demonstrating the fine art of utilising dynamics via a condenser microphone, while ‘Lil Demon’ (so called explained Emmerichs as it uses b flat tuning which is a curse to play on mandolin) was another joy to hear for those who love instrumental music played with love and joy.”
Find out for yourself on one of the dates below:
Rain of Animals 2023 UK Tour:
Thu 7 Sep: Fishery Wharf Café, Hemel Hempstead
Fri 8 Sep: Green Note, Camden
Sun 10 Sep: Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
Wed 13 Sep: Anvil Arts, Basingstoke
Thu 14 Sep: The Pump House, Louth, Lincs
Fri 15 Sep: The Ropewalk, Barton upon Humber
Sat 16 Sep: Café #9, Sheffield
Tue 19 Sep: The Bijou, Southport
Wed 20 Sep: Performing Arts Centre, Kilbarchan
Thu 21 Sep: Acoustic Music Club, Kirkcaldy
