Back from the dead. Just in time for Halloween.

Reunions, new albums, old friends and a world that's gone completely mad. Musical Bear wakes from its slumber.

Well, hello again.

Our last blog was in 2023. Back then, AI was the shiny new thing, filling us all with excitement, wonder and the occasional deeply disturbing image of a person with seventeen fingers. We even used it ourselves, because we were curious, easily distracted and apparently had no idea what was coming.

Three years later, merely suggesting the use of AI in the creative world is enough to get you dragged before the Artistic Council, stripped of your credentials and publicly thrashed with a rolled-up copy of the NME.

We've learned our lesson. Mostly.

Anyway, it's almost Halloween 2026, wars are raging, politics has become a competition to see who can put the most unhinged person in charge of something important, and the relentless stream of increasingly ridiculous news has somehow become so normal that barely anyone reacts any more.

Maybe that's the plan.

But enough about the impending collapse of civilisation. We've got some music news. And rather a lot of it, as it happens.

They're back. And they want you.

Yes, you read that correctly. Here Are The Young Men & Uncle Peanut are rising from the dead for one night only, on Saturday 31st October at South Street Arts Centre in Reading.

A reunion. A regathering. A revisitation of one of Musical Bear's most exciting, entertaining and gloriously unsettling acts.

Those fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have witnessed their legendary performances in the back of a van will know exactly what to expect. For everyone else, imagine some brilliantly deranged people who have a microphone, a collection of horrible noises and absolutely no interest in your personal comfort.

Wonderful stuff.

It's a one-off reunion, although Uncle Peanut himself has hardly been hiding away. He's continued appearing in public, delivering his particular brand of in-yer-face poetry over smashed beats, noise and whatever else happens to be lying around. If you've not seen him, you've had your chances. Here's another. Don't waste it.

And joining them are doops, a band we've been very happy to release music by over the years. Proper quality, these lot. Psychedelic, sometimes dark, sometimes noisy, always interesting. The kind of music we like around here, made by people who clearly care about making something worth listening to.

Also appearing are Oxford's Baby Maker, with their own wonderfully twisted mixture of funk, no wave and punk, while IRIDIPHORE will be providing visuals to make the whole evening even less suitable for anyone of a nervous disposition.

All for the frankly ridiculous price of £5 in advance.

Saturday 31st October 2026 — South Street Arts Centre, Reading. Doors 7.30pm.

More details and tickets – The Return of the Living Dead

Two men, a travelling medicine show and an inconvenient date

What else, we hear you ask?

Well, The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show have a new album.

We really need to find a shorter way of saying that. TMTMS? The Travelling Men? A Few Blokes With Pills? Suggestions on a digital postcard, please. Remember postcards? You could always email us, assuming people still do that.

Anyway, we've heard the album, and it's every bit as good as you'd expect. Which is very good indeed. There's something reassuring about a band continuing to make music that sounds unmistakably like themselves while still finding new corners to explore.

And they've got a launch party to celebrate.

On Saturday 31st October.

Yes, that Saturday 31st October.

Apparently nobody consulted anybody else about this, because their show is at The Underground in Boscombe, a considerable distance from HATYM + Uncle Peanut's resurrection in Reading.

You'd need some fairly serious witchcraft up your wizard's sleeves to attend both, although we're not ruling out teleportation. It's Halloween, after all.

Whichever you choose, you'll be in for a great night. And make sure you give the new album a listen.

The Kill Committee Album. Yes, really. It's happening.

Now, we appreciate that we've said this before.

Several times, probably.

But The Kill Committee's second album really is getting closer to completion.

In recent weeks there have been actual vocals recorded, actual mixing sessions and actual signs that the enormous collection of musical ideas, noises and arguments about guitar levels is becoming something resembling a finished record.

And it sounds huge.

Of course we'd say that. We're hardly going to announce that the new album sounds a bit disappointing and you should probably avoid it. But genuinely, it's sounding rather special.

There's more work to do, but things are moving. We'll have more to say when there's something definite to announce, rather than another optimistic prediction that we'll all pretend we've forgotten about six months later.

Meanwhile, over at The Gymkhana...

In Musical Bear-adjacent news, The Gymkhana are hard at work on their second album too.

If you've caught any of their live shows over the past eighteen months, you'll know why that's exciting.

The core three-piece features Jason from Here Are The Young Men, Dyson from The Kill Committee and Patch from The Sundays. Not a bad collection of musical histories to start with.

And, as with their first album, they've been inviting a rather impressive collection of friends into the studio.

Among those contributing this time are Mike and Danny from The Kill Committee, alongside a whole host of indie royalty. We're not going to start listing everyone here, partly because we'd inevitably forget somebody important and partly because it's nice to leave a few surprises.

Their first album picked up some welcome attention, including airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music over the summer and a growing collection of high-profile admirers.

They've also signed with Last Night From Glasgow, which is rather exciting and thoroughly deserved.

If you haven't heard the first album yet, go and investigate. And if the new songs we've heard live are anything to go by, album number two should be something worth getting excited about.

And that's about it. For now.

So there we are. Three years without a blog and suddenly everyone's reforming, recording, releasing albums and arranging gigs on exactly the same night.

We're hurtling towards the end of 2026, and we've got a few ideas for more live shows featuring Musical Bear bands and some of our favourite guests. Nothing we're quite ready to announce yet, but we'd like to keep bringing interesting people together in interesting rooms to make interesting noises.

And while we're here, a genuine thank you to everyone who's come along to the shows we've put on between 2023 and 2026. Whether you've been to one or all of them, bought a record, shared a track or just stood at the back with a pint wondering what on earth was going on, we appreciate it.

Independent music survives because people still make it, people still put it on, and, most importantly, people still turn up.

In a world that's becoming increasingly difficult to make sense of, that's worth holding on to.

See you at Halloween. Bring your ears, your friends and tell everyone that these things still matter

Musical Bear Records
Still here. Still making a noise.