Kelan

Something of a household name in Bristol, Max Kelan has navigated the industrial underbelly of his hometown for a hot minute. Performing as part of Bad Tracking and Salac, his visual work also carries weight, providing music videos and live visuals too many including The Pop Group, Pinch, Fuck Punk, Giant Swan, Hodge and Tod Daraku to name a few. He also found time to run the exxxtra sweaty Industrial tinged party, Slack Alice and release a book of poetry and spoken word. He is now running record label and event series Bellyache and producing and writing music as Kelan. Kelan’s debut solo outing on the Bristol Normcore imprint, ‘Downtown’ comprised seven tales of sleazy noir, vice and earthly transgression - along the way taking a verbal match to the flag, spitting venom at vampiric landlords and erupting into lewd, schoolyard chants. His riotous live shows (frequently performed naked) are loud, raw, heated, unhinged and often end in total chaos. This has brought him to touring around the world and supporting a diverse range of acts including Xiu Xiu, John Maus, Scorn and Hide, to name a few. He followed up ‘Downtown’ with ‘The Strip’ on Dead Channel Records, a no-holes-barred, raw EP full of debauchery and bane stands fast as a praxis against the rotting establishment. This was quickly followed by ‘Further Downtown’ on Bristol Normcore featuring remixes from Pessimist, Yussh, Kinlaw and Franco Franco and more. Explicit and illicit, Kelan debuts on Bellyache with an eponymous album of gritty odes to the underground. Punching firm from the press of play, each track skins the surface of experience that constitutes the Kelan sound. Melding societal and personal reflections within a smelter of visceral and euphoric influences, the self-titled album is a raw, honest, and rebellious chapter in the work of Bristol’s industrial troubadour. This second effort was conceived over the course of 2 hedonistic years and written in Milan, Paris, Oulu and his hometown of Bristol. “For this short period of time I felt free and like the world held endless possibilities. I wanted the album to be a sort of Industrial-Pop album, influenced by the music which has had the biggest impact on my life at various different times in my life ie: Nu Metal as a child / teenager, House, Techno and Rave Music as a young adult and Industrial Music which I have listened to in various different forms for most of my life now.” The album's lyrics deal with addiction in various different forms, euphoria, criticism of nepotism and the gradual attempt at phasing out working-class people from the arts and sweating out the week's problems in the club.”