Following the success their 2019 tour, 1919 and Then Comes Silence are proud to announce the co-headline tour Machine vs Machine, in partnership with Songs of Preys.

Then Comes Silence are the Swedish captains of post-punk, who have gone from strength to strength since exploding onto the scene in 2012. Following the release of their eponymous debut album on Swedish indie label Novotion that year, TCS quickly became favourites of the European post-punk scene, supporting the likes of Fields Of The Nephilim and Chameleons Vox along the way.

TCS soon caught the attention of the iconic Nuclear Blast label, who released the band’s follow-up, Blood, in 2017. After making their UK bow in 2019, their third album Machine is out in March 2020 on Oblivion/SPV/Metropolis and has already caught the attention of mainstream TV in their native Sweden. Then Comes Silence are legends in the making.

1919 released their debut LP Machine on Red Rhino in 1982, following two 7” singles and the first of two John Peel sessions since their inception in 1980. Contemporaries of The March Violets, Southern Death Cult, and New Model Army, among others in a vibrant West Yorkshire post-punk scene; the band were original contributors to what became the Goth genre. They went on to release the iconic Dream // Cry Wolf single on Abstract, and record a second Peel session before officially calling it a day in 1984.

Three decades later, founding guitarist Mark Tighe and drummer Mick Reed recruited a new vocalist, Rio Goldhammer, and bass player Karl Donner, and embarked on a rollercoaster renaissance for the group. Following the self-released “Death Note” EP and a number of successful tours in Europe, 1919 signed to Westworld in 2017 to release Bloodline, the critically acclaimed follow-up to their cult debut LP. Tragically though, Tighe lost his life to cancer shortly before the album’s release.

At Tighe’s insistence 1919 pressed ahead with touring and working on new material, announcing Sam Evans as their new full-time guitarist. 2019 saw the release of the band’s third album, Futurecide, on legendary LA label Cleopatra, which included final performances from Tighe on “Stop the World” and Cry Wolf-era bass player Steve Madden on “Isolation”. Madden, sadly, would lose his own battle with cancer shortly after, marking another turbulent year for the band in which they performed sell-out shows in Mexico and Poland, but were forced to cancel plans to tour the USA and France due to the Federal shutdown and Brexit uncertainty respectively.

In 2020 the band have already announced shows with Killing Joke and Folk Devils, and teamed up once again with Then Comes Silence to bring you Machine vs Machine: the past, present, and future of European post-punk.