From Malawi to Dalston: The Very Best Are Coming

We've been working with Desperados (the beer with tequila in it) recently on a new music feature. We've been busy filming this month with The Very Best, who are known for introducing African rhythms and pop hooks to Western dance influences and having a big, loud, noisy party about it. Over the past few years, the band's members, Esau Mwamwaya and Johan Karlberg, have worked with M.I.A. and Santigold, amongst others. Here's the video for their song “Kondaine”:

Despite the fact that much of The Very Best's loyal UK fanbase would happily crawl over broken glass to see the band live, they've never actually played a UK show, mainly due to Esau being stranded in his home country of Malawi. We weren't happy about this, which is why we decided to do something about it.

And that something was to throw a party! Because everyone likes parties. So, with the help of Desperados, we're putting on The Very Best at The Shacklewell Arms in Dalston on Tuesday, the 19th of June to play their first ever UK show. There's gonna be complimentary drinks and 200 or so sweltering bodies crammed into the indoor/ outdoor venue for the occasion. You can join the band and a bunch of their special guest friends at the party, all you have to do is RSVP to ukrsvp@vice.com with your name and contact deets. The Facebook page for the event is here.

Here's the flyer.

But this party is the culmination of a far more complicated, intercontinental story. Because first there was still the small issue of Esau being stuck in Africa. The singer of your band being on another continent would, for many bands, be an inconvenience. But no one was going to let something as trivial as 3000 miles of air travel get in the way.

With Johan's tech-head Shiny in tow, The Very Best got on a plane to Malawi and went to see Esau.

Once the small talk was over, things got underway. Shiny carried out a bit of electronic trickery and fiddled with some nobs while Esau carried out one of his trademark energetic performances. All of this will (somehow) make next Tuesday's big gig a possibility; it's gonna be something special.

Check back soon to see how it all happened in the film.