Guitar legend Hotei announces his all-star band for Islington Assembly Hall Show on October 21st

Japanese guitar legend HOTEI has announced the very special band that will be joining him for his headline show at Islington Assembly Hall on October 21st. This is a chance for Londoners to get up close to the guitar superstar heralded by Time Out last week as“iconic”.

Scheduled to perform on stage with Hotei are Gary Stringer from reunited British rock band Reef, acclaimed Texan singer and Hotei album contributor Shea Seger, and Noko of UK electronic pioneers Apollo 440. Support on the night comes from James Toseland, the former world superbike champion turned musician and Planet Rock favourite.

The show celebrates Hotei’s debut international album Strangers, released on October 16th through Spinefarm Records. Hotei’s latest release is already receiving critical acclaim with Classic Rock calling it “bombastic enough to soundtrack the splatter of Tarantino’s next bloodbath” and Guitarist Magazine describing it as, “imaginative, fresh and varied with no stylistic boundary unexplored – and it’s mercilessly entertaining”.

Strangers is a wide-ranging body of work with a dramatic sonic palette demonstrating Hotei’s diversity as a songwriter and virtuoso guitarist mixing instrumental epics with contemporary masterpieces such as ‘Move It’, an upbeat industrial thumper featuring Emigrate/Rammstein guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe on vocals. Other guests include Bullet For My Valentine’s Matt Tuck, as you’ve never heard him before on the atmospheric ‘Kill To Love You’, which is a dark and emotive track ripe with cinematic drama.

Sought-after as a collaborator both in the studio and on stage, Hotei has previously joined forces with music royalty such as David Bowie, Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), INXS, Blondie, Joni Mitchell, Darren Price (Underworld) and more recently performed with The Rolling Stones on their 50th Anniversary tour.

Having sold more than 40 million records in his native Japan, Hotei is now living in London to focus on his international career and has previously headlined sold-out shows in the capital at the Roundhouse (2012) and Shepherd’s Bush Empire (2013).

Watch ‘Texas Groove’ featuring Shea Seger HERE

Watch ‘How the Cookie Crumbles’ featuring Iggy Pop HERE