{"id":32169,"date":"2026-04-27T09:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=32169"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:53:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:53:23","slug":"on-stage-plus-a-european-flavor-for-shows-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=32169","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Plus): A European flavor for shows tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Denny Dyroff,<\/strong> Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"

Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the next few days, three of Europe\u2019s oldest and most progressive music acts will be performing in the area \u2013 England\u2019s Archive and Italy\u2019s JoyCut in Elkton tonight and Germany\u2019s Uli John Roth at the Sellersville Theater on April 29.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
On April 27, the Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com<\/a>), will present a twin-bill featuring Archive from England\u2019s South London and JoyCut from Bologna, Italy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The tour is billed as \u201cbringing together two bands that share a common ambition to push musical boundaries and innovate — a meeting of kindred spirits and a cohesive package with a story to tell.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Archive formed in Croydon, South London, in 1994 when Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths teamed with vocalist Roya Arab and rapper Rosko John.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The band\u2019s debut, \u201cLondinium,\u201d released on Island Records in 1996, blended trip-hop and orchestral textures. After line-up changes, the band issued \u201cTake My Head\u201d (1999), \u201cYou All Look the Same to Me\u201d (2002), \u201cNoise\u201d (2004), \u201cLights\u201d (2006), \u201cControlling Crowds\u201d (2009).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Archive followed with \u201cControlling Crowds \u2013 Part IV\u201d (2009), \u201cWith Us Until You\u2019re Dead\u201d (2012), \u201cAxiom\u201d (2014), \u201cRestriction\u201d (2015), \u201cThe False Foundation\u201d (2016), \u201cVersions\u201d (2020) and \u201cCall to Arms & Angels\u201d (2022).<\/div>\n
Despite Archive\u2019s arena status in Europe the tour represents the band\u2019s first visit to North America.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been together for 32 years and this is our first American tour,\u201d said Keeler, during a recent phone interview from his home in Brighton, England.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIf I could have planned my career, it would not have been this way. We\u2019re famous and have good fanbases all over Europe.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cBut we never got support in the states early on. Also, we\u2019ve always been a big band with up to eight people on stage and that\u2019s expensive when you\u2019re touring.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cEven from the beginning, we had no American tour because of money. We were going to do it early but the label pulled out of tour support<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really glad that we now have the opportunity to play live for our fans in North America. It\u2019s been a long, long wait for them and a really, really long wait for us.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThere always has been a good demand for us in Europe. Th best thing about touring is winning people over. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be well-received on this tour because the fans are going to get it.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Archive\u2019s most recent album is \u201cGlass Minds,\u201d which was released on the band\u2019s Dangervisit label on February 27, 2026.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Produced by Archive with long-time collaborator J\u00e9r\u00f4me Devoise, \u201cGlass Minds\u201d was recorded at Metway Studios (Brighton) and Angel Studios (London) and mixed at Studio DES (Paris).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cGlass Minds\u201d follows the 2022 triple-album set \u201cCall to Arms & Angels\u201d, after which Archive headlined their biggest shows to date.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe recorded \u2018Glass Minds\u2019 over the last two years,\u201d said Keeler. \u201cWe hired a place in the country to rehearse. We found a farm in Cornwall. We went there three times for two-week periods to do rehearsals.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThen we went to Brighton to Metway Studios and spent a month recording there. Then, we spent a month in Paris at Studio DES recording with a French guy — J\u00e9r\u00f4me Devoise.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cGlass Minds\u201d is filled with intensity.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really down-tempo with a lot of minimal space,\u201d said Keller. \u201cI wrote most of the music and everyone was in on the lyrics. It\u2019s a real song-based album.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a band known for improvising \u2013 but not so much on the new album. The songs tend to stay in original form. It\u2019s nice for a change.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Archive has gone through a lot of personnel changes over the years but always has revolved around the nucleus of Danny Griffiths and Keeler.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always been me and Danny deciding the creative path,\u201d said Keeler. \u201cThe problem with a band artistically is that a democracy doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Keeler has a definite link to the Quaker City.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMy grandfather is from Philadelphia,\u201d said Keeler \u201cHe was an optics pioneer who moved to England when he was 18.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In 1917, American-born Charles D. Keeler opened his first practice in Wigmore Street, London. He supplied high quality dispensing services and spectacles to the patients of ophthalmologists.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThis is my first time to go to Philadelphia,\u201d said Keeler, who is a devout supporter of London\u2019s Crystal Palace football team. \u201cIn all these years, I\u2019ve only been to New York, L.A. and Denver.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe did a pretty big tour of Europe with JoyCut recently and that went well. Now, we\u2019re doing three weeks in North America.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll play as many famous songs as we can. When you haven\u2019t played there for more than 30 years, that\u2019s a lot of songs.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201c32 years on and we\u2019re still making music. We work really hard on our music. We push ourselves a lot.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Video link for Archive — https:\/\/youtu.be\/Y1gRbVRIDvQ<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"

JoyCut<\/p><\/div>\n

JoyCut have built a long-standing relationship with North American audiences through extensive touring and media support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
JoyCut\u00a0is a creative music outpost, never afraid to follow unconventional paths \u2013 including a trip to Chester County a decade ago for a show at Chaplin\u2019s in Spring City.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Formed in Bologna and devoted to long-form sound research and exploration, the band has developed a language built around dual tribal and industrial drumming, electronic architectures, orchestral saturations and immersive dynamics, shaped by a cosmic blue sonic identity and extended instrumental compositions.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sound remains central and uncompromised. From this position, their practice engages deeply with themes of the Anthropocene, the vulnerability of nature, animal farming and the erosion of human values.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Their latest album, \u201cTheBluWave,\u201d stands as a clear and monumental body of work devoted to the climate emergency, the melting of glaciers and the fragility of humankind — seeking love as a response to fear.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This independent, research-driven approach has led\u00a0JoyCut\u00a0to present works in major international cultural contexts, including the debut of the six-act opera, \u201cKOMOREBI,\u201d at the Biennale di Venezia, conceived as a soundtrack tribute to Japan.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In 2023, the project expanded further with \u201cWall Of Humanity.\u201d It premiered in a sold-out performance with a 50-piece philharmonic orchestra, where sound, image and narrative converged to explore collective responsibility and the fragility of human ethics.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
JoyCut\u00a0were personally invited by Robert Smith to perform as headliners at the Meltdown Festival in London — an experience documented in the award-winning film \u201cOne Step Closer To The Moon.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They were later selected by Brian Eno to contribute to the EarthPercent project with the track The Plastic Whale.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
More recently, in June 2025,\u00a0JoyCut contributed the remix\u00a0\u201cDrone:NoDrone<\/a>\u201d to \u201cMixes of a Lost World,\u201d a project curated by Robert Smith featuring reinterpretations of The Cure\u2019s latest album.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Video link for JoyCut — https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7quB5VdkXxE<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The show at the Elkton Music Hall will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tickets are $30 standing and $48 seated.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This week, David\u00a0Wilcox\u00a0will be heading north from North Carolina once again \u2013 this time to perform a show at 118 North (118 North Wayne Avenue, Wayne, www.118northwayne.com<\/a>).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m enjoying music more than ever now,\u201d said\u00a0Wilcox, during a phone interview last week from his home in Asheville, North Carolina.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just doing the gigs \u2013 gigs that I really love. The songs that I write now are as good as any. Audiences say they love the new songs. I keep my sense of awe and gratitude.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI love playing the new songs. The songs from this record are still showing me \u2013 showing more layers.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are showing me the way I am right now \u2013 opening channels that believe heart and mind \u2013 listening to what means most to me.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen I write songs about what makes life worth living, I write songs about truth \u2013 times with friends and times for adventure.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In August, Wilcox released his most recent album \u2013 \u201cThe Way I Tell the Story.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
With \u201cThe Way I Tell the Story,\u201d Wilcox proves, yet again, that resilience isn\u2019t just a survival skill\u2014it\u2019s an art form.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The record shimmers with musical sophistication but leaves just enough space for the listener to feel what Wilcox has always done best — tell the truth, gently but without apology.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The music he\u2019s creating now comes from a place that can\u2019t be faked.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In recent years, Wilcox\u2019s life has been shaped by his wife\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis — a shift that reordered his priorities and redefined his sense of time, love, and presence.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But rather than retreat, Wilcox leaned in. \u201cTimes get tough, and music gets good,\u201d he says, and means it. These songs don\u2019t dramatize. They don\u2019t resolve neatly. They sit in the complexity of living\u2014open-eyed, unafraid, quietly brave.\u201d<\/div>\n
Fans of the veteran singer\/ songwriter heard a preview of some of these songs when\u00a0Wilcox\u00a0headlined a show at the Bryn Mawr Gazebo last August.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cSome songs are five years old, and some are one year old,\u201d said\u00a0Wilcox. \u201cThis process gave us a lot of opportunity to re-listen and re-think. We had three years to do that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI realized that I had been through some stuff and these songs reflect this.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cI love these songs. They shed light for someone you love. They deal with addiction. They deal with keeping optimistic during trying times.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe song \u2018How I Tell\u2019 is about stories in the back of our minds and how we navigate through tough times.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cFor example, the singer\/songwriter life. You hear a lot of people talking about how difficult it is. You pick a task, and the adversity of this path is the best part. It gives you a life worth writing about.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The music he\u2019s creating now comes from a place that can\u2019t be faked.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In recent years,\u00a0Wilcox\u2019s life has been shaped by his wife\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis — a shift that reordered his priorities and redefined his sense of time, love, and presence.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Parkinson\u2019s disease\u00a0is a\u00a0neurodegenerative disease\u00a0primarily of the\u00a0central nervous system, affecting both\u00a0motor\u00a0and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually, and non-motor issues become more prevalent as the disease progresses.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
On July 22, legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne died from Parkinson\u2019s at the age of 76.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe topics of one of the new songs is my wife\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d said\u00a0Wilcox. \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful song. It\u2019s about a garage sale \u2013 giving away all the athletic equipment \u2013 letting go of the past.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe past three years have been really rough for my wife and me. It\u2019s awful. It\u2019s also definitely an adventure.\u201d<\/div>\n
The adventure came to a halt recently.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMy wife Nance passed away four months ago,\u201d said Wilcox. \u201cWe\u2019d been married for 35 years, and she\u2019s had Parkinson\u2019s for the last 15. The last three years required a lot of care. It was a peaceful transformation when she departed.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt created a lot of songs. It really showed me priorities. It had a lot of influence \u2013 sometimes in a subtle way.\u201d<\/div>\n
More than three decades into his career,\u00a0Wilcox\u00a0continues to push himself, just as he always has.\u00a0Wilcox, by so many measures, is a quintessential folk singer, telling stories full of heart, humor, and hope, substance, searching, and style.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
His innate sense of adventure and authenticity is why critics and colleagues, alike, have always praised not just his artistry, but his humanity, as well.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It\u2019s the result of a man giving himself over in gratitude and service to something bigger than himself.<\/div>\n
After an early 80s move to Warren Wilson College in North Carolina,\u00a0Wilcox\u00a0started playing guitar and writing songs, processing his own inner workings and accessing his own inner wisdom.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wilcox\u2019s career began in earnest in the late 1980s, when his self-released debut, \u201cThe Nightshift Watchman,\u201d caught the attention of A&M Records. His major-label debut, \u201cHow Did You Find Me Here\u201d (1989), became an unexpected hit, selling over 100,000 copies largely by word of mouth and live shows alone — an unheard-of feat for a debut folk record.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Critics took note of his deft guitar work and emotional clarity, but it was the unassuming wisdom threaded through his lyrics that truly set him apart.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What followed was a string of acclaimed albums \u2013 \u201cBig Horizon\u201d (1994), \u201cTurning Point\u201d (1997), \u201cWhat You Whispered\u201d (2000) — each one refining his reputation as a songwriter who knows how to say hard things in soft, lasting ways.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wilcox\u00a0has continued to display his impressive craft as a songwriter \u2013 especially with the songs on \u201cThe Way I Tell the Story.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIn my set this weekend, I\u2019ll be playing four or five new songs \u2013 maybe more,\u201d said\u00a0Wilcox. \u201cI know I have to do good balance with new songs and old favorites.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Video link for David\u00a0Wilcox\u00a0—\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/8a4muEioFkI<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
David Wilcox\u2019s show at 118 North will start at 6:30 p.m.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tickets are $25.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Over the next few days, three of Europe\u2019s oldest and most progressive music acts will be performing in the area \u2013 England\u2019s Archive and Italy\u2019s JoyCut in Elkton tonight and Germany\u2019s Uli John Roth at the Sellersville Theater on April 29. On April 27, the Elkton Music Hall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12310,12312,3162,12311],"class_list":["post-32169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","tag-archive","tag-david-wilson","tag-featured","tag-joycut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32171,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32169\/revisions\/32171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}