Future Proof – a Lesser Version
+ SUNGLASZ VENDOR + STUDIO20 + AKA + BRAIN LEAK + DREW FRIELFuture Yard Presents
Future Proof returns for Independent Venue Week on 30th January 2027!
Headlined by a Lesser Version, we’re also joined by an all-star cast including:
Sunglasz Vendor
studio20
AKA
Brain Leak
+ Drew Friel
Described by The Quietus as ‘purveyors of fractured and emotive DIY indie rock’, a Lesser Version crafts songs that are heartfelt and homemade in a post-internet, post-genre universe that stretches from shoegaze to folk via emo and electronica.
Alumni of Green Man Rising, they were shortlisted from over 4000 acts and performed at the festival in August 2025 before touring across the country at the beginning of 2026 and sharing stages with the likes of Shallowater, Another Country $$$$, and Shaking Hand.
Their music has been supported by the likes of TheNeedleDrop and 6Music, and their latest album, ‘0.2 Flesh Etc’, is another commitment to DIY music and the album as the prevailing format for which to present their work.
Self-recorded and self-produced, it was engineered alongside Ollie Roper (Gladness, Trout, Mewn), mixed by Yuri Shibuichi (Honeyglaze, Tapir!, Mary in the Junkyard), and mastered by Jack Wait (Hank Bee).
They visit us to debut even more new music set for release in 2027.
"a Lesser Version's guitars sound so lush and heavy and pillowy and you just want to swim in them forever, you want them to drown you to death, you want to suffocate in these guitars" - The Needle Drop
Inspired by the early-2000s radio rock that first drew the band to music, Sunglasz Vendor are swinging unapologetically for maximalism. The wiry three-piece is blown out to absurd proportions: mixes deliberately slammed, guitars stacked thick until the waveform chokes into a distorted, heaving mass. On their blistering second album, Sunglasz Vendor capture the seething urges for excitement, change and genuine connection that most feel – but rarely act upon. Asking someone out, deleting social media, confessing your feelings for a friend, quitting a desk job: pivotal moments in contemporary life that are agonized over for far too long.
studio20 operate from a shipping container in a Kentish field. Their roots spread far underground, entangling brooding electronics, angsty emo instrumentation, and pop-rock hooks to feed a strange and beautiful new flower.
The band’s three voices sing and shout about inner and outer worlds, stasis, and moving forward when no other life seems possible. With a cathartic live set fertilised by every show, they are pushing up through the earth towards the sun.
studio20 have played alongside the likes of GOON, Bloodsports, Honesty & Shaking Hand and have also opened for Robber Robber on their 2026 UK/EU tour.
AKA is the new project of Liverpool based musician and producer Callum Thompson. Blending character-driven songwriting with quirky sample led soundscapes, the project marks a different musical direction for Callum and reflects an unconventional approach.
Brain Leak recalls the hazier, heart-on-sleeve moments of powerhouse guitar expressionists, Hole or Mazzy Star. Forged by Tara-Gabriella Engelhardt, also a member of tipped trio, Adjustments, she also welcomes Orielles drummer, Sidonie Hand-Halford to the fold, alongside former Blanketman drummer, Ellie-Rose Elliot, initiating shifts to meet overlapping touring and recording commitments. Peaness guitarist, Jess Branney, and former Working Mens Club guitarist, Giulia Bonometti complete the line-up to form an indomitable, Brain Leak line-up.
A purveyor of post-Catholic indie rock from Salford via Birkenhead, Drew Friel joins the lineup to open proceedings on the day.
VENUE INFO
Future Yard is open every day from 10am – so you can stop by for a coffee or a pre-show drink in our bar area whenever you like. Our pizza kitchen is open on weekends and before every gig, 5-9pm.
The live room doors open at 4:00pm (this is separate from our bar area), and music starts shortly after. The bar is open after the show.
Future Yard presents
a Lesser Version
+ Sunglasz Vendor
+ Studio20
+ AKA
+ Brainleak
+ Drew Friel
Saturday 30th January 2027
4:00pm doors
75 Argyle Street
Tickets £18 (+ booking fee)
Tickets available online in advance or in person at the Future Yard Box Office.
Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. We cannot issue refunds to under 16s who are not accompanied by an adult.
Future Yard is a cashless venue – all payments are taken by contactless or chip and pin. Live curfew 11pm.
If you have any specific access requests, please read all of the details about accessibility at Future Yard here.