Music

Hot Chip hooked up with the Crisis ‘hidden’ gigs when guitarist Al Doyle started talking to a friend who works there
‘The Crisis centre is close to where I live in east London, so I went in to talk to staff members and started thinking about what we might be able to do with Hot Chip to help.’

Unlike the oft-exploited phrases ‘secret gig’, ‘mystery headliner’ and ‘very, very special guest’, the word ‘hidden’ here has real significance
‘A lot of homelessness is hidden. It isn’t just about living on the streets – that old-fashioned idea of the down-and-out sleeping on a park bench and begging. There are also an awful lot of people who aren’t so visible who are suffering from a lack of reliable accommodation. Living where I do, around Brick Lane, there are a lot of problems with immigrant workers living in very cramped conditions. I think maybe people aren’t so aware of that.’

Precariousness is also part of the concept
‘The idea is to give people a very, very vague taste of what it might be like for homeless people to experience insecurity about where they’re going to spend the night. In London there’s a network of shelters and hostels across the city, and the various agencies will tell homeless people where there are spaces free on various nights. Then they may have to start trekking. With these gigs, you buy your ticket but you don’t find out where the gig’s taking place till you get a text 24 hours before.’

Homelessness really could happen to you
‘That’s the biggest misconception, definitely. Quite often it starts with a small misfortune, which leads to drug or alcohol addiction, and then job loss. Things like that have happened in my family. I’ve had relatives almost losing houses because of stupid things to do with banks.’ Feature continues