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Gizmo Varillas joined by legendary drummer Tony Allen on new single ‘Saving Grace’

Gizmo Varillas returns this week with new single ‘Saving Grace’, featuring the legendary Tony Allen on drums. Described by Brain Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived”, Tony Allen was drummer and musical director for Fela Kuti’s band Africa ’70, and has most recently been heard playing with Damon Albarn (Blur), Paul Simonon (The Clash), and Simon Tong (The Verve) as drummer for The Good, the Bad & the Queen.

‘Saving Grace’ takes us on a journey beginning with a distorted flute that rises into the driving rhythm guitars and then pulsates with Tony’s afrobeat drums. The journey moves swiftly along the narrative bassline while Gizmo’s softly worded story plays out along the horizon.

Talking about the song, and working with Tony, Gizmo explains, “On this song I collaborated with one my heroes, one of the best all time drummers and pioneers of Afrobeat, Tony Allen. Growing up I’d listen to his music a lot and even to this day I am in awe of the rhythms and music he’s created throughout his career. Being in RAK’s Studio 2 while this musical legend laid down drums on one of my own tracks was a magical experience… To add to that he was so humble and kind, he worked hard to get the best performance possible. That alone is such a massive stamp of approval and I will be forever honored to be part of his legacy!”

Tony adds, “its great work that we have done together. Gizmo’s vocal sounds so original!”.

Gizmo has seen massive support for his two recent singles ‘Out Of The Darkness’ and ‘Danza Da Sombras’. The tracks have received plays on BBC Radio Two (Jo Whiley), BBC 6 Music (Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins & Tom Robinson), BBC Radio Wales (Huw Stephens, Janice Long & Adam Walton), and BBC London (Gary Crowley & Jess Iszatt), have been play-listed by Amazing Radio and BBC Wales (A List), have been added to the Apple Music ‘A List’ and ‘Breaking Singer Songwriter’ playlists, and have made appearances on Spotify’s ‘A Perfect Day’, ‘Discover With Friends’, ‘Feel Good Dinner’ and ‘FIFA 19’ playlists (resulting in an average 275,000 monthly listeners & 700,000 monthly streams).

Having just completed UK tour in support of Rodrigo Y Gabriella, Gizmo will play the below London headline show:

Tues Nov 26 – Camden Assembly, London

Tickets > https://listnin.co/GizmoVarillasTickets

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