SOFT RIOT is a London based act consisting of one JJD (Jack Duckworth); a former Vancouverite who has clocked in around fifteen years of musical output in various bands, starting off in the mid-nineties in North America’s vibrant art-punk/hardcore underground through to the revival of synth-based post-punk music just over a decade or so ago.

Soft Riot is where those paths and experiences meet in the here and now. Drawing inspiration from synthesizer-based film soundtracks of yesteryear, drones, early EBM, minimal wave, a bit of synthpop and a heavy dose of throbbing appregiated rhythms, Soft Riot is a science-fiction heavy sound that narrates the listener through today’s fractured post-modern world with hints of black humour.

Soft Riot remained as an occasional studio outing for a number of years while energies were put into other bands for a number of years. In early 2011 the project was finally given the focus it deserved with the release of “No Longer Stranger” on the Panospria label. Live performances commenced from there with a progression of sound. Documentation of this where this sound is going can be found on the recently released extended single, “Another Drone In Year Head” on the fast rising Tundra Dubs label (Funerals, ?AIMON) out of San Francisco, or on the limited edition “Hyperbolic Masses” 8-track cassette compilation.

Manning no less than three synthesizers, a microphone, an on-stage mixer, and a variety of outboard effects augmented by atmospheric on-stage lighting, this spectacle alone sets this live show as one not to be missed, and a sound to be heard.

Soft Riot’s first EP “No Longer Stranger” is getting the re-release treatment as a vinyl LP/digital (with two extra tracks) a little later this year on the US label Volar. Soft Riot tours Europe this June with London’s N?i Kabát and in the fall with Fabrika Record’s Lebanon Hanover.

Photography by Del Jae / Gloves courtesy of Vieanne Lyle