Mik Artistik's Ego Trip

Something wonderfully strange, joyous and completely unpredictable is heading for the Pennines this summer as Leeds cult hero Mik Artistik's Ego Trip arrive at Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre for what promises to be a gloriously zany summer evening of northern surrealism, music and storytelling.

Trying to categorise Mik Artistik is almost impossible. Poet, raconteur, singer, artist, comedian, philosopher of the everyday — his performances sit somewhere between rock 'n' roll, stand-up comedy, spoken word theatre and improvised musical storytelling. Audiences are drawn into his strange and hilarious universe as he fixes them with his hypnotic stare, weaving together stories, poems and spontaneous songs pulled straight from the strange theatre of everyday northern life. Every performance is different, every show is a journey, and often even Mik himself doesn't know where it will end up.

Behind him stands the musical engine of the Ego Trip — most notably the wonderfully inventive guitarist Jonny Flockton, whose shimmering electric guitar lines build intricate layers of rock, soul, funk, punk and folk textures around Mik's surreal observations and improvisations. Together they create something that is at once chaotic and strangely beautiful — a live experience that is both hilarious and strangely moving.

Over the years the band have developed a huge cult following across the UK, particularly on the festival circuit. Since their first appearance in 2007, Mik Artistik's Ego Trip have become one of the most beloved recurring acts at Glastonbury Festival, where their performances at the Croissant Neuf Bandstand and the Rocket Lounge have become genuine festival traditions. For many regulars, Glastonbury simply hasn't begun until they've seen Mik perform.

Their reputation as one of Britain's most unique live acts has also taken them to many of the country's biggest alternative festivals including Latitude Festival, Bearded Theory, Beat-Herder Festival, Wilderness Festival and Beautiful Days Festival, where audiences have embraced the band's surreal mix of humour, poetry and raw northern rock 'n' roll energy.

Radio tastemakers have long recognised Mik's unique talent. Presenters on BBC Radio 6 Music — including Gideon Coe, Chris Hawkins, Shaun Keaveny and Tom Robinson — have all championed the band over the years, helping introduce their wonderfully eccentric world to a national audience.

Perhaps the most extraordinary endorsement came from rock legend Iggy Pop, who selected the band's heartfelt anthem "Sweet Leaf of the North" as his favourite song of the entire decade, praising it for being "human, real and full of soul."

The song perfectly captures the spirit of Mik Artistik — a celebration of ordinary life, northern identity and the strange poetry hidden in everyday experiences. His songs frequently wander through the minutiae of life: betting shop pens, libraries, family life, odd conversations, memories of pubs and street corners — all delivered with warmth, humour and a storyteller's instinct for the surreal.

But Mik's story began long before the festivals and radio play. Born in Ireland and raised in Leeds, he first became something of a local folk legend as a portrait artist, wandering pubs and cafés drawing people's likenesses on paper bags. That instinct — to meet people, listen to their stories and turn everyday encounters into art — remains at the heart of his music and performances today.

His philosophy is disarmingly simple:

"My job is being me. Being Mik. I live off my wits… off my 'Mikness'."

That wonderfully anarchic spirit has helped him build a career spanning decades, during which the band have released multiple albums and performed everywhere from tiny northern pubs to international festival stages. Along the way they've supported artists as diverse as cult German experimental rock pioneers Faust and British pub-rock legends Chas & Dave, proving once again that Mik Artistik fits comfortably into no single musical category.

What audiences experience at a Mik Artistik show is something more than a conventional concert. It's a conversation, a piece of theatre, a comedy set, a surreal poem and a rock gig all happening at once — delivered with a huge dose of northern warmth and charm.

And in a 60-capacity listening room beneath the shadow of Pendle Hill, the beautifully eccentric world of Mik Artistik is going to feel even more intimate and wonderfully unpredictable.

Expect laughter, chaos, poetry, music and a glorious sense that absolutely anything might happen.