Entertainment formed in 2002 in Athens, Georgia, influenced by the Doors, Love, Led Zeppelin, Bauhaus, Public Image Ltd, the Cure, Gang of Four, Christian Death, Joy Division, the Birthday Party, dub and krautrock.[1]
After the December 2003 release of their first single “Safe at One” on Atlanta label Stickfigure Records,[2] the band was signed by now-defunct Luminal Records, who released their second single, “Patroness”, in 2004. A split 12-inch EP release with Canadian band A Spectre Is Haunting Europe followed in 2006 on Simulacre Media/Adistant Sound.[3]
Entertainment’s debut album, Gender, was released in 2008 by Stickfigure, with a remastered vinyl version issued the following year on New York label Duchess Archive.[4] It received extensive critical acclaim and was voted the 2008 deathrock album of the year by Deathrock.com.,[5] who said, “Entertainment take [the] dark, post-punk, gothic concept back to the drawing board, removing the complication and dispensing with the miserable pop-sensibilities of the latest crop of ‘post-punk’ bandwagoners over the past half decade. What they achieve with surrealistic, visually descriptive lyrics, and the opium-den like pace is ultimately parallel to none other than Only Theatre of Pain, oddly enough”.
In a 2009 live review for Shadowtime NYC, Big Takeover critic Kristin Sollee described Entertainment as: “A slow burn of anarchic pleasures moving between pounding, tribal vigor and creeping, Gothic slither, few bands can make music this cold and abyssal so fiery and enticing”.[6]
In 2016, the band toured the United States as support for Modern English[7]. for the first time. They toured with Modern English a second time in 2017 for Southeastern dates.
In 2019, Entertainment continued to work on their follow up album, working with producer Tom Aston of March Violets/Chameleons fame. They also continued playing with influential bands such as Ash Code, Wingtips, Adult, and Bestial Mouths. On the eve of shows with Clan of Xymox and another tour with Modern English, the Covid 19 pandemic put a hold on plans until …
