Back Page For One Night Only!: The Futureheads’ Ross Millard curates his dream gig

He’s got an extensively amazing back catalogue, but with some people you’ve got to be era-specific, haven’t you? For me, I’d go that album in particular, because it was the first time he had Marc Ribot on guitar, and Keith Richards also pops up in a few places on that record - and obviously I’d like to have those guys on stage with him as well. It’s that kind of unorthodox Americana, polka-jazz freak show ensemble that I really want to see. Tom Waits did a film with Jim Jarmusch the following year called Down By Law, and it’s one of my absolute favourites, and that film’s got so many elements that have seeped into it from ‘Rain Dogs’. Come for the music, stay for the story, you know? That’s what it is with him, for me.

I’ve gone era-specific for this as well: this is mid-’60s, ‘Wild Is The Wind’ era Nina Simone. You’ve got that smokey, romantic, low-lights nostalgia feel to her performance, and you’re just spellbound for… what would it be, half an hour? She’s got ‘Lilac Wine’, ‘Wild Is The Wind’, ‘Four Women’; there are so many amazing songs on that album. It’s a bit audacious really, the stacking of this bill - I’m not even sure Tom would want to follow Nina Simone, to be fair.

Then I thought Townes Van Zandt might come on and open the show - he could maybe do 20 minutes, just four or five songs to warm everybody up and create that ‘whiskey-soaked introspection’ feel. We’re talking about all spectrums of Americana really, with this bill.

I’ve just got back from California this week, funnily enough, and for a few days I was in this small place called Pioneertown, next to Joshua Tree. It’s this town that was built by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and stuff as a kind of cowboy set in the ‘40s and ‘50s, but it still exists as its own functioning town. It’s really tiny - only about two streets - but there’s a saloon, a bank, and a post office, all film set-style. There’s a really amazing venue there called Pappy & Harriet’s - I’ve never played it with The ‘Heads, but I went to watch John Moreland play there the other night. And I mean, it could kind of go anywhere: we could end up having a gun fight with some bad guys from over the hill.

This is really quite a special event, so I want a full squad with me. I’d go for my bandmates from The Futureheads and Frankie & The Heartstrings, my mate Dan, who runs Pop Recs in Sunderland, and my wife. There’d be a decent posse of us - just in case there is any trouble. You need a bit of back up, don’t you?

If we can teleport… I was thinking that we’d be in Palermo in Sicily, sitting in the warm sun, listening to the scooters whizz by, drinking bottles of Italian beer or chilled red wine, just getting revved up. Obviously, we’d have to step through some sort of portal…

It’s not the healthiest, but they do a good line of fried food in Sicily; we’d go for these chickpea fritter things - I think they’re called panelles. I’m vegetarian, most of the squad are. Not Barry and Dave from the band, but they’d be down with that.

I think I’m teleporting again! We’re going back to Pop Recs in Sunderland, back to Dan’s place. It’s like a second home for us: we got married there, and we’ve played some good gigs there, and it’s our favourite place in the city really. So it’d be nice to cap the night off playing some tunes until the early hours, thinking about what a great night we’ve had. We can all just stay in the venue all night - it wouldn’t be the first time!

I think at the end of the show, just as everyone’s leaving Pappy & Harriet’s, we might get invited onstage to have a go on Tom’s percussion set. I think I’d just have a little plinky-plonk - I just want to hear what that sounds like on its own. And figure out how he’s managed to get it through customs!

The Futureheads’ festive new album, ‘Christmas’, is out on 21st November. 

Tags: Features, From The Magazine, October 2025, The Futureheads