Ferg's Imaginary Big Band: 'The New Atomic'

Fergus Quill’s seminal, original and ground-breaking outfit - Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band - is releasing ‘The New Atomic’, its third album.

If you’ve never seen or heard the simply extraordinary ensemble that is Leeds-based Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band, you just need to know that you have probably never experienced anything like it. With classic swing at its heart, the raw punk overtones are quite deliberately created to sound chaotic.

It’s loud, it’s huge and it’s shameless. There’s an un-apologetic political edge and serious musicianship at the core. This is not a group of people who play with a brashness because they don’t know any better. This quasi-chaos is deliberate.

I saw this ensemble live at Love Supreme 2025 and then was able to have a chat with Fergus for Harmonious World.

The New Atomic’s theme sets the tone, with big ensemble phrases and electronics - it’s film music, but not as you know it. One of my favourite tracks is Do The Right Thing, composed by Nico Widdowson, who I discovered in 2025 in a different ensemble: an incredible pianist and composer.

Bob Dylan’s Love Sick is given the ‘imaginary’ treatment by the big band and KONL. ‘Big’ it certainly is as it heads to the finish. Similarly, the closing, traditional song I Shall Not Be Moved takes a tune we know, looks at it from a different angle and then throws the whole band at it.

The indomitable Ferg grew up loving big band music and he’s made it his own, with an ever-evolving ensemble of friends. He says: “We play all kinds of music and often don’t feel the need to write it down. We wear what makes us feel good. We don’t like fascists. We play music written by members of the band, often by Fergus but increasingly by Nico Widdowson, Benji Arnold, Amy Clark and others. We also play music by Bob Dylan, Sun Ra and Hank Williams etc. If we play for you, you'll ask us back.”

Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band ‘The New Atomic’ is out via Trash City Records on 26 June 2026