About this Event
A Prelude to Testament
Temple of Art & Music, Elephant & Castle
A week before they launch their debut album Testament at the Temple of Art & Music, Albion descend into The Bunker.
This is where it starts.
Formed in London in 2015, Albion are a six-piece forged in pubs, dive bars and back rooms — playing songs until they mean something. No trends. No tech. Just poetic, powerful British guitar music built to last.
Testament — recorded at The Libertines’ Albion Rooms in Margate — is a record about modern Britain: a country in decline and a dream on the brink. Tatty teeth. Tattered hearts. Old boozers and fading high streets. Poetry, politics and the restless urge to escape.
Bands do well in bad times.
The Bunker Session is not the full launch. It’s the spark before the fire.
Named after Dana Gillespie’s legendary Thurloe Square flat — where musicians gathered after the Marquee and The Cromwellian — The Bunker is about intimacy and risk. Songs tested close to the crowd. No distance. No gloss. Just words, guitars and a room listening properly.
This is your chance to hear Albion up close — stripped back, immediate, and dangerous in the best way — before Testament is unveiled in full the following week upstairs at TAM.
Some records are released.
Some are lived first.
This is the living part.
Doors Open 7pm
Albion's Bunker Session 8-9pm
The High Wave 9.30pm
About The Bunker
The Bunker takes its name from Dana Gillespie’s flat in Thurloe Square — nicknamed “The Bunker” by Angie and David Bowie — a gathering place within walking distance of the Marquee Club and the Cromwellian during the formative years of London’s music scene.
It was in The Bunker that David Bowie first played “Space Oddity” — just 30 minutes after writing it.
As Dana puts it, “The Bunker was party central.”
It was never a venue, but a room where the night continued — where songs were tested, collaborations formed, and futures quietly began.
The Bunker Sessions honour that spirit: intimate, unscripted, and close enough to witness the moment before lift-off.
About Temple of Art and Music
Temple of Art and Music (TAM) is an independent live music venue in Elephant & Castle recognised for its intimate scale and high-calibre programming.
Described by The Times chief rock and pop critic Will Hodgkinson as one of London’s “best kept secrets,” TAM has become a respected room for artists who value proximity, sound, and audience connection.
A member of the Music Venues Alliance, TAM forms part of the UK’s national grassroots venue network, supporting live music development at its source.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Temple of Art & Music (TAM), 42 Newington Causeway, London, United Kingdom
GBP 9.38
