A Camden-based band of autistic teenagers will perform at the Hampstead Summer Festival this year fresh from their first international tour.
The three members of AutistiX had to overcome the challenges of an “intense” and “unrelenting” tour in Spain. They visited three cities with Spanish band Motxila 21, whose musicians all have Down’s Syndrome.
Luke Steels, 17, on electric guitar and bass, Jack Beavan-Duggan, 18, on electric guitar, and Saul Zur-Szpiro, 20, on drums are now gearing up for the Hampstead Summer Festival, which opens on Sunday, June 30 in Heath Street.
Band manager and Saul’s mother, Susan, who lives in Goldhurst Terrace, South Hampstead, said: “The schedule was intense and unrelenting but it was an unbelievable tour. The AutistiX and Motxilla 21 were so compatible as we had the same mission to get people with disabilities to be active.”
The band were joined on tour by ex-band member, Andreas Lopez-Muro, 17, Saul’s father Michael on harmonica and guitar, Jack’s father John on bass and Jim Connely, lead vocalist and carer.
Motxila 21 will return the visit by touring with the AutistiX sometime in August in the UK.
The band, who formed in 2010, will be releasing their debut album, Butterflies and Demons, sometime next month.
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