Month: Dec 2024

The Rise of Winter Festivals

Once upon a time it seemed to me, that folk would grin and bear the winter weather for the sake of a Christmas lights switching on type of event, then batten down the hatches and hibernate like hedgehogs until spring. Nowadays you need not wait till summer for music festivals; winterfests are a thing…..

For those who cannot wait for the blossoming, and need a big fix of music and arts right now, here’s some local winter festivals to unravel their scarves and remove their bobble hats:

Bradford Roots Festival

Firstly, a well established winter occasion, Bradford Roots Festival at the wonderful Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-on-Avon. This is happening as a Saturday only event this year, on the 18th January. Our Andy reported on this one some years ago, and I snatched coverage of it off him, realising the “Roots” in its title refers more to hosting local acts of a variety of genres, not just a folk festival as it might be wrongly conceived as. It has become something of an unmissable winter local music convention, especially feeling like this being housed under the one roof of this purpose-built venue.

Wiltshire Music Centre are leaking names for the lineup individually on their Facebook page, the incredible Becky Lawrence being the first reveal. You can rest assured, though, based on past experience, this will be a who’s-who of local acts, over five stages. WIth an open mic stage, late-night transatlantic folk sessions, a family-friendly daytime with Wassail and children’s arts and crafts, food & drink, a mini maker’s market, and more, this is a delightfully warming occasion. You can choose from an All Day ticket (11am – 10.00pm) or an Evening Session ticket (7pm – 10.00pm) £25 / £13.50 All Day, £12 / £7 Evening. U12 free with an adult. 

Devizes International Blues Festival

Same date, different town, if Devizes has a penchant for the blues, luckily supports the Long Street Blues Club which hosts international blues artists, and the current Mayor Ian Hopkins is the organiser of the club, you can trust when it comes to the compulsory organisation of Mayor’s Appeal events it’s going to be a blast.    

Saturday 18th January sees the first Devizes Blues Festival inside the Corn Exchange. It promises “to create an intimate blues club in the Ceres Hall around tables and seating is just limited to 250 guests.” One of the greatest contemporary blues guitarists hailing from the south side of Chicago, Toronto Cannon, Nora Jean Wallace, a Chicago blues singer with deep Delta roots, John Primer, one of the kings of Chicago blues and original guitarist in Muddy Waters’ band, singer Oscar Wilson and harmonica genius Giles Robson, you can guarantee have been cherry-picked by the expertise of Long Street. Tickets on sale now. £50.00 in advance.

DOCA Festival of Winter Ales

If the Blues Festival is new to Devizes, of course the town has had a winter festival for a number of years, and surprise, surprise, it’s all about booze! The DOCA fundraising WInter of Festive Ales is on Saturday 15th February, early bird tickets are up for grabs and it’s vital to the future of DOCA to support this, if you can. There will be a massive selection of beers and ciders to try with some quality music and cabaret to entertain you, we just don’t know what they are yet!

Figgle Winter Festival

While I confess, there’s still a lot of updating to our event calendar to be done to bring 2025 to full fruition, and no doubt details of more winter festivals will come to light. Events like Figgle Winter Fest on the 1st Feb at Figheldean Village Hall, with a great and varied lineup of All Floyd, Strange Folk, Break Cover, The P45s, Lump, The Zucchinis, and one of our favourite upcoming stars, Rosie Jay. 

Swinterfest

But it’s over to Swindon where we really need to concentrate, for the Swindon Shuffle is saving one big Christmas cracker for the end of January! The Shuffle offers us a scaled down in quantity but not quality version of their annual fundraiser for Prospect Hospice, on the weekend starting Thursday 30th January. Swinterfest is now a thing, and it looks set to warm live music in Swindon. The Shuffle really is a blessing late summer, when you can wander Old Town and beyond and discover so much live music it’s impossible to take it all in… and it’s free too, save for collection buckets for the hospice. It is therefore a safe bet Swinterfest will be off the scale awesome too!

Swinterfest is scaled down to one pub per day, saves wandering the nippy night air. Thursday at the Tuppenny with Courting Ghosts, Canutes Plastic Army, Will Lawton and George Wilding starts it off in style; we love all this with cherries on. Friday, the 31st Jan and it’s all down The Vic for a punkier gig with All Ears Avow, Modern Evils, Not Warriors, Adder and our personal pick of this bunch, I See Orange.

Saturday night at Swinterfest is down the Castle, with our picks Meg and Nothing Rhymes WIth Orange, and also new ones on us, Stay Lunar, Wild Isles, Oojah, The Vivas and more are promised too. Sunday is the Beehive’s turn to play host, with our recommendations being Subject A, SN Dubstation, Concrete Prairie, and Fly Yeti Fly, and newcomers to us, Joe Kelly, Carnival Saloon and Sebastian and Me. Swinterfest may be a new venture, but, well, look at the fantastic lineup, the choicest one of all; it beats a brown snowball in the chops, in my humble opinion! 

As I said, I’m sure more winter festivals will come to our attention as time moves on, so keep an eye on our event calendar, but for now I think that’s plenty to warm your cockles, and massively reduce those post Christmas winter blues.

Trending…..

Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

Keep reading

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What’s Happening New Years Eve in Wiltshire 2024

With the big C ticked off, there’s one big push for the final night of 2024. Time to throw off all your aggravations, like who keeps putting the empty wrappers back into the Quality Street container. The busiest Tuesday of the year is coming up fast, and we have thirty-five options in Wiltshire of where to celebrate it, and counting……

Devizes

Starting off at our base, Devizes with a jam potato at the Southgate, where Jamie Hawkins, Tom Harris and Pat Ward are taking them into the New Year. Soundhog Karaoke takes over The Three Crowns. There’s a Back to Skool New Year’s Eve Party at the Pelican. All of these are free. DJs The Original PJ & Mister M have a party at The Bear Ballroom, ticketed. Also on the door, The Exchange has a fancy dress party with DJ Maggs. The Conservative Club has DJ Andy Saunders and live music from The Saga Louts, ticketed.

Around and about Devizes, find a party at Seend Community Hall. The Reason plays The Green Dragon in Market Lavington.

Pewsey

Pewsey area, there’s a New Years Eve Party at Woodborough Social Club. Woodbridge Inn has the Muddy Drifters, plus guests and a free buffet. And Rich the Ditch is on decks at The Barge on HoneyStreet. Find No Middle Ground at the Royal British Legion Hall in Burbage.

Marlborough

An acoustic NYE at The Bear in Marlborough with Bodge It And Scarper, free. At St Peter’s, there’s a Great Gatsby New Year’s Eve Party, ticketed. 

Calne

Six O’Clock Circus plays the Talbot in Calne. Plan of Action at The Jenny Wren. DJ Caztro at The Wheatsheaf, all free.

Melksham

Free at Melksham Cons Club, The Blue Moon Band. Raindrops at Spencer’s Club, tickets from the club. New Year’s Eve Party at the Forresters. Band of Others at The White Hart, Atworth. 

Chippenham

Burbank at Old Lane, Chippenham. Opera Sulis presents Opera Pops and Broadway Beats with DJ Bobbi for a New Year’s Eve Extravaganza at Wine Monkey.

Trowbridge

Be Like Will are at The Gloucester Road Cons Club in Trowbridge. There’s a NYE party at the Civic Hall. And a Boaty Extravaganza at The Twelve Bells, see poster below..

Hungerford

Static Moves play the Hungerford Town Football Club.

Swindon

In Swindon, if you’re a metaller be at the Vic, where Nu-Call have A Nu-Metal New Years. And ravers head to Levels.

Salisbury

George Wilding is with Jolyon Dixon & Rachel Sinnetta at The New Inn, Amesbury.

In Salisbury, Total Recall is at the Coach and Horses. Lucas Hardy & Paul Furtado at The George & Dragon. Ribble at the New Inn. Tom & The Clementynes at Qudos. Linz Sutton at the Anchor & Hope. Karaoke with Evie at the Greyfisher. The Treblemakers at Laverstock & Ford Sports Club. The Deloreons at  Salisbury Arts Centre.

Frome

 New Years Eve Party at the Cheese & Grain in Frome, with The Hammervilles.

And that’s a wrap. I think there’s plenty to choose from there, but I’m sure there will be more, so keep your best eye on our ever updating event calendar….and have a Happy New Year! There’s all the info and ticket links you need on the calendar.

Didn’t find your event here? Did you tell me about it?! Ah, there you are then, new year’s resolution, tell Devizine and get your gig listed FREE!

It’s a Barrelhouse Here, Long Live The Southgate!

Hey look, I’m done playing nice. Been good all year, but if Santa’s list starts afresh from now, I’m on for a bag of coal next yule; all in the name of honest opinion. I’ve been venturing elsewhere for entertainment, else hibernating like a little hedgehog, Saturday night before the big C, working hard, and all I ask is for a good night in Devizes, wet me whistle, and for that we have The Southgate, accept no substitute…..

Caught an early bus into D-town, it’s been a while. I thought hey, check out this Pour House I’ve been hearing about; much ado about nothing, what a premature wank into a sock that place is. Boasts the widest selection of drinks in town, and toffs gather there in a corridor to waffle shite, but I fact checked the bar, only one brand of cider. Best part of seven quid into Jeremy Clarkson’s grubby billionaire fake-farmer mitts, which wouldn’t be so bad if the owner had a grasp of basic manners. 

In two words, legal tender. Young lad served my pint onto the bar and in turn I attempted to hand him a tenner. Grasping the glass as tight as he could, the owner intercepted and snarled “it’s card only!” With his other hand he thrusted his machine under my nose. Glaring at me like I’d murdered his family, he held his hand around the drink until the card machine accepted my payment and only then did he release it, without another word. Maybe someone inked the word “peasant” on my forehead, regardless, it wasn’t particularly welcoming; I ended up sitting outside, feeling I’d be exiled by class, drinking quickly and listening to the sound of the town hall’s tarpaulin wafting in the December wind.

Compare and contrast to my final destination, The Southgate, a benchmark of how to run a pub and stalwart of creating a welcoming atmosphere. I’m fondly greeted by bar staff, landlord Dave, and even George the dog acknowledged my presence in his own subtle way! Then my hard-earned cash is accepted and I’m served scrumpy at just over half the price than that of The “Poor” House, with a smile. By past experience I expected nothing less. Despite my recent absence, I feel at home, reunited; everyone is made to feel at home here.

For seven years the Southgate has held the title of the best pub in Devizes in my personal opinion, and still nothing seems to be available to challenge this. And for those seven years, Devizine has been reporting their dedication to local music fondly, with the wobbliest out of focus images any blog has ever provided the world over! What? I’m too busy having a ball; they looked alright at the time!!

Hats must also be tipped, though, to the longstanding king of pubs in town, The British Lion, the diverse offering of the Muck & Dunder, and to that of Simon and his hardworking staff at the Three Crowns, for providing the perfect lively option for the millennials. The Southgate and all these fine establishments go above and beyond to create an environment far beyond the replication of a front room, challenging the newfangled fallacy you’d be better off buying drinks from the supermarket and staying at home. If economically you might, socially you wouldn’t, and that’s the cornerstone of public houses; if a landlord abuses this, their pub will unfortunately not survive these days. For example, I went into a pub once, and they were watching Eastenders on the big screen. That particular boozer is no more. I rest my case.

If my criticism of this poor house feels a smidgen unfair, you should note I reserve my right to express an opinion, which this is. A better angle would be to point out its popularity and welcome any drinking establishment to town. In part I do, yet it is with concern that to normalise a bar which is unwelcoming or cherrypicks clientèle is damaging the reputation of the entire industry.

It sure is a busy week at the Southgate, but they retain their smiles. Wednesday saw likely the biggest turnout to the regular acoustic jam, virtually a whos-who of local musicians amassed. Thursday saw the monthly residency of the Jon Amor Trio shifted from its usual Sunday slot, whereas this Sunday sees groundbreaking local band Burn the Midnight Oil holding a charity fundraiser. This Saturday though, it’s “vintage blues with a hard edged groove,” from the simpatico Barrelhouse. If their style sounds niche, it’s apt to Devizes’ penchant for blues, and besides, they deliver it in such a manner it’s got universal appeal. An appeal which has made them favourites on the Marlborough circuit, their home turf, which has over the past couple of years spread to Devizes too.

Barrelhouse is also apt here, because a barrelhouse is another name for a juke joint, an Afro-American blues shack, and while the Southgate’s musical programme is diverse, it is more often than not, hosting blues or blues related rock, as this is favourite with the regulars. As the drinks flow, Barrelhouse evokes an epidemic of dancing, and the whole Southgate can be best compared to a juke joint. There’s good vibes all round, an amazingly communal and hospitable atmosphere; precisely what I came out looking for.

In the seven years I’ve attended the Southgate as regularly as possible, I have never, ever, heard one cross word, or seen a scuffle. Everyone is there to enjoy themselves, and that’s made easy with good management. If the music appeases the elder regulars, like rock or folk or blues, or if they’re introducing alternatives which attract more sporadic punters, the positive ambience of the Gate encapsulates them all, and they act in accordance. Be those times like when Monkey Bizzle brought us agricultural hip hop, or Devizes hometown teenage sensation Nothing Rhymes With Orange reduced the age demographic here, and any other of the plentiful examples I could give, the result is always the same, that being, it’s a hassle-free great night.

It’s the most dependable tavern I’ve ever warmed to, live music every Saturday, most Sundays, occasionally Fridays, then there’s acoustic jam Wednesdays, quizzes, and other weekday events. A hat for tips might occasionally be passed around, but no one has ever been asked to pay for a ticket. The Southgate has a carefree ethos, everyone is welcome, treated equally, and nothing is ever a problem; all this earns respect. Reasons that, despite the squeeze, musicians are queuing to play in this now legendary alcove. Dave showed me the list. They’re booked up till June, with various names listed aside acts which Dave would like to see returning but is struggling to fit them in.

Even with a fantastic Christmas party at Long Street Blues Club, Adam Woodhouse at the Three Crowns, and a busy schedule this weekend at the Gate, the crowds sign in to this eccentric, electric and humble watering hole, to drink, dance and be merry. The band members of Barrelhouse tell me how they love playing here, but it’s a compliment to the Southgate I’ve heard many times before by near-on every talented performer who’s graced us with their presence.

Long live the Southgate, and all who sail in her! In Devizes, accept no substitute…..

Wiltshire Digital Drive’s Plea to Donate Old Tech in the New Year


Wiltshire residents are being asked to donate their old Laptops, PCs & Mobile phones in the new year, as part of the 3rd annual Donate Your Digital Day…..

Taking place just after Christmas on Friday, January 10th, 2025, Donate Your Digital Day was created by Wiltshire Digital Drive (WDD) to encourage people to donate any tech they had replaced over the festive period such as laptops and tablets, to reduce the amount of technology that goes to landfill and to address digital poverty in the county.

Once donated, devices will be refurbished and handed back out to schools, organisations, and charities, to help people access the benefits that technology affords such as education, employment and better wellbeing.  

Natalie Luckham, Chief Executive at Wiltshire Digital Drive, said: “We had such a positive response to previous Donate Your Digital Days. In 2022 we received 1,000 donated devices in just one day! We had a break last year but we’re back for 2025. So many people receive new laptops and tablets for Christmas, or treat themselves in the Black Friday or Boxing Day sales, now is the perfect time to let us have your old tech. By giving it to us, not only will the device help another member of our community, but it will also stop it going to landfill.”

“The figures speak for themselves. Since we began our mission in 2020, we’ve given more than 3,500 school children, families and organisations a laptop or computer. Imagine how many more we could help if we all worked together. And it’s not just members of the public that can get involved; we’re also asking businesses who are looking at upgrading their IT to consider donating their old tech to us.”

Local businesses across Wiltshire will be opening their doors to become drop off points for the donated items. They can be taken to:

Naturally Social, Melksham
Aster Housing, Devizes
Ford Dealership, Trowbridge
Hearing & Mobility Store, Marlborough/ Swindon/ Wroughton
Household Waste & Recycling Centre, Swindon
Castle Sundborn, Malmesbury
Godolphin School, Salisbury
Retro Relics Games Café, Market Lavington
The Mind Tree Café, Rowde
Town Councils in Bradford On Avon, Tidworth and Calne
The Home Guard Club, Warminster

Anyone wishing to help who doesn’t have a device to give can donate to the non-profit’s Gift of Tech Crowdfunder page. A £45 donation will cover all the parts needed to refurbish one laptop, with all donations match funded by the Aviva Community Fund. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-gift-of-tech

Please visit www.wiltshiredigitaldrive.org for opening times and locations where you can donate.

The CIC ensures that every piece of technology donated is tested and securely wiped. If a machine isn’t feasible to upgrade, it will remove all reusable parts and recycle the rest, so nothing goes to waste.

Trending…..

For Now, Anyway; Gus White’s Debut Album

Featured Image: Barbora Mrazkova My apologies, for Marlborough’s singer-songwriter Gus White’s debut album For Now, Anyway has been sitting on the backburner, and it’s more…

One Of Us; New Single From Lady Nade

Featured Image by Giulia Spadafora Ooo, a handclap uncomplicated chorus is the hook in Lady Lade’s latest offering of soulful pop. It’s timelessly cool and…

Large Unlicensed Music Event Alert!

On the first day of advent, a time of peace and joy to the world et al, Devizes Police report on a “large unlicenced music…

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In Retrospect With Gary Martian

So yeah, not only has Cracked Machine and Clock Radio drummer Gary Martin added a letter A to his name to make it sound more extraterrestrial, he’s also fired a sonic blast back to planet Earth in the form of a whopper of a solo rock album! In Retrospect does what it says on the tin, taking inspiration from his most treasured rock bands of yore, and does it loud and proudly…..

Starter for ten, now Gary Martian, proves he’s a supernova of a multi-instrumentalist, taking the helm of every aspect from guitar to drum and the recording, mastering and distribution of this heavily-laced monster. If Cracked Machine are known for returning us to those heady days of space-rock, the intro to the opening track Lifeboats feels this is going the same direction, but in seconds we’re awash with slamming guitar and drum combos letting rip of a riff more akin to grunge. Whoa, it didn’t even wait for me to attach keychains to my flared cargo trozzers.

Yet while there’s rising and falling influences from nineties grunge like Nirvana and Therapy? I also taste nods not only to pioneers of the Seattle sound like Alice in Chains, but a broader spectrum of alt-rock too, and even rooted at the few tender moments, with electric blues and the soundscapes of Floyd, such as the closing of a few tracks, one called Bang in particular. Thing is, this value for your dollar, twelve dynamite tracks perpetually exploding at an average full four minutes each, and an epilogue song, Red Handed running into the twenty-minute margin, sublimely. Time enough then to input a carrossel of nods to every influence which has inspired Gary over time.

And there are Syd Barrett moments of whimsical psychedelia, something about Your Coffee Table, there’s metal grinding like Pearl Jam, breezy moments of The Smashing Pumpkins, such as Summer in the Autumn, and brief commercially viable moments like Jane’s Addiction. “It’s a big-ol’ rock album,” Gary told me, “inspired by the bands I love.”

I’m not in my comfort zone connoting such heavy rock and nailing its influences, I confess. I just say what I like, and like recent outfits coming out of Swindon, I See Orange and Liddington Hill, this is the kind of thing which causes me to regret my ignorance to harder rock subgenres, particularly during the ravey nineties. I guess it was all that slushy “soft metal” previously, for it was an impermanent trend which put me off track; still time for me to catch up, isn’t there?!

This album erodes the Muppet’s Animal stereotype of drummers just being drummers and bit bonkers, as Gary excels in mastering not only all the instruments required to stage an entire rock band, but also in the composition of them. In Retrospect was released across all streaming platforms and is downloadable from Bandcamp, at the beginning of the month, apologies for the delay, but this will rock your cosy Christmas foozies off!

Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer, etc…. https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/garymartian/in-retrospect

Youtube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist…

Amazon Music: https://amazon.co.uk/music/player/albums/B0DPHGW1MT…

Trending….

Winter Festival/Christmas/Whatever!

This is why I love you, my readers, see?! At the beginning of the week I put out an article highlighting DOCA’s Winter Festival, and…

Devizes Winter Festival This Friday and More!

Who’s ready for walking in the winter wonderland?! Devizes sets to magically transform into a winter wonderland this Friday when The Winter Festival and Lantern…

Snow White Delight: Panto at The Wharf

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year’s pantomime at Devizes’ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it up…

Burn the Midnight Oil; New Devizes-Based Band You’ll Be Hearing a Lot About….

Far from burning the midnight oil, it’s a weekday afternoon and I’m with a cuppa, at a rehearsal for a blossoming Devizes-based trio, Burn the Midnight Oil. If you’ve ever thought nothing great comes from open mics, this might be the thing to change your mind….

It’s early days, forming in September, they’ve created a corporate identity, recorded a three-track demo they’re planning to launch, are busy writing more songs, and sound as if they’ve been on the local circuit forever. I wanted to catch up with Burn the Midnight Oil to find out how they’ve come so far so quickly, dig a little deeper into their backgrounds and generally poke my nose into their business.

First clue, they’ve varying areas and degrees of experience in music, but have found common ground through their medical issues. Front girl Chrissy, aka Steen, spoke of her PMDD, GAD and ADHD, and coming to faith during Covid at Devizes’ St James. “There was a day I was like, really, really sobbing my heart out, and praying,” she expressed, claiming she heard the “biggest, boomiest voice ever say ‘sing,’ and two weeks later I was having videocall with a huge hip hop artist who was part of Foreign Beggars, which were massive during the 90s and early noughties.” Landing a deal working for a record label Chrissy liaised with drum and bass producers, who asked her to “jump in on the tracks,” and she supplied vocals on tunes from artists like Beskar.

“It feels a bit serendipitous,” she said, “because I had no experience working as a social media manager, I had no business connecting with somebody who’s quite prestigious and I had no right to just jump on some tracks and with my first EP release going straight onto one of the biggest drum & bass labels in the UK.” To which she compared the unforeseen development to meeting the band members, Andy ‘Big Bird’ Jacobs and bassist Chris Lane.

Chrissy explained Chris has Marfan syndrome, “I’ve known Chris for a while, but he’s very introverted,” she elucidated, progressing onto finding a mutual neurodivergent connection and being a support system for each other. Chrissy formed a duo with a bassist called One Trick Pony, performed at a few open mics and organised charity fundraisers at the Southgate over the past two Christmases. When the bassist was unavailable due to other band commitments Chris stepped in, and they spawned the idea to reform the duo under a new name. Though not present at the beginning of our chat, Chris did turn up toward the end, either shy or forgetful as to just how many bands he’s currently engaged in!

Present and vocal throughout, lead guitarist Andy, told of a car accident which affected his nerves, and most of the dexterity in his fingers. Prior to this, Andy spoke of being a “very successful professional guitarist in London,” a session and theatrical guitar player, citing Shirley Bassey as an artist he had worked with.

“I could still play a bit,” he explained, “but my career was over, which was a bit of a downer.” Playing his part in an amateur blues band, Andy went into social care management, “but Covid triggered an illness in me called Barry Syndrome,” he told me, “Which completely paralysed me from my neck down overnight. I was in hospital for six months. My wife was told I probably wouldn’t last the night. On the two occasions I didn’t see her for six months because there was no access, I was told I’d never walk again.”

Andy put his recovery down to the bicycle in the gym, and though he didn’t imagine he would play guitar again, he expressed, “it was all a bit tragic and horrible, but slowly I got a little bit back and I started picking the guitar up again. After about six months, I came out of hospital. I just started playing again, just acoustic, and I that’s when I went up to The Crown [open mic at The Crown, Bishops Cannings] and I played a couple of pieces there.” Within those pieces, he asked Chrissy to sing them.

They trialled a drummer, “but he wasn’t the right fit and he knew he wasn’t,” Chrissy said. “So he very graciously said I’m going to walk away from this because I’m not the right drummer for you, which is a really nice thing to say. But I think we’re percussive enough with how we play.” Considering their medical tribulations they joked about getting the legendary one-armed drummer from Def Leppard. “You know, like one arm, one leg, not as long as they’re opposite sides of one another, one each side, that would be silly!”

Now, if music is therapeutic, I wanted to gage if that was their reasoning for the band, but burning the midnight oil isn’t best medically advised over a strong cup of coco and an early night! Chrissy explained the band name derived from her staying awake all night drafting the songwriting, rather than the notion they were rock, rolling, and burning the candle at both ends.

Chrissy passionately talked of being a survivor of domestic abuse. “If you’re a woman with ADHD, you’re more likely to attract people with narcissistic tendencies,” she explained, justifying her “horrible cycle” she’s trying to break, “of quite abusive relationships,” and how this is reflected in her songwriting. “There’s a lot of resilience and hope that comes from the songs. I’m on a journey of healing. I think we’re all on a journey of healing, and I’ve always used the music as a form of therapy. If I can get my experiences onto paper, it’s like I’m not affected by it.”

Andy agreed, spoke of his consistent neurological pain, “but when I’m playing it just goes. I don’t think about it. I’m just so intense in the music. I mean, it’s just my passion.” He began reminiscing of his instant attraction to guitar when, on his first day at secondary school, the music teacher putting a guitar in his hand, and that was his calling.  “I wanted to be a professional guitar player, and nothing would stop me.”

If this is all beginning to feel like I’m in a support group here, the proof is the pudding, and the three tracks they’ve put down so far suggests otherwise. With harmonica and wavering strings opening, Lock Up has a rootsy blues feel, Chrissy’s vocals poignantly express the theme of the arrival of mysterious and dubious fellow, expertly, and the whole vibe is nonchalant and smooth.

Scapegoat ushers in a more upbeat bluegrass air, with a deadpan subject, and Werewolf posing similar tenet, yet tips back into blues, and probably contains the most beguiling hook. Throughout though, there’s an intelligent balance between Americana and UK folk-rock, bags of potential, and the stylised promise of a blossoming band heading for something far greater.

In trying to think of a suitable female-fronted comparison, I changed to consider The Doors in the end, for the composition of three individuals with varying influences combining to create a timeless sound is how I’d pitch them both. On songwriting Chrissy connoted a song she was working on called Devil You Know, “because statistically you’re more likely, as a woman, to be raped by somebody you know,” she said. “It’s not about being dragged into the bushes, and that’s been my experience I’m really trying to connect with, those darker sides of life experiences, because life’s hard, it’s not any an easy ride for anyone.” Using a metaphor comparing a paper cut to a broken leg, Chrissy conveyed an expression she said she was fond of, that “pain is pain. I really want to connect with people of over-shared experiences like this, in the hopes that music could be healing.”

It’s the most common conviction of dedicated singer-songwriters to want your audience to identify with your outpourings, otherwise your voice is just an instrument, and you are just a pop singer. Though within the masses of potential for Burn the Midnight Oil I hear scope for commercial viability, it’s through their personal reflections and devotion to support one another which I feel will strengthen their ability to convey the image they desire. After a successful first gig last weekend at The Kings Arms in Amesbury, arranged by Wiltshire Music Events, Burn the Midnight Oil are looking forward to a fundraiser at the Devizes Southgate on Sunday 22nd December. See the poster below, there’s raffle prizes et al.

Chrissy has a solo set at the Lamb in Urchfont this afternoon (15th Dec) supporting Vince Bell, the most modest of Devizes acoustic legends, who Chrissy cited as assisting her in developing her songwriting talent. Promising things are afoot here, and you’ll be chuffed with yourself to witness it blossoming, I believe.

“Seeing us as a brand and my understanding of working in the industry,” Chrissy figured, “is like, actually the music isn’t the product, we’re the product and I really want to share that journey, make it personal for everybody.”

With folk songs drafted about the origins of tiramisu, odes to Morticia and Gomez Addams, Steen justified her thought processes and random muses, the latter being an “epitome of a really healthy, loving relationship,” in a tenacious yet optimistic manner to direct her developing subjects didn’t all focus on “the bad things that happened to me.” Though I find it’s the ability to use such as metaphoric examples and include them into a combination which will really make the hairs on the back of our necks stand up, and they’ve the greatest potential to do this.

 I’m hoping one day I can write a happy song,” she mused, “but the style is, well, you know, you don’t choose the songs, the songs choose you.” And so ensued a conversation about the differences between the melancholy of Dylan and wild romantic images Springsteen tended to paint, for there’s always exceptions to the rule, they both broke their own style at times, but pictures, I think you’ve got this one now; Burn the Midnight Oil is a name we will be hearing a lot of over next year.

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Salisbury’s Rosie Jay Releases Debut EP

Salisbury acoustic singer-songwriter Rosie Jay released her debut EP today, taking its title from her first single from June this year, I Don’t Give a Damn. Thing being, I do, I give much more than a damn about Rosie’s musical outpourings, because this doesn’t sound like a debut EP from a nervous teenager warbling immature ruminations. This sounds like an accomplished artist who’s been with an agent, producer and mainstream record label for eons, and established a name for themselves by acquiring the skill to balance a hook and identifiable narrative, and compose them into a beautifully stylised sound….

Rosie’s been working with producer Joylon Dixon on these four tunes, and it shows. Likely a perfect match, for this is faultlessly fresh, like Kirsty MacColl in her prime; a comparison I’ve used before for Rosie, and though a high accolade, it’s fully deserved. For there is nothing to dislike here, the mood is breezy, the prose is thoughtful, both reaching out to her generation, while maintaining the classic template for acoustic folk rock for all to appreciate.

Beginning with her heartfelt breakup song, I Don’t Give a Damn, the opening has this easy to sing along to chorus, but defines the potent melancholic and ironic thought pattern of the victim of a relationship breakdown in its verses. Akin to Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2U, and just as expressly delivered.

For Rosie’s voice is magnetism, flowing gracefully and earnestly, but the whole composition suits this, perhaps with no better example than the second tune, also the second single released, Sing Another Love Song. As it sounds this is a flowing, more positive angle yet while there’s still a clever hook, in so much as McCartney’s ironic Silly Love Songs conveys the opposite effect.

If I preferred this song from the debut at the time, the next two, so far unreleased tracks, proves Rosie though beginning with a firm base, her songs will improve each time. Mind Fuckery is her magnum opus, but only to date. Isolation and affliction brought about by addiction is spelt out in the imperfections Rosie compares within herself and her generation. Again, we’re sneaking through an open door into Rosie’s mindscape, and it’s a poignant landscape of intense pensive and evocative prose.

The measure of a good singer-songwriter is when a listener feels like they bring a little subconscious of the artist back with them, the notion they identified and made a friend through their performance, as if they knew this person all along. I had been reviewing Rosie’s singles for a few months before finally meeting her. When I did, it was exactly like this, it felt as if I had known her for ages, because even at this young age she projects herself, her thought processes and emotions so utterly exquisitely through this beautiful music. The final tune, well, despite all that’s been before, Carry Me, is the most graceful yet.

The final song is angelic, and steeped in astute metaphors Rosie faces her “personal battle,” it is, just as the other three songs, an emotive treasure wrapped in sublimity. There’s something standalone in the simplicity of person with guitar; the stripped back diploma for a musician, the final exam, and Rosie passed with flying colours. She should be setting the exam rather than taking it! What an amazing start.

Just as I’ve seen the careers of profoundly talented local artists like George Wilding, Tamsin Quin, Kirsty Clinch and Jamie R Hawkins progress from first reporting on them, I have high hopes for many of our aspiring newcomers, from Ruby Darbyshire to Meg and Harmony. Rosie Jay is high among these others, and based on the excellence of this EP I see no reason not to compare her to the likes of Elkie Brooks, The Beautiful South or Cerys Matthews. You simply have to allow yourself a quarter of an hour to take this in, released on all streaming platforms and as a CD. Follow Rosie on Insta. TikTok. YouTube. There’s an EP launch party at the Winchester Gate in Salisbury, tonight.

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Devizes Chamber Choir Christmas Concert

It’s not Christmas until the choir sings, and Devizes Chamber Choir intend to do precisely this by announcing their Christmas Concert, as they have…

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Devizes Upgraded: We’re a Two-Greggs Town Now, and You Know What that Means…..

Exciting news, isn’t it? Enough to cause me to skip merrily through the daisies in my garden as naked as a cherub, and sing its praises from every rooftop from here to Wellington Drive.…

“Oh hear ye, oh hear ye, Devizes hath been blessed! Devizes, oh, Devizes, magically upgraded from a one to a two-Greggs town!” fairies chant over a maid tinkering on a harpsichord, sprinkling their fairy dust in jubilation. Won’t someone sign me into my Facebook account so I can spread word of it pronto: twelve “likes” and counting, three are love heart emojis, yay! I blush at my popularity and bite into my steak bake milliseconds before it gets cold.

Yesh, brothers, sisters, true as I sit here typing this crap, another Greggs bakery chainstore has majestically opened in Devizes like the second coming of a prophet, making us a two-Greggs town now, and you know what that means….

You do know what that means, don’t you? No, neither do I, really. They have pasties with peas in them; peas have no home in a pasty, that’s too much of a trigger. Job opportunities, perhaps, and that’s good, right? The notion that one quick swerve from the congested fury on London Road, and you can be refreshed with a lukewarm cuppa and a salty dog-meat sausage roll as traffic builds up behind you. You need no longer to stop off in the Market Place and realise there are better quality local produces available, and that has to be the winner winner chicken baguette dinner, hands down. At least it beats knowing you’re funding a convicted nonce, eh?

Otherwise, I see no valid reason to jump for joy. Swindon has thirteen Greggs, Chippenham has four; do you see them wetting their knickers when another opens? We don’t even beat electronic talking Christmas tree’d Melksham, dammit, they’ve got three… and don’t get me started on the Golden Arches. Unfair, Devizes Town Council, just because no one has actually ever applied to open a Maccy-D’s here, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pull your bloody fingers out and kidnap Ronald McDonald until he starts supplying his celebrated Fillet-0-Fishes and McNuggets here. Damn your eyes, sirs, and look around at the desperate and needy fast food generation, see their tiny tears welling!

Stop catering to a yesteryear generation, eating on plates is soooo last millennium; we’ve surpassed Wimpy and demand our pointless packaging.

For what is a town without the splattering of unwanted pickles on its pavements? What is the measure of a place where rat-enticing decomposing chicken bones in a Colonel Sanders bucket isn’t found dumped down every alleyway, I cry? Hark, the sound of a Deliveroo moped on an otherwise quiet evening? These are the things upcoming generations will hold in dearest retrospection upon reaching maturity. But come, let us flock around this new arrival in awe, on this December slow news day, for it is all we have and we learn to make do; save Subway, of course, where seven of your best earned quids will see you handling a BLT roll, you total ledge.

Ah, monopolisation has found a new home in Devizes and to hell with the independent bakeries, I chortle like a chav, as my belt buckle bursts from the weight of more cholesterol-hugging delights. Factual reporting here you know, I researched for this bitch of a scoop. Queues out the door and through the Shambles to get a Greggs at the Winter Festival, there was, while independent eateries a stone’s throw away nervously twitched their feet at the hope someone might drop by. And that’s reason enough to justify the opening of a second Greggs, question what have we become, and munch happily into our affordable pepperoni pizza slice till the watery juice stains our shirts. 

Yeah, come over to mine, mate, celebrate its magnificent arrival; we’ve got a gazebo in the garden, going to play some Pop-Up Pirate and get some tandoori chicken baguettes in. Whoa, chicken? I thought that was “woke” now? The Daily Fail said it so it’s true, numpties! Get a “real,” pea-less pasty and shop for savoury delights from local purveyors, please.

Kebabgate in Devizes, Shock Horror; We Agree With Cllr Wallis!

To have kebab, or not to have kebab, that is the question in Devizes at the mo’: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to make do with the fish n chips of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, by walking to Folly Road opposingly, and end them! Where do I stand on the Town Council’s rejection of an insensitive and opportunistic application for a whopper of a kebab van in the Market Place, you might ask; much as I love a kebab, I stand with them….

Backstory as fast as possible first for those not in the know. The Kebab House on Northgate Street in Devizes, a well respected institution in our town renowned for the finest takeaways unfortunately burned down last month, leaving owner and family man Mustafa Suna devastated, without a business, and his staff to have lost their jobs. Though locals rallied behind fundraising for the victims of the incident, they were shocked to hear of an outside application to Wiltshire Council for a ten-foot kebab van to rock up in the Market Place, flogging burgers, kebabs and everything the Kebab House once did, twenty-four seven.

The public reaction to a Gazette & Herald report on the application, 1st of December, shared on The Devizes Issue Facebook group, was rightfully that it was an insensitive move given the circumstances, an opportunist muscling in and profiteering on a tragic circumstance. All fine and dandy when commenting on Facebook, but given the occasion you’ve had a few bevvies and feel like soaking them up with a kebab, would townsfolk be so willing to adhere to the notion a kebab van in the town centre is unfair on the owners and staff of The Kebab House and consequently boycott it? I think the temptation would be too much for many!  

The original report by the local newspaper appeared to show no consideration for Suna’s loss, blazening the news as a good thing. This only worsened the negative reaction, that this was unfair on the part of Mustafa Suna and his staff.

Councillor Iain Wallis stepped in, and stated, “as the Wiltshire Councillor for the area I have already made very clear to public protection that I object to this application. I would be unlikely to object to an application from the Kebab House and would support them if a workable plan was put forward and supported by the town council. I see this application as taking advantage of the situation and I do not support it.” 

Though the jury is still out for Wiltshire Council to make their minds up if to allow the application for the kebab van, the responsibility for managing the Market Place falls upon Devizes Town Council, who have rejected the proposal. Iain told the Gazette, “we discussed the licence from someone unknown for a kebab van in the Market Place, this was turned down. I think everyone agreed that this wasn’t the right thing to do but everyone also agreed that if The Kebab House came forward then we would look as a council at what solutions we could offer.” Well done to Devizes Town Council, particularly Iain, if you are to read this, though I doubt you will.

Obviously we get sticky seconds on this and other scoops, and a little plagiarism of the articles is necessary to form an opinion piece needed to express the concerns of the public, as the newspaper isn’t in a suitable place to do so with equal gusto. It was unnecessary and tactless too, on Newsquest’s part, I feel, to have covered this sensitive issue at all while it was only an application. But if the article raised concern with the public and councillors took heed of that outcry, then perhaps the seemingly clickbait intentions of the paper came up trumps in the end. The question needed to be answered is if the council would have still rejected the application without the online public outcry?

Lots of people have understandingly expressed, and particularly anyone living nearby, that the Market Place is an unsuitable location for such a street food vendor, though under the circumstances they would support an application for one from Mr Suna, as they know it will only be temporary and assist in him rebuilding his respectable business. But being the Town Council have made moves to increase police powers in the area to prevent a trend in anti-social behaviour there, the presence of any such vendor could be counterproductive to this, therefore would not have supported it anyway, and there was no real need for the Gazette to have stirred up the public by being so presumptuous with the story. They could have waited for the outcome of the application.

I should explain for those who don’t know, that Devizine has been ousted and deliberately falsely accused of all manner of misdoings, including personal bullying and harassment of Councillor Iain Wallis, by Mr Wallis himself. The reactionary culling of members of his Facebook group who dare disagree with him has been called into question here, for it is frustrating for those involved to have been, what they consider, unfairly dismissed from the popular local group. Other actions Mr Wallis has engaged in as a town councillor have been criticised in the past too, but all with good reason and no personal malice was ever made or intended. There has never been, as he has claimed, any matter published which is a personal attack or bullying of any kind, that’s him, playing the victim card in order to discredit us; why, I don’t know, and any reason I could provide would be speculation.

In this instant, whether the councillor is only homing in on public opinion or this is his personal belief, either way this was a sterling move on his part and we thank and congratulate him for it. Though I fear he will reject my felicitations, as it’s seemingly his intention to slander us, and that is surely unhinged and unfair. If we all worked together and shared an understanding that not everyone is going to agree with us all the time, we could make things better for everyone. And who knows, by the time the Kebab House is reopened we could be sharing a donor!!

Okay, that might be expecting a bit too much, but you get the idea! We look forward to a time when Mr Suna’s business is back on its feet, and we believe DTC’s decision was the right move towards this, but we also believe public information, such as the reopening of Station Road, should be made available to all, not just on the Devizes Issues group given many people have been banned from it quite unfairly.

Devizes Town Council made no announcement of this road reopening on their Facebook page, rather it was only published on the Devizes Issues group, conveying this information was a “little secret” between only those who adhere to Mr Wallis’ conservative opinions, and that is unfair on those he has banned from the group without a valid reason. And that’s where we stand, great news, but a little more cooperation and fairness with the press is needed to convey it; we are not and have never been against any council or councillor.

Swindon’s Silver-Star Teams Up With General Levy to Motivate Swindon!

I’m loving this new tune! Swindon’s upcoming reggae singer/DJ Silver-Star has teamed up with the legendary General Levy for a drum n bass golden nugget called “Put Me Down,” with a video filmed on locations in Swindon and Highworth. The aim is to motivate people and promote Swindon town….

What a grand start for Silver-Star, to team up with Levy, his smooth vocals over the legendary toaster, but there’s more going on here than first meets the eye. Over a ragga-drum n bass roller the two contrast perfectly, but it’s no mindless banger, there’s a sunny side of the street against all odds narrative, encouraged by the brilliantly inspiring accompanying video, set in various locations across the town.

It shows the struggle with everyday issues and holds a message to rise above them, yet it retains a beguiling hook you simply have to bounce to! Eye of a tiger, it’s a local reggae Rocky!!

Do check it out, follow SilverStar on Instagram and, most importantly subscribe to his YouTube channel. I look forward to seeing more from this emerging artist, and wonder if he can top this!!

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Steatopygous go Septic

If you believe AI, TikTok and the rest of it all suppress Gen Z’s outlets to convey anger and rage, resulting in a generation of…

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DOCA’s Young Urban Digitals

In association with PF Events, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts introduces a Young Urban Digitals course in video mapping and projection mapping for sixteen to twenty…

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Jol Rose’s Ragged Stories

There’s albums I’ll go in blind and either be pleasantly surprised, or not. Then there’s ones which I know I’m going to love before the…

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Avoiding the Drizzle: Devizine Online Christmas Market!

You should know me well enough by now to accept I don’t beat about the bush; it’s supermarkets and chain-store’s own silly fault for the rise in popularity of the Christmas Market, for lavishing their shelves with uninspiring commercialised, plastic rubbish!

There, there, got that off my chest! Now, Christmas Markets are popping up locally faster than Santa on Christmas Eve, but if you cannot make it to one, or simply prefer to shop in your jimmy-jams, here’s some ideas for Christmas presents we’ve found which won’t break the bank, and support local crafters…Welcome to the Devizine Online Christmas Market, jingle your bells!

DIY it, with Pins & Needles!

One affordable and genius idea springs to mind; do-it-yourself. For as well as personal and unique designs by owner Vixter Woolista, Pins & Needles in Snuff Street Devizes has all your knitting and crochet needs, and an online shop too, here. With a fabulous range of accessible crochet and knit kits, patterns and gorgeous hand-dyed yarns, Pins & Needles is a little shop with a big heart, and winner of the 2020 British Knitting Awards for best yarn shop in the south west.

Good Reads!

We don’t get as many book reviews from local authors as we’d like, but this year saw two great reads, which would make ideal presents for your book worm.

First up, Sorrel Pits published Broken Shadows, and this has to be my personal favourite novel I’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing. A gripping thriller based locally, this really is a page-turner. Here’s the review, you can grab this from Devizes Books, or online here.

This year also saw local author Molly Anderson’s Dad’s New Dress, an emotional rollercoaster of searing honesty into family ties and commitment. Reviewed here, at Devizes Books and online here.

Polish up on your cooking!

Novel idea we hope your recipient won’t take the wrong way, cookery classes at The Farm Cookery School on Bromham’s Netherstreet! They have adult and children’s courses available, and various Christmas meal related workshops too! Christmas baking masterclass anyone? Beats a can of Christmas Tinner!! Find them Here.

Chocolate, of course!

Hollychocs in Poulshout, award-winning chocolates; need I say more, other than you shop online for them, HERE.

Getting Crafty

Upstairs in The Healthy Life Company in the Little Brittox, Devizes, you will find the most fantastic display of Christmas gift ideas, many sourced locally. We reported on this last year, see here. Find them online here.

Bramblerose Designs is by local artist Ginnie Burns, stocking lots of Christmas gifts and cards, fantastic tie-dye T-shirts and prints of her colourful local landscapes. Find them HERE.

Cositas Bonitas in Albion Place on Sidmouth Street, Devizes has beautifully handmade crafts, like personalised baubles and cute drawstring Christmas sacks, knitted advent calendars, decorated jars and decorations. Find them on Facebook, here.

Merlin Glass Studio & Gift Shop in Woodborough Yard is run by crafter Louise Spink, has some great Christmas craft workshops, and sells beautiful decorations and glassware designs. How can you resist these little robin brooches? Awl! Find them Here.

Moonflower and Me has original hand illustrated artwork, handmade resin & clay Items and more fascinating gift ideas. Check out their magical mushroom terrarium baubles; gorgeous! Find them Here.

Over the Yarnarm is a small, unique business cruising the British waterways, bringing a touch of handmade warmth to every corner they visit. Operating from a cosy liveaboard narrowboat, sharing our passion for all things yarn. Find their Etsy shop here, be a star and grab yourself a knitted star!

Enter artist Matt Baker’s World of Thoodles. Don’t know what a Thoodles is? Find stickers, prints, stationary and badges of these colourful kawaii fashioned monster characters here. We think they rock, and I’m 51 years young! Find Thoodles HERE.

And lest we forget the white bear at Christmas, Arthe! Lots of prints and some fantastic Christmas tees up for grabs, HERE! Find Arthe Christmas cards at Black Dog Coffee on Couch Lane.

That’s all folks! Well, there’s bound to be many more jumping the bandwagon once they see this, expecting me to do a thing called “editing,” I’ve heard it’s all the rage these days. Have a lovely Christmas everyone, here’s our Christmas card video message, filmed on location at DOCA Winter Festival, by Jess…..

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Vince Bell in the 21st Century!

Unlike Buck Rogers, who made it to the 25th century six hundred years early, Devizes’ most modest acoustic virtuoso arrives at the 21st just short…

Deadlight Dance New Single: Gloss

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Things to Do During Halloween Half Term

The spookiest of half terms is nearly upon us again; kids excited, parents not quite so much! But hey, as well as Halloween, here’s what…

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Christmas Greetings From Devizine!

Here’s our Christmas video Greeting, ho-ho-ho! Filmed on location at DOCA Winter Festival, Devizes, 2024 by Jess Worrow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Riot Grrl in Devizes? Steatopygous Release Demo

Featured Image: Kiesha Films

In times of pain or stress cats mimic the cry of a human baby to best attract attention. You may not like it, but if you don’t address the situation and aid the pet, you are unfortunately part of the problem. Riot Grrrl is a subcultural movement of anti-punk feminism deriving from the USA’s northwest in the nineties, which, like it or not, has found a new resting place in Devizes thanks to rising teen band Steatopygous…and with a debut demo, they’re rightfully attracting attention too.

Not Devizes you may whimper, our affluent yet insular market town steeped in tradition, where the most commonly reported crime during October this year was violence and sexual offences, more than double the second on the list, this anti-social behaviour we’ve got a bee in our bonnets about? Seems a rather apt location for youth’s screams of anger and frustration at the inequality of patriarchy to me.

Dealing with issues facing youth, our town’s newcomers, riot front-grrrl Poppy Hillier, bassist Eliza Brindle and drummer Ewan Middleton may well have facetiously named their band after an accumulation of fat on the thighs and/or bum, but their musical subjects are far from ironic or amusing. Neither are they the female answer to NRWO, with their blithe and amicable indie-pop style. This is artistically righteous, a freedom of expression, and just like the cat’s meow, you’d better take heed.

Stalwart support act at Trowbridge’s Pump, a venue dedicated to hosting the upcoming, whereby I saw them first, in June, despite our much younger reporter Flo singing their praises prior, when headlining Devizes Youth Action Group gigs. Steatopygous delivered varying themes there, such as one song on the crisis in Gaza. But the two tracks released on this demo, recorded by Kieran Moore at Komedia, concentrate on matters closer to home and traditional to the ethos of Riot Grrrl; boys taking advantage of a male-dominated world.

Cassowary, a bird with unusual reproduction behaviour which sees the male tend the egg while the female seeks other mates, is the metaphoric name for perhaps the most composed tune of the two. With archetypal driving drums and laden guitar it’s short, fiery and in your face, but perhaps not so aggressive as the other tune, Little Boy, which is a style-defining peach. Angry and unabashed, it takes no prisoners.

Image: Kiesha Films

It is the screech of utmost exasperation, the deliverance of cries typically bottled or only released alone. And therein lies the brilliance and reason of Steatopygous, this erudite anti-sensitive artistic licence opens a matured eye to the vexations and anguish of youth, particularly identifying the uneven game of love and all its sordid undertones. Or if you fall into the category subjected and victimised by the behaviour expressed so poignantly by Steatopygous, theoretically there’s the emotive response of identifying with it and not feeling alone with your troubles.

This is thunderously original and raw, daring samaritan punk, released on Trowbridge’s cassette label Sketch Book Records, which if it honours anything, it’s this wholly DIY ethos of Riot Grrrl, and though will remain niche, is something you cannot ignore; phew, I might need a little lie down now!!

Merch at Bandcamp. Instagram. Spotify.

They support Perennial at the Pump on 7th December.

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CrownFest is Back!

Yay! You read it right. After a two year break, CrownFest is back at the Crown in Bishop’s Cannings. So put a big tick…

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Hedge Monkey Returned Techno Faithfully and Soulfully…. in Westbury!

Somewhere just outside Westbury a sizable barn hosted the most memorable new year’s eve raves in the mid-nineties, but I’d never have imagined then, that thirty years later I’d be saying I went out raving in Westbury last night, but I did, sort of!

Attendees at the Westbury Conservative Club yesterday willingly admitted not a lot happened here, but none I badgered about it, Uncle Albert style, seemed to recall any of the raves, nor can I find any record of them online. It is not all in my warped imagination, honest, that I recall a rumour circulating one year that Altern 8 played a live PA. They may have done, but with hazy recollections, my matured mind must consider the very real possibility it could’ve been any number of random nutters dressed in illuminous bodysuits and dust masks, probably was, and no one would’ve been any the wiser if it was!

No one there at the time gave a hoot if Altern 8 played or didn’t, it was never an era for live music, (it wouldn’t have been “live” music anyway,) it was all about DJ culture. Likewise, events for rave die-hards today mostly rely solely on DJs, unless you’re lucky enough to trek to festivals or city gigs from bands like Orbital. That is, not to discredit them, even those who combine cheesy raves with soft play centres, just to say, when local trance-techno collective Hedge Monkey organise something of a reunion, or comeback gig in an era geared more toward actual live music, with instruments and everything, it was something matured, proper, and fantastically different.

“We were a band years ago,” singer Lou Cox explained for our preview piece, “even played Glastonbury festival twice! But this was before social media, really. I’ve been recording music with Jase the whole time, but we never did anything with it. Just recently we decided to get it all back together and it’s been fab, so we decided that we need to have a comeback gig!” Both Jase, the main man at the control tower of Hedge Monkey, and Lou, were que sera sera on what the gig indicated for the future of the band, but based on what I and a packed club of devoted fans, friends and family of the collective’s members witnessed, I sincerely hope there’s more to come.

It was, in technical jargon, bangin’. If we’re at the boundary for the westcountry penchant for crusty trance-techno, historically bands emerged from it, like Eat Static, tended to knock out endless layer-building electronic beats, chuck a few samples in and tick them off as a job well done. Not that there’s anything wrong there, it’s the beats and bass entrancing the crowds and hence giving the subgenre its name, but as a collective Hedge Monkey brought out multiple female singers, who did their parts and returned to the dancefloor with their friends, and a real drummer, with a real drum kit, and these elements gave it body and soul, something I feel often overlooked from the ambience of techno.

Alongside the archetypal gorgeous, plodding basslines of trance it was experimental too, with dubbed rises and delays akin to what Norman Cook later brought to the breakbeat party, but with a squeaking overlay of wobbly 808s it held tightly to acid house, the root of it all. But to repeat myself, for it’s worth noting, each singer brought their own styled vocals to the melting pot, one even brought alto choral tones, and the drummer watching the tempo,  Hedge Monkey’s sound is unique, as if striving to make the subgenre formulated to traditional pop music templates without rejecting its roots. At one point interpreting Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, at most though, original compositions which wouldn’t look out of place when LFO and 808 State ruled the day.

Needless to say, without intoxication, as I’ve matured way past all that, and even booze was off the cards being I drove, I still felt the irresistible urge to shake my thang to this like the noughties never happened! There was a communal, reunion feel to the gig, without cheese, glowsticks, and the poorly researched assumptions of what symbolised the rave epoch, and though not part of that and alone, by the end I made temporary friendships in the manner the rave scene has always advocated, and this besides the sublime sounds, blessed the party with vibes of yore; top one, nice one, and all this grandad needed to be sorted was a nice cup of tea and cheese toastie when I got home! 

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A Quick Shuffle to Swindon

Milkman hours with grandkids visiting it was inevitable a five hour day shift was all I was physically able to put into this year’s Swindon…

Swindon Branch of Your Party is Growing

Following the excitement and success of the first meeting of ‘Your Party’ in Swindon, a second meeting has been arranged for 18th September 7.30 -…

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Fun Lovin’ Criminals to Headline Minety Music Festival

A Scooby snack-sized pinch punch, first day of the month came from Minety Music Festival this morning upon announcing their headliner for 2025, The Fun Lovin’ Criminals….

Set for the weekend of 3rd-6th July, the Saturday will see those infectious Fun Lovin’ Criminals headline the mainstage with their blend of cinematic hip-hop, rock ‘n’ roll, blues-jazz and latin-soul, stalwarts of the New York music scene since 1996.

Famed for the worldwide multi-platinum debut album Come Find Yourself, from which we all remember their famed Tarantino movie sampled single Scooby Snacks, the fun Lovin’ Criminals settled in the UK, performed an infamously raucous set at Glastonbury and have amassed six studio albums, two cover albums, and a triple live album. Their comical tales of music, drugs, crime and existential ennui as parts of life in the neon metropolis rewarded them Europe’s best-loved “cousins from New York.

Exciting news for this Wiltshire festival, but far from the only fun lovin’ thing about it. Yes, they grab some major headliners, but this community-driven, wonderful yet affordable festival supports a plethora of established and blossoming local acts, loads of side activities for all ages, and has this generally superb vibe, as I discovered when I dropped in for the Sunday this year, and felt from the one day alone, I’d found my spiritual nirvana; most well-organised, carefree festival around these parts by a country mile or two!

Addition: You could also be dancing in the moonlight with Top Loader, headlining the Sunday night at Minety!

Tickets are up for grabs HERE.

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