Author: Darren Worrow

7 Hills to Trowbridgeโ€™s Old Town Hall

To clear up any confusion, Trowbridgeโ€™s old town hall is no longer the town hall, but The Old Town Hall. I have no idea, nor care to know if there’s a new town hall; that’s irrelevant. Whilst still owned by the council, it was refurbished and reopened as a charity funded arts centre and cultural hub last Octoberโ€ฆ..

I met a great bloke there called Tom, he used to run Bath’s venue Moles, now he’s steering events at this glorious grade II listed building, originally opened in 1889 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It is an utterly stunning space of Victorian splendour with acoustics from the heavens; nice to note it’s in good hands.

In equal splendour was the reason I’m here, for the 10 Hills Spring Music Festival. Congrats if you spotted the deliberate mistake, there were only ever seven hills; I’m rounding it up as if it’s a score out of ten, perhaps I should add an extra hill or five onto that for good measure!

If forced to find a nick-picking fault with this event, I could suggest a lack of chairs inside the hall, considering the higher end of the age demographic in attendance. But the concentration was on the music, an elaborate concert-festival, and the quality and quantity of this was absolutely mindblowing, if not particularly diverse.

7 Hills regularly organise music events at The Night Jar in Bath, including an annual festival. Chris Hoar of Courting Ghosts explained he, โ€œreached out to them initially to say I was planning a festival in the newly renovated Old Town Hall, just to check it didnโ€™t clash with them, and Matt said letโ€™s do it together in Trowbridge as a spring festival.โ€ And here we are finally in spring, I’ve been looking forward to this.

Americana, folk-rock was the order of the day, everything uniformed to the influences of Courting Ghosts. So if you wanted to go looking for a dance tent, this wasn’t for you. But the standard of music was sublime throughout the day and into the evening, and that’s what made 7 Hills so spectacular.

Best festival of the year I could jest, because it’s my first, still, I believe I’m going to be hard pressed to find a lineup as good as this, and the craziest element was, while I knew most of the local acts booked for the afternoon, I was in the dark about the later ones, but far from disappointed.

Jess Chivers

Perhaps the only one I saw to deviate from Americana was Jess Chivers, who delivered a great set on an acoustic stage adjacent to the main one, as this had subtle elements of punk. This second stage assured consistent entertainment whilst bands prepped on the main stage. I believe because I needed sustenance I missed Phil Cooper’s set, drafted in due to a cancellation, and a few others before my arrival, but Leander Morales polished off the acoustic stage with an energetic and poignant set.

Thieves

Sadly I missed Fly Yeti Fly, meeting Darren on the stairs as I came in. Love this duo too, they remind me of Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields in the Blue Lagoon! My arrival, I hoped, would be timed for Concrete Prairie, as it was, lovable bluegrass collective Thieves were doing their wonderful thing on the second stage, while the prairie tuned on the main, under the stained glassed lancet; confirming I’m going to love this event.

Concrete Prairie

Make no mistake, Concrete Prairie was on fire, I expected no less. Undeniably the liveliest set at the festival, they gave us the classics from their 2022 self titled debut album, finishing on their magnum-opus, the incredible crescendo-hugging Devil Dealt The Deck, but between them blessed our ears with some new songs from their forthcoming album. While Joe set no date for its release, the songs came across livelier than the sombre mood of the debut album. Theyโ€™re perfectionists, providing me with faith there will be no sophomore slump.

The band were incomplete too, Phil Cooper taking bass, and original fiddler in the band, Georgia, filling in for her replacement. Still they rocked it, and Iโ€™d have been content if I had to go home straight after them!

Courting Ghosts

Obviously with Chris Hoar at the helm, Courting Ghosts would play, and I could imagine no other following the Prairie, even if their overall mood is more sombre; this is music for the soul. Counting Ghosts surely set the mood for the remaining acts, this smooth Americania with influences from both country folk and jazzy soul. They gifted us a new song, to be the title track of their next EP, Baby, I Bleed for you, and sparks flew.

Orla

Everything chronologically from now on would be new to me, but all of it flying miles above my expectations. A great example came from the acoustic stage immediately after the Ghosts. Orla is a young singer-songwriter from Bath, and clearly one to watch. With crystal vocals she gave us some divine originals, including a particularly poignant one called Mouthwash, and made Crowded Houseโ€™s principal her own.

Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project

Former Noah and the Whale, Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project followed with a dynamite set. As evening set in a professional precedence, I figured this was going to get continuously better. Multiple AMA UK Award winner Hannah White, the best yet, intertwined devout stage presence with a heartfelt singalong, she captivated, projecting her pure lyricism like dripping honey. I especially liked the tune with the reggae offbeat, but overall, I left wondering if, or how it could possibly get any better.

Hannah White

If Iโ€™m now a Hannah White fan, and all presented before us was of a quality so high it would be impossible to fault, it should be no negative reflection in comparison to suggest something here wasnโ€™t entirely my cuppa. No doubt, any Ohio artist signed by Peter Gabriel is going to be of an excellent standard, and soloist and loop pedal god, Joseph Arthur certainly is, it was just the bar was set so high by Hannah it levelled off here somewhat.

 Joseph Arthur

So, despite the highest of qualities, I wondered now if, for my personal tastes, anything could possibly top Hannah, and casted a preconceiving critical eye over Our Man in The Field as they set up. They certainly had an impressive ensemble, seven piece with an upright bassist, organist and everything. The lead guitarist had something of a Bill Wyman debonair, while the frontman presented himself as a funky truckstop dweller. Grasping tight to my newfound adoration of Hannah, this would be interesting, if nothing more.

Thatโ€™s when the vibe hits you best, when itโ€™s a surprise! Our Man in The Field has the perfect Americana balance, components of country, but with such soulful jazzy swagger, they had me off-guard and now totally hooked, the first to entrance me wholly. Our Man in The Field is sublimely captivating.

Our Man in The Field

Shit, I realise now I shouldโ€™ve put more trust in Chrisโ€™s knowledge! He has presented a lineup which, despite me thinking at numerous intervals, heโ€™s not going to top this, he somehow did! I made up my mind then, I had to witness the final act even if an asteroid hit The Shires shopping centre.

The Delines, self-labelled as โ€œretro country soulโ€ from Portland, Oregon headlined. With everything previous so hyped in the hamster wheel of my mind, it mattered not if this suited me, I could leave now, more than content. I couldnโ€™t leave. I imagined myself off the lines, driving one of those poetic American roads, planning to stop off to drink my soul away at a roadside bar, but when you walk in a band playing in a back room is so inspiring you figure life is too short as they blissfully cure your blues. 

The Delines

This was gorgeous. Utterly brilliantly steady, smooth with no need to fire up, just drifting with narratives akin to Guthrie, jazzy and soulful as Springsteenโ€™s early recordings and the Asbury Park scene, on a Gil Scott-Heron level, and topped with the honest banter of a band in their prime; there was no need for them to apologise for Trump, thereโ€™s two bridges between us, they can break the political one, but cannot ever do the same to the creative arts one. I wished my friend Chrissy could see this, this is what her band Burn the Midnight Oil should attain to, this was blended bliss, American music without borders.

Impossible for me to compare what Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee was like at Trowbridge Town Hall with the events now being run at it, but 7 Hills felt like it couldโ€™ve matched it, even without cherries cooked in flaming brandy, and the range of community events at the venue breathes positive new light into Trowbridge town centre. 

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Chandra Likely To Go Boom!

Buzzwords, like โ€œturbo,โ€ or โ€œsonicโ€ are cliche, overused trends which gain popularity because they sound impressive, even if they are empty of meaning. I avoidโ€ฆ

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Wiltshire Hunt Sabs Stolen Drone Footage Reveals a Beaufont Hunt Kill

Retrieved footage from a stolen drone of the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs reveals the Beaufont Hunt making a fox kill earlier this month, and itโ€™s undeniable evidence of their despicable crimes against our wildlifeโ€ฆ.

The Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs have exposed The Beaufort Hunt numerous times, recording a kill on the Fosse Way in November 2025, on the Dukeโ€™s Badminton Estate in December, and another at Cranmore Farm, Shipton Moyne, in January this year.

This distressing footage was recorded earlier this month at Commonwood Farm, Luckington. It clearly shows a fox hiding the hedgerow, the hounds doubling to the exact spot where a field rider was waiting, and dragging the terrified fox from the edge of the hedge, tearing it apart. The fox is then killed in front of hunters, who do nothing to stop the attack.

If this sickens you, the next part of the process is utterly terrible; the cover-up. Whilst they bag the remains of the fox, their terrierโ€‘men and hunt supporters surround the drone, waiting for it to land, in an attempt to steal it, while the sabs rush to protect it. This is now common practice added into their โ€œtraditional country sport.โ€

The Police were called, and an officer from the Roads Policing Unit took the drone. “He just took it,” The Sabs explained, “he didn’t say what powers and didn’t give a receipt, hence we call it a theft.” Meanwhile, many of the terrier-men, with “registration plates deliberately muddied out,” realising they too were being recorded, fled. Police engaged with the leader, but not with the sabs. A rural crime officer viewed the footage on the drone controller, and another officer from Chippenham Response also attended.

The Rural Police Unit seized the drone containing vital evidence, but did nothing to stop the hunt, or locate the remains of the fox, disposed of in a bin bag, according to the sabs. The drone was returned to Wiltshire Hunt Sabs, following a weekโ€‘long campaign exposing the circumstances of its seizure. The evidence has now been posted to their social media platforms.

This leaves me with little faith the new laws will do anything to stop this, if police do not act on them. Because, there was me thinking the objective of the police is to prevent crime, not just punish after a crime is committed? I asked the Wiltshire Hunt Sabs how they feel about these new rules regarding trial hunts, and if they think it will really make a difference?

โ€œItโ€™s hard to say without knowing what the government will implement,โ€ a spokesperson told me. โ€œAny improvement is welcomed but this is our only opportunity to get rid of the loopholes – and the government must make sure it doesnโ€™t introduce new ones.โ€

โ€œThe Hunt Saboteurs Association has produced a brilliant booklet detailing the key changes needed to ensure an effective ban on hunting wildlife with proper sentencing deterrents. Currently the Hunting Act allows only for a fine, which isnโ€™t a deterrent or punishment for fox hunters with deep pockets. Landowners and hunt management also need to be held accountable more often too; they are supportive of their law-breaking hunt staff. Trail hunting needs to be banned; it isnโ€™t an activity in itself, it simply exists only as a legal defence. Reckless clauses will certainly hurt them as every defence comes down to โ€œooops, it was an accident!โ€ Itโ€™s nigh on impossible to prove intent – as you canโ€™t hop into anyoneโ€™s mind, even though everyone knows when fox hunters hunt or kill foxes, itโ€™s 100% intentional.โ€

The continuous scroll of comments on The Wiltshire Hunt Saboteursโ€™ social media posts show the overwhelming support for the organisation’s attempts to prevent this criminal activity, their anger this continues, and criticisms of the seemingly inactions of the Police. Myself? I call the Beaufont Hunt something which rhymes with hunt.

You can follow Wiltshire Hunt Sabs HERE and support their work HERE.

Extended Lineup for CrownFest

It was back in October when we revealed CrownFest at The Crown in Bishopโ€™s Cannings was returning this summer, and January when we last mentioned it, because the organisers Stone Circle announced that its proceeds will be donated to Wiltshire Hope & Harmonyโ€™s Dementia Choir. I like to tease you during those cold winter months, and get us looking forward to warmer days coming…..

Now the time is nearly upon us; frosty starts but some glorious sunshine brings a sigh of relief, as spring has sprung. Time to remind ourselves of some of the local festivals on our horizon, but this isnโ€™t about simply regurgitating what weโ€™ve already said about CrownFest, because thereโ€™s been a few updates since, worthy of your attentionโ€ฆ..

What is new, is that the music will be presented over two stages rather than the single stage. Acoustic acts will be in the marquee, while bigger bands will be soundchecking and warming up on the main stage. This is great news, for continuous entertainment, and youโ€™d have to wonder otherwise, just how theyโ€™d squeeze so many acts into just one day.

And, before I waffle too far, that one day is the 4th July 2026; closer than you might think!

Tickets available HERE. A standard adult is only ยฃ32, children are ยฃ10, and thereโ€™s a ยฃ75 family bundle option too.

So, what Iโ€™ve already told you: Kinishaโ€™s renowned Simply the Best Tina Turner Tribute and Adam & The Ants tribute Ant Trouble headline, closely followed by Wiltshireโ€™s premier indie-pop favourites and winners of six Wiltshire Music Awards, Talk in Code. Purveyors of Irish & Celtic folk The Publicans will also be playing, along with Salisburyโ€™s rock cover band Innovator, rock covers band Tipsy Gypsies, the one and only George Wilding, Mother Ukes, and the blooming marvelous Lucas Hardy.

And if all that isnโ€™t already enough, what you might not have noticed, is some fantastic additional acts recently added. Firstly, the sublime Ruby Darbyshire is now on the lineup, who is worth the ticket price alone! Young Calne singer-songwriter, Braydon Lee, is a name on everyoneโ€™s lips right now, we fondly reviewed his latest single, and heโ€™s coming too. Eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist Dylan Bratley also made the team; a new name to us but Iโ€™ve just checked out his rather cool Noah Kahan cover on TikTok, looking forward to hearing him live.

Lastly, is an upcoming Salisbury sixth form band, organiser Eddie Prestidge likened to Nothing Rhymes With Orange, called Five Nights at Adyans. The Salisbury Journal recently mentioned them playing Wiltshire Creativeโ€™s โ€œGlow with the Flowโ€ event for young musicians at Salisbury Art Centre. They revealed โ€œthe band is composed of four boys, Jasper Hill, Owen Morgan, Thomas Clark, and Toby Allen, who are all currently in Lower Sixth at Bishop Wordsworthโ€™s school, and have been friends since they were in Year Seven. The influence behind their name is a play on the famous video game โ€œFive Nights at Freddyโ€™sโ€, combined with the influence from their classmate called Adyan, whom they often bring up on stage.โ€ย 

This kind of leaves me wondering what Adyan does, if heโ€™s like a young Bez from the Happy Mondays, and if he will show up at CrownFest! Adyan or no Adyan, CrownFest is getting better and better, the latest poster unusually puts the lesser-known acts above the headliners, showing a real dedication to upcoming performers, and thatโ€™s a great look! All roads lead to Bishops Cannings this coming 4th July…. get on one of them!

Vox Populi: New Album From Deadlight Dance

The difference between punk and goth is that as a punk you reject society, as a goth society rejects you. Being society lives mostly online today, that’s probably why my spam filter assumes proposals from exiled middle eastern princes to deposit bitcoin into my bank, and machines to extend oneโ€™s manhood are of interest to a regional entertainment blog, but a local goth duo’s new album should be hidden in a spam folder.

Algorithms now pressure me into having to rush this out, despite noting on social media, Deadlight Dance are releasing their third album, Vox Populi tomorrow (Friday 20th March), which they launched at The White Bear in Devizes last Sunday. Have Nick and Tim got in the humph with me?!

They are Eurythmics-covering retro goths after all, who seem to be dealing with the apocalypse with new songs and a spot of gardening. I’ve always been nice about what they do and thought the feeling was mutual! Not at all; seems after a quick Facebook message, the glitch is real, and the email was discovered; and just like the issues Nick and Tim describe, โ€œthe populist rhetoric, the age of the oligarch where the rapid development of A.I. and deepfakery is upending reality, and โ€˜straight-talkingโ€™ chancers who claim to represent the majority are stoking the smouldering embers of fascism,โ€ these are the depressing first world problems which need addressing, and with them in mind, isnโ€™t it overdue to rekindle the era of the goth spirit?

Recorded as usual at Mooncalf Studio with legendary purple-bearded producer Nick Beere, it feels at times as if Deadlight Dance are canvassing for compassion as humanity gears up to vote for the collapse of civilised society. โ€œItโ€™s dark,โ€ agrees Nick Fletcher, โ€œbut there is hope there. You donโ€™t talk about these things unless you want to do something about it.โ€

โ€œLight and shade,โ€ says his partner in sound, Tim Emery. โ€œHopefully thereโ€™s something forย everyone. For some people, everything will be for them.โ€

With all edgy synths blazing, Gloss opens Vox Populi, dramatically and attacking the beauty industry, its harmful lies and unrealistic standards in an era most pop stars are encouraging them. We reviewed this as a single last October, where I vowed to shave my eyebrows off and draw them back on with a Sharpie. The exploitative nature of the cosmetics industry, the first deep and eerie original song of eight, which speak of algorithmic existences; gaslighting by the elite, the paradox of โ€˜humaneโ€™ food production, identities and the preconceptions that can shape them, the corporatisation of the militaryโ€ฆ and gardening.

โ€œThere are some important horticultural and botanical references,โ€ says Nick, reassuringly. The poisonous evergreen shrub Daphne odora, being an example, as the second tune, a poignant plodding shoegazer and followed by a surprisingly jocund ballad which gracefully reminds of the playful moments of The Cure.

Red Flags warns of danger, but takes no prisoners, Lachrymal is as dismayed as Fields of the Nephilim, Glass Walls is uptempo, furious and robust by design, an enclosed space frameless and seamless, but perhaps not maximising natural light, for thatโ€™s simply not goth!

The Theatre of Absurd thuds us back into the dark, with anticipatory anxiety and New Order beats. Followed by the first of two cover songs, Eurythmicsโ€™ Sweet Dreams. Deadlight Dance comforts you here with familiarity and reminiscence, but stamp their own authoritative pounce on this, and the second, Princeโ€™s When You Were Mine, both of which feature guest vocalist Sian and drummer Mike Dymond, the latter of whom first played with Nick and Tim when they were sixth formers.

Thereโ€™s an underlying retro sensation with all that Deadlight Dance produces, that not all electronica was lost to Stock Aitken Waterman, and neither will it be with smug grinned Simon Cowell. And something wholly satisfying that post punk artists of yore inspired Nick and Tim to form a band, and, acne replaced by wrinkles, thirty years later, amidst a global pandemic and a growing whirlwind of social and political chaos, they felt that the time was right to continue the journey. But what is more, is that younger punk bands, like those gravitating towards DIY labels like Sketchbook, are continuing the theme, and, I reckon, would take Deadlight Dance with similar respect to the aforementioned post-punk artists who inspired Nick and Tim. At least they should if or when they hear this album.

While there is always a coherent thought process behind them all, their previous releases, 2024โ€™s acoustic covers album The Wiltshire Gothic, and the literature-themed EP Chapter & Verse of the same year, held a running theme more rigidly. The dystopian or unnerving observations of the modern era subjects behind Vox Populi is subtler, and this feels like the fashion of their debut Beyond Reverence, only with the natural progression, experience and diligence of those three years. And it shows, this is a most excellent album, once again.

Vox Populi is released worldwide to stream, and own as a CD, vinyl LP and download,ย through Ray Records on Friday 20th March. Check out details on their website HERE.

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Kate X: Swindonโ€™s Best Kept Secret

Youโ€™re young, stars in your eyes, and you live in Swindon; you are not alone, but you are, unfortunately, up against Kate X! Kate is independently producing contemporary pop RnB of international quality, and sheโ€™s riding it. Kate X should, and I hope and strongly predict she will be, a global success storyโ€ฆ..

James Threlfall spins her tunes on BBC Introducing, comparing her with Sabrina Carpenter and Zara Larson, and I respect his professional judgement. Her singles No Tears and Touch have amassed over nine thousand streams on Spotify and her latest, fifth single, For One Night had over a thousand plays in the four days after its recent release.ย ย 

Itโ€™s easy to understand why once youโ€™ve listened. Every element to a viable contemporary pop song is evident in Kate Xโ€™s tunes. Theyโ€™re sassy without being coarse, her mezzo-soprano vocals perfectly fit pop, and Kate has a natural flair for bringing acute hooks to the bridge. For One Night, in particular, has that driving RnB bassline, but as a collection, all of Kate Xโ€™s singles to date make for an impressive portfolio.

Iโ€™ve been hooked on Touch since Peggy-Sue Ford introduced it to me on her Donโ€™t Stop the Music show on Swindon 105.5 last year, and it hasnโ€™t left my head yet! For One Night clearly shows a natural progression, with a familiar and timeless clandestine lover theme, akin to Dusty Springfieldโ€™s popular cover choice Breakfast in Bed, but a contemporary soul feel more Beyonce than Kylie.   

She has 670 monthly listeners on Spotify, which for a local indie artist is impressive. She might suggest she can be the object of her desireโ€™s โ€œbest kept secret,โ€ but in my opinion, she should no longer be secret to mainstream media and a worldwide fanbase.  

Okay, so there are occasions, and more often than not, when an aspiring wannabe’s judgement obscures the probable reality that theyโ€™re the needle in the haystack and unlikely to progress to stardom in the competitive music business. And someone has the unfortunate task of tying their feet back to the floor. It’s sad, but a common stipulation, and often manipulated by television talent shows for ratings. But when I listen to Kate X’s tunes, compare them to what the mainstream is putting out, and consider she’s independently creating and marketing, this is clearly not the case here. Kate has something really rather special, which is on par with the mainstream commercial output.

All it takes is for word to spread, and maybe some crossed fingers and toes, but Kate X seems determined, and unquestionably has the potential to be the next big pop star.

Kate, your songs are simply brilliant, remain steadfast to your goal, mentally prepare for setbacks, obviously, but I reckon, judging on this latest single, youโ€™ve got it in the pocket girl! And we wish you all best of luck with this positively facing journey.ย Follow her journey on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook.

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Talk in Code Headlined Devizes Winter of Festive Ales

Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts key into the town’s majority demographic for its first annual event of the year, mature couples, with an affection for sampling the widest varieties of beers and ales. In this The Winter of Festive Ales may function parochially, but is not only extremely popular and is revitalising from the torpor ofโ€ฆ

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The Munster Returns to Slam-Dunk Wiltshire Council Budget!

Well, I admit, the Black Dog Crossroads has reopened with shiny new traffic lights and looks pretty groovy, as far as road junctions look groovy. But I will forever be flabbergasted how the Wiltshire councillor for The Lavingtons, Dominic Muns, who signed off the project, concentrated his announcement of the project with political point-scoring ratherโ€ฆ

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Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 Announces New Organisers and Major Event Upgrade

The Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 entered an exciting new era when Stone Circle Music Events announced was as official sponsor and organiser. Backed by their Galway, Ireland office, the company continues to grow as a major force in event production in the South West of England…. Joining them are theย  Kingston Group, bringing extensive industryโ€ฆ

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Shedricโ€™s Misadventures of Theodore Thump

Just who is Theodore Thump? A wise pet rabbit? The mysterious sixth Beach Boy? This album newly released from Shedric, Swindon soloist and groovist of Thud, reveals nothing, but makes for a diverse and interesting listenโ€ฆ.

The Misadventures of Theodore Thump was unwittingly released unto the cosmos earlier this month, and through title and cover art you might preconceive some psychedelic surreal nonsensical comedy akin to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and in a way thereโ€™s sombre and subtle nods to this direction, but thereโ€™s more than meets the eye to this masterwork of audio art.

With wailing guitar it opens unexpectedly, plodding cosmic blues fashion. This swaps to a drifting jazzy folk with smooth Nick Drake styled vocals for the second song, and back to cosmic wah-wah for the intro and chorus for the third, while it settles for a jazz piano core. Still, fusions know no bounds here. Immediately Iโ€™ve the notion that this melting pot isnโ€™t by chance, and the experimentation is purposeful, played out by a genius of many influences and with the ability to cherry-pick and compose them in such a way you are on the edge of your seat, captivated, intrigued, and thoroughly entertained.

It may all have been done before, but unlike this. Four tunes into this seven track marvel, Rosalie is a two-minute ethereal drumbeat and piano instrumental. Drifting lounge style, Scum is contradictory from subject to sound, whereas Lock & Key drives melodically classic RnB, Robert Palmer, and is likely the most commercially viable on this most excellent album. Thereโ€™s a finale, wonderfully written of feelgood sentiment.

Shedric said, โ€œThe Misadventures of Theodore Thump has taken me an insane amount of time to make. The levels of procrastination have been almost as epic as the hours spent at my kitchen table mixing and tweaking.โ€ The dedication and effort shows. It has the experimental quality of Sgt Pepper or Pet Sounds, the coolness of Bookends, its jazzy elements range from Blue Note to prototypical Mark’s Keyboard Repair. At times itโ€™s blues, at others itโ€™s folk, but it always leaves you guessing, and certainly is one to dive into, discovering more intricate details you might have previously missed before; marvellous!

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Chandra Likely To Go Boom!

Buzzwords, like โ€œturbo,โ€ or โ€œsonicโ€ are cliche, overused trends which gain popularity because they sound impressive, even if they are empty of meaning. I avoid them, but you cannot call Chandraโ€™s releases just plain indie-pop; theyโ€™re turbo-charged sonic boom spearheaded empowerments of synergy indie-pop songs which prolifically arrive with an explosive boom! And, coincidentally, Boom is the new oneโ€ฆ..

Seriously, thereโ€™s a glorious feelgood summer energy to this. You’d have to be having a really bad day to find fault with it. Love the bongo intro, and the subtle, tongue-in-cheek doowop backing, and the guitar riff bridge sits perfectly amidst the positive vibes the subject evokes in the singer.ย ย 

โ€œThis song is a bit of a departure from the norm,โ€ lovable showman Chandra says, โ€œover the past two and half years we’ve never once written a song about love. We’ve always written about topics such as inclusivity, tolerance, compassion, faith and self confidence, but the one thing that ties it all together is we want to write songs that are upbeat, hopeful and empowering. We hope that this song does exactly that.โ€

Observation double underlined, and box triple ticked.

โ€œBoom is a very spiritual song about love,โ€ Bristolโ€™s power indie-pop virtuoso continues, โ€œsoul-mates and the miracle of finding that special someone in a vast universe full of empty space. It may take a moment; it may take a lifetime, but when you find that special person who makes you whole, the explosion is as powerful as the Big Bang. And yes… sometimes it’s really scary to open yourself up to the possibility of being hurt, especially if you’ve experienced something bad previously; something is coming, everything will be alright.โ€

And thatโ€™s about as reassuring as the nature of the song too!ย  Boom launches into the universe on Friday 20th March. Thereโ€™s a BOOM Single Launch Party on Saturday 28th March, at The Queen’s Head in Box. Doors 7.30pm.

Find all stuff you need to know about Chandra HERE

Marlborough School of Languages to Hold Second Fiesta

Itโ€™s always nice to hear when an inaugural local event is successful, especially one as unique and original as Marlborough School of Languagesโ€™ annual Fiesta. Triple so when being bilingual to me means I can switch between English and gibberish!

Marlborough School of Languages offers a range of services to suit language development at any age and stage, in small groups or one-to-one at their school on Marlborough High Street, and online. With regular Spanish, English, French and Italian lessons, bespoke workshops, exciting conversation, film, food and book clubs and sociable cultural drinks evenings, last year founder Maria Gonzalez decided to create their first language summer festival; conveniently the school abbreviates to SOL, the personification of the Sun in ancient Rome!

 โ€œWe are beyond excited to be launching the second edition of our Languages’ Summer School: Fiesta 2026,โ€ Maria explained. โ€œLast year we wanted to end the summer term with a special event that would inspire our students to continue their learning journey with us in September, and create something appealing for potential new learners.โ€

โ€œDespite the heatwave, we delivered 15 hours of Spanish, Italian and EFL lessons, served five wonderful meals at La Bobina, The Marlborough Pub and at our High Street premises, and organised five afternoon activities, including Chinese calligraphy and a wine tasting led by some of the areaโ€™s most talented professionals from Thames Valley Wines.โ€

This yearโ€™s Marlborough School of Languages Fiesta will take place on the 6th to 10th of July. Building on last yearโ€™s success, Fiesta 2026 promises another vibrant celebration of language, culture and community.

Guests can look forward to a programme of engaging Spanish, Italian and EFL sessions in the morning, delicious meals shared in great company, at the best Marlborough High Street eateries, and a selection of inspiring afternoon activities led by talented local professionals.

Above all, Fiesta is designed to bring people together in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere where learning, conversation and cultural discovery go hand in hand.

Tutors in both Italian, Claudia Marin and Spanish, Maria Gonzalez along with English as a foreign language tutor Matt Gow, will take classes from 9:00 am to 12 pm, followed by lunch, and workshops in the afternoon. Some details still need confirming at this stage, but they anticipate the paella making workshops will be back, and there will be a theatre workshop where the three language groups will each prepare and perform the same short play in their respective languages. 

For further details go to the Marlborough School of Languages website HERE.

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Rowdefest 26 Lineup Reveal!

Drizzly Sundayโ€ฆagain. Iโ€™ve just finished designing the poster, so allow me to reveal the lineup for Rowdefest this coming May, might cheer us up aโ€ฆ

Keep reading

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Palooza Invited Back to Fatboy Slim’s All Back to Minehead 2026

Right here, right now in Devizes, Palooza spawned and has become the fast-growing house music event brand in Wiltshire. They’ve beenย invited backย to perform atย Fatboy Slimโ€™s All Back To Minehead 2026, following a standout appearance at last yearโ€™s event. The highly anticipated festival takes placeย 6โ€“9 November 2026ย and brings together some of the biggest names in dance music for a full weekend of music, energy and unforgettable moments…..

Joining an exceptional lineup that includesย DJ EZ, Erol Alkan, Horse Meat Disco, Simon Pegg, Sarah Story, Darren Emerson, Eats Everything, Kirollus, Olive F, Woody Cook, Elliot Schooling, Liam Palmer, Krafty Kuts, Dr Banana, Arielle Freeย and many more, Palooza will once again bring its signature blend ofย house, classics, anthems and underground soundsย to the iconic Minehead weekender.

Known for itsย high-energy dancefloors and community-driven atmosphere, Palooza has built a strong reputation on the UKโ€™s underground scene, making its return to All Back To Minehead a significant milestone for the brand. The invitation back to the lineup reflects the impact of last yearโ€™s performance and the growing recognition of Paloozaโ€™s unique sound and vibe.

โ€œWeโ€™re buzzing to be invited back,โ€ said Greg Spencer from Palooza. โ€œLast year was incredible, and to return alongside such a huge lineup is a real honour. Weโ€™re bringing even more energy this time.โ€

All Back To Minehead continues to be one of the UKโ€™s most celebrated dance music weekends, combining world-class DJs with a unique holiday atmosphere and a packed schedule of activities across the resort.

For full lineup details, tickets and event information, visit:
๐Ÿ‘‰ย www.allbacktominehead.com

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Devizine Presents M3G and Seren at The Fold

Spring is on its way, and we’re looking forward to a season of great live music across the county. You’ve only got to keep your best eye on our ever-updating event calendar to realise the vast and varying options open to you. But here, in Devizes, there’s one particular place I’m personally excited about, the return of The Foldโ€ฆ.

Organised principally by JP Oldfield, the legendary Fold returns with open mic nights on the first Tuesday of each month, Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours headline a freebie with JP in support on Friday 27th March, and the one and only Gaz Brookfield returns to The Fold in a blaze of glory on the 5th June.

But with JPโ€™s reputation spreading like wildfire, he cannot always be at The Fold; I mean, we were just chatting about him supporting Imarhan at Bristolโ€™s The Fleece on Monday, and the many other gigs heโ€™s getting in the area. So, between Bluebeard and Gaz, and not for my ego, well, not entirely, I’m delighted Devizine can be involved with this project.

A Devizine takeover at The Fold, on Friday 24th April, that’s what I’m here to tell you about; bung it your diary now! It’s been too long since we’ve put a gig on. This is happening, the only requirement needed from you is to please support it. In order to encourage your excitement to match my own, we’ve done two things.

Firstly, while we need to fund it somehow, we’re keeping ticket prices as low as possible. Just like it was 1979, this is a pay what you can gig, but I plead that you consider this at the door, that the more you can pay the more we can give you in return, rebuild the Fold, and provide Devizes with some great acts in a comfy, intimate venue and at affordable prices. Please, flash a little cash, not for me, but for our musicians.

My second objective, and I know JP and I are singing off the same songsheet on this even if his singing is ten thousand miles above my own breathtaking shower concertos, is to bring to Devizes the amazing acts we see elsewhere, who haven’t yet made a Devizes debut, or who have rarely played here before. Musicians and bands which I think, โ€œthe good folk in Devizes would love this, they deserve to see this!โ€ And that’s precisely what we’ve done for our first Fold takeover.

We’re hosting two local upcoming singer-songwriters, firstly Meg, or M3G as she prefers, who I’ve been waffling on about for ages, with deserved praise, and my daughter scribbled a great interview with her some years ago.

M3G is an indie folk singer-songwriter from Chippenham. Her music mixes authentic lyrics with soaring vocals. Recently supporting the likes of Frank Turner, Jools Holland, Gaz Brookfield and The Lottery Winners. A regular at Trowbridgeโ€™s Pump, the venue now run by Kieran J Moore, who created Sheer Music at this very venue, The Fold; small world.

Her bio also says she’s โ€œdescribed as, โ€˜Beautiful and Captivatingโ€™ by a local music magazine,โ€ which I’m suspicious was me! And โ€œshe brings a unique perspective and humour to the stage,โ€ which sums it perfectly, if I do say so myself! Her recent singles, like โ€œRooksโ€ , were produced by Phil Cooper, who you should know from The Lost Trades, and also will be at the Fold with Bluebeard on the 27th March; again, small world!

M3G’s style is uniquely wonderful and personal, something I advise you really need to see for yourself; hereโ€™s your chance. I also introduce you to Take the Stage finalist Seren, a Warminster based young folk singer-songwriter with a voice you wonโ€™t forget.ย 

Seren performs a mixture of original songs and covers. โ€œMy favourite covers to perform are Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, and Black Star by Radiohead,โ€ she tells me. โ€œI first started performing in May 2024, and since then I have performed at CorFest 2025, Swinterfest, and have supported Irish folk musicians in Salisbury including The Henry Girls, Daoirรญ Farrell, and Tim Eady and Mike McGoldrick. I am inspired by a mix of artists/musicians and genres such as folk, indie, pop, indie rock, and jazz.โ€

Both of a similar age, M3G and Seren have worked together before, supporting each other, and after performing solo, promise to duet in a rare finale session. I canโ€™t wait, I advised MantonFest to book Meg a couple of years ago, but I believe this will be both their Devizes debuts. I hope you can join me in bringing these two sublime performers to town and really give them the warmest of Devizes welcomes, on the 24th April; put it in your diaries now!!

Facebook event thingy, here, let us know you’re coming. If you are coming, I promise not to sing myself. Oh, and give the Facebook page a follow too, for updates there.

From Nothing Rhymes With Orange and John Otway to Scummy Mummies and Milton Jones; Devizes Arts Festival Celebrates 40 Years with an Amazing Lineup

Featured Image: Helen Polaxpix

What has Devizesโ€™ greatest millennial musical export, England rugby player Jodie Ounsley’s ghost writer, some scummy mummies, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex, and a world poetry slam champion all have in common? Yep, usually not a great deal, but they’re all among a stellar lineup for this year’s Devizes Arts Festival, and it’s their fortieth anniversaryโ€ฆ..

Forty years and Devizes Arts Festival has gone through some changes, yet continues to offer the town a unique and differing variety of world class celebrities, musicians, comedians, artists and all manner of inspiring people. Make no mistake, we LOVE Devizes Arts Festival with big, bold capslock; happy 40th birthday!

This year the festival runs from 29th May till June 24th. The committee have already announced the headliners, and Devizes Retailers and Independents let the cat out of a bag which I promised I’d keep my cake hole shut about; that our very own Nothing Rhymes With Orange will play a homecoming at the Corn Exchange on Saturday 13th June! And thankfully, there’s loads more to reveal about what’s also going down for the town.

I’ve found it excruciating to have kept schtum about Devizesโ€™ greatest musical export since The Hoax, Nothing Rhymes With Orange returning, who, while some years ago produced a phenomenon in the Devizes area I likened to Beatlemania, are now studying at Bristol and have had the same effect nationwide. I think this is a brilliant move for the festival, which often  suffers with the public wonky presumption it’s a Saga holiday entertainment venue. Producing the widest variety of arts and entertainment in Devizes, Devizes Arts Festival volunteers work tirelessly through the season, preparing and hosting this extravaganza, and there’s something for everyone here. Examples? Yes, mate, I’m not going to reel off details of the entire program, which will be out soon, but there’s plenty of secrets I can leak, so keep readingโ€ฆ..

So, headliners, be art punnyman off the telebox, Milton Jones, on Friday 12th June; he makes me look sane, but heโ€™s hilarious, Iโ€™m just mildly laughable. I know a certain salsa group who will welcome Londonโ€™s premier salsa orchestra, delivering an irresistible night of Cubanโ€‘inspired rhythm and dance; Salseology! I also know many in town will welcome John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett at the Cons Club on Monday 8th June. 

Those outrageous Scummy Mummies will make a welcomed return, and Midsomer Murders and Foyleโ€™s War writer and producer Anthony Horowitz pays Devizes a visit on 1st June. But these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Thereโ€™s conservationist, passionate story teller and โ€œhuman swan,โ€ Sacha Dench, African-American concert pianist Beatrice Nicholas, BBC Sports journalist Becky Grey talks ghostwriting, Patrick Grant is on clothes. Bee specialist Professor of Biology at University of Sussex, Dave Goulson talks on saving our insects.

You can watch Portuguese classical guitarist and lutenist Fรกbio Fernandes, listen to the life of Derek Jarman, and join Wiltshire cameraman Nick Upton for a fascinating account of his life and work capturing wildlife.

Clare Durham and Paul Martin to explore the world of collectors and collecting. Book plugs from television and radio journalist Grahame Lloyd, acclaimed author of six novels, Charlotte Philby, and climate activist and the co-founder of Transition Network, Rob Hopkins. The Wharf Theatre presents The Secret Life of Enid Blyton, and thereโ€™s a world poetry slam champion Harry Baker coming to town.

More music from The Robert Vincent Band, shanty-punk folk with Man The Lifeboats, allโ€‘string jazz quartet Swing from Paris, and organist John Challenger.

Free fringe events are aplenty, John Handby talks on AI, brilliant Bristolโ€‘based songwriter Elly Hopkins is playing Hillworth Park Cafe, Old Baby Mackerel play highโ€‘energy, footโ€‘stomping bluegrass at the British Lion, The Rigmarollers with a unique take on the blues, and local writers Vanessa Tanner and Louisa Davison have an open mic for poetry and prose at The Black Swan.

Plenty of inspiring walks as usual, and Have-a-go workshops also make a return, with ones for singalong country, memoir writing, phone photography, and sketching at the wonderful White Chalk Gallery. And Erlestoke Prison presents an art exhibition by the inmates; what more do you want?!

We cannot wait for June, and hope to have a โ€œDevizine Assemble,โ€ to bring you as much coverage as possible; if you would like to volunteer as a reporter, do drop me a message. Now we await the box office to open; keep in the know by bookmarking their website, HERE. 

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Devizes Issues Wants You!

Dubiously biased and ruled with an iron fist, the mighty admin of the once popular Devizes Facebook group, Devizes Issues, is using the iconic Greatโ€ฆ

Who Broke into Joyrobberโ€™s Car?!

Poor Joyrobber, got his car broken into, on his birthday too, but avenged them in song! Requiem for my Car Window is this mysterious characterโ€™sโ€ฆ

Lady Nade; Sober!

Dry January, anyone? Well, Lady Nade just plunged into an outdoor 4ยฐC eucalyptus sauna for a social media reel. But whilst I’d require a stiffโ€ฆ

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Only The Brave Burn The Midnight Oil

Hurrah, at last! Only The Brave is the debut song from Burn The Midnight Oilโ€™s revised lineup; something Iโ€™ve been anticipating since watching them rehearse at Devizesโ€™ HK Studios, just before last yearโ€™s Awards. But if my expectations of a recording from this new Devizes based phenomenon was perched on the summit of the highest mountain, gaining a sneaky preview before its release on Friday (13th March) far from disappointed, in fact Iโ€™m now soaring above cloudsโ€ฆ.

I know pressing a CD is a financial risk for any upcoming band against bunging it on streaming platforms, but Iโ€™d urge them to go for it. In the relatively short time Burn The Midnight Oil have been gigging under this current format, theyโ€™ve become the kind of band youโ€™d see live and make haste for their merch stand in hope to return home grasping a piece of what you just experienced. Based on this first of a few singles coming out of Martin Spencerโ€™s Badger Set Studio in Potterne, a compilation album would be a real keepsake.

Itโ€™s hasty and gearing, a rich and refreshing design on a timeless formula; the folk-rock-blues combo conveying enduring, moreish and matured pop, with that driving beat, with that irresistible rolling guitar riff, and with the smooth-as-velvet female vocals soothing a biting narrative. Causal listening itโ€™s feelgood, but in depth itโ€™s fighting against the odds and rising above adversities.

Itโ€™s the song for the comeback scene of an epic movie. Youโ€™re on the edge of your seat, identifying with the character, either relating your own experiences, or more simply distinguishing their plight is their drive, but you cannot sympathise, because like Tina Turner, Gloria Gaynor, or Natasha Bedingfield, sheโ€™s weaponised it, risen above it regardless, and taken control of her own destiny; Alanis Morissette of Devizes.

Yet the most marvellous thing about Only the Brave is, Chrissy โ€œSteenโ€ Chapman can equally hold the vocal power of any of the aforementioned female big hitters, kick the meaning behind the song into touch, and her backing band accompanies her with such tight precision, itโ€™s something to behold. In essence, it has the perfect combination for the memorable and relevant tune you wonโ€™t mind having stuck in your head!

I cannot wait to hear the others, but for now, pre-save this beauty HERE. Find them rootin and tootin their thing live by following them on Facebook, HERE.ย Attend CapFest as seen below, for their next Devizes show.

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An Endless Summer with Braydon-Leeโ€™s New Single

If, inspired by the likes of Ed Sheeran and James Arthur, the majority of Gen Z loves a good power ballad, the beginnings of the next generation, Alpha, seem to be following suit. And if thatโ€™s the thing, fifteen-year-old Calne singer-songwriter Braydon Lee was already in the forefront locally, but in my unprofessional opinion, his second single newly released, Endless Summer, provides the truckload of potential necessary to make this a nationwide phenomenonโ€ฆโ€ฆ

Oi kids, we had heartbreakingly emotional roller-coaster power ballads in the eighties too, you know; practically invented โ€˜em?! Just with a lot more guitars and hairspray! Yet, Iโ€™ve been reconditioned by gigging with my daughter, where Noah Kahan at the O2 impressed me on a Springsteen level, into appreciating these soulful melodic beats, derived, debatably, of folktronica and contemporary RnB. If Iโ€™ve acclaimed anyone on the local scene for adopting this in a manner marketable on an international level, it has to be Swindonโ€™s Brandon Clarke, aka Weather. It just so happens, Brandon has produced this track, and together, Braydon and Brandon, their dedication illuminates on this ingenious and poignantly buoyant love song.

This is an absolutely wonderful tune, a hefty guitar riff bassline drifting you along a crestfallen narrative with euphoric backing and Braydonโ€™s eloquent vocals shining through. Braydon has penned a sublime anthem to pluck any heartstring, and he delivers it with the passion and emotion of a professional singer twenty years further down their line.

Itโ€™s this bucketload of unpatronising top marks from me, which though I thought Iโ€™d seen him before, searched my own blog and came up trumps, (I caught the end of his superb appearance at last yearโ€™s FullTone Festival) I predict one day soon, no one will need to search for Braydon Lee; theyโ€™ll all know him, love him, and have brought his merch from the O2 shop!

โ€œIt was my YouTube cover of Sam Barber’s Straight and Narrow that started getting me attention,โ€ Braydon explained. Now, I’m just a two-bit blogger not wishing to put stars in anyone’s eyes, but while running off a quick cover will gain attention, Braydon needs to concentrate on carving an original style, with the noticeable hook, and herein lies the groundbreaking moment, Endless Summer accomplishes this. 

You can pen a thousand good songs, but finding that awakening hook is key. An Endless Summer, working outdoors through the night, I like this idea, although this is metaphorically akin to the Summer of โ€˜69 when Bryan wished the season would go on forever, so Braydon might romantically hook his duck, I reckon. And on those levels this works, and will gain more than the attention of his heart’s desire. The first geezer I’m sending this review to will be Mr Threlfeall at BBC Introducing, hoping Braydon is already on his radar.

It comes with a professionally shot video created by Swindon’s 1988 Media, and as a package this has impressed me. I urge you to pay it some attention, or at least pass this message onto your offspring; Braydon is one to watchโ€ฆ.

LinkTree Facebook Instagram

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Tour Des Frites: Four Dauntseysโ€™ Sixth-Formers Awarded Travel Scholarship Cycle from School to Bonn, Germany

Four Dauntsey’s Sixth-Formers have been awarded travel scholarships, and plan to cycle all the way from their school to Bonn in Germany, shortly after completing their A-level exams this summer. Helping at food banks, documenting their journey, and rating chips along the way!

The group, Flo Lee, Willย Fittock, Tom Sharples and Mika Jessel said, โ€œwhile simply a group of friends, we also bringย a very goodย physical ability to the table.ย We have successfully completed our Gold DofE Expeditions together in a group, enjoying our experience together.โ€ย 

Both Will and Flo have completed in and won, respectively, the DW race, and won, respectively, the Breconโ€™s challenge together with Tom. Tom is a nationally ranking cross country runner. โ€œWhile all of us enjoy and have done varying amounts of cycling,โ€ they said, โ€œMika has prior experience in bikepacking through both Europe and Morrocco.โ€ 

Using EuroVelo Cycle Network, they have planned this route themselves. โ€œWhile it is not perfect,โ€ Flo explains, โ€œit is the best option to find established cycle paths across Europe.โ€ 

The direct route from Devizes to Bonn takes just under 1000km, taking the ferry from Dover to Calais. It will take them through London, the French and Belgian coasts, the Netherlands, and finally, Germany. 

The other countries are less of a concern than England. Flo continued, โ€œBelgium and especially the Netherlands are famous for their bike infrastructure and the route we are taking through Germany goes along the Rhein river, which, speaking from experience, is easy cycling.โ€

โ€œIf we take two weeks to do this, including two rest days, that comes out to just about 80km a day, with manageable elevation. Judging by previous experience and the fitness of the group, this is easily doable. Keeping this in mind that we will try to keep our daily goals flexible in case this estimate is wrong. However, with both interval and long ride training, we are positive this wonโ€™t be the case.โ€  

Their aim is to inspire other young people their age to take on ambitious bikepacking challenges, and to show what is possible with determination, planning and teamwork.

Along our route, they will also be volunteering at food banks across England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. โ€œWe are committed to making this journey not only an adventure, but a socially responsible one,โ€ Flo told me.

This will be happening in summer 2026, thus โ€œbringing Mika homeโ€ after they finish their A Levels, โ€œwhich will reduce his carbon emissions and let us have one last adventure together as a group,โ€ Flo said. โ€œIdeally, we will leave a day or two after speech day (6/7th July) and arriving in Bonn two weeks later (19/20th July.)โ€ 

As part of their project, they will be producing two short films; an article documenting the journey, and regular social media content.

โ€œWe are going to document our adventure,โ€ Flo explained, โ€œusing our phones and my Sony camera to make two short films. The first will be to document our trip for nostalgia and to show our family and friends, however the second will be related to our volunteering. We will interview those people we meet during our volunteering, hopefully both volunteers and those in need, to help spread awareness for those who are unaware to the extent of the poverty and food waste problem throughout Europe.โ€  

You may remember, Flo has published some articles on Devizine, including youth gig reviews and including interviews, of which we are of course very grateful for. Though she hasnโ€™t so much recently, because Flo has been rightly concentrating on her exams, we will give her a big golden key, access to the platform so she they can publish their adventures along the way!  

But why, dare I ask, are they calling their Instagram account called ‘Tour des Frites 2026?!โ€™  โ€œTo follow our progress,โ€ Flo explained โ€œwe will make a public chip-rating Instagram account. We will showcase ratings online, hopefully gaining traction and potentially showing the highs and lows of our expedition. The idea comes from the fact, that especially the Belgians, are particularly proud of their Fritten!โ€   

โ€œThe chips will be rated out of fifty, in categories on crispiness, creaminess, cut, coating and colour, character and presentation, with four extra points if it stays crispy when cold and tastes as good as it looks. We think that this can be a fun way of documenting the cultural side of our trip, while enjoying some delicious meals along the way!โ€ 

Camping in local campsites, using  lightweight tents and trying to gain sponsorship from different cycling companies, will hopefully keep it in budget. They will  be cycling for two weeks straight, which I donโ€™t even want to think about, but we wish them all the best of luck and look forward to hearing about their adventures!

Follow the Tour de Frites on Instagram, HERE.

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Wiltshire Business Leader to Host Free International Womenโ€™s Day AI Webinar to Prevent Women Being โ€œLeft Behindโ€ in Tech Shift

Leading Wiltshire digital entrepreneur Natalie Luckham, AI Educator and founder of award-winning Wiltshire social media consultancy Naturally Social is hosting a free โ€œIntroduction to AIโ€ webinar this International Womenโ€™s Day to help women across the county understand artificial intelligence – and ensure they are not left behind as the technology reshapes workplaces and homes….

The webinar event is aimed at women across Wiltshire, from business owners and freelancers to employees, returners to work, and those simply curious about AIโ€™s growing influence in everyday life.

The one-hour online session, taking place at midday on International Womenโ€™s Day (8 March), will offer a practical and accessible introduction to artificial intelligence. Titled around this yearโ€™s International Womenโ€™s Day theme, โ€œGive to Gain,โ€ the webinar will demystify AI by covering:

ยท What AI actually is (and what it isnโ€™t)

ยท How large language models are built

ยท The risks, bias and ethical considerations

ยท Real-life demonstrations of useful applications at work and home

ยท How to prompt AI tools effectively

ยท Where human judgment remains essential

The session will include live demonstrations and a Q&A, allowing attendees to ask questions in a supportive environment.

Artificial intelligence adoption is accelerating across industries, from marketing and finance to healthcare and education. Yet studies continue to show that women are underrepresented in AI development and adoption, raising concerns about a widening gender confidence and skills gap.

Natalie says the webinar is about empowerment, not hype. โ€œSo many women I speak to have experimented with AI but say, โ€˜Iโ€™ve played with it โ€” I just donโ€™t really get it.โ€™

“If we donโ€™t understand how these tools work – their strengths, their limitations, their risks – we risk stepping back from the conversation entirely. My goal is simple: to give women the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions, ask better questions, and participate fully in the future of work.โ€

The session aims to demonstrate the potential and the pitfalls of AI, helping women approach the technology critically and confidently rather than feeling overwhelmed or excluded.

The timing reflects growing national conversations around AI regulation, workplace transformation and digital skills development.

The webinar has been created in response to increasing local demand for clear, jargon-free guidance on AI. Natalie has spent the past year delivering AI training to businesses and organisations across the Southwest and says the same concern keeps emerging: people are experimenting, but without real understanding.

Registration is free but spaces are limited. Women can reserve their place HERE

The Return of The Fold Music Venue in Devizes

If your average Tuesday night in Devizes might feel like The Day The Earth Stood Still, it certainly felt this way for me yesterday; I was at an open mic, down The Foldโ€ฆ..

Yeah, you read that right, the back room of The Lamb which launched Kieranโ€™s Sheer Music a decade or so ago, a Devizes to Trow-Vegas success story many hold fond memories of. Since then it seems itโ€™s been rather dormant up there, so Iโ€™m sure it will come as a delight to many to hear this once popular, intimate space is reopening, because this open mic night is only the beginning.

The open mic will continue, each first Tuesday of the month, and the weekends hopes to see regular affordable ticketed gigs. Iโ€™ve got to stop saying โ€œTuesdayโ€ now, because in my mind Iโ€™m voicing it as Miranda, probably because Iโ€™m a smidgen over-excited to bring you this fantastic news!

The project has been masterminded by Sally at the Lamb, who has renovated the Fold, and Josh Oldfield, who will be running nights there. Furthermore, on occasions when Josh is gigging elsewhere, Devizine is allowed to use it, and in a joint venture, we hope to bring some great gigs to town.

The legend that is Gaz Brookfield returns to The Fold in a blaze of glory on the 5th June, with our faithful JP in support. But the Fold opens earlier; officially on Friday 27th March, when piano-driven pop-rock trio, Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours headline with JP again in support. This one is free, save a tip jar for the acts.

Devizineโ€™s first night hosting there will be Friday 24th April.

Iโ€™m sorting it out now, do not fear! My concept is to bring in some exciting new and original acts to Devizes, or at the very least ones who have rarely played here, despite me bashing on about them within the pages of Devizine! Starting with an acoustic folk night; save the date, for we have two of Chippenhamโ€™s finest young singer-songwriters, Meg and Seren promising to play for us on the 24th April.

Meg, Image by Kiesha

Details on this and other gigs at the Fold will follow. For now letโ€™s just say last night was a great start to reinventing the venue. A humble and hospitable evening, as most open mics are; shame I rarely get to attend any because they usually occur on weekday evenings.  

With performers at opposite sides of the timeline, a promising acoustic guitar sporting Billy went first, followed by Ronnie unplugged with an electric. Eyebrows were raised further when young bassist, Meadow, backed Ed Dowdeswell, stepson of Jamie R Hawkins, who, though containing elements of brilliant songwriting and riffs clearly rubbed off from Jamie, is carving a name for himself independently, and quite rightly so.

A smidgen more mature musicians, Jim and Ray, blessed us with some folk-blues covers. And between them and our wonderful Sammi Evans, Sammiโ€™s son Kristian also sang quite wonderfully for the very first time; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Sammi is always a delight to see live, but her set ended abruptly due to guitar string snap, and golden axeman Brian took his place and pumped some gorgeous blues covers our way; Big Mamma Thornton, though, nicely placed sir!

Young Amelia may have been penultimate on the roster, but was the ultimate voice, and known throughout the free world of Devizes, Gordy and Tim polished this fantastic inaugural reopening of The Fold off expertly. I left feeling this will be something very special added to our busy live music circuit here in Devizes, and I hope to see you there soon!

Grand opening with Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours and JP Oldfield will be free on 27th March. The next open mic is due April 2nd. We take over with Meg and Seren on 24th April, Gaz arrives on 5th June, and thereโ€™s more to follow; exciting news!ย Open mics are just nice, aren’t they?!

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Dulcet Tones Rock Back to Bassett!

You’re a teenage Tom Cruise, at least you wish you were, but stay with me on this! Your parents are away, you’re home alone with dad’s liquor cabinet. For certain, you’re going to get into some risky business as the movie progresses, but your initial impulse is to dance around the house in a shirt and pants. I’ve no interest in seeing you in your pants, Tom, what makes the scene so iconic is surely the song choice. Because Bob Segar was bang on the money; experimentation in music is good, but the scene wouldn’t have the same impact if he was listening to Jean-Michel Jarre. Sometimes you do need some old time rock n rollโ€ฆ..

Now, imagine Bob never recorded that song; what song would you pick instead? Options, people, options aplenty, but here, take the 49 to Swindon and try Dulcet Tones for size. Since a single from last May, they’ve a debut EP, Back To Bassett; okay, itโ€™s got a few local references including, bizarrely, an Avebury-Chuck Berry link, but it’s old time rock n roll, at least โ€œrockโ€ if youโ€™re nitpicking, still, the kind of timeless music that soothes the soul.

A bit of delay in mentioning this, apologies to the band, frontman Andrew McLennan, lead guitarist Nick Osman, bassist Darryl Wilks and drummer Rob Cooper, but it makes for perfect air guitar practice from beginning to end! Embellished by wailing guitar riffs to make ZZ Top blush, driving drum rolls, and that archetypal hoarse vocal rebel yell, the opening tune, As I Am, doesnโ€™t wait for you to adjust your funky pants, but being the simple premise is taking them as they are or not at all, the choice is a no brainer; this absolutely rocks!

In essence itโ€™s โ€œgood olโ€™ boyโ€™s music,โ€ windows down summery driving rock, wind in your beard, and itโ€™s more fun than deeply meaningful. Hold On stomps with elements of Tom Petty, or maybe harder, think Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, but has the on-the-road narrative to mirror what Iโ€™m trying to say, I hope! 

Three quid for four solid tunes means weโ€™re driving to the halfway house. Dream Home soothes the tempo, thereโ€™s notions of Guns & Roses at their most sentimental. Oh, this is cool; if dulcet tones implies sweet, melodious, and pleasing, this tune proves theyโ€™ve named themselves appropriately.

Title track comes last, does it need saying Back to Bassett has some local references? Not outright slating the town, nor as the concept extends to other local urban areas, like Swindonโ€™s Old Town, rather it suggests theyโ€™d prefer to chill out in a more rural and spiritual setting, an adventure citing our ancient stones and monuments. In subject itโ€™s obviously not going to work well with the Americana of the previous tunes, making this one sound more akin to British psychedelic rock, weighty and significantly Levellers.

Back to Bassett as a track was a pleasant surprise, and proves Dulcet Tones are no one trick pony. Back to Bassett as an EP is loudly and proudly moreish, using the tried and tested formula of classic rock subgenres, like the California sound of Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and heaps of rock and roll revival, yet with the finale, thereโ€™s adherents of neopagan rock.

Iโ€™ve seen their band name listed gigging about the circuit, Swindon Shuffle I think most, but now I need to grow some hair and make a beeline. You could, if you so wished, say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill. Iโ€™d rebuke it without too much botheration, because I keep myself eclectic through personal want and need in writing this blog, but thereโ€™s many occasions when I contemplate Bobโ€™s words and agree; today’s music ain’t got the same soul, and go for that old-time rock ‘n’ roll. When I do, now thankfully I have Dulcet Tones; you should too, you old rocker!

LinkTree HERE

Talk in Code Headlined Devizes Winter of Festive Ales

Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts key into the town’s majority demographic for its first annual event of the year, mature couples, with an affection for sampling the widest varieties of beers and ales. In this The Winter of Festive Ales may function parochially, but is not only extremely popular and is revitalising from the torpor of winter, it also raises vital funds for DOCA to stage more family-driven events freely throughout the coming yearโ€ฆ..

Cabaret and music acts usually perform, yet are secondary in importance to the sampling of the booze for the average amateur connoisseur attending; no issue there, because that’s the ethos of the event. In reviewing an event my top priority is awarded if it โ€˜does what it says on the tin.โ€™ The Winter of Festive Ales at the Corn Exchange received top marks in that department, we tried maple syrup and blueberry stouts, mango cider and plenty of other interesting and delicious fusions selected by Stealth Brewery, The Southgate and The Pour House, and Padfield Porkies pies are undeniably knockout.

With cabaret it can therefore be quirky and perhaps out on a limb, which I’d consider a deliberately lethargic roller-skater, a ragamuffin Basil Brush styled wolf, and a chequered suit bloke putting four ping-pong balls in his mouth is; the drink influences greater belly laughs. But for the music, one might opt for the demographic’s preferred genres, of blues or roots driven prog rock.

Being honest the fact Talk in Code headlined this year surprised but delighted me, with their original eighties-nineties indie-pop fusion, but I didn’t need ponder if this was the best choice, because, yet again, Talk in Code proved they fit into any box, without even having to change their set to suit. They more simply, do what they do, and it’s infectious to all.

Said this before, where Talk in Code can charm a food festival, fete, or anywhere from a Pride festival to a bike meet. They come up trumps at FullTone, supporting an eighties tribute like The Pet Shop Boys Actually, and equally thrill at grassroots venues such as Bradford-on-Avon’s Three Horseshoes. Though I might advise it is best to see Talk in Code in Swindon where their fanbase is largest and the vibes alight most, for every random event across the nation they display their sublime sound,  and forthcoming personas at, the positivity in their style rubs off, building to a phenomenon, known only too well by their adoring fanbase, the Talkers.

You can find the Talkers at any Talk in Code gig, they reside at the front attired in merch, encouraging other punters to dance. Else, afterwards they’ll chat with band members like family. Unlike a pop band who might hide in a green room, they mingle. Aside from the hive mind of their fans, though, there’s a dedicated corporate identity, a brand with clever marketing which supports the music. This completes the Talk in Code effect, displayed triumphantly, even here, at the Winter of Festive Ales in Devizes last night.

The event splits into two ticketed sessions, one quieter in the afternoon for the real ale connoisseurs to rap about body, fruitiness and alcohol content, the later evening session more lively and entertaining. Yep, Talk in Code will deliver this with bells on.

For the average punter whose kids have likely fled the nest, the early start time of the evening session might suit as more ale can, and will be consumed. For us with teenagers in need of picking up from Saturday jobs, feeding and watering, it unfortunately meant we missed The Wholesome Soul Duo and some cabaret. And I was looking forward to this soul duo, who often take the early Sunday gig at The Southgate, having yet to cross them off my must-see list. I know a raffle must come towards the end, but if I remain slightlyย dubious about the arrangement of acts, thinking Talk in Code could’ve finalised the evening, rather than winding it down too early, and The Wholesome Soul Duo be pushed to a later slot than 6pm, that’s only due to personal commitments. Itโ€™s a quality, well-organised and enjoyable event with plenty of time for quantities of alcohol consumption, which confirms Devizes is a town of culture; drinking culture at least! Whatever the outcome of an award, residents here know it is.

And this is the just opening, the beginning of a year of seasonal events across the town, either blossoming or established, many of which, with a sprinkling of dedicated volunteers, DOCA will stage, host and gift to, not only the population, but attracting visitors from afar. For this alone, we love and thank everyone who comes together to make DOCA a thing. The Winter of Festive Ales is vital to the funding of it, and remains to be a fantastic, Devizes fashioned occasion worthy of your hard-earned cash.

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The Munster Returns to Slam-Dunk Wiltshire Council Budget!

Well, I admit, the Black Dog Crossroads has reopened with shiny new traffic lights and looks pretty groovy, as far as road junctions look groovy. But I will forever be flabbergasted how the Wiltshire councillor for The Lavingtons, Dominic Muns, who signed off the project, concentrated his announcement of the project with political point-scoring rather than safetyโ€ฆ. 

Claiming this โ€œwouldn’t have happenedโ€ with any other specific party at the helm of Wiltshire Council, particularly spatting The Greens with certain bitterness, was hearsay. The project was signed off prior to the Lib Dem takeover, so we can never be certain if it would or would not have been approved. This was a red light warning, altering me to the notion Dominic Muns enjoys stirring the pot, but whilst I respect that along with his motivation to respond, I remain sceptical the sauce in his pot is spiced with nothing more than bamboozlement.

A few other Wiltshire Councillors have got their knickers in a twist over the new council budget, and would-bes too, like lone ranger Devizes former Reform candidate Malcom Cupis, who loves spreading his verbal faeces on the Devizes Issue (But Bitter) Facebook group, and, reading between his lines of his recent nonsensical rant, seemed to approve fascism provided he could get his bins emptied weekly. But Muns, well, he called in AI and went to town on his Facebook page with a post yesterday which should come with a content warning; it reads like the boy who cried wolf is writing for the Daily Fail.

The question remains, how twisted can one’s knickers get before they ride up the bum crack with a plethora of brown stained untruths, or at the very least, skid-marked exaggerations?!

Omitting mentioning the ยฃ6 billion โ€œsink holeโ€ the Liberal Democrat led council inherited County Hall with, and all its gubbings from decades of Tory reign, like, say, the worst social care provisions and roads which look like they belonged on a battlefield at the Somme, Muns said โ€œWiltshire deserves better than this,โ€ and suggested their โ€œalternative budget took on no debt and delivered a ยฃ20m better position over 3 years,โ€ adding emojis of a bar chart and suitcase for the benefit of, what I can only deem, his followers unable to read, or an imaginary artistic licence.

โ€œCutting spending on our road networkโ€ and โ€œhiking car parking charges, including a huge increase on Sundays,โ€ were on his hitlist, โ€œcutting black bin collections to once every 3 weeks, cutting the Parish Steward Scheme,โ€ and โ€œcutting the Parish Emergency Assistance Schemeโ€ were others he is disgruntled about.

But whoa there Munster, is it a random hike, or does the 4.99% rise include the 2% adult social care precept, which most councils are using because care costs are rising sharply?

Aren’t the three-weekly black bin collections part of a shift toward higher recycling rates, which many other councils have already adopted?

Is this really as unprecedented or uniquely reckless as you’re suggesting? On highways and the parish schemes, can you point to the specific budget lines showing outright removal rather than reprioritisation or consultation? This might help residents to see the details rather than broad claims.

And you couldn’t get broader than when he added in the cascading comments, โ€œI use the term โ€œIndependentโ€ loosely since theyโ€™re actually all on the Lib Dem payroll and merely masquerading as independent councillors to win local votes.โ€

Ooh, I had to ask for proof to this crazy accusation, with which he returned with, โ€œyou can check the list of SRAs (Special Responsibility Allowances) and see which councillors are receiving additional money for certain roles. Itโ€™s public record.โ€

Big Rod Stewart sized butt; receiving a Special Responsibility Allowance as an independent councillor does not put them on a Lib Dem (or any specific party) payroll. SRAs are paid directly by Wiltshire Council based on recommendations from an independent panel for specific roles like committee chairs, regardless of political affiliation.

Another unfortunate visitor to his Facebook page asked on this thread, if he was โ€œsaying my Wiltshire Councillor Ernie Clark – Independent in Hilperton is a LibDem?!โ€

The Munster responded, โ€œwe were made aware of a written contract drafted by the Lib Dem administration and Independent councillors which promised paid roles in exchange for support. Independent councillors are currently in those same paid roles. Make of that what you will.โ€

Cllr Dominic Muns for The Lavingtons seems to be making quite a lot of “what you will” out of the Council budget, but still, failed to answer the question to his accusation, which comes over just a smidgen slanderous. He says Iโ€™m confused, and โ€œcertain roles are appointed directly by the Lib Dem administration, others by a vote of the committee which is apportioned to mirror overall political balance,โ€ perhaps heโ€™s right; Iโ€™m confused as to how this puts an independent councillor on a Lib Dem payroll.

If, as he said, the Conservativesโ€™ alternative delivered a ยฃ20m better position over three years with no debt, where is that ยฃ20m coming from, and what assumptions were used, I wonder, but not enough to keep me up at night! For if itโ€™s genuinely stronger, he could show the workings so residents can judge. Budgets are about trade-offs. If weโ€™re going to criticise decisions, letโ€™s do it with the full numbers on the table.

As I patiently wait for the green light at the shiny new Black Dog Crossroads which looks like it belongs in a different county, I think it’s best to wait for peace of mind, and perhaps we should wait for the effects of this budget too, before casting assumptions.

Face it, the only credible thing about his post of yesterday is that โ€œWiltshire deserves better than this,โ€ yet, poop scooping the doggie doings of the previous council, did anyone expect a welcoming budget?

Yes, buddy, Wiltshire residents deserve better, they deserve transparency from everyone, not just slogans. Cool, you signed off Black Dog, but the campaign for this has taken decades, decades in which the Munster was but a mini-Munster, and The Conservatives had ample opportunity to make this Tory stronghold better, but failed, and that’s why the democratic system showed them the door. You’re a big boy now, so dry your eyes and accept that sometimes you win, sometimes you donโ€™t and that’s the way it goes!

Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 Announces New Organisers and Major Event Upgrade

The Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 entered an exciting new era when Stone Circle Music Events announced was as official sponsor and organiser. Backed by their Galway, Ireland office, the company continues to grow as a major force in event production in the South West of England.…

Joining them are theย  Kingston Group, bringing extensive industry experience within Wiltshire. Together the partnership will build on the success of 2025, and deliver an enhanced awards experience.

This yearโ€™s Wiltshire Music Award ceremony will feature upgraded audio-visual production, large screens, professional camera coverage, an experienced compรจre, and a headline star appearance. A new county-wide marketing campaign will ensure the entire region is engaged.

Committed to rotating locations, The Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 ceremony will be held at White Horse View Events Centre, beneath the iconic Westbury White Horse, hosting up to 400 guests seated at tables.

Nominations open on the 1st May, and close 1st June 2026, with the Awards Ceremony due to take place on Saturday 26th September 2026.

Seeking Volunteers

The Wiltshire Music Awards are seeking volunteers, and invite anyone who cares about local artists, live venues, grassroots music, and giving people a platform to shine, to contact them. Together we wish to deliver the countyโ€™s biggest celebration of live music and grassroots talent.

We would truly love to hear from you, whether you have experience in event planning or simply a passion and some time to give, your contribution could help make 2026 our most inclusive and inspiring year yet.

Please get in touch at: hello@wiltshiremusicevents.uk

Perform at the Wiltshire Music Awards Evening

We are now inviting talented artists from across Wiltshire to take the stage at our upcoming Awards Evening. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your music, celebrate the local scene, and perform in front of an engaged live audience.

If you perform anywhere in the county of Wiltshire and would like to be part of this special night, weโ€™d love to hear from you.

To express your interest, please email: patrick@stonecirclemusicevents.uk

Live Music in Trowbridge; Still Pumping! The Sunnies, Between The Lines and Meg at The Pump

Images from KieshaFilms

I confess my motivation to venture out this winter stagnated, like sludge in a drain. Akin to a hedgehog, I poked my twitching rhinarium out of my nest last Sunday, a mere pint down the Gate with Jon Amor. But what better way to cure my hibernation than a refreshing night at Trowbridgeโ€™s tโ€™rrific grassroots venue, The Pump?

Chatting with Kieran online prior I hoped Melkshamโ€™s upcoming band Between The Lines were on his radar, cos theyโ€™re blooming amazing, to which he replied coincidently they were playing there on Saturday with The Sunnies headlining and Meg also in support. How I missed listing this gig, being I run an event guide, remains a mystery, but it didnโ€™t mean I should miss it physically; viva Trow Vegas!ย 

Okay, itโ€™s labelled a โ€œstudent night,โ€ organised by small Trowbridge label Nova Sounds Records; Iโ€™m young at heart and Gen Z donโ€™t age discriminate. Theyโ€™re there to party, support local acts they adore, none too fussed if a codger hides in the background. Bands invigoratingly fresh and hopeful, supplying a new scene with zest, but also a timeless punk lore of affordable and friendly gigs, which makes The Pump function successfully, bucking a tragic proneness era of grassroots venue closures.ย ย 

Nick Harper comes to The Pump this Friday, Jah Wobble did a DJ set at the beginning of the month. These events are bound to sell well. What is more amazing is The Pump will sell out staging three young local acts, and their ethos trends on this. While other music venues strive to host the big names of now and yesteryear, The Pump stages the future ones, with triumphant pride. Itโ€™s the most modest and humble place where dreams come true.  

All three acts have presented their wares here before, and been subjects to Kieranโ€™s Future Sound of Trowbridge project. Now they return in the present tense. I noticed in both Meg and Between The Lines, a vitalised sense of confidence in their breathtaking performances. One could rightfully mark this โ€œpractice makes perfect.โ€ However, after congratulating them, I pondered if playing at The Pump, rather than the other places I last saw them, was also an element making them feel at ease. Describing The Pump like a sacred home, they unanimously agreed it did, and ultimately, how utterly fantastic is that in a largely rural area where most venues are pubs they cannot either play or invite their fanbase?!

Images from KieshaFilms

As for The Sunnies headlining, I whisked into the end of their set at Bradford Roots Festival some years ago, but have never had the pleasure of witnessing them at full steam. And they were too, totally on fire. If youโ€™re Devizes based itโ€™s best to dub them Melkhamโ€™s answer to Nothing Rhymes With Orange, as both formed as school bands based around a similar time, and both caused a phenomenon in their respective towns. If youโ€™re Melksham based, youโ€™ll know, The Sunnies have a loyal teen fanbase, and frontman Jarret Brown loves nothing more than to leap offstage and join them! Youโ€™ll also be aware just why they rouse a crowd into a frenzy of joy.

They came out all guns firing, all fiery indie-punk pride, flavoured agreeably with soulful basslines breathing universally acceptable pop vibes. Yet initially it was when they chilled it with ballads of youthful desires I began to consider they were at their best. This is the opposite to the usual indie-punk band, which tends to thrive on the uptempo. Though I had to consider they like to warm up, because the finale saw them turning up the heat once more, sparks flew and encore demanded.

They played their breakthrough song of three years ago, Veridity, with equal gusto as some new tunes, which, returning to my point about these bands feeling comfy here with their fanbase, they pleaded for feedback and were welcomed rapturously. 

Images from KieshaFilms

It helps everyone greatly to be comfy, ergo, if you want to see these young bands at their best, here is where to do it. Between the Lines was the perfect example; loved their set at Swindon Shuffle, if they came across understandably nervy. Slightly younger than the Sunnies they live in their shadow across Melksham, but elusive manly dominance is filtered by the most wonderful female singer and bassist, Belle. Itโ€™s breezier, subtle grunge with an acceptable alt-rock tinge, progressing nicely, and a pleasure to hear, especially their originals. Man, they do a sublime version of Tears for Fearsโ€™ Mad World though, and in this and other covers project a timeless essence of classic rock in their performances.

And what a brilliant performance it was, tricky to rise after Chippenhamโ€™s soloist M3G, with her unique heavenly acoustic style, her songs so personal you can see the claw reaching out to clutch your heartstrings. We love M3G here at Devizine, and as she played through three new songs she has worked with Phil Cooper on, I became eager to review them. Again, she weaved the crowd with audience participation, something she mayโ€™ve shied away from previously.ย 

Images from KieshaFilms

It was a pleasure to see both these supporting acts honing their style and abilities, in such an apt and welcoming place,with the bonus of finally appreciating the might of the Sunnies. If they all cut their teeth at Neeldโ€™s Take the Stage, they thrive here at The Pump. And you need to be there to witness them.

Iโ€™m not easy to please, grumpy old sausage that I am, yet twas a great night, but this was just another day at the office for them there lovelies at The Pump! I didnโ€™t meet Simon from Sketchbook Records, which I had hoped to do. I was informed he had a blinder on Friday hosting an event there, and thereโ€™s the thing; from their acoustic nights relished in the Village Pump folk roots of yore, to the Bar-Stewards Sons of Val Doonican and the metal hardcore of Broken Lungs, Avicide and Dead Society next month, thereโ€™s something for you at The Pump, see here.ย 

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Steatopygous go Septic

If you believe AI, TikTok and the rest of it all suppress Gen Zโ€™s outlets to convey anger and rage, resulting in a generation ofโ€ฆ

Keep reading

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REVIEW โ€“ Wakeman & Son @ The Corn Exchange, Devizes โ€“ Saturday 21st February 2026

Yes! Wakemansโ€™ Journey To The Centre of Devizes!

by Andy Fawthrop

Rumours are swirling round that D-Town is about to launch a bid to be named the UK Town of Culture, and you have to think that we have to be in with a chance. Letโ€™s face it – any competition that doesnโ€™t use the state of the local roads as one of its yardsticks has to be worth entering….

And, as if by magic, up pops an event that, once again, proves that weโ€™re punching above our weight.ย  Weโ€™ve already highlighted here in Devizine some of the amazing stuff thatโ€™s coming up over the coming months that will put us in with a shout, but last night at the Corn Exchange just went to prove what we can do here in our little town if we put our mind to it.

Despite relatively little advertising of the event, over 400 people snapped up tickets to see the return of rock legend Rick Wakeman to the stage last night, in a one-off โ€œwarm-upโ€ gig for his forthcoming US tour, this time accompanied by son Oliver.ย  I guess it was a case of โ€œIf You Knew, You Knewโ€, and the event was a complete sell-out from weeks ago.ย  The room was so packed that the sound guys had to set up shop in the hallโ€™s kitchen area and to work their magic through the hatch.ย  It was a bit tight in there, but we were all friends, so that didnโ€™t matter one little bit.

The Wakemans are no strangers to this particular stage.ย  Rick appeared here a couple of years back with his outfit KGB (another cracking night that was), and his other son Adam has twice appeared with his band Jazz Sabbath (also highly recommended).ย  Looks like Longcroft Productions have got the inside track with the Wakeman family.

Rickman senior breezed onto the stage, belying his 76 years, and proceeded to wow the room with his first piece on the grand piano. He was shortly followed by elder son Oliver, and the two keyboard wizards then proceeded to deliver a two-hour plus show of absolutely stunning musicianship.  Moving easily between the five different keyboards on stage, the two men played a wide range of pieces including both relatively recent compositions, as well a goodly smattering of block-busters from the huge back catalogue.  And Rick told us that as a โ€œwarm-upโ€ it was chance for them to experiment a little.  โ€œYouโ€™re getting more here than the Americans are going to get.  You deserve it more than they do!โ€  Cue rapturous applause.

Image: Oliver Wakeman

It wasnโ€™t just the music though. Father and son are both born raconteurs, and interspersed the items on the set list with some wonderful anecdotes.  We had stories of rescue dogs, marriages and weddings, of the Wakeman parents, of encounters with unwilling pub landlords, and even of previous encounters with our local Moonrakers. Some of which might help explain why โ€œHow Much Is That Doggy In The Window?โ€ and โ€œSweet Georgia Brownโ€ made short, yet unsurprising appearances in the set-list.  There was a lovely running gag about the exact date of Oliverโ€™s birth, and how old he was at various times in the stories.  And it was great to see the obvious warmth and respect between the two men.

And of course there was plenty of time across the two hours (interrupted only by what Rick referred to as โ€œthe Bladder Breakโ€) to explore themes from their musical pasts.  Both men have featured at various times in the different line-ups of Prog superstars Yes, from the 1970s onwards.  So there was a mash-up arrangement named โ€œThe Yes Suiteโ€, followed by several of Rickโ€™s solo ventures – โ€œThe Six Wives of Henry VIIIโ€, โ€œMyths & Legends of King Arthurโ€, and the stunning โ€œJourney To The Centre Of The Earthโ€. We also journeyed round some older stuff from The Strawbs and David Bowieโ€™s โ€œLife On Marsโ€. 

Musically it was an absolute master-class.  To say that these guys know their way around a keyboard is to massively understate just how good they were.  As a nightโ€™s entertainment it was engrossing. Of course there was plenty of whooping and cheering, and a standing ovation.  And of course there was a two-hander encore.  Can I give it more than ten out of ten?  I would if I could.

And before the Wakemans finally disappear into the night, swirling cloaks and hair about their persons, just a word about the back-room boys.  You donโ€™t get fabulous nights out like this without an enormous amount of background work and logistics.  So hats off to Paul Chandler of Longcroft Productions for even daring to bring this one off show to D-Town. And hereโ€™s also to the piano suppliers, to the piano-tuner, to the sound and light guys, to Wadworth for sponsoring, to the Corn Exchange staff and to the small army of volunteers.  A true team effort to bring together a really amazingly good night. Bravo to all concerned.

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DOCAโ€™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 twentyโ€ฆ

Jol Roseโ€™s Ragged Stories

Thereโ€™s albums Iโ€™ll go in blind and either be pleasantly surprised, or not. Then thereโ€™s ones which I know Iโ€™m going to love before theโ€ฆ

Vince Bell in the 21st Century!

Unlike Buck Rogers, who made it to the 25th century six hundred years early, Devizesโ€™ most modest acoustic virtuoso arrives at the 21st just shortโ€ฆ

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Big Ones: The Major Events in Devizes This Year

No one knows why, apparently, but fish are dying in our canal; everyone says wait for the EA report, except for the fish. A town full of road works, burnt out buildings and roads which look like weโ€™ve suffered a doodlebug air raid, but thereโ€™s glitch in the Matrix; itโ€™s temporarily stopped chucking it down with a perpetual drizzle of ice rain, and I saw a cold early-rising hedgehog this morning. When I see my first hedgehog I assume spring might yet be on its way; chin up.

The Government (should you wish to call it that) has launched the first ever UK Town of Culture competition, and Devizes Town Council thinks weโ€™re in for a chance here; best of luck with that! Town Councillors are looking to collaborate with local groups, organisations and individuals in putting together an Expression of Interest that showcases our amazing community spirit and the rich story we have to tell as a Town; thereโ€™s work to be done!

Councillors are holding an initial meeting on Thursday 26th February at 6pm in the Assembly Room at the Town Hall and it is open to everyone who is interested in collaborating on this project. A big yes to this, whatever we can do to help …..without having to attend a town council meeting, just ask!

Meanwhile, rather than fix their problems, other town councils, like Melksham’s, are making national news sellotaping pictures of the journalists they donโ€™t like very much onto punchballs for embarrassingly pathetic potshots, namely Joe McCann of Melksham News.  

We have a good relationship with Joe at Melksham News here at Devizine; the butt of a seriously pathetic joke at Melksham Town Council simply for doing his job has seriously backfired. Donโ€™t mess with the press, we stand united. Could this become a trend? I wonder who’s face might get onto a punchball at Devizes Town Council?!

Moi? I’d be honoured, mโ€™lord!!

No, look, honest guv, or .gov.uk, Iโ€™m here to help. I don’t want a medal, but think we can PROVE Devizes is actually a great place to live, and deserves to be a Town of Culture. There’s lots going on culturally. Iโ€™m only here to tell you what, donโ€™t give me the third degree simply for doing it in a satirical way, because it only serves a purpose; making this an entertaining read rather than a list of events, which you can find anyway, on our event calendar. Iโ€™m nice, no, really!

So, last week of February: DOCAโ€™s Festival of Winter Ales is at The Corn Exchange on Saturday 28th. Weโ€™ve previewed it, read further here and hope to see you there for a beer!

March

March is a bit dry, to be honest. Wiltshire Museum, though, begins the exhibit John Piper in the South Country which opens on Saturday 7th March and runs until the 7th June. I hope to be at the opening ceremony and will report my findings.

Sir Alan Ayckbournโ€™s How the Other Half Loves opens at The Wharf Theatre on Monday 16th March, running until the 21st. Thereโ€™s a comedy night at the Corn Exchange on Friday 20th, and Jimmy Royal & the Regals play Long Street Blues Club on the 21st, so things are starting to look up.

The first โ€œBig Oneโ€ in Devizes is at the end of March, when Kingston Media host The Bands By The Green, on the Saturday 28th. In support of Julianโ€™s House, they promise a family afternoon of live music from 1:30pm, featuring Charlie Greenwood, Kelly Dale, This Way Up, Simplicity, Crackerjack, and Foo Lizzy. Tickets HERE.

April

April kicks off creepy and kooky, mysterious, spooky, and all together ooky when Devizes Musical Theatreโ€™s Addams Family Musical comes to Dauntseyโ€™s.

Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race starts at the wharf on Friday 3rd, and someone was recently complaining this doesnโ€™t attract much attention, so weโ€™re mentioning it here, donโ€™t blame me!!

By the 5th itโ€™s Easter, find lots going on from our updating events calendar, but behold, an Easter Egg Hunt at Hillworth Park.

Friday 10th sees Devizes Music Academy present Sister Act at The Corn Exchange, which runs until the 12th.

Tuesday night out, anyone? Long Street Blues Club were instrumental in helping establish King King in their early days and this superb band is now firmly established as one of the premier Blues Rock acts in the country. They return to the Devizes Corn Exchange on Tuesday 21st.

May

The annual Cancer Research Car Boot Sale at Stert Country House starts off May, on Saturday 16th, unless thereโ€™s anything Iโ€™ve missed? The event calendar updates, this will not, so please, bookmark it into your favourites and check in regularly, because the further we get into the year, the less events we currently know about. This is a teaser of whatโ€™s to come, do not, I repeat, do not, get your summer dresses and sun hats on just yet!

Saturday 23rd sees two new DOCA events, Out & About, where they look at acts in the Community, and the DOCA Festival of Discovery. More to follow on these, but save the date.

Friday 29th sees The Wharf Acting Coโ€™s Whoโ€™s Play is it Anyway, the show theyโ€™re taking to the Edinburgh Fringe; this is an exclusive sneaky peak. More on this HERE, plus Lou Coxโ€™s Having a Baby and the Sh!t They Donโ€™t Tell You in Books, also appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe, of which you can also catch at the Wharf Theatre on Saturday 30th.  

The Devizes Arts Festival kicks off the same weekend, and it is Rowdefest on Saturday 30th; we had a great time with this last year, and this year looks to be just as great if not more. Barrelhouse headline, with the sublime Ruby Darbyshire; handpicked by me personally!

June

Devizes Arts Festival, runs until June 14th; hereโ€™s everything we know so far, well nearly everything; thereโ€™s a surprise Iโ€™ve been told to button my lip about. They trust me too much! Monday 1st June Anthony Horowitz: A Life in Murder, Tuesday 2nd, Patrick Grant in Conversation, Thursday 4th, Hot Mess, and Friday 5th sees the Robert Vincent Band, and Milton Jones on Friday 12th June; thatโ€™s all we have for now, watch this space.

John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett at Long Street Blues Club on Monday 8th. 

Saturday June 13th sees the Wiltshire Steam & Vintage Rally returning to Park Farm near Devizes. Sunday 14th is the Devizes Lions family funday and car show, Lions on The Green.

July

Ooh, got a big one here for you! July kicks off Saturday 4th with the awaited return of CrownFest at The Crown in Bishopโ€™s Cannings, and this one looks unmissable, with more artists being added all the time. The current poster weโ€™ve got needs updating, I believe Ruby is coming and a host of others. Iโ€™m looking forward to Ant Trouble, because I picked this one, Stand and Deliver, your ticket money or your life!!

But the month is jam-packed; Town of Culture, box ticked! Saturday 11th and it is the most unique festival around these parts; FullTone. If a sixty piece orchestra playing out of their new location on Park Farm doesnโ€™t quite tempt you enough, The Wurzels and Jason Donovan might! Preview HERE; gorgeous, darling!

Friday 17th sees the Classic Ibiza thang at Bowood House. Saturday 18th and youโ€™ll find Devizes Vegan Market, aptly in the Market Place. Sunday 19th and abracadabra; DOCA will transform Hillworth Park into a Magic Garden.

But, hey, this one is going to be big and needs your attention! Park Farm Festival returns for it’s second year on Saturday 18th. Lovely as this was last time, it needs you. More universal and family appeal than last year, Jon Amor Trio is playing, with well, look at the poster, look, and read our preview!

Friday 24th, and itโ€™s the legendary Devizes Scooter Rally – all weekend! A fantastic event, you donโ€™t need a scooter, but some dancing shoes are essential footwear. You will love All That Soulโ€™s sublime Motown makeovers, and thereโ€™s a Blondie tribute, a separate venue for those talc dusters and lots of good time reggae and ska.

August

As I said earlier, weโ€™ve lots more to add and lots more to find out about, so keep this frequency clear, and love Devizine. You can go to a meeting to etch out a plan to make Devizes a town of culture, but itโ€™s me here, on me tod, typing this out for your attention; donโ€™t you forget about us!

So, letโ€™s rush through what little we know about the later months; Saturday 29th August is Confetti Battle & Colour Rush. Monday 31st will, of course, be Black Rat Monday at The British Lion in which you are duty-bound to attend!

September

Saturday 5th is Devizes Carnival.

Devizes Food and Drink Festival is on from Saturday September 19th to Sunday Sept 27th.  The festival is run and managed locally, entirely by volunteers and will offer 20+ original food and drink experiences, kicking off with an Artisan Producer Market in the Market Place on the 19th and finishing with the World Food Tasting Experience on Sunday 27th in the Corn Exchange.

The rest of our event calendar is looking blank. Help me fill them in as we go, and hereโ€™s looking to a fantastic 2026, town of culture award, or not, we strive on, we know Devizes is great!

Devizine Steps Down From Organising Wiltshire Music Awards

After much deliberation, Devizine is to pull out of any further organisation of the Wiltshire Music Awardsโ€ฆ..

It has not been an easy decision, and I remain super-proud of what Ed and I achieved last year, getting this special occasion off the ground. The Wiltshire Music Awards takes complex organisation. Therefore, I feel I cannot commit to the workload involved this year effectively enough for what the event deserves whilst continuing to run Devizine too.

Obviously, I’m still dedicated to supporting and promoting the Wiltshire Music Awards through Devizine for this and subsequent years. I also still believe it’s a very worthy cause, highlighting what a fantastic live music scene we have in Wiltshire and rewarding those who continue to contribute to it.

Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle Music Events said, โ€œwe want to publicly thank Darren for the time, effort, and genuine passion he has poured into the awards and into the wider Wiltshire music scene. The spirit of collaboration and encouragement heโ€™s brought has helped shape what this event stands for; celebrating local talent, lifting one another up, and strengthening our creative community.โ€

Nominations for this yearโ€™s Wiltshire Music Awards will open on 1st May. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Eddie, who has been a pleasure and an inspiration to work with, as I am certain we will maintain the same good working relationship for the future awards and many other events. And to wish all the best for the future of the Wiltshire Music Awards.

Whatever Happened to Pancake Races in Devizes?

It seems Shrove Tuesday celebrations in Devizes have fallen as flat as aโ€ฆ.well, you get the gagโ€ฆ

Traditionally organised by Age Concern Wiltshire, and often supported by local partners like the Black Swan Hotel, which provided the pancakes, and the Devizes Rotary Club, pancake races in Devizes were an annual occasion, aptly on Pancake Day.

Originally held in the Market Place and shifted over to Hillworth Park in later years, you may have fond memories of trying to win a running race, giggling whilst tossing pancakes in frying pans, but these days it all seems to be lost; correct me if I’m wrong, you usually do!

What happened to pancake races in Devizes? Was it stopped during the lockdown? Seems not, the last one I can find evidence of was in 2015, and appeared on a now archived blog called Devizes Days.

Was it stopped because of health and safety reasons? Sounds possible, but other towns, such as Bradford-on-Avon, continue the tradition. Why not Devizes?

I mean, hey, if you want to get technical, the indulgence of Pancake Day is that final day of feasting before fasting for Lent, and being everyone stuffs pancakes but no one actually fasts, maybe the powers that be got a bit over zealous with punishment for our sins?!

Or, perhaps, and most likely, it’s just because everyone has too much to do in their daily rat race to organise a pancake race, which is a sad sign of the times. You know, kids don’t know how to play conkers anymore? Could pancake races be just as obsolete? Or could we revive it? I’d be happy to help, provided there’s sugar and lemon juice.

I feel sorry for the kids today; “No, you can’t have social media!”

“Can we run around tossing pancakes then?”

“Absolutely no chance!!”

I mean, we’d probably have to have frying pans made from foam and a soft landing surface. Pancakes would probably need to be dairy free, and disclaimers would need parent signatures, and failing to find a location to do this might result in the whole thing being played out in Minecraft, but still, it’s a thought. Do let me know yoursโ€ฆ..who stopped pancake races, and why?!

Minety Music Festival Announce Headliners; The Bluetones and Dub Pistols

The mighty mighty Minety Music Festival announced The Bluetones as their Sunday headliner at their Eames Laurie Main Stage, and The Dub Pistols on the Saturday…..

It’s not unspoken, we LOVE Minety Music Festival here at Devizine and don’t care who knows! It never fails to attract with some superb renowned names, and then throws in a plethora of local acts either established or upcoming, and in doing so creates a marvellous atmosphere where local music is supported via the followings of international headliners.

Formed in London in 1996 byย Barry Ashworth, the Dub Pistols are a renowned British collective fusing dub, reggae, ska, hip-hop, and electronic music, and the party rockers will be headlining the Saturday.

“We’re super excited and have wanted to bring The Dub Pistols to Minety for around three years,” chief organiser Rich Swatton tells us, “and this time, the stars have finally aligned. If you know, you know, and if you don’t know… speak to someone who knows. You’re going to love this!”

The Bluetones first came to prominence in 1995, when their debut release โ€˜Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?โ€™ broke into the top 40. The single proved to be the launching pad for a run that saw 14 hit singles and 6 albums follow on from it. They headline Sunday.

The Bluetones, formed in Hounslow, are made up of brothers Mark & Scott Morriss, alongside Adam Devlin and Eds Chesters, enjoyed considerable UK and Ireland successes, extending out across into Europe and Japan, before taking a hiatus in 2011 that lasted for 4 years. Since then they have re-established themselves as one of the UKโ€™s most consistently entertaining live acts, regularly touring their extensive catalogue to their army of devoted fans.

2024 saw the release of the first new Bluetones material in 14 years; a renaissance that saw the four original band members take in the summer festivals, before a full UK tour in the autumn/winter of 2024.

The release of ‘London Weekend Television’ in 2025 saw them reaffirm themselves as indie-pop royalty, and 2026 sees the band celebrate the 30th anniversary of Platinum selling album โ€˜Expecting To Flyโ€™, famed for hit singles, such as โ€˜Bluetonicโ€™, โ€˜Slight Returnโ€™ and Cut Some Rugโ€™.

“We can’t wait to welcome them to Minety Music Festival, for the very first time,” Rich said, “you’re in for a real treat!”

Minety is near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and is happening from 2nd-5th July 2026. Tickets only available from: www.minetyfestival.co.uk/buy-tickets

Shindig Festival Announces Bob Vylan as Headliner

The celebrated Shindig Festival at Malmesbury’s Charton Park announced their headline act for May bank holiday 2026, and being that it’s Bob Vylan, it is bound to open debateโ€ฆ.

London based grime rappers Bob Vylan are no strangers to controversy through their criticisms of the establishment and calling out inequalities. Whilst they were one of many acts at last year’s Glastonbury to make statements condemning the genocide in Palestine, they seemed to take the brunt of the rightwing media assault.

Online opinions from Shindig’s announcement are already strongly divided, but mostly positive from the devoted regular attendees of this marvellous festival. Some suggest it will be great to see them live and away from media exposure, others state otherwise. One said it’s an โ€œembarrassing choice. Heโ€™ll make it political and a hate filled performance.โ€™ But hey, who wants to party with those in support of such barbarism?

Another suggests there’s plenty of other things they could be doing at the festival, and they need not attend this particular performance if they disagree with the social statements the band make; now there’s an idea!

The Shindig team said they are โ€œvery excited to announce one of the most vital, fearless and electrifying live acts in the UK right now. Expect high-energy, sharp lyricism and a reputation for using music as a force for conversation and change. We believe art should challenge as well as unite.โ€ย 

I find myself wondering what would become of punk if it suddenly stopped campaigning for righteousness, or what these triggered objectors would say if it was the seventies and John Lennon or Bob Marley was booked, for music has always had political or social motivations, and to censor it for the purposes of propaganda or ignorance would be sacrilegious. Well done, Shindig pose, it’s a seriously important booking.

Help DOCA Raise Fundsโ€ฆ.by Drinking Booze! Winter of Festive Ales Returns

Now, you know when you see a fundraising advert and think, I’d like to raise some wonga for this or that cause, but further reading reveals you’re expected to take on an extreme mission like trekking the Great Wall on a unicycle made from coat hangers, or scaling Everest in just clogs and your wife’s undercrackers? Well, this one is a smidgen easier, and it’s something Devizions take great pride in accomplishingโ€ฆ..

Yes, the end of February is nigh, when Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts asks the good folk of Devizes to raise some needed funds, which they inevitably pump back into a system supplying said good folk with a year of free events such as carnival and the Winter Festival, so it’s for their own benefit. And all they need to do to help is drink fine ale and enjoy some quality entertainment. Throw down the gauntlet, why don’t you DOCA, and roll out the barrel, for this is a challenge I’m confident both you and I can really get behind!

This happens annually at The Corn Exchange, and this year’s is on Saturday 28th February. I’m told a fair amount of tickets are still up for grabs, so after reading this don’t vegetate playing Royal Match on your phone, put it to good use and buy yourself a pass to The Festival of Winter Ales. And here’s seven darn good (or at least reasonable) reasons why I think you should:

As usual the event is divided into two sessions, one of quieter reflection for the true ale connoisseur in the afternoon, and the evening more lively session, for the party people; how amicable and considerate.

Equifinal, though, is pies, and the extensive range of booze, from the dark ales experts of The Southgate and Stealth Brew Co, to IPAs, American pale ales, ciders, perry, and, if you donโ€™t mind handing your hard-earned cash to TVโ€™s tax-avoiding billionaire gammon, Clarkson, the Pour House brings Hawkstone Lager!

Also predetermined whatever session you rock up to, is a raffle, and Social Club Cabaret starring puppeteer and self-acclaimed all-round nutter Dik Downey, some aerialโ€fusion salsa with Amy G, and The Amazing Malcolm, who may or may not be the same amazing Malcolm who runs Stealth Brewery, but if it is, I want at least half of my money back; bless him!

Everyone’s favourites, and who certainly gets my seal of approval, Talk in Code are headlining the evening session, with their unique take on indie-pop originals, although I’m informed they recently took vow of beverage abstinence and said I could drink all their beer.

Those immortalised in Lego lads, Talk in Code are supported by The Wholesome Soul Trio, regulars at The Southgate, and though Iโ€™ve yet to tick them off my must-see list, Iโ€™ve heard nothing but good things about their classic playlist of soul and funk with improvised solos.

Even the afternoon session looks intriguing, as Iโ€™ve not heard of either act, but singer Amy Irvine is accompanied by local legend John E. Wright, so must be doing something Wright! And A Call from Tomorrow are a young indie covers duo from Wiltshire we wish the very best of luck.

And the last good reason is that physical tickets are available to purchase at Devizes Books; so you could treat yourself to a copy of my outrageous murder-mystery whodunnit-whocares novel while youโ€™re there!!

Devizes Acting Company to Debut New Show at Edinburgh Fringe 2026

A gameshow unlike any other is set to take local actors to the world stage. The Wharf Theatre is proud to present the debut of a brand-new show, “Whose Play is it Anyway?”

Set to enjoy a week-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 from August 17th to the 22nd, this innovative original production offers a fresh perspective on contemporary storytelling, using a gameshow format to explore a range of devised, scripted and improvised pieces, many created by the talented cast themselves. As part of the game, each performance order will be left to chance, creating a unique experience every time.

Join your host, Barry Ruffles and his glamorous assistant, Jenny Flannel as they present 18 pieces of theatre in 50 minutes; all you have to do is guess the genre, playwright or year to win a speedboat, cuddly toy or a holiday for two on the Isle of Fernando! 

Prior to the Fringe, the show will preview at the Wharf Theatre, Devizes, running from 29th to the 30th May, Bristolโ€™s Alma Tavern and the Shaftesbury Art Centre; giving West Country audiences an opportunity to experience the production ahead of its official festival run.

Whether youโ€™re a seasoned Fringe attendee or a first-time visitor, Whose Play Is It Anyway promises to entertain. The show will be performed at the SpaceUK, located at the heart of Edinburghโ€™s bustling festival district. Tickets are available from [Ticket Provider] and can be purchased online or at the venue box office.

Lou Cox, director of The Wharf Acting Company, who perform & devised this show, is also taking her solo show, Having a Baby and The Sh!t They Donโ€™t Tell You in Books, for a week at the Edinburgh Fringe. Inspired by the loss of her baby girl, Lou described the play as a โ€œcomedic and brutally honest one-woman show which gifts audiences an emotional, and at times highly entertaining, whirlwind of witty anecdotes and graphic storytelling, with an ending no mother could ever imagine.โ€ And this one too will be performed at The Wharf Theatre, also running from 29th to the 30th May, of which the previous run was reviewed by Helen, HERE.

Whose Play is it Anyway (18+)
Having a Baby and the Sh!t They Don’t Tell You in Books (18+)

Thieves Plan Unplugged Gig at Brokerswood

We don’t like many thieves here at Devizine, but we do love Thieves the band! Well, those Thieves have an interesting next gig it’s worthwhile mentioningโ€ฆ..

The first time I saw these Thieves it was a paradox of coincidences. I was hiding in the back of the Wild & Wooley room of Bradford Roots Festival at The Wiltshire Music Centre, and I was suitably wowed by their Americana/UK folk harmonies. I likened them to The Lost Trades at the time, and told the person next to me, only to realise it was Phil Cooper, one third of the Lost Trades! I then proceeded to vocalise my observation that the guy on the banjo looked uncannily like soloist Adam Woodhouse, only for Phil to sigh, โ€œit is Adam Woodhouse!โ€ Should have gone to Specsavers.

Since, the collective of Adam with Rory Coleman-Smith, Jo Deacon and Matt Hughes have gone from strength to strength, regularly gigging, you might have seen them; consider yourself lucky. They gained me enormous kudos when they played so beautifully at Rowdefest last year, it was uplifting and toe-tapping goodness. Oh, and, we fondly reviewed their debut EP.

They’reย  excited to announce a headline appearance at Brokerswood’s Tin Church, near Westbury, on the 28th February, with support from the amazing Feral Beryl. Though the Thieves explained, โ€œwe were lucky enough to perform in this wonderful venue last year as a supporting act,โ€ it’s the first I’ve heard of a gig there, ‘cos no one tells me nuthin’, but I do recall sitting with the kids on the miniature train!

As an outdoor pursuit area, Brokerswood has been a popular attraction for families and campers since 1968, now in an effort to preserve the land, it’s converted into a holiday park. 

With no electricity, The Tin Church is a beautifully unique venue where the musicians are lit solely by candlelight and the original paraffin lamps and perform completely unplugged, taking advantage of the wonderful acoustics of the space. The band say, โ€œitโ€™s an experience like no other and an evening of music not to be missed!โ€

Sounds good to me; who needs electricity when youโ€™ve got beautiful music?! Priced at ยฃ18, it gets even better because it includes canapรฉs, with tickets available from The Cheese & Gain website. But, if you happen to miss this, as it’s a busy weekend what with The Festival of Winter Ales in Devizes and much more, Thieves will be playing this spring festival in March at Trowbridge Town Hall.

Thieves at The Tin Church, Brokerswood

Rowdefest 26 Lineup Reveal!

Drizzly Sundayโ€ฆagain. Iโ€™ve just finished designing the poster, so allow me to reveal the lineup for Rowdefest this coming May, might cheer us up a bit!ย 

It was a hugely successful Rowdefest last year, and was lots of fun for all the family. We cordially invite you to do it all again this year! The wonderful committee is still hard at work, planning the day, and some work needs doing. But, weโ€™ve set a date, Saturday 30th May, and kept the same times, from 1pm until 7pm.

Itโ€™s free, and itโ€™s at the same location, the Small Playing Field in Rowde. There will be food and drink, lots of side stalls, tea, coffee and cakes in St Matthews Church. Our villageโ€™s famous ice cream parlour, The Rowdey Cow will be there, and you are welcome to bring deckchairs but the haystacks will be back too.

We really crammed in some fantastic music acts last year; this time we want you to explore the side stalls and have some fun before getting comfy around the main stage, but we will be opening the day with some music. A bit of a disco I reckon, some loved pop classics for all. Iโ€™m thinking eighties, the committee might knock me back a couple of decades, weโ€™ll have to wait and see! I want to see some dancers though, and maybe there will be best dancers prizes, so get up and shake your thang!

The Devizes Jubilee Morris Dancers were brilliant last year, so weโ€™ve invited them back again. Interactive by the end, more dancing required!

Iโ€™m delighted to say we have the sublime Ruby Darbyshire playing for us, who many of you will already know, and, I promise, will leave you in awe.

Headliner this year is Barrelhouse, Marlboroughโ€™s finest purveyors of vintage blues with a groove. You are going to love these guys, and you will be up dancing, again!

Mantonfest 2023

Thatโ€™s all Iโ€™ve got, less is more. Just pop it in your diary and I hope to see you there!

Breaking News in Rowde: Wiltshire Road Gets Resurfaced!

Are you sitting down, as this may come as a shock? Residents of the Springfield Road estate in Rowde should be feeling rather privileged at the moment, as bucking the countywide trend of having roads which look like Mars has suffered a doodlebug air-raid, it’s actually been resurfaced!

Not all of them seem satisfied they’ve the only road in the county which is, comparatively, as smooth as a baby’s botty though, and have taken to their local Facebook group, Rowde all About it, to whinge about the inconvenience of waiting an extra day before work could commence due to poor weather, as they probably would’ve whinged about the state of the road beforehand! Awl, that’s Facebook for you; an adult’s playground for venting Karen’s petty fury.

The operation has run just as smooth, with jolly-faced roadworkers jumping at the opportunity to move some cones and allow residents access; it breaks up the monotonous teabreaks. One resident lightened the mood on the Facebook group by suggesting offering them tea and chocolate digestives was key to their friendly attitude, though we’ve no proof of this because I’m keeping all my biscuits for myself.

It is, though, quite a delight to drive on a road in Wiltshire without worrying for your wheel alignment and suspension, if a smidgen eerie. And, of course, once you’ve got to the main road it’s back to the usual sensation of cycling a penny-farthing over a lunar landscape, but hey, for a moment there it’s driving heaven.

Okay, so a few motorist residents didn’t read the social media posts nor see the cones and massive signs stating no parking for the duration of the repair, leaving sweeping gaps untreated, but they finally caught on, moved them, and the roadworkers are rubbing their hands together for a Sunday bonus; all is well.

Residents are advised to drive slowly across the new tarmac, to delay in its inevitable dilapidation. It’s a flipping housing estate, for crying out loud! An estate with the rare blessing in modern times, whereby children can still play relatively safely outside, so it’s in everyone’s best interests to drive through it with caution in the first bloody place! 

Bearing in mind this is a busy estate, where some residents are in the habit of parking wherever the hell they fancy, despite the inconvenience it may cause for other residents, and those headless chicken non-residents swerving through, using it as a short cut to avoid Marsh Lane.

Thereโ€™s an ever- increasing population using Springfield Road, accumulating by the questionable requirements of gradually extending the estate with further Lego houses, when it would’ve been far better to accept the expansion was inevitable years ago, and build it a new access road from the other side of the school; but planning is for other counties.

Not forgoing the colossal construction traffic used to bring these part-built monstrosities past the school gates and playpark without pavements, and through the already busy estate, leaving people wondering how the area obtained such dilapidated roads in the first place!

But not only is the road smooth, for a moment in time, there’s the additional Facebook group story of a rogue โ€œcarerโ€ who apparently โ€œdrives like a maniac,โ€ revealing their misdoings by apparently telling the road workers to โ€œf-off,โ€ which kind of makes it all worthwhile being in the group, and should remain as a stern message to all roadworkers not to piss off carers, because theyโ€™ve got caring to do, god dammit, and if anyone gets in their way of caring, wellโ€ฆ.

Chippenham’s New Venue, The Ruze Opens with The Showhawk Duo

It could be bigger than Diggers! See what I did there? Okay, you youngsters might need Google, but while you’re researching Chippenham’s hedonistic past, a new music venue and studio is preparing to open its doors at the end of Februaryโ€ฆ..

The Ruze on Union Road opens on Friday, 27th February. It’s a daring era to be opening a new venue, but this looks rather special. I believe it’s captured a gap in the market, and we wish them the very best of luck.

James Humphrys, Mac Lloyd, and Beth Thornton kick off the proceedings on Friday night, while Saturday the 27th sees The Showhawk Duo perform their unique take on club classics, acoustically.

These guys remain toppermost on my must-see list. I should’ve known better to question festival organiser and Boot Hill All Star Flounder Murray when he spoke of โ€œacoustic raveโ€ some years ago. โ€œAcoustic rave?โ€ I responded, โ€œhow does that work then?โ€

โ€œVery well,โ€ was his reply, with a mindblowing Showhawk Duo video attached; I’m still at odds comprehending how these guys manage to pull off such a stunt, to recreate those floorfillers with just two guitars.



Supporting the duo are Lucca Mae, John Fairhurst, Kane Pollastrone, and Seren. Other than the brilliant Mac Lloyd, these are all new names to me; looks like The Ruze has a quality vetting process with an ethos lending to supporting upcoming local acts, and I like that in a venue!

If daytime clubbing is a thing now, Sunday March 1st from 3-8pm, The Ruze turns into Club Kudo, with some dance anthems and Ibiza classics, finalising their grand opening weekend.

Tickets for all nights are limited, and go on sale at 6pm today, Friday 6th Feb. HERE.

Things to do in Devizes for Februaryโ€ฆ.

Yay! We made it to Feb, in one piece, just! I might even be persuaded to break out of hibernation. If youโ€™ve been hibernating too, maybe itโ€™s time to throw caution to the wind, poke your twitching snout from your cubbyhole and have a nose about. If you do, hereโ€™s some special recommendations of things to engage you, shake you up, and possibly warm you up for spring, but there will be much more on our ever-updating event calendar, so keep it on your browser, you lovely little hedgehogsโ€ฆ..

Get your shoes on, because as we speak, Sunday 1st, it’s the Jon Amor Trio monthly residency at the Southgate, with guest Gary Cain.

Monday 2nd has the regular Book Club from 7pm at The Pour House; great books, great chat, great people!

Tuesday 3rd has a Jigsaw Puzzle Swap at The Wharf, 10am to 12 noon, at The Kennet and Avon Canal Museum Function Room and Devizes Town Council Surgery at 6pm in The Town Hall.

Wednesday 4th and it’s Acoustic Jam night at The Southgate.

Thursday 5th, please note the Supporting Menโ€™s Mental Health group now meet in Sidmouth Street. Devizes Film Club is at The Wharf Theatre, presenting Limbo, a stirring drama, laced with deadpan humour, about Syrian refugees, stuck on a remote Scottish island while they await the results of their asylum claims.

Devizes Film Club – Limbo

Friday 6th sees The Glow Room at Sheep Street Baptist Church, Devizes and Mystery Tasting Experience  @ Hollychocs in Poulshot.

Saturday 7th Curious Kids can find some Bugs @ Wiltshire Museum, and The Museum also has a Behind the Scenes tour. The wonderful Matchbox Mutiny play The Three Crowns, and The Worried Men are at The Southgate, which is really something to see. Dave Carrett is at The Pelican Inn.

The Mayor’s Charity Ball is at The Corn Exchange, with a delicious three-course meal, dancing to live entertainment, raffle, and your formal photograph taken by a professional photographer to remember the evening, supporting three wonderful local charities: Devizes Opendoors, Devizes Foodbank, and the Devizes & District MS Society. Oh, and there’s a Bingo and Adult Cabaret in Potterne.

https://www.devizesvenues.co.uk/event/the-mayors-charity-ball-2026/embed/#?secret=ssQFbntEMy#?secret=WGn6E8HOcA

Sunday 8th, live music with Sammi Evans at the White Bear from 5pm, and over at the Southgate, same time, Jim Blair.

Wednesday 11th and it’s Acoustic Jam night at The Southgate.

Thursday 12th, Banner Making Workshop II at Devizes Town Hall; share your progress, get some advice and support or simply find out more about how you can get involved in the Devizes Banner. And Wind in The Willows Moleโ€™s Rocky Road opens at Great Cheverell Pavilion, which runs up till Saturday 14th.

Oooh, Friday 13th and everyone over the age of 55 can dance the day away at a Wiltshire Age UK Daytime Disco at the Devizes Corn Exchange, a fun, friendly afternoon filled with classic hits from the 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s, Or choc-out with The Rocher Experience at Hollychocs in Poulshot!

Find the wonderful voice of Kate at the Pelican, of whom I’ve likened to Alison Moyet in the past.

Wiltshire Age UK – Daytime Disco

Saturday 14th, find a Half Term Chocolate Experience for one adult & child or teenat Hollychocs in Poulshot. Menopause Cafe at The Pour House from 10.30am – coffee & chat about all things menopause.

Funked Up are getting, well, funked up for Valentines at The Three Crowns, and Doctor Doctor plays The Southgate. Del-Boy sings his heart out for a Valentines special at the Pelican. Aaron Garrett as seen on The Voice comes to Devizes Conservative Club for a night of Soul in Motion, and they’ll be Painting Get Together in Urchfont.

Sunday 15th finds Will Edmunds from 5pm at The Southgate.

Tuesday 17th and Potterne Pantomime opens Sleeping Beauty at Potterne Village Hall, which runs up to Saturday 21st.

Wednesday 18th and it’s Acoustic Jam night at The Southgate.

Thursday 19th sees another Supporting Menโ€™s Mental Health session in Sidmouth St, quiz night down The Pour House, from 7pm, and a new open mic night begins at The Pelican, see poster for details.

Seend Fawlty Playersโ€™ presents their 46th Village Pantomime โ€˜Cinderellaโ€™ which runs until the 21st Feb, likewise does a Winter Crossing A Ghost Story in Bratton.

Friday 20th and there’s The Glow Room at Sheep Street Baptist Church, a Charity Quiz Night at The Pelican Inn, and Rude Giant Brewery Showcase at The Pour House, Devizes; meet the team, hear the stories & taste the beer

The Wharf Theatre has Chicago – Teen Edition, a dazzling adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical tailored for teenage performers, which runs a matinee and evening performance on Saturday too.

Roll over Beethoven, because the greatest tribute to Jeff Lynneโ€™s Electric Light Orchestra is at Devizes Corn Exchange; Blue Sky Tour present ELO Encounter.

Oh, and please find the amazing Vince Bell at the Crown, Bishop’s Cannings.

https://www.wharftheatre.co.uk/show/chicago-teen-edition/embed/#?secret=9eLhVOXrR5#?secret=mr6FxPda2b
https://www.devizesvenues.co.uk/event/blue-sky-tour-present-elo-encounter/embed/#?secret=SQ0lmTCEbX#?secret=wAjIG3QY4w

Saturday 21st sees Sad Dad Club making their debut at The Three Crowns, should be good, Last Train Smokinโ€™ plays The Southgate and John E Wright is at the Pelican.

For the first time ever, Rick Wakeman will tour with his son, Oliver, in their brand-new WAKEMAN & SON show! Although the pair have shared the stage on special occasionsโ€”including the unforgettable Myths And Legends of King Arthur performance at Londonโ€™s O2โ€”they have never toured togetherโ€ฆ until now……

Sunday 22nd sees Rackem at The Three Crowns, the Wholesome Soul Trio at The Southgate from 5pm, and there’s one of those fabulous Wiltshire Blues & Soul Club nights in Lacock, a February Showcase Featuring The Junkyard Dogs.

Wednesday 25th and it’s Acoustic Jam night at The Southgate.

Thursday 26th sees a Charity Sale at St Maryโ€™s Church, which runs until the 28th. And Devizes Lions:ย Marie Curie Collectionย at Morrisons. Devizes Lions will be at Morrisons collecting for Marie Curie UK, proudly dressed in bright yellow flower tabards and hats! The Pour House Hookers at the Pour House, from 6.30pm; stitch, sip & socialise, learn new skills.

Friday 27th and there’s The Art of Chocolate with Hollyย @ Hollychocs in Poulshot, and White Horse Operaโ€™s Cosi Fan Tutteย visitsย Avebury Social Centre. Beer Bingo from 7pm at The Pour House; bingo unlike any other!

https://www.devizesvenues.co.uk/event/doca-presents-devizes-festival-of-winter-ales-2026/embed/#?secret=5TRBJOjGQD#?secret=gdgBxXhnKf

Saturday 28th and what a finale to the month; DOCA’s Devizes Festival of Winter Ales is at the C0rn Exchange. In collaboration with The Pourhouse, The Southgate Inn and Stealth Brewery, expect a huge selection of wintery ales, craft beer and ciders from the countryโ€™s best independent breweries.  DOCA adds great music and cabaret into the mix, with โ€˜A Call from Tomorrowโ€™, โ€˜Wholesome Trioโ€™ and โ€˜Talk in Codeโ€™ already confirmed.  With a quieter session in the afternoon and something a little more upbeat in the evening, you can choose either a relaxed or more lively experience. 

Festival of Winter Ales is a key fundraising event, supporting DOCAโ€™s free programme of events. Come along and support us, snap up a fantastic raffle prize and have some quality time with friends. 

The event will run in two sessions across the day: Early (11am-5pm) and Late (5:30-11pm), with a tasty selection of hot pies and savouries provided by local suppliers. Physical tickets available to purchase at Devizes Books. 

Also, about town find a Sustainable Devizes Seed Swap at St Andrewโ€™s Church, The Sylvertones are at The Three Crowns, there’s a Devizes Scooter Club Preseason Party at Devizes Town FC, Jambon Chapeau play the Pelican, and an Official Most Haunted Investigation is to be found at the Town Hall.

https://www.devizesvenues.co.uk/event/official-most-haunted-investigation/embed/#?secret=YjIFNLUnrS#?secret=RLl5HjEipy

And that’s all we’ve found for February in Devizes, so far. But updates will happen on our event calendar, so keep your best eye on that. And if you’re not in Devizes, our event calendar covers all Wiltshire from Bath to Marlborough and Swindon to Salisbury, so check in with us too, but I’m sorry I can’t do all this for every town; Don’t cha wish your gig guide was hot like ours? Don’t cha wish your gig guide was a freak like ours?! Don’t cha? Don’t cha?!

People Living in Devizes Could be Moving to Devizes!

Do you live in Devizes? Are you sure? Sure sure? Sure sure sure?! You could actually be living under the oppressive regime of Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council and not even know about it! But fear not blinkered comrades, an elite task force from Devizes Town Council is coming to liberate you!

The border between Devizes and Bishop’s Cannings extends the Cannings side into the parts of the north-east of the town. Other than historic squabbles over who owns the Moonrakers fable, it has been pretty much alright and no one really gave a toss about it since it was first established around 1080, when Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, built the castle.  

Suddenly, nine hundred and forty-six years later, it’s not, apparently. Devizes Town councillors are so furious about redirecting emails sent to them from folk unaware they come under Bishopโ€™s Cannings Parish Council, like copy and paste was never invented, they’re plotting to invade and conquer the Devizes area of Bishop’s Canningsโ€™ parish, best guess, for national security! If, bizarrely, it sounds textbook Trump, perhaps it is, perhaps it’s not, and that all depends on who you talk to; sort it out, Osmund!

Needless to suggest, Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council are unhappy, and say no, you can take our ScrewFix but you’ll never take our Lidl! So, if you live in North Fields, Cannings Hill, Corn Croft, Laywood, Wellington Drive or Marlborough Close, you could be moving to either North Fields, Cannings Hill, Corn Croft, Laywood, Wellington Drive or Marlborough Close soon whilst remaining exactly where you currently are, whether you like it or not; breaking news! 

It may seem like a storm in a teacup, a petty spaff between councils, but what does it really mean for the residents of those areas? Again, this largely depends on who you speak to about it.

Community Governance Review, happens every five years or so, apparently, whereby a town or parish council can whimper like Oliver Twist to Wiltshire Council, requesting they shift a border to better financially aid themselves, and I’m sorry to Devizes Town Council, for the want to remain impartial, but it does look this way from where I’m standing. Even the trusty Gazelle and Herod reported it as an โ€œunsolicited and brazen land grab.โ€

Those residents on Facebook are being told by the Devizes Town Council task force, that it’s nothing to worry about, it happens all the time. But hang on a cotton-picking minute, the moving of this particular boundary has not happened before, has it? Not since 1080! And, if you’re not in a certain Facebook group with a bad habit of banning folk, youโ€™ve probably been left totally in the dark about the whole shebang.

Even the Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council themselves were NOT informed, until one councillor happened to stumble across it on Facebook, apparently. A spokesperson for the parish council told me, โ€œwe saw this agenda on Facebook at Thursday lunchtime. Thank the lord I looked otherwise we still wouldn’t know. Devizes Town Council met with Wiltshire Council on the 10th December. They’ve had plenty of time to chat to us about their intentions. They formed their task group on the 8th January, releasing a four page report on Thursday.โ€

You’d have thought it would be basic etiquette and good manners to have at least dropped them a line, though a spokesperson from Devizes Town Council, not involved with the task force, was surprised to hear they had not been informed. They assured me no malice is intended and they’d support a good working relationship, but Devizes Town Council voted to ask Wiltshire Council to redraw the boundaries on Tuesday, an emergency meeting of Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council was held Thursday; it’s all up in the air and reactions appear quite understandably handbags raised at dawn.

Wiltshire Times reporting the issue, at least I think this was the right post!!

The task force, we are told, consists of two Conservative councillors; Iain Wallis, who as he is desperately holding onto a Devizes North seat, would benefit from the extra residencies, especially being geographically the further the border is moved outward from town the more affluent residents tend to be, and more likely to vote Conservative. And Richard Oliver, no stranger to landgrabs; taking over Roundway in the 2017 Community Governance Review, where Roundway civil parish was abolished and became a ward of Devizes parish. Thereโ€™s a third councillor on the task force, Guardian, Andy Geddes, maybe just there to even up the parties, who knows?!

โ€œIt makes sense for this urbanised part of the parish of Bishops Cannings to be in Devizes,โ€ Iain is reported to have said, and there’s reasoning in this, I believe, I mean, these aforementioned areas are in Devizes town, after all, just. He continued to say โ€œthey also access services in the town centre, such as the Leisure Centre, which is subsidised by Devizes Town Council rate payers.โ€ And, whamo! There it is!

These areas have been fortunate enough to pay a lower council tax rate, but still have access to the services of the town. Yet, for the Leisure Centre, for example, weโ€™re all paying customers, arenโ€™t we? And able to access this facility even if we live under a parish council outside of town, or are those from Potterne, Rowde, Chirton or the many other villages surrounding Devizes going to be taken over, otherwise they cannot dip a little toe in the Devizes pool?! Living on the outskirts of town, in these areas mentioned, youโ€™re not much closer to town then if you live in Rowde or Poulshot.

โ€œYou cannot use the increase in council tax as a reason not to move the boundary. It all has to be around governance and how being with Devizes Town Council will improve the lives of the residents,” my Bishopโ€™s Cannings Parish Council spokesperson laughed, exampling a Band D rate under Devizes Town Council would be ยฃ228, whereas the same band under Bishopโ€™s Cannings would only be ยฃ67. โ€œI’d want to see a ton of improvements for that increase!โ€

They pointed out playparks, telling me Bishopโ€™s Cannings Parish Council has invested over ยฃ50K in Le Marchant Park, but Devizes Town Council, โ€œclosed Brickley Park for over a year.โ€ Thereโ€™s also been much discussion over catchment areas for schools, and that residents in those areas could find it more difficult to obtain places at schools such as Lavington. Our spokesperson for Devizes Town Council deflected this as false; again, โ€œdepending on who you talk toโ€ is the running theme throughout the early stages of this proposal, but we are certain their council tax will be upped considerably, for questionably the same services.

โ€œBishops Cannings Parish Council would strongly oppose such an attempt,โ€ they told the Gazette. โ€œIn our view, this would be a retrograde step, with adverse implications for all residents living within those areas.โ€

So, the jury is out on the implications for the residents, and while Iโ€™m trying to piece this together impartially, I cannot help think it was irresponsible for the village council not to be informed, and the lack of communication between these two councils. But the bottom line is, if the implications for the residents of these areas are to be as adverse as the parish council suggest they will, surely those residents should have their say by the way of a referendum? Or are Devizes Town Council going to storm militarily into Bishopโ€™s Cannings with a Devizes ICE, “De-Ice” squad, and kidnap the parish clerk?! Then we really have a story!!  

Agricultural Appropriation with Monkey Bizzle

There’s no sophomore slump for Monkey Bizzle; prolific in their art, these rural chav-choppers return with a second album, Agricultural Appropriation, only five years and a kazillion bongs after their debut, Idiot Music, and it be gurt lush, shaggerโ€ฆ.

Not on the guesstimate I’ve passed a thousand plays of Oi Mate, their tune from Idiot Music about the ultimate scrounger, and figured these guys know a blagger when they see one, rather on the grounds I laughed out loud more times at the opening tune than I’ve laughed at any comedy song, ever, possibly combined, I brought this album rather than requested a review copy; it’s going in my personal collection, even if you can’t skin up on an mp3.

Legend has it Malmesbury’s Corky coined the term agricultural hip hop. Brilliant though he is at penning and acoustically delivering an original, his showstoppers are usually parodies of hip hop classics; think gangster’s paradise and change to Ginsters, for example. Questioning if we’re in the same ballpark here, because Monkey Bizzle are 100% original and, save the odd spoken sample or dodgy scratch, they’re backed by a bone fide band. It’s more than rap with a capital C. Not much more but definitely more.

Monkey Bizzle, ready for court!

So, if the term is founded, we could debate the boundaries of agricultural hip hop till the cows come home, literally; ie, if you’re producing hip hop and live rurally, does it automatically class your output as agricultural hip hop? The opening title track therefore either ponders if they’re guilty of โ€œagricultural appropriationโ€ being, while dwelling rurally, they’re not farmers, as is the common misinterpreted stereotype in urban areas where hip hop trends, or, more likely, it’s just a self-deprecating exercise with hilarious consequences, as it is with many of the their songs.

In 1985 Derek Showard, or GrandMixer DXT said โ€œthe Bronx is the home of hip hop,โ€ not Bridgwater, but we’ve come this far from NY hommies, and a melting pot of west country banter, folk and scrumpy, is fine, if slightly polluted. Monkey Bizzle dived in, and the result is as funny as it is accomplished. For while they’re more Grandmaster Smelly Mel than Melle, and more whole mouth than tongue-in-cheek, still they manage to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, and that’s not just tricky, it’s tr-tr-tr-tricky, trrrrrrrrrrricky, apparently. One certainty, Monkey Bizzle keeps it realz on a geographical level close to us, and with West Country banter as twisted as it generally is, this is as raw as it could be. This album is  dope in more ways than one, and exceptionally well produced.

It’s backed sometimes by a ska offbeat, others the wailing guitar riffs of much of Caucasian hip hop-rock crossover, and boom bap, though they’d probably titter if you plural it to โ€œbaps.โ€ It’s as if Viz creator Chris Donald joined A Tribe Called Quest at Glastonbury, as the absolute filth knows no bounds, but is waxed lyrical with definite perfection. They couldn’t even hold back for the customary ballad; needless to say any song with lines like โ€œyou’ve got nits in your bits but I don’t give a shit,โ€ and โ€œI’m never gonna stop licking around your welly-topโ€ is not the song I would advise you to play in a romantic setting. But, laugh, you will. 

There’s separate odes to getting high and the fateful just popping out for a pint after work scenario. There’s one tune about a guy called Bubbles, who makes The Shaman’s Ebenezer Goode look like Cliff Richard, another appears to be a homage to shopping at Lidl, with the genius rhyming of โ€œLidlโ€ with โ€œmiddle,โ€ and one about a technophobe trying to operate the camera on their phone, questioning the worth of it all.

The disambiguation of the ironic slang โ€œillโ€ in hip hop as a positive is switched far too literally. There’s an overload of bravado as the genre requires and quips aplenty dissing their rivals, The Skimmity Hitchers, where any turf war doesn’t get dirtier than accusations of shagging badgers.ย 

But if there’s any likeliness of west country rural hip hop as a contender, convincing and earning respect from city hip hop aficionados, rather than ever remaining just a comical displacement, it’s the final tune, The Cypher. Without topic it’s a nine-minute freestyle collaboration with a host of rappers, none stating their rural or urban environment; Dr. Syntax, Cecil McFarrell Aka Mr Vocab, Chiman 101, Ez Dickens, Samantics, Finn Kinnara, Tatty MC & Fake Dave, all of whom I must research, and our favourite Bristol boom bappers The Scribes. Perhaps this flips the agricultural appropriation concept on its head, asking provided they had fun entertaining, which I couldn’t imagine them not,  if it matters at all and if anyone gives two fucks where a rapper resides, town or country.

Of course, there will always be a renounced Welsh rapping clan, UK comedy hip hop acts will always be likened to, but who’s zooming who in a world where comedy has been evident in hip hop since its inception? Think the Treacherous Three’s Santa Rap in Beat Street, along with a young Doug E. Fresh, and the plethora of carefree lyrics from De La Soul to English reggae’s legendary fast-styler Smiley Culture.

The jury is out, perhaps Agricultural Appropriation has a hidden philosophy, perhaps it lays down the possibility rural hip hop can be accepted by city folk, perhaps it’s even the album to break those boundaries, but definitely and more simply, it’s a hilarious riot, a mixture of off-colour deadpan and comedy rap, and a damn entertaining listen; I pissed me pants giggling while in backspin and sprayed the crowd like Charlie Dimmockโ€™s garden sprinkler, mate.

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Deadlight Dance New Single: Gloss

You go cover yourself in hormone messing phthalates, toxic formaldehyde, or even I Can’t Believe It’s Not Body Butter, if you wish, but it’s allโ€ฆ

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 whatโ€ฆ

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 ontoโ€ฆ

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Doctor Faustus Sells His Soulโ€ฆ. in Devizes!

Featured Image:@jenimeadephotography

Just another rainy Saturday afternoon in Devizes, whereby I watched a profound fellow dramatically sacrifice himself to the devil, then popped to Morrisons for a Toblerone! The supermarket felt insignificant and plastic after the epic conclusion of Doctor Faustus at the Wharf Theatre, which opens on Monday 26th and runs until Saturday 31st Januaryโ€ฆ..

Treated to the final dress rehearsal, as our regular theatrical scribe Ian Diddams is stuffing a bucketload of Rice Krispies in this one, of which one couldnโ€™t fail to notice! Marvellous as it is to pay Devizesโ€™ one and only cosy theatre a visit, it leaves me in the dilemma that Iโ€™ve not the extensive theatre knowledge which Ian has, therefore, you have to make do with me simply saying what I like, or donโ€™t.

Image @jenimeadephotography

In this case itโ€™s the former. My mind is, with its lack of education for classic theatre, still contemplating exactly how fantastic director Liz Seabourne and her team has presented this astounding play, and the more it boggles the greater the levels of fantastic I unearth, converting me to thespian; hand me some white tights! Even though the character Dr Faustus is damned, this is another damn fine production from our wonderful theatre, rich in lighting effects, amazing costumes and makeup, and a sublime original soundtrack from our master of electronica, Moray McDonald.

Image @jenimeadephotography

Born Catholic, English sixteenth century playwright Christopher โ€œKitโ€ Marlowe, of whom scholars suggest greatly influenced Shakespeare, was reputed to be an atheist and thereโ€™s a lot in the content of Dr Faustus which implies this. Whilst it doesnโ€™t criticise religion outright in the modern sense, it certainly lampoons it, with the Pope getting a kick up the backside, for example.

Dr John Faustus condemns the academics of the science and philosophy of his era and justifies turning his hand to the dark arts, but religion he cannot escape from. Played with certain perfection by Pete Wallis, Faustus is tricky to relate to, a Renaissance egotistical Germanic tyrant, characteristics usually reserved for an antagonist; I wondered if Trump might identify with him better than I. Yet, there’s something humble about his yearning, in his curious nature for the unorthodox, to fulfil a quest of celebrity status, like a sixteenth century Vanilla Ice. Still, I couldnโ€™t help feeling the ponce made his bedโ€ฆ.  

Image @jenimeadephotography

Bit dodgy, he summons a human-despising conceited demon, Mephistopheles, played with absolute magnificence by Charlotte Howard. Mephistopheles acts as a kind of Cruella de Vil agent to the devil, who encourages Faustus to sign a contract with his blood; his soul for unlimited magic, which he treks the known world with, entertaining Kings and Emperors like Paul Daniels discovered voodoo. Though Mephistopheles is no Debbie McGee. Without too many spoilers, it doesn’t end well for Faustus, who learns thereโ€™s only one way out, once his twenty-four year contract with the devil expires, and itโ€™s not a gold watch.ย 

Image @jenimeadephotography

If this Elizabethan forbidden thrill-seeker, overloaded with as many theatrical tricks as devils and demons, sounds seriously dark and gothic, it certainly is, but not without hilariously timeless comedy, brilliantly diluting the tragedy. Thereโ€™s occasions when itโ€™s virtually pantomime, when the devil, played with radiant vaudeville evilness by Oli Beech, a far cry from the panto dameโ€™s sidekick at Christmas, personifies the seven deadly sins as a circus cabaret to tempt the Doc, and upon the thievery of one of Faustusโ€™ spell books by two commoners, played side-splittingly like stereotypical moonrakers by Jessica Phillips and Ian Diddams. It is these elements which brings the archaic seriousness down a peg and makes this play equally suitable for those, like me, not so clued up on classic plays.

Image: Mij Hazel

As the many earthbound or spiritual side-characters come and go with pace, the thirteen strong performers cover various parts, and those unmentioned so far, Chris Smith, Alison Andre, Emma Comfort, Cathay Chappell, Julie Baker, Paul Snook, Sam Burrows and Amy Chappelle also require the highest of praise; there is so much work put into this, the mind, as I stated earlier, is still boggling. It entertained me, and I strongly suspect it will be some significant time before my mind stops boggling about it, way past the lifespan of the Toblerone!    

Bag yourself some tickets for this HERE, unless you’re a demon!

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Devizes Sammi Evans in the Shadow of a Debut Single

Being a singer in a tribute or covers band is nerve-wracking. Though tributes can hide behind a mask, a cover band frontperson can be reassured only by the notion that friends are backing them; blame the drummer! But a soloist, singing their mind acoustically is in another ballpark. Stripped back, alone, exposing your innermost thoughts, desires or even personal issues to an audience takes some bottle. It’s a test of courage for the most egotistical, the mental equivalent of standing naked. Yet a majority of those who do, I find, are actually modest and reserved.

In an interview with Peggy-Sue Ford last year, Aberystwyth born now Devizes-based singer-songwriter, Sammi Evans, expressed both her excitement and terror at playing live on the show, opened up about her troubled childhood, ADHD, and being a self-certified โ€œscatter-brain,โ€ and in doing so created one of the most interesting and touching of Peggy’s Don’t Stop The Music shows on Swindon 105.5.ย 

The last time I met Sammi she was showing me the artwork of her upcoming debut single, explaining how the purple background and gothic font gave it a sense of corporate identity, as well, holding her phone with a subtle tremble, telling me how anxious she was about releasing it. That single, The Shadow, came out a couple of days ago, and thus, Sammi has traversed the local open mic nights, jams at the Southgate, and pub gig circuit, to a recording artist; that thought alone would goosebump the least nervous!

The song’s subject reflects this anxiety, it drags you into a dark closet, and hauntingly honest, questions the listener if they experience similar ghostly fears. Sammiโ€™s vocals are academia aesthetic, rich with a focused ethereal and melancholic soundscape. But it is through an impressive arrangement by Martin Spencer of Potterne’s Badger Set studio, which adds to the other-worldly ambience, with a tinkering piano breathing a touch of gothic horror film score, even subtle classical crossover about the otherwise poignant acoustic guitar marvel.ย 

Hey look, Iโ€™ve been to art college and know about light and shadow. If the shadow depicted in this song is metaphorically actualising foreboding as shadows and monsters lurking within them, the quality of the song contravenes its subject, upon its release. It might have felt that way in Sammiโ€™s mind at the time of writing it, but releasing it mightโ€™ve been that face your fear moment of diving off the top board into the pool. And now itโ€™s out there, perhaps more art for artโ€™s sake and prosperity than fame and fortune, she should consider it an exhilaration of accomplishment, because it’s really rather wonderful.

It should then act as the opposite to shadow. This debut single is a light source, beaming directly above Sammi Evans, which casts only a minimal shadow at her footprint, if at all, and, I hope, reduces any seeds of doubt that she can write thought-provoking lyrics and compose them into songs with illuminating results. I look forward to hearing more, Sammi! x

Listen to The Shadow HERE

Chandra Finds Heaven on Earth

Usually I just write what I think, but if I had a point-scoring system this new single from Bristol-based indie-pop outfit Chandra would tick every box. Itโ€™s called Heaven on Earth; if Belinda Carlise made it, Chandra rocked it!

Punchy, tick. Find that perfect hook, tick. Subtly righteous narrative, tick. Balance pithy narrative with equal amount of carefree fun, tick. Rock out, double-tick! Itโ€™s got the no worries in the face of adversity attitude of Three Little Birds, the youthful carefree tenet of Supergrassโ€™s Alright, the drive of Crash by The Primitives, and the punch of The Beastie Boys fighting for their right to party. Yet, itโ€™s august, styled, and definitively Chandra.

Weโ€™ve not heard from Chandra since 2024 when we fondly reviewed his debut EP Lifted, so itโ€™s great to feature him again, as thereโ€™s nothing to criticise about this cracking single, which means my work here is done! Itโ€™s raining outside, who cares, plug this blast of indie-punk-pop onto your playlist and cease your worrying!

Listen HERE

Peter Gabriel to Release Live at Womad Album

Peter Gabriel – โ€˜Live At WOMAD 1982โ€™ will be released on 8th May 2026. It was a simple idea; to create a festival out of all the brilliant music and art made all over the world, stuff made outside of the mainstream โ€“ music that wasnโ€™t getting on the radio and was even harder to find in record storesโ€ฆ

The very first WOMAD Festival took place at the 240-acre Bath and West Showground, Somerset over the weekend of 16โ€“18 July, 1982. With the dream โ€˜not to sprinkle world music around a rock festival, but to prove that these great artists could be headliners in their own rightโ€™,ย the three days and five stages played host to 60 bands from over 20 countries; a line-up that included The Drummers of Burundi, Pigbag, Salsa de Hoy, Simple Minds, Musicians of the Nile, Echo and the Bunnymen, Prince Nico Mbarga, Rip, Rig and Panic, The Beat and many more.

โ€œI remember this gig well,โ€ says Peter Gabriel. โ€œWe played a mix of old and brand-new material. I would normally be very nervous about playing some of this stuff for the first time, however my mind was very preoccupied with the running of our very first WOMAD festival and the potential financial disaster that it was heading towards.

Because WOMAD was unique in its focus on music and art from around the world, and mixing it up with rock and jazz, no-one knew how many people might turn up and we had seriously overestimated our appeal. But those that had decided to check out WOMAD and its weird and wonderful lineup were open-minded, bold and curious – a great audience.

It was a landmark and edgy gig for me both personally and musically and brings back lots of memories.โ€

Across the three days โ€˜an evening concert seriesโ€™ took place in the Showering Pavilion on the festival site. On the Friday night that concert featured Tian Jin (a song and dance troupe from China), Simple Minds and, with a โ€˜special festival set of non-album materialโ€™, Peter Gabriel.

Live at WOMAD 1982 is a recording of that Friday night concert. The non-album material in question are seven of the eight songs that would make up the album Peter Gabriel 4. An album that wouldnโ€™t be released for a further two months.

On-stage, Peter is joined by David Rhodes (guitar), John Giblin (bass), Larry Fast (synthesisers). Jerry Marotta (drums), Peter Hammill (vocals) and โ€œthe wonderful Bristol-based drum and dance group,โ€ Ekomรฉ (drums, percussion).

โ€œWe wanted to show that wherever you were born, whatever colour or language, whatever religious or sexual persuasion, powerful passionate and joyful work would have a warm welcome in WOMAD.

At the beginning, most music industry professionals told us that we had no chance of making this dream work, we had all the wonderful naรฏve misguided optimism of the young, and were convinced that we would prove all the cynics wrong. However, at the end of the first festival, it was clear we had an artistic success, but not a financial oneโ€ฆ but thatโ€™s for another story.โ€

Peter Gabrielโ€™sย Live a WOMAD 1982ย takes us back to not only the birth of a festival โ€“ one that has now hosted more than 160 editions in 27 countries – but also to the premiere of an album with songs, like The Rhythm of the Heat, San Jacinto and Shock the Monkey, that have become central to the Gabriel canon. More than just a live album,ย Live at WOMAD 1982ย is a pivotal moment, available now for the very first time as a double LP 180g black vinyl, in gatefold jacket with Side D etching and high-res download code, or a single CD in mini-vinyl style gatefold packaging.

Fulltone โ€˜26 to Ignite Wiltshire with an Epic Weekend of Live Music

Now in its seventh year, and at its new and better venue, Park Farm on the edge of Devizes, itโ€™s full steam ahead for The Fulltone Festival โ€˜26. From the 11thโ€“12th July Fulltone is set to ignite Wiltshire with an epic weekend of live musicโ€ฆ..

Promising a โ€œspectacular, joy-filled weekend of live music which brings together orchestral power, iconic artists and a true summer festival atmosphere in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside,โ€ The Fulltone Festival is a uniquely magnificent show. Presented by The Fulltone Orchestra, the festival features a fifty-piece live orchestra, major guest performers, celebrated tribute acts and genre-spanning concerts, from cinematic classical masterpieces and symphonic rock to dance anthems, Motown classics and sing-along crowd favourites.

Designed as a family-friendly, inclusive festival, Fulltone โ€™26 offers free entry for children under 14, accessible ticket pricing, on-site camping and a relaxed, welcoming environment that encourages audiences of all ages to experience live music together. The event arena is packed full of great food and drink stalls, as well as allowing picnics. Thereโ€™sย parking on site and a shuttle bus taking people from the town to the event. Itโ€™s exceptionally well organised, with Event Director Tanya Earley at the helm of the eventโ€™s operations again.

Image: Gail Foster

The weekend begins for campers on Friday evening with a campsite DJ warming them up. Saturday and Sunday are packed with unmissable performances across the weekend. Audiences can enjoy an electrifying programme including orchestral performances of Holstโ€™s The Planets paired with the Star Wars Suite and Symphonic Queen, featuring Ricardo Afonso who is back by popular demand, as featured in The Voice.

The guests this year are particularly special. West Country legends The Wurzels gives Fulltone the key to their combine harvester, and Jemma virtually yelped down the phone at me at the thought international pop icon Jason Donovan headlining a huge Sunday night eighties spectacular finale; thereโ€™s going to be too many broken hearts in Devizes that weekend (okay, youโ€™ve got to be of a certain age to get that gag!)

Thereโ€™s also some ska madness with nutty boys tribute Mainly Madness, and Seriously Collins, celebrating the music of Phil Collins and Genesis. Special guests are expected with a Best of Motown show, and everybody will officially be free to feel good when Devizesโ€™ very own BBC Introducing DJ James Threlfall teams with nineties singer Rozalla, for some dance anthem floorfillers. Even the poster has more colourful zap and zest to it than ever before, and conveys Fulltone 26 will be one youโ€™ll never forget!  

Conductor and founder Anthony Brown said, โ€œFulltone is all about the thrill of live music and the magic that happens when people experience it together. For 2026, weโ€™re bringing an extraordinary mix of sounds and styles to Park Farm, from breathtaking orchestralย moments to songs people know and love. Our aim is simple: for everyone who comes to feel uplifted, connected and part of something special.โ€

Tickets are on sale now. Early Bird tickets are available until 28 February 2026. Weekend and day tickets are on sale now, with under-14s attending free when accompanied by a paying adult. Weekend passes offer the best value.

You can find full details and tickets here: www.fto.org.uk/events and theyโ€™re Especially for You; see what I did there?!

Stone Circle Music Events to Donate all Proceeds of CrownFest to Wiltshire Hope and Harmony

Stone Circle Music Events announced today that all proceeds of CrownFest will be donated to Wiltshire Hope & Harmonyโ€™s Dementia Choir. CrownFest is an all-day family festival, happening on 4th July 2026 at The Crown, Bishops Cannings, Devizes…..

Due to perform over two stages will be Kinishaโ€™s renowned Simply the Best Tina Turner Tribute, Adam & The Ants tribute Ant Trouble, Wiltshireโ€™s premier indie-pop favourites and winners of six Wiltshire Music Awards , Talk in Code, purveyors of Irish & Celtic folk The Publicans, Salisburyโ€™s rock cover band Innovator, rock covers band Tipsy Gypsies, George Wilding, Ruby Darbyshire, Mother Ukes, and Lucas Hardy, with more acts to be confirmed.

Stone Circle Music Events connects the timeless energy of live music with the rich landscapes of Wiltshire and Galway, and specialise in events which feel local, authentic, and unforgettable. There will be a selection of food, stalls, and camping is provided for an additional ยฃ15. Early bird tickets are already available for purchase.

Get your tickets HERE

Founder of Stone Circle Music Events, Patrick Oโ€™Sullivan said, โ€œwe are delighted to announce the proceeds of CrownFest will go towards Wiltshire Hope and Harmony. The charity won a special award at the Wiltshire Music Awards, and we continue to support them.โ€

Devizine is so happy to see the return of this marvellous local festival, but even more excited to see it grow through Stone Circle’s expertise, and this announcement is surely the icing on the cake. So many families are affected by dementia, Wiltshire Hope and Harmony is such a great and worthy cause.

Wiltshire Hope and Harmony is a community-focused organisation in Wiltshire which uses the power of music therapy to bring people together and improve wellbeing. Their work centres on inclusive, therapeutic music-based groups and activities designed to support individuals and families from various backgrounds.ย  Their passion and commitment drive their mission, to create a harmonious environment for All Together, and they inspire change and hope in our community.

Their Community Music Therapy Groups run free, therapeutic music sessions led by registered and trained music therapists, supported by volunteers. 

Tunes Chill and Chat sessions are stay-and-play groups aimed at families with babies or children who have special educational needs (SEN) or additional needs. 

The Dementia Choir & Cafรฉ is a weekly choir and social cafรฉ designed for people living with dementia, along with their carers, families, and support staff; helping participants connect and express themselves through song.

Founder member of Wiltshire Hope and Harmony, Lisa Williams was fortunate to discover firsthand the transformational power of music therapy whilst training for her Masterโ€™s Degree in Music Therapy in 2018. Lisa was privileged to train with the visionary team at the University of the West of England and their Aphasia Choir. Determined to form a local choir and cafรฉ, Lisa founded The Royal Wootton Bassett Dementia Choir & Cafรฉ after her graduation in 2020. ย 

The Covid pandemic slowed the project, but in 2023 the Royal Wootton Bassett Dementia Choir and Cafe was formed. The Choir has since worked with hundreds of people living with dementia and associated conditions, and currently meets weekly, either at their ‘home’ in St Bartholomewโ€™s Church hall, or else on ‘tour’ visiting local care homes, community venues and churches.

Wiltshire Hope and Harmony also supply support for other groups, tailoring them for people with various needs, including sensory impairments or English as an additional language. They offer volunteering and engagement opportunities, from musicians and singers, to support roles and trustees, helping expand their reach and impact in the community.

For additional information on Wiltshire Hope and Harmony

Sketchbook Records Release Chasing Dolls EP

Out of my comfort zone on this one; being aging punk-ish, emo is a subgenre post my better days. Though the ever-reliable Wikipedia suggests, as a term, it was coined in the late eighties. It either travelled leisurely by airship across the pond, or Iโ€™ve had my head up my arseโ€ฆ.

If Iโ€™m probably best left in a dark corner, crying about my lack of knowledge on the subject, that creates many reasons for me not to like Sketchbook Records latest cassette or digital download release, which is an EP by Chasing Dolls. It begs me to don my flatcap and yell red-faced at youngsters about the volume of this noise, and many other age-defining protestations, but they can all be cancelled out by the more straightforward observation, it absolutely rocks!

My adventures with hardcore punk, blowing eardrums to bands like The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Bad Brains and Butthole Surfers was adolescent and relatively short-lived. Yet if emo is a shortening for โ€œemotive,โ€ Iโ€™d squabble that all music should evoke emotion, otherwise itโ€™s elevator muzak.

The thrash of hardcore debatably constitutes the least emotional genre of pop, only championed perhaps, by techno. Perhaps emo adds the element back into the rock melting pot. In which case, how does it differ from goth or grunge, for theyโ€™re both filled with emotion? These Chasing Dolls songs are massively better composed, with the rising and falling of emotion, than the aforementioned hardcore bands of yore, by a country mile, yet equal to the goth and grunge subgenres Iโ€™ve acquired to appreciate through the local bands producing it, like I See Orange and The Belladonna Treatment.

But this EP is growing on me as fast as bacteria multiplies; Iโ€™d be more complimentary if I reviewed this in a week, but I wanted to get it out there. From first impressions, its raw energy, a sublime cry of woe, and it fits.  

What also fascinates me about Chasing Dolls, is that thereโ€™s no uniform, each tune holds its own, and differs in style and ambience. Cobweb and Blood Moon are the standout tunes, and with a slash make the title of the album. Cobweb comes in first with heavy guitar after a delicately placed riff, as Iโ€™d expect, and itโ€™s certainly rinsed with emotion, as described by its pigeonhole.

Blood Moon is more me, of greater ambience and mood, it drifts in layers like oil finding its way down a congregated surface. The howls of emotion, the sublimely placed breaks. Iโ€™m none too fussed by pigeonholing, if only to describe something to you, if they say itโ€™s emo, then Iโ€™m converted, feels like a natural punk progression through gothic and grunge. I may not be an expert on this, but I know what I like.

Step on My Shadow has a sprinkle of more universal indie-pop with an irresistible drum roll, and in part Iโ€™d imagine our favourite lads Nothing Rhymes With Orange might feel comfortable putting something out like this. Then thereโ€™s this live track, yet if Closest Thing to Heaven sounds like theyโ€™re going to get slushy, Hell is in brackets to ensure thereโ€™s controversy in the romantic topic, and it comes over a smidgen shoegaze. Love, it hurts most punk genres, emo takes no exceptions, in fact, going on this, exemplifies the anguish and pain of it, rolls it into a dramatic outpouring without boundaries, and for this, I now love Chasing Dolls.

Chasing Dolls are Hayden, Munch, Theo, Will and Jasmin, and long may they continue. As with many upcoming bands, thereโ€™s a notion in the ether theyโ€™ve yet to make that magnum opus, but this EP suggests theyโ€™re aching for it and will accomplish something progressively superior. For now though, Cobweb/Blood Moon throws everything you wanted to hate in your face, and turns it into something thorough, bold and challenging; top marks for that.

Thank you Sketchbook Records, you are opening an old manโ€™s eyes to emerging local artists with an alternative edge, and now Iโ€™m hooked! Oh, and you can find Chasing Dolls at Swinterfest, headlining the Saturday (31st Jan) at The Castle.

Early Bird Tickets go on Sale for Park Farm Music Festival in Devizes

If Devizes Scooter Rally has already established its base at Whistley Roadโ€™s Park Farm and Full-Tone are moving to these new pastures, last year the site saw a superb inaugural festival of its own making, Park Farm Music Festival, with the expert knowledge of the good folk who brought us Mantonfest. Itโ€™s happening again this year and looks set to be even better than last year; I kid you not! Early bird tickets went on sale today, and the lineup has been revealed; letโ€™s poke our noses in and pretend summer is on its way, shall we?!

Starter for ten, Mantonfest is a longstanding cherished gem on Marlborough’s event calendar, a family friendly festival which has stood the test of time, and folk return annually like itโ€™s a pilgrimage; you can rest assured youโ€™re in good hands. I hailed Mantonfest as โ€œthe friendliest festival youโ€™re ever likely to attend.โ€ย 

While Park Farm Music Festival may yet have to establish itself to the same level of excellence, last yearโ€™s first time was an absolute blinder, bringing a taste of Mantonfest to Devizes and leaving folk hanging on the hope this would become a regular extravaganza.

This year the stage is set again for Mantonfestโ€™s house band, the awesome groovy vintage blues boys, Barrelhouse, but in essence the organisers are keen not to present something completely Marlborough; weโ€™re in Devizes now, mucker, if weโ€™re going to have blues we NEED Jon Amor to come along too! And theyโ€™ve answered this call, The Jon Amor Trio need no introduction to Devizes; Iโ€™m glad to see their name on the lineup, Iโ€™m certain all of the town will be too.

Onto the headliners, yes, it is tribute act top heavy, which works a treat for Mantonfest. In this you should note, the organisers do not skip on quality when it comes to tributes, all are tried and tested. Iโ€™ve bore witness to most of them, and will bet my pet budgerigarโ€™s life that youโ€™re in for a wonderful day. Last year there was an emphasis on hard rock, with astounding AC/DC and Nirvana tributes, while this year looks to have more universal appeal. 

If Queen tributes are two to a penny, despite being a tricky act to replicate, and some Iโ€™ve seen were great, One Vision played Mantonfest two years ago, and, just, wow, Iโ€™ve never seen it done with such quality, attention to detail and finesse as this one. I could definitely call this the best Queen tribute Iโ€™ve seen, perhaps in my top five of all the tributes Iโ€™ve seen.

Inferno, an Abba tribute Iโ€™ve not seen before, but itโ€™s Abba, what could possibly go wrong? As I said, the organisers take no compromise when it comes to booking only the very best tributes, so, dancing queens, have no concern. The next two I have seen, Madness and Bad Manners tribute, Badness, and Slyde, as you might’ve guessed, a tribute to Slade, are both brilliant, for precisely similar reasons.

Slyde played a Christmas do at Marlborough College Memorial Hall, where support Barrelhouse were on fire, and Sylde polished off the evening with a plethora of, not only Slade hits but just about every seventies singalong pop hit I could imagine, with the sprinkling of glam only Noddy Holder couldโ€™ve brought to each classic. And it was Christmas, so he aptly called it, and yes, it was something to behold. If One Vision is on my top five, Slyde must also be.

Now, Badness, ironic name, thereโ€™s nothing bad about the performance, but only, perhaps in the way they will totally and utterly rule the audience with a spellbinding show of their own. They do not attempt to mimic Madness, like Slyde they offer a repertoire of classic hits from the era their homage was in their prime, only this time itโ€™s obviously Two-Tone ska and new wave, and you will be skanking. Furthermore, youโ€™ll be under no illusion Badness are attempting to precisely mimic Madness, they only pay homage to them, and are uniquely themselves, add their own spin to it, particularly with the most hilarious stage banter youโ€™re ever likely to witness.

Has that tempted you? Because Iโ€™m getting excited just typing this recommendation! Theyโ€™ll have a big outdoor stage, brilliant sound and lighting, plenty of room to dance, lots of trade stalls, a range of food and drink outlets and showers for those camping. Theyโ€™ll be running a FREE shuttle bus to and from the The Bear Hotel hourly, gazebos and picnics are welcome, so too are campervans, caravans, and tents.

Early bird tickets are up for grabs: Adults – ยฃ30. Youth (Age 13-17) – ยฃ20. Child (Age 7-12) – ยฃ10. Under 7’s – Free. Campervans/Caravans – ยฃ30. Camping – ยฃ20. Itโ€™s on Saturday 18th July. Book HERE.

Swindonโ€™s finest Chicago and Texas blues covers band Last Train Smokinโ€™ are also on the fantastic roster, along with rock covers band Strange Horizons. Is it summer yet?!

Trending….

Oh Danny Boy!

Oh Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy, they loved your boyish Eton looks so, but when ye was voted in, an all democracy wasnโ€™t quiteโ€ฆ

Keep reading

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Devizes Issues Wants You!

Dubiously biased and ruled with an iron fist, the mighty admin of the once popular Devizes Facebook group, Devizes Issues, is using the iconic Great War โ€œLord Kitchener Wants Youโ€ recruitment poster by Alfred Leete to plead for volunteer moderators; jump to it, comrades!

Why? Wouldnโ€™t a picture of some Care Bears, or an AI image of some mugs with frustrated expressions be more suitable? Meanwhile, admins of the alternative group, Devizes Issues (but bitter) are asking, โ€œerm, any1 no like what is, a, like, moderator?โ€ย 

Tragically, it’s estimated 900,000 British lives were lost during the first world war, and the poster played its part in convincing young people to sign their own death warrants. To  pastiche it for such a petty purpose is disturbing, or at least extremely dark humour. Though it proves either the admin hasnโ€™t lost his unsettling sense of humour under all the pressure, or heโ€™s flipped on a Trump level and intends to invade the Potterne Pages Facebook page for reasons of national security!

You might think youโ€™re only signing up to delete the occasional lefty meme, but youโ€™ll be handed a tin hat and rifle, and be ordered to march towards The Patch, just you wait and see! 

Coincidently the town councillor admin of Devizes Issues has banned a similar number, simply for having a differing opinion on a subject, or using vulgar words, like poo, Gary Lineker, or Devizine. Face it, your king, country and local Facebook group needs youโ€ฆ.to ban your besties; do your duty and enlist now!

I’ve been banned, you’ve been banned, we’ve all been triggered by the obsessive Conservative propaganda on the group at least once, which resulted in the chip on the shoulder unashamedly displayed herein, and a lifetime ban; he thrives on the power trip like General Ludendorff inhaling his super-strength gas in the Wonder Woman movie. Haven’t seen it yet? Thatโ€™s because you spend too much time sucking up to admin on local Facebook groups, you fascist booklicker!

Occasionally, it’s an urban myth that someone will hand him a little bag of Haribo, he’ll cheer up for a whole three seconds and invite the odd Facebook user back in; โ€œvewy well. I shall welease… Wodewick!โ€ If you’ve been bestowed this honour you’ll know how exciting it feels to be suddenly wanted again. I congratulate you, suggest you’re ideal for the important role, though I fear there’s little chance of it ever happening to me; ashamed I hold my head in my hands, cry here in my own little corner of freedom.

But I don’t envy him for running a group akin to a Devizes GB News, it canโ€™t be an easy task, bless his cotton socks. If it were me I’d be sorry I started the fiasco now, do the right thing and archive the virulent exercise. Especially being the group isn’t as labelled. It’s not a local issues group at all, rather the prime issue in Devizes itself, a not very cleverly disguised conflict of interests and only a platform for Conservative campaigning. Perhaps if it labelled itself appropriately people wouldnโ€™t mock it so, and he might not need recruits to moderate it; vicious circle, but the best laugh today on an otherwise toxic social media platform.

Very good, as you were.ย 

Who Broke into Joyrobberโ€™s Car?!

Poor Joyrobber, got his car broken into, on his birthday too, but avenged them in song! Requiem for my Car Window is this mysterious characterโ€™s third single to date. I loved the first couple for some strange reason, no point in changing my mind nowโ€ฆ..

โ€œHave you ever had a really terrible birthday?โ€ Joyrobber asks, presuming none could be as catastrophic as his 25th, in which the back window of his Ford KA was smashed in, and all his possessions taken. In the song he includes the itinerary; chocolates, birthday cake and cards, and the thug even popped his birthday balloon; who does that? Heโ€™s the joy robber, Joyrobber, not you!

Or maybe you too, as by the finale, despite it hiking up his insurance, he wagers they have loads in common. Itโ€™s this dry sense of self-deprecating humour which throttles Joyrobber and drives him to the edge of sanity within the simple grievances, and provides it with originality, like The Divine Comedy went sour.

Personally, Iโ€™d say Iโ€™ve had my car broken into, and had some pretty rubbish birthdays, but never together. And if I had and felt driven to scribe a song about it, it wouldnโ€™t be the  ultimate power-ballad of towering rock we have here, blessed with twinkling pianos, a huge chorus and some crunchy Weezeresque. The kind of anti-birthday song to make Clare Grogan shudder, upset and vengeful where he rightfully hopes when the culprit needs the toilet, there’s a massive queue!

With production by Sugarpill Productions and the vocal engineering skills of Jolyon Dixon once more, weโ€™ve still not unmasked Joyrobberโ€™s alter ego, but would we reveal his true identity if we did?!

Probably not, ruin the mystery, wouldnโ€™t it? But clues are building with each new song, heโ€™s Pewsey based, has an abhor for Jeremy Kyle, with poor interview skills, and now we know he drives a Ka, all of which stand to reason! Cool song, though; fun in tragedy, and original, keep the unfortunate incidents coming, Joyrobber, hereโ€™s wishing you inconveniences for the new year, that you might pen some more marvellous reactions to!!

A Devizes County Councillor, a Trowbridge Carpark, and the Other Half of the Truth Revealed!

โ€œIt’s not all that glitter is gold,โ€ Bob Marley sung, โ€œhalf the story has never been told.โ€ Okay, he was referring to 400 years of institutionalised slave trading on an international and industrial scale, whereas weโ€™re on about a Trowbridge multistorey carparkโ€ฆ..

And anyway, the story is there for all to see; Wiltshire Council meetings are videoed and published on YouTube. If youโ€™ve not the time to lodge two matchsticks into your eyes and strain for an epic four hours, you might rely on wonky social media opinion, where Iโ€™d favour itโ€™s not really about a carpark, rather political point-scoring from some still bitter that they lost their control of County Hall.

If we were positively peddling towards fresh notions from a LibDem headed Wiltshire Council, a full council meeting on Tuesday 7th January jabbed a stick into the spokes. Despite both Conservatives and Reform nationally criticising each other, when they locally gang up  they can sway the vote. The meeting took on two major issues, the first was increasing council tax on second homes, where Conservative and Reform councillors voted against, and, in his oversized suit, ex-Wiltshire Council leader Richard Clewer contemptuously scoffed at the poor on a Marie Antoinette level.

Using the analogy, โ€œif youโ€™ve got one car, and you buy another, should you pay extra tax because youโ€™ve got two cars?โ€ Councillor Clewer arrogantly  justified  voting it down. Not in a financially stable economy, no, but our reality differs, and whoโ€™s fault is that?!

If you want a car analogy, Richard, try this sucker for size; โ€œif I buy a car from a mate I thought was trustworthy, and it broke down three miles down the road, should he pay for the repair?!โ€ Fourteen years of Conservative austerity focussed entirely on the working class; they did this, they caused the deficit, and refuse to contribute to fix it.

Taylor Wright, Wiltshire Councillor for Devizes East called the meeting โ€œa deeply disappointing moment for Wiltshire.โ€ I love this guy- not like that, you filthy sort; heโ€™s a young family man with fresh ideas of equality! In voting it down, Taylor stated, โ€œthey chose to prioritise, in their own words, โ€˜the 0.5% of householdsโ€™ in Wiltshire who can afford a second property over the needs of the remaining 99.5% of residents.โ€

Taylor mentioned struggling families, the cost of living, โ€œyoung people locked out of the housing market,โ€ and โ€œcommunities crying out for investment in services,โ€ hailing the decision swayed by this Conservative and Reform swarming  โ€œa missed opportunity to make a small but meaningful step towards fairness.โ€ Tempting me to originally concentrate on this issue rather than the second major issue raised, the future of a dilapidating Trowbridge carpark, because that felt like a storm in a teacup, I needed a bath, and whatโ€™s that got do with Devizes anyway?!

Cue Devizes town councillor and ex-Wiltshire one, Iain Wallis, who posted on his dubiously bias Facebook group Devizes Issues that โ€œLib Dem administration plan to gift a developer and carpark and ยฃ2.5m of our money defeated,โ€ in glorious jubilation. In it he stated โ€œthis overturns the cabinetโ€™s wishes which were largely discussed in secret and once again prioritises us in the rest of Wiltshire rather than subsiding Trowbridge.โ€

While deliberately newspeak, itโ€™s not entirely false, save it being far from a โ€œgift,โ€ and I donโ€™t get how it was all secret if videos are published, but again, Taylor Wright explained โ€œplainlyโ€ why he voted in favour of disposing of the asset, even though, he said, โ€œI know the headline figure of ยฃ2.5 million sounds shocking at first glance.โ€ Through this source we see how misleading Mr Wallisโ€™s post is; bearing in mind he lost his county council seat, itโ€™s a shame thereโ€™s a bitterness projected in his tone, persuading him to miss half the story.

โ€œThe car park itself is in serious disrepair. Independent assessments show that within the next ten years it is highly likely to require full demolition and rebuild. The estimated cost of that work is up to ยฃ8 million,โ€ Taylor fills in the gaps. โ€œIf Wiltshire Council keeps the car park, that ยฃ8 million bill will fall on all Wiltshire taxpayers โ€“ including residents in Devizes, who gain no benefit from free parking in Trowbridge.โ€

So yeah, the price tag to solve this might be ยฃ2.5m, but the option suggested by the Cons and Reform would be significantly higher, something Mr Wallis omitted from his post. I think a chat with Taylor is as overdue as my bathโ€ฆโ€ฆ

Our chat didnโ€™t dwell on Mr Wallisโ€™s post, it only serves to illustrate how bending the truth to suit a narrative is misleading. I wanted to discover the options presented to the councillors, and why some favoured dishing out ยฃ8million of taxpayerโ€™s dosh to save a dysfunctional and dilapidated carpark. โ€œI cannot believe itโ€™s as controversial as it is,โ€ Taylor agreed, and with a heavy sigh explained how Iain had posted again, accusing him of lying.   

I put this concept to Taylor, that rather than it being about a carpark, it was bitterness or even a punishment for the change in control of the council. โ€œYeah, thereโ€™s a lot of that,โ€ he concurred. You may recall a day when St Stephenโ€™s free carpark fed into a busy shopping centre, but that era is sadly all gone. โ€œBecause of a legal covenant tied to the shopping centre, parking must remain free. That means the site cannot generate any income, now or in the future, no matter who owns it,โ€ Taylor explained.

โ€œitโ€™s dilapidated,โ€ he said, โ€œso the benefits of having free parking for it are slim. I think people are frustrated, in Trowbridge specifically, of the ability to park free, but that doesnโ€™t benefit anyone in Devizes, unless you occasionally visit Trowbridge, but it shouldnโ€™t come from our council tax. Calne has free parking, but the town council pay that, as do other townโ€™s councils pay for their parking, so if Trowbridge are willing to pay to continue that is beside the point. Itโ€™s Trowbridge paying for Trowbridge, and I donโ€™t have a problem with that.โ€

โ€œBut my logic on paying the ยฃ2.5 million to dispose of that asset, I understand the headline โ€˜Councillors Giving ย half a million and a carpark to a developerโ€™ sounds horrendous, but when look into the detail, which I donโ€™t believe some of my Conservative colleagues have, theyโ€™ve heard Lib Dems are proposing something, letโ€™s oppose it; the building is coming down, itโ€™s crumbling, weโ€™re doing patchwork jobs, including one for half a million recently to try to keep it going for a few more years and for safety concerns, but we need to get rid of this asset, because itโ€™s not an asset, itโ€™s a major liability. Commercial properties can have ย a negative value, in this case itโ€™s been assessed independently, and it has negative value because of the liability. The only value it has to anyone would be the owner of the other half of the covenant, which is the shop centre owner.โ€

โ€œThere are other options,โ€ Taylor expressed, โ€œbut not good ones. The other would be to fully develop the site at a cost, estimated to be in the region of ยฃ8 million. Iโ€™m not suggesting the Conservatives are pushing for that, but if the building gets to a point where itโ€™s so dilapidated weโ€™re instructed to rebuild it, which we could be, that will be the cost. The other option is to find another developer to take on the site and pay us, but theyโ€™d be paying us for a site which is falling apart and in need of a rebuild, and by law cannot make any money. So, why anyone would buy it from usโ€ฆcommercially it makes no sense.โ€

On the idea of the council buying the site despite itโ€™s negative value , Taylor explained, โ€œwe did explore the possibility of changeling the convent in court, but were given a 60% chance of success and a highly placed judge in this field recommended we donโ€™t do this, because if we lose the shopping centre owner could counteract us, claiming because itโ€™s in such a shoddy state, we do need to completely rebuild it. So, whilst the initial cost ย for the legal action might be low, what follows from it could be extremely expensive, and us being immediately forced to demolish and rebuild the carpark, hence we saw that option as too high risk.โ€

So, once the free parking scheme was an asset, and we all thought we were parking for free, now whimpering itโ€™s unfair for one town to have free parking when others donโ€™t seems superfluous; itโ€™s a burden or curse, weโ€™re paying for in the end. The issue only remaining is how to solve it cost effectively; an issue not caused by the new council, but one they inherited. Leaving me confused still as to the opposition to demolish it.

โ€œIt was their business to pursue the other two options,โ€ Taylor explained, โ€œthey wanted to seek other developers who might be interested in purchasing the property, but as I said, theyโ€™re going to come with the same caveats, the covenant prevents it making money, and it needs to be rebuilt, so the idea of another developer paying us for something which is a liability is laughable from a commercial sense. They might find a another developer who will take it for the ยฃ2.5 million contribution to redevelopment, but again, theyโ€™ll still be subject to the covenant so weโ€™d be paying for it to be redeveloped for a developer whoโ€™s not going to make any money from it. So, again, it doesnโ€™t make commercial sense, but the large proportion of conservative councillors were looking at challenging it in court, and yes, itโ€™s possible it could win, but is unlikely. And also, if we lose we face our costs and the other sideโ€™s too, and, potentially, accountancy on the basis of dilapidation and having to rebuild the whole thing immediately. All options are risky. As much as ยฃ2.5 million is a huge amount, and I take no pleasure in signing off on spending it, for this purpose I think itโ€™s a terrible way to spend money, but, at least to my mind, we donโ€™t have any other sensible option.โ€      

Not to end this on a sour note, I did joke the Reform councillors probably wanted to keep it to hang flags off of, and Taylor expressed the opinion of one, Chris Brautigam, who has been โ€œreally pushing to hold onto the site, as heโ€™s a Trowbridge councillor, and I can understand his reasoning. Itโ€™s based on wanting to keep the carpark free for the residents of Trowbridge, which is a valid objective, and one of the most respectable reasons to want to hold onto it; heโ€™s doing it for his residents, and has campaigned hard and respectfully for that, and I congratulate him, but I donโ€™t think itโ€™s the right move, for my residents.โ€

How what seemed like an open and shut case became such a  major issue is concerning evidence petty bitterness and political point-scoring is consuming the council, where time could be better spent on solving issues. โ€œWe were floored when this became controversial,โ€ Taylor said, โ€œweโ€™d a pre-meeting, where this was one where we said this will be fine, itโ€™s obvious this is right path, and there was no way to disagree with it. There might be a couple of Trowbridge councillors who might disagree, but all in, itโ€™s probably go through quite easily. And then, all of a sudden, Armageddon kicked off! It took us all by surprise.โ€

It all left me pondering more generally, on if the objections was driven by traditionalism, that there was hope high street shopping would return in a trend rebelling from internet shopping. โ€œThere was an option to buy the shopping centre,โ€ Taylor revealed, โ€œwhich as weโ€™ve seen with other councils up and down the country,โ€ and he exampled his hometown of Woking, whoโ€™s council purchased the shopping centre and โ€œare now in a billion pounds worth of debt over the building costs and lack of revenue it generates. I donโ€™t think councils have an business owning shopping centres.โ€

The biting reality is that all towns are unfortunately losing shops, but if you visit a town like Devizes, where many will complain weโ€™re losing shops, itโ€™s still relatively busy because the trend has changed and we adopt now a cafรฉ culture where visiting town is a treat; you buy a light lunch or coffee, and browse, less everyday functionally for goods, but more ascetically, and a crumbling seventies Bauhaus carpark, once functional, is not  ascetically pleasing, perhaps more an eyesore, and discouraging people to visit.

I thank Taylor Wright for his time, and enlightening us. Itโ€™s best to take social media posts with a pinch of salt, especially when they come with political bias; itโ€™s been reported comments with opinions differing from that given by the admin on the aforementioned Devizes Issues one, have been deleted and persons have faced being banned from the group. We always must dig a little deeper to find the truth.  

Can I get in the bath now?!

Westbury Town Council Announced Postponement of Westbury White Horse Soap Box Derby 2026

We are saddened to hear Westbury Town Council had to make the difficult decision to postpone the Westbury White Horse Soap Box Derby this week. Planned for May, the decision follows careful and detailed consideration of public safety, regulatory obligations, and the long-term sustainability of this much-valued community eventโ€ฆ.

Since the first Soap Box Derby in 2022, visitor numbers have increased year on year by approximately 1,000 to 2,000 people. While this growth reflects the eventโ€™s popularity and success, the scale now projected for 2026 has outpaced the capacity of its current location and supporting infrastructure. The existing site, while offering an exceptional setting for the racing itself, presents significant challenges in safely managing pedestrian and visitor access, alongside transport and traffic flow. Protecting the safety of pedestrians, visitors, participants, volunteers, and residents remains paramount for the Council.

Following discussions with the Highways Authority and Wiltshire Police, the Town Council has been advised that a licence for the 2026 event cannot be issued without fundamental changes to address these safety concerns.

Based on this advice, the Council accepts that the Soap Box Derby cannot be delivered safely or lawfully in its current format in 2026. Attempting to proceed under the existing arrangements would create unacceptable levels of risk for the Town Council, volunteers and the wider community.

The Council has therefore designated 2026 as a fallow year. This will provide officers with the necessary time to undertake a full and careful review of alternative options, including potential new locations and revised event management arrangements, to support the planned relaunch of the Soap Box Derby in 2027 in a way that is safe, sustainable, and fit for the future. We hope this is successful and we will see the return of this popular event. 

Westbury Town Council remains committed to the Soap Box Derby and the value it brings to the town. Working with partners, stakeholders and the community, the Council will focus over the coming year on ensuring the event is well placed to return in a safe and sustainable manner.

Lady Nade; Sober!

Dry January, anyone? Well, Lady Nade just plunged into an outdoor 4ยฐC eucalyptus sauna for a social media reel. But whilst I’d require a stiff drink to do such, our beloved Somerset soul singer says she’s swapping ice-cold cocktails for ice-cold baths. There must be warmer ways to promote a January single?!

Sober is that apt single, out now, seriously catchy. With the deep vocal range of Nina Simone, this one takes a retro soul style. Not quite a Chiffons level of doo-wop, but more Mary Wells or Betty Everett, in that sultry playful tone of the early Motown sound, with the ability to convey a twist between vulnerability and strength; she’s sober, so taking her chances to proposition a potential lover, presumably without the slurred words of intoxicated passion!

You might have to do your own handclaps, but there’s that rhythmic tambourine, breathing authenticity into this little charmer. 

Here’s a linktree to have a listen; do yourself a favour a take the plunge.

She asked her fans if they’ve ever โ€œbraved an ice-cold shower, swim or plunge?โ€ And describes it as a โ€œtotal game changer for boosting well-being. I may have screamed fuck as I got in and out ones I had today, but only a few times!โ€ย 

Can I not just listen to this wonderful tune cuddling a hot water bottle, please, Lady?!

2025 on Devizine; Review of the Year; Part 1, Jan-June

If past years seem to be racing by me on roller-skates, now theyโ€™re in Formula 1 cars! 2025, in a word, was โ€œaverage,โ€ though the Devizine annual stats fell for a second year, at 6% lower than 2024; you lot still here?!

Iโ€™m not concerned about that, you filthy traitors; youโ€™ve been digesting the clickbait of that Gazelle & Herod again, havenโ€™t you?!! Ah, truth is I have been staying home, hibernating a lot like a lightweight couch potato; probably an age thing, most likely a financial thing too; weโ€™ve got hyperinflation to make Robert Mugabe envious. But we keep a stiff upper lip as the world plummets into chaos, our little corner of it remains a pretty nice place to live (if a bit Tory,) where you can block pavements with hoarding or nick a cardboard sheep from a church and get away with it. None of which we are here to highlight, we focus on the best bits, and slag off the worst with a sprinkling of satire; if you donโ€™t like it, you know where to go!

Hits took a hit because I bit my tongue on many local political or social issues this year, to concentrate more on arts and entertainment, but folk love a good shit stir rather than being told about some talented locals doing good. Plus, Iโ€™m sick to the back teeth with any dependence on Facebook shares, itโ€™s become a toxic playground for so-called adults and AI bots pretending to be human to boost propaganda. I think Iโ€™m going to be one of those smiling insanely old men, content to feed the ducks in the park, rather than ranting at anyone younger than me within range, but Iโ€™ve the right to change my mind on this! 

They also took a hit because Iโ€™ve been actively engaged in two fantastic major events, RowdeFest and The Wiltshire Music Awards. The latter in particular used up much of my time, but hey, I think they were worth it. The Awards really brought together a wealth of people involved in the Wiltshire music scene, caused me to wear a suit, and we hope to build on this with future years.

The other contributing factor to the downfall of hits to the website might have been me writing a new book, something I rarely get the time for, but was certain I wanted it published by Christmas. I made that deadline and Murder at the Scribbling Horse is officially out; you read it yet? No, didn’t think so!

But lots more happened in 2025, and those we featured are briefed below; we couldโ€™ve done more but I think we put out a lot of content; you have to give me some time to play pointless block puzzle games on my phone. Thank you to all our contributors, Ian, Andy, Lois and the few guest writers who have submitted this year. We always need more writers to make this as comprehensive as possible; it is about as flexible as it can possibly be, you can be a fruitcake, we donโ€™t mind, so do get in touch if you can help.

Please continue to support us, we thank you all for your dedication to Devizine; hereโ€™s to 2026; try best to avoid the fascist division, millionaires triggered by being disallowed to rip wild animals to death, the US or Russian bombs heading our way, the complete disregard for funding environmental projects while they spend billions fighting for the last scraps of oil, any world leader kidnapping, painting roundabouts, and the usage of anti-terror laws to arrest pensioners peacefully campaigning against genocide.

Just follow us instead, enjoying a pint in a pub and listening to live music, played by real people, focus on youth projects rather than fables of hooliganism, focus on talented individuals doing good rather than bitter clickbait and national headlines, and be here, in the warm and truth, with Devizine; we tell it like it is, and donโ€™t purvey bullshit!              

January

Just as this year starts with a review of the last, so did 2025, but not before I took a visit to the Swindon Story Shed. Forestry England invited dog walkers to Nightingale Wood, apparently to celebrate Walk Your Dog Month; surely every month is walk your dog month?! The second feature film for director Keith Wilhelm Kopp and writer Laurence Guy, First Christmas entered development. We covered how My Dadโ€™s Bigger Than Your Dad Festival raised ยฃ11,500 for Prospect Hospice, and thereโ€™s moreโ€ฆ. 

Jamsters began at Devizes Southgate, an initiative to provide a Friday night platform for loose groupings and associations created at their regular jam sessions each Wednesday. We announced The Beat were to headline Devizes Scooter Rally, that Nick Hodgson formerly of the Kaiser Chiefsโ€™ new band, Everyone Says Hi had an instore at Marlboroughโ€™s Sound Knowledge, and we unfortunately said goodbye to the now disbanded People Like Us; sorely missed.

The original line up of People Like Us

We had new singles from Nothing Rhymes With Orange, a new album from Illingworth, and fuller sessions from Kaya Street. Andy reviewed the first Devizes International Blues Festival, Ian covered Jerusalem at the Mission Theatre, and Veronicaโ€™s Room at The Wharf Theatre.

We previewed OakFest at the Royal Oak in Pewsey, La Belle Hรฉlรจne, White Horse Operaโ€™s Debut at The Wharf Theatre, Devizes Musical Theatreโ€™s Beauty & The Beast, Henge at The Cheese & Grain, and Bradford-on-Avon Green Man Festival which unfortunately this year is in jeopardy, and we welcomed Caffe Vialottie to Devizes, our most popular article of the year.

Februaryย 

It may be topical now, but weโ€™ve always been supporting the hunting ban, and in February reported how Beaufort Hunters attacked Wiltshire Hunt Sabsโ€™ drone. We sadly confirmed Devizes Street Festival was cancelled for the second year in a row, and The Emporium in Devizes was to close, but Devizes would get a new youth centre.

Previews included, Marlborough School of Languagesโ€™ Summer Fiesta, Jazz Sabbath at the Corn Exchange. We announced The Brand New Heavies were to headline Minety, tickets for DOCAโ€™s Winter Ales were running out, and that I was to organise the music for Rowdefest in May, probably my favourite memory of 2025.

We featured Melkshamโ€™s teen band Between the Lines, reviewed JP Oldfieldโ€™s debut EP Bouffon, Jamie Hawkinsโ€™ short film Teeth, and new singles from I See Orange and Sam Bishop. Swinterfest broke me out of my hibernation, and I also got out to see the fantastic Static Moves at the Three Crowns, plus Cephidโ€™s Sparks in the Darkness at The Rondo, which was mindblowing!

March

We announced that Devizes auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son were relocating to the Old Emporium, Soupchick was to take over The Hillworth Park Cafe, that after the fire in Northgate Street Devizes Kebab Van successfully relocated to Folly  Road, that Devizes was to have a new festival, Park Farm Festival, and of course the very first Wiltshire Music Awards.

We featured the Belladonna Treatment, had a wonderful local reflection on the Trump & Zelenskiy meeting from a Ukrainian living in Wiltshire, and it was one of my all-time favourite interviews with eighties legend Owen Paul ahead of a Devizes gig.

We reviewed The Killer & The Catalyst, Devizes author Dave McKennaโ€™s novelette, Geckoโ€™s new album, and singles by Chloe Hepburn and George Wilding. 

Previewed Devizes Arts Festival, Exchange Comedy in Devizes, Swindon Palestine Solidarityโ€™s Charity Iftar, CUDSโ€™ Devizes Town Litter Pick for GB Spring Clean, and Hells Bells AC/DC tribute coming to Devizes! We listed the results of Salisbury Music Awards.

I managed to make it out to see The Devilโ€™s Doorbell and JP Oldfield at the Cellar Bar, Ruby Darbyshire at the Southgate, and Cracked Machine with Tom Harris in support, too. Ian gave us Blood Brothers at The Mission Theatre and Flatpack at The Rondo, and Pip Aldridge reviewed our Fulltone Orchestra at Tewkesbury Abbey.

I ranted on the state of the roads, and for fun ran a Take Our Wiltshire Pothole or Moon Crater Quiz Challenge!!

April

Ah, All Fools Day, a golden opportunity for us, in which last year we told the fib that funk godfather George Clinton was exiled to the Wiltshire village of Urchfont, created funk music there and it was covered up by their parish council! You might assume it was hardly viable, but some fell for it, and messaged in their outraged reports of โ€œfake news!โ€ 

We looked into DOCAโ€™s new youth initiative Yea Devizes, and while we published our usual extensive list of Easter holiday activities, we also previewed DOCAโ€™s Junk Street drumming workshop.

I visited The Hillworth Park Cafe, where Soupchick took over, hailed Devizes DJ Greg Spencer, the creator of Palooza house nights, who made the prestigious bill of Fatboy Slimโ€™s All Back to Minehead festival, and reviewed the now sadly defunct No Alarms No Devizes playing at the Three Crowns. Discovered Fran Daisy at Swindonโ€™s Plough, and Henge at the Cheese & Grain was a high contender for my gig of the year; out of this world!

We had a guest review from Melissa Loveday on Devizes Music Academyโ€™s Something About Jamie, which though Iโ€™m sorry to have missed, I did catch them playing it out at FullTone Festival in the summer. I did attend Devizes Musical Theatreโ€™s Beauty & the Beast at Dauntseyโ€™s School and the opening of Un/Common People, Folk Culture in Wessex, a fascinating exhibition at Wiltshire Museum.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Reviewed Hannah Rose Plattโ€™s album Fragile Creatures, probably the best album we covered last year. The website for Wiltshire Music Awards went live and people held on to cast their votes in May. 

We exposed Reform candidate Calne Violette Simpson for her Facebook profile picture showing her hunting antelope in South Africa, and Devizes South Conservative candidate Sarah Batchelor, who committed election fraud, up and left with her tail between her legs and almost running Bishops Canningโ€™s Crown into the ground. Thankfully it seems the new owners are turning it around and recreating the village hub it once was. 

May

I was honoured and delighted to organise the music for our village fete, which has in the last few years been run by a lovely independent committee, safe from a questionable parish council. It was a wonderful sunny day and the highlight of my year. I called in some favours and presented an amazing lineup for a free fete, featuring, in order of appearance, The Jubilee Morris Dancers, Andrew Hurst who brought bassist Lucianne Worthy with him, Talk in Code, The Sarah C Ryan Band, Thieves, and Burn The Midnight Oil. Being it was the last day of the month, I didnโ€™t write about it until June.

I paid a Sunday afternoon visit to Devizes amazing record shop Vinyl Realm, when Deadlight Dance were attacked by wasps and still managed an amazing unplugged acoustic set. Ben Niamor reviewed Jake Martin at Swindonโ€™s Castle with SOP, and Ian gave us his views on Sweeney Todd at St. Augustineโ€™s Catholic College in Trowbridge, and the Diary of Anne Frank at The Wharf Theatre in Devizes, which was so good I had to go myself. Lois covered newcomers Kingston Mediaโ€™s Bands at the Bridge in Horton.

I previewed the Bradford-on-Avon Live Music Festival, despite it clashing with our Rowdefest! Also, Ruby Darbyshire who performed at Silverwood Schoolโ€™s open evening. Andy provided a preview of Chippenham Folk Festival, and Lois provided us with previews of Australian Folk singer Ernest Aines at Swindonโ€™s Deanery Theatre and David Olusoga at the Cheese & Grain.

Announced the opening of voting for Wiltshire Music Awards, that Devizes-based The Big Sound Choir was to perform with Aled Jones at St Georgeโ€™s in Bristol, and that Bird is The Word were taking over music organisation at Bradford-on-Avonโ€™s Boathouse.

We featured how Lucas Hardy was collaborating with Rosie Jay, and Fromeโ€™s James Hollingsworth, who was bringing his solo recreation of Pink Floydโ€™s Wish You Were Here album to the Devizes Southgate and elsewhere, and reviewed his album with Griffiths, Lost in the Winds of Time.   

I reviewed Clock Radioโ€™s album Turfing out the Maniacs, Ruzz Guitarโ€™s Between Two Worlds album, Playing Solitaire; Phil Cooperโ€™s first solo album for five years, Thievesโ€™ debut EP, a new single from George Wilding, and one from Auralcandy featuring vocals from Sienna Wileman. A feature of a Melksham marketing expert launching AI training courses was met with controversy, yeah, I get that!

June

If we were all busy with the Devizes Arts Festival, we were previwing summer events like a new festival for Devizes, Park Farm, clashing with an amazing day at the Three Crowns for an air ambulance fundraiser, and I finalyy got over my hangover and ego, and gave coverage of Rowdefest; highlight of my year!ย 

Andy reviewed White Horse Operaโ€™s Cosi Fan Tutte and The Lost Trades at the Piggybank, Ian did The Mikado at the Mission, The Taming of the Shrew at the Rondo, and of course we all did our bit for the Devizes Arts Festival. Andy also covered an extensive weekend when The Lions were on the Green in Devizes, we had Crammer Watch Day too, and Devizes Arts Festival did a fringe gig at the British Lion; summer lovinโ€™. The highlight of this had to be Whereโ€™s the Cat, the Wharf Theatreโ€™s writing groupโ€™s hilarious reenactment of the Moonrakers fable at the Crammer, which I felt obliged to cover too. 

Eddie and I were guests on Peggy-Sueโ€™s Donโ€™t Stop the Music show on Swindon 105.5, chatting about the awards. We met Henry the chocolate duck raising funds for cystic fibrosis at HollyChocs, previewed Supergrass headlining Frome Festival, a genderqueered Shakespearean performance at Bathโ€™s Rondo, and Swindon Palestine Solidarity events. Lois did Idles at Bristolโ€™s Block Party. 

I reviewed The Hotcakes of Wildfireโ€™s album Shoes & Acid, ranted on vocal minorities triggered by events of cultural diversity, and did a No Surprises column promising to return the feature, but promises are made to be broken! Thereโ€™s simply too much to whinge about, and for my health, I need to see the glass half-full.

Bands at The Bridge

Thatโ€™s all for now, folks. Do not fear, itโ€™s still summer in our minds, and weโ€™ll kick off in July for the second part. I know, our goldfish attention spans cannot take in a whole year in one article, what with so much brilliant stuff which happened over the year, so come back when Iโ€™ve officially emptied the Quality Street tin and completed the last half of this review of 2025; but I must say, I think the first half was better!!

Awesome! Talk in Code Immortalised as Lego Minifigures!


Ah, let’s talk about Talk in Code one more time this year, because we’re secret Talkers here, and everything has been awesome this year for them, but now they’re being immortalised as Lego minifigures!

Surely, the piece of resistance of local merch, it doesn’t get better than this! Lego minifigures have become something of a collectors item over the years, and the finest local indie popsters have a Lego inspired fan reward scheme they’re calling TICBRIX; genuine awesomeness!

Now open, all you’ve got to do is attend their gigs, which is a pleasure in itself, collect stamps on a loyalty card, and collect the band figures. Pick up the cards at the merch desk at any show, get it stamped, and after every two Talk in Code shows, you can claim your FREE minifigure and badge from the merch desk.

With four members in the band, it’s going to take you eight shows to complete your collection, but thatโ€™s not all. At the halfway point, youโ€™ll be eligible for a bespoke, Lego stage set for them to all play on, complete with a bass guitar, extra guitar, drumsticks and even a Sneddsโ€™ luxury beard upgrade!

Personally, I feel inclined to hotfoot it up the loft to find my bricks and build a spaceship for them to gig on because they’re out of this world! Spaceship!!!!

Some early 2026 performances from the guys include 17th Jan at The Kings Arms in Amesbury and also at Devizes Winter of Festive Ales at The Corn Exchange on 28th February. On the 28th of March, there’s a Talkers Show by personal invite only at The Hop in Swindon. Join the Talkers WhatsApp group to get in on that and be in the know of other gigs by texting โ€˜add meโ€™ with your first name to 07725 138077. All welcome unless you’re from the planet Duplo!

Daphne Oram; Devizesโ€™ Unsung Pioneer of Electronic Sound Part 3

read part 1
read part 2

Oramics and its Place in the Progression of Electronic Music

In 1997 I was a 24 year-old factory worker, keen to learn all tasks on the production line to work my way up, but suddenly the run of the ladder was pulled too high for me to reach. Shift managers who had were axed, were replaced by โ€œteam leaders,โ€ that of precisely the same duties and responsibilities, though you needed a diploma to apply.

The government tried to thwart my only other life objective three years past, to party; they had failed. I worked in the factory now for one reason, to fund this escapism. Once free, the Criminal Justice Bill ensured someone profited from our jollity, as rave culture was pushed into nightclubs and legal paid events.

If The Prodigy were right, this was music for the jilted generation, perhaps so too  was Luigi Russolo in his 1913 futurist manifesto L’arte dei Rumori (The Art of Noises,)  when he argued that the ear would become accustomed to a new sonic palette of industrial soundscapes, and musicians would require a new approach to instrumentation and composition. Though Iโ€™d not have contemplated the noises of the factory manipulating my music perceptions at the time, I was aware of how Kraftwerk were influenced by the sounds of traffic for Autobahn.

Neither would I have given much thought to the development of electronic music; my time with analogue pop of punk and Two-Tone was short-lived. Through new wave post-punk and electronica to American hip hop and electro, and the rebellion from the hit factories exploiting it; rave culture, I had grown up with  electronics as a staple to music and knew no different.

Pre-internet research on the subject wouldโ€™ve been a needle in a haystack, even if Iโ€™d the motivation to study it.  In my naivety I assumed one thing, that Kraftwerk created  electronic music, because Iโ€™d seen a clip of them on the BBC program Tomorrow’s World. Though the show made no claim to this, I was only two on the 25th September 1975, when it originally aired.

Ralf Hรผtter and Florian Schneiderโ€™s Kraftwerk were certainly pioneers who popularised the krautrock genre worldwide. The industrial links between  Dusseldorf and Detroit and creative ones between Berlin and New York  were influences reflected, which turned the cogs of hip hop and house. And now, here I was, in a meadow near Luton, at Universeโ€™s Tribal Gathering, where I figured weโ€™d come full circle.

Kraftwerk played their one and only festival, it was monumental. The once monocultured rave phenomenon had divided into copious subgenres, Universe were the first to fully embrace this with a tent dedicated to each division. Yet from each tent masses united at the main stage, some DJs refusing to play their set because theyโ€™d miss this performance. Reflecting back on it now, I cannot deny it was something to behold, but Iโ€™ve since discovered they wasnโ€™t the complete roots to electronic music I assumed they were. Its complex international evolution includes too many names to mention, but this fascinating insight has been encouraged by my study into one important innovator largely uncredited, born here in Devizes, Daphne Oram.

We outlined her work briefly in the introduction to this series of articles, and with help from Daphneโ€™s niece, Carolyn Scales, we delved into her upbringing in Devizes, and how influences in engineering meshed with her love of music. Now we need to fit her role into this vast evolution of electronic music, by looking at Oramics, discovering how that influenced the progression, and why it is not as well documented and I believe it should be.  

Once Daphne left the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1959, she coined the term Oramics, a name for her studio in Tower Folly, a converted oast house at Fairseat in Kent, her technique for creating graphical sound, and the Oramics Machine which spawned from it.  

Carolyn described The Oramics Machine as, โ€œan early synthesiser,โ€ but as with Russian engineer Evgeny Murzin who created photoelectronic instrument the ANS synthesizer, historical records rarely reference them.  The first commercial synthesizer is credited to American engineer Robert Moog a few years later in 1964. Precursors to Moog  mentions Harald Bode who laid the groundwork for separate sound-modifying modules used in the Moog design, the Hammond Organ Companyโ€™s Novachord in the late 1930s, Canadian engineer Hugh Le Caineโ€™s Electronic Sackbut, Herbert Belar and Harry Olsonโ€™s RCA Mark I and II Sound Synthesizers, and some cite Thaddeus Cahillโ€™s Telharmonium, an electromechanical sound generator from 1897, which weighed in over two-hundred tons.

The original Oramics Machine was the size of an office photocopier, so was also too cumbersome for the average musician. By its definition, itโ€™s a synthesiser but worked differently; the composer/musician drew onto a set of 35mm film strips which ran past a series of photo-electric cells, generating electrical signals to control amplitude, timbre, frequency and duration.

The reason for the omission, Carolyn suggested, was because The Oramics Machine was lost after her passing. โ€œDr Mick Griersonโ€™s team tracked it down to France in 2008. Working with the Science Museum. Griersonโ€™s study provided the first full contextualisation of the machine, an assessment of its historical importance, and a detailed description of its workings. The machine became a central part of the Science Museum exhibition Oramics to Electronica, originally planned to run for six months in 2011. The showโ€™s press and public uptake saw it extended a further four years.โ€

Perhaps inspired by Moogโ€™s development of the Minimoog, Daphne worked on a Mini-Oramics, but never completed a prototype. Goldsmiths’ PhD student Tom Richards, who pored over the unfinished project and built it over forty years later, suggested โ€œthere were a lot of reasons why she didnโ€™t launch Mini-Oramics. She was working on her own, and wasnโ€™t affiliated to a large organisation or university.ย  She had ups and downs in her life, and at the time she was working on Mini-Oramics, she also worried that her approach to musical research was out of fashion when compared to chance-based and computerised techniques. She was unable to secure the further funding she needed and she eventually moved on to other research.โ€

If funding and the ferocity of music technologyโ€™s progression at this time surpassed Daphne, both her music and written works were visionary. If you thought Pete Tongโ€™s Heritage Orchestra was pushing new boundaries in 2004, Carolyn noted, โ€œin 1948, Daphne created a piece for double orchestra, turntable and live electronics called Still Point, long thought of as the earliest composition to include real-time electronic transformation of instrumental sounds.โ€ Again, Still Point was never performed and was considered lost. โ€œDr James Bulley found fragments in the Oram archive,โ€ she continued, โ€œand working collaboratively with Dr Shiva Feshareki, began a reconstruction, later finding the full score in the belongings of composer Hugh Davies.โ€

โ€œA performance was commissioned by BBC Proms and performed by turntablist Shiva Feshareki, Bulley, and the London Contemporary Orchestra in 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall, reaching a substantial audience live and via BBC Radio 3,โ€ Carolyn explained. โ€œThe reaction was one of awe, with the piece described as โ€œthrillingโ€. Critical responses suggested that this realisation of Oramโ€™s previously untested ideas represented a challenge to electronic musicโ€™s received history.โ€

The more I research the more I find examples suggesting Daphneโ€™s work was so avant-garde, abstract or insistent on anthropological creativity against trending dehumanised mathematical methods, she was set apart from the contemporary canon of self-generating computer music, positioning her work in a kind of unique scientific-spiritual space, combining technical rigor with a romantic model of artistic expression. This would frustrate her, when projects were either underfunded or too radical for others to follow, and they were consequently lost in time.

In 1971 she authored a book titled An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics, wherein lies a quote often cited in discussions about music technology: โ€œWe will be entering a strange world where composers will be mingling with capacitors, computers will be controlling crotchets and, maybe, memory, music and magnetism will lead us towards metaphysics.โ€

Daphne visiting her parents in Devizes

It was also her dedication to  authorial control, while cybernetic-influenced composers embraced self-generating systems with indeterminacy, which caused Oram’s approach to differ from the era’s prevailing trends, despite this cybernetic orientation. Exemplifying the generosity of her father, James, Mayor of Devizes, Daphne actively supported composersโ€™ rights to royalties while she was a Trustee of The Performing Rights Society in the 1970s.

Daphne Oram suffered two strokes during the nineties, and passed away in Maidstone on the 5th January 2003. Yet on Daphneโ€™s centenary, where much of the world remains dubious about the ethics of artificial intelligence, we must debate her legacy, for my final part of the series.

Oh, and if you were wondering, all I saw of Kraftwerk at Tribal Gathering was the fluorescent outlines of their boilersuits!

Everything Going on For New Year’s Eve 2025!

Ah, I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas, now it’s time for New Year’s Eve, and here’s what we’ve found to do. Wishing everyone a happy New Year and all the best for 2026. Don’t forget our event calendar lists much more and everything going on this weekend, into January and beyond!

Blue Moon Band @ Devizes Conservative Club

The Unpredictables @ The Hour Glass, Devizes

NYE Glow Party @ The Pelican, Devizes

New Years Eve Party with Quiz @ The Pour House, Devizes

New Year’s Eve Party with Purple Fish @ Seend Community Centre

New Year’s Eve Fundraising Party @ Bromham Community Hub

NYE with Cally @ The Bear, Marlborough

NYE Party @ The Royal Oak, Pewsey

Spencer Fray NYE @ Evie’s Kitchen, Melksham

NYE Party with Light up the Funk @ The New Inn, Melksham

Mark Lewis @ The Rising Sun, Lacock

Rio Band @ The Consti Club, Chippenham

Click @ The Peterborough Arms, Chippenham

UK Calling @ The Lamb, Trowbridge

NYE Party @ Trowbridge Rugby Club

NYE Party @ The Dog House Tap Room, Calne

Be Like Will @ The Hollies, Westbury Leigh

Bustard @ The White Hart, Atworth

Rubix Groove @ The Boathouse, Bradford-on-Avon

NYE Party (ticketed) @ the Bell, Bath

NYE with The Sitting Ducks @ Prestbury Sports Club, Warminster

2-TRONIX – 80’s New Year’s Eve Party!! – 31 to 1st@The Vic, Swindon

New Year’s Eve DJ Night @ The Pulpit, Swindon

Krater Comedy Club New Year’s Eve Special

New Years Eve Party @ The Griffin, Frome

New Years Eve Party – The Hammervilles

New Year’s Eve: Lucy Loves Liquor @ Coach and Horses, Salisbury

 The Few @  Salisbury SnowGlobe

The Treblemakers @ Qudos, Salisbury

Lucas Hardy @ The Bell & Crown, Salisbury

Winni Dub Club New Year’s Eve @  Winchester Gate, Salisbury

 New Year’s Eve: The P45s @  Royal Oak, Salisbury

 Dark Resolution – The Return @ Dark Revolution Brewery and Tap Room , Salisbury

 The Moonlights @ Alderbury Sports & Social Club, Salisbury

 New Year’s Eve with Break Cover @  Bull Hotel, Salisbury

Ha! Let’s Laugh at Hunt Supporters!

Christmas has come early for foxes and normal humans with any slither of compassion remaining, as the government announced the righteous move to ban trail hunts. As an impartial media outlet, we sayโ€ฆ.let’s laugh at those saddened hunters wallowing in their own self-pity, right through Christmas and beyond!

Keir Starmer’s cabinet, a far cry from the ideal government, but the best we’ve had after fourteen long years of that Conservative clown school of thieves, occasionally wakes up and realises they’re supposed to be leftwing, and this was one such bizarre occasion where they delivered a popular promise off their manifesto; miracles do happen at Christmas, pass the overpriced Quality Street and celebrate!

Prepare for a minority of elitists though, the barbaric scum remaining in support of the incongruous pageant, and those too stupid to go against what the leaders of the fascist uprising tell them to think, to really blow off some steam. โ€œWhaaah! We can’t kill innocent animals anymore!!โ€ Cue the tiniest violin.

Laugh at their flabby flushed faces, angered social media posts, and inane rants, in a pathetic attempt to convince you the government are communists, or even more degrading piffle and pointless propaganda. Starmer did good today. Give him a star sticker. I’m as equally as shocked as them!

Best advice I could give? Laugh at them! Laugh at them hysterically until they blow a fuse. Though it’s a dubious time to announce the ban, and I dread to think what Boxing Day might bring as they gather with even more anger than usual, that this might be the last showdown. What level of slaughter can we expect to see in this last stance?

We rely on and thank all the fantastic hunt sabs to see this fight to its triumphant end.

Bottom line is, if you were the headteacher of a primary school where the children were firing catapults in the playground, so you put all the catapults on a high shelf but the children used fishing nets to get them down, pretending they were using the nets for fishing, you would have to ban the nets too, wouldn’t you? And you’d consider that it was the children’s fault for using the nets to continue firing catapults when they were told not to.

Therefore, because the Hunting Act allowed hunters to trail hunt, but it’s proven that many used it as a smokescreen to continue hunting foxes, then they’ve no one to blame but themselves. If any of them genuinely followed the trail hunt rules and didn’t use it as a disguise to continue illegally hunting foxes, or took measures to call off the hounds if a fox was to be caught up in the puerile activity, then they should be pointing the finger of blame at those who clearly did abuse the rules.

But it’s doubtful they will, either in a show of solidarity, or because they’re a type which doesn’t really exist at all. No, they’ll be united in throwing their teddies out of their prams, yelling blame at the government, but really, hunters did this to themselves and deserve everything they get.

โ€œThe hounds will be homeless,โ€ we’ve heard. Is this a threat to release hounds into the wild?! If you cannot provide the basics and house your dog then you shouldn’t have a dog, and the law should intervene and arrest you for animal cruelty, finally.ย 

โ€œAll the horses and hounds will have to be shot!โ€ Only aย  bloodthirsty sadist would think this. They were looked after before, why not now? They bred them knowing this was happening, ergo it is their responsibility to ensure their welfare is continued and they are looked after.

But this is the most bizarre one, literally convicting themselves: โ€œthe fox population will increase!โ€ Hold on a cotton-picking minute. They claimed they were trial hunting, using only a rag with the scent of a fox, so how could it possibly increase the fox population? Unless, oh, proof they lied and were actually illegally killing foxes; who knew?!! Otherwise, there might be a few rags going spare, but that’s about it.

โ€œJobs will be lost,โ€ is another. Awl, shame. Get a new job, one not connected to barbarism. Nigel Faragรผhrer is already on that case, politicising it for the apparent good of the common man, saying it’s against English tradition, yet last week supported a foreign president’s attempts to bring down the BBC at the expense of the British taxpayers; how patriotic, how concerned for job loses he must be!

The only benefit of his recent outrages is that the common rightwing thinkers will see it as proof he’s not really in for them, as many I know personally also do not support hunting either; I wish them a Merry Christmas. It’s surely then just a case of relevance; if it doesn’t affect them personally, it seems it rarely makes a priority in their decision-making. It’s not really relevant to me either, personally, but I have this thing called โ€œempathy.โ€ Quick, Reformers, write to Santa while there’s still time, ask him for some compassion and empathy, and join us in protecting our wildlife for future generations to appreciate too. 

Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward โ€œEโ€) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes on hold for a moment, because this is a beautiful, epic journeyโ€ฆ.

M3Gโ€™s seventh release, Rooks, poignantly pulls on the heartstrings when presented by the rise and fall of a romance, rooks often being a slang for cheating someone. It runs into six minutes, and reflecting the heartbreak of the subject, the song rises and falls accordingly. It creates a spellbinding ambience of both hope and worry equally, and is of magical vocal and acoustic guitar composition, with a gentle cajon drum subtly placed.

Inspired by the likes of Florence Welch and AURORA, Meg was open about her autism in our interview from 2023, and claimed it as the backbone to her creativity. In this, what she creates is completely original, unique, and unequivocally personal. Meg doesnโ€™t just sing, she projects her innermost thoughts and expresses them, angelically. In Rooks, you can literally feel the characterโ€™s heart breaking, causing yours to inevitably go with it.

The hyphen in the term singer-songwriter has never been so apt with another. Sure, I hear lots of brilliant expressive singers and lots of songwriters who can pen a marvel, but no one merges them so seamlessly and forgoes any fear theyโ€™re exposing too much of their innermost thoughts, dreams or desires. You only need to venture ten seconds into Rooks to observe what I mean, and if Meg constantly strives for improvement, causing me to say this is her best song yet each time, here we go again; this is awe-inspiring, her magnum opus to date.

Recorded and mixed by Phil Cooper, his genius registers on it, yet still, itโ€™s Just M3G; layering her backing chants over her main vocals like choral had a singular tense, and who even designed the cover. She says working with Phil is โ€œa massive step above my other releases. I am so proud of it.โ€ It is on a next level, Iโ€™m uncertain what she could do to top it, but assured she will, and Iโ€™m certain Rooks will appease her fans and make her find new ones.

Rooks streams tomorrow, 19th December 2025.

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Talk in Code Down The Gate!

What, again?! Another article about Talk in Code?! Haven’t they had enough Devizine-styled publicity?! Are their heads swelling?!ย  Didn’t that crazy toothless editor catch themโ€ฆ

Keep reading

Wiltshire Music Centre Unveils Star-Studded New Season

Wiltshire Music Centre Unveils Star-Studded New Season with BBC Big Band, Ute Lemper, Sir Willard White and comedians Chris Addison and Alistair McGowan revealing their classical music talents…..

Wiltshire Music Centre announces new Spring season with some extraordinary listening experiences on offer in the new year. Wiltshire Music Centre is a unique and contemporary 300-seated concert hall in Bradford on Avon.ย  In the heart of rural Wiltshire, the venue’s built an enviable reputation over the years as a professional concert hall of exceptional quality, rooted in community participation and involvement.ย The Centre also provides a permanent home for local orchestras, choirs and music groups, and works extensively with young people locally through a vibrant and varied Creative Learning Programme in Wiltshire and beyond.

Since first opening in 1997, Wiltshire Music Centre has been a musical hub, bringing the best in live performances to the area as well as providing a home for local orchestras, choirs and music groups. Recently appointed Executive Director, Sarah Robertson and Artistic Director, Daniel Clark have a renewed commitment to creating a space for people to gather and connect through a shared love of music โ€“ a space to celebrate the past, present and future of music-making and to nurture a spirit of musical curiosity.

Audiences can look forward to an exceptional lineup of artists, including first-ever WMC appearances by leading pianist Angela Hewitt (30 Jan 2026), opera virtuoso Sir Willard White performing with WMC favourites The Brodsky Quartet (20 Mar 2026), BBC Big Band (17 Apr 2026) showcasing the musical genius of George Gershwin, international cabaret star Ute Lemper (8 Mar 2026), blues legend Eric Bibb (27 Mar 2026) touring his new album, and a WMC debut by the Neil Cowley Trio (11 Apr 2026) who bring their inventive show inspired by Baroque genius, J.S Bach, to the Centre.  Meanwhile, Jamie Woon (8 Apr 2026), British R & B and electronica singer/producer returns to the stage after a 10-year break.

Classical and jazz season highlights include โ€œtrumpeter extraordinaireโ€ (BBC Music Magazine) Matilda Lloyd performing with the Goldmund Quartet (7 Feb 2026); Nikki Iles and Claire Martinโ€™s new project IG4 (7 Mar 2026); evocative choral works from The Gesualdo Six (28 Mar 2026); stunning vocals from the Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble VOCES8 (26 Apr 2026); and exciting new jazz sounds from Jazz FM Instrumentalist of the Year Mark Kavuma (28 Mar 2026) and London-based saxophonist Camilla George (22 May 2026), whose music blends Afrofuturism, hip-hop, and jazz.

For blues, folk, and roots fans, thereโ€™s a packed programme of must-see gigs featuring both established and emerging favourites, including the powerful fatherโ€“daughter duo Martin and Eliza Carthy (3 Apr 2026), much-loved folk singer Cara Dillon (8 May 2026), Jon Bodenโ€™s project The Remnant Kings (15 May 2026), and Josienne Clarkeโ€™s homage to Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention (6 Mar 2026).

Families can look forward to a musical retelling of Benji Daviesโ€™s childrenโ€™s book The Storm Whale with Music in the Round (14 Feb 2026), and the film classic Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers on the big screen with live music performed by WMCโ€™s flagship West of England Youth Orchestra (10 Apr 2026).

The eclectic programming extends beyond the music alone. Former Royal Harpist Catrin Finch (15 Mar 2026) comes to the Centre with Notes to Self, an evening of music and conservation, while master impressionist Alistair McGowan (12 Apr 2026) and sharp-witted comedian Chris Addison (14 Feb 2026) bring comedy and music with their respective shows. There will also be a series of monthly screenings with the newly launched Adventurers Film Club, featuring Becoming Led Zeppelin (28 Jan 2026), Set the Piano Stool on Fire (25 Feb 2026) โ€” the acclaimed documentary about legendary pianist Alfred Brendel and his protรฉgรฉ Kit Armstrongโ€”and more.

Introducing the new season, Daniel Clark says โ€œHere youโ€™ll find a wide-ranging series of concerts from some of the most exciting voices of the past, present and future of music. From great legends of music-making to rising stars, weโ€™re committed to bringing the best music we can to our special venue, and hope youโ€™ll find something that will transport, inspire and delight you.โ€

Highlights:

Angela Hewitt: one of the worldโ€™s greatest living interpreters of Bachโ€™s music and recipient of the City of Leipzig Bach Medal in 2020 will make her WMC debut. (30 Jan 2026)

Angela Hewitt London 2016

Chris Addisonโ€™s Incomplete Guide to Chamber Music: Chris Addison brings to life the rich, vibrant โ€“ and sometimes bizarre โ€“ history of classical chamber music. A musical journey from baroque courts and European revolutions to todayโ€™s contemporary composers with some of the UKโ€™s finest musicians and Chrisโ€™ brilliant and original facts and insight. (14 Feb 2026)

Eric Bibb: Three-time Grammy nominee and blues legend with a career spanning over five decades tours brand new album, One Mississippi blending blues, folk, soul, and Americana. (27 Mar 2026)

Ute Lemper: International cabaret star brings her show telling the story of Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich through songs and stories: from the Berlin Cabaret years to her Burt Bacharach collaborations. (8 Mar 2026)

Lau Noah: Beautiful, innovative and evocative vocal and guitar harmonies from self-taught Catalan composer and songwriter who has supported Chris Thile, Ben Folds and Jacob Collier on tour over the past two years. (3 May 2026)

Tickets are now on sale: wiltshiremusic.org.uk/

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Daphne Oram; Devizesโ€™ Unsung Pioneer of Electronic Sound: Part 2

read the first part here

Daphneโ€™s Family & Childhood Connection to Devizes

Celebrations of Daphne Oram have been building in London since the beginning of December, for those in the sphere of electronic music and music technology. On the first Thursday of the month The Barbican held a concert commemorating Daphne’s centenary, where sound and music fair access partner, Nonclassical, in partnership with The Oram Trust and Oram Awards played commissioned reimagined works from various contemporary electronic artists, inspired from tapes in Daphne’s archive. This has been released as the album, Vari/ations: An Ode To Oram.

London university Goldsmiths acquired Daphneโ€™s archive in 2006, bringing her work into the wider public domain, after decades of relative obscurity.  In the male dominated realm of electronic music, this has presented a better understanding of Daphne as a visionary in the early development of the genre, and in turn inspired female musicians and producers.

But our story begins rather differently, in the late nineteen-twenties, at Belle Vue House, Devizes, where a much younger Daphne is caught trying to climb inside the family piano! Daphne’s niece Carolyn Scales explained, โ€œshe was asked โ€˜why are you doing that?โ€™ and Daphne replied, she wanted the piano to make a sound between the notes on the keyboard.โ€

Daphne with brother John

Iโ€™m grateful to Carolyn for providing some fascinating background into Daphneโ€™s family and childhood in Devizes, something overlooked by the insurmountable information available regarding her work.

โ€œAll the siblings enjoyed listening to classical music but only Daphne had the ability to create music,โ€ she told me. โ€œIdaโ€™s sisters often joined her to play trios and quartets at Belle Vue House while James did learn to play the cello but was happy to stand aside for more competent players. In his defence Jamesโ€™s fatherโ€™s diaries only mention one musical instrument at their home, a piano declared by a piano tuner as not worthy of tuning. Maybe we underestimate the strength of our Oram artistic genes.โ€

Daphne at five months, with mother, Ida, brothers Arthur and John

Daphne Blake Oram was born on the 31st December 1925, to James Oram (1890-1964) and Ida nee Talbot (1887-1972.) โ€œIda ,โ€ Carolyn explained, โ€œwho at heart seems to have been a natural party goer, was plagued by ill health. Daphne was born in Ivy House Nursing Home not because of a fear of losing Daphne but because of Idaโ€™s problems with her legs. In the first photograph of Daphne she is being held by Ida who is sitting in a wicker bath chair with Arthur and John in front of their new home of Belle Vue House.โ€

โ€œIda was born in Braintree, Essex into a family of drapers,โ€  Carolyn said, โ€œwho soon moved to a shop on Maryport Street, Devizes, opposite the top of The Brittox, which they ran from 1888 until 1914. Unfortunately Idaโ€™s father Alfred died in 1896 leaving her mother Alice nee Blake to run the business.โ€ She continued to describe  Aliceโ€™s six children helping at the shop, and its failure, though  Ida was in charge of the millinery department, and how later there was a room in Belle Vue House devoted to her hats. Carolyn told of Idaโ€™s painting  hobby, in watercolours, oils and other mediums.

Talbot family with parents. Ida on swing with her twin

Daphneโ€™s father, James, was known in Devizes as โ€œJimโ€ or โ€œJimmy.โ€ He was not Irish but proud of his upbringing off the coast of County Mayo, and โ€œnever lost his soft Irish brogue.โ€ His father Arthur Oram was a farmer and land agent in one of the most deprived parts of rural Ireland, hit hard by the famines of the early 1800s, and as such it was a natural breeding ground for agrarian discontent, later producing some prominent members of the IRA. This caused James to be keenly aware of local injustices.

โ€œIn 1961, when James took us to see where he was born,โ€ Carolyn expressed, โ€œhe told us he was upset that he was not allowed to go to school with his friends. They were Catholic and he was a Protestant and to highlight the differences James and his siblings had to travel to school in Newport by pony and trap, rather than walk to the local school.โ€

โ€œI feel sure that our father John was correct in saying that if James had stayed in Ireland he would have become a renowned barrister. Unfortunately, just as James left school there was a change in the familyโ€™s fortunes as The Congested Districts Board on behalf of the British Government were, quite rightly buying estates and redistributing the land among farmers living on tenanted, uneconomic smallholdings.โ€

Therefore, instead of attending university at sixteen James travelled to Devizes, to help his uncle (by marriage,) Alfred Hinxman, the manager of the Devizes branch of a Salisbury coal merchant.  James lived in Devizes for the rest his life, managing the coal merchant until his retirement. Overseeing the distribution of coal in the southwest during the Second World War, James was so horrified by the profiteering he didnโ€™t take a penny for his efforts and received a MBE.

James Oram, Devizes Mayor

โ€œJames soon became a trusted member of the community,โ€ Carolyn said, โ€œactive in its civic life, as a magistrate and a school governor. This included being Mayor of Devizes during The Abdication and coronation of George VI.โ€

โ€œJames also successfully became involved in many businesses including The Devizes Brick and Tile Co. Somehow James also found time for his interest in local history and was a member of various local societies. He could have become wealthy but instead gave away his excess income after ensuring that his family lived in a comfortable style. Every Sunday dinner during the depression of the 1930s they would discuss the families that the brickworks supported, carefully working out if they would have the money to feed their children. The discussion would end by choosing someone who was struggling to hire to cut the Belle Vue House lawn during the following week.โ€

The Devizes Brick and Tile Co. Photograph by HR Edmonds

Jamesโ€™ generous nature rubbed off on his children.  Daphne actively supported composersโ€™ rights to royalties while she was a Trustee of The Performing Rights Society in the 1970s.  โ€œIn particular,โ€ Carolyn noted, โ€œDaphne helped to set up the PRS Membersโ€™ Fund that continues to support those registered with the PRS and their families when they are in need of financial help. During the 1980s Daphne arranged Christmas hampers for these families.โ€

Before Daphne was born the family lived in rooms above the coal merchantโ€™s office at 7 High Street, Devizes. James wanted Belle Vue House, empty at the time but out of his price range, until the  state of dilapidation dropped far enough, which was just as Daphne was being born. The house would have been at the end of Belle Vue Road, now replaced by Waiblingen Way housing estate. 

Retired designer Paul Bryant, who still resides locally told me he grew up close to Belle Vue House, and recalled her returning to the family home and, โ€œthe excitement that was generated when she was awarded grants from the Gulbenkian Foundation.โ€ Paul expressed โ€œit is heartening to see the ancient horse chestnut tree, then at the end of the Oram’s garden, still surviving in Waiblingen Way.โ€ Meanwhile, local musician Peter Easton has written in request for a blue plaque to be erected in Daphneโ€™s honour.

Daphne, with the grass roller at Belle Vue House, Devizes

Carolyn explained how the siblingโ€™s engineering abilities can also be traced to the Oram side of the family. โ€œTheir great uncle John had designed machinery to make barrels for Rockefellerโ€™s oil, and their uncle Arthur oversaw many civil engineering projects in the Indus Valley, now in Pakistan.โ€

โ€œArthur, aged 9 and John, aged 5 were to share a bedroom with an adjoining dressing room that James agreed they would turn into a workshop,โ€ Carolyn said. โ€œThey had already started their own tool kits and Arthur was delighted when James added a foot controlled fret saw.โ€

In a letter to John dated April 2003, Arthur wrote it would be the 77th anniversary of their move from the High Street to Belle Vue House: โ€œEvery 20th April was the day of an annual fair on the Green, and Hitlerโ€™s birthday. That one in 1926 was a very special wet Tuesday for us. Our mother was taken the half-mile in a big closed Bath Chair drawn by a man holding the long handle in front, because of her illness with a bad knee. She was helped into their old oak bed in the drawing room, on the right of the door towards the fireplace. In that room there was placed, near the door, the old radio that our mother had bought some years before from proceeds of her Barbola work, with its two bright emitter valves and six volt battery, from which we had news through the general strike of 1926.โ€

โ€œLater the workshop became home to Johnโ€™s lathe and of great interest to Daphne. John told me that he was sometimes very mean to Daphne when she came to the workshop. At first she had to stay outside the open door and be silent, if she passed that test she was allowed to stand just inside the door for a while before coming closer to John and even helping when possible. John taught Daphne to use a lathe and she had one of his old lathes at Tower Folly, albeit by then worn and no longer a precision tool. John also admitted to teasing Daphne over his Meccano set that she wanted to play with. Daphne had to watch John make, say a crane ,then he would tighten all the nuts and bolts before walking away leaving Daphne to dismantle his work.โ€

Daphne visits her parents in Devizes

Carolyn said, โ€œthere were three main early influences on Arthur, John and Daphne namely their father James, mother Ida and their home which gave them space to both work together and follow their own particular interests.โ€

Iโ€™m eternally grateful to Carolyn Scales, Daphne’s niece, for a fascinating insight into Daphneโ€™s early years and family life, and for the photographs too. It seems her curious childhood nature was focused on what makes music, and her engineering skills were honed early, enhanced by her intrigue and not being allowed to assist by her elder brothers. This led her to create  the Oramics Machine, her early synthesiser, built in the 1960s, but lost after her death. We should concentrate our efforts on Daphneโ€™s work  in the third part, and how it shaped modern music……

All images are taken with permission from the personal collection of Carolyn Scales with thanks. ยฉ2025 Carolyn Scales. Please ask permission before use.

Burning the Midday Oil at The Muck

Highest season of goodwill praises must go to Chrissy Chapman today, who raised over ยฃ500 (at the last count) for His Grace Childrenโ€™s Centre in Uganda, with a little help from talented friendsโ€ฆ.

Years back as soloist singer-songwriter One Trick Pony, Chrissy organised annual fundraising gigs at the Southgate around Christmas time, but now tuned up a notch with her incredible Americana band Burn the Midnight Oil behind her it was a high noon lock up and load for a Sunday afternoon hoedown at the Muck and Dunder rum bar in Devizes. The better half, Mrs Devizine, has been asking me to take her somewhere tropical, so given such an opportunity, we bused it to The Brittox.

With Burn The Midnight Oil rightfully grasping the top slot with the same intensity as me holding my pineapple vase of piรฑa colada, all kicked off at half-two with Gary Hewitt-Long performing a rare acoustic set. New to the game, and while I obviously cannot condone a satirical song aimed at a certain rogue local councillor, Gary was unnecessarily bashful, as he acoustically played out some great originals to warm the crowd!

Perhaps it was the crowd which, understandably nerved him; it sure was building, as Martin Rea sauntered through them, sporting a fashionable bum bag and dishing out raffle tickets.

A Wiltshire duo new to me, One Plus One may offer sums even I can handle in name, but their performance was delightful. A proficient and lovable pop cover duo to please any event, One Plus One is guitarist Dave, and Emily on vocals, confident to take on an Amy Winehouse cover or two and come up trumps. Chapel Roan’s Pink Pony Club also got a superb makeover, and they polished it off with the seasonal Fairytale of New York; why not?

Maybe only because our modest local folk legend Vince Bell, who followed, also planned to finalise his sublime set with the UK’s best loved Christmas song, with his wife Lisa as Kirsty MacColl. Though more musical theatre, no stranger to the limelight, Lisa nailed it, and the handsome, pretty, and the queens of New Devizes City crowd never minded the doubled up cover and sang the chorus.

Vince also offered Chrissy the accompanying chair for a spellbinding middle duet they supposed they should record, and they should. But beginning his set with his divine self-penned melancholic earworms, garnished in percussive rhythm guitar mastery akin to flamenco, and raising the spirit with the more spritely Spiderman Pajamas, Vince is a local treasure and never fails to charm.


Exactly a year after we first interviewed the original lineup, Burn The Midnight Oil came bursting on and delivered their awesome set with unified passion and precision, seemingly lapping up every minute. You’d be excused for assuming this band has been playing together for decades despite it being less than a year in the new format.

They appeased the audience with a taste of what they’ve been working on, looked fantabulous, and, most importantly, put 210% into their show. Yet it was arguably the sum of all these parts and the community festive spirit, which made it the wonderful afternoon it was.

Daphne Oram; Devizesโ€™ Unsung Pioneer of Electronic Sound

Part 1: An Introduction

March 1936: newlywed French telecommunications engineer Pierre Schaeffer relocates to Paris from Strasbourg and finds work in radio broadcasting. He embarks on early radiophonic experiments. Fifteen years of his research, his inventions of various electronic instruments, and collaborations with Pierre Henry would lead them to found Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrรจte. Musique concrรจte would be the root of the utilisation of modified recorded sound through audio signal processing and tape techniques.

Across the channel, itโ€™s the St. Clementโ€™s Fair in Devizes. The town hall is decorated with a foliage of oranges and lemons, and the โ€œBells of St Clementโ€™sโ€ was recited with handbells to declare the fair open. Devizes Congregationsts arranged a small eisteddfod, which would be the origins of todayโ€™s Devizes Eisteddfod, founded ten years later to raise funds for the Congregational Church, opposite Wadworthโ€™s Brewery.

The connection? Well, two cups were awarded by the minister Rev. W.S.H Hallett; one for Ruth Mead for a vocal solo, and the second to eleven-year-old Daphne Oram, for a pianoforte solo. The daughter of James and Ida Oram, Daphne was educated at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset, where she was tutored in piano and musical composition.

Daphne Oram as a young girl dressed as Alice in Wonderland with family, for the Devizes Carnival: Source Wiltshire Museum

At seventeen Daphne moved to London, turned down a place at the Royal College of Music, to become a junior sound engineer at the BBC, where she would โ€œshadowโ€ concerts with a pre-recorded version, allowing the broadcast to continue despite interference or blackouts due to air raids.

Throughout the 1940s Daphne devoted herself to the pioneering of electronic sound, labouring into the night composing various pieces, most far too avant-garde for the traditionalist BBC bosses to consider publishing. Promoted to music studio manager after a decade, she eventually convinced the BBC to the benefits of electronic music and musique concrรฉte for use in programming; particularly for The BBC Third Programme, replaced by BBC Radio 3. By 1957 they caved, and Daphne was appointed the original co-director of The BBC Radiophonic Workshop with Senior Studio Manager Desmond Briscoe.

Their early efforts were for radio: radiophonic poems, effects for prevalent sci-fi serials like Quatermass and The Pit, and comedy sounds for The Goon Show. Yet Daphneโ€™s motivation remained in electronic music production, and she resigned in 1959 to freelance, moving again to Kent.

Daphne Oram was way ahead of her time, a visionary frustrated with the direction The Radiophonic Workshop was heading, because electronic music was still in its infancy, especially the acceptance of it. The workshop continued without her and eventually branched into music, as television took over.

A trainee assistant studio manager called Delia Derbyshire joined the workshop, creating numerous scores and effects for television programmes. Most notably in 1963, when Derbyshire electronically modified Ron Grainerโ€™s Doctor Who theme, hailed as the pinnacle moment in the advancement of electronic music in Britain. Though, BBC bureaucracy as it was, Delia was never credited on-screen for it until twelve years after her passing, in a 2013 fiftieth anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. Her work has since been acknowledged and revered, whilst Daphne Oram remains a relatively unsung heroine in the development of electronic music.

Image: Daphne Oram

Futurist Luigi Russolo argues in a 1913 letter to composer Francesco Pratella, a manifesto referred to as The Art of Noises, that the ear will become accustomed to noises of urbanisation and industrial soundscapes, and thus mankind will develop a new sonic palette as technology progresses. A fascinating and accurate theory into the evolution of sound, in which Russolo encouraged musicians to listen to city sounds, which will putatively be the cymatics of future music.

I find myself reasoning if this explains why electronic music today is most popular in urban environments rather than rural. Due to music famed promoter Mel Bush, Devizes retains an affection for the blues, using authentic analogue instruments. Producers of electronic music are rare here. If you want dance music, which greater acquires the usage of technology than rock, blues, or folk, you may need to head towards Bristol, Swindon, or Salisbury.

But coming from a more urban background and growing up in the eighties and nineties, personally Iโ€™ve never outcasted electronics in music. Even if a musician is using analogue methods to create music, they will at the least use the internet to promote them. With eclectic tastes, I also love electronica, hip hop, dub, and dance music, and I love to explore the origins of it. So, this research project has me fascinated, the life and work of Daphne Oram, and her growing up in Devizes. I wondered how she became involved.

A graphical sound technique where shapes etched into filmstrips are read by photo-electric cells and transformed into for various parameters of sound is called Oramics, after its creator Daphne Oram at her Oramics Studios in Kent. She expressed hope that her work on Oramics would โ€œplant seeds that would mature in the 21st century.โ€ Her legacy is commemorated in the annual Oram Awards, and the 2022 BBC Masterbrand Sonic, was internally known as “Daphne,” but still in her hometown sheโ€™s not widely known, neither are her early years spent in Devizes well documented.

This month, Daphne would have celebrated her one-hundredth birthday. So, join me in an exploration of her life and work in a series of articles. We will talk with Daphneโ€™s niece, Carolyn Scales, about her early years in Devizes, explore her work further, and talk with a local producer of electronic music about her legacy and the impact her work has on them. Because one thing is certain, without Daphne Oram music today would sound vastly different, at least it would in the UK, and during the boom of pop, as you should be aware, Britain led the way. I believe that it is worth commemorating and honouring her here in her birthplace, Devizes.

read part 2 here

Wiltshire Council โ€œUpdateโ€ on Northgate Street Lane Closure

Yesterday Wiltshire Council published an โ€œupdateโ€ on the lane closure on Northgate Street in Devizes as the fire which caused it reaches its first anniversary. Only, it’s more a โ€œreminderโ€ than an โ€œupdate!โ€

It begins, โ€œthe fire, in November 2024, caused significant damage to the Grade II-listed property and since then the council has had to install a single lane closure to keep people safe. The council recognises the inconvenience this is causing and is committed to reopening the road as soon as possible.โ€ย Yeah, knew that bit already.

It continued justifiable, stating โ€œthe council has no legal powers to compel the building owner to take further action.โ€ Then the Deputy Leader of Wiltshire Council, Mel Jacob, said how frustrating it all was, and how they were โ€œkeen to get the road reopened as soon as we can.โ€ Knew that bit as well.

Fair enough, red tape and all that baloney I get, but the remainder of the information simply says what an inconvenience it’s been, and its impact on the community; who knew that bit?!

ย It suggests they’re in talks, but pledges โ€œmore positive news on the road early in the new year.โ€ If the word โ€œupdateโ€ needs replacing with โ€œreminder,โ€ the word โ€œmoreโ€ here should be swapped out for โ€œsome,โ€ for as of yet it seems there isn’t any news about it at all, let alone โ€œpositiveโ€ news; just some chatting, possibly over tea and cake. Youโ€™ve got a new bus shelter, be happy!

But hey, even if I cannot confirm about the tea and cake, it’s 14 sleeps until Santa, so let’s keep our glasses half-full, and hope he miraculously brings a resolution in his sack. For there’s been a few advantages, such as free town centre parking for the most daring and cheeky!

And think of it this way, the serious risk of turning right into Station Road from the mini-roundabout has been lessened by its more consistent usage; it seems now the occasional driver coming from the town direction acknowledges it as a roundabout, actually observes and obeys that technical hitch in the highway code known to others as โ€œthe right of way!โ€

Before all this a right turn there was a white-knuckle ride only for the daredevil stuntman or those on the school run; there were more bumps there than on the road to Potterne.

But one roundabout up into town, immortalised as โ€œThe Brewery Roundabout,โ€ has been a fascinating study into levels of human kindness in Devizes. As whilst drivers can exit the Market Place there, there’s no traffic crossing the roundabout in which to allow them their right of way. At peak times this can be challenging and a smidgen annoying. My last count of human kindness, as traffic flows at a snail’s pace from the congested New Park Street, was a fantastic new record of eighteen inconsiderate to one thoughtful driver!

Those in the know about levels of human kindness in Devizes will nip down the Station Road junction from the Market Place, if they wish to ever exit the town westward, and being this road is narrow with parking spaces, it’s become a two-way rat run, whereby the 20mph limit is considered only for “snowflakes.”ย 

All of which could’ve been avoided if there was a thing called โ€œplanning,โ€ whereby Station Road couldโ€™ve been reduced to one way coming out of the Market Place, and the single lane from the Brewery roundabout was used for coming into the Market Place. But no worries, because Wiltshire Council are talking about it. It’s not progress, is it? It’s more like poking a dead dog with a stick, hoping it might get up and run.

7 Hills Spring Festival Comes to Trowbridge

Is it time to start thinking about spring? I think so! Bath music promoters 7 Hills are moving their annual spring festival from the city to Trowbridgeโ€™s Old Town Hall. If youโ€™re already buzzing for the 2026 festival season to arrive, check this March offeringโ€ฆ..

7 Hills regularly organise music events at The Night Jar in Bath, a glorious bar upstairs at the Bath Pizza Company, part of the hip Green Park Brasserie close to the railway station. Many gigs there have a โ€œpay if canโ€ policy, and present the likes of Luke De-Sciscio, Elles Bailey and Steve Cradock of Ocean Colour Scene. Their festivals are also usually held in Bath, but this coming year a spring one comes to Trowbridge.

Chris Hoar of Courting Ghosts explained he, โ€œreached out to them initially to say I was planning a festival in the newly renovated Old Town Hall, just to check it didn’t clash with them, and Matt said let’s do it together in Trowbridge as a spring festival.โ€

Concrete Prairie

Itโ€™s an all day folk-rock festival, happening on Saturday 21st March, tickets are on sale now at ยฃ39.50. Thereโ€™s a number of acts new to me on the lineup, which is good; The Delines, Our Man In The Field, Joseph Arthur, Hannah White, Leander Morales Music, Chris Greenhalgh, Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours and Biff Country. Some to tick off my must see list, like AQABA, and others which I will never tire of witnessing, particularly Concrete Prairie, Thieves, Fly Yeti Fly and Matt Owens, with Chrisโ€™s band Courting Ghosts, of course!

Courting Ghosts

Following an extensive and transformative refurbishment, the historic Old Town Hall will host this inaugural 7 Hills Spring Festival, a landmark cultural event marking a renewed era of artistic ambition for the region. Conceived as a celebration of world-class songwriting and contemporary creative excellence, the festival assembles an exceptional line-up of internationally esteemed performers and compelling new voices.

The Delines headline, widely regarded as one of the most evocative and accomplished bands of their generation. Praised for their cinematic soul, lush arrangements and profoundly humane storytelling, critics have called The Delines โ€œone of the finest Americana acts working todayโ€ and hailed their work as โ€œexquisite, elegant and utterly transportive.โ€ Their appearance at 7 Hills Spring Festival promises a rare opportunity to witness a band consistently described as โ€œamong the very best songwriters and performers on either side of the Atlantic.โ€

They are joined by Our Man in the Field, whose transatlantic Americana and increasingly acclaimed live performances have captured audiences across Europe and beyond; the distinguished American singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, celebrated for his poetic intensity; Matt Owens & The DVP, whose dynamic blend of modern folk, rock, and richly crafted lyricism promises one of the nightโ€™s most electrifying sets; and multiple AMA UK Award Winner,  Hannah White, widely recognised as one of Britainโ€™s most profound contemporary songwriters. Rounding out the bill are Courting Ghosts, an emerging band whose growing reputation reflects a bold and distinctive artistic voice.

Fly Yeti Fly

Showcasing newly enhanced performance spaces, architectural restoration, and a revitalised artistic vision, the renewed Old Town Hall stands as a major cultural milestone. 7 Hills Spring Festival will not merely highlight the buildingโ€™s transformation, but also usher in a bold new chapter for Trowbridgeโ€™s cultural landscape.

With the absence of Bradford Roots Festival this coming year, usually in Feb at The Wiltshire Music Centre, I think I can pad it out until then; maybe go into hibernation until March!

Tickets HERE.

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St John’s Choir Christmas Concert in Devizes

Join the St Johnโ€™s Choir and talented soloists for a heart-warming evening of festive favourites, carols, and candlelit Christmas atmosphere this Friday 12 th December at 7.30pm…..

The spectacular, and oldest church in Devizes, St Johnโ€™s Church has a Christmas Concert on Friday with All proceeds go to Juliaโ€™s House and St John’s Church.

Tickets are ยฃ10 for adults, free for accompanied children. Tickets are available via Ticketsource, Devizes Books, or by scanning the QR code in the poster below.

Devizes Assize Court Saved; A New Home for Wiltshire Museum

This afternoon I find myself contemplating what the future holds for historical discovery and learning for all ages, fun and educational exhibits and events in Wiltshire; and it looks positive! Devizes is blessed to have Wiltshire Museum already, but the future looks even better, the future isโ€ฆ. Assizes!

Wiltshire Museum announced today, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded ยฃ8.5 million towards the ยฃ14.8 million Assizes for Devizes project to transform the derelict Assize Court building into a spectacular new home for the Museum. Derelict for decades, the once huge court house of architectural distinction, on the Heritage At Risk register, The Assize Court has been a sour issue for too long, and in its current condition is sadly an eyesore. The project will restore its historic features, and breathe new life into the building; Wiltshire Museum and in turn, Devizes will thrive.

Since 1874 The Wiltshire Museum has been delighting visitors at Long Street in Devizes, and is home to nationally important designated collections, including stunning treasures from the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site landscape. It also hosts many exhibits, educational events and lectures for all ages, childrenโ€™s craft workshops and so much more. 

Director of Wiltshire Museum David Dawson said, “we are delighted that the Heritage Fund has demonstrated its confidence in our plans to transform the former Devizes Assize Court into the new home for a reimagined Wiltshire Museum. At last we will be able to give the museumโ€™s internationally significant collections a fitting home, while rescuing an important at-risk listed building and providing a focal point for town centre renewal. We are grateful to National Lottery players, our loyal members and our other funders, existing and future, for their commitment and support.โ€

Peter Troughton, CVO CBE, Chair of Devizes Assize Court Trust, which initially saved the building by purchasing it in 2018 with the support of generous donors, said, โ€œthe National Lottery Heritage Fund award to the Wiltshire Museum is fantastic news! It will transform the museum, save the historic Assize Court building and give the people of Devizes a community hub like no other. It will be an enormous help to the campaign to achieve the vision for the award-winning museum, already supported by the town, Wiltshire County Council and leading charitable foundations.โ€

Read More HERE

For Now, Anyway; Gus White’s Debut Album

Featured Image: Barbora Mrazkova

My apologies, for Marlboroughโ€™s singer-songwriter Gus Whiteโ€™s debut album For Now, Anyway has been sitting on the backburner, and itโ€™s more than worth a quick mentionโ€ฆ..

Gus White is a respected folk musician, record producer, festival organiser, and community maker with a deep love for the rooted and the heartfelt. His production credits are the string that ties together an emerging scene that refers to itself as Third Wave Folk, involving a collective of artists which record with Gus at his Wiltshire studio. This includes microtonal and genre-fluid rising-star Maddie Ashman, folk singer Minna, and UK folk-charting artist Ann Liu Cannon. The latter is our connection, fondly reviewing Ann Liuโ€™s album Clever Rabbits back in July.ย 

Though, in the short wintery month this album has been simmering itโ€™s made number twenty-six on the Official Folk Album Charts, making Gus rightfully charting too. An initial listen from yours truly and I can understand why. I do declare it as instant as Douwe Egbertsโ€™ Pure Gold, only in rapture rather than coffee! Itโ€™s chock full of cool vibes, that breezy feelgood Sunday morning acoustic which is too darn soothing itโ€™s impossible to criticise. As for Gusโ€™s barista skills, Iโ€™ve no confirmation, but going on his music, I could take a wild guess heโ€™s a tea fellow. 

Eleven songs strong, put the kettle on yourself, and allow Gus to get on doing his sublime thing! Thereโ€™s no rise and fall, the melodies flow like the Iguazu Falls. If I pick out individual elements into Gusโ€™s melting pot, like the doo-wop-ish structure of middle-track Terrible Things, the bluesy guitar picking in the following song, Head Held High, or jazz drum percolate in Please, Forgive Me, theyโ€™re all so subtly placed. If Gus defines it Third Wave Folk, thatโ€™s what it is; a composition borrowing from Americana and English folk, but neither whole; a gorgeous cherrypick from both. It has the universal folk-rock feel of Goerge Harrison and Cat Stevens, and is equally as uplifting.

Though some themes are negative, the overall ambience is pessimistic; if youโ€™ve a bad day, so what? Watch the rain trickle down the window outside with that lukewarm brew in a slightly stained chipped mug, listen to this and contemplate, life goes on, youโ€™re rising above it.

If the penultimate song on For Now, Anyway, After So Long is rinsed in a dejected romantic memory, Gus carries it as skilled as Tom Petty, and the final song Still Learning lifts the spirit one final time like a contemporary Dr Hook, with that beguiling cheerful chorus. It departs your ears leaving you aching for more; a beautifully and skilled production from someone who comes across as a modest genius tea-drinker. Gus produced, mixed and mastered For Now, Anyway, a defining statement as a songwriter and a prime example of his meticulous production work. 

Image: Jeremey Prout

Authentic too; recorded in 2021, with a live band of friends and local musicians, Gus White approached this stunning album like any other project, stating he was โ€œtrying to capture the magic, and the essence, of the song in a single live performance, in the way real instruments and human voices blend when left to their own devices.โ€

Gus, also a member of folk band Dead Pages, is co-organiser of Late Spring Folk Festival, which celebrated its third iteration this summer at Dummer Down Brewery near Micheldever, since forming at a Wiltshire pub venue. This yearโ€™s is Saturday 23rd May. If he showcases this album there itโ€™s worth the reasonable ticket stub alone.

For Now, Anyway is out now on Man Made Tigers. Available to buy on CD & vinyl exclusively from Sound Knowledge in Marlborough and is available across streaming platforms. Donโ€™t procrastinate like me, as Iโ€™m sorry I did now Iโ€™ve heard it.

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Pet Shop Boys, Actually with Talk in Code at the Tree House

Having to unfortunately miss Devizesโ€™ blues extravaganza on Friday, I crossed the borderline on Saturday to get my prescribed dosage of Talk in Codeโ€ฆwith a Pet Shop Boys tribute thrown in for good measureโ€ฆ..

Two classic tracks into their set at Frome’s little sister venue to the Cheese & Grain, The Tree House, Pet Shop Boys, Actually from Shropshire hailed their support act as better than them. Self-deprecating isn’t unheard of, rare for music acts, but the bottom line is, I’ve heard far worse tributes than The Pet Shop Boys, Actually, actually.ย 

For Talk in Code, though, it was an accolade fully deserved, as they did what they do as fantastic as ever, and thrilled more than their fanbase at the modest venue. The other attendees, there for classic pop they cherish, found Talk in Code fitted like a glove, despite their songs being original, because they have a timeless universal appeal, and their uniqueย synth-pop spin on indie provides it with a defining eighties feel.

Itโ€™s an ideal opportunity to reopen the perpetual debate I have with myself over the worth of tribute acts, even cover bands too, against those producing original music. Like any tribute act, the value of their performance hinges predominantly on the individual and their association with the act theyโ€™re attributing. Whether a tribute act is good is far more subjective than an original act; based upon personal reflection. โ€œItโ€™s comfort music,โ€ Talk in Code guitarist Snedds expressed to me outside the venue; agreed, personally Iโ€™m impartial to The Pet Shop Boys, therefore passably comforted.

They broke through in the middle of electronica. I brought and loved my 7โ€ of West End Girls in 85, others did too as it hit number one, and the duo walked away with awards. Though the Pet Shop Boys created their own take on electronica, much like Madness did with Two-Tone, were hugely successful with it, and again like Madness, they continued the template way past the trend fizzling the competition out. Such a practice causes division, you attain a fan following, whereas mild observers tend to consider if the uniformed style gets repetitive, especially over decades. Iโ€™m of that mindset, hence my impartiality.

So here at this rather snazzy tree house, carpeted and significantly more congenial, hospitable than the big cheese, but smaller and rather more conventional than Fromeโ€™s hipster and counterculture reputation, being situated within a housing estate fashioned sports bar, The Vine Tree, a fair crowd of Pet Shop Boys diehards gathered amidst regulars and โ€œTalkersโ€ for a cracking night in a nice, welcoming and universal pub.

Often to miss the support act is unfortunate, for this gig it wouldโ€™ve been sacrilege. Talk in Code were on fire as ever, blasting out their cheerful tunes, frontman Chris wiggling moves in his Adidas uniform and rightfully boasting of their success at The Wiltshire Music Awards, outside our county! Itโ€™s a lively show I will never tire of, and if I have to witness tribute acts too, if by some miracle I make eighty, will someone please wheel me over to a tribute act show to Talk in Code?!

As for The Pet Shop Boys, Actually, prior I considered if The Pet Shop Boys is quite a simple act to make a tribute from, compared to other eighties acts; call up a proficient keyboardist, buy him a BOY cap, don a tuxedo and white scarf and play musical statues! Although they tended to lightheartedly play their accomplishment down, they made a brilliant job out of it. As those pop classics came through adept and nimble, I paused to consider if my opinion of the Pet Shop Boys isnโ€™t a smidgen harsh; through the splendour of this tribute I saw them in a refined light, and that is a true sign of a proficient tribute act, and their worth. 

Interestingly, they adopted a female singer too, to soften the vocals to match Neil Tennantโ€™s camp tones, and to play the incredibly tricky part of Dusty Springfield for What Have I Done to Deserve This? Likely the trickiest part of the show. To my approval, Pet Shop Boys, Actually covered a Beloved track too, a kind of raverโ€™s answer to The Pet Shop Boys, and they thumped out the newer, technologically progressed tunes after a workout of eighties classics, and returned to the hits for an outstanding finale; someone get me one of those jackets that looks like I got stuck in a carwash!

If you go to see a tribute act with expectations of precisely recreating the magnitude of the original act, youโ€™re an idiot and will be let down in most cases! If you go to see a tribute act open-mindedly, with your priority on having fun, nine times out of ten you will, especially if you hold a passion for the act being attributed. Use your noddle, donโ€™t see Pet Shop Boys Actually if you’re hoping for a tribute to Slipknot, but do if you like The Pet Shop Boys, and youโ€™ll find theyโ€™re really rather good!

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Butane Skies Not Releasing a Christmas Song!

No, I didnโ€™t imagine for a second they would, but upcoming Take the Stage winners, alt-rock emo four-piece, Butane Skies have released their second song, but itโ€™s not a Christmas song, noโ€ฆ.

If youโ€™ve had enough debating if Die Hard is a Christmas film with the family, when obviously nothing says Christmas like Hanz Gruber falling from the Nakatomi Plaza, maybe try this stocking filler for size; Not a Christmas Song isnโ€™t a Christmas song, not a jingle bell or a Noddy Holder to hear here. I didnโ€™t ask Santa for a Christmas song anyway.

It is, though, marvellously negative about the commercialisation and the absence of snow, wrapped wonderfully in a theme of seasonal romantic disruption. Oh, but it has the subtlest hints of Yule in reference; folky and in the odd twinkling piano riff, so not entirely a thrashed punk anti-Christmas feel neither. As ironically as Alanis Morissette, and as proficient as her too.

If The Pouges & Kirstyโ€™s seasonal offering was subtle but pimped somewhere along the lines by commercial radio, Butane Skies takes the disguised holly and mistletoe to another level. You could listen to this in June without being told off; clever concept, but then, the composition of the song is equally a stroke of genius and it rolls out all rather wonderfully. Take a listen, thereโ€™s no partridges in pear trees yet.

Streaming Options HERE

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One Of Us; New Single From Lady Nade

Featured Image by Giulia Spadafora

Ooo, a handclap uncomplicated chorus is the hook in Lady Ladeโ€™s latest offering of soulful pop. Itโ€™s timelessly cool and snappy, but holds a deeper narrativeโ€ฆ..

Released at the end of November, One of Us is an uplifting song of hope against the odds. Raised by her grandparents, Bristolโ€™s sublime songstress Lady Nade often references losing them in her songwriting. Speaking about after their passing, she explained, “at times these years felt more like survival trying to navigate chaos. โ€˜One Of Usโ€™ was written from that time when I didnโ€™t always feel safe. I was trying to make sense of grief, and find what it meant to belong.โ€

โ€œOne of Us is about trying to free myself from the toxic cycles and patterns that I now know only encouraged me to feel negative emotions and in turn held me back from trying to become a better version of myself,โ€ Lady Nade continued. But its beauty lies, not in the personal reflection, but the interpersonal effect, the value of others identifying with the words. โ€œThis is not just my anthem song,โ€ she said, โ€œit is for anyone who has ever had to rebuild themselves from the inside out, or is still on that journey of aiming to become the best version of themselves.โ€

I donโ€™t exaggerate nor flatter, even if she did give me a wonderful hug when she played at the Devizes Arts Festival! Lady Nade isnโ€™t comparable to other singers on the southwest circuit, her extraordinarily deep vocal range rather puts her on par with Nina Simone, of whom she often pays a respectable homage to. She takes this soulful new single around the UK, then is debuting it in Kansas and Canada; we wish her luck, but on the strength of this single, I think itโ€™s in the pocket!ย 

Streaming Options HERE

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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 โ€œlarge unlicenced music eventโ€ at the weekend, (spelling mistake included) in Great Cheverell. Am I the only fifty-something who’s thinking โ€œgreat, let them be?!โ€ Not according to Facebook commentsโ€ฆ..

UME they called it. UME? It was a rave, wasn’t it?! Perish the thought calling it a rave might encourage a resurgence of nineties skullduggery, when we partied without a care in the fields of England. Freedom of expression and the need to take a moment to enjoy life I favour to deem it, during an era of hyperinflation, playing the blame game after committing financial suicide, with media promoting a facist uprising, and a government labelling anyone who campaigns against genocide a terrorist. Can we let our hair down here, mate? Not on your Nelly, I’m confiscating your hi-fi!

โ€œOfficers were called to reports of the event at approximately 12.50am on November 30th,โ€ they said. In other words, some comfortable living, curtain-twitching huckmucker got their knickers in a twist that they might not be able to hear a pin drop in their chocolate box village, for one lone night out of a kazillion.ย 

โ€œThere were approximately 100-150 people present and a moderately advanced set up with generators, large speakers and stage area,โ€ the Devizes Police report informed Facebook users,ย  and G&H reporter Jason jumped the bandwagon for further hopeful outcry and clickbait. Hold on a cotton-picking minute;ย  didn’t they call it โ€œlarge?โ€ At the summit of the rave era in 1992, 40,000 revellers attended Castlemorton; let’s keep this in perspective, eh? It wasn’t a rave or a โ€œlarge UME,โ€ it was some friends throwing a party, wasn’t it?! You can fit more people into the Devizes Conservative Club!

Sensationalism continued upon the announcement, โ€œthree people have been arrested for drug related offences.โ€ Hold the front page. Police could make more arrests for drugs on a single night in any of our town centres, and you know this.

Though it is with great respect for the police, we gratefully hear externally that they turned up three times but the event was allowed to continue. โ€œDue to the event taking place on MOD land, officers liaised with the military, and an effective plan was put in place to minimise the disruption to the local community and address the illegal gathering,โ€ the Police continued.

And that’s the correct action to take in my honest and experienced opinion. Police providing a presence is usually welcomed for the need of safety and advice. No one really wants to piss off the neighbours, they just want to party.

โ€œOn this occasion, we seized a large amount of sound equipment and generators from the site,โ€ they also said, which is a shame, because such equipment is expensive and it undermines the motivation to put such events on. Do police confiscate the horns and hounds of the Beaufort Hunt as they rampage across the countryside slaughtering wildlife for kicks?

 I raved through acid house and into jungle, and no matter how many years rack up between those happy daze and now, I can never comprehend how or why the authorities concluded we were doing as much harm as they claimed we were. Sure, it was rebellious, it was unlicensed, and uncontrolled, but we policed ourselves, we tided up afterwards, we respected the land and the residents too.

It was only later, post Castlemorton, when the government clamped down, restricted us, and forcibly closed down parties that anarchy and anger against the system ensued, just as did in the early eighties with the free festival scene. Let’s learn from our mistakes and prevent history repeating, again.

The trick surely is then, to call a compromise, accept that people want to party and not all can afford festival tickets, and allow these events some leeway. For there’s a lot worse they could be doing. Judging by the positive comments on these reportsโ€™ shares on Facebook, I’m not alone in that notion.

Being honest with myself though, I’m unsure if I’m more hacked off with police confiscating the equipment or the fact I didn’t go myself, but really, who needs an Uncle Albert in the corner, reciting his memories of parties of yore?!!ย 

Walking at the Devizes Winter Wonderful Festival

Ohโ€ฆa slice of onion from my bratwurst plopped into my mulled wine; where does one go to complain about this?! Other than that, Devizes Town Council and DOCA’s Winter Festival was the best one for many years, officially opening yuletide in Devizesโ€ฆ..

Over time the simple premise of switching the Christmas tree lights on has become a large-scale event which differs in traditions from town to town, possibly competitive even. Some here envy the Sham’s monstrosity of an electronic tree sculpture, others favour our real tree. Wotton Bassett hosts great lively rock bands, like Barrelhouse this year. But while I love those guys, nothing says Christmas to me more than Devizes Town Band brassing off the seasonal Shakin Stevens classic. And, face it, Trowbridgeโ€™s lantern parade was an idea they nicked from us, which we may/may not have pinched from Chinese New Year, but who’s splitting hairs?!

In the modern era I’ve no experience of other town’s shenanigans in which to compare Devizesโ€™ efforts with. I just know and am more than content with the spectacular show we stage here. A massive well done and thanks to all involved, it was a magnificent occasion, much better than last and other previous years.

To start at the end, fireworks were welcomed back after last year’s dubious light show replacement. Despite them being dubbed โ€œsilent fireworksโ€ the effect was near equally impressive. Perhaps Fantasy Radio blasting out the decibels made up for the lack of explosions, and everyone’s dogs could join in the fun. I thought the radio couldโ€™ve been turned down a notch, during intervals of the Devizes Town Band playing, to enhance them when they did, but thereโ€™s no telling radio DJs!

And as for light shows, St John’s looked absolutely magnificent. It’s one thing to project images onto a wall, it’s another to use it to compliment a 900 year old beautiful church, where children and PTAs usually just collect their lanterns and wait in relative darkness!

The Market Place was also transformed into a visual feast, a bustling market with plenty of food and drink options. Devizes Town Band proudly showcased on a grand stage was a new great idea, and excited faces of all ages gathered to watch the lantern parade. It is a wonderful, popular family occasion, this year being one of the very best.

The town came out to play. Folk gathered at the end of the lantern parade by The Corn Exchange, though, were unfenced and naturally pushed forward so Santa’s sleigh on a trailer was forced to stop there and let the lantern bearers pass behind it, rather than park sensibly by the stage. This was the only technical error, as their view of the lanterns were now obscured by Father Christmas and the Mayor offloading with a stepladder! But Devizes is Devizes, and we retain our astute sense of humour regardless. As Santa dismounted and the lanterns passed behind, folk shouted in jest, โ€œget out of the way Santa!โ€ โ€œYou can’t park there!โ€ and โ€œit’s not all about you!!โ€

And from the basic children’s lanterns to the regular spaceman, chickens and even the odd Minecraft Ghast, the parade swept through the Market Place gloriously, and we cheered Father Christmas as we counted down the moment the tree lights would glitter and Christmas in Devizes begins for another year.

But it’s not just about wandering through the stalls, deciding what food and drink to treat yourself to and perhaps buying fudge, or auntie a jar of chilli jam, because while you did, entertaining street theatre and glittery ladies on stilts (who I failed to pick up the phone numbers of) bustled through.

The best had to be those giant stockings moving around and charming the kids with puppet bears chatting; that was a stroke of genius. I know if I was five and saw that I’d probably have wet myself with excitement, but now I’m fifty-somethingโ€ฆwell, best check for a wet patch just to be certain!! No, that was a mulled wine spillage as a piece of onion plopped into it; thought I’d told you that?!

I did bump into Santa though who was off-duty and, at the time, mysteriously carrying a stepladder. Being as I’ve been good-ish all year, I acted like I’d met Mick Jagger and posed for a photo with him; a quality occurrence which made my night!

But it wasn’t any one element of the event which made it, it was the colossal show they staged, all the elements so well coordinated and coming together in unity which caused this to be so magical. The expressions of joy on children and drunkโ€™s faces was priceless and from the maker’s market to the teacup rides, everyone seemed to be having fun, even the weather was agreeable!

If I was triggered in the week by Facebook whingers witch-hunting DOCA, the newspaper reporting it, or anyone else they could blame, (like, bizarrely, Americans) for their own agitations at the name of this event, for not, apparently, being religious enough, and I said I hope they donโ€™t come if they were only to wine-hole, Iโ€™ve changed my mind. I wish they did come now. Theyโ€™d have seen for themselves the evening had plenty of Christmas spirit and Christmassy elements to it, whilst embracing many other aspects of winter too, and nobody really gave thought or the slightest botheration to its name, they just wanted to enjoy the moment. And they did.

The work that went into this by all involved, mostly volunteers, was absolutely incredible, and I hope it will pave the way for a new chapter in the work of DOCA, of which Devizes should be grateful and proud.

So, until next year weโ€™ll be rockin’ around the Christmas tree, letting the Christmas spirit ring, having pumpkin pie, later, and possibly doing some caroling; if thatโ€™s still not Christmassy enough for disgruntled keyboard warriors next year Iโ€™ll dress up as the Archangel Gabriel, if they so wish, so they can winch me up and suspend me across the Market Place where everyone below will see my Grinch boxersโ€ฆ.donโ€™t tempt me!!

Available from Devizes Books!

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Live in Pewsey, at the First Oak-Fest

Amidst another packed summer weekend’s schedule laid that lovable large village Pewseyโ€™s turn to shine; always a law unto itself, things went off; ifโ€ฆ

IDLES’ at Block Party

With their only UK shows of the year quickly approaching, the 1st and 2nd August will see IDLESโ€™ and music festival Block Party takeโ€ฆ

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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 DOCAโ€™s Winter Festival, and included everything else going on in town this coming weekend, as side attractions. It was as well received as ever and no one on its social media shares thought to question the eventโ€™s name. Today Gazette & Herald reporter Jason Hughes followed suit, but its shares received a barrel load of terribly misinformed and exasperating comments from keyboard warriors who wouldnโ€™t know the true meaning of Christmas if it slapped them in the chilling wintery chops; which, maybe it should!

Bag of coal for those ranting that it should be called a โ€œChristmas Festival.โ€ Why not just go, enjoy it, make of it what you wish, call it whatever you wish, and not worry what other people want to call it?!

Foremost, I feel a smidgen sorry for Jason, if he reads the Facebook piffle on his articles, as the paper is slammed there for calling it โ€œWinter Festival.โ€ Someone plucked Americans from the sky and blamed them, one even ingeniously used an emoji of a bell and wrote โ€œendโ€ next to it; is there no limit to that guyโ€™s wit?! Jason is working from a brief, you spanners! The organisers, DOCA, are calling it Winter Festival, as they have rightfully done for years, not the newspaper.

Maybe they choose to do so because it’s too early for Christmas. Perhaps to make it open and inviting to all. Which, I’m sorry to the keyboard warriors, but I thought that’s what the season was all about?! Or are you all more clued up about Christianity than the Gospel of Luke, who told of angels chanting “peace and goodwill to all men” at the birth of Jesus?

Father Christmas will be there, a Christmas tree, and lots of other representations of Christmas too; not that they have anything to actually do with the birth of Jesus, and more to do with what was there before it. There was a midwinter festival for hundreds of years before its Christianisation. No one really knows when Jesus was born, or if he was at all. Yuletide, or winter solstice was a convenient time for Christianity to adopt, and claim it as the birth of Christ, because folk celebrated around that time already. Nearly everything in traditional Christmas symbolism represents the ancient folk festival, from trees, mistletoe, even Father Christmas himself!

But the bottom line and most important point is, atheists and people of other religions have absolutely no gripe, issue or even the slightest complaint about Christmas! They embrace it, many celebrate it too, across the entire globe. The idea that someone is attempting to โ€œtake Christmas away,โ€ or ban it, is only a rhetoric invented by those wanting to spread hate and prejudice; is that the Christmas message you wish to purvey to others? What happened to joy to the world?!

Bar Humbug, itโ€™s all complete hogwash, but likely the reason for the bitingly bitter comments added to the Gazette’s social media shares; Facebook is a toxic playground for so-called adults. The organisers want to call it the Winter Festival, for whatever reason, and that is their prerogative. No one is stopping you, or are even suggesting stopping you from referring to it as a Christmas Festival, if thatโ€™s what you wish to do.

And lastly, no one is forcing you to attend! Probably best you donโ€™t if youโ€™re going to walk around it as grumpy as the Grinch; or this just your Facebook persona? If so, it doesn’t look good on you, nor is it in spirit of the season. Here’s hoping three ghosts will visit you on Christmas Eve!

Gus White Burbage’s Smithy Art Forgery with Ann Liu Cannon and Esmรฉ White

Words by Ollie MacKenzie.

Featured Image by Barbora Mrazkova.ย 

The creative process can be a winding, long, and often confusing journey. Seeing a project come to fruition from scrappy origin to a packaged, marketable, and well-rounded piece of work can feel daunting – or even impossible. It took Gus White six years of honing his production skills, amassing an arsenal of musical machinery, and developing a community of talented musicians to bring his album โ€˜For Now, Anywayโ€™ into existence….

At its core, itโ€™s a breakup album, which could feel strange to complete and release so far after the original โ€˜breakโ€™, but speaking to Gus it appears the space has allowed him to finish the album at a much more present and content time in his life. Heโ€™s settled into a different existence โ€“ heโ€™s in a new relationship, heโ€™s a dog owner, and has played a large role in building a thriving music scene across the venues, pubs, and houses of Wiltshire.

This brings us to the Smithy Art Forgery in Burbage, a kooky yet loveable cultural venue operating out of a 375-year-old house that currently operates as a jeweller. Located on the side of a quiet village road, itโ€™s adorned with nondescript street parking, burgers served off a BBQ, and vegetable curry to order made in the ownerโ€™s kitchen.ย 

Itโ€™s these types of places that are few and far between according to Gus โ€“ a true grassroots venue for musicians, a haven from playing dusty forgotten corners of pubs where the landlord and patrons donโ€™t even really want you there anyway. It was why it was there on the 14th of September that Gus hosted his album release party.

Taking place in the back garden of the venue, attendees were seated under a marquee packed with various sofas, stools, and garden furniture that faced onto an embankment where the stage was set. Copious instruments lay there waiting, tucked underneath an array of tarpaulin and teepees to shield them and the musicians from the bipolar weather conditions of the changing season.

The atmosphere was intimate โ€“ maybe fewer than 100 in attendance โ€“ but one that felt lively and far from empty. Friends of friends of friends made happy introductions and chats to one another, waiting for the music to start. Two support acts opened the day. First, a solo and entrancing guitar performance from Grace Elizabeth Harvey, followed by a sort of double act from Ann Liu Cannon and Esmรฉ White, the two swapping between lead vocal spots all the while backed by a mandolin player โ€“ the first of many off-kilter instruments to litter the performances.ย 

Then it was Gusโ€™s turn to play. The performance brought about the live, interactive feel of the album, with a high range of instruments on display โ€” trombones, sublime guitar passages, the double bass, a kazoo solo, and even a set of pots and pans, just to name a few. The music felt sonically based in the past, a careful homage to folk and rock formats from americana, country and indie, exhibiting a range of influence from the 50s all the way to the 70s. Despite its seemingly traditional backdrop, the performance was unmistakably modern, with the lyrics carrying the music firmly into the present. Packed with new-age irony and technological references, Gusโ€™s dry, irreverent humour was centre stage throughout the performance, both in the songs and in his preambles โ€” though this didnโ€™t disguise the sincerity of the music or the performer. Balanced amongst the tongue-in-cheek lyrics were very straight to the point personal accounts of his former relationship, that through their intense and biographical nature revealed a relatability that would be shrouded behind overt poeticism. Though typically robust and amusing, Gusโ€™s songwriting shows a capability of reaching into the elegiac also. The solo encore of โ€˜Josephineโ€™ makes the case for Gusโ€™s well-roundedness as a song smith; a poetry laden tribute to his partner that drew much of its effect from its earnestness and folk-style imagery.

Gus closed the concert with a rendition of โ€˜Please Forgive Meโ€™, a rousing finish that allowed each band member their moment to show off, before the crowd sung the concert to a finish. It felt an appropriate end, where Gus, the producer, allowed others to have their moment through his handiwork, sitting back and revelling in the fun of it all. For a set of songs about breaking up, Gus seemed married to the moment, an artist revealing himself at a perfect time to a welcoming group of friends and strangers alike.

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Devizes Winter Festival This Friday and More!

Whoโ€™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 Parade opens in the Market Place; excited?! Well, I say magically, it actually takes a lot of hard work to put on; thank you to DOCA and all the volunteers. A spokesperson for DOCA was confident things were all good last week, and was only worried about the weather forecastโ€ฆ..

At present my thoroughly unreliable weather app suggests a 43% chance of rain, but keep your glass of mulled wine half full at least, thatโ€™s considerably less than 50%, and going on current climate, the rain is sporadic and light. DOCA promises the festival to be โ€œour most enchanting yet, with a full day and evening of festivities, creative workshops, stunning street performances, and a mesmerizing lantern parade.โ€ Looking into it with a bit more detail and including everything else going on might yet put me on the good list!

The grand finale, the Lantern Parade & Fireworks details firstly. Father Christmas will be making a special appearance at St. Johnโ€™s Churchyard from 5:30pm to 6:10pm. At 6pm the parade gathers at St. Johnโ€™s Church Gate. 6:15pm the parade starts, winding through the town centre. 7pm is the Light Switch-On at The Market Place. 7:05pm there will be silent fireworks, best viewed from The Market Place; Iโ€™ve not seen silent fireworks before, certainly not heard them!

As is tradition, Devizes Town Band will entertain while the Market Place will be alive with market stalls, tasty tucker and drinks, and shopping opportunities. The Makery Market will be showcasing unique, handmade treasures from local crafters and makers from 12 noon to 8:30pm Friday, and from 11am to 6pm on Saturday, at the Corn Exchange.

The beloved winter warmer, DOCAโ€™s famous mulled wine stall will be running on Friday only, from noon to 8:30pm. Of course, lots of our shops, cafes and bars will remain open. Someone did post a request for a list of shops staying open on local Facebook groups, like they canโ€™t do this without Google Maps! You got legs? Use them! Be like Dora and explore! But hey, hereโ€™s what we knowโ€ฆ..

The Shambles is a magical place at Christmas, with projections by Young Urban Digitals & PF Events, a specially created animated light artwork made by local young people. Savannah Sweets, Biddles, SoupChick and Sunabody Care pottery and bodycare will be open. Cositas Bonitas, The Healthy Life and many other shops will stay open late across town. Cafes too, including the new beauty salon come cafe, Velvet & Bloom, and hot rum totty outside The Muck and Dunder.

Thereโ€™s a mystery โ€œlive bandโ€ outside The Pour House, and a choir concert at St Andrewโ€™s Church. The Unpredictables at The Three Crowns comes highly recommended, DJ Random at The Southgate too, and a Lantern Parade Disco Party at The Pelican Inn. Snow White is the running panto at The Wharf Theatre, and itโ€™s brilliant!

From 5pm onwards, find some spectacular street performances around the Market Place. Bristolโ€™s infamous roaming band, The Ambling Band will bring infectious energy with their blend of pink and brass. The Glitter Belles are dazzling high-rise performers with sculptural creations straight from the 1970s disco era. Keep your eyes peeled for Stockings Up, a pair of gigantic Christmas stockings bursting with presents and magically strolling around town, two women on stilts covered head to toe in glitter ball costumes and silver glitter, a woman in a red coat talking to a puppet bear in a larger than life sized Christmas stocking and The Flying Buttresses, an illuminated tree with books that light up attached.

From 4 to 8:30pm find, at St. Johnโ€™s Churchyard, an Illuminated Garden, an enchanted world of light and magic with stunning lanterns created by DOCA community workshops. Another light installation will be Chirp & Drift by Kathy Hinde, a mesmerizing installation where illuminated instruments chatter in Morse code messages, accompanied by gentle harmonies from accordion reeds hidden within. After a few glasses of mulled wine you might also be chattering in Morse code!

Photograph by Simon Folkard

Also look out for an old piano also by Kathy Hinde, a kinetic sound sculpture with videos of birds projected onto the strings, and Emergency Exit Artsโ€™ Giant butterflies; but remember, a giant butterfly is for life, not just for Christmas.

Creative Workshops also feature. Wellard & Wild Botanical Workshops on Friday 28th at various times. From Kokedama to terrariums, epiphytes to festive wreaths, learn traditional methods to create beautiful botanical designs. Contemporary Wreath Making on Friday 28th from 2pm to 5pm at The Ceres Hall of the Corn Exchange, where you can create your own stunning, brightly-coloured wreath using repurposed plastics, berries, and sequins. Learn millinery flower-making techniques with accomplished maker Nancy Rose Stott. And there is Tin Can Brooch Making on Sunday 30th from 2pm to 5pm, at The Southgate Inn, where you can design and sew a unique brooch using reclaimed materials.

Photograph by Simon Folkard

Donโ€™t forget the Window Wanderland Trail, running from Friday 28th November to Monday 1st December. For more info on all this and to book workshops, check out DOCA website. For everything else going on locally, keep this frequency clear and love Devizine!

Other stuff going on: Saturday thereโ€™s a jumble sale in St Andrewโ€™s Church. A clothes swap in The Shambles. Lights Switch On in Waiblingen Way. Innes Sibun is at The Southgate, the Buzzing Fridges at The Three Crowns, and The Liverpool Echoes at The Conservative Club.

Letโ€™s get Christmassy; cue the Shakinโ€™ Stevens, children playing, having fun, it’s the season, love and understanding, but not too much snow falling please, Shaky!

At Devizes Books!

The Lost Trades & Half of One at The Hop, Swindon

One part of Swindon was in perfect harmony last night, and I donโ€™t mean the traffic circumnavigating the Magic Roundabout. Rather The Lost Trades were at the Hop in Old Town, honouring a postponed gig from Septemberโ€ฆ..

SoP Live, who run a regular Thursday night music club at The Castle, plenty of other gigs, and coordinate the Swindon Shuffle and Swinterfest, arranged this eveningโ€™s entertainment at The Hop, the largest of pubs on the Devizes Road area of Old Town with the perfect upstairs function room to turn into a temporary folk club.

A slight music appreciation collective gathered, seated and respectfully keen to value live music of this calibre. On previous occasions when the Lost Trades played here, organiser Ed Dyer explained, โ€œwere packed out,โ€ and factors of the lesser crowd were discussed; it couldโ€™ve been because it was rescheduled. While free pub gigs thrive equally to overpriced pop star concerts, add even the smallest price to less mainstream acts, as this gig did, sadly seems can reduce its attraction. What we all need to be mindful of is the safety net; dedicated and erudite promoters like SoP guarantee tried and tested acts, ergo paying a small ticket stub is worthwhile for a better class of live music than a pub throwing any old band in for peanuts. Ah, you get what you pay for, but to disregard this notion is to lose venues and promoters. The saddest thing is, that is happeningโ€ฆ.now. Support them, or become a skint Swifty, your choice.

Whilst Jamie R Hawkins and Phil Cooper of The Lost Trades are no strangers to playing a pub gig solo, the key to the Lost Trades works best at folk festivals and clubs, and arts centres. It is fantastic to think this local export is nationwide now, and judging on their performance last night, something Iโ€™ve not caught for what seems like an age, itโ€™s thoroughly deserved. Thereโ€™s a sense of elevation in their delivery of these soothing vocal harmonies, a consistent strive of improvement, which if it isnโ€™t at its peak now, the summit would be on an angelic level.

Such a while it has been, Tamsin Quin left the trio and has been replaced by Jess Vincent, and I was yet to see that working live, despite fondly mentioning their latest single, Float Me On Your River. As well as performing some other new songs, they opened with this, and notwithstanding Tamsin has a distinguishable voice, Jess makes the quintessential substitution, an exemplar to the ethos of The Lost Trades. Her wonderful vocal range and proficient percussion complement Phil and Jamieโ€™s expressions on equal terms as Tamsinโ€™s, and so The Lost Trades are once again at the top of their game.

And a sublime performance it was, but not before a support act new to me played a divine set of fiddle, guitar and occasional loop pedal folk covers. Half of One is a Swindon duo, fiddler Geoff Roberts and guitarist Neil Mercer, and theyโ€™ve played together in folk band SGO who recently disbanded, and who Iโ€™m well aware of, and dance band Cowshed Ceilidh Collective. We were treated to some gorgeous English folk pieces, others from the likes of Sam Sweeny, Show of Handsโ€™ Steve Knightly, and a wonderfully delivered Great War song for Remembrance I missed the name of and cannot find online! It was a spellbinding support, which couldโ€™ve been the headline for any folk club.

As folk, The Lost Trades have always stated itโ€™s โ€œmodern folk,โ€ and with electric guitars and some subject matter I see this, but thereโ€™s something uniquely captivating about them which makes it timeless and conjures images of The Carter Family. I may not have been lucky enough to have seen The Everley Brothers or Simon & Garfunkel, but The Lost Trades are vocal harmony perfection to me!

Available at Devizes Books, or message Devizine for a copy!

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Snow White Delight: Panto at The Wharf

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year’s pantomime at Devizesโ€™ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it up in a word, the word would be โ€œdelightfulโ€ฆ..โ€

With Ian dedicated to all things theatrical here on Devizine, panto is reserved for my tuppence; that has become as much a Christmas tradition as Brussel sprouts! Snow White is the choice to loosely base the crazy and fun shenanigans around this time, and while I usually attend just to announce what a treat you’ll miss out on unless you’ve a ticket, this time the Wharf has doubled the run to a fortnight, so it’s not sold out … .yet. The question remains, is it worth your while?

The answer is not hiding behind you. Oh, yes it is! Of course it’s worthwhile, silly!

The time, dedication and professionalism which goes into each and every pantomime at the Wharf is something the team behind them should be proud of. This year sees some unity with various local theatre groups, and their talents bless the show. โ€œThis year we see people coming from Stagecoach, Potterne Panto, Pewsey Vale Amateur Dramatics Society, Centre Stage Dance Academy, Devizes Musical Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and Melksham Music and Drama,โ€ director and chairman of The Wharf Theatre, Pete Winterton informed, and with additional scriptwriting from Helen Pritchard, Pete wrote and directed this yearโ€™s panto.

Helen plays the face of the magic mirror, brutally honest yet cheeky with the Evil Queen, played with passion and skill by Georgina Watson, from PVADS and who undoubtedly performs the best solo. Yet a truly magnificent antagonist is never a thing without a trusty sidekick, and, no stranger to the Wharf and Stagecoach, twelve-year-old Gigi Underwood takes that role superbly. 

Georgina Claridge, perfect to play Snow White, choreographed the show, which, even at the dress rehearsal stage, looked polished. Archer Lee plays the prince, Rory Lee is his chaperone Dandy. Thereโ€™s a delightful team of seven young dancing villagers, Kira Drezanics, Maisie Lee, Bea Stacey, Myrah Williams, Madeleine Newman, Phoebe Newman, and Coco Fuller, ranging from nine years to thirteen years old and bubbling with talent. 

Of course thereโ€™s also seven, only slightly smaller people, a running copyright infringement gag, which mysteriously fades after time, and theyโ€™re returned to being called dwarfs without explanation, or hopefully, lawsuit, but does a panto need explaining?! If the show is loosely based on Snow White, the seven โ€œassociatesโ€ of Snow White are a unit of parodies, the most bizarre being Corrin Bishop, who plays a politician version, wittily just waving and shaking hands with the audience akin to a silent film star. Jessica Bone as Nurse seems the natural leader, but Jenni Prescott and Ben Byran add humour with roles called Misery and Snorey, respectively. Kelly Williams and Cameron Williams are either shy and throaty, but the icing on this cake is the youngest and smallest, Smiley, played by Stagecoach student Ella Cook, whose natural flair for dramatics charms.

Then, even more important than any plot, for there is a basic runoff narrative from Uncle Waltโ€™s adaptation of the Brothers Grimmโ€™s Sneewittchen, is the comical Dame and their sidekick. There can be no other team better chosen from these wild woods than Adam Sturges, who dons the drag so divinely, to play Dolly, and his partner Oli Beech to play their son James. Oli and Adam are stalwarts at the Wharf, playing apart they both shine but as a duo they are comical genius, naturally proficient at improv and breaking the fourth wall to take these essential roles, delivering them with hilarity, and binding the panto with joyful audience participation.

If panto at the Wharf follows its own methods which bucks traditions of pantomime, Snow White is no exception, and that is what makes it unexpectedly fun. Nitpicking, I thought it unorthodox to not end the first half with a song, though they right this wrong with such a fantastic musical finale it makes up for it. But, Iโ€™m left wondering if slapstick is a thing of the past. Because, cliche or perhaps not politically correct, there was a lack of visual humour in this show; is it too risque for modern kids to see a custard pie in the face?!

Though little ones will not tire of this, itโ€™s fantastic, yet summarised, and doesnโ€™t extend to unnecessary proportions. The humour rests majorly on gags, many of local direction; mocking neighbouring towns, etc. But there are the customary encouraged singalongs, games, and fun pop song adaptations for all ages to love. Thereโ€™s amusing treats, like the mysterious characters appearing from the woods, and the ingeniously adapted charactersโ€™ traits.

Pantomime is the golden opportunity to introduce young people to the theatre, and is the one occasion when those not regular theatre-goers will take a chance. Snow White is a delight, an enjoyable family treat; go see it and start Christmas. The children will be delighted; I was and Iโ€™m a 52 and three quarters-year old kid!     

Snow White opens on Tuesday 25th November and runs until Saturday 6th December. Curtains at 7:30pm, two matiness at 2:30pm on the Saturdays. Tickets HERE or at Devizes Books.

Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas at The Rowdey Cow!

Itโ€™s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Rowdey Cow cafe and ice cream parlour; their Christmas Tree Light Switch On is this Friday, the 21st Novemberโ€ฆ..

If you thought an ice cream parlour was restricted to summertime, think again! Itโ€™s the first time the Rowdey Cow near Devizes has held a Christmas light switch on event, and we wish them all the best with it. The fun begins at 5:30pm, and the lights will sparkle at 6pm.

Ice cream might only be for the daring, but theyโ€™ve marshmallow toasting and festive food & drinks, plus gift stalls, Christmas crafts, and a cozy Christmas film of which theyโ€™re asking children to vote for their favourite on their Facebook page; Iโ€™m voting Arthur Christmas, hands down!

Free mince pies and mulled wine if you turn up before the big light switch on at 6pm. They promise a very special guest too. I think I might be able to guess who it might be, and Iโ€™ve been good all year, well, good-ish!

And if you cannot make it, there’s lots of chances to have Breakfast with Santa at various dates in December, see HERE.

The Rowdey Cow is at Lower Farm, Devizes Road, Rowde, Devizes, SN10 2LX 01380 829666 info@rowdeycow.co.uk

Steatopygous Album Marks Pinnacle for Sketchbook Records

Raging expressions of angered feminist teenage anguish this month, perfectly delivered by Steatopygous via their mindblowing debut album Songs of Salome, I hail as the pinnacle of Sketchbook Records to date. But it’s only been a year since Simon formed the label. It’s DIY, a contemporary local counterculture ethos; welcome to the Wiltshire underground of the now; there’s more to discoverโ€ฆ.

There was me, showing my age, assuming Gen Z required Google to know โ€œcassette tape!โ€ But, due to the expense of pressing vinyl and burning CDs, Sketchbook’s Simon looks towards this affordable format, with digital downloads also, to showcase the upcoming talents he finds working at Trowbridgeโ€™s Pump.

December marks the labelโ€™s first year. A demo by Steatopygous was put onto hand-designed cassettes to punt to Pump visitors last year, but Simon has taken on other bands to feature. Yes, we must praise Steatopygousโ€™ album, but we must also highlight the others too, as theyโ€™re released onto Bandcamp for all to access….and buy, people, buy!

โ€œVinyl has gotten way too expensive and takes way too long to manufacture to make it feasible for short runs,โ€ he explained when chatting about the Steatopygous demo. โ€œFor this release, Kieran recorded the band for free, it cost less than ยฃ80 for the blanks which I’ve dubbed at home myself. Eliza’s making the inlays by hand and we’ve been able to turn it around in 3 weeks. A 7″ would be, like, ยฃ800 for 100 copies and take months to arrive. A cassette means I can just give the band twenty or so tapes to sell themselves, knowing I can make the money back on the rest, and even if I don’t, it’s been such a fun thing to do that it really doesn’t matter. And that’s punk rock, right?!โ€

Take it from someone who contributed to more punk zines than I care to recall, that is precisely punk! The trading of tapes was the pre-internet equivalent of file sharing, and similarly with photocopied zines, with good intentions variably more sharing or swapping, their distributors sucked it up as a labour of love. I know I did, but Iโ€™ve a cathedral of tapes, vinyl, zines and comix, which hold sentimental value, mostly from swapsies. 

It may seem surprising to note the DIY ethos remains today, and Iโ€™m glad to hear of it. In reviewing them I take into consideration these are produced on shoestrings, that theyโ€™re young upcoming acts, and itโ€™s going to sound raw. But just like Ol’ Dirty Bastard in more ways than one, I like it raw!!

Working backwards through the discography thenโ€ฆ..

Steatopygous: Songs of Salome

Recorded and mixed in summer 2025 at Nine Volt Leap Studios with Dominic Bailey-Clay, and released this month, Songs of Salome, is a brave and stupendous collection of six outrageous riot grrrl screamo punk tracks, from a Devizes-based female-fronted young band named after the state of having substantial levels of tissue on the buttocks and thighs! Implying, not only a running theme on the psychoanalysis of body image and societyโ€™s expectations, but also that they donโ€™t give a flying fuck if you think they create nothing more than a โ€œscreamy noise,โ€ will twist any such misdemeaning negatives into positives, and post them as stories on their social media; just one of the two-fingers up at the status quo aspects I love about Steatopygous!

Yet itโ€™s not only the idea if theyโ€™re not pissing someone off theyโ€™re not doing it properly which makes them punk, thereโ€™s solid riffs of what I shouldnโ€™t describe as โ€œtraditional punk,โ€ because thatโ€™s surely an oxymoron to be spat at; nothing about punk was ever traditional, but I guess what I mean is, it reflects punkโ€™s origins honourably, while still pushing the anger it conveyed to future generations. And in this, I cannot compare them to another of the same subgenre and ask them to excuse my ignorance of nineties riot grrl bands, like Bikini Kill or Bratmobile, though theyโ€™ve inspired me to listen to them now, and my finding is, if Steatopygous strives to be an English equivalent, theyโ€™re not just on the right road, they make them look tame by comparison.

No one I know of is expressing their poetic frustrations quite like Steatopygous, these six songs prove it. If you identify, if you rethink, itโ€™s in your face if you want it or not. Wall Plug Slug is self-harm themed, depressing in ballad, but still easing us in gently. Cassowary takes no prisoners of patriarchy and sexual relationships, something which rings throughout the album. Marieโ€™s Wedding Song takes us to riffs and themes The Slits might have, but Little Boy is the most poignantly contemporaryโ€ฆ. and screamy, making grunge sound like easy listening!

Image:ย Kiesha Films

Sceptic really raised an eyebrow when I reviewed it earlier this month, Female CD simply thrashes out till the end of this monster; itโ€™s breathtaking, doesnโ€™t come up for air, and overall, Steatopygous are provocateurs against whatโ€™s acceptable, and Songs of Salome launches it back at you in a desirable frenzy, and I donโ€™t believe they care.

Itโ€™s an outstanding debut of which I encourage them to drive more in the same direction, avoiding any requests to sell it out.

Until the Last Sunflower: Between Maturity

If mainstream labels require a textbook style artists are contracted to adhere to, the beauty of counterculture is there are no barriers. Until The Last Sunflower is Trowbridgeโ€™s Joshua Allen. Between Maturity was recorded in a bedroom early 2025, released in May, and is so vastly different from Songs of Salome itโ€™s at the opposite side of the scale.ย 

It includes tags unfamiliar to me, but โ€œsadcoreโ€ and โ€œslowcoreโ€ speak for themselves. Lo-fi ambient rock, Iโ€™d best pigeonhole it; poignant shards of thoughts and observations from a young eye, dubbed with basslines, piano or acoustic guitar, sometimes building layers, harking back to Spiritized or even the mellowed nu-cool of Bristolโ€™s nineties trip hop scene at its jazzier moments.    

Yet its eight tracks literally require horizontal listening. With the deep prose of Syd Barrett being dumped at sixteen years old, I’d have to have had a really shit day to totally appreciate this, but shit days aplenty and Morrisey is a prick anyway; this is melancholy done smoothly!

The lengthy lowercase track names attend to the curious: perks of being a wallflower, please let me forget this memory; just this one, i miss my selfish and ignorant youth, and particularly, cupid vs disgusting men who take advantage of little children. And it certainly takes a gulp of melancholic dejection in an ambience more provoking than chilling. For this, it bucks positivity like raindrops, happy to watch them dribble down a window pane; sombre, emotive, mindful music, I like, on a particular day.

Hurts Worse: Love is Death and Death is all that’s Left

Released last April, Hurts Worse are Mikey and Emma, from Nebraska. A not so sober Simon messaged them to ask if they wanted to do a tape, โ€œand somehow they said yes,โ€ he explained!

This is a collection of eight from their various singles and EPs. Again, dark slowcore, you might gather from the title. Death, graves, bleeding hearts and the one tune most commercially viable called โ€œif you love me please check yes next to the skull carved in my desk,โ€ give an overall of morose subject matters, but it rolls so smoothly, gloomy and angry but not bad tempered in sound. Itโ€™s romance at its most bitter, Coldplay gone sour, and for such itโ€™s unique and moreish.

Kurt Alexander: I stepped out into the world and it no longer exists and all was good.

Also released in April, this is a compilation of two albums, originally released late in 2024. Again, best pigeonholed as slowcore punk, though thereโ€™s moments upping the tempo, akin to folktronica. Itโ€™s dreamer than the others and breaks for some refined bridges of funky bass guitar, electronica and voice samples of poetry or recordings of phone calls.

Itโ€™s seventeen tracks strong, often short, experimental in that one blip is the previous tune backwards, and in production I get vibes of Money Markโ€™s Keyboard Repair. Though I think the downtempo Bristol nineties scene also takes an influence, probably why Iโ€™d favour it over the previous two mentioned, personally. But thereโ€™s rock here too, crashing metal guitars and acoustic guitar tunes over violin, but so subtly dubbed, it really is an interesting melting pot. If thereโ€™s emotive prose like the past couple mentioned itโ€™s done soulfully, and less bitter. Think; Tricky was an indie kid.

Nobody’s Dad: Mixtape

โ€œNot a dad?โ€ this band asks on their Insta account, โ€œdon’t worry, neither are we,โ€ leaving no explanation what to do if you are, but you still love this band! I reserve my right to play this mixtape on the school run in dadโ€™s taxi; see how they like that!! The thing is, age is only a state of mind, I absolutely love this, so does my son!

Released in January, this is undoubtedly the most universal and commercially viable of Sketchbookโ€™s back catalogue. That enthral shoegaze sound, female-fronted, drifting and dreamy with hints of grunge. Angel opens the four tracks, with a kick, and Iโ€™m contemplating The Cranberries as a comparison. Margo is a please return to me ballad, and is sublime.

@jenajphotos

You Donโ€™t Communicate, and Youโ€™re all I Ever Wanna Be rock it back out, smoothly with those gorgeous grunge layers, akin to I See Orange, and leaving you aching for more. I think Iโ€™ve found a new favourite thing. Nobodyโ€™s Dad deserves a renowned producer to refine this, as itโ€™s yeah, raw, but booming with so much potential, and thatโ€™s the nature of a DIY label like Sketchbook, opening eyes to upcoming talent without the professional angle of โ€œhow can I make money from this?โ€ Nobody’s Dad, huh?! Topping this dad’s playlist now.

Kurt Alexanderโ€™s cassette covers are individually unique hand-dubbed with green or orange paint and they used a typewriter for the text. Eliza from Steatopygous hand designs their covers and a number of others too. Thereโ€™s a timeless and individual charm about DIY punk culture which Sketchbook embraces, and in days of AI this is wonderfully personal, genuine, and uncommercially dedicated to a fashion of yore.

I look forward to hearing whatโ€™s next, and of course, Sketchbook presents gigs at The Pump, the next is a Christmas party with Nobodyโ€™s Dad, Parkii and Kurt Alexander on Saturday 13th December; the kids are alright.

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Clock Radio Turf Out The Maniacs

The first full album by Wiltshireโ€™s finest purveyors of psychedelic indie shenanigans, Clock Radio, was knocked out to an unsuspecting world last week. Itโ€™s calledโ€ฆ

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No Migrants in Wiltshire Military Bases; Newsquest Journalist Challenges Mail’s Falsehoods

Local reporter of the month award, if I had a local reporter of the month award, which I don’t, but based on this, perhaps I should have a local reporter of the month award, goes to Newsquest senior reporter Sarah Dalton, whether she wants the award or not, not that there even is one!!

Credit where it’s due, even if we do take the occasional satirical stab in the dark at Newsquest, this week Sarah wrote a brilliant piece in The Wiltshire Gazette & Herald, challenging claims by the Mail on Sunday and other national newspapers that there are plans to send migrants to six military camps across the UK, including Knook Camp near Warminster. It is not true.

โ€œThe Wiltshire Times has put these claims to the Home Office,โ€ she wrote, โ€œwhich has stated that military bases are being explored as housing options for migrants. The Home Office confirmed that Knook Camp in Wiltshire is not currently being used for this purpose, nor are there any plans to use it to house migrants.โ€

On social media the share didn’t receive the traction I think it deserved. It sadly seems people would rather believe their own fake narrative, fed to them by rightwing media. It did get a substantial collection of those dubious critters, the angry emoji. Iโ€™m left confused as to why; are they angry because migrants are not being housed in Knook Camp, are they angry because theyโ€™ve been lied to by the national press, or perhaps they home in on the word โ€œmigrant,โ€ donโ€™t even bother to read the article, and it angers them?!

Maybe it suggests precisely why we’re in this disgraceful trend of hatred towards migrants. Word of the lies has been spread on social media as taken as fact. For if those who added the angered emoji actually read it, I would have thought they’d surely send it a smiling one instead. Cheer up, you spanners! 

Sarah contacted the Home Office who said there were no plans for military bases in Wiltshire to be used for housing migrants. It doesnโ€™t matter what your opinions on the base being used are, it matters that misinformation is being spread, and she captured it with its pants down; well done, Sarah. While she must be subtle, we don’t enforce such equitability, and will call out the Mail on Sunday for publishing bollocks, and spreading misinformation to propagate and exaggerate the immigration issue, at least in Wiltshire. But you should note, we think you’re as thick as mince for believing it!

Now Available at Devizes Books

Thieves Debut EP

Adam Woodhouse, Rory Coleman-Smith, Jo Deacon and Matt Hughes, aka Thieves, the wonderful local folk vocal harmony quartet of uplifting bluegrass into country-blues has aโ€ฆ

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Cheerio Wilko; Wiltshireโ€™s PCC is Shown the Door!

The only good to have come from Wiltshire having a Police Crime Commissioner was proof The Conservatives used their power to reward their elite bum chums and family with overpaid, high power and often completely unnecessary penpushing jobsโ€ฆ.

A Devizes Conservative town councillor once told me if I โ€œget the chance to interview Philip (Wilkinson) you should take it. He is a good man and has huge respect for Mike (Rees) and sympathy that he has had to refinance due to the previous election.โ€

I never had the chance, neither did I want the chance or chase it up, worrying it wouldn’t end well. I did once chat online with the predecessor candidate, Jonathan Seed, and that was enough talking to selfish entitled Tories for one lifetime.

Seedy revealed, โ€œnobody has wanted to talk about hunting other than trolls online.โ€ This opened a closet of unfortunate skeletons for him, which began with the speculation as a convicted illegal huntsmaster he only wanted the position to encourage police to turn a blind eye to hunting, and ended with the national press unearthing lots of other unpleasant facts about his past, such as his drink driving offences.

The fact that despite the controversy he still won the election was proof at the time that if you put a blue rosette on Satan’s pet pig they’d have won. His post-election disqualification caused the Wiltshire taxpayers four million pounds for a re-election, yet still didn’t upset the blind Tory voters; second time unlucky, his Conservative assessor Phillip Wilkinson won too. This was my reasoning, alongside the cascade of national scandals like Partygate, for not wishing to platform another Conservative. I believe and stand by my thought that it’s justifiable on those terms.

The fact others drew Phillip into question on his thoughts around hunting, and despite not admittedly hunting himself, he supported hunting, attended hunt balls, and set about unfairly lambasting anti-hunt organisations caused not only the brushing under the carpet of allegations police officers were turning a blind eye to hunter’s violent attacks on protesters at the Boxing Day hunt in Lacock, and furthermore, other officers proved to be active members of hunt organisations, but also reasoning for my suspicions he was not the โ€œgood manโ€ the councillor suggested he was. Entitled, yes, good, I’m afraid not.

โ€œPhilip should have been the candidate last time and wasnโ€™t, itโ€™s a mistake but it canโ€™t be changed. We have to move on and make sure people get a fair choice,โ€ reckoned the Councillor who banned anyone merely uttering the name Mike Rees, the independent candidate for the PCC, on the Facebook group he admins. Though, Mike suffered much further from the propaganda machine, excluding him from volunteering to administer lateral flow Covid tests because it was believed to be political point-scoring, when Mike runs a boxing club to engage youths, a charity for children with cancer, and while Seedy was throwing out campaign leaflets funded by the Conservative Party, Mike was delivering food packages for homeless charity Devizes OpenDoors.

Hum, we do not โ€œhaveโ€ to move on at all in my opinion. The Councillor mightโ€™ve wished to, so these suspicious affairs could be archived into a filing cabinet in a dark backroom, bulging with other inconsistencies and matters of outrageous behaviour from the circus of thieves he backs. Rather we should rather dwell on the notion that it cost us four million quid, only for the end result being not so far from the original outcome, and now itโ€™s to be scrapped anyway. What a terrible misuse of public spending.

An ex-military man, Phillip Wilkinsonโ€™s entire aptitude and ethos was unsuitably hostile for a civil role which surely requires creating a bond between police and the public, and initialising trust in the force with the public. His reactionary replies to criticism on his Facebook page led him to lie about other candidates, silence the critics, claim absurd notions as facts, such as the time he stated unemployment was a choice, and at one point he even boasted about shooting people; the latter, while in the official line of duty, still isnโ€™t a good look for the civil service.

False!

His angle on the PCC role was to marginalise us, attack groups he took a personal dislike to, and militarise the force; noted as failures by the communities he was supposed to have served. Mikeโ€™s vision for the role was hands-on, telling me, โ€œIf youโ€™ve got a demoralised police force, it doesnโ€™t matter what policies and procedures people are coming up with, nothingโ€™s going to work. Youโ€™ve got to sort your workforce out first, and get them to follow you, be inspired by you.โ€

Liberal Democrat candidate Liz Webster said Mike was โ€œgoing for the wrong job!โ€ And if Phillipโ€™s interpretation of the role matched the job description, it was a political position rather than being active in the police, she was perhaps right. Philip served to be an overpaid government puppet, rock up to formal occasions, state the obvious, ramble on about how something had to be done about an issue, and retired to the kind of salary officers like PC Nicola Crabbe, who disarmed a knife-wielding attacker and dived into the canal to rescue a person in distress, could only imagine. A medal of bravery doesnโ€™t put caviar on the table, Wilko!

Talking many times to Mike, I couldn’t imagine sympathy was what he wanted or needed. In fact he was adamant the PCC role was not needed and their salary could be better spent elsewhere in the force. Something the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has realised, and motioned to scrap the position, freeing up an extra ยฃ20m to fund front-line policing. If we had a government which knew the difference between a protester and a terrorist, I might have faith the money would be distributed to the appropriate channels. Fingerโ€™s crossed.

But Phillip went bleating to Tory-biased BBC Wiltshire, crying, “It’s going to mean a less effective, less efficient and more politicised police force.” If his paradoxical belief taking away a political role in the police force would somehow politicise it isn’t proof he was clutching at straws, there’s a taste of irony in his consistent splatters about how much he required a higher budget to police Wiltshire, when Rees contradicted this with the notion it’s not about what’s budgeted but how it is spent. And unnecessarily spending a whooping chunk of it for a bloke to wander around the county like royalty, idly vowing to solve this problem or that, surely would have the opposite effect?!

Much ado about nothing. So, cheerio Wilko.

It’s no great revelation that his bygone strategies failed in the past, ergo, held no clout nowadays either. Seeking to punish individual drug dealers, for example, only leaves a gap in their turf another will step into, and isn’t really solving the bigger issue of getting drugs off our streets. We could debate if more radical moves need taking, but he was too stuck in the mud to ever take heed. Wilko was out of touch, whereas officers are on our streets witnessing and dealing with crime, and their opinions should count.

His attacks on youths tarnished them with the same brush, when that simply isnโ€™t true, is counterproductive, and matches the troubles we were victimised for when we were younger. Then, hypocritically, he grabbed a photo opportunity last week at the newly opened Devizes Area Youth Lounge, where he immediately accentuated youth crime, suggesting anti-social behaviour was done only by youths and this would prevent them โ€œhanging around the streets and getting into trouble.โ€ Far from the actual notion the centre was created to give all youths a space to socialise for the sake of their wellbeing and mental health.

With polarised views from people like him at the top of the hierarchy, at a time of financial instability and hyperinflation, conveniently caused by the party he backs, rebellious attitudes and crime will surely only worsen, by people of any age.

Youth programs will attract only those who wish to pursue them, and they tend not to be those troublemakers he cited. You cannot stop them, but you can reduce the peer-pressure and turn their petty crimes away from being a spectator sport, by providing safe spaces for those affected by them. Youths are not only the criminals but more often than not the victims of them too, and that was something sadly overlooked in Wilkinsonโ€™s wonky thought process, and the reason I salute the notion to rid ourselves of these unnecessary and pompous roles of Police Crime Commissioners. 

Does that make sense to you?! I wish Wilko well, and say cheerio. Iโ€™m certain his pension will not see him walking those dangerous streets paved with wayward youths, and heโ€™ll still be able to enjoy luxurious banquets with his fox-hunting chums.

Love is for Life (Not Only for Christmas Time) Says Hannah Collins

And so it begins, the build-up, the tension; come all ye faithful round yon virgins and three kings of orient are, spreading joy to the world while shepherds wash their socks and Batman smells. In which, in order to spread warm emotions of peace and unity for the one day, itโ€™s obligatory to rush around like headless chickens for two months, verbally abuse drivers in traffic jams, inevitably cause accidents because weโ€™re too consumed by what little Johnny wants this year to concentrate on our driving!

Or, how weโ€™re still hungover from the work-do where we accidentally got off with the agency temp in sales who puked down her blouse before half four, and Gary fancied her, and now heโ€™s going to be pissed with you. And ram B&M on black Friday, fight  to the death anyone who might grab the last Labubu doll, and Grannyโ€™s ditched us for some โ€œgentleman friend,โ€ whoโ€™s whisked her off to The Maldives, and well, if mum undercooks the pigs in blankets again Iโ€™m off down the pub, where did they put the batteries, and who lost the end to the bloody sellotape?!

A pastiche of the RSPCA slogan about puppies as pressies, Bristol-based vocalist, musician and producer, Hannah Collins has nailed it in her new Christmas song with a spin, Love is for Life (Not Only for Christmas Time.) The simple premise; if we can be nice to each other on Christmas Day, why canโ€™t we for the rest of the year? How smug, bar humbug, great song, though!!

For if it sounds like the basis of a bitter anti-Christmas punk song, itโ€™s subtle, ironically uplifting, and contains a simple piano riff with seasonal jingly bells.ย Released on the 28th of November, Hannah says, โ€œin a materialistic world, love is the greatest gift we can give.โ€

Produced and mixed by Tim Oliver (Sinead Oโ€™Connor/Robert Plant) at Peter Gabrielโ€™s Realworld Studios in Box, Wiltshire, featuring John Baggot (Massive Attack/Portishead/Robert Plant) on keys, and Eric Okafo on bass, it has a Motown lite sound and is reminiscent of a Mariah Carey singalongโ€ฆ..argh, Iโ€™m caught by the catchy hook, and Iโ€™m putting my decorations up now!!

It will be available to stream on all platforms from 28th November 2025. There will also be an original music video released on YouTube on 21st November, created by Olivia Kennedy from OK! Animations. 

Hannah is new to us, but tis said her, โ€œinquisitive mind, creative spirit and interest in philosophy are overarching themes in her work; a golden thread flowing through her art, which is particularly resonant with the message of peace and goodwill at Christmas.โ€ The press release asks, โ€œcan we keep the peace, love and charity going all year long, and not just at Christmas time?!โ€ Have they not heard of dry January, winters of discontent, and seasonal affective disorder, damn your spritely song, Hannah?!!

โ€œI will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach,โ€ Dickens wrote, โ€œfeel the magic in the atmosphere, I wonder why itโ€™s only this time of year,โ€ Hannah wrote similarly, and maybe her song has a lesson too, a seasonal catchy pop lesson I happen to love!

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You; Lucas Hardy Teams With Rosie Jay

One of Salisburyโ€™s most celebrated acoustic folk-rock singer-songwriters Lucas Hardy teams up with the Wiltshire cityโ€™s upcoming talent who’s name is on everyoneโ€™s lips, Rosieโ€ฆ

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Sarah C Ryan Band’s Radio Silence

If you need a reason to understand why I was so excited about The Sarah C Ryan Band coming to RowdeFest back in May, you wasn’t there!! And if you wasn’t, well, I’m not going to pick on you, just leave said example below and let you decide…..

My Radio Silence, recorded for a session at Crescent Records Studio in Swindon, back in July 2024, has recently been published on YouTube for prosperity, and shows precisely why I so absolutely, totally 100% love this band! It’s so breezy and cool…. I’m going to shut my cake hole and let you enjoy the video…..

Now available from Devizes Books

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Bands At The Bridge

Organised by Kingston Media – to raise money for Dorothy House and Wiltshire Air Ambulance – the 3rd of May saw Bands At The Bridgeโ€ฆ

by theloism123

Phil Cooper is Playing Solitaire

Trowbridge singer-songwriter and one third of The Lost Trades, Phil Cooper has actually been doing more than playing solitaire, heโ€™s released a new solo albumโ€ฆ

by Darren Worrow

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Chatting With Burn The Midnight Oil

Itโ€™s nice to hear when our features attract attention. Salisburyโ€™s Radio Odstock ย picked up on our interview with Devizes band Burn the Midnight Oil and they gained air time, but the interview was published short of year ago now, and the band have had significant changes to the lineup and their style. So, I the time is nigh to poke my bulbous nose in and interrupt their rehearsal againโ€ฆ..

Formerly a trio, bassist Chris Lane remains with Chrissy Chapman up front,ย  but guitarist Andy Jacobs sadly passed away this year. โ€œAndy was an amazing musician and really helped carve out our initial sonic signature,โ€ Chrissy told me. โ€œWeโ€™ve always wanted to acknowledge his creative contributions, given that music ran through him like the letters in a stick of rock. However, for reasons I canโ€™t discuss out of respect for everyone involved, the band collectively decided that it was no longer suitable for Andy to remain involved. Weโ€™ve made every attempt to show him grace since that decision but there was a negative backlash. Regardless, we were all very sad to hear he passed away shortly after, and our sympathies remain with his family and loved ones. Weโ€™re committed to remembering him in the best light.โ€

โ€œThere was definitely concern about doing the songs justice after we parted ways with Andy,โ€ Chrissy continued. โ€œEventually, though, we made a conscious effort to develop a new sound that honoured the music while allowing John the creative freedom. The core of our sound now focuses on doing the  songs justice rather than trying to replicate what Andy originally brought to the table and embracing the natural evolution of our sound that draws from all of our influences.โ€

The Original Trio of Chrissy, Chris and Andy

John Lane joined as guitarist, but was making me a cuppa while I was chatting with  Ron Riordan, the new drummer. Theyโ€™ve both been instrumental in forging a new direction for the band, literally! John said of Andyโ€™s passing, โ€œas part of getting through that phase the band has grown,โ€ and Ron added it had โ€œevolved.โ€

Turning to Chrissy I jested that when we did the original interview, she had suggested they didn’t need a drummer! โ€œWell,โ€ she explained, โ€œwe always needed a drummer, but we were able to perform at the time without a drummer because we were percussive enough. And it went down really well. A couple of venues, we did three gigs before we got Ron, a brilliant drummer!โ€

Ron stepped in immediately at a crossover period between Andy and John, a proficient drummer who told me he had played in a few ska bands in Swindon, โ€œI started playing drums when I was about nine, in orchestras and learnt to read music, that type of thing.โ€ I smiled; he looks like he can blast a Two-Tone riff. โ€œThat’s the thing though,โ€ Chrissy said, โ€œbecause straight away we had DOCAโ€™s Winter of Festive Ales booked. So it was like, everybody had to jump on really, really quickly. And we wanted to use that as an opportunity to do the originals.โ€

It was on the strength of the demo I asked them to play RowdeFest, I hadnโ€™t seen them performing before. But the committee was encouraging me to find a covers band. โ€œWe followed your advice about doing the covers,โ€ Chrissy said, though it wasnโ€™t really advise, rather a  way to get them booked! Iโ€™m so glad they did, they were dynamite and feedback was overwhelming. The kind of band youโ€™d think had been on the circuit for years. โ€œI felt that we were at the party at the end of the day!โ€ John remarked, and they certainly was.

โ€œWhat was nice about that is it the focus was about โ€˜let’s give people a showโ€™ rather than it just being about  โ€˜let’s get our songs outโ€™,โ€ Chrissy explained. โ€œYour influence was about getting a show to give to people, keeping people up on their feet, so and not allowing those breathers.โ€  I did encourage them to ensure they blasted some originals out too, though, which they did!

โ€œWe tried to dress it on different levels of the visual,โ€ John stressed, โ€œwearing the outfits, the recognition of known songs, and the come on, party time!โ€

โ€œYeah, it worked, didn’t it?โ€ I replied, a template to liven up a pub gig, and Burn the Midnight Oil are certainly getting them. The Queenโ€™s Tap in Swindon and Kings Arms in Amesbury their recent outings, but how do they feel about how far theyโ€™ve come?

โ€œGiven that the new face of us being coming up a four piece with Andy’s departure in January, to get that in the space of a year, well, less than a year,โ€ Chrissy said, โ€œas a new lineup, I think it’s quite incredible.โ€

Itโ€™s the added drums which changes it, I supposed, surely essential for a harder rock feel.

โ€œIt changes the scale of the presentation,โ€ John added. โ€œIt’s now got drive and rhythm rather than being listening for the lyric. It’s actually motivated, it hooks into people’s natural sense of rhythm, and you can’t help it. First thing people take in is rhythm, then melody, last of all, lyrics. So if you hook the first bit, you don’t get the second one, then they come back for the lyrics. So we’re attacking it from the best angle.โ€

Here was were I felt a healthy division between John and Chrissyโ€™s perspective, as she began to speak on where she drew inspiration from in the writing and a change in direction from  intrapersonal to interpersonal. She drew from personal relationships and her faith, implying her writing was key, but the difference was never confrontational and a good blend of opinion is surely necessary to compose the elements of a song professionally.  

โ€œI had a tsunami of a creative spell, and wrote twenty songs in as many days. So we’re now, everybody’s having to play catch up, trying to get them polished!โ€ Chrissy explained. She labelled her past songs as an โ€œangsty teenage phase,โ€ and felt her songwriting about โ€œgood guy/scumbagsโ€ had evolved and matured into โ€œsomething more universal. It’s not so much like a diary, it’s definitely becoming more cryptic. It’s pulling in a different kind of imagery and symbolism. And then, because I’m faith-based as well, I’ve given a lot of inspiration taking verses from the Bible that have really helped me through difficult times. I’m weaving them, not to be preachy, but just to be like, this is my story.โ€

โ€œWeโ€™d like the two songs we did at the award ceremony, to polish it up more, get a scratch track done, and then we’re going to go back to Matt Millerโ€™s Dusty Shed, who did the original three.โ€

โ€œWe can’t really use the original EP anymore. And also, it’s fair to say with John’s influences, and the way that we’re allowing space for his creative flow to come into it, it just sounds different.โ€

John pointed out his mixer was adequate when I pondered if they needed a producer. Chrissy replied while it would be โ€œfantastic,โ€  she crunched numbers and said they, โ€œreally want to get onto the festival circuit, and that means having tracks done ASAP.โ€

Captivating to listen to Chrissy delving deeper into the inspiration behind her songwriting and the maturity she felt it levelling to, in which she exclaimed with much delight, โ€œit’s definitely been refreshing having John’s influence, him sharing how he sees it as a viewer. Because you write what you know, and unfortunately, I’ve been exposed to quite a lot of things that I don’t think many people would ever want to be exposed to. And being able to find hope and joy in some of the songs and being able to write happier songs. For the first time ever, I’ve written two love songs! I’ve never written love songs before! So, there definitely seems to be more universal themes.โ€

Yet as fascinating as it is, hearing Chrissyโ€™s writing motivations, John revealing the technical side to their development, Ron adding splices of drummer-fashioned wit, and together them trying to summarise their change in direction whether it be a more rock-blues or dark-country, only to finally decide it unnecessary to pigeonhole it anyway, it makes for a laborious read, so I thought I’d inject a light-hearted, more physical observation with Chris, who otherwise, I suspect, wouldโ€™ve remained silent, save occasionally strumming his bass!

It was that I heard Jimi Hendrix had extremely long fingers, I noted so too did Chris, and wondered if he considered it an asset to playing guitar! John jested, โ€œit’s like watching a spider running up and down a hot plate!โ€ Ron pointed out his stumpy fingers, โ€œI’m a drummer; I’ve just tried to learn the bass guitar and I can’t get my hands anywhere round the neck of the guitar like Chris can!โ€

Chris exampled pianistsโ€™ tendency to have stumpy fingers. โ€œYou look at Elton Joh or Les Dawson, theyโ€™ve all short fingers, but they can play like crazy! I can get away with some stuff, but some of it’s more, arguably, bad habit than good! But I can get away with having long fingers rather than good habits!โ€

 A fellow of far fewer words than the front girl, evidently, but when he does its witty self-mocking is worth itโ€™s weight in gold and sparked a humorous angle to the interview in which, while Chrissy justified his dexterity and nimbleness, Ron favoured to joke about Chrisโ€™s dancing on stage, โ€œwhich is brilliant. I love it!โ€

John praised the firmness of Chrisโ€™ bass, โ€œyou’re methodical, you’re listening. I’m done wondering if he’s bored to death as I explain something to him, as heโ€™s sitting there taking it in. It’s not till you go and think he’s got it.โ€

They all seemed content with each other, and John effectively โ€œkeeping them in line,โ€ and this brought up the subject that they abstained from drinking while performing. โ€œOne rule I was pretty adamant about,โ€ John explained while Chrissy and Ron laughed about being โ€œhyper,โ€  โ€œis drink and music don’t mix. If you’re going to load it up, don’t expect to be any good at the music. Because we’re there to make the party for everybody else.โ€

โ€œYeah,โ€ Chrissy joshed, โ€œso I’m not allowed to have a pre-shot of tequila, which is really good because I definitely noticed a habit where I needed the Dutch courage in order to get up and I started realising, this is a bad habit that I don’t want to become dependent on. So itโ€™s two-wayed. You were definitely enforcing it. And I tried to be more mindful of it and just get up despite feeling nervous. And I get nervous every single time still.โ€

Aside the notion everyone gets butterflies, we moved between passionate subjects like the local circuits and venues and getting further afield, and we ventured back into songwriting inspirations, but I wanted them to nail it into a summary.  โ€œIn a nutshell,โ€ Chrissy said, โ€œweโ€™re focusing on rhythm and melody so that the lyrics can shine through. And we’re drawing inspiration from real life. Trying to make them more universal and a punchy sound. Rocky, bluesy, layers musically and lyrically; say that, Darren!โ€

Okay, I will! And if you want to hear this band progressing, follow their socials for gig updates. Theyโ€™ll be in Devizes on Sunday 14th December, at that tropical holiday resort in the Brittox, The Muck & Dunder, with a fundraiser for Ugandan orphanage His Grace Children Centre Bugiri, which theyโ€™ve organised themselves.

In true Christian spirit Chrissy annually organises a fundraiser around the yuletide, which she did as a soloist ironically titled One Trick Pony. Ironic because, she lent her vocals to drum n bass tracks, returned to town to learn guitar and perform acoustically, ย and now thereโ€™s Burn the Midnight Oil; a proficient four-piece who, merging experiences in varied genres, refuse to ย pigeonhole their developing style, and has an angelic vocalist with a penchant undaunted to delve deep into her psyche and faith for inspiration, and oh yeah, a bassist with long fingers!

Now available at Devizes Books!

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Wiltshire Music Awards Website Goes Live

Last month we were pleased to announce our involvement with the new Wiltshire Music Awards in conjunction with Wiltshire Events UK, details of which areโ€ฆ

Soupchick in the Park

And there was me thinking nothing good comes out of a Monday! Today local bistro Soupchick, popular in the Devizesโ€™ Shambles opened their second branch,โ€ฆ

Family Easter Holiday Events

Devizine isn’t only about music and gigs for grownups, y’know? It’s about events for everyone. This Easter we’ve lots of things to do over theโ€ฆ

Local Author’s Book Reveals Why Devizine Isn’t Funny Anymore

Devizine can reveal how a new book by a local author might possibly be the reason why Devizine isn’t as funny as it used to beโ€ฆ.

Devizine, it used to be funny, but sadly it seems it’s not so much anymore. Who took the banana skin from under its flip-flop? Who failed to give it a raspberry on the bouncy belly? Editor and creator of Devizine, Darren Worrow might have discovered why.

He said, โ€œIt’s a disgrace. This so-called author Darren Worrow has channelled all his pathetic attempts at humour into his new book Murder at the Scribbling Horse, and hardly bothered sharing anything the slightest bit amusing here on Devizine, as he once did; typical liberties from a loony leftie! And now he expects me to blow my own trumpet and sing his praises; what a pretentious twat! Shamelessly plugging his own book on his own website is surely proof.โ€

โ€œSet in the fictional Wiltshire market town of Slapam-on-the-Fye, which is nothing like any real Wiltshire market town you might know of, it claims to be a murder-mystery, but the only true thing it murders is English literature.โ€

โ€œNeither is there any subtlety in it either, like there is with Devizine,โ€ Worrow waffled on sorrowfully wallowing. โ€œWorrow takes no prisoners, has gone all out and created an absolute work of filth; an offensive joke book with a sham narrative, just so he can say disgusting things about various celebrities, politicians and anyone else he doesnโ€™t like, despite the good honest work they’re doing to keep Britain free from logic and empathy.โ€

โ€œWith the mouth of a sailor, it downright disregards any level of intelligence locals might possess, and paints them all as so utterly idiotic the narration of the story has to be conveyed through the point of view of the pub dog; I donโ€™t think thatโ€™s funny at all. The dog is a depressing nihilist, who uses the opportunity to put the human world to rights, rather than getting on with telling the story, thatโ€™s why it stacks up over 500 pages. 500 plus pages of meandering woke filth, I might add.โ€

โ€œUsing a facade of a murder mystery, in which the frontman to a tribute act is murdered in the pub whilst they organise a fundraising music festival, as the plot thickens like moulded yogurt around his genitalia, it goes as far as disgracefully making a mockery out of petty local politics too. It’s the biggest crime against pop since David Bowie and Mick Jaggerโ€™s cover of Dancing in the Street. I’d rather lick that yogurt off than buy this book, but that’s probably what this sick perverted tyrant wants us to do.โ€

โ€œYou’re not going to enjoy reading it, as tea can scold you if dropped in your lap through laughing too much. Therefore I call upon Steer Karma and the government to ban this book for health and safety reasons.โ€

โ€œThis thing wouldnโ€™t have been published under Farage, you know? And thousands of flagpoles will now have to be erected to counteract the unpatriotic damage done, at the taxpayer’s expense too.โ€

The author of the book, Darren Worrow, rebukes comments made by the Devizine editor, Darren Worrow. โ€œThat guy is as thick as a Boxing Day turd and pissing into the wind,โ€ he said. โ€œOther than the fact I have released a new book, the rest is slanderous lies and Devizine will be hearing from my lawyers. Murder at the Scribbling Horse is a fascinating psychological study and critique of the modern world, questioning our nonacceptance of aging and the social and political issues it raises; with added knob jokes.โ€

The author became irate, claiming, โ€œfor eight long years I’ve been tirelessly promoting everyone else for peanuts. I’ve not even had the opportunity of taking a bath since, and I look like a Yeti past its sell by date. It’s about time I thought about myself for a change, and everyone can bloody well return the favour by buying my book!โ€

Eighties post-punk sensations Johnny Bunion and the Verrucasโ€™ most successful album, The Legend of Castle Grey Scholl, 1981.

Whatever happened to Johnny Bunion? His legend burnt out long before his candle ever did.

But the more pressing question must be, was it connected to the murder at the Scribbling Horse public house in the narrow-minded Wiltshire market town of Slapam-on-the-Fye, some forty plus years later? And if so, how?

To answer this you’ll need to research, and my book, Murder at the Scribbling Horse will be the only way to do that.

If there’s ever any proceeds from the book, they will go to a much needed new Lynx Africa deodorant set, and a Brazilian back, sack and crack wax for the obnoxious author; the twat needs it, he looks like Posie from the Flumpsโ€™ rustic vajazzle.

Seriously though, being funny is the only thing I’m serious about. If you laughed at any part of this internal press release you’re a bit weird, and the ideal target audience for my book! You’re going to laugh a kazillion times (thatโ€™s a zillion zillions) more with a copy Murder at the Scribbling Horse in your grubby mitts. And even if youโ€™ve no sense of humour, you know a good Christmas present idea when you see one!

You can buy the paperback online here. And the e-book here. It’s out for global distribution but buying direct from Lulu cuts out the middle man and gives the best royalties to the authors.ย 

Not for sale to children or the over sensitive, though; as if I needed to say!

Murder at the Scribbling Horse is available at Devizes Books for a reduced price of ยฃ20, and next Saturday 22nd November, I’ll be in the shop praying to the Norse god of biscuits someone might stop by and purchase a signed copy at the super reduced price of ยฃ20!

If you cannot make it, you can message me and I’ll personally deliver you a copy if you live locally. I still need to work out posting & packaging costs, so message me if it needs posting and Iโ€™ll let you know about that asap. Happy reading…well, I say that but do I really mean it, I mean, really?!

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Beauty & the Beast; Devizes Musical Theatre at its Best

It was a fantastically successful opening night for Devizes Musical Theatre at Dauntseyโ€™s School for their latest show, Disneyโ€™s Beauty and the Beast, and I returned home still singing Be My Guest and Gaston; they’re still stuck in my head now truth be told, and I’m not usually one for musicals! Remaining faithful to Disneyโ€™sโ€ฆ

Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow

Junk Street Drumming Workshop in Devizes; Easter Holiday Fun for All Ages

Itโ€™s only the beginning of the Easter school holibobs and your little ones are already making a racket upstairs; what do you do? Is it wine oโ€™clock already? Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts might have another answer – a free drumming workshop! From Monday 7th April to Wednesday 9th, DOCA have Junk Street Drumming workshops withโ€ฆ

Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow

MP Brian Matthew Invites You to Have Your Say on AI and the Future of our Creative Industries

Next week, MP for Melksham & Devizes Brian Mathew will be taking on Skynet and raising a question in Parliament about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the creative sector. From writers and musicians to designers and artists, he invites local creatives to have their sayโ€ฆ.

Only a few weeks ago a Facebook page which posts material about music legends took a picture from a Devizine review of an Adam & The Ants tribute act, Ant Trouble, at Swindonโ€™s Victoria and, believing it to be the real Adam Ant it used it to illustrate a post about him! You can tell from the mechanical writing style itโ€™s totally AI generated, so, who do I sue? Metal Mickey?!

Iโ€™m not suing anyone, I laugh it off, but thereโ€™s a serious side to all this. Brian explained, โ€œIโ€™ve already received a number of emails and messages from constituents who are deeply concerned that AI could undermine creative jobs and that copyrighted material is being used to train AI systems without fair payment or permission.โ€

โ€œBefore I take this issue to Westminster, I want to make sure your voices are heard. Please take a few minutes to fill in my short survey. Your input will help shape the questions I put to ministers and ensure that the concerns of our creative community are represented in Parliament. Your voice matters.โ€

The form is here, prove youโ€™re on the side of the humans and fill it in!

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Stone Circle Wiltshire Music Awards Will Continue into 2026

In thanking everyone who supported this year’s Wiltshire Music Awards, Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle Music Events revealed his intentions of continuing with the awards into next yearโ€ฆย 

โ€œFirstly, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported and got involved in our very first Wiltshire Music Awards,โ€ he said. โ€œThe enthusiasm, energy, and community spirit were incredible to see.โ€

Reflecting on this year’s inaugural awards, he said, โ€œwe want to be open, honest, and transparent about the journey. Did we get everything right? No, and weโ€™re happy to learn and grow. Did we realise how big this celebration would become? No, your support surpassed all expectations!โ€

Looking ahead to 2026 Eddie explained, โ€œwe are excited about continuing the Stone Circle Wiltshire Music Awards into 2026. However, we recognise that this celebration now belongs to the wider community, not just to us.โ€

โ€œTo help it grow in the right way, we are exploring bringing together a small group of local volunteers to form a community committee, encouraging fair representation across Wiltshire.โ€

If you feel you have something positive to contribute and would like to help shape the 2026 awards, please email Eddie here: hello@stonecirclemusicevents.uk

Patrick O’Sullivan of Stone Circle Music Events said, โ€œwhile we could continue running the awards on our own, this event is a celebration of Wiltshireโ€™s music community โ€” driven by local voices, talent, and passion. Thatโ€™s why we feel a community-based team would help make 2026 stronger and more exciting. Together we can continue to build the Wiltshire Music Awards in order to recognise and celebrate the amazing talent we haveย  in Wiltshire.โ€

โ€œThank you for supporting the Wiltshire Music Awards! Weโ€™re so grateful to everyone who got involved. Together, weโ€™re growing something amazing for Wiltshireโ€™s music community!โ€

โ€œWeโ€™d really love to hear your feedback, what you enjoyed, and what you think we could improve for next time. Your thoughts willย  genuinely help us make next year’s Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 event better.โ€

Stone Circle Music Events state feedback should be by email, as they wonโ€™t be responding to feedback posted on Facebook, promising to reply to every email politely and respectfully.

Send your feedback to: patrick@stonecirclemusicevents.uk

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Florence & The Machine Harpist Among Musicians at Frome Festivalโ€™s Fundraising Launch

Featured Image: Lillie Eiger

Frome Festival is launching itsย โ€˜25 for 25โ€™ย fundraising campaign with a very special concert featuring three locally based acts:ย Tom Mothย โ€“ best known as the harpist for multi-platinum-selling bandย Florence + The Machineย โ€“ alt-folk duoย mฤsa, and brand-new soul/funk collectiveย The Juice.…

The event, taking place at The Tunnels on Saturday 29th November, kicks off Frome Festivalโ€™s ambitious campaign that aims to raise ยฃ25,000 before the start of next yearโ€™s festival in July. Founded in 2001, Frome Festivalโ€™s silver anniversary offers an opportunity to celebrate 25 years of creativity while securing the future of this much-loved community arts event for the next generation.

Followingย Tom Mothโ€™sย sold-out Festival performance at Rook Lane Chapel this summer, theย โ€˜25 for 25โ€™ย fundraiser provides an additional chance to hear his own original work. Tom explains, โ€œI enjoy crafting sounds using various acoustic and electronic devices, so whilst the harp will be involved, the performance wonโ€™t strictly be a harp recital!โ€

Tom is a big supporter of Frome Festival and is carving out some time between a busy international promotional schedule for Florenceโ€™s newly released album,ย Everybody Scream, and their upcoming European/US tour, which starts in February. The lauded harpist moved to Frome a couple of years ago as he felt it was somewhere he could exist happily. He says of the town, โ€œI love that thereโ€™s such a welcoming and proactive creative community. It seems like thereโ€™s always something happening, whether itโ€™s a gig, an exhibition, or community-based activity.โ€

Sisters Faron and Merle ofย mฤsaย are returning from a hiatus to support this fundraiser, sharing their beautiful harmony based alt-folk compositions. Merle said, “Weโ€™ve lived in Frome for a few years now and really value its creative and independent spirit as a town. This aspect of it seems to be growing and getting even stronger as time passes.” ย mฤsa have played at Frome Festival several times over the years, including a headline slot at the Silk Mill, and have also collaborated on a sonic guided walk of the town, calledย We Are All Sonambulistsย – โ€œThis was a great way to learn about the townโ€™s history and feel inspired by its ghosts and stories”, explained Merle.

Faron added, “We were really pleased to be invited to play at this fundraiser, because itโ€™s so important to keep community driven events that support the arts going. Now more than ever we need creativity and connection to unite us, and keeping Frome Festival alive and kicking is one small way of doing so.”

As to their future plans, mฤsa have recently been recording and plan to release new songs next year.

Ending the night with party vibes is The Juice, a fresh five-piece soul outfit who made their debut with a secret set during Sofar Sounds at Frome Festival in July. Drawing their members from a collective of local musicians, they write tunes which draw on 70s soul, pop and funk, โ€œwith a sprinkling of Juicified coversโ€.  Members of The Juice have also featured in The Enrichments, Mighty One, Samuel Jack, Twin Falls and Littlemen.

Joe James, The Juice frontman, stated, “As a local band, supporting Frome Festival means a lot to us. We can’t wait to bring The Juice to our hometown and share our new musical project with the people who shaped us”. Bass player, Jack Opie, added, “The community spirit and artsย scene in Frome is a huge reason that it is such a wonderful place to live, and the Festival is obviously a critical part of this – it’s massively important to us all that the Festival keeps on going, and we’re all really excited to be playing our small part in helping its future.”

Sarah Swales, Frome Festival Manager, said, โ€œIโ€™m constantly amazed by the incredible talent we have here in Frome, and Iโ€™m thrilled that these performers are generously donating their time and remarkable skills to support the Festival. Each of the three acts brings a unique musical style, and all are outstanding in their own right.โ€ She added, โ€œWeโ€™re also hugely grateful to Baz, Josh, and everyone at The Tunnels for hosting the event. In the current climate, itโ€™s more important than ever to support our venues and keep live music thriving.โ€

Frome Festivalโ€™s โ€˜25 for 25โ€™ campaign will celebrate a quarter of a century of being at the heart of Fromeโ€™s creative community with special events throughout the year. All monies raised will support growing the organisation, developing an education strand and maintaining the rich programme of free and low-cost activities across Frome Festival.

Supporters can help by attending fundraising concerts and activities in the lead up to Frome Festival 2026, become a Friend of Frome Festival to receive priority Festival booking and exclusive year-round perks, or donate directly to the charity.

Adam Laughton, Festival Director, explained, โ€œIt is remarkable to see how Frome has embraced Frome Festival across the last 25 years โ€“ everyone I speak to has a story to tell about their favourite moments. Across the next year, we aim to capture that spirit and celebrate Fromeโ€™s deep love and support of the arts, looking back at a quarter of a century of amazing work and plotting a course for the next 25 years. Through a campaign like this, we are looking to ensure the next generation can continue to experience the unique benefits of accessible, local live arts.โ€

โ€˜Frome Festival Fundraiser with Tom Moth / mฤsa / The Juiceโ€™ย takes place on Saturday 29 November at The Tunnels, doors 7.30pm.

Advance tickets are ยฃ18 available through the Frome Festival website or ยฃ20 on the door.

More info can be found on:ย https://fromefestival.co.uk/25years/

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๐€ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Œ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ : ๐…๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐Ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š ๐š๐ญ ๐“๐ž๐ฐ๐ค๐ž๐ฌ๐›๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐€๐›๐›๐ž๐ฒ

Review by Pip Aldridge Last week, I had the privilege of seeing the Fulltone Orchestra perform at the beautiful Tewkesbury Abbey beneath the Peace Dovesโ€ฆ

Hells Bells! AC/DC tribute in Devizes

With our roads being the state theyโ€™re in, is it any wonder on the 5th April Hells Bells, rated as the UKโ€™s top AC/DC tribute,โ€ฆ

Cracked Machine at The Southgate

If many space-rock acts have more band member changes than most other musicians change their socks, Hawkwind are the exemplar of the tendency. There mightโ€ฆ

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The Lost Trades Float on New Single

Iโ€™ve got some gorgeous vocal harmonies currently floating into my ears, as The Lost Trades release their first single since the replacement of Tamsin Quin with Jess Vincent way back in February, and its immediate impact clearly says a Lost Trades classicโ€ฆ..

If some previous songs of The Lost Trades had a lead vocal, theyโ€™re not the Spice Girls so I couldnโ€™t pick a favourite, and the trio are truly at their best when there isnโ€™t a lead and the song centralises on their astounding harmony! Float Me On Your River is one of those, four minutes plus of a simple sentimental premise with a sublime delivery. The new addition Jess fits like a glove to Phil Cooper and Jamie R Hawkinsโ€™ vocal range, and the song rings out with the quality passionate ambiance we’ve come to expect from the trio.

It comes with an accompanying video from Jamieโ€™s Side Owl video production project which, if nothing else, suggests The Lost Trades like their sandwiches cut into triangles; these things are important to note.

Float Me On Your River Streaming Now HERE

Trending…..

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Barrelhouse are Open for Business with New Album

Rolling out a Barrelhouse of fun, you can have blues on the run, tomorrow (7th November) when Marlborough’s finest groovy vintage blues virtuosos Barrelhouse release Open for Business, their third studio album indicative of their astounding live showโ€ฆ..

Tim and Stuart’s dramatic guitar riff from the off, Dave Growcott’s drums kick in and Open for Business doesn’t wait around for you to hang your barn jacket on the juke joint’s hall tree. Nick’s growling harmonica strides into the room next, all guns blazing, and we’re like a greyhound out of the traps when Martin grits his teeth and presents his deep encapsulating howl.

If the black cat bone mentioned as the title of the opening tune is a hoodoo lucky charm for protection and luck, it’s unnecessary, expeditiously it magically assures you’re in for a rocky ride to the dusty crossroad, with minimal pitstops and without the need of any such luck.

It doesn’t calm the zest frenzy until the third track either, an absolutely sublimely haunting cover of The Beatlesโ€™ Come Together, where Hedi’s backing vocals compliment Martin’s with such unbelievable harmony it smooths out the pace welcomingly.

Things go country for a ballad to Lydia, which I snooped through the interweb searching for an original version only to be informed by Nick Beere, more than just a mouth organ, rather the producer and engineer behind the album via his studio Mooncalf, that guitarist Tim wrote the song. Reason for my research being, itโ€™s magnificence is instant, it simply sounds like a singalong country classic akin to The Band’s The Weight, which is also superbly covered penultimately on the album, btw. Then it’s back to full steam blues workout when they repropel Muddy’s mojo, a second Muddy classic into the melting pot, and belt the living daylights into Canned Heat’s On The Road Again.

Classic Americana come edgy blues rock cover choices, the ambience of Barrelhouse I’m illustrating you might wrongly convey in generalisation as โ€œthey’re a serious bunch of hard rock dudes,โ€ but there’s a subtle frivolousness in their delivery which charms a crowd. Their labour of love is reflected joyfully outward to an audience without a pretentious mood, and fondly thrown back at them with an enthralled response, making their shows atmospherically interactive and thrilling. The experience in comparison to your atypical morose blues band is one rather of danceable merriment; a tick from me.

Mantonfest 2023 Image Gail Foster

If a song is original it’s hard to distinguish them from classic covers, Barrelhouse combines them into a seamless show, and makes an irresistible party album. A party appealing to Mantonfest’s youthful fanbase, who’ll invade the dance area when Barrelhouse mount the stage, and impress the matured Devizes blues aficionados with equal measure.

A Bo Diddley beat polishes this album as a grand finale, but if polished ramped serious blues cuts melds with an effervescent delivery is their working formula, its true beauty rests in the simplicity of its production. There’s no technical studio skullduggery here, no manufactured overdubs; what you hear is what happened in real time. Each song is recorded in a single take, making it not just authentic but the perfect representation of their energetic and entertaining live show. Something the band pride themselves in. If you’ve ever seen an amazing band live, only to be disappointed by the CD you brought because it didn’t match the splendour rawness of their performance, this is not the case here. Open for Business is taking the Barrelhouse show home with you. That’s why it’s a keeper.

But donโ€™t take my word for it, next Saturday (15th Nov) sees the album launched at St Peterโ€™s Marlborough, with support from 7pm. Itโ€™s free and copies of the album will be available on CD and vinyl. And if you canโ€™t wait for that, this coming Saturday (8th Nov) Barrelhouse will turn the Devizes Southgate into their own juke joint, a legendary occasion blossoming in modern folklore, as Devizes loves the blues and word got out via a toothless milkman.

Failing these options, theyโ€™ll be donning Santa hats and bringing out the tinsel at the Bear in Marlborough on 20th December, when you can almost taste the pigs in blankets in the ether.

Misinformation Alert: Wiltshire Councilโ€™s Lift on Paid Disabled Parking Will Not Affect Your Council Tax

Wiltshire Council confirmed Blue Badge holders can park freely in council-operated car parks again, following a vote at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 21 October; you might think the majority would support the notion, but misinformation against it is being spread by an ex-Wiltshire Councillor and current Devizes Town Councillor on their popular Facebook groupโ€ฆ..

Confirmation on the lift was published on the Wiltshire Council website, 22nd October 2025, stating โ€œwith full Council now backing the change, Blue Badge holders are once again able to park free of charge in all Wiltshire Council car parks.โ€ The scheme forcing disabled blue badge holders to pay for parking was introduced by the former Conservative-led council in 2022.

Cllr Martin Smith, Cabinet Member for Highways, said, โ€œI’m delighted that Full Council has supported this important change. Reinstating free parking for Blue Badge holders is a significant step towards making Wiltshire a more inclusive and accessible county. There are more than 30,000 Blue Badge holders in Wiltshire, many of whom face mobility challenges or rely on others for transport. This policy recognises the barriers they face and promotes fairness, independence and dignity. We know that many Blue Badge holders also experience lower levels of income, and this policy change will help them financially, too.โ€

But it was matters of finance which sparked debate on local social media groups last week. Devizes Town Councillor Iain Wallis published a statement on his own-managed Facebook group Devizes Issues, claiming Wiltshire taxpayers will foot the bill in their council tax. I thought Iโ€™d fact-check this because I pondered that simply lifting the charges surely wouldnโ€™t incur too much cost, if anything.

It seems the ‘subsidising’ of Blue Badge holder parking comes out of the general car parking revenue account, NOT our council tax.

M&D Lib Dem Campaign Organiser Nathan liaised with some councillors to provide some clarity. It seems the ‘subsidising’ of Blue Badge holder parking comes out of the general car parking revenue account, NOT our council tax. โ€œAny surplus from that account is reinvested into transport schemes,โ€ he continued to explain, โ€œso if anyone is subsidising it, it’s other car park users. However, what it does is allow blue badge holders better access to shops and other facilities, which should lead to better profits, so more corporation tax is paid in.โ€

The Wiltshire Council press release stresses, โ€œwe’re updating the signage as soon as we can,โ€ so obviously thereโ€™s a small cost there, but otherwise, it actually stands to potentially generate revenue via corporation tax gained by better retail profit. But aside, the bottom line is, the cost to update signage wouldnโ€™t have been necessary at all if the previous Conservative-led Wiltshire Council hadnโ€™t enforced parking charges on disabled drivers in the first place. 

Dammit, Janet, this is going to backfire on the Tory ex-councillor with a reputation for banishing users of his Facebook group who spread apparent โ€œmisinformation,โ€ but then, he should not be spreading misinformation himself, surely?! Ooh, could I speculate the spread of misinformation on Devizes Issues is acceptable if it fits a certain narrative approved by the admin? Whoโ€™d have possibly imagined it?!

Looky here, the last thing I want to do, or would ever do, is make verbal personal attacks on anyone. Though, when calling out the spread of misinformation concerning local matters, this one town councillor and ex-Wilsthire councillorโ€™s name pops up frequently. While he may favour playing the victim card, as he has done with us in the past, this serves only to fact check claims made, and is not intended to be a personal attack. It never was personal and it certainly isnโ€™t now.

It is simply that, even if you are fit and able to walk or travel by bus, and you think disabled people paying for parking doesnโ€™t affect you, it might one day not be the case. Ergo, if you are fit and able, you are perfectly within your rights to find free parking elsewhere even if it means a short walk and you pay nothing towards the small cost of changing some signage; storm in a teacup!

Disabled people may not have that option, and therefore the introduction of parking charges for blue badge holders was an unjust stealth tax by the former Conservative-led Council. In conclusion, it is evident and unfortunate that you should take what you read on Devizes Issues with a pinch of salt. The move by Wiltshire Council should be viewed as a benefit to the communities it serves, and they should be congratulated for reversing the decision to charge disabled people for parking fees. 

Deacon Blue Announced as Latest Forest Live Headliner for show at Forestry England Westonbirt Arboretumย 

Featured Image Credit: Jamie Carter

Special guests Lightning Seeds to Support

Forest Live, Forestry Englandโ€™s summer concert series presented with Cuffe & Taylor, has announced much loved and revered Scottish hitmakers Deacon Blue as the latest headliner for its 2026 shows. Deacon Blue will be joined by Lightning Seeds at the stunning Forestry England Westonbirt Arboretum on Thursday June 25rd June…….

Speaking about hitting the road, and hinting at the bandโ€™s recent album title, frontman Ricky Ross said: โ€œNo one knows where The Great Western Road ends up, least of all us! For now the road goes on and next summer we are taking the shows to some beautiful venues. We canโ€™t wait to see you there and we promise to make every night very special.โ€

Celebrating 40 years since Ross and Dougie Vipond first formed the band, Deacon Blueโ€™s Westonbirt headline show will be a career-spanning night of hits including โ€˜Chocolate Girlโ€™, โ€˜Wages Dayโ€™ and โ€˜Fergus Sings The Bluesโ€™ โ€” alongside highlights from โ€˜The Great Western Roadโ€™, their most successful studio release in more than three decades, reaching Number 3 in the UK and topping the Scottish Album Chart. Recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios, the album reunites Ross and guitarist Gregor Philp as producers, with engineer Matt Butler, who worked on Deacon Blueโ€™s classic debut โ€˜Raintownโ€™. The record captures the bandโ€™s journey across four decades, reflecting on life, love and longevity. 

With more than 7 million albums sold, two UK Number One albums, and a songbook filled with heartfelt, singalong hits, Deacon Blue remain one of the UKโ€™s most enduring and best-loved live acts. Their headline show at Westonbirt promises to be a celebration of their remarkable story โ€“ and a showcase of a band still creating, evolving, and connecting with fans new and old.

Joining them as very special guests are Liverpudlian indie icons Lightning Seeds, the masterminds behind timeless favourites โ€˜Pureโ€™, โ€˜Lucky You,โ€™ and โ€˜The Life of Rileyโ€™.

Bursting on to the music scene in the late โ€™80s with their shimmering debut โ€˜Cloudcuckoolandโ€™, the band quickly became one of the UKโ€™s most cherished indie-pop acts. Led by songwriter and producer Ian Broudie, their catalogue spans era-defining hits like โ€˜Senseโ€™, and โ€˜Changeโ€™. Renowned for melodic brilliance and feel-good live shows, Lightning Seeds continue to delight fans across generations โ€“ the perfect addition to an unmissable night at Westonbirt Arboretum.

Deacon Blue and Lightning Seeds join confirmed headliners for the eventโ€™s 2026 Forest Live shows โ€“ Becky Hill (Cannock Chase), The Kooks (Delamere), Snow Patrol (Thetford Forest) and UB40 ft Ali Campbell (playing all sites) – with many more phenomenal names to be added. 

Merging stellar performances from world-class acts with beautiful outdoor locations to create an atmosphere like no other, Forest Live will celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 2026 with stunning shows in four forest venues: Forestry England Cannock Chase, Delamere Forest, High Lodge Thetford Forest and Westonbirt Arboretum.

Forestry England manage and care for the nationโ€™s 1,500 woods and forests. They use the money Forest Live raises to maintain these beautiful natural areas for everyone to enjoy, run important conservation projects and keep growing trees.

Last year they planted some 7.4 million trees and welcomed 313 million visits in 2024/25. Everyone in England lives within a one-hour drive of one of the nationโ€™s forests. Over two million people have enjoyed the Forest Live gigs over the last 25 years. 

Following a hugely successful run of shows over the past 25 years, this year sees Forestry England present the concert series in partnership with Live Nationโ€™s Cuffe & Taylor for the third year running. 

Deacon Blue and Special Guests Lightning Seeds

Forestry England Westonbirt Arboretum – Thursday June 25

General tickets will go on sale on Friday November 7 at 10am.

Fans can sign up for information, announcements, and exclusive pre-sale access at forestlive.com.

More From Deacon Blue here:

Ruzz Guitar Swings With The Dirty Boogie

Bristolโ€™s regular Johnny B Goode, Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue goes full on swing with a new single, a take on The Brian Setzer Orchestraโ€™s 1998 album title track The Dirty Boogie.….

Another high-energy bout of rockabilly guitar divinity we love from Ruzz, but this time weโ€™re transported back to 1920s New Orleans dancehalls for that big band swing sound; jazz hands!

The Dirty Boogie, is out today on digital download for a quid, from Bandcamp.

Kirsty Clinchโ€™s Fundraising Christmas Song Racing Up iTunes Charts

Wiltshire country singer-songwriter Kirsty Clinch released a Christmas song only yesterday, raising funds for the Caenhill Countryside Centre near Devizes, and itโ€™s already racing up the iTunes country music chartsโ€ฆ.

Itโ€™s one thing to get your song out locally, but Kirsty was excited to announce that she, โ€œwoke up this morning, and we are still in the top 10 of the iTunes country music charts and 180 in the overall charts, not only that, last night I saw we hit 7!โ€

In collaboration with the Caenhill Countryside Centre, a charity project which brings countryside learning to children and communities west of Devizes near the Caen Hill locks, The Best Christmas Ever was mastered by Peter Lamb, with Kara Robertson and Lorna Carroll. Kirtsy describes it as โ€œcheesy but addictive, cute but meaningful, and it definitely has a twist dance and country vibe to it!โ€

Founder of First Melodies Music School, Kirsty has even choreographed a fun dance routine to learn too. A video of Kirsty showing us the moves is on social media, (Facebook – Instagram) and encourages children to send their own video of them doing the dance. 

The preferred way to buy it is on iTunes, because itโ€™s raising funds for the charity, and will go towards the future of the farm project and the animals there. โ€œIt makes me incredibly happy and proud as an independent artist,โ€ Kirsty said, โ€œthatโ€™s always been told they are not good enough!โ€ No idea who wouldโ€™ve dreamed of saying this, but they deserve a sack of coal from Santa this year! 

โ€œLetโ€™s keep the hype going until Christmas,โ€ Kirsty says; we agree and send you Christmassy blessings! Christmas number one, I say, with your help: download the song HERE.

Duality; Debut EP From Melkshamโ€™s Between The Lines

It was never just the fervent ambience created which made me go tingly with excitement about Melkshamโ€™s young indie band Between The Linesโ€™ demo single Fading Time, it was the profusion of potential. A latent driving me to Swindon Shuffle this year, where theyโ€™d be playing at The Hop, but now a manifest for all to hear the reason for my tingle, as Between The Lines release their debut EP Dualityโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ..

Four tunes including the demo Fading Time, flowing on an exceptionally defined style of breezy, female-fronted indie pop-rock. Age makes me contemplate Fleetwood Mac, younger might cite Florence & The Machine, Iโ€™m left thinking of The Corrs, particularly the opening track of hurt heart, Personal, with subtly building rich layers akin to grunge, but subtle and so incredibly cool. 

I interviewed bassist Belle upfront, lead guitarist George, and Ethan and Louis, who both switch between drums and guitars, the latter being the rhythm guitarist, back in February and their professionalism impressed me enough to go in with high expectations for this debut. I was expecting goodness, I got my earful and it was even better than I imagined it might be. This is delightful magic with universal appeal, charming yet biting with tender guitar riffs.   

Debatably Fading Time has the snappy hook, but Stuck in This is melodiously superior, the metaphorical drowning theme. Oh my, Belleโ€™s vocals reflect off the water on this. Iโ€™m going out on a limb here to suggest something comparable to Kirsty MacColl, but donโ€™t assume thatโ€™s sacrilegious or exaggeration until youโ€™ve listened, please.

I worry Iโ€™m overusing the word sublime recently too, possibly reducing its impact, but I happen to like it, and can find no word more apt to describe Duality, and for a debut that itโ€™s a fantastic achievement, an accolade they should all be very proud about.

But they saved the best till last. Simply titled Your Love, the final song is an uncomplicated rolling pop ballad, rich in ambience, and possibly the most durable, accomplished technically, and commercially viable. While fresh and contemporary with smooth indie-pop vibes, the EP flows akin to something timeless, even prog-rock, and if Your Love is the one to be accompanied with a dreamy showcasing video, which I believe it deserves to be, Iโ€™d like a slightly extended bridge, to really show the listeners what theyโ€™re made of.

And to meet Between The Lines isnโ€™t the zesty teenage gang with stars in their eyes encounter, rather a modest and humble unity who seem thoroughly at ease with their talent, and while thereโ€™s a confidence which needs blossoming on stage, given the quality of Duality, it remains the boost they will naturally attain. I’ve high hopes, this is beautifully constructed and produced.

Joyrobber Didn’t Want Your Stupid Job Anyway

A second track from local anonymous songwriter Joyrobber has mysteriously appeared online, and heโ€™s bitter about not getting his dream jobโ€ฆ..

If this mysterious dudeโ€™s August invective track at racist talk show host Jeremy Kyle, and his patronising attitude, it feels like him telling me heโ€™s โ€œnot one for holding a grudge,โ€ might have a smidgen of irony too! His grungy pop-punk response to his career rejection might be biting satire, but amusing with it.

Eight and a half years ago, he claims, he was cruelly denied his dream job by what appeared to be a corrupt interview process. Perhaps it was to take over from Kyle, but Joyrobber reveals nothing, even after I badgered him for a clue to his identity.

What we do know is it was produced by Sugarpill Productions, a parody of hip hop pioneering label Sugarhill, has the vocal engineering talents of Jolyon Dixon, and is rather catchy with a highly amusing hook. I Didn’t Want Your Stupid Job Anyway is indicative of how we all might feel after a failed interview but being British, we bit our tongue. A bolshy after-contemplation with dry implications, in a Weezer skater-punk two-fingers up fashion.

I donโ€™t believe for a second heโ€™s pleading for sympathy, just to get the frustration off his chest by thrashing a guitar at it. If youโ€™ve been there too, youโ€™ll identify, making me like this more than the debut single, because Iโ€™ve an incalculable history of bodged job interviews, likely because they were all knobs as well!

Itโ€™s up on Spotify, downloadable from Bandcamp with a โ€œname your priceโ€ option, and itโ€™s Marmite, love it or hate it, it remains a sticky spreadable extract to get over your dysphoria, but not sing at the Job Centre.

ย 

Devizes Chamber Choir Christmas Concert

Itโ€™s not Christmas until the choir sings, and Devizes Chamber Choir intend to do precisely this by announcing their Christmas Concert, as they have done since they were founded in 1978โ€ฆ..

Devizes Chamber Choir is a group of around thirty singers, with a broad repertoire from acapella, through chamber works to major choral masterpieces including The Creation and Elijah. Their programme comprises of three seasonal concerts annually, a spring concert of standard classical works, a summer concert of lighter music and a seasonal Christmas concert of carols, and obviously itโ€™s the latter which is coming up next; deck the halls!

The Devizes Chamber Choirโ€™s Christmas Concert of Seasonal Carols and Songs will be held on Saturday 6th December 2025 at St. Andrewโ€™s Church, Long Street, Devizes, with Music Director and Conductor, Shaun Holley.

Concert evenings offer a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere with refreshments available during the interval. Tickets can be purchased by clicking HERE.

They are a non-auditioned choir, so there is no singing test, but they do expect an ability to read music and of course an enthusiasm to sing. If you are interested in joining the choir, come along to a rehearsal to meet them. Look at them on the featured photo, it doesn’t look like they bite, (though Devizine cannot be held responsible if I’m wrong!) They rehearse on Tuesday evenings between 7:30pm and 9:30pm, at St. Andrewโ€™s Church, Long Street, Devizes.

More information on Devizes Chamber Choir HERE.

A Positive Week After Wiltshire Music Awards

All Images By Helen Polarpix

Best part of a week since Stone Circle Music Eventsโ€™ Wiltshire Music Awards and Iโ€™m still at one thousand feet about what we achieved, and dealing with a cascade of feedback. While some of it has been appreciated constructive criticism, that crazy playground called social media is such that some comments have become unfair, misinformed or even blatantly untrue. I prefer to remain positive, thanks all the same! And here we are, beginning to see positive after effects of the whole grand shebangโ€ฆโ€ฆ

Iโ€™ve loved seeing winning and runner-up acts, if not just posting pictures and videos of themselves proudly grasping their trophies, but using their win as an accolade on gig posters and bios. If thatโ€™s not a positive outcome in a time when the whole hospitality industry is at its knees, I frankly don’t know what is. Try proving me wrong on this, I double-dare you and might even throw in a Twix for first prize!

There was also the whole โ€œconventionโ€ side to the event too, which saw networking between musicians and venues, radio stations and promoters, and the general get-together of folk usually individually dispatched to their respective gigs on a weekend. I have already seen gig posters with added support acts who didnโ€™t know each other before last Saturday, and radio plays for bands featured.

From my good friend Charlotte reuniting with Lifetime Achievement winner Peter Lamb, the producer who took her hopeful nineties girl band under his professional direction, to Fantasy Radio DJ, Mark Lister, who mentioned the awards on Scott Mills Radio 2 morning show, the attention the awards are seeing is phenomenal and the after effects are beginning to flourish.     

If Sunday’s piece was a reflection on the night as a whole and a statement of the issues we unfortunately faced. Let today be about our fantastic acts who performed, for that’s where sparks flew and obviously the nature of what we were celebrating.

Ruby Darbyshire

In order of appearance. Go on, admit it, you didn’t know the sublime Miss Ruby Darbyshire would be present, did you? I managed to not let the cat out of the bag about our opening special guest, despite my excitement!

At eighteen, Ruby is as her name suggests, a gemstone on our circuit. A multi-instrumentalist with bagpipes under her championship belt, a singer-songwriter with an exceptionally soulful voice which puts expression into her diligently crafted writing. Originally the plan was for Ruby to blow a tune of her own choice from her bagpipes and scoot off to another gig in Bradford-on-Avon, returning later in the evening. But we couldn’t let her go without at least another song, her magnum opus to date, Crowded Lightbringer, and then she played a second. It was the best opening ever, even if I was blindly operating the curtains like a bell ringer!

The Britpop Boys

Hey, honestly, I was a raver in the nineties and viewed Britpop as regressive, but I now see its worth and respect the succeeding generation who see them as classics. Being such, we see a lot of cover bands performing Britpop anthems, with varying degrees of skill. The Britpop Boys have been on my must-see list for donkeys but our paths hadnโ€™t crossed before. Iโ€™m glad thatโ€™s sorted and sound, for they were off the scale brilliant and totally โ€˜avinโ€™ it are kid.

I was sitting on the stageโ€™s sideline in awe of The Britpop Boys, it couldโ€™ve been Madchester in 1996. The sound and appearance held me spellbound, and I felt I should write to The Oxford Dictionary to redefine the word โ€œcoolโ€ as โ€œsee Britpop Boys!โ€ Yeah, they did Wonderwall, of course they did, but if itโ€™s a cliche cover choice for most, itโ€™s because itโ€™s a beautiful crowdpleaser, and had to be done given only three songs. The ultimate thing about this was, they knocked it out of the Corn Exchange and into the stratosphere; Iโ€™ve never heard it done with such attention to detail and precision to honour the original.

Burn The Midnight Oil

If Iโ€™ve seen one new band begin wobbly and develop over time Iโ€™ve seen a hundred. But Burn the Midnight Oil is one of my most favourite newcomers to the Wiltshire music scene, for the simple reason that it feels like theyโ€™ve been here forever, as their ability to deliver crisp blues-rock originals and stamp covers with their own divinity is something to behold. Like mobile phones, you think, how did we ever survive without Burn the Midnight Oil?!

Itโ€™s as if they honed their skills over decades and perfected the harmony of a classic rock band in their eighties which toured since their twenties, even if they might have, they did so individually, but that seam never shows. Their perfect performance proved this, it was nothing short of brilliant, fresh and invigorating, showing us what theyโ€™ve been working on, a beguiling harder rock sound; they look the part, they sound it too, I have high hopes for them.

Matchbox Mutiny

Ben was great as a soloist, Pat was too, together itโ€™s a magical connection to charm the pants off a donkey. This cover act could easily work anywhere, from crusty cider festival to wedding reception, itโ€™s got universal appeal. Their set was amazing, Ben might have accidentally hit me on the head with his guitar but they were awesome, and Iโ€™ve had worse on my rock n roll journey!!

It mightโ€™ve knocked some sense into me, but I know what I liked anyway, and Matchbox Mutiny are high on that list.

George Wilding

George went next, and yeah, this is where we had technical sound issues. Professional till the end, George worked through it, and as a stalwart spirit on our circuit, George is modestly legendary, for his back catalogue of sublime originals and new songs flourishing to his entertaining interactive solo covers show. See our mention of the warm up gig from Friday at the Three Crowns, if you donโ€™t already understand why we love Mr Wilding!

Lucas Hardy

With various issues arising the evening was in need of a reset. I apologise, I announced an interval, thinking Lucas could prepare and we could hold a team talk. Just like George Wilding, Lucas is professional and motivated to the core. He came out like a boxer for a championship belt fight, psyched up for it and couldnโ€™t wait for the bell! Therefore I attempted to recall the interval idea as quickly as possible, because Lucas Hardy was like a greyhound out of the trap! And what an outstanding performance, rinsed with sheer brilliance, Lucas is no stranger to award winning, itโ€™s easy to see why.

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

As it was it was impossible to estimate how much time the award giving and other acts would take, I apologise if we wrongly assumed time was against us and lengthy speeches were deemed something unpredictable enough to encourage people to keep them short if at all. The original plan therefore was that our Devizes homegrown heroes, the teenage band which shook the rafters of this market town and deployed their exceptional talent to Bristol to further the phenomenon of Nothing Rhymes With Orange, were to play out until the end.

We finished earlier than expected, the barriers broke down, and there to help create a needed frenzy of excitement, ready and eager, was this successful Devizes export, for a hometown return like no other. Nothing Rhymes With Orange were mindblowingly fantastic before they left for Uni, now itโ€™s a monster.

I was ecstatic to see the guys again, and they threw everything into their solid performance, as they always do. They return to Devizes for the Arts Festival, something we wouldโ€™ve been singing from the highest tree about anyway, but after last Saturday, itโ€™s surely unmissable.

Iโ€™ve given my thanks already, Iโ€™d like to do it again, to all our performing acts, for you made the ceremony, you furnished it with your brilliance, and that was what the night was always supposed to be about; cheers!

Steatopygous go Septic

If you believe AI, TikTok and the rest of it all suppress Gen Zโ€™s outlets to convey anger and rage, resulting in a generation of anxiety and mental health concerns, I might take your point as marginally valid, but Iโ€™d add politely as I possibly could, โ€œhave you, perchance, had the pleasure of listening to Steatopygous? Theyโ€™re from Devizes, donโ€™t you know?!โ€ Then Iโ€™d await the pending detonation of a shocked expressionโ€ฆ..

Thatโ€™s punk, and what it set out to do decades ago, and that is the quality hidden within the rolling drums, raging guitars and screaming vocals of this homegrown riot grrrl four-piece who with their latest single Septic will shake the foundations for as far as itโ€™s willing to travel. Septic, if anything previous from Steatopygous will be the baseplate on how they move from here. Whilst it remains DIY, as it should, it has the produced balance of natural progression and leaves you anticipating whatโ€™s to come from this emerging band.

Image: Kiesha Films

Itโ€™s punk on a SmallTown Tigers level, in your face and demanding you pay attention.

On the theme of body image, it takes no prisoners. Fronted by Poppy Hillier with bassist Eliza Brindle, drummer Ewan Middleton and an additional Rufus on guitar who wrote the song, Steatopygous, youโ€™ve really gone and done it now; this is a pinnacle track to your development as a force to be reckoned with, this is outrageous, and I love it!

The Wurzels To Play At FullTone 2026!

If Devizesโ€™ celebrated FullTone Festival is to relocate to Whistley Roadโ€™s Park Farm for next summerโ€™s extravaganza, what better way to give it the rustic feel than The Wurzels, who have just been announced on the line-up?!

If Somersetโ€™s Scrumpy and Western genre has fermented longer than a cider press from folk roots, itโ€™s surely The Wurzels who brought mass attention to it with their number one parody of Melanieโ€™s Brand New Key, The Combine Harvester. The staggering thing about this is, it was in 1976, but whatโ€™s more staggering, is people are still singing it today, and likely will be at FullTone Festival on 11th & 12th July 2026!

Organiser of FullTone, Jemma Brown said of the booking, โ€œthere’s not much more we can say to that!โ€ But you know me, Iโ€™ve always got something to say, and Iโ€™m saying that is a fantastic surprise which only remains to add to the already brilliant show the orchestra and guest acts will deliver.

What else we do know at this early stage, is the huge fifty-piece orchestra will play through sets of  Holstโ€™s The Planets & Star Wars, a Symphonic Queen with Ricardo Afonso, The Best of Motown, an eighties spectacular and Devizes-own BBC radio DJ James Threlfall will be on the dance anthems.

If I wonder what songs the Wurzels will play, top choice has to be Iโ€™ll Never Get a Scrumpy Here, which contains the line, โ€œ’Cos you never get surprises livin’ in Devizes,โ€ and spurred my rant column of the same name, you might remember it. I did write to them to ask permission, they were too busy drinking cider to be in any way concerned. I asked if it was sly stab at our brewery, or that Devizes was as far eastward they favour to venture, but they explained it was used because it rhymed! Well, they’re venturing here in July, and if they give us the key, we can all have a brand new combine harvester.

Wiltshire Music Awards: Results and Ups and Downs

Well, we did it! I sincerely hope you had a great night at the first Wiltshire Music Awards as we filled the Devizes Corn Exchange with a cross-section of people involved in the music scene of Wiltshire, musicians and fans. Positive feedback already, and a few teething issues, noted, which we must take onboard and learn fromโ€ฆ.

But for those who unfortunately couldnโ€™t make it, I guess you are eager to hear the results. Letโ€™s do this easy bit first! But before we do, I ask you, please, to take a few issues into consideration. Firstly, there was a monumental process to arrange, coordinate and launch during and also months prior to the ceremony. From the voting process and organisation of a panel of judges, to decorating the tables and corresponding all those trophies to each category.

So many volunteered their time to help with this, and we are extremely grateful to them. Overall, the management of the whole process and ceremony was carried out by Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle Music Events. Eddie worked arduously on this project, and was dedicated to creating an extravagant event to be remembered. With the help of so many volunteers, myself included, stage tech and the staff of the Corn Exchange, I believe we achieved this to the best of our abilities, and a fantastic evening was had by most.

There should have been one more trophy, it shouldโ€™ve been big, extra shiny, and presented to Eddie for his dedication and the tireless work he put into this. Exhausted, Eddie fell ill a few days before the ceremony, but strode through it the best that he could. The end result of this was that he was rushed into hospital a few hours prior to the conclusion of the ceremony. I have heard from him this morning, and heโ€™s doing okay.

If you witnessed me on the sideline, rushing up and down the stairs like a headless chicken, it wasnโ€™t my step aerobics workout, it was because I was honouring my part as co-host on stage but attempting to coordinate the floor as well, as best as possible, as Ed seriously needed to take a step back. Whilst the beginning therefore went to plan, as the evening progressed we stumbled on issues, but I ask you to please take this into consideration if youโ€™re intending to criticise the evening on social media. I apologise for any breakdowns in communication, but the condition was out of our control and we strived through best we could.

Results

The results, then. Congratulations to everyone who bagged an award, commiserations to those who did not. To those unable to attend, we have trophies reserved for you and will arrange the best way to get them to you as soon as possible.

Best Venue. Sponsored by Pat Robertson of Trowbridge Motor Supplies ltd.

Runners Up: The Royal Oak, Pewsey. The Vic, Swindon.

Winner: The Three Horseshoes, Bradford-on-Avon.

Best DJ: Sponsored by Mark Anthony Burdge.

Runners Up: Maurice Menghini – DJ Mister M. Mark Lister of Fantasy Radio.

Winner: Paul Alexander of Solstice Sounds, This is How We Do It Entertainment.

Best Drummer.

Runners Up: Tom Gilkes. Callum Rawlings.

Winner: Jamie Oโ€™ Sullivan.

Best Bassist. Presented by Alex Morgan of Waldrop Salisbury Sounds.

Runners Up: Nick Gorman. Nick Beere.

Winner: Mark Turner.

Best Guitarist.

Runners Up: Alastair Sneddon. Nick Beere.

Winner: Jolyon Dixon.

Best Duo.

Runners Up: Jolyon Dixon & Rachel Sinnetta. The Sylvertones.

Winner: Matchbox Mutiny.

Best Covers Band. Sponsored by Simon Woolley of The Three Crowns, Devizes.

Runners Up: Pinky & The Slapcats. The Unpredictables.

Winner: The Brit-Pop Boys.

Best Original Band: Sponsored By Peggy-Sue Ford of Donโ€™t Stop the Music on Swindon 105.5 Radio.

Runners Up: Nothing Rhymes With Orange. Burn The Midnight Oil.

Winner: Talk in Code.

Best Tribute Act.

Runners Up: Painted Bird. BC/DC.

Winner: Mick Jogger & The Stones Experience.

Best Female Artist.

Runners Up: Sammi Evans. Rosie Jay.

Winner: Ruby Darbyshire.

Best Male Artist. Presented by Lesley Scholes of Fantasy Radio.

Runners Up: Lucas Hardy. Vince Bell.

Winner: George Wilding.

Best Original Song.

Runners Up: I Donโ€™t Give a Damn by Rosie Jay. Do I Really Have The Blues by JP Oldfield.

Winner: All In by Talk in Code.

Best Instrumentalist.

Runners Up: Ruby Darbyshire. Andrew Hurst.

Winner: Jolyon Dixon.

Rising Star New Comer.

Runners Up: Ruby Darbyshire. Rosie Jay.

Winner: JP Oldfield.

Best Vocalist.

Runners Up: Chris Stevens. Lucas Hardy.

Winner: Rachel Sinnetta.

There were four special awards given out on the evening which didnโ€™t receive runner-up places as according to the information given to the hosts. If there was an oversight about this, we apologise.

Outstanding Contribution to The Wiltshire Music Scene was won by Colin Holton of Salisbury Live.

Outstanding Contribution to Music in the Community was won by Jo Baines Robbins.

A Special Award was given to Wiltshire Hop & Harmony, The Wotton Bassett Dementia Choir. The Second Special Award was presented to Brian Mundy of BMS Stage Tech.

A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Peter Lamb.

Ruby Darbyshire opened the evening with a bagpipe song and two others, as a surprise special guest.

We also had live performances from Nothing Rhymes With Orange, Burn The Midnight Oil, Lucas Hardy, Matchbox Mutiny, George Wilding, and The Britpop Boys. Due to technical issues, Jolyon Dixon and Rachel Sinnetta were unable to perform.

I would like to sincerely thank our panel of judges.

And, Ruby and Brian Darbyshire

The Britpop Boys

Burn The Midnight Oil

Matchbox Mutiny

Lucas Hardy

Jolyon Dixon & Rachel Sinnetta

George Wilding

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

Sponsors:

Val Bewley VB Arts Studios

Alex Organ Wardrop Salisbury Sounds

Colin Howton Salisbury Live

Pam Robertson – Trowbridge Motor Supplies

Simon Woolley – Three Crowns, Devizes

Peggy-Sue Ford – Swindon 105.5 Radio

Mark Jones & Lesley Scholes- Fantasy Radio

And a sponsor and our host DJ Mark Anothony and wife Sandra.

Thanks to Anya and Marc of Soupchick.

To Ian and all the staff at the Corn Exchange

To Brian Mundy and BMS Stage Tech.

To everyone who got behind this, I thank you.

Anthony & Jemma Brown for helping us set up.

Charlotte & Moray MacDonald for help on the front desk. 

But massive thanks goes to Eddie Prestidge and Stone Circle Music Events

And finally, thank you for coming, supporting the local live music scene.   

Wiltshire Music Awards Begins with George Wilding at The Three Crowns

This afternoon sees the inaugural grand ceremony of Stone Circle Music Eventsโ€™ Wiltshire Music Awards taking place at the Devizes Corn Exchange. Itโ€™s a sellout show celebrating our countyโ€™s music scene, with a lot of local acts performing between the announcements of the results of a public voting system. The legend who is Mr George Wilding kicked off proceedings with what was supposed to be a warm-up party last night at The Three Crownsโ€ฆ..

The temperature dropped and the rain came in, and if that didnโ€™t make the term โ€œwarm-up partyโ€ seem a smidgen dubious, Iโ€™m not sure if anyone else attending the awards other than myself, Jolyon Dixon setting up the PA and George himself made it to the evening; best guess theyโ€™re saving themselves for the big day today! Nevertheless, it was a fair turnout and those who did come were treated to Gerogeโ€™s human jukebox show and came up trumps, singing and dancing the October chill away.

Equally ambiguous as the warm-up is the term โ€œhuman jukeboxโ€ to describe Gerogeโ€™s show, for if a jukebox doesnโ€™t have the song you want it cannot play it. George has a plethora of classics in his repertoire, the audience are encouraged to shout them out, and should they request something George hasnโ€™t a handle on, heโ€™ll attempt it anyway, play a riff of it, and declare he doesnโ€™t know it in his droll way. He might try a medley of the parts he does know with other songs of the same artist, he might look to the audience to help with lyrics, and if all this fails it becomes part of his amusing and interactive show.

Far from a man with a guitar and a setlist who frowns at the idea of requests, does his shift and pulls out. George took no break, played overtime, and seemingly adored every minute. I gather this was his mainstay while working the cruise ships and imagine the cruisers delightedly returning each evening, but such voyages for George are on the backburner and while he doesnโ€™t mind running a covers show, heโ€™s otherwise in the studio with producer Jolyon Dixon building a catalogue of original tracks in which he is toying with the idea of releasing as an album.

But the Three Crowns love a covers show, and George delivered such in this interactive way there can be no arguing his brilliance to entertain and his skill as a musician. So, should an audience member request, as one did, The Eaglesโ€™ Hotel California and he ponders itโ€™s a bit slow to fit with the pace of previous songs, heโ€™ll up the tempo. An apt Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head opened the show, and George will set the ball rolling, but once the audience catch the drift, heโ€™s never without a request, and will either attempt the most obscure or tell them in the most charming way that theyโ€™re really testing him!

As it was I requested The Ronnettesโ€™ Be My Baby, aware the soulful doowop earworm was a personal favourite George used to regularly put in his set and put his own stamp on. He nodded in fond remembrance, and the regulars approved, dancing on the cobblestones. But I only asked for one, the rest left up to the modest crowd, really feeling they were part of something unique and special, because thatโ€™s Georgeโ€™s ability and thatโ€™s what has made him one of our fondest favourites on the circuit for many a moon. โ€œTotal ledge,โ€ I understand is the gen z terminology! 

I cannot tell you if he is to receive an award tonight, but I believe he deserves to; I will announce the winners here as soon as I recover tonight, for those who cannot make it! If youโ€™ve not got a ticket for the awards, thereโ€™s a whole list of events happening on our event calendar; just look at it! Just look and see how many are music gigs, and realise the strength of our local music scene. That is what we celebrate tonight, and yeah, George will be singing a song, along with many others. Iโ€™m on curtain duty! See you there!   

Wiltshire Council in Turmoilโ€ฆApparently!

Has anyone else noticed this media trend, or is it just me? There was a time, back when Tories held the majority at County Hall, when I felt like Michael Knight, a lone crusader championing criticisms of the council. Now the Lib Dems have taken command, every man and his blog are jumping the bandwagon claiming Wiltshire Council has descended into chaos and mayhem. From Kenny J Plebb’s local gutter press to… well, I’d expect no less from Newsquestโ€ฆ..

Maybe it has, but more likely, it’s media bias showing its true colours. What I’ve seen coming from the council since the takeover has been mostly positive. Roads being repaired for the first time since the Roman invasion of Britain. Recreation centres and town halls are being renovated and reopening. Theyโ€™ve reversed the censorship regulations placed on White Horse Publications, such as Melksham News. Wraggโ€™s Visit Wiltshire gets funded again, to bring back that profitable thing called โ€œtourismโ€ you’ve probably forgotten all about. Disabled folk don’t need to trot four miles to get a loaf of bread from the shop. Wiltshire parents and carers are getting free courses, kids can swim free again. They approved a new Air Quality Supplementary Planning Document and switched to an electric fleet of vehicles.

To me, this sounds far better than the previous council who laughed off six million pounds of taxpayer’s dosh which went mysteriously missing on their watch, of which the media conveniently swept under the carpet, spent four million on an unnecessary PCC re-election after their first attempt was a drunk-driving huntsmaster, just to maintain Conservative presence in the force, couldn’t fix a pothole yet proposed a six billion pound project to tunnel underneath our most famous ancient monument, and awarded their families top roles in the council.

Yet the media will have us believe it’s all falling apart, despite progress clearly being made, that they’re hiding secrets despite holding public forums, and rewarding themselves massive pay rises, despite it was only allowances in line with inflation, and their wage not being great to begin with for the work they do and criticisms they have to face, kind of bringing us full circle!

Let’s face it, if there’s any turmoil within Wiltshire Council it’s the few remaining Conservatives hanging on like a milk tooth on a nerve, bitter about losing, and the ten stronghold Weebles who insist we should forget about human extinction and convert to fascism.

But whoa, Conservatives completely hijacked a motion set by Liberal Democrat portfolio holder for arts and culture, Liz Alstrom, supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, and it was sadly rejected. Meanwhile, Reform councillors are singing from the rafters with big sheets of wool to pull over our eyes that they didn’t vote for a pay rise, but took it anyway, and virtual-signalled how righteous and humble they pretend to be; this is an educated state, not a trip a Trumpton!

Provided a dedicated Council is working hard to create better services for us all, perhaps they deserve a bit more pocket money, but should a councillor temper-tantrum against unity and equality, because someone likes to wear Cuban heels, or is a shade too dark for their liking, and resists progress because it doesnโ€™t fit their narrow-minded prejudice rhetoric, maybe a sack of coal is all they deserve from Santa this year.

Take Lib Dem Cllr Jon Hubbard, for example. He might look like heโ€™s doing a paper round, but the guy has done more good for this county than an entire Conservative Vogon Constructor Fleet! Give this dude a rise, so he can get himself a new fleece! Left to the opponents poor children would drown, then who will deliver their future Hadley Rose luxury home furnishings, huh?!

We all wouldn’t mind a pay rise, and probably wouldn’t refuse one either, unless we were funded by Russian oligarchs. Basically it’s a whole lot of hot air from the deceitful Reform ten, who it seems, from locations they’ve miraculously achieved a majority, would rather spend thousands on flags they can shag, than social care, road safety or education facilities.  

Yet Calne Reform nut-job, Cllr Augusta Urquhart-Nicholls insists with that age-old malapropistic ultranationalist pufferied slogan, that theyโ€™ll โ€œMake Wiltshire Great Again,โ€ when most of its residents would agree, itโ€™s never not been great, just a little misguided since the Conservatives donned the captainโ€™s cap twenty-six years ago.

And being most of the reject Musk androids called Reform councillors merely shifted their rosettes from indigo to sky blue to keep their jobs, perhaps what we need to allow this Lib Dem majority is a little bit of time to repair the damage, get a nice trim and organise themselves, before we burn down Bythesea Roadโ€™s Reichstag, arrest anyone opposing and remove their civil rights, huh?!

But what we must definitely do, is stop believing the media claptrap and propaganda; โ€œWiltshire Council in Turmoil,โ€ you say? Go paint a roundabout. Like it ever wasnโ€™t before?!