Author: Darren Worrow

Showcase of Reggae Perfection; Lone Ark meets the 18th Parallel

Just as Afrika Bambaataa was โ€œlooking for the perfect beat,โ€ Iโ€™m one whoโ€™s seldom content with the direction reggae has shifted to in the modern era, and long to discover something more akin to the finale of its golden age, when Marley chanted his songs of freedom to a liberated Zimbabwe, Jah Shaka shook the rafters and Linton Kwesi Johnson poetically versed an English insurgence.

Alongside international acts such as Spanish The Emeterians, or Hollie Cook closer to us, Switzerlandโ€™s Fruits Records is that rare outpost still defending the ethos of that militant period in reggae, and if Iโ€™ve used the term โ€œreggae perfection,โ€ to define their wonderful outpourings before, this one takes the phrase to a whole new dizzy height.

Out tomorrow, 3rd September, Showcase Vol1, cannot be compared with any other reggae album Iโ€™ve heard of recent; it simply wouldnโ€™t be fair on the others. Iโ€™d better pitch this against classics; Bob Marley & The Wailersโ€™ Survival, Burning Spearโ€™s Marcus Garvey, Black Uhuruโ€™s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and a particular favourite of mine, Misty in Roots, Live at the Counter Eurovision 79, in order to rank it equitably, fi true.

Probably the most respected and sought-after producer of the European reggae scene of the last decade, Roberto Sรกnchez takes his place behind the microphone to deliver a new album as a singer under pseudonym Lone Ark, and is backed by Fruitsโ€™ in-house band, The 18th Parallel, and itโ€™s quite simply, a sublime combination.

Sublime because it honours the Jamaican roots reggae tradition, with bells on. To put in perspective these six tracks, with dubplate counterparts, is to accept Iโ€™m sent so much music they occasionally get played more than once, but Showcase has been on repeat for the last month, and it still makes me tingle with delight, and militantly march while washing up the dishes!

It just has all the elements of said reggae perfection, heavy bass, divine one-drops, scorching riddims and well-penned lyrics of righteousness. The creativity of the sound engineer and the musicians is freely expressed, and the melody is tight, allowing all elements to flow in an amalgamation which sizzles under the grill.

Without being preachy or spiritual, thereโ€™s balanced virtue in the words. Starting revolutionary in citing youth, with the rousing line of Defend; โ€œthe rights of our brothers and sisters who cannot defend themselves,โ€ through the yin-yang revelation in the solid Snake in the Grass. Side B, however, starts with Build an Ark, talks of family values in everyday activities, and โ€œGet You,2 projects positivity to defeat oppression, akin to One Love. And in a summary, it creates a tenet comparable to the words of Marley, along with the sound of Sly & Robbie at their peak of Black Uhuru. And Iโ€™m sorry, but you cannot beat that.

This album is a treasure, all reggae fans need in their lives.

Check out my reggae and ska show, every Friday from 10pm GMT

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Milton Jones; Deadpan in Devizes

Mock the Weekโ€™s recurring panellist and Radio 4 comedian Milton Jones stood on the stage of Devizes Corn Exchange on Friday, with the setter, โ€œitโ€™sโ€ฆ

Letโ€™s Go Swimming with Poppy Rose

Two years ago we fondly reviewed Iโ€™m Ready Now, a debut EP from Bathโ€™s Poppy Rose. I praised her unique take, her thoughtful prose andโ€ฆ

Wiltshire Museum; A Gem in our Town

Our rambling reporter, T.B.D Rose, hangs up her walking boots for a moment, to enjoy a guided tour of our town gem, The Wiltshire Museumโ€ฆ.

Opened in 1873, Wiltshire Museum, on 41 Long Street Devizes, isn’t much to look at from the front but holds a nationally renowned world of wonders in its walls.

Walking me through the basics of the museum’s most famed collections was its director of over 12 years, David Dawson.

David often finds that although the museum is the major attraction for visitors, the reception with locals is a different story: they often take a โ€œoh yeah, I went to the museum 30 years ago, there’s not much there, it’s not for meโ€ attitude, and that it’s as simply โ€œa tiny museum full of cobwebs and it’s stuck in a part of town they don’t go to.โ€

As the age-old adage goes, it’s easier to look at the outside than it is the inside.

The Assize Court

For these reasons and to save another treasured part of local history, the museum is working with Assize Court Trust in a long-term plan to make the abandoned Devizes Assize Court the new home of Wiltshire Museum.

Following a consultation this time last year, a hundred-page report of what could engage visitors was produced. It doesn’t differ much from the current set up of the museum but will probably make it worth ยฃ2,000000 to the local economy, more than twice it’s worth currently.

Although he sees the enormous potential once the museum moves to the Assizes Court, David wants people to visit the museum now and hopes to reach our local readership.

So on to the museum!

Stonehenge and the Bronze Age

Having started our interview in a part of the building that was once a Georgian grammar school, it turns out the museum is in fact five buildings knocked together, including two Georgian town houses and a link building.

We begin on the ground floor covering the Bronze Age which was once a 1980s art gallery extension, the floor having originally been converted into the museum in 1872.

David gives me the rundown.

“What we’re best known for is our prehistory collection, particularly the Bronze Age, so that’s the time from about 2200 BC to 1500 BC, and what everyone thinks of at that time is Stonehenge.” The world-famous monument that needs no introduction.

For people looking for something closer to home, โ€œStonehenge seems a long way away, we do have objects from a burial on top of Roundway, Roundway down, which has the largest copper dagger ever found in Britain. And that’s a much earlier burial that’s about 2300 BC. And we think he, the chap who was buried there, probably grew up on the continent. But came across and was buried here.โ€

The objects he was buried with are currently in a traveling exhibition in the US, having been at four venues so far it will eventually be going to New Zealand and Australia.

โ€œAt the moment we’re also lending to two exhibitions in Germany, and that’s Stonehenge and the Bronze Age. And come early next year we’ll be lending some of our stuff to the British museum for a major exhibition about prehistoric Europe, because we have the best Bronze Age collection in the country.โ€

โ€œSo other museums have to come to us to cover the Bronze Age.โ€

As it’s important to note, David eloquently explains away a common misconception about our ancestors: โ€œMost people think people at the time were like Fred Flintstone bashing each other over the head with clubs, no! These guys were really, really sophisticated.โ€

I won’t spoil it any further for you but this part of the museum is certainly the place for archaeology buffs.

The Kingdom of the Saxons

Here you can learn all about the Saxon people and the coming of Christianity and the branches of the Church, the most often noted one founded by St. Nicholas and brought to our shores by St. Augustine.

In addition to this often-referenced part of our religious development, David points out a less commonly known factor, “what everyone forgets is that the Irish Church survived from the late Roman period and there were missionaries coming across from Ireland, and so in Malmesbury for example there was an Irish monk who founded a monastery, before the St. Augustine type of missionary arrived.โ€

Among many other colourful characters, you can also learn the life story of a Christian woman of high status, who may have been an Abbes and possibly even the daughter of a King of Wessex.

The Story of Devizes

An aptly named section which, as David put it, โ€œdoes what it says on the can.โ€

Beginning from, well, the earliest beginning to prehistory and the Romans (there having been Roman settlements here) through to Medieval town and castle, and a wonderful quirkily constructed model by John Girvan (our local tour guide, history buff and ghost walk host) of what the town may have looked like.

And also on show is a book of charters given to the town and made in the Tudor Period, which you’ll see is beautifully illustrated.

โ€œWe also talk about the story of The Battle of Roundway, and we’ve also got some cannon balls found in the town, musket balls found in the battle site,” etc.

There’s also a section on the old Prison (the museum even has one of its thick wooden barred doors) and the Asylum.

“There’s going to be a Channel Four program that’s going to dig up bits of the Prison from people’s back gardens,” says David, that the museum is involved in, which will start essentially in the second week of September.

Then you can see the majestic mayoral robe from the 1880s, we probably had our first mayor around 12000.

Fun fact if you’re a Devizes School Student: you’ll see a mourning ring in the cabinet beside the robe, it contains a lock of hair from the lady in the portrait that hangs in the school entrance.

In the next room David told me the heart-warming story of a boy and his toy submarine (now on display in the cabinet), made by prisoners of war who had befriended him while they were in Swindon building houses.

โ€œThis toy submarine was made by guys in the camp and given to a young lad in Swindon. The guys in the camp were being taken to Swindon to help build houses and they made friends with this lad and they gave him that as a present.โ€

The Library

With over 20,000 books and 20,000 archaeological journals, 30,000 photos and lots of archival material, and working with “over 30 postgraduate researchers every year and over 10 universities,” it’s not only a Library but also a research hub.

For anyone wanting to look through the archive, “pretty much everything we’ve got is searchable through our online database, it’s got images of everything, I think we’ve got about 15-20,000 images.โ€

The library’s archive of books, some donated by authors and others bought by the museum, covers the entire county.

I bid David adieu and thanked him for the informative tour: Bear in mind this was only a tour of the highlights, there’s far more in store for visitors.

Wiltshire Museum is funded by ยฃ12,780 in grant from Wiltshire Council and ยฃ4,000 from our Town Council, but they’re worth 3 quarters of a million pounds to the local economy, because as David illustrates, “when people come here, most of our visitors are making a special visit to Devizes to come to the Museum. Then of course they’re staying in B&Bs or hotels and spending money in pubs and shops and restaurants.โ€

Believe me, it’s not the boring, fuddy-duddy cobwebby museum you may remember. So, I for one reckon it’s time to show our support and appreciation for Wiltshire Museum!

Us locals ought to pay our prized museum a visit now and then, especially families so our kids can engage with the exhibits and have a sense of their history.

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Manning Lifeboats, In Devizes!

Manning the lifeboats with Devizes Arts Festival in landlocked Devizes last night, and I didnโ€™t even get a sticker. I did shake a tailfeather outโ€ฆ

Devizes; Full of Scummy Mummies!

Guys out on โ€œthe pullโ€ on Thursday in Devizes were cut short. The Scummy Mummies were back in town, and youโ€™ve never heard so manyโ€ฆ

A Gallery of Rogues: Devizes Musical Theatre is Back!

A Gallery of Rogues, huh? Can’t be, they look okay to me; it’s always the quiet one. I’m just pleased to hear the Devizes Musical Theatre is back and coming to a Market Lavington Community Hall near you!

Presenting a complete performance of “Trial by Jury,” W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan together witha collection of other ditties, performed by members of the cast, and directed by Laura Deacon and Susan Braunton.

On the 21st October 1965, Devizes Musical Theatre (formerly named ‘Devizes Light Operatic Society’)ย  was born. A society committed to the arts, with an emphasis on fun, team work and a love for all things musical. Since, ‘DMT’ has grown into the talented, passionate and friendly society that it is today.

The society performs two full-scale productions each year with a number of concerts and showcases alongside these. In two sections; youth (‘DMT Footlights’) or adult, aged 8 or 80 they have something for you! On stage, behind the scenes or front of house alike, they are always keen to welcome new people.

Rehearsals began in a back garden and they’re now ready to bring you a large slice of G&S, followed by a pot pourri of songs. A light-hearted evening’s entertainment for all the family, on 11th September. Doors at 7:30pm, ยฃ7 payable on the door. Or email chairman@devizesmusicaltheatre.co.uk to reserve your tickets.

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Pride Where Pride is Needed

Pride month finds me wondering if Pride events are actually needed more in our smaller market towns where awareness and acceptance is perhaps lesser thanโ€ฆ

After Ruby, Barrelhouse and RowdeFest 26

Images by Jess Worrow A busy late spring weekend across the county, with major events from Bradford-on-Avon to Swindon, but I’m bringing quality acts Iโ€ฆ

Devizes Street Festival; Black Rat Monday Lives onโ€ฆ.

There are two giant kangaroos hopping through Long Street in Devizes, one bantering to a passer-by in a mock-Aussie accent, โ€œno, I’m not into bondage, you can’t tie me down, sport!โ€

Meanwhile a gypsy woman riding a quad-cycle with a double bass attached follows a dapper man in top hat and tails, playing a piano on wheels, adorned with flowery ornaments and mirrors, past the Nationwide on Maryport Street. This isn’t your archetypal afternoon in town, this is a scattered post-lockdown version of DOCAโ€™s beloved Devizes Street Festival, and while this isn’t going to be quite as simple for me to angle this time around, it is, unarguably, something fantastic.

With the main stage outside the Corn Exchange missing this year, there was no centrepiece binding the annual event together, therefore from the outside looking in, one could perceive it being all rather mishmash. I feel this was intentional, to avoid crowding, and a wise move considering the circumstances. The crucial point is, the magic was still there, for all ages; side stalls, street food, fairground rides, static and wandering circus acts and street theatre all played as colourful and lively part of the street festival as it ever did, it was just dispersed around the town centre.

If the lack of live music was a shame this time around, least it drew attention to side attractions. I’ve a particular penchant for the offbeat street theatre, fondly reminding me of sunny Glastonbury festivals of yore. It is, then, precisely this, and the variety of side attractions, especially catering for children which spells out to me, this is so much more than the perceived monumental piss-up locals dub, โ€œBlack Rat Monday,” with its monocultured ethos of cider-swigging debauchery.

However, and this is a big however, if DOCA wishes to cast off this label, that is it’s prerogative to do so, but they should note the nickname is not to be taken seriously, it is all part of a running joke in true west country fashion, an inward banter of ironic overstatement. Folk know it’s more than the sum of downing as much cider as they can, that’s the joke. Backside of the coin, though, a large part of the community does want exactly that. Far from loutish behaviour, the spirit of eat, drink and be merry is imbedded in our history.

But, as of yet, there’s no indication DOCA wish to cast the namesake off, being despite informing The British Lion, after their mainstay position serving the apple poison about-centre for a mere couple of decades, that their presence is no longer required, they themselves sold Black Rat cider solely other than Pimmโ€™s, at their own bar. I sigh at this, considered titling this piece, “a shame,” but supposed later, DOCA’s overheads must be ginormous, laying such a memorable and legendary event on for free, scraping a tad back from sales of said cider plays a small part and the need to do this is understandable.

I’m impartial on this one, not here to cast accusations or play a blame game, taking on board, and agreeing with much of the hearsay and rumours revolving through the natives, though. Local politics isnโ€™t my bag, if there’s monopolising tactics at the root of this, I think that’s unfair and certainly not in the community spirit of the event, at all.

And there it lies, in a word; community. Keep the “international” in the title, by all means, I, and I believe I speak for most of us when I say bringing the worldwide stage to our doorsteps with a plethora of top world music acts is a wonderful idea and we love DOCA for it, but this doubles-up, and always did, as a festival for the community. DOCA abide by this with plentiful locally sourced side attractions, but personally I think we need to honour local talent too.

I’d welcome artistic director Loz to give me a bell come the time for booking acts, and be it from my own personal judgement or a Facebook poll, ask me to name two local acts who deserve to be on the main stage billing. And at least two do, those who’ve excelled through these challenging times and take a little piece of Devizes with them around the country. If it’s a mouthful to call it, โ€œthe Devizes International Community Street Festival,โ€ then just โ€œDevizes Street Festivalโ€ will suffice.

Of course, DOCA did take heed, and allowed a secondary local music stage in 2019, of which Pete and Jackie of Vinyl Realm completely funded and organised. This was something beautiful, and became a key feature of the street festival that year. But no matter how large this goes, it will always feel like a bolt-on, when what I’d really appreciate is the pick of local talent up on that main stage.

There, said my piece, and don’t wish to end on a sour note, not that it was, just constructive criticism. Children are trampolining in Sidmouth Street, while a couple of, what can only be described as “rock n roll slappers” entice passers-by to peak into their ‘peepshow’ wooden box at the other end. Limbo dancers outside the town hall, with a man rolling around inside an oversized metal hull-a-hoop, and a giant exoskeleton puppet wanders down the Brittox, stopping to sniff the hanging baskets. How can I possibly be critical about any of this? Rising against the challenges, DOCA made an absolutely fantastic show of colour, curiosity and entertainment, amidst vibrant atmosphere, this is a town-wide show unlike any other and should never be taken for granted.

I tip my hat to DOCA as a samba band play by the Market Place cross, but I feel impelled to check out the British Lion, all things considered, and that lengthy beer garden sure is alive with punters, those loyal to the Black Rat. Tom Harris, Pat Ward, Claire et all, play unplugged as a barbeque for Dorothy House sizzles and friends gather to mark their appreciation of โ€œthe British.โ€ And that is the true meaning of “community,” it doesn’t need props and extravagant shows, it just takes hospitality and compromise.

That said I’m pleased to see those trampolines, extending the street festival out from the Market Place, as it’s a stone throw from the welcoming pub, and combined it into the event rather than making it feel out on a limb, and for that, for the whole bank holiday weekend, what with Full Tone frenzy too, Devizes is truly great, when it works together. The British Lion is an institution here in the โ€˜Vizes, the reliably stable free house has stood the test of time with little need to fix its unbroken charm. This is the only regular gig on their calendar which sees them gallivanting from their bar and making an appearance in the Market Place, something which has become equally as traditional as the event itself. It is a shame not to have them present this year. Competition is healthily, remember, a range of breweries can compromise and find a solution, of that, I’m certain, and look forward to the possibility it will be so in future years.

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Phil, Jamie and Tamsin Return to The Fold

With duty calling in the wee hours of each Saturday, itโ€™s got to be something special to drag me off the sofa on a Friday evening, and whilst Iโ€™d rather not provide only half a gig review, this has to be said. Phil Cooper invited some friends along to The Fold in Devizes yesterday, aโ€ฆ

Chatting with Ruby Darbyshire

There’s the story of one newfound fan who, after her performance, asked Ruby how many copies of her CDs she had, bought the lot and distributed them freely throughout the audience! Ruby Darbyshire has that effect, seemingly wherever she goesโ€ฆโ€ฆ Iโ€™m thrilled Ruby is playing RowdeFest on 30th May. On 21st June she supports Chantelโ€ฆ

Sheer Music Announce Devizes Gig Frank Turner Bootleg Cassette

Itโ€™s 2006, and the charts are awash with what will become known as landfill indie. Somewhere in backwater Townsville UK, an already road worn veteran is making their furtive steps into a solo career that, unbeknown to them, will have a major and lasting impact on the UK music sceneโ€ฆ..ย ย  Frank Turner is already famousโ€ฆ

Shindig Festival Goes Ahead, with Bob Vylan

After months of speculation, controversy, and local media bias, The Shindig Festival at Malmesbury’s Charton Park has been given the green lightโ€ฆ.. Despite Newsquest flogging this dead horse, last week Wiltshire Police said they have no concerns about Bob Vylan playing at the music festival. Regardless of the decision of the law, the South Cotswoldโ€ฆ

Wife Cooks Husband in Devizes!

A wife cooked her husband on Thursday evening in Devizes. I watched the whole thing unfold, but would have politely passed off any offering of a plate, in favour of my funky KitKat Chunky (three for a quid at Derek’s Deals!) What do you know? Iโ€™m way too much like Kenneth for my own liking,โ€ฆ

Can You Fill Your Music Festival Quota, in Devizes?

What was once counterculture hedonism is now as mainstream as a package holiday. In the UK music festivals are fashionable, approved and plentiful. Ten years ago I might have added โ€œprofitableโ€ to those observations, but with the market flooded, โ€œriskyโ€ might be a more suitable word. For the punter though, it means options, but ifโ€ฆ

New Devizes Mayor; Congratulations, Vanessa!

Three short years ago, we first spoke with Vanessa Tanner, campaigning in the Devizes Town Council by-election for Devizes East. In those few minutes, I knew Vanessa was the person for the role, and we congratulated her for winning her seat for Devizes Guardians. Today, we congratulate her for becoming the new Mayor of Devizesโ€ฆ.โ€ฆ

Should Wiltshire Council Fly the Pride Flag?

Wiltshire Council will discuss granting itself permission to fly the Pride Progress flag outside County Hall and other Wiltshire Council offices during Pride Month. The proposal raises the usual heated online debate. The question is, should Wiltshire Council be allowed to fly the Pride Flag? Save them the effort of a lengthy and costly meeting,โ€ฆ

Full-Tone Orchestra Give It Whatโ€™s For!

As the norm now is phones held high above the crowds, as us elders once did with lighters, they capture the moment on film. But Iโ€™m neglecting the trend to record wobbly, intoxicated videos, as they never do justice to the sound. There is no local event in which this is truer than yesterdayโ€™s Full-Tone Festival, because thereโ€™s simply no sound quite as immense and impacting as a full orchestra, despite my juvenile perceptions of it, of which I contemplate exactly how Full-Tone has turned this on its headโ€ฆโ€ฆ

If what Pete Tong did with his Heritage Orchestra was clever, it wasnโ€™t entirely original. As a nipper Iโ€™d laugh at my dad, when heโ€™d play his โ€œHooked on Classicsโ€ long player. Snickered because futurism had gone audio in the early eighties, rendering the mere word โ€œorchestraโ€ lame in our adolescent minds.

Though classical purists got their knickers in a twist that ELO arranger Louis Clark was conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra using a LinnDrum drum machine, it reintroduced classical music to a new generation. And when they released โ€œHooked on Rock Classics,โ€ into the series, dad was well and truly off on one; thank heavens we hadnโ€™t progressed to a cassette deck in the Ford Cortina yet!

But if I laughed at him, misunderstanding the richness of classical music in an era of synth, post-punk electronica, I had a dirty secret of my own. Upstairs us kids had a record deck of our own, on which I would slip on a 1978 Geoff Love album, โ€œClose Encounters of The Third Kind and Other Disco Galactic Themes,โ€ which, as the title suggests, Loveโ€™s orchestra breathed disco into John Williams movie scores. I was consciously side-stepping the datum, this was also created by an orchestra, for want of my own Star Wars-fevered fascination with all things sci-fi.

In reminiscing about the album, as I roughly fell out of bed this morning, it progressed to thinking of the obsession the characters had with the shape of Crook Countyโ€™s Devilโ€™s Tower in Spielbergโ€™s Close Encounters of The Third Kind, enough to sculpt it out mashed potato. For I suspect folk of Devizes will awaken this morning with a similar subconscious obsession for an irregular arch shape, rather like the photo below!

Like the character Roy Neary, have you the discomforting desire to make a return to the site of this strange shape, like an unwarranted pilgrimage?! If so, you were an attendee of The Full-Tone Festival yesterday, and itโ€™s perfectly natural and understanding to have been captivated by its shear magnificence. And in the history of events in Devizes, the magnitude of what The Full-Tone Orchestra achieved yesterday will forever be imprinted.

Yeah, I know, right, it came with a price-tag, one which objectors were not discouraged from doing as they threatened, and pitching chairs on the Little Green opposite to admire the happening from afar. Unfortunately, while you could hear it tingling as far away as Morrisons carpark, if you did this you did not get the full capacity or benefit of said magnificence. The acoustics up close to the funnelled stage was something extraordinary, with superior pyrotechnics the lasers and light show was professional standard and truly, locally unique. This competence alone, fairly showed where your money had been wisely spent.

It was a vast evolutionally step from the free event in the Market Place a couple of years ago. If the all-positive feedback from the crowds wasnโ€™t enough to convince you, the delighted expression of artistic director, Jemma Brown said it all. I caught up with her for a brief word, where we discussed the logistics of the actual orchestra, explaining to me there were some sixty-five musicians onstage at any one time, ninety-five operating over the weekend, some of who played the entire shebang, while others swapped on a rota. A monumental operation, which as a punter appeared to function like clockwork.

I did, back in the spring, not include this event in a piece highlighting local festivals hopefully going ahead, and this bought an objection online which I justified under my definition of the word โ€œfestivalโ€ being an event with multiple happenings by a variety of artists and performers, ergo making this more concert than festival, and I stick by my justification. Although, while it was one โ€œactโ€ said act was manyfold, bringing in a wealth of musicians, plus side stalls were adequate to warrant this of festival proportions, and today, Sunday, the show will host some other acts, including Pete Lambโ€™s Heartbeats, jazz singer Archie Combe and The Red Bandits. So, yeah, all that is debatable, but one thing for sure, whatever you want to pigeonhole this event as, thereโ€™s no denying, it was fantastic.

Beginning with classical, they marched through Gershwin, Holst et all with unrivalled passion, and swiftly moved onto iconic movie themes, which despite my aforementioned adoration for eighties sci-fi, I found the Jurassic Park theme the most poignant, its ambience hung in the air as the chitchat and everyday goings-on sustained, like a T-Rex invasion was looming on Devizes Green!

Eighties classic pop arrived around dinnertime, I returned to the scene to shudder at Rick Astleyโ€™s Never Gonna Give You Up, though while this may not be my idea of eighties classic pop, given the diverse age demographic I digest many here didnโ€™t live through it, and such a hit was defensible because of this! But tracks by Bowie, Blondie and Toto were welcomed, particularly Chris Underwoodโ€™s vocals on Ultravoxโ€™s Vienna.

If the eighties section bought about eagerness of post-lockdown dancers, the crowd flocked to the stage for the finale as dusk set in over a warm evening. Time for our Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra contrast, as the stage blew the sky high and hands were raised for this explosive climax of their hailed dance and club classics. And yes, if you picked me out of the darkness, I was giving it some like I was twenty again, with a bunch of twenty-somethings who were never there to witness the rave revolution first-hand, which was remarkable, if something of a tribulation these, what were considered at the time, throw-away tunes in the natural passage of progression, age has become me and these are now โ€œclassicsโ€ too!

Ah, well, you canโ€™t stop the hands of time, just enjoy it while it lasts, and you can still get tickets on the door for today’s Fulltone Music Festival, on a first come, first served basis, just head on over to the entrance, by the traffic lights on Nursteed Road.

The Full-Tone orchestra really raised the bar of local events last night, if you missed it, thereโ€™s still time to catch up. And, Iโ€™d advise, if you did attend yesterday, have baked potatoes rather than mash today!

Please click here and buy our wonderful compilation album of local music, in aid of Julia’s House

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M3G, De-Anchored

At the end of last year Chippenham singer-songwriter M3G released the single Rooks. I felt it set her bar at a whole new higher level.โ€ฆ

Ready for RowdeFest?

Not long now, for Rowdefest! Which, as the name suggests, is in Rowde, near Devizes, on Saturday 30th May, and is a free, community spiritedโ€ฆ

Whatโ€™s Happening in September?

Thatโ€™s it, one big blowout of a bank holiday weekend and August is kaput. Nights drawing in, the fall will be here before you can say โ€œwas that it, summer?โ€ Given last years blazing heatwave, while we were couped up, this summerโ€™s been comparatively damp, you couldโ€™ve have made it up. There were lots of great things to do, and that doesnโ€™t show signs of slowing through next month.

So, check in and scroll down to see whatโ€™s happening this bank holiday, whereโ€™s thereโ€™s more than enough just in Devizes alone to keep us busy. Awesome, firstly, to see Swindonโ€™s indie-pop stars, Talk in Code will join our favourite Daydream Runaways, for the first Friday night of music down at The Southgate. Then the town goes festival crazy, for three solid days! Full-Tone Festival hits the Green, Saturday and Sunday, and Monday you have to get down to the Market Place for our wonderful, Devizes Street Festival and the Colour Rush.

September 2021Once youโ€™ve gotten over that, September then, hereโ€™s the highlights:

Running now until the 4th, Four artists exhibit at Trowbridge Town Hall. A selection of 2D and 3D works by local artists Deborah Clement, Sonja Kuratle, Jennie Quigley and Jane Scrivener.

It was in August 1979 that arguably Swindon’s greatest-ever band, XTC, released their first commercially successful album, 42 years on, original drummer Terry Chambers pays tribute as EXTC, at Swindonโ€™s Victoria on Thursday 2nd.

Following night, Friday 3rd, the Pink Floyd-Fleetwood Mac double-tribute act, Pink Mac will stand on the same stage, at the Vic, while The Wiltshire Blues & Soul Club presents an evening with Sloe Train at Owl Lodge in Lacock, and Corshamโ€™s Pound Arts has comedy with the brilliantly titled โ€œRescheduled Rescheduled Rescheduled Time Show Tour 2021โ€ by Rob Auton.

Burbage celebrates their the 24th Beer, Cider and Music Festival, with Humdinger and Kova me Badd.

Saturday 4th and thereโ€™s a Greatest Showman Sing-a-Long with the Twilight Cinema at Hillworth Park, yet it will be loud down Devizes Southgate, with a welcome return of NervEndings, Fangs & The Tyrants sound equally as loud, theyโ€™re at Swindonโ€™s Vic. For a more chilled evening, Cara Dillon plays the Neeld. An extraordinary, captivating Irish singer Mojo magazine claims to be โ€œquite possibly the worldโ€™s most beautiful female voice.โ€

It is also good to see the Melksham Assembly Hall back in the biz, they have Travelling Wilbury tribute, The Unravelling Wilburys! And thereโ€™s a unique blend of melodic folk-pop blowing out from Trowbridge Town Hall as Bristol band Sugarmoon come to town.

One to overshadow the lot, is The Concert at the Kings at All Cannings, happening over the weekend. Great line-up for Rock against Cancer, as ever, with Billy Ocean headlining Saturday and 10CC on Sunday, albeit they seem completely unresponsive to messages from us. While I accept the strength of booked acts alone means they need no local press presence, itโ€™s a shame they wonโ€™t care to respond; it would be great to cover this.

Ah well, Sunday rocks anyway, with an incredible booking by The Southgate, mind-blowingly awesome US blues outfit of Well-Hung Heart, with a local twist, Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse play. Not to be missed. Westwards, Schtumm presents Will Lawton & The Alchemists with support by Hazir at the Queens Head, Box, and north, Syteria play the Vic, with Adam & The Hellcats and Awakening Savannah.

Oh, and The Lions Clubs of Trowbridge & Westbury have their White Horse Classic & Vintage Vehicle Show on Sunday 5th too!

Second weekend of September and things just get better, from Thursday to Sunday, the place to be is Swindon. The free roaming festival is back, with a line-up across too many venues to list, see the poster. The Swindon Shuffle is truly a testament to local music, everyone who is anyone will be there, in the words of Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Itโ€™s time for Jesus Christ Superstar to magically appear in Devizes, as the Wharf Theatre showcases the retro musical, opening Friday 10th, running until 18th.

A hidden gem in the heart of the Wylye valley, the Vintage Nostalgia Festival begins too, running until Sunday at Stockton Park, near Warminster. Sarah Mai Rhythm & Blues Band, Great Scott, Shana Mai and the Mayhems all headline, with those crazy The Ukey D’ukes and our favourites The Roughcut Rebels also play. Lucky if youโ€™re off to the Tangled Roots Festival in Radstock, all sold out.

Closer to home though, Saturday 11th sees the Stert Country House Car Boot Sale, for Cancer Research, the Corsham Street Fair, Women in Rock at the Neeld and The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight at Swindonโ€™s MECA. Eddie Martinโ€™s solo album launch, Birdcage Sessions, at the Southgate, Devizes and the awesome Will Lawton and the Alchemists are at Trowbridge Town Hall. Two Tone All Skaโ€™s play Chippenhamโ€™s Consti Club.

Staying in Trowbridge, Rockhoppaz at the Park for an Alzheimerโ€™s Support Gig on Sunday 12th. Meanwhile itโ€™s Hillworth Proms in the Park with Devizes Town Band, and the incredible homegrown guitar virtuoso, Innes Sibun is at The Southgate. ย 

Third weeks into September, find some jazz with Emma Harris & Graham Dent Duo at Il Ponte Ristorante Italiano, in Bradford-on-Avon. By Thursday 16th, The Derellas play the Vic, and a welcomed reopening of the the Seend Community Centre sees our good friends Celtic Roots Collective play on Friday 17th.

Also Friday, in Swindon, Road Trip play The Vic, and Hawkwind, yes, Hawkwind at MECA!

Itโ€™s Dauntsey Academy Scarecrow Trail and thereโ€™s a Happy Circus in aid of Nursteed School in Devizes on Saturday 18th, and the welcomed return of Devizes Long Street Blues Club, with the Billy Walton Band. People Like Us are playing The Churchill Arms in West Lavington, ELO Beatles Beyond at Melksham Assembly Hall, and the amazing Onika Venus is at Trowbridge Town Hall.

Sunday 19th sees the Rock The Rec for Macmillan Cancer Support, free fundraiser at Calne Recreation Club.

On Thursday 23rd Antoine & Owena support the The Lost Trades at Komedia, Bath, Steve Knightley plays the Neeld, and thereโ€™s โ€˜An autobiographical journey of a deaf person trapped in a hearing worldโ€™ calledLouder Is Not Always Clearer at Pound Arts.

Tom Odell is at Marlborough College Memorial Hall on Friday 24th, and Fossil Fools play the Vic in Swindon.

Sat 25th sees the opening of the Devizes Food & Drink Festival, with the market. A Full Preview of everything happening at HERE. The HooDoos do The Southgate.

Meanwhile, Melksham Rock n Roll Club presents Johnnie Fox & The Hunters, Juice Menace play Trowbridge Town Hall. Wildwood Kin at Christ Church, Old Town, Swindon, and, this will go off; Talk in Code, The Dirty Smooth & The Vooz at the Vic, while tributes to Katy Perry vs Taylor Swift @ MECA.

Award for the most interesting thing to do this Saturday goes to Pound Arts. Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats is a production which contains distressing themes, images covering topics including migration and political assassination, plus a dog onstage; make of that what you will!

By the end of the month things look a little sportier, with bookworms, Sunday 26th is The Hullavington Full Marathon & 10K, travel author and TV presenter Simon Reeve talks at Dauntseys on Wednesday 29th, Thursday sees the opening of Marlborough Literature Festival.

But this list is by no means exhaustive, stuff to do is coming in all the time, making it near impossible to keep up, you need to regularly check our event calendar. Help me to help you by letting me know of your events, and if youโ€™ve the time, write us a preview or review, I canโ€™t be everywhere at once, and sometimes get so overloaded I just want to slouch on the sofa watching Netflix!

Have a good September!

Trending….

Voting Now Open for Wiltshire Music Awards

Your Vote, Your Voice, Your Future, goes the slogan to encourage the public to side with a particular political party based on lies they each cast, when all of them will probably make the countryโ€ฆ

Time to Be Thinking About CrownFest 2026

Not just a pretty spiral church, there’s plenty for Bishop’s Cannings to be proud about. Evidence with the personal touch recently defeated a brazen landgrab, conveying a parish council dedicated to its community. Likewise, Theโ€ฆ

Live Music in Devizes, Anyone? Meg & Seren at The Fold

Friday afternoon at The Lamb, tucked away behind the Town Hall in our market town, with my aim to introduce two aspiring local singer-songwriters who haven’t played in Devizes before, and present them at Theโ€ฆ

Vinyl Realm Settles Into New Home

A median haul of vinyl can weigh in, but thereโ€™s no longer a trek down Northgate Street for record collectors and musicians alike. Vinyl Realm has settled into their new location on Devizes High Streetโ€ฆ

Radium on Liddington Hill

Swindon-based adrenaline pumping five-piece Liddington Hill released their first EP for three years, and Radium is highly radioactiveโ€ฆ.. For most on the North Wessex Downs, the clump of beech trees at 900 feet high atย Liddingtonโ€ฆ

Top of the Ops; White Horse Opera are Thrilled to be Back

White Horse Opera are thrilled to be back rehearsing for their forthcoming concert. They will be singing in a wonderful Gala Concert Devizes Town Hall on Friday 29th & Saturday 30th October at 7.30pm

A blend of Operatic Favourites and well known Songs from the Shows with Guest Tenor Carlos Alonso to thrill you with his amazing arias.

Tickets only ยฃ10 from Devizes Books 01380-725944 or online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/whitehorseopera

Marlboroughโ€™s Festival Gem; Manton-Fest

Reading Wiltshire Liveโ€™s article this morning, in which attendees were evacuated at Swindon festival Live at Lydiard Park yesterday due to looming thunderstorms, somewhat reflected my own weekend. Music Director Stuart Whant of Mantonfest near Marlborough looked solemnly at me and said if we had thunderstorms, heโ€™d have to pull it. I tried to deflect it with flippancy, doubting it would come to that, but his expression told the story of how passionate and dedicated he is about Mantonfest.

Fortunately, despite one passing downpour, bad weather held off for the tenth anniversary of this magical and beloved little one-day festival. If Barrelhouse, the band Stuart plays bass for, performed the most excellent cover of Muddy Waterโ€™s โ€œGot my Mojo Working,โ€ wasnโ€™t the only muddy element to this event, it certainly wasnโ€™t going to upset the mood of the crowd.

Here, the port-a-loos are sectioned off according to gender, I duly noted; definitely a very Marlborough occasion! And for the locals Mantonfest has become a cherished institution. With Stuart organising, means Barrelhouse are firm fixture, as the crowdโ€™s explosion of delight when they came on revealed, if the amount of folk attired in the bandโ€™s T-shirt didnโ€™t.

I saw, and heard their reasoning, Barrelhouse seriously have their mojo working. Vintage blues with a hard edge groove their strapline, and apt. The cover of Hoochie Coochie Man sealed the deal for authenticity, but more captivating was the way they sublimely adjusted The Ace of Spades to said strapline, breathing a delta style into the metal anthem. Frontman Martin Hands is one cool dude in shades, playing no instrument he sullenly strides around the stage like a young Jim Morrison, and he has the rich, gritty voice which allures like him too.

For want of a plug, Barrelhouseโ€™s signature tune and title track of their latest album, Mainline Voodoo appears on our Juliaโ€™s House compilation album, and the instant magnetism of its riff is the central reason why Iโ€™m here; they did not disappoint, rather kick over the pedestal the tune caused me to put them on, and replaced it with a much higher, more expensive one! A Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, and Honky Tonk Woman finale sealed the deal.

This band, domestic and obviously essential to the festival, were far from the only thing to impress. Due to congestion Marlborough is currently experiencing due to roadworks, they swapped places with Richard Davies & The Dissidents, who as a band made their debut appearance at Mantonfest, with very proficient free-flowing feelgood rock n roll.

The causal, untamed beatnik frontman though has previously performed here in different bands. As a persona he very much reflects a mellowed Jagger-Petty mesh, and has the skill to support the accolade. Backed by a professional bunch, their wavey folk-blues is perfection, told in our review of their debut album, Human Traffic. Youโ€™re washed over with the sensation youโ€™ve somehow known these original songs all your life, theyโ€™d blend so wonderfully into a collection of Steve Winwood, Springsteen in all his Darkness glory, Traveling Wilburys and particularly, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, yet with a subtle hint of English punk, and amusing stage presence, theyโ€™re clearly one to watch.

No expense had been spared to make the stage centrepiece, with great acoustics whatever angle you’re situated, as the semi-circle shaped festival, overlooked by the beautiful surroundings of Treacle Brolly embraced it. Top-notch pyrotechnics breathed professionalism into the show as dusk became it, set for Dr Feelgood. A band formed in 1971 which never waned the passing of their frontman, Lee Brilleaux and various member changes, is one I confess my knowledge to not be up to much more than their name, therefore through their qualified skill at projecting some raw-edged blues with expertise ease and passion knocked me for six, particularly, a memorable guitar solo. Even if the encore felt forced when the frontman called it, Milk & Alcohol caused me to realise I knew more about Dr Feelgood than I gave credit for!

Another surprising revelation is the age demographic here, first impressions was an expected older crowd, with their umbrellas and collapsible chairs, but as I enjoyed a rather tasty Sumblers hotdog at the bar, I observed calculating an average age group was near impossible. To nit-pick being kid friendly, couldโ€™ve warranted some activities for them, but they seemed as content dancing as the teenagers and twentysomethings who rolled in to enjoy the show; some, I might add, better prepared for inclement weather than I!

But side provisions were adequate for a festival of this size, the upper-end of the food options being a pricey but worthy selection by Green Farm, based in Urchfont. The bar, provided by Ramsbury Brewery was of fair price, and the staff were extremely friendly. And this goes for as a summary of the festival, it was exceptionally localised and welcoming, the organisation of which was untroubled and willing to help with any inquiry.

Working in the morning made me fashionably late, as ever, sorry for missing local band Catfish the most, and only catching the end of The Ex-Men. First act for me to witness was impressive enough. Easy-listening folk Americana filled the bowl from a proficient Joe Martin and backing band. With a golden, rich voice soaring above his age, his originals were astutely written, one called Heartbreak Cult doubly-so, and covers of James Taylorโ€™s Fire and Rain especially wonderful.

I was tipped off to the excellence of this regular event by Devizesโ€™ local music enthusiast and photographer, Nick Padmore some time ago, and on his recommendation made a bee-line for it; it did not fail to live up to it. Yet I didnโ€™t bump into anyone I know from our area, causing me to ponder my notion of a superficially psychological wall on those downs.

Honestly, decades ago when I announced I was moving from Marlborough to Devizes it was met with a horrified reaction, as if Iโ€™d suggested moving to Tijuana, or some other murder capital of the world, and equally Devizions perceive to Marlborough to be as affluently cliquey as the Bullingdon Club of 1870, when neither stereotype is true; only a lack of a direct bus route separates them. Yet if such a barrier does exist, it means thereโ€™s another circuit of local talent worth exploring, operating literally a twenty-minute drive away. Mantonfestโ€™s dedication to local music proves this, but itโ€™s prone to bringing in some big guns to top it off, too.

The icing on this case, if the mind-blowing Dr Feelgood wasnโ€™t enough, was a welcomed Blondie tribute act as finale. Scotland-based Dirty Harry is the crรจme de la crรจme of tribute acts, genuinely and professionally mirroring the magic of Blondie in their prime. The lights shone over the returning drizzle as Mantonfest 2021 came to an enchanted end, tambourine-butt-tapping Dirt Harry, found time to banter with the crowd, young and old, bash out every known Blondie classic, some rarities and even The Ramones The Blitzkrieg Bop unto an appreciative bopping crowd.

Union City Blue, Heart of Glass, Denis and Call Me showcased the culmination of what was a wonderful return for live music in the area, and an area which should take heed, like other towns county-wide; ignore the relation to Devizes in the name Devizine, thatโ€™s just our base, we welcome news, events and stories from further afield, including you! And if Mantonfest is anything to go by, Iโ€™m taking this show on the road! meanwhile, you should bookmark Mantonfest 2022….

Trending…

BecFest2 โ€“ Stonehenge Campsite, April 25th 2026

by Ian Diddamsimages by Sarah Bec Have you got an empty weekend coming? Fancy a last minute, first field festival of the year? Donโ€™t want to travel far? Then fill your boots with BecFest2, this Saturday, with camping available for those that want to over imbibe or just get into the festival groove around aโ€ฆ

Phil Cooper & Friends to Play to at The Fold

Excitement for the rebirth of The Fold music venue at The Lamb in Devizes is building. As youโ€™ve probably seen me posting on social media, Devizine presents two astounding Wiltshire singer-songwriters, M3G and Seren to Devizes this Friday (24th April,) and Gaz Brookfield with JP Oldfield in support has only gone and sold out forโ€ฆ

Bradford on Avon Live Music Festival’s Full Line Up

Bradford on Avonโ€™s Live Music Festival returns from Friday 29th May to Sunday 31st May; three days of live music from outstanding bands and artists happening across the town….. BOA Live has grown year on year, offering everything from indie and rock to pop, jazz and blues kickstarting the summer for music lovers in theโ€ฆ

โ€œDevizes & Beyondโ€ โ€“ Poetry & Photography by Gail Foster at St. Maryโ€™s Church, Devizes April 18th – 26th 2026

by Ian Diddamsimages by Gail Foster ‘Devizes & Beyond’ is a collection of original poems in traditional forms and digital photography, inspired by life in Devizes and the occasional foray into the world outside. The exhibition covers eight areas of life from shopping to spirituality and is a colourful and poignant snapshot of what itโ€ฆ

What Billionaire are you Feeding Drinking in a Pub?

A sad state of affairs and reflection on the era, to see village pubs dilapidated and closed, once thriving hubs of a community. I thought this as I drove past Bottlesford’s Seven Stars just the other day, for it was the last pub standing within the Woodborough area, aside from a hike into Pewsey orโ€ฆ

Pewsey Moonrakers St George’s Cross Faรงade Stays

Can we please draw a red line under Pewsey’s Moonrakers St George’s Cross facade fiasco now Wiltshire Council has u-turned on a proposal forcing landlord Jerry Kunkler to paint over it? Providing we don’t draw a vertical red line at its centre-point, yes!! Locally It’s created divided opinion, but reaching national media has wonked theโ€ฆ

Experiencing Devizes Ways on Market Days; a Special Case for a Town of Culture 2028

Sketches and Written by Brian Edwards If not too distracted when bumping into townsfolk and village friends, you might remember to get more of a cheese you liked or that essential part for the vacuum cleaner….. As regular readers of Devizine will know, one of the understated pleasures of Devizes is having a wander aroundโ€ฆ

The Voice of Hind Rajab; Film Screening in Swindon

The award-winning film, โ€˜The voice of Hind Rajabโ€™ will be shown for one night only on Monday 18th May at 7pm at Swindon Arts Centre….. In January 2024, 6 year old Hind was killed along with her cousins, aunt, uncle and two paramedics from The Palestinian Red Crescent who came to their aid after theirโ€ฆ

The Adventures of Police Crime Commissioner Wilko

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

The Case of the Missing ยฃ1.5 Million. Chapter 1.

Stealthily, he crouched down to Samโ€™s eyelevel, fingered a small pot of black boot polish and smeared the contents unwillingly over Samโ€™s face. โ€œNumpty night ops, I need you in full kit, infra-red goggles, the works,โ€ he ordered. โ€œThis is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill.โ€

In his hard-back chair, Sam reeled back from the new leader, not knowing he was going to be this hands-on. He fearfully mumbled something about pen-pushing, but his trembling made it inaudible to the remaining members of the team.

Wilko stood back up, reached for his war-stick, swung it wildly above the heads of the troops and shaved the last few strands of hair from the top of Daviesโ€™ balding crown. While Davies locked in shock, Wilko bought the baton down firmly on the table-map of Miltshire, precisely landing it close to the village of Potshot.

With swift and certain drive, he manoeuvred ten plastic M4 Sherman tanks across the map to face the centre of the village. โ€œBattalion five CPA, stand by at the pond, 51.3492ยฐ N, 1.9927ยฐ W is that clear?โ€ he commanded, any question was interrogation, rhetorical anyway, fail to comprehend it and you will be called a numpty, or better still, shot.

โ€œGround troops will move in at 06:02, synchronise watches, and back up with battalion six,โ€ he continued, โ€œany of you bender boys cut the shit and bail, I will personally slice you a new arsehole, is that clear?!โ€

All in attendance remained hushed, just nodding with dread.

โ€œNow, Combat Search and Rescue squadrons, Apache, Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk, I need you guys held back by the A362, MRI the surface, carpet bomb, shoot to kill any survivors, joggers and dog walkers; they might be in on it.โ€  

Police chief Andrews sighed, โ€œweโ€™ve only got the one Bell 429 GlobalRanger, and thatโ€™s kind of broken at the moment, thanks to Martin for jumping on the skids.โ€

Sitting in the back, colouring in a Jimbo and the Jetset colouring-in book, Martin giggled, โ€œwas funny thoughโ€ฆ.โ€

โ€œI was just going to send in Sandra,โ€ Andrews explained.

โ€œSandra? Really?โ€ Wilko looked sternly at him, โ€œa woman? Have you lost your balls as well as your mind, Andrews? State your number!โ€

โ€œSir!โ€ Sandra protested.

Wilko pointed at her, โ€œisnโ€™t there some mugs and doughnut plates need washing up in the staff kitchen?!โ€

โ€œWith all due respect, sir,โ€ Andrews retorted, as Sandra threw her jacket on the floor and left, mumbling some rather strong words about how she felt about the new PCC, and about quitting too. โ€œIt is only a teenager who nicked a pork pie from the village community shop!โ€ he added.

โ€œCrime is a disease, chief numpty,โ€ Wilko responded in anger, โ€œI am Miltshireโ€™s cure! First a pork pie, next a full pack of six pasties, then who knows what, the scum will suicide-bomb the Ginstersโ€™ factory. Evidently, you have underestimated the gravity of this crime, as the numpty you quite clearly are. The village of Potshot, chief numpty, what does this suggest to you?โ€

โ€œA, ermโ€ฆ.โ€ Andrews started.

โ€œAn open invitation for junkie scum to congregate,โ€ Wilko rudely interrupted, โ€œthatโ€™s what! This stoned-out dissident has quite obviously been radicalised by far-leftie woke parish councillors, thinks he can satisfy his munchie cravings by outright robbery, and I will not stand idly by while he terrorises good conservative villagers with inexcusable pie theft!โ€

The police force sat silently, with either expressions of confusion, shock or plain astonishment.

โ€œTheft of savoury snacks is equally as significant as smoking crack!โ€ Wilko added.

โ€œTee-hee,โ€ Martin giggled, โ€œyou said crack!โ€

Wilko drew his pistol and open fired, placing a bullet in Martinโ€™s temple, his head collapsing onto the desk in a pool of blood.

โ€œWell, done,โ€ Andrews said, โ€œhe was getting the next round in tonight down the Dog N Duck.โ€

Wilko shifted over to Andrewsโ€™ back, placing his hands gently but threateningly around his neck, โ€œHelmand province, October 18th, 2001; one private, the joker of the pack, told a joke about a man going to the doctors with a bright orange cock, the punchline, something about watching porn and eating Wotzits, caused a recalcitrant uproar within the troop. While they laughed, rebels snuck in, killing two of my best men, chief numpty. With a gunshot to my left leg, I carried their mutilated bodies over my shoulders, across the barren plains of Karabakshi to Turkmenbashi, took control of a Turkish civilian vessel by force, charted passage back to the UK, where I marched nonstop to their respective hometowns of Hull and Newcastle to deliver their remains to their families. As I watched their children break down and cry, deciding it was in their best interest, given their grief, to shoot them and put them out of their misery. So, you see, I will not stand for jokers in my battalion, numpty, they are a liability!โ€

โ€œI erm,โ€ Andrew was lost for words, โ€œI donโ€™t think that sort of thing will happen here, though, just, like, you know, saying?โ€

โ€œAre you disrespecting the service of these men, chief?โ€ Wilko angered.

โ€œNo,โ€ he answered nervously, โ€œmerely saying, itโ€™s just a kid, pinched a porkpie, is all. We need to think intuitively, about the negligeableโ€ฆ…โ€

Receptionist Becky called from the hallway and broke the awkwardness of the moment, โ€œPolice Commissioner, Iโ€™ve a James Seedless on line one for you, sir! He says thereโ€™s been a murder in Broomhamton!โ€

Wiko frowned, โ€œperhaps you think Iโ€™m being unfair, chief numpty? I will not have a man down on my watch, take the thief out by use of extreme force, if necessary or not, itโ€™s the way things will be around here, and if youโ€™re too woke chickenshit, I suggest you join the girl guides instead.โ€

Sincerely sounding, yet in a mocking way, he bowed down to Andrewโ€™s level, โ€œOnce the mission is complete, and the target is eliminated, you will find I am not such a bad person after all, numpty. We shall drink to our new union triumphant, and I will personally pay for some oriental whores, for all of my battalion, from any brothel in Miltshire, your choice.โ€ Producing a digestive biscuit from his top pocket he smiled, โ€œnow, the last one to cover this digestive in their own spunk gets to buy the first round, I need to take this callโ€ฆโ€

About foot, he marched ardently from the room, smashing Davies on his now completely bald head and pointing at the lifeless body of Martin. โ€œYou, numpty, clear up that mess you made!โ€

To be continued……..

Is Devizes Ready for The Full-Tone Festival?!

Amidst the controversial decision by Emily Eavis to headline Jay-Z at Glastonbury Festival in 2008, in which included Noel Gallagher throwing his toys from his pram, while UK press went on a bender about an imagined ethos of exactly what Glasto is, and what it should be presenting, I read an American article hitting back with the headline โ€œis Glastonbury big enough for Jay Z?โ€

One has to ponder if the author who penned such piffle in retaliation had ever seen Glastonbury, let alone been, and had any inkling what it means to so many people. On this basis I thought of, but then rejected, this headline to be โ€œis Devizes big enough for the Full-Tone Orchestra?!โ€

Organiser and better half of the composer, Jemma Brown tells me the capacity of the Green is 3,000 but next weekendโ€™s (28th-29th August) event is restricted to half, โ€œso everyone feels safe.โ€ But, itโ€™s not a question of โ€œis Devizes big enough for the Full-Tone Orchestra,โ€ rather our fortunate premise, the Full-Tone Orchestra is now a part of Devizes, no less than the brewery or canal. Theyโ€™ve ventured to other local towns, Marlborough College, Swindonโ€™s Wyvern, to present their eclectic genre orchestra, but Devizes is home sweet home, and 95% of shows have been based here.

Here’s the biting point, and something Iโ€™ve come to understand better, staging such an event like this is not pocket money. Yes, Full-Tone successfully crowdfunded to put on a free show in the Market Place in 2019, but this is not an avenue any event organiser can slog and expect to come up trumps each time.

For an entertainment package as stupendous as Full-Tone to be in our humble dwelling, it needs and deserves our support, and while a majority will tell you so on the street, ears to the ground unearth some rather inexcusable and inappropriate notions. Firstly, you cannot expect anyone to provide you a free show annually, just because they did once before, and secondly, itโ€™s an โ€œerm,โ€ to the idea Full-Tone is some kind of commercial enterprise gaining only to profit. โ€œItโ€™s just not why weโ€™re doing it,โ€ Jemma pledges, โ€œweโ€™re doing it to bring an orchestra into the centre of Devizes and for the love of all things music!โ€

At this conjunction, just one weekend away from the show, you have to ask yourself, would the same level of display as 2019โ€™s Market Place not become tiresomely samey after a while? Full-Tone wish to expand on the experience, to progress and make it better. โ€œThe sound and lighting will be fabulous and to do that we have to pay good dollar!โ€ Jemma tells me, and to do such, ticket sales is the only option.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest! Can we all be friends again? Anyone putting on any event right now needs our backing and deserves a medal, in my honest opinion. Anyone organising an event must worry itโ€™s either going to go two ways, overloaded with a cabin-fevered raging mob or fail to impress enough to drag apprehensive troops out from their lockdown shelters, as if the hospitality industry isnโ€™t it in enough deep water. My chat with Jemma today went onto me mentioning a time I was juggling the attention of three gigs in Devizes in one night; a time we took live music for granted, and looking back now, well, you go figure.

Least we can be sure, unlike Emily Eavis and her longing to update her fatherโ€™s institution, Noel Gallagher wonโ€™t be on a wobbler because an upcoming US hip hop star is upstaging him! 28th-29th August sees the sixty-piece Full-Tone Orchestra present a very local affair, not only their all-encompassing themes, from big band and film scores to euphoric dance anthems, but Pete Lambโ€™s Heartbeats, jazz singer Archie Combe and The Red Bandits on Sunday.

Itโ€™s been some years since I sat in Rowde School after school hours. No, not like a kid in detention, rather to see the orchestra rehearsing the Star Wars theme. I believe Jemma was encouraging me to direct my satirical rant column from Index;Wiltshire, No Surprises Living in Devizes to more positive pastures, which kind of went totally against the concept of the column. But it was running fast out of ammo, because, underneath it all, Devizes is a great town and I love living here.

Hence, Devizine was born, a sort of counter-strike against all the negativity I once brushed Devizes with. So, if you want to blame someone, Jemma is also an accessory! The icing on that cake will be a Devizes rendezvous on the Green; hope to see you there!

Tickets Here.

Trending…

Serenโ€™s New Single; Worm

Thereโ€™s a cold remote ambience of burrowing doubt in the opening of Westburyโ€™s singer-songwriter Serenโ€™s debut song, in which, as the title suggests, she usesโ€ฆ

The date is set for Imberbus 2026 !

We are pleased to start 2026 by announcing that this year, we are planning to run the Imberbus service on Saturday 15th August 2026 whenโ€ฆ

Don’t Click on Illegal Rave Rage-Bait!

The biggest risk for any media reporting negatively on illegal raves is that, in their youth, their fifty-plus target audience probably attended illegal raves themselves!โ€ฆ

The Makers Exchange; DOCA Call to the Creative

Thimbles on standby, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts are calling all creative craftspeople and makers to their new project, The Makers Exchange. Itโ€™s a new craftโ€ฆ

No Bad Press for Captain Accident & The Disasters

Top marks and a gold star for this album, released tomorrow, Friday 20th August; Bad Press, of which youโ€™ll hear no such thing as bad press from me, and Iโ€™d be interested in how anyone could find an angle to do such. Yet if the title is subtle irony, more so is the band name, Captain Accident & The Disasters.

From the band name alone itโ€™s understandable for one to perceive their output as comical or zany, but far from it. Here is some sublime, concentrated reggae and rock steady, bouncy and carefree, yes, but astutely written, covering some acute themes as well as the general tenet of rock steady; forlorn or unabridged romance. Neither am I willing to accept the talent here is any way an accident, and the band is anything but a disaster!

Twenty seconds into Bad Press is all you need to realise why David Rodigan speaks so highly of Cardiffโ€™s Captain Accident & The Disasters, and they were invited back to tour with legends Toots & the Maytals after their 2016 UK tour, as the official full-tour support in 2017 and again in 2018. Which they did, and Captain Accident was asked to join the band onstage to perform Monkey Man on guitar. If it wasnโ€™t for lockdown and the tragic passing of Toots Hibbert last year, they would have been on the European tour that year also.

Other than the wonderful sunshine reggae vibe, thereโ€™s not a great deal else going on in Bad Press, yet thereโ€™s no need to be. The band stick to the tried and tested formula, the mellow plod of traditional one-drop reggae, occasionally more steppers upbeat with only subtle ska or dub elements coming through. Note importantly, they do this with bells on. It doesnโ€™t attempt to swerve off with experimentation. All tracks flow with precision and a highly polished sound produced with traditional instruments. At no time will Bad Press replicate a previous tune through dubplate principles, neither will a dancehall DJ toast over it, or a drum n bass riff be thrust unexpectedly at you; good, honest and exceptionally beautiful roots, rock reggae is what you get.

If themes reflect lovers rock or rock steady on occasion, itโ€™s nicely done, and in others, where more sombre subject matter arises thereโ€™s no militancy, rather the longstanding carefree reggae ethos of not worrying, dancing reservations away, as every little thing will be alright. Neither does Rasta etiquettes or such biblical or cultural references come into play, making this reggae for the masses as well as aficionados. Itโ€™s just, ah, tingly, and apt for all!

Despite the bandโ€™s output, three previous albums being self-produced, their beguiling festival friendly sound has rocketed their success with a national fan-base growing by the day. I fully believe Bad Press will seal the deal.

Ten songs strong, I couldnโ€™t pick a favourite. As I believe I said, it flows, blessing your ears with inspirational sound. In Redemption Song familiarities the content of the opening tune casts an eye on Armageddon, but pessimism doesnโ€™t deject or depress you, and the title, โ€œNot the End of the World,โ€ says it all. The aforementioned carefree attitude carries over with the catchy โ€œBest Shoes,โ€ the upbeat melody cutting to plod as Captain Accident aptly quotes Marley, โ€œwhen the music hits you, you feel no pain.โ€

And such is unswaying general premise throughout, returning to one-drop for the beautiful โ€œPlaying Field,โ€ which truly showcases the writing skill on righteousness and equality. Swapping back to the common hopeless romantic theme, โ€œWings,โ€ will melt you, like the referenced wings of Icarus. Followed by the most ska-ish, the buoyant โ€œMiami Incorporating.โ€

There is nothing here to rightfully label this with bad press, perhaps the blithest tune being the โ€œDark n Stormy,โ€ with a rum subject, thereโ€™s a real Caribbean feel, yet the most interestingly intertwined is the rock-inspired guitar previous song, โ€œPuttinโ€™ Up a Fight,โ€ because it clarifies this โ€œreggae for all,โ€ notion Iโ€™ve attempted to convey. I hope this comes across, especially in these local parts where the genre is often misunderstood and misrepresented. If your knowledge of reggae doesnโ€™t extend much past Bob Marley & The Wailers in their international prime, you will love this. Yet, for bods like me, a humongous enthusiast, it fills me with a glorious passion that the traditional aspects of reggae will never be lost in a sea of dancehall, reggaeton and dubstep.

Ah, they’re all worthy, to me, but aside, reggae got soul, and you NEED this album in your life!

Trending…..

Harmony Asia Can Do This

Itโ€™s a question Iโ€™ve asked Chippenham singer-songwriter Harmony Asia on each rare occasion I catch her for a chat; if sheโ€™s planning to capture aโ€ฆ

How it Feels for a Bluebeard!

The first time I heard the name Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours, I presumed their sound might be folk or blues inspired. Judging a bookโ€ฆ

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 mentionedโ€ฆ

The Hawks: Stephen โ€œTintinโ€ Duffy, as Youโ€™ve Never Heard Him Beforeโ€ฆ.

Never did understand his 1985 hit Kiss Me, when it went โ€œkiss me with your mouth,โ€ because, figures; thereโ€™s no other cavity more apt or commonly used for kissing. Of course, being twelve when it charted, as much titillation as the magic upturned calculator number 5318008, was to be had replacing the word โ€œmouthโ€ with other anatomical parts.

Bit sad, in reflection, but think Stephen โ€œTintinโ€ Duffy and youโ€™ll be excused for thinking of jazz nouveaux fused art pop, the wick of commercialised electronica, of love better than wine, but as I recently discovered, that is far from the icing on the cakeโ€ฆ(see what I did there?)

Just as homeowners strip back kitsch lacquered chipboard to discover an art deco fireplace hidden by seventies post-modernists, Seventeen Records have unearthed archived demos from Birminghamโ€™s seventies post-punk wannabes, Obviously Five Believers, later changed to Subterranean Hawks and regretfully shortened to The Hawks. And itโ€™s Stephen โ€œTintinโ€ Duffy, as youโ€™ve never heard before.

Often veiled fact is Duffy had been a founder of Duran Duran, just one school band of Birmingham Polytechnic, but when he left education, he also jumped ship in โ€™79, a year before they were signed by EMI. Through the maze of side projects and band amalgamating, the Obviously Five Believers formed from an original Duran Duran line-up, Duffy and Simon Colley, and another Stooges-inspired garage punk collective, TV Eye, Daves Twist, Kusworth and Paul Adams. โ€œIf weโ€™d stuck to Obviously Five Believers, we may have stood a chance,โ€ says Duffy, โ€œitโ€™s how I still think of us. I think we only changed it because Bob Lamb couldnโ€™t fit the name on the cassette boxes.โ€

As was the rapidly changing scene, the band were short-lived, lasting from โ€™79 until Christmas โ€™81, despite being adored by those who managed to see them. With one highly collectable single, โ€˜Words of Hopeโ€™ released, the hope lessened. โ€œWhen we didnโ€™t get signed by Rough Trade,โ€ Duffy recalls, โ€œwe didnโ€™t really have any other ideasโ€ฆ or a Svengali.โ€

Proto slackers in a city that never developed the support networks, the label entrepreneurs, of a Glasgow, Liverpool or Sheffield, The Hawks undoubtedly had most of the signifiers already in place for the โ€˜Scene In Betweenโ€™ that would emerge just a few years later.

Forward wind to 2019, Duffy and Kusworth were reunited, agreeing to release a retrospective album from Duffyโ€™s cassette archive. Sadly, David Kusworth passed away later that year, so, as good as his word, and with the assistance of Grammy-winning engineer John Paterno, Duffy has set the tracks free, in honour of his friend. Obviously 5 Believers is released on Friday 27th August 2021.

โ€œWe didnโ€™t make demoโ€™s, blue prints for future single or albums, we played live and I sang over the top, just to see what we sounded like,โ€ Stephen reminisces. โ€œThese are like field recordings from a much simpler time. Simple in that we had no lust for fame and fortune, we had no manifestos beyond our fringes. We wanted to sign to a small label and play some shows but somehow we couldnโ€™t fulfil even those modest ambitions.โ€

For those content to accept eighties pop, to dress in clichรฉ leg warmers, diddy-boppers and dance around their handbags, this is not for you. Those intrigued as to how and why the sound was watered and marketed, and to rediscover its roots as post punk garage bands, this is a must-have. For while the melancholic track โ€˜Aztec Moon,โ€™ hints to recognisable Stephen โ€œTintinโ€ Duffy, itโ€™s notย ย ย  absolute, rather ploddingly psychedelic rock, and itโ€™s away from the norm of tracks on show here.ย ย ย  If โ€˜Big Storeโ€™ reflects rather what youโ€™d expect from a Talking Heads and Smiths fusion, โ€˜Bullfighterโ€™ defines new wave in a method not unlike the Jam and other mod revival bands of the era.

All the Sad Young Men alsoreminded me of that mode, yet, in composition and theme, you could pick out and predecessor of synth-pop, of inspiration for Visage and, dare I suggest it, The Pet Shop Boys. Yet, though this stimulating and provocative recording is as one might expect, raw and rudimentary, the route to the archetypal polished electronica can barely be heard. Likewise, the album caused me to seek out some demos from the original Duran Duran line-up on YouTube and itโ€™s captivating to the unaccustomed ear to hear just how underdone it was in comparison with later chart hits. And in so much, how the music industry moulded these acts to suit the technological changes.

I ponder time and time again, how ardent cohorts of post-punk could be sucked into tacky eighties hit factories, such as all-girl trio Bananarama, who found fame collaborating with Fun Boy Three, and rather than stick with Terry Hall, by 1986 thought signing to Stock Aitken Waterman was a good idea, it was, but only for their bank accounts. Que Sera, Sera, perhaps you had to be there at the time, but fair to suggest, it was always about a wage. Though Duffy himself succumbed to the pop machine, he moved progressively, was cutting-edge in recording early chill-out house with Roger Freeman of Pigbag in a project called Dr. Calculus Mdma.

All in all, what you have here is a hidden piece of music history, and through its retrospection, it is an interesting, beguiling and enjoyable unearthed archive… of which, obviously I’m far to young to recall any of it… (not sure why I needed to add that bit!)

Trending…..

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

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 rehearseโ€ฆ

Best of Luck to The Real Cheesemakers, Selected for National Musical Comedy Awards

Wishing the best of luck to Wiltshireโ€™s homegrown musical comedians, the nonsensical Real Cheesemakers, who have been selected for the 2021 national Musical Comedy Awards.

Far from matured, the crazy Calne four-piece released their โ€œGrated Hits,โ€ last year, which we fondly reviewed in February 2020. ย 

They will play at The Phoenix, Cavendish Square, London, on 25th September, competing with nine other acts vying for a place in the final at the Bloomsbury Theatre in October. Letโ€™s they hope those city dwellers appreciate our West Country humour, and get the jokes about Cheddar Gorge and the roundabouts of Swindon!

โ€œIt was serendipitous to learn that an event exists that not only encourages, but rewards the type of nonsense that we have been creating for so very long,โ€ say the Cheesemakers. โ€œWe are thrilled to have the opportunity to now showcase it to more people.โ€

The Musical Comedy Awards (MCAs) is an annual competition to support, promote and celebrate the best emerging musical comedians in the UK. Now in its eighth year, the MCAs have grown in stature to become an annual fixture in the comedy calendar.

MCAs has provided a launch pad to superstar acts like Frisky & Manish, Abandoman and Jay Foreman and created a thriving independent platform to celebrate the art-form that is musical comedy.

You cannot vote online for this, band member Greg Stoner told me itโ€™s all based on judges and audience reaction, but weโ€™re rooting for you all the same here on Devizine, guys!

Tickets available here. Meanwhile, in the land of the Bumbley Boo, or Swindon to its citizens, you might be lucky to find The Real Cheesemakers at the Swindon Shuffle, Friday 10th September at the Castle, with Richard Davies & The Dissidents headlining that venue, with Room 101, Pretty Vacant and Port in a Storm.

Tories Step Up Online Hate Campaign Against Wiltshire PCC Independent Candidate

With just a couple of days until the second Wiltshire PCC election, the first defunct by the Conservatives, local Tory supporters are rallying, keen to criticise and form an online hate campaign against the independent candidate, Mike Rees.

Should we flip this into a positive, clearly, it’s troubling them?!

After Conservatives corrupted the process of the original election by pitching candidate Johnathan Seed for the post, and cost Wiltshire taxpayers ยฃ1.4 million for a re-election, when it was discovered, on top of his suspicious activities as hunts master, drink driving convictions disallowed him from standing, it’s little wonder those able to think outside the box might be frustrated by the extravagant and costly campaign for the new conservative candidate Phillip Wilkinson. Especially being he’s tipped to win, based on Wiltshire’s silent majority historically being so blinded by Tory propaganda.

Phillip himself has rightfully been on the sharp end of some challenging questions on his own Facebook page, and has decided the hostile approach is the most suitable. Rudely responding to anyone with a genuine question he might not like the angle of, he’s also bashfully bantered about shooting people, wonkily suggested his military experience is favourable over the experience of policing, in a policing role and anyone dare criticise has been banned from his page. Iโ€™m willing to accept this is an oversight on his part, and etiquette on social media is not his field of expertise, still it projects the image of a punitive and unfairly harsh police crime commissioner.

I’m of the opinion here, and don’t let me sway yours, but cannot help but feel the only vision whereby military experience is superior over policing experience for a policing role, is that of Priti Patel’s, where clearly a Gestapo militia is needed to combat a naturally occurring rebellion from an oppressive regime; are we expecting or encouraging, even, a civil war, or are we just after someone to solve common crimes in our county?

In any other circumstance, say a sleeping Shire where crime is comparatively tame, an outstanding retired policeman might be more appropriate for the role, simply down to his on-hand experience. Promote from within though seems to be an outmoded concept, favoured by delusions of grandeur that every politician is super heroic. Evidently proved wrong by the colossal chain to scandals and corruptions of recent; nothing funny to say about it unfortunately, you canโ€™t write comedy like it.  

Lie: He is associated with the Conservative Party, says so on his campaign leaflet!

There is nothing within these public inquiries on his Facebook page to suggest any allegiance to any other candidate, but while other candidates are available, Mike seems to be tenaciously linked. Fact of the matter, I’ve scanned Phillip’s page and find no interaction, be it positive or negative on his page from Mike himself or anyone else involved in his campaign, rather the Lib Dem candidate Brian Mathews, who has rightfully dared challenge Phillip on some of his pledges. Although Lib Dem candidate Liz Webster drew a second-place last time around, the focus seems to entirely rest on Mike.

Tory Devizes Town Councillor Iain Wallis on “the Devizes Issues.”

Spilling outwards from his own page, it’s clear the objective is to slate the independent candidate. While Tory Devizes Town Councillor and admin of the second most popular Facebook group in the town, Iain Wallis is adamant his group is unbiased, he took it upon himself to outright ban any post concerning or promoting Mike Rees on Sunday evening. A step up from outright banning of anyone who attempts to question the conservative candidate. A clear indication the group is about as unbiased as GBeebies, who axed a presenter for a gesture of equality and replaced him with a known fascist lunatic who might be dangerous if it wasn’t for the fact, he’s a man made completely out of foreskin.

Weโ€™ve been here before, call a spade a spade, this is clearly an act to condemn the opposition, and should not belong on a supposedly general local Facebook group.

Is it too much to ask for a level playing field, or can we agree Mr Wallis is not Mark Zuckerberg, and other sources for expressing opinion on local issues online are available?! Time to use them and not depend on petty bias Facebook groups political point-scoring.   

In another turn of affairs, on an uncensored Devizes Facebook group where Phillip is admittedly quite harshly criticised, keyboard warriors gathered to immediately point the finger at Mike’s supporters, again, despite there being no reference to him at all the post. Local online meeting points have become assuming while others jump the bandwagon; it’s even gone as far to suggest the support people are showing for Mike is, bizarrely, counterproductive to his campaign and, in another it suggests its angle is perpetrated by “loony lefties!”

Have to shudder at the laughable idiocy displayed here; Labour do have their own guy, Mr Junab Ali, you know? One which incorrectly aforementioned “loony lefties” can opt to vote for, and most likely would. Truth be told, support for the independent candidate is coming from all walks of life, class and political orientation, simply because common sense prevails, a man of past experience is favourable for such an important role, over a politician, no matter what colour rosette they pop on their top pocket. No point in calling an electrician for a plumbing job.

Besides, the hypocrisy is better measured by the bleeding obvious fact that Mike is independent, he’s apolitical, and his whole campaign is based on the PCC role not being a political one, rather the only allegiance he has being with the people the police are supposed to serve! Mr Spock would surely agree with the logic. In speaking several times to Mike, at no time did the subject of politics even arise, and Mike gave no indication to his own political preference.

Not forgoing, the former Detective Superintendent who solved the murder of Sian O’Callaghan, Steve Fulcher is backing Mike Rees, as would, I suspect most police officers, and hardly any of them could be described as โ€œloony lefties!โ€

 

Mike Rees with Steve Fulcher

It would be a wonder where on earth the notion of left-wing sway in an independent campaigner derives from, if not this underlying concern, seemingly the average conservative thinker assumes anyone with the slightest concern for towing the Tory line completely, comprehensively and without question, must therefore be some kind of imaginary leftist extremist and as reformist as Jeremy Corbynโ€™s vest.

This is about as shallow as it gets, for the time being. I have to wonder what dirt they’ll pathetically attempt to smear on him next, he probably pulled down the Edward Colston statue, organised the suffragette movement, or is secretly Watt Tyler leader of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt!

Ah, bless โ€˜em; you have to salute their comradeship and solidarity, if not their canopy of disillusionment disallowing them gumption. You believe what you will; Iโ€™m getting no kudos here, no reason to back any side other than my own self-assurance Mike is without question the chap for the job. And in that thereโ€™s no reason for me to be dishonest. Mike is a genuine guy with time for everyone, hardened by the force, firm but fair, the man for the job.

At the time he threw me off the group for suggesting it was unfair to the conservatives to throw money at their campaign, when the outstanding debt in still is dispute, Iain Wallis was keen to suggest I met with Phillip; โ€œif you get the chance to interview Philip, you should take it. He is a good man.โ€ And that’s precisely the argument misrepresented here; they’ve missed the entire point. I’ve not criticised the guy in any way, I’m in no doubt he’s a good guy with personality and charisma. I’m certain he’s effective at his previous roles, and I’m in awe and grateful for the service he has undergone to defend the crown and country. I would never mock any of this at all, rather salute him for this. It’s the hill of these beans though, which I don’t think is in anyway better for the PCC role than a man of previous experience, and it’s as simple as that.

I’d go as far as to say I didnโ€™t even want to come to this party today. I’ve not the time left to interview all candidates, man gotta have a break now and then, and so I decided not to interview any of them. You can read Mike’s interview here. I’d sooner take a backseat on this journey, but messages I’ve received show me this is clearly an issue which folk want me to rant on, therefore I’m always willing to please, if my tuppence is worth anything!

Meanwhile, on Brian’s Campaign trial there’s a petition to Make the Conservatives pay for the re-election bill, click to sign it.

Meanwhile, on Brian’s Campaign trial there’s a petition to Make the Conservatives pay for the re-election bill, click to sign it.

As for labelling this website as bias, I would, if it was, but I’m only here to follow my gut reaction, more often than not supporting the underdog and the righteous; that’s my only ethos, what rosette you wear is up to you, I’d sooner we were all friends, but while extremism is flooding the conservative party, I cannot be in support of it, and deliberately associating the opposition with any negative commentary about their own is unfair, uncalled for downright deliberately devious. I only hope this will blow up in their faces, and the good folk will decide enough is enough, and vote out politics in this PCC election, for the display of deception is clearly being corrupted and this gives me little faith for a well serving police force should the Conservatives win.

Only you, and your vote stand between them.

Gail Foster interviews Mike

Local Supergroup Fundraising Event for Superhero Carmela

Hereโ€™s the thing, did you realise Monday marked the second anniversary of when Wonder Woman joined me on my milk round?! Yeah, true, and we raised some wonga for her alter-ego Carmelaโ€™s fund and fight against muscular dystrophy. And now Carmela is not only a tiny best friend of mine, but huge inspiration to us all and something of celeb now too.

Star of her own fun childrenโ€™s book you can buy in Devizes Books to raise funds for her campaign, as well as hobnobbing with the stars, Iโ€™m delighted this evening to hear, some other of my favourite girls are reforming their supergroup to raise some funds in her name too.

Pre-lockdown, girl members of six bands annually joined for a fundraising one-off gig, and it was always something explosive, fun and a darn awesome night. Nicky Davis from Warminster based People Like Us and The Reason, Glastonburyโ€™s Julia Greenland from Soulville Express & Delta Swing, Fromeโ€™s Claire Perry from Big Mamma Banned & The Misfitz, solo artist Charmaigne Andrews from Melksham, and Julie Moreton from Trowbridgeโ€™s Train to Skaville and Jules & The Odd Men, will come together once again, at the Melksham Assembly on 16th October, for a show not to be missed.

This, for me, is all too much to take in, girls, girls, girls, Iโ€™m not sure I can control myself. The Female of the Species raised just over ยฃ3,000 in 2018 for the fantastic youth community project, Young Melksham, and for all their efforts, they were selected for a Community Civic Award.

This time all of your pennies from the tenner tickets will go to Carmelaโ€™s Fight Against Muscular Dystrophy, and those tickets are here.

Support will come from Melksham rock, blues and alternative covers and original band Plan of Action. Seriously folks, put this is your diary.

Hip Hop Trio The Scribes Live at Salisburyโ€™s Winchester Gate This Friday

Yes, weโ€™re being drenched with live music events like a mega tsunami over a once barren desert. Yes, locally hip hop is a needle in a haystack. Something different to suit you sir? A worthy trip to Salisbury on Friday Iโ€™d highly recommend, where if you go down to the Winchester Gate on that night, you’re sure of a dope surprise, because Friday’s the CiderFest Weekend Special day Bristolโ€™s premier hip hop trio The Scribes have their throw-down!

Yes, we love The Scribes here on Devizine, not a bad review yet, and you can see for yourself, with Pewseyโ€™s own Latino acoustic singer-songwriter yet in a hip hop fashion, Cutsmith supporting them, equally never a bad word said about him either. So, if you fancy some raw, contemporary UK hip hop, The Winchester Gate is the destination to lock in, and itโ€™s free; no ticket required.

Cutsmith

Listed in the current CAMRA Good Beer Guide and voted pub of the year three times, (which is, as De La Soul will remind you, the magic number) by the Salisbury & South Wilts Branch of CAMRA, The Winchester is more than Arthur Daleyโ€™s drinking hole and somewhere weโ€™ve notched on our to-do-list.

Etchilhampton Hill, The View Above Devizes

Our rambling reporter, T.B.D Rose is roaming once again, eastwards out of Devizes this time…..

Along the A342, you can see the signature Lion Monument at the entrance of an uphill road.


If you follow it you’ll find yourself by the Chalk Pit where you can park up instead of taking the road down into Etchilhampton village itself.
You’re on Etchilhampton Hill.


Walking past the Pit there’s a gate taking you to the Hilltop.


Even on a wet day it’s a wonderful walk for anyone willing to brave the elements and take in the unique view of Devizes and the historic scenic hillsides.


You might even be able to make out the Pewsey White Horse in the distance!
And if you’re ambitious you can walk over the hill onto Etchilhampton Road which leads to Coate and eventually the canal, beside which you can find the reputable pub The Bridge Inn on Horton Road.


The hill has several other paths, one for example which leads out onto Brickley Lane where you can head into Devizes Town, and another through a wooded pathway that comes out opposite Stert Village.


There are countless recommendable shortcuts and walkways you can take in the surrounding area and the fun is in discovering them. Hikers, sightseers and locals looking for a long walk take note.

Up to Trowbridge for Some Miller-Art

Halfway up the grand staircase of Trowbridge Town Hall, where it splits into left or right, my daughter, permanently two paces ahead of me, asked me which way now. Iโ€™d noted a sign to the art exhibit Iโ€™ve been aching to check out, so I called it. Problem was, the show is called โ€œUp,โ€ to which her only rejoinder couldโ€™ve been, โ€œyes, I know itโ€™s up, but which way?!!โ€

If I had reservations about the unpredictably positive response in asking if she wanted to come, being sports is her thing and creativity perhaps not so much, it was only that she might drag me around Usain-Bolt-going-for-gold fashion. Key to my pitch was that, essentially, the most appropriate movement in which to pigeonhole artist Tom Miller was street art, secondarily only to the fact she was โ€œbored, with nothing better to do anyway!โ€

But itโ€™s not her incentive on entry which is important here, rather her reaction inside the exhibit, and if she enjoyed it, which she did, anyone with a mere slither of a passing interest in art will we wowed by this show. For me, it was up my street and knocking loudly on my door.

Native to Trowbridge, Tom Miller exhibits at his hometown until 20th August, not long left to pay it a worthy visit. For yeah, Miller typically uses spray paint as street artists do, but only as a base for these canvases. He thickly layers acrylics and oils over it, amalgamating mediums as much as influences, in explosions of colour and meticulous and intricate detail. The result is staggering.

Swirls of psychedelia snake your eyes across them, akin to underground comix or yore, and in particular S. Clay Wilson. They can be themed darkly, with elements of cyberpunk, or lighter, fine art, impressionism is at play too. Yet thereโ€™s a nod to pop art, capturing humorous elements, wide-ranging themes from flowers to ice creams, and contemporary cultural icons, such as The Simpsons can be discovered on closer examination. Then, as you pan out, you begin to focus on a central point, the composition vortexes into a subject, often random, but themed to suit the surroundings. It is also a clear running concept to repeat the central subject atop the first, but slightly smaller in scale, and perhaps the topper most of one below, larger, like a play with a hall of mirrors.

Apt to mention a hall of mirrors, as thereโ€™s generally something fairground going on here, if the repetition of the central subject is cubist, it would be like viewing cubist art whilst on the waltzer. On a few occasions the subject can feel tangible, as fine art, expressionism, but with Millerโ€™s style brashly expanding the realms of normality, somewhere along the lines. For this, and the running theme of these scaled duplications, Edvard Munch meets Marcel Duchamp in Salvador Daliโ€™s studio, as the lines of expressionism, futurism and surrealism blur into dada in such a way only pop artists couldโ€™ve dreamed of.

But, as I said, if your knowledge of art doesnโ€™t stretch to the influences and movements Iโ€™ve cited, none of it really matters, as why I contemplated Renรฉ Magritte, my daughter also examined the concepts and discovered subjects. Like a Whereโ€™s Wally book, you could circle this exhibit twenty times and still discover something youโ€™d not noticed before in these canvases.

Added to the pieces, thereโ€™s some sublime charcoal sketches, showing his workings and thought process. Thereโ€™s also a bio, with printed matter showing the various private commissions and frescos which obviously couldnโ€™t come to the exhibit, for quintessentially, Miller is a street artist, and in Bristol and round and about Trowbridge thereโ€™s some excellent examples. The brilliant finale to this show is, once youโ€™ve left, you can make a beeline to Stallard Street to find such a wall with Millerโ€™s art displayed, and in the same ethos as whatโ€™s on display inside. This added an extra dimension to the enthralling exhibit.

Plus, Iโ€™m pleased to say, Usain-Bolt had no influence over my daughterโ€™s pace through the show, she took her time, examined everything and came out with some exceptionally precise observations. This is ideal to enthuse a non-art lover equally as much as one who is, as good street art does, but with the extra dimension of this influx of various art movement influences. Go see it, but hurry; it’s only running until 20th August!

Not forgoing Trowbridge Town Hall is a friendly place, where I gossiped and namedropped to the man on reception. Thereโ€™s a vast and amazing array of events planned over the coming months, from the yoga classes to the PSG Choir and from Moo Moo Music for little ones to an impressive gig line up from the likes of Will Lawton & the Alchemists on 11th September, Onika Venus on 18th, Juice Menace on 25th, and on the list goes onโ€ฆ.

Trending….

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 withโ€ฆ

Andy Hamilton, Definitely Coming to Swindon!

Here we are again, dรฉjร  vu. Iโ€™m taking to knocking our previews Iโ€™ve done before, stating back in early March last year, โ€œapparently, the UK just cannot live too long without spending An Evening with Andy Hamilton and so heโ€™s back for another short run of his โ€˜up close and personalโ€™ show this summer, just to keep us happy.โ€ And went onto inform the show comes to Swindonโ€™s Wyvern Theatre on a date in May, which obviously didnโ€™t, like just about everything, didnโ€™t happen.

Iโ€™m glad to announce one of the most noted comedy writers and directors of the last few decades, Andy Hamilton has been rescheduled for Sunday 19th September, same place, letโ€™s just pretend 2020 didnโ€™t happen, shall we?

Because, sigh, and thank the stars for copy and paste, this is an evening of reminiscence and revelation, which looks back over his forty years in comedy and sixty(ish) years on the planet.

Audiences will have the opportunity to ask Andy questions on any topic as he takes a look back at his very extensive professional career in comedy. Beginning in 1976 as a contributor to Radio 4โ€™s Weekending, Andy went on to pick up a raft of awards for co-writing and co-directing such household TV classics as Drop The Dead Donkey and Outnumbered.

His TV satires turned up the heat on Westminster with Ballot Monkeys and Power Monkeys, and he and his co-writer Guy Jenkin also penned and directed the hit British comedy feature film What We Did On Our Holiday. โ€œIn the spring,โ€ I wrote last time around, โ€œtheir latest sitcom Kate & Koji, starring Brenda Blethyn and Jimmy Akingbola, will air on ITV.โ€ Of which it did, consisting of six episodes which concluded in April, and a second series is in the pipeline.

Andyโ€™s numerous TV and radio credits include Have I Got News For You, QI, Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers, The News Quiz, Iโ€™m Sorry I Havenโ€™t A Clue and Old Harryโ€™s Game. Andyโ€™s debut novel, The Star Witness, is available via Outbound, and his handwritten (yes, handwritten!) epic fairy-tale comedy novel, Longhand was published last September.

Tickets for his show, An Evening with Andy Hamilton on 19th September at Swindonโ€™s Wyvern Theatre are here.

Trending….

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 supportedโ€ฆ

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..โ€ฆ

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 โ€ฆ

Jesus Christ Superstar at The Wharf

With Jesus Christ Superstar coming to Devizesโ€™ Wharf Theatre, Iโ€™m pondering, just how outrageous was it at the time, and how has adaptations and satires of biblical stories become more acceptable? ย 

So yeah, from what I remember, knee-high to a puppy at the time, he came down from heaven on a Yamaha, pulled a skid, killed a kid, trapped his balls in a dustbin lid.

Other rhymes circulated school playgrounds nationwide, but all the variations of the Jesus Christ Superstar theme were considered on the topper-most level of naughtiness, most likely because we figured it lampooned Jesus. When in all actual fact, above the tittering of school children, had the damage not already been done by the very thing we were parodying?

In a competitive era when the concept album had come of age, so rock musicals and rock opera were becoming fashionable, one had to raise the controversy bar in order to get noticed. With Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat already under their belts and bugging religious zealots, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice knew blasphemy long before Madge frolicked with an ethnic Jesus in Like a Prayer.

Cover story was, by twisting the Easter story into modern terminology and themes, it reached out to a new generation, but many didnโ€™t see it that way. Banned briefly by the BBC for being sacrilegious, Christian and Jewish orders despised the album alike, and the musical was banned in South Africa and Hungary.

Such was the narrative, focussing on Judas rather than Jesus, his fears the compassionate movement had become a cult, Jesusโ€™s declarations being besmirched by his followers, and this was a dangerous game which would attract the attention of the Romans, not forgoing it was condoning the common assumption Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, it might seem an unusual choice for the Wharf Theatre in Devizes. Yet, if anything, the degrading in offensiveness of Jesus Christ Superstar, is symbolic of how far weโ€™ve progressed and become more accepting towards biblical adaptations and ret-cons.

After all Monty Pythonโ€™s Life of Brian was only eight short years away, and today we live in a world where Homer Simpson prays for doughnuts, Trey Parker and Matt Stone depict Jesus in a boxing match with Satan or else hosting a call-in chat show called โ€œJesus and Pals,โ€ and even locally where The Boot Hill All Stars sing a song about a โ€œtiny Jesusโ€ crucified on a hot cross bun!

For extreme retroactive continuity of the character of Judas, though, Iโ€™d highly recommend the self-published series by author Roy Bright, whereby, punished by God with immortality and banished to Earth, Judas rights his wrong by becoming a super-heroic, Hollywood-fashioned action hero!

Still, the revival of the controversial musical is trending, which through the aforementioned hullabaloo, took best part of decade to alter from rock opera album to the stage in London, and only because of its success in the USA. A new production was staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, in Ontario, in 2011, and by the 45th anniversary of its run, on Broadway, it returned to London at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Whether you were intrigued or outraged at the time, or if like me, too young to form an opinion further than the amusing notion of Jesusโ€™s nad-sack caught in a dustbin lid, to see it now might cast a different perspective on the synopsis than how it was perceived at the time, and you can do exactly that, a stone throw away.

A rescheduled performance from last year, The Really Useful Group Ltd presents Jesus Christ Superstar at Devizes Wharf Theatre from Friday 10th to Saturday 18th September. The strapline runs, Jesus must be stoppedโ€ฆ.  which is tricky to say the least, I mean, on a Yamaha and all!

It will, at last, be open to a full house, after restrictions have reduced capacity of our lovely theatre, and Devizine wishes it well. โ€œIt has been a long hard wait,โ€ expresses publicity manager Karen, โ€œas we were due to stage this just days after the first lockdown was announced.โ€ And further to this, plans are ahead for the Christmas panto, Dick Whittington, with auditions on Wednesday next week, 18th August.

The box office is also open for the adaption of The Navy Lark, a classic radio comedy which originally featured Leslie Phillips, Dennis Price, Ronnie Barker and Jon Pertwee, on 2nd October, and Just Like That! The Tommy Cooper Show on the 16th.

The end of October sees an hilarious farce play, based on the true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, dubbed โ€˜the worst singer in the worldโ€™ in 1940s New York, running from 25th to the 30th of October, and a one-off on the 16th November, Dan Clews portrays Paul Simon in The Paul Simon Story.

Wharf Theatre

Tickets can be purchased by ringing 03336 663 366; from the website Wharftheatre.co.uk and at the Devizes Community Hub and Library on Sheep Street.

Trending…….

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 andโ€ฆ

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 Morrisonsโ€ฆ

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 everyโ€ฆ

Play the Wiltshire PCC Game; Fun for All the Family!

Hereโ€™s a fun and free game to play for all the family over the school holidays, where you can find out which one of you will be the new Wiltshire Police Crime Commissioner!

Well, actually, itโ€™s a bit rubbish. But face it, once our council tax hits the roof to pay the ยฃ1.4 million for another PCC election, after the Tories made what is technically known as a cock-up, you wonโ€™t have the spare cash to buy another board game, so you might just as well print out this game board and make do.

You need five people to play the game, each player decides to take the role of a candidate respectively, no arguing now, not everyone can be Mike.

You will need to find a dice, who do I look like? Rich Uncle Pennybags? This isnโ€™t Waddingtonโ€™s you know. Oh, and some counters too, one for each of the following colour codes:

Blue: Conservative

Red: Labour

Yellow: Lib Dem

Orange: Independent

Murky Grey: Reform

Put your counters at the start and the first to roll a six, starts. Move around the board and the winner is the one who reaches the end first, democratic huh? But beware, if you land on a square corresponding to the colour of your candidate, you must obey the command written on it without question, as real police would. No Dirty Harrys here please; play fair, just like all the real candidates.

Best of luck, and have fun. Just think this could be the first Wiltshire election where the Tories donโ€™t win hands down, but I doubt it, they paid me a backhander to rig the game! If you do win remember to whoop whoop, because that IS da sound of da police.

Roughcut Rebels Hit Trowbridge

If I was ever to be privileged to interview Bruce Springsteen, which I doubt I would be, Iโ€™d like to ask him of his thoughts now heโ€™s 71, of penning a song called Growinโ€™ Up at the tender age of 23. Similarly, Iโ€™d probe Pete Townshend, only a year young than the Boss, over lyrics of My Generation, which go, โ€œhope I die before I get old!โ€

Yet, despite its title, I view My Generation to be less about a specific generation, and more about the attitudes of youth, and with this in mind, it could easily be placed into any subsequent generation. The Oasis cover aside, for this opens another Pandoraโ€™s Box Iโ€™m not willing to go down (Iโ€™ve a gig to review here,) itโ€™s fair to say, akin to any song of the โ€œmodโ€ genre, itโ€™s timeless.

To believe the โ€œmodโ€ is wrapped in sixties nostalgia is only partly factual, Londonโ€™s emerging mod-girl sweetheart, Emily Capell sports a beehive hairstyle, but often sing-raps, like Kate Nash, and collaborates with Dreadzone. Similarly, the age demographic of Devizes-based mod cover band, The Roughcut Rebels spans generations, particularly now young Finley Trusler fronts it; still, he stands, belting out a vigorous and eloquent cover of My Generation.

Itโ€™s my reasoning for trekking to Trow-Vegas, keen to finally scrub โ€œmust see Finley fronting the Roughcutsโ€ off my to-do-list. He got the job with two gigs before lockdown, thankfully bookings are returning for the band. For through his musical journey, started in the Devizes School boy band 98 Reasons, which branched off to duo Larkin with Sam Bishop, and still works with cousin, Harvey, as the Truzzy Boys, his cool demeanour stage presence and exceptional talent has to been celebrated. Query being, how would this fair with a proficient, yet older mod cover band?

The answer; very well indeed, thanks for asking. I jested with Fin outside the pub, asked him if he had to learn the songs senior to him, and he replied โ€œnot really.โ€ This, and their dynamic performance, of course, proved my โ€œmod is timelessโ€ theory. In an explosive manner and highly entertaining show, they rocked Mortimer Streetโ€™s The Greyhound, and could do the same for any given venue.

Think of the eras the term encompasses, from The Beatles, Stones, Kinks and Spencer Davis through to The Jam and Purple Hearts, onto Ocean Colour Scene, The Stone Roses, to Britpop, Oasis and Blur, and modern times like Jake Buggโ€™s Lightning Bolt, The Roughcut Rebels got them all covered, and, loving every minute of it, they took the slight crowd with them.

To blend A Hard Dayโ€™s Night into a set with A Town Called Malice, swiftly move onto Park Life, or The Day We Caught The Train, and return with the Kingsmenโ€™s Louie Louie, displays their ability and keenness to incorporate and fuse epochs, and they do it with certain ease. Grant Blackmanโ€™s expert drumming and John Burnโ€™s bass played upfront gives it oomph, while Mark Slade adds the succulent and memorable rhythms, topped by Finelyโ€™s accomplished vocals, accompanying guitar or else showy tambourine timekeeping like a young Jagger giving it Jumpinโ€™ Jack Flash. Roughcut, huh? Yeah, they are a cut far above the average cover band on the circuit.

As for the venue, The Greyhound, I like it, in the shadow of The Pump, a long-bar town pub unexpectedly clean and tidy, with hospitable staff and drinks cheap as chips. Without so much as a blackboard, it couldโ€™ve done with promoting its live music event, as a regular told me he was unaware of it and only popped in because he heard the music. Consequently, the crowd was slight, and all-male (ladies, if you want to bag yourself a drunken Trow-Vegas native in a cheap polo shirt, this place is for you) but through the excellence of the Rebelโ€™s music, all were up dancing.

Hereโ€™s a great local covers band which will pull in an age-spanning crowd to your pub, and spur them to spend at your bar; because thereโ€™s an anthem or ten for all generations, and itโ€™s lively, accomplished and entertaining.

Trending…..

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

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 trailโ€ฆ

Pop Up Youth Cafe Goes Down a Treat with Youth in Devizes

What a brilliant initiative on the Green in Devizes this week, and a pleasure to see what can only be described as a โ€œmobile youth club.โ€ It pitched up every day this week, with kids of all ages enjoying the facilities it provides. Me, ageing, either sleeping, working or complaining about sleeping or working, managed to completely overlook its very existence, while my kids and better half were aware of it.

Why am I the last to know about everything? Because I canโ€™t be expected to look past my phone these days, relying on the book of face for my news, in-between sleeping and working! Councillor Jonathon Hunter Facebook posted about it, I inquired, perhaps unintentionally sternly, but only as a senior moment, I couldnโ€™t see from the photos quite what the deal was!

So, I ventured down to see for myself, and aside the drizzle, it was in full swing. A volleyball net currently unattended, collapsible football goals with a group playing between them just beyond it, and at the van, children are surfing the net, or else playing a Tony Hawks skateboarding game on a console. Thereโ€™s drinks, sweets and doughnuts aplenty, and Steve Dewar stands proudly by it.

Other features of the mobile youth club include a rock-climbing wall, which couldnโ€™t come out to play because of the rain.

I was surprised to hear it had been in operation for five years. โ€œIโ€™ve been running Potterne Youth Club for about ten years,โ€ Steve explained, and moved onto why it hadnโ€™t been advertised on Facebook and other social media. โ€œThe reality is we donโ€™t, because Facebook isnโ€™t the best place to communicate with teenagers. Itโ€™s detached work; what we do is pitch up and engage with the young people there, we do it throughout the whole week, and day-on-day thereโ€™s an increase.โ€

Steve couldnโ€™t see the point in me mentioning his mobile youth club, adamant the best form of communication for younger people is face-to-face, and besides, it was the last day it pitched on the Green, moving onto Trowbridge next week. I beg to differ, for if only to pay tribute to this guy and the wonderful work he does. In the plight of social facilities for children and youth clubs multiplied by this post-lockdown era, what Steve does here is at last as positive spin and proof amidst the doom and gloom of public services, thereโ€™s still saints like Steve, out their engaging youth the best way he knows how.

The opposite effect of a lack of amenities for youth is unfortunately anti-social behaviour, juvenile crime and possible drinking and drug taking, as we all know. Steve mentioned how the charity aided awareness and prevention of these difficult predicaments. But all the time, parents were always viewed as runners-up, his focus was entirely on the wellbeing of the children, except when he offered me a doughnut, kindly donated by Morrisons! The youth demographic there was all-encompassing, and clearly, they all enjoyed it equally.

Itโ€™s certainly evident here, social media is not needed to make kids aware of an occasion, it works by word-of-mouth as it always has. Grown up with it fed to them, rather itโ€™s the adults who engage more with the internet, and while kids are still out, running, jumping and playing sports and games outdoors, a large majority of generation X are glued to their devises, ironically whinging that the kids are glued to their devises! I knew this, Iโ€™m guilty too, but it was great to actually witness evidence of it happening in our own town.

Steve also noted he attends local schools to let them know about the project. The van moves across the county, planning to pitch up in Trowbridge. โ€œWeโ€™d love to do it more,โ€ Steve expressed, โ€œas a concept we could run this throughout the entire summer holidays, but because I work in schools termtime as well, my wife would kill me if I spent my entire summer holiday doing this! And also, financially as a charity, we get a little bit funding, and if we had more, we would plan to do more.โ€

And I conclude, ultimately, what an absolutely fantastic and inspiring guy, I tip my hat to Steve Dewar, and ask science, can we clone this chap?! We need more facilities like this, operating throughout the county and school holidays, we need more Steves!

Trending….

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 aโ€ฆ

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-seatedโ€ฆ

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

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,โ€ฆ

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 tunedโ€ฆ

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 Musiqueโ€ฆ

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 hadโ€ฆ

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 Jarโ€ฆ

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. Ticketsโ€ฆ

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 Lotteryโ€ฆ

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. Hisโ€ฆ

Ronnie Scottโ€™s in Devizes? Devizes Arts Festival Returns for November

Have you missed our wonderful annual Arts Festival, Devizions; too hungry for it to return to wait for next summer? I know I have. Never fear, Devizes Arts Festival offers an interim while we wait for 2022, under the motto, โ€œThe Show Must Go On.โ€ Three fantastic musical events at the Corn Exchange and Town Hall over the month of November; and theyโ€™re tasty, very, very tasty.

For starters, a taster of Londonโ€™s legendary Ronnie Scottโ€™s Jazz Club is coming to Devizes on the 11th. Celebrating 60-years since the founding of one of the worldโ€™s most iconic music venues, the Ronnie Scottโ€™s All Stars take to the road to celebrate the โ€˜Ronnie Scottโ€™s Storyโ€™.

Direct from Londonโ€™s world-famous jazz club and combining world class live jazz alongside rare archive photos and video footage, The Ronnie Scottโ€™s All Stars, take you on a guided, musical tour of this music institution. Set amongst the dive bars and jazz juke joints of Londonโ€™s Soho, we hear about the desperate hand-to-mouth finances of the early years and the frequent police raids.

Hear how Ronnieโ€™s became neutral ground within rival gang territory and their scrapes with gangsters including the Krays who were rumoured to have taken Ronnie and Pete โ€œfor a little driveโ€! Life at Ronnieโ€™s is evocatively re-imagined through tales of the clubโ€™s past visitors, from pop stars, film stars and politicians to comedians and royalty, but above all, the musicians.

But thatโ€™s not all, The Arts Festival are delighted to welcome Sally Barker to Devizes, on the 13th November. In this new show โ€˜Sandy, Joni & Meโ€™ she will bring some of the songs of both Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny to the stage, exploring the singer/songwriter legacy that was forged in the early โ€™70s.

Veteran folk-blues singer/songwriter Sally Barker became Tom Jonesโ€™ finalist on The Voice UK 2014 after reducing her mentor, and many watching the TV, to tears with her performances. Sally has toured with Sir Tom, Bob Dylan and Robert Plant amongst others. Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans said, โ€œSally changes the atmosphere in a room when she sings.โ€

And Friday 19th November is Motown Gold time at the Corn Exchange. Dust off your dancing shoes for a fabulous evening from a fantastic band. Motown Gold celebrate the finest songs from the timeless Motown and Classic Soul era, which kind of speaks for itself.

Online tickets are not yet up on the Arts Festival Website, but will be available from Devizes Books. Events are ยฃ21 for Ronnie Scottโ€™s, ยฃ16 for Sally Barker and ยฃ18 for the Motown evening. To keep in touch with them, get onto their mailing list.

And you could look the part on the evenings, as The Show Must Go On facemask, and similar tote bags, T-shirts, badges, note books and more are available from www.theatresupportfund.co.uk which supports the NHSCovid19 Appeal, the Theatre Support Fund, the Fleabag Support Fund and Acting for Others. There’s currently 20% of all merchandise.

Devizine would like to welcome back The Devizes Arts Festival, and wish the team the very best for these great events.

Today is Bandcamp Friday, Best Day to Bag Our 4Juliaโ€™s House Compilation

As the headline suggests, itโ€™s Bandcamp Friday, August 6, 2021, when the music platform waivers its fees, from midnight-to-midnight Pacific Time. Thereโ€™s no better time to buy our awesome fundraising compilation album as an average 93% of your tenner will go to Juliaโ€™s House Childrenโ€™s Hospice.

Bandcamp Friday has been operating since March of 2020, on the first Friday of every month. Bandcamp is a wonderful site, it doesnโ€™t prioritise signed artists, but level pegs all musicians. They waivered their shares to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. You can explore Bandcamp forever, finding your favourite artists, local music, or do as I like do sometimes, and venture off for a musical journey beyond your usual haunts. You can trek to a country and find all manner of musical styles youโ€™ve never heard before, safe in the knowledge, unlike streaming sites, it is fair trade for the artists.

Streaming sites offer a pittance of revenue share to the artist, they have to get millions of listens to make the price of sausage roll, whereas Bandcamp is a buying service, where merchandising can be added too. This is why I chose the site to launch our compilation album. Money comes straight over to us when you buy, and weโ€™ve currently raised over ยฃ150 for Juliaโ€™s House, please help us to raise this bar.

buy our album here, only ยฃ10

Besides, itโ€™s a cracking album, where if youโ€™re in the local area, name your favourite local artist, and I thereโ€™s a high chance theyโ€™ll be on it, and I guarantee youโ€™ll discover some new ones too. 46 full length songs of various genres, thoughtfully placed in sections according to those genres, to create a soundscape encompassing everything thatโ€™s amazing about both our local music scene, and beyond, artists weโ€™ve featured on Devizine in the past.

In fact, I call it an album, but a โ€œboxsetโ€ would be a more appropriate term if it was a physical product. Unfortunately, it is only as a download, as to make it an album would take over 5 CDS, and the expense of producing a product is too much to risk taking any profits made for the charity. I would be keen to hear from a business willing to sponsor the production of a small run of CDs, but as it is, download it is. Thereโ€™s a good thing with download, your purchase is stored in a cloud, so youโ€™ll never lose it as you have unlimited downloads of it. You can transfer it from one devise to another, you could burn it onto your own CD, if you wished.

It will never fail to amaze me, just how many musicians rallied to donate a song to this project, and Iโ€™m forever grateful to them all. Artists you should branch out to, and buy some of their albums and singles, as Iโ€™ve handpicked these fantastic people, so you can be rest-assured of their quality and talent.

For detailed track listing click here, but hereโ€™s the lowdown of who youโ€™ll be hearing on this musical journey of over three hours, in order of appearence: Pete Lamb & Cliff Hall, King Dukes, Erin Bardwell, Timid Deer, Duck n Cuvver, Strange Folk, Strange Tales, Paul Lappin, Billy Green 3, Jon Veale, Wilding, Barrelhouse, Richard Davies & The Dissidents, Tom Harris, Will Lawton โ€“ Evanescence, Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective, Kirsty Clinch, Richard Wileman, Nigel G. Lowndes, Kier Cronin, Sam Bishop, Mr Love & Justice, Barmy Park, The Truzzy Boys, Daydream Runaways, Talk in Code, Longcoats, Atari Pilot, Andy J Williams, The Dirty Smooth, SexJazz, Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue, The Boot Hill All Stars, Mr Tea & The Minions, Cosmic Shuffling, Blondie & Ska,The Birth of Bonoyster, The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show, Julie Meikle and Mel Reeves, Meru Michael, Cutsmith, The Tremor Tones, Big Ship Alliance, Feat Johnny2Bad, Robbie Levi & Stones, Urban Lions, Neonian, First Born Losers.

Disenchanted Webb

Swindonโ€™s one-man red-hot chilli pepper, Webb is about to blow your mind, speakers and pants off with his new EP Disenchanted; Iโ€™ve heard it, and live to tell the taleโ€ฆ.

First impressions last, and Iโ€™m having one of those mornings. Perpetual drizzle, darker mornings conspicuously drawing nearer, and other trivial irritations which I canโ€™t quite put my finger on, are building to a generally low-spirited mood. Tedious has the eighties pop mix Iโ€™m listening to become, even nostalgia cannot help me. I stop for a break, knowing Iโ€™ve got Ryan Webbโ€™s new EP Disenchanted to review, which promises to mark the emergence of WEBBโ€™s new, heavier direction. This is displayed by the forename being dropped, saving as Webb.

I consider playing the Lost Trades, for their folky calmness will do wonders for my wellbeing, and I suspect Disenchanted might have the opposite effect. Though I acknowledge it will be of high quality, Ryanโ€™s sound has always been substantial, heavy rock or metal isnโ€™t my bag, and Iโ€™m usually highly critical of it. Donโ€™t do it, I deliberate, last thing they need is for me to be set to whinge mode. But I did anyway, and given all algorithms, I worried this could head south rather quickly.

The five track EP includes the previously released track โ€œDONโ€™T!โ€, which we reviewed in May last year. I didnโ€™t headcount the tracks but noted, after a while, Iโ€™d heard the one playing before; itโ€™s gone around on repeat unnoticed, Iโ€™ve been sucked in, and it surpassed my preconceptions by a country mile. Ha, turns out it did suit the mood after all, in fact, it fitted all too well, and is, essentially a magnificent piece of music.

Now, given all Iโ€™ve said, about heavy rock not being my cup of tea, and this is something rather special even to me, if you are partial to the heavier weight of rock, itโ€™s got your name all over it.

So, now Iโ€™ve awarded my mind the task of figuring out why it works so well. And to do this is to honestly unravel why I maintain qualms about metal. Donโ€™t get me wrong, after the hip hop boom in the eighties became somewhat tiresome, like many I looked towards the soft metal genre for solace; I was shot in the heart too, just like Bon Jovi, longed for crazy, crazy nights, and if Heart sang how can I get you alone one more time when all they had to do was ask me, Iโ€™d be content. And as student years rolled in, I lost myself in the classics. Noting if it was compulsory for every soft metal band to sound like Jimmy Page, which while this is no bad thing, the vocal trend over time seemed to metamorphize into a hackneyed caricature of the voice of Satan. My qualm begins here, you donโ€™t know if Satan actually sounds like that, all coarse and demonic, he could have a camp voice for all you know!

There it is, the negativity, the hellish themes of death and destruction, and the long hair; I donโ€™t want to bring my, or anyone elseโ€™s daughter to the slaughter, if you donโ€™t mind. Even if itโ€™s tongue-in-cheek, times when I want to push the extensive fringes of metallers from their foreheads so they might see the beauty in life, the positives. Nu-metal, I say, feels like a long stretch to the elements I favour, the frenzied driving passion of Zeppelin, of The Ace of Spades, even Black Sabbathโ€™s Paranoid Iโ€™ll give you.

And hereโ€™s where Disenchanted fits; contemporary with nods to the classics, the vocals more on Page than Beelzebub, and Webb can hold a note like a tenor, while sublime drums roll over it blissfully. This fits because it’s precisely the opposite of mindless headbanging for headbanging sake, it’s composed and constructed with clarity and a truckload of talent.

The reason the EP rolled on unnoticed is because it captures all that is positive, all the elements I appreciate of the genre. Webb says, โ€œIโ€™m really excited about Disenchanted. Itโ€™s an EP that I am really proud of, and I feel that now I have found the right direction for my music,โ€ and proud he should be, for in technical jargon, Disenchanted can be summed as oomph; here, have a bit of that.

It amplifies a quote from my review of the single, โ€œa one-man red-hot chilli pepper.โ€ Ryan wrote, produced, sang, wailed his guitar, recorded and mixed this track in his studio. The only collaborators being Dave Collins on Don’t, the mastering engineer for Metallicaโ€™s last album, and Pete Maher who mastered the whole EP; heโ€™s mastered the Rolling Stones and the Killers to name but a few.

Within seven seconds it pounds, the stunning lead single Concrete Beds; oh, those rolling drums, proficient howling guitars and Webbโ€™s mighty soulful vocals; it rocks. Disenchanted demonstrates the multi-instrumental talent that makes him unique.

Thereโ€™s acute narrative to boot, Concrete Beds aptly homelessness themed, Iโ€™m Standing Here erotically scorching, the third track though, Secrets is a haunting ambient caution to bottling up, and debatably the most poignant on the EP. When Darkness Falls lifts the tempo once more, and is heavy, but Iโ€™m still engrossed, then the finale, Donโ€™t rips you a new arsehole, the riff beguiling, the considerable power and passion launched into this is exceptional.

The test of good โ€œdrivingโ€ rock is just that, your footโ€™s tension on the accelerator is judge and jury, and Disenchanted will have your pedal to the metal. Itโ€™s unleashed to the world next Saturday, the 14th August, and tickets are now available for the launch show at The Vic, Swindon.

CD pre-orders are available directly from WEBBโ€™s online store: https://www.webbofficial.com/product/disenchanted-pre-order

You can also pre-save/pre-add to your favourite music platform https://ditto.fm/disenchanted

I suggest you do, then hold on tight to the nearest thing nailed down.

Devizes Corn Exchange; Vaccine Clinic Accepting Walk-Ins

The Devizes Corn Exchange is holding vaccine clinics on Wednesday 4th of August, Friday 6th ( Pfizer only) and Saturday 7th August ( Astra and Pfizer) between 8.30 and 5pm each day.

They are accepting walk-ins, you do not need to book. If this is to be your second vaccine, you must be at 8 weeks between your first vaccine, as per government recommendations.

The Corn Exchange The Market Place Devizes SN10 1HS

Devizine would like to extend its eternal gratitude to all the staff and volunteers working so hard at the Corn Exchange, and I hope that speaks for the town. I’m thinking we should organise a club-together, get them each all a small gift of thanks from Devizes folk. What do you think?

Help DOCA Brighten up Devizes; An Art Project for all Ages….

Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts are asking budding crafters and artists to help brighten up the town.

“Devizes is usually festooned with hanging baskets at this time of year,” they point out, “but they have been a bit absent since Covid struck and we miss them and all the colour they bring to the town. It got us thinking! We would like to create something equally colourful to decorate the streets of Devizes at our events, and weโ€™d love your help to do this.”

There are two ways you can do thisโ€ฆ 

Make flowers: They are asking anyone of any age to make flowers, so they can make beautiful garlands to drape over the barriers. You can make them out of anything, any size big or small, and DOCA will assemble them.

Materials that can stand getting wet and donโ€™t take too long to dry are the best, old carrier bags, sweet wrappers, used foil wrapping paper, coffee wrappers whatever you can find. We know we have a talented bunch of folk in Devizes and weโ€™d love to see what you come up with for this project. You can drop off your flowers at the Kingfisher Cafรฉ on Devizes Wharf. Please try and avoid their busy lunch time periods. 

Draw pictures: DOCA invites children of 8 years or under to draw pictures of circus characters, performers or other festival or DOCA related things. They will pick out the best artwork and work with a graphic designer to make a montage which will be printed on gauzes to decorate the dull barriers  they use to divide up their events. Please send images as Jpegs.  

DOCA need your work to be sent in digital format, so you can scan it or take a picture and send it. The email to send your artwork to is docadevizes@gmail.com

More information here.


Please include your name and the age of the artistย and even a photo of them holding the work and they’ll share it on their social media… I’d love to see them too!

September Munchies: Return of The Devizes Food & Drink Festival

A festival of gluttonous magnitude descends on Devizes, as the market town welcomes the return of The Devizes Food & Drink Festival. As per-usual, with the exception of the write-off year last, no corner has been left unturned in order to burst the box office when tickets go live on in fortnight, Monday 16th August.

Running later this year, Saturday 25th September to Sunday 3rd October, The Devizes Food & Drink Festival has a full schedule and a variety of interesting food and drink related events, of which I will attempt to sum up here, without getting the munchies and having to nip off for a fish finger sandwichโ€ฆ what? Nothing wrong with a fish finger sandwich, staple diet, mate!

The celebrated Street Food & Artisan Market kicks the show off, itsโ€™ free, itโ€™s my favourite in years gone by, primarily because of the free Fโ€™s; Food, Festival and Free! From 10am to 4pm, on Saturday 25th September, Devizes Market Place will be โ€œcheese toastie oozing deliciously,โ€ with a generous selection of stalls, sampling wonderful dishes and take-home buys from local producers and traders, not forgetting the Wadworth Bar and live music.

Soul food, also on that day, as author of two successful cookery books and currently cooking up a storm on Weekend Best, ITV Saturday mornings with Martin and Roman Kemp, Shivi Ramoutar will be demonstrating pulled pork shoulder tacos with a pineapple salsa and jerk mayo, 10.30 at the Corn Exchange for ยฃ3.

Food writer and columnist for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Great Taste Award judge and author of several cookery books, Xanthe Clay will help save on the washing up with a demonstration of delicious one-pan dishes at midday, for another ยฃ3.

Kitty Tait, the teenager from Oxfordshire whoโ€™s setting the baking world alight at The Orange Bakery in Watlington, Oxfordshire, is on from 2pm at Corn Exchange.

And the evening can be spent at Belle Bathrooms on Sidmouth Street where you can dine somewhere different.

On Sunday, forget the Wurzels, you can get some scrumpy โ€˜round โ€˜ere; itโ€™s all down to Bromhamโ€™s Cider Shed at 11.45, where craft cider maker, Roger Blake conducts you through the cider-making journey from apple blossom to bottle, seeing orchard, press and end product.

Later, for the younger, Hillworth park has a teddy bearโ€™s picnic, for just ยฃ2.50, for storytelling, games, and a healthy picnic. There will be a special guest, possibly the largest teddy in all Devizes โ€“ the Juliaโ€™s House Bear.

Salem Chapel, on New Park Street is where to dine somewhere different on Monday 27th September, lunchtime Loaves & Fishes, and Eveโ€™s Pudding and enjoy a glimpse of days gone by in Devizes courtesy of local historian Dave Buxton.  

Peter Vaughan shows you how to prepare some deliciously fragrant dishes from Goa, at his Cookery School, on Hopton. The cuisine is a unique mix of Mediterranean with a tropical Indian blend.

And Monday evening could be spent at The Literary & Scientific Institute for the Great Foodie Quiz, or stargazing in a pod at Erlestoke for an out-of-this-world five course meal.

Zooming back to earth Tuesday, to have lunch among the flowers of Superior Plants in Market Lavington, and an evening meal at the Bear Hotel. The five-course menu will be created by Wadworthโ€™s Executive Development Chef, Andrew Scott, who has worked in several Michelin starred restaurants as well as appearing on BBC2โ€™s Great British Menu, and the meal will be paired with wines chosen and described by experts from Wadworthโ€™s wine supplier Bibendum.

Gin masterclass, is a wise way to end Wednesday 29th September, at the The Vaults on St Johnโ€™s Street. Local distillery Scout & Sage invite you to learn all about gin, or Devizes Books presents readings from Kipling, Tagore, a Plain Tale from the Raj and some Spike Milligan, with three courses of the delicious cuisine of the sub-continent, at St Johnโ€™s Parish Rooms.

Cheese Hall, at Devizes Town Hall has foodie written all over it. An illustrated talk by art historian Clare Ford-Wille on Food in Art from the Romans to Cezanne on Thursday 30th September. Or perhaps a murder mystery dinner might be your thing? Also at Devizes Town Hall, with The All Cannings Players, bringing you a murder story, Rough Justice, involving an amateur dramatics group, and, naturally, a three-course dinner.

Friday 1st October, is foraging day, meeting points will be supplied with tickets, as small group walks search for edible and usable plants within the boundaries of Devizes. Lunch at the studio of Devizes contemporary artist, Bee Thomas, or take an expert tutorial at Wadworthโ€™s Brewery in signwriting with Wadworthโ€™s sign painter, Wayne Ritchings.

Then the firm fixture on the festival calendar, Friday, the Come Dine With Us experience without the cameras and annoying narration!

A new weekend upon them, thereโ€™s an invitation to Horton House Farm on Saturday 2nd October, and the grounds of Parkdale House has a steam engine, on the old Devizes Branch Line; you could be dining underneath the arches, barbecue style.

But thus, this sees the end of The Devizes Food & Drink Festival, with one of the most ingenious events the festival has launched. The World Food event, free at the Corn Exchange Sunday 3rd October from 12.30. Explore the globe on a plate. An event for all the family, where local residents with far flung roots invite you to sample a family favourite from their homeland. Basically, you get little taster portions for 50p a pop. Such a novel idea, and wonderful way to end the festival

ย Iโ€™m hungry mentioning all this, anyone got a biscuit? No, not a garibaldi, I want nothing less than custard cream, thank you! More info, and to book tickets, click here.

Gamer Heaven in Bristol: History of Video Games Show

What would get your gamer relation, (because every family has one!) leaping out of their game chair, putting their controller on charge and aching to get out into the real world?!

Yeah, I know, right, not much, other than perhaps their favourite savoury snack, and then theyโ€™ll drift back towards the console, proclaiming thereโ€™s a new level needs completing or something about NPCs trying to eat them. How about a trek to Bristol? Tricky, but maybe if you told them The History of Video Games has every console at hand, a truckload of vintage arcade games and an exhibition theyโ€™d pass off a snog with Lara Croft for.

Running now and through the summer holidays until 12th September, on the ground floor of The Galleries shopping in Broadmead, a ยฃ12 ticket will gain you access to the video game heaven thatโ€™ll make your gamer explode into golden rings upon witnessing. And, I stress, gamers of ALL ages. One Facebook user asked if they had the Star Wars game, presumably they meant the 1983 Atari arcade first-person rail shooter. The answer a definite yes, but it was currently being fixed. Another asked what consoles they have, that answer was simply, โ€œthem all.โ€

Theyโ€™ve got everything from the Konami Dance Revolution to the Original Sega Rally, the like I could imagine Dads dragging kids kicking and screaming away from their Minecraft servers and forcing them to play Asteroids or Pac-Man.

Divided into three sections, History of Video Games, Replay Board Game Cafe and the Generation Games Exhibition, organisers advise to plan ahead, tickets sell out fast; theyโ€™re like the easter egg in Adventure. The days are spread over three sessions with only a capacity of 65; you could be like Jet Set Willy trying to get out of the Attic, if you donโ€™t buy in advance, or am I showing my age now?!

Song of the Day 41: Captain Accident & Disasters

Meaning to bring back this simple and quick feature for a while now, and what better opportunity than a new tune from Cardiff’s reggae virtuosoes Captain Accident and the Disasters?

Nice mellow rock steady number this one, with a sombre theme and contrasting clown in the video. Bring on those happy, happy clowns, for a band who supported Toots and the Maytals on their 2016 UK tour, who Toots Hibbert liked so much to invite them back to do the same for the follow two tours, it could only be more talent than “accident.”

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

T F I Thaiday Friday

Checking out the little Thai cuisine delivery service in Devizes, Thaiday Friday; why am I the last to know about these things?!

Iโ€™ve no gripe with Andy, I couldnโ€™t have, heโ€™s standing at my door clutching some takeaway Thai curry. And my grumble certainly isnโ€™t with his partner, Som, whoโ€™s lovingly cooked it. Itโ€™s with some of you, you know who you are! I do have bad moods, and they can be known to last for anything up to thirty seconds. The Thaiday Friday Facebook page has received over 400 likes, and not one of you thought to tell me about it. Well, your dirty little secret is out!

Thaiday Friday is the โ€œlockdown projectโ€ of Andy and Som of Devizes, each Friday they deliver a different homecooked Thai dish to your door. While we have some great established takeaways in town, variety lacks, Thai cuisine one of them, and you know what they say about variety; aptly, itโ€™s something about spices.

If theyโ€™ve found a gap in the market, and set up as a registered business, Andy seemed ambiguous with the prospect of expanding the project. Heโ€™s worked as a DJ for over 35 years, and Som is the breakfast chef at The Bear Hotel, so theyโ€™ve their hands full already. Besides, overthinking something can be its downfall, the beauty of this idea is its simplicity.

โ€œWe sell out most weeks,โ€ Andy told me, making me wonder why we need review it at all. But Iโ€™m not about to argue, as I said, heโ€™s standing at my door clutching some takeaway Thai curry! After hoofing it down, and cleaning my plate dry, (which I may/may not have licked,) I see why it needs a mention, deffo. Though Iโ€™ve not a great deal of experience with Thai cuisine, ergo nothing to evenly compare it with, I knows what I likes, and this was simply delicious.

Those few times I have had Thai curry, itโ€™s always been green, like itโ€™s an English set standard. This Friday though, itโ€™s a welcoming, warm orange tint; chicken Massaman curry, apparently, with chickpeas, sweet potato and cashew nuts, accompanied with soft Thai Jasmin rice. โ€œWe rotate five dishes on weekly basis,โ€ Andy explained, โ€œMassaman, yellow curry, Panang curry, red curry and green curry, all with Thai Jasmin rice.โ€

Choice maybe limited, no restaurant menu here, rather a quaint homecooked operation of which you can check to see whatโ€™s cooking and order via their Facebook page. If you have to hold your hands up and praise the ingenuity here, the proof is, as they say, in the pudding. You can choose if you want it hot or just lightly spiced, of which we opted for the latter.

Like Marilyn Monroe, without the legs for it, I do like it hot, but lesser so, I considered, you can really taste the quality. And it is quality, restaurant-standard. The chicken fresh and succulent, the sweet potato smooth and the whole combination of cashews, chickpeas and the incomparable sauce were to die for.

Massaman is a rich, relatively mild fusion dish, not over-sweet, savoury, and just, velvety. Is this the cinnamon at work, the palm sugar or cardamom? Do I look like Jay Rayner to you? That was rhetorical, you donโ€™t have to answer it. To compare to Indian curry though, this was far more delicately composed and lighter; it was sweet, to a degree, savoury to another and creamy, just a bit. With Indian curry I find itโ€™s either one end or the other, here curry is balanced to perfection, from someone proficient and obviously passionate about bringing you a taste of her home; thatโ€™s my amateurish opinion!

Thanks Som and Andy, but I couldn’t finish it all!

Portions were plentiful, but size is unimportant compared to the notion; hereโ€™s something unique to our little market town, and for which Thaiday Friday thoroughly deserves top marks, and a little more. This is undoubtedly the completion to a perfect Friday night in.

Hotting up for August 2021: Things to Do Across Wiltshire and Beyond

If July saw the gradual return to normality, and cautiously events crawled back with a welcomed but awkward feeling, while it may be hugely debatable if weโ€™re doing the right thing, or not, August is warming up to be stonker. Events of all types are flung up each day, itโ€™s hard to keep track and up-to-date, nevertheless I try.

Fingers crossed it doesnโ€™t go Pete Tong. Such a divided issue with good arguments on each side, Iโ€™m not about to start ranting for either, but I salute everyone organising events, at great risk to themselves financially. All I will say is, it is vital for the success of any event and the continuation of them in general, that we still apply certain rules, restrictions set by the organisers, and adopt the necessary etiquette when attending them. We know what the precautions are, theyโ€™re second nature now. The government passed the buck, it is up to us, each and everyone of us to think for ourselves, respect otherโ€™s decisions on how to act, but I appeal, act responsibly and long may this continue.

Without further-a-do then, hereโ€™s what weโ€™ve found on Devizine for August. Itโ€™s far easier to knock this article up with providing too many links, they can be found at the event calendar, and for family events throughout the school holidays, check here; but please do check for updates, itโ€™s never an exhaustive thing, new events are being added. Said that bit before, but it is even more vital to check ahead, to ensure events are going ahead as planned, and what restrictions might be in place at them individually. Have a great August, stay safe.

Week 1:

Kicking off on Monday August 2nd with the +5 Holiday Club at The Farm Cookery School. Tuesday 3rd and running until Thursday 5th August, RW Football School Summer Football Camp are at Green Lane, Devizes, ages 6-11.

Wednesday August 4th, then. Chippenham Museum host a Childrenโ€™s Art Walk. Take a walk, through Monkton Park for this fun arty session. You will receive a pack with pencils, crayons and plenty of paper and join local artist Kirsty Jones to explore the wonderful setting of the park.2pm โ€“ 3pm. ยฃ4 per child. Recommended age 6 and above, all children must be accompanied. Meet at the town bridge entrance to Monkton Park. Thereโ€™s also the +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School.

Wednesday also sees the first Junior Actors with Lucia, for school years 6-9, for the Youth Theatre Summer Workshop at the Wharf Theatre, Devizes.

Thursday 5th and the Summer Kidโ€™s Art Club at Wiltshire Scrapstore starts on Bowden Hill, Lacock. Sessions from 10:30 am โ€“ 12:00 pm, run every Thursday and Friday through August.

Our first August festival starts Thursday, Wickham Festival in Hampshire, where Van the Man headlines, and the Love Summer Festival at Plympton, Devon starts Friday.

Thereโ€™s an interesting-sounding new family musical written and produced by Mel Lawman staged at Bathโ€™s Forum on Friday 6th -Saturday 7th Miss Red. Devizes folk support this, because our homegrown talented twelve-year-old, Jessica Self from Centre Stage Academy of Dance in Devizes and Stagecoach Trowbridge is in the cast, playing Daisy Blewitt. We wish you all the best, Jessica.

Friday 6th also sees the Salisbury Comedy Festival start, Black Sabbath tribute, Supernaut play the Vic in Swindon, and HoneyStreetโ€™s Barge will be kicking as the Mid Life Krisis Collective head down there.

On Saturday 7th time for Sheer Music to put aside their lockdown TV presenting skills and get on with what they do best, hosting gigs. And what a way to start, itโ€™s Frank Turner at the Cheese & Grain. Also, catch the amazing Kevin Brown the Southgate, Devizes, and those mods, The Roughcut Rebels play the Greyhound in Trowbridge.

The wonderful Strange Folk are at The Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon. Concord Drive, Transfer Window and Man in Vest play Swindonโ€™s Vic, Jive Talkinโ€™ perform the Bee Gees at Chippenhamโ€™s Neeld Hall and itโ€™s The Bath Festival Finale Weekend, where McFly headline.

For Sunday chilling, on the 8th, get down to the Queens Head in Box where Schtumm presents The Lost Trades with support from Lee Broderick, alternatively the Neeld play The Rod Stewart Songbook.

Week 2:

Monday 9th August thereโ€™s a +8 Holiday Club, The Farm Cookery School and +11 on Tuesday.

Wednesday sees another Youth Theatre Summer Workshop, at Devizes, the Wharf Theatre, check their website for details. Chippenham Museum also hosts a Writing & Performance Workshop with performer Ruth Hill, for ages 8 and above. More Summer Kidโ€™s Art Club at Wiltshire Scrapstore on Thursday and Friday, and The Cake Lady takes The Farm Cookery Schoolโ€™s +8 Holiday Club.

Friday night, Iโ€™ve got Stop Stop playing Swindonโ€™s Vic, and thatโ€™s it so far.

Saturday 14th, Cobbs at Hungerford have a charity Emergency Service Day, should be fun for the little ones. For the grownups, cider fest at the Civic in Trowbridge with the Mangled Wurzels.

Lewis Clark is at The Southgate, Devizes, Shepardโ€™s Pie at Wanboroughโ€™s The Harrow, and Webb, formally known as Ryan Webb has this EP launch party at Swindonโ€™s Vic, with Broken Empire and Land Captains in support. Hope to get a copy of this for reviewing, some clog in the pipeline at the moment. But hey, itโ€™s also Buckfest at Marlborough The Roebuck where the loud and proud Humdigger headline.

Bedpost, Transfer Window and Pool play the Vic in Swindon on Sunday.

Week 3:

+11 Holiday Club at The Farm Cookery School on Monday 16th, and the RW Football School are in Melksham. Suitable for ages 6+, Pound Arts welcome Scratchworks Theatre Companyโ€™s joyful and mischievous show to Corsham Almshouses, for an outdoor performance of The Grimm Sisters.

A welcomed return of events at Melksham Assembly Hall on Thursday 19th, with Neil Sands Bringing Back the Good Times; olโ€™ time favourite show tunes from the 40s, 50s & 60s and a heart-warming tribute to Dame Vera Lynn.

Friday 20th and Jack Deeโ€™s new show, Warm Up is at Chippenhamโ€™s Neeld Hall. Iโ€™ve nothing else for Friday night yet, but Saturday21st, woah, festival time!

First up, is where I plan to be, Mantonfest, near Marlborough, with Blondie tribute Dirty Harry, Dr Feelgood, Barrelhouse, Richard Davies & The Dissidents and many more. Over the downs, OakStock at Pewseyโ€™s Royal Oak is another safe bet; Amy Winehouse, Rag n Bone Man tributes, alongside the brilliant Illingsworth.

Meanwhile the rescheduled Bath Reggae Festival takes place, with Maxi Priest, Aswad, Big Mountain, Dawn Penn, Hollie Cook and more. Anneโ€Marie, Dizzee Rascal and Clean Bandit headline Live at Lydiard 2021.

Howlinโ€™ Mat plays The Southgate, Devizes, while Sex Pistolโ€™s tribute Pretty Vacant are at Swindonโ€™s Vic, with support by The Half Wits and Subject Ex.

Week 4:

Monday 23rd August is +8 Holiday Club at The Farm Cookery School, and Tuesday is11+.From Tuesday until Thursday, The RW Football School Summer Football Camp returns to Green Lane, Devizes, for ages 6-11.

Chippenham Museum has a one-hour workshop to create your own simple mini scrap book inspired by their latest exhibition on Wednesday, for ages 6+.

Thursday and Friday itโ€™s Summer Kidโ€™s Art Club at Wiltshire Scrapstore. And Thursday 26th August sees an Olympic Gold Medallist, Alex Danson running a Hockey Masterclass at Devizes Hockey Club. Open to all hockey players aged 11-18 โ€“ you donโ€™t have to be a member of DHC.

All weekender at The Barge on Honeystreet, when Honey Fest kicks off Thursday, with a grand local line-up, including The Lost Trades, The Blunders, and Chicken Shed Zeppelin, to name but a few.

The Southgate is the place to head towards on Friday in Devizes, where my personal indie-pop favourites, (not that I should have favourites) Daydream Runaways are booked in. Also, the highly anticipated FullTone Festival returns to Devizes Green, all weekend, with the Full Tone Orchestra and Pete Lambโ€™s Heartbeats appearing Sunday.

A theatrical outdoor re-telling of Kenneth Grahameโ€™s classic, Wind in the Willows on Saturday 28th August at Corshamโ€™s Pound Arts. And Sunday, a Magical show where beautiful Princesses become Pop Stars, Pop Princesses comes to Wyvern Theatre, Swindon.

Meanwhile, itโ€™s the welcomed Triple JD Band at The Southgate, Devizes and HarrowFest at Wanboroughโ€™s The Harrow, featuring Jamie R Hawkins, The Blind Lemon Experience and moreโ€ฆ

Stonehenge Saved!

Whether, for you, it was a case of our maintaining our heritage for future generations, Pagan rights, as an economical attraction, saving the tax-payer a cool two-billion-plus, or the devastating environmental damage, no one can deny Stonehenge is our countyโ€™s world-renowned historic monument; we cherish it.

Come on, admit it, even Clark Griswold had more idea than Transport Secretary Grant Shapps! Last week I was imagining this article to be rant, major bad news, as the tunnel project risked the future of site, the surroundings and its right to be a World Heritage Site, and for what? The legacy of Boris? To shave a few minutes off commuting times?

But no, I will have to angle my antagonising elsewhere, because the High Court has today held that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps acted unlawfully when granting permission for a dual carriageway and short tunnel through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site; at long last logic presides over power!

The judge found that the Secretary of State unlawfully failed to consider less-damaging ways of relieving the existing A303. UNESCOโ€™s World Heritage Committee, and others have repeatedly called for a longer tunnel so as to protect the whole of the WHS. Just days before the judgment UNESCOโ€™s Committee warned that if the shorter tunnel goes ahead, then Stonehenge might be placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger next year.

As part of his judgement, Mr Justice Holgate noted the Transport Secretaryโ€™s acceptance that the road scheme would have caused permanent and irreversible harm to the WHS.

The Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site is delighted, โ€œwe are enormously grateful to our legal team for their work on the case. We also acknowledge the brilliant work of the Stonehenge Alliance, and the hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide who have, over many years, passionately supported the campaign to protect our internationally famous WHS. We are especially indebted to over 3,000 individuals who have helped to fund the legal action to date.โ€

John Adams, OBE, SSWHS Director and Acting Chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance, said, โ€œwe could not be more pleased about the outcome of the legal challenge. The Stonehenge Alliance has campaigned from the start for a longer tunnel if a tunnel should be considered necessary. Ideally, such a tunnel would begin and end outside the WHS. But now that we are facing a climate emergency, it is all the more important that this ruling should be a wake-up call for the Government. It should look again at its roads programme and take action to reduce road traffic and eliminate any need to build new and wider roads that threaten the environment as well as our cultural heritage.โ€

But weโ€™re not clear out of the water yet. SSWHS awaits the Secretary of Stateโ€™s decision on whether he will appeal against the judgement. Should he do so, the legal battle will continue to save the Stonehenge landscape for future generations to marvel at and enjoy. Continue to support the campaign, more details here: https://stonehengealliance.org.uk/

Please sign the petition and share!

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-stonehenge-world-heritage-site

Idiot Music, is the Monkeyโ€™s Bizzle

This is isnโ€™t the favoured way to start a review, but this is idiot music for stupid people, if you think this is stupid then youโ€™re a fucking idiot, and thatโ€™s a quote, from the opening title tack, which ends on, โ€œoh, there it is, up my bum; can I eat it now?โ€

If Goldie Looking Chain is all too millennial, but hip hop, for you, should be served with massive chunks of deadpan sauce, west country tongue-in-cheek sarcasm and general silliness, Monkey Bizzleโ€™s debut album, Idiot Music might just be the thing to pick off the menu.ย ย ย 

Through the Pythonesque nature of Idiot Music though, wailing guitars, proficient drumming (from Cerys of the Boot Hill All Stars), and substantial dope beats means this is far from amateurish, and will rock the festival circuit. In fact, the Somerset five-piece sold out the album launch party at The Barge on Honeystreet a fortnight ago; I see why. This drips with Scrumpy & Western charm, like Gloucestershireโ€™s Corky, Wurzels meets the Streets, the elements of โ€œagriculturalโ€ hip hop make this apt for our local crusty scene. Yet with wider appeal, it is, simply, parental advisory fun.

Primates tend to be a running theme, a particularly danceable funky signature tune named Monkey Funk, a King Kong themed rap, another including David Attenborough samples. There are also drug references aplenty, the reggae-inspired Heavy, or Doves (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) needs no explaining, but in it, it mocks the chav culture in such a way you mayโ€™ve thought only Goldie Looking Chain could. Something itโ€™ll inevitably be compared to, but more so than the humour drafting this side of the Seven, what makes this so appealing is its nod of respect to hip hop rather than mocking it, is greater than that of Goldie Looking Chain, in a similar way thereโ€™s was with Beastie Boy satirists Morris Minor and the Majors, if you get as old skool as I!

One thingโ€™s for sure, Monkey Bizzle isnโ€™t to be taken seriously, but for the most part itโ€™s listenable to as a hip hop album rather than pure novelty too, unique rappers Skoob and James make this so, especially as the album trickles on, both CU Next Tuesday and Ha Ha Ha being particularly entertaining, Oi Mate ripples with The Streets’, Give Me My Lighter Back but under a ska riff.

Nothing here is going to become next summerโ€™s banging anthem on Radio Oneโ€™s Big Weekender, an honour theyโ€™re clearly not bothered by or striding towards. To face facts, what you get is a full album of highly entertaining flip-flop and amusing lyrics of daring themes, wrapped by gifted musicians only playing the fools. And for which, Idiot Music has got my name all over it!

For Dave Young; Swindonโ€™s Old Town Bowl Rocks for Charity This August with New Festival

Planned for Saturday 28th August, from midday until 10pm, an all-day festival in Swindonโ€™s Town Gardens will be getting Swindon rockinโ€™, and itโ€™s all in aid of The Prospect Hospice.

Prospect Hospice has offered end-of-life care services in Swindon and north east Wiltshire since 1980.

The unconventional yet catchy named, โ€˜The My Dadโ€™s Bigger Than Your Dad Festivalโ€™ is being organised by the people behind The Swindon Shuffle in partnership with South Swindon Parish Council, is being held in tribute to Dave Young, the former landlord of The Victoria and 12 Bar, who sadly died in early June at the Prospect Hospice after a hard-fought battle against cancer.

The charity festival, will be held at Town Gardens Bowl, a venue I thought was in a state of disrepair, after finding it walking through the park in Old Town as a student. Showing my age now, as it was refurbished in the mid-1990s, and is currently being used by the South Swindon Parish Council for a summer program of outdoor theatre!

Since 1936 the auditorium-styled Bowl has hosted many musical events. Standing in a grass-banked ย ย amphitheatre, created by quarry workings in the eighteenth century, itโ€™s a beautiful setting known its outstanding acoustics.

Swindon Railway Band at the Town Gardens, Old Town

Organiser Ed Dyer, of The Swindon Shuffle, said: โ€œDuring their tenure at The Victoria and the 12 Bar, Dave, along with his wife Anna, revitalised the Swindon music scene, offering opportunities to hundreds of local musicians to show off and develop their talents. The pair created friendships and a lasting music family that still endures, leaving an indelible stamp on this town and many of the people within it.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s only fitting that this legacy is recognised by throwing a great big musical party and raising as much money as possible for Prospect, who helped keep David comfortable in his last months.โ€

The festival is now calling on local businesses to come forward to help fund the event so that as much money as possible can be raised for the charity. They are also looking for volunteers who want to show their support.

Sheryl Crouch, head of income at Prospect Hospice, said: โ€œWeโ€™ve been so pleased to have been chosen as the local charity to benefit from this fantastic bank holiday music event in memory of the groups wonderful friend, I really canโ€™t thank them enough.  I can see the passion in the team to raise vital funds for the hospice after we cared for Annaโ€™s husband Dave at the end of his life.โ€

โ€œSupport like this means a huge deal to us, especially at the moment when weโ€™ve been unable to fundraise in our traditional ways but continue to offer specialist care to those who need it. I wish them all the very best for a successful and enjoyable event and weโ€™ll be here to support them wherever we can.โ€

The organisers are made up of several key members of the Swindon music scene, including Andy Loddington, the man behind Summer Breeze and Jamie Hill, editor of The Ocelot. They are also working very closely with Anna Sprawson, the widow of Dave Young, who said: โ€œDaveโ€™s death has been a tragic loss to all who knew him. He was so full of life and gave so much to others whether it was his family and friends or to the music community.โ€

โ€œI couldnโ€™t think of a better way to celebrate his life and all he meant to others by holding this one-day festival in aid of the Prospect Hospice who helped us all during such difficult times. We canโ€™t do enough for this wonderful charity and weโ€™re hoping to raise as much money as possible so they can continue helping more families in their time of need.โ€

Press Cutting from May 1993, the Boys From County Hell deut gig.

The stellar musical line up is headed by Davidโ€™s former folk-punk band, The Boys From County Hell, reuniting for the occasion to perform for the first time in more than a decade. They toured the internationally to huge acclaim.

Gaz Brookfield & The Company of Thieves. Image: Jennifer Berry

Joining them will be Daveโ€™s last band, the legendary punk covers outfit The Chaos Brothers along with Gaz Brookfield & The Company of Thieves, with whom he toured the UK as sound engineer.

Also featuring are a host of acts who were all championed by David in one way or another during his time as a cornerstone of the local music scene, including parody-party covers act Kova Me Badd, ska-punk band Slagerij, blues-funk three-piece Hip Route, and reggae act The Erin Bardwell Trio, and more are in the working. One only has to look at the diversity and quantity of acts queuing to play the legendary Swindon Shuffle, to know, the team have the experience to pull off a most fitting and memorable concert.

Erin Bardwell

South Swindon Parish Council, who manage Town Gardens have also offered their full support to the festival. Cllr Neil Hopkins, Chair of Leisure, Environment and Amenities said, โ€œWe are really pleased to be working in partnership with The Shuffle, in support of what promises to be a fantastic family-friendly music festival in the heart of Town Gardens, in aid of Prospect Hospice.โ€

Dave Young. Image: Graham Bradfield

The festival is now calling on local businesses to come forward to help fund the event so that as much money as possible can be raised for the charity as well as volunteers to help on the day. Businesses and volunteers can get in touch with the team via email โ€“ mdbtydfestival@gmail.com

โ€˜The My Dadโ€™s Bigger Than Your Dad Festivalโ€™ will be held at Town Gardens Bowl on Saturday 28 August, from midday until 10pm. Tickets are available online via seetickets.com or in person at Holmes Music and The Tuppenny in Swindon and Sound Knowledge in Marlborough.  

Tickets:

Early Bird (18+) – ยฃ15

Adult Ticket (18+) – ยฃ20

Concession Ticket (10-17 years) – ยฃ12

Child Ticket (Under 10 years old) โ€“ Free

Family Ticket โ€“ two adults and two concessions – ยฃ50

To keep up to date with information about the festival visit www.mydadsbiggerthanyourdad.co.uk

Daisyโ€™s Good Luck Songs

If I learned to take heed of Sheer Music chief promoter Kieran J Moore, when he Facebook posts about a new local discovery on a previous occasion, when I had the unexpected realisation outstanding Americana artist, Joe Edwards was virtually a neighbour, itโ€™s paid off again.

The sounds of Daisy Chapman the subject this time, and itโ€™s exquisite.

โ€œHow have we only just discovered each other?โ€ Daisy responded. She may reside in Trowbridge but rarely gigs locally, concentrating on touring the continent. I listened fondly to the song he prompted, time for me to cut in on this dance.

Starter for ten, Daisy has an angelic voice of vast range. It could conjure enough emotion to make you tearful over a Chas n Dave cover, if she were to attempt it, which she probably wouldnโ€™t, purely hypothetical!

Orchestral, at times, but dark, folk in another, if unconventional, thereโ€™s a thin line between heavenly and infernal here, as a sense of generation X sneaks in too, through conceivably progressive writing. Coupled with poignant narrative in these nine original good luck songs, a waiver away from archetype instruments and riffs of country and folk, and bold genre experimentations and crossovers, makes her third studio album, 2020โ€™s Good Luck Songs something of a masterpiece.

It opens lone on piano, this divine voice, almost liturgical, but layers are building, a trusty cello will become a trademark throughout the album. The title track preps you for something unique, something obviously wonderful.

Into the second tune, Home Fires, and the tender euphoria continues through piano and cello combination, whisking you on its journey, of nostalgic recollections annotating seasonal change, the wordplay is sublime. Neatly layered into the existing recipe, a gothic folk element slips neatly into play by the third tune. Daisyโ€™s voice willingly commands you, captivating you, like a child mesmerised with a campfire fable.

Then thereโ€™s Generation Next, a strictly country feel with a delicate fiddle, and brass, accompanying a tongue-in-cheek division, a tale which, despite the Americana sound, nods to gigging on a local circuit, from well-versed experts to the concept their advice is to be ignored by the younger upcoming performers. It is, quite simply, fascinatingly ingenious.

I used to own an Empire is another compellingly written emotional piece; on bonding to face a greater cause, articulated by a crusader boldness against aggrandizement. Through historic references it compares devastating impacts of political cuts, The Beeching Report, Minerโ€™s Strike and even Custer and the Gettysburg Address to the ignorance of Icarus, as the wax of his wings melted from flying too close to the sun. An archetypal subject of leftism maybe, but youโ€™ve never heard such expressed with such academic prose and orientation.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do! The subjects of Good Luck Songs are concentrated, factual and tangible, emotionally expressed and divinely produced to an exceptionally high standard. But diversity makes it tricky to pin down, thereโ€™s a moment, in the haunting ambient opening of The Decalogue, which sounds so soulful, held steady with military style drum riff, yet the following song Thereโ€™s a Storm Coming has a drum loop and high-hat, akin to a contemporary RnB song, or the country-pop of Shania Twain. Feels like succumbing to commercialisation, but in this, thereโ€™s a point; Daisyโ€™s voice is so lithe, it could flex into any given genre or style, and finish on top.

Said versatility was first noticed by UK prog-rock band Crippled Black Phoenix, and since 2009, on and off Daisy has travelled as pianist/BV with the band on tours covering every corner of Europe as well as a short trip to China. Daisy was also chosen as vocalist on their cover of AC-DCโ€™s โ€œLet Me Put My Love Into You.โ€ With a penchant for prog-rock, Daisy shares lead vocals with ex CBP singer, Daniel Anghede in the group Venus Principle.

And anyway, Good Luck Songs finishes with a sublime cover of Tom Waitsโ€™ Tom Traubert’s Blues, to confirm Daisyโ€™s dedication to acoustic rock, but as expectable, it strips out the croaking vocals of Waits and replaces it with the pure silk that is Daisy Chapman. Believe me, if youโ€™re captivated by strong female vocals, the kind that could bring a church down, but want for intelligent lyrics, this album will hold you spellbound from start to finish.

Girls Go Ska; Frente al Mar!

Rude girls grito! Far from home perhaps, but so, so worth mentioning for tropical vibes of rock steady and ska in a fashion proportionately youโ€™ll find hard to come by around these parts, itโ€™s my beloved all-girl-bar-one Mexican ska band, Girls Go Ska with a bran-new album Frente al Mar. Girls and ska, whatโ€™s not to like?!

From the off, the title track simply melts, mellowly, and builds in tempo, but is never overdramatic; โ€œcoolโ€ is the operative word; fresco! If Iโ€™ve put them on a pedestal before, theyโ€™ve now put another couple of pedestals atop it. Often steady paced for the genre, it proves ska, while upbeat doesnโ€™t have to be full of macho-bravura skinheads, or a frenzied rancour attack against dogmatic tyranny itโ€™s often misperceived here through the eightiesโ€™ second-generation Two-Tone scene, and within the dominate contemporary ska-punk internationally. Iโ€™ve made this point in the past when penning a more general piece about ska and reggae in South America, in which Girls Go Ska were featured.

Girls go Ska

Frente al Mar is breezy, bright and fun, light-hearted and beguiling. It roots the genre to its original Jamaican ethos, as a carefree dance music. Though, thereโ€™s a large chunk of assumption with those observations, as my Spanish isnโ€™t up to scratch, so my presumption rests on the design, the album name, which translates to the seaside, basically, and mood of the vocals; if theyโ€™re singing about anything other than romantic themes and enjoying oneself dancing on a tropical beach, like making political statement, it certainly doesnโ€™t sound that way! You just have to enjoy the professionality and untroubled vibe this album breezes in your direction, itโ€™s gorgeous, and it absolutely skanks!

Packaged femininely in loud pink and decorated with cute shลjo manga, rather than our typecast black and white chequered trade identity with Walt Jabsco splashed all over, Frente al Mar provides an alternative to norm, but is no way attributes the โ€œfairer sex,โ€ rather riot grrrl kick-ass in tenet, gender-neutral in sound. Not that punk comes into play; throughout itโ€™s steadfast traditional ska sound, one should credit Studio One rather than Two-Tone, or even Reel Big Fish for, thereโ€™s also sprinklings of Latino sound traditional to Mexico, of ranchera, norteรฑo and their contemporary offshoots, but are subtle and likely naturally occurring.

Imagine, if your English mind will adapt, Gloria Estefan performing ska, and youโ€™re nearer to the mark than The Specials. But no, eight sublimely flowing tunes is what you get, a sun-kissed blessing on the ear, in the style of brass-based rock steady and good olโ€™ ska. While pukka boys, Death of Guitar Pop are currently returning the welcomed Nutty-Boys-esque frivolous and fairground ska home for lads, further afield, here comes the girls.

Meanwhile here in my hometown of Devizes, the newly opened rum bar, The Muck & Dundar has been a roaring success, proving a taste of the tropical is welcomed, ergo, taken out of its context and origins, Frente al Mar would make the perfect soundtrack to it. Me? I’m smitten, with a little crush!

Trending….

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,โ€ฆ

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 andโ€ฆ

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 musicโ€ฆ

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, andโ€ฆ

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 Lanternโ€ฆ

Longcoats Get Dancing

Opps, near-on delayed a month due to the amount of work involved with promoting our Juliaโ€™s House album, other stuff going on, and generally slacking off in my garden with my belly hanging over my khaki shorts, Iโ€™ve a backlist of music to tell you about, hopefully, before you visualise me slacking off in the garden with my belly hanging over my khaki shorts.

To begin, Bathโ€™s indie-pop favs, Longcoats have an official new bassist, Will Vickery. The band claim he was โ€œa stray man we found on the street and august-rush style he could just hear the music and play it.โ€ Proof in the pudding, Iโ€™ll double-bet ya youโ€™ll going to love their new belter, โ€œGet Dancing,โ€ which is, incidentally just what we all need right now.

Will Vickery

Probably why itโ€™s blossoming attention and airtime from the likes of BBC Bristol, Target, Soho Radio, Sheppey FM, New Yorkโ€™s New Visions Radio Network, and even Australiaโ€™s Valley FM, and seeing them bookings at Moles, Brightonโ€™s Pipeline, and supporting The Rift at Swindonโ€™s Rolleston.

Just as Pretty in Pink did, which incidentally Longcoats kindly donated to our aforementioned and plugged charity fundraising compilation, (which Iโ€™m not going to shut up about until you buy it) Get Dancing is symbolic of the bandโ€™s ability to compose such a beguiling and catchy riff it feels like itโ€™s always been in your life after just one listen.

Itโ€™s lively, carefree, resides bopping over hopeless romantically conversing, as it says on the tin, encouraging to dance in both sound and theme. And with that, I should take heed, stop writing how great it is and just add the Spotify link so you can hear it for yourself and I can revert back to the building mountain of new music Iโ€™ve yet to explore. But rest assured, this one is a keeper, and perhaps true to the word; I should get dancing if Iโ€™m ever going to work off this belly hanging over my khaki shorts!

Tracks 4Juliaโ€™s House Album; The Final Countdown

Long overdue is the last third of our detailed track-listing for the compilation album, Various Artists 4Juliaโ€™s House, like most things on Devizine at the moment. What? Iโ€™ve been busy sorting out my wardrobe, throwing out the unfashionable items.

Now Iโ€™m left with a completely empty wardrobe, itโ€™s time to give you the lowdown on the remaining artists weโ€™ve not mention yet, who gladly donated an awesome track to put on our awesome compilation; everything is awesome. We’ve raised over ยฃ150 so far.

Buy it here!

No, it really is, cos, right, if you think I loaded the beginnings of the album with the best tunes, dumped naff ones at the end and it trails off somewhere towards the middle, youโ€™re gravely mistaken. Things had already been firing up on a funky tip, with Andy J Williams, The Dirty Smooth โ€“ Seed, SexJazz and Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue. We paused for breath last outing at track 33, the frenzy ska-folk of the Boot Hill All Stars. Iโ€™m glad to say that fashion continues…..

Read about the first tracks
Read the second part

34. Mr Tea & The Minions โ€“ Mutiny

I have to say, I was over the moon when Bristolโ€™s premiere ska-folk band Mr Tea & The Minions allowed us to use the title track from their 2019 album Mutiny. We fondly reviewed the album back then, havenโ€™t quite gotten over it yet, and continue to insist I spin tracks on my Boot Boy Radio show, Ska-ing West Country. As while I might assume it wouldnโ€™t go down so well with the largely older Two-Tone audience, when I do โ€œfolk shit upโ€ thereโ€™s never a complaint.

Itโ€™s the infectious blend of the irresistibly danceable Balkan ska style, dub, and upbeat folk which does it, resistance is futile, you will bop till you drop, and Mr Tea & The Minions are truly top of this game.  United by a love of tea, energetic dancing, cheeky riffs, silly hats, and cake, Mr Tea and the Minions have been unleashing their colourful explosion of musical mayhem on unsuspecting audiences since 2013.

Festival favourites with almost 100 festival appearances including Glastonbury, Boomtown, WOMAD, Secret Garden Party, Shambala, Belladrum, Wilderness, Nozstock, and Goulash Disko, to name just a few. The Independent had this to say; โ€œThe Minions seamlessly weave Balkan Beats with ska, dub and swing to create a bouncing set. Itโ€™s impossible not to get involved.โ€

35. Cosmic Shuffling – Night in Palermo

If weโ€™re bordering ska, which you know is the first love in my eclectic tastes, weโ€™re in deep now. While most of our tunes are locally based, I looked further afield for this. Switzerland has a wonderful ska and reggae scene, and Fruits Records produce the classic and traditional sounds with the rare skill level of Studio One. So much so, reggae legends are queuing to record with them, and the likes of the Silvertones and Cornell Campbell have.

Two in-house bands, the 18th Parallel, and Cosmic Shuffling, this track is taken from the latterโ€™s 2020 album Magic Rocket Ship.

Theyโ€™ve been sending me press releases and tunes to play on Boot Boy, more than worthy breaking the local norms of Devizine to review tenderly. It was only in chatting to studio boss Mathias Liengme about the project, they were keen to donate a tune and allowed me to pick any off of Magic Rocket Ship; I chose this one, itโ€™s wonderful, but not alone on the album, couldโ€™ve picked any one of them to be honest; just delighted to introduce you to them.

36. Blondie & Ska – Boom Boom Bang Bang

Returning to local affairs, while ska and reggae are somethings of a rarity around these parts, Chippenham duo, Blondie & Ska have really challenged my pigeonholing of what a tribute act is and does. Not only are the live performances they travel the lengths and breadths of the country to show a unique tenet of a Blondie tribute blended with covers of all those eighties Two-Tone classics, but they occasionally write and record their own compositions. And when they do, they sound like they could be a particularly skaโ€™d up Blondie album track, whatโ€™s not to like?!

I spoke to one half, Dave Lewis about all this, back in May. Iโ€™m so glad they agreed to donate a tune, but much more than this, Boom Boom Bang Bang is mint, which has been exclusively created for the album. Now, thatโ€™s dedication to our cause, for which Iโ€™m eternally grateful to Dave and Lorraine for. Plus, itโ€™s a rock steady banger!

The duo have been live streaming through the lockdown, an entertaining show

37. The Birth of Bonoyster – The Way I Like To Be

To be the finale of our ska section of the album, itโ€™s an all-out indie-ska-punk ride now, from Londonโ€™s The Birth of Bonoyster. As if Jarvis Cocker fronted The Divine Comedy, thereโ€™s breakouts of Britpop, but warmed by being wrapped firmly in geeky-fashioned ska-punker tin foil.

Made friends with the frontman, Stew Simpson, rhythm guitarist and artist, when I complimented his sketch of Dave and Deborah of Devizesโ€™ Southgate Inn, some time ago, and thatโ€™s a tenacious link to locality enough to present this amazingly addictive, if not slightly sweary, track, The Way I Like To Be. Aided by bassist Paul Stromdale, Paul Langford on lead guitar, and drummer Stu Soulsby, this nugget is from the album OYSTER, recorded in 2006 but never released until 2020.

38. The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show โ€“ Ghosts

With one of those band names which sticks in your mind, THE TWO MAN TRAVELLING MEDICINE SHOW. Iโ€™d heard of Dorsetโ€™s seven-piece folk bohemians somewhere or other, before they kindly sent this gorgeous track. Formed in 2016, theyโ€™re storming the alternative-Celtic-punk-folk scene with their unique, and eccentric sound. Often dark, sporadically upbeat, thereโ€™s a flair of lyricism thatโ€™s hard to ignore, and a deep sound of country-core; Ghosts proves this, but the band are prolifically releasing EPs, like They Say I Don’t Write Love Songs, Oh Me Oh Mi, A Snakeโ€™s Snake, and Weeding out the Wicked, you need to take a listen to, Soundcloud being their favoured platform.

39. Julie Meikle and Mel Reeves โ€“ This Time

If the previous tune from The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show cools the tempo, this one melts it. Like it too, it was sent surprisingly, I was completely unaware of Julie and Mel, and left astounded. Such a lovely, sentimental song about getting a second chance. It was written by Mel Reeves and Julie Meikle, a Taunton partnership reconnected from being old friends in 2019, and, together, they write and record their own distinctive material for which Julie creates much loved videos.

Julie Meikle has been a music teacher for primary children for over 30 years. She has sung with the Devon-based rock band Littermouth, and the pop band The Random Frogs. Julie has led many community choirs and orchestras, plays clarinet with the street band The Big Noise and a variety of folk groups.

Mel Reeves has been involved in music since leaving school. Whether it has been teaching guitar, playing in The Threepenny Opera (flamenco version!) or writing film scores for the I.L.E.A – his life has revolved around music making.

He founded the legendary Guitar Studio in Reading with Pete Lincoln (Sweet, Cliff Richard. Sailor, etc.) and Trevor Grant (Gary Numanโ€™s Tubeway Army) where he wrote more than 24 tuition book/cassette packages for rock, jazz and blues guitarists. He went on to write and present more than 20 DVD programmes (Play Now Series) teaching, acoustic guitar, heavy metal, jazz and blues plus keyboard and bass programmes.

A move to Somerset saw Mel resume his teaching work, he also recorded/produced Noel (Windmills of Your Mind) Harrisonโ€™s final album and went on to accompany Noel for live performances of Noelโ€™s touring show. Mel also plays in The Deane Big Band, Deftone 17, Big Noise Street Band and a jazz trio with multi-instrumentalist Timothy Milton Hill and bassist Jules Bushell.

40. Meru Michael โ€“ Mother Natureโ€™s Boy

Another unbeknown to me before this project, Somersetโ€™s singer/songwriter/sound healer Meru Michael. Meru has spent a number of years in the music business, as an independent label owner, recording studio and artist manager, and is currently co-managing Octopus Studios in Bruton. However, he has always been a player and songwriter and is currently devoted to releasing his own material. Meru currently resides in Somerset in the UK but has travelled widely and spent his formative years in the USA and Canada.

Motherโ€™s Nature Boy is soulfully produced, with an irresistible cool vibe, picking our album up for whatโ€™s to come. Itโ€™s the title track from his 2020 4-track EP.

41. Cutsmith โ€“ Osorio

With his roots in the Canary Islands, Cutsmith now resides in Pewsey, and performs acoustically but largely inspired by urban sounds, hip hop and drum n bass, which he fuses with this โ€œmelodic folk and soul from the fields.โ€ Vocalising for Devizes-based drum n bass label, SubRat Records, which he co-founded with Re:Tone, we reviewed the euphoric drum n bass tune Falling back in May last year. This track though, Osorio, sits better defined as hip hop, and is a wonderful praise of his homeland, which Cutsmith skilfully weaves back into love for living here now.

42. The Tremor Tones โ€“ Donโ€™t Darken my Door

Cutsmith is the man to wind it nicely into the crucial reggae section of the album. If you know me well enough, youโ€™ll know it couldnโ€™t be complete without some reggae! Yet, locally reggae is harder to come by. I reverted back to a couple of years ago, when Bath-based The Tremor Tones sent me this splendidly gloomy-paced nugget of melancholy back when I started my show on Boot Boy Radio, and I knew I had to have it feature on the album.

But a despatched message to Adam of the band returned with the unfortunate note, The Tremor Tones ceased-to-be before the pandemic. The original drummer on the record passed away and nothing was officially released through a label after covid. Fortunately, suggested, being it was shame not to have promoted the tunes as much as they wouldโ€™ve liked, it may as well be used for something positive and uplifting. And thus, for part-prosperity, part because itโ€™s a great song, here is Donโ€™t Darken my Door.

43. Big Ship Alliance, Feat Johnny2Bad, Robbie Levi & Stones โ€“ All in this Thing Together

So yes, with the absence of much reggae locally, and Erin Bardwell already topper most on our track-listing, I used connections made via Boot Boy Radio to source some tunes. When I first heard All in this Thing Together, Iโ€™d come up with idea of having a โ€œsong of dayโ€ article, something I could quickly post from my phone, without the need to type a lengthy review. I wasnโ€™t expecting the idea to have much clout, at first, but when I realised artists on international levels would share the post, as Big Ship Alliance did, it gave Devizine wider attention.

Newly-formed just a year ago, this Birmingham-based seven-piece reggae collective, Big Ship Alliance started out as possibly the only tribute act to reggae legend Freddie McGregor, but on track to record their own material theyโ€™ve teamed up with the outstanding UB40 tribute act, Johnny2Bad for this gorgeous topical debut single, an anthem for lockdown. Iโ€™m glad they so kindly donated here, so the notion of unity, bought about by the pandemic, has universal meaning.

44. Urban Lions – We Say I

Of course, while Iโ€™m searching far and wide for reggae, there was some under my nose all the time. Urban Lions roar from Pewsey. I messaged them when planning this, we waffled on a variety of subjects, where Rupert Bear for some random reason was where it ended, when it should have been what we were doing about the track! Such is the relationship between them and Devizine, weโ€™ve been reviewing their tracks since day dot.

In the midst of contacting so many artists at one time, I had clean forgotten where we left the decision, so this track was fashionably late for inclusion on the album; Iโ€™m so glad it made it.

Urban Lions are the live band from underground homegrown label Lionheart Records, creating and producing contemporary reggae steppa styles, dub and dancehall, and meshing them into a lively show which sees them step onto the world stage.

45. Neonian – Bubblejet

If Iโ€™m honest, I wanted more โ€œdanceโ€ music, to give the album an unforgettable culmination, but the diversity and blend of styles Trowbridgeโ€™s Neonian can lattice into one song is so incredible, Iโ€™m content with the two tunes we did get. At times trance-techno, at time chemical beats, Bubblejet is the explosive finale I was hoping for, and itโ€™s another exclusive track produced especially for the album.

Ian Sawyer is the man behind Neonian, his EP Vaxxor we glowingly, with neon, reviewed in March. The brilliance of Neonianโ€™s sound is such itโ€™s conversant to modernism but reflects all which has gone prior in electronic dance music. Ian describes it vaguely but aptly, โ€œI make music, for myself. I can’t really describe it, but it’s mainly made with synthesisers, loops and samples. Influences include New Order, Boards Of Canada, Coil, Pye Corner Audio, Factory Floor.โ€

46. First Born Losers โ€“ Ground Loop

If Neonian cites the post-punk dawn of electronica, groups like New Order as an influence, even more so with this track from Devizes-based producer Robert Pennells, and โ€œoutcasts from a number of experimental bands,โ€ aka First-Born Losers.

Itโ€™s meaty synth, dark experimental bass music with distorted melodies, effected drums, mangled samples and guitars, akin to the properties of dubstep or chemical beats but as moody as gothic of yore, yet, I donโ€™t know, trying hard to put my finger on it.

I think if Art of Nosie or Yello were still around, they might sound a little some like this. It grinds our album to a memorable halt. Theyโ€™ve just released a newer single of similar content, Dead Chicken Society, and we await the forthcoming album via “Miasma Records”.

And thatโ€™s all folks. Itโ€™s been a pleasure and experience compiling this album, and I know there were many others who wanted to contribute but didnโ€™t send a track in time. Thereโ€™s no point in taking what Iโ€™ve learned along this journey without putting it to good use, so a more streamlined process will be used to create a second volume. The concept is, if you have a song youโ€™d like to contribute, please send it whenever and I will gradually build up the list and release it when weโ€™ve enough tracks. Undecided, but I might yet raise for a different charity next time.

Iโ€™m thinking the brilliant Devizes & District Opportunity Centre, a preschool for children with learning disabilities. I originally approached them about the project, but they took some time to reply, so I promised it to Juliaโ€™s House. As with all the artists who didnโ€™t send me a tune quick enough, unfortunately I was keen to push ahead with haste on this project, as once lockdown restrictions opened up once again, artists and bands would be busy concentrating on gigs and festivals, etc.

And I wish them all the best, so kind under the pressure of the times, they freely donated a tune, and it makes for a diverse compilation, showcasing so many you may not have heard of before. In a year of no festivals, this album, I wanted to do what the festival does, introduce you to some new acts, so please give these guys your support, buy their albums and catch them at live gigs. Of which on the latter, if you do, be sure to tell them where you heard of them before.

Lastly, thanks to you, in considering purchasing this album, itโ€™s a bargain, and for such a good cause; I hope you enjoy the ride!

Buy the album here

Was a TwoManTing at the Southgate

Managed to make it somewhere between out and Micky Flanaganโ€™s out-out last night. In other words, I didnโ€™t change out of my manky khaki shorts Iโ€™d been gardening in, but still got a pint or so down โ€œthe Gate.โ€ Iโ€™ve been aching to witness the duo, TwoManTing for myself, Captain Obvious; yes, TwoManTing is a duo, you canโ€™t make it up.

Appearing at the Devizes trusty Southgate a few times previously, itโ€™s been something Iโ€™ve been meaning to catch-up with, being their appellation sounds all rather reggae, my favourite cup of tea. My residual curiosity though, how can a duo make reggae, something you surely need a gang for; a bassist, a drummer, brass section et all?

Two Man Ting

Answer revealed, the โ€œtingโ€ part might be misconceiving to our preconceived notion the phonologic is Jamaican patois. The Bristol-based duo consists of English guitarist Jon Lewis, who has a clear penchant for Two-Tone and punk inclinations of yore, and Jah-man Aggrey, a Sierra Leonean percussionist. They met playing together as part of dance band, Le Cod Afrique, at venues such as Montreux Jazz Festival and WOMAD, formed the duo in 2004, and make for an interesting and highly entertaining two-man show.

Something of a surprise then, and a rarity around these backwaters, to hear maringa, demonstrative folk of Sierra Leone, perhaps catered more to our tastes via Jon, but essentially the same ballpark, acoustic guitar and percussion. Somewhere between calypso but with the Latino twinge of rhumba, best pigeonholed, their sound is motivating and beguiling, and achieved with originality. In fact, to my surprise most of their compositions were their own creations, save the sublimely executed known cover of The Clashโ€™s Guns of Brixton, Jonโ€™s clear punk inspiration showing forth.

They told thereโ€™s a Clash cover on each album, of which theyโ€™ve produced three. Story checks out; Armagideon Time on their first album Legacy, which I could quibble is actually a Coxsoneโ€™s Studio One cover by the Clash, aforementioned Guns of Brixton on 2015โ€™s Say What? and something of a rarity from Combat Rock, the poet Allen Ginsbergโ€™s duet with Strummer, Ghetto Defendant, which can be found on their most up-to-date album, 2019โ€™s Rhymes With Orange.

But this punk influence is sure subtle, the mainstay of their enticing sound is the acoustic maringa, palm wine music traditional throughout West Africa, at least for the start of the show. The most poignant moment for me was Jah-man attributing his homelandโ€™s natural glory, rather than that which people tend to ask him about, the civil conflicts and war, in a chorus which went, โ€œwhy not ask me aboutโ€ฆ.โ€

Jah-man and George hanging out after the gig

As the performance progressed the fashion modernised, live loops upped the tempo, and it became highly danceable afro-pop, in the style of soukous, more spouge than cariso in delivery; how apt for the current heatwave! At times lost in the music, it was easy to throw-off the notion the wonderful sound was reverberating from just two guys, rather than an eight-piece band, reason enough for BBC 6Musicโ€™s Lauren Laverne to say of TwoManTing, โ€œbrilliant โ€“ if you want a bit of early summer, then get this into your ear-holes!โ€

Today they can be caught at Salisburyโ€™s Winchester Gate, but appreciation again to The Southgate for supplying Devizes with something diverse and entertaining. Next Saturday at โ€œthe Gate,โ€ Rockport Blues appear, for a night of blues, rock and soul classics, starting at 7:30pm.

Trending….

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 upโ€ฆ

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 andโ€ฆ

Gull Able Part 2

Continuing from last week, here’s the second episode of our crime-drama, Gull Able…. if only Netflix was reading this we’d have ourselves a hit series quicker than you can say “mummy, that nasty seagull shate in my ice cream.”

If you missed the first episode, don’t concern yourself, just click here

To be continued next Sunday…..if I can be bothered.

Devizes Issues or The Ministry of Truth?!

โ€œEvery record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.โ€

1984 by George Orwell

As the jollity of a carefree leaflet campaigning outing, for the new Conservative Wiltshire PCC candidate, Philip Wilkinson, and backed by Danny Kruger, is brazenly and shamelessly shared across the popular Facebook platform Devizes Issues, anyone with a questioning opinion is immediately thrown out the group; including me!

Allow me thus, to throw my toys out of my pram in dismay, the best way I know how! Oh, the calamity, the drama! The only real issue in Devizes, is that even social media is a predisposition.

Yes, I shared the โ€œalmostโ€ parallel Orwell quote above, after my comment was deleted, twice, expressing the anger felt by many Wiltshire residents as to why money is ploughed into the candidateโ€™s campaign, while taxpayers could face a ยฃ1.4m bill to hold another election, because of the Conservative Partyโ€™s impertinence in running a previous candidate who had a criminal record making him unable to stand. I figured it was a genuine and just thought, considering the circumstances.

Hardly a big secret, heck, you all know the story; Conservative candidate Johnathan Seed pulled out of the first election after hit and run, and drink driving offences the party carelessly assumed could be brushed under the carpet, came to light. And rather than the cost effective and democratic process of simply going with the second choice, Lib Dem candidate Liz Webster, itโ€™s been decided a Police Crime Commissioner couldnโ€™t possibly be anything less than a tory, so the whole shebang would have to be rerun.

Meanwhile, Wiltshire Police launch an investigation into the scandal, which is, to-date, still in progress. Yet the election goes ahead on 19th August, when I ask you, them, and everyone of Wiltshire, if you think it right not to wait until the inquiry has concluded prior holding a new election? With such a shocking revelation, how can any of you trust a Conservative candidate ever again, if it was discovered the Party knew of the convictions? And furthermore, what kind of madcap, totalitarianism is this, which dismisses such an assessment as a thoughtcrime?

I personally donโ€™t want anyone who stands for a party which allows criminals to run as a Police Crime Commissioner, thereโ€™s an irony there sky-rocketing over some serious heads!

Ever a poor imitation of the original, The Devizes Issue, and named in such a way to narrowly escape trade descriptions if it was a product rather than a Facebook group, Devizes Issues has a 12.9k audience. The Facebook group is perhaps the second most popular general page for Devizes residents, initially set up by local Facebook users disgruntled by the original groupโ€™s ruling of no political subject matter, but run under the iron fist of a local Conservative town councillor, I and many others have often criticised its naturally right-wing bias. My argument thus; call a spade a spade, if you intend to have a group for local Conservative thinkers, then call it something which relates to this, but do not disguise it as general local group, for that is deceitful.

Ha, nearly as deceitful as fox-chumping Mr Seed, see a pattern evolving here?

Now Iโ€™m advised, if I get the chance to interview Philip, I should take it. In other words, thatโ€™s my way out of room 101, and back into what is, primarily, a great and informative Facebook group. Day-to-day it provides an endless stream of informative local matter. Such a shame so many have been pitilessly shoved out of it, including many opposition councillors, MPs and candidates, simply for arguing a contrasting opinion.

The only element incomparable to Orwell is itโ€™s far from the bee-all-and-end all of local social media. Thereโ€™s more than one way to skin a cat; if you rely on me sharing Devizine articles there, you may well have to change your habits by ensuring youโ€™ve liked our Facebook page, or followed us on Twitter, for the time being. Thereโ€™s a thing, I think the heat is getting to him, he just needs a big, teddy bear hug!

Because of my local social media diplomatic immunity, I get a response from admin, an honour most traitors to the Tory line are not bestowed. Iโ€™m told, โ€œhe [the new Conservative Wiltshire PCC candidate, Philip Wilkinson] is a good man and has sympathy that he has had to refinance due to the previous election. Philip 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€ Yes, Conservative Party; pay the cost of the re-election, then we can move on.

An opportunity I would be honoured to, and welcome, as I have interviewed previous PCC candidates. A process which, I might add, is counter-productive for Devizine, as any one-party candidate I do interview tends to receive angered social media comments condemning my reasoning for allowing a platform to a party they personally donโ€™t like, and any previous interviews I have conducted with other partyโ€™s candidates and independents is long forgotten. It must also be noted, the majority come from, coincidently, a conservative ethos, when in all actual fact, Johnathan Seed was the first PCC candidate I interviewed. So, stick that in your pipe!

Because, and please take heed Mr Wilkinson if you are reading this, the assumption seems to be my comment was an attack on you, when it never was about that. The point was if the Conservative Party are at fault, should they not cover the ยฃ1.4m bill to hold another election, rather than squander cash on a campaign.

And neither is this article an attack on you, or anyone else. Rather it is a shame, I believe, when political bias has to get in the way of a relationship otherwise built on pacification, by those who feel the need to pettily censor local social media. Itโ€™s not the Daily Mail, anyone with a Facebook group of over a thousand โ€œlikesโ€ is not Rupert Murdoch; there is no need for political bias, the town is a guaranteed Tory haven anyway! The result turning Seedโ€™s way despite all the well-publicised dishonour and humiliation is proof of this blind voting; if they splodged a blue rosette onto a lobotomised potbelly pig, Wiltshire would still vote it in. ย 

Unless, noโ€ฆ unless they suspect the tide is turning! We live in hope.

Congratulations to the Award-Winning British Lion

Generally, the hospitality industry is cutthroat and fast paced, a constant competition to keep up with trends and modern consumer behaviour. While Devizes is like any other town, with pubs and restaurants striving to be the next big thing, that culture is subtle at the best of times, most folk of our bustling but quaint Wiltshire market town crave precisely  the opposite. Let’s be honest with ourselves here, we think its ‘nice’ when something new crops up, but secretly we don’t fully embrace change and modernisation, rather we favour tradition and dependability; that’s what gives Devizes its simplicity and charm.

One such mainstay is the freehouse, the British Lion, shortened to “the British,” to locals. It’s never changed as long as I’ve known it and been here. It focuses on an ‘if it isn’t broken it doesn’t need fixing” ethos, breathing tradtion through its rafters. The British Lion is a fixed institution, a pub of reliability; what you see is what you get, and you know full well what to expect. The landlord, Mike has run it since the dawn of civilisation, the efficiency, ambince and philosophy remains as it always was. And that’s why we congratulate it today, for having been awarded a Golden award as part of CAMRA (Campaignย  for Real Ale) Official 50th anniversary celebrations. Well done to Mike and the team at the British, and throughly well deserved.

CAMRA awards director explained, “winners were chosen for their successes in standing the test of time; for being characterful and community-focused, and for consistently pouring great pints. I applaudย these pubsย for their dedication, for being community stalwarts and campaigning heroes.โ€

One of only three pubs in the entire South West region to win the award, the British Lion’s key feature, other than it’s steeping tradition and splendid and spacious beer garden, is it’s dedication to bringing its punters a wide selection of beverages, often unavailable elsewhere in town, and supportive of smaller brewers.

To walk into the British and suddenly find its changed into a neon, glitzy wine bar would be utterly unbelievable to locals, who’ve relied on this mainstay in our pub culture for so long, and everyone has an amusing story to tell about a particular night, or other, in this fine establishment where nothing is over-complicated, or striving to keep up with the Jones’s. And, might I say, through “black rat monday,” to many fond memories in there myself, long may it live on!

Devizes Medieval Trail: from town centre to Church and from Hanging Grounds to Hillworth Park.

Iโ€™m delighted to introduce you to our new writer, T.B.D. Rose, here with details of a nice local walk. Iโ€™m hoping this might become something of series, as we all need a little more exercise and thereโ€™s such a huge selection of beautiful tracks and trails to choose from! Thank you, TYG.

Beginning past our Town Hall currently adorned with Union Jack’s and through St. John’s Court into St. John’s Church, where once you pass the gate into the church yard you turn right and head over the Bridge leading you to Devizes Medieval Trail.

Standing on the bridge, on the way out of the church yard almost completely untouched by time and leading into suburbia, you can take in the ancient majesty of Devizes Castle from afar.

At the end of the trail, you’ll come into the Hanging Grounds, where you’ll see a plaque detailing the Castle’s fascinating historical significance. A word of warning about the Hanging Grounds though: it’s said little can grow and nothing can be built there due to its haunting history.

From the Hanging Grounds you can turn right to the local Co-op or turn left and walk till you reach the entrance of Hillworth park.

Hillworth park, almost every corner of which holds an exciting activity or notable attraction waiting to be discovered, is an all-round informative and just fun place to explore with its beautifully maintained landscape and small but scrumptious cafรฉ. Their toasties get a recommendation from me!

So that pretty much sums up our journey, it’s gorgeous, tranquil and altogether convenient for anyone visiting or local who fancies a good stroll through what must be one of our most historical Devizes areas.

T.B.D. Rose

Football Fever; How are we Celebrating?

Everyone has their own ways and methods of supporting England in the Euro finals; hanging flags and bunting, drinking far too much lager and intending to be comatose by 8pm, having loud fun, causing chaos and trashing the place, as is the British way (!), forgetting thereโ€™s this silly little deadly pandemic thing, etc. Will it come back to haunt us? Perhaps, but right now the country is gripped with football fever.

Some have decided to use it to political point score, Iโ€™m trying my upmost to ignore the gammonites and hypocritical ministers. Some MPs have gone into hiding as they donโ€™t like the gestures of equality, and Richard Branson has gone into space; itโ€™s the gift that keeps giving!

But how are we celebrating around these parts? Who has an original, unique or creative project to share, peaceful even?! Do let us know and I might, just add them here! I said โ€œmight.โ€ I donโ€™t want any images of you puking up in the shape of the St Georgeโ€™s flag, thanks. Neither do I want you messaging me after 8pm! Anyhoo, here’s what I’ve found so far…..

Well, Bath’s Da Fuchaman & His Fire Blaze Band are on fire with this song, Kick the ball – Football Is Coming Home (England football song)

Devizes mini-roundabouts have been given a St George’s Cross makeover, by an unknown street/piss artist, (delete as appropriate!) but whoever you are, Red Cross Code Man, good on you, just remember to stop, look and listen.

Devizes poet Gail Foster has an amusing Gareth Southgate sonnet for you, at least it turns her attentions away from Danny Kruger!

The Southgate Inn, Devizes has temporarily changed its name to the Gareth Southgate Inn!

Rowde Parish Councillor John Dalley has decided to reembark on a fundraising mission he did a decade ago, travelling the country on motorbike visiting all 92 football league clubs of England. Thinking bigger, John wants to visit every club in the UK this time. We wish you all the best, John, and we should report more fully on your amazing efforts in due course.

John Dalley, on the road ten years ago.

Salisbury Cathedral admire the detail of their beautiful stained glass windows, noting the Three Lions based in the west window. The vibrant shield dates back to the 1260s and represents Henry IIIโ€™s coat of arms.

Royston Bolwell says his daughter said, โ€œItaly will win,” as they make the best pizza! I’m not sure about the patriotism, but I like the idea. I told my daughter we’d get a Massimos if Italy win!

Talking Massimos, they’re ready for the European Cup with some apt looking cookies.

Request-artist Jim’ll Paint It painted football coming home with a bucket of vindaloo to find his wife in bed with another sport, as requested by fan Louis Simmons. Which isn’t local I know, but I liked it so much!

There’s a campaign to rename London “Sterlingrad” if England win the euros! You may think it’s a joke, because it probably is, but it’s got near on 3,000 signatures too date!

And a great song from Neville and Sugary Staple, from the Specials: The Lions Roar!

And finally, a message for the England squad from some of the kids at Tyrone Ming’s Academy, Bristol. Lets not forget Tyrone first played for Chippenham.

Wishing the England squad all the best of luck from Devizine!

Oh yeah, and Mickety McSpangle of the Boot Hill All Stars and Sounds of the Wilderness show on West Wilts Radio, wanted me to show off his “massive facking cake” he, or his better half has been busy making; you ledge, mate! Something to be very proud of…

Trending….

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 Quinโ€ฆ

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 releaseโ€ฆ

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 1998โ€ฆ

Gull Able

Ah, hope you enjoy my new Sunday series, something a little different….

To Be Continued………

Spend August Bank Holiday at Manton-Fest!

Got your ticket for Manton-Fest yet? Well, hurry up, I need you to give me a lift!

โ€œTickets for this summerโ€™s Manton-Fest are up for grabs, a one-day festival Iโ€™ve heard only good things about;โ€ thatโ€™s what I said in a preview last January, oblivious to what was about to be thrown up in our faces. At least all my typing did not go to waste with this one preview, as Manton-Fest is back for 2021 and set to go ahead on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday, the 21st.

Here comes a clip-show then, part-copy and paste, as some of the faithful acts booked for last year are intending to come to this one. As Iโ€™ve said before, write off 2020, pretend it didnโ€™t happen, and look forward to this summer. Nesting in the water meadow of Manton Grange, below Treacle Brolly, Manton-Fest is surely one to put in your diary.

The tickets are online only: ยฃ30 for adults, ยฃ10 for teenagers 12 to 15 years and ยฃ5 for 7 to 11 years. But hurry, as thereโ€™s a pre-crowd; tickets bought in 2020 are valid for 2021 and ticket numbers will be restricted to allow social distancing.

The headliner is Edinburghโ€™s Blondie tribute, Dirty Harry. While thereโ€™s Blondie tributes aplenty, the band say, โ€œthe essence of Dirty Harry is to put on a show Blondie would give the nod to and in true punk style.โ€ Call me, Iโ€™m convinced, and slightly hot under the collar. Iโ€™m lucky enough to have seen the real McCoy, so expect me to be critical!

The legendary hard-driving rock n roll- blues virtuosos, Dr Feelgood are also booked. A band which never left the road, from forming in 1971 to lead vocalist, Lee Brilleaux’s untimely passing in 1994, theyโ€™re still strong.

The Ex-Men are next on the hierarchy, as the name suggests, itโ€™s an amalgamation group made up of Alan Sagar ex-Big Country, Graham Pollock ex-The Hollies, Peter Barton ex-The Animals, Phil Bates ex-ELO and Geoff Hammond ex-Denny Laine; you get the idea. A stimulating sounding assembly, with a wealth of experience between them it couldnโ€™t possibly go wrong.

Vintage blues with a hard-edge groove is the ethos of Barrelhouse, a band who delivered such a mind-blowingly addictive riff on our (plug) 4Juliaโ€™s House album, and one Iโ€™m very much looking forward to. Another unticked on my must-see tick-list is the excellent Richard Davies and The Dissidents. Since glowingly reviewing their album Human Traffic, theyโ€™ve also kindly contributed a track to our Juliaโ€™s House album, an outtake from the album.

Richard Davis & The Dissidents

Lancashire singer-songwriter Joe Martin returns after being a hit in previous years. Josie & The Outlaw are โ€œMantonFest veterans,โ€ a 4-piece Americana multi-genre band, blending rock n roll and rhythm & blues into country. Marlborough based beat-combo Catfish are a returning favourite, and Skedaddle are Mantonโ€™s very own six-piece semi-acoustic band.

All of this, and perhaps more, will be compered by Marie Lennon for BBC Radio Wiltshire. This festival has a long history, with Katrina & The Waves, Toyah, The Troggs and Led Zeppelin tribute Whole Lotta Led on the billings, so they know what theyโ€™re doing; me, Iโ€™m looking forward to finally breaking my MantonFest cherry; is there time to buy a festival-jester’s hat?!

tickets and info here

Trending……

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€™sโ€ฆ

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 doneโ€ฆ

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

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 rusticโ€ฆ

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

Fun Things to Do in Wiltshire During the School Summer Holidays; 2021

Oh yes, itโ€™s coming, you can feel it in the air; or is that more rain? Take a deep breath, because hereโ€™s our lowdown on stuff to keep your darling princesses and special little guys busy during the summer break, across our area, to retain some of your sanity and keep you from maxinโ€™ your Wine Warehouse loyalty card.

Ongoing and regularly updated, bookmark this, mums and dads, and check back from time as more stuff will hopefully be added. Please note Devizine cannot accept responsibility for the safety of links outside of this site, the cancelation or failure of organisers to maintain events listed. Thanks, enjoy your summer holidays, and stay safe!

Submissions: use the contact form at the bottom to tell us about your event, and I will add it onto our list!

JULY

From Saturday July 10th: Wild World Heroes Summer Reading Challenge @ Devizes Library

Join the Wild World Heroes Summer Reading Challenge for four- to 11-year-olds from Sat 10 July. The fun free challenge helps children improve their reading skills whilst having fun, itโ€™s also great for good mental health. Children are challenged is to read six library books over the summer (including eBooks), so come into the library from this Saturday and pick up your bag of materials (including a map of Wilderville and stickers) while stocks last! Medals and certificates for children who complete the challenge will be available for collection after Monday 2 August.

Tuesday 13th โ€“ Saturday 17th: Collected Grimm Tales @ Wharf Theatre Devizes

Running from Tuesday 13th until Saturday 17th July, The Wharf Theatre in Devizes presents Collected Grimm Tales, by the Brothers Grimm, directed by Debby Wilkinson.

Familiar and less known stories from the Brothers Grimm are brought to the stage in this acclaimed adaptation. Using a physical and non-natural style of performance, these are stories that will journey into the warped world of imagination. We will see Hansel and Gretel, Ashputtel, Rumpelstiltskin and others, all performed by a small, adult cast on a simple set. The audience will be required to use their imagination and fully embrace the living power of theatre. Suitable for adults and children alike!

Wednesday July 14th: Starcrazy โ€“ Open-Air Theatre back again at Ogbourne Maizey

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY BILL SCOTT, WITH ORIGINAL MUSIC BY TOM ADAMS

October 1957: the world lives in fear of nuclear war, Russia has launched Sputnik 1, UFOs are cropping up everywhere, MI5 is on high alert and Stanley is building something in his garden shed.

He may live in suburbia but, in his mind, Stanley is voyaging through outer space. He hopes to make contact with other life forms. His neighbour, Gwen, thinks he should be exploring the unknown much closer to homeโ€ฆ

A cosmic comedy about obsession and the rekindling of love, hope and possibility

Estimated running time: 1hr 10 mins, no interval

Everyone welcome, but as a guide we recommend the show for age 7+

Saturday July 17th – Saturday July 24th: Charlie & Stan @ Theatre Royal Bath

Show your kids the brilliance of the silent movie comedy greats at Bathโ€™s Theatre Royal.

In 1910, the then unknown Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel set sail from Liverpool to New York as part of Fred Karno’s famous music hall troupe. On the voyage, they shared a cabin, they shared comedy routines and they shared laughter. Inspired by real life events, Told by an Idiot’s acclaimed production is the remarkable story of the greatest double act that nearly was and is a hilarious and deeply moving homage to two men who changed the world of comedy forever. Tickets from ยฃ23. Children best seats ยฃ22.50 at all performances.

Friday July 16th: Under 5’s Coffee and Craft Morning @ Wiltshire Scrapstore

Bowden Hill, Lacock. https://www.wiltshirescrapstore.org.uk/

Friday July 16th: King Arthur at Manor Farm, Upton Cheyney

Local theatrical tour of a fun and farcical family adventure by The Last Baguette. Suitable for ages 5+

Somewhere in England, a long time ago, a very, very, very long time ago. So long ago that nobody quite knows whether it happened or not. Or where it happened or not. A boy pulled a sword from a stone and became King. A story of the old world, with knights, wizards, mist and magic. This fun and farcical adventure is deliberately anarchic and anachronistic re-telling of the Arthurian Legend with live music, physical comedy and lo-fi acrobatics. And some silly jokesโ€ฆ

This is an outdoor production, please bring your own chairs, blankets. The field at Manor Farm will be open from 6pm for picnics, prior to the 7pm performance. The tour continues, courtesy of Pound Arts, see below for other venue dates.

Saturday July 17th: Food Glorious Food Photography Day: Cricketts Lane & Lords Mead Allotments, Chippenham.

Join the Photo Club and Chippenham Museum at a local Chippenham allotment to learn how to capture portraits of fresh produce. These free sessions take place on Saturday 17 July at the following times: Time: 10am โ€“ 12pm Ages: 9-14years. Location: Cricketts Lane. Time: 12:30-2:30pm Ages: 15-18 years. Location: Cricketts Lane.

These free sessions are part of a celebration of locally grown and seasonal produce by The Food School have been made possible through funding from Chippenham Borough Lands Charity.

Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July: the Southern Counties Organ Festival on The Large Green Devizes.

 Sunday July 18th: King Arthur at Kington Langley Recreation Ground.

See above (Friday July 16th)

Monday July 19th: The Farm Cookery School

Kids who can cook, well, I say, have to be the best kind of kids ever! The Farm Cookery School at Netherstreet Farm near Bromham has a great summer programme, in a kitchen divided into 6 Covid-Safe Acrylic โ€˜Cookery Podsโ€™. Each pod is suitable for 2 children to share.

Starting Monday 19th July with a Cookery Camp, for children aged 11+  where the young chefs get to come along for 2 days (8.30am โ€“ 4.00pm) to learn all about food; make breakfast, lunch & snacks to eat at the school, then make tea and desserts which they will take home with them. The camp includes 2 days of tuition, ingredients, recipes & meals.

I’ll list the events here, simply with a brief title, as there’s so many good ones!

Monday July 19th – September 12th: Under the Moon @ Longleat

Discover the wonderful creatures of the dark who have inhabited The Longhouse under the light of the Moon. Then explore Longleatโ€™s nocturnal wildlife with dramatically enlarged straw sculptures in the open air.

Experience the astounding astronomical work of art by UK artist, Luke Jerram, titled the Museum of the Moon, as you wander up close to the orbital illuminator of the night. This 6 metre suspended replica of our Moon was created using detailed NASA imagery with each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture representing 6km of the moonโ€™s surface!

Then observe the fascinating flora and fauna of the dark such as bioluminescent algae, blind cave fish, and the slender loris. Discover the mysterious creatures of dark with illuminating insights on their adaptations like why the blind cavefish have no eyes and emperor scorpions glow a bluish-green under UV light.

Step outside of The Longhouse and the wildlife exploration continues with a focus on the native animals active around the Park at night. Discover more about the barn owl, fox, mole, snail and others as we celebrate our nocturnal wildlife with huge straw sculptures.

Join us for a summer of exploration of new and native animals

Need to know

  • This exhibition is designed to be a sensory, calm experience, utilising the wide space of The Longhouse.
  • The Longhouse is fully accessible.
  • The number of guests in the Longhouse will be monitored and managed throughout the day to maintain safe social distancing and guest comfort.

Tues 20th

Wednesday July 21st: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Thurs 22nd

Friday July 23rd: King Arthur at Sherston Village Hall

See above (Friday July 16th)

Saturday July 24th: Bromham Teddy Bear Trail

Bromham Carnival mayโ€™ve been cancelled but there will be a Teddy Bear Trail on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th July. This year’s theme will be ’60 Years of Family Films’ with 40+ Teddies around the village, created and generously sponsored by local businesses and individuals. See how many you can guess – and enjoy a walk round the beautiful village of Bromham. Refreshments available. Entry forms ยฃ2.50 each available from the Social Centre in New Road.

Sun 25th

Monday July 26th: +5 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Monday July 26th: PH Camps begin

Tuesday July 27th: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Tuesday July 27th: Devizes Tennis Club Holiday Camp

Anyone for tennis? Summer camps start on 27th July at Devizes Tennis Club, ongoing sessions from 10am-3pm, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until 19th August.

Wednesday July 28th: Youth Theatre Summer Workshop @ the Wharf Theatre

Iโ€™ve given details of Devizesโ€™ Wharf Theatreโ€™s exciting ongoing Youth Theatre, which starts the full courses towards the end of September. But, in addition to the fuller workshops the Wharf are also offering two Summer Workshops this year. These will offer an opportunity to have fun and participate in various drama activities.  Whilst they will give you a flavour of the work you could be exploring over the forthcoming terms these are stand-alone sessions and are open to all. The first is Senior Actors with Lou is on Wednesday July 28th, for school years 10-13.

Wednesday July 28th: +11 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Wednesday July 28th: Summer Holiday Workshops @ Chippenham Museum: Make an Embroidery Sampler.

Ages 8 and above. 10.30am โ€“ 12.30pm Join Members of the Bath Textile Artist Group to make an embroidery sampler at Chippenham Museum. Once it was only girls who used to have fun with samplers but now anyone can have a go. Come and explore the history of samplers and start to stich your own. You will learn different stitches and can choose a range of motifs to produce your own design or sew a prepared piece. Whether you are a beginner or more experienced stitcher there will be something for you.

Wednesday July 28th: Bath Rugby Summer Camp coming to Devizes RFC

Bath Rugby coaches are back on the road again and coming to a rugby club near you! A full summer of coaching activity has been planned across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset ensuring that everybody has the chance to get involved. And what’s more, we have a session at Devizes RFC on Wednesday 28th July!  The camp is designed for U7’s through to U16’s looking to hone their skills and is open to all abilities.

Thursday July 29th: Fireman Sam Saves the Circus @ Bath Forum

When all of his friends go away, Norman Price decides to find adventure in Pontypandy and become the star of a visiting circus. But with a tiger on the loose and faulty lights, the adventure soon turns to danger. Can Fireman Sam come to the rescue and save the circus?

Join Sam, Penny, Elvis, Station Officer Steele and Norman in an all singing, dancing, action-packed show. You can become a fire-fighter cadet and then watch the magic of the circus.

So, come along to Pontypandy and watch the adventures unfold!

This event is being sold as a socially distanced event at the present time, but should government guidelines allow, socially distanced seating may not be in place at the time of the event. Book Here

Thursday July 29th: The Cake Lady’s +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Friday July 30th: King Arthur at The Corsham Almshouse

See above (Friday July 16th)

Saturday 31st July: MFor 2021 @ Lydiard Park

If you fancy taking your kids to a local family festival with acts theyโ€™ll enjoy, rather than being dragged along to, check out MFor 2021 at Swindonโ€™s Lydiard Park. Craig David, TS5, Sigala, Raye, Ella Henderson, Gracey & more! Lots of entertainment is included in the Saturday ticket price and you are promised a fantastic music line-up. Under 5s go FREE.

The Great Poppy Party @ The Crown, Bishops Cannings

August

Sun 1st

Monday August 2nd: +5 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Tuesday 3rd โ€“ Thursday 5th August: RW Football School Summer Football Camp @ Green Lane, Devizes Ages 6-11

Tuesday August 3rd: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Wednesday August 4th: Youth Theatre Summer Workshop @ the Wharf Theatre

Iโ€™ve given details of Devizesโ€™ Wharf Theatreโ€™s exciting ongoing Youth Theatre, which starts the full courses towards the end of September. But, in addition to the fuller workshops the Wharf are also offering two Summer Workshops this year. These will offer an opportunity to have fun and participate in various drama activities.  Whilst they will give you a flavour of the work you could be exploring over the forthcoming terms these are stand-alone sessions and are open to all. The first Junior Actors with Lucia workshop is on Wednesday August 4th, for school years 6-9.

Wednesday August 4th: Childrenโ€™s Art Walk by Chippenham Museum

2pm โ€“ 3pm. ยฃ4 per child. Recommended age 6 and above, all children must be accompanied. Meet at the town bridge entrance to Monkton Park.

Take a walk through Monkton Park with a bit of a difference. For this fun arty session, you will receive a pack with pencils, crayons and plenty of paper and join local artist Kirsty Jones to explore the wonderful setting of the park.

Wednesday August 4th: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Thursday 5th and 6th August: Summer Kid’s Art Club @ Wiltshire Scrapstore, Bowden Hill, Lacock

Sessions from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at Wiltshire Scrapstore, run every Thursday and Friday through August, starting on the 5th. https://www.wiltshirescrapstore.org.uk/

Friday 6th -Saturday 7th: Miss Red @ Bath Forum

An interesting sounding new family musical written and produced by Mel Lawman is staged at Bathโ€™s Forum early August. Devizes folk support this, because our homegrown talented twelve-year-old Jessica Self from Centre Stage Academy of Dance in Devizes and Stagecoach Trowbridge is in the cast, playing Daisy Blewitt. We wish you all the best, Jessica.

Sat 7th

Sun 8th

Monday August 9th: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Tuesday August 10th: +11 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Wednesday 11th August: Youth Theatre Summer Workshop @ the Wharf Theatre

Iโ€™ve given details of Devizesโ€™ Wharf Theatreโ€™s exciting ongoing Youth Theatre, which starts the full courses towards the end of September. But, in addition to the fuller workshops the Wharf are also offering two Summer Workshops this year. These will offer an opportunity to have fun and participate in various drama activities.  Whilst they will give you a flavour of the work you could be exploring over the forthcoming terms these are stand-alone sessions and are open to all. The second workshop for Senior Actors with Lou, for school years 10-13 and Junior Actors with Lucia workshop, for school years 6-9.

Writing & Performance Workshop by Chippenham Museum

9.30am โ€“ 3.30pm. Ages 8 and above, please bring a packed lunch.

Come and join writer, facilitator and performer Ruth Hill for a day of writing and performing. In the morning you will write something inspired by the museumโ€™s exhibition which focusses on local Victorian diarist Rev. Francis Kilvert. Using the exhibition for inspiration, you will write stories, poems and scripts. Ruth will help you create a piece of work you are proud of and in the afternoon, you will work together to direct, stage and perform your pieces of writing to a small audience of your family and friends.  You can take part as a writer, performer, director or all three. Come and develop your skills, whether you love writing and performing, or just want to give it a go.

Thursday 12th โ€“ Friday 13th: Summer Kid’s Art Club @ Wiltshire Scrapstore, Bowden Hill, Lacock

Sessions from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at Wiltshire Scrapstore, run every Thursday and Friday through August, starting on the 5th. https://www.wiltshirescrapstore.org.uk/

Thursday August 12th: The Cake Lady’s +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Fri 13th

Saturday 14th August: Charity Emergency Service Day @ Cobbs, Hungerford

A police car and van, fire responder car, and fire truck are visiting Cobbs. A free event hoping to raise some money and put a little love back into our emergency services, to say thank you for the incredible job that they do. There will be a raffle. Please note: If you would like breakfast or lunch in the cafe, book a table in advance: www.cobbsfarmshops.co.uk/book-a-table

Sun 15th

Monday August 16th: +11 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Monday August 16th: RW Football School Melksham

Tuesday August 17th

Wednesday August 18th: +5 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Thursday August 19th: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Friday August 20th: The Grimm Sisters @ Corsham Almshouses (outdoor theatre)

Suitable for ages 6+. Pound Arts are excited to welcome Scratchworks Theatre Companyโ€™s joyful and mischievous brand-new show to Corsham, for an outdoor performance at Corsham Almshouses. Please bring along chairs, blankets, cushions, afternoon teas and picnics. The venue will be open one hour prior to the performance start time for audience to arrive, settle in and get comfortable.

Saturday August 21st: Live at Lydiard 2021

Another one-day festival at Swindonโ€™s Lydiard Park, with Anneโ€Marie, Dizzee Rascal and Clean Bandit headlining. Information is vague on this one, but by the line-up it sounds family-friendly.

Sun 22nd

Monday August 23rd: +8 Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Tuesday 24th โ€“ Thursday 26th August: RW Football School Summer Football Camp @ Green Lane, Devizes Ages 6-11

Tuesday August 24th: 11+ Holiday Club @ The Farm Cookery School

Wednesday 25th August: Simple Scrapbooking at Chippenham Museum

10am / 11.30am / 1pm / 2.30pm. Ages 6+ (under 8s accompanied)

In this one-hour workshop create your own simple mini scrap book inspired by our latest exhibition. Use words, photos and your own drawings to explore this popular Victorian pastime.

Thursday 26th โ€“ Friday 27th: Summer Kid’s Art Club @ Wiltshire Scrapstore, Bowden Hill, Lacock

Sessions from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at Wiltshire Scrapstore, run every Thursday and Friday through August, starting on the 5th. https://www.wiltshirescrapstore.org.uk/

Thursday 26th August: Alex Danson Hockey Masterclass @ Devizes Hockey Club

Olympic Gold Medallist Alex Danson runs a hockey masterclass.  Open to all hockey players aged 11-18 – you donโ€™t have to be a member of DHC.

Fri 27th

Saturday 28th: The Fulltone Festival 2021 @ The Green, Devizes

The highly anticipated FullTone Festival returns to Devizes Green.

WIND IN THE WILLOWS, 28 August, 6.30pm @ Pound Arts.

A theatrical outdoor re-telling of Kenneth Grahameโ€™s classic, performed in The Pound arts centre car park. Calf 2 Cow wowed a sold out crowd here at the arts centre back in June with their outdoor theatrical extravaganza “The Wave”, and now they’re back! This time they’re retelling a classic children’s tale, known the world over, with a modern gig-theatre twist. https://mailchi.mp/poundarts/wind-in-the-willows-a-theatrical-outdoor-experience

Sunday August 29th: Pop Princesses @ Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

A Magical show where beautiful Princesses become Pop Stars! This is the childrenโ€™s pop concert with a big difference. A musical spectacular starring four fabulous Fairy tale Princesses who just love to sing! Itโ€™s the perfect mix. Featuring a soundtrack of top pop hits from artists such as Little Mix, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, and internet sensation, JoJo Siwa, plus songs from all your favourite Films and Musicals.

Mon 30th

Tues 31st

September:

Wed 1st

Thurs 2nd

Fri 3rd

Saturday 4th September: Twilight Cinema in the Park @ Hillworth Park, Devizes

Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Hillworth announce this yearโ€™s Twilight Cinema film is the Greatest Showman Sing-a-Long!! Pre-film music, pop-up bars, and food. Tickets.

Saturday 4th September: Horrible Histories Live @ Bath Forum

We all want to meet people from history! The trouble is everyone is dead!

So itโ€™s time to prepare for Horrible Histories live on stage with the acclaimed production of Gorgeous Georgians and Vile Victorians!

Are you ready to swing with a Georgian king? Can you see eye to eye with Admiral Nelson? Does the Duke the Wellington get the boot? Dare you dance the Tyburn jig? Will you be saved by Florence Nightingale? Find out what a baby farmer did and move to the groove with party Queen Victoria!

Donโ€™t miss this horrible history of Britain with the nasty bits left in!

BOOK HERE.

Sun 5th

โ† Back

Thank you for your response. โœจ

Trending….

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

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

Carmela Wins WellChild Award

First thing Iโ€™ve got to do this week is to congratulate Carmela Chillery-Watson, our seven-year-old local heroine, for being chosen by WellChild, the national charity for sick children as their inspirational child in her age category. The celebration finale came last week, with a ceremony in which Harry Duke of Sussex presented her the award, amidst a star-studded audience.

I couldnโ€™t agree more with WellChildโ€™s excellent choice, being personally inspired by Carmela. Itโ€™s been a little less than two years ago when Carmelaโ€™s mum Lucy sent a fundraising poster for me to share on Devizine, and after talking to her about her daughterโ€™s rare form of muscular dystrophy I thought, you know what, I could do more than this to help. And yes, it ended in a warm August morning, delivering milk, as is my โ€œrealโ€ job, dressed in my Spiderman onesie!

Lucy had suggested Carmela prefers Wonder Woman as a superhero, but the practicalities, not forgoing the visual impact of me in blue star-studded hot pants might be pushing it too far! So, Carmela joined me for a short stint, to deliver the bottles, dressed as Wonder Woman, and we raised approximately ยฃ1,500 for some specialist equipment to make her life somewhat easier.

The apt association with Wonder Woman stuck for Carmela, whoโ€™s various fundraising efforts caught the attention of Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot last year, and she kindly donated over ยฃ3,000. Inspired by the superhero, Carmela took on 300km in 30 days dressed as her hero, but it really did take it out of her with. There were days spent in pain and suffering with vertigo sickness, due to her spine curvatures and strain on her weak muscles.

A similar gauntlet is laid this year, the aim being a united 1,500 miles, the total it takes from Wiltshire to where they filmed Wonder Woman in Southern Italy. Commencing on the 1st September, the family hope to do it with the help of teams, raising money towards the medical research, in hope of giving effected children hope of a future or even just a treatment to slow the progression down. More information here.

And progress on a cure, or at least slowing the process down has recently had a breakthrough. INews Science & Environment Correspondent, Tom Bawden reported; โ€œa cure for muscular dystrophy is on the horizon after gene editing experiments in mice completely eradicated the disease. Although far more research is needed to test the technique in humans the researchers are hopeful the process could one day be used in the NHS,โ€ just last week.

Therefore, itโ€™s been long overdue to catch up with the Chillery-Watson family, to congratulate them for the award, find out if the breakthrough treatment applies to Carmelaโ€™s rare strain of the disease, but mostly, to get the gossip on the celebrities sheโ€™s been meeting, making her something of a celeb now herself!

Click here to buy the book!

โ€œI donโ€™t think I ever met a celebrity until Carmela came along,โ€ Lucy replied to my verbal probing about the renowned faces I see her pictured with. I suggested pictures posted on Carmelaโ€™s Facebook Page with Harry, she seemed to have her husband Darren pushed aside while displaying a flirty-face in his presence! โ€œIโ€™ve always got a flirty-face on!โ€ she laughed, โ€œweโ€™ve met Harry once before, and he really is a great guy to chat to. Heโ€™s been patron of this sick childโ€™s charity since 2007. Heโ€™s very passionate about it, I think because he gets it from his mum. Carmela was telling him her rude jokes!โ€ she giggled.

I pointed out that Carmela has got so used to being in the spotlight. โ€œSheโ€™s so blasรฉ about it!โ€ Lucy said, โ€œitโ€™s my fault because we wanted to get awareness out there, and itโ€™s helped her confidence. She has gone through stages of low self-esteem, particularly now as she comes to terms with what her limitations are. So doing things like this makes her feel a little bit important. It boosts her self-esteem.โ€

Amanda Holden was one of Carmelaโ€™s chosen celebs to have turned up. โ€œWhat a great chick she is,โ€ Lucy responded, โ€œso, so, one of us; she doesnโ€™t mince her words, and made us feel at ease.โ€ One I do know, Rolling Stoneโ€™s Ronnie Wood was there, she told me, but another was one my age made me ask my daughter for her identity, revealed to be pop star Anne-Marie, who sang live at the ceremony. Lucy praised her voice, but moved onto Ed Sheeran, claiming he was shy.

โ€œThroughout lockdown,โ€ we moved onto, โ€œshe did loads because she had to. With muscular dystrophy you canโ€™t sit down all the time, because you get joint contractions, you get tight muscles and itโ€™s irreversible, you have to keep that balance, and thatโ€™s very difficult.โ€

The gene therapy advances I wanted to mention. โ€œThe one weโ€™re hopeful with is LCMD Research Foundation.โ€ A family in the USA with the same condition to Carmela, but more severe. โ€œThey found some researchers in Spain willing to take on the gene therapy project specific for Carmelaโ€™s type, if they raise two million,โ€ Lucy explained, stating theyโ€™ve already raised half in just six months. Lucy was unsure what strain the INews Science & Environment Correspondent reported on was specifically for, โ€œbut is also promising news.โ€

Somewhere in the conversation I doubted she would even remember me, the mere mortal milkman, now sheโ€™s rubbing shoulders with all these icons and celebs. But in the perfect finale to our chinwag, Carmela broke her bedtime procedure to disrupt the sombre and mature themes we were discussing, and bounded in to say hello. I confess, this part melted my heart, itโ€™s been so long through lockdown since Iโ€™ve seen her, and was delighted to note, she knew me and remembered our shared work-shift almost two years ago.

Cheekily, I asked Carmela if she had a favourite celeb she met, and she confirmed they were Anne-Marie and Amanda Holden; mine too! Amanda in particular, I pointed out, being I had to inquire to who Anne-Marie was, truth be told. Intent on keeping me on my pegging, Carmela asked me, โ€œhave you heard Anne-Marieโ€™s voiceโ€ฆ.โ€ of which I was intending to reply a yes; now I have, when she added, โ€œbut, in real life?!โ€ To which I can only confess she had this one over on me!  

โ€œWell,โ€ Carmela added, โ€œyou could always come to the WellChild as our guest.โ€ Lucy laughed; sheโ€™s invited a number of guests already. Well, every celeb needs their entourage.

But I did finish on my surprise she recalled me, being sheโ€™d met all these โ€œimportant people, when all Iโ€™ve been doing is putting milk bottles down.โ€ Carmela replied, while dancing, โ€œitโ€™s very important for you to put the milk bottles down.โ€ And itโ€™s responses like that which makes her such a special person, and her zest for life is truly inspiring for all ages; the very motive, I might plug, for me to channel efforts into this compilation album for Juliaโ€™s House, who I might add, provide support to Carmela with regular home visits.

You can listen to, and buy the album here, thanks.

Trending….

Six Reasons to Rock in Market Lavington

Alright yeah, itโ€™s a play on band names and thereโ€™s only really two reasons to rock on Friday 17th October at Market Lavington Community Hall;โ€ฆ

A Detonation at the Southgate with Vince, Tamsin, Phil and Jamie

Could it be, I wonder this Sunday morning after a grand evening at our dependable Southgate, that being couped up and unable to play to a live audience for what feels like a decade, has planted fire in the bellies of musicians and a drive to return to the spotlight in an explosively intense and mind-blowing manner?

Image by Nick Padmore

It certainly felt this way with the Boot Hill All Stars giving it their all, last weekend at Honey Street’s Barge, and again, last night where a โ€œPlus Friends,โ€ gig took place at the Gate, in the blaze of glory local folk have come to expect from the homegrown talented musicians involved.

Image by Nick Padmore

As far from a band name as a desperate attempt to rehash a once-trendy US sitcom, Plus Friends is the banner for a looser formulation, Iโ€™m assuming, to temporarily disassociate the trio of Phil Cooper, Jamie R Hawkins and Tamsin Quin from their Lost Trades Americana branding and allow themselves the freedom to adlib and play in unison their separate songs as solo artists, generally rock out, and perhaps throw in a cover at will, as they did with a finale of Talking Headsโ€™ Road to Nowhere. Though covers were scarce, the crowd know these guys only too well, and their original penned songs.

Plus, and, most importantly where the โ€œplusโ€ part falls neatly into place, to add a fourth member in par rather than โ€œsupport,โ€ that being the modest acoustic local legend, Vince Bell. Not forgoing this allowance also saw Jamieโ€™s eldest son occasionally join them on percussion, adding to the overall โ€œfamilyโ€ nature of the homecoming gig.

Image by Nick Padmore

And that’s precisely how it felt for punters and performers alike, a true community recovering from isolation the best way they know how. โ€œThis is how it should be,โ€ delighted photographer Nick Padmore told me at the end. Because while the Southgate’s dedication to bringing variety, and artists who might well be unbeknown to Devizes is most welcomed, nothing raises the roof quite like Vince belting out his satirical prose about his hometown and the crowds joyously joining in with the โ€œand you ain’t ever leaving!โ€ chorus.

Image by Nick Padmore

It hallmarks everything great about this splendid occasion, and a true Devizes-fashioned return of live music with homegrown talent abound.

But it’s not just the brilliance of Vince, Tammy, Jamie and birthday-boy Phil, to perform with bells on, which made the evening, rather the friendly assembly of local live music aficionados too, with their meeting of the โ€œsame olโ€™ facesโ€ not fully grouped since lockdown begun. And, in turn, the Southgate to accommodate them so welcomingly within current regulations.

Image by Nick Padmore

Thereโ€™s a streamlined table service, its dedicated staff have the efficiency of McDonaldโ€™s, and the genuine friendliness of Disneyland. Though such comparisons should end there, for The Southgate is far from the mechanism of commercialism, rather a rustic haven for those seeking a โ€œrealโ€ West Country pub experience, and within it, creating a free music venue that performers are queuing to play.

Itโ€™s without doubt the sum of all these parts made it so many chose our Southgate over Gareth’s squad on the tele-box, a brief โ€œfootballs coming homeโ€ chant raised by Jamie being the only reference to the Euros necessary. No, weโ€™re happy here, thank you. Content to hear the welcoming homely vocals of Tamsin Quin, the passionately executed sentimental writings of Jamie as he rings out solo classics such as his tribute to his dad, the rockier side to Phil Cooper as he selects a tune from his solo lockdown album, These Revelation Games and the beautifully arranged understated lyrics of Vince as they so eloquently weave a tapestry of narrative. And as my opening presumption noted, they delivered it with such Jack-in-the-box passion, what once would have been a pretty standard gig down the Gate was more akin to a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Oh yes, more of that, please!

Image by Nick Padmore

And our wish is granted, as The Southgateโ€™s gig calendar is building as if 2020 never happened; next Saturday, 10th July sees Swindonโ€™s premier ska covers band The Skandals, with ex-Skanxter Carl Humphries returning as frontman. Sunday is the turn of Essexโ€™s finest Americana roots band, Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective.

One weekend after is all you need to wait until reggae duo Jon Lewis & Jah-man Aggrey, TwoManTing, on Saturday 17th, Rockport Blues on 24th, and Blind River Scareโ€™s Tim Manning rocks up on the final Saturday of July. The dates are booked into August too, with Kevin Brown on the 7th and the brilliant Strange Folk on the 9th October, but you can bet your bottom dollar dates in-between these will crop up very soon, check the event guide as I attempt to keep ahead and update it without getting too frustrated with cancelations, or the Southgateโ€™s Facebook page, where the spirit of live music lives on, as proved last night.

Update: check the board, not the Facebook!

All Images used with kind permission of Nick Padmore

Our compilation album is out now and raising money for Julia’s House Children’s Hospices; click to download your copy!
Got your ticket to MantonFest yet? Hurry up, I need a lift!

International Reggae Day; 10 Reggae Facts You May/May Not Know!

Ya mon, today, July 1st marks International Reggae Day, so put pan sum a dat irie muzik an git skanking. To help celebrate hereโ€™s some interesting facts about Jamaciaโ€™s national sound you may/may not have heard before, depending how up pon da scene you is.

1: Bob Marley &The Wailers Were Fired as Support Act for Sly & The Family Stone

Debatably, Bob Marley & The Wailers were booted off the 1973 Sly & The Family Stone US tour for upstaging them. It was early days for the band internationally, and they had fire in their heart and motivation to succeed. Meanwhile, Sly and The Family Stone were at the top of their game, the peak of their career, and it was largely reported the funk misfits were too intoxicated to play well. The Wailers were fired after the first four or five shows with Sly and The Family Stone, leaving much dispute to the reason. Me, I can read between the lines and itโ€™s blatantly obvious why!

2: One of the Most Influential Figures of Reggae, was a Nun

Aside the obvious Bob Marely, one of the single most influential figures in the history of reggae was Sister Mary Ignatius Davies. A Sister of Mercy, Mary Ignatius Davies was an inspirational music teacher at Kingstonโ€™s Alpha Boys School. Prominent in the advances of ska and reggae, her music tuition at this “school for wayward boys” influenced many of the pioneers of ska, including Coxsone Doddโ€™s Studio One legendary inhouse band, The Skatalites, many who would later make up the Wailers backing band for Bob Marley. ย 

3: Desmond Dekker Was Turned Down by Major Recording Producers

One of the greatest figures of reggae has to be Desmond Dekker, famed for the 1969 Pyramid song, The Israelites with his backing band, The Aces. Indeed, Desmond was prominent throughout the ska and rock steady periods too, and it was Dekker who encouraged a young Bob Marley, workmate in a welding factory, to approach Jimmy Cliff, which sparked his success. But if Desmond Dekker is celebrated for his smooth vocals, we should note he failed his own auditions at both the most dominant Jamaican studios, Coxsone Doddโ€™s Studio One and Duke Reidโ€™s Treasure Isle, in 1961. Resulting in working for the lesser Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s record label later that year.

4: Red, Red Wine Was Written and Originally Performed by Neil Diamond

Think any of any reggae single to be most asked at a standard family disco in the UK, and Iโ€™ll guarantee it will be UB40โ€™s 1983 version of Red, Red Wine. A number 1 hit for UB40, it sparked a new path for them in recreating and covering older reggae tunes. But while the song had indeed been a boss reggae hit for Tony Tribe, reaching only 46 on the UK chart in 1969, it was in fact written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond in 1967, included on Diamond’s second studio album, Just for You; a fact that even UB40 was unaware of at the time of releasing the song!

5: The Ethos of Hip Hop Came from Reggae

Okay, I might get shot via a drive-by for this one, but itโ€™s an often-obscured fact that the originator of hip hop, the Bronxโ€™s DJ Kool Herc was a Jamaican immigrant to New York, who despite moving with his family at just twelve years old, he grew up around Kingstonโ€™s dance hall sound system parties and wanted to bring the ethos to New York. Indeed, he did, as the bloc-party can be easily compared with the Jamaican sound system parties of the fifties and sixties. The only difference was, New Yorkers favoured the currently trending funk music, like James Brown, and Herc was quick to pick up on what the people wanted and adapt to the genre. But still, the ethos is comparable to reggae far more than soul.

6: Aswad are the Backing Band on Bob Marleyโ€™s Jamming

There are many facts I could throw at you about Marleyโ€™s second stay in England during 1977, while for his protection he was encouraged to flee Jamacia after a shooting incident. Firstly, that Punky Reggae Party was inspired by Don Letts introducing him to the punk movement, especially the Clash, it wasnโ€™t recorded until he returned to Jamaica, at Joe Gibbs studio. The B-side was recorded in London though, with Aswad as backing. And I bet you thought the pinnacle of their career wasnโ€™t until 1988 when they scored a UK number one with โ€œDon’t Turn Around?โ€

7: Naomi Campbell Appeared in Marelyโ€™s Is This Love Video

Another fact about Marleyโ€™s stay in England was the music video for 1978โ€™s Is This Love, produced and shot at the Keskidee Arts Centre in London. Itโ€™s a wonderful film in which Bob parties with the children of the centre, but watch out for the little girl sleeping, who Marley covers up with a blanket; itโ€™s supermodel Naomi Campbell, at only seven years old!

8: Johnny Rotten Flooded the UK Market with Reggae

Richard Branson too, for he created Virginโ€™s short-lived reggae subsidy in 1978, Front Line, by sending Johnny Lydon of the Sex Pistols to Jamacia to sign as many artists as he could in reaction of Chris Blackwellโ€™s Island Records success with Bob Marley & The Wailers. Rotten came back with contracts from U-Roy, The Mighty Diamonds, Keith Hudson, Johnny Clarke, Peter Tosh, I Roy, Prince Far I, Big Youth, Prince Hammer, Tappa Zukie, Sly Dunbar, and The Twinkle Brothers, to name but a few.

9: Toots & The Maytals Narrowly Missed Being Bigger Than Bob Marley & The Wailers

At a time when reggae was seen as a โ€œnoveltyโ€ music outside of Jamacia, resident Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records wanted to bring a reggae band to the international stage in a similar light to a rock band. For this he toyed between signing either The Maytals or The Wailers. Though he didnโ€™t want to deal with the young, rude boys which were the Wailers, he figured he would take his chances, as Toots & The Maytals sung too gospel for a white audience to accept. Together with the notion Marely was mixed-raced, he signed The Wailers first and advanced them money to make their debut album, Catch a Fire. While he quickly signed the Maytals soon after, he concentrated his efforts mainly on Bob, dividing him from Pete Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and it was in competition with Toots which concerned Marley the most.

10:  Mark Lamarr Stopped Shabba Ranks from Becoming Reggaeโ€™s Next International Reggae Superstar

By 1992 Dancehall was fast becoming acceptable on an international level, and the king was due to be Shabba Ranks. He had gained popularity partulcarly in the USA, where he secured a contract with Epic Records, and won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. How a shadow was cast during his appearance on Channel 4โ€™s The Word, when Mark Lamarr probed him for his opinion on Buju Bantonโ€™s controversial homophobic song Boom Bye Bye, which advocated the shooting of gays.

Live on TV, grasping a bible, Shabba called for the โ€œcrucifixion of homosexuals,โ€ claiming it to be the โ€œword of God.โ€ Lamarr retorted, โ€œThat’s absolute crap and you know it!โ€ Shabba may have been unaware just how grave his comments were, where in Jamacia such values are lesser thought of at the time, but it had serious consequences for him, and sent dancehall music back a decade in advancing to a popular international music. Immediately Ranks was dropped from a Bobby Brown concert, and despite making a formal apology, Sony released him from his contract three years later.

Blue Sky Festival Returns to Corshamโ€™s Pound Arts

Blue Sky Festival returns to Corshamโ€™s Pound Arts this July. The thriving arts centre will be filled with music, dance, film, family entertainment and workshops, plus outdoor theatre. There really is something for everyone, including Claymation model-making workshops with Aardman Animations, music from upcoming Americana soulstress Lady Nade, and the breath-taking folky ambiance of Emily Barker, and comedy from Lucy Porter, who youโ€™ll know from Live At The Apollo, Would I Lie To You and QI.

Lady Nade

Kicking off on the 5th and continuing throughout until 11th, thereโ€™s theatre for the very youngest, check out the The Bug Hotel and thereโ€™s even a Bug Making Workshop. Fly in/Drive in Cinemas, pre-school workshops where you will create your very own broomstick and hat before flying into the auditorium to watch a free, short family film, on 7th and 8th July.

Absurdist-fiction author and New York Times Bestseller Jasper Fforde does an authorโ€™s talk on the 9th July, and the 10th is the All Day Aardman Filmathon with an Aardman Model Making Workshop aimed at children aged 6 and above.

And itโ€™s the 8th July, at 8:00pm when the wonderful Lady Nade takes the stage, Emily Barker on the Saturday the 10th. Sunday polishes off the festival with Lucy Porter, after Apocalyptic Circus return to The Pound with a visually striking, highly skilled circus and comedy show for all the family called My House.

Other events planned throughout the festival include a Blue-Sky Mural project, a Silent Disco, Fun Community Singalong Workshop, Jimmy Jams Breakfast Storytime with Gav Cross, work in progress from the Debut Dance Company.

Lucy Porter
Book tickets here
OUT NOW!

OUT NOW! Various Artists 4 Julia’s House

As a nipper Iโ€™d spend days, entire school holidays, making mixtapes as if I worked for Now, Thatโ€™s What I Call Music! In the era before hi-fi, Iโ€™d sit holding a microphone to the radioโ€™s speaker, adventurously attempting to anticipate when Tony Blackburn was going to talk over the tune, and just when In the Air Tonight peaked with Philโ€™s crashing drums, my dad would shout up the stairs that my tea was ready; eternally caught on tape, at least until my Walkman screwed up the cassette.

Crude to look back, even when I advanced to tape-to-tape, I discovered if I pressed the pause button very slowly on the recording cassette deck, it would slide into the next song, and with a second of grinding squeal Howard Jones glided into Yazoo!! Always the DJ, just never with the tech! Rest assured; this doesnโ€™t happen on this, our Various Artists compilation album, 4 Juliaโ€™s House. And oh, have I got some news about that?!

Huh? Yes, I have, and here it isโ€ฆ. ย 

We did it! Thanks once again to all our fabulous contributing artists, our third instalment of detailed sleeve notes will follow shortly, but for now, I couldnโ€™t wait another day, therefore, Iโ€™ve released it half a day early, this afternoon!

Buy it here!

Now all that needs to happen is to get promoting it, and you can help by sharing news of this on your social media pages, thank you. Bloggers and media please get in touch, and help me raise some funds for Juliaโ€™s House.

Iโ€™ve embedded a player, in which you should be able to get a full try before you buy, I believe you get three listens before itโ€™ll default and tell you to buy it. I hope you enjoy, it has been a mission and half, but one Iโ€™d gladly do again.

Please note: there are many artists giving it, โ€œoh no, I was going to send you a track!โ€ Fear not, there is still time, as Iโ€™ll causally start collecting tunes for a volume 2, and when the time is ready and we have enough songs, we will do it. It might be for another charity, Iโ€™d personally like to do another raising funds for The Devizes & District Opportunity Centre, but thatโ€™s unconfirmed as of yet.

You know, sometimes I think I could raise more money with less effort by trekking down through the Market Place in a bath of cold baked beans, but I wanted to bring you a treasured item comprising of so many great artists weโ€™ve featured, or will be featuring in the near future on Devizine. Never before has all these artists been on one huge album like this, and look, even if you donโ€™t care for a particular tune, thereโ€™s 46 of them, check my maths as I pride myself on being exceptionally rubbish at it, but I make that 22p a track, and all for such a worthy cause!

Track listing details part 1
Track listing details part2
Click for info on Julia’s House

โ€œWe are so grateful to Devizine and all of the local artists who are taking part in the charity album to raise funds for Juliaโ€™s House. We donโ€™t receive any government funding for the care we give to families in Wiltshire, so the support we receive from our local community is so important.โ€

Claudia Hickin, Community Fundraiser at Juliaโ€™s House

Various Artists 4 Juliaโ€™s House; Hereโ€™s More of the Tracks!

I have been a busy bee, trying to get the truckload of info we need to cover to get a full perspective on just how great this album is and all the fabulous artists and bands have thankfully got behind it. So, find below another bout of the extensive track listings with a brief bio and links to the artists. Iโ€™m dividing it into three sections, this is the second, the final piece of the puzzle will be here shortly. It would be simply too much information to digest if were all the tracks in one article, and I really need you to check out the acts you like the sound of, like them up on social media, send them love, and buy their music, as theyโ€™ve so generously given to this worthy project.

Click here to read part one of the tracks

Through reading blogposts and case studies on the Juliaโ€™s House website, itโ€™s only becoming clear how outstanding the charity is, and how much amazing and often heart-breaking work they do. I was honoured to meet with Claudia Hickin, Community Fundraiser at Juliaโ€™s House, who said, โ€œwe are so grateful to Devizine and all of the local artists who are taking part in the charity album to raise funds for Juliaโ€™s House. We donโ€™t receive any government funding for the care we give to families in Wiltshire, so the support we receive from our local community is so important.โ€

Click here; you need only read one of the many ‘stories’ to realise why we’re doing this…

Stuart Whant of the band Barrelhouse also turned up, and Gazette & Herald reporter Kirsten Robertson, who should be penning an article this coming week, which is our official release date; finally, as of Tuesday 29th June, it should be live and ready to download. You can, by the way, pre-order it, as many have already done, and weโ€™ve raised around about ยฃ75 already, and itโ€™s not even out yet! But we still need you to not only buy, but share your shopping hoard with the world, let them know they need this album in their life, to help save other lives.

Aware you cannot sample the songs, probably due to something Iโ€™ve messed up in the BandCamp settings, I put together a YouTube video, which took an age, but has a clip of every song on the album.

Thereโ€™s also a change, as we welcome Urban Lions late to the party. Entirely my fault, juggling conversing to so many musicians in different chat windows I lost track waffling about cover versions and Rupert Bear to recall where we were in asking them to donate a tune. Corrected now, track 44 will be Urban Lions – We Say I. Our most amazing Big Ship Alliance track, All in this Thing Together, shouldโ€™ve also added the info it features Johnny2Bad, Robbie Levi & Stones too, so Iโ€™ve corrected this. More on those tunes in the next instalment, when we detail the finale of the track listing; not enough hours in the day! Hereโ€™s 21 to 33, and Iโ€™m going to have a little lie down!

21. Sam Bishop โ€“ Wild Heart (Live Acoustic)

Member of Devizes School boy band, 98 Reasons in the noughties, Sam partnered with another bandmate, Finley Trusler to create the popular Larkin duo. Now heโ€™s studying music at Winchester, and releasing solo singles and the recent EP Lost Promises. This really shows experimentation into some amazing vocal arrangements, and weโ€™re delighted to have a live acoustic version of one track, Wild Heart.

https://www.facebook.com/sambishopmusician/

22. Mr Love & Justice โ€“ The Other Side of Here

Steve Cox is frontman of this Swindon-based 21st Century Anglicana, acoustic guitar-driven folk/pop collective. A contemporary English take on the west coast cross-over sound of the late 1960s, Mr Love & Justice are a Swindon-based, fronted by singer/songwriter Steve Cox. Since 1992, theyโ€™ve four albums under their belts and handful of EPs. This track is an out-take from the 2003 album Homeground, available as a download only single from the forthcoming album Memory Box, and itโ€™s wonderful.

https://mrloveandjustice.com/the-homepage

23. Barmy Park โ€“ Oakfield Road

Southampton-based five-piece mod band, Barmy Park, consists of bassist Paul Smith, Chris White on lead guitar, Martin Ford on keys, drummer Terry Goulding and guitarist and lead vocals Jeff Worrow. Yes, you read that right, another one with the palindrome surname Worrow, and yes, somewhere along the line we are related; thatโ€™s how I got to hear about this awesome band!

https://barmypark.bandcamp.com/

24. The Truzzy Boys – Summer Time

One half of this cousin duo weโ€™ve already mentioned, Finley Trusler partnered with Sam Bishop to form Larkin from the ashes of their school boyband 98 Reasons. Finely now partners with Harvey Trusler to form this beguiling, usually covers duo The Truzzy Boys. Like many live bands, during lockdown the boys worked on some singles, releasing this one in March 2020, and Not the One more recently. Finely also recently joined fantastic local mod group, The Roughcut Rebels, as frontman; no doubt to lower the groupโ€™s age demographic!

25. Daydream Runaways โ€“ Light the Spark

Daydream Runaways

Hereโ€™s a shining example of why I love doing Devizine; Iโ€™ve tracked the progress of this promising young indie-pop band since day dot, and like a fine wine, they get better with age! Hailing half from Swindon, half from Devizes, Daydream Runaways restored my faith in the genre, with a feelgood eighties sound, they rock. They raised the roof at our fundraising gig in Devizes Cellar bar, after a tragic fire devastated some local residents. They rocked Vinyl Realmโ€™s second stage at our townโ€™s street festival, and theyโ€™ve continued to wow with every single release, compiling them onto an EP called Dreamlands. Iโ€™m proud to offer you this revamped version of their debut single, Light the Spark. June sees the release of a new track, Curtains.

26. Talk in Code โ€“ Talk Like That

It was January 2019 when I reviewed Resolve, and album of indie-pop by Swindon band Talk in Code, and akin to Daydream Runaways, theyโ€™ve gone from strength to strength since. Locally theyโ€™ve created a huge fanbase, they call โ€œtalkers,โ€ and festival bookings have been widespread. Talk Like That was released in January last year, and was the beginnings of this crisp eighties pop-rock style weโ€™ve now come to love them for. Last month saw the release of Face to Face.

27. Longcoats โ€“ Pretty in Pink

Longcoats

More indie-pop with an eighties twist, from Bathโ€™s latest sensation, Longcoats. Hereโ€™s their penultimate single, Pretty in Pink, and it rocks. We reviewed it, we love it here at Devizine, in fact, weโ€™ve loved their sound since we joined frontman Ollieโ€™s Facebook group The Indie Network in May last year. Another young band going from strength to strength.

28. Atari Pilot – When We Were Children

Wrapping up our upcoming indie-pop bands section, sonically, Swindonโ€™s Atari Pilot are massively prolific. I discovered them early last year, and reviewed Wrong Captain, been loving their sound since. Supporting Talk in Code recently at Swindonโ€™s Level III, thereโ€™s a community of comparable bands on the same circuit, the aforementioned Daydreamers and Longcoats, creating a great, flourishing scene. Iโ€™m delighted to be able to create a compilation with all of them featured.

29. Andy J Williams โ€“ Post Nup

During lockdown I kicked off an idea which caught on, save a concentrated review where I tend of waffle off on a tangent, I could quickly turnaround a Song of the Day post, on my phone usually. This allows me to find new artists to plug, and a funky track called Something to Believe in, by Bristolโ€™s Andy J Williams had me hook, line and sinker, leading to a full review of his album Buy all the $tuff!

30. The Dirty Smooth โ€“ Seed to the Spark

Did everyone know Malmsburyโ€™s The Dirty Smooth, except me, I asked back in November last year, when they sent me this absolutely blinding track for a mention. Since their debut single six years ago, The Dirty Smooth are no strangers to the festival circuit, gaining a reputation for playing original, anthemic pop songs. On top of numerous live appearances, they helped organise the Minety Music Festival in 2017. Shortlisted at the UK Festival Awards it has become a well-established festival, hosting acts like Toploader, Republica and Chesney Hawkes. Over the past two years, but setback by lockdown, theyโ€™ve been working towards a forthcoming album, Running From The Radar.

31. SexJazz – Metallic Blue

Image by Justin Smythe

What can I say? The name grabbed me, right off the poster for this Septemberโ€™s Swindon Shuffle. Additional information on this alternative electronica/funky-punk, highly-fluorescently branded Swindon outfit Facebook page reads, โ€œDon’t worry, it will be alright. Kind Regards, SexJazz.โ€ The latest single in their prolific discography is titled, โ€œTime is a Twat,โ€ so Iโ€™ll leave it up to you to decide how seriously they take themselves. This, Metallic Blue, is a dynamite tune, completely original, in-your-face and addictive.

32. Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue โ€“ Hammer Down

Ah, it wouldnโ€™t be a complete compilation without Ruzz Guitar and his Blues Revue. Bristol-based rock n roll like youโ€™ve never heard before, Iโ€™m not having a 50th birthday party unless I can book these guys! Frenzied rock n roll fused blues with panache, extended from what would usually exhaust a musician in over three-minutes, to epic proportions, probably the reason with heโ€™s endorsed by Gretsch Guitars and worked with legends. This track is taken from a wholly instrumental album, aptly called โ€œThe Instrumental Sounds Of…โ€ and itโ€™s wonderful with bells on and a double-bass.

33. The Boot Hill All Stars โ€“ Monkey in the Hold

Ah, those crazy Boot Hill All Stars from Frome, favourites of the west country festival circuit for over 12 years, present this frenzied ska-related riff over their scrumpy & western style. As writing this Iโ€™ve returned from The Barge at Honeystreet where they blew the roof off the marquee. So pleased to be able to blast a track of theirs in your general direction, but youโ€™ll have to provide your own feather dusters and girdles.

 

And thatโ€™s quite enough to digest for one Sunday; Iโ€™ll get to last 13 tracks as soon as my sausage-fingers will allow, hopefully by Tuesday, when the album is launched.

Boot Hills Take The Barge

If there’s one business to be in during this period of paced easing of lockdown, it must be the marquee business, it’s another for pubs to adequately comprehend what to put inside them. Establishments erect a tent and furnish it with tables so punters can eat and drink alfresco, and some might have an acoustic singer compliment it, but supplying entertainment to suit a crowd eager to get social lives up and running again is the tricky part.

For the Barge at Honeystreet, with its unique combo of a pub, wharf and campsite, historically it created a perpetual mini-festival atmosphere, ergo they’re no strangers to understanding how to accommodate restrictions and still throw a mind-blowing party.

What the now-owners have done is nothing short of miraculous; to enhance this ethos, and create an apt space to house the original concept.

With fields-worth of camping pitches, tipi glamping zone, the derelict barn transformed into a tremendously decorated arts and performance space, a brilliant children’s playpark, suitable showers and washroom facilities, the many vast improvements have made the Barge something folk could only dream of in years gone by. And for which they should be extremely proud.

Glamping in the bell tents at The Barge

Naturally, I had to check this out myself, improvements already underway prior to lockdown when I last paid a visit, for Knati P and Nick’s Skanga sound system. Of course, back then we danced inside the pub, and given when I booked tickets for this Boot Hill All Stars extravaganza, we were under the impression restrictions would be fully lifted.

To maintain decorum and keep everyone seated while hosting a gig from a scrumpy and western, Wurzels-meets-the Specials in a kind of frenzied gypsy-folk-punk band of misfits, eagerly anticipating their first performance since lockdown, was never going to be easy. Yet through sheer respect for what the owners of the Barge have achieved, restrictions were adhered to and the best made of a bad situation.

Junksville Geetar!

Crowds remained seated, within the huge airy marquee, though were aching to break out in dance fever, as the celebrated Boot Hill All Stars did their thing, with bells on, corsets, fluffy dusters and frontman Flounder wearing a testicles necklace and sporting a new twin-tooth Ripsaw Resonator made from recycled and renovated material from Junksville Guitars. All revealed as they disrobed from their โ€œlockdown attireโ€ dressing gowns!

But this was not before support came from the bizarrely unique jack-hammered blues duo, Dry White Bones. Unique I say by way of a Dave on harmonica, and a washboard dangling from his neck, with metallic camping mug, and a variety of homemade percussion features attached, to compliment his other half’s rusty but powerful blues vocals plus acoustic guitar. The pair make quite a show, with entertaining banter and an improbably unpredicted sound; Dave breaking into a sublime harmonica solo of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald’s Summertime, only as an intro to their own composition, for example, is nothing short of genius. Yet, if you feel a guy tapping a camping mug sounds a bit silly, this is something you really have to witness yourself to fully appreciate.

To the main event of the show, and it is a show, rather than a gig; think vaudeville in a gypsy caravan, circus at Madstock to just go part of the way. Itโ€™s an expression of unabashed folly, where Toots & the Maytalsโ€™ Monkey Man, can befittingly follow a frantic cover of Dolly Partonโ€™s Jolene. Props such as chairs for Cossack dancing, and handheld signs, one reading โ€œtiny Jesus,โ€ the other, โ€œon a hot cross bunโ€ correspond to their original and humorous song titles. A gig where if dancing is not allowed the gang encourage items of clothing be waved around instead, ending with a pair of bloomers landing on Flounderโ€™s guitar headstock.

Classics known to Boot Hill fans, the comical female masturbatory subject of Devilโ€™s Doorbell to ska-fuelled Night Bus and Monkey in the Hold and were accomplished, (the latter I plug is on our 4 Juliaโ€™s House compilation,) but not before a few new, lockdown-related tunes were presented; one of the NHS, the second concerning the Homer Simpson practise of drinking alone in your underpants. With twelve years of doing this under their belt, though they confessed nerves to me prior to going on, it seemed like riding a bike to the punters, stimulated by the epic routine.

There could be no act more apt for The Barge at Honeystreet, yet with a restaurant, and passing activities along the canal or campsite like paddle boating, The Record Deck longboat record store, and Stephanie and Simonโ€™s traditional printing press from a pink milkfloat to name but a few, thereโ€™s always something happening, and itโ€™s usually bonkers. As for gigs, the show must go on, and for a mere fiver ticket stub, next Friday sees the arrival of Grizzley and the Grasshoppers, Saturday night will go off with local legendary resident DJ and producer Rich the Ditch and friends on the wheels of steel, and Somerset hip hop outfit, Monkey Bizzleโ€™s album launch on the following Friday 9th July, in this pocket of resistance from our affluent conservative corner of the universe.

Me? I got out of the rut and had a blinder, thanks for asking.

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 quite dying,โ€ฆ

A Quick Shuffle to Swindon

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

Swindon Branch of Your Party is Growing

Following the excitement and success of the first meeting of โ€˜Your Partyโ€™ in Swindon, a second meeting has been arranged for 18th September 7.30 -โ€ฆ

No Rest For JP Oldfield, New Single Out Today

It’s been six months since Devizes-based young blues crooner JP Oldfield released his poignant kazoo-blowing debut EP Bouffon. He’s made numerous appearances across the circuitโ€ฆ

DOCA’s Early Lantern Workshops

Is it too early for the C word?! Of course not, Grinch! With DOCA’S Winter Festival confirmed for Friday 28th November this year, there willโ€ฆ

Song of the Day 40: Dry White Bones

Venturing over to the Barge tonight to catch crazy corsets and getars shenanigans with the Boot Hill All Stars. So, to get me in the mood, supporting act Dry White Bones gets our song of the day…. yee-ha!

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

Breakout to Chippenhamโ€™s Alternative Art Show

The flags of Israel and Palestine halved with a swish and a white dove stencilled over the top, was the starting point for a painting by Chippenham artist, Mike Long. We discussed his method, almost making it up as he went along, the original idea extends outwards as he progresses with a painting, rather like his unique tendency to continue the painting over the actual frame. Underneath the flags, a scene of a football game, with goalposts painted on tanks, in Mikeโ€™s sketchy Chagall style; this element developed while painting it.

Weโ€™re at Chippenhamโ€™s Yelde Hall in the Market Place, Mikeโ€™s turn on the rota to hold the fort. The alternative art show, Breakout is running for another week, until Saturday 3rd July. Open everyday except Sunday from 10am to 4pm, I call it โ€œan art showโ€ to break the preconceptions of words like โ€œgalleryโ€ or โ€œexhibit,โ€ because hereโ€™s a display which finds an even ground between an often seen as tedious fine art gallery of standard landscapes or portraits, and the outright โ€œartyโ€ kind of off-putting โ€œweird.โ€ For this concept, itโ€™s the sort of exhibit to appease anyone with only a passing interest in art; a contemporary pop art show.

Unlike two years past, when, teamed with two other artists, Si Griffiths and Emma Sally, they put on Never Mind The Heritage, Hereโ€™s Our Art Show, in the same venue, the three are joined by five other locally-based artists, each taking a panel, making for variety and a fuller experience. Itโ€™s a dazzling show, well worth paying a visit.

To start at the beginning, an artist I know only too well, Devizes-based Clifton Powell, takes the first panel. Recently commissioned to paint Abbot Hadrian for an English Heritage exhibition, The African Diaspora in England, in Canterbury, closer to home Clifton shows a few works from his ongoing โ€œUnrestโ€ series. Theyโ€™re striking images, poignantly painted with realism, and take the subject of modern civil turbulence.

Works from the other artists exhibiting here are new to me. Jimmer Willmott, a pop surrealist from Bristol takes the next panel, describes his work as a โ€œchaotic love affair of the cute and weird, running naked hand-in-hand with a bright, fun blend of humour and juxtaposition.โ€ Indeed, words found in some excellently crafted Alphabetti Spaghetti, or American cops with donuts for heads in a more colourful vein than Renรฉ Magritteโ€™s The Son of Man, fits the bill.

Meanwhile, photographer Daniel Carmichael takes inspiration from patterns in small objects and the effects of time and the elements upon them. With a keen eye for a snap, autumn leaves covering a discarded men at work road sign, for example, captures a mood of manufactured versus nature.

ย 

Next is Mike Longโ€™s varied styles, of expressionism, often Lowry-like scenes or steampunk imaginings which extends into the frame, involving it and creating the notion the subject continues after the confines of the image youโ€™re looking at, these are ingenious works in which youโ€™ll spot something different in each time you look at them. Also, I was surprised to see some graphical pieces too.

With environmental, often sombre themes, the ever-expressive Emma Sally is up next, she states her artwork this year has arisen from โ€œfeelings of frustration,โ€ aptly. ย A new direction, she says, โ€œin articulating visceral emotions,โ€ and the solemnity of a graveyard with woman dressed in black gazing at headstone is poignantly effective. Others are more sardonically abstract, the Earth ripped apart, rolled into sausage-shapes and knotted back together again being particularly adroit and stirring.

Mixed-media artist Helen Osborne Swan, creates a series of striking papier-mรขchรฉ 3D masks, โ€œopen to the beholderโ€™s interpretation,โ€ but started with the Colston statue being toppled and daubed with paint. โ€œThere is a lot more behind the face we present to the world,โ€ is a notion which could take us back to Cliftonโ€™s Unrest series, thereโ€™s a murky conception in these inventive faces protruding from the canvas at you, some obvious, but others, like the โ€œtoo cool for skoolโ€ one of a younger with baseball cap and shades, youโ€™re left uncertain as to the reason for their underhandedness.

Whereas Montague Tott leaves nothing to the imagination, trained as an illustrator โ€œhaving to follow other peopleโ€™s artistic direction,โ€ given the freedom to express himself through his own work was โ€œtoo great a temptation to ignore,โ€ so he embarked on a more esoteric path. Inspired by classic oil paintings, Montague adds elements of horror movies, comics and popular culture into what would otherwise be a classic portrait. One of whom I suspect as silent-film actress Mabel Normand, painted with a child Freddy Kruger is particularly disconcerting, yet equally are the family portraits of half-man-half goat characters, as if trapped in a mansion of a fantasy novel.

And last up is the amazing, highly-skilled underground comix style of Si Griffiths, with his penchant for putting clowns or Frankensteinโ€™s monster into unusual and inexplicable settings. Comically disturbing at times, in psychedelic visions or thriller movie surroundings, they bring an awkward smile.

If lockdown for the solitude profession of an artist hasnโ€™t been so impacting on ability to work, itโ€™s certainly had an impression on their subjects, but more so, producing a painting is only half the job; getting them out there is crucial financially. Do check this exhibit out if you can, it has Covid regulations in place, and is an airy hall. Importantly though, I feel hereโ€™s an art show you donโ€™t need to be well-versed in art or an โ€œarty sortโ€ to enjoy and be entertained by. Neither will take up your entire day to browse, but with its less-is-more policy, thereโ€™s a varied bunch of alternative art on show, of which the standard is outstanding.

Trending…

I See Orangeโ€ฆ.And Doll Guts!

There was a time not so long ago when I See Orange was the most exciting new band in Swindon. Their latest offering released atโ€ฆ

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

Recommendations for when Swindon gets Shuffling

Swindon’s annual colossal fundraising event The Shuffle is a testament to local live music, which raises funds for Prospect Hospice. If you’re ever going toโ€ฆ

Wiltshireโ€™s Solstice Troubles, Again!

Have you seen this, at the Euros? When in defence of a freekick they have a guy lying on the ground behind the wall like a human draft excluder. Thatโ€™d be me, about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, finally a position I could play. Imagine the scenario; Iโ€™d be like โ€œwhere do you want me to be?โ€ The captain’s response would be, โ€œtell you what, why don’t you take a load off, and lie down there on the grass, take as long as you need!โ€

The crowds thinking; that guy came to the wrong event, he wants to be at the solstice celebrations, maxinโ€™-relaxinโ€™, awaiting sunrise…. now thereโ€™s a confliction; while Wembley play host to 60,000 foreign media and dignitaries, exempt from quarantine, Wiltshire bans access to its world-famous Neolithic monument for significant less thousands of revellers whose only wish is to see in the solstice in a manner done centuries prior to the notion a bunch of lads kicking a pigโ€™s bladder around a park might be fun.

Last year was understandable, and well reported, solstice at the henge would be via live stream only. Hardly the same, but adhered too. This year it looked set to go ahead, and was poorly publicised that it had been pulled last minute due to the pushing back of our Clown Ministerโ€™s so-called, โ€œFreedom Day.โ€

Take a deep breath, refrain from calling it โ€œFreedom Day,โ€ please. Freedom Day in the USA remembers the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude, rather than being able to drunkenly hug your best mate down the pub. The only thing slightly comparable to it would be the day this government, intent on regurgitating and condoning the traditional hypocrisies and philosophies of prejudices, collapses, and a freer society which adopts the tenet live and let others live, replaces it.

A prime example this weekend, in my honest opinion, and hereโ€™s why; constraining a populaceโ€™s desire to celebrate a religious rite whilst allowing lucrative sporting events is nothing less than cultural appropriation. Far from Pope Gregory Iโ€™s era, who banged out a letter to Saxon Bishop of London, Mellitus, legitimately approving the reformatting of pagan cultural activities and beliefs into a Christianised form, (hence bunnies and chocolate eggs presented to mark Jesusโ€™s crucifixion, and Santa Claus jingling bells on his birthday) but be certain, itโ€™s the same ballpark; Interpretatio Christiana lite.

As I sift through social media commentary and local news reports, I find nothing but support and positive stories from those who either attended Solstice at our countyโ€™s heritage sites, or tried to, couped only by downright insolence from authorities to accept its importance to so many people, and made concentrated efforts to prevent it.

In this pandemic era, restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus is logical, weโ€™ve had over a year to come to terms and implement these. Social distancing, basic hygiene, and the wearing of facemasks when in close proximity to another have all become second nature. These can be used to create a safer environment in which to gather, and we have done, but it seems only when it suits. A celebration at Stonehenge could have been policed properly, the standard model for Covid prevention could have be implemented, but to outright ban it, when itโ€™s bleeding obvious there will be resistance, and people will attempt to gate-crash, is counter-productive to preventing the spread of the virus, compared to allowing it to go ahead with aforementioned restrictions. Ever been to Stonehenge? Hardly a confined and enclosed space!

If we put measures into Royal Ascot and made it a โ€œpilot,โ€ for Queenie and her affluent chums, we could have done the same with Stonehenge. But we only need to look at the controversial history of retribution by authorities to suspect thereโ€™s far more to the reasons for preventing solstice celebrations than the pandemic.

I need not reflect back-to-square-one, the Battle of the Beanfield, rather consider, through the Iron Age, the Roman Empire, and the early Mediaeval periods, while the meaning and significance of Aveburyโ€™s stone circle had been lost through the passage of time, people largely let it be, ignoring it, using as a fortified site or even, during Roman times, seeing it as a tourist attraction, much as we do today. It wasnโ€™t until the early 14th century, Late Mediaeval, when England had been wholly transformed to Christianity, the circle was associated with the devil, and villagers ripped down the stones with such anger, one poor chap was killed attempting to topple them.

Imagine the fate, insanely yelling at an eight-foot stone monolith that it was the work of the devil, until it falls and crushes you to death, and your mate is like; yeah, story checks out; thatโ€™s gonna hurt in the morning! And why anyone would want to build their church out of stones considered the Devil’s Chair, or the Devil’s Quoits is beyond reasoning.

The irony is, if it wasnโ€™t for Black Death in 1349, halving the village population, when manpower was focussed on agricultural obligations rather than taking their aggression out on a pagan monument, itโ€™s likely there would be no remains for Alexander Keiller to have renovated.

And now, 672 years later, weโ€™ve got our own plague, and on a rain-drenched, dull sunrise anyway, Wiltshire Police waffle, โ€œWe have taken the difficult decision to prevent further access to part of the Ridgeway, near Avebury, to maintain public safety and prevent potential damage to nearby farmland. This is in response to large numbers of people and vehicles in the area.” When really, itโ€™s common knowledge locally, Avebury is a far less popular solstice celebration site than Stonehenge and wouldโ€™ve only risked being inundated with vehicles because they closed Stonehenge; swings and roundabouts!

I spoke to a friend, heading to Avebury on motorbike, so able to take the byways across Hackpen Hill to avoid roadblocks. The point being; where thereโ€™s a will, thereโ€™s a way, folk are prepared to take a hike because, and hereโ€™s the thing the authorities fail to grasp, even if solstice is not your cup of tea, itโ€™s time to accept that to thousands of British people, it clearly is.

Yet English Heritage pull their live stream of sunrise at Stonehenge, due to invasion, host Ed Shires announced, โ€œI must say we have been disappointed that a number of people have chosen to disregard our request to not travel to the stones this morning and that is the reason why we havenโ€™t been able to bring you the pictures that we would have liked to have done.โ€ The pictures that they would have liked, is the image of solitude and splendour, as the sun rises over the stones, to promote the site as a lucrative attraction to tourists, rather than their attempts curb the real connotations it has for the indigenous folk, on what was a dull and rainy morning without much sunrise, anyway! Run the film, I say, show the world what is really happening at Stonehenge, and that it means so much to so many, theyโ€™re willing to break the law and lockdown restrictions to be there, and perhaps only then, the embarrassment might make them consider, perhaps, you know, we could have organised an event, with restrictions and made far safer environment than the inevitable invasion; give me strength!

Trending…..

A Busy Week For Lunch Box Buddy!

It was great to bump into Lunch Box Buddy in Devizes today. Last week was hectic for him; first BBC Wiltshire stopped by his standโ€ฆ

Wither; Debut Single From Butane Skies

Whilst dispersing highly flammable hydrocarbon gases into the atmosphere is not advisory,  Butane Skies is a name increasingly exploding on local circuits. The young andโ€ฆ

Thirty Years a Raver. Part 6: Impact Zone

Final piece of the series then, and a conclusion… One More Tune!!!

Read from start
recap last chapter

By 1994 the Criminal Justice Bill had become an act. Attempts to enforce it were either greatly exaggerated, such as riot vans and police helicopters crashing a birthday barbeque, or were disregarded as an unnecessary government enforcement from the police on the ground. Though we may never have had another Castlemorton, the mid-nineties and even into the millennium, free raves struck back from the body-blow.

Urbanised parties took over railway arches, disused warehouses and squats, the people fought tooth and nail to preserve the culture, and in a way, they did. Rural parties continued, localised and smaller, but communal and friendly. Albeit any forces resisting against them, caused many larger ones to become more viciously anarchistic over time. There were attempts to party in aid of a greater cause, environmental issues for example, such as the Reclaim the Streets protests.

Yet in turn, rave bore an impact on culture and society, which outreached the free party scene. We spoke of musical genres breaking apart, so that large pay-raves erected multiple tents of differing sounds; house, drum n bass, techno, happy hardcore, speed garage, the list continued to get more diverse, until at Universeโ€™s Tribal Gathering 1997, where originators of computer-generated music, Kraftwerk played a main stage, and everyone from each individual subgenre tent came out to pay respects to the roots.

Likewise, Liverpool super-club Cream wanted in on the large festival rave, and created Creamfields, where the likes of Run DMC played. And the scene redeveloped in many avenues, Acid Jazz was popularised, and if it was only short-lived, it birthed incredibly successful Jamiroquai. It also returned hip hop to the forefront, as breakbeat, chemical and big beat were the sounds of the later nineties. The indie and rave divide, parted dramatically since the days of Madchester, the Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, and Primal Screamโ€™s Screamadeleica had realigned, with the punk nature of the Prodigyโ€™s new look. The crossover blended once again, as indie kids accepted electronica wasnโ€™t intending to lay down and die.

Clubs rocked to The Dust Brothers, later to be the Chemical Brothers. Mo-Wax, Skint and Wall of Sound roared a big beat, hip hop melting pot ethos, rooted by rave parties, and everyone flooded to Brighton beach to see Norman Cook โ€œlarge itโ€ as Fatboy Slim.

What was clear, by this conjunction, while the movement had altered, and divided, rave was now embedded in our culture, and was spreading globally. The paid peanuts DJs who once rocked up to an illegal rave now jetsetters, playing clubs worldwide.

Clubland never had it so good, buy a MixMag, relish in a party, legally, without the need of convoys, service station coups and risks of police brutality. I bought a silk shirt, wore it at Lakota in Bristol, but headed there after a free party in the forest of Longleat, the night before, and without care for basic hygiene, my paisley chic was ruined by the sweat marks of a boxer. I was oblivious โ€˜til presented with embarrassing photographic evidence afterwards.

But commercialisation of the culture had always loomed. In the race to become the โ€œking of rave,โ€ as rock n roll had Elvis and reggae had Marley, they failed to note this plastic throwaway ethos Iโ€™ve previously mentioned. In 1992, thousands of twenty-somethings blissfully unaware of the references, sang ‘Eezer Goode ‘Eezer Goode He’s Ebeneezer Goode, simply because the Shamen reached number one in the pop charts, in just the same way thirty years previously, no-hopers sang โ€œLucy in the Sky with Diamonds,โ€ oblivious to its blatant LSD connotations. Iโ€™d argue if we have to have a โ€œking of raveโ€ itโ€™d would have been the ever-progressive Prodigy, but they never cared to call for the title.

The point is, commercialisation got the better of us eventually, as it did for every previous outrageous youth culture. It would be difficult to imagine in the days of Scott Joplin, that his rags would be considered conforming for a hoity-toity jazz festival in market towns like Marlborough, as in the 1910s, he played to lewd degenerates and desperate sailors in New Yorkโ€™s underworld and bawdy brothels.ย  In a short few years after the peak of rave culture, Leftfieldโ€™s Release the Pressure will be used in an advert for Cheese Strings. And donโ€™t get me started on Yo Gabba Gabba.

And now we live in a time when reflections of nostalgia from forty-somethings comply with Albert Trotter moments, and a misunderstanding of what happened is ingrained in our culture. I cringe at how the tragic Wonder Woman sequel depicted the eighties, in an almost caricatured version of the fashion, and foresee bearded twenty-somethings attending wistful โ€œraveโ€ nights dressed in glow sticks like tourists on planet Mars. I never waved a fucking glowstick in the nineties, any more than I wore legwarmers in the eighties!

A van speeds past me, a youngster wears his hood up while driving. Why? Is there a leak in the vanโ€™s roof? Yes, we ravers popularised the hooded top in the UK long before the โ€œhoodyโ€ culture, and if we wore the hood up, it was because we came out from a sweatbox into the cool night air with perspiration evaporating off of us. We did it to prevent dehydration from precipitation, rather than cos it made us look well โ€˜ard.

And then Ollie Mursโ€™ heart skips a beat, with a drum loop the Ratpack wouldโ€™ve rejected in 91, and I yell, NO! Get your own youth culture kids, nicking ours is disillusioned by commercialisation, unless youโ€™re standing chilly at Peartree services at 3am, teeth masticating the life out of a slice of Wrigleys, eyes like saucers, and waving your arms about like a broken robot with a hundred others, surrounded by cars beeping their horn and playing a chewed up Easygroove cassette, then you are not a raver. And donโ€™t you even let me see you asking Alexa to search the word cassette!

Last thing I want to do is end this series on a sour note, but duty calls. I read an article about how the days of the illegal rave had returned in all its former glory. โ€œIt was just like 1992,โ€ they quoted in a story about a warehouse takeover, then informed partygoers discovered the happening via a Tweet. Eh? Have a word with yourself, Tweets were a novelty eighties band who rehashed an oom-pah so your granny could do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and shake her bum at some family disco of yore. We went raving without a clue what a pager was, while scare-story spreading tabloids suggested we all had mobile phones, in an era where mobile phones were thought of as the devilโ€™s business. They couldnโ€™t comprehend how an entire generation could all descend onto one field simply by word-of-mouth.

  โ€œ…and if you tell that to the young people today, they won’t believe you…โ€

The Four Yorkshire Men sketch, Monty Python.

In conclusion; as we say farewell to my little series reflecting back on those heady ravey dayz, Iโ€™ll confirm, there was numerous amazing times, the best times of my life, times evoking stories I could bore you into an early grave with. And by the thankful response to this series and the masses of posts of stories from so many old skool ravers in the variety of Facebook groups, it is clear Iโ€™m not alone in this theory. Although, my rose-tinted specs were large enough to engulf those dilated pupils throughout most of the examination.

Probably the most active of those groups, aforementioned DOCU FREE PARTY ERA 1990-1994 – WERE YOU THERE? was originally set up as a research project by one Aaron Trinder a filmmaker on a mission to document the era in a film. We wish him all the best of luck with this monumental task. And it is a monumental task, as unlike most previous youth cultures which borrowed from various trends and cultures, say the teddy boys borrowed extensively from rock-n-roll, mods borrowed from jazz, Italian suits and scooters, and so on, rave borrowed from everything and anything.

United, the melting pot came from any source, we electrified it and, even if it was relatively short-lived, what exhausted out inspired everything that went hereafter; modern pop, multiple dance music subgenres, fashion, video technology, literature, childrenโ€™s entertainment, and most importantly, despite the authorises misunderstanding us and their traditionist values causing hateful vengeance upon us, a wealth of people power; the notion that masses can make a difference to life, society and politics. Evident by politicians consistently doing what our Iron Lady wouldnโ€™t do at the time, make a U-turn to save their popularity and votes. For this, we should all be proud.

I would reward myself with one last disco biscuit, but Iโ€™m unsure if my ticker would take it. Slapped with a finale date though, it would be on my bucket list, and what a way to go, reaching for the skies in one last sweet harmonyโ€ฆ..

Trending……

FullTone Festival 2026: A New Home

It’s been a wonderful summer’s weekend, in which I endeavoured to at least poke my nose into the fabulous FullTone Festival, despite being invited toโ€ฆ

Lady Nade; Willing

Americana folk singer-songwriter Lady Nade beautifully attributes her granddad for her traits, in the song Peace and Calm, citing his love of gardening as his mellowed happy place. Wonderfully sentimental, the boot fits, as is this stunningly crafted new album, Willing, released yesterday, and undoubtedly the reason why she plays to a sold-out audience tonight at St George’s in her hometown of Bristol.

Reviewing after just the one listen is usually dodgy ground, but when an album engrosses you as Willing does, itโ€™s all thatโ€™s necessary to reverberate the news to you just how fabulous this is.

If Lady Nade has a physical resemblance to Heather Small, she certainly has the deep and soulful voice to match, but any musical comparisons have to end there, unless either Mike Pickering is taken out of the equation or the nineties electronica inclination was mysteriously replaced by Nashville country. For pigeonholing this, it is soulful country, in sound and subject matter.

Written during the pandemic, thereโ€™s a secluded ambience echoing through these eleven sublime three-minute plus stories of friendship, love and loneliness lost and found, reflecting the fact it was recorded in multiple studios and engineered by all the musicians in isolation. Yet to hear it will hold you spellbound in a single place, till its conclusion.

With a folk tinge the title track kicks us off, and sucks you in with a romantic notion of loyalty. The slide-guitar fills a tale of faith against missing someone follows, and, lighter, Youโ€™re my Number One, trickles euphoria, warmly.

Indeed, mellow is the key throughout, Josette being breezily romantic, while Wild Fire offers a darker, moodier tenet. Whimsically spoken, One-Sided is perhaps the most beguilingly pop-like with a cannonball despondency you cannot help but be touched by. But if identification is what youโ€™re after, Call Yourself a Friend has the sorrowful, trust vs cheating friendship, and accompanied by pedal-steel guitar-picking, traditional country music is honoured.

By Rock Bottom, as the title suggests, thereโ€™s a slight rock breeze to it without defiling its roots, Tom Petty style. Then we have the aforementioned, Peace and Calm, an upbeat, jollily ironic Many Ways to Sink This Ship, and Ain’t One Thing makes for a perfect finale, by summing up the perfect person to be in love with. What a gorgeous sentiment to seamlessly end a captivating album from start to finish.

It often perplexes me, how Ray Charles deviating from the jazz-laden soul ABC Records necessitated as the key to his achievement, to release the double-album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was considered so shocking, when artists such as Nashvilleโ€™s DeFord Bailey was fusing harmonica blues into the more acceptable country style forty years prior. Still, some may be surprised by Lady Nadeโ€™s affection for Americana folk, but after one listen the surprise will turn into amazement.

As a form of healing from grief, Lady Nade started writing poems and songs, and performing locally, learning loss and sorrow isnโ€™t something one can recover from alone, and with her music and recipes she creates a communal experience, a calling to connect with her fans on a deeper level. This shows in the sublime dedication she transfers to this, her third album.

Trending….

Devizes Dilemma: FullTone or Scooter Rally?!

Contemplated headlining this โ€œClash of the Titans,โ€ but that evokes the idea of a dramatic power struggle with fierce consequences rather than proof Devizes canโ€ฆ

Goodbye to The Beanery but Hollychocs Lives On

Popular award-winning artisan chocolate business Hollychocs has announced that its Beanery Cafรฉ will close on Saturday 23rd August, marking exactly two years since its openingโ€ฆ

Ska-Punk-Folk-Whatever, From The Before Times, with Boom Boom Racoon

Blagging biros and stationery from banks and post offices, we’ve all been there, but few driven to pen a song about it. It’s one valid reason to love the righteous but riotous simplicity of Bristol-based anarchistic vegan folky-ska-punk misfits, Boom Boom Racoon.

Those aware, who thought 2018’s album by the trio, Now That’s What I Call Boom Boom Racoon vol1 was off the head, newly released Songs From The Before Times & Some More takes it to a whole other level. Lockdown raw, rougher and more in your arrogant, fat consumerist face than ever before; put that sausage roll down and prepare to be barked at with a charming slice of satire and counterculture commentary.

Now reading that paragraph back makes it all seem so terrible, but under a blanket punk term, which only goes some way to pigeonhole the unpigeonholeable, irony is abound and Boom Boom Racoon are quite the opposite. This is nine three-minute plus enthrallingly exciting rides, and is undoubtedly entertaining to say the least.

Mixing rum and coffee, ie. turbo mocha time, Covid19-related Public Service Announcement 2020, are the lighter, comical subjects.

Whereas tightening border control in States and Nations, laboratory animal testing in Cages, human unecological practices compared to dinosaur extinction, and another anti-capitalist rant on how difficult it is to be sustainable in the modern era, are the more sombre and acute subjects, setting the world to rights.

And the way they work it, the words they’ve planned go against the homemade rawness of the sound. This isn’t off-the-cuff, there’s ingenious wordplay and poignant messages hidden beneath the fun attitude. The abolition, against the psychological effect of imprisonment and a need to sustain numbers by reforming laws to create criminals, for example, Boom Boom Racoon touch on radical notions or campaigns, and are fearless to state their core values.

Anthropocene it, Say it, Sorted probably carries the most poignant message, and is also the only track which has an amusing sample, unlike the previous aforementioned more polished album which has more, from The Simpsons to Harry Potter. And it comes in the shape of a rather stumblingly polite call from Kent Police regarding an animal rights protest, which is highly amusing.

The album ends hilariously on the most brilliant retort from taunts by your average knuckle-dragging homophobic bigot, I’m certain you know the sort, completing the overall contemporary leftism and reformist ethos which, if you tag the piffle term “snowflake” onto, beware, the unity here is compounded into a masterfully literate snowball, and it’s a brown one, and it’s aiming at your face!

Myself, I’d love for these raccoon pests to come trash the bins of our narrowminded community and welcome the opportunity of our more daring venues to book them for a live performance on the theory, well, on the theory, they’d steal the show.

Trending….

Park Farm; Mantonfest Came to Devizes!

The first Park Farm Festival happened Saturday, it was fabulouso, and in some way Mantonfest came to Devizes; conveniently for me as I had toโ€ฆ

Ann Liu Cannon’s Clever Rabbits

Ann Liu Cannon is the Marlborough success story I hadn’t heard of until yesterday; thanks to local promoter and frontman of the Vooz, Lee Mathewsโ€ฆ

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; if itโ€™sโ€ฆ

Devizes; an LGBTQ+-Friendly Community, a Devizes Pride?

As a new local Facebook page for the LGBTQ+ community, Devizes Lgbtq+ springs to life, Iโ€™m left wondering exactly what social and counsel interactions are readily available in Devizes today. So, Iโ€™m chatting with the pageโ€™s admin, Oberon, about his groupโ€™s aims and goals.

What I think was most interesting about it, while I dug for negativity, Iโ€™d suspect will be evident in our local community towards LGBTQ+, Oberon simply didnโ€™t take the bait, and remained positive throughout our friendly chinwag. Sorry if you came here looking for controversy, this is just a plug for the page and hope itโ€™ll strength both the community and opinions of others towards it.

Firstly, someone shared an already existing Facebook group for LGBTQ+ in Devizes. I supposed having a page rather than a group is less exclusive and not as restricted being it can make looser, more general connections. โ€œI agree,โ€ Oberon started, โ€œa page is much broader and will be easier to reach out to a wider range of people, which will make it easier to advertise, make connections and get the word out.โ€

As I understand it, Devizes School has an excellent program to deal with the issue, but suppose once pupils leave, thereโ€™s little else in town, no real places to feel like a community. โ€œIโ€™m very glad Devizes School have a good programme to help their pupils!โ€ he continued. โ€œAs far as when they leave goes, as the LGBTQ+ community grows Iโ€™d be happy to say that there will be a place to be a community online and, once the community has found its feet, offline and in person too. The sooner the better I say!โ€

But is a group like this is more important in a smaller town like Devizes, than say, a city, where there’s already more in place to bring together like-minded people? โ€œI do think an LGBTQ+ community is very important in small towns,โ€ Oberon expressed, โ€œjust as much as a city. Many people donโ€™t live in cities or grow up in them, myself included. For a small town to be just as proud and just as accepting is important because it helps to reach everyone. Even if there are a smaller group of LGBTQ+ residents in Devizes it helps to create a safe, inclusive space for us and stops the feeling that small towns donโ€™t โ€˜understandโ€™ or โ€˜acceptโ€™ as much as larger places do. Furthermore, it can show people that arenโ€™t LGBTQ+ what weโ€™re all about and hopefully help them get a greater understanding of who we are.โ€

And thereโ€™s a thing, causing me to mention Pride. Pride is supported by many people outside the LGBTQ+ community, and that’s probably more important than just being there for those who are, because itโ€™s about casting negative opinions of yore aside, especially in a smaller community like here. Because, and here’s the crunch, being honest, I do think there’s a number of insular people here who simply refuse to shake off the old stereotypes, maybe more so than urban environments.

We’ve come a long way even in my own lifetime, I suggested to him, flagrantly showing my age by citing the awareness in the eighties by singers like Boy George, Jimmy Somerville et all! As while they made it a recognisable subject and broke the taboos we now see in our society, at the time people were still hiding in shame, you still wouldn’t have same sex couples on tv shows like you do today.

The fear is, I do however think we’re in danger of letting that progress slip backwards, as all prejudices seem to be at the forefront and a right wing, or far right-wing gains popularity. I mean we only have look at the onslaught of negative comments when Wiltshire Police added a rainbow flag back in February.

Oberon replied admirably, I must say! โ€œEvery human being is an individual with their own beliefs and views, my aim isnโ€™t to change people, itโ€™s just to show them a greater understanding of things, and be who we are. I agree, we have come a very long way and, as with everything, there will always be a negative and a positive side of things. I choose to focus on the positive and thatโ€™s the light I aim to share.โ€

Okay, given that, letโ€™s go for it; imagine, a Devizes Pride! At least, some smaller events, or a physical club would be a great start.

โ€œA Devizes Pride would be fantastic and of course that wouldnโ€™t happen overnight,โ€ he replied, which is just as well, as itโ€™s past my bedtime already!

โ€œI aim to start off with smaller events,โ€ Oberon suggested, โ€œcommunity outreach and fundraisers. Physical clubs, meet-ups and youth groups are also something Iโ€™d like to get started, as I think theyโ€™ll help LGBTQ+ people find one another, in a safe space, and grow a strong community together.โ€

Still, he didnโ€™t rule out the possibility of a Devizes Pride. โ€œDevizes having its own Pride celebration is an avid goal of mine, amongst others! I believe that the stronger the representation of LGBTQ+ people in Devizes the more that people will have a greater understanding of who we are and what weโ€™re all about. Devizes is a town with a strong community and I am for the LGBTQ+ community to have a โ€˜louder voiceโ€™ as it were.โ€

But, like any new venture, it would need the support behind it, and all this costs, at this stage is to โ€œlikeโ€ the page on the Book of Face, and join the separate entity group too, if you wished. It was nice chatting to Oberon, on what can be a touchy subject we need to open up to and address.

Trending……

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 take overโ€ฆ

Planks Dairies Introduces Locally Sourced Organic Dairy Range

Now, I know what youโ€™re asking; arenโ€™t you in someway affiliated with Planksโ€™ Dairies, in which case isnโ€™t this a shameless advertorial? Yes, and no, respectively. The historical truth behind the former is next-door neighbours would knock at my door when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, to return our half-filled milk bottles, which I took from our own fridge and delivered to their doors in want to be a milkman! And now, well, ask me again when itโ€™s snowing for a slightly differing opinion, but Iโ€™m living the dream!

The answer to the latter is not really, no, you get paid for advertorials, Iโ€™m doing it out of the kindness of my heart, the circulation of news and the slim possibility theyโ€™ll chuck a yogurt at me, most likely at the head!

If Planks have been delivering milk and products around the area since 1936, youโ€™d be fooled into thinking nothing has changed. Agreeably not much has changed, and they pride themselves in upholding the traditional door-to-door milk delivery services, which is something of an obscurity in other areas of the UK. So much so, tourists tend to take photos when the milk-floats pass through town, and Iโ€™m likely having a bad hair day!

However, just like the eighties when Stewart Plank introduced the electric fleet we know, love and occasionally get stuck behind today, times are changing at the legendary dairy. Hold the front page, we have a website! Click here, if you donโ€™t believe such an oddity is possible!

But the really great news is, in line with current trends, a new, locally sourced from Berkley Farm in Wroughton, organic range is heading our way. Delivered to your door in larger, returnable glass bottles, as is the sustainable living ethos Planks adopt, what with electric milk-floats and all, organic milk has never been this good; you donโ€™t even have to change out of your jimmy-jams!

Other than the PJs part, there are many benefits to buying organic, including higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids and CLA, more antioxidants, and more vitamins than regular milk. Weโ€™ve even got organic, or regular milkshakes. Thereโ€™s a half price offer on your first order of the new organic range, whether you are a new customer or just changing your regular order.

The delivery areas are Devizes, Melksham, Corsham, and Pewsey, and most surrounding villages from Poulshot, Potterne, Rowde, All Cannings, Urchfont, Chirton, Woodborough, Wilcot, Seend Cleeve, Bromham, Box, Colerne, Easterton Market Lavington, Great Cheverell and many others.

By the way, as well as soya and lactose free milk, bread, butter, eggs, yogurts, juices (including a fine bottle of aโ€™Becketts apple juice), seasonal potatoes, and yes, those broken biscuits you used to love as a kid, can be delivered too!

And thatโ€™s it, contact the dairy-ologists and youโ€™re one step closer to opening your door in the morning to find milk on the step, the way it has always been, prior to supermarkets undercutting dairy farmers, and the way it will continue at Planks. Thereโ€™s nothing more for me to say, other than perhaps a milkman joke; why don’t cows wear flip-flops?

Because they lack-toes!

Okay, Iโ€™ll get my coatโ€ฆ.

Full Steam Ahead for The Collected Grimm Tales at The Wharf Theatre

Despite the gloomy pushback to the 19th July for step four of the roadmap to reopen venues, government announced plans to pilot test live theatrical performances with increased capacities, as it has already done for music festivals and sports events.

While this will delight larger city venues, our Wharf Theatre in Devizes must continue with a limited socially distanced capacity for its reopening performance of The Brothers Grimm. All the more reason to book early for this delightful sounding family-orientated presentation!

Collected Grimm Tales runs from Tuesday 13th to Saturday 17th July, with doors opening at 7.30pm. ย Itโ€™s adapted by Carol Ann Duffy of the Young Vic Company, dramatized by Tim Supple and directed by Debby Wilkinson.

In this acclaimed adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, Ashputtel, Rumpelstiltskin and more are bought to life by a small adult cast using a physical and non-natural style of performance.  It will take you on a journey into the world of imagination, as you discover the elusive paths that wind through the dark woods of fairy tales and invite you to experience again the living power of theatre.

Tickets can be purchased by ringing 03336 663 366; from the website Wharftheatre.co.uk and at the Devizes Community Hub and Library on Sheep Street.

The fitting with the prince onlooking, illustration in Les Contes de Perrault by Gustave Dorรฉ, 1862

Fiesty Fish will be at a’Becketts Vineyard on Saturday

I don’t know where the ingenious pub name The Chocolate Poodle came from, or why it had to sadly close, but it always sounds like it should be the name of an East End pub to me, so, for fun, here’s a preview today written in cockney rhyming slang, (although there will be no jellied eels) with translation in brackets so not to ganderflank the yokels!

Allwhite me ol China (mate)? Thee know those gorgeous lads with their gourmet Lilian Gish n jockey whips (fish n chips) slice (van) The Fiesty Fish, right? Well, usually they’re up at the ol’ Chocolate Poodle bath (pub) in West Lavington on a poet’s day (friday) evening, right?

Well ave a Butcher’s (look) at this;

This Saturday, June 19th, they’ll be driving a few yards up the Jack n Jill (hill), at a’ Becketts vineyard where you can try their fantastic sparkling Calvin (wine) while you get your laughing gear around yer tucker in the picturesque surroundings!

Pre-order from their website and join them from 11am-2.30pm. That sounds sugar (nice), innit?! Roll out the barrel.

Best way to locate these travelling fish n chips virtuosoes is to like their Facebook page.

Lions, be on the Green!

Though for trade description purposes, there were no actual lions on the Green, (not this time, itโ€™s not 1980) if I had to sum up The Lions on the Green in a word today it would be; blooming marvellous, which I know is two words, but allow me thus, the heat is getting to me.

Under a scorching 30-degree sun, Devizes came out in full colour for something weโ€™ve truly missed. Any kind of gathering right now is a blessing, but I have to commend and thank the amazing effort at creating a bonza family-orientated occasion. Devizes Lions pulled out all the stops with a car show plus.

Fantasy Radio provided the soundtrack, there was a great selection of hot food and a bar with seating half in the shade of the trees, doughnut and ice cream vans, kids fairground rides, and a variety of stalls from Juliaโ€™s House tombola, Jeanette Von Bergโ€™s Wiltshire Air Ambulance toy stall, local crafts, Rutts Lane Cider (I swear that guy is following me around!) Wiltshire Museum with their jack-in-the-box, and lots more to see and do for everyone.

People flocked, to browse the vintage cars, and oh yes, Bertie the Bus, in the glorious sunshine. Iโ€™m not one for bragging my infinite knowledge of the mechanics of motor vehicles, but I appreciate perusing their splendour, imagine myself donning leather gloves and racing goggles, and revving them for a burn-out, or pondering the backseat space of, in particular, those American beauties; โ€œtake me home, Charles, Iโ€™m not that kind of girl!โ€ Ah yes, that kind of ye oldie face-slapping scenario.

In true community spirit Devizes should be honoured today, and glad to have the dedicated organisation Devizes Lions at hand. A town where even our post boxes wear knitted tams, thereโ€™s a buzz in the air, a pride we canโ€™t hide. Well done to all!

Thirty Years a Raver: Part 5: The Final Frontier

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โ€œIf you’re hanging on to a rising balloon, you’re presented with a difficult decision – let go before it’s too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope? They’re selling hippie wigs in Woolworth’s, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.โ€

Danny from Withnail and I.

I could read back on last weekโ€™s part of this series; definitely donning my designer rose-tinted specs. For it was our rave honeymoon, and we had not a care in the world. We partied, that was it. Ignoring the government ousted their iron lady, the first war for oil had escalated from Operation Desert Shield, and tensions were raging in Northern Ireland, we partied. We partied until the cows come home, and if they did come home, to find twenty thousand madcap ravers gyrating in their field, well, weโ€™d have worked around them, and carried on the party.

If I recounted the incident at the Banbury rave, with the careless driver taking heed of a crusty and significantly slowing down, someone on a Facebook group, DOCU FREE PARTY ERA 1990-1994 – WERE YOU THERE? reminded me of a tragic 1991 rave on Roundway Hill, near to my now hometown of Devizes. A young girl was seriously injured when a car run her over as she laid in long grass. An aide-memoire, not everything that glitters is gold.

Myself, I didnโ€™t attend it. So myopic, my vision extended no further than my own perception of the movement, naรฏvely assuming because I saw no issue, I could freely wheel-off my illicit activities to my old folks, and theyโ€™d be content. Unfortunately, they didnโ€™t see it the same way, family tensions reached a peak, so I steered clear of the party that particular weekend; mates filled me in on the upsetting details.

To push aside the parties, and think back to 1991 with clarity, it was a terrible year for me. I went into it with a girlfriend, a part-time job and place in art college. By the end of it I was filled with teenage anguish, lost girlfriend, job and was kicked out of college. The only truly fond memories were the parties, but Autumn was settling, raves continued, but as winter fell it waned.

A party on New Yearโ€™s Eve would, in later years be my only winter cert, the rest fell into hibernation. But Iโ€™m struggling to recall what I did for it in 1991. We awaited 1992, assuming it will be the same, but bigger, better, and at the beginning, youโ€™d have been fooled into thinking it would be so. 1992 vastly differed.

Schemes to detect and prevent raves had stepped up a notch, as police waivered serious crime to focus on averting people having illegal fun. They put their foot down at the prospect of Hungerford common being invaded, but as sure as the Belthane came, the only thing they achieved was to move the party north, to Lechlade.

Just as today, life in the Cotswold gateway was filled with conservative thinkers and powerful politicians, bombarded with complaints as the quarry was conquered and the party went on for days. For us, inside the compound, it was a magical moment, proof of strength in numbers. The media pounced more than ever, but, like all other things, be they current affairs, our own personal issues, none of it mattered.

In fact, I, and I donโ€™t think many others did either, contemplate the significance of the next bank holiday bash on Castlemorton common, near Malvern in Worcestershire, until the point we climbed a hillside and looked down on how much it had grown. An estimated forty thousand, so they reckoned. A fear shuddered over me; they were not going to let us get away with this.

Only now, as they bashed the idea of the Criminal Justice Act around parliament in Castlemortonโ€™s aftermath, did we become political, fighting for the right to party. But for the large-scale rave, it was the last. The government smashed the last nail in its coffin, and quashed an upcoming generation of rebellious, potential travelling folk.

You see, raves were organised by sound systems, and folk from all walks of life flocked to attend, but whenever something went wrong at an illegal rave, the travellers took the blame from the media. At Romseyโ€™s regular Torpedo Town not long after Castlemorton, the police were not playing ball, and consequently there was an aura of anarchy in the air. Under instruction, they set up road blocks, which ravers simply parked alongside and walked to the site. This moved the commotion from the site to the town, and ITV News invited everyone to join in, including troublemakers, who torched a rubbish incinerator.

Outright, TV news teams blamed the travellers, and only a small report without apology followed some weeks later when they arrested two men from Birmingham, who had homes, and were not really defined as โ€œravers,โ€ or โ€œtravellersโ€ at all.

Many sound systems jumped the sinking ship, trekking across Europe and further, which, in turn, spread the culture, but for us, we were just kids, I donโ€™t think I even had a passport! But life did get better, I passed my driving test fortunately the week before Castlemorton, and Iโ€™d eventually flee the family nest. But as my facilities to attend raves improved, the free party scene drowned in its own popularity.

The problem for authorities, was despite killing the physical party, they couldnโ€™t cure the bug; the desire to carry on regardless. We only had to source other avenues. The first was the pay-rave, large-scale organised events saw a sudden influx.

By the end of the year 92, not one for the officialness the epoch had become with pay raves, one on our doorstep seemed viable, a nice, easy ticket to see in 1993 seemed like a good idea. Fantazia had a good rep, but little did we know it had been swallowed by big businessmen. At Littlecote House they promised free parking, but made us cough up a fiver; should have been a clue. A number of broken promises let it down, but if disillusioning the punters, they aimed for, dumping the contents of the port-a-loos on a farmerโ€™s track nearby was a step too far.

Why did it matter to anyone other than the farmer? Because it projected bad on the scene, via media, it cast a shadow over our moral standards, all of us. Did Littlecote ever host another rave?

For the most part, though, the pay raves dedicated loyally to the raver. The scene grew stronger for this, against the businessman capitalising on the trend, those pay events with morals could erect stages and effects which took on concert and festival proportions, and was largely responsible for the compatible atmosphere of todayโ€™s festival scene.

But for the demise of the freedom, the self-determination of do-it-yourself counterculture and autonomy of the society it created within it, we paid the cost.

For the record, while any specific event can not be singled out, many illegal events were indeed well, if not better, organised than the pay ones, they were policed in their own special way, i.e.; one respected the travellers for being on their site, or the sound systems for their efforts, else risk an almost mediaeval punishment.

And for what it is worth, there was always an effort to clean up afterwards. Hard to imagine, after a heady night, these illegal ravers were handed bin bags, and they got onto the task without persuasion or wages, rather for the genuine want to return the land to how it was before their arrival, but it did. I can assure you; this didnโ€™t happen at pay raves.

Other avenues worthy of exploring was Glastonbury, bunk the fence and you were in a whole new world, a city of tents, but it took some years for the Eavis family to accept an incursion of ravers, with their electronic bleeps. Prior to a time when The Prodigy would headline, ravers were a lost entity at the festival, wandering miles with only the rumour of an apt party to hand. Being they too had driven the travellers off with riotous consequences, a rave remained a rumour, and most made do standing outside a stall selling blankets, marching to their small sound system.

As we progressed through the nineties, smaller localised raves would break out. These were great, communal and friendly, and local police, while casting a beady eye, bypassed the Justice Bill rulings, acknowledging making a fuss about them was far more destructive than effective.

The safest bet to party though, was the club. Prepared to travel some distance to go clubbing, weโ€™d eventually explore London and Brighton, but for the beginnings we stayed closer. The UFO Club at Longleatโ€™s Berkley Suite would be a fluorescent trancey techno ball, Swindonโ€™s Brunel Rooms presented hardcore, with a side order of house, whereas the hall of Golddiggers in Chippenham blew full-on hardcore out of the arena and into the carpark, and it was free with a little flyer.

It was in that same carpark, in conversation with an unknown straggler I had an epiphany. We asked him if he was having a good night, but he was negative. โ€œIโ€™m not going back in there,โ€ he whined, โ€œitโ€™s all that jungle music.โ€

It occurred to me then, the hardcore was splitting. The solemn shadowy drum n bass was dividing from the merry hi-hats, crashing pianos and squeaky female vocals of what the younger raver deemed โ€œhappy hardcore.โ€ If it tended to be racially motivated, or just socially, I couldnโ€™t pick a side, appreciating them both for their dividing differences. Now considered a more mature raver, we shipped into the steady house and let the factions pull apart into the thousands of subgenres electronic music now finds itself with.

As we come to our final part of the series next week, Iโ€™m contemplating the effect and impact the free rave scene had, but lest we remember, for us it was over, and whatever avenue we did explore to satisfy our craving, it would never be the same.

read part 6

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Liddington Hill Celtic Punk!

Sometimes, and quite a number of times I might add, nothing fits the bill quite like a bout of pounding bibulous Celtic punk, by a band with a girl donning a cowโ€™s head as a mascot. But how far would you expect to trek to find such a group of misfits, Wales, Ireland?

Suggested in the name, Liddington Hill, the beautiful down overlooking Swindon, with the Ridgeway traversing and its iron age hillfort, is local enough. Not since the days of the Blitz, when the area was used as a โ€œStarfishโ€ decoy bombing bunker, has it been so explosive.

Whatโ€™s the link to Liddington with this scorching five-piece band, who have just released their debut EP, Cow after a few singles, I felt imperative to ask? โ€œWe all lived in Swindon at the time we started,โ€ fiddle and vocalist Matt told, โ€œour singer grew up around the area and went up to Liddington Castle a lot as a child. It seemed to be a bit of a landmark and with the Ridgway close by had great links to the past, so I guess it just seemed like a good name.โ€

Two members remain in Swindon, the other two now live in Oxford, and drummer Chris hails from Chippenham. With fiddles and a bodhrรกn meshed with electric guitars, the line between punk and traditional Celtic folk cannot be yanked apart, not that there’s any good reason to try to.

The bobbing theme of a band drinking excursion to Oxford, Pub Crawl, follows a dynamic and unique slide-guitar take of the folk sea shanty, Whip Jamboree.

An almost new-wave post-punk feel is implemented into the melting pot with the third tune, Marshlands, an original song about lead guitarist Liam’s Grandfather in Ireland, โ€œwho wouldn’t ride a horse,โ€ Matt explained, โ€œbut insisted on riding a cow!โ€ Hence the cow symbolism, Iโ€™m best guessing.

The EP ends traditionally, with Joseph B. Geogheganโ€™s anti-war music hall classic, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, and Liddington Hill bless the folk feel with their brand of punk, making for a perfect finale. While it might not be as authentic as The Pouges, or as aggressive as The Levellers, with bands like Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys storming success in the US, thereโ€™s a huge market for this beguiling genre, yet a scarcity on the local scene, and Liddington Hill pack a punch.

Itโ€™s a grower, and Iโ€™m loving this, anticipating possibility of an album to greater extend their scope, but as far as energetic presence is concerned, itโ€™s kick-ass. Branded subtly, though, to suit a pub environment, so a live show, fingers crossed for their definite return, would be something highly memorable and Iโ€™d recommend landlords book them in; certainly, itโ€™d push up the beer sales!

Trending…

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

How to Discourage a Tory from Coming to your Party!

Now lockdown restrictions are looking to be eased, you might be considering hosting a party.

Given the last thing you need is for a conservative supporter to gate-crash and ruin the atmosphere, weโ€™ve ten handy top tips on how to discourage a tory from attending your bash.

History proves conservative thinkers wouldnโ€™t know a party if it came up to them holding balloons, cracking party poppers and wearing a large and loud T-shirt with โ€œhello, Iโ€™m a party,โ€ written on it in bold, unmistakable letters, unless itโ€™s holding a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

Incredibly thick-skinned at the best of times, if we remember what the best of times was once like, theyโ€™re renowned for failing to comprehend exactly how repugnant and deplorable their ethos generally is. If they sniff a party going on, they might want to attend, if a new series of Game of Thrones hasnโ€™t started on Netflix, blind to the notion theyโ€™re as much wanted there as a touchy-feely leper, or a starved sabre-toothed tiger.  

You know they’ll eat all but one vol-a-vaunt and flaunt about how they’re allowing that one to trickle down. You understand they’ll be loudly scoffing and chortling at anyone unable to afford a tux, or anyone who might arrive in anything less than a seventy-plate Chelsea tractor. You can take it as red, theyโ€™ll boast about their luxurious holidays, and why everyone needs to go to Hilltop Villa, for the sake of the indigenous people of Fiji, and waffle on tedious random tangents about their charity donations are tax deductible, how the footsie 100 is bearing up against their shares, or why everyone should invest in a tax-free wine collection.

Theyโ€™ll gush piffle phrases of management speak and hypocritical twaddle until your other guests excuse themselves and leave, or are physically ill. At its basic level, the majority of Tories are killjoys, fact. You donโ€™t need that, your guests donโ€™t need that either, so we’ve produced a list of budget ideas and accessories to dissuade tory scum from infiltrating your party.

Perhaps you could think of some more; join the tory-bashing fun until they Tweet how theyโ€™re not as wealthy some might think, and were tormented so much they had to book an emergency flight to their Caribbean beach condo for rehab. We can at least hope, but donโ€™t overdo it, lockdown has been hard on them too, furloughed on only eighty percent of their ยฃ80K salary, some with only the single tennis court and a regular sized heated swimming pool and sauna.

Of course, not every Conservative supporter is so wealthy to afford a luxury villa on an exotic island, and many are simply insentiently transformed working-class patriots who digested too much Daily Fail bullshit and think the Queen loves them, and thereโ€™s no better alternative than voting for a party which hates them with a passion, but hides it behind the fat aging arse of a pitiful clown prime minister; there is no hope for them. You could try the tips below, but itโ€™s not guaranteed they will be intelligent enough to take the hint.

 1- In preparation for your partyโ€ฆ.

Capture and hold captive a small number of pheasant prior to your party. If a tory is loitering on your lawn, blagging something along the lines of โ€œTarquin said we were invited, Ho-ha,โ€ secretly release the pheasants and point to them shouting, โ€œI think I just saw some game!โ€ Hey presto, while it may be animal torture, itโ€™s a small price to pay to see your unwanted guests gathering their shooting rifles and not bothering you again.

2- Put a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Jeremy Corbyn by the door.

Infallible this one; cardboard cut-outs of the tory nemesis, grand-wizard JC can be found online. No matter what you think of the dude personally, this will scare the bejesus out of the most lenient tory. Even if you suppose the most lenient, middle-of-the-road kind of tory might be just about acceptable to allow in, a word of warning; once youโ€™ve let one in, theyโ€™ll all want to follow, and behind every half-decent tory, there will unfortunately be a thousand insane bastards behind them.

3- Tell your guests to pretend the cakes were made by Diana Abbott, should a tory ask.

To the average tory, Diana Abbott is the socialist equivalent of Typhoid Mary, who should be deported, and the thought of her afro-Caribbean-rooted fingers kneading dough will sicken them to the core; job done.

4- Tell unwanted tory guests youโ€™re just popping out to Lidl for more gin.

Tories hate affordable supermarkets; Tories are narcissists, and will assume you are a peasant and waddle off muttering something about how much better Tarquinโ€™s, or their own party was, because they used an online Waitrose delivery service and even tipped the driver 20p.

5- Ensure you have invited some Europeans, eastern ones if possible. Failing that, encourage your guests to chat among themselves in French accents.

The last thing a Tory needs to notice is Johnny Foreigner breaking through the toughened border control, and Brexit is a sham. Encourage your guests to discuss how they came for summer fruit-picking jobs, and Tories will automatically find the door.

6- Play music defined as โ€˜Merseybeat.โ€™

Playing music such as the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers and the Searchers, at least until suspicions you might be scousers creep in and they bugger off, is a failsafe. Tories have something against natives of Liverpool, which we need not get into the details of, but suffice it to say, this will work a treat, particularly if you hire a DJ of the LGBT community.

7- Announce the first party game will be truth or dare.

The thought of telling the truth will crumble the even most central-standing tory, and they’ll be making excuses about having to go home to feed the horses. Have their coats ready.

8 – Tell your guests they can camp the night in your garden.

Without official glamping facilities such as electrical hook-up, room service or even four poster beds, the average tory will assume your guests will overstay their invite and you’re effectively setting up a gypsy traveller encampment. They’ll be off to complain to your parish councillor in no time at all, safe in the knowledge racist slurs towards travellers is the last nationwide acceptable form of prejudice other than red-heads.

9- If you spot a Tory gate-crasher, introduce your them to your frontline doctor friend.

It doesnโ€™t matter if youโ€™ve not got a frontline doctor as a friend, beat them at their own game and lie; pretend they are. Initiate a conversation about the NHS, and the gate-crasher will flee the scene because they know a doctor will fact-check from personal experience and their โ€œclappingโ€ fiasco cover will be blown. Many Tories even unbelievably blag that the Conservative government created the health service, to smokescreen the irrepressible desire to privatise it to US companies.

10 – If all else fails, tell anti-Semitic jokes.

It may go against all your stable moral judgements, I know, but you could try this desperate measure as a last resort. Most Tories have the bizarre concept that criticising the actions of an oppressive government committing genocide is somehow racist, possibly to overshadow their own unmerited prejudges. To hear an anti-Semitic joke will misleadingly convince them they were right. Note; it is very simple to convince a tory they are right. With any hope, they will be heading for the door in no time at all, mumbling double standards like, โ€œI told you so, Harry, theyโ€™re all the same these intolerant lefties, just like Hitler,โ€ and you can return to your politically correct and balanced banter as soon as theyโ€™ve driven off in their Range Rover Discovery.

Trending….

Ruby Darbyshire to Perform at Silverwood School Open Evening

The phenomenally talented Ruby Darbyshire is performing at Silverwood School in Rowde on 27th June. Ruby has kindly offered to support Silverwood Schoolโ€™s open evening….. Silverwood School near Devizes, has an ambition to provide a truly integrated system of outstanding education for those with special educational needs and disabilities in Wiltshire up to 19 yearsโ€ฆ

Shoot Me, A New Single From George Wilding!

I loved it, but if the jury was out in March over Isn’t She Lovely, the last single from George Wilding under the production of Jolyon Dixon for its experimental vaudeville ambience of Queenโ€™s later material and sprinkles of doo-wop at the intro, the third single comes out punchingโ€ฆ.. Shoot Me is released today acrossโ€ฆ

The Big Sound Choir to Perform with Aled Jones at St Georgeโ€™s Bristol

Devizes-based The Big Sound Choir will take to the stage at St Georgeโ€™s Bristol on Wednesday 4th June as part of Aled Jonesโ€™s nationwide Full Circle tour โ€“ and audiences are in for a real treat…. Known for their dynamic energy and uplifting sound, The Big Sound Choir will open the evening with a rousingโ€ฆ

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 a four track debut EP; who knew?! I only found out through talking with Adam about a merch table at our forthcoming RowdeFest, where you can, incidentally, find Thieves playing, butโ€ฆ

Between Two Worlds with Ruzz Guitar

He might be between two worlds but he can also be in your home, in your very own ears, and that’s the best place for Ruzz Guitar to be. With a striking Funk-O-Pop styled cartoon cover, Ruzz Guitar has a new album out and yeah, just yeah! Shadowing the Shadows with a belter of anโ€ฆ

Film maker, author and a future star of celebrity traitors, David Olusoga OBE comes to Fromeโ€ฆ

This summer David is returning with a brand-new show “Historyโ€™s Missing Chapters”, a show made to uncover why, throughout history, some people and events have been remembered and some have been completely forgotten…. Heโ€™ll be taking examples from the world wars, the Industrial revolution and many other pivotal moments throughout history in an attempt toโ€ฆ

Bird is the Word Take Over Live Music At Bradford-on-Avon’s Boathouse

Under the new management, live music will be making a triumphant return to The Boathouse in Bradford-on-Avon and that Cracking Pair, Claire and Chloe of Bird is the Word are controlling bookingsโ€ฆ.. They excitedly announced today on their Facebook page that they are โ€œworking in partnership to make sure that you are brought the mostโ€ฆ

Deadlight in the Daytime; Vinyl Realmโ€™s Acoustic Saturdays Return….

Always a happy place, our traditional record shop Vinyl Realm in Northgate Street Devizes is back in the game of hosting some live music afternoons. First up was the dynamic duo and purveyors of all things goth, Deadlight Danceโ€ฆ. Owners Pete and Jackie were glad to announce the return of some live music afternoons atย โ€ฆ

Local Artist Clifton Powell Commissioned for English Heritage Exhibition The African Diaspora in England

A proud moment for Devizes-based artist Clifton Powell as he poses for a photo next to his amazing portrait of Abbot Hadrian, in Canterbury.

Clifton joins Elena Onwochei-Garcia, Glory Samjolly, Mikรฉla Henry-Lowe, Hannah Uzor and Chloe Cox in a project by English Heritage. EH has commissioned a series of portraits depicting six historic figures from the African diaspora whose stories have contributed to Englandโ€™s rich history. Each artist has been supported by their curators and historians to creatively portray their subject. Each painting will be hung at the English Heritage site connected to its subject this summer.

St Hadrian of Canterbury played a pivotal role in the early history of the English Church. He was born in North Africa and travelled to Italy, most likely as a refugee, before making the journey to Canterbury. He was abbot of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul (later St Augustineโ€™s) in Canterbury, between 670 and 710.

During his time in Canterbury, he became an influential teacher and scholar, and helped shape the theology and rites of worship of the English Church.

Clifton Powell studied at the Jamaica School of Art in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to the UK in the late 1980s. A versatile and skilled painter, Clifton is influenced by the places he has travelled to and the people heโ€™s met. He has taken part in numerous exhibitions and art fairs in London, Bath, Stroud and the West Country including the International Black Art Fair, The House of Emperor Haile Selassie, Bluestone Gallery and Diaspora at Salisbury Arts Centre.

You may also remember me reporting on the day I attended the charity-run art group for the elderly, Arts Together, in Melksham way back in February 2019, where I met with Clifton, who is a mentor and volunteer.

Recent areas of exploration in his work include the Wiltshire countryside, wildlife, birds, still life and his remarkable series of paintings depicting unrest in the world. He is currently working on a painting project titled African Art. You can catch his work closer to home, from 21st June to 3rd July at The Yelde Hall in Chippenham when he exhibits as part of Breakout, the Alternative Art Show.

A follow-up to the 2019 exhibit Never Mind The Heritage, Hereโ€™s an Art Show, in which three local artists, Si Griffiths, Mike Long and Emma Sally exhibited their โ€œalternative art,โ€ Breakout extends the concept, with additional artists Clifton, Daniel Carmichael, Helen Osborne-Swan, Jimmer Willmott and Montague Tott, as well as Si, Mike and Sally. Iโ€™m looking forward to this one.

While I’m on the subject of art, don’t forget we have an online art gallery on Devizine, yes we do! Each artist gets a page to show off their work, Clifton’s is here, and if you’d like to be featured with links to your website, just drop us a line, there is no fee.

Trending…..

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

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

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

Devizes Wharf Theatre Launch Youth Theatre

Have you any young budding actors in your family? Drama kings and queens?! You might like to know Devizes Wharf Theatre have just launched a Youth Theatre. See I could have done with this when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, as I liked to act. Okay, you got me, that was act the fool. Iโ€™d think myself lucky if I got the rear-end role of the pantomime horse!

In the past, The Wharf Theatre has produced some amazing youth productions, if you remember the hugely successful Legally Blonde Junior in the summer of 2019, for example.

Wharf Theatre

โ€œWe have long felt and recognised that to safeguard the future of the world of theatre it is vital to inspire and encourage the next generation and have been working, behind the scenes, to create a group especially dedicated to them,โ€ they say, announcing two youth theatre directors now in a position to officially launch The Wharf Youth Theatre, ready for September. Here are the details:

Senior Actors Company

Friday 6-8pm. Sept 24th โ€“ Oct 22nd/Nov 5th โ€“ Dec 3rd

For school years 10-13 (as of September โ€˜21)

This group will be led by Lou Cox.  Louโ€™s career highlights include theatre tours, The Edinburgh Festival, singing professionally at Glastonbury festival and stand-up comedy. Lou is now a freelance drama teacher at various schools in the area and is a LAMDA examiner. She also directs and has recently started exciting projects with Barnardoโ€™s adoption agency, using drama as a training tool for adoptive parents and a refugee charity in Swindon.

This Company bridges the gap between school drama offering you further practitioner knowledge, a chance to develop your performance skills and many opportunities to perform in our very own theatre. It is a chance to work with like-minded people once a week who share the same passion for drama. You will explore theatre through the ages, engage in practitioner acting theories, work with text and devise your own work. There will be opportunities for students to compete in performance festivals, perform a live play to a paid audience and most importantly have fun!

10-week term ยฃ90. (Concessionary places available โ€“ please contact; artisticdirector@wharftheatre.co.uk)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Lou at: senioryouthdirector@wharftheatre.co.uk

Junior Actors Company

Thursdays 4.30-6pm Sept 23rd โ€“ Oct 21st/Nov 4th โ€“ Dec 2nd

This group is for school years 6-9 (as of September โ€˜21)

This group will be led by Lucia Pupilli.  Lucia studied at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and has worked professionally in various theatre and film productions including โ€˜White collar hooligansโ€™ directed by Paul Tanter in Rio de Janeiro and โ€˜His and Hersโ€™ directed by Lisa Spirling at The Egg theatre in Bath. Lucia has performed in clubs and restaurants as a cabaret singer and has also worked as a Primary School teacher for five years in Wiltshire. She founded โ€˜Music with Luciaโ€™ teaching instrumental lessons on Piano, Flute and Voice and, in addition, enjoys performing with โ€˜The Invitation Theatre Companyโ€™ and The Fulltone Orchestra.

10-week term ยฃ75. (Concessionary places available โ€“ please contact:artisticdirector@wharftheatre.co.uk)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Lucia at:

 junioryouthdirector@wharftheatre.co.uk

Bookings for Autumn Term Opening Soon

In order to book please find details of the membership system on their website: wharftheatre.co.uk

Look under โ€˜get involvedโ€™ and click on โ€˜wharf youth theatreโ€™

Wharf Theatre

The concentration will be on fun at the junior actorโ€™s school workshops, building confidence and gaining skills through drama, games and improvisations. Theyโ€™ll be rehearsing and performing scenes from plays and devising their own. The aim is to put on an annual show as they progress.

The workshops are not only an opportunity to develop acting and drama skills but also to make friends and become confident young adults. The Wharf encourage all children to reach their full potential in a safe and inclusive environment.

In addition to the fuller workshops of these new youth companies, the Wharf are also offering two Summer Workshops this year. These will offer an opportunity to have fun and participate in various drama activities.  Whilst they will give you a flavour of the work you could be exploring over the forthcoming terms these are stand-alone sessions and are open to all.

Senior Actors with Lou

Wednesday July 28th 10am-1pm

Wednesday August 11th 10am-1pm

Junior Actors with Lucia

Wednesday August 4th 2-5pm

Wednesday August 11th 2-5pm.

Each 3-hour workshop costs ยฃ15.

Bookings can be made on Ticketsource via their website wharftheatre.co.uk .ย  Look under โ€˜get involvedโ€™ and click on โ€˜wharf youth theatre.โ€™ Places are limited but they will be operating a wait list system if groups are full.

Me? I’m passed it now, I’m afraid, but I’ll always have my moment in the spotlight, my Shakin’ Stevens impression on my cub scout pack-holiday. You had to have been there…..or not!

Trending….

No Alarms No Devizes, Aptly in Devizes!

If I’ve been galavanting recently, gorging on other local townโ€™s live music scenes, what better way to return to Devizes than a visit to theโ€ฆ

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

Opinion: Kruger Perpetrates Local Rise of Condemnation for Travellers, Focused in Bromham

In a press release dated 24th September 2020, MP Danny Kruger claimed Boris Johnson had called upon him to report for government calls for a new era of โ€˜community power.โ€™ This included โ€œproposals to sustain the community spirit we saw during the lockdown.โ€ He christened his paper, โ€œLevelling up our communities,โ€ a vision for โ€œa more local, more human, less bureaucratic, less centralised society in which people are supported and empowered to play an active role in their neighbourhoods.โ€

As shpil it sounds a-okay, a far cry from a Conservative Party of yore set against the people itโ€™s supposed to serve, a Conservative Party which, on 1st June 1985, ordered police to viciously attack a Peace Convoy, setting up the 1985 Stonehenge Free Festival. History recalls it โ€œThe Battle of the Beanfields,โ€ any witness could better perceive it as a politicide massacre. Its aim, to eliminate categories of people who either chose to live their life on the road, happened to stumble across this way of life by unpreventable circumstance, or grew up nurtured in such an environment, for political advantages. As a blanket term we call them travellers.

But thatโ€™s all it is, a blanket term, there is no organised grouping anymore than people who own a home are assembled, therefore there is no reason to presume any individual classed as such is part of a joint ethos, a collective philosophy or tenet. Attitudes and opinions of such a grouping differ as vastly as those who live in a house, or a bungalow, or a flat. To note someone who lives in a flat breaking the law, is ludicrous for bungalow dwellers to make a sweeping generalisation that, ergo everyone who lives in a flat is therefore a law-breaker. Yet prejudge typecasting seems to be systematically accepted, ingrained and encouraged when focussed on travellers.  

Hard to define exactly as an ethnic group, as while Romany Gypsies are bound into the stereotype, not all are such, so, calling the racist card is unwarranted, but it is a definite form of prejudice, which aimed at other groupings would be frowned upon. Yet how does Danny Kruger remember the Battle of the Beanfields on its anniversary this week? His office, fronted by, I might add, Rebecca Hudson, the journalist who first broke the news of the Salisbury poisonings and therefore a far more articulate professional than the mere meanderings of a milkman, put out a Facebook post condemning the actions of a traveller site in Bromham. Despite Bromham isnโ€™t his jurisdiction, it is in the division of Wiltshire councillor Laura Mayes, though.

I asked Laura why itโ€™s necessary for Danny Kruger to get involved with, what seems to me, to be a simple planning permission issue. After all, planning permission disputes must be a regular occurrence in the county, and thereโ€™s never a need to involve an MP. Laura responded, โ€œthe problem is that the planning activity is illegal – there is an Enforcement Notice and an Emergency Stop Notice and the owners have ignored them.โ€

Dannyโ€™s post included the explanation, โ€œdeliveries of hardcore were made to the field, breaching the Enforcement Notice. The clear expectation is that an illegal Traveller encampment is being created and an influx of caravans is now expected.โ€ Hardly an โ€œexpectation,โ€ rather speculation; a big difference. A speculation driven by the aforementioned ingrained prejudge, is my โ€œexpectation.โ€ Fair game by his own criteria? ย 

In discussion with Gazette & Herald reporter Kirsten Robertson, The Ward family say the delivery of hardcore is to form a bund, an embankment to control the flow of water. Face it, evidence that itโ€™s not a plan to expand the site or allow more travellers onto it. In a heartfelt plea for peace Bridget Ward, 21, told the Gazette, โ€œWe just want to live in peace and become part of the community.โ€

Yet negative, often offensive comments and name-calling slurs flood social media coverage of the simple planning dispute. It doesnโ€™t help bridge the divide when the council โ€œrecommends the public stay away from the site.โ€ Neither does it help when an MP lashes out, the post calculatedly shared on only one local Facebook group, known for an absence of admin regulations and therefore being a highly opinionated group.

We should note, they are not residing illegally, the land was bought in 2014, with an article 4 direction on it, which makes it unsuitable for development anyway. Any attempt to improve the site has been refused permission, the adding of fences, planting of trees and creation of an equestrian area. Constant refusal of simple improvement plans, the hostility against them verbally, constitutes the notion theyโ€™re simply not wanted there. Where in Wiltshire would they be welcome?

Wiltshire Council own and manage just three residential Gypsy and Traveller sites, with a total capacity to accommodate fifty-one families, who, in contrary to popular belief, are subject to rent charges, Council tax and service charges for site, water and electricity. Across a whole county, itโ€™s a failure compared with Essex, with twelve sites accommodating 188 families, Somerset has eighteen sites, seven sites in Berkshire, the list continues not forgoing Wiltshire Council looks to possibly sell the three sites they do own under part of the recently concluded Regulation 18 consultation to prepare a Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document.

While we should respect permissions for planning need to be made, and upheld, little is done to provide a legal alternative for travellers in the county. Coupled with the ramifications of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which could see travellers facing a fine or prison if they set up unauthorised encampments rather than currently being a civil offence, Danny Krugerโ€™s โ€œlevelling up our communities,โ€ constitutes of the eradication of a way of life which has operated for centuries. In fact, pre-Neolithic age, we were all nomadic. Chew on that fat for a moment.

One comment added, โ€œwe don’t live in a lawless country,โ€ yet when Danny illegally posted his campaign posters around polling stations, when he ignored lockdown regulations by failing to wear a mask on the train, when he allowed his dog to attack deer on Richmond Common, we brushed them under the carpet, I even defended the latter as an accident.

What about when the High Court said government acted unlawfully by failing to publish details of more than 500 Covid contracts, or abolishing the permit-free training scheme for doctors who qualified outside the United Kingdom or the rest of the European Union without proper consultation, or the case where it departed from the UKโ€™s longstanding policy on opposing the death penalty in all circumstances? Need I continue? Why then, can we not give a little leeway here? Is a delivery of some hardcore to create a bund somehow more damaging to society as the examples given above?

The fact Dannyโ€™s offending Facebook post had a grammatical error Iโ€™d forgive a primary school pupil to overlook, โ€œand a influx of caravans,โ€ suggests this was not the calculated penning of a skilled journalist, rather a knee-jerk reaction handsome-faced Danny K needs to take a chill pill from before the silver spoon launches from his mouth.

And I say this because, the issue at hand is clearly overexposed by our prejudice, a presuppose striking fear into a family with a young child, for crying out loud, take a look at yourself! I plead you put the political matter aside for just a moment and think outside the box, would you try defend yourself given such hostilities towards you? Is it any different from Afrikaans erecting steel gates and barbed wire to protect their property in apartheid-era Johannesburg? How you can expect travellers not to be slightly anarchic when faced with such exacerbation against them?

Especially in this, quite honestly, trivial instant, far from the given stereotype, where we have a local family simply pleading to blend in and be part of a community. Bridget tells me, โ€œI asked him [Danny Kruger] to stand up for us, against the hate and racism, and to sign the pledge card, but he has just ignored that. We just feel helpless.โ€ This isnโ€™t about hardcore delivery at all, is it?

What do you get out of this Danny, a permit to touch Prittiโ€™s petticoat?! Hardly the โ€œproposals to sustain the community spirit we saw during the lockdown,โ€ is it, mucker?!

After-Thoughts of Indieday

I’m glad to hear Indie Day was a great success, read the brilliant overview by Kirsten.

As I need my beauty sleep after work, I rocked up in the afternoon unfortunately as it was all winding down, so it’s unfair for me to assees it.

But I think the event is difficult to assess visually as we tend to think of an event happening in one place, whereas the idea here is to wander the fantastic array of independent shops we have in Devizes. Ergo the event will never look as crowded as a festival, as folk are dispersed throughout town; hopefully in the shops!

I was disappointed by unannounced changes in the performance times, as I arrived an hour too late to catch the brilliant Will Foulstone. But I am pleased to hear the piano will stay in the Shambles for free usage. This is exactly the sort of thing The Shambles needs.

The only method of measuring the success of the day is via the footfall and sales of the shop owners, and I hope they did well. Yet the most important point, I think, is that using independent shops is not for a special day, rather we consider shopping in them every day.

Taking it for granted is damaging, we’d be sorry to see any of them have to close. Yet lockdown has strengthened the position of internet shopping, and without overheads the price war obviously is one-sided.

I only need to think of the reaction of people from out of our area, say builders working on houses, or tourists who take photos of me on my way home when either see an old fashioned milk float drive past, to know how privileged we are to live in an area where traditions die harder than other parts of the country.

There are times, I confess, where some traditions are unwelcome in today’s society where we now see the bigger picture, or methods have changed for the better. There is no need to hunt foxes, any more than a need to send children to work in mines or up chimneys, for example. There’s many elements which are questionable about continuing traditions, our anarchic attitudes towards others, be they from other ethnic backgrounds or ways of life, and our failure to integrate new technologies to aid us, or failure to understand political corruption. But the concept of wandering a high street, the bell above the shop door ringing, and a welcoming smile isn’t one of them.

The high street must look to methods of retaining the reality of real life shopping by providing what folk want, be it cafe culture, bustling markets, which is precisely what Devizes captures so well. Compare and contrast this with the dull experience of a large town shopping mall. I can think of nothing more mundane than wandering through these samey monstrosities of mass commercialism, there’s no individualism, there’s nothing unique or inspiring. Precisely why they have to slap names on them, like “village” or “park” to make them appealing. They’re not villages or parks, call a spade a spade; they’re shopping centres!

Anyway, I bagged me some local scrumpy, from Lavington’s Rutts Lane Cider stall at the Farmer’s Market, so there’s no need for me to be negative! Though, if you find typos here this morning, you know who to blame!

Went to IndieDay, shopped local, came back home with the loot….

I am a Rutts Lane Cider drinker, it soothes all me troubles away, Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay, Ooh arrh, ooh arrh ay!

Long live the traditional shops of Devizes, I say, but only if we support them will our saying be worth their weight. Well done to the organisers of this great day.

https://devizine.bandcamp.com/album/various-artists-4-julias-house

Thirty Years a Raver, Part 4; “Get off of the Railway Track!”

read last chapter
read from beginning

I’ve parked the van on the opening of a farm track, to have a sandwich and scan the area. Iโ€™m looking for a quarry which runs alongside the train track. A few years ago, I was a delivery driver, and though I didn’t know the roads, I’d recognise village names with fond memories. On this occasion I’ve turned off through the sleepy Oxfordshire village of Cassington; my memory of it was not so sleepy.

Those reading this too young or not into the south west free party movement of the nineties might wonder why, while those who were will know exactly why, and no doubt will be screaming a delighted, โ€œyes mate, red and blacks!โ€ Later to be referred to as Dennis the Menaces, without concern to what Beano publishers DC Thompson mayโ€™ve made of it all.

The distant resonance of an MC echoed through the valley, alas only in my head. โ€œGet off the railway track,โ€ he warned, โ€œthat is a live railway track!โ€ A memory abetted by a rave tape capturing the irreplaceable moment, one of thousands I carelessly released into a skip many moons ago, foolish to the notion theyโ€™d be sought after.

On rave tapes, weโ€™d either have a โ€œmasterโ€ or a recorded, taped from Christ knows how many cassettes down the line. Often inaudible by todayโ€™s standards, but recorded live at various events, they chartered the era. Endless weekday hours spent cutting up flyers to use as covers, doubles of those already pasted on my bedroom wall. In 1990 I had obtained a few, in the space of a year the wall was covered with them, overlapping to hide the roached edges.

Akin to the accumulation of flyers, my rave tape collection increased like wildfire. From popping into Swindonโ€™s Homeboyz Records, which at the time occupied a loft space in a head shop on Fleet Street, to ask for โ€œthe kind of tunes Iโ€™ve been hearing at the raves,โ€ in which I was sold two, recorded from Coventryโ€™s Eclipse; Frank De Wulf, and the second, Sasha and Top Buzz, to the point where an entire collapsing shelf was bursting with alphabetically arranged cassette boxes, with the wrong tapes in each. Ah, weekday timewasting activities; we lived for the weekend.

Another delivery driving time, after a few visits to Great Tew, I found the private airfield at Enstone. I recalled arriving there in 1991, one misty morning after a lengthy standoff at Peartree services outside Oxford. These were customary; convoys from every direction flooded in, police would surround them, rumours would circulate they were to search every vehicle moving out, meanwhile the bottleneck swelled, car stereos melded into one colossal clamour as kids danced on the embankments, blowing horns and whistles, undaunted to the likelihood of a tipoff, lawlessness supervened, petrol and spearmint chewing gum went mysteriously missing, and police finally acknowledged they were outnumbered, and allowed free passage out of there.

For the journey my mate spoke of nothing other this track heโ€™d heard. โ€œYou remember the donโ€™t talk to strangersโ€™ advert with the boy and his cat, Charlie, went, like, Charlie saysโ€ฆ…โ€ Yeah, I did, but hadnโ€™t heard the song. Coincidently the DJ spun it as we arrived, and he wasted no time, leaping from the car prior to stopping, yelling โ€œthis is it!โ€ and running off headlong into the fog.

I myself got lost in that fog sometime later, asked a friendly crusty if I could climb on his van to see if I could find my friends. The view of synchronised trilby hats and bobbed hair dipping into the low-level mist enticed me to dance, to which he seemed completely content with, as I stomped on top of his van. But as others, noting my joy, decided to do similar, I climbed off, persuading them not to follow my bad example, it was this guyโ€™s home from home.

Charlie did say that, but with these carefree strangers, it didnโ€™t seem to matter, hence the irony in the Prodigy’s song. Everyone had the smile of the Cheshire Cat, everyone would lend you a chewing gum in exchange for a rizla, and right in the moment, that was all that mattered. It was short-lived, a few years of complete bonkers, but it had a profound effect on society. Football fans returned from clubbing the night before, far too intoxicated with love drugs to cause the trouble the sport had become associated with. Football chants were adapted from โ€œyouโ€™re going home in a fucking ambulance,โ€ to โ€œyouโ€™re going home in a fluffy ambience.โ€

In a clubland where once, to accidently knock over someoneโ€™s pint, or look at their girlfriend for longer than a millisecond, would likely evoke a fight. Now, the clubber sighed, โ€œI know you didnโ€™t mean to spill it, no worries mate,โ€ to which the reply would be โ€œsorry, Iโ€™ll get you another.โ€ One clubber said, โ€œis that your girlfriend pal? Sheโ€™s gorgeous,โ€ and thatโ€™d be seen as a compliment, perhaps understandably backed by an informal warning, but it certainly wouldnโ€™t end in a drunken scrap.

Such was the scene expanding, a legendary party at the end of the summer of 91, somewhere near Banbury, extended into a nearby field, with a narrow track joining to two. A continuous stream of pedestrians sauntered to-and-fro, until a BMW hurtled through the wanders. A lone hippy cursed the driver, pleading he slowed down. The car came to a screeching halt and backed up. All four doors opened and some rather mean-looking urbanites, full of sovereign rings and bling stepped out to confront the scrawny fellow. Towering over him, the driver and his passengers asked him to repeat what he said; it was a setting akin to a violent scene of a gangster movie, and the expectant crowd held their breath. The crusty replied he had asked them to slow down, because someone could get hurt. The rude boys considered this, got back into the BMW and drove on, at a snailโ€™s pace all the way to the end, carefully stopping for pedestrians.

An incident Iโ€™ll reiterate as an example to how genuinely passive and diplomatic raves were. We policed ourselves, troublemakers were dealt with, often in a medieval fashion. Yet troublemakers were few, unlike nightclubs you had to make reasonable effort to find a party, so most were aligned to the concept we were there for that and only that, to party. So too, if you overstayed a party till its conclusion, you willingly picked up and bin liner and helped clean the area, (okay, there was always a chance of finding some money or hashish, Iโ€™ll give you!)

The country suddenly seemed at peace, least it did to us, and the authorities had a problem with this.

There was a frustrated lost terrier, scrambling around in the dark, barking, scared without its owner; it was the Conservative Party. John Major walked into this, and knew if he was to overthrow the shadow of Thatcher, heโ€™d need to take drastic change to society.

Me, my mates? We didnโ€™t give a fuck. Other than the annoyance of the odd rave being broken up, when the police got the itch, we had no political opinion, we had no concern over much at all. Because, we knew there was a happy place, somewhere we could go, freely, and we were in the moment of building our own society, shaped as we wished, policed as we required, but as many adolescent dreams, we thought we knew it all.

read part 5

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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

Song of the Day 39: Kirsty Clinch

Song of the day this fine Friday evening… got to be Kirsty, enough said!

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

Devizine Proudly Presents Various Artists 4 Juliaโ€™s House; Hereโ€™s the Track Listing!

Sleeve Notes for our Album 4 Juliaโ€™s House

Here it is, the moment youโ€™ve all been waiting for, I hope! The track listing and details of all our wonderful songs presented on our forthcoming album, Various Artists 4 Juliaโ€™s House. Read on in aweโ€ฆ.

Pre-order album on Bandcamp here!

Released: 29th June 2021

1. Pete Lamb & Cliff Hall – Julie

2. King Dukes – Dying Man

3. Erin Bardwell โ€“ (Like the Reflection on) The Liffey view

4. Timid Deer โ€“ The Shallows

5. Duck n Cuvver – Henge of Stone

6. Strange Folk โ€“ Glitter

7. Strange Tales โ€“ Entropy

8. Paul Lappin โ€“ Broken Record

9. Billy Green 3 – I Should be Moved

10. Jon Veale – Flick the Switch

11. Wilding โ€“ Falling Dream

12. Barrelhouse โ€“ Mainline Voodoo

13. Richard Davis & The Dissidents โ€“ Higher Station

14. Tom Harris โ€“ Ebb & Flow

15. Will Lawton โ€“ Evanescence

16. Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective โ€“ Dreams Can Come True

17. Kirsty Clinch – Stay With Us

18. Richard Wileman โ€“ Pilot

19. Nigel G. Lowndes โ€“ Who?

20. Kier Cronin โ€“ Crying

21. Sam Bishop โ€“ Wild Heart (Live Acoustic)

22. Mr Love & Justice โ€“ The Other Side of Here

23. Barmy Park โ€“ Oakfield Road

24. The Truzzy Boys – Summer Time

25. Daydream Runaways โ€“ Light the Spark

26. Talk in Code โ€“ Talk Like That

27. Longcoats โ€“ Pretty in Pink

28. Atari Pilot – When We Were Children

29. Andy J Williams โ€“ Post Nup

30. The Dirty Smooth โ€“ Seed to the Spark

31. SexJazz – Metallic Blue

32. Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue โ€“ Hammer Down

33. The Boot Hill All Stars โ€“ Monkey in the Hold

34. Mr Tea & The Minions โ€“ Mutiny

35. Cosmic Shuffling – Night in Palermo

36. Boom Boom Bang Bang โ€“ Blondie & Ska

37. The Birth of Bonoyster – The Way I Like to Be

38. The Oyster – No Love No Law

39. The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show โ€“ Ghosts

40. Julie Meikle and Mel Reeves โ€“ This Time

41. Cutsmith – Osorio

42. The Tremor Tones โ€“ Donโ€™t Darken my Door

43. Big Ship Alliance โ€“ All in this Thing Together

44. Neonian – Bubblejet

45. First Born Losers โ€“ Ground Loop

Iโ€™ll tell you what though, kids. This has been a lot more work than I originally anticipated! Yeah, I figured, just collect some tunes, let the artists do all the hard work and take the credit! But no, mate, wasnโ€™t like that at all. The most important part for me, is ensuring the artists are properly thanked, so, just like those Now, Thatโ€™s What I Call Music albums, I wanted to write up a full track listing with sleeve notes and links. Please support the artists you like on the album by checking them out, following and liking on social media and buying their music.

But to list all 45 tunes in one article will blow the attention span of the most avid reader, and if, like me, you’ve the attention span of a goldfish, find below the first twenty, and then the next 25 will follow as soon as my writerโ€™s cramp ceases! Just putting them onto the bag was tedious enough, but worth the effort.

To all the artists below, message me if links are incorrect or broken, or if there’s any changes to the details you’d like me to edit, thanks, you blooming superstars.

1- Pete Lamb & Cliff Hall โ€“ Julie

Not so much that Julie is similar to Julia, there could be no song more apt to start the album. Something of a local musical legend is Pete Lamb, owner of The Music Workshop, producing and recording local, national and international artists. His career in music stretches back to the sixties, creating such groups as The Colette Cassin Quintet and Pete Lambโ€™s Heartbeats. Yet it is also his aid to local music which makes him a prominent figure, Kieran J Moore tells how Pete lent him equipment for the first Sheer Music gigs.

Pete Lamb

A wonderful rock n roll ballad with a poignant backstory, Julie was written in remembrance of Peteโ€™s daughter who passed away in 2004 to Non-Hodgkinโ€™s Lymphoma. It was featured on an album for the charity Hope for Tomorrow. The song also features Cliff Hall, keyboardist with the Shadows for many years, playing piano and strings.

Cliff Hall

2 – The King Dukes – Dying Man

Formed in Bristol in April 2019, a merger of a variety of local bands, including Crippled Black Phoenix, Screaminโ€™ Miss Jackson and the John E. Vistic Experience, The King Dukes combine said talent and experience to create a unique, authentic sound, dipped in a heritage reuniting contemporary slices of British RnB with a dollop of Memphis soul.

Dying Man is a prime example, taken from the album Numb Tongues which we fondly reviewed back in the October of 2019. The brilliance of which hasnโ€™t waned for me yet, and isnโ€™t likely to.

The King Dukes

3- Erin Bardwell โ€“ (Like the Reflection on) The Liffey

One cannot chat about reggae in Swindon without Erinโ€™s name popping up. Keyboardist in the former ska-revival band, The Skanxters during the nineties, Erin now operates under various guises; the rock steady outfit Erin Bardwell Collective chiefly, experimental dub project Subject A with Dean Sartain, and The Man on the Bridge with ex-Hotknives Dave Clifton, to name but a few.

(Like the Reflection on) The Liffey is an eloquently emotive tune, staunch to the ethos of reggae, yet profoundly unique to appeal further. It is taken from the album Interval, one of two solo ventures for Erin during lockdown.

Erin Bardwell

4 – Timid Deer โ€“ The Shallows

My new favourite thing, after noting Timid Deer supported the Lost Trades debut gig at Trowbridgeโ€™s Pump. Though self-labelled indie, I was surprised how electronica they are, with a nod to the ninetyโ€™s downtempo scene of bands like Morcheeba and Portishead, hold the trip hop element. This Salisbury five-piece consisting of vocalist Naomi Henstridge, keyboardist Tim Milne, Tom Laws on double bass, guitarist Matt Jackson and drummers Chris and Jason Allen have created such an uplifting euphoric sound, hairs stand tall on the back of your neck.   

Taken from the 2019 album Melodies for the Nocturnal Pt. 1, Iโ€™m so pleased to present this.

Naomi Henstridge

5- Duck n Cuvver – Henge of Stone

Yes, enthralled to have the song frontman Robert Hardie of Duck n Cuvver refers to as โ€œhis baby.โ€ This is Salisbury Celtic roots rock band so aching to film part of their video for Henge of Stone inside Stonehenge, theyโ€™ve campaigned for the funds to do it, ending with Rab breaking into the monument to promote the campaign!

With references to the importance of solstice and the pilgrimage to Stonehenge, what other song could be so locally linked?

Duck & Curver

6 – Strange Folk โ€“ Glitter

A dark west country folk band in the realm of a beatnik time of yore, with a serious slice of gothic too, Strange Folk came to my attention playing the Vinyl Realm stage at the Devizes Street Festival. Hailing from Hertfordshire, band members also now reside in Somerset, Strange Folk is comprised of four songwriters; vocalist Annalise Spurr, guitarist David Setterfield, Ian Prangnell on bass and backing vocals, and drummer Steve Birkett. Glitter features cello by Helen Robertson, and is a name-your-price gift to fans during lockdown, a wonderful teaser which if you like, and I canโ€™t see why you wouldnโ€™t, you should try the 2014 mini-album Hollow, part one.

Strange Folk

7 – Strange Tales โ€“ Entropy

With singer Sally Dobson on the Wiltshire acoustic circuit and the synth/drum programming of Paul Sloots, who resides in West Sussex, catching this duo, Strange Tales live would be a rare opportunity not to be missed. Though their brilliance in melodic, bass and synth-driven goth-punk is captured in the 2018 album Unknown to Science, in which our track Entropy is taken.

Their songs relate baroque cautionary tales drawn from the murkier corners of the human psyche, while retaining a pop sensibility and stripped-down, punk-rock approach. Fans of the darker side of eighties electronica, of Joy Division and Depeche Mode will love this. You can buy this album at Vinyl Realm in Devizes.

Strange Tales; Paul Sloots & Sally Dobson

8- Paul Lappin โ€“ Broken Record

Imagine George Harrison present on the Britpop scene, and youโ€™re somewhere lost in Lappinโ€™s world. Paul hails from Swindon originally, but resides mostly in the Occitanie region of the south of France, where he wrote and recorded the mind-blowingly brilliant album The Boy Who Wants to Fly, released in October 2020. Our chosen track, Broken Record was a single just prior, in August, and features Lee Alder โ€“ bass guitar, electric guitar, Robert Brian โ€“ drums, Jon Buckett โ€“ Hammond organ, electric guitar, Paul Lappin โ€“ vocals, synths, Lee Moulding โ€“ percussion, Harki Popli โ€“ table.

Music & lyrics by Paul Lappin ยฉ2020. Recorded at Earthworm Recording Studio, Swindon. Produced & Mixed by Jon Buckett. Mastered by Pete Maher.

Paul Lappin

9- Billy Green 3 – I Should be Moved

Now Devizes-based, Bill Green was a genuine Geordie Britpop article, co-creating the local band Still during those heady nineties. Today his band on the circuit, Billy Green 3 consists also of Harvey Schorah and Neil Hopkins, whoโ€™s talents can be witnessed in the awesome album this track comes from, also titled Still. Mastered and produced by Martin Spencer and Matt Clements at Potterneโ€™s Badger Set studio in 2020, itโ€™s wonderfully captures the remnants of the eighties scooter scene in reflected in Britpop.

I’m sure you can buy the album at Vinyl Realm, Devizes; I would if I were you.

Billy Green 3

10- Jon Veale – Flick the Switch

Marlborough guitar tutor, singer-songwriter and bassist of local covers band Humdinger, Jon Vealeโ€™s single, Flick the Switch, also illuminated Potterneโ€™s Badger Set studio in August of 2020, and it immediately hits you square in the chops, despite the drums were recorded prior to lockdown, by legend Woody from Bastille, and Jon waited tolerantly for the first lockdown to end before getting Paul Stagg into Martin Spencerโ€™s studio to record the vocals. Glad to have featured it then, even more pleased Jon contributed it to this album.

Jon Veale

11- Wilding โ€“ Falling Dream

What can be said which hasnโ€™t about Aveburyโ€™s exceptionally talented singer-songwriter George Wilding? A true legend in the making. Now residing in Bristol, George has the backing of some superb musicians to create the force to be reckoned with, Wilding. Perry Sangha assists with writing, as well electric guitar, loads more electric guitars, acoustic guitar, organ and weird synth things. Bassist James Barlow also handles backing vocals and cous cous. Daniel Roe is on drums.

The debut EP, Soul Sucker knocked me for six back in November 2018, as did this here latest single recorded at the elusive Dangerous Dave’s Den, mixed and mastered by Dan Roe, during October last year.

Wilding

12 – Barrelhouse โ€“ Mainline Voodoo

One good thing about preparing this album is to hear bands Iโ€™ve seen the names of, kicking around, and added to our event guide many times over, but Iโ€™ve never had the opportunity to see at a gig. Marlborough-based Barrelhouse is one, and after hearing Mainline Voodoo, Iโ€™m intending to make a beeline to a gig. Favourites over at their local festival, MantonFest, headlined Marlboroughโ€™s 2019 Christmas Lights Switch-On, and right up my street!

Formed in early 2014, Barrelhouse offer vintage blues and rock classics, heavily influenced by the golden age of Chicago Blues and the early pioneers of the British blues scene, staying true to the essence that made these tunes great and adding their own style of hard-edge groove. Overjoyed to feature Mainline Voodoo, title track from their 2020 album, which broke into the UKโ€™s national Blues Top 40.

Barrelhouse

13 – Richard Davis & The Dissidents โ€“ Higher Station (R. Davies)

Absolutely bowled over, I am, to have Swindonโ€™s road-driving rock band with a hint of punk, Richard Davis & The Dissidents send is this exclusive outtake from the Human Traffic album, out now on Bucketfull of Brains. We reviewed it back in December. Recorded at Mooncalf Studios. Produced by Richard Davies, Nick Beere and Tim Emery. If the outtake is this amazing, imagine the album!

Richard Davis & The Dissidents

14 – Tom Harris โ€“ Ebb & Flow

Lockdown mayโ€™ve delayed new material from Devizes-based progressive-metal five-piece Kinasis, but frontman Tom Harris has sent us something solo, and entirely different. Ebb & Flow is an exclusive track made for this album, a delicate and beautiful strings journey; enjoy.

Tom Harris

15 – Will Lawton & The Alchemists โ€“ Evanescence

Wiltshire singer-songwriter, pianist and music therapist Will Lawton, here with his group The Alchemists. A weave of many progressive influences from jazz to folk, Will recently surprised me by telling me drum n bass is among them too. The latest album ‘Salt of the Earth, Vol. 1 (Lockdown)’, is a collection of original poems embedded in meditative piano and ambient soundscapes. But weโ€™ve taken this spellbinding tune from the previous release, Abbey House Session.

Will Lawton

16- Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective โ€“ Dreams Can Come True

Hailing from Essex but prevalent on our local live music circuit, with some amazing performances at Devizesโ€™ Southgate, Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective offer us this uplifting country-rock/roots anthem, which, after one listen, will see you singing the chorus, guaranteed. It is the finale to their superb 2020 album, Do What you Love.

Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective rocking the Southgate last year

17 – Kirsty Clinch – Stay With Us

If weโ€™ve been massively impressed with Wiltshireโ€™s country sensation, Kirsty Clinchโ€™s new country-pop singles Fit the Shoe, Around and Around, and most recently, Waters Running Low and anticipating her forthcoming album, itโ€™s when we get the golden opportunity to catch her live which is really heart-warming. This older track, recorded at Pete Lambโ€™s Music Workshop, exemplifies everything amazing about her acoustic live performances, her voice just melts my soul every listen.

Kirsty Clinch

18- Richard Wileman โ€“ Pilot

Incredibly prolific, Swindonโ€™s composer Richard Wileman is known for his pre-symphonic rock band Karda Estra. Idols of the Flesh is his latest offering from a discography of sixteen albums, which we reviewed. Along a similar, blissful ethos Richard Wileman served up Arcana in September this year, where this track is taken from. While maintaining a certain ambiance, his own named productions are more conventional than Karda Estra, more attributed to the standard model of popular music, yet with experimental divine folk and prog-rock, think Mike Oldfield, and youโ€™re part-way there.

19 – Nigel G. Lowndes โ€“ Who?

Bristolโ€™s Nigel G Lowndes is a one-man variety show. Vaudeville at times, tongue-in-cheek loungeroom art-punk meets country folk; think if Talking Heads met Johnny Cash. Who? is the unreleased 11th track from his album Hello Mystery, we reviewed in March, and weโ€™re glad to present it here.

Nigel G Lowndes

20 – Kier Cronin โ€“ Crying

Unsolicited this one was sent, and I love it for its rockabilly reel although a Google search defines this Swindon based singer songwriter as indie/alternative. Obsessed with the music and the joy of writing, Kier told me, โ€œI once had a dream Bruce Springsteen told me to give it upโ€ฆ So, this one’s for you Bruce!โ€ Crying was released as a single in March, also check out his EP of last year called One.

Countin the Blues, Punkishly, with Elli de Mon

Well, that certainly took the serrated edge off Alanis Morissetteโ€™s Jagged Little Pill. Imagine an episode where you are Doctor Who. Youโ€™ve landed the Tardis nearby a juke joint, deep in 1920s Mississippi. A bunch of wild railroad convicts wonโ€™t let you out unless your assistant plays them some songs. Trouble is, your assistant is Siouxsie Sioux. You pray to the timelords of Gallifrey she wonโ€™t corrupt continuity, by introducing punk fifty years too early. Just when you think she might have found middle-ground, Ravi Shanker drops in to join the jam!

The score could be provided by Italian multi-instrumentalist and soloist Elli De Mon, who’s forthcoming album, out 18th June, Countin the Blues is packaged like a delta blues album of yore; sepia photo of Elli, guitar between legs, and graphics to match. It weighs in well with sound too, a twangy guitar opening, but it jerks between tradition and modern. Reimaging ten female vocalist, vintage blues rarities from the 1920s, Countin the Blues varies between adhering to the original, or converting it into kick-ass contemporary punk. This works, exceptionally well under the skilled labour of Elli, primarily because those songs are as raw and filthy as punk could be or has ever been.

This album should put Elli de Mon on the UK map, as sheโ€™s been thrilling blues audiences across Europe with this unique take on the blues for best part of decade. A prolific one-woman-band, releasing six albums since 2014, she breezes through vox, rezophonic and lapsteel guitars, organ, drums, dilruba, and even an outplaced sitar, on this magnificent album.

Primordial blues being a major influence, during pregnancy Elli penned, Countinโ€™ The Blues: Indomitable Women, a book about the women blues artists of the twenties. Published in 2020, it mustโ€™ve been a natural progression for her to decide to record the songs she wrote of, in tribute to these great women. Itโ€™s a win-win for documentation of songs which has been forgotten by most. The only tune Iโ€™d heard of was Memphis Minniโ€™s When The Levee Breaks, as many would know it from the Led Zeppelin adaptation.

Kicking in, as I said, twangy guitar introduces us, but seconds later Elliโ€™s version Ma Raineyโ€™s Prove It On Me Blues electrifies. One could shrug at this conjunction, pop-punk has the T-shirt on this, if Alanis Morissette coined it, Sheryl Crow and Shania Twain commercialised it. Yet thereโ€™s a definite rawness here, a dusky garage punk nod. This notion drags you in, darkened by the second track, Bessie Smithโ€™s Blue Spirit Blues; eloquently macabre, and the theme continues for a further two tunes until Lucille Boganโ€™s Shave โ€˜Em Dry pounces on you like a seventies punk anthem.

Proving drugs and music went hand-in-hand since day dot, the overlooked iconoclast Victoria Spivey recorded Dope Head Blues in 1928, yet Elli implements a beatnik lysergic aura to it, by adding a sitar; hence the Ravi Shanker connection mentioned in my Doctor Who visualisation!

Just when you consider reeling in your assistant Siouxsie Sioux, with your extended scarf (because Dr Who will eternally be Tom Baker in any of my imaginary scenarios) dragging her to the crossroads in hope the devil, or Davros even, is up for purchasing a soul, weโ€™re back on the agenda, less Sgt Pepper, and more traditioned twangy acoustic guitar blues is aired now more than previous songs.

Image by S. Carollo

With the sublime acoustics of Elizabeth Cottenโ€™s Freight Train, it feels as if Elli figured it had all gone too far the other way, and returned her salutes the queens of the blues by traditional method. ย This acoustic trend continues for four amazing tunes, ingulfing the aforementioned When The Levee Breaks. In my scenario Doctor Who would be effectively saved, these last few tunes would adhere to the angry railroad convictsโ€™ expectations. But just as you assume the clichรฉ happy ending is near, thereโ€™s a vinyl only bonus track, Geeshie Wileyโ€™s Last Kind Words Blues, which slivers back into psychedelia sitar, and the Doctor is doomed, to be continued next week!

This album is a treasure, if not for the tremendous tributes to historical blues standards, or the adaptions of unearthed rarities returned to modern times through punk rock, but for the overwhelming effort of this Italian multi-skilled virtuoso who accompanied herself on nearly every instrument, and arranged the whole album in a new key, to align to her personal punkish style.

And Elli, if you read this, I wonder, and Iโ€™d imagine you do too, what the mother of the blues, Ma Rainey and the other subjects youโ€™ve so wonderfully recaptured here would think of it all? It may well take some time for them to get their head around musicโ€™s progression, but Iโ€™m certain you should be proud as theyโ€™d nod their approval.

Sentences Iโ€™d Like to Hear the End of, with the Bakesys

No matter the subject, a lesson is only as interesting as the teacher teaching it. Johnny Ball did the impossible, he made maths fun! Likewise, but more modern, Terry Dearyโ€™s books and subsequent CBBC show, Horrible Histories made whatโ€™s often perceived as a dull subject by pupils, somehow entertaining, amusing even. If Deary was my history teacher, rather than a thick-rimmed speccy, bearded beatnik with leather elbow patches on his tweed jacket, well, I might just have taken heed of their wisdoms.

Equally, if you want to teach history to a bunch of scooterist skinheads, consider employing The Bakesys, for they are a skanking Horrible Histories, at least for this new album, released last Thursday called Sentences Iโ€™d Like to Hear the End of.

Stu, Kevin & Bakesy onstage at Newbury College in December 1990!

Something of an elusive band despite twenty years presence on the UK ska scene, the early stages of The Bakesys reflected heavily on punk inspirations, such as the Buzzcocks, crossed with later developments of a definite Two-Tone influence. Sentences Iโ€™d Like to Hear the End of takes it to whole other level. Akin to what On-U Sound did for dub in the nineties, sprinkling in a counter culture punk ethos, The Bakesys do for ska. Itโ€™s more upbeat than the usual plod of dub, but strewn with samples, heavy basslines, and drum machine loops, it has its elements.

From another angle though, as Dreadzone meld such influences into the electronic dance scene, thereโ€™s a contemporary sound, a mesh of offbeat influences with the Bakesys, more in line with the current ska scene. The flood of brass and chugging rhythms confirms its allegiance to authentic 1960โ€™s Jamaican ska. What comes out the end is unique beguiling buoyancy, and itโ€™s absolutely addictive.

Yet weโ€™re only scraping the surface of why, the theme of the album is the kingpin here. Reflecting the era of its influences, subjects are historic affairs based in the sixties. The opening title track raps of Christine Keeler and the Profumo Affair. Get Your Moonboots on is on Apollo 11โ€™s moon landing, and the third, most haunting tune, You are Leaving the American Sector takes newsreels of the Berlin Wall. One Iโ€™ve been playing endlessly the single of on my Friday night Boot Boy radio show.

Atomic Invasion explores the Cold War, yet, as with Keeler, this sublime set of songs often concentrates more on the personalities than facts of the events. The Space Race is up next, with a nod to Yuri Gagarinโ€™s luminary. Then itโ€™s the Cuban Missile Crisis with the numerous failed attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro, Cassius Clayโ€™s rise to heavyweight champion of the world, and Robert F. Kennedyโ€™s assignation.

Despite these often-dark subjects, itโ€™s surprisingly upbeat, as if, like I said, The Bakeseys are the funky relief history teacher, and your class is about get moon stomping! The last three tracks offers dub versions of the most poignant tunes on offer here, yet the album as a complete concept is nothing short of brilliant.

The third CD album released on Bandcamp, and quite the best place to start if youโ€™re unaware of them. Keyboardist Kevin Flowerdew, has self-published the ska sceneโ€™s definitive zine, Do The Dog Skazine for many decades, which has released this under its label namesake, Do the Dog Music, so he certainly knows what makes a great sound; which this does with bells on.

Mark, Stu & Bakesy backstage at the Epplehaus, Tubingen during The Bakesysโ€™ June 1992 German tour.

Song of the Day 38: Gecko

Never fails to bring a smile, Gecko breezes the feel good factor once again with this heartwarming, summery song. Backed up with the most wonderful video produced by Cas Janssen out of many quirky self portraits sent in from worldwide fans; how utterly brilliant can you possibly get?!

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

Lost Trades; The Bird, The Book & The Barrel

Even though they put a man on the moon four years before I was born, I swear itโ€™s the little things summoning me to a care-home for the terminally bewildered. Iโ€™m pre-empting what-they-can’t-do-these-days scenarios, but why so soon? All the years of diluting the kidโ€™s squash, I observed they look rather stout of recent. My daughter calls it a โ€˜senior moment,โ€™ pointing out, itโ€™s double-strength squash. She was right too, says so on the bottle, in huge, unmissable letters.

In a way, itโ€™s kinda like the highly anticipated album from The Lost Trades. Because, if in the past Iโ€™ve put them deservedly on pedestals as individuals, when they first joined together, they shimmed said pedestals closer, and nicely complimented each otherโ€™s voices. This can be heard in the three tunes which reappear from the earlier EP, Robots, Good Old Days, and Wait for my Boat; the first one being definitively Philโ€™s song while the latter two have the marks of Jamie. Awesome as these are, itโ€™s the unreleased tunes which I need to draw your attention to, as theyโ€™ve balanced the pedestals atop of each other, like a daring circus act; the lines between them as individual performers are now totally absorbed, in both writing and vocals, akin to the double-strength squash, this is triple-strength!

If youโ€™ve never known them as individual performers, youโ€™d be forgiven for mistaking that they ever were, with these new set of songs. And with other tricks up their sleeves, The Bird, the Book & The Barrel exceeded my high expectation. Solving the conundrum of what else to write about a trio weโ€™ve already covered so much on Devizine.

The Bird, the Book & The Barrel, released on Friday, the 4th June, can be pre-ordered, and you get two tracks in advance, if you cannot wait, which is understandable. With a rustic wood-cabin corporate identity they donโ€™t waiver from, the essence of folk-roots of yore are embellished with modern themes, from which they project the perfect balance of vocal harmonies one could only compare to family groups. Save Simon & Garfunkel and The Drifters, who could do it, we have to think from the apt genre, of the Carter Family, to The Carpenters, and The Everly Brothers, but perhaps onto The Jacksons, for in soul their voices harmonised with similar perfection. Yes, it really works akin with the Lost Trades, Iโ€™m pleased to announce, and here more than ever.

And in this, the opening tune could be constituted as somewhat boastful about their precision, if not a simple premise of unification; only in sharing one vision will the world be ours for the taking; if you got it, flaunt it! One Voice sums up my own overall thoughts on the album, and makes for a beautiful introduction.

The second track is where the magic really starts. The fleeting romantic interlude of a fast-paced, maybe dodgy, roamer is the theme of Road of Solid Gold, which is as the road, solid and gold. An unusual composition, being the fiddle is habitually played during instrumental breaks, but here it accompanies the vocals. This violin mastery is performed by legend of folk, Peter Knight, a founding member of Steeleye Span, undoubtedly the most renowned group of the British folk revival alongside Fairport Convention, and secretly was Uncle Bulgaria of the Wombles band too! Additionally, this is where we hear the Trades really melding their voices into one, which occurs more frequently as the album progresses.

Elements combine, regardless if one takes the lead, or verses are harmonies too, itโ€™s all a big slice of wonderful. The astute song writing weaves narrative timelessly, be it nostalgic-based such as Good Old Days, unification against the odds like Distance Brings us Closer, both where Jamie leads, and the most poignant, Kingdom Falls, a tale of the pen being mightier than the sword through the eyes of a prisoner of war.

Then thereโ€™s lighter subject matter, often where Phil leads, such as the trickling Your Winning Days, but his lead also offers one of most divergent tunes, Robots, an apprehension of automation, in which a steady guiro offers a pertinent clockwork effect.

At seven tracks in one could wonder whereโ€™s the girl power, but when Tamsin takes lead on Hope Cove, itโ€™s been worth the wait. A heartfelt romance actualised as a geographical location isnโ€™t an uncommon concept, but you know Tamsin handles it inimitably and spectacularly, like only the finest tunes of her solo album Gypsy Blood. Shanty theme continues with Jamie leading on Waiting for my Boat, equivalent to the sentiment of his classic solo songs, Not Going Anywhere and As Big as You, this is nothing less than sublime.

With just two tunes remaining, Silent Noise of the Mind sums my โ€œtriple-strengthโ€ notion of the progress of the Trades, fusing the vocals entirely throughout, the beauty of it embraces the air, drifting your mind like a feather in a gentle zephyr. Tree-hugging Oaks light-heartedly polishes the journey off wonderfully, with a ukulele exhaling a Hawaiian ambiance and a cheery whistle, it leaves you knowing youโ€™ve arrived somewhere where you wouldnโ€™t mind travelling to time and time again.

But Iโ€™d wager you knew Iโ€™d only have good things to say about The Bird, the Book & The Barrel, therefore I implore your faith in my honesty, itโ€™s as amazing as I say, and a little chipping more.

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Situationships With Chloe Hepburn

A second single from Swindon Diva Chloe Hepburn, Situationships was released this week. With a deep rolling bassline, finger-click rhythm and silky soulful vocals, thisโ€ฆ

Devizes to Host New County-Wide Music Awards

I’m delighted to announce Devizine will be actively assisting to organise a new county-wide music awards administration, in conjunction with Wiltshire Music Events UK. Theโ€ฆ

Ruby, Sunday at the Gate

It’s a rarity that I should drag myself off the sofa on a Sunday these days, one usually reserved for the monthly Jon Amor Trioโ€ฆ

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

Thirty Years a Raver: Part 3: We Made Some Noise

Read 1st part
Read 2nd part

Twas the night before my life done gone flipped upside down. It may not have been the colossal party the rest of the country were having, but Marlborough was, and always will be, lost in its own little world. Numerous attendees at the aforementioned Read’m and Weep rock concert on the common, just three years earlier, Iโ€™d suspect now joined us in marching up to the same common after the pubs called last orders, this time heading for an โ€œacid house party.โ€ Others, who failed to register or accept the change of era continued on their rocky road. No harm done.

With a fire at one end, and an older comrade who rigged a speaker to his Beetle at the other, blasting out whatever music he had which could be deemed as close to acid house as possible, it was a Marlborough-fashioned interpretation of an acid house party, and in rural backwaters you learned to make do.

The morning after undoubtedly the strangest of my life, for some reason everything Iโ€™d ever thought had been turned on its head. For the remainder of 1990 we continued with archetypical house parties, where gullible parents went away, but by the spring of 1991 we invited ourselves onto traveller sites, the first being the Belthane festival on Hungerford Common. And while it opened my eyes to see so many living on the road, they seemed unconcerned of our presence and were, on the whole, welcoming. If the urban raver story starts in clubland, note rural ravers didnโ€™t have that luxury, least not without a vehicle.

Indeed, we had a small nightclub in town, but like many it favoured appeasing the old-hat drinking culture. If club owners were aware of rave clubs, they werenโ€™t prepared to make the switch, fearing itโ€™d only diminish their drink sales. At the time the closet place to head for was Swindon, where Extos held legendary nights at Hardings. By the time weโ€™d scrouge a lift and arrived, the club was full, and weโ€™d stand outside in blankets, waiting for a tip off to the party.

So, for a while, best my mate and I could hope for, was to loiter outside the pub, as going in would empty the wallet we needed to escape our town. As newfound ravers leapt in cars and soared off, one of us dared to ask, โ€œalright mate, going to the party?โ€ in hope of scrouging a ride. At art college I had a reliable source, two Oxfordshire individuals into the scene, with bob haircuts and a VW Beetle, one phone call would reveal a clue where to head, if only someone would give us a lift!

The Oxfordshire buddies listened to what we called, โ€œbleep.โ€ For many years I considered it, like ska, a description of the sound, but sources online class it as genre. Rave, or hardcore were the sweeping generalisations, and in 1990 little had been done to separate it into subgenres. There was mellowed vibes type rave, hardcore, house and garage, sure, but at the time it cured into one immense, chaotic noise. Subgenres would derive much later, as the scene exploded and separated. It was however, of small significance UK artists now created their own sound, aside acid-house styled bleep, German techno, which was stiff and structured but lacking soul, and the trancey Goa House, breakbeat house was looming on the horizon.

Hereโ€™s a thing; I argue with myself if we could even call all this a โ€œyouth culture,โ€ rather class it a movement. Youth cultures of yore had a definitive uniform, musically and fashionably. Rave was a melting pot, electronics seeped its way into all genres, and new arrivals descended onto it from all walks. If the Northern Soul clubbers say it was them who inspired it, theyโ€™re not wrong. Neither are the travellers, punks and skins, new romantics, Rastas, or trendy eighties kids. What were once separate identities, rarely seen together, now flocked to the same party, danced and celebrated together, without fussing or fighting, save a mite of banter. This was the chief reason why I class this era as the most wonderful show of unification the nation had seen since the second world war, and Iโ€™m honoured to have been a part of. But Iโ€™m uncertain if it matched the definition of regulated youth culture, as previous mods, rockers, punks and skins did.

The music reflected this, a melting pot of inspirations, whatever angle you came at rave from, you added your portion into the mix. The upcoming trend derived from Britainโ€™s ties with reggae through the Windrush generation, and the surging dancehall flavours we deemed โ€œragga.โ€ Fused with the archaic hip-hop concept of breaking the beat, ragga and breakbeat house surged over bleep, and fast became the mainstay. X-L Recordings, Moving Shadow, Urban Shakedown and many other labels headed this change.

But here is the second thing; we were the throwaway generation, jilted, plastic population, and didnโ€™t care for who created the music. There was no interest in holding a torch for particular bands or labels, unless you were master of ceremonies, the DJ. Leaving the choice to one person, it existed as a DJ culture, and theyโ€™d soon become the stars of the show. If it was genre-bending, we relied on their faith to perpetrate a certain style; when Sasha got on the decks it would be โ€œfluffy,โ€ whereas as when Easygroove did, it would be โ€œhardcore,โ€ with the upcoming breakbeat twist. Thatโ€™s all we knew, and rightly cared about.

What swept at us as a trend became a way of life; we lived for the weekend, vaguely remembering to attend college or jobs in the week. Every weekend an ever-growing number roamed the roads at night, invading unsuspecting service stations, joining to convoys with a lead car who we hoped had an inkling where the party was. Bristol moved east, London moved west, meeting in the Shires, where police would be outnumbered and, rather prevent a riot, would grudgingly allow us free movement. Naturally there were times when they got flustered, upon service stations appropriations, for example, but suspect many appreciated the overtime, and left us to enjoy the ride.

At the Gloucestershire one fondly recalled as โ€œthe one with the haystacks,โ€ someone drew my attention to the police standing on a ridge overlooking the site. To our amusement, and seemingly theirs too, they were imitating our dance moves, and you know what they say about imitation, sincerest form of flattery!

Despite the ruminates of bad blood with travellers, from the Beanfields and free festival movement of the previous decade, they tended to only throw their weight at them. Attempts to move them on, before ravers flocked to their sites turned hostile. Though if, as my friend and I did once at Pitton near Salisbury, ravers arrived early, theyโ€™d witness the true horrors of life on the road, as eviction resembled a massacre rather than a battle. There are shocking things I could tell, of which Iโ€™ve witnessed, effectively ethnic cleansing, destruction of a way of life, and homes. It was not the vision of Britain I pre-held, naรฏvely, reason enough for us to continue to rebel, when all we really wanted to do was party. Opps, some pig knocked off my rose-tinted specs.

Sorry to pop the bubble of happy daze, but there were downsides. Aside the growing harassment from authorities, which would see raveโ€™s demise in the end, there was also comedowns, maintaining motivation for everyday life, failed attempts to find the party, else the event raided and broken up too early. The latter became greater with every weekend, as the sensation blossomed.

You see, we adopted a pyramid-selling technique, only wanted to spread word of our newfound love. Kids we hadnโ€™t seen since leaving school would wander into the pub, they were looking for something, they didnโ€™t know what, but we did. We had the answer, the escapism, and we welcomed them with open arms, took them under our wings and looked after them during their first rave experience. Then, the following week theyโ€™d shed their old identity, and weโ€™d see them fully assimilated, like Star Trekโ€™s Borgg, through the foggy morning, wearing a puffa jacket, round pink shades and diamond-cut trilby, giving it, โ€œalright? Iโ€™m mullered mate, wot you done?!โ€

Thus, we all played a part in promoting the scene, until it got too big for the authorities to leave alone. Some weekends when we didnโ€™t go party, somehow rave crept in. I ventured back to Essex to see old friends, and theyโ€™d have similar stories, of Raindance and other events there. One weekend we attended my mateโ€™s brotherโ€™s wedding in Liverpool, only to find in the basement where the reception was held, a steaming club-rave. The sound attracted us, and we unbolted a fire escape to both gate-crash, and discover likeminded raves were happening nationwide. Meanwhile, his mum wondered where weโ€™d got to, and wandered in to find us amidst a pumping party. Upon her return sheโ€™d been shocked, but happily reported the scene as โ€œloads of kids, just dancing, having fun, no one fighting, no one drunk, and one gave me a hug!โ€

If a little old lady who accidently stumbled into a rave could see it for all its upsides and worth, why couldnโ€™t the police and government? Why did it ever have to end? Because at the time we couldnโ€™t envision that finale, we assumed it would go on forever.

Read Part 4

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Hells Bells! AC/DC tribute in Devizes

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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

Geckoโ€™s Big Picture

In 1998 a pair of pigs escaped while being unloaded off a lorry at an abattoir in Malmesbury and were on the run for aโ€ฆ

Park Farm; New Music Festival in Devizes

A new music festival is coming to Devizes this July. Organisers of the long-running Marlborough based festival MantonFest are shifting west across the downs andโ€ฆ

Results of Salisbury Music Awards

All images: ยฉ๏ธ JS Terry Photography An awards ceremony to celebrate the outstanding musical talent within the city, aptly titled The 2024 Salisbury Music Awards,โ€ฆ

Song of the Day 37: Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse

At least I think it’s number 37, sorta spaced on the song of the day for a while there.

So what better time to reintroduce this quick feature where I generally waffle some crap and share a music video then when our friends Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse knock out an awesomely catchy rock n roll belter like this one?

Any objections and I’m not listening to ya, look; it’s even got a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clip of them at our lovely Cellar Bar; nice!

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

June: State of the Thing; a Monthly Guide to Last and This Coming Month of Devizine

So, who told the April showers that the lockdown applied to it? Come on, I want names! Last month of lockdown was dry and clement, as soon as things starts opening up again, it phased between drizzle and downpour; you canโ€™t make it up.

Yes, I wrote this too soon; bang on cue, here comes the sun for June.

If May saw a gradual return to normality, pray it continues; June should explode, either way. We started the month with concerns over Calneโ€™s Central Youth & Community Centre, and I attended a small protest in Rowde to save Furlong Close. Not forgetting local election would inevitably send me on the usual rant, but Wiltshire lays all its eggs in the same basket. And then, wham, had to rant twice in one day when Seedy pulled out of the PCC election, you certainly couldnโ€™t make that up!

Save Furlong Close protest in Rowde

Musically, a couple of press releases from Sheer, announcing Salemโ€™s national tour with them hosting Swindonโ€™s Vic gig in October, and Frank Turner at Fromeโ€™s Cheese & Grain on both Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th June. But the best Sheer post was more about Kieranโ€™s mum, jumping out of a plane, fundraising for her grandson.

I reviewed Cornish psych-punkers The Brainiac 5โ€™s album Another Time Another Dimension, Trowbridgeโ€™s Sitting Tenants album A Kitchen Sink Drama. Also, Sam Bishopโ€™s great EP Lost Promises, a single from Stockwell, Storm Jae and Noryโ€™s called Canโ€™t Come Home, and a new track from the Longcoats, Nothing Good. We also did a great interview with Dave Lewis, one half of Blondie & Ska. Reviews in the next few days will be an EP of Celtic punk from Liddington Hill, some awesome punkish blues from Elli De Mon, and the new album from The Lost Trades, due on 2nd June.

Blondie & Ska

I started a new Sunday series, being the last one was so popular. No satire this time, just a reflection back thirty years to the era of the rave, from a personal angle; Iโ€™m having lots of fun with this, if it does make me feel old! This continues into June. So, without further to do, hereโ€™s whatโ€™s occurring in June.

Old Skool Rave

Firstly, staying at home we can entertain you too. Iโ€™m gradually working through writing promotional material and sleeve notes for our compilation album, 4 Juliaโ€™s House, which, as it sounds, all proceeds will go to Juliaโ€™s House. This has proved more work than I anticipated for me, due to the most amazing line up of talent who has kindly donated a song. The penultimate entry was an exclusive rock steady track by Blondie & Ska, and the latest entry is by none other than Richard Davis & the Dissidents. See what I mean now, donโ€™t you? Absolutely fantastic, massively hugely massive this is going to be, over three hours of genre-crossing music; something for everyone on there. Okay, Iโ€™ll copy and paste the artists featured; hold onto your jawbone.

Richard Davis & The Dissidents

A mahoosive thanks goes to: Pete Lamb & Cliff Hall, King Dukes, Erin Bardwell, Timid Deer, Duck n Cuvver, Strange Folk, Strange Tales, Paul Lappin, Billy Green 3, Jon Veale, Wilding, Richard Davis & The Dissidents, Barrelhouse, Tom Harris, Will Lawton & the Alchemists, Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective, Kirsty Clinch, Richard Wileman, Nigel G. Lowndes, Kier Cronin, Sam Bishop, Mr Love & Justice, Barmy Park, The Truzzy Boys, Daydream Runaways, Talk in Code, Longcoats, Atari Pilot, Andy J Williams, The Dirty Smooth, SexJazz, Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue, The Boot Hill All Stars, Mr Tea & The Minions, Cosmic Shuffling, Blondie & Ska, The Birth of Bonoyster, The Oyster, The Two Man Travelling Medicine Show, Julie Meikle and Mel Reeves, Meru Michae, Cutsmith, The Tremor Tones, Big Ship Alliance, First Born Losers, Dutch Money(s), and last but by no means least, Neonian, who is working on a track as we speak.

Phew, so, yes, who is as out-out as Mickey Flanagan in June? I know right, how surreal. I went to a pub, an actual pub, and heard live music last Saturday; down the trusty gate for those Daybreakers. Bloody fantastic it was too. Hereโ€™s some things to be looking forward to over this month. Note, this is in no way exhaustive, (which is what Iโ€™m going to be trying to keep up to date with it all!) You must continue to check our event guide, for details of all events listed here, updates of events, and even live streamed.

Half term sees us into June, ongoing from Tuesday 1st thereโ€™s holiday activities at Wiltshire Museum, which we welcome their reopening, and program of forthcoming events.

Also, back in business is the Nether-Streetโ€™s Farm Cookery School, who has a parent and child class called Cake Lady on Thursday 3rd.

The weekend sees The Devizes Lions Sports Coaching Weekend at Devizes Leisure Centre, IndieDay happening across Devizes town centre, meanwhile Devizes Southgate welcomes Texas Tick Fever.

Thereโ€™s a Court Room Cabaret at Trowbridge Town Hall, Talk In Code play Swindonโ€™s Level 3, with Atari Pilot, and Rude Mood are at The Vic.

Eddie Martin is live at The Bell in Bath, and we wish the Bath Reggae Festival a successful first event, letโ€™s hope itโ€™ll become an annual thing.

While weโ€™re on about festivals, the following weekend, from Friday 11th is Kite Festival at Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire. Closer to home, Trevor Babajack Steger is at The Southgate, Devizes on Saturday, and donโ€™t forget Lions on the Green in Devizes, Sunday 13th; letโ€™s support their brand-new fund-raising event. Joh Griven also has a guided tour of the Heritage Walk of Devizes.

This sounds fun too, Mustard Brass Band live at The Bell in Walcott Street, Bath

Monday 14th thereโ€™s an important meeting online, a progress report on Wiltshire Museumโ€™s hopeful move to the Assize Court.

Summer Solstice weekend, (solstice being 4:30 on Monday 21st) kicks off the Bigfoot Festival at Ragely Hall, Warwickshire. Closer to home, as it goes to press, the Kington Langley Scarecrow Festival is still happening. The HoneyStreet Barge presents Troyka, on Saturday 19th, Jon Amorโ€™s King Street Turnaround at The Southgate, Devizes and Ruzz Guitarโ€™s Blues Revue with the Pete Gage Band at The Cheese & Grain, Frome.

There are also two great charity fundraising events, Caroline Lowe as Amy Winehouse at Swindonโ€™s Swiss Chalet, in aid of The Specialized Project, which acts as a fundraising portal for many charitable causes and projects. And at The Rose & Crown in Worton, Chloe Jordan, Mistral and the Celtic Roots Collective have a fundraiser for MacMillan Cancer Support.

To the last weekend of what will, fingerโ€™s crossed, be an amazing return to normality, on Saturday 26th, The Southgate, Devizes welcomes Blind Justice, and the brilliant Blondie & Ska play The Greyhound, Trowbridge. But Iโ€™m hopefully saddling up and heading east, for geetars and corset swinging fun at the Barge on HoneyStreet, where those Boot Hill All Stars plan to moor up, with Dry White Bones; that one will go off!

ย As far as I know, the legendary Black Uhuru at Fromeโ€™s Cheese & Grain, and Sunday 27th Blondie & Ska will be at the Royal Oak, Corsham. But as I say, loads more will be listed by the time we know whatโ€™s what, and hopefully a summer to remember is on the cards; just have to take responsibility for adhering to regulations and observing social distancing. Have a great June.

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Static Moves at The Three Crowns Devizes

Bussing into Devizes Saturday evening, a gaggle (I believe is the appropriate collective noun) of twenty-something girls from Bath already on-board, disembark at The Marketโ€ฆ

Nothing Good, Longcoats; I disagree!

Have no worries, Ollie, youโ€™re a spring chicken, mate! Out this Friday, another dynamite single from Bathโ€™s indie-pop trio, Longcoats, and this time it considers age. Subjective, isnโ€™t it? I mean my boss calls me โ€œyoung Darren,โ€ but my daughter constantly reminds me Iโ€™m as ancient as ye gods. I have to wonder what Bruce Springsteen thinks of his nostalgia-related single Glory Days, written at the tender age of thirty-five comparably to his age now, seventy-two. Worse for the Who, they hoped to die before they got old, Daltrey still rocking at seventy-seven.

Similarly, this track, available across streaming sites from Friday 28th May, Nothing Good, reminisces of the golden teenage years, under the pretence โ€œthereโ€™s nothing good about getting old.โ€ What about a free bus pass, eh?! Itโ€™s as long-a-road as your coats, lads, enjoy it while it lasts, it doesnโ€™t get any better than this. Think of a time when youโ€™ve got more hair in your ears than on your head.

But if you should wish to look me up in my nursing home decades from now, and then let me know how you feel about the connotation of this track, it would be interesting to hear!

I thought I should clear that up, as the song title is ironic against the melody; everything is good about that, better than good, itโ€™s pretty much fantastic. Filled with nostalgia though is the mainstay of this beguiling sound. The shift towards the classic eighties pop-rock sound complimented the previous single, Pretty in Pink, and continues here with this one.

Yet retaining that fresh, current vibe, Iโ€™m relishing in this trend, produced by the Longcoats, and other local bands such as Talk in Code, Daydream Runaways and Atari Pilot, Iโ€™m virtually contemplating getting my Now albums out to compare, volumes one to ten. As if youโ€™d have heard this in that day of Rubixโ€™s Cubes and Sinclair C5s, it would be astounding. Today, itโ€™s just as great, as if time bypassed the comparatively melancholy indie vibe of the nineties.

Itโ€™s how to capture that uplifting, danceable sense within the gloomy theme that weโ€™re not getting any younger, which somehow Longcoats just nail here. A highly enjoyable, layered track with a killer riff. Check it out on Friday. Me? Iโ€™m off to get some of those slippers with zips on the sideโ€ฆ.

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The Emporium in Devizes to Close

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Mental Rot; New I See Orange Single

Hold on tight, the new single from I See Orange, Mental Rot embodies everything I love about this Swindon grunge trio, and takes no prisonersโ€ฆ..โ€ฆ

RowdeFest 2025!

Okay, I canโ€™t keep the secret any longer or Iโ€™ll pop! While all the hard work is being organised by a lovely committee, because theyโ€ฆ

Events This Weekend; January Into February!

If weโ€™re nearly out of the prolonged gloom of January, note itโ€™s still winter but weโ€™ve climatised and are ready to party. February this yearโ€ฆ

Thirty Years a Raver, Part 2: We Called it Acieeed!

read the first part here

A branch of a classy supermarket chain seems an unlikely place to start a story of oneโ€™s first rave experience. It was a shop which, on a later occasion, my mate and I decided to walk ten miles back to, to thank them for such a lovely pizza. Overlooking the fact, it was the extra topping of liberty caps we added ourselves which sparked the idea, and, in turn caused us to only make it a hundred yards out of the village before we collapsed in a hysterical heap. Just as well, given I worked there at the time.

Oh, for the time, Iโ€™m slipping down my rose-tinted specs again, but, while Iโ€™m grateful to those reading this who lived it, Iโ€™d rather those too young would too, who they need to understand the era leading up to it, to know why we did what we didโ€ฆโ€ฆ

A protest at end of term school disco, 1988. Teachers, thought they were โ€œhipโ€ enough to do the โ€œinโ€ thing, hiring a standard DJ to deliver the latest pop sounds. One year away from leaving the institution we saw ourselves as mature. Obviously not, but sufficient to warrant a plain and simple fact; the pop chart was not aimed at us.

A decade old now and electronica has become timeworn and abused by the Hit Factory and Stock Aitken Waterman. The formula was simple, derived from sixties bubble-gum pop, and aimed an even younger audience. An assembly line of drum machine synthpop churned out uninspiring samey trash, a monotonous drone promoting pop stardom to Australian soap opera actors, failing have-been musicians convinced by a fat cheque and dreadful teenage dreamboats. They punished the last part of the decade; they commercialised the once experimental epoch. It should have been a crime.

We all sat in protest on the dancefloor, booing, as the DJ spun, I Owe You Nothing by latest teen-pop sensation Bros, two brothers from Camberley with Pet Shop Boys manager Tom Watkins, stupid belt buckles and leather vests donning crucifixes, which seeing as what they did for pop, was actually quite apt. The only person left dancing was a good friend of mine, who took the ingenuity to bring a Sony Walkman, and he skanked out of time, through the protesters in his own little world, lip-syncing the words to Buffalo Solider.

For me, even my love of hip hop worn thin. While it still had a nostalgic place in my heart, as it spread out from the Bronx it seemed to be whitewashed, typecast far from the original ethos. Yes, Grandmaster Melle Mel rapped conscious lyrics on The Message, but that was the exception to the rule. Now, seemed every rapper had a chip on their shoulder, something to criticise, a plastic attitude and some serious bling. It was either this, or sell yourself like a cheap tart; take MC Miker G & DJ Sven rapping over Madonnaโ€™s Holiday as red for why hip hop lost its way.

 A far cry from the untroubled origins of hip-hop, where the idea was to throw your cares away for the duration and party. A notion closer to the new impending wave of electronic music, fresh from the underground.

In any case, at 14 Iโ€™d moved to Marlborough, where breakdance seemingly hadnโ€™t the same impact as it had on my Essex town. Prior to starting school there, my mother suggested my brother and I attend a concert on the common, as promoted on GWR Radio, surprisingly. It mayโ€™ve been a tactic to encourage us to blend into our new home. What actually happened freaked me out. If I considered Iโ€™d descended time, back to the seventies, before this day, I certainly did now. I believe the band playing to have been popular local rock band, Read’m and Weep.

Looking back now, they were excellent, but through my trendy suburban Essex eyes I was shocked at the sight of scruffy rock kids perched on car bonnets, uniformed in black, smoking, drinking from bottles before me. I felt like the character Sam Emerson, the younger brother in the movie The Lost Boys, when they go to the beach fair. If one of these โ€œweirdosโ€ glimmered fangs at me, I was legging it.

In fairness, being bored with the direction of hip-hop, and annoyed with commercial pop, I had a sweeping overview of rock, as soft metal took the charts by storm. And as I emersed fuller into the cultural differences of my environment. I began to find it was the only musical avenue worthy of attention, and had to backtrack my knowledge to the classics. But as I was taking in Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and The Doors, in order to make friends at school, they became accepting of a new wave of electronic music called โ€œhouse,โ€ as it was, it had a commercial side, but looming was the psychedelic underground roots, sub-labelled โ€œacid house.โ€ We kind of met in the middle.

I find it amusing child-friendly raves have become a popular attraction recently. Organisers such Raver Tots and Big Fish, Little Fish attained a gap in the market with new parents who thought the stork has ended their raving days.

Ingeniously they create a pay-rave/soft play centre crossover, largely based on the hardcore era of the mid-nineties, as that’s the generation with easily persuaded toddlers. Way to go to push your diehard habits onto your saucepan and lids, but indulge now, as it doesn’t last! If you asked my daughter ten years ago what her favourite music is, she’d reply “reggae,” an obvious spoon-fed response. Now she’s engulfed by current pop, and you have to let them find their own path, their own thing. Pushy parenting backfires.

But that’s not the reason it amuses me, neither is the fact since the dawn of rave participants never take themselves too seriously. Yes, it’s “cheesy” by their own definition. Yes, there’s a childlike euphoria involved with raving too. Sucking of lollies, cuddling complete strangers, and dancing like a lunatic to a breakbeat sample of the Sesame Street theme. But it’s a notion the flipside, the “indie” kids could never fathom, in all their depressing reality-driven gloom; rave was never to be taken too seriously. It was quintessentially an escapism.

No, the reason it amuses me is thus, at the time rave was not the place to take a toddler and few did, save for perhaps the travelling folk who, for them, the sites were their home. Rave was illegal, primarily, until big businesses saw the opportunity to make a fast buck. Rave was daring, criminal and that’s what, unashamedly, made it exciting. In fact, the spread of the trend grew from a scare story, a tabloid attempt to frighten parents into believing every teenager, including theirs, was off their rockers in a dangerous derelict warehouse somewhere around the London orbital. Truth is, my friends and I hadn’t a clue about it, until now.

In fact, in 1988, just before some doughnut invited a lucky journalist to an acid house party, the scene was tiny, a secret association only a select few Ibiza diehards knew about. The desire to recreate their hedonistic holiday in the Balearics in London gained little attention, until one day the newspapers splashed it across their front pages. Needless to say, it backfired, now every teenager in the country wanted in on the deal. Including me.

As ever, the Sun was the main culprit, Gary Bushell pasting a light-hearted angle, often satirical and tongue-in-cheek but definitely in favour of the exploding trend, in order to sell their “acid house t-shirt.” Soon as sales dropped, they turned nasty on the surge they had a hand in prompting. It’s almost as if they deliberately blossomed a teenage rebellious phenomenon in order to flip it over and create hysteria, to sell papers; who knew they could be so callous?!

But it was too late. D-Mob sounded it out; We Call It Acieeed. Prior tunes to hit the charts never wrote it directly on the wall. It was always just about “house” music, pumping up the volume, or jackin’ your body. One could differentiate, draw a definite line between run-of-the-mill “house,” hence being commercial, or the evil, drug suggested “acid house.” At least to our adolescent mind. Truth is, it was all the same.

Yet meanwhile we were still convinced electronic music was sold out to commercialisation, therefore we’d rewound back to the space rock of psychedelic sixties and seventies. Unlike my peers though, I retained small penchant for the original hip hop, and swept house with the same brush. It was short lived, but I liked house for all the silly samples of Bomb the Bass’ Beat Dis. It was as if electro had turned full circle, and divided from the cliche of fierce rap styled US hip hop, particularly now the west coast had as much clout as the east.

It’s also worth noting, although we took its source as American, British acts like Coldcut were now producing house. As the media hysteria became old news and mellowed, by 1990, the average joe blogs could be forgiven for assuming it had all been a flash in the pan. Little did even we know the trend was growing, and since graduating from pupil to student, felt we had moral responsibility to check it out for ourselves.

Perhaps not just our age, but also rural Wiltshire was hardly cutting edge when it came to trends. So, two years on and the words on our lips were “acid house,” despite the term had metamorphosed into “rave.”

With local Tory backhanding secret social clubsโ€™ slaps on the back, our school opened its doors and poured children into the only supermarket in town, where the branch manager welcomed weekend staff, he could offer ยฃ2.20 an hour to. I succumbed for want of my own pocket money. Surprisingly, it was there where my adventure into rave begun.

Yet it was there, working my Saturday job, allowing us the newfound financial freedom to maturely decide where best to invest our earning, which happened to be getting wasted. A friend, a year or so senior, dropped the killer bombshell, to which I hide my excitement and pretended to know all about. “You going to the acid house party tonight, up the common?” he inquired.

Well, my feet didn’t touch the floor before arriving at the opposite side of the warehouse below the store, where my buddy priced up tins of soup. Shocking to think barcodes were still some way off, and one would have to be like Clint Eastwood with a pricing gun. But nevertheless, he stopped as I told him the news, and his face lit up with excitement, and a slight evil grin.

1991 beckons next week, as I relive my rave honeymoon, be there!

Read Part 3

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The Daybreakers @ The Southgate: OMG, a Live Music Review!

Shock, horror OMG and other unsuitable internet abbreviations, yes it happened. Like mutated survivors emerging from their underground lair in some post-apocalyptic movie, to snuffle fresh air once again, tonight couldโ€™ve been any other night two years ago, but with renewed captivation I sat in a beer garden, an actual beer garden, with a real pint of scrumpy, while the incredible Daybreakers played music. Yes, real, live music, which received not one applause emoji, but real applause, the like of human hands clapping and everything; how surreal.

I donโ€™t ask for much these days, but let me tell you, it was both a relief and joy to feel somewhere back to normal, and I couldnโ€™t think of a more appropriate band to be there for the occasion.

Of course, Itโ€™s our trusty Southgate, the Devizes O2 arena. A rustic watering hole of sociability, hospitality and scraggy dogs. Fingers and toes crossed future Saturday nights will look like this, as blues-rock Leon Daye Band arrive next week, followed by Trevor Babajack Steger on 12th June and Jon Amorโ€™s King St Turnaround on 19th.

Life isnโ€™t fully repaired, expect table service, adhere to etiquette, remain seated wherever possible, and wear masks while moving around, but it is an awesome beginning. Iโ€™ve returned home, loaded up Word to pen a citation, but while it was booting, I worried; itโ€™s been so long since Iโ€™ve knocked up live music review, is it like riding a bike?

Ah, bollocks. I was never much cop at either, anyway.

Unlike me, the professionalism of Gouldy, Cath and those Daybreakers, who lost no grip on their skills, played a blinder, seemingly thoroughly loving every minute of it. I arrived to hear the Jamโ€™s Start, which was good start, ba-boom, and they continued through their plethora of wonderful era-spanning covers, from the Cure to The Levellers and OMD to the Specials, and so on; even adding their original song, I think they called The Wait. The masses of optimism in the cool air came to an apex when those Daybreakers burst into Dexyโ€™s Come on Eileen just as it once, always did. And the wildcard, thrown in at the last moment, was a beautiful rendition of Ah-Haโ€™s Take on Me, believe it or not, yet as they have a tendency to do, they smashed it out of the park.

Hats off to them, and of course, Dave, Deborah and staff at the Gate. With their newfound roles of waiters and waitresses, Iโ€™m guessing not in the original job description, they catered to everyone promptly, with their charm and wit, and Iโ€™d imagine a smile under their facemasks. Hereโ€™s to many more perfect gigs at the Southgate.

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Tribute Acts Going the Extra Mile; Blondie & Ska

One surprise track contributed for our forthcoming compilation album for Juliaโ€™s House, (yes, itโ€™s going sluggish but well, thanks for asking!) comes from Chippenhamโ€™s part-Blondie-tribute-part-ska-covers duo, Blondie & Ska. Itโ€™s a solid, rock steady original, with the added bonus it sounds as if it couldโ€™ve been an album track from Parallel Lines, Plastic Letters or another Blondie album at the peak of their game.  

Itโ€™s given me the opportunity to have a chat with Dave Lewis, one half of the duo, on how they started doing what they do, pondering if you just wake up one morning and think, I know, Iโ€™m going to be tribute act. If Blondie & Ska actually see themselves wholly as a Blondie tribute act at all, given they not only record original songs, but in a unique slant, perform classic Two-Tone songs from the same period. But most importantly, answering some conundrums Iโ€™ve had since hearing a tune with a similar concept by UB40 tribute Johnny2Bad, about tribute acts going the extra mile and recording tracks in the fashion of their inspiration. I mean, is it deliberate that it sounds akin, or simply natural method given the music is based around imitating the act?

Certainly, Blondie & Ska wasnโ€™t formed on a whim. For a decade prior to forming the duo, Lorraine and Dave were both co-members of various bands on the same circuit. The idea, Dave explained, โ€œoccurred over a number of phases,โ€ and expressed, as a mod, his love for The Beat. Anxious not to live up to expectations of his idols, Dave continued, โ€œplaying ska, was one of those things, because you love it so much, you donโ€™t want to go that direction, but when we kind of got dragged into it, there was no stopping us, because the more we did it, the more we loved doing it, and there was no reason to be nervous!โ€

In the band as well, was Steve Edge, who co-wrote our song. โ€œSteve and I used to write back in the nineties,โ€ Dave explained, chuffed to be reunited to write this track specifically for us. โ€œAnd we performed as an originals band,โ€ he enthusiastically continued.

After the originals band, Dave joined his drummer and played in a local blues band called No Ties, which Lorraine also started in, while Dave concentrated on a secondary band aptly named Band Two, which Lorraine would later join. It was there where Dave suggested the concept of Blondie & Ska to Lorraine, in 2013. โ€œShe replied, hum, I fancy having a go at that,โ€ Dave revealed. โ€œIt took about six months to get rehearsed. We did our first gig, and thought, why didnโ€™t we do this before?โ€ Theyโ€™ve been performing weekly as a duo act from Landโ€™s End to Barnsley since, clocking up hundreds or appearances together.

I moved onto the question, given recording originals and this mixture of lateral ska tunes added to the Blondie tribute, if they even classed themselves at โ€˜tribute actโ€™ in the same light as the run-of-the-mill ones. โ€œItโ€™s weird one,โ€ he admitted, โ€œI kind of call it that Blondie and ska sound. Whatever we tend to do, people say I didnโ€™t expect it to be like that, but thatโ€™s way things are. If Iโ€™m going to do something, we want to do it in a different way.โ€ Itโ€™s also practical, using pre-recorded sections such as drums and horns, Blondie & Ska can accommodate the smallest of venues, unlike a large ska band with a horn section. โ€œThe other thing which is difficult, with signature bands, is itโ€™s hard work keeping the bands together,โ€ Dave observed, a notorious hindrance with ska bands in particular.  

Dubious it would work at first, during lockdowns alternate Saturdays have seen regular blossoming live streams from Blondie & Ska. โ€œWe had over 10 thousand viewers on one,โ€ Dave delighted, โ€œwhich is bonkers! I think it was just a sign of the time, everyone was just at their computer!โ€ For your attention, next one is tonight at 8pm (Saturday 22nd May) on Facebook, HERE. โ€œIf people donโ€™t know us,โ€ Dave suggested, โ€œitโ€™s always a nice test. Weโ€™ve been surprised by the positive feedback.โ€

Thereโ€™s the thing with Blondie & Ska, and I put it to Dave without trying to cause offence, that though itโ€™s unique, nothing theyโ€™re doing is particularly ground-breaking. Theyโ€™ve no stars in their eyes, but the niche is theyโ€™re two musicians having a whole lot of fun, doing what they love doing. And this is what comes across, and why it sounds so good. โ€œAbsolutely,โ€ he agreed, suggesting the original blues band was tiresome. โ€œI wasnโ€™t really up for anything after that, and later wanted to get back into the action. Weโ€™re doing it now because we enjoy doing it. The Blondie & Ska stuff, you know, the more we play, the more people ask, and more bookings we get in ska clubs, and our repertoire is pushed in that direction.โ€ I laughed, so prolific was the Jamaican record industry during the ska era, thereโ€™s always going to be one trainspotter, like me (!) who comes up and asks for some obscure Coxsone rarity!

But in turn, thatโ€™s precisely the ethos of both ska, and seemingly Blondieโ€™s music. Aside the political unrest occasionally portrayed in the Two-Tone ska revival of the eighties, the memorable songs come from a carefree perceptive of jollity, and like Madness and Bad Manners, ska is eternally dance music, from the very roots. Likewise, Blondie rarely, if at all, socially commented about anything more than romance.

Dave was so enthusiastic to chat about the reasoning and history behind Blondie & Ska, about the technicalities of recreating the perfect tribute sound, and appeasing the aficionados, we couldโ€™ve chatted forever, but I feel you need to witness them in the arena they love, rather than waffle some!

An interesting story surrounding the chosen name for the duo we finished on, as while setting up for an early gig, the organiser summed up the sound on the blackboard by chalking up โ€œBlondie & Ska,โ€ under the premise a lot of blond girls and a lot of male ska fans had turned up. โ€œI was standing there, looking at the name on the poster,โ€ Dave explained. โ€œLorraine was saying, can you just get on and set up, cos weโ€™ve got to be playing in an hour?! I said, but look at the name on the poster, and she was going, no, get on with what youโ€™re supposed to be doing!โ€ But Dave approached the guy, knowing him through many past gigs, to ask him if he could use it. โ€œThe girls danced to the Blondie songs, and the guys danced to the ska,โ€ he noted. Story checks out, the mix works. Tune into their live streams to find out for yourself, or hereโ€™s hoping to catch them at a real gig soon.

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Discovering Swindon Story Shed

With Dad’s taxi on call in Swindon and a few hours to kill whilst her majesty is at the flicks, it was fortunate local authorโ€ฆ

The Rise of Winter Festivals

Once upon a time it seemed to me, that folk would grin and bear the winter weather for the sake of a Christmas lights switchingโ€ฆ

In Retrospect With Gary Martian

So yeah, not only has Cracked Machine and Clock Radio drummer Gary Martin added a letter A to his name to make it sound moreโ€ฆ

Sheer Music’s Mum to Jump out of Aeroplane!

Okay, it’s a funny headline, but a serious message is attached to it, all about Stanley.

Stanley was born too early, at thirty weeks gestation in August 2016, and was placed in NICU. Luckily, both he and his mum came home from hospital.

Unfortunately, having been starved of oxygen during the emergency caesarean he has been left with Cerebal Palsy affecting all four limbs. As a result of this Stanley is unable to walk at all and bunnyhops everywhere he goes.

He is being assessed for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery at Bristol Childrenโ€™s Hospital and part of his treatment requires that he has as much physiotherapy as possible ahead of the surgery and for two years following, to give him the best outcome possible.

Unfortunately, he gets next to nothing in the way of physiotherapy from the NHS so it’s up to the family to fund this. The good news is, that this is working and his core strength is improving and he is now able to โ€˜standโ€™ on his knees for a short while.

To help with the cost, Stanley’s superheroic grandma, and mum to our good friend, Kieran of Sheer Music, is intending to jump out of a plane at 6000ft and freefall for 45 seconds at around 120 mph, as any gran would! “I want to add to his fund by doing something totally mad,” Teri explains, and that it surely is.

Teri is currently being treated for bowel and secondary Liver cancer, which she says is, “scary enough,” without the notion she’ll be free-falling from six feet let alone 6000!

I’m guessing she’ll be strapped to young, hunky skydiving type macho-man. I asked her this, but she didn’t reply, so as usual I’m making this little bit up! But best wishes to Teri, and if you could please sponser her in, as she puts it, “scaring myself stupid for my grandson,” every penny will go to her grandson Stanley. Thank you.

Follow this link to Teri’s campaign:

IndieDay is Back in Devizes

With a few i’s to dot and tโ€™s to cross, the non-profit organisation Devizes Retailers & Independents announce a second IndieDay in Devizes on Saturday 5th June. With an aim to spread the word about all the excellent independent retail shops and small businesses in Devizes, last yearโ€™s event was well received and enjoyed, at such a crucial time.

Firstly, there will be trail maps, with the chance to win an indie hamper with goodies donated by generous independent retailers across Devizes. You can get one on the day from the Market Place, or pick a map up prior, during the first week of June, from any participating independent shops, or download one here. You need to post your entry form at the post office, at Cositas Bonitas or Tea Inc. by 4.30pm on the day.

Unfortunately, Devizine will not be arranging any live music this time, as we did last year. The need is must for our local musicians to concentrate on obtaining bookings for paid events, and I feel asking them to freely contribute their valuable time at this delicate moment is, quite simply unfair on them. Though we did have a wonderful day last time, and I reach out my eternal gratitude to Tamsin, Jamie, Cath and Gouldy, and particularly Mike Barham for setting it up.

Tamsin Quin, Mike Barham and Sound Affects @ IndieDay 2020

There will be lots of things to do on the day though. Youth Traders at Albion Place in Sidmouth Street, will be giving some young traders the chance to take part and experience running a market stall. Something worthy of supporting. Artist/picture framer Becky Hanney Art will be there, with amazing quality craftsmanship for wood turning and bespoke pieces from Jack Baldwin. Eyah Bakes Cakes brings some amazing cake creations that are like a works of art. With prints and postcards from Harrietโ€™s Crafts & Creations, unique handmade works in wool from Vintage Cyanide Kira, and the promise for more to be confirmed.

Becky Hanney Art
Eyah Bakes Cakes

The ever-important face painting still has to be found a space to make me into a lion, as is my preferred choice, or risk my tantrum! But we also have music at various locations throughout the day, organised by Jemma Brown. At 10am in the Market Place Take Five perform, TITCO at 11am, and Segregation 6 Brass at midday.

Will Foulstone

Meanwhile in The Brittox, find Devizes Jubilee Morris from midday. And at The Shambles from 1pm piano and cello with Dominic and Dori, and never to be missed, young Will Foulstone on piano from 3pm. Itโ€™s a sterling effort from inDevizes and Devizes Retailers & Independents to encourage local shopping at this tricky junction, but with everyone adhering to social distancing and regulations, letโ€™s hope for a successful IndieDay on 5th June.

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Christmas Greetings From Devizine!

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

Thirty Years a Raver; Part 1: Planet Rock & Tooth Extractions!

New short series of articles exploring rave culture thirty years on, from a personal perspectiveโ€ฆ.

In the early eighties my nan and grandad stood at the head of the hall, preparing from requests they adlib a speech for their surprise anniversary party. My grandad did the standard honours, thanking everyone for coming, excusing any clumsiness with his words by suggesting, โ€œweโ€™re still at ten thousand feet with the surprise.โ€ At this point my nanโ€™s sister interrupted with astute cockney humour; โ€œbit like your wedding night, eh, Carrie?!โ€

โ€œNo,โ€ my Nan causally retorted, โ€œthere were bombs on our wedding night!โ€

Itโ€™s a sentiment which will live with me forever, how anyone can pass off bombs during their wedding, in jest. Most people nowadays get irate if rains on their special day. Because, whenever my grandparents spoke of the war and living in the east-end during the blitz, it was a joyous transcript, never revealing horrors we know happened. I ponder my own memories of youth, wonder if itโ€™s the same rose-tinted specs, or if the era really was as utterly fantastic as my memory of it is.

And in this much, thereโ€™s a thing; nothing we did was particularly new-fangled. Tribally, ancient folk gathered to celebrate and hypnotically dance to drum beats, and the occurrence never trended or waivered. Though it maybe debatable, I think, with the introduction of computer technology in music, designer chemicals and enough chewing gum to keep Wrigleyโ€™s in business, we partied harder, faster and longer than any previous youth culture did, and probably ever will in the future!

We made party a way of life. We did not think politically until they came for us. Our only concerns were where the next party would be and if weโ€™d have enough cash for some petrol and necessities. Our only motivation was the joyous unification of a tribal-like movement, or in other words, a fuck-off legendary party. Our only philosophies were how beautiful said unification was, and how we could promote it to the world. Yet, unbeknown at the time, the latter was most likely our downfall. No one makes some fucking noise anymore.

Often referred to as “you remember, the one with the haystacks!”

I do recall the fabled week of the second bank holiday of May 1992, how we gathered at a common in Malvern. I also recollect wandering up a hillside on the first morning, observing how large the event had grown, and I remember thinking to myself, nice as it was, they were never going to let us live this one down, they were going to have to attempt to put a stop to it, politically.

So, Iโ€™m drafting a series of articles exploring the time, from a personal interpretation, hoping to conclude, itโ€™s a bit of both; rose-tinted specs, and the most explosive period of counter-culture hedonism ever. Individual because events and accounts vary vastly from person-to-person; how, where and why they โ€œgot into,โ€ the sybaritic nineties trend of rave. Lots of memoirs I do read or see, like the most successful, Justin Kerriganโ€™s 1999 film Human Traffic, are set in an urban environment. Unlike these, we spent our youth in the Wiltshire countryside, and this I feel is a major contributing factor which differs our story from most, especially prior to passing my driving test!  Thumbs out, โ€œyou going to the party, mate?โ€

Iโ€™m doing it now because of the significance of the anniversary. Thirty years ago, I class my โ€œpersonal summer of love.โ€ It was 1991, I was eighteen, standing in an unidentified field somewhere in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, gyrating like a robot through the morning mist, eyes large as saucers, and a jawbone tremor you could break a walnut with. Imagine, not alone, but with countless likeminded others. In fact, Iโ€™d lost my mates an uncalculatable time ago, which mattered not one iota. How did I get here? Why did I go there? Where the bloody hell was I anyway? To reflect back with any hope of clarity is not only to understand the epoch and the time, but the mindset, and for this we need to go back further, much further.

I put my pre-initiation to becoming a โ€œraver,โ€ into two significant recollections. The first was in the spring of 1984, in my Dadโ€™s Ford Cortina, heading for the Asda at the Chelmer Village outside Chelmsford. Growing up in Essex had one advantage to my friends in the west country, we had pirate radio, and I mean pirates. Anchored off the East Anglia coast were the legendary Radio Caroline, where BBC Radio headhunted many DJs, but who appeased their fanbase by continuing playing sixties and seventies songs, and its sister, the short-lived Laser 558, which toppled Carolineโ€™s listeners by using American DJs which played a continuous mix of contemporary tunes.

Hard to imagine at the time we considered having a cassette deck in a car radio as something only for the gods. In fact, I went to edit that last sentence to call it a car stereo, but reflecting back it wasnโ€™t even stereo, just the one speaker below the dashboard! Reason why my brother and I would screech requests from the backseats for my Dad to turn it up. On this occasion we were particularly demanding, as there was a song, Iโ€™d never heard the like of ever before. Sure, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotteโ€™s I Feel Love was timeworn, and we existed amidst the dawn of new romantic, the electronic eighties pop in Britain was governed by the experimental post-punks. They either got with the program or fell into obscurity, whinging about how Adam Ant sold out.

Nope, I hadnโ€™t a Scooby-Doo what a Roland TR-808 was, but I knew what I liked. I wasnโ€™t aware of Factory Records, but I knew what Blue Monday was, and I knew liking Duran Duran might make me more attractive to the opposite sex. But this American song was wildly different, it was like ultramodern sonic funk, it was Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force. I figured aside the Dr Who theme, this was the sound of the future, this was space-age, flying cars type stuff. And for the best part, I was right. Little did I know Iโ€™d be standing in a cold west country field seven years later, gnashing my teeth to electronic beats which made this sound old-hat.

I went out and loaded myself with American electro and early hip hop, discovering Grandmaster Melle Mel, Hashim, Newcleus et all, and we nagged Dad for a video recorder. My parents couldnโ€™t see the point to recording TV, or hiring a VHS cassette, but the latter soon become a family weekend activity. We hired National Lampoons Vacation the first weekend, but prior to that, my brother rented the movie Beat Street, and everything, the Bronx culture, the graffiti, the breakdancing, the rapping, all fell into place.  

Before I knew what was what, we were breaking in the school playground to commercialised versions, Break Machineโ€™s Street Dance, Ollie & Jerryโ€™s Breakin’… There’s No Stopping Us and Hey, you The Rock Steady Crew. Well, I say breakdancing, but that was a showy skilful fad for flexible kids. As a shy, cumbersome one, surrounded by puppy-fat I ticked none of those boxes and made do with โ€œbody popping.โ€ This was far simpler, just had to join hands with the kids in the circle either side of you and do a kind of connected wave. That will impress the fairer sex, we must have figured, least I donโ€™t know why else we did it, but we did, and less said about it the better.

Just like our school playground….. or maybe not!

The second significant recollection as a pre-cursor to becoming a โ€œraver,โ€ was a trip to the dentist. I needed my four remaining milk teeth extracted. For this, unlike today where you stay awake, numbed but perceptible to the dentist tensioning a foot to the side of the chair while he wrenches into your gum full force, they put me to sleep using gas. The nurse held my hand and told me to count to ten, I remember feeling uneasy as the gas took effect, it felt strange, it was the first time I was high; destined to be a โ€œraver,โ€ Iโ€™ll leave it up to your imagination if it was the last!

Do come again next Sunday, for the second part; might actually get on to the party stuff by then!

read second part here

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Chapters, New Single From Kirsty Clinch

Okay, so, Iโ€™m aย  little behind, recently opting to perfect my couch potato posture and consider hibernation, meaning Iโ€™ve not yet mentioned Kirsty Clinchโ€™s newโ€ฆ

Devizes Writers Group Win Silver Award

Congratulations to Rosalind Ambler and Paul Snook from Devizes Writers Group… At the National Community Radio Awards held in Cardiff on 16th November Together!, theโ€ฆ

Hansel & Gretel: Panto at the Wharf!

Images: Chris Watkins Media It was lovely to spend Sunday afternoon at Devizesโ€™ Wharf Theatre, to see how this yearโ€™s pantomime Hansel & Gretel, isโ€ฆ

The Lost Promises of Sam Bishop

Five years on from Devizes six-form boy band 98 Reasons, we find vocalist and keyboardist Sam Bishop studying music in Winchester, while former Larkin partner Finely Trusler continues working with cousin Harvey as The Truzzy Boys and has become fresh new frontman for local mod heroes, The Roughcut Rebels.

Last week we were able get a valuable insight into Samโ€™s portfolio and progress, as he releases a five-track EP of new material across streaming platforms; Lost Promises. Seems education pays off; this is a dynamite of powerful pop, and showcases Samโ€™s vocal range with much more intricate and often daring arrangements.

But perhaps, what is more, thereโ€™s matured themes on show. Opening tune, Below the Surface is evidence enough, an emotionally-driven social issues context of two characters, firstly a young single mum thrown out of the family home and a motherless son turning to drug abuse. The haunting piano gathers a peek to courage against the face of misfortune, and it stings.

Relevance is key in a convincing performance of this style, personal reflection on your own words pulls the heartstrings. โ€œIโ€™m so proud of each and every song on it,โ€ Sam says. โ€œThey all relate to a significant point of my life, when I was feeling a certain way. itโ€™s the rawest and most explorative Iโ€™ve been as a songwriter.โ€

Image: Nick Padmore

Fallen Sky weโ€™ve reviewed as a single last year, a dark, moody ambience, backed with a deep bassline, sonic piano and ticking drumbeats; as if William Orbit took boyband to dubstep. It characterises dejected teenage anguish and echoes the passion in early romantic interactions. While itโ€™s a bromide subject at the best of times, Sam rests on it well, as was a time when we wanted Phil Collins to have a broken heart, so his reflection on it would be so powerfully crushing and relevant to our own life.

The back riff of Decide trickles, reminding me of the deep South American riffs of the Graceland shadowed Paul Simon sequel The Rhythm of the Saints, but its pace and catchiness makes it perhaps the most beguiling. As the title suggests thereโ€™s a romantic dilemma, again clichรฉ subject, but you know Samโ€™s vocal penitence has it covered to perfection.

Weโ€™re lucky enough to have an acoustic version of the fourth track for our forthcoming charity album; I know, yep, Iโ€™m working on it, okay! Largely guitar-based, Wild Heart gives prominence in particular to my observation about trialling in Samโ€™s vocal arrangements, thereโ€™s some complicated measures to handle, and he does. Trust is a continuing notion, which makes a running theme, I guess where the title developed from.

The trick is the balance, and Samโ€™s a magician, but not without friends he thanks for assistance, โ€œthis EP wouldnโ€™t have been possible without the hard work of some of the best musicians Iโ€™ve had the pleasure to work with,โ€ Sam continues, โ€œToby, Ellie, Martin, Robbie, Woody and Stephanie.โ€

As it suggests, The End is the perfect finale, a ballad of missing someone, praying fondness will prevail and itโ€™s not the end. In this track, and in all, thereโ€™s a poignant concept, the mainstay of all good pop. Hey, teacher, Sam deserves top marks for this, itโ€™s highly listenable and hauntingly deeper than anything previous, yet retaining freshness of memorable pop. Progress is sweet, and to prove it hereโ€™s Sam in his early days with a drumstick up his nostril. Something heโ€™ll annoy for me adding, but honestly bud, you canโ€™t unsee it now!

Stockwell, Storm Jae and Nory Canโ€™t Come Home

Itโ€™s not every day we hear a quintessentially hip-hop track with the magnitude of enriching classic rock riffs, say, as Gerry Raffertyโ€™s Baker Street or Pink Floydโ€™s The Great Gig in the Sky.

Agreeably the nineties downbeat and trip hop era unleashed some masterful acts, particularly of the Bristol scene. And thereโ€™s shards of precisely this too, of Massive Attack and Portishead, in Canโ€™t Come Home, a new Wise Monkey single from Stockwell featuring Storm Jae and Nory.

If I retain through rose-tinted specs, a passion for those naughty nineties itโ€™s fuelled by nostalgia; I was young, once! Can even recall some bits of it. But rather than the drifting layers sluggishly building of aforementioned trip hop, the wailing guitar here hits you full in the face, more akin to said enriching classic rock tracks.

Stockwell

Even all this said and done, thereโ€™s nothing content to rest in a time of yore here, as the alignment of beats, astute male rap and uplifting female vocals of Canโ€™t Come Home is fundamentally fresh and contemporary. Enough, I feel, to cross the barrier from myself to my teenage daughterโ€™s musical taste, and that rarely occurs! This combination makes the song especially unique and substantially epic.

Storm Jae

With the attitude and gumption of Stevie Nicks, and the mezzo-soprano range of Joni Mitchell, Storm Jae is a jolt in the right direction for an enveloping new era of singer-songwriters. Nory seems more elusive, I canโ€™t find any information on! But teaming up with the trailblazing hip-hop-come-rock crossover musician and producer Stockwell is a match made in heaven, a heaven you can hear for yourself.

Itโ€™s agelessly sharp, emotionally elevating and an impactful grower, which will tease the palate of rock and urban adherents alike. If I make you wince to note Run DMC walked this way with Aerosmith some thirty-five years ago, or if you have to ask Siri what I mean by that, neither matters, this tune will appease either.

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No Worries; Worried Men at The Pump

Long overdue a visit to the Pump in Trowbridge, Jamie Thyer, frontman of the Worried Men twisted my arm Friday night and there I was,โ€ฆ

Ian Siegal at Long Street Blues Club

Devizes is often spoiled for choice when it comes to live music. Swindon folk ensemble SGO at the Gate would’ve been an excellent decision forโ€ฆ

Wiltshire Music Centre Announces New Joint Leadership

Wiltshire Music Centre is delighted to announce the new appointments ofย Danielย Clark as Artistic Director, andย Sarahย Robertson as Executive Director.ย Danielย andย Sarahย join Wiltshire Music Centre in a new co-leadershipโ€ฆ

What’s Happening During November in Devizes?

Remember, remember, weโ€™re moving into November; leaves, loads of โ€˜em! Being as we are no longer doing weekly roundups, hereโ€™s some highlights of events inโ€ฆ

Wiltshireโ€™s Most Expensive Laugh; Seedy Out of the PCC Race!

Two opinion pieces from me in as many days; you lucky, lucky people! What I wouldnโ€™t give to have two lofty opinion pieces from Devizine thrown at me once in a while!

As the news circulates that hunting bonkers Conservative PCC candidate for Wiltshire, Johnathan Seed is out of the race, we all can have a belly-laugh, especially Basil Brush. But rules are rules, and at this stage, seems WC will need to hold a second election, rather than the obvious, just pick the second-place candidate and roll with that.

I mean, if a horse falls out of the race, the race continues. You wouldnโ€™t stop the race, pick another horse and rerun it, would you?

Without quoting sources at this delicate time, word on the street is another election will cost a cool million squid; who picks up this bill, the taxpayer?

Hinging on two conflicting allegations as to how this story came to light, one being Seedy declared his drink driving offence and suddenly decided he should pull out because of it, and the second that he was ousted when the offense came to light, one could argue if the latter, he, or the Conservative party should be liable for the bill, whereas the first means the electoral roll shouldโ€™ve picked this up before running the election. Being Wiltshire Council is Tory run, you can bet your bottom dollar, the dollar is coming out of your pocket. In essence, itโ€™s Wiltshireโ€™s most expensive laugh.

Whatever, this does mean thereโ€™s time for the Conservatives to draft in a new candidate, which they can do. One who without even having to campaign, will, by current trends walk the show without the slightest insight or experience of the roll. So, if you thought every cloud has a silver lining, no, not in our Tory haven. But I must stress, thatโ€™s speculation.

Boom Boom!

If the race is yet to be won, thereโ€™s as much convincing as I can to be done, to sway you to consider voting elsewhere. Weโ€™ve interviewed Lib Dem Liz Webster, and weโ€™ve interviewed independent Mike Rees. We ran out of time to chat to Labourโ€™s Junab Ali, for which I apologise, but with this news, and depending on the date of the election, perhaps this is still on the cards, and I welcome Junab to chat with us.

Anyway, tonight will see the news break the local social media sites, whereโ€™s thereโ€™s a general feeling of relief. Johnathan Seedโ€™s campaign has not been particularly popular. And if that has reflected in the current polls, who knows, we may not have to go through all this again.

Hereโ€™s what some people are saying online, which is what the Gazelle & Herod do for a quick article, I know, and if itโ€™s good enough for them itโ€™s good enough for us!

โ€œIโ€™m sorry, but Iโ€™m losing no sleep over this one!โ€

โ€œApparently they’re going to put up a garden gnome with a blue rosette on it, they’re still convinced it will win.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s very frustrating, especially as itโ€™s nothing new. He doesnโ€™t seem to have been a popular choice so fingers crossed he doesnโ€™t win and we can bypass another vote.โ€

โ€œGood. Will Wiltshire Council send him the bill for having to rerun the poll?โ€

“This will give him more time to spend with the hunt and hounds..”

Right, thatโ€™s enough of that, this isnโ€™t a public forum! Go figure!

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YEA Devizes: DOCA New Youth Project

Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts announced their upcoming project, YEA Devizes today. Made possible by a grant from National Grid Electricity Transmissionโ€™s Community Grant Programme, theโ€ฆ

The Mist; New Single from Meg

Chippenhamโ€™s young folk singer-songwriter Meg, or M3G if you want to get numeric, will release her 6th single The Mist on Friday 18th October, andโ€ฆ

A Trowbridge Kitchen Sink Drama; Sitting Tenants

Wednesday, racing down to the newsagent on the corner on my Rayleigh Tomahawk, fifteen pee in sweaty palm. Pick up my Beano, six pence left for halfpenny sweets. The lady stood irritated behind the counter holding a small paper bag, as the kid front of the queue rubbed his chin pondering the crucial quandary. โ€œYouโ€™ve got four pee left,โ€ sheโ€™d calculate, while the boy finally opted for another flying saucer rather than a fruit salad chew.

If thereโ€™s something delightfully everyday about the subjects on Trowbridgeโ€™s Sitting Tenants lockdown album, A Kitchen Sink Drama, none more retrospectively thought-provoking than the fifth tune, the Newsagent, which encouraged the placement of this archived memory to my frontal cortex.

Unlike many a lockdown inspired project, this lives on the sunny side of the street, no matter how working-class notion of destitution. A semi-acoustic concept album, all from a shed in Trowbridge, as folk, as best pigeonholed, itโ€™s acutely observational and mostly sentimentally mellow, perfect lazy Sunday afternoon music. Yet it never escorts you down a dark alley. Of people-watching in a back street pub, of a welcomed arrival of a letter from an old friend; subjects are ordinary, with an optimistic air of market town affairs. Even the album sleeve is a line drawing of Trowbridge town centre.

Released on 208 Records, usually reserved for garage mod-revival, still it retains something of that period in sound and particularly subject. Rob himself polished his skill fronting Swindon mod band Roundabout, some twenty-five years past. A band I do recall fondly. But even if you donโ€™t, here is something indie-folky, with a taste of local excellence.

Revived since lockdown this garage-folk bandโ€™s fifth album was recorded in Robโ€™s garden shed, with only bassist Geoff Allwright, and using Ian Hunter’s lyrics. Itโ€™s beautifully peculiar, a mite psychedelic in as much as McCartney vaudeville moments on Sgt Pepper, engrossing as Nick Drake, quirky as Pentangle or The Pretty Things. Itโ€™s the Kinks jamming carefree on a Sunday, especially on the most upbeat Lincoln Green. It nods to Lionel Bart on the Austerity Street, John Martyn on The Tin Man, and incredibly on the captivating eleven-minute finale, Falling Backwards, where things do get acute, Ralph McTell.

Like a Ralph of Trowbridge, itโ€™s like, why is this down the road but new to me? Why didnโ€™t it post a leaflet through my letterbox instead of a pleading politician?

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Wiltshire Lays all its Eggs in the Same Basket

You’ve done it now, it’s too late for reason. My reaction to the local election results coming in; you really want to hear it?!

Itโ€™s not really news, and altogether unsurprising to see early results to the local town/village elections coming in, proving generally the majority population of Wiltshire is unable to consider change, and doesnโ€™t much care for their neighbours. Yep, if you proudly tow the national party line, or if you waffle how the sheer ignorance, dishonourable and incompetent of the Conservative Party nationally doesnโ€™t reflect your own opinions and views, if you painted your election leaflet blue, you more than likely won it by a country mile. Did we seriously expect anything less?

Face it, any other party, or independent candidate wouldn’t have stood a chance even if they offered everyone a free fish finger sandwich for every vote, and everyone, tory or sensible, loves a fish finger sandwich. To those who lost, it’s not a reflection on you, rather the ignorance of the silent majority. Not even mayo on the sarnie would’ve worked.

As impartial as I get, I offer my congratulations to the winning candidates, but it is with great concern for the wellbeing of the most vulnerable, the youth, the working class and usual victims of this totalitarian regime. Even if many themselves fail to see past their Daily Fail, fail to comprehend the buck stops at the top, and their neighbours, or their mass-media driven forged enemies are not to blame for the current balls up this country finds itself in, it is, nonetheless, proof Wiltshire loves to lay all itโ€™s eggs in the same basket.

Itโ€™s not even a shiny new basket, itโ€™s the aged wrecked one, where guaranteed the eggs drop out of the bottom and an expectant fat cat waits to lap them up.

I cross my fingers and toes that this sheer stupidity will not elevate to the Police Crime Commissioner role, due to be announced on Monday, but reflecting on todayโ€™s results, Iโ€™m not holding my breath. The most controversial and malevolent of all tory candidates standing has raised interest in this debatably inconsequential job. It all hinges on what we want from a PCC; a dedicated experienced man in the field, a politically-minded victimโ€™s mother of a callous and brutal attack with an argument to boot, or a one-policy suspected criminal themself, with the financial backing of the wealthiest felons of blood sports in order to encourage police to turn a blind eye to brutally attacking wildlife for twisted kicks. Seriously, you think youโ€™ll get justice for a burglary, an assault or theft, from a fellow whose only objective for the role is to turnaround the hunting act and roam the countryside on horseback yelling tally-ho and smearing the blood of slaughtered foxes on their face? Is that really the future prospective for policing in the county you crave?

Give me strength. Thereโ€™s a level of blind folly which astounds my tolerance, it really does. Yet historically itโ€™s a given thing, Wiltshire is Tory, always has been since the Cavaliers whipped the Roundheads; you face it head-on and bite your lip, or you follow suit, opt for the selection which takes no brainpower, and place your cross where you always do. Unreasoning contemporary alterations is a dangerous game, having an opposition is vital to democracy. Iโ€™m no politician, donโ€™t pretend to be, donโ€™t wish to be, but that much I do know.  

As this reflects national trend, I hope every successful candidate adheres to the lofty pledges and promises of change, rather than submits to the corrupt ethos of the current cabinet. Okay, so you used the blue platform to get to this point, despite bits of Bojoโ€™s rash and forbidding outbursts, like the watermelon smiles, the post boxes, and now the bodies piling higher, donโ€™t match your sentiments, but the motivation is surely to climb further up the ladder, thatโ€™s the philosophy of modern conservatism, and for which you need to kiss the rings of those in charge, and they do not accept a midrange, centre-right standing; you watched them get ousted in favour of far right and nationalists from other parties, remember? You are buying into oppression, whether you want to, or not, like it, or not.

Thereโ€™s nothing wrong with Conservatism per say, as a theory, and one, possibly two Tories I can stomach, for they seem to have morals on the surface. Yet, itโ€™s when thereโ€™s a, whatever the collective noun for self-centred arseholes is, they tend to bounce inconsistences to whatโ€™s righteous around, garnish them with wonky and selfish agendas, and generally, fuelled by expensive tax-free wine from daddyโ€™s collection, conjure a plan to maintain the wealth for the wealthiest without concern for the trickling down of any leftover faeces for the common man to lap up.

This is good news for most of us here, this is an affluent area. But I urge you, when you next roll your 21reg Land Rover Discovery off your extensive loose chipping track and drive into the real world, stop to observe not everyoneโ€™s silver spoon is quite as polished and orally positioned, and everyone who serves you in Marks and Sparks, everyone who delivers your bespoke Lexington four-draw chest for your next refurb, or collects your recycling bin surely warrants a better day too. Enough to go round, isnโ€™t there? Monkeys live in this jungle too, not just organ grinders.

Ah, same shitshow different day. For me itโ€™s a no news day, and Iโ€™m waffling. I canโ€™t even raise my optimism for the news the controversial head Wiltshire councillor Phillip Whitehead has resigned, for itโ€™s easy to suspect another one will be along shortly, equally as vexed. Iโ€™m more flabbergasted, and slightly upset the sequel to my fictional story series needs a new thinktank, as those comical and sensitive Tories say!

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Autumn-Winter Comedy in Devizes

Comedy in Devizes is a rare thing, unless you count visitors turning right at the Shaneโ€™s Castle junction, reading opinions on the Devizes Issues (butโ€ฆ

Forestry Operations Due to Start at West Woods

Featured Photo: Forestry England/Crown copyright Planned timber harvesting is set to begin at popular walking destination, West Woods, from the end of September until Marchโ€ฆ

Swindon Gets Shuffling!

Despite the population of Devizes throwing confetti and paint at each other in their most celebrated annual ritual, I believe I picked the right weekendโ€ฆ

Brainiac 5โ€™s Other Dimension

And it is precisely that. Cornish psych-punkers The Brainiac 5 release this mind-blowing album of both reflective new tunes and lost archived tracks, today. Another Time Another Dimension bursts the clichรฉ term genre-breaking to compose scattered influences, with this kind of low-fi garage style, which while loans to punk, even reggae, has the nod to acid rock of a previous psychedelia era. Most befitting a title, this is a tricky nugget to nail down, but itโ€™s grower.

The band stress this is not a lockdown album, the impetus came from two other sources, namely a digging through the archives for unreleased material, and secondly, the passing of a long-time friend of the band, Martin Griffin. A supportive engineering assistant to the band in its earliest days, allowing them extensive use of his Roach Recording studio. Both reasons sparked the writing of some new songs, in this fifteen-track bundle of era-spanning and mind-expanding goodness.

I confess I was dubious at first, itโ€™s as if The Beatles came after punk, but still recorded in a garage. It made me ponder the Clash singing โ€œphoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust,โ€ and in turn the target audience, presumably a fairly eclectic bunch. As I said, itโ€™s a grower, and I suspect Iโ€™ll be digging bits of โ€œoh yeah, I get it now,โ€ for many listens to come. But time has got the best of me, got to get this review out tonight.

โ€œThe four albums released during our second coming have all garnered many reviews noting our continuing desire to experiment and expand while still maintaining the basic psych/punk ethos,โ€ they say, โ€œIndeed, the three new tracks here do continue this tradition of experimentation. However, although it is clear that the band has grown and developed over the years it is remarkable just how much we were experimenting right from the bandโ€™s inception.โ€

The bulk of Another Time Another Dimension, then, are memoirs, lost archives from 1976-1980, in what the band name โ€œour initial Cornwall period.โ€ Taking John D. Loudermilkโ€™s Tobacco Road to Hendrix proportions, yep, sure is blues to be found here, and the rough and ready cover of Moveโ€™s Do Ya revels in low-fi garage rock.

But itโ€™s loud, proud and sonic trialling, denoting a path through dubby seventies roots reggae, with a few tracks which offbeat, such as I Call Your Name and though Our Devils is another, it reeks of avant-garde, a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band-come post-punk Talking Heads. Then I return to thinking, definitely punk, I Feel Good a prime example. And then, wham, thereโ€™s freaky drunken Jim Morrison weirdness in tracks like Khazi Persona.

Though the ground here is bumpy at the best of times, your head doesnโ€™t smash on the top; it may be raw, but blends with a flowing refinement of proficiency. โ€œThere is a lot of ground covered here,โ€ they rightly explain, โ€œhang on and enjoy the ride.โ€ And thereโ€™s the very thing; once youโ€™ve found your footing, itโ€™s a fantastic, adventurous ride, just lacks suspension!

But, with the third eye being squeegeed so succulently as this, suspension is for losers, anyway. Another Time Another Dimension encompasses a past with a present, as if neither really happened, and that’s refreshingly effective against pigeonholing.

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The Juggernaut Delivers Back at The Southgate

If there’s been welcomed stand-ins for the monthly Jon Amor Trio residency at the Southgate in Devizes recently, Ruzz Evans and Eddie Martin, Jon โ€œtheโ€ฆ

Deadlight Dance New EP Chapter & Verse

Marlborough gothic duo Deadlight Dance are due to release an EP of new material. Itโ€™s called Chapter & Verse and itโ€™ll be out on Rayโ€ฆ

Sheer Reveal Frank Turner at Cheese & Grain

To celebrate the release of his new single โ€œthe Gathering,โ€ featuring Jason Isbell and Museโ€™s Dom Howard, multi-award-winning Frank Turner, one of the UKโ€™s most successful solo artists of the past decade, selling over one million records worldwide and playing to over two million people from small venues to a sold-out show at Londonโ€™s famous Wembley Arena, announces a UK tour. The good news for Turner fans is, Sheer Music nabbed the man himself for two dates at the Cheese & Grain.

Out via Xtra Mile Recordings of Polydor Records, The Gathering is his first new solo music in nearly two years. That said, we did review his Buddies sequel album with Jon Snodgrass not so long ago.

Launching today, The Gathering is available to stream now across all platforms, alongside are the exciting details for a series of nine live show โ€˜Gatheringsโ€™, headed by Frank and Xtra Mile Recordings and running over summer 2021. Tickets for all shows on sale from 10am BST on Friday May 7th.

Itโ€™s said Frank Turner didnโ€™t want to write a lockdown song. Over the past year heโ€™s written and rewritten songs, trying to steer himself away from the subject that will no doubt dominate the charts for years to come. But for a man whose life and career are so intrinsically linked to live music, not referencing the dearth of festivals and gigs started to prove impossible. Not least since Turner himself has spent much of lockdown playing virtual shows from his living room, raising over ยฃ250,000 to support endangered grassroots venues up and down the UK, many of which might not have otherwise survived the pandemic.

So, itโ€™s fitting that Frankโ€™s new single โ€˜The Gatheringโ€™ is an upbeat, Glam-esque stomp. It puts a positive spin on things, anticipating a return to normality. โ€œItโ€™s about that moment when you come together in a room full of people, and you lean on a stranger and sing along with the chorus and get the words wrong,โ€ explained Frank.

Produced by Rich Costey (Biffy Clyro, Foo Fighters), who Frank worked with on 2013โ€™s Tape Deck Heart, โ€˜The Gathering’ features pile driving drums courtesy of Museโ€™s Dom Howard and a triumphant guitar solo from Jason Isbell, who recorded remotely from Los Angeles and Nashville. The new track follows a number of huge life changes for the star, who left his beloved London for the Essex coast, also getting married after the release of 2019โ€™s No Manโ€™s Land. โ€œThe biggest thing for me about the lockdown experience was about identity,โ€ he says. โ€œI am the guy who tours, this is who I’ve been since I was sixteen. This is the longest period of time I’ve slept in the same bed continuously since I was seven.โ€

Set to change this summer, when, in celebration of the ethos behind โ€˜The Gatheringโ€™ Frank and label Xtra Mile Recordings will present a run of outdoor shows, helping to kick start the return of live music. Itโ€™s been a catastrophic year for the Industry as a whole, with the Covid pandemic dealing blow after blow for everyone in the sector. In true punk rock style, Xtra Mile and Turner want to take matters into their own hands with a set of versatile events that can either be socially distanced or full capacity depending on the maximum safety of the audience, performers and crews and in accordance with any national restrictions in place at the time of the event. Frank says; โ€œAt a time when the pandemic has wreaked havoc all across the live music industry, I feel like it’s important to get back to the basics – playing live music to entertain a crowd. This summer, with Xtra Mile and friends, I’m taking the punk approach – do it yourself, find a way. I can’t wait.โ€

2021 UK โ€˜Gatheringโ€™ Live Shows include Bideford in June, and Fromeโ€™s Cheese & Grain on both Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th June. The tour continues through July with dates in Liverpool and Gloucester, August at Manchester and Hull will need to wait until September.

The Guvโ€™ of Sheer, Kieran Moore is keen to point out the Sunday is his birthday, so if you are going, take him a cake. I dunno, good question; add about 50ish candles I reckon!

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Fulltone Confirmed For 2025 in Devizes

The Fulltone Orchestra has confirmed today that their annual festival will take place on The Green in Devizes from 25th โ€“ 27th July 2025โ€ฆ. โ€œItโ€™sโ€ฆ

Get ‘Lifted’ by Chandra

Chandra, Hindu God of the Moon, with his own NASA X-ray observatory named after him, and also frontman of a self-named friendly Bristol-based four-piece pop-punkโ€ฆ

Local Book Review: Dadโ€™s New Dress

Spent most of Pride month, and the following month too (what? Iโ€™m a slow reader and a busy chap!) reading an apt book, given toโ€ฆ

Save Furlong Close Campaigners Protest in Rowde

Rowde villagers joined for a socially distanced and peaceful protest today, in the centre of the village to show their support for the Save Furlong Close campaign.

More show of solidarity than protest, if โ€œprotestโ€ is now a dirty word and standing up for your rights is to be considered illicit. It was good to meet those heading this campaign to deflect the closing of Furlong Close, home to 36 vulnerable adults with learning disabilities, including Down syndrome, autism and epilepsy.

Reflecting on a thought Iโ€™d said in previous articles on this campaign, campaign leader Trish specified how the residents of Furlong Close were a big part of the village community and would be missed if it was to close down. We also discussed that while the red tape between Wiltshire Council and the owning charity HFT continues, the opinions of both locals and residents are being ignored.

Weโ€™ve covered the tragic plans on Devizine at length, in the past; hearing direct from Mark Steele, a member of the campaignโ€™s steering group, who has family at Furlong Close. The Gazette & Herald ran an edition with a wrap-around page campaign, and over a staggering 44,000 have signed the petition, therefore I do not wish to go over the same ground. We know this is a terrible decision, we are aware the residents do not wish to be dispersed and move into isolated and lonely single accommodations theyโ€™re unfamiliar with, we only need a workable solution.

Yet with the backing of many local councillors, Anna Cuthbert and Lib Dem candidate for Bromham, Rowde and Roundway, Mark Mangham in attendance today, the backing of the media, and in particular, the local people, I sincerely hope we can turn this around and end on a feel-good story. The show of hope and solidarity today proves this is possible. Mark said it was, โ€œhumbling to be among the campaigners, many related to residents and from beyond Wiltshire. Many Rowde residents are volunteers. This is what community feels like!โ€

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Some Days with Paul Lappin

Paul’s self-made cover to his latest single, Some Days depicts a fellow sitting under a tree pondering life, while an autumn zephyr blows leaves aroundโ€ฆ

Imberbus is running this Saturday !

Following on from last monthโ€™s email, this is a final reminder that yearโ€™s Imberbus service will be running this coming Saturday โ€“ 17th August 2024.โ€ฆ

Marlborough, I’ve Seen Your Pants

โ€œWe can’t stop here. This is Tory country,โ€ I chuckled while fiercely yanking the handbrake, as if Dr Gonzo was in the car. We canโ€ฆ

Salem Announce National Tour with Sheer Hosting Swindonโ€™s Vic Gig

Thereโ€™s something indefinitely old school punk about Salem, with nods to pop-punk, goth and rockabilly, hoisting them to the absolute top of their scene. No one in the UK are delivering this genre better right now.

This side project of Will Gould from Creepers and Matt Reynolds of Howards Alias is loud, proud and spitting; dripping with Siouxsie and the Banshees, laddered fishnet stockings and Robert Smith influences. Quite honestly, Kieran’s right, again; itโ€™s knocking deafeningly at my front door!

They described their self-titled debut 2020 EP as โ€œspooky, silly, romantic punk rock songs.โ€ Yeah, figures.

Today they announce their October UK tour, with Oxfordโ€™s Bullingdon, Fromeโ€™s Cheese & Grain, and Bristolโ€™s Exchange included, and nestled between them, on October 16th, Sheer Music & Bandit present them at Swindonโ€™s grandstand music venue, The Victoria.

Support for the Salemโ€™s tour comes from a new solo project from Welsh former Holding Absence bassist, James Joseph; James and the Cold Gun. A playful twist on his name, James and the Cold Gun is named after a Kath Bush song. They promise to be something of a rock nโ€™ roll blues revue, akin to former British rock nโ€™ roll heroes The Computers. They signed to Gallows label Venn Records for the release of their debut album.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (6th May.) ยฃ10 adv. / ยฃ13 OTD for the Vic.

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Ruzz Up The Gate!

I was intending to start this along the lines of โ€œyou don’t need me to provide another reason why I love The Southgate,โ€ but thisโ€ฆ

Sing Another Love Song with Rosie Jay

Second impressive single from young Salisbury singer-songwriter Rosie Jay is released today. Sing Another Love Song; a sound of the summerโ€ฆ.. Her debut breakup trackโ€ฆ

Cotswold Water Park to be Renamed

Here’s a prime example as to why I could never be a councillor….. Cotswold District Council will vote on changing the name of Cotswold Waterโ€ฆ