If I penned an all-purpose article a week or so ago, about ska in South America being as prospering now as it once was in England, I follow it up with this grand example….
Argentina’s Dancing Mood trumpeter and producer Hugo Lobo made history this week, releasing “Fire Fire,” a skanking upbeat cover of a Wailers rarity, by calling in international troops. Throughout this prolific career, Hugo endeavours to encourage legendarily collaborations, exalting the international genre and keeping the flame of Ska and Rocksteady alive.
Dancing Mood staggeringly sold over 200,000 albums. Hugo Lobo presented his debut solo album ‘Ska is the Way’ in 2017. This renowned trumpeter not only performed and produced for many of the south American ska and reggae bands I mentioned in my previous piece, but transcends to international acclaim, working with Rico Rodriguez, Janet Kay, The Skatalites, Doreen Shaffer, and Dennis Bovell. With Jerry Dammers, Hugo paid tribute to Rico Rodriguez in 2015 at the London International Ska Festival.
In a transcendental meeting, three generations of ska artists from the corners of the planet combined to recreate this 1968 musical nugget from the Wailers’ homemade label “Wail’n Soul’m,” where Peter Tosh leads. Jamaican-born British rhythm guitarist and vocalist Lynval Golding, of the Specials and who later founded the Fun Boy Three with Terry Hall and Neville Staple, is central to the single, yet he always is central to something ska! Lynval appeared on Glasto’s Pyramid Stage with Terry Hall backing Lily Allen, and the Park Stage where Blur frontman Damon Albarn and beatboxer Shlomo knocked out Dandy Livingstone’s “Message to You Rudy,” a popular cover for the Specials.
Lynval Golding
With a generation-spanning résumé, Lynval Golding continues with current group, Pama International, undoubtedly the UK’s most celebrated contemporary ska outfit who we were the first new band in thirty years to sign to Trojan Records. Yet through this huge portfolio, Hugo Lobo proudly announces his presentation is Lynval Golding’s first solo material.
Lynval with Jerry Dammers and Jools Holland
If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, Hugo also called upon the current bassist of The Skatalites, Val Douglas to add to the enthralling sound. Check the bass on Bob Marley’s “Wake Up and Live” if you want a shining example of Val’s talent. Though Val is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer and producer, working with just about any reggae legend you could name; Toots & The Maytals, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Ernest Ranglin, The Abyssinians, Delroy Wilson, Dennis Brown, Ken Boothe, Lloyd Charmers, as well as contemporary ska artists the New York Ska Jazz Ensemble.
Val Douglas
All this considered, it could go one of two ways, overloaded with ego and fighting for centre stage as would many legends of other genres, or simply a sublime sound. Bear in mind this is SKA, collaborations are more frequent and common than rock and pop, and unlike the often-pugnacious insolence of ska bands, there’s never anything narcissistic about legendary collaborations. Glad to announce it’s the latter of the two ways, this sound leads the way. It holds all the catchiness we expect from ska, it heralds tradition but sounds fresh and innovative; the hallmark of the scene I love.
If the name Clock Radio suggests an irritating box by your bed you simply want to lunge at in the morning, the casual “Talking Heads” fashion of local purveyors of self-proclaimed “deluded jangle rock,” entice no such violent action; they’re smooth and arty. Though, ironically describe themselves as “easily triggered, dishonest, cryptic yet flirty,” and violence is likely the disingenuous subject of a new tune, virtuously. Talking Heads though, Psycho Killer, qu’est-ce que c’est?
Idiosyncratic irony and intellectual self-satire, isn’t it? Regulars at Devizes Southgate, Clock Radio threw their retrospective namesake to the wind a year ago, and joined the download generation, as far as distributing their wares. “Throw out your vinyl grandad,” they call ageistly called to order, “Clock Radio just went digital!”
Their enigmatic sound though is much the same proficient “new wave” formula you’ll hear live; if it ain’t broke. They brand themselves through posters using snippets from cringeworthy seventies catalogues or Gilliam’s Python animation-styled images; all very pop art. Their sound reflects such an epoch, so such ageist jests can be nothing more than the elemental tongue-in-cheek bravura which will aptly see them billed alongside Calne’s Real Cheesemakers.
Out this week,“Virtuous Violence” is their fifth virtual release, following two singles and two EPs. With a spooky clocktower chime introduction, a gothic guitar riff flows through this otherwise poetic and smooth tune. It’s melodic retrospective post-punk goodness, would be avant-garde if appropriated its era. Yet if that Brian-Eno-slipping-on-The-Pixies kind of causal and breezy ambience is the fashion Clock Radio seek through their previously releases, they’ve nailed it with this one.
For while I’ll flitter with the genre, a tune has to “pop,” for me to take hold of it, and Virtuous Violence transcends the boundaries of their previous releases for catchiness and in capturing the imagination. Don’t run away with the notion they achieved this with the ease of synth-pop, for that’s an element of new wave they steer away from, keeping it traditionally analogue. No, this is just, well, nice on the ears. Another one for post-lockdown “must do” hitlist.
If we’re all eager to consign this lockdown to the history books, none so more, perhaps, than our pub landlords/ladies and event organisers.
I’d hope and imagine they’re considering ways to make the return to normal a real celebration. Just a suggestion then, as nothing with such universal appeal would bring the party to an apex then some live soul and Motown; yeah, I know right, comes at price though. But there is an affordable option, and they sound great.
I’d advise you check out this Sophia’s Soul Rebels video, recorded at the Bug @ Spider the week before lockdown, and tell try tell me this wouldnt liven your evening up!
We were all saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected death of Cllr. Andy Johnson, the newly elected Town Mayor of Devizes, on the evening of 25th May, only ten days into his term of office.
Many people across the Town have already paid tribute to his kindness and generosity as both a neighbour and a worker for local charities.
One of the traditions of the Mayors of Devizes is to use their term of office to raise funds for charities which support the people of the Town. Andy had chosen three deserving charities to support, the Devizes Foodbank, Devizes Opportunity Centre, and the new St James Centre, but his untimely death occurred before he was able to turn that intention into reality.
Please join us in making a donation to this appeal, set up in Andy’s name, to raise much needed funds for his chosen charities in his memory. The Covid-19 crisis has affected all charities, but has been a particular blow for smaller, local, groups whose income has dropped substantially now that “lockdown” has prevented their normal fund raising activities from taking place. The need for their services remains as great, so many are in real crisis. Your contribution will not only allow you to honour the memory of a dedicated supporter of our local community, but will make a real difference to the lives of people within Devizes
Whether he’s sofa slouching with his one hand down his pants the other clasping a beer, watching classic Euro finals and yelping like it’s happening now, or digging up weeds in the garden, proudly displaying his builder’s butt, don’t forget your Dad this Father’s Day…..
ON SUNDAY! I confess, I did one year, and live to regret it now he’s gone; insert sad emoji. Though it’s a man-thing for banter to ride over showing our emotion, if you’re not a dad yourself you’re excused for thinking it’s all a commercial con and your dad doesn’t want the attention, and all they did, after all, was the naughty bit. You are wrong though, I’m afraid. It does mean a lot to those dadas and father figures, believe me.
Remember we live to embarrass you in public, that’s why we have those sandals and oversized khaki shorts, but we do it because we care! So, you’ve a few more days to get it together, shops are reopening, I urge you keep it local, but what can you do to show him, through all his faults, you love and respect that balding misunderstood numpty?! Here’s some ideas….
Cards and Gifts!
Yep, easy one, innit? Top of the list though. Keeping it local, nip down the High Street, Devizes, and find Expressions Card Shop. They have reopened, and have all the cards, balloons and gifts you could ever want to shower your pops with.
Another cool place to check out, antiques and vintage shop Ele’s Emporium in Seend, they suggest some homemade beer coasters which would save your mum having to moan at him for beer rings on her bespoke coffee table; you know he’ll try to blame it on you otherwise!
Or make something yourself, the Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre have everything the creative need to construct something truly unique. The scrapstore is a wonderful, eco-friendly charity whose aim is to promote learning through creativity. And if it all fails and you’re covered head-to-toe in double-sided sticky tape, gifts can also be found in Barty’s next door at Bowden Hill, Lacock!
Buy him a Record or CD!
Nip to Vinyl Realm, even if you don’t know what music the old fellow is into; experts Pete and Jacki will be able to advise, and nab yourself a long player that’ll take your dear ol’ pops back to a far off time when he was young; just take a step back if he attempts to belt out Cracklin’ Rosie or show off his dad-dancing; it’s never a pretty sight!
Beer and Snacks!
I admit some Batman socks once got me a tad excited, but usually socks are a cliché yawn. Beer, that’s what he wants, and snacks to go with it. The Vaults in Devizes and Piggy Bank in Calne offer Father’s Day boxes of such necessities, and they’ll deliver them on Saturday or Sunday. Order on their respective websites and you can benefit from the amusement of watching Dad get sloshed.
The Southgate is also available to get take-outs, might be a plan; check with your favourite boozer to see who’s also doing take-outs; Dads are raring to get back down the pub, so you could be onto a winner with this idea. Mathematically the equation is thus: Dad + Beer = Happy Dad.
Tea for Two!
I don’t know about you, but I’m happy with any food, and I’m a dad; must be something in that notion. The Happy Food Company of Devizes have put together a special afternoon tea for Father’s Day, fresh delivered to your door on the day.
Cake selection, Coffee and walnut cake, Guinness and chocolate cake, large pork sausage roll, scone, jam and cream, loose tea from teainc and at £20 for 2. Mum will love it too, even if it’s not her special day!
A Takeaway Roast Dinner!
Who’s got one of those Dads who is always in the kitchen? Yeah, thought not! Still, might benefit him if mum’s in a good mood; get a takeaway roast dinner from the Pelican in Devizes; wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Best way to a man’s heart. Roast pork, chicken or stuffed Portabello mushroom with blue cheese sauce and lovely home made desserts. Vouchers can be redeemed for up to one year, and they have Take Away Mid Week Specials from around the World!
Sweeties!
While we’re on grub, Dads love ‘em, simple as. Savannah’s Sweets in Devizes have reopened, and still do takeaway orders for home delivery. It’s an idea, save him nicking your Haribo, after all.
Picnic!
Every Dad is, in some way, like Yogi Bear, and love a pic-a-nic. Over at Lower Farm, home to Rowdey Cows and Spotty Dogs, they’re having a socially distancing picnic; the shop has everything you need to make it as swanky as you like, and the café is open for teas, coffees, and of course, it goes without saying; ice cream! The Spotty Dog also has a male grooming gift sets as a secondary idea. So, if your dad has adopted the Planet of the Apes look over the lockdown, this might be the very idea.
Have a BBQ!
Dad and barbeque, like horse and carriage. Butchers HF Stiles in Bromham have a mixed grill pack especially for Father’s Day
Avebury’s Gourmet Goat Farmer have some gift bags for a delicious goat-based barbeque. Complete with a goat-themed greetings card, and goat burgers, brioche rolls, goats’ cheese, and a selection of locally sourced salad items, the first 10 orders get a FREE bottle of Ramsbury Brewery beer thrown in too!
Crafts!
Amelia-Rose Creations in Trowbridge has lots of nice ideas, including some brilliant framed worded pieces with Lego superheroes on, get in faster than a speeding brick train though.
Sugar & Spice Bows is another great online crafter with some idea for Father’s Day, their keyrings might not get to you on time, but would be make a great belated gift!
And never forget our Naz at Cositas Bonitas, crazy little craft shop in Sidmouth Street, Devizes. While I cannot see they’ve anything specific for Dads, they’ll guaranteed to have endless ideas in there.
Get a book from a local author!
No point in doing this article without a shameless slice of self-promotion! Buy a paperback or Kindle version of the five-star rated sci-fi comedy, White Space Van Man by yours truly; it’s right up his street, lots of rude words, and it’ll keep him quiet for weeks, save for a perpetual bout of belly-laughs!
Let him eat CAKE!
Devizes-based TrayCake will deliver a Father’s Day treat box to a five-mile radius and, mate, I’ve checked their website, only browsed the photos, but I’ll be dribbling for the foreseeable future.
Secretly though I know what I’m getting, thus is the plight of being father, the invoice was emailed to me! I wasn’t going to mention it, because within half-hour of going online they were sold out. The good news is though, The Gourmet Brownie Kitchen at Poulshot Lodge has a new batch of Father’s Day Treat boxes. OMG and other such exclamation abbreviations, had some of these at the Devizes Food Festival; see, my kids know how to push my buttons. Although I’ll probably have lock myself in the downstairs loo if I think I’ve any chance of stuffing them all!
My work here is done. For the good of all Dad’s out there, the ones who deserve more than a Lynx deodorant set, but probably need one, have a great day! See you down the pub soon, alright?!
“Lying Awake in the Dark,” the new single from Swindon’s indie soloist Paul Lappin, drives a breezier and more melodic sound than previous singles, taking me to something Jamie R Hawkins or Phil Cooper might conjure. As his third single to discover on Bandcamp since the upbeat “Life Was Good,” near on a year ago, here’s an indie-pop rock artist I’ve just discovered, worthy of lots of attention.
Though our friend Dave Franklin, over at Dancing About Architecture got there first, describing Paul’s sound thus, “it bridges a gap between the sweeter sounds of the pre-Britpop era and today’s indie creations. This is an infusion of past and present, a blend of indie, rock and pop which is at turns melodic, euphoric and soulful but always honest, relevant, reflective and passionately in love with life.”
There’s a positively determine, tried and tested formula at work here, which may break no new ground, yet is beguiling nonetheless, and needs no experimentation. While the first two singles prompt me to suggest, though proficient, it’s all quite contemporary indie-pop, joyous and optimistic, Lappin reflects on the more melancholic theme a lost love with “Lying Awake in the Dark,” and to be honest, it suits. Backed by partial exerts of female vocals, provided harmoniously by Emily Sykes, whispering through the melody, the composition is exquisite.
Paul spent some time in rural isolation in France, polishing his song-writing skills, along with painting and sketching. Winning a song-writing competition with his debut single, the aforementioned “Life Was Good,” the story starts here. No stranger to this self-isolation era then, Paul says, “it feels familiar, all be it under very different circumstances. But now I’m confined to my parents’ house in England, where I’ll continue to draw, paint, and write songs. Might as well make the most of it.” Paul strives towards an album release shortly; something to watch out for from him, his handful of backing performers and Swindon’s celebrated Earthworm Studios.
There’s a kind of rueful honesty and openness about Paul’s building discography, the sort after attending just the single gig I’d imagine you retire with the content notion you know this guy, hence my comparison to our Jamie or Phil. Tracks are downloadable for a mere quid, for example; there’s no fleecing here. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear the cover art is a self-portrait, here you get the whole package of a person. It is, though, a watermark of a great acoustic musician, and Paul fits that bill.
Phone memory bursting with text messages from Gail Foster the day I did my fundraising milk round in my Spiderman onesie. A keen photographer as well as accomplished local poet, Gail had cycled to the summit of Monument Hill and sat awaiting to capture the moment I returned triumphant.
I confess, I underestimated my ETA massively due to the media attention, Carmela and family arriving, and passers by stopping me to donate. I was also irritable and smelly by that point, but those are occupational hazards at the best of times, doubly so in a onesie in the sweltering August climate. Gail, though, was as dedicated as paparazzi to getting the snap she wanted, got me smiling just to see her there, and it’s the same commitment she shows through her expressions in poetry. Her shiny new book, Blossom is a prime example.
Images by Gail Foster herself!
Perhaps its very title coveys Gail’s grouping of photography and poetry, natural elements crucial to her snaps, but her books bestow only the written word. We’ve reviewed Gail’s books in the past, never an easy task. Poetry not my bag, usually, so I cannot liken to similar creative outpourings. There’s also the fear that my own penmanship doesn’t compare and will not do justice to her creative writing. Poems are hard, something about bacon. Yet it is down to befriending Gail which has re-sparked an interest in poetry in me, and deflected my juvenile fear of a Ted Hughes book facing me on a school desk. That’s how universally appealing her words are.
While subjects chronologically stream from one poem to another, expect also, sudden changes in Gail’s train of thought. Blossom kicks off with a memorial forward and dark subjects follow, of wintery funerals and melancholic seasons. One may expect this, the platitude of poems often reveals a shadowy side of the poet. But, just a few poems in and though we’re still on the seasonal theme, winter cries a warning to Gail, to keep her knickers on.
Here is precisely why Gail got me into in poetry, a feat I never cared to assume would happen. The wittiness of the absurd, surreal, Pythoneske can crop up, without warning and provide actual laugh-out-loud observations. There’s a feeling of daring in Gail’s words, while acute and proficiently executed, nothing is off limits. Gail projects drollness, jocularity and just about every other emotion of the human psyche, in manner which though reflects poets of yore, breathes a fresh and unique approach to boot.
In this, her new book Blossom doesn’t necessarily take us anywhere new in comparison to her previous collections, there’s even a pigeon reference, a running subject in Gail’s words, yet an improvement in skill and wordplay is clearly evident. Gail strives to advance and progress in her wordsmanship, dealing words like a croupier deals cards, snappy and expertly.
The introduction enlightens us to Gail’s motivation and reason for writing, “I write poems for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes an occasion demands it, in which case I stare at a sonnet on a screen for three days; at other times a poem might tickle me in my sleep, wake me up laughing.” Blossom then conveniently divides into sections, poems covering Seasons, poetry itself, “Binky Liked to Bitch a Bit,” Politics, Characters, Sorrow, Love and Prose, even local thoughts in a section titled, “a bit of old Devizes.”
There are verses dedicated to friends, themes of celebrities, naughty royals and both Greta and Trump, odes to patronising old men, nosey neighbours, political sway, Brexit, current affairs and Nigel Farage depicted as a meerkat. As we pass through an era Gail documents them uniquely. There are unapologetic words of the sweary kind, bitterness at times, jollity in others; bugger, it’s tricky to nail this poet down; what does she want from me, trying to review a book so vastly sweeping with subject matter and prose?! I’m giving up, you have to read it yourself. You can bless your Kindle with one, or Gail favours that you nip to Devizes Books for a paperback, and I tend to agree. Devizes Books brilliantly supports local authors.
In this time of lockdown, you might need a good read, so too does the artists need some revenue. The advantage of holding Gail’s poems in your hand is that you can freely pursue them at your own leisure. We did once review a spoken word CD which Gail recorded, I like this approach and unsure if she will do it again.
Proof it’s in Devizes Books, here’s owner Jo holding a copy!
I could, but don’t, motivate myself to attend local poetry slams and readings, in fear those poets I know, Gail, our own writer Andy, and Ian too, might encourage me to get up. Yeah right, “here’s one I wrote called ermm, ermm, and ermm!” Yet, I do love to hear Gail actually reading her poems herself, it’s a Jackanory thing, to hear the creator express their words is far more effective for a slow reader like me. But you, clever lot, will love Blossom.
This is the second part of a two-part rant; just in case you didn’t have enough yesterday. The first part can be read here.
So, the campaign group “Devizes for EU,” emailed “avert another crisis,” lobbying to extend the Brexit transition so the country “can concentrate on recovering from the effects of Covid19.” I appreciate the angle, yet cannot help but feel they’re pulling a plaster off an arm slowly. Brexit is no bonza idea in my book, but this isn’t the injudiciousness of a persuaded nation, at least the nation four years ago.
It begs the question, how swiftly does “Devizes for the EU” suppose we will recover? I’d wager, and in some small way hope, the Brexit Bunch will be pushing up daises by then. It has to be all or nothing and it’s too late to tuck our tail between our legs and hold out in the EU for support (insert sneering French snort here.) Farage and his cronies ensured this when a sombre moment in history was displayed by childish sneering and flag-waving; an indicator we’re led by donkeys.
Donkeys with an escape plan; pin the tail on Covid19 when the economy takes another nosedive due to failing Brexit strategies. Or is that, tragedies? For it is tragic, or a “fuckduggery shitshow” for want of a more offensive term. If the Farage brigade did tuck their tail between their legs, they’d do it in juvenile mirth; “look mummy, I’ve got a willy!” In similar fashion they themselves acknowledged we’d be looking at forty plus years of glorious blue passports and straight bananas before we regained economic incline after deserting the EU. For their next trick, they cut off their noses to spite their face. No! Don’t touch the face!
Ah well, Dalek climbing off a dustbin; they’ll do what they want anyway, crafty buggers. Cummings; prime example.
If you recoiled at my Cummings comparison to the bald chap in Benny Hill and like to think he’s more like Michael Knight; a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent in an EU of criminals who operate above the law, can we not make a compromise? Retain the Benny Hill scenario but in a parody of Knight Rider? Replacing Devon with Bojo Hill; easy. Vivid images of him slapping Cummings’ bald crown as auxiliary Hoff, while Liz Truss as Bonnie Barstow flashes her undies from beneath a mac at Donald Trump. A slap-and-tickle trade deal, but hold the punchline Benny, she’s missing a tooth. Strike a light; Daily Mail page 3 girl.
Who in the Tory Party forgot to pay the Mail their monthly backhander anyway? Certainly not the Knight Industries Two Thousand. Maybe his car turbo-boosted itself to Barnard Castle?
Seriousness aside for a historical tangent; believe, Cummings should have a flashing red light on his car, a warning to us all; don’t mistake Durham for Lourdes. You don’t gotta tell Waltheof, a bad-boy Earl of Northumbria who supervised the building of said castle. Geezer had a bit of beef with ol’ Willy the Conqueror, and joined an earl’s revolt against him. The nutter later repented and confessed his guilt to the king, thinking he’d sympathise and support him. But Willy jailed him for a year, then cut the twat’s head off…. just saying.
Ah, the Norman equivalent of posting a nasty meme on Twitter. You don’t earn the hashtag #bastard for being a light touch. “no 1 told me,” Waltheof replied, “LOL.” Whoa, arrow in the eye sorted him out, Bayeux Tapestry reported, probably hacked his papyrus. Applying social media into historical conflicts one has to wonder if they’d have happened at all, if they could screech their opinions on Facebook. Social media is akin to road rage, shielded by a screen, gossip about and slate who you like, then be nice to the same person if you pass them on the street; I do!
Appreciate we live in a time of peace, relatively. How bizarrely wonderful it has been to extend a Sunday afternoon ambience with a two-month Groundhog Day. It would be a crying shame, but perhaps inevitable, if post-lockdown our bitterness returns to real life levels. I admit, Wiltshire is great at this. Here you go, the Gazette reported, “only one person in the county was handed a coronavirus fine during the scorching bank holiday weekend.”
We’ve a great track record in abiding to social distancing, and as a consequence Wiltshire is doing well by comparison to other counties, or, say the blazingly ignorant example set by our leaders (more on this later.) Local rag continued, “But while the majority of people were abiding by the rules some were stretching the boundaries, chief constable Kier Pritchard said.” Because as we progress the rules get consistently vaguer. Waffled by an incompetent Prime Minster, it’s hardly surprising. “Stay alert” is the UK’s new motto, I gather that means If you see Covid19 heading your way, duck.
Could be worse, we could be in the USA, where I believe the President should freely practice what he preaches and inject himself with disinfectant. Do not delay, Trump, inject yourself with as much as you possibly can.
Or is it that we can hide flaunts of the rules in a largely rural environment? Ghostly figures of high-risk pensioners nipping out for exercise in the middle of the night; Covid19 takes a nap. I see you, Wee Willy Wrinkle. I’ve been in the supermarket queue too; oddballs shuffling closer. Unmoved by a virus, me, as a keyworker, probably got it anyway by now, more so, they smell. Question them and they apologetically claim they forgot. The streets are void of life, warning signs everywhere, spots on the floor, every media source bleating about it, people sauntering past wearing facemasks, how the fuck can you possibly forget?!
Ewe ‘avin’ a laff, shagger? Devizes; stuck in its ways, questionable or not. Opinions rarely change here. Example: I’m queuing for Lidl, somewhere near Etchilhampton. On the wall they listed all first names of their workers, thanking them for their risky labour. The disgruntled bigot baby-boomer behind me, who previously snarled aloud at the irony of a driver lowering her facemask to light fag, scanned the names and muttered to his wife, “humph, loads of foreign names.” Hello you, realise Lidl is German and operates internationally, do you expect someone in the Balkan states to be called Dave Smith?
Idle mutterings maybe, but it’s the same mindset which sees an Afro-American killed by police over the pond. And Trump’s reaction? Threaten to open fire on objectors. You’d think a congress would oversee what he tweets, but I’m glad they don’t; it shows an exaggerated interpretation of the real feelings of the far-right philosophy. Highlights my notion social media is akin to road rage. Trump is to Twitter what Reagan was to “the big red button,” hovering over it, dying to unleash his façade of showmanship. You have to understand the difference between idle mutterings and publishing something on social media, at least better than the melted figurine of He-Man.
Pandora’s box cracked open now, me boy. Let’s clear it up. Ideally, I believe a Facebook group should adhere to the objective it sets. It’s no use disguising a desire to cast political bias onto your Facebook page if it was supposed to be about local issues, and uncompromisingly delete every comment deflecting. This is bound to cause upset. Users of local groups are getting an inkling where I’m driving this. Watch out, I’m a cheeky monkey, flinging the poo back at you.
It is, however, as it is. Admins of Facebook groups are NOT expected to hand over their efforts into the hands of keyboard warriors with absolutely no respect for others. No matter how much upset this petty discourtesy causes you, the need to chastise admin with threats or obscene insults is beyond justified. For crying out loud, how sad have we become? I like the guy, often differ in opinion, but he is not Pol Pot.
I rest my case, but it is important, doubly so while we cannot go down the boozer. I’ve forgotten where the Southgate is; eh? Oh yeah, head south, towards the gate. Social media is a necessary evil now, addictive too. I’m a Facebook junkie, my dreams come over as a Facebook feed. Where I swoon though is when Police posted a photo of teens suspected of breaking into Devizes School and numpties tag their mates. What happened to honour among thieves?
Yes, you can
I tell you, shall I? I know you want me to. It’s all about setting a good example for youth. If you’ve read this far, I salute you. We like our news like the Spanish like food. Tapas, small, bitesize. But stay, just a smidgen longer. Oh yeah, you. Whisper; did you really expect Danny Kruger to risk his job to call out Cummings? That’d be letting him know he’s in charge of a haven of village idiots; nightmare on Sidmouth Street. But perhaps we could carve his name on the Market Place Cross next to ol’ Ruth, when you consider how much rural support he’s bleated about, how he’s donned green wellies and spoke with our blue flag-waving Tory farmers. Then note, while we swam in Cummings gags, he voted to lower our food standards during the Covid19 pandemic and endanger the livelihood of the farms, and in turn our entire infrastructure.
What do they take us for? Giving it, “we will sell our beef to America.” Baloney, they don’t call themselves cowboys because they’re partial to wearing bells around their necks; they’ve got their own beef, quite a lot of it too. Furthermore, I listened in geography class, you can fit the UK into Texas 2.8 times, and that’s just one of fifty states. Why would they want our family pack of Tesco burgers?
I don’t want a fucking bucket of Kentucky chlorinated Chicken, thank you. So, waddle off to Devizes Parkway, clap all the way for a health service your mates are supposed be funding from OUR tax, rather than expecting the poorest to fundraiser for, wait for the imaginary train to stop, pop that in your pipe and smoke it all the way to Westminster, Mr Kruger.
All hail the one-off, two-part return of No Surprises Living in Devizes, my excuse to rant freely. It’s been a while, I guess you could say I’ve a fair bit of ammo. Do not read if you’re easily offended, do not message me if you are offended after I warned you, twat…..
It may surprise many to note, this is the first time, I believe, I’ve typed the word “comrade,” and I’ve only done it to mock myself before you do; that’s me though, proactive. That’s them though, the baby boomer who call me, and anyone with a differing opinion, “comrade;” referencing a forty-year-old situation comedy; traditionalist to the end, even Dave doesn’t rerun Citizen Smith, leading me to ponder if their sense of humour hasn’t changed since 1980, neither has their ideology.
I’m indifferent, might even pop an aging comedy reference your way, though mine will be apt. My theory; laughter is the best medicine, and I’ll try find the humorous side to everything, even the handling of a global pandemic. Which is, if you don’t cry, laughable. Pity me though, subject matter such as this, an era like this, being funny is implausible with sanity, so if I do, consider I’m senseless, but if you laugh, so are you.
Twenty years ago, a bad year for British comedy, we lost both Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill. Yet in this patriotic flag-waving era, does anyone else feel we’ve not lost Benny’s spirit; Ernie’s ghostly gold-tops? That we are, in many ways, perpetually living an episode of his show? We have a rotund, bumbling idiot, aching to speed up the finale of lockdown, for economic sake alone. The only thing missing is the yakety sax, otherwise it’s plausible to imagine Boris in a mac, waddling around an English suburban park, chased by a raging mob of socially distancing scantily-clad women; best guess, ex-Spectator journalists. You can slap the head of that disobedient bald man as many times as you like, but you know he’ll be back next week for more frolicking fun.
For many, the Cummings scandal is the tipping point; a blatant show of negligence exposing the charade to all. It is fact, he did break his own rules and potentially endanger others with the spread of the virus. To defend him is to defend the indefensible, still they try; not buying it Danny. Our MP said without Cummings they wouldn’t have won the election; I wager it was big fat fibs which won you the election, buddy.
Aside the uncanny resemblance to blind cartoon character, Mr Magoo, it’s not Cumming’s eyes which need testing, it’s his obligation and sense of superiority. If you disagree, say, “like any father, he did what he did for little Timmy,” consider an administration which makes allowances for refugee families and children ripped apart by famine or conflict in a manner we couldn’t contemplate on our plush green lawns, then look at our government’s zealous drive to close our borders and divert immigration.
Daggers momentarily fly at the PM’s chief advisor, shadowing a former week where Home Secretary Priti Patel had the guns aimed at her; all she did was motion migrant frontline NHS workers should pay extra for their own treatment, and when they do snuff it of Covid19, it’s time for their families to be deported. Kind of like additional charges when Sajid Javid uses paperclips in his office, then extraditing him if he takes a smoke break. Another sick career-bitch so blind not to look beyond towing the line and into a mirror; she wouldn’t be here by her own unstable immigration values. If there’s logic there tell me, I’m not Mr Spock.
But news flies so fast we’re onto another separate incident in a blink. We don’t get time to rewind and calculate these outrages, for U-turns doesn’t make it alright when malevolent concepts remain in a seat of power. For the sum of them all equals an underlying conclusion something is very wrong in our government.
Disagree? That is your right, stupid, in my opinion, but that’s my right. Consider, we have the highest death rate in Europe. Forage me a substitute reason, worthy plaintiff scavenger; bound to have been something a political party who never came to power did, eh? Or bias media reporting their findings? Or the fact some teenagers were playing on the Green last weekend? Dog them in Facebook police, but leave Cummings be? Riddle me that.
To argue another party would do things no different is hearsay, we will never be fully sure. Lockdown was too late; simples as a meerkat on watch. The Liverpool-Atletico match, the Cheltenham Racing Festival, why? Why were people coming and going from the UK freely? They knew the virus was hanging out, loitering at our gates chewing gum and high-fiving everyone; the science ignored, crucial meetings unattended. Big Ben bonging for Brexit was the bulletin, bullshit.
If you, sir, have the preconception the self-proclaimed leftie snowflake is akin to Channel 4’s wonky depiction of Corbyn as a Russian socialist, or Wolfie, you’ve officially been brainwashed. Nought defecting about them, if they aren’t dedicated to what’s best for Britain, they wouldn’t be moaning. They are not traitors; they are very British. Hey you, funny cos, like, I thought we were supposed to be uniting for the common good, clapping together, why won’t you then allow them independent thought? Why will you continually witch-hunt anyone who dare criticise, when undoubtedly there’s something amiss?
Want unification? Compromise. United in one thing, at least, their dedication to the country, the reason they’re upset. Clap the NHS, but as staff tell you, it’s not putting food on their tables. You’re not a hypocrite for clapping and voting right-wing with a decade of negligence towards NHS funding, that’s reformist misinformation gone too far; you’re just thoroughly misguided. No one will hold you accountable, it is okay to admit you made a mistake. The average leftie doesn’t want Britain to be an episode of Citizen Smith, but you seem to crave Love Thy Neighbour, or The Benny Hill Show. You see, Benny had a bad side, behind the scenes of the titillating comedy there was an underlying perversity, skeletons locked in cupboards. My metaphor takes shape now.
If there’s a reason Boris Johnson defends Cummings and allows his popularity to faulter, it is not because of some intricate totalitarianism agenda, but because of the foolhardiness of saucy playground behaviour inherent of prep-school pomposity. The only good to come of this lockdown is the sense of celebrity reality; look at our luminaries on a live Facebook stream, desperate for attention but attired in sweatshirt and joggers. They leave themselves exposed, they’re just like us. Now you see contemporary politics crystal, it’s a teenage school disco rather than a fascist regime. The very idea Boris compares to Hitler is laughable, I’m not Winston Smith, I agree with you, when a leftie compares our era with that of the war, they lose the argument. In return then, neither should you assume Boris is Churchill, here to save the day.
Hold me up as a leftie if you like, but I’m not. I’m my own person, scrabbling in the dark like you, trying to make sense of it, but if we differ it’s not my political standpoint at fault, it’s your barriers; “Labour MPs broke lockdown rules too,” oh yeah, I agree, stab them with the same sword. Something about politics makes the most motivated corrupt, but I’m not one to be satisfied conforming to the status-quo, if there’s an alternative I’m considering it, if there’s a lesser of two evils, I believe that’s the path to take. I’m so sorry to quiver at your support of a government denying all, failing to produce PPE and testing for frontline workers, the buck stops with them, blood pours from their hands and onto the useless phone app they spent the funds on.
I know you’ll chastise me for it anyway. Shut it and pick fruit, dissident. Complain Devizine is supposed to be about local issues and not cast national opinion. Shush rebel, Devizine is about whatever the hell I want to be about! Did you complain when The Gazette run an article speculating the name of Boris and Carrie’s baby? Hardly local affair, after all. Take my unending waffling as reason for this piece to be so negligent of that factor, for it is only part one in a two-part series, the local issue precedes, after the break.
You see, it’s an advantage living where we do, an affluent Tory freehold, a heaven for traditionalists and conservative ethos. I believe there’s nothing wrong in holding these values dear, but cannot help feeling that political current trends break the code, the Cummings scandal black and white. By comparison folk here have been outstanding, not perfect, but brilliant nonetheless, and we should all be proud of that. Part two then, I will explain why I think this. Meanwhile chew on this; Benny Hill really was a milkman. That’s more honesty than you’ll get from Boris.
Who watched our Carmela and family on the telebox on Wednesday? Surely the most heart-breaking section of a documentary about life in lockdown and those taking the highest risks or making the worst sacrifices.
As her Dad, Darren said while driving his van around, delivery samples to hospitals, and unable to hug his daughter, the funding for muscular dystrophy research has dried up. But here’s a way you can help from home, and even win yourself a grand. The blind card advert can be found on Carmela’s Facebook page. You can help fill this lottery up. Pick a number from 1-150, pay £10 per number, so can have more than one if you so wish. Pay via PayPal.me/carmelasfund
Once all the numbers are taken the winning number will be revealed and the winner receives £1000, Carmela gets £500 towards a safe garden access area to play. Yep, it is play, Carmela’s family say, but only in a form of. It is, in fact, crucial exercise for her at a time when swimming, and other activities have been restricted. It helps build her muscles, and rather than most of us, being for a healthier life and perhaps some abs for the opposite sex to swoon at, muscle building is essential for someone with a muscle-wasting disease. The lockdown is already taking its tow on Carmela’s health and wellbeing.
So, please, if you can, support this sweepstake and be in with a chance of winning. Thank you. x
Discovering a thriving ska scene in South America is like England in 1979……
Studio 1’s architect, composer and guitarist, Ernest Ranglin proclaimed while the US R&B’s shuffle offbeat being replicated by Jamaicans in their early recording studios went “chink-ka,” their own crafted pop, ska, went “ka-chink.” Theorised this simple flip of shuffle took place during Duke Reid’s Prince Buster recording session mid-1959, added with Buster’s desire to include traditional Jamaican drumming, created the defining ska sound.
Prince Buster’s block party on Orange Street
Coinciding with the island’s celebration of independence in 1962, the explosion of ska was eminent and two years later the sound found its way out of Jamaica, when Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, Prince Buster, Eric “Monty” Morris, and Jimmy Cliff played the New York World’s Fair. But if Jamaica’s government revelled in the glory of the creation of a homegrown pop, behind the scenes, Kingston’s downtown was using it as signature to a culture of hooliganism, known as The Rude Boys, and thwarted it. Through curfew and a particularly sweltering summer of 67, horns were lessened, tempo was mellowed and reggae’s blueprint, rock steady, had formed.
World’s Fair, New York 1964
Forward wind fifty-five years and Jamaican ska pioneer, Stranger Cole launched album “More Life,” yet it’s released by Liquidator Music, a label dedicated to the classic Jamaican rhythms, but based in Madrid. Perhaps in similar light to Buster’s innovation, Jamaica doesn’t revel in retrospection and strives to progress; the last place in the world you’re likely to hear ska these days, is in Jamaica itself. Modern dancehall trends can be attributed closer to the folk music of mento.
But the design was set, and to satisfy the musical taste of Windrush immigrants in England, Bluebeat, and later, Trojan Records set to cheaply import the sounds of home. It was a combination of their offspring taking their records to parties, and the affordable price tag which appealed to the white kids in Britain. Thus, the second wave of ska spawned in the UK. By the late seventies the formation of Two-Tone records in Coventry saw English youths mimicking the sound.
Similarly, though, this has become today somewhat of a cult. Given the task of producing a radio show last year, for ska-based internet station, Boot Boy Radio, while aware of American dominated “third gen ska,” that there were few contemporary bands here, such as the Dualers, and Madness and The Specials still appeased the diehard fans, I never fathomed the spread of ska worldwide. The fact Liquidator Music is Spanish, it is clear, ska has a profound effect internationally, and in no place more than Latin America. Yet while England’s second wave is largely attributed to the worldwide distribution of ska, and waves the Union Jack patriotically at it, the sound of ska music spread to Jamaica’s neighbours significantly prior.
Caribbean islands created their own pop music. Barbados had spouge, cited as “Bajan ska,” despite a completely different rhythm section more attributed to calypso. Columbia likewise saw a surge in cumbia during the early sixties, a genre derived from cumbé; “a dance of African origin.”
In South America though, ska was fused with their own sounds of samba, and particularly upcoming rock ‘n’ roll inspired genres such as “iê-iê-iê,” via Brazilian musical television show, Jovem Guarda. Os Aaalucinantes’ 1964 album Festa Do Bolinha predates England’s embrace of ska, the same year, in fact, as Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, et all playing the New York World’s Fair. At this point in time, through Bluebeat, English youth were only just discovering a love for Jamaican music, and Lee Gopthal wouldn’t found Trojan Records for another four years. This mesh of fusions gave birth to a creative period in Brazil, vocal harmony groups like Renato E Seus Blue Caps, and The Fevers followed suit, blending US bubble-gum pop with jazzy offbeat rhythms. It did not borrow from England’s mods; it followed a similar pattern.
Las Cuatro Monedas
Similarly, in Venezuela, Las Cuatro Monedas introduced ska and reggae as early as 1963, with their debut album, “Las Cuatro Monedas a Go Go.” Through maestro arranger and composer, Hugo Blanco they won the 1969 Song Festival in Barcelona, and continued until 1981, when over here The Specials were only just releasing “Ghost Town.” Desorden Público is Venezuela’s most renowned ska band, formed in the eighties. When frontman Horacio Blanco was still at school, he wrote “Paralytic Politicians,” an angry, anti-Hugo Chavez anthem which his fans still yell for. Although Chavez died in 2013, his protégé Nicolas Maduro has descended the country into political and economic crisis; one example where South American ska is equally, if not more, dogmatically defending justice as Two-Tone here in the UK.
Desorden Público
Chile trended towards cumbia through tropical orchestra Sonora Palacios in the sixties, therefore ska didn’t fully surface until the third-gen bands of the nineties. Even today though, Latin enthused bands such as Cholomandinga and reggae is favoured through bands like Gondwana. The modern melting pot is universal and extensive though, I’ve got a lovely cover of Ghost Town by Argentine cumbia band Fantasma, who cite themselves as being the first to develop a cumbia rap. And when upcoming, all-female Mexican ska band, Girls Go Ska sent me some tunes to play, a cover of the Jam’s David Watts was one of them.
Girls Go Ska
All’s fair in love and war; undoubtedly the Two-Tone era of England has had a profound effect on the worldwide contemporary ska scene, so did their revolutionary principles. Peru commonly cites its scene commenced in the mid-eighties, when punk and second-gen underground rock bands emerged in Lima. Edwin Zcuela’s band, Zcuela Crrada differed by having a saxophonist, and adopted a sound which bordered ska. Azincope and Refugio were quick to follow, not to the taste of the rock-based crowd who classed it commercialised pop. Psicosis came about in 88, the band to initiate the term “ska band” in Peru, taking steps to eradicate the preconception. They won a recording contract through a radio contest, the jury expressed concern; the band were radicals within a pseudo-movement with libertarian ideas, and so the band refused to record.
Zcuela Crrada
With influences from the Basque ska-punk band, Kortatu, Breakfast continued the rebellious nature with ska in Peru, but discarded their discography. It will take us into the nineties to start to find orchestral flairs, when Carnaval Patetico and Barrio Pamara emerged, bringing with them the country’s belated by comparison, second wave. Odd to see how punk gave ska a leg-up in this legacy, but the melting pot is bottomless.
Where some bands, such as Swiss Sir Jay & The Skatanauts, favour pouring jazz into their style, akin to how the Skatalites formed the backbone of Studio 1 through attending Kingston’s Alpha Cottage School, others, such as the States bands like The Dance Hall Crashers prefer to fuse punk influences, Big Reel Fish takes Americana to ska, and one has to agree the tension of teenage anguish felt by eighties skinheads equalled that of latter punk-rock.
The Dance Hall Crashers
The rulebook is borderless and limitless, to the point there is no longer a rulebook, through an online generation one can teeter on the edge of this rabbit hole, or go diving deeper. If I said previously, Two-Tone is a cult in England, in South America ska is thriving. Some subgenres bear little relevance to the sounds and ethos of original Jamaican ska. Other than the usage of horns to sperate them from punk or rockabilly, off-shoots of skacore and skabilly tangent along their own path. Oi bands prime example, where a largely neo-Nazi tenet cannot possibly relate to an afro-Caribbean origin.
Again, the folk of a nation mergers with the sound, and there can create an interesting blend, such as the Balkan states, where the Antwerp Gipsy Ska Orchestra and Dubioza Kolekiv carve their own influences into ska. Which, in turn, has spurred a folk-ska scene in Bristol and the Southwest, bands like The Carny Villains, Mr Tea & The Minions and Mad Apple Circus, who add swing to the combination, and folk-rock bands such as The Boot Hill Allstars, confident to meld ska into the dynamic festival circuit. South America typifies this too.
Mr Tea & The Minions
Modern murga, a widespread musical theatre performed in Montevideo, Uruguay and Argentina hugs ska through carnival. Argentina’s scene is as widespread and varied as the UK or USA, in fact it was former Boot Boy presenter, Mariano Goldenstein, frontman of The Sombrero Club who led me to the rabbit hole. If the name of this Argentinean band signifies Mexican, one should note, The Sombrero Club was a Jamaican nightclub on the famous ‘Four Roads’ intersection of Molynes and Waltham Park Roads in St. Andrew.
Byron Lee @ The Sombrero Club
Journalist Mel Cooke recalls in a 2005 article for the Jamaica Gleaner, “although it carried a Mexican name, the senors and senoritas who stepped inside the Sombrero nightclub did it in true Jamaican style. It was an audience that demanded a certain quality of entertainment and, in the height of the band era the cream of the cream played there. “It was one of the premier dance halls for bands, live music,” says Jasper Adams, a regular at The Sombrero. “If you capture the image of the dance hall in London at the time, you get an idea of what it was like.”
Note the Wailers, bottom of the billing!
After the demise of the Bournmouthe in East Kingston, in a bygone era, The Sombrero was the place to catch ska legends, Toots and the Maytals, Tommy McCook and the Supersonics and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. There could be no name more apt for Argentina’s Sombrero Club, for within a thriving scene which mimics England in the grip of Two-Tone, their proficient and authentic sound is akin to our Specials or Madness.
The Sombrero Club
It is, however, through Marcos Mossi of the Buena Onda Reggae Club from Sao Paulo, perhaps a lesser known band outside Brazil, who have really spurred my interest in South American ska, through their sublime blend of mellowed jazz-ska and reggae, and through it I realise I’m still teetering on the edge of the rabbit hole. Aside the aforementioned bands, I’m only just discovering Brazil’s Firebug, Argentina’s Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Calzones Rotos, Los Auténticos Decadentes, Karamelo Santo, Cienfuegos, Satellite Kingston, Dancing Mood, Staya Staya, Los Intocables, and Ska Beat City, Cultura Profética from Puerto Rico and Peru’s Vieja Skina. Pondering if the list will ever end.
Bunena Onda Reggae Club
One thing this highlights, while ska is international now, with vibrant scenes from Montreal to Melbourne, Latin America holds the key to a spirit akin to how it was when I opened my Christmas present in 1980 to find Madness long player, Absolutely.
Tune into my show on http://www.bootboyradio.co.uk – Friday nights from 10pm till Midnight GMT, where we play an international selection of ska, reggae, rock steady, soul and funk, RnB, shuffle and jazz, anything related which takes my fancy, actually!
On our promise, via The Indie Network Facebook group, and generally a growing cognisant inside me, for Devizine to musically venture outside our local area, geographically, here we go with a starter for ten. Though it’s no new thing, in the past we’ve mentioned many, from Cosmic Rays in Shropshire, to Mayyadda from Minnesota; I invite this pandemic to officially crash our borders….
One request recently came from one Vince Henry, who’s digitally-adapted Facebook profile pic makes Doug Bradley in his Pinhead guise from the Hellraiser films look like a bedtime Care Bear, and led me to assume the band he manages, Mr B & The Wolf was about to unleash some thrash death metal or psychobilly peculiarity unwillingly into my aging eardrums. I prepped myself accordingly, one ear in the headphone, paracetamol within reach, but I was pleasantly surprised.
As a function band based in my motherland, Essex, Mr B, and his wolf too, are lively, true, but present a flowing range from blues-based rock and Americana to “throwback” pop and soul, and do it with the finesse of a contemporary Fleetwood Mac. It’s a zephyr blowing your locks, the single I’ve been sent, Out of the Mist archetypal of the band’s bravura. I liked it and now have the album, LazyDay to give a fuller appraisal.
With echoes of driving rock Mr B and the Wolf keep a balance, there’s no tearing off metal as I preconceived, no angry underscores, rather a commercially viable equilibrium of uplifting rock radio stations cannot excuse for not spinning. Second tune, Rise Up, a great example of this breezy and enriching chic. Yet in the acceptance lies an aching sensation eighties power ballad bands, like Huey Lewis and the News should’ve been striving for a sound more like Mr B & The Wolf.
Three tunes in then, and Crazy Town strips the style back to a deeper blues riff, vocally gritty, vocalist Dean Baker handles it very well indeed. Out of the Mist combines the two and stands out, for both catchiness and composition. Chestnut subject matter, yeah, but it doesn’t sway me when it’s performed so well.
What we find here is a bonded, proficient band with stains of all rock has produced before but boy, do they know how to wear it well. They being, Ben Pellicci on lead and backing vocals, Jason Bird on bass and backing vocals, George Wallis on rhythm, and Jason Chown on Drums; unconfirmed which one is the wolf!
Phoenix ballads us to the finale, harmoniously and mellowly. I couldn’t go as far to compare it with the way Morrison would direct the Doors through an audience-mesmerising voyage, but it does equate the great soft metal bands of yore’s more magically rousing moments. I nod to Heart and of course, Bon Jovi, but they’d be knocking on the doors of Floyd or Cream, see if they’re coming out to play.
The finale though, belts back the blues riff and takes us full circle. In conclusion then, Mr B & The Wolf certainly don’t drift from blues-rock formulae, though it’s a damn fine established blueprint anyway, and this Chelmsford band do it with style. LazyDay would refrain you from road rage in traffic and compel you to turn it up when you hit the open road, Mr B & The Wolf would be a gig you’d return from with fond memories.
To celebrate the launch this week of Joe Edwards’ wonderful album, “Keep on Running,” which we handsomely but rightfully reviewed here, we’re delighted to give away this shiny vinyl copy to one lucky, like, very lucky entrant. Face it, you’ve a good chance of winning, being no one actually reads Devizine other than you! So, to make it slightly competitive, and fun too, I’ve created some quiz questions to test your knowledge of our local music scene; check it out, brains-of-Britain!
Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3:
Question 4:
Question 5:
Get your answers in by, I dunno, erm, I’m making it up as I go along anyway, let’s say Monday 1st June, that gives you a week to search the site for reference and get me some much-needed hits. No, wait, no cheating! Anyone found cheating will have their name carved onto the Market Cross, alongside Ruth Pierce. No entry to anyone too far for me to drive to deliver it, no entry to anyone with the surname Sausage, no entry to me, everyone else get submitting your answers and I’ll write your name on a slip of paper, chuck them in the bin and keep it for myself. No, I won’t, really; we’ll pull one lucky bugger’s name out the hat, if I can find a hat, a bowl or something if not on Tuesday 2nd June 2020. Best of luck!
I apologise for my total incompetence; dammit Jim, I’m a milkman not a game show host. As it turns out, I cannot access the names of the entries so….
Please enter by messaging our Facebook page with your answers; sorry about that! What a sham!
And please like the Facebook page of Joe Edwards too, and shared our post, it’s the little things in life…
Okay I confess, in my last article I did, didn’t I, state there was a trend of indie music taming to mass appeal? And yeah, I suggested this is no bad thing. There will, however be exceptions to the rule, and rock will, and should always retain its hard edge; we have room for all here. Swindon’s Ryan Webb, for instance, who’s just dropped a new single, “Don’t,” takes no prisoners.
This is militantly metal, with spikes. It rocks with edge, it doesn’t hang around with an ambient intro, stop for a melodic break, the bridge is reached in seconds, the rolling guitar riff perpetually quivering your bones. A one-man red-hot chilli pepper, Ryan wrote, produced, sang, wailed his guitar, recorded and mixed the track in his studio. The only collaborator being Dave Collins, the mastering engineer for Metallica’s last album, who mastered this too.
It must be said, this not the template of Ryan Webb, who quotes influences ranging from Pink Floyd, Joe Satriani, and Zeppellin, to Coldplay, Muse, and Kings of Leon. He has the range encompassing any rock avenue, and projects all with comfort and competence.
“Don’t” though, whoa there Ryan, I’m inclined to put my frayed denim jacket over my AC-DC t-shirt and head-bang my way to the highway from hell, and I’m not usually one for all that; haven’t even got an army surplus bag with badly grafted pictures of Eddie the Head and Megadeath logos!
So yeah, if I like it, you iron maidens will love it! What is more, the track is “a plea to anyone contemplating suicide to take a step back and see that they have a lot going on for them in the world. Even when times are really bad, it’s important to talk to those around you.”
Ryan has chosen All Call Signs as the beneficiary for any sales from the single. All Call Signs is a UK organisation set up by two veteran soldiers, Dan Arnold and SJ James, in order to help other vets/serving military personnel who may be finding life difficult. They have also created an app which helps locate those reported missing and in need of urgent support.
If social media is the rearguard in music’s battle against the Coronavirus lockdown, there’s plenty of battalions networking at this last stand, and physical location is no issue. A virtual realm is borderless, and for this reason, while Devizine is concentrated on content local to Wiltshire, there are many avenues worthy to waiver the rule for. So, expect us to cover some bands and artists without borders, ones I’ll connect with through social media, such as the Facebook group I’m here to mention, as is the group’s tenet.
That said, Ollie Sharp is a young performer from within our geographical catchment, Bath, who recently set up said Facebook group for indie music, called, aptly, The Indie Network. Its welcoming and dynamic attitude is gaining attention. I joined, they cast a thread of introductions; made me feel old! Funny cos it’s true, pipsqueaks by comparison. Young enough to have to Google my antiquated phraseology, like cassette tapes and Danny Kendal. Some poor guy confessed he was older, at 43, at which he faced compassionate reassurances such as, “it’s only a number.” I knew then to keep my gob shtum, so I stated I was “old enough to know better, too old to care.” Least it’d do no good for our Kieran from Sheer Music, who also joined, to grass me up as an old skool raver, historical to those barely an itch!
Though we’ve jested before about the era of yore where never the twain would indie kids and ravers mingle, Mr Moore and I, and come to the conclusion I’m exempt on account of my eclectic taste. Let it be known now, I like the sound of Ollie’s recently formed band The Longcoats, and it’s just the sort of thing which allows Kieran to win the genre argument! It’s breezy, placid indie, acceptable on a larger scale than predecessors, much least my aging preconceptions, bit like what our Daydream Runaways and Talk in Code are putting out; and I like them. I even refer to them as “our,” see, like a northern working-class family. Shoot, pass my Smiths tee Mr Moore, I’m an indie kid! (kid used here in its most unlikely definition.)
Anyway, I digress. We’ve reached the part of the show where the artist mumbles “is this codger going to actually review my single?” Apologies for my Uncle Albert moment, ha, there was me thinking Boris had made arbitrary tangents trendy. There’s no telling some, he’s a bastard. However, we’ll never get going if I branch into politics.
“Used to Being Used” is the single I was sent, the earlier one of two on their Bandcamp page. It follows a blueprint of indie-pop, there’s a trudging guitar riff, a theme of dejected ardour, yet it’s done with skill, catchiness and promising aptitude. The latter single, Drag, which came out in March takes a similar tempo, and cool attitude; there is no need to be angry in an era which accepts the genre, so ever with edge but only enough, The Longcoats create a beguiling and entertaining sound to appeal wide.
Last year guitarist Arthur Foulstone and drummer Kane Pollastrone added to frontman Sharp’s lone act, which bridged the gap between band and solo artist. The final piece of the puzzle came upon recruiting permanent bassist Norton Robey. With the assistance of producer Jack Daffin, The Longcoats have created a defining sound which is appealing and instantly recognisable.
There is nothing about this Bath four-piece indie-pop-rock band here, I’ll be honest, which will act as their magnum opus, but an auspicious start dripping with potential. Here’s one to watch, with their debut EP ‘October’ in the pipeline, here’s hoping it’ll reach us before the month of its namesake.
But it’s not so much about the individual band here which maketh this article, rather the conscious efforts to unite and network, thus creating a scene. Even through this era of wishing for a live gig, the networks thrive, perhaps even more so. Ollie also created Wise Monkey Music, a multi-media music and events promotion company based in the Southwest, of which we look forward to hearing more of; attention, the like Facebook group The Indie Network is likely to bring. They even let this aging raver in, dammit; though my white gloves and whistle must be in a box in the loft somewhere, it’s a deceased stereotype, of which I’m glad.
I do find though, as someone who glued and photocopied zine after zine, aside the mass media driven pop tripe, the underground thrives as it ever did, the internet only creates an easy route in. Just like the bands of the now, such as The Longcoats and others rapidly joining the group, what’s not to like about it?
I’ve been invited to watch some horror! After the success of their debut film, Follow the Crows, Swindon filmmakers Alex Secker and Marc Starr have been busy with Onus; I know now what’s behind my sofa…..
Finding it hard to accept it’s been the best part of four years since I received my first “real” journalistic assignment for local news site Index:Wiltshire.
The editor, Craig couldn’t make the press screening for Swindon-made film, Follow the Crows, so with no experience I bumbled my way in with little expectations to find a birthday party-fashioned welcoming to view a compelling dystopian thriller.
Comparing the team’s new film, Onus, with the latter is inevitable, though through Follow The Crows’ simplicity, this is visually better and more engaging. I’m glad to have been invited to review it and I’m free to assume this time, not just it’s quality, but eerie and divergent conception.
Writer and director, Alex Secker doesn’t settle with convention. For this it receives full marks. Where it differs is in setting and angle. If Follow the Crows goes for a survivalist circumstance within an imaginary post-apocalyptic realm, Onus follows the template of traditional Hammer House horrors of yore, in a sense. If you crave modern Hollywood’s hurtling imagery and non-stop action, this is not for you. Onus creeps up on you, increasingly setting a troubling notion in your psyche. It’s suspense reason for me not to reveal spoilers.
It certainly achieves what I believe it set out to do; my fingernails are somewhat shorter. This is an unnerving masterpiece which abounds by twisting the cliché of classic horror. Starter for ten, the music, by Graeme Osbourne, assures you an uneasy sitting; I’m shivering before any visual. Yet when it does, despite unsettling sensations, we’re shown a female couple on a car journey through our acceptable local landscape. The driver, haughty Izzy (Erin Leighton) poses somewhat relaxed, taking her subordinate and shy dungaree-wearing girlfriend, Anna, (Daniella Faircloth) to meet her upper-class family. You may know yourself, meeting a lover’s parents can be unnerving at the best of times, with a class difference, doubly so. Izzy asserts her superiority, bantering the nervous Anna by joking her family are “not vampires;” a notion she drives a little too much.
“Onus creeps up on you, increasingly setting a troubling notion in your psyche.”
In true horror fashion the setting is solely the house, the protagonist’s suspicion they’re being deceived builds, and for such, Onus borrows extensively from the chestnut. Secker though is keen to raise social indifferences between classes, the notion of wealth meaning superiority; this only increases the gut-wrenching feeling Anna is out of her depth.
Suspense drives you to want something to unveil, but it plods on its tension-building ambience for over the hour. Anna’s snowballing anxiety is portrayed perfectly by Daniella with some haunting expressions of despair. You? You’re looking for an escape clause, a knight in shining armour. But if the plot has strands of Little Red Riding Hood, there appears no character who will be Anna’s woodcutter. Izzy’s obnoxiously snobby brother (Alex Pitcher) is clearly in on it, pompously he sniggers at her misfortune; both sibling rivalry and homophonic attitudes abound in his arrogance. The Victorian mother (Karen Payne) is as stiff and a brush, and the ill father (Tony Manders) is shadily the reasoning for her presence at the house. This only leaves the clue-providing maid, (Shaniece Williams) who, treated as a slave of yore, is doubtfully going to heroically strive in. Here within lies the twist, dispelling the cliché horror ending.
So, what begins as a classic horror, ends unexpectedly; like a short story it provides the viewer scope to continue the tale using their own imagination, and for that, Onus rocks.
“Like a short story it provides the viewer scope to continue the tale using their own imagination, and for that, Onus rocks.”
Again, the production of Marcus Starr, the writing, directing and editing of Alex Secker and the acting is sublime. The temperament is undeniably spooky, the setting is dripping with realism, especially being based in the South West. The characters are vivid, Anna is somewhat free-willed rather than helpless, just trapped. The family are genuinely as snooty as you’d expect, and unnervingly mysterious; I feel driven to Facebook message my worries to Daniella, pleading she takes more time in choosing a partner next time, that’s how realistic it is!
And what is more, I think it’s easy to pass my review as flattery, that no locally-based film crew could hope to attain that of the mainstream movie industry, but Follow the Crows is award-winning, Onus deserves to follow suit. I don’t usually do star ratings, as I feel it’s restrictive, but if I did it’d get a four out five at least! You. Need. To. See. It.
The movie has a distributor, High Octane Pictures from LA. “We’re finalising the paperwork,” producer Marc informs me, “they’ll distribute direct in the US and Canada, then sell to the rest of the world.” So, it should be on DVD and blue ray in a couple of months. I’ll keep you in the loop.
While I’m sure sporadic and social distanced celebrations, picnics and perhaps the odd full-scale rave occurred everywhere on Friday in celebration of VE Day, lockdown isn’t it? I was confined to wandering my village and assigned to take a few photos for the village magazine. I bow my head, they weren’t to know, photography isn’t my forte, but with television shows now being created via wobbly phone camera, I figure what the heck, I’ll publish them here!
The highlight was meeting local legend Wayne Cherry, the gent who stood at the top of the Brittox for 100 hours during last Remembrance, has raised £1,272 standing outside his home for NHS charities. Well done, Wayne. You can donate here.
The nineties, the Skanxters set the bar high for ska bands in Swindon. In a similar fashion their keyboardist Erin Bardwell, and those who’ve worked with him, have carved a unique watermark for the multiple branches of the reggae genre and given the town a certain original sound. Nestled somewhere between his ska band epoch, his rocksteady revival crew the Erin Bardwell Collective and Subject A, his dub project with Dean Sartain, comes a new solo release, Interval.
If Erin states this is a “side-step” and a “pause from the usual,” this lockdown-driven release least retains that trademark style in all manner and sense. But it is unusual, in a good way. If this lacks the vocals of Sandra Bell, and other layers which make the current sound of the Collective, it makes up for it in alternative ways; I’m going to attempt to sum them up and do it some justice.
Firstly, Erin’s voice defines the aforementioned watermark of Swindon’s reggae scene, and, secondly, the subject matter of Interval is dripping with reminisces of its previous incarnations. Now, when I say reggae it’s an all-encompassing term taking in ska, rocksteady, boss, roots and dub reggae in one swoop, makes it easier that way. And one thing which unites all these offshoots is the orchestral configuration, the importance of binding all the instruments, where the keyboard is vital. In this, Interval is concentrated on piano, as it’s Erin baby, and there’s some impressively crafted segments of ivories, more Chopin than Jackie Mittoo.
From the starting block, it is apparent reggae is not the only influence intertwined in this great album. The opening track, “Four Walls Surround” bursts out with an upbeat Two-Tone riff but is rinsed with something Paul Weller about it too. The subject seems to relate to the lockdown, but could also connote the isolation of teenage anguish felt by the youth of the Two-Tone era. From here I think it’s fair to assume Erin is contemplating his younger years whilst staring at those walls, and trying to convince himself it’s no bad thing.
The cover appears as if it’s a classic soul album of yore, and we’re already setting the concept. There is a running nostalgic theme here, but the album is diverse in its approach; the second is a ballad. “When you Smile,” fashions akin to the melodic plod of the pedigrees of dub. But if that nods to King Tubby, “Bridge of Tunes” does equally for boss reggae’s chugging beat and wouldn’t look out of place on a Trojan’s sixties Tighten Up compilation.
Time for the summit of Interval, “(Like the Reflection on) The Liffey” is a wistful masterpiece of haunting sentiment, a resonant dub with delicate with horns, thoughtful prose and dreamy composition; Pink Floyd does dub. To follow, we’re chugging back with something retrospectively reflective reggae, as Erin comments on the Windrush scandal, as it is, after all, the motive the UK embraces reggae. As evocative as The Liffey though, it finishes with a chilling spoken quotation.
“Name on a Page,” uses the melodic dubplate of previous track “When you Smile,” and the album plays out on a similar key, “That London Winter” enforces the notion Erin is writing memoirs, and “Injured Arm,” casts back further with an expert of a what sounds like a children’s show.
In conclusion this is a skeleton in the closet project, shady and thought-provoking. Coupled with that unique trademark sound makes it stimulating, different and totally original. While most contemporary reggae is either instrumental dub, songs of conscious Rasta judgements, or plain dancehall rap with over-inflated egos, Interval exerts Erin’s refreshing exclusivity to the maximum and will appease not only die-hard skins and punks, but those seeking something alternative.
Joe Edwards has his debut solo album, Keep on Running released this week, here’s my tuppence on it…..
Under the “write what you know,” philosophy, if I’ve been critical in the past regarding local Country-fashioned artists using cultural references alien to their natural environment, i.e. a band from Wotton Bassett crooning about boxcars and wranglers, I have to waive the argument in the case of Keep on Running, the debut solo album by Joe Edwards, of Devizes. Not because Joe is well-travelled to apt locations and it was recorded and produced at Henhouse Studios in Nashville, though he is and it was, or it’s so authentic it’s more authentic than the authentic stuff, but because, in a word, it’s so absolutely gorgeous.
I’m going to be hard-pressed to find a different album of the year, as if this was a new Bob Dylan release the headline would be “Dylan Back on Form.” But it isn’t, and if one can rebuke Dylan as eaten by wealth and the machine he once repelled against, here, with freshness, is Highway 61 really revisited. The characters here can be akin to Dylan’s, questioning romance, bittersweet with humanity’s cruelty. Keep on Running never faulters nor diverts from its mellow method, if the tempo raises it’s only slight, and if it slips a toe under the door of rock, shards of both folk and blues roots are methodically preserved with finesse.
“…if this was a new Bob Dylan release the headline would be “Dylan Back on Form.”
When preacher Casey picks up hitchhiking Tom Joad, recently paroled from the McAlester pen in the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck paints a picture with his words so immaculately precise you’re in that pickup with them, sensing the raw sting of the dustbowl and the smell of the dying cornfields of Oklahoma. With every banjo riff, or twangy guitar, Joe paints a similarly genuine image of the Southern American states.
The writing is sublime, acute blues. Characters are often despondent, impecunious and dejected. Yet this is not Springsteen’s Nebraska, somewhere they’re thrown a curveball and the air of melancholy is introverted, altered to positivity in the face of all things terrible. You may be riding their train of pessimism, yet it’s not discouraging on the ear, rather selfless muse executed with such passion there’s an air uplifting, best compared with Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.”
You sense a running theme; yes, life is shit but I’m dammed if I’m going to let it piss on my chips. A feeling Joe nurtures as the album continues, reaching an apex with a track called “Don’t Let the Bastards Get you Down,” and continuing to the title track. Hereafter you understand the metaphor to “Keep on Running.” If not, the cover is a meek lino-cut akin to labelling of a Jack Daniels bottle, with a road heading off to the mountains, just to make sure.
“Yet this is not Springsteen’s Nebraska, somewhere they’re thrown a curveball and the air of melancholy is introverted, altered to positivity in the face of all things terrible.”
After the title track, there’s a road ballad in true Americana style, the venerable symbolism for changing your life, which is never a negative notion. If the finale then spells the most adroit blues tune, “Mine oh Mine,” the beginnings, “Beth’s Song” and “Cross the Line” herald the better country-inspired ones, but between them, an insolvent blues tune, “Capital Blues,” as a beguiling teaser for what’s to come. In contrast the achingly poignant, “Gambler” is perhaps the most accomplished bluegrass, filled by a tormented soul pouring his heart out for want of an extra six dollars.
It flows so incredibly well, George Harrison well, though, like a concept album of the 1970s it’s a single unit to be heard complete. This doesn’t prove a problem; you’re engaged throughout and wouldn’t dare press pause.
Nothing is tentative about Keep on Running; you get the sense Joe is deliberate in where he wants to take you. Despite remaining faithful to the formulae set by Guthrie and continued by Dylan, Segar and Lynyrd Skynyrd, where nothing is experimental, nothing is cliché either. One listen and you’ve entered a grimy western saloon, biker citizens pause shooting pool to glare, and a cowgirl in daisy dukes and a red chequered shirt tied at the waist welcomes you, piercingly.
“It flows so incredibly well, George Harrison well.”
There is no in-your-face blast of sound, it traipses mellowly, and Joe executes his vocals with a whisper, as though he’s pouring a heartfelt secret to you alone, and for that you’re honoured; you should be. This is sweltering Sunday morning music, preferably slouching in a rocking chair on the veranda of a log cabin, sipping whiskey and rye, plucking a banjo. Though the least I can do right now is watch Oh Brother Where Art Thou!
Wondering where the time goes, it’s been near on a couple of years since we featured Devizes artist Bryony Cox, when she exhibited her paintings in Upstairs at Jacks. At the time Bryony had not long graduated from Falmouth Uni. Since completing her studies, she has travelled extensively throughout Asia.
“I’m now doing an MA in actor musicianship at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama,” she informed me to minor surprise, aware Bryony has performed and sung in local dramatics such as the White Horse Opera and Devizes Musical Theatre in the past. “But I’ve kept my studio in Trowbridge and still produce artwork alongside. Sometimes I have been able to use my visual skills exploring theatre making and performance.”
Personally, I’ve always been taken by her dramatic landscapes and fascination with mountains, yet I’ve always been a fan of Turner, and there’s something equally as expressive and unified in Bryony’s. There is, however, a variety in her enlarged portfolio since we last spoke, some figure and settings work inspired from her travels, sketched miniatures, and she has been using mixed-media, charcoal and pastel for example, and experimentation with college, even animation. And there’s no better time to browse Bryony’s website, as she offers 20% off and 50% on some of her older works, with 20% donated to the NHS. See for yourself on her website, here.
These connections between art and performing arts captivates me, aside the name arts, and primary school drama class where I had to pretend to be a tree! So, I asked Bryony if she thinks there are similar work practices in theatre to art, and in what ways.
“I’m quite interested in the crossover between theatre and performance art,” she explained. “I have started bringing film back into my work and my research on my MA has been about performing alongside film projections of drawings, animations and audio overlays. But I have always kept drawing and painting Wiltshire alongside because of the beautiful countryside and still keep drawing portraits from any travels that I have been on as I love to document different people and cultures.”
We are lucky to live in an area where artists feel their home is an equally inspiring subject as their travels. In this much I see a likeness to Clifton Powell’s work, another well-travelled local artist who documents his journeys through his art, yet returning to Wiltshire often produces some equally outstanding pieces.
It’s worthwhile bookmarking Bryony’s site as she frequently updates it with new work. “More recently I have been to Vietnam and Indonesia,” she told me, “so some of my more recent portraits that I am going to put up today are from that trip.” We look forward to seeing them!
Rowde artist Alan Watters has finished a portrait in the ‘Free Portraits for NHS Heroes’ initiative as featured on BBC news recently. The subject is Christina Whicker, an IAC nurse at Boston Pilgrim Hospital. Alan says he’s about to start another, “as I find it difficult to say no!”
Alan is also a part time support worker confined to 12 weeks self-isolation and wishing to still do something to help the fight against the Coronavirus. “I thought I could produce limited edition pencil signed and numbered prints from some of my recently created original artworks and sell them at a modest price but with 100% of the profit going to causes fighting the virus, the major benefactor being ‘NHS Charities Together.”
So, he’s knocked up a website where you can view the prints, here. “I have a little way to go to reach my target of £1000,” Alan explained, “so please have a look and help if you can.” There’s a wide-range of fine art on show here, some life sketches, celebrity portraits, cute animals and also some thought-provoking imagery. Most prints are £25, for a limited period it’ll also include a pencil signed greetings card featuring the image of your choice.
How professional of me to create a to-do-list of outstanding subjects for articles, but then spoil said professionalism by dithering to the Daydream Runaways boys about the nineties rave-indie divide and becoming a grandad. The sensible members of the band promptly left the group chat, save guitarist Cameron Bianchi who stayed to endure my inane waffling up as far as the Madchester scene.
Prior to this though we had a great heart-to-heart early in the week, but if the title of this article is misleading, I should add the subject of Sir Isaac Newton never came up, rather Gravity is their latest single, hot off the streaming sites yesterday. It’s quality, as expected, going on their three previous releases, blinding reviews and an appearance on BBC Wiltshire.
It does indeed, as the press release states, “deliver on their brand of retro-modern indie rock,” but while maintaining an emerging signature panache, it pushes firmer towards a heavy rock division. A hasty grinding atmospheric intro with a pause, then the spiralling sonic guitar takes no prisoners. If the last tune, Closing the Line bore topical sentiment with a theme of the town’s Honda Plant closing, Gravity is perhaps more general, but even more powerful. This imminent Swindon-Devizes four-piece really have dug into an emotional slant with Gravity.
The combination of Ben Heathcote’s idiosyncratic vocals, said sonic guitars and class production value, this belts across as a rock anthem to not only scare The Darkness but fight a Foo. They say it comes from “a time of turbulence and explores the burden of life’s toughest decisions.” If I predicted the air of gloom surrounding the era would produce some intensely expressive songs, here is the all the proof you need, if indeed it’s a product of the pandemic. I’m going to find out.
So, I’m wondering, if the recording was done at a distance, or prior to the lockdown. Drummer, Brad Kinsey informed, “it was done in February, in Swindon, with an engineer from Westbury.”
I explained my reasoning, “it sounds heavy, rather darker than usual. So, I wondered if it was a result of the lockdown. Is there a drive to take it that route, I mean slightly darker and heavier, or is just the mood of this particular track?”
Cameron replied “I think it was just the mood of the track. Everything kind of centres around the experience Ben’s lyrics are speaking about. In fact, Ben’s probably the best person to about the story behind the song. But we definitely made a conscious effort to push ourselves on this on to do the song justice.”
It certainly does. “It doesn’t hang around,” I pointed out, “and the vocals are more powerful than before. Seems like a natural progression, a maturity. Not that I’m calling you immature, you understand?!”
Bradley responded, “nah, I get that. I think we gained confidence and are more unified about this sound.”
Cameron interjected, “I think it’s important to all of us to keep pushing ourselves with each release and not churn out the same number. I’m not saying we’re the Beatles or anything, but you know give it some time. We’re still young!”
Bradley bantered, “are you, Cam?!”
Cameron added, “well, some of us are still young…” Laughing emojis are added, but I’m getting paranoid.
“Okay,” I opposed, “spring chickens; don’t rub it in!” But even with any such change, such as the edgier component of Gravity, there’s a distinct signature maintained in all their tunes and this, I feel, sets them apart from many a local band. I could have guessed it was them before knowing it. “Is that important,” I questioned, “to be instantly recognisable?”
Cameron said, “I think it helps that Ben has got a very distinctive and powerful voice. I suppose we’re starting to find our sound as well. Ben & Nath wanted to go a bit heavier with this track but I’m not a massive fan of heavy guitar. So, I opted for a more chimney yet overdriven guitar style that suits me, but also packs a punch. Plus, I got to flex my inner Graham Coxon/Jonny Greenwood with the effects heavy solo part!”
Brad covered this shot too, “I would say so, yeah. It’s good to build a sonic trademark, all the greats have that! It’s a good thing when people can still recognise you, even when you change things. Shows that you’re using that style but without losing the integrity of what you are.”
At this early stage, Daydream Runaways call a good compromise between them, witnessed when they tuned for our Waiblingen Way Fire fundraiser. “There’s always going to be differing opinions,” I pondered, “Bit like marriage!”
Cameron replied, “no relationship comes without some disagreements, a band included. But we’re all good at finding a compromise, which is good!”
Throughout the interview I’m concerned if I should bring the idea of a possible album up, as when we did the fundraiser I asked, and it met with varying opinions between them. However, with the topic running on compromise, it’s now or never! “I wasn’t sure, though wanting to ask, if I should bring it up again!”
Cameron delegated, “Bradley…over to you on the album talk!”
I interjected with the proposal before he did, “I think you should, but accept I’m not thinking about current climate in the music industry, rather an old fashioned ideal.”
Bradley answered, “there was a plan. However, the coronavirus has impacted that. Not going to say it’s completely gone but we’ll wait and see what happens. You can’t really make any plans at the moment.”
Cameron expressed, “it’s not a matter of if but a matter of when is probably all we’ll say for now!”
Brad added, “I’d say doing an album is all dependent on what genre you’re doing. Rock music fans are still very defiant and keeping the album alive. So maybe with this Gravity sound we’ll go down that route.”
It did bring us onto these strange times, and my deliberations on what’s the best approach for artists on how to continue, continues. “What’s best for musicians,” I asked them for their tuppence, “the live stream is simply not the same as a gig, and while charging for it is a bit cheeky, it’s difficult to know where to go to get some revenue for the work you put it. In short, must be a bitch. Let’s not say the word again!”
I couldn’t argue with Brad’s comment, “some bands I follow have rejected the idea and directed people to supporting more pressing causes.”
Meanwhile, Cam elucidated his feelings about the lockdown. “Whilst you really miss that immediate response from a crowd, and the fact you’re in a room where you can play loud and really get into it, they’re still fun to do! We were lucky enough to do one right before the lockdown was enforced. Probably one of the first bands to do it, then Chris Martin came along after with his solidarity sessions. We still haven’t forgiven him for that!”
“Springsteen did one! But not before you!” I supplemented.
Bradley was proud to say, “we were the first UK band to do a self-isolation livestream. There, I said it; Let the feud with Chris Martin begin!”
The topic continued for a while, this dilemma between fan etiquette and revenue for artists. But I wanted to notify how much I enjoyed theirs, “yeah, good it was too. Saw that! Right now, I guess, it’s all we have. That’s the point I cleared with Kieran at Sheer. It’s never going to be the best plan. I think it’s time to get down and write some killer songs, agree?”
Cameron agreed with a feel-good quote, “definitely, but now is also the time to look out for each other, even though we’re all apart. If we can reach out to people with our music or it helps them get through their day, then that’s amazing.”
Bradley approved too, “yeah, and there’s never been a better time to write. Technology’s made it so accessible now to bounce ideas. Who knows, we could even release a song in lockdown without even meeting up.”
It always amazed a younger me, that Paul Simon could collaborate with the South African musicians on Graceland, back in the late eighties, and it sounded like they were playing in harmony in the same studio. It is possible to edit parts and stitch together. Must bugger up the flow of it though, make it sound mechanical or manufactured.”
Bradley replied, “well, if the band records the parts individually themselves and lays off the editing it’s possible to get that organic feel. I wouldn’t be surprise if we start seeing artists jump on this idea and release original tracks.”
It was at this point Ben Heathcote joined us. “It seems like the boys have covered the questions quite well! As Cam said, Gravity comes from a place of uncertainty and pain from circumstances and the decisions triggered from them. A crossroad of the mind. And yeah, lockdown wise we’re hoping it makes people see the value in their freedom before and hopefully will bring out further support when pubs, clubs and entertainment reopen.”
I see Ben’s clarification reflected in the cover art too. With a kind of “stairway to heaven concept,” an impressionist character is looking lost, pondering which road to take. It’s apt for the song.”
Ben welcomed this, “you got it. And again, the artwork is something were really proud of. Provided by ezra.mae.art. We also enjoyed working with Reloopaudio on the production, a friend who we will be working with again. We love this song and we’ve loved the whole creation, writing and everything about it. It’s nice to have developed it from the live sound too.”
For Ben’s benefit, we found ourselves back on the subject of Gravity’s edgier side, “I think it will please the hardcore indie fans, and those which come from a heavy rock side, which is good, there’s a majority of them locally.”
Ben replied, “as you mentioned earlier, with the style sounding fresh, but still us. This is something I’ve always been hot on since the band formed. I’ve never wanted us to be doing the same thing every time. The aim was, and continues to be; to write and produce fresh sounds with hints of varying styles that is still recognisable as us, allowing it to not be boring or repetitive; kind of inspired by many of our favourite artists who keep developing their sound.”
I take off my hat to this, “I might come across pop or soul-ish but I had my day, and do still listen to bands like Zeppelin and Floyd etc. I think Gravity will be boss with that crowd.” With which I asked for their influences, and if they mutual.
Ben reacted, “I’d say our choices are not miles apart, but to pin a group favourite would be impossible as we all have our firm favourite influences.”
Cam agreed, “yeah, I don’t think there was a particular band or artist that inspired the track as such but we all agreed what the sound was we were aiming for. Making sure that each of us brought our own thing to it.”
Laughing emojis made a reappearance, when I teased, “Ed Sheeran it is then!”
Keen to take it back, Brad nods at my sixties psychedelic citations, “Floyd and Zeppelin are timeless though. Prefect example of bands that pushed themselves overtime.” And the Daydream Runaways can relate to that with this progressive new release.
Ben said, “I think before we produced the track, we all knew in our head how it should sound.” It’s definitely a belter. I thank them for their time, with one last question before we headed into our tangent about the rave-indie divide of the nineties! Where do the Daydreamers see themselves in five years?
Ben suggested in five years’ time he would like them to have a steady schedule, “playing to crowds who know our words, filling sold out venues as well as intimate gigs, which we can always remember.”
Cameron felt they’d have “an album or two under our belt, playing to crowds in our favourite venues. Having a slot on The John Peel Stage at Glastonbury is a bit of a dream of mine!” Ah, there’s the source of my waffling, started with seeing Oasis at Glasto but, unbeknown to me at the time, I paid them little attention.
Daydream Runaways though, worthy of your attention, here’s the Spotify link to Gravity, like them up on the book of face, and cross your fingers and toes we’ll be seeing them live soon, if not the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury!
Since the jazz era, musical genres start covert and underground, and with popularity they’re refined to mainstream acceptability, packaged into a new pop wave, and eventually fall into a retrospective or cult hall of fame. I first stood aghast at the selling-off of our adolescent anthems when I heard Leftfield’s Release the Pressure in an advert for Cheese Strings. When this happens to you, you’re officially past your sell by date!
When my daughter is in the car it’s paramount, she controls the stereo, at least it is to her. I’m indifferent, the bulk of contemporary pop irritates my senior ears, but occasionally there’s a something interesting hidden. There was one, once, don’t expect me to root through her playlist to tell you what one, pop, but with the backbeat undeniably inspired from drum n bass.
My attention was drawn to a tune this week, Falling, from Devizes’ drum n bass outfit SubRat Records via Gail Foster, who shot the video for it. Listening took me to the aforementioned moment; how drum n bass was now part of the “norm” rather than primarily an underground genre. If it has come of age and entered the realm of acceptable pop, though, there’s still room for experimentation and the fusing of styles, which is no bad thing, and precisely what Falling is. Chris, hereafter known as Tone, has set up SubRat, and Pewsey’s Cutsmith is the vocalist on this particular track.
Cutsmith is current, using hip hop to inspire his acoustic compositions, so it melds effectively. In the way David Grey produced Babylon, Suzanne Vega did with Tom’s Diner or the entire catalogue of Portishead, fusing up-to-date dance styles with acoustically driven tunes is a winner, if done correctly. If not, it’s a howler, but I’m glad to say, this one really works wonders. Falling has a sublime ambient texture and glides causally through a mass-acceptable drum n bass riff. Cutsmith’s smooth vocals complements it perfectly, breathes mood into it and gifts it with meaning; the combination, a match made in heaven.
Though this may not be an entirely ground-breaking formula, I’d like to train spotter a nod towards a lesser-known tune on A Guy Called Gerald’s revolutionary album Black Secret Technology, where through splinters of drum n bass, an unknown Finely Quaye covers Marley’s Sun is Shining. But if you’d rather me example recognised tunes of singers who launched a career from featuring on a dance tune, from Seal to Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and renowned artists who regenerated theirs, like the day William Orbit got a call from the queen of pop, here’s two local artists collaborating for each other’s good, rather than one tossed a rope to the other.
I wanted to probe the mind of producer Tone, about this concept, as what he’s got here is something very marketable, as opposed to something which would only appease the drum n bass fans. I asked him if this was the intention with this tune, yet I didn’t want him getting the wrong idea; I meant this in the best possible way. Even if, Bohemian Rhapsody, for example, is timeworn and cliché, it’s popular because it’s a bloody amazing song. Pop doesn’t necessarily have to be a sell-out, cast yourself away from Stock, Aitken Waterman.
“You’re definitely right about this particular track sounding more marketable and commercial than your everyday underground D&B piece,” he expressed. “I had no intention of making it sound acceptable to the masses but I’m glad it is like that. I think more people should be able to enjoy drum and bass for all different backgrounds. I’m not really trying to make what everyone wants; I just make what I like the sound of, and quite often or not it’s easy on the ear for everyone.”
I wanted gage the story behind this belter. “When we worked on this piece,” Tone replied, “I started out making the entire track without having any intention of putting vocals on to it. I sent it over to Josh (Cutsmith) and he said he’d love to do something over it, which is when we started recording. It turned out really well even though throughout the production I didn’t think I’d be making anything that sounds like this. My roots are actually firmly with the rave scene and I absolutely love sub-heavy underground vibes.”
Is this a debut single from Sub Rat, I asked him. “This is the first free release off of our label, SubRat Records, by myself, Tone. In a hope to bring people in and start a fan-base.” So, does Tone consider himself a DJ and producer? “I’m based in Devizes and solely a producer right now. I haven’t DJ’d for a long while. I produce a lot of drum and bass, but often step into other genres like Hip-hop, dubstep, grime, modern rap and more commercial stuff etc.”
If our local music scene is blossoming, it can be limiting regarding genres, so I welcome this with open arms. To assume such genres are generally confined to a municipal environment you’d be mistaken. Prior to our chat delving into rave memories, as the typecast urban raver always excluded the rural counterparts since day dot, I tried to keep current and ask Tone if future releases will follow a similar pattern, and where he saw SubRat heading.
“Aside from my solo journey I take pride being in the background for vocalists/rappers and providing the music/instrumentals for them,” he explained, “I want to see people succeed off of my tunes!” I hope so, this is promising and like to see other local singers benefit from an electronic dance music makeover, and if so, judging by this excellent tune, through SubRat, drum n bass is the key component.
As the nation embraces the 100th birthday of Captain Thomas Moore, who famously raised over £30 million of NHS Charities Together, I too tip my hat to this war hero, but I also wanted to highlight and thank two very much younger local heroes this week.
Firstly, a huge congratulations goes to 13-year-old Will Foulstone. Yes, the pianist prodigy from Bishops Cannings/Chirton who kindly played the first slot at our Waiblingen Way Fire Fundraiser at the Cellar Bar, and set that bar high for our following acts, Daydream Runaways, Chloe Jordan, The Celtic Roots Collective and Ben Borrill. Oh yeah, and who played with the Script and London’s O2 arena too, mind!
Will
Father, Stuart, live streamed this grand effort last Monday, which, as part of a Facebook virtual festival, the International online music festival for PPE fundraiser, managed to raise over £1,500 for this worthy cause. Well done Will, a brilliant job!
Our second local hero slightly younger than Captain Tom is our wonderful, six-year-old heroine Carmela Chillery-Watson, who, since her dad Darren couldn’t run the London marathon this year, replaced the 26.2 miles of a marathon with 26 laps of her therapy assault course. This gruelling challenge was also streamed live on 26th April, where Carmela was in high spirits and played to camera while completing this mini marathon. Carmela raised a staggering £1953.00 for Muscular Dystrophy UK. You can still donate to Carmela here for her amazing achievement if you missed it.
Carmela
“Carmela is sore and tired as expected,” Carmela’s mum said, “and will probably be wiped out tomorrow too, but she certainly did us proud and more today.”
Well done to both our heroes this week, if you know of anyone else we should add please let us know!
As predicted, the void where live music reviews used to sit will be filled with an abundance of releases from our local music circuit. I’ve a backlog building at Devizine Tower; here’s the first this week, from Swindon’s indie-pop four-piece Talk in Code, and much as we’ve enjoyed watching streams of Chris in his car, yeah, this is more like it, cool.
Some pensive prose swathed in the upbeat eighties-fashioned synth-pop we know Talk in Code have mastered. Courage (Leave it Behind) offers a “wake-up call,” as the press release defines, yet does so with all the hallmarks of another catchy anthem. This lockdown-themed leitmotif hails what you’re probably questioning yourself, “it’s that feeling of realising something is not right and has to be changed. But, knowing what needs to happen and taking action are two very different things…”
The world will undoubtedly be the different after this pandemic, the unity binding us could potentially tear us apart; did Joy Division predict this?! If not, there’s a ghost, least an inspiration from those early eighties new romantics fused into this contemporary tune, and again, just like the previous singles, while Talk in Code songs sound as if they’d slot into the background of a John Hughes coming-of-age movie, listen again, they also ring modernism in both production and subject.
From its inaugural piano, through its beguiling beat to this cliff-hanging finale which leaves the question open to interpretation, this is an uplifting song; I expected no less though. “Finding the strength to make a change and every bit relevant to these challenging times,” as the blurb continues, is surely up to us, pop doesn’t preach as it once did, rather stages the dilemma for you to solve, and that, in a way makes it that bit up-to-date, rather than a retrospective eighties tribute.
For that reason, Talk in Code are pushing boundaries rather than dwelling, and the reason which found them on BBC Introducing In The West, on The OFI Monday Show, The Premium Blend Radio Show, Swindon 105.5 and Frome FM. It is the reason why the Ocelot, Dave Franklyn of Dancing About Architecture, The Big Takeover, and oh yeah, us, are singing their praises.
Providing optimism as a theme to this single is a biting reality, and Talk In Code still hope to play some of the fifteen festivals that were booked into this year, including M for, Daxtonbury, Concert at the Kings and Newbury Beer Festival along with a showcase for Fierce Panda/Club Fandango, to be rescheduled for later in 2020; hygienically rinsed fingers crossed, and toes.
COURAGE (Leave It Behind) will be released tomorrow, 30th April, on digital download at www.talkincode.co.uk and on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music and all digital platforms.
Had a nice chat with Sheer Music’s Kieran about acts, live streaming, future plans, and gardening this week… what am I on about? It’s always nice to chat with Mr Moore….
If the beginnings of Devizine was a learning curve in which I realised I’d bitten off more than I could chew, one might be mistaken to think now we must’ve covered every musical talent in Devizes, if not Wiltshire. Not so, as a post from Kieran J Moore of Sheer Music incited me to shudder. Why have I not heard the name Joe Edwards before?
Joe Edwards
Name does ring a bell, must have posted about the cancelled album launch at the Wharf which would’ve happened this week. Well-travelled, Joe has been touring through Europe as a drummer for Australian band The Wishing Well, plus his debut solo album Keep on Running was mixed in Nashville and mastered in New Jersey with Grammy nominee Kim Rosen; might explain it, and if I have encountered the name I had no idea how renowned and awesome he is.
Hoisted in the help of Kieran for this then, to insure I’m bought up to date; there is a new cool in Devizes, and I’m going to prompt him about it. The initial message on any chat window these days is enquiring of wellbeing, understandably. Mr Moore is positively beaming, “[I’m] getting so much done and achieved,” he explained.
I replied with a question, “Like the gardening?!”
A boundless list of household chores followed which included, “how to programme moving head lights, learned how to live stream, learned how to record and edit videos.” Bless, that’s our Kieran, dedicated to fetching us the best live music and promoting local artists, no matter what the era brings us; you have to tip your hat to the man. Seeking permissions to release sets Sheer recorded from 2012-14 and bootleg them onto Bandcamp being the latest venture.
What of the live stream though? My Virtual Festival started with good intentions, but there’s been so much of it it’s hard to keep up, some may not be appreciative my sharing of their stream; it’s a close call. In these frustrating times, I asked Mr M if he felt “people are going to get bored with the live stream.” I often feel it doesn’t make up for the real thing and enforces my sadness that we’re missing out on live music. Yeah, I know, right; then I apologised for my despondent attitude.
It’s a close call because artists earning from a live stream is problematic. Some have found methods of a pay-per-view stream, but many rely on a PayPal donation option. While I sympathise with the artists, also I ponder if charging for a live stream is justified when Wi-Fi can drop out, be overloaded, etc. “So,” Kieran added, “live streams have become a necessary evil, in the sense that everyone is doing them, and it’s really difficult to earn from them. Let’s be clear, live streams will never replace the real thing. No need to go into detail, we all know why, it just won’t.”
He believes they have a place in the future, though, after lockdown has ended. “You’d be a dolt not to recognise it! Whilst it may be difficult and lacking for most of us, these streams have enabled many people who wouldn’t usually be present, be it social anxiety, disability, or a myriad of other reasons, be able to take part and fell part of something.”
I gave mention to a stream-festival by Swindon Shuffle, it doesn’t have to be geographically grounded, organisers said people attended as far away as Mexico, and this increases the fandom of the performers to international levels.
In these few short weeks, we’ve seen musicians getting more creative with the concept, nice to see Benji & Hibbs sitting around a fire rather than indoors,Jon Amor climbed onto his roof last night, and Phil Cooper is getting tech with green screens for a Lost Trades stream on 1st May. “A lot of people have invested in the technology,” Kieran expressed, “so why would it stop after? It’s just daft, of course it won’t. Also, the reality is that venues won’t be back and open before 2021. The possibilities are currently being peddled by MVT,” He continued, “and it’s being taken seriously.”
I felt the need to apologise for my grumpiness, it had been a long day at the diary. I would, however, like to see artists getting some releases out rather than live stream, but accept that’s not easy either, for a band, with social distancing. Talking blues though, surely some the most poignant music, particularly blues, comes from feelings of isolation, depression and disappointment; from teenage anguish or working on the chain gang! The lockdown should deliver some interesting content.
“Be prepared for an avalanche of Coronavirus and lockdown blues songs,” Kieran suggested, and yep, seen a few emerging myself and played the “Corona Blues” by The Ragamuffin All-stars on my radio show last week.
Little Geneva
Talking local blues, though, on top of Joe Edwards, who after a listen to I’m liking to a raw George Harrison or Clapton, what else has Kieran got for me? “Jon Amor likens Joe to JJ Cale, which is nice,” he compliments. “Then we have Little Geneva, who actually do covers, but they’re so obscure, people don’t know them. I actually like that slant.” Ticked that box some time ago, Little Geneva playing the Cellar Bar was knockout, and I’ve nothing but praise for their authentic blues sound.
This said, Little Geneva have since recruited female singer Mariam Maz to add to their already talented gang, and this I have to witness.
Will Blake
“Then we have Will Blake in Bromham, a honky-tonk 12-bar type of guy,” but I’ve recently bookmarked Will too, sharing this soul cover multi-instrumentalist’s Isolation Sessions, which see him on piano in the middle of a Bromham field giving us a marvellous rendition of Man in the Mirror et all.
And finally, Kieran aims one I don’t know at me, a “swampy and dirty” contemporary Trowbridge four-piece, Sober Son. This is hard-hitting rock and one to watch. Looking to the future, where I predict an aching aftermath for concerts and gigs, many might frivolously suggest we have the party of parties, but Kieran is a doer. Can I spill the beans on his “overall idea?” “Say it’s currently Sheer’s intention to host an event!” he informs, yeah, will do.
Hosting a “Devizes Music Festival” is said idea, when the lock down is over, and to do a multi-stage bill, across the whole venue. Kieran’s dream team would consist of Jon Amor, Sober Son, Little Geneva, Joe Edwards, Will Blake and The Lost Trades, “etc.” I’m saying no more, not to get over-excited too soon, we’ve a long way to go with the lockdown; I could be a pensioner by then and only wishing to listen to Pat Boone!
Ah bugger, back to the now; do like the Sheer Music Facebook page, currently dedicated to bringing you the best local live streams, “the necessary evil.” But most importantly is the notion I’ve said before and will no doubt say again, unless you want to pop the bubbles of musician’s aspirations and see them pushing supermarket trollies, it’s vital you check out local artists and buy their music, be it from Bandcamp, streaming sites, their sites or send Vinyl Realm a message, as they stock a selection of local music too.
When you live in a market town such as Devizes it’s inevitable when driving through any city to become overwhelmed and perhaps a smidgen envious at the variety of cuisine on offer; look, Nepalese dal-bhat-tarkari street food, outside a lacto-vegetarian Mongolian bistro, next door to a vegan Venezuelan arepas snack bar! You name it, a metropolitan milieu will probably have it. Here, while it’s hailed as some of the best; Italian, Chinese and Indian are about our limitations, unless you chance a kebab.
So nice then, that Sujay’s Jerk Pan Kitchen has gifted us an addition, if variety is the spice of life, it’s high time we had a taste of the Caribbean. Sporadically shacked up in the Shambles prior to the lockdown, Pauline and the team has never been busier since introducing a drop box delivery service; perhaps she doesn’t need me to hype it up as word travels fast; this is an authentically tasty treat.
Through my love of reggae, I’m rivetted by all things Caribbean, the easy-going culture, the colours and sweetness of those exotic islands in the sun, the sounds, linguistics, the art, and of course the food. And that’s before I even went there! The only member of my family lucky enough to have taken the once-in-a-lifetime trip, I wondered if Sujay could return my taste-buds to the West Indies in the same way as a jouvert jam would for my ears, but I was unsure if the family would take to the idea. Surprised then I was when the better-half suggested we ordered, arm twisted, and before I could recite a verse of Three Little Birds our drop box was ordered for Saturday afternoon.
Caribbean food is not customarily a Michelin star a-la-carte affair, rather the traditional roots rest in amazing street food and home cooking, therefore styles and recipes can vary, and this is precisely what you get. You should note I’m no Jay Rayner, I’ll hoof the loot without coming up for air, and if it’s tasty I’m going to tell you, and if it’s not I believe honest criticism is virtuous; it’s all unpretentious evaluation rather than vernacular condemnation. This though, arrived at our door on time with a smile, and was everything it’s been rated as being.
So good I didn’t contemplate taking a photo for use here, sorry, but I simply didn’t have the will power to resist getting stuck straight in!
Me, I went for the goat curry as I’ve never tried it. Sticking to custom it is as it should be, a quite humble green paste curry, spices, with chunks of goat. But served with traditional rice and peas (peas being a black bean rather than European green peas) the simpler formula is often the preferred and I loved every bite, as did the wife. I added a side dish of plantains, imagine a fried banana that thinks it’s a potato and you’re somewhere near the mark.
For the daughter, and of course with portions so generous some of it naturally found its way onto my plate, the classic jerk chicken with a side of chicken wings, and another colossal portion of rice and peas. Perhaps no other dish so popular varies from handed down home recipe as much as this one in Caribbean food, but I’ve tasted a variety. If Levi Roots has marketed a certain blistering style and tailored his own methods, Sujay’s is closer to what I’ve tried in Barbados. Much more subtle with the hotness, but nice on the spice. I also reserve at Caribbean street chicken disguising cheap meat with a high dosage of hot paste but this is not the case here, the untainted wings would’ve revealed, but these too were exceptionally scrumptious and clear that the quality of the ingredients were not skipped on.
If Sujay’s Jerk Pan Kitchen doesn’t deserve enough kudos with you for providing fifty meals earlier this week for the NHS staff with the organisation of Tailor-Made Events, or serving brown stew chicken and stew pork with rice and peas to the homeless and vulnerable on the streets of Swindon this evening, maybe its time you sampled some of their sensational soul food yourself?
Tams off to Sujay’s then, the perfect meal with a difference for our rurally repressed palate. Irie, as they say in the JA, gurt lush as we might say here! I’m not ganderflanking yer mucker, this is the soul food of Wiltshire and will whisk your taste buds to a tropical paradise faster than Beenie Man can wax lyrical a monostich; pass the rum punch!
If I’ve been rather quiet on Devizine recently I apologise. I’ve been enjoying some family time while the kids are home, and mores to the point, bestowed one of these “keyworker” badges, the real job has never been busier. Yet despite the lack of usual content regarding events and gigs, there’s still subjects to write about, perhaps none so much as the way the community has bonded during these trying times.
To watch those Americans causing havoc, protesting in the streets and then ironically catching Covid19 themselves is miles apart from how we’re reacting. There are so many to thank, from the key workers and NHS staff, to the masses who have flocked to volunteer for their local Covid19 support groups, such as Devizes Covid19 Support, and even to the simpler kind offerings, such as the wonderful Sujay’s Jerk Pan Kitchen who, with Sally of Tailor Made Events, supplied fifty meals for NHS staff this week.
There are groups and charities springing up everywhere, and people providing spontaneous acts of kindness, we have to tip our hats to them. One I’d like to draw your attention to in particular, is the locally setup Operation Teddy Bear by Helen Bray, a team of volunteers and even a jogging Spiderman!
The operation is a specialist donator system, contacting intensive care units across the county. The hospitals send them requests for food, drinks and toiletries, which are donated at various non-physical points, collected and distributed direct to both the wards and staff. Helen explains, “most of the volunteers are care workers, nurses, ex-medical or NHS staff. We’re specialist donators supporting intensive care nurses, other nurses, doctors, NHS staff, care-workers, health professionals, and other special people who support others in hardship and need.”
“The constructive donation list is designed by the very people that need the donation,” Helen continues, “which means minimum surplus, and any surplus can benefit the elderly, homeless, or a family who has no income. Donations which are given freely by the public is sending a powerful message to the very people who might save our lives, whilst risking their own.”
Helen maintains her volunteers are family in our chat, I confess, I’m unsure if they’re direct family, or in her motivation for this great cause, she refers to them as such. “My family of volunteers want no praise,” she told us, “just to shine a light into endless cave of people suffering from Coronavirus, which I hope and pray, as many people as possible do, with our support, donations, and acts of kindness with all the donation, anyone wishes to give. As a little boy who came to donate a big carrier bag full of stuff said; I just want to help mend people.”
Donation points are nonphysical contact donation boxes at Devizes Town Hall, Brickley Lane near the playpark with billboard outside, Fruitfields, Lavington, a new one at Urchfont, and ones in Pewsey, Burbage and Calne. Swindon also has two donation points.
“Operation Teddy Bear donates to Swindon Great Western, Salisbury District Hospital, Bath RUH, Bristol Southmead, Southampton and Bournemouth intensive care units,” Helen says, “St Johns Livingston in Scotland, any SOS from any London hospitals for PPE and links with many more support networks, especially for the elderly in the community, and the homeless if we receive specific lists for donations that are most use for them.”
I’m impressed with the scale of this operation in the short time it has had to form, and thoroughly wish Helen and the team all our thanks and best wishes for their hard work. The news is spreading over social media, but I fail to see any online information websites in which to direct you to. However, if you would like to donate or volunteer, after all, even Spiderman is, feel free to contact us and we’ll put you in touch. This article wasn’t really intended to ask for donations or help primarily though, as the scheme has already gathered pace and support, it is mostly here to thank all in involved at such passion and dedication to this cause.
If, like most, you need something to look forward to, The Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts, or DOCA as we love to know them as, having made some hard decisions, have come up with a new list of dates for their usual events; here’s to 2021! So, we are looking at an early date in the month of May, which coincidently rhymes with “hooray,” sort of, or at least enough to shout it!
Street Festival – Sunday 2nd May 2021 – 16:00 – 22:00
Last time I had the opportunity to chat with director Loz, she mentioned the plan this year was to move Sunday’s Street Festival from the Green to the Market Place, in case of bad weather and in hope to attract more. I am unsure if this will be carried out, but I’m certain it’s a bonza idea.
Street Festival -Monday 3rd May 2021 – 11:30 – 18:30
Best Monday, like ever. Dubbed by many, especially The British Lion as Black Rat Monday, it’s our most favoured annual date in Devizes and mere announcement of it leaves me tingling with excitement. Here’s hoping Vinyl Realm will continue as they planned this year, to hold a second stage of local music, and I’ve heard on the grapevine we might get even more than this. That’s all I can tell, anymore and I will be shot!
Colour Rush – Saturday 8th of May 2021 18:00 19:00
Confetti Battle – Saturday 8th of May 2021- 19:30 – 21:30
Again, we see these moved to a Saturday for practicality and the ease of attendance. There’s hope from DOCA that the bizarre custom of Confetti Battle will attract people from afar and place Devizes on the map of bizarre rituals and festivals, as it deserves to be, but would never happen on a weeknight.
Carnival Camp Saturday 3rd July
Location of the camp and times are to be confirmed.
Picnic in the Park – Sunday 4th July 2021 – times 12:00 – 17:00
Usually the event to kick off the festival fortnight, Hillworth Park will again be filled with activities, fun and music, just towards the end of the festivities this time.
Carnival – Saturday 10th July 2021- 17:30
So, the grand day itself, we are unsure if they will carry over what would have been this year’s theme, ‘Go Wild,’ but here’s hoping they will as it’s a cracker!
That’s all folks, I’m dusting off my festival jester’s hat in preparation, but Christmas first, OMG, I said it! Keep up to date with DOCA’s events on their website, here.
With all the hallmarks of Sam’s current releases,One of a Kind slips perfectly into the direction he’s heading; it’s smooth, echoes of slight melancholy but uplifts just enough to wet the taste buds. Proving Sam Bishop is one of a kind, carving a distinctive style with every new track.
But this one has one significant difference, all profits from it are going straight to Trussell Trust. Sam explains “a truly amazing charity that works to provide emergency food and help for those in need.”
There’s also a topical theme, reflecting the mood of the lockdown for young lovers, “this song is about missing loved ones whilst apart,” he continues, “and feels extremely poignant right now.”
He added how “terrified” he is as it’s the first track he’s produced solely, but it doesn’t fail to impress. It also gives much anticipation for a better day when his newly formed band while at college in Winchester, Midnight Running will re-join and I hope he can bring them back to his hometown for a gig. Until then, check out the single we campaigned to get crowd-funded a month back, as every penny goes to a great cause.
It was a sunny afternoon when we arranged a photoshoot for our Spider-milk-man fundraiser last spring, so the playpark outside my house was an ideal location. Carmela played on the climbing frame while I got to know her mum, Lucy. It was sadly evident then how restricted her muscular dystrophy limited her ability to do what so many other children love to do, run and jump and play.
The lovable part to this six-year-old is her optimism and endearing personality, but the inspirational is her zest for life and determination to overcome. For Carmela’s family life is a constant fundraising campaign and together they strive to find new ways to promote it. If Muscular Dystrophy UK, like many other charities is feeling the effects of Covid-19, for the family personally it hasn’t been easy either. In a heart-melting film for Points West last month, we saw Carmela’s Dad Darren unable to see his daughter as he’s a key worker and communicating with sign-language with her through the garden’s patio doors.
Alongside the many fundraisers for ‘Carmela’s Stand Up To Muscular Dystrophy,’ and for MDUK in general, Darren was due to run the London Marathon on the 26th April for MDUK, but this event has now been rescheduled for October. MDUK needs our help now though, for those with a progressive muscle wasting disease, at high-risk from the pandemic and the usual systems for coping vastly restricted.
Save the UK’s Charities General fundraising has been hit very hard by COVID-19. Thousands of fundraising events have been cancelled and many charities, particularly smaller ones, are struggling to maintain services because of this huge reduction of income. This impacts all sectors of society from children to the elderly as well as the vital work in areas such as palliative care, serious diseases, mental health, housing support, food supplies and countless others that charities support.
Step in our six-year-old heroine, to replace the 26.2 miles of a Marathon, Carmela is going to attempt to do 26 laps of her therapy assault course LIVE via her Facebook page on 26th April at 2pm. Carmela would normally only do two to three laps. “This is going to be a very tough challenge,” Carmela’s mum Lucy explains, “we may have to take out certain high equipment during the challenge as she is not meant to over exert her exercises as damaging her muscles is permanent and won’t repair.”
Clair Figes ponders celebrations after the lock down….
In France, around the midsummer Solstice, every town throws itself open to La Fete de la Musique. Throughout the country, bars and restaurants and village squares fill the pavements with tables, chairs, hay bales, trailers; and they book local musicians or bring amps & speakers out into the street and a night of music, dancing and general merriment ensues.
Most of us will eventually emerge from the current viral crisis. We’ll come stumbling back to normality, grateful to be released into the wild – but very aware that life has to go on and very, very many businesses will need to be restored in order to make that possible. That will probably include our own businesses – or those which employ us – or employ or care for our loved-ones.
There will also be an army of heroes who we want to thank: all NHS and care-home workers and all the people who’ve kept shops open, kept postal deliveries and bin collections going, kept our kids sane on-line, kept the surgeries & pharmacies going – the list goes on and on.
Can we combine all these needs?
When the lockdown ends, could we just crack open all the local hostelries and get musicians into all of them and onto the pavements outside and rope in all the street-food vendors still operating and just Play & Eat & Drink & Dance, putting money into the tills of all our pubs and cafes and the pockets of every food-stall and the hats of every busker and street entertainer?
In an ideal world it would just happen spontaneously, like it did on VE-day after WW2. But we may have a staggered release: some areas before others, the least vulnerable before the most vulnerable, etc… Also, the kitchens need to be stocked, the staff need to be recalled, the pumps need to be primed and the musicians need to be on hand, so a little advance planning would help.
And, crucially, if it happens on just one night, the wonderful key workers can’t all join in – because our hospitals and care-homes will still need to be staffed even through the celebrations. So we’ll need at least 2 days of celebration. I suggest that we ask the pubs, cafés, musicians, street performers, local Councils, etc. to be ready to take part in some way on the evening of the Summer Solstice: Saturday 20 June and again on Friday 26 June. And to organise some simple sort of voucher system so that wonderful people like NHS staff can get freebies all night.
If we’re still in lockdown a week before this celebration – just roll it all forward a week, then another …. And if we’re all released early, fine, we can have an earlier party as well. The more we celebrate, the faster we can get the small businesses back up and running. So tune your instruments and get your bunting out and aim for national street parties on 20 and 26 June.
Introducing Shrewsbury’s five-piece rock band, Cosmic Rays. With a new album proving they’re Hard to Destroy….
As my daughter shoves her phone to my ear with her home-made eighties’ music quiz playlist, memories she will never know of blissfully return. “If I could be like Doc Emmett Brown and whizz you back to my era,” I think aloud, but maybe not such a good idea, she’d never survive; no Wi-Fi. What is apparent with the classic pop from my time she has picked is that it spans genres unconditionally, because she hasn’t lived it to confine her to one viewpoint, to guide through that era, where the categorical conflict for top of the pops changed overnight; what side did you fight for?
Pigeonholing divided the early-to-mid-eighties into alienated youth cultures, unique from one another and only alike for being experimental and innovative. While there may be nothing particularly ground-breaking about Shrewsbury’s five-piece rock band Cosmic Rays, what they do have is a dexterous ability to weave these genres back together in an original and affable way. I have their March released album Hard to Destroy to snoop upon, and I like it; pass my black hair dye and metallic leather high boots.
Initial reaction was thus, partially gothic with nu-metal wailing guitar and archetypical dejected romance as a running theme, and while it’s not my cuppa, it’s produced lo-fi and agreeably subtle. So elusive indeed you don’t pre-empt the changes, though may yearn for it. Post-punk and new romantic are lobbed into the melting pot by the second tune, tickling my personal taste buds better.
With the sensation of jaggedly Velvet Underground, in parts, its retrospective nods soon confine to aforementioned eighties genres. I’m now left contemplating everything from The Cult to Depeche Mode, and The Dammed to Blancmange. For which they are, just nods, as the all-encompassing sound is something original and exclusive, in so much as the combination of influences fuse so unexpectedly well. Perhaps no more adroitly composed than a central track called Lost Paradise, as while it mirrors synth-pop electronica, it also explodes midway with a wailing guitar solo akin to Slash’s contribution to Jackson’s Beat It.
The Bandcamp blurb explains new guitarist Rob McFall is a major factor to this album being a whole new direction, though while I ponder what the old direction was being I’m new to the band, I have to tip my hat to the guitar sections, but like I say, it’s the placement of them too, unpredictably located. That, I think, makes it more exciting than a band simply replicating a particular sound from a bygone era.
Just when I’m expecting it to rest there, a tune called Me & Jimmy bursts out upbeat joyful vibes. Unquestionably the most pop-tastic track on the album, it smiles House Martins or even the Fine Young Cannibals at me. Though the last two tunes finish by reminding you this is indie, Seeing Green with a winding goth ease and Walk on Water, where a sombre electronica beat rises again. If you’ve heard such a fusion tried before, you’ll be forgiven for thinking this could be encumbered and muddled, yet I feel you need to listen, for the juxtaposition works on all levels, making Cosmic Rays interesting and defiantly one to watch. By the way, my daughter’s eighties pop quiz, I nail it every time!
Hard to Destroy by Cosmic Rays is available to sample and buy from BandCamp here.
Ah, seems like a year ago now…. eh? Oh yeah, it was, nearly. With the second Devizes Scooter Rally teetering on the edge of cancelation, The Devizes Scooter Club still have their fingers crossed all will not be lost to the lockdown. After last summer’s amazing effort by the club to host the unforgettable first Devizes Scooter Rally, this highly anticipated sequel is booked in Rowde for 31st July, and we live with all the hope of Princess Leia that’ll it’ll go off.
For me personally, it was a thrill to see the posters and in particular, the big banners around the area, and I was honoured to have designed it. But you know, I get this low a lot designing event posters, knowing once the event is over, my poster is lost in time. Delighted then to see the Scooter Club is auctioning the very last Rally banner from last year.
Club colonel Adam Ford said “we would like to put it up for auction to raise funds for the NHS Charities Fundraiser.” 100% of the winning bid will be donated to the charity. The auction will end at 9pm on Friday 17th April. If you’d like this piece of history, nip over the Devizes Scooter Club Facebook page, like it and put your bid in the comments.
Do let me know if you buy it, I’ll be thrilled to know it has gone to a good home, and even more for such a good cause!
How many Facebook groups can you get banned from in one day?! I have Norris McWhirter on stand by for a world record attempt. But as we’re locked down and online is the new going out, I thought it’d be a rather lovely idea to instruct on the confounds of local Facebook groups and pages. Maybe research a few new ones, as they vastly differ due to the ethos of the individual admin. So, here’s the lowdown, and I do mean low, of what group or page might be best for you, what content is best for posting on them, and what you will/won’t get away with on each.
I may well have bitten off more than I can chew with this pet project. Note this is not comprehensive and I will be adding further parts to it, covering more specific areas of interest. For the now, there’s enough general pages, debate pages and event pages to take us to kingdom come and back. Where Devizes once had more pubs than people, now, sadly, pubs close so quick you barely get time to finish your drink until antiques are wheeled in around you, and we now have more Facebook pages than people. The only real issue in Devizes is that there’s too many Facebook pages called the Devizes Issue, or similar; don’t cry for me Amanda Attwood the truth is, I never left you.
The Devizes Issue
The original and still most popular general Devizes group is strictly monitored. Spamming, repeat posts and adverts are very restricted. Yet content remains solely and proudly local and it never allows dabbling in politics. It also operates a tight censorship rule where bad language or offensive content will see you banned immediately, the main reason why so many potty-mouths have decided to start their own variation on the idea. In a word: reliably presentable.
The Devizes Issues
Never confuse this similar namesake with the original. Set up by those disgruntled at the rules of the uncompromising original, it stands as second most popular general Devizes Facebook group. Sadly, as it has progressed it has become just as strictly policed, if not more, but with an entirely different ethos. Content can be varied, sometimes not related to Devizes at all, rather prompting national headlines, but provided it follows an unembellished conservative agenda it’s fair game. It is extremely right-wing bias, though often denied by admin. As the page gets more popular it is more strictly regulated and items posted which do not meet either a local theme or appeases the admin’s own objective or conservative philosophy are deleted. In a word: Daily Mail of Devizes.
The Devizes Debate
If a page is the sum of its members, the Devizes Issues has become right-wing by default, naturally representative of our Tory top-heavy area, the Devizes Debate was a hundred times worse. With subject matter rarely on a local fashion, a barrage of intimidation hailed over anyone with a differing opinion, and if they snapped back with a single insult, as naturally one would upon such ganged responses, they were witch-hunted towards the door. I received messages from locals genuinely concerned for their safety after expressing a leftist ideology. So, I abandoned it too as I confess, even I couldn’t handle the hypocrisy. The liberal admin tried their best to keep the peace, but decided to close it, new admins have taken over, but to be honest, I dare not venture back for my own wellbeing. In a word: the former Devizes Mein Kampf.
Debating about Devizes
If you consider the Devizes Debate is hardly a debate at all, if every member has the same opinion and anyone with a differing one is despatched by via witch hunt, this page has the potential to be better. Sadly, though it only stands at 76 members and rarely posted on. Posts are as general as the Devizes Issue pages, events and campaigns, rather than notions to spur a debate as such, and as the member count is so low, rarely does an actual debate begin. In a word: nice tin, wrong label.
Marlborough Opinions
Our neighbours show us how to run a debate page. At just over 600 members there really is a fair and equal demographic here, and though it can get heated, comments rarely get personal. Here’s a debate which works, community spirited, which upholds the cross section of society without flying daggers, just a few cross words, but it is Marlborough. In a word: cliquey opinionated.
Devizes Issue
Take out the “The,” forget the plural, ironically this smaller of general Devizes groups is arguably the most effective and close to their original intent, though with only a handful of users its reach is like calling out of the window. It seldom does politics, hardly ever takes on a national issue, but it does either it’s usually satire and equally based. Generally, though, it is solely a noticeboard for the town, which is what the others are supposed to be. In a word: nice but inconsequential.
The Devizes Issue (but better)
Just as the above, its non-political bias, and fairness indeed makes it better, as the title suggests, unfortunately with just over 900 users, its reach is anything but better. These two factors balance each other out, making it far from better in reality. In a word: fibbing.
Spotted in Devizes
If you’re thinking hurrah, there is a local Facebook group which hasn’t plagiarised The Devizes Issue and figured its own name all by itself, you should note there are umpteen groups called Spotted in [enter town name.] Also, worth pointing out it’s a page rather than a group, the difference being you have to message the page and they will, hopefully publish your post. The upside is you can remain anonymous, the downside you never know if submissions will be published. As it is, the page seems to have dilapidated in its once popularity, with one person still persisting to post; namely Ronnie of the brilliant music promotions Marland. This is still a valid page then, if you want to know where Burbank will be playing next, but other than this and the odd missing dog, there’s little to write home about. I guess the move to groups rather than pages has seen its demise, but while it lasted it wasn’t so bad. In a word: spotty.
spotted in devizes
Low and behold, someone threw what little originality in Devizes Facebook Admins there is to the wind and without the skill to muster capitalisation took the name and made a group out of the idea. This group has lower reach then the page of the same name, but is more widely used. It’s very liberal provided your post is locally related, and takes adverts and notices. Few seem to debate, few seem to squabble, surprisingly nice around really. In a word: spotless, except for basic grammar.
Marlborough Notice Board
Again, our swanky neighbours show us up, like a Devizes Issue, but running pretty much solo in its town, so you need not browse two hundred local groups to get a comprehensive guide to what’s happening out there. Of course, occasionally the blindly ignorant wish to proclaim their love for Boris on it, but it does stick to its values well. In a word: oh, Marlborough.
The Issues of Fucking Devizes
A complete spoof of all above, hence the “swearing is big and clever” title, lambasting the Devizes Issue’s rightful bad language regulation. Subject, for want of a better word is never about Devizes at all, and it prides itself on this and the ability to be completely offensive and rude without shame. For this unique stance I approve, but the angle taken is assertively far-right-wing, and to make a joke about anything other than this will see you hounded. Nice idea, discriminating and disgraceful stance. In a word: Viz for fascists.
The Devizes Issue WTF
If I know my abbreviations, the What The Fuck in this group is what the fuck have you got to do to get in. Perhaps they know I’m plotting this article, perhaps it’s a redundant group and the admin are now living in the Seychelles, or maybe it’s a very exclusive club, as although I’ve applied for membership twice, I’ve still not gained entry. All I can say is that here is another clearly spoof page, and I have to ponder if The Issues of Fucking Devizes had a good idea but is used with nasty intent, perhaps there’s a fairer balance here, or is it just plain smut? If so, I’m up for that but fear I may never know, or care. in a word: my name’s not down.
The Devizes Labour Campaign Group
There is some relief from the constant assault of neurotic Nazis in local Facebookland and here’s a place for alleged leftie snowflakes to let off steam and preach to the converted. Come here with your hard-on for Boris and you’ll be the one put to rights, finally. In a word: Corbyn’s Vest.
Live Music Devizes
Did I start this off with edge and gradually cover the better ones as I went? Paul does a great job at hosting this Live music promotional page, which is exactly what happens on it, and only that. So, as we bludgeon through the list, note finding a page more specific you often find a nicer place to surf. Live music Devizes never gets narked off with Devizine, we’ve never seen bad blood, nor even needed to communicate very much to know we’re singing off the same song sheet. Join this page for further news and events, you never know I may have missed something on Devizine, but hardly likely! In a word: musical goodness.
Devizes Events
Again, here’s a specific one, lesser so as the above and events can include any events, as it says really. No harm here that’s for sure, feel free to post event news and happenings, or as it is presently, cancelations. There is little more to the group than this, but that is precisely what it is set out to do. In a word: Yeah, I’m going out.
Devizes Musicians and Performers
If live music Devizes takes on, generally, pop genres, this one will fill the theatrical, choirs and musicals and that type of thing. Maybe therefore less cool, but equally as popular for its broader horizons as it covers all which the latter does as well. In a word: doe a deer, a female deer.
Marlborough Music
If you thought I’d finish on a high note, with only praise for a Facebook page, that’s simply not my style. Facebook is like Vice City, dude, respect needs to be earned. I gave up with Marlborough Music, they got rather cliquey with me, like fagging a St Johns pleb with a ruling class college nose in the air. The trouble kicked off because I was posting my weekly roundup post, which informs everyone over the area we cover what is happening in their town. Seems like if it’s not about music in Marlborough it’s unwelcome. Their prerogative, and that is, after all what it says on the tin, but my notion it’d be too time consuming to create a post for each town, was met rather rancorously.
That’s enough for now, there are many other Facebook groups and pages I can slag off, or praise where praise is due, which I will. So, expect a further part to this, one at least; if you think you’ve got away with it, page admin of one I missed here, think again! Twitter though is a safe zone, and Instagram I need my daughter to be my social media manager on, hence it’s probably full of pictures of me acting like a twat. I’ll check it one day, but I’m a one social media site kinda guy.
Surprising title, Phil Cooper is not usually without a sound. Trowbridge’s prolific singer-songwriter subtlety reflects, I believe, on the silence of the lockdown in a new single born today. Subtlety is the key to many of his works, there’s a wonder in this one in particular if there’s undertones of a political statement, or if it’s a simple love and togetherness theme. I like it when it’s open to interpretation.
Yet if there’s something unsurprisingly catchy about Phil’s Easter egg single Without a Sound, I’m uncertain if he’d be flattered with my Elvis Costello comparison, but that’s what I picked it out of it, and you might be surprised by this.
Though comparing isn’t necessary now, Phil have stamped his own unique mark onto music and this one retains that personal fashion.
However you choose to look at it, it’s a gradual step in the right direction for Phil. With the Lost Trades obviously on hold for the time being, it’s a welcomed surprise and while we look forward to the vocal harmonies with Tamsin and Jamie, ah, this single will fill the gap perfectly.
As with Tamsin’s first rate live stream last night for the Swindon Shuffle virtual festival, it’s still good to see this trio working apart as well as together.
You know you’re a milkman when you wake up at 5:45am on a Sunday and consider it a lie-in. With the household in gentle slumber I thought I’d don my headphones and create a mixtape out of many of the great local music I’ve been sent through Devizine; jeepers, it went on for the best part of two hours!
An eclectic mixture, as is my taste, expect to be transferred between genres quite abruptly as we travel through acoustic, space-rock, indie-pop, to folk, reggae, ska, swing and end with blues. I’ve tried to keep it as local or locally connected as possible, furthest from here is Bristol and Oxford.
Think of this as a sampler, please click on the links and buy their music if you like the track, right now, they need all the support they can get. Artists if you’re featured here, I hope you don’t mind me being so cheeky, oh, and check your link make sure I used your favoured one, but do let me know if it’s an issue and you’d rather not feature. If you’re not here but would like to be, send me your tunes and when I’ve enough for a second compilation I will jump to it!
If you ever feel contemporary soul music has lost its way somewhat, do yourself a favour, check out Mayyadda from Minnesota and it’ll instantly change your mind.
Soothing soul that will make those little hairs on the back of a neck stand to attention. Singers who can do this are a rarity, I nod to Otis Redding, Toots Hibbert, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye, yet I find few to take us to the modern day. Mayyadda is that equivalent.
She shares her music freely on Bandcamp, she deserves all the gold her voice personifies. Aware my ageing tastes cannot identify with modern RnB, and detest the notion it’s even labelled thus as it barely compares with the original sound of rhythm and blues, but from the very opening of Mayyadda’s short album, Holding Space, I was captivated, heart and soul.
It is the perfect nu-cool, the musical version of after sun on sunburnt skin, the whirl to uplift a sour Sunday morning start.
It’s grades above whatever soul pops on radio, or stylised in nineties trip hop, from Portishead to Morcheeba, Macy Grey to Heather Small, which while that era’s sound holds me in, Mayyadda breathes it out with a chill of freshness and hope for soul music in the now. It is, in a word; gorgeous.
Formerly of Larkin, Devizes singer-songwriter Sam Bishop has been making use of the isolation period by writing and producing a new song called ‘One of a Kind.’ Sam tells us this single “is about being away from loved ones during isolation. My aim to is release it everywhere, with all profits going to the Trussell Trust, a fantastic charity which provide emergency food and assistance for those in need.”
In order for Sam to release the song, and raise as much money as possible, he requires the necessary funds to cover distribution costs, so he’s started a Crowdfunder campaign. “The amount needed isn’t huge,” he continues, “so any small donation would be really appreciated. I’ve always wanted to release a song for charity, and this is my time to do my bit!”
Click on the image to donate, if you can, thanks!
Now residing in Winchester to study music, Sam’s solo career really kicked off at the end of last year, with the release of his debut EP ‘Cold Kingdom’ on all music streaming platforms. “It received such an overwhelming response and I was completely blown away but the support and positive feedback from it,” Sam explained. “This song is unlike anything I’ve ever written before, and I’ve never released a demo. I wrote and produced the song in just a day, and I feel like the lyrics really do convey my emotions and feelings perfectly. Being away from the people you love is never easy, and you just want to tell them how you feel. I feel like the demo version is the perfect version to release, as it was made only using software and tools I have, written by me, all during this hard time. It’s raw, it’s rough, but it will hopefully speak to you.”
You can you help Sam release “One of a Kind,” by donating just a small amount via the link here. Sam has a new band in the workings and we look forward to a time when he can introduce us to the members in what will be a highly anticipated homecoming gig. Until such a time, best of luck with the crowd funding, can’t wait to hear the One of a Kind, which is what you truly are, Sam and here’s to a brighter day.
If you rarely venture into Swindon, July is the month in which to make the journey. Swindon Shuffle celebrates and backs local music, since 2007 hosting a weeklong town music festival at its hottest venues; namely The Victoria, The Beehive, The Hop, The Tuppenny and Baila Coffee & Vinyl. In association with Swindon Link and the West Berkshire Brewery, last year they presented forty-four bands over the weekend, all free, and supported mental health charity MIND.
I was forgiven in thinking this year would be virtual, saving some petrol money at least, but the organisers inform me this weekend’s Virtual Shuffle is only to breeze over this gloomy, Groundhog Day isolation period, and they cross their fingers for the real thing on the 16th-19th July; crossing my toes too!
So, yeah, but yeah, whoop-whoop, Swindon Shuffle will indeed fill this gap with plentiful live streams this Saturday 11th April, kicking off at 3:15pm. Streamed direct from their Facebook page, expect to catch all local acts; Jim Blair of Hip Route, the bearer of Devizine’s heart Miss Tamsin Quin, Mr Love & Justice himself, Steve Cox, jazz pianist, singer-songwriter Will Lawton, Harry Leigh, frontman of indie-pop outfit Stay Lunar, experimental Karda Estra project runner Richard Wileman, Onze from Atari Pilot, Joe Rose and Nash.
Mr Love & Justice, Steve Cox
Our favourite Swindonian music journalist, the one and only Dave Franklin, if there’s another he’s a phoney, is all over helping organise this sofa bash. He states “obviously there’s more important things going on in the world right now than worrying about a local music festival, but it is also at times like these that music, art, creativity in general, helps get us through or at least offers an oasis of calm where we can retreat to and forget the day-to-day worries for a bit.”
Karda Estra
For me personally, I’m continuing to toil with the worth of the live stream against a real gig, ponder it’s currently all we have, worry either punter or musician are forced onto the ropes when it comes to how they should be arranged and financed and have even encountered and engaged in heated debates as we scramble in the dark trying to make this work best for everyone. This said, if anyone can I’m reckoning the Shuffle team will make an amazing job of it. If there is an upside to it, it is that one can check these artists out for when the gig scene does take off, and boy, I’m predicting it’ll go off like an atomic blast, and it will encourage many to take the journey to festivals such as Swindon Shuffle, in this example.
Will Lawton
In the meantime, enjoy the streams and not let it miff us too much at missing the real thing. I tell myself the scene is dormant; it will erupt again. It should go without saying, but I’m going to spell it out; B, for BUY, U for Yourself (sort of,) Y for some local music, (okay, that didn’t work) Look, just support the artists and buy their music from their websites and Bandcamp sites!
This weekend I find myself toiling with the idea of this virtual festival, and essentially, the direction Devizine has to take as a whole. Its awkwardness at bestowing the mandatory features for online presentations, the quality and quantity of online events being released, and my time management in presenting it all sufficiently and fairly, while working extra hard in my real job. Seems every man and his dog are live streaming, and the ones the dogs do often more entertaining.
What begun as the creative doing what they can, and entertaining us with their talents seems to have been lost in a saturated Facebook feed of drunks bobbing around their kitchen; that’s not, I believe, what you ordered. At the beginning of this lockdown I reserved myself to the fact it’s currently all we have, now I fear, it’ll do worse than bore and advance the party longing to riotous levels.
I took to repudiating Facebook last night, tried to forget its very existence. I relied on the antiquated entertainment source, television. Ah, can’t say it was all bad; money-spinning predictable Hollywood bile that it was, the family sequel entertained me enough to keep my eyelids open. I confess I’m not a fan of gluing myself to the box. In an ever-changing era, I intend to press on with this regardless, pondering where to take the idea next.
I reflect, people warm to Devizine, yet the virtual festival is not the original ethos of it; damn I wanna go to the pub and return with a sore head to write a review of the band who played there! Apologises if this all sounds rather despondent, yet presenting this virtual festival as more than a live stream by added features, I think, is valid. I draw your attention to the artist’s contributing to our gallery pages, and the beer tent and food hall pages prompting local businesses still operating in the area to let me know their details so we can build a directory, of sorts.
All you need do is drop me a message if you’re a business still operating who wishes to take advantage of this virtual noticeboard; few bothers to, though. Making me doubt it’s worth and consider perhaps it’s my total ignorance and incapability at modern websites. I know, dammit Jim, I’m a writer not a web designer; just doing what I can.
On the other hand, I find the mass of guidance, information and entertainment online is wafting past us unnoticed not because there’s so much of it, but from people’s failure, or lack of desire, to want to integrate their ideas. Take the amount of local Facebook groups as symbolic of this, if you disagree with the regulations of one, you create your own. How many Devizes Issues pages do we need? You do realise not everyone bothers with Facebook?
So, here’s an idea developing, which was my original intention of writing today, I genuinely hope it gathers pace. A free, one-stop directory for local small businesses who don’t have the clout of the big guys has been set up. Presenting In-Devizes, not my pet project, so expect a website superior to this strung-together-with-virtual-string one!
The creator of In-Devizes, Ida McConnell “hopes it will evolve into a much bigger thing,” hence my notion to integrate. Could this be the ideal opportunity to highlight and promote your business through this hard time? I hope so, but it needs your attention, it needs all to contribute details in order to make it comprehensive and therefore a valid resource. The ethos goes along the lines of, “if you don’t have a website, don’t do Facebook or are otherwise suffering from competing with the big guys during the COVID lockdown, this is the place for you.”
I submitted details of Devizine on there, a simple and quick process, I urge you to do likewise. A building directory open to categories, prompt people towards your business. As I really feel it’s time to stop spamming Facebook individually and crossing your fingers that someone will browse past it. If this lockdown has presented us with anything positive it’s the notion that if we work together, we can provide a service, we can entertain and help each other out.
Stay safe, as the saying goes, but also, contemplate my thought for the day, let’s integrate our resources. Please support upcoming projects like In-Devizes, and of course, Devizine too. Use the resources set up, such as Devizes Covid19 Support. Please, do click on our links to Bandcamp or other and buy local music, phone a local business and grab a takeaway, brighten your walls with some art from our gallery, and most of all, inform us your ideas, businesses and projects. Let’s stay safe, yes, but let’s also keep our heads up and enjoy our days too; virtual hugs, for all they are worth.
Our recently elected MP Danny Kruger told Devizine exclusively he will stand down next year and allow Boris Johnson to take control of the Devizes constituency.
Danny messaged the office yesterday, sadly heartfelt he informed Devizine he planned to stand down and hand the baton to Boris in a move predicted by fleeing local conservatives during the election. “Being as Devizine has supported my campaign from the beginning,” Danny expressed, “and there’s little doubt those Gazelle & Herod rascals will plagiarise this story anyway, I thought it best to tell you about my decision first.”
We are saddened to hear of Danny’s decision, but look forward to being treated like vermin by the Prime Minster himself. Mr Kruger explained, “it’s not just about the lardy cake, though it is pretty rank. I just feel I’ve not really made an impact on the people of Devizes. I tried to belch up kebab meat and chips along Morris Lane on a Friday night after twenty something Bacardi Breezers down the Crown, but it’s just not me. I’ve hung my dog poo bags on the trees in Drew’s Pond woods like everyone else, I’ve even climbed Rose’s facade and pretended to drive the lawnmower on top of it, but I’m just not cut out for life in Devizes. It’s either a miracle or via Google maps that I even know of these places, and I’m just not at home without a Starbucks drive-thru.”
Mr Kruger, who is nicknamed Danny K by his infamous amateur rap band, went onto explain, “I never felt I could replace Claire, just haven’t got the legs for it. Nor does my good-stock babyface allow for malicious stares and random outbursts, as she was so well respected in the community for.” Danny took the example of when Claire Perry was viciously tapped on the shoulder by a dangerous leftie snowflake during a surgery in Morrisons. “How she called the police that day, to inform them of her attack was nothing short of heroic. If it had been me who was assaulted like that, I’d only have given off a sound akin to a squeaky dog toy.”
His frequent visits to the neediest entrepreneurs and wealthy businesses will be sadly missed. Upon being quizzed about our homeless charities and food banks, Mr Kruger replied, “it was on my to-do-list, but then we had this lockdown thing, honest. Stay in your homes homeless people and I’ll get around to seeing you in a local wine bar soon, but I insist, it’s your round.”
Boris Johnson is said to be thrilled to be moving from the Uxbridge constituency, what he deemed full of “deplorable chavs” and plans to buy a second, or maybe third home in Urchfont, which is so swanky even the road signs are thatched. “I have visited Dewotizits,” he stated, “and didn’t see any Remainer scum, walking letter boxes, or one watermelon smile, which is nice. Just lots of happy Brexiters, so if Brexit doesn’t work out in the UK maybe Dewotizits could get Brexit done on its own.” Then he waffled some impenetrable baloney about Lord Horton’s relationship with an ancestor of his, pledged to save our NHS twenty-seven times over, and how delightfully working-class Chick-o-Land is, until our reporter dropped dead from boredom.
We look forward to seeing Boris’ gold-digger, sorry, I meant girlfriend, Carrie Symonds shopping in Lidl and ranting about spitting teenagers on the Devizes Issues. Admin of the popular Facebook page, Sir Iain Wallis, praised the decision and gave a rambling announcement basically declaring, “anyone who dares to criticise Boris or Carrie on my nonbiased Facebook page I’ll verbally dice into small pieces with my academic wit, so there.”
Boris expressed on social media, “Locally, I will personally build a supermassive train station, airport, and ferry port, just off Sidmouth Street. I also want to get to the bottom of this place in the parking of the market, or whatever you bumpkins are on about with that, whatever it is,” and called for “Dewotizits, Marlborough and Pewsea” to have Boris bikes, as in London; “just with fatter tyres to withstand all the potholes.” Unaware we already have plenty of usable town bikes, at the Bin, for the cost of a vodka & Red Bull.
On social media, where Boris initially announced the plans, he was promptly welcomed by all, expect for Amanda Attwood who banned him from The Devizes Issue for using the word “bottom.”
Mayor Judy Rose will welcome Boris to our constituency on 1st April 2021, aptly All Fools Day, with a plush champagne reception and town council ceremony, kindly paid for by council tax revenue. All councillors will be present to give Boris virtual hugs, but the public will not be invited. Local businessman Iain Wallis was angered by the news. Crying outside the Town Hall, he whispered, “it should’ve been me who kissed his ring, that is the final straw, teddy bears assemble!”
Recently converted fascist, Morrissey is said to entertain at the event, with party games such as pin the slander on Corbyn, pass the NHS parcel to a US medical company and a Donald Tusk pinata, as hosted by filthy Islamophobic Katie Hopkins. “I usually cry in the kitchen at parties,” Danny said, “but this one should be an awfully spiffing blowout bash, and we’ll end up down Spoons, no doubt, or any other commercial pub chain which doesn’t pay its employees, if there is one.”
I predicted a week ago, our local musicians will be planning and writing during this surreal isolation period. With a lack of distraction from gigs, I’m hoping the coming months should deliver some surprisingly remarkable releases. Bring them on. For now, Fin tells me this was written last summer, but there could be no better surprise then to take a listen to Summertime, the debut single from Finley and Harvey Trusler, aka The Truzzy Boys.
Prolific on the pub cover-band circuit with a nonchalant ambience, those Truzzies always bring a smile. Live they distribute a contemporary, happy-go-lucky indie-pop atmosphere, squishing you into a makeshift dancefloor on a tipsy evening down your local. Yet if there’s something blithe in their performances, have no doubt, Summertime will twist your perspective on this family duo.
Yeah, immediately catchy it is, I expected this much. What did surprise was the resolute grittiness and maturity of the vocals, the breezy feel-good eighties blues-rock conjuring comparisons to Chris Rea or Tom Petty, and the ingenuity of an uplifting style, akin to the Style Council. Kind of feels to me as if the boys have taken onboard the favoured elements of their live covers show, squeezed them into an original single and sprinkled it with the genius production of Martin Spencer.
“I thought I would release now, as we can’t gig at the moment,” explained Finely, “so something for everyone to enjoy!” and it is just that, very agreeable, with all the rudiments in the right locations; proficient guitar solo bang on cue, enticingly unpretentious lyrics, but if I had to pick one reason why I like it, it’s got to be the elevating, easy-going summery feel. It is the Eddie Cochran “Summertime Blues” for the era, and will leave you dripping with anticipation for the promised forthcoming album. Well done, boys, grand job.
Sun tucked itself behind a cloudy sky somewhat today, hasn’t it? This is out on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer as of yesterday, so, give it a download, guaranteed to brighten your day.
The silhouette of a fledgling businessman clutching some paperwork apprehensively entered through the light of the doorway, and eased the door shut behind him. Sealed in darkness now, he couldn’t be absolutely certain, but he whimpered nonetheless. “I know you’re in here, Dizzy….”
He received no reply; the only sound was the gentle hum from outside. The young man sighed, fumbled his hand along the wall to find the light switch, eager to rid the space around him of this gloomy ambience.
He detected the slight sound of a stomach beginning to rumble, deeper it grew, hastily. Then, the shuffling of an uncomfortable posture. “D…izz…y?” the man questioned slothfully.
Still no answer, save this emerging rumble. Abruptly, and unwillingly it detonated a deafening belch, deep and booming. What followed was an ingenuous snigger. And what followed that was the repercussion, a comforted sigh of relief.
It was this convenient conjunction in which the fellow located the switch, and hastily flooded the room with light. It showed a smoky haze, and through it the man detected the outline of Dizzy. “Like, hey man,” protested Dizzy mellowly, “like, kill the lights man!”
The young chap did not obey, rather thrust his hands on his hips and ogled the obscured figure as it sloughed in a corner, reluctantly tugging one side of some headphones away from an ear. “What are you doing in the dark?” grimaced the fellow.
“Like, meditating,” clarified Dizzy, as if it were obvious. “To some, y’ know, some Pink Floyd, and that, man.”
“I thought you had gone,” groaned the young man.
“Dude,” Dizzy gurgled, extending his elongated arms, then tucking them back in to shrug. “Like, where is I supposed to have gone to, man? You answer me dat!”
“You could have left.”
“We are on a, like, plane, dude,” informed Dizzy, in confused amusement. Smoothly and professionally his voice harmonised a growly melody, “like, flying high, up in the sky, you and I!”
“You could still have left,” insisted the youthful entrepreneur, maintaining his frustrated posture.
“Gary, Gary, Gary,” Dizzy exhaled.
“Yes?” inquired the man.
“Gary, man, Gary, that’s, like, my point, Gary, that’s like the, the, well, this whole shit-stem, I ain’t going out like that, like Puff, man.”
“Puff?”
“He was like, my bredrin, man, from Honahlee, I, like, thinks, but that’s beside the, erm, the point! The point is,” Dizzy now pointed an authoritarian yet unkept finger at Gary. “In a, like, a, erm, a nut…shell, Gary. You still, after being my manager for, how, erm, long is it, like, been now, man?”
Now the man lamented, as he recounted his years of service. “Five years, Dizzy,” he extenuated the number with an interminable sigh, “five. Long. Years.”
The pointed finger became more proficient at pointing. “Five, man,” Dizzy nodded, “five, as you say, you say, that’s what you said, like man,” he giggled to himself, “five years, and in all those years, in all that time, Gary-Gary, you, Gary, never understood me, did you?”
Gary rubbed his chin, “I’m sorry,” he nervously whimpered, “I, erm, I….”
Voice raised in slight anger, but retaining depth, Dizzy interrupted. “You don’t, man,” he paused, “you, like, don’t understand, do you? I like, man, I know, I know, and I have to say, it’s alright, man, really it is. You never took the time to understand where I’m coming from, and that, young fellow-me-gig, that, right there, is the like, the erm, the, yeah, that right there is the definitive and, like, abso-fucking-lute issue, that is.”
Gary was lost for words, observing the bottles of tequila surrounding his client, as the beast bit the end from a Cuban cigar.
“Picture this,” Dizzy continued, spanning his hands mysteriously through the air. “If you, like will; you, right, are, on a boat on a river, a river, man, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Then, right, somebody calls you, and you, right, you answer quite slowly….”
Gary huffed. “Is it a girl?”
Dizzy snapped his finger, “yeah, man, you see it too! But, dig this, yeah….”
“She has kaleidoscope eyes?”
Dizzy let out a bellowing laugh which reverberated around the room. “That’s it, man, finally! Finally, you see it, finally you appreciate it too, man, like definitively and, like, abso-fucking-lutly, man! You do, you understand! Here,” he threw a baggie at Gary, “roll up a fat one, knock yourself out, man, gee-whizz, you understand me now!”
“I understand how much this is all costing us,” replied Gary. He shimmered over to the round windows, observed the cloud formations below them, to confirm he was on a plane, with this blathering idiot.
“Cellophane flowers of yellow n green,” Dizzy pointed at Gary, gesturing him to sit. He wobbled the baggie in the air, “towering over your heaadddd. Look, right there, for the girl with the sun in her eyes…….”
“I said,” started Gary.
“And she’s, like, gone,” Dizzy expressed and stopped in astonishment, as if a manifestation of a girl really did just disappear. He observed his manager’s frown. “Sheez Gary, you worry too much, I need me this plane,” Dizzy stressed.
“You do not need a plane!” Gary firmly stated.
“Wha’ you mean I dun’t need me no plane, dude?” replied Dizzy, rather bitterly but still maintaining his generally cool tone. He dipped his dark sunglasses to get a better look at his manager. “I’m tellin’ ya, I need dis here plane. Everybody that is somebody need a plane these days.”
“Why do you need a plane?” Gary snorted.
“I am who I am,” Dizzy wafted, “da social elite, man, the god-damn star of the god-damn show, and the star of the god-damn show needs a plane,” Dizzy maintained.
“You had three downloads of your last album, Dizzy,” Gary reminded, “and one of them was by your mum!”
“She know good mu-sic,” Dizzy pondered silently, and took a sip from a fresh bottle of tequila. “Damn it, man, I’m done with tequila! Get me some Champagne!”
“Really?” Gary threw the paperwork at Dizzy. “Final demands, Dizzy, final.”
“Take a chill pill,” he ordered. “Sheez, man you, like, you know better than me; there ain’t no readies in recording these days man, the bread and butter is in performing, you gotta do da festivals man, that’s what it’s all about. And for that, man, I needs me a plane.”
Gary swung his head with ease to take his gaze from the window and aim it towards Dizzy as he slouched in the chair, swigging from an expensive bottle. He gestured to Dizzy that he did not agree. “You need a hundred nights, to pay your last bar bill!”
“Don’t you dare, dude,” Dizzy spat, “like, talk to me about knights, with their, like, chivalry and their fuckin’ shiny armour! Give me one good reason, Gary-Gary, one god-damn good reason why I don’t need me no plane?” Dizzy pointed an accusing finger at Gary.
Gary confirmed by moving just a step closer, “Just one?”
“Yep, just the one will be, like, acceptable,” calmly said Dizzy, confident with his side of the argument.
“I’ll tell you one, shall I?” the manager took another step towards him.
“Yep man, that is, like, all I’m asking, big-shot rock star manager,” giggled Dizzy, replacing his shades completely over his eyes.
Gary was now so close to Dizzy he could smell his breath, and it wasn’t nice. It had the stench of an expensive tequila, true, but overpowering this was a smoky charcoal funk. “Because Dizzy,” the uncompromising flow snowballing, “because…. you…. you are a, you a dragon, Dizzy. You are a bloody dragon, and dragons can fly!”
“Technical details,” replied Dizzy. “Technical details,” he repeated to make it sound even more prominent. Then the dragon waved his hand at Gary to pass off his comment, and blew fire from his nostrils in order to light his cigar.
We received this poem from Gail this morning, rather current and especially lovely, but that’s our Gail; poem is good too!! Re-blogging from her site, please follow the link to read.
The shops are shut. Our hearts are open wide Before we put the Closed sign on the door We call the people that we love inside ‘Last orders at the bar!’ the barman cried Our days of wine and roses are no more The pubs are shut. Our hearts are open wide The schools are […]
So, I love television, think it’s a marvellous invention. I just don’t like trending programming schedules; I want to bring people an alternative. I cut the grass yesterday, yes, that’s how desperate life has got! I cut it so my sports-loving daughter can have a kick around in the garden, before her built-up energy explodes like a supernova and blows the roof off the house. Without her football and hockey games she’s clutching straws, it’s okay, she washed her hands.
But I think we all are, right now. Through this avalanche of social media inclination where near-on every post is about the epidemic, it’s hard to heed what to do for the best, what sources to trust. Even “official” guidelines should be taken with a pinch of salt. Bulked with complaints, some even go as far as actually praising our Prime Minister; ludicrous! In a world gone mad, seems it has. Too little too late is my theory, sorry BoJo. I accept the wallet-bulging job is no easy task, but you picked it. Measures have only been introduced because Emmanuel Macron threated to close the border with the UK, face it.
Naturally, I’m a fair guy, you are entitled to your opinion. Yet, it’s not like the government didn’t know about the looming menace since December, and instead of preparing, Boris was fumbling his Big Ben Dong and getting a hard-on over the success of Brexit. Tropical holidays and expensive luncheons on tax-payer’s cash he took, while floods devastated the country; what suddenly makes you think he gives a hoot now?
Keep calm and carry on, we don’t need our statistics reliable. Actively refusing in some cases to test people and making little effort to make the kits needed, is not something we should hail him for in my opinion. The ethos of the government has been to protect the economy over the lives of the population. Ah, the trusty backhander for BoJo from the BIBA insurance company is his real reluctance to lockdown like every other European country, but we’re fine with that if it means we get one last chance to nip to the boozer. The soundbite “herd immunity” should have rung alarm bells as to how this selfish clown is prioritising. What do scientists and the World Health Organisation know over our darling czar?
A decade of austerity has besmirched our NHS, Boris backed every vote to wreck it. Face it, we haven’t the facility to cope with this, accumulation of bog roll will not protect you. Yeah, we are all getting tetchy, the point of my article which will come to light as soon as I’ve discredited this pitiable sympathy for Boris; God save our twat, he’ll be alright, Jack.
Awl, looks so cute up close
So, I cut the grass. Only for the football to be launched into the field opposite within milliseconds. On my trek to retrieve it, I glanced left, my seasonal short-cut route to Devizes on foot. It’d be the first weekend to use it without getting muddy, alas it’s not worth it. I gave a momentary thought to the previous blowout weekend, the awesome blues gig at the Sports Club. Ruzz will do a live stream, we will post it on our “virtual festival” page, but a week into the idea and I’m feeling, on occasions, it’s worthless as it’s simply not the same as a live gig. Cue sad-face emoji.
The other angle, which deflects my notion, is unfortunately, right now, it’s all we have, and I hate television’s trending programming schedules; I said that, didn’t I? So tetchy we’ve become, I thought I’d swerve my milk-float on Saturday’s homebound journey to grasp at number of twenty-four packs of toilet rolls that some selfish hoarder was off-loading from his car. I wouldn’t need poo on them all, I figured, but heroically distribute them to the needy in a kind of Robin Hood of lavatory prerequisite guise.
So tetchy that this week my virtual festival idea was condemned by a renowned musician who shall remain nameless. You know me, I would name them if I damn well wanted to, but won’t for the fact that after I explained its workings and ideals, the person thoroughly apologised and welcomed the notion. I therefore feel I should elucidate further on why I’m, and many others are too, platforming live streaming. It is not that I’m attempting “guilt-tripping” musicians in their hour of need, as was accused by the petitioner, and I am sorry if anyone else feels this way. A majority have supported it, so it sticks. It is the prerogative of the individual to take part, or not, no pressure. Neither are we staging these streams, rather the artists were intending to stream on social media and we are extending their presence.
Professional musicians of a certain calibre may wish to find their own methods of making ends meet, they may have the tech at hand in order to create a pay-per-view stream. Given my apprehension that it simply isn’t the same as a live performance, and requires a connection which may drop out at any given time, I’m not sure one can justify charging a viewer. Again though, I accept this maybe a requirement and a fair notion. I’m scrambling, truth be told, as to how to promote these, and let’s face it, many are unsigned, amateur or semi-professionals just starting out artists, in such a way it will create revenue for them, but I confess I lack the technical knowledge to provide this. Though, I am grateful to the legend who is Mike Barham, for offering help with the tech if needed.
Therefore, I tip my hat to websites such as Bandcamp, which seems to me the fairest of platforms for artists to distribute. As a user I blinking love Bandcamp, I surf for eternities. You can bury yourself deeper into rabbit holes on an international level and discover unsigned or emerging artists you simply wouldn’t have fathomed to Google or YouTube search for. For instance, through browsing Bandcamp I’ve currently a penchant for Cumbia, the contemporary sound of Colombia, and I’m now downloading music I’d never have found in a record store in the UK.
At the aforementioned blues night, I chatted to independent singer-songwriter, Joe Hicks. We both commended Bandcamp for its fairness on both punter and creator, a virtue it recently enhanced by its notion to waiver its fees to help struggling musicians. I have put a donation option on our virtual festival, which will be shared between all who contribute. I am warning them in advance I doubt it will be much past a packet of peanuts between us. As predicted the request has been ignored so far, not to cast blame; dubious financial forecasts haunt us all. I will, however, favour to encourage visitors to the festival to research the artists performing, and do what they can for them. I have added links to their website and Bandcamp pages, urge viewers to buy their music. In short, I’m honestly doing what I can.
I fully accept now, my late article on this coronavirus may have been somewhat ill-informed and perhaps irresponsible. But, just as our musicians want to continue to perform, even if it is from their living room, writing humour is my escapism. I am, after all, trying to create a light-hearted approach of this mess, and I believe being satirical keeps us going through the otherwise doom and gloom. I’ve been reading up on the Black Death and the Plague and finding measures then were much more adhered to. Self-isolating was strictly policed, they painted a red cross on their doors rather than queued outside Iceland to fight for the last toilet roll. Hum, a Monty Python sketch comes to mind; see what I mean? Damn it, sorry if my sense of humour meanders in offensiveness, but right now it’s all I have to offer.
Yeah, I could whinge about whingers, worried about their finances as they stay at home while I work outside, even harder than before under such risky circumstances, but I’ll leave that there. Work for home, how disheartening for you. I suggest we all pull together, like the Queen will witter from one of her castles, but that’s increasingily difficult to do and I urge people to forgive others as they cry their ills. I forgive the person who criticised the idea of the virtual festival, it was a valid point. Yet, I don’t have the answers and you’d be a fool to look to me for them. All I know is, stay safe out there; I love you all.
Didn’t Nostril-damas, or whatever his stupid name is, predict this? We should’ve taken heed and planned from then; dammit Jim, I’m milkman/writer not a doctor. Then again, it’s a lovely day and maybe we should take the words of the famous philosopher Lilly Allen; sun is in the sky, why-oh-why, would I want to be anywhere else? Sorry, got to go, another football is over the fence.
On a rainy Friday night in Trowbridge, I followed the directions from the bar staff at the Lamb Inn- past the pool table and out the back – to the Village Pump, a quirky, intimate performance space that was already packed. And there was cake, lots of cake.
This was the first gig for The Lost Trades but most people seemed to know the Wiltshire-based singer songwriters, Jamie R Hawkins, Phil Cooper and Tamsin Quin, pretty well as they mingled in the breaks between support acts Vince Bell and newcomers Timid Deer.
Tamsin confessed she was nervous, hoping the new three-part harmony adventure would start well. She needn’t have worried. The sell-out crowd were on their side right from the start.
Swapping instruments and lead vocals throughout the night, The Lost Trades shared their stories and songs with the relaxed ease of seasoned performers. There are three distinct styles to the songs but an obvious pleasure in playing together binds the music into a cohesive set. It’s folky, funny and full on harmony.
I’m glad Phil took the time to introduce his original, the Groom of the Stools – a little context went a long way to explaining this rollicking, foot stomping number where “every day I take a look at the Crown jewels”. Google it, trust me it’s that job that you’ve never dreamed about.
About halfway through the set Tamsin debuted Hope Cove, a very personal song for a friend about holidays in Devon. Loaded with emotion the absolute strength of the trio, the balance of harmonies, was on display. These three voices create a beautiful rich sound, layered and textured.
My favourite song wasn’t an original – sorry guys – but a traditional American spiritual, Down in the River to Pray. The harmonies, wow. Just wow. As it soared and rolled around me, I’m not ashamed to say I might have had something in my eye….
The Village Pump is a cracking venue, home to the local folk club and a regular open mic night. I was told a group of friends started the folk club there in 1973 in a barn at the back of the pub. Performances were staged from a wagon and there are nods to this on the walls with horse paraphernalia hanging with tubas, French horns, guitars and pipes from a church organ. Upstairs in the balcony there’s plush red tiered seating from a now-closed local movie theatre. Great acoustics, a welcoming vibe and drinks on tap from the Lamb Inn, it’s just the place to showcase local talent.
Shout out to Jamie’s fiancé Janey for the cakes – a vote saw the chocolate cake coming out the clear winner with the consolation prize going to Tamsin’s flapjacks. I tried a few, for research purposes. Perhaps more than a few. Yum!
The encore was a swinging country version of Talking Heads’ Road to Nowhere. I’m picking this is far from the truth for the trio. The Lost Trades are out on a Spring tour now with a handful of gigs around Wiltshire as well as trips to far flung places including London, Stratford on Avon and Exeter between now and the end of April. Details are on their website along with the chance to join the mailing list for early bird benefits.
If I divide rock music into three favoured eras; its birth from rhythm and blues to form rock n roll, psychedelia moulding it back to wailing blues, and second gen mod or new wave from the eighties, and anything post these I don’t care for so much, be it heavy, soft or Nu-metal, I paused for thought last night, observing these three pillars firmly personified at this most fantastic jam at the Devizes Sports Club. And what is more, it’s fused, together in one great monster of a performance, which, in a word, was spellbinding.
Impelled to duck out the Cavy early, as while I figured our writer Andy would be in attendance, and be willing to put some words into action, I had to see this for myself. It was as I predicted in our preview, no musician singled out, no-one-on-one-off exhibition, rather a humongous blues jam amalgamating the exceptional talents of all present. Already underway on my arrival, our guitar heroes Ruzz Evans, representing the rock n roll in my three-pillar theory, with his classy suit and quiff, Innes Sibun on the psychedelia with that long hair and wailing guitar, and Jon Amor in his trademark drainpipes and sneakers. To boot, not only is Ruzz’s backing band present on bass, drums and horns, there’s the legend who is Peter Gage causally making the keys look like Child’s play.
Afterwards I made a beeline for Ruzz, inquiring how one goes about creating this wonderful amalgamation and how rehearsed it needed to be. There was no rehearsal, he explained, it’s based on specific templates in which the musicians observe each other’s changes and improv takes control. This takes a wealth of experience and talent, as Ruzz continued to get technical it showed both his obsession with his craft, and my incompetence in such matters. I should’ve recorded his explanation for a quote, as the jargon pursued and I’d drunk far too much! (Note dodgy photographs as proof!)
Again, the slight topic of conversation that was passed around the club related to the current virus situation. Naturally people are concerned, yet it didn’t stop this venue filling sufficiently with our blues aficionados, matured or otherwise. I figured if times do go terribly wrong in the coming days, this could potentially be my last night out for a while, and if so, or even if not, I’m out to party. This event satisfied that ideal, but I knew it would, it said so on the tin.
It was good to bump into singer-songwriter Joe Hicks, where we expressed concern for the decline and postponing of events and its effect on organisers and musicians alike. He had, as I suggested, already an album up his sleeve. Perhaps the coming month will see musicians take to recording studios as the bread and butter of gigs phases out. It’s a sad thought, but absently unnecessary tonight, as the power of live music blessed the hall in a way which should make Devizes proud.
Staggeringly as ever, Innes was on lead when I got there, taking the audience on one of his magical journeys, only for Ruzz to be frontman for one of my favourites of his tunes, Sweet as Honey. After a short break it was Jon’s turn, picking Juggernaut to blast us with, ever so proficiently. Then, was it a Billy Price song which Peter Gage so skilfully but causally covered with the honky tonk of Howlin’ Wolf, The Price I Paid for Loving You? I dunno, no expert, but I’d lost the will to keep track, allowing the blessed music to flow over me.
With a hypnotic guitar-off, if that’s the appropriate terminology, between Ruzz and Innes, sections provided for all musicians to show off, including the drum solo of drum solos and the most amazing bass guitar solo too, it was one heck of a brilliant blend of electric blues I’ve bared witness to.
If my only criticism was pondering if the sound could contain this monster of supergroups, and that a semi-circle barrier between the musicians and audience had naturally formed, with the blues preservation society of Devizes merely wobbling on their feet, the sound system took the strain adequately, and after not too long the movers penetrated the semi-circle and all round dancing ensued. Otherwise, this gig was perfection on all levels, my blessings to all involved. If there is, gloomily, to be no Saddleback Festival this year, last night thoroughly made up for it and leaves me pondering what will be next from this fantastic venue.
If variety is the spice of life, The Cavalier in Devizes cannot be faulted. While it may be a short walk from the town centre it hardly requires a sponsor form, and when you get there it’s a warm welcome from a proletariat pub divided from the Wadworthshire typecast. Yeah, define it as boozer for the locals, yet with their event schedule ambitiously aimed to recreate the working men’s clubs of Northern yore, there’s a diverse range of events with something to suit all.
As apposed to the Southgate, per say, where there’s dependable original live music every weekend, or the Long Street Blues club where it’s a singularly assured you’re going to get some damn fine blues, it’s advisable to check ahead on our event calendar or their Facebook page, for anything could be going down at the Cavy.
Next Saturday, for example, organiser Dean Czerwionka’s own preferred genre, Americana, is represented with a motivating country-rock originals band, the Stone Mountain Sinners, while the following weekend, 27th March, sees the return of a quality Thin Lizzy tribute, Twin Lizzy. Between these this community hub takes on the growingly popular concept of taking your kids raving, setting up their own “Little Ravers,” night of old skool club anthems suitable for children, and hugely discounted compared to the official organisations doing this at just £2 entry for all.
So, while awash with a variety of tribute acts from Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, or Garth Brooks, to the Motley Crue, Sex Pistols and UB40, they hold regular children’s discos and events, many proudly fundraising for our adorable Carmela and her ongoing Stand Up To Muscular Dystrophy aid. They even have a small pub festival in August, presenting this eclectic mix with local live acts too.
In fact, I’m down here tonight for a St Patrick’s Day celebration, and Swindon’s Day Breakers are setting up. A talented four-piece with boundless eyes for great covers, you know we love these guys, for as the Celtic-roots-inspired originals duo, Sound Affects or as the mod-branded, Absolute Beginners, they never fail to raise the roof. With a new line-up consisting of a young drummer, Katy, and a new violin for Cath York, The Day Breakers combine aforementioned influences with post-punk pop of yore and contemporary folk-rock hits. It’s all Doc Martins and gritty covers with edge.
Superbly as ever they knock out Dexys’ Jackie Wilson Said, as an intro, the Manic’s Design For Life follows, with the Pouges’ Dirty Old Town displaying the variability of their repertoire, without finesse. The Cavy is treated to Specials, Jam and Madness covers, to The Cure, ELO, other early eighties classics, up-to-date anthems from Elbow et all, and Irish folk-punk. They do them with bells on. Mightily impressed with Katy’s drumming, despite her casually expressing her training hasn’t been for long.
Here is a professional floor-filling band, genuine, convivial and enjoyable, yet, although I accept the recent situation with the virus leaves everyone cautious, and Devizes is chockful of gigs on Saturday, the crowd is slight. I have to be honest; this is a tad frustrating. There is nothing more the Cavalier needs, other than your attention.
Friday had been a not-so-great day, with lots of news about C**, pitched battles in the aisles of Morrisons over the last few toilet-rolls, and the cancellation of many sporting and other events. How to react to this desperate situation? Well it was obvious – go to the pub for a few beers and to listen to some live music.
It was The Southgate’s landlady Debs’ birthday week-end, so some great music (as always) was promised. And it all kicked off on Friday night with locals Lewis Clark & The Essentials. Although the band had played this venue before, I’d managed to miss them last time out, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’d been told that they were wonderfully hard to pigeon-hole, but that they were an acoustic based band, blending folk, soul, and blues.
Lewis’ band on this occasion consisted of the man himself on vocals and guitar, accompanied by upright bass and keyboards, and they had just kicked off their first number when I got there. I was with friends and so started the evening by chatting to them, but the chat soon died away as we all relaxed and really began to listen to this very talented performer. This was no mere pub background music. None of us wanted to ignore what was clearly some very fine music.
The first thing that struck me was Lewis’ incredible voice. His range, delivery and vocal style were completely arresting and mesmerising. Coupled with some wonderful jazz-like phrasing, his vocals absolutely carried the night. The effortless musicianship of the band supported Lewis’ songs through a whole range of musical styles and influences – folk, jazz, blues, latin, roots, soul – sometimes within the same song. The result was a spell-binding fusion of melodies, haunting lyrics, and an eclectic and varied performance.
The trio produced two superb sets of original music, and still managed to work in a few covers, to which they lent their own fresh interpretation. Stand-outs among the latter were a mash-up of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” with the Guess Who’s “American Woman”, and later on Free’s “All Right Now”, which all received a damned good seeing-to.
In total, it was tour de force performance – lyrical, multi-influenced, impossible to pigeon-hole, and thoroughly entertaining.
And, yes, after self-medicating with beer, I did wash my wash hands at appropriate times during the evening.
Future gigs at The Southgate:
• Saturday 14th March Lightnin’ Hobos • Saturday 21st March Eddie Witcomb • Sunday 22nd March Vince Bell • Saturday 28th March Mark Smallman Band • Sunday 29th March Gary Hall
Steve Marsh’s ball of masking tape has reached 60mm in diameter, some doughnut drove their car across the footpath of Marlborough’s green to avoid the pelican crossing; these Facebook posts are not about the corona virus, why are they appearing on my newsfeed?!
I’ve been in the “keep calm, carry on, and wave little flags at Europeans” arena of this current outbreak, but media flimflam is twisting my melon; I might actually have to wash my hands now. The very fact I found myself agreeing with Boris Johnson and his mob of insensible sociopaths must surely mean my lax perspective on the issue is wrong and I should start worrying, about stockpiling bog roll at any rate.
So, yeah, in order to keep up with the Jones’ of mass-media hullabaloos, Devizine has succumbed to the clickbait and decided to write an article about the Corona Virus. Not that I’m in any way informed, or have found a substantial or even relevant angle in which to write; dammit Jim, I’m a writer not a doctor. Expect content from Devizine if I need to self-isolate, but without any subject; otherwise the better half will have me doing the gardening. Actually, quite fancy the self-isolation bit, stick a crate of milk outside my house for customers to take, conceal myself under the duvet till May with a Sandra Bullock boxset and family-sized packet of Frazzles.
Yet, we are here to promote and acknowledge events and things to do locally, that is our mission statement, if we had one, which we don’t, but if we did. Just broken my winter hibernation too, and what becomes of our calendar of events, and the one person who reads it? Fairly, many have ignored the advice of the government to ignore the advice the rest of the world is following, and self-regulate their events; all part of Cameron’s “big society.” We’ll be out in polypropylene suits fixing the multitude of Vredefort crater-sized potholes next. Wiltshire Council who now?
I apologise that I’ve dragged you here, then, with the false notion you’ll gain some worthy advise about this mild-by-comparison epidemic, all I know is what I’ve been told; wash your hands, buy more bog roll and it’ll blow over in two weeks. All I will say in seriousness, which is rare, is take the precautions, take care, we really don’t want to lose our friends and family, but we do want to get out and about too. The effect on local business will be devastating if we don’t, but something for the government to blame recession on. Most promoters are going ahead with events locally, but it’s advised to check ahead as everyday the news gets worse; if Steve Marsh’s ball of masking tape gets any bigger it might still come under EU safety standards, for instance.
Both White Horse Opera and the Devizes Lions have sadly cancelled their Spring Concerts, here’s hoping for a mid-summer one. The Lions have also decided to cancel their sports coaching weekend scheduled for April, because of “uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of coronavirus and to help mitigate the risk of it spreading.” Karaoke will be off until further notice at the Cross Keys in Rowde as they explain, “passing microphones to person to person could pass on any bugs.” It’s my personal opinion that banning karaoke is an upside from this virus, but impartially accept it’s a popular amusement.
Other than this, many events this coming month are still going ahead. We must respect all decisions made by organisers, and I’ll endeavour to inform you of them, if I spot them. Though, I still believe, mostly, and despite it being in line with Boris and cronies, that we shouldn’t let it piss on our chips, for want of a cruder idiom, and provided we take care and abide by the cautions, hopefully, the coming months won’t be as dull as predicted. If you choose to stay in and post your twenty favourite album covers or movie scenes on Facebook that’s your prerogative. Me, I’m nipping out this weekend, making the most of it before it might be like the end scene of ET. If you see me horizontal, please put me back on the bar stool, phone home, and I’ll lob you a half-price bog roll as a thank you; just £8 to you, sir!
You know you’re stockpiling years when you decide staying in for your birthday is the choicest option. I did, finally, haul my birthday-cake belly off the sofa on Sunday, driven by lingering desire, or an essence of ritual, which put up a fierce battle against my indolence; I’m glad it won.
Though the anticipated birthday banter and celebratory sacraments were scarce, as the White Bear was held captive by an extraordinarily acute and enthralling sound. An artist I thought Andy had reviewed for a past Sunday session here at this snug tavern, but searching came up with no reference to it, Phil Dewhurst, known as Jinder was mysterious to me as either. Yet he weaves intricate and personal storytelling as an introduction to each song, so you leave feeling you know a little about the musician.
If it’s a Springsteen-esque cliché, Phil summarises well, each song illustrated with an explanation to his thoughts and inspiration while writing it. No matter if it’s fashioned with poetic riddle, once you’ve a background to it stimulus you comprehend. And his writing is well crafted, eloquent and precise.
While the songs were melodic and mellowing, few with a melancholic theme, Phil conducts his prose against the cynical, and his songs breath an air of positivity over pessimism. There was a running leitmotif of keeping on the sunny side of the street against all odds, and for such, I compare him again to Springsteen, for his wild romantic style. Never was the subject quixotic, pragmatism showed his true colours as he poured his emotion fluently into his songs, attached to acoustic guitar so you couldn’t see the join, through proficient use of the loop peddle he created a beautiful soundscape, like a one-man Pink Floyd.
And it was when to come back with the following verse which really impressed me, Jinder has professionalism in his timing and a natural flare, making this afternoon a notable and entertaining affair.
See, I observe the loop pedal operation with a certain fascination, particularly under the command of the multi-instrumentalist, previous referencing Chris James Marr from a Sheer gig, or when the Arts Festival introduced Devizes to She Robot last summer, but it never ceases to amaze me when a man like Jinder can weave such intense resonances with just an acoustic guitar. The instrumental sections penetrated the mind and drifted from person to person; he clearly knows what he’s doing there, wincing an electric guitar sound or bashing a beat on the side of it.
Big “but” here though, it was the crux when he let off the pedal, the songs of simplicity; man, and guitar, ah, the acoustic really showed his true expertise. I’d recommend and welcome a Phil Jinder Dewhurst gig to all mature aficionados of rock. And marvellously prolific is he, a West Country based international touring musician, Jinder has released ten critically acclaimed albums for five different labels, including Sony BMG and Universal, had top 40 singles with ‘Overthinkers Anonymous’ and ‘Keep Me In Your Heart’, the latter of which has been successfully covered by many other artists and features in 2019’s international smash hit movie ‘Fishermen’s Friends’.
Through the delicacy of lo-fi folk-noir to the crank but pleasing blues tune he charmed the humble audience with personal anecdotes of woe, or uplifting inspirational moments, he expressed his passion for his art, that of friends in collaboration, and he pitched his landmark album The Silver Age with accounts of its orchestration. I’d like to hear that, yet as solo he has a force of his own, and was the perfect finale to a weekend.
Everyone having a nice March so far, been alright, innit? I promised, when I featured the first fortnight of events, here, that I would return to complete the last two weeks. I’ve promised this before and totally spaced on it, for which I apologise; not enough hours in the day. Nothing to do with my goldfish memory. Here though, this month, I’ve actually only gone and done it, before the 31st March too! See below if you don’t believe it’s true, the last fortnight in March, stuff to do while waiting for the supermarkets to restock on bog roll, and all that. I know, it scares me sometimes too.
Click on the hare here to see the first fortnight of March
Bear in mind, mind, our calendar is constantly updating, so do check in as more events and gigs are bound to magically appear like the shopkeeper in Mr Ben.
Week 3
Sunday 15th is where we were up to, and I got two fantablous gigs, Burbank are the White Bear in Devizes, while Jon Amor is at the Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon; nice.
Monday, I never know if the Devizes Folk Club is on down the Lamb or not, to be frank, but it’s a place for a beer if I’m wrong and it’s not!!
Tuesday 17th The Stonehenge lecture at the Wiltshire Museum is now sold out. Celebrated cartoonist and artist, Norman Thelwell is at The Merchant’s House in Marlborough, for a fascinating hour illustrated talk, tracing his life, passions and artistic development. Thelwell produced 1,500 cartoons and 60 front covers for the famed Punch magazine alone and some 32 books translated into a dozen different languages. His works were full of beautifully observed detail and mainly of rural subjects, including country and leisure pursuits, sport, house sales and renovation, stately homes, gardening and sailing. Failing that, Cracknakeel provides live music at The Sun in Frome for their St Patrick’s Day celebration.
Wednesday 18th is jam-packed, for a Wednesday! Acoustic jam down the Southgate, Devizes. Bromham’s Farm Cookery School has a Taste of Morocco class, where you could be learning how to make a Briouat which is like a Moroccan Samosa, make your own Khobz and Kefta Mkaouara. £40.00 per person. Over in Marlborough David Evans gives the second of three lectures in The Merchant’s House Study Series, focussing on Reformation in England and the Arts. The Roots Sessions continues at Frome’s Cheese & Grain with the fantastic Ruzz Guitar’s Blues Revue.
Thursday 19th and you could be back down The Farm Cookery School in Bromham for a Mozzarella & Halloumi Masterclass with Josie. She will teach how to make both cheese which is technical but fun! £35.00 per person. The fantastic Ed Byrne is at the Bath Forum and Moles has a punky/metal night with the Anarchist’s Bookfair, Butter The Pavement and Out Of Reach.
If it’s a slow start to the week, Friday 20th March makes up for it. If, like me, all you know about Jesus Christ Superstar is that he came down from heaven on a Yamaha, and you have doubts with your conviction of that, it’s the opening night for this amateur production by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Ltd at Devizes’ Wharf Theatre. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical portrayal of the last seven days of the life of Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot runs until Sat 28th March and while tickets are still available as I write this, do be as quick, as if you were on a Yamaha yourself; take care not to skid though!
Meanwhile Devizes Town Hall is the place to head for opera fans, as The White Horse Opera presents their Spring Concert. Including Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore, Ruddigore by Gilbert and Sullivan and Hadyn’s Creation, this would be the perfect introduction to opera for those, like me, who thought Donizetti was a type of pasta sauce!
If you fancy music more pop, the local supergroup I’m always raving about, the Female Of The Species play Melksham’s Assembly Hall. Fusing all their respective band’s influences, expect the best of rock, soul and ska as the girl’s combine forces for a fun-filled gig; I’ve been to see one of these shows and I’m not hyping it up because they’re all awesome chicks, I highly recommend it!
Day one of two, at the inspiring Shoebox Theatre in Swindon of their FUSE Festival where six emerging artists test a new performance idea over three days. Fuse is about supporting the beginnings of new work before it’s fully developed. Watch, discuss, and be part of the creation of something brilliant. Two performances Kat Lyons’ Dry Season, interweaving music and movement with original spoken word poetry and extracts from medical literature. And the debut one-woman-show from Mighty Mammal Theatre, Swine of the Times, where you can meet the piggies at the troff; they sing songs, say prayers and even mime. Alice Wolff-Whitehouse employs her skills in physical comedy, dance and song to bring to life a series of flawed and quintessentially British characters, looking at the grotesque nature of privilege in the UK through a warped and colourful lens.
Staying in Swindon, Baila Coffee & Vinyl have some Disco Voodoo with DJ Amir, or try indie rock covers with Joli & the Souls at the Vic. Elsewhere, the Leathers play The Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon, Clannad are at Bath Forum, and Jack Dee’s Off The Telly tour is at Salisbury City Hall.
Saturday 21st then. After the hugely successful free concert in the Market Place last summer, The Full Tone Orchestra have taken their show to Marlborough, and return to town to rave the night away at the Corn Exchange. Taking the most popular section of their show, the club anthems, expect this to be something innovative and all glowsticks, as conductor Anthony Brown’s beloved orchestra reproduce the club classics which defined an era.
The Cavalier go country with the Stone Mountain Sinners, caught these guys before, they’ve a refreshing approach to country-rock which is a cut above the rest. And breezy, original songwriter Ed Witcomb makes a welcome return to The Southgate. For surf beats, odd time signatures, eccentric tunes and irony-fuelled free jazz, try The Barge at Honeystreet, where bonkers surf surrealists Mustard Allegro do their stuff.
Super Trooper Abba tribute, Sensations grace the Seend Community Centre, while Swindon’s Meca has a Whitney Houston tribute. Don’t forget though, it’s day two of the Shoebox’s Fuse Festival too.
Mercy Lounge at The Three Horseshoes, Bradford on Avon. Recommended ska night at Warminster’s Prestbury Sports Bar with the Train To Skaville, and Paul Carrick is at Bath Forum.
Train to Skaville
Week 4
Head to the Southgate for an afternoon pint or three, on Sunday 22nd, and our fantastic singer-songwriter Vince Bell will entertain you. Meanwhile, Groovelator play The Three Horseshoes in Bradford.
Vince
Tuesday, Devizes Film Club at the Town Hall have the latest Ken Loach film, Sorry We Missed You, which you will be if you miss this one film fans. Full of drama, tension and heartbreak. Ricky and Debbie are the parents of teenage children. Ricky joins the ‘gig’ economy with a franchise for a parcel delivery firm. The job is sold to him as one where he will become master of his own destiny. Providing, that is, he complies with the labyrinth of deadlines, rules and conditions imposed by the company, a near impossible task. Debbie is a care worker who wants to care for the old people as though they are her Mam. But her working conditions thwart her in doing the job as she thinks fit. This modern Dickensian story dramatises the conflict between work and family life in contemporary Britain.
Don’t forget Wednesday’s acoustic Jam down the Southgate, and blues-folk singer Elles Bailey is with Phil King at the Chapel Arts, Bath. Thursday you can witness epic human-powered feats, life-affirming challenges and mind-blowing cinematography on the big screen at The Banff Mountain Film Festival world tour, coming to the Salisbury City Hall. Staying in Devizes on the last Thursday of every month though is no bore, as the regular and celebrated open mic night at the Cellar Bar is something to behold.
Seventies punk bands never had such a great name as Brighton’s Peter & The Test Tube Babies. Still going strong forty years on, they play the Vic in Swindon on Friday 27th. Tenner on the door. Swindon also has an Improv Jam at The Shoebox, and homemade function band Locomotion at the Swiss Chalet.
Locomotion
While it’ll sadly never be possible for the boys to be back in town, Preston’s tribute Twin Lizzy will. They make a welcomed return to the Cavalier, Devizes on Friday. Meanwhile, the Devizes & District Twinning Association take over the town hall to bring us some French Café Music with Jac & Co, tickets are also a tenner for both these diverse evenings.
How much more diverse do you want? A dedicated club night for adults with Learning Disabilities? This Is Me at the wonderful charity youth centre, Young Melksham is precisely that, a night of great music and friendship. There’s a series of these events, first one is Friday.
Another welcomed return to Marlborough Folk-Roots at the Town Hall on Friday, when Steve Knightley explores the themes and stories that inspire him and shows how music and words can become lyrics and chords and notes can meld to create songs that acquire a life of their own.
For want of an authentic tribute band, From The Jam play The Cheese & Grain in Frome, and I’ve heard all good stories about them. If originals are what you want though, The Queen’s Head in Box has a double-booking Friday. Katy Hurt stretches the country music genre in exciting new directions; haunting blues vocals, towering country rock guitars, even a reggae vibe, and she is followed by psychedelic alternative rock band, The Bohemian Embassy.
Saturday night of the 28th March is alright, but no fighting, please. Time for the Devizes Lions’ Spring Concert at St Andrew’s Church, where Ian Diddams comperes Bath Coleman, Bangers & Nash, and the Trowbridge & District Youth Band. Tickets are £10, proceeds to Wiltshire Young Carers.
The Corn Exchange has a Gin Festival. Tribute act, Motley Crude are The Cavalier and local heroes Rockhoppaz play The Black Swan. For high octane original and classic rock mixed with some tasteful Bluesy tracks, check the Mark Smallman Band at the Southgate.
Devizine is the unofficial Tamsin Quin fan club, if you wanna hear why, head to Bromham’s Owl on Saturday. Another Abba Tribute, Swede Dreams play Market Lavington Community Hall.
Tamsin Quin
Highly recommended for the mods, The Roughcut Rebels are at The Pheasant in Chippenham. Also, Blondie & Ska are great fun, they’re at the Wiltshire Yeoman in Trowbridge, checking ahead, they play in Devizes, at the Pelican in May. The Blue Rose Band at The Westbury Conservative Club and an Amy Winehouse tribute at Bath’s Odd Down AFC & Social Club. Level III have a “One Step Beyond-ska and punk club-night.
Elsewhere in Swindon, homemade Damm at Coleview Community Centre and P!nk tribute, Beautiful Trauma play Brookhouse Farm, and a Pearl Jam tribute, Earl Jam at the Vic.
Sophie Matthews explores the links between the visual and the aural in a one-hour presentation at the Merchant’s House, Marlborough. Drawing on the works of great painters including Brueghel, Hogarth and Rigaud, Sophie presents a feast of images featuring historical woodwind instruments in their original social context interspersed with live performances of historical music using authentic instruments.
Sunday 29th – Nearly there, and breath…. Yin Yoga & Gong Bath at Devizes Corn Exchange, The Sunday Sessions continue at The White Bear with Matt Cook and Gary Hall at The Southgate. There’s a Comic-Con at Bath Pavilion, to be frank, it’s a commercial affair rather than a genuine “comic” con, with cosplay, gaming and meeting vague TV actors and ex-Gladiators, but might be fun for the kids.
That’s it, folks, March done, save Bradford on Avon Folk Club have Geoff Lakeman on Tuesday 31st. Let’s regroup in April, but feedback on these articles are needed. Do they work for you? Long-winded I know, but in order to fit it in. Devizine is a work in progress, I enjoy and need to know what’s working and what’s not. So, if you’ve read this far, I salute you! Tell me about it!
Received a substantial golden handshake when Anchor Foods closed the Swindon site in 2000, by the following week I was maxing-relaxing on Long Bay near Sam Lord’s castle in Barbados, sipping the local beer, Banks. Upon my second influx at the beach bar, a conversant gent questioned why I drank beer, “mek ya belly get big,” he advised.
“What do you recommend?” I inquired. He suggested I gave this local lad a dollar, I did, and before I knew what was what, he had ascended a palm tree with a machete and used it to knock off a coconut. With a thud it hit the sand, the top was severed, the remaining part handed to the barman who filled it with a generous dosage of Mount Gay white. I’ve been a rum drinker since.
You can’t get white Mount Gay for love nor money in the UK, so I made a beeline for the Muck & Dunder’s mobile rum bar at the Devizes Scooter Rally to ask them. I’d been chatting online with Stu and Shelly, listing their Born 2 Rum event at the Wyvern Club in Devizes. Sad to have missed it, what with the now defunct SN Dubstation playing. I don’t intend to make the same mistake this year, as the Muck & Dunder plan to do it again, with bells on, same place, on 23rd May.
What these kids don’t know about rum you could write on the back of a matchbox, with space for diagrams. It’s a borderline obsession which sees them travel the Caribbean searching to increase their collection, and they call that work! Since 2018 they’ve been a welcomed sight at our food festival, fetes and events, providing fabulous insight on their passion, often bringing an exotic musical accompaniment, and generally providing the joyous ambience you’d expect from drinking rum, as well as the rum itself of course!
You can guarantee they’re sorting through their collection right now in anticipation, claiming to bring us over forty varieties of rum, some locally brewed rum-ale, with all the added cocktail ingredients they so expertly concoct. Tickets are a tenner and on sale now. It includes a Rum Punch on arrival, and a Rum Map (with tasting notes.) Doors open at 7pm, last entry at 9pm, event closes at 11pm. Strictly over 18’s. There promises to be beer, soft drinks and food available from the club.
As of last year, WierdyShit spins some tunes. Not come across this DJ before, so I’m intrigued. One thing is for certain though, the most innovative and exciting band to come out of Swindon for a decade or so, The Tribe, will be playing a live set. This year sees a new release from the Tribe with Shakka and Chunkz, yet their debut album Tribal Wave is three years old. If hip hop is usually tricky to reproduce live, The Tribe are a firm favourite on the contemporary festival scene, with a plethora of bookings, and I’d speculate their live performances are the greater priority for them; and take it from me, they rock.
First time I came across The Tribe was Calnefest some years ago, where I’d returned to my car, taking a break from overheating in the Wilber the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Bear suit! Some fine bands played, but I chose my timing badly to leave the site. This funky, hip hop sound I was appreciating from afar, contemplating heading back it was so good. But when it unexpectedly split to an offbeat ska, the crowds exploded and I hotfooted it back to see what the deal was. Here’s where The Tribe excel, embracing the original hip hop ethos of a fusion of styles, they encompass localised preferred genres, of rock, gypsy-folk-ska, then blend it with funk, rap and dancehall reggae. It’s frenzied, stylised, unique and invigorating, and has to be seen and heard to be believed. So, grab a ticket to Born 2 Rum!
Apparently the UK just cannot live too long without spending An Evening with Andy Hamilton and so he’s back for another short run of his ‘up close and personal’ show this summer, just to keep us happy. A show which comes to Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre on Wednesday 20th May.
In an evening of reminiscence and revelation, one of the most noted comedy writers and directors of the last few decades 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 4’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. In the spring, their latest sitcom Kate & Koji, starring Brenda Blethyn and Jimmy Akingbola, will air on ITV.
Andy’s numerous TV and radio credits include Have I Got News For You, QI, Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers, The News Quiz, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue and Old Harry’s Game.
Andy’s debut novel, The Star Witness, is available via Outbound, and his handwritten (yes, handwritten!) epic novel Longhand will be available in June.
“Norm!” – brilliant, wasn’t he? A kind of anti-hero pre-Homer Simpson. Part of the furniture in Sam’s Bar and despite him being an average guy, when he walked in the whole place lit up. It defined the lyric of the Cheers theme song, “where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.”
If I awakened from my hibernation Saturday night to attend the wonderful Festival of Winter Ales, such was the arrangement of tables in the Corn Exchange, it felt like the sort of event you appeared at with a posse of friends. For Billy-no-mates here, I’m kind of scanning the horizon for people to hassle with my company. So, I nipped out towards the end, knowing what I was doing; I had a calling.
There is a place in Devizes akin to Sam’s Bar in Cheers, I could visit anytime, but it’s been a while and knowing what’s occurring there, resistance is futile. It takes a few minutes in the winter wind to turn the corner and get the Southgate in my sights, but I’m immediately assimilated into the Borg collective upon hearing her song. While the Southgate strives to bring us a variety of live music acts, regular as clockwork, freely, and from varying locations, Tamsin Quin’s distinctive voice summons me, the very essence of her hometown. It’s like returning for a homemade roast dinner, or a New Jersey resident going to see Springsteen.
There’s enthusiastic talk between them, about the amalgamation to be, The Lost Trades, yet the trio aren’t leaking any secrets until their debut at the Village Pump. Gate as welcoming as ever, Jamie R Hawkins billed for tonight, “with friends.” You know this is a local circumstance, sharing of the limelight a must, with flare and passion for the venue and crowd, it reflects into their performances. Phil Cooper is like Clark Griswold, if Jamie and Tamsin are Rusty and Audrey, but Vince Bell is also in attendance, so I don’t know where it leaves him! I mean this in so much as Phil is the organised one, with a setlist scheduled, he’s professional in all aspects of the game, providing order to their show. Jamie is sauntering and socialising, before being beckoned to the now legendary red-carpet makeshift stage, “oh, is it my turn?!”
At that conjunction you’d expect a song come over muddled, but Jamie, like the others, just rolls into it and knocks out the perfect rendition of his own classic, “As Big as You.” Yep, I’m in my comfort zone, with or without an easy chair.
Through all their subtle differences, the trio work, period. As we’ve said here, The Lost Trades will be a natural progression from the sporadic and less formal amalgamations. Phil is thrilled, nodding and telling me how well the harmonies work, and it’s unusual to have a boy-girl-boy harmony trio. The conversation progressing onto Simon & Garfunkel citing the Everly Brothers as the unsurpassed vocal harmony. In this line of chat, you can sense Phil’s passion and love for what he does, and with every performance it shows. If anything, that is the symmetry within this triangle, Tamsin and Jamie sport the same proficiency and appetite.
I’ll go as far as illustrating this point: later in the evening, after each performer took their turn until Clark’s schedule ran out and the punters craved more, improv covers streamed. Landlady Deborah handed Phil a drum and his eyes lit up like a kid with a new X-Box; “oh yes!” he thrilled, and joined Jamie with it, strumming. There are no prizes for guessing the improv would take over, once drinks were flowing, and with the gang helping one another out. There are subtle hints as to how the Lost Trades will sound, and it’s simply awesome.
For now, though, they’re still three separate performers with an intimate ethos, and Vince is equally involved, rather than treated like a prodigal son. That’s the spirit in a nutshell; be it George, Kirsty, or others, it’s a family affair to make Sister Sledge envious. That’s precisely why Devizine celebrates this little circuit. In a sentence, it’s guaranteed to be an awesome night, and thus it was, with a very special added surprise.
There is nought negative I could say about it. Between acts, if there was a confusion who was up next, the crowd ardently called for “Ed” to take another. I didn’t like to inquire, something I missed? If another singer was present, I didn’t see him, just a ten-year-old sitting on a stool amidst the regulars. Ed did take the stage, the very same; no one nicked his stool.
If the near future of our local music scene is the progression of these talented adults, we just glimpsed the future beyond. Ed took up his acoustic guitar, played an Oasis cover superbly, and effortlessly raised the roof. What a surprise and absolute gem, reflecting in all I’ve said about the family atmosphere. I chanced my luck and caught a quick chat with Ed, who came across mature and at ease. Oasis songs his comfort zone, for now, he expressed, it was his first time performing to an audience, it did not show. To get an entire pub singing along, no easy feat, well done Ed; you owned it.
Proper quality celebratory glasses here y’ know, no squashy disposable cups; something of a memento. There are flowers in a jar on the table, aroma of hot pie, and a bulky fellow juggling knifes, while straddling our own Ian Diddams while he lies flat on his back on stage. If your preconception of a beer festival is a marquee in a muddy field, think again, this is the prestigious Devizes Corn Exchange and DOCA, our Outside Celebratory Arts association, are holding their annual Festival of Winter Ales in conjunction with the Stealth Brewery Company.
Splat the Rat
I’ll come clean, I’m breaking my Festival of Winter Ales cherry tonight, and I’m also fashionably late. Friday night was a sell-out, I’m informed, today is near equal in success, but I’d better hurry on in, the beers were running out. Another confession, I be a cider drinker, part of my five a day. Our man Andy cannot report, he’s here in a professional capacity, tending the bar, least lengthy set of tables. I would have kept him on his toes, but he’s attending to the ale end of things, I’m occupying the cider corner. A rhubarb laced cider is my first glassful, despite the event’s name, there’s ciders aplenty, but the choice of ale was extensive and over the whole weekend you could possibly, but unlikely to, pursue them all.
Vince Bell
With a customary token system functioning, and barrels aligning the length of the grand hall, there’s part of this event which reflects the standard beer festival format, in a grand fashion. Yet it has a civilised angle, prementioned flowers on tables, etc and surrounding the magnificent stage as if it was an awards evening rather than a beer festival. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complaint but a compliment, twas a splendid arrangement for a splendid evening; no one need a muddy field in a rain drenched February, save perhaps the odd duck.
Matt Barnard
If I’m honest, which you know I blatantly am, I’m not surprised by the impressive event, Stealth knows good beer, and DOCA know what they’re doing and could arrange a party on a glacier off Antarctica and it’d still be awesome. Winter beanies off to them both, for this inviting and warming occasion which is, essentially, an important fundraising event which will help fund the carnival and massive summer events such as the beloved annual street festival.
It’s Complicated
Through the three sessions over two days, our best local bands and musicians played, the wonderful It’s Complicated, Splat the Rat and Vince Bell. I was there in time to catch the finale of Matt Barnard, who has amused as compere, and all-round entertainer through the festival. He’s a confident, comical and cheery chap with that unique Saturday Night at the Palladium ability to cover all aspects of showbiz proficiently. Kris Dollimore followed, with an extensive résumé, this member of Del Amitri drove from Cornwall to pick a guitar akin to an illusionist vanishing the Eifel Tower. I pay particular astonishment to his beautiful rendition of Marvin Gaye’s Inner-City Blues.
Kris Dollimore
What a most splendid event, one worthy of your attention for next year, and priced at a tenner with first pint free in your keepsake glass, you cannot go wrong.
Huzzah, hurrah, hurray, whoop, bravo, hoot, shout, shriek, hosanna, alleluia and other synonyms for expressions of delight which I’ve shamelessly purloined from Word’s dictionary. Do I care? It’s March, time of the Mad March Hare, spring springing, birds a-singing in the blossoming treetops; after such a damp winter it’s refreshing to look forward to the April showers season!
Why do we even call them April showers when they tend to carry through from March to June?! Nevertheless, it’s warmer rain, with momentary lapses of sunshine, those little teasers of spring; don’t blink you might miss them. Still, just like a bear, I’m awakening from my hibernation, and heading downstream for a salmon supper!
In celebration of the feast, here’s some choosiest stuff to do over the coming month, as fished from our event calendar. The list is by no means comprehensive, you know the score by now, it’s updated (nearly) every day, so do try to keep up. Facebook is a good idea, if you do that, our page pumps posts out like Dwayne Johnson on a promise. Also, consider signing up for a weekly email, I don’t spam you, just once a week bulletin of what we’ve done and what’s to come.
First fortnight in March then, here it comes; the second half will follow…… I say that, then like a goldfish it’s a notion that’s gone in three seconds! Also, I can’t provide the links, but it’s all listed on our home page with links; it’ll take till April to do that, computer running at the speed of snail and all!
Devizes: First of the month is Sunday, nice way to ease into it. Georgina, Landlady of the White Bear, is running the London Marathon for Dorothy House, so there’s a pub quiz at 6:30pm to fundraise; £2.50 per person, max. 6 people on a team. Great Scott! St James Church hosts the monthly Devizes Silver Screen Film Club; Back to the Future showing this month. A great social meeting for our elders, and Driving Miss Daisy can provide transport.
If you’re looking for something wilder, The Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon is the place to head, where those Back-Wood Redeemers will be twisting those dark country and blues riffs into their splendid frenzy. Highly recommended from Devizine, tell them we sent you!
PSG has their regular Monday “Devizes session of Pop Soul & Gospel Choir,” at the Parish Rooms on Long Street, from 8pm until 9:30pm. Incredibly welcoming, PSG currently expect between 25 and 30 members on a Monday, and inform us “it’s a fantastic sound!” Join them for a fantastic start to your week!
Tuesday 3rd then, and it’s Devizes Film Club at the Town Hall. The Farewell (PG) from China, 2019. Director: Lulu Wang. To western eyes, this film has a curious plot but it becomes understandable in the telling. Billi has left China aged six, to be brought up in New York. Twenty-four years later, she is called back to attend a wedding that has been arranged purely to conceal from her grandmother that she is dying of lung cancer. Such kindly subterfuge is apparently common practice but Billi finds it hard to accept. She sees again many family members and it is her gradual reacquaintance with her Chinese heritage that provides this compelling, spiky exploration of family duty. A heartfelt, funny, emotional and rewarding film. The screenplay and production are wonderful, prompting The Irish Critic to call it the Best Film of the Year.
Edgelarks
Wednesday is the regular acoustic jam at the Southgate. Marlborough’s folk-roots club has Edgelarks at the Town Hall; duo Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin combine exquisite folk with influences as diverse as the blues and Indian classical slide guitar, to create a sound that is “subtle, atmospheric and bravely original” (The Guardian.) Alternatively, one of the most romantic operas ever written, La Bohème is showing at Bath Forum.
Even if not for the weather, Thursday 5th should get heated. Extinction Rebellion Devizes and Marlborough debate with MP Danny Kruger at St Mary’s Devizes.
Friday night in Devizes looks loud; hard-edged vintage blues with Barrelhouse at the Southgate will yowl like the Howlin’ Wolf. To contend, AC/DC tribute, Hell’s Bells play the Exchange, but want for a local, loud, classic rock cover-band, the awesome Homer play The Crown at Bishop’s Canning’s, and you’ll probably hear them from the Market Place!
Buddy Holly and The Cricketers
Lighter rock n roll tributes come from Melksham’s Assembly Hall, where you’ll find Buddy Holly and The Cricketers. Or Bath Forum has Elvis show, The King is Back, and Johnny Walker presents Sounds Of The 70s at Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre.
The 7th, first Saturday of the month then, here it is: A songwriter genuinely literate, sometimes almost literary, Ian Parker is an original craftsman. Expressed through a distinctive bitter-sweet vocal delivery, Ian’s songs hold nothing back. His ability and willingness to share with his audience, naked honesty and genuine emotion, is what sets him apart, and The Long Street Blues Club welcomes him and his band back. Meanwhile, a little more light-hearted, Teachers Pet Rock Show comes to The Cavalier Community Hall. If you’ve seen School of Rock, expect an East/West Midlands styled tribute, promising to be a “gut busting, face melting glorious rock show that’s suitable for all ages!”
There’s acoustic fingerpicking, electric guitar thumping rhythms, harmonica and a loop pedal at the Southgate with Jon Pollard, while Marlborough’s Lamb has the high-energy classic rock covers band, The Electric Troubadours. Down t’other end of that enlarged High Street, The Wellington has its Welly-Fest; check their Facebook page as there’s stuff going on the whole month long. Comes to ahead for reggae fans though, on Saturday when our friends Razah and Knati P bring their sound system; oh yes.
Tributes in Trow-Vegas with Abbamania at The Civic. Whereas it’s a Britpop tribute double-header at the Melksham Assembly Hall with Oasis Maybe and Ultimate Stone Roses, and always worth catching, The Blue Rose Band play The Talbot Inn, Calne.
Would you Adam & Eve it, Sunday March 8th is my birthday? Thank you, it’s just a number. Not spoiled for choice as I’ve only one gig listed at the moment, but I do love the White Bear, where Phil Jinder Dewhurst continues their regular Sunday Sessions. Talking Sunday sessions, Swindon promoters Songs of Praise do similar at The Tuppenny, find the Richard Wileman & the Amy Fry Experience there this Sunday 8th.
Week 2
Second week of March then, then we’re done and you go vacuum the hallway, or whatever else is outstanding; never ends, does it? Extinction Rebellion Devizes and Marlborough holds workshop “Roots of a Regenerative Culture,” Monday 7pm at The Barge on Honey Street. This training demystifies how to make everything we do regenerative and, as such, it is the key to understanding how to build resilience within ourselves and our communities.
Tuesday 10th there be a Quiz Night at The Vaults, Devizes in aid of Opendoors. And the Devizes Film Club has a Mexican movie, The Chambermaid (15) at the Town Hall. Director Lila Avilés’ first film quietly pulses with life in a multi-storey luxury hotel in Mexico. We see the engrossing work of a young, single mother trying her best to be promoted by thorough work, and to study in what spare time she is allowed. There is no life-saving Hollywood romance, just the drudgery of her daily work, problems with her fellow workers and managers and her efforts to improve her life. Cartol acts with sublime understanding of her role. With persistence and wry humour, she rearranges her tasks for variety, wickedly teases the window-cleaners, goes to evening classes and reads Jonathan Livingston Seagull. A subtle gem of a film, beautifully shot against the boring and colourless back-rooms, lush guest-rooms and the stunning city views.
Wednesday 11th at Marlborough’s Merchants House Michael Hart presents “Protestantism and the English Character.” While one of the most intriguing and exciting collaborations on today’s folk scene, Peter Knight, legendary violinist and ex-Bellowhead member John Spiers brings an evening of improvisation and invention of mysterious tunes to Pound Arts in Corsham. In Devizes, it’s time again for the acoustic jam at the trusty Southgate.
Blossoms
Blossoms play the Bath Forum on Thursday 12th, revealing their new album, Foolish Loving Spaces. They explain, “The album is a pure celebration of love in all of its splendid and baffling guises, toying with the so-called sins of lust and forbidden infatuation. It’s inspired by a summer spent listening to ‘Stop Making Sense’, ‘The Joshua Tree’ & ‘Screamadelica’.” If you’re in Swindon though, head for The Tuppenny, where the awesome Jake Martin and Jess Silk perform acoustic. Acoustic, made for Thursday, eh? If you disagree, check out the Winchester Gate, Salisbury where top Ramones tribute, The Ramonas are guaranteed to liven it up.
The Lost Trades
Friday is the night when the county finally gets ready for the debut gig of super-group The Lost Trades. Highly anticipated amalgamation of our good friends, Phil Cooper, Jamie R Hawkins and Tamsin Quin. We wish you the very best of luck, guys. They’ll be supported by Timid Deer and Vince Bell at Trowbridge’s Village Pump.
Meanwhile, keeping Kalm ‘n’ Kind in Devizes, there’s a Restorative Yoga class with Kim Pierpoint, a Fundraising Quiz Evening for Opendoors at 7.30. Philippa and Declan Morgan are running the quiz at Wiltshire Museum. Tickets £10, including nibbles and a glass of wine. Reserve your ticket online and pay on the door! https://devizesopendoors.yapsody.com/event/index/533176/quiz-evening
On my never-ending list to do is get to “Pelly,” kudos for putting on live music gigs, guys, just got work early in the mornings! Drew Bryant is live at The Pelican Inn on Friday, Lewis Clark & The Essentials with folk, soul, and blues at The Southgate, and there’s a Queen tribute called The Bohemians at the Corn Exchange. Comedy Night at Bradford’s Boat House with Jake Lambert, and the amazing Frank Turner plays Bath Forum.
Lewis Clark & The Essentials
Tuesday is St Patrick’s Day, but Devizes’ Cavalier can’t wait, and present a St Patrick’s theme weekend with those brilliant Day Breakers in the Community Hall on Saturday 14th. On the other side, three-piece rock originals, the Lightnin’ Hobos play The Southgate, and if you’re not spoiled for choice this Saturday, I don’t know when you will be, as the one and only Pete Gage plays with Innes Sibun and Jon Amor, all backed by Ruzz Guitar Revue at the Sports Club, corrrrr, that’ll be awesome.
Extinction Rebellion Devizes and Marlborough are back at the The Barge, Honeystreet for a gathering, where the evening presents a stripped back, 3-piece version of Troyka Bristol, Troyka Mala. They play a stormy mixture of traditional and original songs and rhythms from the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans with brushes of Klezmer and the Middle East; intrigued? I am.
Powerhouse Gospel Choir play Melksham Assembly Hall while Jon Hopkins is at Bath Forum. For something more off planet, stoner rock and electro art-punk are promised at the Three Horseshoes, Bradford on Avon, with Head Noise, Conspiracy of Chaplains and The Forgetting Curve.
That’s about all, we will follow this up with the final fortnight of March, when I get around to it. I do, though wish I’d stop promising these things! One thing you can depend on, Saturday in Swindon will rock with Splat The Rat at The Merlin on Drove Road, unfortunately, I cannot recommend Talk In Code’s new single Talk Like That enough, see our review. Note, the launch party is at the Castle on this particular Saturday, the 14th, and I can’t think of a better way to finish this lengthy roundup off!
Ah, hold tight, two preview pieces from me tonight; I’m an unstoppable steam train of broadcasts, choo-choo! Yet, I’m not sure this needs an introduction, not because we’ve been running the poster for it a while now, but if you’re in the know regarding Devizes links to blues then the line up at the R’n’B Bar at The Sports Club on Saturday 14th March will appeal no end, and you’ve probably snapped the tenner tickets already. If you’re new to said scene, then this gig would act as the ideal taster; digest this……
Legendary bluesman Peter Gage, former frontman of The Jet Harris Band, member of Dr Feelgood who blew the roof off Long Street with Dave Raeburn, Paul Hartshorn and Pete Lowrey as The Pink Tornados in December, will headline. But come here, there’s more. The guitar maestro I’ve been raving about, Mr Ruzz Guitar and his Blues Revue will also be there, his trio backing, or blessing these otherwise solo performances. I swear his guitar is like a phaser in Star Trek, set to stun, and I’m still speechless after his performance at the Gate a number of moons ago.
While Ruzz is Bristol based, and Peter resides in the west country too, both Devizes links to the contemporary blues scene also show up to do their thing. Innes Sibun, who we featured partnered with Marcus Malone as the Malone Sibun Band on the night they allowed me to roam free at the Long Street Blues Club, and be astounded by the quality of goings-on there. And of course, Jon Amor who is regularly featured here as, well, he’s regularly here, but more-so, because his talent is unsurpassed. Though I’m sure, as when such heroes meet, there will be a communal feeling and we’ll be treated to some improv and guitar-showdowns, rather than a balanced one-off-next-one-on scenario; least I’m hoping.
All in all, this event is like pulling four bells in a row on the fruity; need I say more? See you there. Oh, nearly forgot, slow down, man; tickets on door or in advance from Sports Club.
One of the most intriguing blurbs to a local event to catch my eye on recent online travels, in this humble but perpetual quest to bring you news of happenings, has to be a new performance from a Bristol/South-West theatre group, aptly named the Modest Genius Theatre Company. “Truth Sluth: Epistemological Investigations for the Modern Age,” is touring locally, and coming to Trowbridge Library on Tuesday 7th April, Warminster’s on the morning of Wednesday 8th April, the afternoon at Devizes Library on the 8th and Calne on Thursday 9th.
Targeted at everyone aged seven and up, Truth Sluth is a choose-your-own-adventure comedy show that will make laugh, think critically and question everything. It explores contemporary issues surrounding fact and fiction, and asks “ever wondered who you can trust? Ever read a blog and doubted its veracity? (Hummm; ed!) Is your newsfeed feeding you fake fodder? Truth Sleuth is on the case of fake news.”
Pre- booked tickets are £5 and are available from www.modestgenius.co.uk or telephone 01249 701628. Tickets on the door are £7 (cash only for on the door tickets.) Then, be ready to “join Truth Sleuth to gather clues, make decisions and steer the action. Come on down to the birthplace of information itself, the oracle with a public toilet: your local library.”
The Modest Genius Theatre company are fast becoming renowned for their innovative, dark physical comedy about social taboos. Based in Bristol and the South West, the company was formed in 2015 by graduates of the Lecoq, Gaulier and Dell’arte theatre schools, Tristan Green, Sidney Robb and Tess Cartwright. Using clown, mime, physical theatre, storytelling, movement and music they mesmerise audiences with poignant material that takes you on an emotional journey. “We love the extremes,” they tell, “and give our audience permission to feel how they feel.”
Truth Sluth: Epistemological Investigations for the Modern Age is hot topical comedy, in collaboration with Canadian playwright Greg Cochrane, and Pound Arts. Using physical comedy, storytelling and clever wordplay, this is devised theatre that obliterates the fourth wall. I don’t know about you lovely lot; I’m delighted to hear local libraries hosting something so intriguing and hope it’s the beginning of more such performances.
It was a shame that England’s crushing defeat of Ireland Twickenham meant that the start of music at The Southgate got pushed back from its usual start at 4pm until 5pm, because it meant there were two live acoustic duos performing at two different pubs at exactly the same time.
I wanted to see both, as both acts were new to me, so the only tactic I could think of was to see the first half of one (CRC at The Southgate) and the second half of the other (Mule at The White Bear). I know, I know – it’s like waiting for buses – you wait for ages, then two come along at the same time.
First up was Celtic Roots Collective, a rather strange Irish-focussed musical outing for a duo whose members hail from Yorkshire and Italy. Both assured the audience that their “countries” bordered Ireland, so that was OK then. The music was basic, down-to-earth and (if I’m honest) slightly rough round the edges and a little nervously delivered. Featuring violin and guitar, they played plenty of singalong “Irish” and “English” crowd-pleasers such as Whiskey In The Jar, Wild Rover, Dirty Old Town, Leaving of Liverpool etc. which certainly got the crowd moving. It was all good knockabout stuff, but I felt that they needed more practice and more gigs to tighten up the act, particularly the vocals/ harmony. But it’s still very early in the band’s journey, so that’s only to be expected. CRC are what I’d call still a work-in-progress.
Then down to The White Bear to catch Mule, featuring Chris Goulding on guitar & vocals, and Sharon Lindo on violin & vocals. This was an altogether tighter, more practised and more confident duo, delivering a good variety of material, ranging from folky jigs and reels, through to some great covers of David Gray, The Doors and others. Their vocal harmony work was spot-on, and they exuded an easy-going, friendly rapport with the audience. And a good audience it was too, including a fair crowd from the Devizes Town Band, with whom Sharon plays a key role. So we had a great atmosphere, a full pub, and plenty of clapping and singing along. Excellent entertainment.
Yet another great Sunday afternoon where we, the audience, were spoilt for choice. But this is the fun of live music in our town!
Future gigs at The Southgate:
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
• Saturday 29th Feb Plus Friends
• Friday 6th March Barrelhouse
• Saturday 7th March Jon Pollard
• Friday 13th March Lewis Clark & The Essentials
• Saturday 14th March Lightnin’ Hobos
Future gigs at The White Bear:
• Sunday 8th March Phil Jinder Dewhurst
• Sunday 15th March Burbank
• Sunday 22nd March Mr. Love & Justice
• Sunday 29th March Matt Cook
There had been some concern that this gig might not go ahead after Jon Amor was forced to cancel Thursday night’s outing to The Beehive in Swindon due to illness. But fortunately for us, and thanks to the amazing healing properties of Lemsip, Jon’s latest home-town gig went ahead as planned. And even being a bit under the weather, Jon was on good form.
King Street Turnaround is one of Jon’s latest band outings, formed at the end of last year, and features Jerry Soffe on bass, Evan Newman on keyboards and Tom Gilkes behind the drums. And what an outfit it is. The band rolled into the Southgate and blew us all away.
What did we get? We got soul, funk, blues, boogie-woogie and rock. This was high-octane stuff, delivered with confidence and panache. We got some great solos from each member of the band, including the always-expected wizardry from Jon’s squealing lead guitar. How he manages to squeeze some of those sounds from that one guitar is simply amazing.
And we got tight, driving rhythms that gave a solid platform to some great improvisation work. We got a band that could dial it up, then dial it down, then back up to eleven again. We got a dance-floor packed with people having a good time. We got very little time wasted on inter-song chat, just lots and lots of music that spoke for itself. It was hot, it was sweaty, it was great.
Highlight of the night for me was the band getting in the groove to deliver a fearsomely good performance of “Juggernaut”. It’s got to that point with me now that if Jon doesn’t play this monster of a song, I almost feel short-changed!
Are we allowed to say that it was shit-hot? Can we say that? Yes – it was shit-hot!
Yet another belting gig from Mr Amor and friends, and yet another inspired booking by Debs and Dave at The Southgate. Live music at its very best.
Future gigs at The Southgate:
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
• Saturday 29th Feb Plus Friends
• Friday 6th March Barrelhouse
• Saturday 7th March Jon Pollard
• Friday 13th March Lewis Clark & The Essentials
• Saturday 14th March Lightnin’ Hobos
Following the plane crash which killed his friends, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, along with the Big Bopper, just a year prior to his own tragic death, rebellious rocker Eddie Cochran was said, by his friends and family, to be emotionally disturbed by the incident, and had an unsettled premonition that he would also die young.
On 16th April 1960, on route to London to catch a flight after a show at the Bristol Hippodrome from an extended tour, his taxi crashed into a lamppost on Rowden Hill in Chippenham, a plaque there marks the disaster. The other rock n roller touring, Gene Vincent met with a broken leg which would see him walk with a limp. Other passengers, American singer Sharon Sheeley and theatrical agent Patrick Tompkins suffered minor injuries. But Eddie was thrown from the car, sustaining a major head injury, and died, aged just 21, in Bath RUH in the early hours of the following morning.
The taxi driver, George Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sent to prison for six months. The taxi and other items from the crash were impounded by local police waiting for a coroner’s inquest. David Harman, a police cadet at the station, who would later become known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, taught himself to play guitar on Cochran’s impounded Gretsch. The band’s success was slight, but the world had lost a rock n roll legend.
Eddie Cochran may never have played a gig in the town, but Chippenham has become a shrine to the legend, and many rock n roll-styled celebrations have taken place in his memory. 2020 sees the sixty-year anniversary of this tragic event, and the Neeld Hall will mark the occasion aptly: Geoff Endacott Presents: A Tribute to Eddie Cochran Featuring The Bluejays on Thursday 9th April.
They tell that “The Bluejays will be keeping his memory and his music alive with this special evening of music. The show will celebrate the music of Eddie Cochran and many other 1950s Rock ‘n’ Roll stars.”
The Bluejays formed in 2013, after years of performing together in West End rock ‘n’ roll theatre shows such as Buddy; The Buddy Holly Story, Million Dollar Quartet and Dreamboats & Petticoats and have since toured all over the world. The band created the show Rock and Roll Revolution which is touring UK theatres throughout 2019. In 2017, The Bluejays were invited out to Lubbock, Texas to play for Buddy Holly’s family. They were joined on stage by Buddy’s wife María Elena Holly who sang backing vocals during a cover of Not Fade Away. Other ‘Part-time Bluejays’ include Brian May of Queen who joined the band for a cover of Johnny B. Goode when they played at his daughter’s wedding.
There it goes again, that blasted TV Anchor butter advert. Why, oh why have they used the theme from the classic sitcom Desmond’s? I swear, every time I hear it, I swish around with excitement that rather than the cliché reruns they’ve decided to air Desmond’s again, but it is not to be, just a butter advert. Far from Anchor’s bane of my life, considering they made me redundant when the Swindon plant closed in 2000, where I worked in the cheese hall for five interminable years. People thought I was some kind of expert of cheese production working there, firing all kinds of technicalities at me such as the separation of curd and whey, when all I did was prep and pack the stuff!
I could ask Calne’s Real Cheesemakers the same annoying question, if I wanted to, but I suspect the name derives from cheese’s informal definition; the eminence of being too apparently mawkish. Their debut album, Grated Hits edges this with West Country hilarity. If my hope for a chance rerun of Desmond’s doesn’t qualify me for interest its unsubtle and cringeworthy eighties cultural references, perhaps only the sound of a ZX Spectrum loading would.
Late on the off with this, the album released in November last year, it’s been a monumental twenty-seven years in the making. Twenty-seven years wasted; they’d have got less for murdering a politician. For our local music scene though, it’s a tongue-in-cheek awakening and worthy of your attention. It does to heavy metal-ish banality what The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band did to jazzy psychedelic sixties pop.
Apt that the band cite the Bonzo Dog Band in their bio, as they “formed in 1992 as a duo following the discovery of said band’s records in founding member, Egg’s mum’s record collection.” They continue to explain, “The Real Cheesemakers spent years creating top-quality nonsense and walloping the finest of cods.” They finally played to “an actual audience for the first time,” in 2011, “to some acclaim, and have since performed across the south of England, and added two new members who actually know how to play musical instruments.”
Nonsensically avant-garde from the start, said eighties cultural references from John Craven to Rick Moranis and Marathon’s name change to Margaret Thatcher’s milk snatching, get slammed in “Unicorns of the 1980s.” The blurb explains it as “the now infamous rejected Eurovision Song Contest entry, United by Cheese, and the collaboration with the Godfather of chap-hop and steampunk legend, Professor Elemental.” From here it’s a good guess this album isn’t going to take itself too seriously, and for that, it’s bloody brilliant.
Through a cascade of local refences too, from Cheddar George to the Roundabouts of Swindon, they bash out seventeen songs of confessed love for He-Man and dinosaurs, a dedication to eggs, bacon, chips and beans, pre-assumed affection for cheese, fear of psychopathic tortoises and annoyance of supermarket queuing, with a Pink Floyd-esque ballad to the weasel and a plodding brass explanation for airborne trousers. Like a snail on a lettuce leaf, I’m only teetering the edge of this odd iceberg here, I’d suggest, if you love your nonsense humour and surrealism you steam headlong into it like a Titanic crew comprising of Spike Milligan and the Monty Python team.
Because of its decades-spanning production period, the band explain Grated Hits gives “each song a slightly different feel, but offers high-end production value without overly contaminating the group’s purity and no-fi roots.”
The release topped off a huge year for the “Cheesers,” playing to a sold out Neeld Hall crowd with Professor Elemental and support slots with fellow Chap-Hop pioneer, Mr B Gentleman Rhymer. Most recently, they played with Creed Bratton from the US version of Ricky Gervais’ sitcom, The Office on a few dates of his UK tour to huge acclaim, before supporting Goldie Lookin Chain at their Xmas bash in Bristol. I’ve noted listing them at our trusty Southgate, after hearing this I’m making a beeline for their next local gig, you would too, if you’re the kind of chap who wears a kipper tie and wellington boot on your head, or not, or just when driven to on occasional weekdays.
The album is available to purchase on CD and digital download from Therealcheesemakers.bandcamp.com. The physical copy features and exclusive track, Cheesemaker Blues (live recording), that is not available on the digital version.
Marc singing off the same song sheet as me, when he explains he encourages original material from the performers at his Sunday sessions at the White Bear in Devizes, yet covers which the artist “make their own” are always crowd pleasers. Who could be more apt than George Wilding?
Yeah, car troubles caused his slight delay, but the fireplace was warming, the denizen atmosphere matched. Convivial and geniality are prevalent at this earliest of Devizes inns, still going strong; I do like the White Bear. Last time I was here, George Wilding coincidently blessed the alcove, while others such as Wade Merrit, Andrew Bazeley, Vince Bell, Jon Walsh, Ian O’Regan, and Cutsmith have all graced the sessions, to name but a few; I’ve just been a bit rubbish in attending. Though our man Andy has been there to review most, I see why. It’s a comfortable and welcoming central pub.
Andy was there, to breath a sigh of relief upon seeing me; I’ll delegated myself to write a little something and he knows it. Though there’s not a great deal to say, especially nothing negative; I didn’t even snap a photo through nattering. If you’ve not heard how unsurpassed George’s every performance is then you’re both new to Devizine and to the area. In a peak cap he breezed through sublime covers and proficient originals like it was child’s play, and maintains his audience with genuine and sincere affability.
Hidden between Simon & Garfunkel, The Animals and even Abba classics, he slipped a refined version of his own My Backwards Head, doing as he always does, brilliantly. With right here, and naturally, The Southgate adding end-of-weekend live music too, Sunday afternoon in Devizes has never been so good. If the value of a pub is the sum of its landlords and its atmosphere, Marc and Georgie have done wonders. It’s Wadworth but with its own stamp. Sunday sessions continue for a while, check our event calendar of their Facebook page. Sunday roasts are also popular here; Mark tells me about plans to open some outside space, but while it’s February, we’re here, nice and warm.
We held a surprise anniversary party for My Nan and Grandad when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My Grandad was the straight man, my Nan the funny one in an unsurpassed comedy duo. Her sister called out while Grandad did the thank you spiel, “just like your wedding night, eh Carrie?!”
As spontaneously as the wit of the cockney comes my Nan replied, “no, there were bombs on my wedding night!” In an age where we’d go ballistic if a drop of rain appears on our special day, it’s a sentiment I’ll never forget, and I find myself wondering, how on earth do you joke about a thing like that?! Makes you ponder the spirit of the time, people coping through making light of the atrocity of the blitz, and that we would never fully appreciate what they had to endure.
Rowde
Through my grandad on the other side’s photos and keepsakes I hold dear, I became quite fascinated by the era and therefore honoured to be asked to design not one, but two posters celebrating the 75th Anniversary of VE-Day. Firstly, Wayne Cherry and team helps Rowde mark the occasion on the small playing field on the afternoon of Friday 8th May, as I’m sure our other villages will do similar. We also have the Market Place being closed off in Devizes, as Jeanette Von Berg heads the organising of celebrations there.
I begun the journey to designing these as usual, on the book of face, enquiring if there were any photos of VE Day in Rowde or Devizes. This request remained unanswered, and with time pushing on I decided to use some national images of VE Day to incorporate in the design. Still, I think it came out rather special and I have to confess I’m rather chuffed with it!
But for Devizes I was determine to discover something more local, and thanks goes to Jane and the archives staff at the wonderful Wiltshire Museum for hunting for some amazing images and references. I’ve included some here I didn’t use for the poster.
It was here some years ago, when they held an exhibit of war memorabilia, I dragged my son along with the convenient timing that he was doing a school history project on the wold wars. He was particularly interested with the mock Anderson shelter they had, but I had to correct them when they claimed “everyone had an air raid shelter.” For my family in the poorest parts of the East End of London, gardens were hard to come by, and my Nan fondly recalled the songs and banter echoing through the underground station. We were never told of the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster of 1943, as we were never told of any hardships they faced daily.
I also came to realisation then, while untold dangers and misfortunes were wrought everywhere, there are subtle differences here in urban Wiltshire than the stories passed down to me from my London family, thus opening up a whole new avenue to explore. I knew of the bomb-holes in Savernake Forest, for example, always contemplated the worth of Nazis bombing a forest, but a helper at the exhibit, who was a police officer during the war, answered when I held to question a photo of the large gatehouse at the entrance to Grand Avenue. Ah, I see now, it was a bomb disposal area. He continued for some time, informing me about the prisoner of war camp on Horton Road, and how he had to round them up and chase them back in!
The concern I guess, is that relaying these stories second-hand doesn’t carry the same impact as coming from the horse’s mouth. So, I accept while these events may be geared towards the older generations, I think we owe it to attend if we can, as those who were alive then thin with every year, we have a duty not to forget the sacrifices they made. But the celebrations of VE Day must have been one great explosion of relief, you’d have thought. Yet a book found in the museum told, amazingly, that the Devizes Town Council were criticised for failing to organise anything to mark the occasion; and you thought they’re rather frumpy now!
VE Day in Devizes
Here then is the only photo found of VE Day in Devizes, but its slow aperture has blurred the image and therefore it wasn’t suitable to use in the design. The picture I did use was from a parade in 1944. For while the Council did nought, sporadic parties held by the pubs and hotels burst out into the Market Place. Today, The Devizes Lions have agreed to assist closing the road off for the event, and, at this stage, it’s unclear exactly what help the Town Council will offer. I’m quite chocked by this, having thought on this particular occasion, we all could unite to help however we can. Yet you can bet your bottom dollar Devizine’s upfront attitude will send a rocket up their butts to do something to help mark this monumental occasion; so, watch this space!
For now, though, I’m flattered to have been asked to contribute, by doing what I love, and look forward to seeing these posters around, and in attending. I’ll try swish between the two, eager to pick up some stories we can publish here, that’d be nice, wouldn’t it?
After the previous night’s superb gig with The Arnie Cottrell Tendency (see other review elsewhere in Devizine), it was back to The Southgate for something completely different. From gentle Americana on a Friday to straight-up pub-rock on a Saturday night. Part of me was concerned that the night just couldn’t be as good, but I needn’t have worried. Different music genre, different vibe, but still excellent.
Navajo Dogs, formed in 2016, are a local blues-influenced rock band. Consisting of Simon Hansen on vocals, Tom Evans on lead guitar, Kieran McLaughlin on rhythm guitar/ vocals, Jonny Wallhouse on drums/ vocals and Graham Hill on bass, these guys are one solid entertainment unit. The music is loud and uncompromising, the performances are hot, sweaty, sweary and in your face.
Covering a wide range of pop/ rock/ blues classics, outstanding numbers for me were Hot Chocolate’s “Everyone’s A Winner”, Free’s “Fire and Water”, Prince’s “Purple Rain”, The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and Sam The Sham’s “Woolly Bully”, but there were plenty more. The dance-floor was full all night long, and the crowd clearly appreciated their no-nonsense, no-apologies style. This was 4-star leaded, full cream, full fat pub-rock. It was thumping, steady, rocking and totally infectious. Great vocals, nice guitar work.
Two superb gigs on two consecutive nights. This is what live music is all about.
• Friday 14th February Trevor Babajack Steger
• Saturday 15th February Mike Barham
• Friday 21st February Kent Duchaine
• Sunday 23rd February CRC
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
Friday night is music night, so where else to go other than the ever-welcoming Southgate? Once again Dave and Deb had found a wonderful band to fill the pub…..
I managed to miss the very start of the gig, but then stayed to catch the rest of it, and was still sitting there at nearly midnight.
What had been originally billed as The Velvet Doonicans had morphed into The Arnie Cottrell Tendency. Same people, same band. Whatever. Whoever. Either way Arnie Cottrell, Rick Foote and Graham Bushell played a simply superb gig. Featuring upright bass, acoustic and steel guitars, mandolin, and shared vocals blending into double and triple harmonies, the trio produced music that was magical, melting, melodic and absolutely mesmerising. This was Americana at its best.
The guys were clearly confident and comfortable with their music and with each other, and produced some stunning versions of Dylan’s “Girl From The North Country”, Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock”, and The Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek”. Every song was easy on the ear, relaxed and understated, delivered with panache and some wonderful self-deprecating good humour.
Song after song was wheeled out, and I dearly wanted to go home and get my head down for the night, but there was no way I was leaving whilst these guys were still playing. Such superb musicianship just drew you in. It was warm, lovely, embracing, mesmerising and – well – brilliant. No other word for it.
Yet another reminder that it’s absolutely worth getting your arse in gear, going out into the night and supporting live music venues like the Southgate.
• Friday 14th February Trevor Babajack Steger
• Saturday 15th February Mike Barham
• Friday 21st February Kent Duchaine
• Sunday 23rd February CRC
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
Slow news week, our local rag The Gazelle & Herod decided to report on the country’s most vital subject, Philip Schofield’s sexual orientation, as if he lives in Burbage or somewhere, so why can’t I focus on something irrelevant too? Like the world’s most famous fences. Yeah, as you ponder daring to whisk across your lawn and rescue fence panels, pirouetting trampolines and low flying plant pots, I thought yeah, this is bound to cheer you up.
It might even inspire you for your new fence, after Storm Ciara has done her worst. After all, seems researching a topic such as the most world-famous fences, most of the data is provided by fencing companies. They generally begin by explaining the reasons for installing a fence, be it privacy, security, or decoration. But many of our best fences have other reasons for being; preventing wild animal invasions, cultural, political, or, and do not take off-fence (ba-boom) for hanging women’s undergarments on. So, for your reading pleasure, here’s my chart rundown of the world’s most famous fences; you don’t have to thank me. My sanity was on a hinge browsing “Fencebook” today, what with the perpetual OMG posts of people’s fallen fences.
1: The Great Wall of China
Such an obscure and bizarre subject cannot be comprehensive without some deviation from its limitations, so many cite The Great Wall of China, or the Wànlǐ Chángchéng, as the world’s most famous fence; yeah, I know, there’s a clue in its name, it’s not a fence. Cheating Ming Dynasty Chinese, but you’ve got to admit, it deserves to be top of the fences, for its age, history and simple fact it’s so mightily impressive you can see it from space, if you were in space, which you’re most probably not, so I don’t know why I mentioned it.
2: Hadrian’s Wall
If it’s good enough for the Chinese it’s good enough for us Brits. Again, the second on most lists is a wall, not a fence; what a rip off. Heck, you all know the story of Emperor Hadrian commissioning a coast-to-coast wall to keep out those pesky Scottish barbarians, I haven’t got the leather elbow patches to be any more of a history teacher than that. Let’s just thank our lucky stars it’s not happening today or Hadrian’s act might have been viewed as “Trumpish.” These days though, the wall has disintegrated and wouldn’t keep a haggis from leaping over it, as they regularly do.
3: The Berlin Wall
One last wall then, if we’re going to have walls, we cannot forget the Berlin Wall. It physically and ideologically separated Berlin from 1961 to 1989, protecting its population from fascist rudiments conspiring to avert the “will of the people” from building a socialist state in East Germany. The evening of the 9th November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down, and marked the end of fascism in Germany; funny, we’re only just starting out with ours.
However, prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, other barriers were disposed of in the breaking of the Iron Curtain, and yay, they do include fences! A long one too, in Hungary, stretching 149 miles it bordered Austria. In April 1989, the Hungarian government ordered the electricity in the barbed-wire border fence turned off, and consequently it was removed shortly after.
4. Dingo Fence
But if you want length in your fence, as many do, consider South East Australia’s The Dingo Fence, for it’s the longest real fence in the world, in fact, at approximately 3,400 miles, it’s one of the longest structures in the world. This beaut will stretch from London to New York, and was constructed in the 1880s to protect sheep on southern Queensland ranches from attacks by wild dogs. Without wild dogs hunting though, the population of kangaroos and emus exploded on the south-eastern side of the fence. While us pommes have an affection for kangaroos, they can be a pest in Oz. Pass the burger relish and put another roo on the barbie, Shelia.
5. Buckingham Palace Fence
Gawd bless her, she’s got a lovely fence to help keep her safe, along with her five regiments of guards, who will bayonet you in the ribs for the slightest mickey-taking. Though many have climbed it, and few succeeded, its elegant cast-iron stakes, topped with extravagant gilded fleurs-de-lis symbolises the theme of our national anthem; she’s pretty safe in there, God. Yep, sure is one highly decorative set of railings, the envy of foreign tourists, especially our Yankie-doodle friends, whose rather plain White House security fence pales in comparison. In fact, unless you’re reading an American “World’s Most Famous Fences” website, it barely gets a mention.
6. Aquarium Fence
If you want to really show off though, and get one over on her majesty, and the neighbouring Jones’, here’s the ideal plan after Storm Ciara has taken it out on your fence. Leave it, let it go, and ping a message to Turkish billionaire Mehmet Ali Gökçeoğlu, ask him where he got his fence from, because it’s more likely Jollyes pet shop than B&Q. I’m not shitting you here, the guy’s got an aquarium of fish, eels and octopus for his 164-metre fence, attracting tourists from all over the world. Poachers watch out though, he’s had to put 17 security cameras around it.
7. Paris Lock Fence
Apparently, fastening a padlock to a fence and throwing away the key is popular symbolism of undying love; I’m not that romantic. Such a gesture is commonly done on the fence of the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, until the weight of thousands of padlocks caused a six and half section of it to collapse. The accident didn’t cause any physical injuries, just a few broken hearts. And?
8. Glastonbury Festival Security Fence
Quite honestly, I’m so shocked this one hasn’t been churned up through research, I felt the need to add it myself. Over the course of fifty years the festival felt the need to increase its security with a bigger fence. Ode to that corrugated fence, how many scaled its heights are incalculable, but it was all part of the Glastonbury experience. Saunter along the perimeter to find abandoned rope ladders, stalls, and Scousers willing to bunk you over for a tenner or couple of spliff-worths. One year in the mid-nineties, memory doesn’t serve me too well, it collapsed completely and no one battered an eyelid when campers set up temporary residence in the fields outside. It’s all history now, as 2002 saw the unveiling of a new £1m, five-mile perimeter fence with a second barrier that put an end to people jumping in. Probably for the best, festival goers now would only get caught, or least break their phone, as they attempt a live-stream or selfie whilst atop of it.
9: The Green Monster
Perhaps the most iconic fences in the USA are ones surrounding baseball fields. Take Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, dubbed the Green Monster, as it was painted green in 1947 to match the rest of the field; nothing escapes those Americans. Built to protect Fenway Park from gate crashers, it also protects outsiders from flyaway baseballs.
But the right field boundary at AT&T Park in California has a reputation as a “hitters’ ballpark,” due to the fact its shorter than most baseball fences, also means you can illegally watch the game from a boat from McCovey Cove, just the other side of the San Francisco fence.
10. Bra Fence
Save the best till last, at least the most titillating. Despite it not being the most renowned fence, it’s aptly quickly gathering attention. You should note, in acts of random fascination, fastening assortments of everyday objects to fences is a national obsession in New Zealand. But teapots, rubber boots and shoes have had their day, and the jewel in the Kiwi crown is the bra fence in Cardrona. There was no meaning as to why women starting whipping off their knocker lockers and attaching them to this fence in 1998, dubbed Bradrona, but this tourist attraction and obviously prime photo opportunity has raised over $40,000 for breast cancer research.
But if you think, only in Australia, interesting to note a bra fence has also taken off in the Eyjafjöll mountains of Iceland, where the climate is bound to raise more of a nip (in the air I mean.) Here’s a plan then, if you’ve said goodbye to your fence in the storm. I know it’s something I’m considering, but getting approval from the better half may be tricky, and it’s not the ideal season to sleep in the dog house.
Spring, that’s what we need to be talking about today! I’m getting my shades and sun tan lotion ready. Plus, White Horse Opera’s Spring Concert this year will be on Friday 20th March at 7.30pm in Devizes Town Hall.
It will include Haydn’s Creation, Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’amore and Ruddigore by Gilbert and Sullivan. “A musical treat not to be missed,” they tell me. I’m really beginning to think I should break my anxiety of opera and try this out rather than assign Andy, what do you think?!
You can come too though, just avoid my incompetence with such matters. Tickets are £10 and on sale now from Devizes Books and www.ticketsource.co.uk/whitehorseopera
Daydream Runaways are reflecting back to the start of their career together, even if it’s only a year ago! Still worthy to mention this live session recording of their debut single “Light the Spark,” which we glowingly reviewed on its release last April, here.
On their website it reads, “recorded and filmed in an intimate setting, this version of gives listeners a glimpse into Daydream Runaways performance style whilst showcasing the energy that the track is known for in their live sets.” I agree, it’s everything we been raving about. While this newer live version was released on Thursday, lets hope this upcoming young band are daydreaming of the future too, as I’m eagerly awaiting their next move and some new songs. This is not the time for a “greatest hits” album, guys, yet!
However, it’s a brilliant example if you’ve not taken heed of our previous praises and hooked in their songs, or witnessed them playing live. Come on people, see here! I’m grateful they blew the low roof of the Cellar Bar off at our fundraiser last month, and wish them all the best.
Good for old St Bridget, a 5th Century Irish nun who whinged to St Patrick, about women waiting too long for their suitors to propose. You see, ladies, you can’t blame modern man, we’ve always been this rubbish. 5th Century lads didn’t even have X-Box as an excuse.
In a bold stand for feminism, five hundred years before the Spice Girls, they forged a compromise. On one day, once every four years, that being the 29th February, women could pop the question. Men’s generosity knew no bounds back then.
But girls, according to the tradition, you either have to wear breeches or a scarlet petticoat. Begging the question, what difference would that make, and surely lacing your boo with vodka and Red Bull might be more effective? In fairness though, if they refuse they have to buy you twelve pairs of gloves. If it sounds random, I’ll explain they weren’t quite at the bra-burning stage, and the gloves are, apparently, to hide your embarrassment of not having an engagement ring; sing about that, Beyoncé.
So, the big question is; will you dare to propose at the Town Hall this leap year, ladies? Not to me, mind, I’m spoken for…. a heartbreaking sentiment to end this post on I know ladies, but there’s plenty of other men out there who are nearly, just nearly, as nice as me! Oh, and you’ll get a discount on your wedding at the Town Hall.
After the previous night’s blow-away gig by the Jack Grace Band, it was back to the Southgate first of all for some post Six Nations music.
The afternoon’s offering was Skedaddle, a local band mostly populated by the Witcomb family. With Southgate regular Eddie on acoustic bass, dad Chris on guitar, mum Jane on vocals and friend Chris Whant on guitar, the band gave us a gentle stroll through some great covers and soon had the pub singing along. Jane’s vocals, a little nervous at first, soon grew in confidence, and she was well supported by the rest of the team. Wonderful afternoon music.
Talking of singalongs, I got two for the (free) price of one when I wandered down the road to the Three Crowns, where Chris O’Leary was giving it large. I’d not seen Chris before, but was well impressed with his playing, singing and general energy level. Chris was playing covers and actively seeking suggestions from the friendly crowd. Effortlessly slipping from song to song and making good use of stomp-box and loop-pedals, Chris showed all the versatility of a human juke-box. By the end the whole pub was singing “Sweet Caroline” and a good Sunday afternoon was brought to a close. Really great atmosphere, and a great way to wrap up any weekend.
Great to see The Three Crowns offering itself as a music venue again. Roll on the summer when, hopefully, we can get outside in the courtyard again.
Future gigs at The Southgate:
• Friday 7th February Velvet Doonicans
• Saturday 8th February Navajo Dogs
• Friday 14th February Trevor Babajack Steger
• Saturday 15th February Mike Barham
• Friday 21st February Kent Duchaine
• Sunday 23rd February CRC
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
It was Saturday night, which could mean only one thing – free live music at The Southgate!
Jack Grace was a figure new to me, so thought I better give him a good old listen – be rude not to. And so pleased that I made the effort to go and see him.
Jack’s band is described as delivering “Country Rock with a Latin Twang” and that was certainly much in evidence. The trio were already operating at full blast when I walked in, and rarely if ever let the tempo and the excitement level drop. The pub was full, the dance-floor crowded, and the band were cooking. They gave us two superb sets of music that was loud, exciting and great to listen to.
We got lots of styles – country, country/ rock, R&B, boogie-woogie, rock n’ roll, and little bit of vaudeville, all delivered with some panache, confident playing and a good deal of humour. There were musical nods in there to Tom Waits, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Johnny Cash, and many others. Jack and his band seem to be constantly on the road, and their playing reflected a close understanding, driving rhythms as tight as a nut, and some very assured vocals and guitar playing. Yet this didn’t mean any kind of complacency or just running through the numbers. The band were not afraid to experiment, and to completely let rip at times. And the crowd absolutely loved it.
To me, this is what live music is all about – musicians who want to deliver a great show, and a crowd that really wants to listen. A completely belting gig, and a fabulous live band.
• Friday 7th February Velvet Doonicans
• Saturday 8th February Navajo Dogs
• Friday 14th February Trevor Babajack Steger
• Saturday 15th February Mike Barham
• Friday 21st February Kent Duchaine
• Sunday 23rd February CRC
• Friday 28th February The Shudders
Broke my hibernation last night to trek across the downs and catch Swindon’s Skandals play the Lamb in Marlborough; well worth the effort……
“Some proper drum and bass,” yelled frontman of The Skandals, Mark Colton during the break of a Bad Manners’ Special Brew cover, “not like the shit the kids listen to today!” In essence there’s the summary of The Skandals’ ethos, yet with the catchiness of the simple offbeat of ska, you’ll commonly find every generation up dancing together. So, while the attitude is to appease the elder, skinhead, mods and scooterists, I think you’ll find generations too young to personally recall the days of yore a band like The Skandals arrest, still love it.
This was certainly true in Marlborough’s Lamb last night, as this Swindon ska cover band came to skank, with bells on. It was a squeeze in the crowd, with the aforementioned varied demographic, but none can resist the surge of retrospective ska. Limited to saxophonist Nina as the brass section, and without keyboards, this six-piece still manage to capture the spirit of the era and throw it back in your face loud and proud. I’d wager this comes from experience; the band boasting not just Nina, but both guitarists Jase and Mark, who previously played with Swindon’s legendary Skanxters, and in turn this event brings fond memories to my old watering hole, as those Skanxters skanked here during their nineties reign.
Though frontman Mark also heads a new wave punk cover band, The Rotten Aces, among other projects such as Thin Lizzy tribute, The Lizzy Legacy. This punker angle showed through the playlist, as adroit but only subtly ‘ska’d’ covers of “Echo Beach” and the Toy Doll’s bonkers arrangement of “Nellie the Elephant,” echoed between the more archetypal tunes of Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, et all. I wanted to quiz Mark on what he favours, but when they stated they were taking a ten-minute break, it was far more punctual than most bands!
Pigeonholing I haven’t time for, and in a hedonistic moment it matters not. Example; they covered Rancid’s Time Bomb, pioneers of the ska-punk crossover that the international third-gen ska-heads thrive on. Yet the Skandals didn’t venture over this border, delivering predominantly eighties Two-Tone they were obviously inspired by, and giving the audience diminutive verbal notations as to why, amidst the usual banter. They were lively, fun and entertaining; everything a ska band should be, and would guarantee to liven up your venue or pub. Specials covers Rat Race, Rich Girl, Little Bitch and their version of Toot’s Monkey Man being the nimblest.
It may be a timeworn formula for a ska band to cover classics like Baggy Trousers, Lip Up Fatty and Mirror in the Bathroom, but like fish n chips, it’s cliché because it never fails to thrill an audience, and The Skandals do it superbly. Interestingly, they added northern soul anthem “Tainted Love,” reggae’s “Pressure Drop” and “Chase the Devil,” into the melting pot, and choosing “Food for Thought,” as their UB40 cover is a wise move; anything post-Red Red Wine and it’s a cover band covering a cover band!
While Devizes has a thriving music scene, other than sporadic gigs from the scooter club, the pub circuit lacks ska and reggae, and you all know how I feel about that. If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad. It was a delight to pay a visit to Marlborough’s Lamb again, despite remining in Wadworthshire, it’s working formula stands the test of time. “We’re quite lucky in Marlborough,” a regular informed me, rattling off the Bear’s backroom, The Wellington and Royal Oak as fond live music venues, as well as the Lamb. Yes, I nodded my acknowledgment, but when ska comes to town that’s where you’ll find me! “Let me tell about Sally Brown……”
Word from the top, I’m always happy to receive a message from our mayor. Although, I might be remanded to the town gaols for my inexcusable misuse of photoshop. I think Judy Rose is a great choice, in my defence, yet I just like mayors in general, most likely from being a lifelong fan of Trumpton. Despite remaining anonymous, he’s the most reliable character in Gordon Murray’s stop motion masterpiece, along with his faithful chauffeur, Mr Philby. But hey, I’m nostalgically waffling now, please stop me.
From Trumpton to Devizes, Judy is keen to tell me about a couple of upcoming Mayoral Fundraising Events, so here’s the lowdown. Both being held to raise money for her three charities: Victim Support, Devizes and District Food-bank and Devizes Youth Football.
The first one is the Mayor’s Quiz Night with superb quizmaster, Don Jones, from just down the road in Camberwick Green I believe. It’s on Sat 8th February, 7 for 7.30pm in the Assembly Rooms of the Town Hall. Tickets are £3pp from the Town Hall or on the night at the door. Judy tells, “if you aren’t part of a team, just come along and we will set you up with others to create one. There will be a cash bar and a raffle.”
The second one is the Mayor’s Ceilidh on Sat 18th April, again 7 for 7.30 till 11.30pm. “I didn’t want to go for a formal ball as I sense that folk nowadays are reluctant to take on the cost of such an event,” Judy explained, “and I wanted a proper community knees-up if at all possible!”
It sounds like a plan, essentially it promises to be a party with dancing and food, in which all ages can participate, so families with children are welcome. There will be fantastic Ceilidh musicians: The Pack Horse Band, a finger buffet and cash bar, plus the usual raffle etc. “This is a money raising event after all!” Judy reminds us, and for some brilliant charities too I might add. “I’m hoping there will be other entertainment, but that is not confirmed yet. Tickets are £30ph, with Primary School and younger children free and secondary school children £15ph. I have used this band before for a similar private event, and they are terrific fun.”
So, save the dates in your diary. “Here is the clock, the Devizes clock. Telling the time, steadily, sensibly; never too quickly, never too slowly. Telling the time for Devizes.”
Having got a couple of hours to spare before the evening’s Rockfiles gig at Long Street Blues Club (see elsewhere), I thought I’d pop into the White Bear for a couple of looseners, and to see Jon Walsh, a performer new to me.
Using both acoustic and resonator guitars, Jon clearly had an extensive repertoire of songs. His material varied from old 1920s and 1930s blues standards such as “Crossroads” and “Walking Blues” through to fairly contemporary pop songs e.g. “Walking In Memphis”. In each of his two sets he was joined on vocals by his partner Terie, who lent some bluesy and jazzy phrasing to several classics such as “Crazy”, “I’d Rather Go Blind” and “Valerie”. There was clearly some musical chemistry between these two, and they obviously enjoyed working together.
Jon put in an extremely versatile performance, including a nice smattering of his own original songs. Nice crowd, and nice atmosphere.
Can’t think why I’ve not come across Jon before, but shall certainly be happy to listen to him again.
Don’t panic, and reach for the crate of wine, it’s only a half-term holiday. Plus, we’ve some solutions to keep them from wearing their X-Box out. So, without further a-do here’s the lowdown on exciting activities and events to engage their little minds, and help keep your sanity!
Events which run through the week are listed on the day they begin, but I’ll put a little OG next to them to let you know it’s ongoing, because we all like an og now and then.
Only a few solutions you’ll note, mind, not found as much as I usually do for other school holidays, but we have the power to amend this, do let me know what I’ve missed, local area only please, and we can always add them, provided you’re nice! Also note, we do this for each school holiday, so don’t forget it for Easter too; let me know, saves my legwork.
Saturday 15th February
OG: At Stonehenge this half-term, they’re running hands-on workshops for all the family all week, with forensic facial reconstruction experts. Learn how to use archaeological evidence to uncover what people might have looked like thousands of years ago, (I’ll give you a clue, a bit like me in the morning) and even have a go at a reconstruction yourself! No booking required; workshops are included with a standard Stonehenge admission ticket.
Sunday 16th February
OG: Pick your own daffodils at Whitehall Garden Centre in Woodborough from Sunday until the end of March, subject to availability and weather permitting. £4.99 per bag – Maximum of approximately 50 stems. Book tickets.
Monday 17th February
OG:CJ School of Music introduces an interesting idea over the half term, starting Monday; a recycled orchestra project will see children make their own instrument out of recycled “things” and create a recycled orchestra together! They promise “it won’t be rubbish!” Bring a lunch as it’s from 9-3:30.
OG: Scrap Modelling at its finest for ages 3 to 11, at the Holiday Art Club of the Wiltshire Scrapstore & Resource Centre on Bowden Hill near Lacock. Running all week, bring your mini-Monets along to a popular Holiday Art Club, and teach them the importance of reducing and reusing our waste, all whilst having lots of fun using the scrap resources! Each session is run by a qualified trainer. Parents/guardians must stay with attending children during the session, and pre-booking is essential.
Blue Butterfly Yoga Provides yoga instruction for children in Devizes and surrounding areas, and they’re at Rowde Village Hall in the morning with a class for 3-7-year olds. Yoga games and songs, breathing techniques and a short relaxation. Siblings receive a £1 discount. Tea, coffee, squash and biscuits available in the adjoining room so parents/carers can have a little relaxation time too. You are also welcome to bring babies or younger siblings along as there is plenty of space in the next room. Limited numbers for this, payment secures your place; contact here to book a slot.
Meet children’s author Rachel Jane @ Melksham Library at 10:30 on Monday, and hear all about the adventures of Milo and Lil the Campervans! Rachel will be reading two of her books, and this will be followed by a themed craft activity. Ideally 3-7-year olds, this is a free event. Please book your place at the library: Tel: 01225 702039
M4 Stompers is a regular line dance class, every Monday evening at The Town Hall, Devizes and welcomes all ages & abilities. Absolute Beginners Class 6.30-7.30pm £5. Beginners 7-8pm £5. Dance 6.30-8pm £6. Improvers Class 7.30-9.30pm £6.
How about you create a dinosaur or unicorn on Monday? Children’s party organiser, Smarty Party Roxy invites you to fill a 16″ Dinosaur or Unicorn with fluff, a make-a-wish token and love at Shrewton Methodist Church. Complete the birth certificate and take your new friend home in their own carry bag. Squash and snacks available, there will also be a fancy-dress competition for the best Dinosaur/Unicorn outfit or accessories. Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times, this activity is best suited to ages 4 and over. £12.50 per Dinosaur/ Unicorn tickets available from Eventbrite.
Tuesday 18th February
OG: Devizes Tennis Club has a holiday camps, running from Monday to Thursday. Promises to be fun, enjoyable days for juniors to come along, make new friends and improve their tennis skills with coaching activities. They’ll be serving up three days of tennis fun for Minis (aged 3-9 years) this February Half term and best of all, it’ll be indoors. Spaces are limited, just 20 per day, so early booking is recommended! Camp will run Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th February 2020, from 10am to 3pm daily. Half days are available by prior arrangement. The cost is £20 per day, held in the School Hall at Bishops Cannings Primary School.
Camps are run by experience LTA qualified, DBS checked and first aid certified coaches so you can be assured your kids are in safe hands. No experience, no membership, no racket required! Just a packed lunch, drink and suitable clothing are needed, oh and plenty of energy and enthusiasm!
Holiday Activities at the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes starts off with star splatter pictures in a workshop called “Stars and Space.” Inspired by the ‘Earth and Universe’ photographic exhibition, you’ll be creating star splatter pictures and other space and star themed craft. Two sessions: 10.30am-12.00noon and 1.00 – 2.30pm. Booking essential – £6 per child, no charge for adults attending workshop.
CJ School of Music in Potterne again, with a Feb Sing, today and on Friday 21st too. 9am-1pm, with a performance for the parents at 12:30. £19 per person.
Wednesday 19th February
Another holiday Activity at Wiltshire Museum, this time it’s Stone Age Discoveries. Art and craft creations for the whole family inspired by cave art and prehistoric animals. Two sessions 10.30am-12.00noon and 1.00 – 2.30pm. Booking essential – £6 per child, no charge for adults attending workshop.
Crafty Kids in the Café: The Cafe in the Park, Hillworth Park, Devizes.
Wally loves to find treasure on his travels! Bring your mini-makers along to decorate their very own wooden treasure box to keep their own riches in!Sessions running at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. Tickets are £4.50 per child and include the box, a drink and a snack.
Please note that you cannot leave your child unattended during these sessions.
OG: Meanwhile, over at the Potterne village hall, the Potterne Pantomime presents Jack & The Beanstalk. It runs each day until Saturday, at 7 and a matinee on Saturday at 1:30pm. See the poster for details.
Leadership Martial Arts run classes every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning at the Cavalier Community Hall on Eastleigh Road, and are open right through the half term holiday.
Thursday 20th February
OG: Jack’s Beanstalk also grows over to the Seend Community Centre on Thursday as Fawlty Players Presents Jack and The Beanstalk. Running until Saturday, tickets on sale at the Post Office and Community Centre.
Friday 21st February
The Hillworth Park gang are throwing open the gates to Wally, Wanda and their friends on Friday!
Have your picture taken with Wally and Wanda, take part in our treasure hunt and add yourself to our very own enormous Where’s Wally poster! The wonderful books will be on sale too from our friends at Devizes Books.
Saturday 22nd February
Frozen fans need to head to the Cavalier Community Hall where they have a Children’s Frozen Theme Ball, with a special guest appearance from Alsa and Anna, oh and Pippa Langhorne too, who sang with her dog on Britain’s Got Talent. It promises to be an afternoon of songs, stories, photos and a disco to follow. There will be a prize for the best dress girl and boy.
This one is just a fiver, and £3.50 for photos, but it’s all in aid of my favourite 5-year-old, Carmela, who you may recall from my Spiderman outing last summer. If not, she is battling a rare progressive muscle wasting disease which will weaken all her muscles including her heart and lungs, shortening her life to potentially 16. Money raised will go to her Therapy Fund to help with ongoing specialised equipment, physiotherapy and adaptions as she grows. Tickets limited so book online. Photos must also be paid in advance on the ticket line.
Sunday 23rd February
Nothing new yet, have a day of rest and pray Monday isn’t a teacher training day, or as I like to call them, teacher down the pub day! Have a great half term!
Two days up at the Con Club this week for Long Street Blues Club’s “Beat The January Blues” Week-ender.
On Saturday night we had a packed room to listen to Liam Ward & Malcolm Thorne (support) and the Kirk Fletcher band.
Ward & Thorne, who are new names to me, were a delight. Their set was clean, fresh, quirky and entertaining. Featuring guitar, vocals and some deft touches on harmonica, these two produced a wonderful set of originals which were laid-back and nicely bluesy. I particularly liked their song “You Are My Medicine”. I’d be happy to go and see these guys again.
Then a single extended set from the main star Kirk Fletcher and his band. Kirk hails from California and is ex-lead guitarist with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He’s had some great reviews on this tour so far. Ian Hopkins reports that Innes Sibun said he was amazing when he shared a bill with him last year, and Joe Bonamassa rates him as one of the world’s best guitarists. Well, I didn’t know anything about all that, so I could only judge on what I saw and heard.
Kirk himself was obviously up at the front with some snarling guitar work, but there was plenty of featured keyboards too. It took a few numbers to really get the room warmed up, but once the trio hit their stride, the band were really cooking and in their groove. We had guitar solos aplenty, the band providing a solid platform of driving rhythms. There was minimal chat from the stage, and the guys delivered number after number, hardly pausing for breath. The playing was always technically superb, and at times inspired, and the crowd lapped it up, but (for me at least) it didn’t carry that magic spark of real excitement. Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoyed the gig, but it didn’t quite hit my hot-spot.
Then just 24 hours later, on Sunday night we had Thompson Smurthwaite (support) and Billy Bremner’s Rockfiles. A slightly smaller crowd this time, but still a great atmosphere.
Thompson Smurthwaite is starting to become a regular in these here parts. Having played support here at the Club a few months ago, Thompson has also recently played slots at The White Bear and The Southgate. It was good to see him back with a large audience again. He was relaxed and confident, joking with the audience, whacking out some great tunes from guitar, harmonica (his “Mississippi saxophone”) and stomp-box. The guy put such heart and soul into his performance. Great entertainment.
Then on to the second main act of the week-end. Billy Bremner was one of the founding members of Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile along with Nick Lowe, and produced some great music during the seventies. Prior to this particular outfit he has had a long track record in session work and a member of Lulu’s backing band the Bruvers. Then a season as guitarist with The Pretenders during the recording of On The Chain Gang – he has always been the guitarist to go to. Billy now resides in Sweden and his touring is carefully rationed so the Club were delighted to be one of a few carefully selected club dates on this UK tour.
Rockfiles are probably the polar musical opposite to Kirk Fletcher. Whilst the latter was focussed on originality, improvisation and exploration, Rockfiles were just as firmly set on reproducing classic hits of the seventies and eighties. The songs were short, snappy, catchy pop/rock classics. The four-piece hit the stage running, sharing the vocals between them, and never let up for the whole of their 75-minute set. This was Old Skool retro and nostalgia at its very best. And the hits just kept on coming, including “I Knew The Bride When She Used to Rock & Roll”, “Three-time Loser”, “Cruel To Be Kind”, “I Hear You Knocking” and many, many more. The inter-song chat was absolutely minimal, so they could pack more in. The music wasn’t complex, but it was solid, thumping good stuff, and difficult not to enjoy. Absolutely no blues were involved in the making of their performance.
Overall a great weekend of music – four great acts, four different styles, but all enjoyable and great value for money. There was something there for everybody. Devizes is so lucky to have access to so much great live music.
• Saturday 7th March Ian Parker Band
• Saturday 4th April Mike Zito Band
• Saturday 18th April Mark Flanagan Band
• Saturday 30th May Antonio Forcione Quartet
On the strength of the two singles we’ve previously reviewed I was in little doubt I’d need to flatter Bill as he appeared at my door, beaming an eager expression and holding out “Still,” the hot-off-the-press debut album from his trio Billy Green 3. He has every reason to be excited, they’ve (Bill Green, Harvey Schorah, Neil Hopkins, Martin Spencer and Matt Clements) worked hard on this project, and it shows.
I wouldn’t give brownie points for a physical copy rather than a spotty-fly or whatchamacallit link, cause and effect of which I need to badger my daughter, as she has an account, and risk the danger of leaving a near-teenager in the house without a phone for half an hour. It just makes it easier for my old-fashioned methods. I don’t need to ask Alexa how to play a CD. But, “Still” needs not to collect bonus points.
If there’s a hard angle I could adopt, it’s that for me, the rave era bypassed any real appreciation for Britpop, which is what this is best pigeonholed as. While there were times the genres rivalled there were also experimental segments when it fused, and my eclectic tastes would always make me float the surface of any youth culture, to take in other surroundings; i.e. I’ve seen Pulp live, if it helps.
Yes, I kissed some Britpop and I liked it. That said it’s hard for me to review with precision comparisons and acute contrasts, being no expert. Simplest option is to listen, see if I enjoy it; box doubled-ticked. If this is a grower, I’ll be hooked for sure, as first impressions is impressive, without the aforementioned flattery.
What polishes that notion is the flow of it, it drifts beautifully. Sixteen tracks heavy, many are short avant-garde interludes, like fragmented thoughts, splinters of concepts. You often see this with trip-hop, like Money Mark’s Keyboard Repair. Here it’s principally experimental on the drum-looped “London,” and “Banus.” The latter rivals the crossover of the Noel Gallagher vocals on the Chemical Brothers “Setting Sun,” if only for a brief moment. Prime example of its tolerant flow; when “Banus” marches into a far woozier but lengthier, “Lose our Way.”
If these interludes splice concept album epitomes, throughout the album there’s subtle soundscapes and samples. To concentrate on the fuller tunes; it’s gorgeous, pliable indie, dipped in Britpop but wrought with all that Britpop was influenced by too, as opposed to being a tribute to the genre.
There’s certainly some tragedy to the portrayals as the genre characterises, “Lose our Way” for instance, but it drips a fresh approach without cliché. Though throughout my evaluation my thoughts immersed with The Beatles to Pink Floyd, and of Madchester to Spaceman 3. They invade my mind. The things I touched close to Britpop are nodded to here.
This could sit comfortably on your shelf with your Suede and Verve albums and not look out of place. But expect to pick out that scooter sound of eighties, of the Jam, or Merton Parkas, while contemporary indie subgenres such as lo-fi or chillwave, rather than grunge, slip through too.
As my ears wander through the upbeat “Blindside,” to the mellowed and aptly-titled “Drifting,” I ponder comparisons I’m more familiar with, and find the Who rather than Oasis, particularly with the adroit and catchy “I Should be Moved.” There’s a running theme of “why did I have to write that love song,” but it’s whirly romantic, which comes to an apex with “Love Song.”
Just launched on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, and Deezer; you could do yourself a favour and pick this up. With the production value second to none; The Badger Sect is to Devizes what Sun Studio is to Memphis, I’d rather suggest, to keep it local, you march down to Vinyl Realm, Devizes Books, Light & Sound or Mikey’s barbershop with just a fiver in hand and get Still. Get a trim too at the latter, sort your ombre-dyed indie bob out.
Do not fear though peeps, while Billy Green and his significant other two may’ve switched me onto a lost love of Britpop, I have no plans to practise my Wonderwall cover. That’s the deal though, isn’t it? Chestnuts abound with covers and tribute acts, despite we love a sing-a-long, Billy Green 3 knocked them aside like Richard Ashcroft on the let-down of a promise and produced this brilliant original material. Fair shout.
Asa is coming back, this time without the Buddy Holly specs, but as himself. He brings a variety show direct from the banks of the Mersey. It was April last time we saw Liverpool’s swing singer, radio presenting, all-round entertainer Asa Murphy, he filled and thrilled the Corn Exchange with an absolutely marvellous Buddy Holly show. It combined just enough narrative but focussed on the music of this rock n roll legend, and was delivered with passion and admiration.
It was his friendship with the late Bruce Hopkins which brings him to our town. A man after my heart, though I never had the honour to have met former Devizes Town Football Club chairman, Bruce. He had an appetite for music, and when he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, he organised a mini festival, the Patney Picnic, in his garden, and raised about £30,000 for the charity. Asa paid tribute to Bruce at the Buddy show, making a contribution towards the Cancer Research from its takings. He plans to do this again, but what can we expect from the show? I asked him.
“It is a variety show, pal,” he explained, “with all the performers and the musicians coming from Liverpool.” He brings Sandy Collins, “a superb sixties singer, very popular and with a great career of performing,” Asa continued, “plus Lennie Anderson, an excellent comic who tours all over the UK.”
“Myself, and the other acts have worked together many times on the Liverpool Empire and Philharmonic Hall,” he said, “plus on Ricky Tomlinson’s club the Greenroom.” Other than that, and, “it will be a night of singing, laughter and dancing!” Asa didn’t say much more than he does on his video dairy doing the rounds on Facebook. I watched it anyway because I love the way he says the word Devizes in that rich scouse accent!
Lennie Anderson
It’s back at the Corn Exchange on April 11th, tickets are £15 from Devizes Books. While I’d wager it’ll attract an older crowd, what with it being sixties related, and it being in Devizes too (!) I’d endorse it to our younger population too, if not only because everyone loves the sounds of the sixties, far from antiquated, variety performances are very much the trend given television’s BGT et all, but mostly based on the quality of last April’s performance.
I’ll hold my hands up, somebody put half an ale in one, because my guilty confession is, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to doDOCA’s annual Festival of Winter Ales. This’ll change this year, attendees will have the added bonus of me sauntering about dribbling piffle, but if I tell you what acts are appearing, it won’t put you off too much!
If, like me, you’re an apple-a-day chap, you’ll be pleased to note as it’s held in collaboration with Stealth Brewery, they’ve ciders as well as ale. Our man Andy Fawthrop tells me there’s usually ten-twelve types of cider; just enough for me! That said, when in Rome; I maybe, just maybe, open to ale conversion for the duration only. Double-whammy, to soak it up they have to pie too. Andy can’t review it though, as he’s there in a professional calibre, and I simply won’t allow anyone to review an event they helped organise ……ehm …. (okay; in-house joke if you note our last article it might, I said might, just amuse.)
Matt Barnard
So, down to me then, a harsh critic softened by alcohol. But Matt Barnard I suspect will swing it. DOCA aim to make it cabaret; Matt has performed across the world as a compere, actor, musician, singer and as himself in this unique one man show he brings to the festival.
He was the resident compere of the cult Sensation Seekers Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, starred in London’s oldest variety show in the West End in and performed his unique act at the famous London Palladium. He also appeared in the Hollywood movie Mrs Henderson Presents in which he performed the famous sand-dance with Gareth Jones. Matt Barnard has won many awards for his solo show including at the Feldkircher Gaukler Theatre Festival in Austria.
Just because Matt Barnard does it, doesn’t mean you should try this at home
It should be noted the festival spans over Friday and Saturday (28th and 29th February.) Saturday is divided into two sessions. While Matt covers all, there’s a different act for each session; pleased to see they’re some of our local favs. I imagine half-cut real ale fans ushered out via a digital sign, like at the Oasis leisure centre, “yellow wristbands your time is up!” But attendees on Friday, for example, might not ever leave (another local joke); Devizes-own Vince Bell booked and all. We need not bio Vince, surely? His emotive lyrics, constructed from personal experience or annotations of the area are always delivered with passion, proper job.
You ain’t ever leaving. Our Vince. Image by Nick Padmore
Swindon-based folk-rock five-piece, Splat The Rat slap the Friday late slot too. Taking songs of old and giving them a modern going over, they’ve nailed many great gigs locally, none I’ve personally witnessed, but they’re high on my things-to-do list. Expect lively arrangements, singalong songs and a rousing good time. https://www.facebook.com/splattherat/
Splat the Rat
Things get complicated Saturday afternoon. An extensive cross-section of original songs and rearranged covers, It’s Complicated make them their own. Yet it’s not just what they do with It’s Complicated, it’s the way that they do it! Take it from me, it’s not complicated at all, in fact it’s simply enticing, marvellously professional, and when Jacqueline sings Etta James, oh my. https://www.facebook.com/Its-Complicated-364813334370698/
It’s Complicated
Worthy to note, if you do this slot, you could jog over to the Town Hall and catch them again, with Daydream Runaways. I’m planning to; you could carry me! Devizes Town Hall plays host to a black-tie Casino Royale evening for Just4Children’s ‘Carmela’s Fight to Stay Mobile.’ See here for details.
NOTE: UPDATE
Unfortunately, the Casino Royale night at the Town Hall has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
Kris Dollimore
Back at the Corn Exchange Saturday night is all about Kris Dollimore. He’s played with many international bands and artists including The Godfathers, The Damned, Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Thunders. He’s also a member of Del Amitri. As a solo artist Kris has toured the length and breadth of the UK & Europe performing at clubs, venues and festivals. He has also released four critically acclaimed solo albums. Kris’s guitar skills have always been admired in whichever genre he has played. A man, a guitar and a voice. With a largely acoustic repertoire, precision playing is expected and delivered, earning him a hard core following of loyal fans and admirers. Expect bluesy guitar playing, soulful singing, and foot stomping sounds. https://www.facebook.com/KrisDollimoreMusic/
I’m looking forward to (hic!) breaking my Winter of Festive Ales cherry, be there, tickets here, see if I can handle it!
All Images by Nick Padmore, unless otherwise stated.
Reviewing my own organised event being a slightly naughty and obviously bias idea, I’d still like to notify you how it went. View this then as a journal entry of my weekend as opposed to a review, per se, and the opportunity to thank everyone who kindly offered their time to help….
Chloe Jordan
Returned now from a frosty Sunday morning in Potterne; my son had a taster piano lesson at CJ School of Music. Andrew Hurst presented a one-on-one introduction to music in such a friendly and humble manner he was immediately absorbed, and playing a simple tune in under half-hour. It’s something I cannot help him with; not a musical note in me, but I have a fascination and respect for those who can; you knew that much.
Coincidently his lesson should be the morning after the originator of this wonderful and newly opened music school, soprano singer Chloe Jordan, held a surprised Cellar Bar spellbound. Not before thirteen-year-old piano prodigy Will Foulstone, a pupil of CJ’s music school did likewise. Will featured on Devizine back in April 2018, when a video of him playing attracted the interest of Danny O’Donoghue, frontman and pianist of The Script and coach on the Voice UK. A surprise meeting with Danny saw Will jamming with The Script at the O2 arena.
The Amazing Will Foulstone. My dodgy photography!
Well, our Cellar Bar may not be the O2 arena, but Will was welcomed, and his piano interpretations of era-spanning pop was the perfect opening for our fundraiser. For though it maybe a January night where the temperature nose-dived, a fair crowd turned out, in what I wanted to be a celebration of how our town can bond and support in crisis, rather than a sombre occasion. Yet with the collaboration of an assorted bunch of local acts, it reflected both moods equally, I feel. For Liz Denbury has already done a sterling job, raising £4,000 for those affected by December’s fire in the flats of Waiblingen Way. If this could top it up it would’ve been nice, but I was determined not to pressure for any contribution, as so many have already chipped in. Delighted to report then, the evening raised a further £292 for the cause.
While the Cellar Bar hosts the brilliant Open Mic nights, every last Thursday of the month, I’d wager such diversity to appease my eclectic taste buds and especially, a soprano singer casting so wonderfully into the air the sound of opera, has not been seen in the venue for many-a-year. Though accompanist Susan Braunton and Chloe best played to the crowd, and wowed them with popular offerings, such as the Frozen theme, a Greatest Show song, and an own-penned amusing children’s song, as well as opera. Best heard in a church or concert hall, Chloe won the hearts of an alternative crowd, if leaving us with a dilemma of how to follow such a class appearance.
Contrast, the order of the day. A switch to folk with Mirko and Bran of the Celtic Roots Collective. A duo who simply improve with every gig, in confidence and technique. Their brand of an Irish folk style throws known foot-tappers and rock songs into the melting pot. Through Whisky in a Jar, Dirty Old Town they rode, to traditional songs and the Irish Rover; with their help, things were beginning to return to the Cellar Bar’s usual ethos.
Unscheduled but always welcomed at our gigs, poet Gail Foster arrived with two poignant sonnets, relating to the cause and delivered with personal emotion, “You didn’t see me, right?” and “Come, Friendly Bulldozers to Wobbly Way.” Thank you, Gail, spot on as usual; I’m so glad you made it.
Gail Foster
Time for acoustic singer-songwriter, Ben Borrill and guitar to step up to the cobblestone stage, and he did with gusto, humour and his untroubled attitude to performance. This cool and modesty grounds underestimation of Ben in some, I feel, who launched into covers with ease, causally making them his own, and it exhibited in eminence, skill and entertainment value, which was also touching, considering why we were there.
It’s no wonder our headline act looks to Ben as their choicest support act. After a few words of thanks from Liz Denbury, it was time for the band who’d been hanging around all afternoon setting up gear, to finally conclude the night. Doubtless was I, that Daydream Runaways would capture the audience with a lively finale, but with augmented professionalism since I last saw them live, they exceeded my expectation.
Daydream Runaways. Image by Gail Foster
I was honoured, as prior to the opening, I was treated to a taster while they tuned, and retained the secret they’d cover Blur’s Song Two, for instance. It was there we spoke of future plans. Being we’ve fondly reviewed their singles, I asked whether an album was in the pipeline. It’s never a simple question in this era of changing formats, I know some hold favouritism of EPs, whereby others strive for an album. This caused a differing opinion between drummer Brad Kinsey and guitarist Cameron Bianchi, but without tension they debated the idea. Diplomacy between gentle banter displays strong unity in this Swindon-Devizes amalgamation, both on and offstage. Despite powerfully-themed tunes such as Closing the Line, with despairing narrative of the closure of the Honda Plant in Swindon, I sense unison, but figure they’ve not reached their magnum opus yet. Hold tight for that moment.
With youth on their side, Daydream Runaways need not daydream at all, and it seems plans are little more than to continue on the current path. Thoroughly relishing every moment projects to the audience for The Daydreamers, they lap it up. Frontman, for want of a better term as they’re glue, Ben Heathcote oozes enthusiasm and unveils this joyful aura over the crowd, with the talent to back it up. Meanwhile bassist, Nath Heathcote seems quietly confident of their astounding impact.
Fused with a selection of classic indie favourites, they slide in their own compositions unabridged and without complaint, as if these are equal in importance to the crowd, as they obviously are to the band. After just over a year, I honestly think they’re fast becoming so. This comes from hard work and dedication, and it really shows in this lively indie-pop four-piece. I may have high hopes for these guys, but after tonight the crowd at the Cellar Bar have joined those at Vinyl Realm’s stage at the Street Festival, and the Southgate in understanding why I crowned them best newcomer this year.
Phew, what a blinding finale to an awesome night, I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for their absolutely brilliant and individual performances. I also thank the staff at the Cellar Bar, to Liz, and obviously all who braved the winter chill to join us. It’s heart-warming and makes Devizine feel actual to me to stage such events. A big thank you also goes to Mike Barham, for despite having to venture off with his band Nerve Endings and not getting to fulfil the bill this time, rolled in earlier than I to setup and do the tech stuff. With quality such as this, I’d welcome the idea of future fundraising gigs which celebrate all that’s amazing on our local scene; cheers to all, see you at the next one!
We’re getting all excited here at Devizine towers, as the band I tipped best newcomer of last year, Daydream Runaways are heading the Cellar Bar on Saturday night in an event we’re proud to put our name to. In fact, I take no credit, it was the band’s idea. I’m there purely to prop up the bar, which would be better than allowing me to sing, and encourage you to bundle me if I was to even contemplate it.
It’s been a rather rushed-out and impromptu gig, and now I find myself disquietingly anxious you will be there. January is a quiet month, people strapped for cash and the weather doing its wettest. It’s your job, and all I will ask of you, to prove me wrong. I look forward to meeting you all on Saturday night. We’ve stated we’re kicking it off at 7pm, might start a little later, I don’t wish for anyone to be playing to minimal audience, so I encourage you to get early tucker and pop in as soon as possible.
January it is though, as we’re urgently fundraising for the Wailblingen Way Fire Fund which Liz Denbury has worked so hard to promote. It’s been a huge success already, that is why the event is free. If you’ve already donated, we thank you, and welcome you to this treat. There will be a chance to contribute to the fund at the door, but without hassle. I’d be the world’s worst chugger! View this, though it may become a sombre occasion at times, being for an issue which has touched us all emotionally, but I ask we view it as a celebration also, of how at times to tragedy we can bond and raise such a wonderful amount of money. Liz will be on hand to explain how and why she has fronted this cause, and will give us a few words on the night.
I’m delighted to announce Chloe Jordan will be performing, adding especially to the eclectic nature of our line-up. Chloe is a local soprano singer with a breath-taking voice and blossoming career after training with internationally renowned soprano Janice Watson. She has also recently opened a new school of music in Potterne called CJ School of Music of which I’ll tell more about in the coming month. I do not know exactly what to expect from Chloe at this stage, as to what she will sing, note it will be classical-related and know it will be awesome!
Sadly, Mr Mike Barham, who is billed, has had to decline last minute. Nerve Endings won a competition in Bracknell, I’m told, and play the final heat there, or least something like this. I congratulate Mike, Rob and Luke; knew you could do it. But, dedicated to this gig from the off, Mike has agreed to drop in early in order to set it up for us prior to setting off for Bracknell; so, cheers, Mike, total legend.
To replace Mike we had two, as the guy takes the space of two, but if you heard the fantastic Patrick Goodenough was coming, I said those words but I lied them. Unfortunately, Patrick has had to pulled out, but local singer-songwriter, Ben Borrill will be there. Ben, a regular support for Daydream Runaways, brings an accomplished acoustic set with a passionate delivery and a charming persona; can’t wait to catch up with him.
Slotted somewhere in the middle we will be treated to Mirko and Bran’s Celtic Roots Collective, who are gathering local bookings with their brilliant take on Irish folk fused rock. Foot-stomping sing-along tunes that they are! All we need now is you, watch those slippery steps and please, come on down, as despite all these great acts kindly contributing their time and effort, it wouldn’t be the same without you, especially if you bring me a cupcake.
Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Josie Long brings her latest show, Tender, to the Bath Komedia on 20th February. Josie is back on the road with a brand-new show about the mind-bending intensity of new motherhood, but it is also about kindness, gentleness and joy.
A cult-optimist herself, Josie wants her audiences to feel optimistic about the future, although in this current day and age, that’s a big ask. But at the very least there will be some silly voices. Society’s biggest issues that we’re facing today, from climate change to Boris Johnson, cannot be ignored, but Tender’s main focus is about bringing new life into this ever-changing world.
Image by Idil Sukan Draw HQ
Having started performing comedy at just 14, Josie went on to win the BBC New Comedy Award, Chortle Best Newcomer, Best Newcomer at the 2006 Edinburgh Comedy Awards and then was nominated for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards three years running. She has since sold out West End runs, performed at the most prestigious comedy festivals in the world, written five solo tours and sold out shows in LA and New York.
On screen, Josie has been seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats (Channel 4), Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC2), You Have Been Watching (Channel 4) and Skins (Channel 4), for which she also wrote. She has presented on BBC 6Music, was nominated for a Radio Academy Award for her adventurous short documentaries Short Cuts on Radio 4 and earned a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award nomination for her two short feature films, Let’s Go Swimming and Romance and Adventure and her recent feature film, Super November, was nominated for a BIFA Discovery Award.
Josie Long Image by Giles Smith
In 2011, Josie started an ongoing project called the Alternative Reality Tour; an anti-cuts, pro-youth, no-profit performance in a bid to fight for social justice and support public art, and is co-founder of the Arts Emergency Service, a charity which aims to support students from underprivileged backgrounds who wish to study arts degrees.
PRESS ON ‘TENDER’
★★★★★ “Riotously hilarious…such a uniquely optimistic hour of comedy…it is a dose of medicine which is so very needed” THE SKINNY
★★★★★ “A playful and intelligent hour” ONE4REVIEW
★★★★★ “Beautifully written… you leave feeling hopeful, with enough energy to keep fighting and a good dose of joy and silliness” FUNNY WOMEN
★★★★★ “Incredibly funny… a joy throughout” YOUNG PERSPECTIVE
★★★★ “The mother lode of love, joy and laughs” THE GUARDIAN
★★★★ “What a delight it is to have Josie Long back… the perfect cure for a spot of November SAD” THE TELEGRAPH
★★★★ “In Long’s hands, the material is revitalised… there’s something refreshing and sort of revolutionary about it” THE i
★★★★ “Articulate, passionate and intense, but heart-warmingly funny, too” EVENING STANDARD
★★★★ “Her relentless cheeriness would win over even the most cynical of hearts” THE ARTS DESK
★★★★ “As infectious as always…Tender is explicitly personal and positive” THE SCOTSMAN
★★★★ “It’s a genuine joy to spend an hour with Long” THE LIST
★★★★ “Long’s skill as a comedian is undimmed… so personal and so humorous with it, too” FEST
★★★★ “There is so much love in the room for Josie Long” EDINBURGH FESTIVAL MAGAZINE
★★★★ “We need people like Josie Long now more than ever” BROADWAYBABY
★★★★ “A cleverly constructed and thoughtful show” THE WEE REVIEW
Celebrate Chinese New Year and support one of Wiltshire’s best loved charities.
What better way to celebrate the Chinese New Year than a 3-course Chinese meal cooked by Chef Peter Vaughan of Vaughan’s Kitchen and dancing the night away to the ever-popular local live band, Indecision?
Alzheimer’s Support have a fundraising dinner and dance at Devizes Sports Club at 7pm on January 31st, and it promises to be a fantastic evening out to celebrate Chinese New Year.
Cor, I love eating Chinese food; if it was an Olympic event I’d get a gold! But I’ve never tried any of food magician Peter’s, although, unlike a magician, he intends to show you how he does some of his tricks. Guests will be treated to a cooking demonstration from Peter before the dance.
Warning: do not read this next bit on an empty stomach, the menu looks like this:
Starters: Prawn crackers; Assorted Dim sum; Yuk Shung (Chinese Lettuce wrap)
Main course: Aromatic Wiltshire pork Szechuan Pepper; Crispy tofu hoisin sauce (vegetarian); Egg fried rice with Chinese 5 spice; Stir fry of Chinese leaves with pickled ginger
Dessert: Chinese pineapple apricot cake with mango & lime cream
The evening comes at the end of the winter’s bleakest month, so why not jazz up January with a great night out? Tickets at £30 a head include a three-course meal and drink on arrival. All proceeds will go to support people living with dementia in Wiltshire.
Tickets for this summer’s Manton-Fest are up for grabs, a one-day festival I’ve heard only good things about.
The date is Saturday 27th June. A £20 Early-bird ticket will guarantee you’re in for this previously sold-out mini-fest, this year you can book a plot for your gazebo for £5, parking has been moved to a separate field allowing more space, but let’s see what your money will get you this year shall we?
The headliner is Edinburgh’s Blondie tribute, Dirty Harry. While there’s Blondie tributes aplenty, the band say, “the essence of Dirty Harry is to put on a show Blondie would give the nod to and in true punk style.” Call me, I’m convinced, and slightly hot under the collar; with the advantage of YouTube you can judge for yourself, modern technology eh?
The Ex-Men are next on the hierarchy, as the name suggests, it’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 couldn’t possibly go wrong.
The Ex-Men
Vintage blues with a hard edge groove is the ethos of Barrelhouse, who promise up-beat original tracks and classic covers. You be forgiven for assuming the Swinging Blue Jeans would headline, but this classic-sixties rock n roll group have no members of the original skiffle sextet. Yet the band went through constant changes throughout its expansive history, with replacements dating back as far as 1963, when they had their memorable hit, “Hippy Hippy Shake,” and frontman Alan Lovell has led the band for over twenty years.
London-based Bob Marley tribute, the One Love Orchestra could well be my arm twister. Formed in 2010, by musical director and lead guitarist Marcin Bobkowski, One Love Orchestra comprises of reggae musicians who’ve worked with legends like The Wailers, Max Romeo, Johnny Osbourne, Lee Scratch Perry, and UB40, and bring a moving tribute to the legend.
Lancashire singer-songwriter Joe Martin returns after being a hit last year, Manton’s own mellow blues-based Ed Witcomb will also appear, along with local rock covers band @59, and Skedaddle open the show with their mix of soul, blues and jazz. More are promised, if this isn’t enough to be getting on with, and I dunno, it just sounds like a splendid day. For what begun as an event to aid much-needed restoration funds for Manton Village Hall, its grown into an important occasion on our local circuit and aids other local charities.
If you’re looking for a whole week-end of music-based events, with lots of sessions for children too, then you should do yourself a favour and head over to Bradford-On-Avon. It’s a bit out of D-Town I know, but it doesn’t take long to just tootle over to the really splendid Wiltshire Music Centre.
Now in its eighth year, Bradford Roots Music Festival, now extended to three days, is all about two things – showcasing the vast array of musical talent that has any connection with Bradford, and raising (lots of) money for good causes. This year’s beneficiaries will be Dorothy House Hospice, Zone Club (creative club for disabled young adults) and Wiltshire Music Centre. All the artists play for nothing and the event is administered and operated wholly by volunteers. That way all the funds raised go to the good causes.
This year’s event starts next Friday night (17th Jan) with a concert featuring Louie Millar, Crossing The Rockies and Verdisa. This concert is almost sold out, so get your skates on!
Then the main two-day Festival spreads itself across Saturday and Sunday from 11am each day. Saturday’s programme goes through till 10pm, and Sunday’s programme finishes at 4pm. There are four stages in operation, including the superb main WMC auditorium. Over the two days there are more than fifty different acts scheduled to play, including music concerts, shanty sessions, children’s concerts, jazz, blues, poetry, morris dancing and much more.
Particular acts to look out for are The Magnificent AK47, Will Lawton & The Alchemists, Lee Broderick, Billy In The Lowground, and The Yirdbards, although there’s so much going on that it almost seems invidious to pick out individual artists.
Apart from all the music events, there are several spaces given over to craft workshops, merchandising, tarot readings, a Peculiar Gin Company gin bar, a Box Steam main bar and an artisan fair. Just outside there’s a huge marquee hosting JC’s Kitchen, which runs all weekend serving hot drinks and great array of home-cooked food.
I can’t recommend this event highly enough – there genuinely is something for everyone to enjoy, with great food, great beer and a great atmosphere. It’s superb value for money and there’s plenty to do and see for children and for adults. If you’ve never been, I urge you to check it out. You can buy tickets online, or on the door. Day tickets for Saturday or Sunday are available, as well as a 2-day Weekender Ticket.
The Wiltshire Music Centre is also a superb venue in its own right, hosting a year-round programme of top UK and international artists from all genres – classical, folk, blues etc. Worth checking out if you are after top-class entertainment.
Word of the week in the Vizes; Splashpad (apparently Word sees it as one word) So, who wants to splash and who wants to whinge? I ask Town Clerk, Simon Fisher the questions which need to be asked……..
Once upon a time there was a slash-pad on the Green in Devizes, dubbed a drug-hatch, it was a public loo popular with vandals, in a pretty shabby state and kept closed much of the time. Now it’s a haven for the youngest of our community, who on summery days can play and splash until their hearts content. What a wonderful prospect if this could be a reality, yet despite a huge response to a Gazette & Herald article last week, which only stated “Devizes COULD get a splash-pad on the green,” both speculation and hope have seen an unprecedented online reaction.
Are we just “keeping up with the Jones’,” namely, Melksham, shouldn’t we be conserving water, is it an open invitation to vandals? There’s a sure quantity of negativity surrounding the idea, and personally I’d like to ensure a budget for children’s activities is equal for all ages and not just the toddlers, in an era where we’ve seen the closure of youth centres et all. Though my hand is swayed by my own fond memories of how the two mini-mes enjoyed splashpads, obviously me too, a little!
Hats off to Melksham, their largely Lib-Dem council have made a success story from the project. Water used in a splashpad is a tiny percentage of a town’s supply, no more than a swimming pool and no one is rallying outside the Leisure Centre, are they? There are two approaches to splashpad mechanics; a flow-through system and recirculating system. A recirculating system operates like a pool with chemicals, filters and pumps. Water is sent to the pad from a tank roughly four to five times the system’s flow rate; in short, it’s recycled, people.
Splashpad in the Sham
As to vandalism, I have to cough. While it’s possible, and certain lengths will have to be introduced to ensure it isn’t, what we have now, a toilet block is a far cry from pristine. Litter, yes, litter happens there anyway, splashpad or slash-pad; surely, it’s a matter of trust and education, added on top the concept if you give the young something to do, rather than lounging on vacant grass bored, perhaps they’d repay it with gratitude and consideration. A long shot you may cry, but it’s a presumptuous cry, isn’t it?
Are we getting ahead of ourselves here though? I thought I’d play Devil’s advocate and fire some questions, Town Clerk Simon Fisher dared to answer them! “The project is still at a relatively infant stage,” he begins. “At the end of last summer, the Town Council was approached by a number of parents who asked if Devizes could have its own Splash Pad and therefore the Council needed to determine if there was a general demand for such a facility and also if a suitable site could be found. That initial phase of the project was completed just before Christmas, with a report to Council identifying a potential site, cost implications and evidence that a Splash Pad facility would be well used.”
“As you would expect, whenever we evaluate the need for a facility there will always be those who have no need for it and therefore resist its delivery,” Simon continued, obviously unable to name them fuddy-duddies who wouldn’t know fun if it came up and slapped them around the chops with an inflatable banana, but hey, I will! “But that is very much in the realm of public service provision, therefore whilst we must not ignore non-users, what is important is that we ensure that if money is spent on facilities they will be well used.”
I agree, we must not ignore them, we must splash them!!
“One of the comments you have raised, about the time of year it will be used and the assumption that it will only be used during the summer is a fair one,” said Mr Fisher. Oh, yeah, I did ask that; hardly Hawaii, is it? “However, this facility is not unique in this, with most of the outdoor facilities we provide seeing a massive drop off in use during the winter.”
See me screwing up my face, which is never a good thing, my Nan used to say I’d get stuck like it, but our other outdoor facilities aren’t a massive new cost; they’re football goals and swings. Sorry, that’s unfair; Hillworth park’s renovation is wonderful. Let’s look at that shall we? Summer days I go there, I see kids of all ages, really active, enjoying every minute, and I never see them dropping litter; coincidence? But money, innit, that’s what it comes down to.
Artist’s Impression of how Devizes Splashpad will look
“There is clearly a cost implication attached to providing any capital project and we still have to determine how a Splash Pad will be funded,” Simon explained. “There are two elements to this, one is the capital cost, for which we will seek developer contributions and grants but this will need some Town Council seed funding. The other is revenue funding, ensuring any facility is well maintained and this will come from the Council; however, this funding may also support the upgrading of services more generally in the area and the Splash Pad will do this for the Green. Many of the services we provide are free at the point of delivery and a Splash Pad is likely to be such a service.”
My note on spreading the budget equally on all ages of youngster, Simon seems positive such a project would impact on the area as a whole. “The Splash Pad project may well see the provision of a café facility on the Green, which will enhance the area as a place to “hang out”. Many teenagers already do this; therefore, this will enable us to manage the space and keep it clean, which is a current criticism.” Yep, jobs too; a parkie, like Ranger John Smith; he chased bears smarter than the average, away from pic-a-nic baskets, though; we’d need Dwayne Johnson on the nightwatch!
Keep off the grass!
He also expressed the projects already in place for older kids. “Whilst youth services remain principally the responsibility of the Unitary Authority, Wiltshire Council, whose budget for this purpose has been progressively cut in the last few years, Devizes Town Council does seek to provide facilities for all ages.” A major downer, as in another story, I’ve been waiting two years for a response from Wiltshire Council about when they’re due to repair a bouncy chicken and swing in a Rowde playpark; so I wouldn’t blow up your arm bands just yet.
“A few years ago,” Simon explained, “we built a large skate park for older children at our Green Lane site at a cost of over £150k and we are in the middle of a £1.7m investment for new football facilities, again aimed at older children and adults.” I have to take off my hat here, with or without Wi-Fi, satisfying most teenagers is near impossible, for the record I was a right stroppy one, though I’d imagine you’d find that hard to believe.
You kids have got lots of splashpads already, be happy!
One thing is easy though, satisfying younger kids. Babies will play with a box, a set of car keys, toddlers happily play in a muddy puddle, why get a splashpad, just section off our road’s potholes?! Honestly, I’m certain that’s the pompous attitude of many of us. Toddlers though, soon learn how to whinge and whine to get what they want, or don’t want. Where do they pick this stuff up from? I’ll remind you, shall I? They get it from us, so quit your selfish whinging, just because you’ve outgrown your water-wings and spare a thought for the kids. Splashpad, I’m all over it, pal!
Swindon’s indie-pop four-piece Talk in Code have a new single pending, which will blow your diddy-boppers off…..
Okay, six seconds into Swindon-based anthemic indie pop darlings, Talk in Code’s new single “Talk Like That,” and these old ears are blessed with an intro which drifts me back to electronic synth-pop of the eighties. If I stated near on a year ago, when mentioning their second album Resolve, their sound wouldn’t feel out of place in a John Hughes movie, with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall sauntering an American high school corridor, this only cements the imagining in concrete.
What you had in that era is unchartered territory; electronics in music was nascent, but cradled by the inspired it swept a new wave over yearning youth. Misunderstood by the elder generation and abused later by the hit factories, the essence of the eighties sound we typecast today was built on those early foundations, why? Because those songs were beguiling, catchy and danceable, and that’s why Talk in Code compare.
Let’s talk Simple Minds, Blancmange, Tears for Fears, yet I beg to differ to a contrast to the Pet Shop Boys on their press release, arguing their expansive success drew on a rather timeworn formula, and Talk in Code maintains an element of contemporary indie freshness. Retrospection maybe big business, this is far from an eighties tribute act. Though, akin to my comparison of Hughes’ movies such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, the subject offers a romantic ‘chase,’ and as the band put it, “a feeling of longing.”
Make no mistake, this is a blooming marvellous and natural progression for Talk in Code, and I expect great things from them this year. They’ve notched up fifteen festival appearances over the UK during last summer, most notably opening the main stage for Years & Years at M for Festival and playing the main stage before Scouting For Girls at Wychwood Festival. They’ll be supporting Matt Owens (Noah and The Whale) at the Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham on 31st January before heading out on a string of festival dates this summer including Minety Festival, Daxtonbury and many more.
But this single, Talk Like That, from a forthcoming EP to be released later this year delivers. Recorded and mixed at Studio 91 in Newbury (Supergrass, Fickle Friends, Bring Me The Horizon, Amber Run), will be released on 27th February and highly anticipated by their fans, dubbed “Talkers.” Do yourself a favour, become a Talker!
I know, January is a quiet one, let’s shake it up a whole lot! Finally got around to sorting out a new Devizine Presents night at the Cellar Bar, it’s coming up real soon, 18th January, so stick in your diary.
We have the fantastic Daydream Runaways, Mike Barham, The Celtic Roots Collective and another surprise guest to entertain you down the legendary Cellar Bar of the Bear Hotel, Devizes.
The event is free, but we ask you kindly donate to the Waiblingen Way Fire Fund, which Liz Denbury wonderfully has set up. It has raised over an amazing £3,500 to date, let’s see if we can top it up a bit and have some fun while we do it; what do you say? Be there for 7pm. Say you’ll be there, it wouldn’t be the same without you, yes, you.
9 people were injured in the fire in a block of flats in Waiblingen Way, Devizes Tuesday 17th December. They included one woman who suffered serious injuries whom later passed away. Detectives are treating the fire, which started shortly after 1am on Tuesday, December 17th, as a suspected arson attack.
The funds will be spread out between the families who need it for food, supplies, clothes and other costs of living. I will not withdraw the money until I know how many it is to be shared amongst as some do not know the extent of damage until the assessors have been.
Local indie-rock outfit, Nerve Endings have a debut single, out last week…..
At the distal end of every axon lies the conclusion to a nerve. They message sensory neurons, bleating “you’re hot,” “or cold,” or “oi, that hurts!” Around these waters a personification are the nociceptors of noise, chiefly guitarist and lead vocalist Mike Barham, bassist and vocalist Rob McKelvey and drummer boy, Luke Bartels, and their stimuli definitely sends threat signals on the ears, in a premium possible manner.
When they step on stage expect a little horseplay, then an explosive set of twisted blues riffs combining the elements of all contemporary alternative and indie rock subgenres. It leaves one intrigued by the news, which was drunkenly fed to me one summer’s evening at the Southgate, what will become of the progression towards recording the sound; we now have confirmation. Muddy Puddles is a Peppa Pig free song, which howls all that’s prodigious about Nerve Endings; unless Peppa is one who wears her heart on her sleeve.
Players, I shit them. Relationship annoyance by those who view romance as a sport, if being an archetypical subject, this alarm-ringing debut single of thrashing guitar riffs, with howling vocals that meet a near-sixties blues melody composes it with freshness. And as the gritty theme takes no prisoners, wailing “you won’t change, get your head out your arse and you might see,” analogous of actual nerve endings, sending a powerful warning to those who dig the dagger deeper into their victim’s heart. The result is boundless energy I might’ve expected, but executed professionally and agreeably adroit; great start to the year, guys!
See, I once pondered if the rave era ended youth culture as without conviction, I couldn’t assess any post-genre apt for the idiom. Perhaps the most stimulating conversation I’ve had with Mr Mike Barham, over a decade my junior, was at a Saddleback Festival, where he proclaimed grunge and emo proceeded my era. I was saturated in the fact younger people considered them youth cultures, concluding just like the teddy boys, punks and skinheads before me, my epoch was blindly trapped in the renaissance of a particular era.
For the record I wouldn’t change it for the world, we partied harder, faster and longer than any predecessor, and I’d like to wager more than any “emo,” whatever that was, had to Google! Yet his statement not only aided new exploration in me, but a liking for this gentle giant who explodes with passion and fiery temperament when on stage. A specific style of the genre, that much I am aware. I know who Kurt Cobain was pal, blanketed by an era maybe, but not living on the moon; just a few miles closer to Earth.
My eclectic taste was never faulted by the overindulgence of the youth culture which engulfed me for a period, and I emerge open-minded and prepared to accept anything. Intrigue took me to a Bowling For Soup gig at Bristol’s O2, that and my son’s need of a lift. Yet if I felt out of place, searching for another sober, taxi-driving Dad as youths collapsed in the heat and the frontman made stagediving a cliché, I still enjoyed it. As is Nerve Endings, I’m not dying my hair black with a neon streak, neither are they, but this rocks with competence, appetite and enjoyability.
Here’s the spotty-fly link, I know my system needs updating, here’s one if you’ve an apple; but Mike, thanks to my son’s Christmas present I now know where Bowser’s Castle is, and I like it; getting there, I just take the long way around!
Memories are made of Facebook reminders! Ah, the trusty book of face pings a notification of yore, leading me to contemplate, “did I write that crap?!” For us 2019 has been a magical year; reviews, previews, silliness and seriousness on equal pegging. From Mark Thomas’ Comedy Project to Eric Ravilious’ The Downland Man, from MACS Theatre School’s performance at Disneyland to the bizarre occasion when Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse and Tigger were kicked out of The Brunel Shopping Plaza, Devizine mentioned ‘em all, least as many as we could without sustaining writer’s elbow or facing a lawsuit. 2019 has blessed us with great memories, so many I needed to scavenge the archives to recall them.
MACS at Disneyland!
While some made me think, oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that, many will remain with me forever. If I had to pick just one, well, that’s easy. My son’s friend said to him at school, “your Dad is famous for dressing up as Spiderman to deliver milk!” Typical, after years of comics, novels, posters and endless other stuff, and that’s how I’ll be remembered; the milkman in his Spiderman onesie! But you know what? When I think of the wheelchair AND new Petra race-runner Carmela’s parents managed to buy with all the wonderful donations you guys gave, I think, so be it.
Towards the end of the run Carmela, dressed as Wonder Woman helped me deliver a few bottles. The job is a solitary one at the best of times, but after they left, I’d never felt lonelier on my milk run. I realised, I’d never make a journalist. The job of working a story, meeting people involved, but after it’s published, it’s cheerio. Decided then, I can’t let this happen. Carmela is instantly lovable, but every person I interview, every band I review, I come away making a new friend. That’s how I see it, they’re not subjects, they’re friends. That’s the difference between Devizine and a newspaper, it’s personal.
There were many other occasions this year I’ll never forget. Such as in February when I joined a session with Clifton Powell at the fantastic Arts Together, such a wonderful charity. At the beginning of the year, when I handed a cheque to Sue Tovey and Treasurer, Frank Marshall of The Devizes Area Committee for Cancer Research. The money raised at our first birthday bash in November. In June we slipped another cheque to the homeless charity Devizes Open Doors, from the two Devizine Presents nights at the Cellar Bar, featuring the Roughcut Rebels, The Truzzy Boys and The Hound on the Mountain. The second I owe to Razah and Knati P for a brilliant night of reggae. I’ve slacked off holding events recently, but think it’s time for another come spring, what do you reckon?
August, we featured Swindon charity Doing it for Dan, who fund our future sports legends, ahead of a fundraising Casino Night. Plus, we shouldn’t forget the commendable effort by two Bromham year-six girls, Greg and Al, who gave goodie bags to the homeless this Christmas.
Well Done Greg and Al!
Funniest interview had to be when I attempted to chat online with all the girls of the Female of the Species supergroup, that got saucy! But a massive well done to them all, when they picked up a Community Civic Award for their charity work. We also covered the campaign to get six-year-old Liam Pangrazzi to Egypt for vital surgery. August saw the formation of 10p Mix Up, and I talked to Mirko Pangrazzi about his love of Irish folk, and though the band has reduced to him and Bran Kerdhynen they continue as the Celtic Roots Collective. This was to promote a fundraiser at the Cellar Bar for Liam, with George Wilding, which Andy kindly reviewed; school night wasn’t it!
To the beginning of the year though, when our mocking another local website’s awards led to actually holding our own. Bit silly really, not going there again. But you know, the puerile articles and spoofs seem to be the ones with the highest hits, that and food reviews; greedy munchkins!
It’s true, our most popular article this year was in September when I was invited to try out New Society, the new restaurant in Devizes. Interesting while cafes and restaurants don’t feature often on Devizine, it was extremely popular. Others restaurants should take heed, it’s a worthy venture to invite me, or Andy, to review your tucker, and I’m not just after a free lunch; well, I might be, but honestly, he who dares, Rodney, he who dares!
The New Society piece was closely followed in popularity by our April fool’s joke announcing Devizes Town Council planned to erect a statue of Claire Perry in the Market Place! Other silly stuff included a signpost campaign, when a Wiltshire Council highway engineer advised Devizes Town Council that a sign at the High Street junction with Long Street was not big enough. A Romance Story, upon news of Claire Perry standing down in September. But rather fondly received, was our Top Twenty Best Vids of the Vizes article in October; check it out, see if you’re in it!
Serious stuff though; stats. I aimed to better last year’s hits, which was 30,588 and I’m delighted to say we did: 39,356 hits, and counting! That’s awesome, and I thank you all for the support and encouragement. Further thanks to our many sporadic contributors and photographers, but none so much as Mr Andy Fawthrop, his many contributions have been a valid and vital element to Devizine. Thank you, Andy.
In January I nipped to the old Palace Cinema to report on the new owners, Picture-Drome and their plans to renovate this wonderful building. Chatted with Devizes Town Clerk, Simon Fisher about the transfer deal from Wiltshire Council to Devizes Town Council, and the future usage of the Market Place. Both in February and August I spoke with businessman Iain Wallis, heading the campaign against it; why do I get myself into these things?! For a spoof on the same theme I wrote a short “Godfather” parody on the parking in the Market Place fiasco. Oh, so long ago now, but still a great loss for accessibility in town. Traffic issues also came to a head in Calne when Labour were campaigning to urgently secure funding for an independent traffic study, to investigate practical options for Curzon Street, the bottle-neck in Calne; still the same I believe.
Last Year’s Prediction of How The Market Place May Look in The Future
Not trying to overshadow the opening of Melksham’s £236,000 Splashpad in August, I ranted about the state of the Wiltshire Council owned playpark in Silverlands Road, Rowde. Much as I’d like to announce it a success, and despite it having thousands of hits, absolutely nothing has been done and no correspondence has been made in reply by Wiltshire Council or our local councillor Anna Cuthbert. If you repeatedly say it doesn’t exist hopefully it’ll be true WC; I think not, Devizes may now be getting a splashpad, to replace the slashpad, but I will be kicking up a fuss again soon, and urge you to let me know of other playparks left in such a terrible and unsafe state.
August also saw Devizes part fund a zero-waste system at The Healthy Life Café. However, the best news for zero-waste shopping came to Devizes when I paid a visit to the all-new Little Eco Shop at the Wharfside, on Couch Street. April, I was pleased to talk with Wiltshire Police’s PC Paul Woodbridge about knife crime in the local area. July saw the amazing Gerry Watkins bring his Big Yellow Bus project to Swindon.
February met controversy when DOCA changed the date of the carnival; first world problem, eh? I had a natter with key manager, Loz Samuels. We also talked in June, ahead of the festival, and discussed the ambitious plans for confetti battle and the colour rush. One of my favourite articles to research this year was DOCA related, in a way, when, in July, I penned: How Does Devizes Confetti Battle Compare to the World’s Most Bizarre Festivals?
All quiet for DOCA through Autumn, but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the spectacular Lantern Parade, which I dragged my daughter to with the promise of a brownie. We all look forward to February’s Festival of Winter Ales, which I previewed recently.
Unsure what happened to May’s newly formed duo De Novo with Claire Gilchrist and Mark Povey, interviewed Claire at the time. Also interviewed Jordan Whatley ahead of our Open Doors gig. One band which shook the rafters this year was Little Geneva, we spoke to them about their EP, ahead of their launch at the Cellar Bar in March, which was an absolutely mind-blowing gig.
Summer days though, one of my favourite gigs in Devizes had to be in August, when People Like Us came to the Three Crowns with support by Tamsin Quin and Vince Bell in aid of Julia’s House. Steady though, more gig memories to follow.
We reviewed a wide range of great music this year, starting with Swindon’s dub project, Subject A’s album Writer’s Eyes. Talk in Code’s Resolve album was next. August, I featured the Easy Chairs’ EP “Devil’s Music,” chatted to Lottie J for her single “You,” with Tamsin Quin about the single “Scandal,” and Mike Barham’s “Relevance.” September saw Jamie R Hawkins, “Thank you Friend,” and an absolutely brilliant authentically vintage soul/blues album, Numb Tongues, from Bristol’s The King Dukes, we’ve simply got to get these guys a gig in Devizes this year. It was also great to hear our reggae aficionados; Urban Lions return with the single “Champion Sound.”
Phil Cooper got a feature in October, reviewing the “Falling at your Feet” single, but also catching up on the many other releases I was supposed to review but slipped to the back burner! The article doubled-up as an apology to Phil. Premonition time though, I suggested “Phil’s song writing ability is first rate and, with or without the trio of aspiring local musicians; Jamie and Tamsin Quin….” Whoa! Did I predict the start of The Lost Trades here? Call me Nostrildamus, or whatchamacallit! We broke news of the Lost Trades in December, and look forward to this formal trio grouping.
Another star album, we reviewed in November but is due for release this February is Ruzz Guitar’s Blues Revue’s Live at the Louisiana, and it was great to follow this up by meeting the man himself at the Southgate the following month. Yeah, more about Devizes answer to the O2 arena to follow; we love you, Southgate!
If I had to pick a favourite album which we reviewed this year, I’d scratch my stubble until sore. Through possible aforementioned albums by Subject A, Ruzz, and the King Dukes, I’d have to pick “Mutiny” by Mr Tea & The Minions, which I reviewed in October; gorgeous meowing folky-Balkan ska shenanigans that it is.
May introduced us to promising new group, who I’d argue is our local scene’s best newcomer, Daydream Runaways, in a review of their debut single, “Light the Spark.” The band went from strength to strength, reviewing “Fairy-tale Scene” in June, which was followed by their astounding performance at the Vinyl Realm Stage at DOCA’s Street Festival. The pinnacle, recording-wise, was October’s release of “Closing the Line,” with the dejected subject of the closing of the Honda works in Swindon.
It was in June when I blew the story that Vinyl Realm would host and fund a second, localised stage, and they did such a fantastic job. August saw the grandest event in Devizes, our festive week, which begun for me inside the petite yurt on the Green. When DOCA gave us Los Galindos’ Udel, it must’ve been the weirdest night of the year, amazing though it was. While the intention was to review the entire “black rat Monday,” it’s hard with so much going on. Still, as a website dedicated to our local scene, the highlight was Vinyl Realm’s stage where Daydream Runaways, Ben Borrill, Strange Folk and Cracked Machine unconditionally rocked.
Britpop trio, Billy Green 3 begun recording some tracks, we reviewed “I should be moved,” in June, and followed in November with “Soul,” I look forward to the forthcoming album. So too did Sam Bishop, coming to ahead in December with release of Cold Kingdom EP, but it was sad to hear of the split with Finely and breakup of Larkin. Though good to hear both of them progressing well. In July I reviewed, Same Days, a twenty-year-old London born Swindon performer, whose real name, David Whelpdale is cousins with Fin, and let’s not forget those Truzzy Boys! Not just music though, I review anything, like local author Jerry Bradley’s debut novel, Candy Man and when I chatted to Kelly of Haunted UK Spirit Team about our local ghosts.
I previewed the beginnings of Funky Sensations at the Exchange, spoke with DJ G-Force. And I pondered drum n bass, as Vinyl Realm staged such nights at the Lamb; managed one in April, danced my ass off, despite feeling a tad elderly! The Stone Mountain Sinners at The Devizes Ameripolitan Club was another of many previews which I followed up by attending; enjoyed that, with Jamie R Hawkins, the last night for Dean at the Cons Club before transforming the Cavalier Community Hall. I did manage to drop into see them for October’s Devizes in the Round with Tamsin Quin, Zenne, Josh Beddis and Danny McMahon.
I reminisced about my rave days upon the sad news of Keith Flint’s passing, and my zine making days when The Swindon Zine Fest announced its second annual event. Ryan West kindly reviewed My Science Fair in Bradford, and I covered the snakes in a museum display at Wiltshire Museum. We do like to have some guest posts; Jemma Brown poured some emotion into a review of Things I Know to be True at The Wharf Theatre in April. The same month when Jemma revealed the ambitious plans for The Full Tone Festival in July; a very successful day, Andy reviewed it. Thanks also to Sarah Tyler of Devizes Town Band, for telling us how the Children’s Proms in Hillworth Park went in September. One I had to miss but previewed, was Purple Fish’s Dark Side of the Moon tribute at Lavington, yet I’m sure there’s so much I missed. Let’s focus on the stuff we did catch!
April saw me in the Sham, meeting Bruce Bury at the Assembly Hall, and also the organiser of their Party in the Park. Great then, to be invited along to huddle in the rain with Train to Skaville at Parkfest when they supported Neville Staple; had to be a highlight of my year. You know I love a bit of ska, and after befriending Bristol ska legend, Ya Freshness by reviewing his album last year, he asked me to do a radio show for a new internet station, Boot Boy Radio. Yeah, I know, nothing to do with Devizine, but without this website I’d never have got the opportunity to cross it off my bucket list, and Ska-ing West Country has also become somewhat of a “thing” now too.
awful selfie time with Jools of Train to Skaville!
June and I wrote about Solstice, commenting on English Heritage’s conditions of entry to Stonehenge, and Arthur Pendragon’s reaction. Talked to cycle enthusiast, Sharon Crabbe who planned to ride the Costa Rica Cycle Challenge in November to raise funds for Woman V Cancer, ahead of her gin night at the Cons Club. Also, in June we detailed the Marlborough Opens Studios. I was pleased to hear the event raised funds for Arts Together, and also, Clifton Powell was included in the event; this had a heart-warming finale you’d have to read about here.
It’d be laborious if I simply listed all the fantastic gigs and events we’ve reviewed, yet there’s too many to detail. Andy reviewed Rick Wakeman’s KGB at the Corn Exchange in Jan, I loved Larkin’s EP launch gig at the Cons Club. April I was invited to Devizes Musical Theatre’s production of Made in Dagenham, and loved Asa Murphy’s tribute to Buddy Holly, something I could drag my mum to!
I think it goes without saying, The Southgate has been a lifeline in providing regular free gigs in Devizes. Unsure about Andy, who gave us reviews of Thompson Smurthwaite, Jamie Williams, Hadrian’s Union, The Bone Chapel, Kimberley Rew and Paul Cowley, but my most memorable gigs were Jon Amor, The Boot Hill Allstars, Sophia & The Soul Rebels, Ruzz Guitar’s Blues Revue, Back Wood Redeemers, Six O’clock Circus, Tamsin Quin, Soapbox and Patrick Goodenough, Alabaster Queen and of course, Phil Cooper & The Slight Band.
It was also great news to see the Barge at Honeystreet back in the swing of things, and I ventured over when Knati and Razah held the first of their Reggae Nights in July.
You can always find Andy at the Long Street Blues Club, he’s not only part of the furniture but also reviewed Jon Amor, Ian Siegel, Rick Estrin & The Wildcats, Kyla Brox Band, Kossoff, Skinny Molly, Watermelon Slim, Big Dez Blues Band and to finish in apt style, John Coughlan’s Quo. In September I popped in myself, and was wowed. It’s clear where your ticket price goes, The Malone-Sibun Band and support by Joe Hicks knocked me for six. Another new adventure for me was the Cellar Bar’s monthly Open Mic, this one a Halloween Special, and quite horrific it was too, in a nice way!
Around July, new owners of The White Bear opened up for Sunday live sessions, and Andy became part of the furniture there too. Vince Bell kicked it off, Ian O’Regan followed, and Eddie Witcomb, Andrew Bazeley, Jamie R Hawkins, Phil King, Cutsmith, Wade Merritt all followed. I joined the fun to catch George Wilding play. The Cross Keys in Rowde also started a live music programme in September, I managed to catch Rockhoppaz there. But a new year’s resolution is to get out of town and see some other venues, the notion spurred on by October’s trip to Melksham’s brilliant boozer, The Foresters Arms, when Train to Skaville called in there.
July is Fantasy Radio’s Month of Sundays, Andy covered Tamsin Quin and Andrew Hurst, then the Rockin’ Bandits. Then Lark in the Park the following month. Along with events such as Devizes Comedy Festival at the Corn Exchange in September, Chippenham Folk Festival, The Yirdbards at Bradford Folk Club, Henry Priestman & Loved-Up Les Glover at the Rachel Fowler Centre, Melksham, The Full Tone’s Big, Bold and Russian concert at St Johns, PSG Choir at the Neeld, Sheer Music’s Second Subterranean gig at the Cellar Bar with Falling Fish, Larkin and Clock Radio, Sunjay at the Royal Oak, Corsham, White Horse Opera’s Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” and Bizet’s Carmen and the Acoustic Strawbs at Melksham Assembly Hall; he never comes up for air.
My last gig of the year was Devmas in the Cellar Bar, a most memorable occasion, particularly when organiser Mike Barham was hoisted up with Luke by Jon Amor to perform Wham’s Last Christmas! Despite nipping out to catch the Roughcut Rebels blow the roof off the Black Swan, which was bloody great too.
In March the Devizes Arts Festival announced their line-up and we were on the ball this year, previewing the great events they held. Starting with an interview with Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens, a tribute to Morcombe and Wise. Sara McGuiness too, manager and keyboardist with Cuban-Congolese fusion band, Grupo Lokito; I managed to attend this, it was awesome. My favourite, and definitely one of the best gigs of the year was Coventry’s ska-reggae band Barb’d Wire.
For the Arts Festival, Andy took on reviews of Josephine Corcoran and the poetry slam at the Vaults, The String Sisters at St Andrew’s Church, Moscow Drug Club, and The Hot Club at the Three Crowns. Out of all the fringe events, I enjoyed She-Robot the best, which we both attended and had a good natter while Gail Foster snapped us in a rare conference! The most unfortunate part of the festival, was when headliner Ed Byrne’s car broke down and the support comedians covered for him. Though Chris Stokes and David Hadingham patched the gap wonderfully, it was September before Ed could reschedule, but when he did it was well worth the wait, although my ribcage may not agree.
Immediately after the Arts Festival we held our breath for November, when Georgie Fame was due to appear, alas, after a terrible accident, he was unable to make it. Had to be the biggest disappointment of the year, but we wish Georgie a speedy recovery. I’m in the process of leaking this year’s line-up, especially happy to report award-winning Limerick folk artist, Emma Langford, is to appear; not to be missed!
Talking festivals, while I’m getting past it for puking in tent, I ventured to Bromham’s brilliant Owlfest, chilling with George Wilding, Kirsty Clinch, and her Dad. July, I attended Devizes Scooter Club’s first rally in Rowde; great event, brilliant music, Particularly, The Erin Bardwell Collective and Orange Street; the sound did bodge up towards the end, but lessons hopefully learned for this year.
On the eve of Devizes Food Festival announcing their events, in July I contemplated what attributes taste, be it class, culture or trends, which led onto some hints of what to expect in September. Not to outdo September’s Taste of Wiltshire at the Farm Cookery School at Netherstreet, Bromham, which I previewed but couldn’t attend; must try harder this year! I did waddle to the Market Place in September for the Devizes Food Festival grand market, and had a memorable fill, stopping for far too long at the Gourmet Brownie Kitchen based over at Poulshot Lodge, and Muck & Dunder rum bar, to be introduced to Frome’s wonderful folk four-piece, The Decades.
Straight after Andy previewed Melksham’s Craft Beer & Cider Festival, and I previewed more Bier stuff at Seend’s Oktoberfest, which I still haven’t made it to, anyone would think Seend was in Dusseldorf! I did, however, love meeting artists Si Griffiths, Mike Long and Emma Sally for an all-together different art show in Chippenham in September. Another arty thing was gate-crashing The Lawrence Society of Art’s Annual Exhibition in November.
At the Wharf Theatre we previewed Legally Blonde Jnr, The Turn of the Screw, Alan Ayckbourn’s Living Together, and I’m sure a few more, as well aa a super feature, looking both back, and forward for their 40th birthday. Sometimes though you preview something which sounds so good, such as the interactive performance/drama workshop Spectacular Space-Bots at the Shoebox, and also their intriguing drama-thriller work, At This Stage, but with hardly any hits. I’m determine to take a visit to the Shoebox this year, see if I can muster some attention from Devizions.
Election time came in November, and using New Society as a base, I interviewed our prospective candidates. Not without some annoyance from our readers asking if Devizine has become political. Not at all, Devizine is mine, and yours, so I’ll write on any subject I feel driven to explore, so there! If it’s not for you, then scroll on, as we do feature stuff, I’m sure you will enjoy. Just felt Tory Town overreacted, as if having an alternative opinion is now illegal. Get over yourself!
Fact is, these interviews were popular and necessary; it was great to meet them all. Rachael Schneider Ross was first up, Emma Dawnay next. Labour heading an event at the Cellar Bar in aid of Devizes Open Doors with George Wilding, Vince Bell and The Celtic Roots Collective was rather special. I caught up with Jo Waltham too, early in December, but my emails to Danny Kruger were left unanswered, my response wrapped up an election conclusion I labelled as a one-off return to my satirical rant column, No Surprises Living in Devizes; sorry, won’t happen again. No one took heed anyway, and the inevitable happened. Devizes is Devizes, sadly, it never changes.
Yet we make the most of it, we have a great entertainment scene, with theatre, arts and live music and this year has seen it all blossom. We should be proud. There may be some points I need to make on this, and a few disusing the future of Devizine. It’s okay, nothing bad, but still, don’t want to go out this New Year on any of those notions, so, we’ll save it for next year and I’d like to finish by thanking everyone for their support, and wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Only a week after John Coughlan’s Quo’s rousing set, it was back up to Long Street Blues Club for another great gig. If you needed the Christmas blues blowing away, this was the gig to do it.
Support act for the night was Jamie R Hawkins, aided and abetted by his sometime collaborator Phil Cooper. I suppose you could say that this was two thirds of the newly-formed Lost Trades, but we’ll have to wait until later to hear their new songs. This set was Jamie and Phil classics from their back catalogues, taking it in turn to take centre stage with mic and guitar, then to drop back onto cajon to provide backing beats and vocals. Of the two, Jamie’s presence and performance is the stronger, and his songs stand up much better. And it was great to hear Jamie belting out his rather non-PC “Hope You Have A Bloody Good Christmas”, with enthusiastic audience participation, to finish up with.
Then an amazing, raucous almost two-hour set from the The Pink Torpedoes. Fronted by ex Dr Feelgood Pete Gage, backed up by former Hoax drummer Dave Raeburn, with guitarist Paul Hartshorn and bassist Pete Lowrey, this four-piece really delivered the goods in this one-off gig.
Keeping the chat to an absolute minimum, the boys launched straight in and played their way through an enormous song-book of rock, blues, R&B, boogie-woogie – you name it. Sounding as tight and professional as if they were gigging every night of the week, the set was full of excitement, raw power and incendiary licks. Pete, on vocals, harmonica and keyboards was the dominating presence up front, but the rest of the band absolutely played their parts.
At times there was a definite “feel-good” factor in the room, and the dance-floor filled up number by number. There was no tin, but if there had been a tin it would have said “open with care – raw, undiluted and powerful”. And the band did exactly what that tin would have said. Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy”, Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie-Coochie Man”, Little Richard’s “Lucille”, Bob Troup’s “Route 66” and Albert King’s/ The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” all came tumbling out, one after the other. This was R&B at its very best.
And it was clear that the band thoroughly enjoyed their outing playing together again – the smiles and the laughs, and the audience rapport were great to see.
Another amazingly good gig, another bargain night’s entertainment at Long Street Blues.
• Saturday 25th January Kirk Fletcher (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
• Sunday 26th January Billy Bremner’s Rockpiles
• Saturday 7th March Ian Parker Band
• Saturday 4th April Mike Zito Band
• Saturday 18th April Mark Flanagan Band
• Saturday 30th May Antonio Forcione Quartet
Bureaucracy gone mad, or rightful regulations? Make your own mind up, but kids were upset to see many of their favourite cartoon characters escorted from the Brunel Shopping Centre this Christmas like criminals.
Outcry ensued after Alan Reed posted this video, showing security of the shopping centre harshly directing the characters off the premises. “Every year I organise a visit to the GWH hospital,” Mr Reed explained, “I take all the mascots up there to visit the kid’s wards and give them a present that has been kindly donated. I have a great bunch of friends who volunteer their time to do this. Then, just for some Christmas fun, every year after the hospital we go to the Magic Roundabout, walk about and wave to the cars. The after this we go to the town centre to spread some more fun and Christmas cheer to the people. All the kiddies love it along with their parents.”
Upon asking the reason Alan and friends do this, he told me, “we do all of this free of charge, with no other meaning to it at all.” Perhaps Christmas joy just isn’t enough to warrant such a gesture, not in the eyes of the centre, whose Saturday saw children flock to see Frozen characters Anna & Elsa in aid of Swindon’s Down Syndrome Group. No issue with this, but this impromptu visit is a blunt reminder for Swindonians, despite the shopping centre commonly being regarded as the “town centre,” it’s actually a privately-owned business.
Rob of the Brunel Shopping Centre explained, “as a privately-owned shopping centre it is our duty to ensure that shoppers and their children are kept safe. Therefore, our staff will always politely ask unannounced visitors, who have not sought prior permission to be at the centre, to leave. We regularly work with charities and fundraisers who book in with us and are always happy to work with people to benefit good causes, but we do need to carry out due diligence when booking these people in.”
The issue becomes irate when the organisers question the reasoning, but without an informative response, and security ordered to carry out their task, things become awkward and it doesn’t fair well on the personal relations within the centre. Ah, it happens, but with the children who do not understand the red tape, it has to be said, it’s a crying shame the issue couldn’t have been dealt with diplomatically. I’d suggest the Brunel has a disclaimer form, stating clearly that any repercussions are wholly the responsibility of the organisers, and then, where’s the real problem?
It does remind me of the scene in the classic Pink Panther film, where Inspector Clouseau arrests a blind beggar and his “minky,” whilst a bank robbery is occurring behind them. Forcing me to wonder how many shoplifters or fraudsters happen to be bobbing about the centre during this inconsequential fiasco; maybe it’d make a great decoy!
In an era when physical shopping is losing the war against online shopping, you’d have thought the issue could have been dealt with diplomatically, if not for the children’s sake but the reputation of the centre. Meanwhile social media exploits the video, shares and comments call to boycott the centre as the witch-hunt progresses. A cruel sign of the times with unsolicited media where anyone can pass comment, when the centre has strived to host similar fundraising events yet the bureaucracy stamps on such a good deed. Not in the spirit of Christmas, and yes, I said Minky; because I’m annoyed by what bureaucratic balderdash has degenerated us into, Merry bloody Christmas!
This one was billed as Long Street Blues Club’s Christmas Bash, and it turned into a rare old party.
Support act for the night was the irrepressible George Wilding. As usual, he was witty and engaging, a bit sweary, but always charming and completely entertaining, finishing his set with the inevitable singalong crowd-pleaser of “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”.
Then two sharp sets from Status Quo’s original drummer’s John Coughlan’s Quo. This four-piece featured the set-up of John on drums, Rick Chase on vocals/ bass, Mick Hughes on vocals/ guitar and Pete Mace on guitar/ vocals. John was a member of Quo from 1962 until 1981, and the set-list mostly featured material from that early “classic” period.
They’re not a “tribute” band in the normal sense of the word, more interested in keeping alive the spirit of the classic early line-up. But they certainly looked the part – long hair, head-bands, Marshall stacks, and satisfyingly loud, complete with demon drumming and catchy guitar breaks. They kicked off with “Something About You Baby I Like”, and the dance-floor was immediately full. Thereafter we were taken through the early back catalogue from 1972’s “Piledriver”, 1975’s “On The Level” and 1976’s “Blue For You”, including the song they first appeared on BBC’s Top Of The Pops with – “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” – a period when the band were still toying with psychedelia, before settling into their now more familiar rock groove.
The sound is not complicated, nor sophisticated, but simple and effective and emotive. It does exactly what it says on the tin – good, down-to-earth rocking – and you can’t help dancing and singing along. We had all the early hits – “Paper Plane”, “Caroline”, “Roll Over, Lay Down”, “Without The Rain”, and a rollicking version of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”.
It was going well, and the crowd were having a party. Then John decided to come out from behind the drums to talk to the crowd and to reminisce. Personally I think this was a bit of a mistake, because the band lost impetus quite late in the set. Whilst it was interesting and amusing, it might have fitted better much earlier in the set.
Fortunately the band quickly got back into gear again to finish with John Fogerty’s “Rockin’ All Over The World”, followed by a well-deserved encore of “Down, Down”, nicely seguing into “Johnny Be Goode”. The dance-floor was full and the crowd were happy.
• Saturday 28th December Pink Torpedoes
• Saturday 25th January Kirk Fletcher (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
• Sunday 26th January Billy Bremner’s Rockpiles
• Saturday 7th March Ian Parker Band
• Saturday 4th April Mike Zito Band
• Saturday 18th April Mark Flanagan Band
• Saturday 30th May Antonio Forcione Quartet
I reckon I’ve been honourable to The Devizes Arts Festival, as in their excitement they’ve often accidently divulged a booking they’d rather have kept secret, and I’ve not yet let the cat out of the bag until they want it unzipped! Said excitement, though, is symbolic of their passion to bring us a wonderfully diverse roster.
For this one I’ve been equally as thrilled, and glad to be the one to broadcast the news; yes, with their permission! Aptly perhaps, as I’m proud it was my suggestion and I’m so glad they took heed.
So, it gives me great pleasure to announce folk singer-songwriter Emma Langford is to appear at this summer’s Arts Festival. From Limerick in South-West Ireland, Emma has gone from strength to strength. But to start at the beginning of our association; it’s been well over a decade since I got chatting to her father, Des, and in sharing a love of comic art, we’ve been online friends since. Call me archaic, but while you can meet lots of people online which the book of face terms “friends,” you have to wonder if they really constitute “friends,” I mean, if you’ve never met them in person. Des is the exception to that rule.
It was around 2016 when he sent me a video of his daughter singing, yet if I went around telling people “listen to my mate’s daughter sing,” it sounds cringeworthily like I was pushing it only for this reason. I bid you listen to her songs; clearly, it’s not just me saying how utterly fantastic she is. Emma has received unwavering acclaim internationally, after a whirlwind 100-date promotional tour across Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Ireland, to launch her 2017 debut album, Quiet Giant. The Irish Times described Quiet Giant as ‘music that weaves a spell as you listen to it… An enduring piece of work’. Ireland’s state broadcaster RTÉ Radio 1 presented Emma with the Best Emerging Artist award at their inaugural Folk Awards in October 2018. She also made her debut appearance in the USA this August, on the Snug Stage at Milwaukee Irish Fest.
Emma possesses a distinct natural tone and resonance that is truly breath-taking. Quiet Giant features stunning full-band arrangements for ten self-penned songs, and following the album’s Irish release, she was invited to launch it internationally with Germany’s Irish Folk Festival tour. In Devizine’s infancy reviewed Quiet Giant, suggesting it’s “a suave survey of dignity and passionate despondency with uplifting string arrangements and traditional Irish folk values.” I worthlessly tried to find a tenacious link to Devizes to justify reviewing it on our local website. I just wanted to get the message across, as I compared her to Andrea Corr, or a young Kirsty McColl.
But, being as it’s said Emma’s “spell-binding” sound is made to be heard live, be it solo or with a full complement of musicians, I took steps to try to bring her to town for a gig, but it fell through. The promoters were in awe though, told me she really needs to head for London for maximum exposure; “she’s too darn good for Devizes,” I was told! Pleased to say, we’ve no need to worry, thanks to the Arts Festival, and I look forward to this with bells on.
Emma is a prolific artist, recently collaborating locally on projects with musicians, theatre-makers and aerial-dance performers. This summer’s show should align with her highly-anticipated new album.
The Arts Festival had their final committee meeting of the year at the beginning of the month. “The 2020 programme is nearly there,” they say, “although there are some threads to be tied up. We can assure you that it will be as good as (or maybe even better than) 2019.” Other acts already leaked are London’s Tankus the Henge, who describe their sound as “five-wheeled, funk fuelled, open top, custom paint job, rock ‘n’ roll jalopy that comes careering around the corner on a tranquil summer’s day, ruining the silence and disturbing the bats.” Performing comedy for less-than-perfect parents, The Scummy Mummies are also confirmed, along with San Francisco born jazz pianist and composer The Darius Brubeck Quartet.
You may recall our year six Bromham girls, Greg and Al, undertaking the mammoth task of creating Christmas Boxes for the homeless. They organised the campaign for people to donate, at various “stations,” including St Nicholas in Bromham and at Beezes in the Ginnel, Devizes. And people did! Dressed in personalised campaign T-shirts, the girls handed over fifty full gift bags of goodies, as well as extra donations of clothes and sleeping bags to Doorway in Chippenham today.
What an inspirational story, apt for the season of goodwill. A super-duper, humongous congratulations to Greg and Al. Well done, I think you’re officially top of the good list! Here’s a message from the girls, and we wish them a very Merry Christmas!
Ever heard of The Lost Trades on our local music scene? No? I can guarantee you have, yes, you have, no, really, you have, oh yes you have!
No, I’m not trying to baffle you pantomime style on this Sunday close to Christmas, for after years of loose amalgamations, collaborations and supporting each other’s gigs, Phil Cooper, Tamsin Quin, and Jamie R Hawkins have officially formed a trio, The Lost Trades.
Tamsin explains the plan, “anyone who’s been following our careers recently, will have seen a growing musical kinship between us. Well, we figured it was about time we made it official and so The Lost Trades has been born. We’re incredibly excited about writing together and creating amazing three-part harmony lushness.”
Expect an announcement at the Southgate this afternoon when the boys join Tamsin towards the end of the set. If you’re going, sorry for the spoiler, but Devizine has the exclusive on this scoop and it’s going to blow the news!
Not that’s it’s all that surprising, to be honest, after the closeness of the musicians of recent, but it is great news for us. All three of them have raised the bar of our local music scene, strived to progress their aptitude with explosive success. Singularly they’re amazing, collaborations work so well, now, as a group, I predict a shower of awesomeness!
“But it’s not just about us…” Tamsin expressed, “we feel like we’ve made some amazing friends and supporters over the last year or so, and we want to bring you with us in this exciting new chapter. We’ll be documenting the story in a typically friendly behind-the-scenes type way. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell to keep up to date with that.”
Starter for ten, here’s a Cat Stevens cover, “Moonshadow,” recorded as part of these “Living Room sessions,” basically a band practice, but clearly shows how vocally harmonious this is set to be. I had to ask if they planned to continue solo as well and Tamsin confirmed it was so. Yet, perhaps the country bumpkins’ trip to big smoke for an epic day at BBC Music Introducing Live rubbed its magic, and now we’re blessed with this official merger.
“We’ve already started working on brand new material,” Tamsin said, “and will be playing our first gigs in March; dates will be announced early in the new year.” I can tell she’s excited about the news, I’m reckoning the boys are too. As long as she keeps them in line, I told her!
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