Swindon’s sonic indie popsters Atari Pilot are a prolific bunch, and have a new single out called The Rules Never Change….
And, they don’t. There’s a definite uniformed methodology to Atari Pilot which builds with each new single. Yearning vocals, never without a repetitive chorus to hook you, neatly packaged in retrospective new wave electronica. It may not be as commercially viable as, say, Talk in Code, but it’s irresistibly beguiling and universal to be pop you need to hear.
Thimbles on standby, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts are calling all creative craftspeople and makers to their new project, The Makers Exchange. It’s a new craft…
David slew Goliath with a sling and a stone. Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council used evidence, against a group of Devizes Town councillors’ more circumstantial land…
Kempston joystick! There’s a new single from Swindon’s sonic indie-rock blasters Atari Pilot, and it seems they’re waiting for the summer to fall. Hint, guys, it’s usually, particularly this year, when the kids go back to school….
I’m not wrong, though, am I? Never without that euphoric retrospective tinge, Atari Pilot I liken to Talk in Code, for swinging indie poptastic hooks and unrivalled energy, yet with undertones of sonic soundscapes akin to post-rave dance music, of the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk et al.
This one certainly doesn’t skip on it,though its theme reminds me of Don Henly, and is equally as passionately delivered. From Jerry Keller to Taylor Swift, summer may be a common topic, but winter songs only hark on about….whoa there, don’t even say the C-word until late November, I thank you! And anyhoo, all the seasons are given a mention in this breezy pay-what-you-like track, save spring. What have you got against spring, Atari Pilot? Don’t make me get all Zebedee on you, I happen to like spring!
Check this out, before it pisses down! Catch them at the Beehive at Swindon Shuffle!
Retrieved footage from a stolen drone of the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs reveals the Beaufont Hunt making a fox kill earlier this month, and it’s undeniable…
Just who is Theodore Thump? A wise pet rabbit? The mysterious sixth Beach Boy? This album newly released from Shedric, Swindon soloist and groovist of…
Buzzwords, like “turbo,” or “sonic” are cliche, overused trends which gain popularity because they sound impressive, even if they are empty of meaning. I avoid…
It’s always nice to hear when an inaugural local event is successful, especially one as unique and original as Marlborough School of Languages’ annual Fiesta.…
Right here, right now in Devizes, Palooza spawned and has become the fast-growing house music event brand in Wiltshire. They’ve been invited back to perform at Fatboy Slim’s…
Featured Image: Helen Polaxpix What has Devizes’ greatest millennial musical export, England rugby player Jodie Ounsley’s ghost writer, some scummy mummies, a professor of biology at…
It’s Wednesday night, it’s Song of Week time….and here’s your host…. yeah, sorry, it’s just me, couldn’t afford Stephen Mulhern.
Haven’t heard from them for a while, but they’re far from collecting dust in a loft like a retro game console. Swindon-based Atari Pilot return this week with a new single, Train of Life.
If choo-choos are a common metaphor in blues and reggae, moreso to describe the chugging beat, we’re on another platform from Sister Rosetta Tharpe, or Keith and Tex. Sonic indie rockers Atari Pilot have their joysticks calibrated to this philosophical theme, life’s long train comin’, and it sure is a grower. Especially, I’d fathom, if you’re new to this band’s unique style, I ask you take at least a few listens before passing judgement.
But with lyrics like “rolling on til the track runs out, is it the journey or the destinationyou dream about?” there’s thoughtful prose admist those sonic riffs, and it affirms Atari Pilot firmly on the right track.
It’s up on Bandcamp as a name your price. Linktree HERE, go give them a like on the book of Face too, while you’re standing on the platform waiting for the strikes to end!
Irregularly I share a music video to our Facebook page with the status “song of the day,” or week, or whenever, as if it’s a daily occurrence. When the reality is it’s a big, fat fib on my part, it’s only when I happen to find such a video and can be arsed to share it. What-cha gonna do, sue me?
So, just in case your lawyer says you have a case, I thought I’d streamline this sporadic idea for 2021, make it an actual feature on the site rather than a Facebook post, and show off that I know what long words like “sporadic” mean.
Little more gone into it than this, you should be used to it by now. I’m not going to review them, just embed them here for your own appraisal and entertainment purposes. Potentially, it’ll be a groundbreakingily breif post, a simple but effective phenomenon, and something I can do without missing the Simpsons.
The challenge is consistency; whether I actually stick to the idea or, like others, it’ll be a flash in the pan. Who knows, this could be the start of something beautiful, this could be the thing they’re talking about in decades to come. A holographic Ken Bruce could be asking “what was the very first Devizine Song of the Day” in a Pop Master 200 years from now.
And you can answer it with who I bestow this honour, Atari Pilot. They’ll be revelling in the triumph of the hour if it wasn’t lockdown, I bet.
History in the making then, the only issue I foresee is I over-waffle any old crap, which is, incidentally, not what’s happening now and rarely does here; I had to explain myself, didn’t I?
Okay, I get message; here it is then, enjoy the tune, enjoy the rest of your evening. Good job, carry on.
Thimbles on standby, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts are calling all creative craftspeople and makers to their new project, The Makers Exchange. It’s a new craft market celebrating the South West’s most skilled makers, and it will take place at the historic Devizes Corn Exchange on the 23rd and 24th May…..
The event offers visitors the chance to explore a vibrant marketplace of contemporary craft, meet the makers behind the work, and experience live demonstrations and workshops.
Across the weekend, the Corn Exchange will be filled with beautifully presented stalls featuring ceramics, textiles, woodwork, jewellery, clothing, and homewares, all designed and made by the makers themselves.
Highlights include live demonstrations by Marion Wright, renowned for traditional signwriting and decorative painting, and Amy Whittingham, whose bold, chunky glass chains feature separate, moving links, cast individually through a fascinating process.
The weekend begins on Friday 22nd May with The Ideas Exchange, an informative evening gathering for creative people featuring a talk and demonstration by knitwear designer and farmer Katie Allen of Cotmarsh Farm, followed by drinks and conversation.
Visitors will also have the chance to engage in hands-on experiences, including a drop-in cyanotype printing area by Bloemen & Blue, with proceeds supporting the marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage.
On a crafty mission to bring high-quality, community-focused arts to Devizes and the surrounding area, DOCA presents professional indoor and outdoor arts experiences, creating participatory opportunities working with local, national and international artists.
The Makers Exchange is a celebration of contemporary craft in the South West, bringing together the region’s finest designer-makers. The event is designed to connect makers and the public, offering an immersive experience where visitors can see skills in action, try their hand at creative techniques, and take home beautifully made, unique pieces.
Rowde’s printmaker Hannah Cantellow
The makers include, Marlborough knitwear designer Katie Allen, Plymouth glass artist Amy Whittingham, signwriter Marion Wright, Bath Sashiko tutor Jessica Way, Bristol woodworker Geoff Hannis, Bromham’s cyanotype artist Libby Mornement of Bloemen & Blue, Wiltshire Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild, and members of the Guild of Traditional Upholsterers.
But, who’d thought it, Rowde is the creative cradle, with three makers featured in the event?! Rowde’s printmaker Hannah Cantellow, lampshade maker Aimée Alice Payton, and cabinet maker Thorn Smith. Seriously, I better polish up on my Fuzzy Felts!
The Ideas Exchange on Friday 22nd May runs from 6:30-9pm at The Peppermill Hotel, and is £10. The Makers Exchange is at Devizes Corn Exchange from the 23rd and the 24th May from 10:30 to 4:30pm, and costs just two pounds, with children going free.
For full details, workshop bookings, and tickets, visit:
Frome’s Cheese & Grain will host a celebration of the life of local music promoter Phil Moakes, who sadly passed away last July, aged just 66…
Party at the End of the World will be on Sunday 10th May and will be a special event in celebration of Phil’s life, alongside his family and friends. The evening features a fantastic line-up, including The Utopia Strong, Arch Garrison, Richard, Chantelle & Amy, Kavus Torabi, Thee Jolly Rotter, Hodmadoddery, and Sara Vian, and will be hosted by Martin Dimery.
Kavus Torabi fronted Gong, one of Phil’s favourite bands, The Utopia Strong are from Glastonbury with professional snooker player Steve Davis, and Sara Vian was one of many presenters at Phil’s Visual Radio Arts project.
Phil Moakes was a keen musician, and played keys in local bands throughout the seventies and eighties, including The Replacements and Wasted Space. For Frome he would become not only a legendary music promoter and media broadcaster, but a prominent community leader advocating the arts. He served as a Somerset County Councillor, founded Frome FM, and was a former Chair of the Cheese and Grain Board of Trustees.
“Phil played a pivotal role in the development of the Cheese and Grain,” a spokesperson for the Cheese & Grain said, “and was instrumental in securing the venue’s long-term future during some of its most challenging years. His dedication, leadership, and belief in the venue and its staff helped shape it into the vibrant cultural hub it is today.”
Phil Moakes’ last vision was a project called Visual Radio Arts, which started as a Frome FM project in 2016, and independently branched out to create promotional gig videos for artists from Frome’s Old Fire Station. It was in 2021 when I first met Phil, having relocated with his family to Royal Wotton Bassett, he had moved the studio to Bath Road in Devizes.
In the lockdown era musicians took to streaming gigs from their homes, often amateurly and with varying results. Visual Radio Arts offered a professional option, to capture bands live, akin to The Old Grey Whistle Test, and many artists took up the offer to perform.
Being new to the area, I think Phil wanted me to suggest local acts who might like to be hosted on Visual Radio Arts. Anyone I namedropped were already on Phil’s radar, but it didn’t stop us having a passionate and lengthy chat about the local music scene. Questioning Phil on the financial structure of Visual Radio Arts was all quite vague; it seemed his only motivation was the promotion of the musicians.
“We remain profoundly grateful for Phil’s vision, support,” The Cheese & Grain continued, “and the lasting legacy he leaves behind, not only within the Cheese and Grain, but across the wider Frome community. In celebration of his life and in honour of this legacy, all funds raised from the event will be donated to support the vital work of Fair Frome.”
Fair Frome is a foodbank charity offering sustainable services and support, raising awareness of the issues of poverty across Frome.
Whether you’ve a bizarre inclination to meet the Addams Family in the flesh and figure this might be your closest opportunity, you couldn’t think of anything worse, or you’ve absolutely no opinion on the matter whatsoever, Devizes Musical Theatre’s Addams Family Musical is a must-see!
Invited to the dress rehearsal yesterday, The Addams Family Musical opens tonight, Wednesday 1st, and runs to Saturday 4th April, at Dauntsey’s School, and I can confirm it’s creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and absolutely brilliant. I left delighted and more charmed than spooked.
The Addams Family began as a panel in the New Yorker by Charles Addams, a cartoonist alleged to be nearly as weird as the characters he created, but it was the gothic sitcom of the sixties which most will fondly recall, and Barry Sonnenfeld’s nineties movie adaptations brought them into contemporary culture.
The popularity of a recent television spinoff about the family’s daughter Wednesday fares well with the timeliness of this production, especially being the story of this musical centres around Wednesday coming of age too. Within the beloved setting of the Addams Family franchise, it follows a classic musical plot of forbidden love with a happy ending.
It tells of losing inhibitions and that love is calmly discussing your differences. But, no more spoilers from me! Rest assured you’re in capable hands, because the casting on this is impeccable, and its appearance is the best we’ve seen so far from Devizes Musical Theatre; it’s a ghoulish visual feast.
I couldn’t pick a favourite part, they were all exceptional. Gary Robson makes a convincing Gomez, the father, but Dolly May was born for the part of his wife Morticia, it would seem, and the chemistry between them was magnetic. Likewise for Wednesday, played so utterly wonderfully by Grace Sheridan, and the object of her desires, Lucas, in which Oscar Thorley played with superb ease; if Oscar is his name, well, he should win one!
In contrast to the family traits, Lucas’ parents Lucy Burgess and Simon Hoy presented them with professional quality, particularly when their influences are altered by the course of the narrative. Then you have the steadfast extra family members, pouring the comedy into it, such as the Grandma, Debby Wilkinson, whose haunting cackle alone would be plentiful for comic effect, without the need for her grinning smirks and ambling around the stage.
Cameron Williams plays Frankenstein’s Prometheus butler Lurch, who is still amazing, despite having nothing but a growl, because there’s a twist, at the end, and I’ll say no more. The troubled son Pugsley, played with magic by Georgia Saunders is key to a plot twist, and is so convincing in the relationship with his sister, she may as well be a sibling to Grace.
Attending a dress rehearsal has slight differences to the actual show, one thing you wouldn’t see at the show was when, at the interval, Ben Griffiths-Mills, who plays the disturbingly innocent Uncle Fester, came to address the director Lyn Taylor, who happened to be sitting beside me. The Addams Family is more music and fun than spooky, the most shocking part of my evening was not in the show, rather when Ben spoke in his normal voice to Lyn, as I was so utterly convinced by his sublime performance as Fester, I expected him to speak with the quirky high-pitched accent of Fester! And this sums the experience up, so credible it is, I had to remind myself these were actors in character; in that, Thing wasn’t wandering around the school at night, and if forced to pick a favourite, Uncle Ben Fester would probably be it!
Such is the attention to detail, I reveal there’s not just a random collective of excellent dancers too, but they’re separate characters of the ghostly ancestors the Addams have venerated, and each dances around their crypts according to their back stories and fate; the program identifies them, and the cast highlight the show.
I’ve mentioned the dubious double-meaning of the word ‘amateur’ used in the term ‘amateur dramatics’ before, being a noun for ‘unprofessional’ doesn’t necessarily mean the subject it refers to is ‘rubbish,’ as second definitions suggest. I did so in a review of a Devizes Musical Theatre production, because, while everyone volunteers, the standard, attention to detail, and production values are so high you could assume you’re at the West End. This notion has never been more relevant than with their latest production, The Addams Family Musical; if you’re going, you’re in for a treat…and definitely not a trick.
When people come to see ’em, They really are a scream, The Addams Family may not have the same box office clout as Devizes Musical Theatre producing a Disney fairy-tale; there’s a few tickets left for a performance which usually sells out. Do not be distracted by the quirky choice of production, as this was DMT at their very best.
Picturedrone, the new owners of the old Palace Cinema in Devizes announced today that the cinema will have a grand reopening as early as May, and media personality turned controversial comedian Katie Hopkins has accepted an invitation to cut the ribbon on the newly renovated establishment….
May is set to be an exciting time in Devizes, when the cinema will finally be reopened. We are told the work is near complete and the company plans to reopen in May, though an exact date remains unconfirmed. The town’s only cinema closed in July 2021, with broken promises to reopen under new management. But the new owners, Picturedrone Cinemas, met spiralling costs with the extensive refurbishment. The good news is, The Wiltshire Reform Party has stepped in to help fund the project.
Aiming for a traditional, multi-use, Roman Colosseum styled venue, the cinema will also house the Wiltshire Reform headquarters and provide them with a space to hold popular conferences and rallies. Flagpoles will align the Market Place outside, restoring pride in our country and providing dogs and drunks with somewhere to relieve themselves. They really have thought of everything, even the reintroduction of white dog shit.
Harmless and loved by all, Katie Hopkins is expected to deliver one of her hilarious hate speech comedy routines before she cuts the ribbon and Devizes cinema will be open once again, to patriots and Brexiteers only. Then there will be a screening of “Mein Kampf: The Movie,” an animated cartoon adaptation of Reform’s beloved bible, aimed at children.
“We’re eternally grateful to the Wiltshire Reform party for their donation,” a spokesperson for Picturedrone said, “I mean, who needs equality, basic morals, Trowbridge’s Oden, or a health service, when you can stuff hotdogs while watching ‘1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story’ on the big screen, in the comfort of your own town, yell abusive gibberish and puke Wetherspoons lager into your popcorn?”
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Reform said, “we’re making cinema great again. It will be like the good old days of British cinema, Zulu, Dad’s Army and The Black and White Minstrel Show. There will be snogging and fingering in the back row, and chewing gum will be squashed into every chair. Their springs will jut out of the material piercing every bottom; just as uncomfortable as our make-it-up-as-we-go manifesto. And of course, you will be allowed to smoke cigarettes inside, in fact, that’s compulsory.”
“If you visit the cinema in Devizes you can rest assured your family will not be exposed to dangerous leftie woke films. They will not be shown. No films of forced diversity, gendered power shifts, anything by Mark Ruffalo, or any containing boats, save perhaps ‘Titanic’; just films with good old traditional family values, like ‘Showgirls’ and ‘Lolita.”
The Ivana Trump biopic The Apprentice will be the first film screened at the reopened cinema, and is expected to attract huge interest.
A spokesperson for Devizes Town Council told Devizine they think this is, “a great initiative and an asset to our town.” They continued to express their delight and said, “I’m looking forward to the cinema reopening and inviting Danny Kruger back to Devizes so I can kiss the hem of his petticoat in the dark. We’re grateful for Reform’s contribution. I think all Devizes Town Councillors should show their gratitude by switching their chosen party affiliation to Reform, and if they don’t, I’ll ban them from my popular Facebook page, or call Donald to carpet bomb the town, thus liberating our people from the oppressive regime of The Devizes Gardens, or Guardians, or whatever stupid name they call themselves.”
Devizes wet wipe residents active on the Devizes Tissues (but bitter) Facebook group are said to have “shot their load” upon hearing the news about “sexy” Katie Hopkins’ appearance, as excitement builds for the town’s many gammon flagshaggers. Bert, a local fake profile, deliberately provoking poll maker and anchor with a capital W is said to be “besides himself,” likely because no one else would.
Hopefully, by next April Fools Day a visit to the cinema in Devizes will be a usual occurrence, and we will all be marching there in Nigel Faragührer football kit uniform. Thank you, Reform, and the Russian oligarchs who are gaslighting your fascist propaganda. I’m so happy about the cinema and its “free fags” policy, and, being as thick as a Hungry Horse’s Big Plate Special slice of gammon with the political awareness of a small pickled egg, I’m voting for you now.
It’s a question I’ve asked Chippenham singer-songwriter Harmony Asia on each rare occasion I catch her for a chat; if she’s planning to capture a slice of her wonderful performances on record. I guess I will have to find a new request now, but judging by her debut single released today, I Could Do This, it will probably be, when is the next one coming out?!
Yeah, it’s as moreish as Maltesers, deliciously soulful and simply sublime. Whilst I had high expectations it would be no less, the anticipation didn’t falter my delight upon hearing it. The presumption was Harmony Asia can do this, do this with distinction, and she did. I Could Do This is jazzy piano and feathering drum neo soul, and with Harmony’s soothing vocals causally tingling the coolest feelgood romance theme, it’s commercially viable contemporary pop; top marks from me!
There’s technical mastery which seems to come naturally to Harmony; the defined range of emotional depth, and raw passion akin to soul legends, yet retaining the coolness of artists like Sade or Sharon Woolf and Macy Gray. And while this single is on that level too, it’s written with equal skill. Listen to it, you’ll hear what I mean and your ears will love you forevermore….
It’s a Friday, just polishing off a big boy breakfast at New Society. Got the window seat; I ponder how beautiful Devizes Market Place looks from up here, and how we often take it for granted. There’s Ben Reed, Wiltshire Councillor for Devizes North, waving at me from below; he’s coming up for carrot cake, and to chew the fat over the first year with the Liberal Democrats at the helm of Wiltshire Council…. priorities; not till I’ve finished my sausages!
There was minimal bumps driving here, in comparison to how it has been. The Council are slowly playing catch up with our dilapidated roads, but potholes remains firm on my agenda, because while the main roads are getting TLC, it feels like Devizes is being left out. Despite a lesser public issue visibly, isn’t the spiralling costs of social care more important than potholes, or are the two holistically connected, if these potholes drive us to insanity?! Ben? He starts talking pubs; I’ve made a friend!
Far from being something Ben has researched, “but,” he started, “I think thirteen pubs might be the most of any council division in Wiltshire. It’s nice to have places to stop when you’re out and about delivering and canvassing.” For the record, it was relevant. I was praising the café.
It also served as an introduction to Ben’s enthusiastic bearing on the area he manages, explaining its diversity he continued, “there’s quite a lot of social housing, retirement complexes, and all the businesses. So, quite a lot going on.”
It is through this enthusiasm I’ll acknowledge while the public are keen to pick easy targets, like potholes, there’s so many other duties to being a Councillor we rarely contemplate. Ben told me he was due to meet an elderly lady straight after this who lives in Long Street and finds it difficult getting around town. “I’m going to try and work out what her routes are,” he said, “and maybe look at whether there are things I can report on the My Wilts app.” Pausing to consider pedestrians navigating our wobbly pavements might better take their chances on the dodgy roads, I’m determined to turn him to the subject of potholes! Is Devizes being left out?!
“It does feel a bit like that,” Ben agreed. “frankly, it’s going to be a problem for a while because the backlog is huge.” I will, later in our chat, praise Ben for his Councillor Facebook page, where, unlike others, there’s no negativity bashing the opposition, just feelgood posts, but sometimes fact is fact, the previous Conservative Wiltshire Council seriously neglected road repairs, leaving us in this state and passing the buck.
“I’ll try to steer away from being too tribal,” Ben affirmed, “because I don’t think it’s very helpful, but as I understand it, there was quite a bow wave of funding in the last couple of years as the election approached. I don’t know whether there was a realisation that this was a problem, but if you go back further than that, and this isn’t this isn’t particularly a Wiltshire problem, going back to 2010, when the Conservative government first came in, local authority funding across the board was really slashed. And highways were one of the things that councils chose to take the money away from. So there was a period where we fell behind with those preventative jobs. And now we’re chasing our tails. It’s a never-ending problem, and when you get a winter like we’ve just had with so much rain and then that freezes….”
As it being a national issue, I’ve seen better roads in other counties. Yet, we may believe Wiltshire hits the hotlist for the worst roads, probably because we use them regularly. But research suggests Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and others, long before Wiltshire gets a mention.
I could scrutinise the previous Conservative-led Wiltshire Council until suppertime, and I’m pleased someone else now has a stab at it. But, councillors on the opposition and ex-councillors who lost their seats, are quick to raise issues visible to the public, like the pothole debacle, whereas they would’ve avoided the subject when The Conservatives were in charge.
In considering the often unmentioned tasks, such as social care costs, exampling the Trowbridge car park fiasco, which I talked to Taylor Wright about, I worry there’s too much time taken up with political point scoring, and the council is far more disputative and argumentative now that the Tories are on the back foot and Reform makes their impact, against all common sense. To summarise, I’m gonna ask Ben how a council is supposed to find solutions to important and pressing countywide problems, when they spend months bickering about a carpark!
“Yeah,” Ben nods, I’m onto something! “I found probably the least enjoyable element so far has been those council meetings. It’s difficult to see some of the tactics as anything other than obstructive, unfortunately. The way funding is and the way policies get brought forward is the council officers look at our manifesto and make suggestions and then the administration says yes, or, can we tweak this, and quite often the things we end up doing are probably the things, to be completely honest, that the Conservatives would have done if they’d if they’d still been in power, and yet they end up opposing what often are, as far as I can see, the most the most sensible measures, and the carpark is a good example, I think.”
“It’s a strange situation,” Ben justifies the carpark fiasco thus, “having to provide free parking, and this covenant. But you’ll see this week, NCP, the big carpark developer, have gone into administration. So, if they’re not making money on carparks that they can actually charge people to park in, then you can see what a liability a carpark that we’re not allowed to charge for is. And it’s got to be rebuilt. And it’s going to cost us far more now than it would have been to incentivise the developer to knock it down and, you know, build something nice for Trowbridge.”
I can play “real” journalist, try to gauge Ben for marketable controversy by name-dropping troublesome local political busybodies, but he’s not taking the bait! I’m unconcerned, for that’s never my objective. New to politics, Ben was keen to express he’d never been the opposition, so doesn’t know what it feels like. Though, he comes across as genuine, an earnest and honest guy, tucking into his carrot cake.
There’s a phrase, ‘a week is a long time in politics,’ maybe it’s the opposite for local politics; it’s early days for this new Wiltshire Council and perhaps, optimistically, we need to be patient to see any fruition at base level.
The carpark was only an example, I was more after dirt on the bickering. Issues regarding waste, reducing the bin collections, and Reform’s pathetic failed bid to end net zero were all hitting points for the opposition, that we discussed later in our chat. I suggested we need some education on how to reduce waste, not just waste being collected, to which he agreed.
Disappointed by the reaction from the opposition and that “the petition that’s running doesn’t really go into detail,” Ben was keen to talk bins, and to defend the motion. “Your black bin collections are being reduced from two weekly to three weekly,” Ben said, but expressed, “alongside that, a weekly food waste collection is being introduced. So if you look at a six week period, people will actually be getting more for their money. There will be more collections over the year, just different collections, and hopefully there should be a lot less in the residual waste when the food waste comes out.” Besides, he pointed out, it’s a government requirement, “we have to we have to do it.”
For the opposition it’s a soundbite, easy to highlight your waste collection won’t be as regular under the Lib Dems, but Ben explained, “it’s just not true. One type of bin collection has been reduced, but you’ve got a new one which is a lot more frequent.Sadly, there is a bit of game playing.”
On the general bickering, “I do find that very energy-sapping,” Ben replied. “I try and stay away from it as much as I can. I think for the Conservative group, it’s a real change for them. It’s a period of adjustment. They’ve been in charge of Wiltshire Council pretty much from the outset. And I think, well, I hope they’ll find a bit of a friendlier way of conducting themselves. Because opposition is about fair criticism, it’s about scrutiny. They’re perfectly entitled to raise complaints. The roads, you know, it’s difficult to see how we can be criticised too much on those at the moment. Up until last month, we were working on the old Conservative budget. We’ve allocated some additional capital spend for the next few years. Hopefully we can get away from kind of reactive maintenance.”
“January, there were 2,700 pothole repairs, which is a record month ever. It’s an unwanted record, but, I think up to mid-March, they did about 5,000. And there’s normally, I think about 15,000 done a year. That’s quite a lot ahead of schedule. They’ll be concentrating on repairs until June and then hopefully they’ll get to a place where they can look at preventative maintenance. Station Road is a case in point. It’s been due for a proper resurfacing, but you can’t do that while Northgate Street is still closed. So as soon as that’s open, I’ll be pushing for Station Road to have its resurfacing, and they’ll come to Northgate Street later.”
It makes me wonder, that they created a road repair taskforce, if the workers are allowed to think for themselves and bypass the red tape, because that’s what appears to delay the process. You download the app, report one pothole at a time in a road of thousands, which goes through evaluation processes, paperwork, venturing out to spray-paint a square around it, or pop a cone in there. Whereas a taskforce could deal with it immediately. Because I see a repaired stretch of road, and often there’s potholes centimetres after it! Are they restricted to deal with what it says on a piece of paperwork, and not permitted to think, ‘hey, we’ve got a bit of spare tarmac, we could just carry on a wee bit, and cover that trench too?!’
“I’m told that there is a bit of leeway for that,” Ben stressed. “Potholes get prioritised, a defect or a pothole gets categorised. So, if it’s in a particularly dangerous area, or of a particular size or depth, then it gets a P1, and it’s supposed to be repaired within 24 hours. If there’s a crew going around doing those, they probably will ignore some smaller ones and just get the ones on their list ticked off. So that’s probably why that arises. But I think in practice, if there’s a massive priority one pothole and then some quite big ones obviously visible nearby, they probably would repair those before they move on, I’d like to think. But it depends how busy they are and what they’ve got on their list for that day.”
I can’t really argue with that, state of our roads, they must be busy bees! Ben also suggested technical issues with the MyWilts app needs reviewing, that issues raised by the public can be marked as closed even if the issue hasn’t been resolved. “I don’t think they should be closed until they’re repaired,” he said, “we’ll see what the review of the app comes up with, in terms of improvements.”
It’s not the roads though taking up the budget, annoying as it is to hit a pothole, the bigger picture is knowing vulnerable people are safely cared for. “People often don’t realise that the bulk of our funding, whether that’s from government or from council tax payments, is pretty much spent before we even decide what to do with it. And social care takes up a really big chunk of that. So, children’s and adults, vulnerable people’s services is, I forget the exact percentage, but it’s certainly over 60% of all Wiltshire Council’s expenditure.”
“That’s an ever-increasing chunk,” Benjustified, “which makes it really difficult to find money for other statutory services, like library services are statutory, highways too, obviously. Once you get beyond that, you’re really having to find pennies to do things. Leisure, for instance, is not a statutory service, but Wiltshire’s managed to keep a reasonable number of leisure centres. I think, compared to some local authorities, we’ve done quite well there, building a new leisure centre in Trowbridge, which is coming on very well.”
“But yeah, social care is the headline thing, I think, for councils. And it’s very important to look after people who need help. I’m recently been added to the Children’s Select Committee, which is the main scrutiny committee for all the children’s services. They look at how schools are performing, school attendance, and the leisure and youth services we offer. I’m really enjoying that actually. I don’t have children, so I thought, well, maybe this isn’t the right committee for me. But no, of all the committees I’m on, I think I get most out of that. So yeah, it’s been good.”
We talked for some time on MPs, praising Brian Matthew, and we agreed switching parties, as Danny Kruger recently did in Marlborough should meet with a by-election. But the focus needed shifting back to council level, so I asked Ben what he thought the biggest changes at Wiltshire Council has been, and how transparent they are.
“We certainly want it to feel people are closer to their council,” Ben responded. “They can ask questions and get answers, and then we will be, transparent with people. Yeah, there’s criticism been levelled about, some meetings go into part two, which is confidential business. And, like the carpark, we were accused of doing things behind closed doors. But this is completely standard stuff that happened under the last administration. If there’s commercial sensitive information, then it doesn’t, or personal; if individuals are being spoken about, that isn’t going to be in the public domain. And that’s the same everywhere.”
The opposition play on this, and it reflects badly?
“Well, it does,” Ben agreed. “There’s no reason why people shouldn’t take what they’re reading from them at face value. But to be honest, I wish more people would tune in to the council meetings on YouTube. Because to me, If you watch a bit of that, then it’s pretty clear, to me at least, who’s trying to get things done, and who’s trying to stop things moving forward.”
With public engagement, prior to the meeting, Ben stressed surgeries aren’t popular. I said he shouldn’t take it personally, as they often happen during the working day, and supposed many of us, myself guilty too, prefer to have a whinge on Facebook rather than address the councillors in person!
“Probably, yeah,” he figured.” I want to make sure if someone does want to get in touch with me, they can. So the more channels and opportunities there are for that, the better. And that’s partly on me to go out to events and knock on people’s doors and sort my focused newsletters out three or four times a year. But, it does need someone to make the effort to drop me a line. It can be a phone call, an e-mail, a Facebook message. They can come and see me at a surgery. I am trying to do the surgeries evenings or weekends, so hopefully a bit friendlier times for people.”
“I’ll answer comments on Facebook if I think I sensibly can. Sometimes people make comments, and you can understand why, people let off steam, but maybe they don’t know the full facts of what the issue is. And sometimes it’s complex to explain that. So it’s difficult on a Facebook message.”
And people can take it the wrong way. It’s just words. Herein I raised the Kebab Shop fire as an example, an issue Ben confirmed had been his most pressing, and being such a complex one, has learned not to “over promise.” He originally said the site will be demolished in February, we’re moving into April. Devizes is a lovely place, but it’s easy to think the town’s in a state, and everything that’s promised is just pie in the sky.
“What would be a worry for a town is if there wasn’t these developments happening,” Ben replied, “if it wasn’t a place where developers wanted to invest and create new facilities and new homes.”
“Devizes, seems to be moving in the right direction, and I know it’s frustrating with the delays, but I think there’s so much light at the end of the tunnel. Northgate Street, the kebab house, there’s been a perfect storm, but it’s really unfortunate in terms of the location, the type of building and the damage that was done, ended up being propped up like it was.”
“Quite apart from the human aspect of it and the loss of business and livelihoods, and the neighbouring properties are both quite badly damaged as well. Hopefully they can get on and get it repaired. And it has dragged. If I’d been able to hire a wrecking ball and pitch up there myself, I would have done it!”
“It was not the easiest thing to inherit. It was six months after the fire that I won the election, and at that stage, I don’t think the owner had worked through all the insurance issues. But eventually the demolition application went in. They were supposed to do it in February, as you say. They hadn’t finalised the partition wall agreement, because they need to make sure when they knock it down that they don’t do more damage to number one and number three. And then the contractor wasn’t available until April. So we are where we are.”
Our chat continued onto Station Road’s resurface and its traffic flow. Ben agreed lessons needed learning between the Highway’s team and Building control team, and he raised other issues, such as the condemned old Royal Oak building.
“They’re converting it into apartments,” he said. “It was a terrible state, but it’s a listed building, so it’s really good to see it getting back into use. Unfortunately, they’re going to need to close half of New Park Street to sort out the water and electricity connections. So, I’ve been talking with the traffic team at Wiltshire Council, about when is a good time; there’s no good time! I think the offer they’ve made to the developer is do it overnight, so there won’t be any closures in the day. So, we’re waiting for that to be scheduled.”
“It’s only a short closure, but what we don’t want is any overlap with Northgate Street still being closed. So, the highways team are always balancing these things against each other.”
It was great to meet and chat with Ben, for there’s many issues which need clarification. Short newspaper articles on a relative single subject cannot provide as much information, and being surgeries aren’t popular and the public tend to need matchsticks to keep their eyes open watching a video of council meetings, it is all too easy to be misinformed about Wiltshire Council! I believe social media posts from the opposition parties should be taken with a pinch of salt, and while criticism is fair game, things are looking positive a year into the newly elected Lib Dem council.
David slew Goliath with a sling and a stone. Bishop’s Cannings Parish Council used evidence, against a group of Devizes Town councillors’ more circumstantial land grab pitch, at Wiltshire Council’s Community Governance Review, and just like David, triumphantly…..
More war of words than any military action, though the latter would’ve made a better scoop for me, the underdogs came up trumps in a surprising result!
Rather than admit it’s for financial reasons, the Devizes Town councillors fluttered around premises such as they were rattled by messages from residents’ misunderstandings as to what council they came under, plus staking a claim to the Lidl store, in their pitch to the council to transfer areas of the town currently run by Bishops Cannings Parish Council to Devizes Town Council instead.
But the parish council had strong evidence in their arsenal, that they’re successful in community commitments, and used villagers’ statements to present a more heartfelt plea. They even mentioned football, for what the commendable Bishop’s Cannings FC has done for all ages and abilities with their local grassroots football team supersedes any other local club, and serves the whole community of Devizes and its many other villages.
The Committee voted by 5 votes to 3 to recommend that the semi-urban area and the rural area south of Nurtsteed School should both be retained within the Parish of Bishops Cannings.
Though the battle was won, it’s dubious if the war is over, for while this will not be subject to further consultation, it will go to a free vote amongst Wiltshire Councillors, likely in July.
Chair of Bishops Cannings Parish Council, Cllr Darren Bone sent a message to the residents. He said, “Cllr Iain Wallis of Devizes Town Council and Simon Williams, the Town Clerk, made a joint presentation in which they tried to persuade the Committee that the only correct result would be the wholesale transfer of the semi-urban area of Bishops Cannings Parish to Devizes. They also sought the transfer of rural land south of Nursteed School. Some of the arguments were new. All were subjective and offered without evidence. They tried to convince the Committee that 1200 homes and the families of over 2000 electors would all be better off under the control of Devizes.”
“In response, I introduced Mr Chris Nicholls, whose letter in support of the Parish Council and the retention of the semi-urban area was included in our detailed submission to the Committee. I am indebted to Chris for his honest, passionate statement. It was well-received and carried weight.”
“I then addressed the Committee in turn, countering the vague notions which had been put forward by representatives of Devizes Town Council. The wealth of verified, tangible evidence presented previously by Bishops Cannings Parish Council in its submission and in person was reiterated. We sought a clear and unambiguous recommendation that the Parish’s boundaries should remain as they currently were. Further agreement was sought for a change of name for the Parish.”
But the good news for Bishops Cannings Parish Council wasn’t over yet. Unexpectedly, once the committee debated the issue, they voted to consult with both Devizes and Bishops Cannings Councils, and the public on whether two potential transfers should occur, albeit this time from Devizes Town Council to Bishops Cannings Parish. Whoa there, it’s all gone a bit Treaty of Versailles here, if Devizes has to surrender significant territory, guaranteed someone’s knickers are going to get in a twist!
Despite it being a more common occurrence, where land is urbanly adjoined to a town, community governance reviews tend to side with the town, in this case it seems it was not only a loss for the Devizes Town councillors, but a complete backfire!
Cllr Darren Bone continued his message to the people of Bishops Cannings, “Today was a good day for the Parish of Bishops Cannings, for the Council and for its 2,628 electors and their families. The Council’s transformation, achievements and intent were universally praised by the Committee. Special thanks go to Mr Nicholls and to Cllr Philip Whitehead, our Unitary Councillor, who both spoke powerfully and eloquently.”
Congratulations to Bishops Cannings Parish Council; treat yourself to a cupcake, while the Devizes Town councillors can have some humble pie!
The first time I heard the name Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours, I presumed their sound might be folk or blues inspired. Judging a book by its cover, because while this Wiltshire collective’s debut single How it Feels might pertain such elements, I was pleasantly surprised to find it also jumping with feelgood soul….
Taken from an upcoming album of the same name, How it Feels is brass-blowing, high energy, sunny side of the street music, and I’d wager we all need a bit of that these days.
Piano-driven rock, gripping onto early Springsteen, or Elton John even, uptempo yet melodic, with an instant and irresistible hook. Yet when I listened, I was filled with imaginations of later new wave mod, when it became the staple pop of the eighties; this wouldn’t look out of place on a Style Council album. I’ll tell you how How itFeels feels; it feels alive and kicking!
Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours are quite the expert collective. Dave Turner is the bluebearded frontman pianist, Helen Robertson plays cello and adds those soulful backing vocals with Phil Cooper, who is also on bass.
All backed by guitarist Rich Godfrey and drummer Coby Franklin-Turner. The brass section knocking the energy into this song is provided by trumpeter and flugel horn player John Hare.
Shame I missed them at 7 Hills last weekend now I’ve heard this cracking single, but made up they’ll be at our newly opened The Fold this Friday, 27th March, at The Lamb in Devizes, with JP Oldfield in support. It’s free, hope to see you there?!
How many Brontë sisters can you name? Which books did the sisters write between them? Can you name them?
Did you get that there were three sisters? That wrote seven books? You may have thought of “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights”, but what about “Agnes Grey”? Or “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”. You may have recalled Charlotte and Emily Brontë…
But what about Anne Brontë? Author of those two last named novels? Does she, or they, feature on your literary radar?
Congratulations if they do – you are an English Literature graduate at least, or one of those weird people that know loads of usually useless knowledge that people want to have on their pub quiz team that then drop you like a stone once the winnings are divvied up, and you wander home alone, smelling vaguely of stale BO and loneliness.
So, step forward the other other Brontë, Anne. The one everybody forgets if they ever knew of her to start with. And is embraced by Sarah Gordon’s play performed this week at the Rondo Theatre, Larkhall, Bath by the “in house” theatre company, RTC.
Anne, as per the above, is the centre of this play, but in many ways its really about the fractious, loving, abusive, and caring, relationship between her and Charlotte as we see Anne systematically abused firstly in her efforts to be a governess, and when finally escaping the oppression of service, receiving little better from her eldest sister… while Anne eventually becomes the world’s first feminist writer.
The story covers a simple timeline of the Brontë sisters adulthood, with appearances of drunken brother Branwell, though there is a little poetic licence over some chronology to help the flow of the narrative. I have to throw that in for the three of you reading this that are actually internationally renowned experts on the Brontës and may otherwise think I missed it. So there. I didn’t. For everybody else – its not important and the story works well as a result. I blame Branwell’s booze befuddled brain…
Any’ow – as they may say in West Yorkshire – their basic history is on Wikipedia so I won’t reproduce it here. Suffice to say all three Brontës in their own way produced magnificent works that have stood the test of time, and Kate Bush’s singing, before Anne and Emily succumbed to tuberculosis following Branwell’s previous demise. The water in Haworth has a lot to answer for.
Charlotte died of complications in pregnancy – maybe she didn’t drink the water. None of them made the age of forty, and the younger two barely thirty at best. Tragedy had also struck the other two totally unknown sisters – Elizabeth who had died aged ten, and Maria aged eleven.
“Underdog” is a quite superb piece of writing; Sarah Gordon has lifted a passingly interesting family history and created a vibrant soap opera (in the best possible way!) about three siblings all destined for greatness, with hugely differing personalities. Of their love and support for each other; their internecine rivalries; their differences. Anne, at first demure then latterly strong and quietly confident, Emily, abrupt yet watchful, and Charlotte – a domineering bully that gaslit her sisters, particularly Anne and most definitely herself. Charlotte opens the show with a 4th wall monologue about pious men looking down on women, but is portrayed as being no better herself.
The three leads are mesmeric. Their characterisation is sublime, magnificent. Josie Mae-Ross plays Charlotte, Naomi Miller, Emily, and Alana Wright, Anne. The three bond so well on stage, with amazing chemistry, they really feel like three sisters. It’s a line heavy play for the three of them, as well as the portrayal of their characters on top and they are on stage for pretty much the entire two hours that the play runs for. Chapeau all round.
Branwell is played by Natalie Prescott, swapping her natural North Cheshire vowels for West Yorkshire ones and crossing the Pennines to do so. There’s a suitably gruesome reminder of the results of TB and Natalie captures Branwell’s self-destructive insouciance to a tee. Natalie also partakes in various ensemble roles along with the other members of the cast Antonia White, Jade Wright, Sarah Horrex and Sophie Kerr. Their slickness between several cameo style roles each is commendable, and peaks with a brilliant scene of literary critics discussing the sisters’ works in deprecating terms. No spoilers here but the show is worth seeing just for this one particular ninety second scene.
You’ll have noticed I am sure eight female names for eight cast members – yes dear reader, it’s an all-female cast – as befits a play about the world’s first feminist writer. This is all pulled together by director Helen Taylor with great vision and pace. The set is wonderfully simple doing just enough to set the scene and allow the actors to deliver in an uncluttered space.
Tech as ever at the Rondo is delivered as excellently as ever by Alex Latham, and the costumes are simply perfect – take a bow, as is often the way, Chrissy Fryers. The original music for the show is provided by the maestro that is Moray Macdonald and all of these creatives are more than ably supported by producer Yvonne Paulley, Stage Management Lylou Sharp and Olivia Lynch with publicity and poster design by Meg Robertson and Cate Nunn respectively.
You don’t have to be a Brontë fanboy or fangirl to enjoy this show. It has a quality that live theatre brings that watching a screen just doesn’t have… the immediacy of the action, the intimacy of the space, the direct connection with the cast, and it has this in spades. It is simply one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen, and I am fortunate enough to watch a lot of quite excellent theatre that is well worthy of the highest praise.
You could do far worse than blow a whole fifteen quid, cheaper than a pizza and a pint, on a ticket to this wonderful show this week. I even urge you not to miss it.
To clear up any confusion, Trowbridge’s old town hall is no longer the town hall, but The Old Town Hall. I have no idea, nor care to know if there’s a new town hall; that’s irrelevant. Whilst still owned by thecouncil, it was refurbished and reopened as a charity funded arts centre and cultural hub last October…..
I met a great bloke there called Tom, he used to run Bath’s venue Moles, now he’s steering events at this glorious grade II listed building, originally opened in 1889 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It is an utterly stunning space of Victorian splendour with acoustics from the heavens; nice to note it’s in good hands.
In equal splendour was the reason I’m here, for the 10 Hills Spring Music Festival. Congrats if you spotted the deliberate mistake, there were only ever seven hills; I’m rounding it up as if it’s a score out of ten, perhaps I should add an extra hill or five onto that for good measure!
If forced to find a nick-picking fault with this event, I could suggest a lack of chairs inside the hall, considering the higher end of the age demographic in attendance. But the concentration was on the music, an elaborate concert-festival, and the quality and quantity of this was absolutely mindblowing, if not particularly diverse.
7 Hills regularly organise music events at The Night Jar in Bath, including an annual festival. Chris Hoar of Courting Ghosts explained he, “reached out to them initially to say I was planning a festival in the newly renovated Old Town Hall, just to check it didn’t clash with them, and Matt said let’s do it together in Trowbridge as a spring festival.” And here we are finally in spring, I’ve been looking forward to this.
Americana, folk-rock was the order of the day, everything uniformed to the influences of Courting Ghosts. So if you wanted to go looking for a dance tent, this wasn’t for you. But the standard of music was sublime throughout the day and into the evening, and that’s what made 7 Hills so spectacular.
Best festival of the year I could jest, because it’s my first, still, I believe I’m going to be hard pressed to find a lineup as good as this, and the craziest element was, while I knew most of the local acts booked for the afternoon, I was in the dark about the later ones, but far from disappointed.
Jess Chivers
Perhaps the only one I saw to deviate from Americana was Jess Chivers, who delivered a great set on an acoustic stage adjacent to the main one, as this had subtle elements of punk. This second stage assured consistent entertainment whilst bands prepped on the main stage. I believe because I needed sustenance I missed Phil Cooper’s set, drafted in due to a cancellation, and a few others before my arrival, but Leander Morales polished off the acoustic stage with an energetic and poignant set.
Thieves
Sadly I missed Fly Yeti Fly, meeting Darren on the stairs as I came in. Love this duo too, they remind me of Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields in the Blue Lagoon! My arrival, I hoped, would be timed for Concrete Prairie, as it was, lovable bluegrass collective Thieves were doing their wonderful thing on the second stage, while the prairie tuned on the main, under the stained glassed lancet; confirming I’m going to love this event.
Concrete Prairie
Make no mistake, Concrete Prairie was on fire, I expected no less. Undeniably the liveliest set at the festival, they gave us the classics from their 2022 self titled debut album, finishing on their magnum-opus, the incredible crescendo-hugging Devil Dealt The Deck, but between them blessed our ears with some new songs from their forthcoming album. While Joe set no date for its release, the songs came across livelier than the sombre mood of the debut album. They’re perfectionists, providing me with faith there will be no sophomore slump.
The band were incomplete too, Phil Cooper taking bass, and original fiddler in the band, Georgia, filling in for her replacement. Still they rocked it, and I’d have been content if I had to go home straight after them!
Courting Ghosts
Obviously with Chris Hoar at the helm, Courting Ghosts would play, and I could imagine no other following the Prairie, even if their overall mood is more sombre; this is music for the soul. Counting Ghosts surely set the mood for the remaining acts, this smooth Americania with influences from both country folk and jazzy soul. They gifted us a new song, to be the title track of their next EP, Baby, I Bleed for you, and sparks flew.
Orla
Everything chronologically from now on would be new to me, but all of it flying miles above my expectations. A great example came from the acoustic stage immediately after the Ghosts. Orla is a young singer-songwriter from Bath, and clearly one to watch. With crystal vocals she gave us some divine originals, including a particularly poignant one called Mouthwash, and made Crowded House’s principal her own.
Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project
Former Noah and the Whale, Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project followed with a dynamite set. As evening set in a professional precedence, I figured this was going to get continuously better. Multiple AMA UK Award winner Hannah White, the best yet, intertwined devout stage presence with a heartfelt singalong, she captivated, projecting her pure lyricism like dripping honey. I especially liked the tune with the reggae offbeat, but overall, I left wondering if, or how it could possibly get any better.
Hannah White
If I’m now a Hannah White fan, and all presented before us was of a quality so high it would be impossible to fault, it should be no negative reflection in comparison to suggest something here wasn’t entirely my cuppa. No doubt, any Ohio artist signed by Peter Gabriel is going to be of an excellent standard, and soloist and loop pedal god, Joseph Arthur certainly is, it was just the bar was set so high by Hannah it levelled off here somewhat.
Joseph Arthur
So, despite the highest of qualities, I wondered now if, for my personal tastes, anything could possibly top Hannah, and casted a preconceiving critical eye over Our Man in The Field as they set up. They certainly had an impressive ensemble, seven piece with an upright bassist, organist and everything. The lead guitarist had something of a Bill Wyman debonair, while the frontman presented himself as a funky truckstop dweller. Grasping tight to my newfound adoration of Hannah, this would be interesting, if nothing more.
That’s when the vibe hits you best, when it’s a surprise! Our Man in The Field has the perfect Americana balance, components of country, but with such soulful jazzy swagger, they had me off-guard and now totally hooked, the first to entrance me wholly. Our Man in The Field is sublimely captivating.
Our Man in The Field
Shit, I realise now I should’ve put more trust in Chris’s knowledge! He has presented a lineup which, despite me thinking at numerous intervals, he’s not going to top this, he somehow did! I made up my mind then, I had to witness the final act even if an asteroid hit The Shires shopping centre.
The Delines, self-labelled as “retro country soul” from Portland, Oregon headlined. With everything previous so hyped in the hamster wheel of my mind, it mattered not if this suited me, I could leave now, more than content. I couldn’t leave. I imagined myself off the lines, driving one of those poetic American roads, planning to stop off to drink my soul away at a roadside bar, but when you walk in a band playing in a back room is so inspiring you figure life is too short as they blissfully cure your blues.
The Delines
This was gorgeous. Utterly brilliantly steady, smooth with no need to fire up, just drifting with narratives akin to Guthrie, jazzy and soulful as Springsteen’s early recordings and the Asbury Park scene, on a Gil Scott-Heron level, and topped with the honest banter of a band in their prime; there was no need for them to apologise for Trump, there’s two bridges between us, they can break the political one, but cannot ever do the same to the creative arts one. I wished my friend Chrissy could see this, this is what her band Burn the Midnight Oil should attain to, this was blended bliss, American music without borders.
Impossible for me to compare what Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee was like at Trowbridge Town Hall with the events now being run at it, but 7 Hills felt like it could’ve matched it, even without cherries cooked in flaming brandy, and the range of community events at the venue breathes positive new light into Trowbridge town centre.
This extensive belter of eighties-fashioned high-fidelity pop waits for no man, a sonic blast opens it, and the riff wouldn’t sound alien appearing in a John Hughes coming-of-age eighties movie. Visualise Jud, Molly, Emilio et all, dancing around a school library to this latest track from Swindon’s Atari Pilot.
After our glorious appraisal of their previous single Right Crew, Wrong Captain in July, they reckon I’m going to be fair on them again, but really, there’s nothing to dislike about Blank Pages. A review in which they quoted me suggesting, “this sound is fresh, kind of straddling a bridge between space-rock and danceable indie.” Here though, save the strong bassline, the space-rock element is lessened and retrospective synth-pop chimes in a racing beat, twisting this into a real grower on the ears.
Press release aptly cites “everything from Springsteen to Daft punk, Kathleen Edwards to Love,” as influences. As if Daft Punk would work with Springsteen, but if they did, I’d imagine something rather like this. And that alone, makes for an interesting sound, again akin to what Talk in Code are putting out locally, perhaps more so for this single. While we could hinge on an inglorious comeback from an eighties pop star and be thoroughly disappointed by their timeworn platitude and fame induced narcissistic attitude, nostalgia has never been so energetic and fresh when it’s channelled as an influence rather than comeback or tacky tribute act.
There’s a backstory about Atari Pilot, I may have mentioned before but worth reminding. After their debut album “Navigation of The World by Sound” in 2011, a long hiatus took in a serious cancer battle for Onze. But getting a second chance at life gave him the inspiration to get back to writing, and Atari Pilot reformed in 2018 with an acoustic set at the Swindon Shuffle. Reforming the band was actually planned from his hospital bed.
With this in mind, Onze describes the thinking behind this great song, “Blank Pages, like the other songs for the struggle, were inspired by being diagnosed with and recovering from cancer. The songs reflect the highs and lows of life and the struggles we are faced with and have to overcome to reach where we want to be.”
There’s a heartening theme of struggle in the face of change, “it’s also about trying to recognise that we can’t escape ourselves, and asks whether we can use our history and baggage to fire a brighter future,” Onze explains.
It’s a DIY production, recorded and mixed in Onze’s home studio by using Logic Pro X, but sounds stunningly professional. Atari Pilot are Onze (vox,) Paj (bass,) Frosty (guitar) and drummer Andy, and we look forward to hearing more from them. I even managed to review this one without mentioning retro-gaming:
Only gamers of a certain age will know of The Attic Bug. Hedonistic socialiser, Miner Willy had a party in his manor and wanted to retire for the evening. Just how a miner in the eighties could’ve afforded a manor remains a mystery; but that erroneous flaw was the tip of the iceberg. In this ground-breaking ZX Spectrum platform game, the Ribena Kid’s mum appeared to guard Willy’s bedroom, tapping her foot impatiently. Touch this mean rotund mama and she’d kill you, unless you’d tided every bit of leftovers from the bash. Turned out, months after the game’s release, one piece, in the Attic, was impossible to collect. Until this glitch became public knowledge, players were fuming as an intolerable bleeping version of “If I was a Rich Man,” perpetually looped them to insanity.
I swear, if I hear that tune, even some forty years on I cringe; the haunting memory of my perseverance with the impossible Jetset Willy. Music in videogames has come a long way, thank your chosen deity. Yet in this trend of retrospection I terror at musical artists influenced by these cringeworthy clunky, bleeping melodies of early Mario, or Sonic soundtracks; like techno never happened, what are they thinking of? It was with caution, then, when I pressed play on the new single from Swindon band “Atari Pilot.” I had heard of them, but not heard them. I was pleasantly surprised.
For starters, this is rock, rather than, taken from the band’s name, my preconceived suspicion I would be subject to a lo-fi electronica computer geek’s wet dream. While there is something undeniably retrospective gamer about the sonic synth blasts in Right Crew, Wrong Captain, it is done well, with taste and this track drives on a slight, space-rock tip. Though comparisons are tricky, Atari Pilot has a unique pop sound. No stranger to retrospection, with echoey vocals and a cover akin to an illustration from Captain Pugwash, still this sound is fresh, kind of straddling a bridge between space-rock and danceable indie. Oh, and it’s certainly loud and proud.
A grower, takes a few listens and I’m hooked. Their Facebook blurb claims to “change the rules of the game, take the face from the name, trade the soul for the fame…I’m an Atari Pilot.” After their debut album “Navigation of The World by Sound” in 2011, a long hiatus took in a serious cancer battle. But Atari Pilot returned in 2018 with an acoustic set at the Swindon Shuffle. The full band gathered once again the following year with live shows and a new set of “Songs for the Struggle.” This will be the title of their forthcoming follow-up album, “When we were Children” being the first single from it, and now this one, “Right Crew, Wrong Captain,” is available from the end of July.
Its theme is of isolation, “and defiance, after the ship has gone down,” frontman Onze informs me. There’s a haunting metaphor within the intelligent lyrics, “you nail yourself to the mast and you pray that everything lasts, you just want to know hope floats, when the water rises, coz it’s gonna rise, take a deep breath and count to ten, sink to the bottom and start again.”
There’s a bracing movement which dispels predefined ideas of indie and progresses towards something encompassing a general pop feel, of bands I’ve highlighted previously, Talk in Code and Daydream Runaways, Atari Pilot would not look out of place billed in a festival line-up with these acts, and would add that clever cross between space-rock with shards of the videogames of yore, yet, not enough to warrant my aforementioned fears of cringeworthy bleeps. Here’s hoping it’s “game over” for that genre. That said, thinking back, when you bought your Atari 2600, if you recall, oldie, you got the entire package of two joysticks and those circler controllers too, as standard; could you imagine that much hardware included with a modern console? Na, mate, one controller, you’ve got to buy others separately.
So, if decades to come we have a band called X-Box or PlayStation Pilot, I’d be dubious, but Atari gave us quality, a complete package; likewise, with Atari Pilot!
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!
devizine.com 