Tag: Atari Pilot

Never Changing the Rules With Atari Pilot

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. 

Love it! I don’t want these rules to change!

LinkTree

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Hot Juice Project at The Three Crowns

Whoa! What happened last night at the trusty Three Crowns?! What happened last night at the Three Crowns has clearly happened before, and happens most…

Ruby Darbyshire: God is Offline

Wiltshire singer-songwriter Ruby Darbyshire, you’re most likely familiar with, unless you joined Devizine family reader’s circle today, has a new song on YouTube, one she’s…

Large It Norm, in Trowbridge!

Yes, we’ve got to praise Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall like we should, because Fatboy Slim is going to be right there, but not right now;…

Emergency Alert: Wessex Water Hosepipe Ban!

Surprised your mobile didn’t sound the apocalyptic alarm to notify you about Wessex Water’s hosepipe ban?! Then, you’re a gullible idiot! But being 22,239 voters…

Atari Pilot are Waiting for the Summer

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!

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JAZZ – Our Local Guide

Andy Fawthrop All That Jazz – Nice! D-Town certainly punches above its weight when it comes to providing a vibrant and varied music scene.  It…

An Apology to Councillor Wallis

I would like to apologise to Devizes Town Councillor Iain Wallis for incorrect quotes in a spoof article concerning a BBC Wiltshire video we criticised…

Jurassic Hillworth Park!

You know, there’s umpteen articles, studies, and even a six and half minute YouTube video explaining that Steven Spielberg’s 1993 family sci-fi movie Jurassic Park…

Song of the Week: Atari Pilot

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 destination you 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!

bandcamp width=100% height=120 track=539157991 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

Song of the Day 1: Atari Pilot

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.

  • Hot Juice Project at The Three Crowns

    Whoa! What happened last night at the trusty Three Crowns?! What happened last night at the Three Crowns has clearly happened before, and happens most weekends; Devizes folk old and particularly the young come to party….

    I’m aware of that much. But if the quality of the party rests in the hands of whoever is at the control tower, I’d not witnessed The Hot Juice Project boiling over the sides of this saucepan before.

    All I know is one half of this duo, with the capability of sounding like they’ve doubled-up and are an exceptionally loud four-piece band, Jake Lockhart, as an acoustic singer and a short-lived frontman of local mod covers band, The Roughcut Rebels. In the few occasions I’ve met him, he usually comes across charming but mild-mannered, even slightly diffident. 

    The last time I met him was at the private invite opening of The Birdhouse in Trowvegas. He was entertaining acoustically solo, but being the nature of the event was to show off this fabulous new venue, participants were engrossed in conversation, rather than taking much notice of Jake. It was here we had a quick chat, as he shyly told me of The Hot Juice Project he’d created; a duo where he has creative freedom to replicate covers using loop pedals and other techy tricks.

    I made a promise to him to check this out, next time he was doing it locally. So, despite my pilgrimage to the Southgate for Talk in Code, I decided to ensure I allot enough time to attend this too; glad I did, as The Three Crowns was having it.

    They’d arrived via a multi-act all dayer gig in the Sham, reportedly under-attended due to insufficient advertising. Equally it can often be a slow start here, where the trend for the younger regulars, governed by economics, is to attend the local Spoons, then descend on the Three Crowns like an exodus, once they’ve acquired sufficient intoxication levels. But hey, despite a humble gathering, The Hot Juice Project were loud and proud, knocking out contemporary indie, punky covers with all the desirable force and quality of a full band.

    I returned from the Gate suspecting this wonderful pub and the only one of its kind in town would be considerably fuller. I wasn’t mistaken. It was positively booming there, as The Hot Juice Project were in full flight, and their element. Knocking out beloved covers with such gusto, I was surprised to note Jake and his drummer and second vocalist Jack’s insane diversity and ability to absolutely and wholeheartedly rock out!

    If, despite his earned accomplishments as a skilled singer and guitarist, Jake has been wrongly typecast in genre and style, possibly in order to cut his teeth on the local circuit, here, where singalong hard rock covers are worshipped, he shines like a beacon in an otherwise blackened seascape. 

    The Hot Juice Project selected a repertoire likely to be rejected from the average covers duo, for being too technical, or too hard sounding; such as their grunge finale smelling of Nirvana’s Teen Spirit, and especially those involving raps, such as The Chilli Peppers. But this duo deliver them with fired frenzy, and adroit precision.

    It was indeed a sight to see, and for me, a pleasant surprise. I usually take grunge and modern harder-edged rock with a pinch, but the crowd was lapping it up. And it would be impossible for me to deny, if live music was a parcel delivery, The Hot Juice Project is not the courier to dump it in your blue wheelie bin and piss off! They’re the supermarket delivery boy eager for appraisal, who stands and waits until you’ve checked everything off and are satisfied. Perhaps even going overboard and offering to stack it in your fridge for you!

    The result is a content crowd at the Three Crowns, and another success for the pub who knows exactly what buttons to press. 

    I must say, a few seconds delay with wandering between pubs could’ve hindered my ability to scribe both reviews for them. Two teenagers on a moped revved their hairdryer up the curb of the High Street and rallied full force through the dark walkway between the old Wilkos and redundant Four Seasons pub, only to alert two Devizes bobbies, moments before I would’ve walked through it!

    Bored kids showing off I figured, ambiguously excused for their irresponsible and dangerous act, because there’s “nothing to do” in Devizes.

    Whereas whatever opinion the curtain-twitchers might make of youngsters drinking in a pub, the Three Crowns strictly age check and take safeguarding as paramount. At least they are contained there, and enjoying themselves. And when they are entertained they are not impelled to cause trouble or act in such a manner. 

    There’s never trouble at the Three Crowns. Townsfolk of all ages respect what the team has supplied far too much, and this reflects into a positive atmosphere with every attendance made. I tell landlord Simon, “they’re actually far better behaved than my generation ever was!” Fact!

    It is a testament to what can be achieved in an era of financial doubt and questionable management affecting the hospitality industry, and, as it continues to source high quality entertainment, the cover bands are welcomed by the masses. Many come and rock it, the Hot Juice Project made its mark last night to a colossal applause. The town should be proud of what a welcoming and universal establishment and a vital palace for letting your hair down the Three Crowns remains to be.

    Trending….

    Jol Rose For Tomorrow

    New single from Swindon’s finest Americana singer-songwriter Jol Rose, the kind of artist who’ll finish a song and leave a jammed pub in such awe…

    Keep reading

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  • Talking in Code at The Southgate, Devizes

    I’ve got this Jetpack app on my phone which allows me to make adjustments to the site. There’s a new feature on it notifying me of articles published on this day in previous years. It revealed that on this day last year I fondly reviewed Talk in Code’s single launch gig at The Vic in Swindon. Some things never change; last night I dropped into the Southgate where Talk in Code smashed it again…

    Some stage banter included drummer Jambo claiming he had a “lot to do back here,” reminded me of the year they played the Fulltone Festival where he temporarily mislaid his drumsticks! 

    At the Vic Talk in Code play their homeground, whereas The Southgate is usually affiliated with blues or folk aficionados, and the Fulltone is an orchestral event. Although these three gigs vastly contrast, Talk in Code look equally comfy at either. If they were a creature from the Harry Potter universe they’d surely be the Occamy, a serpentine with choranaptyxic wings, allowing it the magical ability to grow or shrink to fit the exact size of the space it is in.

    Just how the Occamy doesn’t change appearance, only size, neither does Talk in Code change their strictly original set, only to fit, yet still manage to thrill any crowd no matter the diversity of their bookings.

    The essence of pop is imitable and “catchy,” not to be niche, or these days of sampling, even wholly original. A factor of non-commerciality is to be a cult. Talk in Code balances this with a popular fanbase, “the Talkers” and this unique yet universal synth indie style which, with multi-era influences any age can reflect off, appeals to a wide range. That’s the secret of Talk in Code and it never fails to entertain.

    If Talk in Code time travelled back to the eighties, there’s little doubt in my mind they’d be a classic band akin to Duran Duran, Level 42 or perhaps Ah-Ha, and they’d be playing a stadium by now. Such is detrimental changes to the music industry they thrive locally, only sporadically reaching further afield. Amidst their fanbase they are that accomplished, and deserved, as they chant their songs back to them as if they really were pop stars. For in which case quantumly, they are.

    Goody bags and Lego sets of the band among their merch suggest prime and strategic marketing, still you’ve got to be in the club to know it’s true; Talk in Code will thrill not just you, but your whole family young and old. I looked around at the people dancing at The Gate, as I often do to settle my appraisal as more than personal opinion, and it proves it, each and every time. And that’s why, yeah, I bash on about Talk in Code a lot, but maybe not too much!

    I’ve actually a mission at the popular Three Crowns to highlight an act we’ve not mentioned before; the next review I’ll work on. But I could never allow myself to miss a Talk in Code gig at my local. Live music at The Southgate has been such a staple for so long now, it risks folk taking it for granted, but nights like this prove it still has what it takes to be that squeeze box of quality, especially in hosting original acts like Talk in Code.

    The guys took a first half of their earlier and more obscure tunes, still rocking the Gate, and a second half whereby they celebrate this continued dedication to creating danceable indie-pop anthems. Safe in knowledge The Southgate was appeased, and I was so familiar the guys would carry out orders uncompromisingly,  I headed off early to see what was occurring at The Three Crowns. Had I not been on a promise, I’d have stayed with Talk in Code, because pop demands an affliction for the familiar, at least it does when it’s as perfected as Talk in Code.

    As for the Southgate, worthy gigs abound there every weekend. Keep in the loop via our event calendar, and pop down there. I endeavour to list them as they come in, though Facebook shares of their chalkboard can be more sporadic these days, and I forget to take a snap of it when I’m there!!  

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  • XTC’s Colin Moulding Wants AI Slop, Bad

    Swindonite and founder member of XTC Colin Moulding released a new single last week, Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England). It’s previewing a three-track CD single being released via Burning Shed. This is Moulding’s second single in five years, following 2021’s The Hardest Battle, but is it simply a smooth, rose-tinted specs wishful motivation, or is Colin really making plans for Nigel?!

    In this single, Moulding continues to explore the distinctly English pop sensibility trademark of XTC, through qualities of melody, rhythm, variety, idiosyncratic subject matter and a bucketload of nostalgia. It began as a song of sport and camaraderie, but soon took on a broader meaning. Colin explained, “although this song started life as a sporting pep talk, it was clear that it could easily be thought of as a mantra for one’s own life ambitions whatever they may be. If you want something in this life you have to really want it. And if you really want it, you’ll get it; that was my mantra.”

    And, like Paul McCartney’s Wings, it is a lovely song of motivation from a mature, experienced professional, seemingly themed ambiguously, with meaning that could be interpreted by the listener. It’s the accompanying video which unfortunately feels like a cringeworthy political allegory, and this causes any imagination the listener might have conjured, to collapse within itself.

    Colin was born in Swindon in 1965 to a GWR worker and a laundrette wife and lived in Penhill. They were in every essence working class. Through jam sessions he met Andy Partridge around about 1972, introduced him to Terry Chambers and they formed the band Helium Kidz, which changed name to XTC. Through their angular guitar riffs considered pop in an era of punk and new wave, and an abrupt ending due to contractual disagreements with Virgin, they achieved only sporadic commercial success, but attracted a considerable cult following. 

    There’s therefore every reason for Colin to write a song about wanting it bad. But what is it he wants so bad? The video begins with Great British sporting achievements and more randomly, the Moon landing. Yet it wanders off onto some kind of patriotic kickback to an England of yore, with Colin handshaking a wealthy dummy, driving through the fields in a psychedelic dressed Morris Minor, is adorned with images of Lord Kitchener and spitfires, housewives marching village streets wearing gasmasks, and toy soldiers on a bandstand. The irony is, the video might feel like an Orphism collage influenced by Aardman’s Sledgehammer, but appears to be prompted rather than created by Thomas Walsh, who is renowned for using AI slop. This is suspiciously AI, and I cannot abide by that.

    I’ve no issue with patriotism, and rose tinted spec nostalgia, provided it’s divisive and supports equality, and the content here, while glorifying war, isn’t suggesting anything more. Except, similar cringeworthy AI creations are predominately used for far-right propaganda, causing the video to feel uneasily related to such politically motivated imagery; which is a shame. Particularly due to XTC’s most known hit “Making Plans for Nigel,” recently being used, for and against, the rise of Reform and fascism in England.

    You can want something bad, you could strive to reach that goal, but, I quiver, as a professional musician, should you sacrilegiously destroy any further creativity with AI? And if you do, how in the good name of England’s green and pleasant land is that nostalgic in any shape or form?!

    Nice song, shame about the video! Want It Bad is available on CD from the 18th September, exclusively via Burning Shed.

    Trending….

    Thorn in Conservative Wiltshire Councillors’ Side; The Munster Show Must Go On!

    Sheez, I go away for five minutes and look what happens. Devizes Facebookland turns into the Ok Corral! Seems I must interrupt my lovely mountaineering holiday to broadcast an alternative viewpoint from what’s being said on a local Facebook group…again! This, providing the post remains, proves what we’ve been saying about the political bias of…

    Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow

    Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Devizes welcomes its first female Town Crier

    By Charlotte Emily Devizes Town Crier There are some moments when history feels less like something written in books and more like something happening right in front of you…. Standing in Devizes Market Place, raising my voice with the traditional cry of “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!”, I had the incredible honour of being nominated the first…

    Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow

    An Impressive and Fantastic Park Farm Music Festival

    Images: Jess Worrow Well my friends the time has come; Park Farm Music Festival sure went from zero to hero in one swift and fantastic Saturday…… Nestled between Fulltone and the Scooter Rally, two established events on the calendar at the same Devizes site, Park Farm, the self-titled music festival’s inaugural outing last year deserved…

    Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow
  • Henge Frontman Matthew C. Whitaker Solo Tour Comes to Frome

    Featured Image: Antony Barkworth-Knight

    Despite intentionally making his tricks go wrong, Tommy Cooper was actually a skilled magician and member of The Magic Circle. SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist, and Benny Hill really was a milkman. In order to deride an art effectively you must first master it. It therefore stands to reason Matthew C. Whitaker, frontman of the cosplay prog-rave outfit HENGE, also has some highly acclaimed solo material….

    Matthew takes his February album Songs for the Weary on the road solo this October, opening in Belgium and the Netherlands before touring across the UK, including Frome’s Cheese & Grain’s sister venue The Tree House on Wednesday 21st October.

    The one and only time I’ve seen Henge was at the Cheese, making haste for the county border after fondly reviewing their album Journey to Voltus B last year, and it was a gig I’d need to be abducted and lobotomised to forget. Matthew’s solo material can be equally as cosmic, as it drifts through gentle pieces for classical guitar, lush string arrangements, and subtle electronics, but it also contrasts vastly, and is a particularly mellower experience than Henge.

    There’s cool jazz sax, whistles, fingerpicked guitar and delicate yet quirky observations in these hushed and patient patterns, taking you along with it as it drifts through space. Songs for the Weary has found a home on BBC Radio 6 Music, with singles Lucid Dreamer and Chestnut Tree championed by Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Craig Charles, and Deb Grant.

    The run follows a widely praised set of UK and European dates earlier this year, when Whitaker was joined on stage by the album’s producer and multi-instrumentalist Alan Keary. This time, he takes to the stage completely solo.

    Manchester-based musician and composer Matthew sings about losing a train of thought, which is apt, it twinkles through you like Bowie at his most exquisite or Paul’s later work with The Beatles, backed by Peter, Paul and Mary, for an episode of Button Moon.

    And before you say it, milkman is an art; it can take years to master the three-bottle-grip whilst being chased by an enraged Yorkshire terrier up a garden path.

    More info on Matthew C. Whitaker

    The UK tour dates look like this:

    11/10/26 – Lancaster Music Festival, Lancaster

    13/10/26 – Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow

    14/10/26 – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

    18/10/26 – Storyhouse, Chester

    19/10/26 – The Bullingdon, Oxford

    20/10/26 – Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester

    21/10/26 – The Tree House, Frome

    24/10/26 – The Grand, Clitheroe

    26/10/26 – The Hare And Hounds, Birmingham

    27/10/26 – Signature Brew, London

    29/10/26 – Amped, Huddersfield

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  • Ruby Darbyshire: God is Offline

    Wiltshire singer-songwriter Ruby Darbyshire, you’re most likely familiar with, unless you joined Devizine family reader’s circle today, has a new song on YouTube, one she’s been playing at recent gigs. Here the track has a subtle piano added, and those wonderful brush drum strokes texturing it with that smooth jazzy ambience, yet with poignant narrative too. Give God is Offline a quick whirl, and bless your ears…

    Ruby mentioned working on this song when we talked in May. “It was inspired by our recent trip to Egypt,” Ruby explained, “where we narrowly escaped Dubai’s missile attack by a few hours. When we got to our apartment, we could see down on the street. There were loads of prayer mats, because the mosque was so filled, people had to spill out onto the road. And so that inspired it.”

    Its deeper meaning, I presumed, was not to seek faith online, but to look either spiritually or in the real world. Ruby elucidated, “more just the fact that everyone is the same, whether they believe in a different God or they are from a different part of the world, they’re all the same. We’re all just trying to live our lives..”

    Find Ruby’s LinkTree HERE

    Trending……

    Deadlight Dance New Single & Video

    New single from our gothic duo Deadlight Dance, taken from March’s album Vox Populi…. Second tune on the album, a ballad to the poisonous evergreen…

    Brian on FullTone Festival

    Our regular historian and Visiting Research Fellow of The Regional History Centre, UWE Bristol, Brian Edwards takes some time to sketch the FullTone Orchestra ahead…

    The Grand Return of CrownFest

    The first week into July, and two local festivals of five ticked off! CrownFest went down a hit with those who attended this fantastic reputation…

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  • Blood, Sweat and Tears; Burn the Midnight Oil’s New Single

    Pleasantly surprised in July when an awesome new single from Devizes’ rootsy Americana with a gothic twist collective, Burn the Midnight Oil revealed a more carefree and commercially viable style to their previously darker themed and rawer material. It was enough for James Threlfall to pick it up for BBC Introducing. With a new single out on Friday 28th August called Blood, Sweat & Tears you might be fooled into assuming by the title they’ve turned back to the sombre moods of before. Think again…..

    Though frontgirl Chrissy might’ve elucidated, least hinted something darker might be in the pipeline, for now Blood, Sweat & Tears follows neatly on from Slow Burn with an incredible upbeat driving vibe, verging on Shania Twain sassy, yet retaining the cool rock riff of Fleetwood Mac. It’s immediately compulsive, with a danceable and anthemic combo. I find myself contemplating if it’s better than Slow Burn, or not, but with a hook razor-sharpened, it’s undoubtedly on par, and proves it wasn’t pot luck in July.

    With this divine product of Potterne’s Badger Set blessing my ears I also find myself reflecting back to an interview we did with the band last November. Guitarist John Lane spoke of achieving such a hook as these last two singles, and expressed the importance of the sound. “First thing people take in is rhythm,” he suggested, “then melody, last of all, lyrics. So if you hook the first bit, you don’t get the second one, then they come back for the lyrics.”

    In this I sensed a healthy division between John and Chrissy’s perspectives. Knowing how much thought and creativity Chrissy loads into her writing, drawing inspiration from personal and often emotional experiences, and exporting them into relatable and poignant lyrics, there was a non-confrontational difference. I supposed of this stalemate at the time, “a good blend of opinion is surely necessary to compose the elements of a song professionally.” And that is precisely what they put in, making this song work; the dynamics of pop, a conscious composition where both arguments meet in harmony.

    Chrissy taglines the song thus; “some dreams begin as little more than a whisper, an idea that refuses to let go, a vision that quietly demands more of you until ignoring it is no longer an option.” Ah, yes, I can reflect the notion; any inventive mind will tell, that’s the creative juices flowing and the desire to express them. Blood, Sweat & Tears concerns itself with the acceptance of that call, and the feeling of unlocking your potential. As Chrissy says, “breaking through self-imposed limitations and pursuing a future worth fighting for.”

    An expressive tenet full of contemplation and self-analysis, it remains positively angled, like Jimmy Cliff on his hard road to travel, but with steadfast faith he can’t turn back because his mind is set. Chrissy views her theme similarly, as a meaningful journey of courage and determination against odds stacked not in your favour. Such concepts are not so uncommon in music, and an acoustic singer-songwriter will expose similar thoughts abound. But here, with Burn the Midnight Oil the prose is perfectly packaged by the sound of her exceptionally accomplished and unified band, complementing her natural vocal balance, and that harmoniousness is what makes Blood Sweat & Tears so complete and engaging.

    Here’s their LinkTree, new single is out next Friday 28th August 2026, but you can pre-save it and listen to the last one. I suggest you do. Perks of the job; this one is stuck in my head already!

    Trending….

    An Update on our Postcard Criticism

    Earlier today I published an opinion piece on the postcard sent by someone at Devizes Town Council to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport,…

    Mantonfest Magic Multiplies

    Mantonfest, the longstanding gem on Marlborough’s event calendar, finalised for another fantastic year last night, with metal-driven mayhem, as the sounds of AC/DC ripped across…

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  • Large It Norm, in Trowbridge!

    Yes, we’ve got to praise Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall like we should, because Fatboy Slim is going to be right there, but not right now; the 5th November… bugger, it’s a Thursday!

    Ian Sawyer wins the Facebook comment section on this post with “That’s my knees buggered for November then!” Which couldn’t reflect on my own predicament more perfectly.

    It’s been decades since my mates and I followed Norm like little lost sheep, yelling “Brimful of Asha on the 45” across Brighton to Glastonbury. But it was an era when I was more able-bodied. Then again, if the Fatboy is still tripping, then why confine myself to my nursing home so soon?!

    A great booking, Old Town Hall, whose manager whispered he had a secret when I rapped with him at next door’s opening night at The Birdhouse. I didn’t guess it’d be this groundbreaking DJ. Large it!

  • Emergency Alert: Wessex Water Hosepipe Ban!

    Surprised your mobile didn’t sound the apocalyptic alarm to notify you about Wessex Water’s hosepipe ban?! Then, you’re a gullible idiot!

    But being 22,239 voters in one seaside town opted, again, for a fascist criminal ringmaster to lead them, and, similarly as stupid, a man named Bruce shoved nine Creme Eggs up his rectum, perhaps we’ve entered the satirical realm of Mike Judge and Ethan Cohen’s Idiocracy, and, therefore the alarm last week was necessary, even if you jumped so much you knocked over your barbecue.

    Let’s clear this up before we rap hosepipes. If you’re subject to domestic violence and own a secret phone, yes, you should switch the alerts off on it. Otherwise you should realise any Conservatives or other climate change denying opposition party members taking to their social media encouraging us to switch the alarm off, on a system they themselves installed, are not doing it for your safety or peace of mind, rather an irresponsible and dangerous attempt to slander the current government.

    It was not as the dirty Rees-Dogg yarned uninvited on my Faceache newsfeed; Burnham unnecessarily alerting us that it’s summer. While the usage of the emergency alert could be debated, wildfires are spreading on an unprecedented scale across the UK, due to the now undeniable climate change that the previous governments did absolutely zilch to address, therefore, triggered at the request of overloaded fire and rescue officers, the emergency alert was justified. Unless you, your family and friends wish to burn in hellfire whilst erecting flags on lamposts and painting rural roundabouts, apply some common sense and avoid using disposable barbecues for the time being; big ask!!

    Equally, a hosepipe ban is unfortunately understandable if we are to reserve the little water we retain in reservoirs. Though this announcement is far more easily attacked, being Wessex Water has faced intense public and regulatory backlash over widespread raw sewage discharges, environmental damage, large shareholder payouts, and rising executive pay amid mounting network failures, it should be the privatisation of public services under question, rather than if you should, or shouldn’t, water your rhododendrons or wash birdshit off your Tesla. 

    It’s hard to take orders from a company Ofwat finalised an £11 million enforcement package against, requiring Wessex Water shareholders to fund local environmental and infrastructure upgrades after the company failed to properly maintain and upgrade its wastewater network. Even worse when the company was criminally convicted and fined £500,000 following a prolonged sewage pumping station failure at Bowerhill Lodge near Melksham, which discharged untreated waste into Clackers Brook and killed over 2,100 fish.

    Or, hey there was that time when a backed-up sewer spilled into a River Yeo tributary in Somerset, resulting in a £300,000 payout by the company toward local river and habitat restoration trusts. But who are we to judge their Chief Executive Ruth Jefferson, after she received her pay rise, taking her total package to roughly £791,000?!

    Even if the company itself acknowledged it risked breaching sector-wide environmental bonus restrictions on this pay rise, because they clearly cannot be trusted any further than be thrown, the responsibility remains on us, the public, to not only save water during a drought, but vote for a party with core environmental concerns and pledging to renationalise our public services. 

    And I say this not because of political sway, but that I consider the extinction of all life on Earth a pretty fundamental concern and “big deal.”

    I therefore condemn irresponsible reporting on all environmental issues; that’s relevant, isn’t it? Rather you support your chosen party who backs companies where the utility recorded tens of thousands of sewage spills spanning hundreds of thousands of hours across the south-west of England, if you want to. Free country last time I checked, but tomfoolery on this to sway popular opinion is criminal against no one but ourselves and our future generations, of which we hand them the world in a state similar to what Wayne and Waynetta Slob might leave their council flat. 

    Therefore I call out reporters like Neil Shaw of Wiltshire’s gutter press Wiltshire Live, for publishing a story about a consumer expert pointing out “a little-known fact about hosepipe bans – claiming not one person has ever been prosecuted for ignoring the orders.”

    How insanely irresponsible, despite evidence, it is to encourage rebellious acts against protecting our water supply, for clickbait. For if you continue to ignore the warning, it is akin to acknowledging an absence of police and speed cameras implies you can accelerate to your heart’s desire, only to rundown a child. 

    Oh, quick, BBC Wiltshire, the Crammer in Devizes has dried up, what should we do?

    Send down a reporter who looks like Borat to interview a Conservative town councillor about the Moonrakers folklore! 

    This is not a novel by Frank Herbert, yet, but, like Lemmings, we strive on with the madness, councillor Maria Hoult for Devizes South complaining that the “Town Council are no longer permitted to water the floral displays and trees.” And good folk perhaps need an emergency alert as they gather online to rage at Wessex Water, throbbing the very backbone out of the water guzzling data centres spreading their message. When the real message should surely be, just because our water companies, politicians and media can’t act responsibly it doesn’t mean you have to follow their example.

    The hosepipe ban comes into place on Tuesday the 18th August and lasts forty days, coincidentally the same time period Jesus fasted in the desert with the devil on his back, before they nailed him to a cross, for asking people to be nice to each other. Obviously they didn’t have Facebook back then; is this going to happen every fifty years? It’s an attack on my civil liberties!!

  • Stray Chords of Salisbury; How Jolyon Dixon was Reunited with Childhood Guitar

    Turned around in just a day, a team of guitar “heir hunters” from Macclesfield called The Stray Chord have reunited Salisbury’s musician Jolyon Dixon with his childhood guitar, with a truly fascinating story…..

    Jordan, Sarah, and Damian are a family team behind Stray Chord, who’ve spent years rescuing lost guitars from auctions, marketplace listings, trades and house clearances, in order to restore and rehome them. This has developed into a project reuniting the guitars with their original owners, and discovering the histories behind them.

    They hope to create a music hub built around this unique idea, creating a space for people to connect through music and creativity. “Once we’ve raised enough, we would love to open a community-minded space with rehearsal rooms, a workshop, and a coffee and comics area,” Sarah explained. Sarah does aesthetic restoration, her husband Jordan handles technical restoration, and their son Damian runs their social media and is the “Mini Moshers” ambassador.

    Stray Chord team; Sarah, Damian and Jordan

    “We only started up six weeks ago, so it’s early days! In that time though, we’ve rehomed over twenty restored stray guitars, and we’re on our second Mini Moshers Promise giveaway, which is where we restore and set up a guitar and equipment bundle that we give to a child that may not otherwise be able to start their musical journey.”

    On Thursday the team posted a picture on their Facebook page, of a rescued 1979 Hondo II HDLP-2WI custom-style guitar, dressed in a wine red finish, hereafter called Merlot! “While dismantling Merlot for his rehabilitation,” they revealed, “we discovered a little address label. Then another. Then another. Then a fourth. A label in every cavity!”

    With a redundant Salisbury telephone number, their hunt began with just a name, and they requested for information, purely for the love of discovering the story behind the instrument. The following day they received a message from Jolyon, who recognised the guitar. His parents bought him the guitar second-hand in Salisbury in 1985, when he was 11. It was his second guitar, but loved and cherished it, and used it with his first band with school friends. He passed the guitar onto his bandmate, Jamie.

    “It has been a really fun few weeks so far,” Sarah said, “and very rewarding. We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do in the next six months, but being able to find Jolyon, and the history of an almost 50 year old guitar has genuinely been a real highlight.”

    John and Jolyon as Illingworth

    Jolyon is the most modest local music legend I’ve met. You might have seen him backing singer Rachel Sinnetta, as part of the Illingworth duo with John Smith, at the control tower of CrownFest and other Stone Circle festivals, and he produces for the likes of George Wilding. He sent them a photograph of himself, his bandmates, and the same guitar sitting dismantled on the Stray Chord’s workbench. “At this point,” they expressed, “we were already emotional because we’re hugely sentimental people. It’s a large part of why The Stray Chord exists in the first place.”

    Jolyon relayed his story to the team, from this school band to his professional career, in which he played in numerous bands and recordings, including The Who’s Endless Wire album. He told us he was quite emotional about the discovery, and explained how Jamie put the address labels in when he passed it to him. “Jamie has had a great music career,” he told us, “partly out in Australia, and is a brilliant guitarist.”

    The other guitarist in the photo is John Wakefield, of whom Jolyon is still in touch with, and still owns his guitar! “John and I stayed band mates all the way through secondary school,” Jolyon told us, “and on through playing with Toyah Willcox, and then as backing for girl duo Scarlet in 1995, so we did get to do Top of the Pops together a few times, which was great!”

    The story caused the Stray Chord to consider their Mini Moshers project, “because this photograph could almost have been taken to explain why we started it. Someone put a second-hand guitar into the hands of an 11-year-old. That kid formed a band. He kept playing, and more than four decades later, he’s still making music professionally and touring the world. We’re not suggesting that every Mini Mosher we give a guitar to is going to end up playing with The Who, that’s not the point! But, maybe they’ll become a professional musician, maybe they’ll form a clumsy teenage garage band with their best friends.”

    Jolyon was “flabbergasted” to see his old guitar, and told the Stray Chord he often thought of the guitar and where it might have gone. Though he plans a trip up to Macclesfield to visit it, and the Stray Chord gang, he feels, “it’d be best for someone new to take the guitar into its next chapter; I’ve got too many now!!”

    “I’m really happy to see that the guitar is still alive and well,” Jolyon stated, “and I hope the next owner enjoys it as much as 11 year old me did!”

    As for the Stray Chord’s Mini Moshers, the promise is “if there’s a young person in your life who dreams about playing guitar, please go and nominate them. We rescue guitars because we’re sentimental. We restore them because we think their stories are worth continuing. We rehome them because somewhere out there is another pair of hands ready to write their next chapter.”

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  • Could We Be Hearing Talk in Code Songs on TV and Films?!

    Congratulations are due to Wiltshire’s indie-pop sensation Talk in Code, for sealing a second sync representation agreement, this time with Play Equals Sync, a music licensing company that helps place independent songs and instrumental tracks into television shows, advertisements, films, and video games. Could you be hearing Talk in Code songs on the telebox? We hope so!

    The band said, “after some great, positive discussion, never before have we received such detailed and fantastic feedback for our recorded music and we feel like we are in great hands! We hope it’s the start of a long and fruitful relationship.”

    The lads met the company when playing Brighton’s premier venue The Grand Central, but you can find them more locally at The Southgate, Devizes, on Saturday 22nd August, at Swindon Shuffle’s Street Food takeover on the 30th, at the Ruze in Chippenham on 11th September, and a new single launch show at The Vic, Swindon on the 17th Sept, when they also play an instore at Swindon’s HMV.

    The 7th November see them at The Royal Oak in Pewsey, on the 14th they play at Wiltshire Music Awards in Melksham, and 12th December finds them at The Castle for a Christmas party. Now that’s something to Talk about!

Blank Pages of an Atari Pilot

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:

Atari Pilot’s Right Crew, Wrong Captain

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.

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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.

atari2

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.

atari3

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!

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“Static” Shuffle; Swindon Shuffle Live Streams This Saturday

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!

shufflepost

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.

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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
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!