Tag: cheese & grain

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

Having to unfortunately miss Devizes’ blues extravaganza on Friday, I crossed the borderline on Saturday to get my prescribed dosage of Talk in Code…with a Pet Shop Boys tribute thrown in for good measure…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

As for The Pet Shop Boys, Actually, prior I considered if The Pet Shop Boys is quite a simple act to make a tribute from, compared to other eighties acts; call up a proficient keyboardist, buy him a BOY cap, don a tuxedo and white scarf and play musical statues! Although they tended to lightheartedly play their accomplishment down, they made a brilliant job out of it. As those pop classics came through adept and nimble, I paused to consider if my opinion of the Pet Shop Boys isn’t a smidgen harsh; through the splendour of this tribute I saw them in a refined light, and that is a true sign of a proficient tribute act, and their worth. 

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

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

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Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

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Stranglers Frontman Hugh Cornwell Coming To Cheese & Grain

Image: John Kisch

Legendary songwriter and original Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell has announced a run of UK dates this November, accompanied by special guests The Courettes, and it includes Frome’s Cheese & Grain on Saturday 15th…..

Golden Brown, Strange Little Girl, Always The Sun… sound familiar? All big hits, all great songs, all penned and performed by Hugh Cornwell, the songwriter behind the legendary early eighties punk band The Stranglers. 

 When future historians of music draw up a list of the movers and shakers who changed the modern musical landscape, Hugh Cornwell’s name will no doubt be amongst them. As a pioneering musician, songwriter and performer, his pervasive influence persists in the record collections of music aficionados, across this spinning globe’s radio waves, and on stages around the world. Hugh’s presence is unquestionable.

 As the leader of The Stranglers, Hugh was the main songwriter of all of the band’s most memorable songs across ten stellar albums. After their 1977 debut Rattus Norvegicus, follow-up albums such as No More Heroes and The Raven consolidated Cornwell’s stature as a unique songwriter and musician. His multi-layered lyrics to Golden Brown, from La Folie, remain a songwriting masterclass.

Hugh embarks on his Come And Get Some tour in November, appearing at Frome’s Cheese & Grain on Saturday 15th. A full band show with Stranglers choice cuts and solo delicates, plus support from The Courettes, an explosive group from Denmark and Brazil. With Flavia Couri on vocals and guitar and Martin on drums, they provide the perfect blend of Wall of Sound, Girl Group Heartbreaks, Motown and R&B. Imagine the Ronettes meeting the Ramones at a wild party in the Hitsville echo chamber, that’s the Courettes!

“Cornwell’s still doing things his way and often with striking results,” said Mojo, “Thunderously tribal garage rock… the ex-Strangler not yet gone soft,” Uncut provided. 

Kicking off at Epic Studios in Norwich on 6th November, Hugh Cornwell will be playing favourites from his time with The Stranglers as well as a range of solo material, including his 1979 album ‘Nosferatu’ in full. The record saw Cornwell teaming up with Captain Beefheart’s Robert Williams to create a record as gothic as the film it takes its name from.

Throughout November, Cornwell will make stops at beloved venues up and down the country including Hangar 34 in Liverpool, Concorde 2 in Brighton and Islington Assembly in the capital. He’ll be joined on the road by retro-inspired punk rock duo The Courettes, helming from Denmark and Brazil. 

Tickets are on sale HERE

Hugh Cornwell UK 2025 Live Dates

6th Nov – Norwich, Epic Studios

7th Nov – Holmfirth, Picturedome

8th Nov – Liverpool, Hangar 34

13th Nov – London, Islington Assembly

14th Nov – Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre

15th Nov – Frome, Cheese and Grain

16th Nov – Brighton, Concorde 2

20th Nov – Glasgow, St Luke’s 

21th Nov – Dunfermline, Carnegie Hall

22nd Nov – Newcastle, Digital

Wendy James Tour Coming to Frome’s Cheese & Grain

Photo credit: David Leigh Dodd

Pioneers of the indie-rock sound which would lead us into the nineties, Transvision Vamp lead singer Wendy James has announced a UK tour in October in support of her recently released tenth solo album The Shape of History, which includes Frome’s Cheese & Grain…..

Wendy will be accompanied on tour by a full band, featuring Transvision Vamp’s bass player Dave Parsons, Jim Sclavunos from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on drums and Alex Ward (Thurston Moore Group) on guitar. They will be playing songs from across all of her albums, from TVV Pop, to New Wave Punk to Lo-Fi Racine No.1, through to the big productions of Queen High Straight and The Shape Of History, picking off favourite songs from each. 

For full tour dates see here, but closest to us is Tuesday 14th October at the Cheese and Grain, and The Fleece, Bristol on Tuesday 28th October.

Wendy James

While The Shape of History doesn’t begin with a sound akin to Transvision Vamp, there’s underlying echoes of it as the album builds. Layers of electronica envelope the familiar vocals, so while it’s not what you were expecting, the effect is as The Independent described, “like a patchwork of memories – victories, heartaches, the feeling of racing down a California highway, no destination in mind.” And Classic Rock expressed that 

“The Wendy James of 2024 is an older, wiser and far more intriguing prospect. The Shape of History, never dull, and certainly never predictable.” 

 “My songwriting has always been a wide mix of sounds, which naturally reflect the different music and references I have and love,” Wendy explained, “The Shape Of History was recorded on Scrubs Lane, West London with Alex Ward, Harry Bohay and James Sclavunos. I then went off to NYC and Brooklyn to record the pianos and organs with Dave ‘The Moose’ Sherman. Overdubbing continued with Al Lawson at the engineering helm in his Shepherd’s Bush studio and then I went back to Berkeley, CA to mix with Jesse Nichols before mastering with Fred Kevorkian in Brooklyn NY. I have spent so much time with this music, I know it note-for-note and love it and am so happy for you to make it your own now”.

 “The Shape Of History has a lot about love in it, a lot about appreciation of oneself, one’s life and importantly, of others. It is life’s arc of starting out, blooming into something and in some ways maturing. I don’t think my music has got older, I know I’ve not gone mellow! My attitude can be more ferocious and fearless than ever, but there is an acquired wisdom, which naturally comes after having been alive for a few decades! ‘The Shape Of History’ is a love letter and a Thank you note to life so far. The culmination of my tenth album is the result of co-musicians and engineers who I’ve worked with previously and with whom I share a language. We know each other, we choose to work together. We enjoy each other’s talents and personalities. There is a happiness, a belonging, when we meet up, and an open and determined desire to achieve what we know we have to.”

“From meeting Nick Christian Sayer and forming Transvision Vamp, the two of us walking into EMI Records, and demanding to see the head of Artists and Repertoire, Dave Ambrose. Getting signed and making our hits of the late 80’s and 90’s. From collaborating with Elvis Costello and mixing that album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood where The Stones mixed ‘Exile On Main St’, then moving to NYC to start writing and recording as a solo artist, all the gigs I’ve played and the friends I’ve made around the world, the astounding, incredible, wonderful people whose lives I’ve crossed paths with… I am so grateful for it all.”

Buy Shape of History HERE

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For Now, Anyway; Gus White’s Debut Album

Featured Image: Barbora Mrazkova My apologies, for Marlborough’s singer-songwriter Gus White’s debut album For Now, Anyway has been sitting on the backburner, and it’s more…

One Of Us; New Single From Lady Nade

Featured Image by Giulia Spadafora Ooo, a handclap uncomplicated chorus is the hook in Lady Lade’s latest offering of soulful pop. It’s timelessly cool and…

Large Unlicensed Music Event Alert!

On the first day of advent, a time of peace and joy to the world et al, Devizes Police report on a “large unlicenced music…

Winter Festival/Christmas/Whatever!

This is why I love you, my readers, see?! At the beginning of the week I put out an article highlighting DOCA’s Winter Festival, and…

All the way from the land down under, Australian Folk singer Ernest Aines is coming to Wiltshire….

On his fourth tour of the UK throughout May and June, Ernest’s tour coincides with the release of his new single, “Just Once”, coming out on 23rd May. I had the opportunity to give it a listen before the big release, and it is nothing short of fantastic.

The song opens with some plucked guitar strings and then leads into flawless vocals and harmonies. As a whole, it tells the story of an unseen love and all the emotions that go along with it. The minimalist instruments give it a down to earth, human feel and all in all it’s a truly enjoyable listen. I truly would recommend it!

Aines is becoming quite a big name in the Folk world, particularly in his home turf of Melbourne where he has been twice nominated for Australian Artist of The Year, at the Folk Alliance Awards.

He’s not as big over here in England, so if you do want to check out some of his stuff, I would strongly recommend his 2023 album “Spiral Bound” as a great place to start – or his new single when it comes out would also be a good starting point.

His tour is taking him all over the place – from Cardiff concert hall, to live at the BBC studio, but luckily if you do want to see him there’s no need to travel too far, Ernest is playing at The Deanery Theatre in Swindon on the 24th of May.

With only a guitar and a stomp box he’s known as a master of the stage. As an amateur musician myself, I can understand how difficult it is to fill a stage with just yourself and an instrument, but he has it down to a tee.  

I really do advise getting tickets while you can, or at the very least giving his new song a listen, I’ve got a feeling we’re going to start to hear a lot more about Aines, and wouldn’t it be cool when he’s worldwide famous to be able to say you heard him first?

Aines will be playing at the Deanery Theatre in Swindon on the 24th May, tickets are available here and “Just Once”, out on the 23rd can be pre-saved here.

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Film maker, author and a future star of celebrity traitors, David Olusoga OBE comes to Frome…

This summer David is returning with a brand-new show “History’s Missing Chapters”, a show made to uncover why, throughout history, some people and events have been remembered and some have been completely forgotten.…

He’ll be taking examples from the world wars, the Industrial revolution and many other pivotal moments throughout history in an attempt to find history’s missing persons and to share them all with the world.

Olusoga is a big name in the media, he’s written or co-written eight books – one winning two awards – he’s often presenting and writing on the BBC show ‘A House Through Time’ and he writes for more newspapers than I can count on one hand amongst many other impressive achievements and projects, many of which I’m sure anyone reading this article would know.

And for anyone who likes reality TV, he’s also recently made the headlines after announcing that he’s set to be starring on Celebrity Traitors a little later this year.

In other words, he’s a big deal and I’ve heard this isn’t a talk to miss. His tour is taking him all across the UK this summer, but luckily, he’ll be down at the Cheese and Grain in Frome on the 4th of June (tickets can be found here – and grab them quick!).

Alien Invasion in Frome; Henge at The Cheese & Grain

Two people asked me in Frome what the music scene was like in Devizes. I replied it’s great, but by comparison it’s conventional, and this was prior to witnessing the sublime close encounter which was Henge…..

Before you read further, note, I use the word “weird” as a compliment. But yes indeedy, those friendly aliens, who take the term space-rock literally, landed their interstellar craft at Frome’s glorious centrepiece The Cheese & Grain last night for an eccentric, electric showdown of universal proportion. It was, in short, out of this world.

Excited about catching Henge live after fondly reviewing their album Journey to Voltus B in January, it was every bit as enthralling as I’d have imagined. The Cheese was brimful of kindly weirdos akin to the rooftop scene in the popcorn-munching abomination that is Independence Day; other than no one punched an alien like Will Smith! From aspiring space cadets to ageing hippies and middle-aged ravers, Henge remotely charged their plasma ball hats and casted a musical tractor beam over them, compulsing them to dance.

With phasers set to fun, Henge launched their wild show much like the energetic take off sequence of their latest album, and I pondered if they plotted to play out the album and be done with it, as is a common occurrence for established earthbound bands; not a chance, us humans were bequeathed a cosmic, extraterrestrial proportioned party.  

There’s a space journey narrative to the album which includes an Orb-esque plodding ambient period of hypersleep, a convenient opportunity for them to avoid, and divert the live journey to play some past album tracks, to keep the show’s pace consistent. These aliens of superior knowledge and proficiency made a wise choice, the place was positively throbbing.

Here’s the music which should’ve been playing in the Cantina scene of Star Wars. Here’s the music which would’ve caused both Miles Davis and Eat Static to have seizures. It’s jazzy, uptempo electronic skullduggery somewhere between prog-rock and trance techno, perhaps, or rather, in a field of their own playful invention.

Yet to pigeonhole it would take a textbook of notes. Henge are toytown, rave vaudeville, a guitar circus in space; they’re alien, unique and clearly on a higher plane of existence. The beauty of them is, they want to share it with you, lovingly. As a spectator you are welcomed on their, what’s best described as, an encapsulating musical space trip.

They analysed our planet, took a murky sample of the River Frome, and advised on the best path for the future of humankind; seemingly to demilitarise and direct its funding towards either ecological revitalisation or space colonisation, and they mastered it hilariously with a peacenik singalong finale.

But they did so as they did with everything, an uplifting sonic musical experience, the likes I’ve never seen before, and I’ve raved with glow sticks at Longleat’s UFO Club, partied worldwide, done, dusted and worn the T-shirt out of many a groundbreaking festival. This was on another planet, truly fantastic; please abduct me again sometime soon!

I’ve seen some weird street theatre in my years on this planet, but I awoke this morning, trying to recollect if I’d ever seen any musical band as weird as Henge. I’d like to say I hadn’t, but an earth half-hour prior I witnessed the support act.

A rib-tickling one-man-band Mancunian hedge monkey called Paddy Steer, who, dressed in the single-most bizarre illuminated space-wizard costume ever, delighted us with a set of experimental percussion and low-fi fluctuations, the likes you’ve never heard before. If Henge owned the mothership, Paddy was his own microsatellite, orbiting a stratosphere of his own mind-bending imagination, and it was as equally mind-blowing as it was hilarious and engagingly original. 

Paddy Steer has found a new level of eccentricity. They broke the mould when they built this alien Gandalf come Frank Sidebottom, on a mushroom journey to Lala Land with S Clay Wilson, and his music is inspired by the fable of it. Making the Mad Professor seem sane, he kept a perfect instrumental harmony as his decorative kit wobbled and a billion and one leads dropped out of their ports, much to the frustration of the sound engineer, but with nonchalant precision and scratch of his wizard beard, Paddy amused the audience by continuing nonetheless, profoundly. It was something to behold and impossible to wipe the smile off your face until Paddy had packed up and returned safely back to Discworld.

Together they made for the kind of fantastically bizarre gig you’ll never find in Devizes, unless you intoxicated yourself with mushrooms and imagined the whole thing. It remains to be fact, Frome is the diverse local centre for counterculture and the eccentrically creative; Henge and Paddy fit like a glove, if The Ozric Tentacles were born here. But it was my second night in Frome, after a Dad’s taxi adventure saw me drop the kids off at the Cheese for Lucy Spraggan on Thursday, a kind of Gen Z Lily Allen.

Lucy Spraggan on Thursday, local rural skullduggery with The Wurzels on Friday, and space adventuring rave circus aliens Henge on Saturday, The Cheese & Grain is punching above Frome’s weight. To trek elsewhere in the town might not be as bustling, but certainly doesn’t disappoint. From the Merlin Theatre to The Sun and 23 Bath Street, entertainment options are vast here, but when in Frome, I did as the Fromans and found solace while waiting for the kid’s gig to end, at the Rye Bakery by Frome station.

Here’s a hidden gem wine bar, pizzeria and generally cool hangout away from the live music tourist trail, hosting music Thursday and Saturday nights, in which our own Jon Amor Trio appear on the 24th. For our entertainment on this particular Thursday some groovy modern jazz was supplied proficiently by a quartet called Fushal. They were wonderful, the whole scene is, I might relocate and call this blog Fromzine, if only those aliens of Henge would land here again!     

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