Tag: goth

JP Oldfield & Deadlight Dance Down The Cellar

I mean, Devizes own contemporary blues throwback, JP is getting bookings, and rightly so. He’s off to Trowbridge’s Lamb next Saturday for a double-bill with Joe Burke. Likewise our favourite Goth duo Deadlight Dance too, Tim showing me some fetching snaps from Friday night’s gig at Frome’s Tree House. But sometimes it’s nice to play an intimate home gig you DIY, so we’re down The Bear Hotel’s Cellar Bar, reviving a once beloved venue with alternative options to Devizes’ status quo…..

And it was; Nick Fletcher and Tim Emery were on the cobblestones first, attired marvellously macabre with whitewash faces; All Hallows’ Eve comes early for goths, and they don’t require Haribo! Equally terror-fically tenebrous was their set, sublimely shadowy synths, then their gloomy guitar rhythm fragments darkened by Nick’s howling vocals. When they came for air you could hear a pin drop.

Deadlight Dance found my inner-goth and devoured it some years ago, still their show improves like a fine Dracula’s blood-wine ….with age and nightly kills! They worked precisely through several tunes from their three albums, concentrating particularly on Chapter & Verse, last year’s gothic literary inspired outpouring. They sprinkled the set with covers, a synth-driven Cure’s Just Like Heaven, for example, quite different from the acoustic version on their breathtaking homage album, The Wiltshire Gothic.

They finished on their ghostly reverberating post-punk makeover of Heartbreak Hotel, because if you’re a goth duo planning to cover an Elvis Presley song, one about a lonely man jumping from a hotel window is apt. Then they stripped it back for an acoustic wandering through the crowd encore.

Herein lies the connection which made a double-bill of post-punk goth and rootsy blues work; JP Oldfield duties the plaintive projection of original southern blues, often termed gothic. Therein the expression of rural, economically disadvantaged African-American communities, and through his gorgeous bass vocal range, the metallicity of his resonator and pounding suitcase drum, it’s about as authentic as you’re going to get on our local circuit.

Yet if JP’s writing is foreboding and disquietude, in line with its influences, some of the darkest corners of his debut Bouffon wasn’t inclusive at this live show, and replaced by some outstanding, intricate and rightfully resonate guitar-work; plus there’s always the kazoo and his natural banter to brighten things up.

His latest single polished off an amazing set, No Rest, indeed. It embodies everything progressive about this rising star’s skill and bittersweet panache; a fellow who can hold an audience spellbound despite being, perhaps, an acquired taste. But I challenge anyone critical to stay whilst JP thrusts out House of the Rising Sun, making it his own, as it’s so befitting to his encapsulating style. Yet the broadest evaluation of JP Oldfield is simply that, through his dedication and blossoming experience he continuously improves. It is this then which encourages me to call this gig in, slight in attendees which it unfortunately was as the chills of autumn blast through, the best and most passionate I’ve seen JP play.

Mind you, I groaned about the weather shift to Nick of Deadlight Dance, who replied with positivity. Apparently, he likes Autumn, I joked, “that’s because you’re a goth and I’m a milkman!”

I do hope we can find more gigs down the Cellar Bar, and bring it back to its former glory, a sentiment I believe will be reflected by the live music hunters of Devizes.

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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…

by Darren Worrow

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Deadlight in the Daytime; Vinyl Realm’s Acoustic Saturdays Return….

Always a happy place, our traditional record shop Vinyl Realm in Northgate Street Devizes is back in the game of hosting some live music afternoons. First up was the dynamic duo and purveyors of all things goth, Deadlight Dance….

Owners Pete and Jackie were glad to announce the return of some live music afternoons at  Vinyl Realm, and between us we couldn’t recall how long it’s been since they last did this. A welcomed visit then, where you can leave your penny-farthing outside, browse some records while you’re there, and take in some locally sourced, unplugged acoustic sounds.

From 2:30pm Deadlight Dance played through stripped back versions of their originals and plenty of classic covers of the eighties new wave and gothic scene, claiming it was World Goth Day, though Google reckons it’s next Thursday, but who’s arguing? Deadlight Dance were covering these songs when Google was an itch in Ask Jeeves’ web crawler.

Always a pleasure to hear Nick and Tim play, though attired in their black jackets, white shirts and shades, it seems Tim drew the short straw and stood window-side with the sun beating in and a wasp groupie hovering overhead! Mandolin and guitar Echo Beach rinsing through the rafters though, while everyone outside is shopping for a birthday card for their pet cat, or Iceland hot dog stuffed crust pizza; plenty of time that malarky afterwards. I found a 7” of Chaka Khan, and another from Neil from the Young Ones, so there.

Next up is our wonderful Devizes singer-songwriter Sammi Evans, next Saturday 24th May from 2:30pm. I’ve asked Jackie for a list, but this was vague at the moment; watch this space. Of course JP Oldfield is on for a suitcase drum and kazoo sesh at some point, so if you’re an acoustic performer I suggest you pop into Vinyl Realm and put your name down! 

The Wiltshire Gothic; Deadlight Dance

With howling, coarse baritones Nick Fletcher, the main vocalist of Marlborough’s gothic duo, Deadlight Dance chants, “here comes the rain, and I love the rain, here she comes again,” proving two things: one; he’s never been a milkman, and two; they’ve covered the Cult classic Rain on their upcoming second album, The Wiltshire Gothic, released tomorrow, 29th March 20224. I’m one step ahead, you are advised to catch up….

If the time of the Black Death brought about radical advances in music and arts, we’re engulfed in a similar epoch post-lockdown; lone contemplation and plotting is paying off with overwhelming creative output, and Deadlight Dance is a perfect example. Messages exchanged between two members of an ex-St John’s Sixth Form late eighties gothic band, Nick, and multi-instrumentalist Tim Emery, was the root, a retrospective passion to return and pay homage to their influences. The result, a reunited touring duet finding a new-wave-gothic gap in the market, and the recording of an astounding debut album, Beyond Reverence last year.

The debut was superb original material top-heavy, nodding to their influences through substantial synths and drum machines; to suggest the Wiltshire Gothic is an addition to the concept is wildly off mark. Live, the pair appeased audiences through covers, with a strengthening acoustic take; think how Gary Jules stripped back Tears for Fear’s Mad World in 2003, add some lutes, you’re close enough to the picture. It was Tim’s idea to record them, and Nick’s wish to do so in an Anglo-Saxon church. Tim said, “we wanted to capture that side of the band. We were moving forward with the sound from the first album, but this was no more or no less valid.”

On 28th November 2023 Deadlight Dance played some of their favourite covers acoustically at the 12th century All Saints Church in Alton Priors and with help from filmmaker Haunting the Atom, shot a promotional video. They felt it vital to clarify the church had no heating and averaged 3o; but hey, you are goths, I thought you liked coldness?! “My initial idea was to involve Nick Beere of Mooncalf Studios,” Tim furthered, “and record them live there, with a view to perhaps releasing them.” Tomorrow you can hearken the result, essentially join them in that church.

The Wiltshire Gothic is a love letter to the songs of Deadlight Dance’s early days playing music, discovering bands, and then ultimately discovering themselves, through music. A love letter you can copy and paste because the effect is a thing of beauty. Three songs each from The Cure and The Cult, two of Joy Division, one being Love Will Tear Us Apart, naturally. Others from Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim, The Mission, The Weeknd, Sisters of Mercy, and lastly, the one alongside love tearing us apart which you need not have been a goth to appreciate, OMD’s Enola Gay. But hey, this is so encapsulating it’s enough to turn Roy Chubby Brown into a goth!!

If I award points for doing what it says on the tin, The Wiltshire Gothic is off the scale. For me, with mandolin, mandocello and bouzouki blessing these covers, subtle bass, and Nick’s evocative and mood-fluctuating vocal range, I’m taken back to my innocence of youth, and its drive, born of frustration and anxiety for the mysterious direction life might take me. New to the Marlborough area, as a teenager, friends took me exploring the sights they might’ve taken for granted, off the beaten track. I’m there again, sharing a bottle of red wine, perched atop West Kennet Long Barrow or the Devil’s Den, gazing into the sunrise. And Robert Plant resonates “oh, dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light,” from a busted-up cassette recorder. The Wiltshire Gothic is this enchanting, the selection of lutes, the pure acoustics ringing out simplicity, breathes the fire of a dragon into authentic, timeless folk.

And there it is, yeah, Deadlight Dance are recapturing the gothic classics of their youth sublimely. In the video Nick stresses the flexibility of goth-rock compared to the confines of archetypal folk, but if these are the songs you took out with you, on your Walkman, even if just to Marlborough’s Priory Gardens during school lunchbreak, then they are, in essence, your folk. They may’ve broken the mould, and that’s good, isn’t it, that’s what post-punk was all about? And that is what The Wiltshire Gothic not only recaptures, but reimages, divinely. It’s as if Robert Smith sang his songs in an 18th century Wiltshire field, whilst uprooting turnips!

“Because of the unique instrumentation,” Nick explained, “we didn’t worry too much about staying too close to the original versions and felt we could be respectful to the original artists in how we interpreted their music. It’s not a radical shift in direction for us; this has always been part of our sound. I would imagine we’ll follow this up with another dramatic musical tangent.”

The Wiltshire Gothic is released via Ray Records on Friday 29th March 2024, streaming everywhere worldwide. Available on Bandcamp. A limited run of physical copies is available from the band. The album is accompanied by a short film of the day that is released on YouTube on release day, we will add the link tomorrow. Deadlight Dance have an album launch on Sunday 14th April at The Blue Boar in Aldbourne from 6pm.

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For Now, Anyway; Gus White’s Debut Album

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One Of Us; New Single From Lady Nade

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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…

Goths in Devizes: Deadlight Dance at The Southgate and Vinyl Realm

Every weekend is a dilemma, with so much going on. Invitations to see The Beat at the big Cheese, Sorrel’s book launch in Lockeridge, but sometimes I just wanna go where…. .. cue the theme from Cheers…..

And they’re always glad you came, at the Southgate in Devizes, a truly landmark tavern for bringing the town a steadfast, free and happy music venue. With a spectacular month’s line-up, incredible yet forever modest hometown singer-songwriter Vince Bell today at 5pm, those flip, flop flying Junkyard Dogs next Saturday, outstanding virtuoso Ruzz Guitar the following Saturday, grungy Cobalt Fire nestled between them and the legendary Jon Amor Trio’s monthly residency shifted from the usual Sunday to Thursday 7th to allow a convenient opportunity for the incredibly cool Ian Siegal, yeah it caters for the town’s historic penchant for the blues and prog-rock, but the Southgate never stands on convention; last night proved this.

What Devizes anchors in blues, each local town has its own niche, Chippenham, folk, Trowbridge, indie, but eastwards, Marlborough way, the tendency leans towards post-punk and gothic. It was something intriguing, if a smidgen eerie to me, drafted there at a tender age from suburban Essex, only knowing black eyelined boys with wicker necklaces and stormtrooper boots from vampire movies. Accepting gothic was a necessity if I wanted to fit in, get off with “posh” girls, and avoid being bitten by the head vampire down Figgins Lane; none of which actually happened!

Something to look back on and laugh with Tim Emery, one half of duo Deadlight Dance, who was one of those goths in my school year. The other half, Nick Fletcher, arrived at St Johns for the sixth form but I was outta there by then. Together they formed teen bands, nowadays they’ve reunited to form Deadlight, playing here tonight after making a morning in-store appearance at Vinyl Realm, which I missed; could still taste the toothpaste.

In fondly reviewing their wares and gigs they’ve made me realise what I missed by only calling a meagre compromise of liking Robert Smith and teetering on the edge of full blown gothic; hence my reasoning for making a beeline to the Gate.

When the cumulation of the gig came to pass and Tim and Nick paid homage to their influences, I confess I’m in the dark about Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim covers, but being in the dark for goths is a good thing, I thought?! I can, though, appreciate the more commercial or pioneering quarters, as they covered The Velvet Underground’s Waiting for my Man, or electronica classics from OMD and Joy Division; you know the ones.

Covers were sprinkled to begin with, as Deadlight Dance delivered their originals superbly, from a forthcoming album and their debut one, Beyond Reverence. With acoustic beginnings they built in layers from emotional melancholic expressions, on subjects like loving rain (despite wearing shades throughout the gig!), revolution, burning like fire in Cairo, and even a gothic sea shanty, to backing tracked beauties to enhance the second half of this poignant show with the new wave electronica and ethereal wave, and roused the crowd.

With a sorrowing rendition of Heartbreak Hotel, as found on their album, and these breathtaking impressions of gothic rock and electronica of yore, Deadlight Dance put the breath back into a genre often overshadowed these days by shoegazing pop or grunge; indie subgenres surely derivatives of post-punk but not as memorable for me.

If anyone’s going to bring out my inner-goth, it’s Deadlight Dance…pass my blood rose lined black corset and skull and cross pendant, pronto, because last night was another great night at the Southgate, again offering diversity to our town’s entertainment program. Bringing a touch of Marlborough to Devizes is a welcomed rarity imho, it often feels as if there’s an ocean between Avebury and Beckhampton rather than just a flooded roundabout!

Thanks to the Gate for parting the sea, and thanks to Nick and Tim for a splendid evening. Even got the opportunity to briefly chat with two other bands on our ever-growing must-see list, The Radio Makers and Static Moves; watch this space!

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Snow White Delight: Panto at The Wharf

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year’s pantomime at Devizes’ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it…

Chatting With Burn The Midnight Oil

It’s nice to hear when our features attract attention. Salisbury’s Radio Odstock  picked up on our interview with Devizes band Burn the Midnight Oil…

Beyond Reverence: Deadlight Dance’s Debut Album

According to the confines of youth cultures of yore, I shouldn’t like Marlborough-based duo Deadlight Dance’s debut album, Beyond Reverence, as while attempts to fit into my new surroundings of Marlborough meant my teenage musical tastes meandered in a rock direction, I drew the line at “goth,” but on matured and eclectic reflection, still don’t like this, I love it……

Released on Friday (15th September 2023) the sublime Beyond Reverence will be digitally available via Ray Records. You can download it via Bandcamp, stream from all platforms, and a special small run of limited-edition CDs will be available through the band; I suggest you take one of these options, it goes way beyond my expectations.

The two-and-a-half-minute sombre bassline peregrination overture to the opening track, Nice Things sets mood and pace, and I’m knee-deep in retrospective melancholy, the desired effect I’d imagine. Contemplating growing up in suburban Essex, a friend of my elder brother, so cool attired in the look of the new romantic, all frilly shirt sleeves, black eyeliner, all Adam Ant, whereas I? Standard hand-me-downs! He gave my brother a new wave electronica mix tape I adored. Echoing the pop of the era, ergo, I was unaware though already accustomed, to a degree, just later washed away with the carefree and whimsical hip hop and electro fashion, pre-acts jumping the incensed bandwagon post Grandmaster Melle Mel’s The Message.

To reaccept the dejected goth element of new wave electronica would take puberty, frustration at the bling and gun direction hip hop was heading and attempts to acclimatise to the west country rural village I found myself dumped in. Solace in the wild romantic fantasy of soft metal and general rock like Springsteen I discovered, but those “goth” pupils of St Johns would require a radical shift to modify myself to. One of those St John’s pupils was Tim Emery, one half of the Deadlight Dance duo, something we can laugh about now, but then, I wasn’t ready for the plunge, no matter how newfound schoolfriends supplied me with Sisters of Mercy and The Fields of the Nephilim tapes. I ventured as far as the Cure, but only to improve my chances of getting off with girls; it failed miserably, but that’s another story for another time!

The origins of Deadlight Dance stem back to 1989, the year I left St Johns, when Tim formed a short-lived Sixth Form goth band with Nick Fletcher. Friends for the best part of thirty-five years, the two periodically worked on music together. Born from lockdown, Deadlight Dance is a project to merge their favoured retrospective bands, The Cult and The Mission, with contemporary acts like Bragolin, Actors, Twin Tribes and Molchat Doma.

Story goes, during an initial jam Tim “finally convinced Nick to sing,” a turnaround from the original collective idea to source guest singers. But it’s in Nick’s deep growling vocals and the elegant synths of the second tune, Innocent Beginnings, and up-tempo haunting Infectious where I get these reflections of the roots of gothic, the ominous, Bowie-esque component of new wave electronica, particularly of Joy Division, and herein lies my reasoning for taking to Beyond Reverence, even if I’m not about to dye what’s left of my hair black anytime soon!

At eleven tracks strong the album is epic, evolved from an original intention to record an EP, another crisp and proficient achievement for Nick Beere’s Mooncalf Studios. While the sound is retrospective themes are of contemporary social conscience, Innocent Beginnings comments on the environment, the following, Dark Circles about autism. Though the single Missives from the Sisters sticks to true goth prose, a classic tale of misogyny set in the time of witchcraft, and being “goth” it levels on this topic appropriately, and duly sullen. Though there’s a lot here which suggests you need not be in the niche, it has wider appeal than I imagined it might.

There’s an interesting instrumental interlude, Samuri Sunrise, which reprises a Sunset at the finale, with four tunes between them, two unorthodox cover choices. A quirky interpretation of Lou Reed’s I’m Waiting for my Man I get, but the latter I was far from suspecting, a sorrowing rendition of Heartbreak Hotel you must hear for yourself!

Deadlight Dance are picking up radio play, and while usually they go out with pre-recorded synths and drum tracks, they equally operate acoustically on mandocellos and mandolins. If you came to my birthday bash early enough to find me semi-sober, you’ll have seen them, they’re opening the Saturday shift at the Beehive at Swindon Shuffle this weekend, alongside Concrete Prairie, the Lonely Road Band, Atari Pilot and Liddington Hill. Thursday 21st sees them at Nick Beere’s open mic at the Mildenhall Horseshoe, and Saturday 23rd they support Ghost Dance at Bath’s coolest record shop Chapter 22. They are delighted to be included on the bill of the legendary All that is Divine VI Festival in London in 2024, and with big plans I’m left with no doubt this album will push this the maximum.

Beyond Reverence is up for pre-order on Bandcamp, released tomorrow 15th September 2023. Find Deadlight Dance’s Website HERE, and on Facebook & Instagram. Find your inner goth and cheer them up a bit with this nice present, I enjoyed it so much I’m going to see if my lace trim gothic corset still fits and try it with this spikey rivet leather neck collar; somebody draw me a pentagram pronto!  

Trending……

The Lost Trades Float on New Single

I’ve got some gorgeous vocal harmonies currently floating into my ears, as The Lost Trades release their first single since the replacement of Tamsin Quin…

The Lucky Stars of The Radio Makers

Bristol-based The Radio Makers have laboured over their forthcoming album Lucky Stars (Got My Radio) for four years, and it shows; you’ll find out for yourself how that toil has paid off on its release next Monday, 7th August……

Though decidedly new wave throughout, Lucky Stars begins as if we’re retracing steps from punk to the new wave era. Reverberating vibes of post-punk the album kicks rock straight out at you; Edible Hearts is borderline punk, but the followup, Echoes immediately signifies that change to the new wave movement. We’ve gone from something which wouldn’t look out of place on an eighties Joel Schumacher or Tim Burton soundtrack, to something perhaps more for John Hughes, in just two tunes. Going on this alone, I’m slouching back in my chair in anticipation for a substantial slice of retrospective goodness, and I got it.

Then, Jo-Jo slows the tempo, with subtle hints of goth drone, we’re progressing through the era, with black eyeliner and a bottle of Chinazo, because that’s the only booze the woman we asked outside the off licence would buy for us! Now, if you’ve been there, outcast youth of 88, attired for the Batcave, all is not lost to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift; Song For Rainy Afternoons perhaps belts out the best hook so far, but by halfway through we’re still plodding on a steady goth tempo. Girl Who Looks Like You surely confirms gothic dominance, sitting comfy somewhere between Killing Joke and Bauhaus. Stands to reason, Lucky Stars is produced by Steve Evansson who has worked with Siouxsie Sioux.

Recorded at EAM and NAM studios in Wiltshire, the Radio Makers describe their album as “songs about love, life and people,” which fits like a glove into the kind of subject matter of the common prose of the genre. By subject, even if ironic, I’m a Poseur chants back into that Bowie glam punk, particularly noticeable on this wonderful bridge and slam back in, if there’s going to be a sing-a-long on this grower, it’s this.

And then the title track comes across as being in the period all these new waves bands realised they needed some more Chinazo and had to aim for chart success. Never could they have dolloped the toilet doings of modern day pop, at the time, but as The Cure developed into the near-acceptable face of goth-rock, this turn in the album suggests to me that it has not been overlooked either. It’s no bad “selling out” type thing, in fact it bought the subgenre crashing a tsunami over the defensible face of new romanticism slush of a mainstream 1986, and for those who may have listened to Duran Duran, were now turning to Joy Division and Sisters of Mercy.

Course, you’ll be totally engulfed by the eighth tune to concern yourself with pigeonholing; I only do it in a best attempt to define a sound, so you’ll have some idea of what you’re getting. Though I often felt like a window-shopper in this general genre, at the time, The Radio Makers is one of those bands which makes you realise the worth of the depths of a epoch, and wish, if you could travel back in time, you’d be leatherman draped in velvet, with fishnet stockings and black painted fingernails! Talk About You, is a perfect example, a drifting ballad finale of precision and skill, and it polishes this moreish album adroitly. 

 A nimble and captivating pilgrimage to an era of yore, with compelling freshness; well played, indeed.

It will be available on CD and 12” vinyl (from The Radio Makers’ BandCamp page) and on all digital platforms. A mini launch tour takes them to Le Pub, Newport – Friday 4th August, Hen and Chicken, Bedminster, Bristol for the official album launch party on Saturday 5th August, with Deadlight Dance in support. Then at the Three Horseshoes, Bradford-on-Avon on Friday 11th August, Bristol HMV, Saturday 12th.

They play Box Rocks Festival at The Queens Head, Box on Monday 28th August, previewed here. Party in the Park, Filton, Bristol on Saturday 16th September, and appear at Bath HMV, on Saturday 23rd September.

Deadlight Dance: Innocent Beginnings

Marlborough’s darkwave-goth duo, Deadlight Dance push their boundaries to new limits with their second single, Innocent Beginnings this week, and it’s a corker of goth perilous poignancy…..

Echoes of Human League synth prowess rain from this sombre tune, with foreboding warning vocals of Joy Division, yet the theme is environmental, something though historically consistent in pop, generally, surprisingly overlooked by the alternative subgenre of post-punk gothic of the eighties. You’d have thought with the stereotypical gloomy disposition of the genre, climate change was a missed opportunity for electronica, and/or post-punk goth subject matter; though maybe you know different, I’m no expert.

While it has been done, eighties misconceptions of the subject often obscure the severity of the topic, and place them subtly irreverent by today’s standards. Best I can conjure from memory is The Pixies’ track Monkey Gone to Heaven, of which the context of pollution and the depleting ozone layer is missed amidst the screeching vocals of Black Francis, A Forest by the Cure, which always felt more Little Red Riding Hood than eco-warrior, Talking Heads’ (Nothing but) The Flowers which is all too satirical art-pop, experimentally awash with soukous, for some bizarre reason, and even to endure ten minutes of Giorio Moroder’s less-inspiring disco synth moment in Cerrone’s Supernature only to discover elements of environmental concerns conclude with humankind obliterated by some kind of “creature from below!” 

It makes this single of an interesting composition, sounding so retrospective; precision with environmental subject matter came much later than this track imitates, therefore musical trends had changed by the time it’s more astutely covered. Ethereal nineties and noughties alternative rock certainly made full use of the topic, from Mors Syphilitica to All About Eve, but Innocent Beginnings, as is Deadlight’s design, it seems, is to recreate the sound of alternative eighties, leaving you pondering if Joy Division were at their peak now, climate change would have been the theme of Atmosphere, and might have come out sounding akin to this. Not forgoing, environmental groups would clasp hold of it, rather than just the creators of Stranger Things!  

Though, having said all of the gloomy irreversible theme of Innocent Beginnings which basically suggests it’s all too late to do something about it now, the video is contradictorily recorded in the setting of the pretty village of Aldbourne; hardly the dystopian landscape of a post-apocalyptic earth wrecked by our own hand! And in turn, makes me come over all Greta Thunberg and contemplate at least if we try, we can say we tried; put that in your pipe and smoke it, Nick Fletcher and Tim Emery of Deadlight Dance! Damn good track though, guys, and produced by Nick Beere at Mooncalf Studios, we look forward to hearing more from these guys.

Trending…..

Devizes Chamber Choir Christmas Concert

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Steatopygous go Septic

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The Wurzels To Play At FullTone 2026!

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Song of the Week: Lucky Number Seven

Bristol’s purveyors of emotive post-grunge verging on etherealwave, Lucky Number Seven get our song of the week today, for their latest burst of harrowing energy, Marker Pen.

It’s neo-goth come post-punk, relished in Bauhaus lachrymose and passion, yet twisted with Foo Fighters’ fervidity, tumbling like iced water over rocks, it’s a rollercoaster four minutes full of masterful poignancy, apt for a Breakfast Club remake earring swap scene; enjoy but mind gnawing your fingernails….

Song of the Week: Deadlight Dance

It’s Wednesday night, it’s Song of the Week time…. I’m just amazed with myself that I’ve actually committed to this new regular feature for a whole month, incredible!

This week, it’s post-punk eighties alternative/goth duo Deadlight Dance. Tim Emery and Nick Fletcher are a rekindled two-fifths of a Marlborough’s St Johns six form band and released a debut single this week, Missives from the Sisters.

Out on Ray Records, a debut single from a forthcoming album Beyond Reverence, due later this the year. This sullenly emotive tune of darkwave rings alarms for a reawakening of the gothic rock genre, once emblematic of Marlborough. I was just 14 when I moved there from Essex, it was a culture shock as we didn’t have goths in the motherland of shopping and stilettos, doubt we even had black hair dye, but I quickly realised the importance of liking the Cure, if I wanted to snog any girls!

Recorded at Nick Beere’s Chisldon studio, Mooncalf, the duo play The Crown in Aldbourne tomorrow (23rd Feb,) and The Plough in Shalbourne on Saturday March 4th, after dropping in for a 6pm-ish slot at my birthday party down the Three Crowns, Devizes….I’ve told you about my birthday, haven’t I? It’s okay, if you come too, I pinky promise not to try and snog you!

Cobalt Fire’s Butterfly

In the words of the great Suggs, “but I like to stay in, and watch TV, on my own, every now and then,” after three gigs on the previous weekend, I opted a weekend off, albeit I was with the family, and succumbed to Britain’s Got Talent for my entertainment, one little part of me wishing I’d headed down the Southgate.….

To rub salt in the wound, Swindon-(I think)-based Cobalt Fire, who were providing the sounds at Devizes most dependable pub for original music last Saturday, also released a debut album called Butterfly, so naturally I wanted to hear what I missed.

Self-defined as a fusion of “the retro sound of 90’s grunge and post-punk with a modern take on folk,” I can see where they’re coming from, and it’s no new thing for them, formerly known as Ells and the Southern Wild, the band developed their fresh sound from acoustic roots, and yes, there’s tinges of this still in them. Though their bio suggests they formed in 2103, I gather there’s either a typo or a gothic timelord in there! But in their switch to electric they strive to retain the core features of the songs, “creating a more muscular beast in the process,” they put it.

And they’ve certainly achieved this, Butterfly, usually more bug than beast, is a boom of emotional overdrive, as grunge commands, with echoes more of Evanescence than Nirvana, what with Ells Chadd’s haunting vocal range. It packs punches from beginning to end, the finale of which, Another Round, particularly poignant to this nod to acoustic roots, middle tracks like His Words Lie Heavy breath an air of eighties post-punk, ah, goth tinge, Siouxsie Sioux style, while it begins strictly grunge, with those rising and falling echoes of emotive authority.

The magnum opus, though, is three tracks in, Crimson Red summarises everything great about this potent four-piece, it’s dynamitic, driving.

It’s basically ten professionally executed, blindingly touching three-minute heroes, in a fashion not usually my cuppa. But if I sing praises for a genre more me, that’s easy work, for music to make me consider oh yeah, I like this though pigeonholing obligation says I shouldn’t, the result is even more impressive, and with Butterfly I’m near to breaking out some multi-belt buckle platform boots, growing my hair and dying it black!

This is a powerful and emotive creation, indulgent of all rock subgenres, yet beguiling grunge, and it never strays from its unique sound. See now, I’m sorry I missed you guys, another time and I’m beeline; embarrassingly for BGT too, though I’ve given my best cat ate my homework excuse, and though I doubt you’ll turn Simon Cowell’s frown upside-down, going on this album, you’d have got my golden buzzer.

Ah, it’s all lies, anyway; not sure my hair will grow back!

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DOCA’s Young Urban Digitals

In association with PF Events, Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts introduces a Young Urban Digitals course in video mapping and projection mapping for sixteen to twenty…

Jol Rose’s Ragged Stories

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Vince Bell in the 21st Century!

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Deadlight Dance New Single: Gloss

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Things to Do During Halloween Half Term

The spookiest of half terms is nearly upon us again; kids excited, parents not quite so much! But hey, as well as Halloween, here’s what…

Barry Reviews Strange Folk at The Southgate!

Well, what can I say? They might lose a couple of brownie points for the singer continuously referring to me as “Barry,” but Somerset-Hampshire psych-folk rock four-piece, Strange Folk, who graced Devizes’ Southgate’s little magic box last night can afford to!

Aside an acoustic set in Crewkerne, it was their first electric gig post-lockdown, and the first time they’d played at Devizes answer to the O2, though some may cast their minds back to a brighter sunny day when they showed us what they’re made of at Pete & Jackie of Vinyl Realm’s alternative stage at DOCA’s street festival. It was on the grounds of this outstanding performance which summon me to the Gate, not forgoing the awe-inspiring tune they sent us for the Julia’s House compilation. Which, in turn would’ve substituted any lost gold stars for the Barry banter!

A small price to pay to ensure they played Glitter the very song they kindly contributed, a request which took them by surprise, being recorded during lockdown, they were unprepared, and hadn’t yet played it live. Still, as was the entire gig, they made a grand job of it, and I’m about explain why.

It’s David Setterfield’s sublime electric and acoustic guitarwork coupled with the awe-inspiring power of Annalise’s voice, which bounds their sound beyond the confounds of the usual gothic-folk rock genre. So soulfully captivating is this voice, and is the gifted guitar, at times there’s a natural nod to electric blues, particularly of the late psychedelic sixties sort. In fact, I was praising them to someone, Bran Kerdhynen, I believe, one half of the Celtic Roots Collective, by suggesting they remind me of “White Rabbit,” which they indeed later covered, along with the other Jefferson Airplane anthem “Somebody to Love.”

If I could think of no other cover so apt for their particular and inimitable sound, covers of T-Rex’s 20th Century Boy, Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac, and the Stones at their most enchanting with Gimmie Shelter, also fit the bill perfectly. Tainted Love being perhaps the outside chance, but very much based on Soft Cell’s version, I’ll give them that too, for the goth perspective.

Similarly, though, as I said about Frey’s Beer’s Beast album a few days ago, the professional finish and hauntingly alluring female voice, rather than the gritty vocals common with said genre, despite not being the black hair dyed and leather friendship bands type, I devoured, because Strange Folk sweep the arena of All About Eve, into System of a Down and Blind Melon, to blend Fairport Convention with Jethro Tull and Hendrix. And I was born out of time, loving to have hitchhiked to San Francisco with a flower in my hair.

Yet at times covers at the Gate last night felt pushed, as to appease a perceived audience, compared to their own original compositions; they were the icing on the cake and truly ushered you away on a petite mind-trip. The coupling of David and Annalise would be bare without the proficient bassist, Ian and drummer, Steve tucked in the back of the skittle ally, and they rocked through their own songs more so. For future reference, unlike many a pub gig, originals are encouraged here.

Talking of here, it was lovely to be back at the Southgate after gallivanting somewhat to bring news of other venues in our rural precinct, for while they do exist, for me, just like Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin, sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, except, it seems for the lead singer on this occasion! I mean, Barry, for crying out loud; do I really look like a Barry to you?! Rhetorical, you don’t have to answer that.

The canopies over the beer garden have become locally legendary, a testament in our town, to upholding live music throughout this era, and Deborah and Dave have created this haven, where you’ll see no drunken squabbles and feel no bad vibes.

Nice to hear their communal acoustic jams have respawned on Wednesday evenings, and next Saturday is the time for The Blind Lemon Experience, Billy and the Low Ground following on the 23rd October.

Meanwhile Strange Folk have three singles, an EP from 2014 called Hollow Part 1, and a debut promo EP from 2004, which are very worthy of your attention. Around our way again at B-O-A’s Three Horseshoes for Halloween, their sound is a gorgeous gothic-folk crossover professional enough to captivate even those with a passing interest in the genre.

Freya Beer’s Beast

Driving my inner-goth, I’m comfortable with this, because London-based Freya Beer’s voice is hauntingly alluring, similar to Nina Persson of The Cardigans, or more obviously, Siouxsie Sioux, rather than the gritty vocals common with arch art-rock. So, despite not being the black hair dyed and leather friendship bands type, I devoured this long-awaited debut album, Beast, with the emotive response it evokes, and thoroughly deserves cathedral-sized praise.

Beast is out today, 7th October 2021, via her own Sisterhood label. I’m going to nail it to a few words after only an initial listen prior to this review, lyrically it needs time to fully digest with the clarity it warrants, but I can appreciate the echoing expression and exceptionally grafted narrative of disheartening passion. Savour it, this is a keeper.

It’s perhaps the crashing drums, almost the Burundi style slued upon eighties post punk pop by Malcolm McLaren, through Bow Wow Wow and Adam & The Ants, added with Fuzzbox frenzy, which gives it this welcoming retrospective tangent, or the mainstay All About Eve feel of the aforementioned sublime vocals, like Kate Bush at her darkest moment.

Yes, Beast is all these things, yet a contemporary, calculated record of primal power and animalistic instinct, carnal; hence its name, I guess!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpAq3X9fJac

Expressing her joy at finally setting her first collection of songs free, Freya Beer said, “it feels really exciting that I’ve released my debut album. I would never have been able to achieve the album without the incredibly talented people I met and worked with along the way. At my upcoming live shows, you can expect everything you hear on the album because my band is bigger now.”

Recorded between studios in Manchester and London, ‘Beast’ features longstanding drummer Owain Hanford on percussion, Arnoldas Daunys on bass, and lead guitars from Peter Hobbs (The Boy Least Likely To), who also produced the album. Additional contributions come from Dave Fidler and Andy Hargreaves. The album artwork was photographed by Paul Johnson (Say Goodnight Films), accompanied by Jupiter – the Sphinx cat.

Swiftly following the album’s release, Freya will be embarking on a major UK tour throughout November and December 2021. Full dates and details on the website. Closest to us is The Lanes, Bristol on Wednesday 10th November, or on Sunday 5th December at The 1865 in Southampton.

It conjures visually like Hieronymus Bosch, literate, a tangle of Edgar Allan Poe, but through sensual masochism, felinely elegant but eerie, all unpromising, like goblins will materialise out of inimical misty woods to corrupt your most emotive moment, or, something like that!

Website: http://www.freyabeer.com

Facebook: @freyabeerofficial

Twitter: @freyabeer

Instagram: @freya_beer

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Six Reasons to Rock in Market Lavington

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Salem Announce National Tour with Sheer Hosting Swindon’s Vic Gig

There’s something indefinitely old school punk about Salem, with nods to pop-punk, goth and rockabilly, hoisting them to the absolute top of their scene. No one in the UK are delivering this genre better right now.

This side project of Will Gould from Creepers and Matt Reynolds of Howards Alias is loud, proud and spitting; dripping with Siouxsie and the Banshees, laddered fishnet stockings and Robert Smith influences. Quite honestly, Kieran’s right, again; it’s knocking deafeningly at my front door!

They described their self-titled debut 2020 EP as “spooky, silly, romantic punk rock songs.” Yeah, figures.

Today they announce their October UK tour, with Oxford’s Bullingdon, Frome’s Cheese & Grain, and Bristol’s Exchange included, and nestled between them, on October 16th, Sheer Music & Bandit present them at Swindon’s grandstand music venue, The Victoria.

Support for the Salem’s tour comes from a new solo project from Welsh former Holding Absence bassist, James Joseph; James and the Cold Gun. A playful twist on his name, James and the Cold Gun is named after a Kath Bush song. They promise to be something of a rock n’ roll blues revue, akin to former British rock n’ roll heroes The Computers. They signed to Gallows label Venn Records for the release of their debut album.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (6th May.) £10 adv. / £13 OTD for the Vic.

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Song of the Day 12: Darla Jade

Even portions of expressive contemporary pop, the ambience of post-goth and downtempo electric blues of trip hop makes this Staffordshire singer, Darla Jade really someone to watch. With a haunting uniqueness about her voice and style, there’s shards of Evanescence fused with Beth Orton. It’s somehow individually chartable but would also appease alternative rock or goth aficionados alike.

Subscribe to her YouTube channel, hear her own stamp on Radiohead’s Creep, and realise, her talent is so very special.

And that’s my song for the day. Very good. Carry on….