Tag: Train to Skaville

Seend’s own Live Aid: The Female of the Species

Creators of original music who may psychologically build a hierarchy with them atop, tribute acts on the bottom and cover bands hovering somewhere between, tend not to prioritise what’s popular, whereas pub landlords value what will get the punters drinking, viewing it differently. Neither are correct, there is no right nor wrong in this, just opinion. But to witness The Female of the Species is to find the truth worth of a covers set….

I’d wager a majority at the Community Centre at Seend last night aren’t as fortunate as me to get to grassroots venues and witness the variety within our burgeoning music scene. They’ve been looking forward to this night out, they’re buzzing with anticipation, and to let the band know how much they’re appreciated. Thus the Female of the Species will endeavour to recreate the kind of songs to flush them with nostalgia and gift them with a memorable evening. They do this with so many bells on, they ring out a local annual occasion of monumental importance, and I’ll explain why.

Starter for ten, we’re gathered here to put the “fun” into fundraising. Each year these lovely ladies vote for a charity to donate to, after eight years must’ve raised an incalculable amount for worthy causes; Mind, Young Melksham, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Carmela’s Stand Up to Muscular Dystrophy, to name a few, and in doing so received a Civic Award in 2019.

This year’s is Alzheimer’s Support, a countywide accredited charity and one I personally can associate with. My reasoning I won’t pester you with, as I did chewing the ears off the volunteers on the night! Supporting people living with all types of dementia, their services include award-winning day clubs and one-to-one home support, with over forty community activity groups including, Music for the Mind, Movement for the Mind, memory cafes, art groups, discussion groups, nature and gardening groups, all designed to keep minds and bodies active and reduce isolation.

Secondly, the Female of the Species aren’t a regular band per-say, rather a supergroup amalgamated from female-fronted local bands who annually assemble for this unmissable one off. Jules Moreton of Trowbridge’s Train to Skaville, Nicky Davis from People Like Us and The Reason, Julia Greenland from Soulville Express, Claire Perry from Big Mamma’s Banned, Charmaigne Andrews from Siren, and the unforgettable Train to Skaville saxophonist, Karen Porter. All being amazing performers in their own right, together they’re an unsurpassable force which appears more harmonic with each year that passes, despite having obligations to their individual bands. The result is something to behold, and this year was no exception.

Eighties night, best defined last night. Though I could argue the tagline, The MTV Years is ambiguous and not forgoing American, being few here had access to MTV in said decade, though “Top of the Pops Years” would’ve been equally enigmatic! None of which matters, over the plethora of eighties pop classics sublimely delivered by the unique troupe, opening with Jules leading on Glenn Frey’s The Heat is On, followed by Nicky on Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World, to an apt finale of Sisters are Doing it for Themselves; of which they certainly were, and blowing the roof into Seend Cleeve and beyond.

Through Sledgehammer, Echo Beach, Addicted to Love, 99 Red Balloons, and every hit gen x cherished on a Now, That’s What I Call Music volume, Julia leading on Easy Lover, Claire’s Yazoo stint though dressed as Boy George, Char on Dude Looks Like a Lady, Nicky’s Cher turning back time, and a wonderful Blondie medley were among the highlights of a cooking first half alone, as the crowds realised why leg warmers at discos was a short lived trend!

Aha, the second half took on us, followed by more eighties classics than you could shake a Rubik’s Cube at, particularly adroit was The Bodysnatchers’ Do Rock Steady, Heart’s Alone, and naturally, Footloose. 

They gave Erasure respect, Nicky did a Tina Turner homage, but, wow, how Julia nailed Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody. All this sprinkled with the fancy dress and usual stage banter associated with Female of the Species, as is, if I may be so chauvinistic, akin to any group of girls on a night out, a “gaggle” being a possible collective noun I’ll sure be hammered for suggesting! Undoing all my good work now, informing you this annual occasion is unmissable, but equally as important to keeping eyes peeled for next year’s, is to go gig searching on your circuit for the relevant bands these singers perform with. 

A superb night out in Seend, then, arguably nothing so different from previous years, but if it ain’t broke….

Support this year came from Sham-Trowbridge rock covers group Legacy, of which Jules’ sister fronts. With a powerful vocal range, they surprised me, wrongly assuming it would be heavy metal-ish, they opened with Jumpin Jack Flash, and built decades with everything from the Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and Nutbush City Limits, to Pink covers and Sex on Fire, finally wrapping an energetic and enjoyable set up with Summer of 69. 

If, just as the Female of the Species did too, every tune might be perceived as cliché classic hits, Legacy belted them out amazingly with precision and passion, tipped off, I guess, to what pushes this crowd’s buttons, and making for an engaging support to this utterly brilliant supergroup.

Geographically centroid to the Devizes, Melksham and Trowbridge triangle, Seend Community Centre makes for a great and spacious venue to host this, boasting a grand stage and acoustics, the bar is affordable, the staff are welcoming. Look out for forthcoming events there, including next Saturday’s beer-gulping, thigh-slapping Oktoberfest!

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To most, “full” and “tone” are two separate words, but around here it’s been a portmanteau and a proper noun since 2019, conveying a unique…

Female of the Species; Deadlier in Seend!

A glass half-full or half-empty scenario, to be at Seend Community Centre. The optimist in me ponders least it’s central, bang tidy between the Sham, Vizes and Trowvegas, or even if it matters if it is a wholly Seend affair, whatever; their Community Centre sure is a village venue to be proud of.

Neither am I here to dabble in petty town council politics. What’s been held at Melksham’s Assembly Hall for so many years and raised so much wonga for apt local charities, the local all-female supergroup Female of the Species’ outing now packed out the new place last night for their annual extravaganza, and as always, it’s a beautiful, highly entertaining shebang.

This time in aid of teenage advice organisation TeenTalk, the girls were adorned in costumes in a manner superior to anything gone before. With corresponding stage decor, they were looking absolute dynamite; gothic halloweenish, to suit the theme, and they knocked a series of sublime covers out of the park.

I mean yeah, with the look of celebrity divinity they charged the stage, opened with a more Bangles’ Hazy Shade of Winter than Simon & Garfunkel’s, followed it with Sledgehammer, but stars really came out on the third tune, with saxophonist Karen Porter’s matchless riff of Baker Street. Here the penny dropped for those not-in-the-know; Seend was aching towards a party in a calibre of magnitude, though I suspect many there were fully aware and prepped, the anticipation was positively buzzing.

The lesser capacity of this hall only breathing more atmosphere into their performance than ever previously. Yet either way in either hall, the frontwomen of these local bands, Jules of Trowbridge’s Train to Skaville, Nicky Davis from People Like Us and The Reason, Julia Greenland from Soulville Express, Claire Perry from Big Mamma’s Banned, and solo artist Charmaigne Andrews, never have a Jagger and Bowie moment of Dancing in the Street. That upstaging yearning simply doesn’t compute with them, and with every year which passes sees them more harmonious and in solidarity, save perhaps the customary saucy banter! It’s the reason why it’s as firm a fixture on my calendar as Christmas.

A covers night it maybe, but one of the highest qualities, with each singer adding their own genre preference into the cauldron. The method is this combined acquaintance, the magic is in the pop diversity they nimbly execute together. An example came quickly, when Jools led a floor-filling blast of Dawn Penn’s reworked rock steady classic, No, No, No. Through slight Halloween themed Hungry like Wolf and People are Strange, each tune was building into a continuingly improving pop compilation, arriving at an apex with a breathtakingly soulful version of The Faces’ Stay with Me, verging on Aretha-level of greatness.

But none of this happened before a superb support set of originals by young Trowbridge country-pop singer-songwriter Becky Lawrence, who, donned in a tiny witch’s hat and accompanied by warlock-looking guitarist Dylan Smith (more on this chap at a later date) treated us to her crystal-clear vocals and acute observational wordsmithing. Particularly poignant was her single, Loud and 17, even if seventeen is a long-vapourised recollection for me personally! Such was the performance; both these musicians are bleeping promptly on my radar.

With the thought of Jools returning with her band, Train to Skaville for New Year’s Eve this year, as The Female of the Species blasted through their catalogue of wonderful covers, it draws a double line under Seend Community Centre as a seriously contending venue and their lively and diverse range of events. Quality night, as to be expected based on past experience, but with an added bonus of a Halloween spooky theme and in a new venue; enough for me to don some zombie slap, which promptly melted off my face in the heat of the dancefloor moment!

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Train to Skaville, Called at The Foresters Arms

If Devizes’ thriving live music scene lacks one thing, in my humble opinion, it’s ska. I got to get over my grumpy, staying-in head-state for fear Celebrity X-Factor is the best mainstream telly can thrust upon me, drive to the Sham, if only for a pint. Ska will force my hand if nothing else will.

The Foresters Arms is a new one for me, but it’s immediately attractive, in a humble way. Functional, even for the eight-piece ska-cover maestros known as Train to Skaville. They fit comfortably; Devizes needs something like this, a reasonably sized pub-venue for a brass section to bounce, and a landlord wearing a Fred Perry and cherry Doc Martins. Proof was in the pudding; we are missing out.

It’s a welcoming and friendly community spirited pub, with ample space to skank rainy blues away. Amidst bustling crowd of young and old, male and female, black and white, there was a point when the landlord was up having a jig himself, for jolly example. And a band, if whose appeal seems to fizzle east of Bromham, are welcomed with open arms here. I can’t drum this point any further, Train to Skaville are brilliant.

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If doing this ska show on Boot Boy Radio has taught me one thing, it’s that this division is far from an aging retrospective minority who can’t shake their Two-Tone youth culture, rather an international burgeoning scene where bands under a “Ska-Family” banner aspire to create new and original tangents. The foundation of which, though, is that classic period where the Windrush generation gifted us this offbeat sound for us to exploit to the max, and Train to Skaville embrace this. They are not out to be the next best thing, rather to supply an audience with the benchmarks they know and love, and to get them off their seats. They do this, with bells on.

Propping the foyer of the Foresters during the break, I laughed that although it was raining, it was nicer to be huddled inside, rather than the last time I caught this act, on a drizzly St George’s Playing Field supporting Neville Staple. Jules of the band remarked happily that they could play Specials covers too, which were crossed out of a setlist prior to Neville wanting to understandably do them. Train to Skaville did just that this time; Ghost Town, Rat Race, Gangsters, you name them, they covered them with unique panache, a cut above the average ska covers band. Alongside typical Madness and Bad Manners floor-fillers.

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But it doesn’t stop there, their repertories know no bounds, as they break it down to reggae anthems, owning Bob Marely’s “Is This Love,” Marica Griffith’s “Feel Like Jumping,” and Tim’s heart-warming rendition of Ken Boothe’s “Everything I Own,” a tribute to his mum who he recently lost. There were tears, but veneration as the band played through. Our respect and condolences go out to Tim and his family.

I find though, even greater than knocking out known ska classics, or bouncing to boss reggae, when a ska band can produce ska versions of pop songs. Sometimes amusing, sometimes out of admiration of another genre, but for a ska-fan, often better than the original. Train to Skaville also have a line which branches out here, as a skanking Echo Beach rang out towards the end of the first half of the show.

A great night, great surroundings, and sure sign for me that Devizes needs to skank it up a bit!

© 2017-2019 Devizine (Darren Worrow)
Please seek permission from the Devizine site and any individual author, artist or photographer before using any content on this website. Unauthorised usage of any images or text is forbidden.

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Choo-Choo, Train to Skaville Supported Neville Staple at Parkfest!

Some years back I was told a ska band played the previous night in the village across the dual carriageway. Being an aficionado of the genre, I was disappointed to hear I’d missed it; good enough reason we now have Devizine so you need not be like me and can hear of events before they happen!

Informed the band was called Train to Skaville worsened matters; such a great name, taken from the 1967 single of Jamaica’s harmony group, The Ethiopians. The launchpad for a UK tour when it hit our charts, the song’s riff has been applied to many later songs, including Toots & The Maytal’s 54-46 and heralded the concept of the chugging train sound used in a plethora of later ska and reggae songs.

Despite ensuring I’d added all their local gigs to the event guide here since day dot, and befriended singer Jules Morton as part of the all-female fundraising supergroup, The Female of the Species, the must-see box on my perpetually cumulative to-do-list remained unticked, until last night. Unfortunate weather clouded sanguinity early on when I ventured over to Melksham for the opening of Party in the Park. An evening dubbed “Parkfest,” separated from the main event happening today, as what once may have been a welcoming gig, has spawned its own identity; the main event builds on universal pop appeal, Parkfest has a more matured feel.

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It was in chatting with Bruce Burry, event coordinator at the Assembly Rooms, which revealed this forthcoming grand line-up of ska. I was taken aback, Party in the Park is Bruce’s baby, and boy, does he take care of it. Impressive and vast is the setup at King George V park, professional is the stage, sound and effects. I’d heard of it before, but when Bruce uttered the name Neville Staple, my heart whacked into hyperdrive. Some months on, I was kindly invited backstage, as the support, none other than my burning-box-to-be-ticked band, Train to Skaville, prepared and tuned. Attempting optimism, my mutterings that once they took the stage the drizzle would cease met with sullenness, but guys, I was right, wasn’t I?! Call me Michael Fish.

 

Naturally, headline act, the original rude-boy, formerly of The Specials and who later formed Fun Boy Three with Terry Hall and Lynval Golding, Neville Staple excelled with sleekness and anticipated competence. His combo group, The Neville Staple band has become the stuff of legend amidst the ska scene since 2004. Again, akin to our review of Trevor Evan’s Bardbwire at Devizes Arts Festival last month, Neville’s outfit merges two-tone and punky reggae back into its precursor ska, for this explosive melting pot, prevalently fermented the anniversary of Two-Tone Records, the Coventry record label which spurred a scene and both aforementioned artists played a pivotal role in.

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However, this was not before Neville and friends ran through some Specials classics, and if classics are the given thing in this retrospective amalgamation, Train to Skaville knocked it out of King George Park, prior to this fabled performance. For the headline act was grand, this should be taken as red, and despite my pedestal I popped Train to Skaville onto, they surely flew above all expectations.

For blending 007 (Shanty Town) into The Tide is High, as a teaser, the burgeoning crowd began to yearn for their start time, as gratis was handed to DJ setup, Fun Boy Two, Train to Skaville stepped up to an audience clearly familiar with the panache of this local band.

Train to Skaville have been on the circuit for eight years, albeit it a number of roster variations through their time, partly the reason, Jules told me, for not putting down any original material. This if-it-ain’t-broke attitude fitting, for the majority of ska followers just want to hear the anthems. While this is done timelessly by many-a-cover-band, Train to Skaville sit atop this standard, their unique style, singer’s Tim Cross’s witty repartee and entire band’s expertise reeks of good-time ska and explodes with party atmosphere.

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For what seems to be a rare thing, a ska band from the Trowbridge/Melksham area, they set the bar high, and through Israelites, Too Much Pressure, and Rancid’s Timebomb to name but a few, they launched back on stage, slowing for reggae and rock steady classics, Hurt so Good and Is This Love, and detonating the finale by slipping back into ska with Prince Buster’s Madness, followed by Madness, Selector and Bad Manners hits and a sublime versions of Tears of a Clown.

Yet this train doesn’t seem to call at Devizes, and if word of the group of friends from Devizes I was delighted to meet there, Vince Bell, Tamsin Quin and significant other halves, isn’t enough to convince you I don’t know what is! The last train pulled out of our town in 1966 and I can’t wait for the Devizes Parkway project to become a reality, the angle of this piece is simply that someone needs to book this lively band in our town, we can’t let the Sham take all the spotlight! They’ve rammed pubs, gigged The Cheese & Grain, supported Neville a couple of times previous, and become hot favourites westward, we just need to stop them buffering at Seend!

 

As for Party in the Park, the main event kicks off this afternoon, a more pop-feel, they’ve some awesome local legends, including Indecision, Kirsty Clinch, Burbank, Forklift Truck, along with a fire-show, unicorns, fairground and food and drink stalls, topped off with a Take That Tribute. You can get a ticket on the gate, this an affordable event and the pride of the Sham.

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© 2017-2019 Devizine (Darren Worrow)
Please seek permission from the Devizine site and any individual author, artist or photographer before using any content on this website. Unauthorised usage of any images or text is forbidden.

 

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