Milky’s Music Matters

MILKYS MUSIC MATTERS MATTERS

FOCUS ON UPCOMING BEDFORD GIGS

Woah…wait, what happened there ? That wasn’t the plan, restrictions were meant to have lifted in June but Covid struck its great big beak into our lives once again and sent us scuttling back to re-plan, rearrange and re-dream. Normality creeps closer, keep believing people, we will see and hear the return of live music soon.

Once of the biggest issues was trying to reschedule the inaugural CEREMONY festival at Esquires and we have now landed on the new date of Bank Holiday Sunday 29th August with a line-up comprising of Billy NoMates, Pins, JOHN (times two), Crows, FEET, Talk Show, Bleach Lab, Regressive Left, Lynks, Grandmas House, Low Girl and Enjoyable Listens. There is also a stage directly outside the venue curated by BLENDER with performances from Enne, JW Paris, Viddy, Banton and more. Doors open midday with bands playing until 11pm with an aftershow party kicking off straight afterwards through til 3am. Tickets are on sale now and cost £22.50 + booking fee from seetickets.com. Physical tickets from Esquires and Slide Record shop.

The local promoters have been working hard to secure bookings with the best of the new bands across a variety of genres whilst also continuing to work with heritage acts and established indie bands keen to return to the best (below 300 capacity) venue in the country (Esquires is on your doorstep people – come say Hi!)

COMING UP, COMING UP

Spiky Brighton female trio Dream Wife return to Esquires in August bringing their mix of danceable punk pop and riot grrrl attitude in what is a coup as they have been playing larger venues of late. If you want to catch the potential next-big-thing on your doorstep then look no further than Yorkshire teens

Restrictions have lifted (hopefully), let’s get gigging!!!

Esquires

Fri 6th Aug Guns 2 Roses Sun 8th Aug Dream Wife Sun 15th Aug Josh O’Keefe Fri 20th Aug Sarpa Salpa Sat 21st Aug Noasis Sun 22nd Aug Gene Loves Jezebel Sat 28th Aug Katy J Pearson Sun 29th Aug CEREMONY #1 all-day multi-room festival Wed 1st Sept The Lounge Society Thur 2nd Sept The Goa Express Sat 4th Sept Mark Morriss Wed 8th Sept Outer Stella Overdrive Fri 10th Sept Skinnyman Sat 11th Sept Lady Bird Sun 12th Sept The Smyths Fri 17th Sept Spear of Destiny Sat 18th Sept The Futureheads Sat 25th Sept The Meteors Wed 29th Sept Yard Act Thur 30th Sept October Drift

Bedford Park concerts

Thur 9th Sept Ocean Colour Scene + Dodgy Fri 10th Sept Olly Murs Sat 11th Sept Cafe Mambo Ibiza Sun 12th Sept Proms in the Park

+ many more Check listings at bedfordesquires.com for details or facebook.com/bedfordesquires Tickets available from Esquires, Slide Record Shop and online – seetickets.com

The Lounge Society – a band on a lot of tipsters lips & lists and have been all over the radio in July with their ‘Silk for the Starving’ EP receiving heavy airplay. “Our lyrics are a call-to-arms for people who share our dismay at the dismal future being carved out for people like us,” the band explain. “We want each line to be a brick through the window of just the right people.” Also in the “catch them in a small venue while you can” bracket – The Goa Express, hailing from the Calder Valley towns of Todmorden and Burnley on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the fi ve-piece are yet another hotly tipped outfi t to emerge from the area’s vibrant music scene alongside The Orielles, Working Men’s Club, and the afore-mentioned Lounge Society. Recent single ‘Second Time’ was mixed by Mark Gardener of RIDE and delivers an infectious hooky, hazy jangle alongside a chorus that will take up squatter’s rights in your brain (also check out previous single Be My Friend – an indie classic in waiting). Famous sibling whisper whisper… the singer (Raff Law) in Outer Stella Overdrive looks very much like his dad, a famous British actor with the fi rst name Jude and the drummer Rudy Albarn is the nephew of that Damon bloke in that band that Oasis didn’t like much. Come catch their boisterous show that fuses the sound of Libertines scuzz to ska and back (check the Bad Times video on YouTube – directed by Sadie Frost). Another highly tipped band, Yard Act stand out from the crowd by offering a combination of angular guitar licks and snarky lyricism barked rather than sung and their singles are like bitcoin iced with gold dust. October Drift make a long overdue (damn you covid x 200) return to Esquires, with a heavy ‘90s infl uence, they blend the jangly sounds of shoegaze and the dirty, quiet-loud dynamic of U.S. grunge with catchy melodies and depressing vocals reminiscent of Joy Division.