BEHIND THE SCENE GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Issue #4 February 2014
BEHIND THE SCENE ISSUE #4 Welcome to issue 4 of BEHIND THE SCENE GLOUCESTERSHIRE. I’m going to use this introduction bit that I write every month to make something very, very obvious to everyone.: THIS IS A FREE RESOURCE – PLEASE USE IT! In my evenings when I fit writing this fanzine in around my job, one thing becomes apparent – there is a LOT of music going on in Gloucestershire. But it’s not always obvious when and where gigs are, how much they cost, what time they start and whether they’ll finish before the last bus home. You need to be connected to about ten different Facebook groups and fan pages just to find out if there’s an open mic night on Thursday down the Elephant & Turnip*. Sometimes it’s too late – the gig has been and gone. So I’ve created this fanzine as a ‘go to’ place for fans of music in Gloucestershire. Go to it if you want to know where a gig is, go to it if you want to hear about a new band, and go to it to read about what’s gone on locally in the last month.
This all relies on bands, promoters and venues getting involved. If you want me to advertise your gig then I’ll do it. If you want me to review your show or CD then I’ll do it. If you want me to include your photos then I’ll do it. It won’t cost you ANYTHING more than a few minutes of your time to e-mail or message me. Think about it – if you are putting on a gig would you like somebody to tell several hundred of their friends about it? Then would you like that person to tell several hundred of their friends who are SPECIFICALLY INTERESTED in watching live music about it AND live in the local area? Well, I can do that (and I do). So get in touch when you’ve read this thing and use me. I’m free advertising. Enjoy reading this issue! * Please note: there is no pub in Gloucestershire called the Elephant & Turnip – do not turn up there on Thursday with a guitar and your best Ed Sheeran cover. Issue #4 February 2014 Le Skeleton Band cover photo by Ned Gibbons. https://www.facebook.com /NedGibbonsPhotography
Contact via e-mail: averagemanzine@yahoo.co.uk Follow on twitter: @behindsceneglos Facebook: facebook.com/behindthesceneglos
GIG REVIEW Thrill Collins @ The Tavern, Cheltenham (31.12.13) Standing shoulder to shoulder in the Tavern with Cheltenham’s most smartly dressed (and deep in conversation), I feel like an extra in a reality TV show. Girls with Colgate advert white teeth laugh with brogue-wearing boys drinking foreign lager. This is Made in Chelsea crossed with Mr Selfridge in the centre of Cheltenham - but still, it beats the time I saw the New Year in at Wetherspoons. We’re at the Tavern to listen to Thrill Collins – the country’s only 80’s/90’s/00’s skiffle covers band. It’s standing room only as diners mix with drinkers who mix with waitresses squeezing past you. Through the night we only get one glass full of ice dropped on us – we see this as a relative success. After a little wait, the band launch into a Backstreet Boys cover with all of the gusto they can muster with three chords, a double bass and some rather creative drumming on a glorified box. Rick Astley, Cyndi Lauper and Five all succumb to the Thrill Collins treatment in the next hour. Some people dance on chairs whilst others stand at the bar ordering numerous shots of Sambuca. During a Michael Jackson song, I play my new favourite game called ‘Spot Steve Knibbs from the telly at a Thrill Collins gig.’ As far as I’m aware, I’m the current World Champion at this having spotted the Points West reporter twice now. Feel free to play along yourself the next time you watch Thrill Collins.
Anyway, as it nears midnight the band take a break and everyone piles to the bar to welcome in 2014. Loved ones kiss each other and people shake hands with strangers as if they’ve known them all their life (when in reality, they wouldn’t even say hello to each other in the street). Most people have a good go at singing Auld Lang Syne but, in keeping with tradition, give up after the first verse and just mumble their way through the rest of it.
Ten minutes into the new year, Thrill Collins return for another hour of harmless, alcohol-fuelled, pop-tastic fun. The final song is a fifteen-minute journey through almost every song that loosely fits into the rap genre, from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme tune to ‘Here Comes The Hotstepper’ via ‘Wild Wild West.’ It’s the skiffle version of an Abba Medley for the hip-hop generation. After two-hours of charming tongue-incheek covers, we are danced out and more than a little merry. As I reflect on New Years past, I decide that, although it’s a close call, this one beats that night in Wetherspoons in 2003 when we didn’t even get the chance to sing Auld Lang Syne because of their strict policy music policy, i.e. They don’t play any. http://thrillcollinsmusic.wordpress.com
EDD DONOVAN & THE WANDERING MOLES 2014 could be an interesting year for the interestingly named Edd Donovan & The Wandering Moles. With upcoming EP ‘House Of Fire’ out soon and a new album due by April, there will be little rest for the man who fits in his music around his job as a social worker. Edd Donovan’s music evokes the spirit of folk songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Louden Wainwright III. However, it wasn’t until he was a student in Cheltenham in the early 90’s that he picked up a guitar. Edd says that, “It was only when I came to Cheltenham that I regularly heard live acoustic music - it seemed every other student had a guitar or knew how to play one. I was immediately fascinated and keen to learn for myself, and no sooner had I learned my first chords that I began writing melodies and lyrics. On reflection, I realise It was the song writing element that has always appealed to me most and that the guitar has allowed this creative process develop.” After his first band Pootle failed to take off, Edd found inspiration in the Cat Stevens song, ‘If You Want to Sing Out (Sing Out).’ “It was the cause of a great shift within me at the time and inspired me to write some new, better songs and rearrange some older songs. I then arranged an evening’s recording with Mark Peters and John Vickers. Using an old reel to reel set up we came up with the E.P ‘Paint It What You Like’. It enabled us to put together a little tour around the country on the back of it, and so experienced what it was to perform live.”
With fatherhood and a career slowing down progress, Edd began inviting different musicians around late at night for jam sessions , which is where the ‘Wandering Moles’ came from. “Wandering Moles was a song I wrote that just made sense to use as the name for the band; I was switching the composition of the band regularly as to what was required and who was available.” In 2010 his first album ‘A Heart Broken Open’ was recorded with the help of Dan Gilbert, but Edd ran out of money and time to record many of the songs that he had in mind. Fast forward a couple of years to a meeting with Paul Arthurs and Chads Bradbury on the local circuit. “They saw me perform with my fellow guitarist, Chris Collins and backing singer, Jayne Bartholomew. They liked what we did and offered to help me get the sound I was desperate to achieve on the next recording. We recorded the tracks for new album ‘Something To Take The Edge Off’ one evening a couple of years ago.”
Edd continues: “Paul and Chads then realised that they might just have an album here that realises their long term dreams of starting up their own record label. So, the recording of that album kick-started Paper Label Records. They are not genre specific; have an eclectic taste in music but an absolute commitment to quality.“ Although he’s originally from St Helens, Edd says that he is ‘proud and excited’ to be part of Cheltenham’s music scene. “I’m delighted that the music scene is Cheltenham is getting more and more dynamic and vibrant. Sound Music Venue is doing a good job of filling the void left by the closure of Slak and the long term absence of the Axiom. The Cheltenham
Underground has a consistent array of quality musicians gracing their stages and The Prince Albert of Stroud, is a good place to experience something special.” With the ‘House On Fire’ EP out soon, the band had great fun recording a video for it in the Cheltenham Unitarian Church with a cast of vintage string puppets. It will be a free release to subscribers to their mailing list. So if you like contemporary folk music played with honesty, make sure that you give it a download, learn the songs then look out for Edd Donovan & The Wandering Moles when they tour as a full band in the Autumn.
www.edddonovan.co.uk www.paperlabelrecords.co.uk/
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NERVANA @ G’S BAR, CHELTENHAM 22.11.14 I always imagined that I’d be at least fifty years old before I started seeing tribute bands. But tonight, less than two weeks after I turned 30, I’m stood in a pub watching a bloke wearing a cardigan pretend he’s Kurt Cobain. And a bloody good job he does too.
G I G
Support band The Vigil fit in very well on tonight’s bill with their own Nirvanaesque material. The vocalist has a suitably raspy voice and their grunge inspired songs would have worked just as well in 1994 as they do in 2014. But it’s when Nervana take to the tiny stage that the quiet wet Wednesday night crowd begin to see their energy levels rise.
R E V I E W
Before the gig, my Dad told me that he’d seen a Neil Diamond tribute act a couple of weeks ago. The fella wore an awful toupee and, during a fag break, covered his head in a Tesco carrier bag as the wig had cost him £500. These tribute acts must be very well paid.
The Vigil
www.facebook.com/nervanatribute www.facebook.com/thevigilmusic
There are no such problems with Nervana though, as all of their hair is all their own. The band’s appeal is in their attention to detail; from the insistence on playing B-sides and songs from ‘Bleach’, right down to touring with a Pat Smear lookalike second guitarist. Which all gets me thinking – do they sound like Nirvana because they look like them, or do they look like Nirvana because they sound like them? ‘Kurt’ certainly has the small stature of Nirvana’s frontman and he matches this with a ‘close your eyes and it’s like it’s really him’ gravelly voice. A few songs in, the band play ‘Lithium’ and a wave of warm nostalgia hits everyone. In your teenage angst whilst listening to these songs in your bedroom, you don’t ever stop to think that these are just simple pop songs done well. I doubt anyone in the pub tonight actually saw Nirvana in their heyday, but tonight in Cheltenham this is definitely the next best thing.
JANUARY GIG GALLERY Clockwise from left 1. Unnamed band @ CafĂŠ Rene, Gloucester 2. Louise Latham @ Prince Albert, Stroud 3. Jazzy Dave Taylor @ Gloucester Guildhall Musiclab Open Mic
Photos courtesy of: 2. Ned Gibbons (Ned Gibbons Photography) https://www.facebook.com/Ne dGibbonsPhotography 3. John Plane (Local Music Events) https://www.facebook.com/gro ups/317897478324881/perma link/492177640896863/
GLOUCESTERSHIRE GIG GUIDE FOR FEBRUARY When?
Who?
Where?
Where?
1st
Big Jim & American Eric
Miner’s Arms
Whitcroft
1st
Captain Swing
Subscription Rooms
Stroud
1st
KSH & The Going Goods, Simplistic Scientists Welcome Back Delta, XII Boar, Damon T Bacchus
St Paul’s Tavern
Cheltenham
Two Pigs
Cheltenham
Cotswold Inn
Cheltenham
Sound Music Venue
Cheltenham
1st
Seth Bye & Katie Griffin, Henry Bateman Red Shift
The Vaults
Cirencester
2nd
Swing From Paris (2.30pm)
Exmouth Arms
Cheltenham
2nd
Shootin’ The Crow (6.00pm)
Railway Inn
Newnham
2nd
Open Mic feat. Emi McDade
Cotswold Inn
Cheltenham
4th
Will Varley, Hot Feet
Prince Albert
Stroud
5th
Open Mic
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
6th
Open Mic
Prince Albert
Stroud
6th
Johnny Barlow
Seventeen Black
Cirencester
7th
Masterplan, Clay Gods
Sound Music Venue
Cheltenham
7th
Live Music
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
8th
Frog & Fiddle
Cheltenham
8th
Brother & Bones, Boat To Row, Ryan Francis Martin Thousand Fingers, Novella Noise
Sound Music Venue
Cheltenham
8th
Zool
Inn On The Marsh
8th
Over The Hill
Albion Club
Moreton-InMarsh Cheltenham
8th
Stop Stop!
St Paul’s Tavern
Cheltenham
8th
Tour De Funk
Prince Albert
Stroud
1st 1st 1st
IF I HAVEN’T LISTED YOUR GIG, IT’S BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T SEND IT TO ME!
GLOUCESTERSHIRE GIG GUIDE FOR FEBRUARY When?
Who?
Where?
Where?
8th
Solid Gone, Damon T
Cotswold Inn
Cheltenham
9th
Railway Inn
Newnham
11th
Open Mic hosted by Callum Olias (6pm) Andy White
Prince Albert
Stroud
12th
Carrie Tree & The House Of Hats
Prince Albert
Stroud
12th
Just Call Me ‘W’
Railway Inn
Newnham
12th
Open Mic
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
13th
Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo
Prince Albert
Stroud
13th
The Eduardo Niebla Experience
Subscription Rooms
Stroud
14th
The Wurzels
Subscription Rooms
Stroud
14th
SN Dubstation
Cotswold Inn
Cheltenh
14th
John D’Ambrosio
Exmouth Arms
Cheltenham
14th
Ben Marwood, Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Joe Summers Three Bonzos and a Piano
Frog & Fiddle
Cheltenham
Subscription Rooms
Stroud
Sound Music Venue
Cheltenham
The Flying Shack
Staverton
15th
Stressechoes, Sean Delahay, Matt Coldrey Wild Willy Barrett & The Sleeping Dogz My Design
St Paul’s Tavern
Cheltenham
15th
Over The Hill
Cotswold Inn
Cheltenham
15th
A Mizen Experience
Miner’s Arms
Whitcroft
15th
Boogie Lounge
Cheltenham
15th
Motion Enterprise, Chequeletic, Methodical Concept, Zebadee & Ryno Novella Noise
Brunswick
Gloucester
15th
Heg & The Wolf Chorus
Prince Albert
Stroud
18th
Austin Lewis
Prince Albert
Stroud
15th 15th 15th
PLEASE CHECK WITH THE VENUE FOR PRICES & START TIMES
GLOUCESTERSHIRE GIG GUIDE FOR FEBRUARY When?
Who?
Where?
Where?
19th
Open Mic
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
21st
Brunswick
Gloucester
21st
The Big 4 Tribute: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax Emily Jane Mew
Exmouth Arms
Cheltenham
22nd
Two Bucks Promotions showcase
Brunswick
Gloucester
22nd
The Skimmity Hitchers
Railway Inn
Newnham
21st
Live Music
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
22nd
Frog & Fiddle
Cheltenham
26th
Isolation, Sounds Of Silence, Amateur Drive By Open Mic
Cross Keys Inn
Gloucester
27th
Chris Davis
Seventeen Black
Cirencester
27th
The Selecter
Guildhall
Gloucester
28th
Two Pigs
Cheltenham
28th
Let’s Talk Daggers, I The Lion, Still Bust, Terrors My Design
Café Rene
Gloucester
28th
The Rolling Clones
Sound Music Venue
Cheltenham
PLEASE keep sending me your gigs for the gig guide. PLEASE keep sending me photos for the gig gallery.
PLEASE let me know if have a gig in February you’d like me to review or a gig in March you’d like me to preview.
E-mail: averagemanzine@yahoo.co.uk
STEVIE RAY LATHAM, DAMON T @ BLACK BOOK CAFÉ, STROUD (26.01.14) I am sitting in a café on a Sunday afternoon. I don’t like coffee and I don’t really see the point in cafés anyway (hasn’t everyone got a mug and a kettle in their own house that they can use?), yet here I am in the Black Book Café in Stroud. I’m surrounded by people lounging on sofas, playing chess or reading books picked from the hundreds that are stacked around the room. Posters on the walls tell us that if we like the books, we can buy them. If I was stood on Peter Crouch’s shoulders I still couldn’t reach the ones on the highest shelves, so there’s not much chance of some of them ever getting read anyhow.
In front of the large window that looks onto Cornhill, Damon T is playing the blues. He has his shoes off, some bells tied around one ankle and is stamping on a stomp box with textbook rhythm. His chequered shirt and well-worn jeans appropriately accompany the slice of musical Americana that he is delivering. Any fears of mine before the gig that this afternoon would just be a stream of musicians fumbling their way through ‘Smelly Cat’ have thankfully been put to rest.
G I G
R E V I E W The audience are sitting so close to the musicians that we can look them in the eye (except for the people that have to stand around the edges of the café as all seats are taken). I swear I see Stevie Ray Latham, who has got the train from London to play today, look at me awkwardly every so often just because he doesn’t know where else to look between verses (and neither do I). His young bright capital city take on Bob Dylan via Johnny Flynn is so perfectly formed and effortlessly sung that people put down their chess pieces and gawp for a while. He plays with the true spirit of folk, both singing his own songs and those of others he admires (such as his friend Jim Jones, as well as his Uncle). He thanks the audience for listening so well and not giving him any abuse (surely not in Stroud on a Sunday) and is asked to play one more. When he’s finished we put some change in a box and drive home for leftover lasagne. www.facebook.com/stevieraymusic www.facebook.com/Damont.co.uk
OLD GIG PHOTOS EARTHTONE 9 @ THE GUILDHALL, GLOUCESTER 11.04.02 The Guildhall used to put on really, really good metal and hardcore gigs. We’d get the 94 bus over from Cheltenham, pay a few quid to get in, have a mosh and then spend the rest of our money on stuff from the merch table. Most out of town bands I saw there got a fairly decent crowd without actually being that well known. As you can see from the photos, there was no barrier in front of the stage and the backdrop was merely Rick Waller’s bed sheet – who needs their name up in lights anyway?
At the bus stop on our way back home we would wait again for the 94 to arrive dressed in our hoodies and baggy jeans. Wallet chains were sometimes attached to our wallets, but were more often just left dangling from our trousers as a purposeless accessory. We would compare mosh pit scars and discuss whether the new Limp Bizkit album was any good or not.* I guess times were simpler back then.
* It wasn’t.
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STROUD & GLOUCESTER VINYL CONNECTION Long time DJs and good friends, Neil Wilson and Darren Norris, both share a passion for vinyl records. Once a month they host an evening that goes under the name of the STROUD & GLOUCESTER VINYL CONNECTION. After two successful events at the Prince Albert in Stroud and Cider Tree in Gloucester, the chance to spin a bit of vinyl is proving popular with enthusiasts from around the county. Neil explains that, "We set up a pair of decks in the pub on a Sunday afternoon and invite other vinyl heads along to spin some tunes that they think deserve a good airing. The beauty of it is that there is no restriction of genre or age of record, as long as it's vinyl and you love it then it can be played." I'm not sure how my first pressing of Cliff Richard's 'Mistletoe & Wine' would go down, but I'm willing to give it a go at their next event on February 16th at the Prince Albert in Stroud. "So far the general musical style has mostly been funk, soul & hip-hop but we've had some great reggae & rock sets as well,” notes Neil. “We don't ask people to DJ, we just want them to play their records in a nice setting while supping on a beer or two." People are also invited to bring records along to sell, swap and buy. Perhaps someone will want my copy of ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ after all? I’m willing to start bids at 10p, or I’ll trade it for a pristine first run copy of Band Aid.
https://www.facebook.com/SGVinylC
GIG REVIEW Rachel Austin, Triinu T Tammsalu @ Soho Bar, Cheltenham (16.01.13) At the Soho Sessions, a regular Thursday night gig in Cheltenham, Triinu T Tammsalu battles bravely against a loud table of women who are certainly there for a session of some kind although this mainly involves drinking cocktails and shrieking very loudly whilst the musicians play. You see, Triinu Tammsalu is a gentle folk singer from Estonia who wouldn’t say boo to a wild boar.* Her finger picked tales have a continental feel to them that would remind me of jazz cafés in Paris if I had ever been to a jazz café in Paris. But I haven’t. I’ve only been to France three times, one of which was only a day trip to a hypermarket in Calais, which hardly makes me Ernest Hemingway in the 1920s. Although the stories she is Tallin* get lost in the hub-bub of a boozy night
out (for some), Triinu Tammsalu’s songs are clearly a labour of love. The casual Billie Holiday cover that’s thrown in gives you an idea of the type of gentle acoustic jazz she offers. Triinu’s worth catching again. Before Russian*** off (as we have work the next day) we catch a few songs by the talented Rachel Austin. Performing a splattering of covers mixed with a wealth of original, keyboard driven material, she exercises her powerful lungs superbly. Sometimes quirky (singing about her ‘little black book’) but more often thoughtful, it’s nice to hear some original songs being led by a keyboard in a bar for a change. Trinnu Tammsalu (pictured left) https://www.facebook.com/triinumusic
* Shoe-horned in Estonia reference #1 ** Bad Estonia joke/reference #2 *** Last one, I promise.
Rachel Austin (pictured above) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel -Austin/301834883162411
GIG PREVIEWS Cider loving four-piece THE SKIMMITY HITCHERS play on the 22nd of February at the RAILWAY INN, NEWNHAM, which was recently voted the best cider pub in the South West in 2013 by CAMRA. To celebrate their award the band (who consist of members such as Jack Scrumpy, Tatty Smart, Drum Chedder and Magners O’Magnersson) will travel all the way from Devon for their set. According to the band themselves they play, ‘Songs in the Scrumpy & Western style (tunes what we stole with words what we made up), mixed up with home-pressed original material (7.3% ABV).’ The Skimmity Hitchers walk the line between country, rockabilly, punk, ska and folk – all played with a smile on their faces and a pint in their hands. Whilst you are there, why not buy one of the Railway’s ciders and look at the certificate on their wall? On February 28th, Shoot Your Hoops bring LET’S TALK DAGGERS to the TWO PIGS in Cheltenham. Supported by local acts I, The Lion, Still Bust and Terrors, it’s guaranteed to be noisy, full of energy and might just make your ears bleed a little bit.
Wild Willy Barrett @ Flying Shack – February 15th
P R E V I E W
Gig preview written by Mike Edwards
G I G
WILD WILLY BARRETT will be back in the UK in February 2014, with the Sleeping Dogz cabaret show.
The musical legend will take to the small stage at THE FLYING SHACK, Gloucestershire Airport's unique roadhouse club/bar. For anyone thinking of turning out to see them, be prepared for a thoroughly entertaining and highly original performance from three seriously talented musicians. Expect foot stomping fiddle, banjo and uilleann pipes, interspersed with the haunting cello and backing vocals of Mary Holland and the lyrical flute of John Devine. This makes for an evening of entertainment difficult to ‘put into a box’ but equally difficult to forget. Crossing the boundaries of acoustic blues, traditional Irish, bluegrass and folk with their innovative songs and arrangements, it would be hard not to smile at the dry humour and onstage banter of this truly inspirational ensemble. Even the most straightforward songs have a twist that makes them special, and for sheer panache, you can’t beat playing slide guitar with a raw egg!
Vocalist Gina Ellen will be joining the band in the South West in February. Having worked with musicians, producers and composers from as far afield as America, Africa, Germany and Bali, Gina’s warm rich vocals, natural style and engaging personality fit in perfectly with the slightly alternative approach of this unusual and addictive band and her song writing talents are put to good use.
An evening of good fun, laughter and most of all great music. The bar at The Flying Shack opens at 7pm, and the music starts around 9pm. The Flying Shack is on Bamfurlong Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6ST. Tickets cost £5 and can be ordered via www.flyingshack.com
BEHIND THE SCENE GLOUCESTERSHIRE ISSUE #4 FEBRUARY 2014
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