STOCKTON INTERNATIONAL RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL

Words:

Michael O’Neill

Boasting some of the best street artists and performers from across the world, the Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) is a glorious four day cavalcade of exciting performances, stunning visual experiences, daring dance, live music, circus and more. Beginning with a special Alive After Five party on Stockton High Street on Thursday 3rd August, the festival’s official launch show, the spectacular Perceptions by Bivouac, starts at 7pm on Friday 4th (with a repeat performance on Saturday night at 9.30pm, giving you a chance to see it after dark). There’s also the return of the fabulous SIRF Green, with a wealth of tasty treats on offer from local traders, live music sets from Old Time Rags, The Dead Seat and a healthy dose of tomfoolery from 16rpm, alongside street performances from Akademi, Unlimited Theatre, Upswing and 2Faced Dance. Saturday also sees a free entry all-dayer at The Georgian Theatre and The Green Room, with sets from Common Courtesy, Coral Snake, Haunted Hair, Blackout The Arcade and Seventh Heaven (in the Georgian) and Pave The Jungle, Ward, Charlotte Grayson, Parissa Zarifi and Mary Elizabeth Webb (in the Green Room).

To close out the festival, the ever-popular Community Carnival will parade down the High Street on Sunday, ending at Trinity Green, where a truly spectacular high flying acrobatic show from CirkVOST brings things to a close. Best of all, it’s free throughout! Stockton International Riverside Festival takes place in Stockton from Thursday 3rd-Sunday 6th August. www.sirf.co.uk

Music

OPUS KINK @ KU/ZEROX

Words: Jake Anderson

Laying between the treacherous land of funk, punk and jazz, Opus Kink have infused their music with vocal noises and triumphant horns to create a sound that borders on the edge of being a bop and just plain eerie. It’s a genre match from heaven, and the two distinct styles blend together effortlessly, sounding like Talking Heads’ estranged cousin.

The band have treated their listeners this year with a brand new EP, titled My Eyes, Brother, following on from their acclaimed second EP ‘Til The Stream Runs Dry. Both projects are fantastic snippets of what the band has to offer, having distinctly memorable moments throughout and an unmatched energy.

Opus Kink are bringing their tunes to the North East, making a stop at Stockton’s KU on Friday 11th and Newcastle’s Zerox on Sunday 13th August. However, the Friday night is a part of a series of performances for the band funded by The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour – meaning that if you select the option while purchasing the tickets, you are given a second ticket for free. The Stockton gig also features Melbourne’s poetically powerful and raw sounding Floodlights.

Opus Kink play KU, Stockton on Friday 11th and Zerox, Newcastle on Sunday 13th August. www.opuskink.com

MUSIC SURF BONANZA @ THE CLUNY

Words: Jake Anderson

The fourth Summer Surf Bonanza will be splashing onto the stage at Newcastle’s Cluny on Saturday 5th August. The evening is a fantastic opportunity to experience four of the region’s surf-inspired bands, as well as a selection of vintage short films, for the price of a box of fish fingers in today’s economy. Performing on the night are The Milk Lizards, who blend surf rock with a punkish energy, creating a sound that would not be out of place in a modern interpretation of Hawaii 5-0 and creating a truly engaging listening experience. Toxic Peak are a relatively new band who specialise in instrumental surf-based tunes, describing themselves as “lost in the waves of a quarry lagoon”. Also on the bill are X-Ray Surf Vehicle, an off-shot of the band X Ray Cat Trio, that will only be around for a few live shows this summer, as the surf-punkers use the opportunity to experiment under a new pseudonym. While Jon Lee’s Hawaiian Serenaders will complete the line-up for a summer night of groovy tunes.

Surf Bonanza #4 takes place at The Cluny, Newcastle on Saturday 5th August. www.thecluny.com

MUSIC FORTITUDE VALLEY @ THE CUMBERLAND ARMS

Words: Laura Doyle

Let’s not pretend to understand why Brisbanite Laura Kovic elected to move from Down Under to Durham; let’s just instead be overjoyed that we get to smugly claim her songwriting project Fortitude Valley for ourselves. Formed at the tail-end of 2019 from a need to explore her own limits with her very own creative outlet, the indie pop four-piece obviously weren’t going to have the easiest start. Nevertheless, they persisted, releasing their first self-titled record in the summer of 2021, and now they have another well on the way.

In hot anticipation of album #2, Fortitude Valley have embarked on a whistle-stop tour of the UK, dropping by at our very own Cumberland Arms on Thursday 10th August for an evening of non-stop bops. New tracks are guaranteed to be on the set-list, alongside those (not so) old favourites. Whenever they come from, Fortitude

Valley’s glimmering indie pop rock blend is the perfect summer soundtrack. Support comes from label mates and irony enthusiasts Adults, whose indie tweecore is a big mood for unwed pseudo-grown-ups everywhere, and Hartlepool’s Mt. Misery who really bring it home with wistful, breezy psychedelic pop born straight from the North East coastline. Fortitude Valley, Adults and Mt. Misery play The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle on Thursday 10th August. www.fortitudevalley.co.uk

MUSIC NEWCASTLE JAZZ FESTIVAL @ VARIOUS VENUES

Words: Lee Fisher

The Newcastle Jazz Festival ran for around twenty years until the usual financial difficulties scuppered it in 1995, but it sprang back to life in 2019, only to get scuppered once more, this time by COVID.

But jazz has always been about looking forward, so we shall: this year’s festival is running from Wednesday 16th-Sunday 20th August, with several events building up to the main weekend programme. Amy Thatcher & Fran Knowles and The Ben Shankland Trio are at The Globe on Wednesday, The Strictly Smoking Big Band at The Bridge Hotel on Thursday and the Alex Clarke Quartet and Festival Jam at The Black Swan on Friday. Then it’s the main event – two days of music at Tyne Bank Brewery from 1pm each day. www.newcastlejazzfestival.co.uk

Saturday has Ruth Lambert Duo, Giles Strong Quartet, JazzMain, Dean Stockdale, Nigel Price Trio and Swannek, while on Sunday it’s Graham Hardy with the Stuart Collingwood Duo, Matthew Forster Quartet, Steve Summers & Sue Ferris, Slowlight Quartet and Jonny Mansfield with Andy Champion & Dave McKeague. Plus, there’s a variety of ticket packages available, check the website for more.

Newcastle Jazz Festival takes place at various venues from Wednesday 16th-Sunday 20th August.

MUSIC ‘68 @ BOBIKS

Words: Matt Young

For a two-man team modestly staking a claim for themselves as practitioners of “a little rock, a little blues, a little hardcore” Josh Scogin and Nikko Yamada throw everything into the mix when it comes to performing as ’68. Named after Scogin’s dad’s Camero, there’s an earthy atmosphere created in their music that’s offset by a hunger and stripped back to basics sound. The vibrance and undoubted roar of guitar riffs appeal to many disparate groups and the fact that they’ve toured and shared stages with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Stone Sour, The Amity Affliction and Underoath to name just a few, shows how they’ve managed to earn new converts.

At their Bobiks gig on Monday 21st August it’ll be Scogin’s frenetic energy and captivating stage persona that make him an immediate draw, but it’s truly within the duo that ‘68’s brand of unapologetic rock pushes boundaries and you’re swept away by their power. The whirlwind of energy, rollercoaster of sonic chaos and adrenaline is what gives songs like www.theyare68.com

Whether Terrified or Afraid, Track 5 or Lovers In Death their emotional heft and intensity. This for all the ways to define their sound ‘68 don’t dabble with the standard blues or rock and roll, their tunes kick much harder and louder. ’68 play Bobiks, Newcastle on Monday 21st August.

Music Songs For T Album Release

Words: Claire Dupree

Tragically, suicide is the biggest killer of young people under 35 in the UK, and every year up to 200 children are lost to suicide.

The Songs For T project was started by local promoter and music fan Richy Hetherington and his family, who are understandably still reeling from the loss of their 15 year old son, Thomas, to suicide last year. Having reached out to some of their favourite artists to support an album release, the music and art loving family have curated a charity album in order to raise money for PAPYRUS, a charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide in the UK and anti-bullying charity Kidscape. The album will feature tracks from the likes of Jeffrey Lewis, Nev Clay, Elle Longstaff, Dressed Like Wolves, Mage Tears & Loveable Holes, Dandelion Hands and many more.

Thomas’ Dad Richy says: “Supporting PAPYRUS is very important to me because although we knew Thomas was having some issues we never truly understood just how badly Thomas was feeling, we need young people to be more aware of the help that is available and for conversations about self-harm and suicide to be more open with parents and carers. I really want to try to raise money, and to increase awareness of suicide prevention and helping to save young lives.”

The album will be available through the Butterfly Effect label, with the vinyl pre-sale via PressOn Vinyl’s FairSound project, and other formats available via Richy’s own Bandcamp, Katpis Tapes.

Songs For T is available for pre-sale now. www.for-thomas.com www.katpistapes.bandcamp.com www.papyrus-uk.org www.kidscape.org.uk

200 acts across stages

9 the ultimate end of summer party

STEREO MC’S GENTLEMAN’S DUB CLUB

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

THE CUBAN BROTHERS DUTTY MOONSHINE BIG BAND FEROCIOUS DOG

The Unthanks Showhawk Duo

THE BOOTLEG BEATLES DUB PISTOLS (DJ SET) & many many more vikings and rainbows | fancy dress

STAGE MONKEY’S BLOOD @ LAUREL’S

Words: Jake Anderson

An earth-shattering moment for me as a Northerner was finding out that no one calls red sauce on ice cream monkey’s blood outside of the North East…

Perhaps the origins of the moniker will become apparent in a new play by local playwrights Jamie Eastlake and John Hickman, who present their production, Monkey’s Blood, at Laurel’s in Whitley Bay. Eastlake has previously adapted stories such as The Season Ticket onto the stage, while Hickman will be better known for his work on shows such as Eastenders.

After a successful run in London in 2019, the performance is being brought home for a period, from Tuesday 1st-Saturday 5th August. Protagonist Micky rallies against convention and turns his love for puppetry and performing into a successful show with the help of his coked up sidekick, a monkey called Colin. An absurdist plot ensues, involving the far right, children’s TV and a foul-mouthed monkey, leading the production to being described as “absolutely barking mad”. The tone for the play is perfectly encapsulated by its trailer, which sees a Colin the monkey lip-synch along to Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence.

Monkey’s Blood is at Laurel’s Theatre, Whitley Bay from Tuesday 1st-Saturday 5th August. www.laurelswhitley.co.uk