Cultural collective The People's Lounge are well known for hosting a diverse array of talent at their events, at their Sunday night Late Lounge Sessions at Southsea's HUISor via their now annual presence in the World Music Village at Portsmouth's Victorious Festival (where their tented stage hosts a variety of artists, providing a programme of spoken word, poetry and discussion, as well as hosting both live music and DJ sets).
Whilst The People's Lounge has a presence at Victorious the World Music Village is curated by the Arms Around The Child charity, an organisation that aims to provide love, hope and dignity to children around the world who in desperate need of it. Similarly local charity Friends Without Borders provides support and friendship to asylum seekers, refugees and immigration detainees in the Portsmouth area, and it's for these two organisations that The People's Lounge are hosting a musical fundraiser this weekend.
Funk The Borders takes place this Saturday, 2nd March, at The Loft on Albert Road (upstairs of The Kings pub) and features an eclectic line-up of Funk, Folk, Hip-Hop and, perhaps, some Jazz too. Nice. Singer-songwriter Megan Linford, whose new single First Day of Spring features below, will be performing as will TPL's own Global Sounds Portsmouth music project.
There'll also be some hip-swinging tunes courtesy of The People's Lounge Funk Band and up-and-coming local hip-hop act Prøspects will be laying down their flow (which, I'm reasonably assured, is the correct parlance). Prøspects recently released the Grim EPwhich features Deceit, available below:
It promises to be a musical selection box of an evening, with DJ sets from Sahara Rock, Mo Funk and Sam Foot in addition to the live acts, supplying good music to the paying punters whilst helping do some good for those that need a hand. Tickets are priced £5 and can be purchased in advance via EventBrite.
No disrespect intended to Rodgers, Hammerstein or thelate Maria von Trapp, but bright copper kettles, or warm woollen mittens for that matter, are not on my list of favourite things. If I was to create such a list then I can state quite easily what would be at the top of it; the simple act of attending a live music event.
Yes, going to a gig. That feeling within produced from the combination of sensations, the bright lights and the loud mellifluous noise. The power of the shared experience, the joy of the sound of music. There's nothing quite like it and it's a gift that all can, and should enjoy.
However, for some of us, attending a gig may not be as easy and accessible a joy as for the rest. For various reasons entering into a dark auditoriums that hosts live music, with a crowd of unknown faces in attendance, may be a disconcerting experience. Thankfully there are organisations that actively seek to open the experience up for all, organisations such as Gig Buddies and Portsmouth's Beatz Club.
Gig Buddies is a nationwide organisation which matches adults with a learning disability to volunteers with similar musical tastes, together sharing the love of live music. Beatz promotes events that offer adults with disabilities an authentic night out of live music in a safe, supportive environment.
The team behind Beatz combine their passion for music with their experience working alongside individuals with disabilities, ensuring that "everyone has a great night out". The two groups co-hosted a Christmas special at The Wedgewood Rooms, featuring live music from Bedlam and Monkey Love Stunt Team on the decks, and it's back at the venerable Albert Road venue where their next event will be held. This time around it's going to be a loud one; the organisers have shuffled the decks, checked their hand, and are playing the Rock card.
First on the bill are Further From The Sky, a rocking four-piece with an impressive bio; between them they've played venues across the UK and Europe, recorded in London and California, and toured with the great and good from the international and underground rock scenes. If you want a South Coast rock supergroup, you've got it...
Next up are Joolz, Marky Mark and JD, aka Trouble County, a Portsmouth power trio producing "down n’ dirty, oil stained, groove-driven Southern stoner rock".
Topping the bill are South Coast three-piece Heir of The Dog, purveyors of funked up rock and rolling riffs aplenty.
This array of rock riffage takes place on Thursday 28th February at The Wedgewood Rooms and, whilst the aim of the gig is to provide people with
special needs a safe environment in which to enjoy live music, the event is open to all music lovers who want to share a good night's entertainment. Tickets are for this shindig are £5 and carers go FREE.
Portsmouth Hip-Hop promoters/label Word of Mouth are bringing the spirit of 8 Mile to Albert Road with a new freestyle rap tournament night, Battlegrounds. Whether you're a budding Q-Tip or a fully fledged DMX (yes, I've heard of them) the stage is open for all-comers to throw down. If the guest judges rate your flow then you could emerge victorious, crowned the Battlegrounds Champion, walking away with some "epic prizes".
The tournament begins this Friday, 8th February, at The Loft (above The Kings pub) on Albert Road with DJs Supernova and Joey Kong providing the beats. If you fancy channelling your inner Andy Cooper, and have the chutzpah to take on a Portsea Island Busta Rhymes, then you can sign up on the night and step into the ring.
Doors open at 1900, with £3 entry before 2000, and ID is required.
Good news everyone, the excellent Dials Festival will be returning to Southsea this October! Last year's shindig saw various venues along Albert Road play host to some excellent talent, including Fake Empire, Curxes, Thyla and the jaw-droppingly good LibraLibra, hopes are therefore high for Dials 2019 to again bring the very best local and national emerging artists to the city.
It's far too early to hazard a guess at who might be on the line-up but it's a reasonably safe bet that, on the day, there be a surfeit of good music for all to enjoy. If this wets your appetite I'd advise marking Saturday 5th October on your calendar and keeping eyes on the festival's social media for announcements.
The festival has once more partnered with Solent Mind, a local charity which supports people with mental health problem across the South, to again both raise funds and awareness of mental health issues.
For those eager to attend a limited number of Super Early Bird tickets go on sale this coming Friday, 1st February, available via the festival's website from 1000 prompt.
UPDATE: All £15Super Early Bird tickets sold out within 90 minutes, £18 Early Bird tickets now available.
Barely has the dust settled on the old year, heads still ringing from seeing in the new, and the gig calendar is starting to populate with new events to attend. Amongst the first of these is an all day event at the Edge of the Wedge, the Wedgewood Rooms' sister venue, held in support of Independent Venue Week. An annual celebration of the UK's small music venues and the people that own, run and work in them, Independent Venue Week supports the stages where many artists receive their first taste of playing live to an audience, artists that may eventually end up playing to thousands at stadia and festivals.
Unfortunately the UK's smaller venues currently face threats from a variety of sources, whether it be rate increases, property developers or neighbourhood noise issues, resulting in names familiar to gig goers disappearing from listings across the land.
Independent Music Week 2019 runs from Monday 28th January through to Sunday 2rd February, with member venues throughout Blighty hosting gigs (locally this includes The Joiners and Suburbiain Southampton, Stringson the Isle of Wight, and the aforementioned Wedgewood Rooms). Portsmouth DJs and event organisers Calamity Cratediggers have planned an all day shindig at the Edge, complete with record fair and local art showcase, for Sunday 3rdFebruary. The first two confirmed acts playing are Slift, purveyors of psychedelic garage from Toulouse, and Khana Bierbood (คณะเบียร์บูด), a 60s influenced surf band from Thailand, with several more acts set to be announced soon; Advance tickets are available now via the Wedgewood Rooms website, priced at a very reasonable £8. Yes, sounds a bargain to me too.
Rounding out the bill is Chet Wynne (aka Adam Rickman from Jesse Wylde & The Stallions), the Battery Hens/Grief Daddy/Aeroplane Attack/Flubums supergroup that is Friday Night Weird Dreams, and Brighton's Squig. A rather natty poster, reproduced above, has been created for the event by illustrator Carl Tai Thompson and would, I feel, make a very nice framed addition for any discerning gig-goers wall.
Since 2015 Southsea's Icebreaker Festivalhas been a highlight on the city's musical calendar, bringing unsigned acts to the city, delivering a glorious variety of new music to venues all within comfortable walking distance of each other. To be honest, I'm a wee bit embarrassed to say I've not been yet (I know, shame on me, I'll go sit on the blog equivalent of the 'naughty step'). Over two days in January Icebreakerturns existing venues, situated along the thoroughfares of Elm Grove and Albert Road, into stages offering the freshest in new and unsigned music. It's a model used to great effect by both The Great Escape and the fondly remembered Southsea Fest and, since its inception, Icebreaker successfully applied it to become the South's largest unsigned metropolitan music festival. In preparation for their next shindig the folks at Icebreaker Towers have been seeding their social media feeds with stage line-ups for next year's festival. The list is, obviously, reassuringly long so, in no particular order here are the acts playing Icebreaker 2019 [deep breath]...
Icebreaker 2019 takes place on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th January 2019, with both day and weekend tickets available online via Seetickets or, if you prefer a proper physical ticket, from The Wedgewood Rooms box office. And after all that I think that I really must get myself a ticket...
Update: The full line-up poster has been released.
This Saturday, 10th November, Southsea's Wine Vaults hosts Old Guard 18/19, a musical fundraiser for charity No More Durty Water. Fifty DJs will descend on the venerable Albert Road pub, spinning thirteen hours of music across three sounds systems, raising money to aid the charity's efforts to end water poverty.
Since its inception in 2010No More DurtyWater has, through parties, gigs and raffles, fully funded the building of 10 protected springs in southern Uganda. The charity was founded by local DJ Monkey P who, inspired by the fundraising activities of music students at South Downs College, realised that he could involve Southsea's musical and artistic community to raise both money and awareness. Sadly Monkey P died in 2015, the work of the charity he created continues however.
In addition to the DJs spinning out tunes there will be a raffle, with over thirty prizes supplied by local businesses, a record fair and a sale of Monkey P's record collection (some of which was sold at The Wedgewood Rooms back in May). The poster, below, riffs on the classic Mexico '86 World Cup logo (which reminded me that, back when I was a small boy, I had a model of Pique that I assembled out of a Kinder Egg).
Albert Road will be alive with the sound of music this weekend; if Sunday's charity event at the Wedgewood Rooms is the feel-good coda, Saturday's Dials Festival is the magnum opus. Dials 2018 takes place across five venues on Southsea's favourite thoroughfare, all conveniently within ambling distance of each other, with a hand-picked selection of acts performing. The organisers' sterling efforts have produced a line-up that is fair full to the brim with aural delights and, after some poring over the event's Clashfinderthis week, I think I've just about worked what my pick of the pops are (one of whom, Yassassin, have unfortunately had to withdraw under doctor's orders), so without further ado here are the bands I'm looking forward to seeing at Dials 2018: Temples of Youth (The Wine Vaults, 1330-1355) Jo Carson and Paul Gummaare Temples of Youth, purveyors of moody yet delicate electronica that combines gorgeous vocals, synthesizers and guitar. They've received airplay locally via BBC Introducing and nationally on both BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens) and BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq). Did I mention that they're excellent? No? Oh, well they are so you should make sure you're at the Vaults in plenty of time to see them.
Dani Uziel (Bar Acapulco, 1400-1430) Portsmouth singer-songwriter Danihas played several of the city's smaller venues over the past year, garnering plaudits and gaining fans along the way. Lauran Hibberd (The Loft, 1445-1520) If, like me, you like a mix of snarky lyrics and fuzzed-up guitar, you should direct your feet to The Loft (above The Kings pub) for Lauran Hibberd's set. Whilst her earlier material had a more delicate, folky feel the newer material rocks out a treat (will there be moshing during Call Shotgun? Hopefully).
Curxes(The Loft, 1700-1730) At first listenCurxes' sophomore album, Gilded Cage, appears to be a mellower affair than 2015's Verxes. Yet, as the album unfolds, it soon becomes apparent that a dark and melancholic heart beats beneath the gorgeous synths and crisp production. A soundtrack waiting for an as-yet-unmade Netflix dystopian sci-fi fantasy? Definitely.
Krush Puppies (The Loft, 1900-1930) London's Krush Puppies have a line of grungy fuzzed-up rock that's hard not to like, catch them at Dials ahead of their set at The Great Escape's FirstFifty gig in Hoxton next month. Of course, one of the things about festival is the clash and, yes, Krush Puppies clash with... Horseflies (Bar Acapulco, 1900-1930) Take a pinch of Deluxe Flamingoes, add a soupçon of Attack! Vipers! and what do you have? Horseflies. Lovely lovely Horseflies. Bokito(The Wine Vaults, 1930-2000) Once the clashes start there's no stopping them; so it is then that Bokito, hirsute suppliers of memorably quirky indie pop, are on at the same time as another band I'm hoping to see. Will Bokito have the edge as they appear to be named after a somewhat anti-social gorilla? Possibly. Vinyl Staircase (Edge of The Wedge, 1930-2000) Is there much to do in Dorking after dark? I don't know. I do, however, know that a vinyl staircase sounds very much like the kind of interior design that I'd splurge on should I ever win the lottery. Therefore the sound of Vinyl Staircase, which has a roll to its rock, appeals to me.
Fröst(Edge of The Wedge, 2030-2100) Skipping gently past the three-way clash that is the scheduling of Lice, Breath Paneland Thyla(a clash which might require a roshambo to make a decision on) we arrive at Fröst. This Brighton-based duo have received national airplay on BBC 6 Music, with their glacial electronica finding favour with Guy Garvey, Gideon Coe and Lauren Laverne. So, I really don't to sell that one, do I?
Estrons(The Wedgewood Rooms, 2100-2130) I must confess that I'm somewhat on the fence when it comes to Estronswhich, given my appalling centre of gravity, makes for wild teetering between love and hate feelings towards them and their brand of indie. Whilst singer Tali is, frankly, devastatingly good in the vocal department I do wonder if, without her presence, the band would just be another indie outfit. Harsh? Possibly, though I'm still keenly looking forward to hearing the album.
Art School Girlfriend (The Wine Vaults, 2130-2200) The Margate-based Art School Girlfriend (known to her chums as Polly) is preparing for her headline set at the Vaults tomorrow by a sold out show at St Pancras Old Churchtonight. This is a set I'm very much looking forward to, a dark and atmospheric way to end my Dials experience (well, until I get a second-wind and head back to the Wedge for Tigercub).
And there we have it, a selection of bands that I'm really looking forward to see (and, in some cases, see again) at Dials 2018. That isn't to say that the rest of the acts on the packed line-up aren't to my taste, far from; I'm also hoping to see Mystic Peach, Fake Empire, Los Bitchos, Grace Savage... err, maybe I need to rework my recommendations? Oh dear. Regardless of who you or I see all of the artists on the bill are deserving of our support, as is the festival itself, and if I could splice myself into several clones I'd see all of the bands on all of the stages. Perhaps one day it might be possible, for now though I'll have to be that guy scuttling between the stages, Clashfinder clutched to sausage-fingered hand, trying not to miss any of the wonderful music. I can't wait.
The lovely folks behind Dialshave announced some additions to the bill of their multi-venue one-day festival. Rounding out an already packed line-up of new music are London bands Yassassin and Krush Puppies, Brighton synth-pop duo Fröst, singer/beatboxer Grace Savage and Portsmouth singer-songwriters Megan Linford and Dani Uziel. All this and more for the bargain price of just £16? You'd be silly not to really.
It seems to me that the relatively simple task of picking a small selection of bands to see at Southsea Fest becomes more difficult every year. That said perhaps I'm deluding myself that it was ever simple (every year I try, and usually fail, to be in several places at once to take in all of the delights on offer) and this year's line-up is, in my opinion, stronger than ever. Eventually, after much poring over the Clashfinder, scratching of head and imbibing of caffeine, I came up with these suggestions for acts that you should maybe see this year...
Honeyblood - The Wine Vaults 'Pie & Vinyl' stage [2100-2130] Last year, at the inaugural Gland Rock, I found myself the lucky recipient of a bag of Fat Cat vinyl in the raffle. This stuffed Santa's bag of aural delights somehow made it home safely, despite my tired and emotional state (it had been a long day) and the next morning, whilst my hangover slowly abated, I rifled through my red felt sack. Tucked away inside I found a lone 7" single, Bug by Honeyblood, on soothing mellow pink vinyl. None of this is any explanation why you should see Honeyblood at Southsea Fest but, if you need one, know that they can make cakes explode with their minds.
Battery Hens - Southsea Social Club 'Champagne Justice' stage [1355-1725] At Southsea Fest 2012 I found myself in the cramped confines that is the tiny room above Bar 56, watching a dedicated if not sizable mosh pit wreck themselves to Battery Hens. To this day I still have no idea how I made it out of there without being drenched in lager. If you like noise, and don't mind flying lager, then these are for you.
Wyldest - Bar 56 'Strong Island Recordings' stage [1520-1600] & Magick Bean Café 'The Boy I Used To Be' curated stage [1820-1900] The duo of Wyldest (or Wildest Dreams as was) have had an eventful year so far. They've won a slot at Green Man, been tipped for great things by various music blogs and, to top it off, have had to change their name. All that and they still had time to produce a fantastic cover of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting.
Mazes - The Wine Vaults 'Pie & Vinyl' stage [2200-2300] Manchester's Mazes arrive at Southsea Fest with a new album, Wooden Aquarium, under their belts. No, I haven't got it yet so I can't witter on about how good it most likely is; you'll have to toddle along to the Vaults and find out for yourselves instead.
Prides - Little Johnny Russell's 'Psychedelia/Quay West' stage [2130-2200] Scottish trio Prides recently supported Foxes on tour and played the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. If you don't get your synthpop fix fully sated by Curxes earlier in the day, and are jonesing for some 80s style keyboards and drums as Southsea Fest works its way into the night, then this lot should sort you out.
Gossling - Kings Theatre 'Southsea Fest' stage [1900-1930] Australian Helen Croome produces beautiful folk-pop tunes, made slightly off kilter by her distinctive vocals. Quite lovely.
Fear of Men - Southsea Social Club 'Champagne Justice' stage [2200-2245] Floaty but dark indie pop from Brighton, you can already feel yourself swaying along...
A selection of different acts then, different styles of music, some local and some from further afield. If none of these tickle your fancy, and if you have seven (!) hours to spare, I heartily recommend sampling the official Spotify playlist. If anything it made my cogitations more difficult (such that my plan for five acts to see went right out of the window) but there are gems on there waiting to be heard (including Brontide who, sadly, have had to pull out of Saturday's shenanigans).
Southsea Fest 2014 also sees a couple of local bands bowing out in style, both Attack! Vipers! and The B of The Bang have announced that theyll be playing their last gigs this weekend. Typically, in yet another turn of the festival screw, the Bang's set clashes with that of Curxes so, if you happen to spot a goatee'd oaf bundling across the road from the Kings Theatre to the Wedgewood Rooms (or vice versa) around 1520 on Saturday afternoon, chances are it'll be me.
Southsea Fest again takes over a variety of venues along Albert Road this Saturday, filling them with all manner of musical entertainments for your aural and visual pleasure. This year's line-up is a veritable feast of music, so much so that my highlighter pen has gone into hiding rather than take on the task of helping me mark out my copy of the Clashfinder. Given the choice on offer it might seem a daunting prospect to know where to begin, to that end I've picked five acts that I'm looking forward to seeing to get you started (to be honest I could have set down a long list of bands that I think you ought to take in, but one of the many joys of Southsea Fest is stumbling across your new favourite band when 10 minutes before you'd not heard of them). Are we sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin... The Computers - Edge of The Wedge [2115-2145] Exeter's finest, a rum bunch of slick rockers who should make the walls of the Edge run with sweat. Fronted by a lead singer who finds it hard to stay on the stage if he can help it, and will take his microphone stand with him when he descends into the the crowd, chances are you'll most likely end up with him next to you even if you stand at the back.
Dead Rabbits - Little Johnny Russell's [1830-1900] Shoegazey darkness from Southampton, flavoured with feedback and a sprinkling of psychedelia. Very nice.
Curxes - Southsea Social Club [1835-1905] Describing themselves as a decorative set of bones, this Southsea/Brighton duo will mesmerise with their 80's flavoured electro pop. Imagine a Depeche Mode-powered freight train thundering towards you, with a winged valkyrie on the footplate crying out to the engine driver to fuel the firebox with his bass shovel.. there you go. Enjoy.
Drenge - The Fat Fox [2220-2300] From Derbyshire comes two brothers who make a lot of noise and make a lot of eye contact with each other. There will be moshing, oh yes, there will be moshing.
The B of The Bang - The Wine Vaults [1815-1845] Southsea's own purveyors of alt pop rock, expect a selection of old and new material (their sophomore release having been released earlier this year on Pie & Vinyl's label).
So there you go, five of the best to see you on your way. To be honest it was very nearly a different list, as the likes of MMX and Misty Miller, Death At Sea or Eagulls could have made an appearance . If you ever owned a Commodore 64 then perhaps Anamanaguchi would be more your thing. Come to think of it I should've mentioned As Elephants Are and Splashh, or Titan, AK/DK, Veronica Falls, Battery Hens, Future Of The Left, Thumpers, Tripwires, Mugstar, The Family Rain or.. umm.. well, you get the idea. If you're still stuck then you could either give the SSF2013 Spotify playlist a listen or just toddle along to Albert Road and see what tickles your fancy.
One of the great things about living in the Portsmouth area (aside from the close proximity of my favourite venue and the exquisite joy and pain of supporting the local football team) is Southsea Fest; this annual event, now in its 5th year, turns Albert Road into a showcase of new and interesting music with various pubs and venues along the thoroughfare becoming stages for the day. As festivals go it ticks all the boxes; there's a variety of bands to suit most tastes, the beer is reasonably priced and neither rain nor mud can interfere with your enjoyment.
Over the past few years I've enjoyed stumbling across many bands that I'd not previously heard of (no, really), some of whom have gone on to great things whilst some have stayed in the shadows. I've bought CDs, stuffed my pockets with stickers and signed up for mailing lists. I've also seen a large mouse be interviewed for TV and ended up looking after a three-legged wooden pig for an hour, but those are stories for another time.
Moving swiftly on, I've perused the line-up and picked five of the many, many fine acts playing tomorrow that I'd like to see, as follows:
Dry The River 2210-2300 @ The Globe Inn A five piece from London that produce a mellow alt-folk layered with violins and very distinctive vocals.
Clock Opera 2120-2150 @ The Wedgewood Rooms I'm fairly sure I caught these as a support for someone awhile back. I can't remember who they supported, or when, but I do recall that they made a very good impression.
Trophy Wife 2210-2240 @ The Wedgewood Rooms (Club NME stage) I caught a snippet of Trophy Wife's Bestival set at the Bandstand last weekend, excellent synthy indie (with guitar noodlings) from Oxford.
Jumping Ships 1400-1435 @ The Edge of The Wedge (BSM & Alcopop! stage) To be honest I don't really know all that much about Jumping Ships. I know they're from Brighton and I know that they create a spikey indie pop noise; I've been to Brighton, I like spikey indie pop, and I like the way Jumping Ships play it.
Apollo's Arrows 1420-1450 @ Southsea Social Club Apollo's Arrows hail from just up the road, a Southampton trio that produce a powerfully delivered alternative sound (I'm sure there's more than a sprinkle of At The Drive-In in there). Nice.
The fun starts tomorrow at midday, if you've not yet got your ticket then you might be lucky enough to get one on the day (I'd advise getting there early though, the event's Twitter feed was this morning advising less than 50 tickets available from the Kings Theatre and the Wine Vaults).
