David Addison once famously posited, do bees bee? I really hope so, and I really hope they keep bee-ing, but the humble Honey Bee, arguably the most industrious and important creature on our planet, is in serious trouble. A
combination of habitat loss, pesticide usage and climate change have
seen a dramatic drop in numbers of our honey-making chums, something that we should
all be concerned about as, without these amazing, pollinating, waggle-dancing insects us humans would be in deep doo-doo.
Thankfully there is still time to help our little buzzing benefactors and, to highlight their importance, the work they do and how we can give them a helping hand, the fine folks at Portsmouth's Staggeringly Good Brewery are hosting a festival this weekend to celebrate all things bee and raise money to support new hives in the area. In addition to beer (obviously) and honey-based food there will also be presentations from bee experts and, yes, live music.
Hive Aid, and yes I see what they did there, starts this Friday, 21st June, with a performance by Eşya, the solo project of Savage's bass player Ayşe Hassan, at The House of Rapture. Eşya's intoxicating blend of delicate, slightly troubling vocals and persistent beats produce songs laden with foreboding.
Support on the night comes from Hyperstition Duo, ex of the late lamented Sheffield band Blood Sport (whose set at Drift a few years back still burns bright in my memory), and London-based trio Mohit.
Entrance to Friday night's gig is £5 (or free if you pre-order Eşya's EP from Pie & Vinyl).
Hive Aid continues across the weekend with live music throughout; unfortunately details of Saturday's line-up are not available at time of writing but Sunday's session is notable for featuring acts from the Ready To Rock School collective; Luca & Madison, Electric Milk, Glass Cage, Charlotte Neal & Markus Smith will all be performing and entry is FREE!
Recent Bella Union signings Penelope Isles are set to release their debut long player, Until The Tide Creeps In, on the label this Summer. Ahead of this the Brighton-based quartet of Jack Wolter, Lily Wolter, Becky Redford and Jack Sowton are hitting the road, playing a selection of dates which includes a stop at SXSW and a home-town show for the Wolters on the Isle of Man.
Along the way the band will be making a return visit to Portsmouth, where they played Dials Festival last year, to play a set at the city's newest venue The House of Rapture. Tickets for the Tuesday 2nd April gig, co-promoted by Dials, Strong Island Recordings and Pie & Vinyl, are priced at a very reasonable £6 and available online via Billetto.
Support on the night comes from local acts Barbudo, who recently released their new EP Sunshine, and the lo-fi soul of Ban Summers. The gig poster, below, has been conjured up by Chris Williamson and, disturbingly, reflects how I feel some Saturday mornings. No, really.
The lovely people at Southsea's Pie & Vinyl have teamed up with the equally lovely folk at Strong Island Recordings to curate an Oxjam Portsmouth festival. Hurrah!
Oxjam, if you didn't already know, is a multi-venue music event, held annually, that supports grassroots music across the UK whilst also raising valuable funds for Oxfam. Oxjam events take place in towns and cities nationwide, organised by volunteers, that can be either one-off gigs or music festivals.
In previous years Portsmouth has hosted several smaller Oxjam events, usually at the Edge of the Wedge, but this year Pompey is going large; Oxjam Portsmouth is a one-day festival, to be held at Portsmouth Pyramids on Saturday 13th October, and features both a family-friendly day session (from midday-1700) and an evening music session (from 1800-2300).
The line-up announced so far for the evening session includes Superdrone, Highlights of our Modern World, Barbudo and Lucid Rising, with further acts still to be announced. All that and it's for a good cause too, how great is that?
Tickets are available now via WeGotTickets, priced at £4 (Early Bird, standard price £5) for the day session and £8 (Early Bird, standard price £10) for both the day & evening sessions (ticket prices are subject to booking fee).
Austerity. Welfare reform. Cuts to public spending and services. These are, as Lee Hazlewood sang, cold hard times. Every day more people find themselves in the situation where feeding themselves and their families is a struggle. There is a continuing rise in food poverty across the country and Portsmouth is no exception. Organisations such as The Trussel Trust and the Portsmouth Food Bank provide a sterling service to our community but unfortunately their resources are limited.
To help raise much-needed funds the fine folks of Strong Island Recordings, Velvet Candy and Crocodile Nightmares have joined forces, combining community spirit with music and art to create the Interstellar Food Drive. This cosmic celebration of in-sounds from the out-there takes place at both The Dockyard Club & The Coastguard Studio on Saturday 11th August.
This one-day, two-site mini festival features an impressive line-up of left-field sounds, featuring Portsmouth's own psych merchants Melt Dunes, psych quintet Number 9, the freaky pop of Pregoblin, psych from Sad Palace, garage pop/rock from Skinny Milk, Mystic Peach and The Scrubs, the heavy psychedelic sounds of Black Helium, shoegaze from Superdrone and Dad Hair's post punk. Both venues will feature a kaleidoscopic light show courtesy of Velvet Candy, plus there'll be an exhibition of work from local graphic artists (and, if the music gets you feeling peckish, there will also be a vegetarian BBQ with all profits going to the Portsmouth Food Bank)
Tickets are £8, plus booking fee, available via Billeto.
Further reading
Latest statistics on emergency food supplies given to people in crisis (from The Trussell Trust)
Food Poverty "You think it doesn't happen to normal people" (from Cooking On A Bootstrap)
Child poverty "Hungry pupils fill pockets with school food" (from BBC News)
Jack Monroe "Poverty doesn’t discriminate" (from The Independent)
