LOOKING BACK
Two super
weekends packed with some great music in Rotherham, and at Festivals a little
further afield.
So let’s
start with now well broadcast news that a stalwart of the South Yorkshire Folk
scene, Jenny Fox, has retired from Toein’
In The Dark. I think it’s typical of
Jenny that she swore people to secrecy concerning her decision, not wishing the
main purpose of her last regular Gig with the Band to be lost.
The Concert
with The Rotherham Red Choir, was to
help raise some funds for the Red Choir’s main cause SOSA YA’s Youth Work in
Zimbabwe. Those with a good memory will
remember that SOSA YA Choir performed at the Red Choir Fringe Festival
Concert. The work being done by the
Charity taking performance skills to Zimbabwe, and helping with education is
truly beneficial to Communities, despite the awful Government, and an economy
now based on an inflated US Dollar.
It’s a pity
that the upstairs room of the Bridge was not full to overflowing for such an
outstanding evening of music, but with The Wath Festival moving into gear,
choices for the Folkie were numerous. I
don’t suppose the clash with ROMP who were reading down stairs at The Bridge helped
either. But the size of the Red Choir,
as I’ve commented about before, means that one ends up with almost a full house
without too much trying. Having said that well in excess of £350 was
collected for the Charity. Well done one
and all for that effort.
Unfortunately
because of the mysteries of the 108 /109 bus service in Rotherham I missed The
Red Choir, but was firmly in my seat ready for Toein’ In The Dark.
As per usual
Toein’ produced a super set of old favourites that had the audience singing
along and newish songs with their own special arrangement that can be found on
their new CD “About Time” which if you missed my review you can find
HERE
The CD is available from the RAE Music and
Arts Drop In Centre at 25 Wellgate in the centre of Rotherham for £7.50
And so to
Jenny. I’m a Johnny come lately, but
even before I met Jenny and the Band I felt I knew them such was their
legendary status on the Folk circuit.
Jenny especially would be mentioned for all the work that she and her
Husband Malcolm did on the South Yorkshire scene. If you go onto Jenny’s Facebook page and
check out the photographs you’ll discover just what an influence they had.
But most of
all Jenny will be missed for the key role she played with Toein’ – her driving
accordion accompaniment providing a
bounce that makes the Band’s sound so distinctive.
The good
news is that Jenny threatens to play the odd Gig with the rest of the Band from
time to time: well that should keep them on their toes.
On the
Saturday RAE held what I hope will
be the first of many Youth Festivals at The Trades.
It was all a
bit strange in the Concert Room with the Bar closed down, and a youthful
chatter, some of it nervous filling the room.
We organised the Festival to give young Bands and performers, that’s
under 18s, the opportunity to perform on a real stage in front of an audience,
while also involving the Bands in the marketing of the Promotion, something
that will be critical if they are to make a name for themselves on the music
scene at any level.
The standard
of performance was outstanding, from those making their debut on stage to one
or two performers who were clearly already experienced.
It really is naughty to highlight anyone from
the line-up, but look out for a mainly female Band called Grafters. They performed a three song set, two covers and an
original, the standard of which was equal to the very best on the day. In
Vitro Babies gave us a slick set of Indie, while John “Lennon” McCullagh (who made
his UK debut at a Fringe Festival RAE event last year), demonstrated why he has
already been recognised as an outstanding talent of the future. John is signed to play at Slamfest and to
support Dirty Dylan and is not to be
missed. And congratulations to Whiskey Spirit on a super set to wind
the event up. The whole event was kicked off by Krypt who performed a good set of
rocking classic covers.
As
organisers we learnt a few things and we hope to be able to add more value to
event for the young people at future Youth Festivals.
Another
first over the Bank Holiday weekend was our link with RMBC Parks for a series
of Sunday Concerts at the Clifton Park Bandstand, Party in The Park. Our
contribution can be found on the first Sunday of each month.
First up was
one of Rotherham’s top young Bands working hard to establish themselves Whiskey Spirit playing their super
interpretations of classic rock standards, which played out in the warm
sunshine that blessed the May Day Bank Holiday period. Even though publicity was poor they attracted
a fair audience of people enjoying both sun and music. The Band are It was also good to have a listen to Tom Killner
who did a cameo set with Jess giving him some super harmonised vocal support –
for a debut it was excellent despite the PA problems.
Another of
the Town’s young Bands For Pete Sake
are next up, you will find them on the Band Stand on the 2nd June
– weather permitting!
Another RAE satellite
promotion evening came on Friday 10th May when Ian Huddleston
debuted Be The Revolution. Prompted by the actions of the Condemed
Government which are hitting the poorest and weakest in Society, the lyrics and
purpose of the Band is to act as a wakeup call to us all before everything that
our Fathers fought so hard to get, decent pensions, free education, free health
care and respect and help for the disabled and those without a job – have gone.
The music
has a sixties / seventies feel to it, almost John Lennon like in the way that
eastern instruments and mystic chants are used to get his messages over.
Ian is a
brilliant song writer, and hopefully this will not be a one off Gig.
An
honourable mention to for Ben Renwick
who did a super job at warming the audience up with an acoustic of mixed covers
and self-penned songs. I hope that I
might twist his arm to come and do an Acoustic Rotherham for us.
Supporting
Be The Revolution was Ian’s good friend Dave
Woodcock and The Dead Comedians. This
proved to be a bit of a coup. Dave Woodcock is a son of Rotherham, now living
in that City the other side of the M1 and this Gig heralded his first outing in
the Town for eight years. I don’t often
go into detail about support Bands, but on this occasion I’m going to make an
exception.
Apparently
this was Dave Woodcock’s first Gig since October last year and after witnessing
this performance I’m sure their fans would consider the wait more than worthwhile.
The set was
one of the slickest I have seen recently.
There are some Bands who you can see are straining to find a groove and
rock beat, NOT the case with the Dead Comedians who had a relaxed natural
groove and rock that quickly sucked the audience into their World, while Dave’s
relaxed true rock sounding voice delivers the songs brilliantly, despite
The
performance was even more remarkable as all the material was new. I simply can’t wait to hear the new CD, which
I’m told is not far off completion.
Negotiations
are underway to find a slot in the Live at The Trades programme to bring the
Band back to Rotherham soon.
And that
brings us onto the Live at The Trades nights.
The quality of our Heavy Metal night, which featured Immotus, Motorheadache and Hellbent Forever
was simply amazing. A full night of rocking the hard way. Super audience, great atmosphere and rock as
it should be.
Being a wimp
I couldn’t survive until the very end, but a hardy Mick saw it out to a 12:15 am
finish when Hellbent Forever eventually ran out of energy. We’re looking to bring them back soon.
Not quite so
many in last week for Powerage
AC/DC tribute Band and Cable 35, no let-up in the rocking though. I really enjoyed the original music of Cable
35, and they are certainly not afraid of experimenting. They have left a few CDs in the Drop In
Centre for £6. Powerage are an excellent
AC/DC Tribute. Their set included all
the favourites and a few of the lesser known songs put together in an
entertaining package.
Yes you’re
right, the late finishes are not helping the out of Towners who need trains, so
we’ll be looking at our timings.
RAE / SLAMFEST NEWS
Next Live At the Trades is Friday 31
st
May, where
Green Bay will be rocking
out the best of Green Day.
My spies tell
me they are an excellent Band so it’s one I’m looking forward to.
In support we have
Phoenix Salvation, and
Taxi
For Bob.
Tickets £4 in advance from
all the usual places and
The Drop In
Centre.
£5 on the door.
Tickets HERE
Would you
believe there’s no rocking Live At The Trades throughout June.
It’s to give you a chance to build up your
energy for
Slamfest on the 6
th
and 7
th July.
But we are putting on a
quality Burlesque Review on the 8
th June at The Trades,
entitled
Night Train.
We’ve got some top quality performers for
your entertainment, and you can check out some of the performers
HERE along with ticket prices and
availability.
Yes Slamfest.
We’re now at crunch time for sponsors,
advertisers and volunteers.
We need
you!
And not to be gentle with you, your
money to.
If you want to help in anyway
Email us
HERE or why not pop into
The Music and Arts Drop In Centre
during our current opening hours 11 – 3 Tuesday / Friday and Saturday.
If you've not heard of it before check out the Web Page HERE
I’m pleased
to say that more and more people are coming forward – but as always we need
lots more. From Stage Managers to Sound
men to stewards and collectors. We’d
also love to be able to open the Drop In Centre on three remaining days of the
week……… we have a slight logistic
problem to solve as well as finding the manpower but nothing that cannot be
overcome.
The techno
gear found it’s way into Drop In Centre this week, again huge thanks to Bristol
Street Motors (Vauxhall) Chesterfield.
Indeed without their support we would not have made the progress that we
have with the Centre.
The Official Opening (Sponsored by Amanda’s Blinds) will be held on 1st
June starting at 11:00 am. Music /
Poetry / cheesy things and wine.
While the
downstairs of the building is now beginning to fill up with CDs, crafts, and RAE
Posters, there are three walls to fill upstairs. So if there are any visual artists that would
like to put the walls to work please come in and see us.
We’ve added
CDs from Cable 35 and the legendary Sheffield
Band Haze including some of their
back catalogue and their latest CD + one from Treebeard and we’re looking forward to a few more bands leaving
their CDs with us over the next couple of weeks. Your
fans could pick up your CD from a Town Centre base – more sales, wider coverage.
A reminder
that all our services are free,
although a donation towards our overheads would be appreciated.
Watch out
for News of a General Volunteer RAE
Meeting – coming very soon.
Finally on
RAE matters, Slamfest is looking
great – all we need is for summer to reach us before July 6th / 7th
so that we can max the potential of the event.
Around eighty acts, across six stages on the Saturday and two in the
Park on Sunday and more importantly involving some three hundred artists all
making music demonstrates a healthy creative scene in Rotherham.
Keep an eye on the Slamfest Web Site HERE
MORE OF WHAT’S TO COME
Speaking of
which.
Open Minds Theatre’s production
of
“Fault
lines – The Second Generation” a
"touching yet
hard hitting" play telling the story of the first days of the Kashmiri / Pakistani
diaspora!. Before heading out on a short Yorkshire Tour, the play will be premiered
at the Old Market Gallery, on Tuesday 21st May. Tickets are £8 and £6 for concessions bookable
through 07541475159 or by e-mail to steve@omtc.org.uk You can find details
of the full tour program by following the link on our listings page HERE
There’s an
interesting Gig at The Bridge on Saturday night where an old friend of Acoustic
Rotherham Will Padfield and a “mate” collectively known as The Flux Capacitors will be making their duo debut. I’m
told that they will be playing covers dating across the past six decades –
should be interesting. All new acts need
support so why not pop into The Bridge and take a listen and give a cheer for
live music.
Good luck to those of
you venturing off into Derbyshire for the Bearded
Theory Festival, I see a few local celebrities will be appearing, including
The Bar Steward Sons of Val Doonigan who will be the support to Saxon when they
play Live at The Trades in October. Stay warm folks, the weather forecast is not
fantastic.
On Friday Goat Leaf are playing The Corporation,
bound to be a top Gig.
Saturday it’s the Annual Bob Dylan night at the Princess
Royal in Crookes, intensive Dylan for the real fans, with Lou in the chair, and
our old friends Swansong are in
action at The Imperial, Mexborough. On Wednesday,
String Theory and Pete Swift will be
having their monthly session at the Wharncliffe Arms in Sheffield.
Besides this the build-up
to the Bank Holiday has all the usual regular Clubs and sessions, and just in
case I forget, Bank Holiday Monday is Nellie Folk time and please wherever
possible please check with Clubs or sessions before setting off anywhere during
the Bank Holiday.
One final Parish
Notice. The Chequers popular Open Mic is
to return starting 3rd July. To
book your place you need to contact Clive HERE
All the listings for the coming week can be found HERE
Whatever you are doing, have fun, support your local artists and KEEEP IT LIVE