Wow three weeks gone. I’ve been
busy.......... and now everyone is away
on holiday or raiding their wardrobes and filling rucksacks ready for Whitby –
judging by the weather forecast Winter woollies at the ready I fear – and water
proofs.
With that happy thought I’ll move onto 2014. Yes – they should have made me the new Doctor
Who! The phone call never came though.
SLAMFEST 2014
Following talks with RMBC Slamfest will be back in 2014, and we promise
surprises and it will still be Rotherham’s biggest celebration of the Borough’s
musical talent and FREE. The date for your
Diary is July 5th and 6th.
Bands wanting to play need to Email Mick HERE
And of course if you want to be involved in the organisation of the
Festival at any level contact Richard – that’s me – by Emailing HERE or trying to catch him at the RAE
Drop In Centre in Wellgate.
ROTHERHAM STREET ARTS FESTIVAL
From 2014 back to 2013 and our link up with the other Art organisations
in Rotherham to create a day of Arts Carnival, for the Rotherham Street Arts
Festival (Ferretstival) on 31st
August in Rotherham Town Centre.
There is so much happening throughout the day that it would take up a
whole Blog – so all I would say is that we
still need Buskers / we still need
volunteers, Email me HERE go on,
you know you want to - but if you can’t make your mind up don’t worry the door is open right up
to the day – all you have to do is call in at the Old Market Gallery on the 31st
to Register for Insurance purposes–If you’ve got an art that can be performed
or demonstrated during the day EmailHERE
LIVE AT THE TRADES
Two brilliant nights Live at the Trades last week.
We were very lucky to be offered the opportunity to feature German
prog. Rock Band Vibravoid who were on a short tour following their appearance
at Kozfest, and RAE who are keen to feature top overseas talent snapped their
fingers off.
This was prog rock of the highest standard, as one well known name on
the Rotherham scene said, “we’ve got a lot of practice to do”, hoho. But yes it was that good, brilliant keyboards
supporting an amazing guitar performance, plus and a bonus a tremendous
performance by the drummer who did a lot more than keep the beat.
If that was not enough, in support we had Spiral Navigators, who must
be one of the best prog Bands in South Yorkshire, who provided some interesting
sounds and rhythms and superb improvisation.
Not the best turnout though, but for the time of the year when people
are having barbeques rather than wanting to go out and see a Band.
I really hope that we get the opportunity to bring them to Rotherham
again and that more folks will come out and dip their toe in the water.
Three days later RAE brought Led into Zeppelin to Live At The
Trades. “Close your eyes and it’s like
the real thing” said at least two really big fans of Led Zeppelin that I
know. And wow, yes the level of
musicianship was out of this World. This
is a Band that is going to become huge on the circuit; in fact, they are
already in negotiations with another top Overseas Tribute Band for a full UK
Tour in 2014.
What a pity that so few decided to come out and support them. There were also those who came along only to
decide at the door that £7 was too expensive to go into The Trades. In fact some were moaning that they were
being asked to pay at all. It seems to
be a thing about Clubs in South Yorkshire that Members expect the entertainment
to be provided free of charge. I refer
these people to the closure or change of status of The Rycroft, Eastwood, The
Trades (Rotherham), and many other WM Clubs across South Yorkshire. Beer sales alone can no longer cover the cost
of good quality live music and entertainment, it’s a fact that the North
Eastern Clubs sussed out a few years ago.
Those Clubs who do retain the free entertainment / low beer price
formula either have to compromise on the standard of the entertainment, or up
their beer prices.
The Trades is no longer a WMC – it’s a Music and Entertainment venue offering
a fantastic range of entertainment into which RAE has fused it’s Live at The
Trades program. Indeed our program for
Autumn / Winter 2013 is amazing for the
breadth of music and entertainment on offer.
Yes we are charging for it! This
is because there is no magic fund of money out there on which we can draw to
pay the Band’s travelling expenses plus maybe something for their talent, to
pay the sound engineers, the lighting crew, the publicity, the tickets etc,
etc, etc.
Our musicians have just given us one fantastic weekend of music free of
charge at Slamfest, I think they should expect that their talent should get
some minimal reward if only enough to buy some guitar strings. And I can assure folks that they’re not on
any fancy fixed fee, like those that brought down so many Clubs, they are
playing for percentages and having to back themselves on pulling an
audience.
I’d also point out that the quality of the acts is on a par with those
being offered at The Civic for almost £10 a ticket more.
So less knocking on this score and let’s get behind our musicians and
dare I say the Promoters of Live Music and trying to keep an offer viable in
Rotherham.
Sorry went off on one there.
To return to the Zeppelin Show.
The support for the night was also fantastic, Swansong Acoustic, oh wow
the power and range of Karen’s voice is huge and with Nigel’s guitar playing is
so understated. Wish I had that
talent. The full Swansong Band will be playing Live At
The Trades in December, and I promise if the performance is close to that they
gave at Slamfest it’s not to be missed.
Oh and having said that Swansong are of course playing Music In The
Park at Clifton Park on 1st September.
Our Live at The Trades final offering for August was a five Band free
special. Hearts, Waiting for Eddie,
Naked Punch, Habberdash and Sneaking Stupidity proving just how fantastic our
local music scene is.
Unfortunately, I missed the early Bands having been locked into The New
York Stadium where I was paying £3.40 a pint or £1.60 for a bottle of tonic
water at a wedding reception. How do
they get away with it? It’s not even if
the rooms are attractive, blank white blocks of plaster.
But I did get in to see the real debut of Sneaking Stupidity a Band
made up of 50+ oldies, provided us with a set featuring some classic Dr
Feelgood and one or two other rocking surprises. It was fantastic fun to watch and listen to
and my guess is that they will have many more local Gigs the weeks ahead. I also got to listen to Habberdash, who sort
of headlined the event – I say sort of as I think all these Bands could be
called local headliners for the standard of music produced.
Habberdash are a young Band, and playing original plus a couple of
covers with really superb musicianship.
They came on at a difficult time, but more than held their own. Another Band we will be seeing much more
of. They work exceptionally hard around
South Yorkshire playing all the venues and the rewards are already coming their
way, having won the Radio Sine contest to open Doncaster Live on 7th September.
COMING UP AT THE TRADES
RAE Live at The Trades kicks off the Autumn Program with what should be
a fantastic night when Chris Slater the former AC / DC drummer will be bringing
his Timeline Show to The Trades. Chris
has played alongside some of the all-time greats in Bands like Asia, The Firm,
Manfred Man’s Earth Band, David Gilmour, Uriah Heap, +++. So for some rocking music and a fantastic exhibition of the drummers
art it’s time to get your tickets £8, from The Drop In Centre / Online at We’ve Got Tickets / or from
the venue.
On the 7th September we have another amazing local show,
with Dave Woodcock & The Dead Comedians being supported by Searching for
Silvia, Mudcat Blues Trio and Phil Sinclair.
WOW and a special appearance from Dwain Reads, all for £4!! Can’t be
bad. Online tickets available at We’ve Got Tickets
News hot of the press, we’ve just been told by The Trades that they had
forgotten to tell us that 14th September had been booked for a
Party, therefore the Roger the Mascot / Blind Drivers Indie Gig has had to be
taken out of the program. We hope to be
able to place this night elsewhere in our Winter line up. Stay tuned for details.
ACOUSTIC ROTHERHAM
Yay – the late July edition of Acoustic Rotherham, the eighteenth, took
place on 28th July on a steamy Sunday afternoon at The Bridge.
We had a fine gathering of artists from around the Region as well as
some home grown stars.
Chris, who has been playing the local sessions for some-time now and of
course featured at the opening of The Drop In Centre, provided us with some
well-crafted blues to kick the afternoon off.
Making a return, nearly two years after making their AR debut was Rum
Doodle who had travelled down from West Yorkshire to play some of their own
songs for us – there were some great songs. Since I last saw them in action Rum
Doodle have become even slicker and certainly more confident in their material
and performance.
Also from West Yorkshire we had
that fast developing young musician and song writer Dylan Brierley. WOW. I
think the time has come for him to start thinking about his performance, and
replicating the songs as they sound on his albums. This performance was confident and well
within his comfort zone, but, to sell his songs he has to slow things down a
bit, and get some eye contact with the audience. He should be moving on from the shy young boy
stage. That said – time is on his side
and I wish that I had just a little of his talent.
Yes, and even The Masher reached into his gander bag and pulled out a
guitar. The 27th July was
Myke Masher’s birthday, and so it just seemed right to play through three of
his most favourite Masher songs in his memory.
And so I did, accompanied by the massed chorus of the AR18 singers. Thanks guys.
And making her come back in Rotherham following her time out to concentrate upon her A Level results,provided us with one of her punchy and slick sets, along with a demonstration of some fine guitar playing. I'm sure we are going to see a lot more of her, both in solo mode and with her Band Waiting for Eddie. Yet another young person with so much potential. The good news is that it's quite possible that we may not be losing Em as if everything goes to plan she will be going to Uni locally.
Naked Punch made their Acoustic début.
This is a work in progress, yet I take my hat off to Sam and the Band
for taking their music out and showcasing it wherever they can. The music is inventive and does not fit any
category and the more performances they play the more confident they will
become in both the material and their musicianship. Look forward to having them back again.
And to wrap things up we had the amazing Rachel Barley. Oh how I love her voice and the style of song
that she sings when in solo mode. She is
a Rotherham Gem, an open secret, and it’s a pity that we don’t see more of her
in concert as a solo artist. That said
she is a busy girl as female lead singer with top Rotherham Band Papa Legba’s
which I know she really enjoys doing, so I can’t be selfish………. Or can I?
Can’t wait to have her back at Acoustic Rotherham in the New Year.
I think the shorter run time of the event makes for a more Manageable
and comfortable event, and it’s an experiment that will now become a fixture.
And great thanks to Tony at The Bridge for the wonderful Pizza at half
time-ish.
The Next Acoustic Rotherham is 27th October 2013 at The
Bridge. We already have a few names on
the list, hooray, but if you would like to be added please Email HERE
TITAN’S RUGBY CLUB
The tie in with the Titan’s continues.
Work on the Acoustic Sunday nights from September continues, but we can
report that the first of the Friday night specials was a qualified success with
Lee England headlining. Coming up
Swansong will be playing on Friday 24th August and the amazing Tom
Killner Band will be playing on the 30th
August. Two rocking Fridays for the end
of August.
DROP IN CENTRE
Two dates to remember for the Diary 7th September Dwain
Reads will be doing a short set at The Drop In Centre, to launch his new
Book. I’m hoping that it will be the
first of a short Tour of Rotherham, with performances at The Rotherham Show and
of course Live at The Trades in the Evening.
On Monday 16th of September RAE will be launching it’s first
sort of serious Exhibition with the best of the photography from Slamfest on display
the Exhibition will be called “Slampics”
The pictures were taken by a team of
photographers from a local photography groups and individuals.
The Get Creative Team are
building on their early success with the Workshops. The team have already started to Branch out
and are providing a few classes at Myplace to the youngsters throughout the
Summer. The next workshop open to all
is 6:00pm at The Drop In Centre on 21st August.
IN THE PARK
The first Sunday in the Month Music from the Bandstand events we help to run with RMBC Clifton Park went ahead as planned on 4th August, with South Yorkshire legends Haze giving us a fantastic two hour show based mainly on their latest CD The Final Battle.
They had a good audience as well despite the threat of bad weather and it's great to report that the electricity supply held it's own.
It's a pity that the program was broken in June because of illness to the booked Band and our thwarted attempts to get another Band on with only twelve hours notice.
Next up Swansong, with their play list of rock covers on the 1st September.
PARISH NOTICES
There is no Nellie Folk this month.
The first time in my memory that The Bridge based singers Club has ever
cancelled a Meeting. I suspect it has to
do with the clash with Bank Holiday again, but that has never stopped them in
the past – but Roy has taken another of his Executive decisions! The last time it happened resulted in the
closure of the Handsworth Club at the Cross Keys. I don’t think that will happen at Nellie
Folk.
Based on an Email I received the Listings page temporarily showed the
Barnsley Club as being closed for the Summer break through August. It turns out that there is a skeleton Club
running by some of the Members who enjoy a good sing, while the Committee are
away doing their thing.
I haven’t been told about any other Summer breaks – but as I always
suggest check Club Web Sites especially during Whitby week.
OTHER NEWS
We were disappointed to see that the Metal dominated Khaos Festival had to be abandoned
after one day.
No Promoter can get it right all the time, however, the basics do need
to be applied, e.g. keep to your contracted times, and if it is likely to overrun
speak to the Land Owner and request an extension.
Let’s hope the Promoters have learnt a few lessons as we have had to do
in mounting Slamfest, especially when it comes to security and stage
management.
On a more positive note our friends from Sheffield’s bluegrass scene Aprille and the Shower caused quite a
stir by playing the most unusual venue of a Pizza Express during a lunch time
- read the full story HERE
The recent ROMP meeting has
moved the ROMPERs a step closer to becoming a recognised Organisation with a
structure. It’s great to see that they
have plans to outreach more as ROMP and to start publishing the best of the
ROMPERS.
You can find some of the work created by the ROMP community in the Word Pit HERE
The Rotherham Show 7th / 8th September will again be featuring the Folk Tent on the Saturday and Jazz on the Sunday. The Folk line up is Flossie Mallavaille, Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher, Hannah James & Sam Sweeney, and Full House. You can find out more about these acts by going HERE
And that’s the Blog –
You can find the Live at The Trades program HERE
Our normal listings service currently August / September HERE
Pictures from Slamfest can be found HERE along with some links to even more pictures.
To keep right up to date make sure that sign up for the News Letter,
and “LIKE” and follow us on Facebook.
RAE HERE
Live at The Trades HERE
Slamfest HERE
Acoustic Rotherham HERE
So whatever you are doing between now and the next time, have fun, support your local artists and keep it live.
