Thursday’s plans were almost thrown out of the window, though I was looking forward to doing the MK Bike Jam, the event was cancelled. Then I found myself back at the Craufurd for a solid night of five bands, My Passion are no strangers to these parts now, and they’ve returned once again with Firetone along for support. Also on the bill are Lecarla, a band who will look quite familiar to some of you, along with some new faces in Here’s To Tragedy and Harlequins Truth…
Last Friday was a rather intriguing one, I was invited to a bit of an exhibition down at Milton Keynes Gallery, the local gallery may usually have something on but this evening was quite special as “Lost And Found”, a youth based arts organisation, had been going for a year and to celebrate it all there’s a larger exhibition outside the theatre inspired by the current artist who’s work is on display at the gallery, namely a certain James Lee Byars, the man who sought perfection through his work, and hence the name of the event itself, “A Perfect Evening”…
Back on track at the Sno! Bar this week, no Guitar Hero but two bands from a bit out of town, always good if you’re up for hearing something new but nonetheless not so good at getting the numbers in initially. In other words it’s a quiet one, apart from the rock sounds coming from the bands of tonight, namely Speedshot and Valhalla, a couple of bands from Bedford and Northampton, respectively.
Not too long ago, I got contacted by a band on the old Myspace. It might not sound strange as we work alongside musicians and bands and the odd local band sending us a heads up is not too unusual, but here’s the catch, this band was from the US, “over-the-pond” as we say over here, in Pennsylvania to be more exact. The challenge alone to write about them had it’s own appeal.
Figures, you plan a load of shots on a sunny day, then it starts raining the day after. When I meet with two-thirds of today’s band, Benny And The Razor Blades, they are out in the rain at Campbell Park so we head off to the nearby underpass to get dry, pick up our wits and talk about what makes these guys tick. I remember seeing the lads down at Musik 4U: Serve Chilled which was a rather strange introduction as they preferred playing electric gigs, that said they’ve come booted with an acoustic guitar today.
We don’t just write about music here at AMPjam, we play it too, our own Josh being a bit of an all-rounder but usually settling for the acoustic circuit. Incidentally, we also discovered him at an acoustic night with Annotazioni before he joined the team in his enthusiastic, Wicketness. With that, he’s also recently patched up and completed a set of recordings for his first Ep, “I’ll Wait For You” is the name and folk rock is the game.
May. 01. 2009
The Craufurd had quite a lot on last Friday, with six bands on the bill. The two bands generating the most attention being a couple of hardcore acts named Shadows Chasing Ghosts and Casino Brawl. As ever, there’s some local support around too, with Firetone, Embrace The Tide, Without Consent and Kids Picked Last all having a go at the support. And for once, it looks like a fair turnout by the time the first band start to play…
Waiting on a street corner might sound shifty to some, but I’m here to meet Drew, one of the guys who co-runs newer studios in New Bradwell called “Old School Studios”. Before long we meet up, shake hands and go off down an alley and go into a fairly normal looking yard. It may seem nothing special, that is until we open the doors to see the business end of the building and find ourselves in a very different place…
Apr. 30. 2009
Here’s a bit of a question for you. You’re running a venue and it’s gig night, but none of the bands want to bring their own backline and so you now have no acts for the venue, what’s the course of action to take. Well, if you’re at Beatdown in the Sno! Bar there’s one sensible option (depending on which way you look at it). You bring along Rock Star, Guitar Hero: World Tour, a full kit for the games, then whack it onto a big screen and through a loud PA.
