JANUARY, FEBRUARY & MARCH 2006

FRI, 31 MAR 2006 - The Reptiles @ The Gander, Bournemouth

FRI, 31 MAR 2006 - Moby Dick @ O'Neill's, Bournemouth

STORIES, FEATURES, REVIEWS

COMING SOON - BROTHERS GRIMMER ??? !!! ???
The amazing Brothers Grimmer coming soon to an alehouse near you. Full details in the forthcoming April, May & June 2006 issue of this newsletter. To read a report of a previous sighting, click here.

3 DAFT MONKEYS Thursday, 23rd March 2006
3 Daft Monkeys as presented by Boscombe Community Fair at The Green Room last night turned out to be a resounding success. Perhaps somewhere between The Levellers, Madness and Curved Air, or perhaps not. Featuring fluid basslines, evocative violin melodies and a man who could sing, play the 12 string guitar and kick the bass drum all at the same time, it had to be seen to be believed. Naturally it wasn't long before the 'dancefloor' melted into a blur of whirling dervishes.

ON FIRE Sunday, 19th March 2006
Roj Agogo's performance as dep' bass player for The Floaters at The Lord Nelson on Sunday afternoon was described by one member of the audience as being 'on fire'. Nothing out of the ordinary about the bass riffs. It was the column of thick, evil smelling smoke that started to emerge from the vintage Selmer 'Treble 'n' Bass' amp that sort of stole the show. Naturally the offending item was disposed of and a more modern solid state unit was substituted. The show continued just as if nothing had happened.

BRENDA - LATEST NEWS Spring (??? !!!) 2006
Greetings brendakinder!
yes. we will soon be trundling our rock wagon into an unsuspecting township near you. come see us. expect loud bits, quiet bits, and many bits in between. sprawling songs infused with live sampled voice, guitar, pan lid. dusted with fx and bludgeoned by a merciless rolling pin of Big Riffage. quite a recipe I'm sure you'll agree. there may even be cds to buy. ..and the accommodating scout huts/village halls/bandstands are:

March.
25th The Vine. Leeds*
26th DnR Live. Sheffield*
27th Dog & Parrot. Newcastle
28th Attik. Leicester*
29th Portman Greenrooms. Boscombe/Bournemouth
31st Ryans. 181 Stoke Newington Church st, London N16

April.
1st The Tap n Tin. Chatham
5th The Joiners. Southampton**

* With These Monsters
** With 65Daysofstatic

plenty of other great acts at other shows.

thanks - joebrendr

Useful Links -

Sound of Brenda
Brenda's Very Own Space
'Going My Way' Presents
Brainwash Promotions

UNMISSABLE Friday, 17th March 2006
Bournemouth's only authentic old skool rhythm 'n' bues 'n' rock 'n' roll band -
The Juju Men - @ The Gander - Friday, 17th March 2006

SINGER WANTED March 2006
Singer or singer/guitarist wanted for well established, gigging rock band, 'Crosscut Saw'.
Here is what Pete, lead guitarist with the band, has to say -
'Unfortunately Phil (current singer with the band) has bowed out due to ongoing health reasons, so if anyone knows of anyone looking for a gig, then please give me a shout. Phil is continuing for a while while we find a successor.'
Visit 'Crosscut Saw' website.

NOBODY Thursday, 9th March 2006
Don't miss Robbie McIntosh + Geraint Watkins @ The Centre Stage, Westbourne on Thursday, March 9th. Geraint Watkins was the creator of the amazing rhythm 'n' clank classic, 'Nobody', regularly featured towards the end of the The Juju Men set. Worth going for that song alone. Let's hope it's included in the set!

THE WONDERFULLY ECCENTRIC 'RODEO 7' Friday, 3rd March 2006
Catch Rodeo 7 + Raindogs at the Gander on Friday, March 3rd. I just checked out a couple of tracks by Rodeo 7 at their website. The open plan, stripped down, instrumentation and the croaking vocals remind me so much of the legendary Captain Beefheart. What greater compliment can I pay? Keep on keeping on, you guys. And all you punters out there, check out those mp3's and then get on down to the Gander to get a taste of the real thing. Also appearing are Raindogs. So there is another reason not to stay at home and watch paint drying on the TV. Be there ... !!! ... !!!

WHERE IS HARRISON AVENUE ??? 2006
Monday, 6th March 2006 - The Green Room, The Portman Hotel, Boscombe - 9pm - £2 -
Acoustic Adventures - James Harrison playing solo - 4 tracks.
James has been producing his own music at Blue Dragon Studio and getting his demo ready. Any day now we should be ready to launch some new sounds. The album will be called 'Happy With You' and this will be the start of James collaborating with various studio musicians. The band will be called 'Harrison Avenue'

INDIAN SUMMER - NEW E.P. February 2006
Indian Summer have just released an EP 'Songs For You' with 5 of Sophie's original songs.
The EP is selling fast and can be heard here.
Cheers - J. Rev - Indian Summer Management - www.indiansummer.bravehost.com.

FACING BACKWARDS Thursday, 16th February 2006
Brothers Grimmer certainly did not disappoint at the Green Room on Thursday. Excellent songs and dirty, hollow guitar sound from frontman, Lee. Great harmonies from the drummer and solid bottom end from the bass player, a man who prefers to stand facing backwards, and occasionally sideways.
View Photos of Brothers Grimmer.

ZENA'S ???th BIRTHDAY PARTY Saturday, 11th February 2006
Zena's ???th Birthday Party at the Green Room on Saturday was, as expected, a resounding success. And when the Great British Party Goers finally lost their inhibitions, uprooted themselves from their seats and hit the dancefloor, rubber really started to burn, as they moved and grooved to the endless succession of retro disco 'n' funk from the 70's 'n' 80's provided by none other than the fabulous Funk Soul Brothers.
Many Happy Returns to Zena - everybody's favourite landlady.

UFU HOVERS OMINOUSLY ABOVE THE STAGE Thursday, 9th February 2006
To view a picture of a UFO hovering ominously above the stage as 'Raising Cane' launch into a blistering 2nd set at The Green Room, click here. Due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to show you a picture of a young lady in the audience starting to take off her clothes.
(see 'DARK & DIRTY', below)

DARK & DIRTY Thursday, 9th February 2006
Dark & Dirty - 'Raising Cane' @ The Green Room last night - Without doubt, On Fire !!! - and when a young lady in the audience starts to take her clothes off you just know that the band must be doing something right - Awesome !!!

BROTHERS GRIMMER Thursday, 16th February 2006
'Brothers Grimmer' are at the Green Room next Thursday. This promises to be an unmissable date. Main man is none other than Lee, more usually known for his superb sound mixing skills behind the desk, but on this occasion he will be fronting the band. This man is a cracking songwriter and has his own unique way of playing the guitar. You won't have witnessed anything like this before. Be there, or be boring (or be bored).

RECOMMENDED BANDS January 2006
Here are a few names to check out. All these bands played recently at The Green Room.

HULLABALUES - - - authentic vintage rockabilly, rock 'n' roll, rhythm 'n' blues
SYPHER - - - dark metal
HAMMERED - - - 70's rock covers played with conviction and passion
MANDRAGARA - - - supernaural, spaced out rock
INVISIBLES - - - fragile, emotional indie/electronica - - - promoted by Conrad Barr's Solid Air

Prove these mini descriptions to be totally inappropriate by checking out these bands for yourself. The descriptions may be off the mark, but what the hell! The bands are all high quality and that's what matters.

STRENGTH TO STRENGTH Thursday, 26th January 2006
The regular fortnightly Boscombe Community Centre gig at The Green Room is certainly going from strength to strength. Managed to catch the last three acts last night.
'EMP' - in a league of their own - a 3-piece consisting of just drums, bass and guitar/vox playing what I can only describe as a fusion of jazz-funk and mid 70's influenced West Coast soft rock - forget the analytical description - 'absolutely brilliant' was the expression I was looking for.
'Poet Hi Ho' - a true English eccentric - reading his rambling poems from a few screwed up sheets of paper - he tells me he wasn't on acid when he wrote this stuff - well, you could have fooled me - highly entertaining.
'SEF' (?) - dark, bottom-heavy, dense metal - the singer seemed to have vocal diarrhoea and at times their was a sense of semi chaos about the performance, but what the hell - it certainly wasn't boring and that's what really counts.

ROCKABILLY - ALIVE & KICKING Saturday, 14th January 2006
Rockabilly was alive and kicking at the Green Room on Saturday. Low down clanky riffs and primeval rhythms were clearly in evidence. And so was a man dressed in a red suit and a white stetson hat. I am talking, of course, about the legendary Reverend Hotfoot Jackson. For pictures, click here. And not forgetting, excellent, eccentric stripped down grooves from support band, 'Rodeo 7'.

THE GANDER RE-INVENTS ITSELF 2006
Good news - The legendary music venue, The Gander on the Green, is in the process of re-inventing itself. Live music will be back in the top bar from February. Total redecoration, a new PA and a late license are all part of the plan. The various nights of the week will be dedicated to different music catagories - Wednesdays for acoustic, Thursdays for indie and alternative, Fridays for blues, soul and the like, Saturdays for rock, etc, etc. We wish this venture success. May 'The Gander' rise once again to its former glory.

LOOK TO THE FUTURE NOW ... Summer 2006
'Look to the future now, it's only just begun', as the notorious song says. So, if you are in a band, playing either covers or original material, and are looking for exposure, read what David Williams, organiser of 'Bournemouth Live Festival', has to say about the not too distant future.

Hi there,
Bands Wanted! Bournemouth Live Music Festival bigger and better for 2006.
Bournemouth Live Music Festival is to be held in Bournemouth from Saturday 24th to Wednesday 28th June 2006 including a music memorabilia fair on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June in the town centre. There will also be music workshops throughout the week. There are opportunities to play on one of the live outdoor stages and other venues included within the festival throughout the town. If your interested are in playing within the festival please send your information along with a picture of your band and a demo CD to -
David Williams, Events Department, Tourist information Office, Westover Road, Bournemouth, BH12BU.
E-mail to Events@Bournemouth.gov.uk.
Website coming shortly.

HOPELESS ATTENDANCE ETC. Thursday, 12th January 2006
In actual fact there was an excellent attendance for Thursday's Boscombe Community Fair gig at the Green Room. Penultimate band was the Raindogs, somewhere between Creedance Clearwater Revival and the Stray Cats, featuring stand-up bass, a very stripped down drumkit and a singer with an interesting accent. Headlining were the far from hopeless, 'Hopeless Attendance' from Southampton. Perhaps you might describe their music as passion punk but that would be over simplifying the situation really. The sheer intensity of their music will either bring tears to your eyes or make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck or both. Enough said.

HAWKWIND REVISITED Thursday, 19th January 2005
'Oracle', who play the Green Room on Thursday the 19th are described by 'man in the know', Adam, as 'Progressive Rock Hawkwind + Original'. If this encoded description is even half accurate then the Green room is the place to be on Thursday night.

LOCAL MUSIC SCENE - NEW SITE 2006
Well worth a visit - new website - www.bournemouthgigs.co.uk.
Though the site is primarily an online gig-guide I found a whole load of excellent pictures on the gallery page. Very well organised, easily navigable site. Take a look. If you are in a band, make sure that your gigs are listed. And maybe you'll find a photo of yourselves taken at an previous gig!

THE NEW SUPERCHARGED ALCHEMY Friday, 6th January 2006
Catch the new supercharged Alchemy at the Grange this Friday. Not to be missed !!!

NEW MONTHLY EVENT 2006
New Monthly Indie/Electro/New Wave Event!
SOUNDS OF A DISCO on Jan 14th, Upstairs at the Opera House.
8pm. £3 Entry Plus Free Lolly Pop. Featuring The Plymouths, Bosh and The Fantastic A&E Line
Sounds Of A Disco

SPITTING FIRE Wednesday, 4th January 2006
Spit Fire and friends at the Green Room on Wednesday night. I believe that Spit Fire were supported by two other acts. If this were the case then I missed the 1st band. Sorry.
2nd band - scooped out, crunchy quagmire - nice - enthusiastically received by a frighteningly young audience.
3rd band - Spit Fire - indeed they did spit fire - excellent - the singer, guitarist, 'frontman' certainly gave it 110%.
A good time was had by all.

THE PLYMOUTHS - LATEST NEWS 2006
The Plymouths have new gigs and new material! If you don't know yet, the guys have been busy developing a new style of music which has already been well received by many. They are only a few weeks away from the new material becoming available and 2006 seeks to be a bench mark for them, as they aim to promote the new music around the Bournemouth area and further afield. Since signing onto MySpace, they guys keep increasing their name and subsequently have made over 1100 new friends, over 2000 profile views and over 1800 plays of their new material within a few months! Check out their MySpace site for information, gig dates, comments, adding yourself as a friend and for song samples on: www.myspace.com/theplymouths.

CENTRE STAGE - NEW VENUE 2006
Here's a message from Michael Callaghan, director of new local venue, 'Centre Stage'.
'Just wanted to keep you in the loop about what we are doing. We currently have 'Solid Air' on at our 'Bar Fruit' on a Sunday night. But we have taken on another pub/venue in Westbourne. 'Centre Stage' is the home to our comedy club but additionally we have been holding music nights there. Acoustic solutions have held three nights there now with John James Newman heading up a night. We also had Andy White visit us a month or two back. The venue has a 250 capacity and is ideal for acoustic/semi-acoustic stuff. We are planning a number of nights in the New Year. 'Centre Stage' and is situated next to the 'Pub the Pig and Whistle' in Queens Road, Westbourne.'
Michael Callaghan (Director), Funnybone Ltd., 14 Queens Road, Westbourne, BH2 6BE.
Tel. 01202 540065, Mob. 0797 4666178.
Related websites -
Funnybone Event Services
Pig & Whistle
Bar Fruit

Coming Soon - Brothers Grimmer
3 Daft Monkeys
On Fire
Brenda - Latest News
Unmissable
Singer Wanted
Nobody
The Wonderfully Eccentric 'Rodeo 7'
Where Is Harrison Avenue ???
Indian Summer - New E.P.
Facing Backwards
Zena's ???th Birthday Party
UFO Hovers Ominously Above The Stage
Dark & Dirty
Brothers Grimmer
Recommended Bands
Strength To Strength
Rockabilly - Alive & Kicking
The Gander Re-Invents Itself
Look To The Future Now ...
Hopeless Attendance etc.
Hawkwind Revisited
Local Music Scene - New Site
The New Supercharged Alchemy
New Monthly Event
Spitting Fire
The Plymouths - Latest News
Centre Stage - New Venue