Steve Guest

Paul Stevenson seems to have a knack for organising and staging live charity music events, even though it can be painstakingly difficult to pull off. After last year's inaugural Rock The Dead Donkey Festival held at Birchwood in Warton.  Although it was a success, Paul felt he needed to source a venue closer to Blackpool, which was more accessible to the public, in order to attract bigger audiences. In turn, this would obviously give the event the chance to raise more funds for the nominated charities, in this case The Mulberry Community project and the Tramshed Theatre Company, two very worthy causes…

If you're a band intending to make a return home with a dramatic statement, then look no further for your inspiration than the iconic post-punk band The Membranes. It has been announced that the Blackpool-formed band will play an exclusive live set at the top of Blackpool Tower, entitled The Membranes 158 Live on Friday 8 August. Different perhaps and a little daring, but these boys certainly don’t do things by halves. By lugging their rig, themselves and their instruments a full 518 feet to the top of the famous landmark, it will no doubt give those fans fortunate to…

When you're aged 16 or 17 and you've picked up your first instrument and are trying to get the best sound out of it, it can be a challenging affair. Then of course when you're in a band which consists of a variety of personalities, that’s when it gets a little tougher. Because the challenge then turns to creating your own sound and identity. At a young age, such as The People are, it becomes a voyage of discovery and one they are obviously enjoying to the max. I’ve watched these young lads enough times on the local live circuit…

Blackpool can proudly boast several treasures, such as The Tower, the three piers and the wonderful Winter Gardens. We can now add to that list the incredible talent of Rae Morris. On delivering what can only be described as a mesmerising homecoming performance for Radio Lancashire' BBC Introducing last Saturday evening, this fine young singer/songwriter will surely be a name on everyone's lips nationwide very soon and rightly so. I, along with my fellow altblackpool team member and photographer Richard Shirt, were among the very lucky few to have been given the opportunity to get up close and personal with…

If you were to look around for one of the most unassuming young bands in the area, then you need look no further than The Atmospherics. Still very much cutting their teeth and striving hard to create their own sound, these four lads probably don't realise just how far they've progressed as a unit in the last year or so. So much so, they have been invited on numerous occasions to support the more well known big hitters in the area and not once have they failed to deliver quality-filled sets. Vocalist and guitarist David Mangnall is joined by Sam…

  Occasionally you can saunter along to a gig not knowing quite what to expect.  Other times you know exactly what you'll get. You may have done your research on the band first, played a few tunes on Youtube, checked out the influences and the bio, but still come out blown away and mesmerised by what you've witnessed.  Well, that's a pretty good description of how I felt when I left The Blue Room last Saturday night having been lucky enough to catch a one off performance at the venue by the incredible Midas Fall. I'd checked out a few…

After having the pleasure of meeting up with Ben Marshall (DJ Marshall) a couple of weeks back at Rock Hard Studios and being presented with an insight into his life as a DJ and how it all began for him when he was only 15, our conversation went off on a bit of a tangent. In a relaxed and chilled atmosphere surrounded by an array of music  production technology, I learned a little about the man himself and his thoughts about life and people, but in turn how this still relates to his music and how he ticks. In the…

Following a successful and popular stint at The Queens pub in Layton, Blackpool songstress and host Karima Francis is now also taking her Moth open mic event to The Blue Room, with the first session scheduled for Thursday 20 February. Karima has been busy organising this event for a good while now and openly encourages local musicians and aspiring singer/songwriters to come along and be given the chance to showcase their talent. With excellent numbers and no little talent having already taken advantage of the opportunity to perform at the regular monthly events at The Queens, it seemed a no…