Music & Gigs

Arriving a little later than intended my first visit to the Beach House Bistro Bar on the promenade just north of the Tower was quite an evening. I'd missed the first act Katy Pickles, which was a shame as I have heard her before and do enjoy the music she plays. Mark Thomas took to the stage area in front of the massive south facing floor to ceiling windows. The vista of a beautifully lit early evening seafront leading off towards Central Pier acted as backdrop while his Velvet Underground inspired tunes skilfully played to a full and intimate audience.…

For local music lovers what could be better than a festival right on your doorstep? Well, that's exactly what Rock The Dead Donkey Festival is offering. With a host of bands playing over three days, camping on site and a bargain price tag this is certainly a weekend of live music you won't want to miss. The festival will see Great Birchwood Country Park transformed into a live music paradise with all the action kicking off on Friday 10 May from 7pm and running right through until Sunday evening. For those planning to camp for the whole weekend the site…

    This Thursday sees Karima Francis and friends performing at the new Beach House on Queens Promenade, Blackpool. The Beach House, for those of you who don't know, is a new bistro and cocktail bar situated just opposite Burger King and although all tables are now fully booked up, seating and a variety of menus will still be available at the bar - plus, cocktails come with complimentary bar nibbles. Karima will be playing with her new band featuring Matt Gallagher and Matt McNicholas, from the Victorian Dad band, plus Norm Helm and Bradley Harper. Speaking about the gig and her…

Claire has recently been speaking to and photographing some "very cool" people who are helping to promote local, young bands. These bands are under age so cannot play pubs, but, according to Claire, they are more than good enough to be showcased and heard. She says, "There is a lot to be said for whipper-snappers who are under 18, but can play guitars, drums or sing live this well and to an audience! Wasn’t it Oscar Wilde that once said, ‘youth is wasted on the young’, well, not where Eaglefest is concerned”. Claire caught up with Ian, one of the…

Saturday night at Blackpool Cricket Club involved an exclusive gig for Blackpool. NYC Hip Hop DJ/producer, Edan, played the intimate venue and allowed the best sort of atmosphere; charged and full of expectant music lovers. When I arrived, quite late, the party was in full swing and people were really getting down and shouting their appreciation. Talking Heads was being mixed up and people were going wild. Edan's influences vary and include 60's psychedelia to Jimmy Hendrix to Thin Lizzy. These genres are right up my street and a fair number of other people seemed to agree with me.  The Cricket Club was…

This Friday sees the return of De Palma after their marathon three day debut over the Easter weekend. With cheeky Steve Fairhurst on bass (ex Ska Faces, Pink Torpedoes, Crackous Rockanroll) Stuart Hill on vocals (ex - Switzerland, Crackous Rockanroll and more recently Section 25), the irrepressible Tommy Couch on drums (also with One Way System/Pink Torpedoes and more) Rob Hulme on guitar (ex - original Stiff Richard line up), boogie woogie Mike Taylor on Keys and of course Angel Hernandez on Sax (who is still with Ska Faces) they promise to deliver dirty reggae and deliver they do. De…

April 1st may not be the most shrewd time to release an album, but this is definitely no practical joke.  I caught up with Steve from Sound of the Underglow to find out more: 'Sup folks, this is Steve from Sound of the Underglow, a new band/recording project thing from Blackpool. Influenced by bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters and Minus the Bear, we have a debut album which has just been released and it's got 12 spanking new songs on. We've always been a fan of bands with huge choruses, the kind you find yourself screaming along…

Claire caught up with Chinny (Mark 'Chinny' Davis), the voice behind the very successful Cowbell Radio, as the station looks to celebrate their upcoming first birthday. To start us off, Chinny gave some background about how Cowbell Radio began. "It was created in February last year and we first aired as a station on April 12 . Basically, Ed, (Ed Mahon) and myself  had a show on another station which we both felt was going nowhere. So the logical step was to set up ourselves. The name Cowbell comes from the previous show. Basically everyone thinks it comes from the Will…

This week sees the return of Later At The Blue Room for its latest instalment, bringing Blackpool a fantastic selection of bands over four nights, coinciding with the bank holiday weekend. Each night bands will perform across two stages to jam pack your evening with live music, all strung together by The Blue Room's very own Jools Holland style compares. Forty bands will be performing over the four nights each with a 30 minute set giving a whopping 20 hours of live music for your listening pleasure - this is definitely one not to miss for the live music lover.…