Saturday 21st April was National Record Store Day, this is the one day that independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate music. Special vinyl and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists across the globe make special appearances and performances.
Earlier that week I had my first trip to Pie & Vinyl and loved it so there was no way I wanted to miss the days celebrations. I arrived about midday and was just in time to see two members of the The Retrospective Soundtrack Players perform their set. During the set you could not move inside due to the large crowd squeezed in. Once the set had finished I obviously treated myself to a pie, it would have been rude not too!
“It was an amazing day, and surpassed every expectation that we had. The queue started at 5.45am, and it was great to see so many people enjoying the day. The music was outstanding, and we’re so lucky to have such amazing artists on our doorstep. Steve and I have always believed that we have such a great musical landscape in Portsmouth and Southsea, and we’ll certainly continue to do our bit to promote it. And to top it off, Phil Jupitus strolled in!” said Pie & Vinyl co-owner Rob Litchfield.
Strong Islands Charlie Thompson also made it down there and was lucky enough to have his photograph taken with Mr Jupitus. You can find out more on his Southsea Food Social blog.
Founding members of indie rock band Coburg’s Widow, Jason Kaye and Jack Goodwin came up with the bands name while enjoying a few drinks in The Belle Isle. The story goes, Jason and Jack live on Albert Road, it being named after Prince Albert who was from the town of Coburg, Germany. When Prince Albert died his wife Queen Victoria became known as Coburg’s Widow.
Inspired by local band and friends Blackfoot Circle Jason & Jack formed ‘The Lager Boys’ with friends playing a series of small shows in 5th Hants. The line up has changed slightly and the band now consists of Jason Kaye (vocals), Jack Goodwin (rhythm/bass), Dave Wells (drums), Dave Payne (lead guitar) and Jack Evans (bass/rhythm & backing vocals).
The boys are playing this friday from 8pm at Bar 56, Albert Road. The highlight of the summer for the boys will be when they play the Southsea Bandstand on Sunday 26th August. You can find out more information on their Facebook page.
Race Car Hearts is the creative guise for Southsea’s singer/songwriter Chris Perrin.
After fronting British rock band ‘Thirst’ Chris explored writing and performing as a solo artist, experimenting with a variety of different bands and musicians. Amassing a strong collection of songs, Chris teamed up with producer Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers and Super Furry Animals) to record his debut album.
Chris is now bringing Race Car Hearts to stages across the UK. You can see Race Car Hearts playing locally over the next few months at the following:
The Road to Blissfields showcases four local bands from each area battling for a place to play at the festival itself. The Portsmouth leg of the competition comes to the Edge of Wedge this friday. Other heats will take place in Southampton, Reading, Winchester, Basingstoke and Brighton.
Friday night five local artists will be competing for the chance to play Blissfields Festival.
If you like what you here it will be great to see you down there showing your support, the event is free entry. You can vote for who you’d like see perform on the Facebook site.
If your interested in going to the festival with a VIP/PRESS ticket then you can find more information here.
Victorious Vintage is a FREE 2 day festival in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard this June, taking place over the Jubilee weekend 2nd & 3rd June. We’ve got some more details for you to follow soon, but for now here is a gander at the fantastic line up of bands and artists that will be performing on the 2 stages over the festival.
My pick of the bunch will be watching former local lad John Louis who fronts Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six. You can check out some of their fantastic videos HERE
When I asked Portsmouth based band The Glory Hole to describe themselves they came up with this fantastic and mysterious answer.
“When it started, five players from Portsmouth had been wandering down different tracks: guitar bands, DJ sets, jazz classes and insomniac angst. They converged on a bleak peninsular, a forgotten point from the old maps, and started a party. The Victorians named the place and the band took the name. A hundred years later, among the ghosts of long-dead marines and buried industrial hazards, The Glory Hole plays on, making comedown music to get up to.”
The band will be featured on Express FM tonight from 5pm. You can listen by going to the Express FM player.
You can find out more and even download a free track on their Facebook site.
The Road to Blissfields showcases four local bands from each area battling for a place to play at the festival itself. The Portsmouth leg of the competition comes to the Edge of Wedge on 27th April. Other heats will take place in Southampton, Reading, Winchester, Basingstoke and Brighton.
They are trying to find a local writer to write up and review the Portsmouth event. The winner will be the person judged to have written the best review. The winning review will be published here on Strong Island. The winner will also go to the festival as VIP/PRESS and do the official festival review for publication.
It’s all about finding enthusiastic new local writers and giving them their first published review with a reputable local title.
If you’d like the opportunity to go to the festival as VIP/PRESS then you’ll need to send your review of the Portsmouth heats to alex@greenhousegroup.co.uk. The Portsmouth heats are going to be held at Edge of The Wedge on Friday 27th April. For more detail click here.
If you’d like to do a bit of home work beforehand the heats are featuring the following bands:
Any questions please email alex@greenhousegroup.co.uk.
For more information about the line up, tickets or to sign up to the mailing list go to www.blissfields.co.uk
Below is a short video about last years festival which included performances from Frank Turner, Gold Panda and Southsea’s own Gentle Bren & Handsome Dave Rocker.
Charlie and I have been talking for ages about me doing a playlist for him and to be honest it’s been more me hassling because I wanted to do one ! I’ve always really enjoyed all types of music that I’ve discovered and listened and there is nothing better than finding a new song that absolutely makes you go crazy and you have to have it.
My love of music began when I was a nipper, one of my earliest memories is being at my Nan’s house, she used to have a trunk full of old juke box records including 50’s and 60’s, country rock and soul. I would waste hours in there of a Saturday, putting record after record on the “stereogram”. Couple that with influences from my Mum and Auntie, who were constantly playing Tamla Motown and music of that genre which heavily influenced me from an early age. The logical progression from that in my teenage years was hip hop and searching the odd break here and there…I served my time with the electro and street sounds tapes!
I’ve always had music on in the background or on my iPod…music is my saviour and nothing beats a good song. I have been lucky enough in my older years to play out a couple of times (thanks to Charlie). I even played Southseafest last year the day after my wedding…with wife in tow ! So it comes that I’ve put this list together here which is influenced by my early years, the soulful stuff I’ve listened to with more updated funk for the later years.
This should get you dancin’ round the kitchen…..(I hope)!!
NB. If you are homeless and don’t have a kitchen, I apologise. I meant no harm.
This saturday is Pie & Vinyl’s first ever Record Store Day, owners Rob and Steve are putting on a show for all the lovely people of Southsea, those who have supported them and those who are yet to experience Pie & Vinyl.
For one day only, they will be turning the whole shop into a record store (pies will still be available to take away). Also available will be lots of exciting exclusive pressings from your favourite artists, there will be something for everyone. Co-owner Rob says “We want to enjoy the day along with everyone else so there will be myself, Steve and a couple more staff on hand to talk music, pies and offer any assistance.”
Rob and Steve have arranged some exciting live acoustic sets from Portsmouth and Southsea’s favourite son’s (and daughter).
Rob adds “We are so excited to help promote the local music scene, and all of the bands playing will have the opportunity to sell their merchandise on the day. We are also stocking vinyl from other local acts, including the lovely Curxes new single ‘Haunted Gold’.”
They will be opening the doors at 9am sharp! I had my first taste of Pie & Vinyl yesterday and loved it. The service was great, the place looks superb and the food was delicious. Whatever the weather I thoroughly recommend you take a trip to Castle Road this saturday.
Straight off their Download Festival debut last year Portsmouth based Belligerence hit the studio and recorded “Now Here’s Your Secret”. This is available to purchase now on iTunes.
Formed in 2008 Belligerence combine a myriad of influences and sit between any number of rock and metal sub genres. With “Now Here’s Your Secret” they’ve evolved their sound and have moved away from the stifling “stoner rock” tag. “We’ve never really considered ourselves stoner, blues rock or anything for that matter. We’re the sum of our influences, the riff is the basis of any song we start writing and it develops from there” says David Harvey.
“We’re very proud of this EP, there’s no point in writing or recording anything if you don’t mean it. It’s a cathartic process, we all identify with the music and lyrics to some extent” states Craig Copland.
Belligerence will be touring the UK extensively throughout 2012, Including festival appearances and a visit to the America for the South by Southwest 2013. For more information on upcoming shows and to follow them on their Facebook click here.
As you may know each year we run a home brew competition in February where the winning brew has the opportunity to be brewed by Irving & Co Brewing Co. and sold around the city in the summer. Last year’s brew, the Strong Island Hopper Ale, was hugely successful being one of Inving’s best selling ales and selling out so quickly it went through a second brew run. This year’s winning ale is Dry Dock No. 1, originally brewed by Lee Immins, went on sale in some of Portsmouth and Southsea’s pubs over the weekend.
We spoke to The Hole in The Wall in Southsea who said the new ale went down a storm with it being their best seller on Sunday and with almost two barrels empty by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. Those guys at the Hole in The Wall and their regular ale drinkers know their stuff so for us this was amazing early news with the ale.
To officially launch Dry Dock No. 1 we are having a launch party with the lovely souls at The Belle Isle on Thursday evening. The ale will be on full flow, come down and try a pint or two. As well as being on sale all around the city the ale will also be available in Chichester’s Belle Isle too, so you can drink it away from home for the first time too.
Just over a year ago, a group of Strong Islanders were sat on the Isle of Wight ferry on our way to the yearly Randonnee cycling event; 60 miles around the island spread across 5 checkpoints. Whilst on the crossing we couldn’t help but admire various enthusiasts and their custom team jerseys. Fast forward a year and it is my great pleasure to unveil the Strong Island cycling jersey. Made as a one off for the event, the jersey is our way of representing this city and all the values that come with it. Thanks to the combined designing efforts of Chris Ballingall and Tristan Savage, we were able to produce this clean, retro looking jersey that 11 of Southsea’s finest could wear to conquer the island’s endless hills. Well done chaps.
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