9:47am Thursday 14th January 2010
So it’s back. Another show where week after week a group of people is reduced down to just one...intelligent viewer that is. Yes, it’s Celebrity Big Brother.
Looking through this year’s casualty list makes me question the “C” word of the title as I only recognised two or three names and even those hardly warrant such a title. It got me thinking what a Swindon-based version of the show would be like.
Picture the scene, Coun David Wren arguing with Barrie Hudson over who ate all the bread sticks. Billy Piper being consoled by Will Walder because she misses The Doctor...that sort of thing.
I’d watch.
But for now I will stay in my comfort zone of reruns of Time Team and Hanoi Rocks albums.
I was also thinking the other day that if they were going to rename rock and roll, they could do worse than calling it Trickbabies, who play the Beehive tonight.
Mixing dazzling punked up, old school, rhythm and blues guitar work with solid rock back beats, this is one band who prove that it’s not always about being clever and pushing new boundaries, sometimes it’s just about playing great music. That’s good enough for me.
Good enough for me… that reminds me, the man that took those words to a number four chart position with the band Dodgy, Nigel Clarke, plays the Victoria tonight, with a set of songs that are upbeat, often thoughtful and always poetic. Support comes in the form of Gaz Brookfield.
On Friday, also at the Victoria, are genre-hopping Mango Factory. This brilliant nine-piece outfit create a melting pot of funky Latin-jazz vibes and fill it with consummate musicianship and two of the finest vocalists on the circuit.
I mentioned this gig last time round, when my inability to read a calendar properly was saved by some swift editing by the powers that be, So a second mention for the Monstershark Promotions 1st anniversary gig at Riffs Bar; my buffoonery is their gain.
The mighty Mortdelemar headline the show, spreading heavy progressive goodness. Post rock soundscapes come courtesy of The Colorado, a band I am particularly partial to, and I Am Bodhi and Energy Without The Sun start the night off.
Saturday has plenty going on. I’m not normally one to give too much space to non-original bands, but the 12 Bar’s choice of band really is worth mentioning. Ex-John Parr guitarist, John Oxley, brings A Foreigners Journey to town, a tribute to two of the biggest stadium bands of all time. The clue is very much in the title.
If something a bit more original is your cup of java, then head on up to the Victoria for the oddly named Cats and Cats and Cats. They seem to encapsulate all the best bits of bands such as Arcade Fire or Mew, build sumptuous layers of melodies, weave violin through the middle and create glorious musical crescendos. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Also playing, Ute continue to repackage the folk traditions for the modern ear and Spring Offensive start the ball rolling.
The Rolleston, meanwhile, have Red Hot Trio, the local answer to Stray Cats, giving it the rockabilly treatment for all the jivers, strollers and boppers. Saturday really is a night of musical diversity this week.
Sunday at the Beehive is party time. Richard Skidmore’s new band, Black Sheep Apprentice, will be playing their dark country rock in celebration of his birthday, and support comes from gypsy folksters Sweet Plums. Both bands seem to use this particular watering hole as their headquarters so it will probably become quite a messy affair.
The final mention of the week is for The Ragdoll Magazine Party Night at Riffs Bar. Zoë Mead brings her ethereal folk-indie sounds to the night, Plastic Fiction will be rocking things up and new kids off their blocks, Band of Bert, will be bemusing and amusing in equal measure. All this takes place on Wednesday.
Right I’m off to type up a blueprint of Swindon’s Celebrity Big Brother. Who wants in?
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