Music
Every Friday night we showcase quality LIVE music from established and up-and-coming acts. Doors open at 8pm.
“..the Grain Barge is hot on [Thekla’s] heels for nailing some of those local musicians on the cusp of stardom.” Bristol 24-7
FEBRUARY
 IN THE MILKWOOD
Friday 24th February~ 8pm
£4 Door Entry
With obvious reference to Dylan Thomas’ ‘play for voices’, In the Milkwood are a two-piece ensemble hailing from below the creaking floorboards of bygone times, whilst gleefully defying logic and floating about the South West of England’s outer stratosphere. Yet whilst their soaring, lark-like soprano voices relate disembodied tales of werewolves, ships and beloved postmen, In the Milkwood remain decidedly grounded by the compelling rhythmic force of the mandolin and 10-string lyre.
+ ANDI SKELLAM
Andi studied fine art at university and his music reflects the darkly humorous and deeply affecting absurdities of his canvasses. Sometimes billed as the Fingerless Hoodlum, Andi in fact possess some of the nimblest guitar and banjo-picking digits currently to be found pretty much anywhere. Debut long-player 'Molton Sea' captured his rich textures and baritone voice to stunning effect, drawing listener comparisons to Syd Barrett and Nick Drake - artists who similarly managed to butterfly-pin the strangeness of English life in music. The soundtrack to resting on a broken tree in Mulchy woods."
+ WIG SMITH
One half of The Hand with Rachel Dadd, Wig and his Kora make for an otherworldly experience.
MARCH
 SJ ESAU
Friday 2nd March~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
One man band Sam Wisternoff pleases us with genre defying experimental pop. Sharp anecdotes and surreal songs are motored by samplers, toy synths and mutated guitar and voice through clever looping.
Above all this is fun and spellbinding music and not to be missed.
+ BRAVO BRAVE BATS
Ace, intelligent indie-punk rock sporting the melodies reminiscent of 80's American hardcore-pop with adventurous riffs and a singing drummer, which is always nice, unless it's Phil Collins.
+ TOM O.C. WILSON
We're proud to announce that the Freeze Puppy composer will be debuting his solo voice/guitar project tonight!
UPSTAIRS - BEER FESTIVAL - Free Entry
WITH DJ HED GANDHI + DJ SPINTHIEF from 5pm
 BEER FESTIVAL
Saturday 3rd March~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
“...the
enchanting Mae Karthauser, of Mae and The Midnight Fairground
fame...had the crowd in the palm of her hand, as she took them into her
magical world where even the tougher things in life appear to be
explained as if child’s play. With tracks like Lucian, Bill and Chinese
Restaurant, Karthauser has struck upon something rare in today’s music
scene" Totnes Times
STACKSHAKERS
Take a pinch of the blues, add a lick of ska and season with afro beats and the finest funky reggae and you have The Stackshakers!
M.O.D
A blend of quasi gypsy jazz, klezmer and prog using fiddles, washboard, double bass and a multitude of whooping and percussion!
DJ PAULO
Dance music from South America and Africa, new and old, mixed with some big party tunes.
DJ BLINDBAT
Rock 'N' Roll, Rockabilly, Surf, Jump Blues and 50's R&B played on a record player.
+ MUCH MORE TBC
 MAE & THE MIDNIGHT FAIRGROUND
Thursday 8th March~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
“...the enchanting Mae Karthauser, of Mae and The Midnight Fairground fame...had the crowd in the palm of her hand, as she took them into her magical world where even the tougher things in life appear to be explained as if child’s play. With tracks like Lucian, Bill and Chinese Restaurant, Karthauser has struck upon something rare in today’s music scene" Totnes Times
+ LEONIE EVANS
Dexterous in both skill and colourful storytelling Leonie (Bert Miller & The Animal Folk, Rae) mixes jazz and acoustic folk with elements of cabaret and swing. She sings melodies that will melt and bombast you in equal measures.
+ RYAN HAMILTON
Ryan's poetic and dark songwriting conjures up images of foggy Dickensian streets and the sinister stories that come from the characters in it.
 DUOTONE
Friday 9th March~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
Duotone is the name under which Barney Morse-Brown (cellist for The Imagined Village and Chris Wood’s Handmade Life) and James Garrett (London based singer-song writer and percussionist) write and perform their own contemporary acoustic songs. They loop guitars, cellos, percussion and voices to create ethereal soundscapes for their poignant lyrics to weave in and out.
+ DEXTER SELBOY & THE SHONKY TRIO
Dexter composes dynamic anthems, such as 'I'm Not Around', that draw in a wide demographic of music appreciators with his patented staccato riffs and emotive vocal lines. With Russ at the helm of the beats and mr moje laying down some exuberant bass lines, a surging groove is triggered in any audience. Jose's intricate finger picking and gypsey jazz motifs wonderfully compliment Dexter's percussive guitar playing.
+ ROSIE G
Youthful singer songwriter possessing an enchanting, magical voice over wistful, imaginative composition.
 TWIN FALLS
Friday 16th March ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
"pitched somewhere between wistful, woozy alt-country and the broken, string-laden electronic laments of Grandaddy – although it is bookended by two fizzing, swooning, and quietly epic laments that wouldn't sound out of place on an M83 album. The production is big and heavily instrumented, providing a deep river of melody for Stidson's lyrics, which manage to sound simultaneously cynical and full of hope...."
+ MOUSE DEER
Mouse Deer is the alter-ego of Holly McIntosh, a multi-instrumentalist living in Bristol who produces lo-fi power pop songs about coming of age in a run-down seaside town fuelled by heartache, hope, escapism, old LPs and cups of tea.
Upbeat, intelligent and sometimes wistful, the hooky melodies embrace lyrics that touch on themes of disappointment, determination, frustration and freedom, all underpinned by intricate harmony and tricky chord changes. The sound harks back to the itchy hyper-pop of early Todd Rundgren and XTC, with lush swoops of Court and Spark – era Joni Mitchell and warm, complex textures that owe much to alt-rock pioneers Sufjan Stevens, Lonely Dear and Grizzly Bear.
+ ALICE JEMIMA
Alice Jemima is a 18 year old singer songwriter from Newton Abbot, Devon. Her songs are carefully crafted slices of pop. She plays a vintage Hofner guitar and sings with a voice that is both fragile and rich…
 BOXCAR ALDOUS HUXLEY
Friday 23rd March ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
"It is music rooted in the past, but not a past that ever actually happened. One might hear Balkan melody, Old-time banjo and Brass Band pomp wrapped up in Tin Pan Alley melodrama. These are songs that speak of such esoteric topics as abandoned funeral trains, Messianic visions in the Canadian wilderness, and ill-fated amateur space exploration.
On stage, Boxcar Aldous Huxley are a cavalcade of dapper tweeds, inaccurate historical lecturing and rattertrap musicality, trading rickety banjo clatterings one moment for ornate choral refrains the next. The harmonium wheezes; the clarinet shrieks; Stephen Foster revolves slowly in his grave." - Curtis Eller
+ POPPY & FRIENDS
"Poppy and Friends is a trio of acoustic guitar and voice (Poppy), double bass and drums. Poppy is full of fun and energy, her songs simply swinging between an Irish folk song feel (begins the set with just voice which sounds chant like) and Anti-folk of Kimya Dawson ilk (loose but tight and full of punk heart energy). Engaging songs about her friends, experiences and mayonnaise, Poppy sways from being intimate, punk, rocking, tantrum but all with a big friendly, cheeky grin. It's a pleasure to watch and be in an audience for Poppy and Friends."
+ JASON STEEL
"Produces a timeless atmosphere that remains free from pastiche or reproduction. He date-mixes traditional themes, the 1920s and right now in a most disconcerting way; a stripped down & very alluring album" fRoots
 BASS 6
Friday 30th March ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
Funky soul, hip-hop and sweet summer melodies from one of Bristol's premier party starters.
+ C-FROO & THE EXCLUSIVE ACOUSTICS
Based around the skills and debut album from MC C-Froo, the band came together in May 2011 as a group of pretty talented friends with a common interest in making music!
Combining the rhymes of C-Froo with the catchy riffs Wren Dog has to offer, Word adding the beat, Mr Long slapping the bass and little sister Miss Cherie chucking in some vocals it's all fitted together nicely!
Making the transition from hip-hop to acoustic look and sound pretty damn good!
APRIL
 THE BAD JOKE THAT ENDED WELL
Friday 6th April ~ 8pm
£4 Door Entry
Playing a mix of psychedelic, punk rock, americana and blues and taking influence from science fiction the bad joke that ended well have a mixed sound and a strong energy that is constantly evolving. Their live shows are energetic and as entertaining as Michael Jackson. They are constantly recording and aim to release as much finished material as is possible as fast as is possible.
They are signed to Little paradise records and are based in Bristol, UK.
+ STRESSECHOES
"stressechoes songs are a triumph of heart-on-sleeve storytelling, supporting by beautiful understated music"
BBC Gloucestershire
+ LONELY TOURIST
Stompin' Glaswegian folk singer providing wit and dry insight into most everyday obstacles.
 CLAYTON BLIZZARD
Friday 13th April ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
Funny and dexterous folk rapper performing his new full on electro set with his man Dr Spin.
"This is what music should be about: fusion is the future. Black meets white, genre meets genre, folk and phat, inspiring and pure genius."
The Fly
+ BENNY SENSUS
"They are a glorious mix of sinuous melody and creative rap – the love child of Mumford and Sons and Plan B.
Yes, they're really that good." - The Evening Post
 HINKLEY VELTONES
Friday 20th April ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
The Hinkley Veltones are a big clanging bell, caught at the moment just before it cracks. Everything reverbed into sobbing submission, music you put on in order to light up a cigarette and calmly drive your car off a cliff.
Amongst Bristol’s finest songwriters, their distinct blend of cinematic rock & roll owes as much to David Lynch, Sergio Leone and John Barry as it does Cave, Cohen and Cash.
Throughout second album ‘Moths’, there’s a menace lurking somewhere beneath the crooning baritones and swooning harmonies on tunes that walk the line between the bitter, the sweet and the psychotic.
+ GLIS GLIS
Synth hooked guitar pop with dark romantic imagery lacing the incredibly well crafted songs.
 HINKLEY VELTONES
Friday 20th April ~ 8pm
£5 Door Entry
The
Hinkley Veltones are a big clanging bell, caught at the moment just
before it cracks. Everything reverbed into sobbing submission, music you
put on in order to light up a cigarette and calmly drive your car off a
cliff.
Amongst Bristol’s finest songwriters, their distinct blend of
cinematic rock & roll owes as much to David Lynch, Sergio Leone and
John Barry as it does Cave, Cohen and Cash.
Throughout second album ‘Moths’, there’s a menace lurking somewhere
beneath the crooning baritones and swooning harmonies on tunes that walk
the line between the bitter, the sweet and the psychotic.
|
