It seems so long ago. Late August, Endorse-It (probably our best weekend of the year) had just been and gone, The Gander was a slowly fading memory, and Champions was happening. We were busy. Very busy. Plus a re-launch for the site was long overdue. It needed weeding, overhauling… after being a tad obsessed with bh one for over three years we grew tired of looking at it – so we took a bh break.

Champions has been our main focus for the last four months, and much has happened at the venue during that time. To clarify something quickly, bh one is maintained and updated predominantly by myself (Tony). Bob has made this new site happen – he understands code and letters in strange order, and has tech brains. He also contributes occasionally, not as often as I’d like as he writes better than what I do. Anyway, when I say Champions has been our focus, I really mean mine as I’m currently managing the bookings and promotion. Confused? Sorry.

More on Champions over the coming weeks and months – suffice to say we (the team working at Champions) are determined to make a success of the venue – it has massive potential which I believe we are only just beginning to realise. I urge anyone who has an interest in the local live music scene to support the venue as much as your taste and desire allows.

Over the last few months we’ve received a huge amount of cds through our mailbox. Many from bands requesting gigs, also a good number from the likes of Dusty Cuts, The Neon Tigers, Zac Harris, Muddy Miles and Blind Voyeurs. It is our intention to review all of the above over the coming weeks, but like I’ve said – we’ve been busy! We’ve started by reviewing the superb debut ep by – congratulations too to the album’s curator Tim Berry who will begin life as a married man next week.

Many gigs have been and gone – thanks to Mr Kyps for their continued freebies despite the lack of subsequent reviews. A couple of in-the-round gigs showed Ian Siegal (pictured above) again in fantastic form. The huge amount of passion and emotion pouring out of the man was in stark contrast to the dribble of soul and spirit coming from the mouth of Erik Mongrain. To be fair his fingers did all the talking, but what is live music without feeling and emotion? It’s also great news to see the O2 Academy beginning to make full use of the fantastic facilities it has taken over. It’s been too long since we saw Michael Wookey playing on the main stage supporting The Fall – hopefully similar opportunities for local artists will be more frequent in the future.

Anyway, we just wanted to say hello again, and welcome to the new site. We hope you like it. New features will be added in the near future as we’re currently exploring its potential and marvelling over its ease of use! One thing we want to make perfectly clear is all we have ever tried to do with bh one is promote the local live music scene. Over the last three years our Live gigs have become a part of that scene, and subsequently some of the focus has been on our own events. But, we’re proud what we have achieved and hope that musicians and gig-goers have appreciated our efforts. We will continue to focus on artists and events that grab our attention and heighten our emotions – this is our love, our passion.

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