Back in March this year, a team of volunteers was recruited to raise money for Oxfam, carrying on from last year’s fantastic efforts from the Oxjam Bournemouth team. A personnel tweak or two here and there plus a huge amount of effort, enthusiasm and commitment has resulted in an incredible £6300 being raised so far. With less than three weeks to go until the main event – The Oxjam Bournemouth Takeover – this Thursday sees our penultimate fundraiser taking place at The Old Firestation.

Having been approached about a month ago by Bournemouth Uni and the Dorset African Caribbean Association, to see if we were interested in organising a gig as part of Black History Month, the answer was immediately positive. We agreed that all money raised on the night should go straight to Oxfam’s East Africa Appeal, then we set out to find the strongest possible line-up to do the venue and event justice.

Now, most local gig-goers should be aware of the musical talent belonging to Pachango and Dubheart – both bands being regulars on local stages and festivals, but we’re also delighted to welcome Soul Cellar residents Hannah Williams & The Tastemakers from thirty miles along the coast…

The daughter of a musically gifted minister, Hannah Williams was immersed in soulful music from the day she was born. She’s been singing in church for as long as she can remember and can be found right now leading several ensembles including her famed gospel choir (The S.O.N.G) at the University of Winchester, from where most of her backing vocalists were plucked. From the genuine process of recording to tape, almost completely live, to the raw emotion of reliving personal tragedy and triumph in front of the whole band, the Hannah Williams story is told with every scream and every sigh. Backed by the “super tight, super heavy” (Soul Cellar) Tastemakers band, you can find Hannah melting hearts in one breath, and the dance-floor in another. Music is her day job, the studio is her office, and when she’s not singing, her father’s trumpet is never far from her lips…

“A funkbomb waiting to go off!” – Blues & Soul Magazine
“Superb… Outstanding” – Craig Charles / The Soul & Funk Show BBC6
“great hauting soul for the floor! Get on it!” Dj Gary Dennis / Crazy Beat Rec
“A soul sensation” – Listed Magazine

Doors for this event will open at 7.30, with dj intermissions courtesy of Oxjam Bournemouth’s own Mr Lively. A bargain £4 entry, with all money raised going to Oxfam’s East Africa Appeal. Also available on the night will be Oxjam Bournemouth compilation cds (featuring tracks from 20 superb local artists), Oxjam Bournemouth t.shirts, plus raffle tickets and £5 advance tickets for the Takeover.

Be humankind.

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Regular visitors to bh one will have noticed a lack of updates over the last few weeks. Apologies for that. I’ve been getting my head around my immediate future; making plans to end the year on a high. Unfortunately that means leaving Bournemouth. I say unfortunately because this is my home, this is where most of my friends are and this is where I have enjoyed living for the vast majority of my life. But, times change, people change and to cut a long story short I’d rather (and therefore will) be elsewhere this winter, and possibly beyond it.

My work with Champions has ended this weekend. I’ve left because I wasn’t enjoying it, which seems like as good a reason as any. Champions is a quality live music venue which at times I have loved being involved with, but has also frustrated the hell out of me. People… Mr. Smiths – The Gander – Chords – Ibar. Shut happens. Support it or it will close. Jase has taken over the bookings and promotion and can be contacted via facebook, email: champions-bookings@hotmail.co.uk or tel: 07510571080. Champion Sound rehearsal rooms will remain open, but will be changing hands from 5th November – more information on that nearer the time.

What will happen to bh one? I’m not sure. I may be gone for six months, maybe much longer, but as always we’ll just have to see what happens. There are options, and for those interested I’ll obviously update the site with any developments. At the moment I’m looking at a leaving date of around 12 November, with a leaving ‘do’ planned for a few days before. It’s too early right now for goodbyes, and there’s much goodness to enjoy before I go, so…

Oxjam has been a hugely enjoyable experience again this year, and will be my musical focus during October. I make no apologies for that being the focus on bh one over the next few weeks as for many reasons I want this year’s Oxjam Bournemouth Takeover to be an amazing event. The fantastic team of Oxjam volunteers have put a huge amount of effort into our fundraising this year, and want Sat 22 Oct to be truly memorable climax. Our new target of raising £10,000 for Oxfam is within reach, and with the help of everyone involved in this year’s event it can happen!

For those who may like to say ‘cheerio’ before I go… keep Thursday 10 Nov free. That all sounds a tad serious, and a bit me me me. Sorry.

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Last year some time Thomas Wykes moved to Belgium. Why, I have no idea. Famous for beer, waffles, chocolate and inventing the chip, it was maybe for culinary reasons, but that’s unconfirmed. One half (latter one-third) of electro-punk crazies A+E Line, Thomas has created a new musical combo, War Berries. Still electro, but now pop not punk, his new music still contains a small portion of his former band’s quirkiness, but the focus has shifted to the melody, and to a softer, more personal sentiment.

War Berries new single ‘All The Love In The World Wouldn’t Be Enough For You, Ron’ is a tuneful slice of eighties pop, telling a simple tale of a lost love, with Thomas repeating “All I wanted to know was if you still love me”. Hinting at attempted suicide or self-harm darkens the mood… “Well I did this to myself, well I did this to myself, a bitter pill that’s hard to swallow”, whilst the music remains light and upbeat, countering the melancholic tale. Musically this is set firmly in the eighties and smacks of Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice, right down to the simple and prominent lead guitar solo that brings the song to a close. Not what I was expecting from Mr.Wykes, but he was never one for doing the expected.

‘Met A Girl Called Frankenstein’ has less of a hook than ‘All The Love…’ but feels warmer and faintly quaint with acoustic guitars, tambourines and handclaps. I could guess at its meaning with the repeated “Keep those ideas in your head / Just keep those lips sealed”, but Thom’s mind works in mysterious ways. ‘I Wanna Eat Some People Food’ features more gentle and playful acoustic and electro beats on top of delicate female harmonies. The line “There used to be a time when being crazy meant something / it seems everybody’s crazy nowadays” is the prominent sentiment, whilst the few remaining lyrics about man’s struggle with everyday life could, somehow tie in with the song’s title, if you listen to them at the right angle. The Rob Hawk remix of ‘All The Love…’ is over twice the length of the original version and includes over two minutes of a repetitive beat and Thomas singing “All”. It could be called Balearic beat, or it could be called boring.

War Berries actually sound quite lovely. Again, not what I was expecting to hear from Thomas, post A+E Line, but the gentle electro-pop has a certain charm and enough warmth to win over the synthetic feel to some of the music. How this comes across in a live setting could be interesting, as we hear drums and electric guitars feature in his set. Where? You ask. This Friday at Champions, we answer.

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Over the next three weeks the Oxjam Bournemouth team are giving our fundraising one final push before the main event – the Oxjam Bournemouth Takeover on Sat 22 Oct. We have four fundraisers planned between this Saturday and 6 Oct, aiming to raise both big money and huge awareness for our Takeover event and Oxfam’s Grow Campaign

Oxfam’s Grow campaign marks the start of a global movement for better ways to grow, share and live together. It’s all about addressing the broken food system so we can put enough food on the table for everyone. It’s about land grabs, food prices, climate and small-scale farming. It’s about the food on your table; today and tomorrow. Every day 1 billion people go hungry. The global food system is broken but together we can fix it. GROW is about creating a future where everyone on the planet always has enough to eat. This autumn, Oxfam’s focus will be on one of the most crucial problems with the global food system – land grabs…

Over the next two weekends we’ll be holding fundraisers at The Inferno (17 Sept) – featuring Jack Grace & The Lazies, Brothers Grimmer, Xander Allen and Andy Stock. Then on the following Saturday (24 Sept) we’ll be at 60 Million Postcards for Oxjam vs No Fun, featuring live performances from Rapids!, IVienna and Thomas & The Mock Ups and indie dj darlings No Fun. We’ll be taking donations and selling raffle tickets on the door at both events, and will also have information and advance (£5) tickets for the Takeover.
Facebook events? Here – 17 Sept – 24 Sept

In early October we’re planning events at the Bournemouth University Fresher’s Fair and also at the Old Firestation as part of Black History Month, where all money raised will go directly to Oxfam’s East Africa appeal. More information on those events in the next couple of weeks. But… we’re already hugely excited about this year’s Oxjam Bournemouth Takeover, and urge anyone who has either a passion for local music or Oxfam and the Grow Campaign (hopefully both) to spread the word. Bands, musicians, gig-goers… please support this fantastic event, let’s pack these six venues on Saturday 22 October and celebrate the amazing talent we have here and smash our £10,000 target!

£10,000!! Seriously… that fantastic amount is achievable due to everyone’s help and generosity and will make an incredible difference to the lives of many people. Thank you for your support!

Advance tickets for the Takeover are available now, online from WeGotTickets, and in the next few days will be in each of the participating venues.

Oxjam – the sound of something happening.

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These are exciting times for many local bands. We’d like to share some of that excitement with you…

Saturday Sun:

The Conversion Live version of Saturday Sun’s song ‘Seagull’ will be featured in upcoming movie House At The End Of The Street, starring Jennifer Lawrence, released April 2012.

The band have also just announced… “we’ll be heading up to Cornwall for four days of recording with none other than John Cornfield who has produced four of Muse’s albums and some by this guy called Robert Plant!?”

Rapids!:

Recently featured in the NME Top 10 downloads…
7. Rapids! – ‘Nameless//Faceless’ (Bloc Party Remix)
Here’s one more remix for ya. Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack remixed a newbie song from Bournemouth-based five-piece Rapids! – the original can be found on their ‘Fragments’ EP (which can be streamed in full here). So if you’ve been missing some new Bloc Party in your life (these guys have been compared to them), then enjoy this freebie, courtesy of Heist Or Hit Records.

Rapids! have also just announced… “Very pleased to announce that we’re going to be massive in America… ; ) We will be releasing our EP Fragments on awesome US/Brooklyn label Old Flame Records on 27th September!!”

Achilles:

Some time ago announced… “We’re ecstatic to announce that Achilles have signed to A Future Without and will be releasing new material very soon. The new website will keep you up to date with releases, live shows and everything else Achilles.”

But, the main reason I want to mention Achilles (pictured above) is because of their stunning performances on the latest Episode on Conversion Live! who say “Achilles comprise of drums, synths, guitar, sax, cello and bass and make music that sounds somewhere between post rock, jazz and electronica. Rob da Bank described us as “like DJ Shadow gone West Country”, Huw Stephens went for a more concise “Very, very good”. We probably prefer the latter quote.”

Mutant Vinyl:

We’ve burdened Mutant Vinyl with being our featured artist for September, paying tribute to head Mutant Ed Pope on the eve of his departure by saying…

So, Edwin Pope is packing his bags and learning how to play his instruments properly in Liverpool at their Institute Of Performing Arts. In over five years of running bh one Ed is quite simply the most gifted artist we’ve had the pleasure of watching perform. Mutant Vinyl have been a massive breath of beautifully creative air, blown via Ed’s talented lungs into the Bournemouth music scene. September sees Mutant Vinyl depart… but in October they return, for the Oxjam Bournemouth Takeover. Good luck Ed & say “hi” to Tricky.

Plus…

In other snippets of local(ish) news, Kinnie The Explorer are currently in France recording their new album with Bob Drake. Matt Marr is also currently recording a new album in the sunny South of England. The Douglas Firs are back from their trip to the woods, and are currently busy booking gigs. The Frequency and particularly Peace, Love & Gloves are making sizeable waves locally, whilst The Committee are the best new band in B’town. Keep ‘em peeled pop-pickers.

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