A word from the Editor

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Cheltenham’s MND

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Roving Crows Review

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Gemma Dunstan

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Fabio Thomas

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Benin City Interview

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Live Music Listings

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Keziah Kurg’s Krafts

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Hello!

I hope everyone is feeling back to normal after the busy Race Week, we seem to have been rewarded with some great weather across the county too!

What better way to celebrate the sunny weather and bank holiday than with some great live music, we defi-nitely have lots of that going on this month.

To accompany the great music why not peruse this lovely fanzine that is packed with listings for across Gloucestershire providing you with a stop guide for live music. As well as that we have two great live reviews, one of The Roving Crows St Patrick’s day show at The Gloucester Guildhall and another of The Selecter and Swift Manouvre. We also have an inter-view with Benin City ahead of their show at The Frog and Fiddle this month, and our lovely regular colum-nists Gemma Dunstan and Keziah Kurg.

There is so much going on in the county this month, warming you all up for the festival season which kicks off with the Jazz Festival in May, tickets are on sale now and there are some fantastic acts this year in-cluding Imelda May, The Puppini Sisters and Paloma Faith.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter and pig out on lots of eggs, just remember to burn them off by dancing at some of the gigs on this month!

Amelia x

A word from the editor

MAG Needs You!

We are always looking for news and reviews for MAG from lovely people like you! Being a non-profit initiative we don’t pay but can get you into gigs and publish your work. Please contact Amelia if you want to contribute any-thing to this fanzine: ascognamiglio@glos.ac.uk

Cheltenham’s Music Network

Developer

Hello April,

March saw us accelerate from a boring feature-less winter into the earliest summer weather I can every remember; I only hope that this month carries more of the same.

Numerous spring gigs aside, April looks to be just as busy (busier, in fact) with the Jazz Festival just edging into the start of May. Keep an eye out on the outdoor stage again this year for a selection of some of the finest local acts.

Talking of fine local acts, if you are an artist (or in a band) I recommend you take a look at Chelten-ham Community Radio which is in the process of being set up. One of the fundamental principles of the station is to only play local music and they are currently seeking artists to submit their re-cordings for broadcast so I suggest you send your tracks in asap!

Take a look:

www.cheltenhamradio.org.uk

Beyond that – take a look at this month’s MAG to see what’s on and make sure you keep an ear out for BBC Introducing Gloucestershire’s fine weekly selection of tracks. Me? I’ve been mostly listening to Charlie Baxter, Funky Horse Milk and Courson. Go find em and listen hard!

A x

MAG would like to say a special thank you to the

Popular Music course at The University of Gloucestershire for their contri bution to the distribution of the fanzine.

Roving Crows St Patrick’s Day

Party Review17/03/2012

The Gloucester Guildhall

Words: Alex Marlow

Saint Patrick’s day 2012 will be remembered for two things, drinking too much Guinness while watching England beat Ireland in the rugby, and “The Roving Crows” Album launch at the Guildhall.

Way Out West were the support band for the night and their unique take on various songs such as “Lithium” by Nirvana, among other pop tunes got the crowd suitably warmed up.The Roving Crows Showed off an extensive catalogue of songs, including my personal favorite “Roll On To-morrow” is sung by Paul O’Neill and is a wonderfully upbeat song with a great sing along chorus. Another favourite is “Brother”, a ballad sung by fiddle player Caitlin Barrett and shows of her stunning voice. The set is a good mix of ballads and more upbeat songs which get the crowd dancing on the sprung floor of the Guildhall. The 2 hour set also show cases the skill of the band members with Tim Tolhurst’s great drum-ming and Greg Wilson-Copp fantastic trumpet playing.

The encore was a cover of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” which showcased Caitlin Barrett’s fiddle playing, it comes as no surprise that earlier this year she won “Top Fiddle Player” in the Irish Music awards. The band also won “Top Celtic Rock Band” and were proudly displaying the awards on stage. The Rov-ing Crows are definitely a band you need to see live, the energy that comes from their performances are incredible and are a band that everybody should get out and see!The Roving Crow’s new album “Bacchanalia” is avail-able to buy now.

BBC Gloucestershire Introducing… is the show for your new music. Every Saturday from 5:30pm on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, you can hear the tastiest new cuts of unsigned music from across the county. We might have only been on-air since the beginning of October, but the response has been fantastic with shed loads of you uploading your tracks at bbc.co.uk/introducing – keep em comin’!

Catch Paul Moss and Gemma Dunstan presenting BBC Gloucestershire Introducing... every Satur-day from 5:30pm to hear the tastiest cuts from the county’s up and coming artists. The 30 minute show also includes interviews with the people behind the music and a gig guide for who to see play live, and where.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire 104.7, 95, 95.8 FM, 1413 AM and on the BBC iPlayer

BBC Gloucestershire Introducing presenter Gemma DunstaN

Hello!

We have been very busy this month at BBC Introducing and we are pleased to say that we have been recording live sessions for you.

Our first session was from Simplistic Scientists and it was absolutely fan-tastic. They recorded several songs for us and we will be playing them out

over the next few weeks of shows. We have already booked our second session which will be with Stroud based band Herons. I am so glad to be able to present these to you as not only is it another way for local bands to promote their music but they sound excellent. We also have the pleasure of Joe Banyard (of Courson fame!) who will be filming each session for you to see online.

Don’t forget that you can get involved with the BBC Introducing stage at Wychwood Festival, held at the Cheltenham Racecourse in June. Head over to the Wychwood Festival facebook page to be able to vote for your favorite local artist out of the shortlist. The artists that get the most votes will be play-ing at the festival alongside other Introducing artists from all over the country.

Remember to keep uploading your tracks via the BBC online uploader, which can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/uploader/

Join me, Paul and James every Saturday from 5:30pm on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Listen on 104.7 FM or catch us up to 7 days afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

Gemma x

Local Music With...Fabio Thomas

The follow up to last month’s column ‘Ska Tissue’ Fabio

Reviews The selcter’s gig at The Gloucester Guildhall.

So, after several weeks of anticipation and following last month’s ‘Ska Tissue’ article, the 15th of March was finally here, bringing with it The

Selecter’s gig at the Guildhall. On arriving, it was clear that a large pro-portion of Gloucestershire’s two-tone fans had turned up, hoping that the group would live up to their reputation as one of the finest British ska bands to have ever lived. Through the mash of worn out Specials, Beat and Selecter t-shirts I was very surprised to see a calm and collected Pauline Black, perched behind a table of band merchandise in the foyer. She was flogging her new book ‘Black by Design’, as well as the new album ‘Made in Britain’ that they were touring that evening.

8:30pm saw the only support band of the night; Swift Manouver. A mostly static audience did not phase the three piece outfit, who continued to perform their brand of ska punk. Their classic dub bass lines crossed with heavy rock guitar created a fitting opening for the ska legends, and they were appreciated by the whole room.

As the Selecter’s set approached, the venue swelled with people, before the eight piece band headed out onto the stage, led from the front by Pauline Black and Gaps Hendrickson (the only two members from the original 1979 line up). It was clear from the start that the pair were still the epicentre of the group, leading the band forward through a diverse set, which consisted of tracks from the new album, original Selecter songs and a few ska standards.

After opening with “The Selecter” the group went through “They Make Me Mad”, “My England” and “Fuck Art Let’s Dance” from their new album. Paying a tribute to Amy Winehouse, they played their take on her hit single “Back to Black”, which is also available on their new album. Throughout the whole show, a new found political anger was shown by Black, which is reflected in the title of her book, as well as the band’s new al-bum.

The second half of the show consisted of their whole back catalogue, which was tight, energetic and still sounding fresh. Through all tracks, new, old, and covers, the crowd did not hit the ground, which made for an unbelievable hour and a half of non-stop movement; as shown in the sweat levels in Hendrickson’s shirt.

Whilst many, including myself, were doubtful about the success of touring a new album, the Selecter seem to have hit the perfect balance with their tour; pleasing the crowd with “On My Radio” and “Three Minute Hero”, as well as playing brand new tracks, which maintain the same energy, groove and passion of Selecter songs of old.

Benin City Intereview

Ahead of their Cheltenham Underground show at The Frog and Fiddle on Friday 13 April, John Madden caught up with Josh Idehen, frontman of hip-hop/spoken word act Benin City

You’ve been an influential figure in the spoken word scene in London for a number of years, both as a per-former and as founder of PiP (A Poem Between People) and host and co-founder of spoken word and music night Poejazzi. Can you tell us a little bit about them both and why you set them up?PiP was started much like any other collective; like-minded young folk (fairly young folk some of us) getting together to create art and support each other. It seemed like a natural thing to do at the time – writing poetry with friends whose work you openly admire and secretly want to steal- what could go wrong? A lot, a lot went wrong, and awesomely at the same time!Poejazzi: I went too many terrible poetry nights in a week, and I knew a lot of great poets. Fix.

Poejazzi has featured spoken word acts such as Scroo-bius Pip, Polar Bear and Kate Tempest and musicians like Ed Sheeran and Beardyman in the past all of whom have gone on to great commercial acclaim. Would you say this is an indication that the spoken word scene in the UK is a healthier one than it was a few years ago or have popular tastes just caught up with what you’ve always been doing?Perhaps a bit of both. While I won’t say popular tastes have caught on just yet, or that I even want that to happens, more than a few spoken word events are regularly packing out and are getting due props from the prints for doing so. Nights like ‘Bang Said The Gun’ got poets doing some of their finest material on Channel 4. A new generation of art-ists are making their way through the scene and what not. No big explosion, just a cluster of exciting bangs.

How did Benin City come about?We’d just recorded the PiP EP (titled Very Little Fish) and in discussions on how to present it live, we felt DJ/MC set up would be a waste of a good opportunity. At the time, Shabaka Hutchings was a member of PiP so getting sax involved felt like a no brainer. Somewhere in the initial

discussion and meeting up with potential band mates we decided this was to be a new enterprise. A few names were thrown in. My hometown stuck. Plus, I’m a big John Barry/Brass Band fan.

Were there things you felt you could achieve as part of a band that you couldn’t as a solo spoken word artist?It’s really hard to make drum, bass and horn sounds all by yourself and talk verse and expect people to take you seriously. Also, I love music. Different audiences/settings require different approaches. I was being as versatile and adventurous as I can. Also, I love music. Working with mu-sic seemed a no brainer.

You list Outkast, The Roots and Gnarls Barkley amongst your musical influences. These are all acts who’ve typically eschewed the ‘guns, bitches and bling’ attitude shown by some members of the US hip-hop and rap scene. As a lyricist and performer, how do you feel about those undoubtedly talented artists who’ve tended towards misogyny, homophobia and violence in their lyrics?Let them do them, really. It’s art, it’s expression, it has a right as any to exist. In a world of Michael Bay and the oxy-moron that is Christian Rock we cannot begrudge rap any of its less desirables. It’s become less and less my thing as I get older but if it brings a little bit of joy to someone’s else life who am I to talk?

In your song ‘Work’ you detail your rejection of the normal, monotonous 9-5 work ethic while trying to succeed as a writer. How do you deal with the lure of a regular pay cheque always in the background when you’re choosing to make your living from your art?Same way as every other freelancer: Prayers, Luck, Tears, Invoices, Cash in Hand and Tears.

You last played a Cheltenham Underground show back in March 2010. What’s been happening in the Benin City camp since then?A lot: Only two people who originally played that night are still in the band. We’re practically a whole new band now, with a 100% brand new set. Well, new to you anyway; I’m sick of the songs already. HOPE YOU LIKE THEM THOUGH!

What’s planned for 2012?A lot: new material will be coming soon, stuff you prolly didn’t expect if you’ve seen us before.

For anyone who hasn’t seen you live yet, how would you sell yourselves to them in 10 words?A journey into verse via brass, bass, keys and horns.

Benin City will be appearing at The Frog and Fiddle on Friday 13 April with Zen Elephant, George Montague and Simplistic Scientists. Doors are at 7.30pm and entry is £5 or £3 with an NUS card.More information can be found at www.facebook.com/th-echeltenhamunderground

Cheltenham 01/04/2012 Rising Sun Hotel Sax Appeal 21:00

03/04/2012 Town Hall Lunchtime Recital 13:05 03/04/2012 D’Fly Bex, Franks Latin Jazz Quartet 20:30

05/04/2012 Frog & Fiddle Carmen 19:30 05/04/2012 Town Hall Gypsy Fire 20:00

06/04/2012 United Services Club Tubby Blues Club 20:00

07/04/2012 Subtone Toddla T 21:00 07/04/2012 2pigs FREE SHOW: MyDesign 20:00 07/04/2012 The Bayshill Boogaloos 21:00 07/04/2012 Charlton Kings Club Magic Mirror 20:45 07/04/2012 Spectre The Vibe 21:00

08/04/2012 Subtone DJ Showcase 21:00

09/04/2012 Rise Records Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun 18:00

10/04/2012 Town Hall The Solid Silver 60’s Show 19:30

11/04/2012 The Bayshill Bex, Franks & Friends 21:00

12/04/2012 Town Hall Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 19:30 12/04/2012 The Somerset Kim Cypher Quartet 20:30

13/04/2012 Frog & Fiddle Benin City 19:30 13/04/2012 The Royal Synergy 20:30 13/04/2012 Strand Bar Last Man Standing 21:00 13/04/2012 Parabola Arts Centre Stereo Influence 20:30

14/04/2012 The Bayshill Gordon Wood & Phil Bird 21:00 14/04/2012 Charlton Kings Club The Truth 20:45

15/04/2012 Rise Records Andy Oliveri 14:30 15/04/2012 Town Hall Sunday Showcase 14:30 15/04/2012 Town Hall Joe Brown 19:30

17/04/2012 Town Hall Lunchtime Recital 13:05

19/04/2012 Town Hall Pate’s Jubillee Concert 19:00

20/04/2012 Town Hall Connections Concert 11:15

20/04/2012 2pigs Danny Don’t be a Hero 20:00 21/04/2012 Subtone Badlands Record Store Day 19:00 21/04/2012 2pigs Pulp Diction TBC 21/04/2012 The Everyman Theatre Missy Malone and Friends 21:00 21/04/2012 The Bayshill Dave Adams Band 21:00 21/04/2012 Albion House Over the Hill 20:45 21/04/2012 Charlton kings Club Take Two 20:45

22/04/2012 Town Hall Royal Marines Asc. Concert Band 15:00

26/04/2012 The Somerset Bex, Franks & Friends 20:30

27/04/2012 Subtone Trolley Snatcha 21:00 27/04/2012 2pigs Dead Lay Waiting 20:00 27/04/2012 Playhouse Ukeholics 20:00

28/04/2012 The Bayshill Jibbafish 21:00 28/04/2012 Charlton Kings Club Kick Doctors 20:45 28/04/2012 2pigs Flock North 20:00

Gloucester 02/04/2012 Guildhall Folk Unplugged 20:00

04/04/2012 Café Rene Matt Woosey 21:00

06/04/2012 Guildhall Jim Jones Revue 19:30 06/04/2012 Café Rene Rickshaw Brides 23:00

07/04/2012 The Quays Roving Crows 16:00 11/04/2012 Café Rene Kris Dollimore 21:00

12/04/2012 Ridge & Furrow Otis Mack & The Tubby Bluesters 21:00

13/04/2012 Guildhall The Clone Roses 19:30 13/04/2012 Café Rene Black Russian 23:00

17/04/2012 Guildhall Musiclab 19:30

18/04/2012 Café Rene Bob Smith 21:00

20/04/2012 Café Rene Oui Legionnaires & Charlie Baxter 23:00

21/04/2012 Guildhall Juan Zelda 19:30

24/04/2012 Guildhall One Night Only 19:30

25/04/2012 Guildhall Ladyhawke 19:30 25/04/2012 Café Rene Live at Gloucester Studio 21:00

27/04/2012 Guildhall Graham Coxon 19:30 27/04/2012 Café Rene The Hawds 23:00

28/04/2012 Guildhall Livewire: AC/DC Tribute 19:30

Stroud 13/04/2012 Sub Rooms The Martin Harley Band 20:00

14/04/2012 Sub Rooms Stroud Ceilidhs 20:00 20/04/2012 Sub Rooms Gilmore Roberts 20:00 27/04/2012 Sub Rooms Friday Night Live 20:00

28/04/2012 Sub Rooms Leyland Band 19:30

Tewkesbury 08/04/2012 Croft Farm Roving Crows TBC

25/04/2012 Theoc House JB3 20:00

Birdlip 06/04/2012 The Royal George Rick Chase 21:00

13/04/2012 The Royal George Revue 21:00

20/04/2012 The Royal George Bon Jovi Tribute 21:00

27/04/2012 Royal George Tom Jurgen 21:00

If you have any gigs you would like listed in MAG then send them to ascognamiglio@glos.ac.uk

Winchcombe 03/04/2012 Corner Cupboard Bluegrass Session 21:00

26/04/2012 Corner Cupboard Song Session TBC

Woodmancote05/04/2012 Apple Tree Rick Chase 21:00

12/04/2012 Apple Tree Leon daye 21:00

19/04/2012 Apple Tree Short and Sweet 21:00

26/04/2012 Apple Tree Bryn Thomas 21:00

Conderton 05/04/2012 Yew Tree Blues Anoraks 21:00

11/04/2012 Yew Tree Folk/Acoustic Session 21:00

Open Mic Nights Tuesday St Paul’s Tavern, Cheltenham Tuesday Salisbury Inn, Cheltenham

Wednesday Cross Keys, Gloucester Wednesday Norwood Arms, Cheltenham

Thursday The Strand Bar, Cheltenham Thursday Hogs Head, Cheltenham Thursday The Restoration, Cheltenham

Friday The Fiery Angel, Cheltenham Friday Royal George Hotel, Cheltenham Friday Gardners Arms, Tewkesbury

Sunday Royal Union, Cheltenham Sunday The Cotswold Inn, Cheltenham Sunday Under the edge Arts, Wotton Under Edge Sunday Walls Country & Western Club, Gloucester

Keziah Kurg’s Krafts

Hannah Shaw is an award winning writer and illustrator from Slad, Gloucestershire. She spe-cialises in the world of children’s literature. Creating fun and exciting characters to entertain her young audience (and the grown up ones too!)

I would like to introduce you to some of her friends... One ordinary day a boy called Bob finds a Squirrel in his box of cereal. The squirrel is called Erroll and he is not a normal squirrel because he can talk. Erroll and Bob man-age to create a fair amount of mischief before Bob’s Mum decides that Erroll will be better off with his friends in the wild. “Erroll” won the Bay Book Award in 2010.

My favourite of Hannah’s characters is Weasel - Evil Weasel. He is sly and wants to be rich and popular. He decides to throw a party, but because Weasel is mean and cunning, nobody wants to come. Weasel decides he will show everyone that he is not always Evil... “Evil Weasel” won the Cambridgeshire book award in 2009.

Hannah’s latest book “Who ate Auntie Iris” will be on sale from this month. The book is about the disappearance of a Chinchilla called Iris. Suspicions fall on the other resi-dents of the block of flats where Iris lives. Who ate Auntie Iris... Crocodile, Bear, Wolf, or Snake - find out for yourself!

If Hannah was an animal she would be...I’d quite like to be my dog, he gets spoilt rotten! He spends most of the day asleep, gets lots of walks and hasn’t a care in the world.Failing that I’d be a rat. Lots of people hate rats but I think they’re rather nice (and very intelligent) I’m writing a longer story about sewer rats at the moment.

If she could go back in time to when she was young she would tell her younger self...Oh so many things. I guess I’d like to tell myself to stop being so bossy. As the oldest of four I was very bossy. I was also a worrier and it would be quite good to know that everything does work out for me.

If she could eat one food forever it would be....Hah! I love having variety in my diet so I’m not sure I would want to eat the same food forever. I could probably cope with pancakes every day as long as I could vary the fillings!

Want to find out more about Hannah and her books?Visit wwwhannahshawillustrator.co.uk

Want to contribute? We like listings, reviews, editorial, previews, pictures, art, cartoons and would like to fill these pages with things you care about. We‘d love to hear about anything to do with live music in the county

really and can help with anything from promoting you here to getting you reviewed, played on student and local ra-dio, putting you in touch with venues, musicians and artists across the county and just about anything else you can think of!

Want to advertise? Put your gig posters in with the MAG for distribution? Ask what our favourite kind of ham is? You can contact Amelia – ascognamiglio@glos.ac.uk

MAG Editor Amelia Scognamiglio | Cover Design Jordan Bonner | Listings Contributor Ollie West | Staff Writers Keziah Kurg, Gemma Dunstan, Alex Marlow, Fabio Thomas, John Madden| Thanks to all the people who contrib-uted to issue FIFTEEN of MAG, special thanks (again) goes to Nicky Hughes @ The University of Gloucestershire for organising the funding and production of this work and to Andrew Lansley for continuing to support MAG and everything musical in Gloucestershire| All work remains property of the original owner, used with permission. Re-production in whole or any part (especially the listings) of this fanzine would be awesome as it’s great to spread the word people, just make sure you credit the fanzine : )