A word from the Editor

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Cheltenham’s MND

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Fabio Thomas on...Reel Big Fish

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BBC Glos INtroducing’s Gemma Dunsta

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Reign of Fury Live and Album review

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What’s On Listings

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10 Minute Review

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FrogFest Lineup

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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: musicatglos@gmail.com

Tell us what you want to see inside MAG:musicatglos@gmail.com

A word from the editorMAG has hit the big 20! I must admit I hadn’t rea-lised we’d made it to this milestone until I put the issue together.

So, for our very special 20th issue we’ve decided to dedicate it to Cheltenham’s very best local mu-sic festival FrogFest! The festival’s full lineup can be found on the back page of this month’s MAG and I urge you to get down to the Frog & Fiddle and experience the local music scene at its best.

Elsewhere in the issue we have a review of Reel Big Fish’s Gloucester Guildhall gig last month from Fabio Thomas, a live and album review of Cheltenham’s finest metal band Reign of Fury. We have our regular coulumnists Andrew Lansley and Gemma Dunstan, and this month’s 10 minute review is of Crazy Arm at The Frog & Fiddle.

As well as all of the above we have a rammed five pages of listings with everything musical go-ing on around the county in September.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @musicatglos for constant updates on what’s going on around the county or visit our website www.musicatglos.wordpress.com. And as always if you want to see something in MAG or just tell us what you think you can email us at musicatglos@gmail.com

I hope you all enjoy September’s MAG.

Amelia x

Cheltenham’s Music Network

Developer

Septimbre,

Summer finished before it started so here we are, awaiting the return of students to reenergise and reinvigorate our town, filling up venues and bars and bringing with them new talent, new in-novation and new ideas to explore on the cultural palette of our town.

Over the summer I managed to get on theboard of Cheltenham Arts Council and a position with the Leisure & Culture working group. This means I get to make a lot more of my opinions and to fight a bit harder for the local music scene, bars, artists and bands to makes sure we’re fairly represented and to ensure that any civic or com-mercial decisions are made with the informed opinion of someone who cares dearly for the local music scene.

Which brings me on to the point on thismonths column: communication. If you would like to know more about Cheltenham’s music scene and the pecuniary support it receives, about how to get yourself a recording session or gig or even just general questions about how things work around town. Try alansley@glos.ac.uk for a nifty response : )

A

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.

Fabio Thomas On...Reel Big Fish

Fifteen minutes in and the crowd have already had songs telling them that everyone is an asshole, that everything sucks and that everyone can fuck off.

Evidently, there is only one place in Gloucester last month that fits this scene: Reel Big Fish’s gig on the 7th at the Guildhall.

The anarchic tone of the evening was set long prior to the bands arrival on stage as early revellers got the beer flowing and skanking started to support bands New Town Kings and The Hostiles.

At 9:15, the band, typically clad in a mixture of Hawai-ian shirts, patch covered suits and pork pie hats tore onto the stage bursting straight into “The Kids Don’t Like It / In The Pit”.

Dan Regan, trombonist since 1994, along with sax and trumpet made up the tight brass section, which was underpinned by a basic yet punchy three piece rhythm section.

The first half of the set saw the band blitz through classic hits such as “Everything Sucks” and “Snoop Dog, Baby” (oh sorry ‘Snoop Lion’, Baby) as well as new tracks off ‘Candy Coated Fury’. All delivered in manically traditional punk style.

Again, in seemingly classic Reel Big Fish style, the band slipped into an esoteric range of ironic cover versions. Among these were Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”; which sounded largely like Prince Buster beating shit out of the easy listening Jazz singer, but in a good way.The hyper energy of the tunes were glued together by Barrett and co’s sarcastic, irreverent and juvenile humour.

The band’s closing track “Beer” was then followed by an encore made up of “Sell Out”, “She Has a Girl-friend Now” and “Take on Me”. This climatic ending was received by the crowd with an erratic mixture of skanking, crowd surfing and the large majority of people pogoing like nuns with thrush.

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, Gemma Dunstan and James Thomas presenting BBC Gloucestershire Introduc-ing... every Saturday 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!

What a summer we’ve had! I must admit that some of the music I’ve seen live in the county this summer has blown me away. We have such great talent here and such wonderful stages to show it on. Very proud of you, Gloucestershire! Now we’re all back to school and with that, we have one of the two of the largest showcases of music within our county.

Returning to the Guildhall on the 29th and 30th September is the Underground Festival, featuring some of the best national underground music and again this year, BBC Introducing is running a stage! Some acts have already been picked, but if you or your band want to play at this years Underground Festival all you have to do is submit your music to us online via the BBC Introducing uploader (details below). To find out more about the festival visit: www.undergroundfestival.co.uk

A week prior to Underground, in the Frog & Fiddle we have Cheltenham’s biggest live music festival all under one roof! Of course I mean FrogFest 2012. Comprising almost entirely of local bands and running over the weekend of 21st, 22nd and 23rd September. The music starts Friday evening and runs all the way through ‘til Sunday night. Weekend tickets are only £9! With 77 acts performing that makes it (roughly) 11p per act - A bargain if ever there was one! FrogFest never has a dull moment and is certainly not to be missed this year.

Remember to keep uploading your tracks via the BBC online uploader which can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/uploader/ As well as submitting music for the Underground Festival there are more BBC Introducing Live sessions planned so keep sending us your tracks and we may contact you to get you in to perform live!

Listen to Gemma Dunstan, James Thomas and Paul Moss live every Saturday at 5:30pm on BBC Radio Gloucestershire 104.7FM or online. You can catch up on BBC iPlayer for up to 7 days afterwards.

Reign of Fury album & Live ReviewWords: Andrew Hammond Live Shot: Geoff Baehr

Album Review

Cheltenham’s home grown heavy metal stalwarts Reign of Fury, recently released World Detonation; their de-but full length album. Locally, Reign of Fury represent the epitome of thrash metal, but is the album enough to warrant them recognition within the broader heavy music scene?

From the very start of the album, it is obvious that Reign of Fury are hoping to make as huge an impact as they possibly can with World Detonation. ‘Goodbye Mother Earth,’ the grandiose instrumental opening track of the album adopts slow dual guitar harmonies to set the tone for the rest of the album.

Thrash metal’s biggest obstacle is to ensure songs don’t become boring and monotonous, however it’s clear with songs like ‘Infernal Conflict,’ ‘Born to Die’ and ‘Envy the Dead’ that Reign of Fury have succeeded in creating songs that refuse to get repetitive and at the same time serve as a perfect showcase of the unarguable musical ability of all band members.

World Detonation effortlessly answers why Reign of Fury have the following that they do locally, and the levels of musicianship and production on the album should be more than enough to perk up the ears of any thrash met-al fan. With the bands recent performance at Bloodstock Open Air festival, Reign of Fury are certainly a band to keep an eye on.

Gig Review

Reign of Fury recently returned to the Two Pigs in Chel-tenham, to mark the release of their new album, World Detonation. The notorious local thrash metallers, had de-cided to play World Detonation in full, with support from Bristol hard rockers, The St. Pierre Snake Invasion, and hailing all the way from Costa Rica, Sight of Emptiness.

Opening the show, the frontman of The St. Pierre Snake Invasion complained of illness, and apologised that their show might not be up to form.

Launching straight into their self described “much needed generational riposte to the bland, uninteresting, boil in the bag musical atrocities that pollute minds and airwaves alike,” the band shocked the audience with their loud, invasive, sarcastic raw energy. The whole perfor-mance was completed when at the end of one song, the singer fell to his knees, and vomited into a bucket, only to get up and begin the next song with burgeoning enthusi-asm. The St. Pierre Snake Invasion were certainly a sight to behold.

Costa Rican thrash metal band Sight of Emptiness deliv-ered a hard hitting performance, and visibly enjoyed their time on the Two Pigs stage ensuring that they left their mark on British soil. Combining vast, well constructed guitar melodies with deafening drum beats, Sight of Emp-tiness didn’t stray too far from the well trodden formula of metal song writing, though the singer’s vocals added a much needed unique feel to their songs.

Reign of Fury made their way onto the stage of the Two Pigs, following their due share of pomp and circustance: Smoke machines were activated, and an entire lighting rig set up for the performance.

Bursting onto the stage through clouds of smoke and luminous amps, Reign of Fury hammered through their set ferociously, stopping only to announce the titles of the following songs. The set was musically sound, but the crowd interaction was lacking. Very few people watching really moved, despite the large numbers in attendance, and this was not helped by the band’s introvert perfor-mance.

The set time itself felt strained, clocking in at just over an hour in length. Though, while it’s easy for me to criticise a band for staying past their welcome, I’ll add that the music itself did not suffer for it. The band had clearly re-hearsed a lot in anticipation of their release gig, but there runs the risk that even the most die hard fan will start to lose interest after two support bands, and an hour long performance.

It was clear however, that World Detonation as an album, is something to be marvelled at. The intricate guitarwork and high level of polish within the songs promises that the record is worthy of a listen.

Cheltenham 01/09/2012 The Bayshill Big Jim & American Eric 21:00 01/09/2012 Charlton Kings Club Final Demand 21:00 01/09/2012 St Paul’s Tavern Dirty Trainers 21:00 01/09/2012 2pigs The Red Moccasins 20:00 01/09/2012 The Daffodil Rod Kelly Trio 12:30

02/09/2012 The Exmouth Arms Swing From Paris 14:30 02/09/2012 Albion House Tiger Feet 15:00 02/09/2012 Rising Sun Dave King 21:00 03/09/2012 The Daffodil Ray Butcher Quartet 18:30 04/09/2012 Royal Union Paul Newman Trio 20:00 05/09/2012 Bayshill Gordon Wood 20:30

07/09/2012 Frog & Fiddle FREE GIG: Zen Elephant 20:30 07/09/2012 Norwood Arms Kim Cypher Quartet TBC 07/09/2012 United Services Tubby Blues Club TBC 07/09/2012 The Exmouth Arms Last Man Standing 21:00 07/09/2012 2pigs JUDDER! 22:00

08/09/2012 2pigs The Hookline Riot 20:00 08/09/2012 Bayshill Featherstone 21:00 08/09/2012 Denley Hall Phil Hambling 19:00 08/09/2012 Tailors Battle of the Bands TBC 08/09/2012 Charlton Kings Club Kickback 21:00 08/09/2012 The Daffodil Ruth Hammond Trio 12:30 09/09/2012 Rising Sun Tony M 21:00

10/09/2012 Bistrot Coco Swing From Paris 19:30

11/09/2012 Royal Union Paul Newman Trio 20:00

12/09/2012 Bayshill Bex & Franks & Friends 20:30

14/09/2012 Frog & Fiddle Random Hand, Sundown 20:00 & Waiting for Kate 14/09/2012 Town Hall Iona 19:45

15/09/2012 Albion House Over the Hill TBC 15/09/2012 Bayshill Toadstool 21:00 15/09/2012 Charlton Kings Club Mersey Makers 21:00 15/09/2012 The Daffodil Kim Cypher Quartet 12:30

16/09/2012 Rising Sun Lawrence 21:00

17/09/2012 The Daffodil Laura Zakian 18:30 18/09/2012 Royal Union Paul Newman 20:00 19/09/2012 Bayshill Jazz Sessions 21:00

20/09/2012 United Services Phil Hambling 13:00

21/09/2012 The Royal Sax n Axe 21:00 21/09/2012 London Inn Los Bandidos Del Tiempo 20:30

22/09/2012 Bayshill Last Man Standing 21:00 22/09/2012 Charlton Kings Club Nice ‘N’ Sleazy 21:00 22/09/2012 Albion House Affinity 20:45 22/09/2012 Cotswold Inn Dirty Trainers 21:00 22/09/2012 The Daffodil Dom Franks & J P Gard Trio TBC 23/09/2012 Rising Sun Brian Mcabe TBC 23/09/2012 Town Hall Rock ‘n’ Roll Paradise 19:30

24/09/2012 The Everyman Jean Toussaint All Star Quartet 20:00

25/09/2012 Royal Union Paul Newman Trio 20:00

27/09/2012 The Tavern Danny and the Batchelors 21:00

28/09/2012 2pigs The Cold Harbour 20:00 28/09/2012 London Inn May Contain Nuts 21:00

29/09/2012 Bayshill Oddlot 21:00 29/09/2012 Charlton Kings Club The Jaguars 21:00 29/09/2012 Beaufort Arms Emmett Brown 21:00

30/09/2012 Albion House Nobby 14:30 30/09/2012 Rising Sun MI Brown 21:00

Gloucester 01/09/2012 Cross Keys Gordon Wood 14:00

03/09/2012 The Guildhall Folk Unplugged 20:00

05/09/2012 Café Rene Jake Watson & Pete Taylor 21:00

07/09/2012 Café Rene Rikshaw Brides 23:00

07/09/2012 Dick Whitington Trashville 21:00

09/09/2012 The Guildhall The Carpet Crawlers 19:30

12/09/2012 Café Rene Howlin Matt 21:00

14/09/2012 Café Rene Yours 23:00

15/09/2012 Walls Club Rockology 20:00

18/09/2012 The Guildhall The Musiclab 19:30 19/09/2012 Café Rene Kristy Gallacher 21:00

21/09/2012 The Guildhall Andy McKee, Preston Reed 19:30 & Jon Gomm 21/09/2012 Café Rene Missin Rosie 23:00

22/09/2012 The Ridge & Furrow Rockology 21:00

26/09/2012 Café Rene Live at Gloucester Studio Presents 21:00

28/09/2012 The Guildhall Doreen Doreen 19:30 28/09/2012 Café Rene Sarah Warren Band 23:00 28/09/2012 The Baker Street Boogaloos 21:00

Tewkesbury 02/09/2012 Nottingham Arms Sax Appeal 20:30

09/09/2012 White Bear Sax Appeal 16:00

07/09/2012 Roses Theatre Roy Orbison & Friends 19:30

08/09/2012 Roses Theatre The Budapest Cafe Orchestra 19:30

12/09/2012 Theoc House Swing From Paris 20:00

14/09/2012 Roses Theatre Hats off to Led Zepplin 19:30

16/09/2012 Roses Theatre Raymond Frogatt 19:30

18/09/2012 Roses Theatre Joe Broughton & Kevin Dempsey 20:30

21/09/2012 Roses Theatre Blake 19:30

22/09/2012 YMCA Otis Mack & The Tubby Bluesters 20:30

29/09/2012 Croft Farm Over the Hill 21:00

Stroud 02/09/2012 Stratford Park Bandstand Chaos Curb, Waiting for Kate, 14:00 Dysfunktional & James Hollingsworth

07/09/2012 Sub Rooms Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbick 19:30 07/09/2012 Brewery Swing From Paris 19:30 07/09/2012 Queen Victoria Rockology 21:00

08/09/2012 Sub Rooms Elkie Brooks 19:30

09/09/2012 Stratford Park Bandstand The Bandstand Marathon 13:00

14/09/2012 Sub Rooms Whole Lotta Led 19:30

21/09/2012 Sub Rooms Cara Dillon 20:00

28/09/2012 Sub Rooms Friday Night Live 20:00

29/09/2012 Sub Rooms Kenny Ball and His Jazz Men 19:30

Woodmancote 06/09/2012 Apple Tree Slap n Tickle 21:00

13/09/2012 Apple Tree Touch of Blue 21:00

20/09/2012 Apple Tree Jim Ramsey 21:00

27/09/2012 Apple Tree David Beale 21:00

Birdlip 07/09/2012 Royal George Sax n Axe 21:00

14/09/2012 Royal George Rick Chase 21:00

21/09/2012 Royal George Tom Jurgens 21:00

28/09/2012 Royal George Revue 21:00

Cirencester 01/09/2012 The Vaults The Layers 20:00

07/09/2012 The Vaults The Abstracts 20:00

14/09/2012 Brewery Arts Centre Brewery Blues 19:45 15/09/2012 The Vaults Black Feathers & Port Erin 20:00

Conderton 06/09/2012 Yew Tree Last Man Standing 21:00 20/09/2012 Yew Tree The Turn 21:00

Winchcombe

04/09/2012 Corner Cupboard Bluegras Session 21:00

Festivals Jumpin at the Woodside 2 Cheltenham Dowty’s Sports Club 1st-2nd

FrogFest Cheltenham Frog & Fiddle 21st-23rd

Underground Festival Gloucester The Guildhall 29th-30th

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

Wednesday Cross Keys, Gloucester Wednesday Norwood Arms, Cheltenham Wednesday The Vaults, Cirencester

Thursday The Strand Bar, Cheltenham Thursday Hogs Head, Cheltenham Thursday The Restoration, Cheltenham Sunday Royal Union, Cheltenham Sunday The Cotswold Inn, Cheltenham Friday The Fiery Angel, Cheltenham Sunday Under the Edge Arts, Wotton Under Edge Friday Royal George Hotel, Cheltenham Sunday Walls Country & Western Club, Gloucester Friday Gardners Arms, Tewkesbury Sunday Somerset Arms, Cheltenham

If you have any gigs you would like listed in MAG then send them to musicatglos@gmail.com

10 Minute Review

Crazy Arm, Welcome Back Delta, I, The Lion, Mark McCabe, The Liberation Service Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham (14.08.12)

We went to the Frog & Fiddle on a Tuesday night and the opening band (The Liberation Service) started. There were only two other people in the room so we thought we were going to have a spe-cial performance just for us. They had come on tour all the way from Austria and they were playing to just four people in Cheltenham…until dozens of others streamed in from the smoking area and started crossing their arms and bobbing their heads. It was just an elaborate game of punk rock hide and seek all along. Here’s the amazing thing about The Liberation Service - they sing in English and sound like Against Me, but speak between songs with the thickest of Austrian accents. It made me think. If I tried really hard, could I actually sing in Austrian? It was a solid start to the evening. Between sets, Mark McCabe from Scotland stood in the middle of the room and played three acoustic songs. It could be described as Idlewild gone acoustic. For 9 minutes, he provided the calm before the storm - the storm being I, The Lion. There were only three of them, but they made a lot of noise. As did the fourth band (are you keeping up? I’ve only got 2 minutes 29 seconds left) Welcome Back Delta who played what I would like to call ‘Father’s Day CD rock.’ You know those TV adverts that are shown around Father’s Day that contain American cars and advertise the 50 best driving songs from the likes of Deep Purple and Aerosmith? Welcome Back Delta would fit perfectly onto one of those. These guys looked like they were having fun.

So finally, the fifth band for a fiver (Crazy Arm) walked on stage dressed all in black. Smiling from ear to ear (it was one of those nights), the band detonated their gutsy punk-rock anthems and had at least six people finger pointing and shouting along. And just to com-plete the circle, the lead singer of the opening band singing along the loudest at the front.

Picture: Crazy Arm, Facebook Profile

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 radio, 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 – musicatglos@gmail.com

MAG Editor Amelia Scognamiglio | Cover Design Jordan Bonner | Listings Contributor Ollie West | Staff Writers Gemma Dunstan, Fabio Thomas, Andrew Hammond, Tom of 10 Minute Reviews| Thanks to all the people who contributed to issue TWENTY of MAG, special thanks (again) goes to Nicky Hughes @ The University of Gloucestershire for organis-ing 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. Reproduction 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.