I was presented with the perfect analogy the other day of why if you go to a gig you should support the whole evening.

Obviously courtesy and support for grassroots music should be enough but whilst running the merchandise stand at a recent gig, this wonderful bit of karma unfolded.

The first band had just finished, let’s call them Band X, and a punter came over to the desk to check out the CDs on offer, picking up one by the band who had just left the stage.

“Did you see the opening act?” I enquired. “No, I was in the upstairs bar, I don’t bother with support acts, I’m only here to see Band X”.

It came as a bit of a blow, then, when I informed him that whilst he was up in the top bar he had totally missed the band he had travelled, all the way from Birmingham as it happened, to see.

Why he had assumed that Band X were headlining is anybody’s guess, he was even drinking in a bar with posters advertising the night’s running order.

So the obvious moral of the story is support all the bands on the bill, not only are you sure not to miss the act you have come to see, you may just pick up some new music as well. And so endeth today’s lesson.

It’s a bit of a quiet week on the live music front, but there are a few gems to be found if you know where to look and tonight at The Victoria is the ideal place to start.

Californian legends Ugly Duckling blend a range of urban sounds, 80s hip-hop, funk, soul and jazz with humour and a feel-good factor that has found them acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. Also on the bill are Lusty and Swindon’s own DJ/producer Para.

The American invasion continues down at The Rolleston as “Glam Rock survivor” Adam Bomb plays the last date of his European tour there.

Adam has a CV that reads like a who’s who of rock royalty, having worked with everyone from Hanoi Rocks and Motorhead to The Wildhearts, John Paul Jones and even reggae giants Steel Pulse.

His is a show that reminds you of what rock and roll is all about, razor wire riffs, attitude soaked stage presence, and his trademark love of pyrotechnics. Support comes from Rocket Box and Nick Felix.

Jazz, folk and blues meet head on at The Beehive in the music of Portsmouth duo Walker Broad, which I thought was a pun (walk abroad?) until I realised that it is actually the surnames of the players. Expect Latin infuse foot tappers, jazz folk ballads and a few pure blues numbers.

Tomorrow’s acoustic offering at Riffs Bar features a couple of tried and tested local acts in the shape of Ian O’Regan and Drew Bryant. The former is a dexterous bluesman, while the latter is an old school folk troubadour with a wonderful Donovan-esque vibe to his songs.

Something heavier this way comes… well to The Rolleston at least, as new(ish) kids on the rock block, Broken Image, serve up a generous helping of classic rock covers.

Riffs Bar on Saturday offers something rather tasty... well if you like your prog rock that is. And why wouldn’t you when you have Credo on the bill?

Not only are they a brilliant neo-progressive rock band, it is front man Mark’s birthday and so a whole bunch of genre stalwarts have rallied to the cause.

Andy Sears, one-time frontman with Twelfth Night will be there, as will Comedy of Errors, neatly described in one review as Floyd meets Muse in The Court of The Gentle Giant (unpick the references from that.) Ex-Tinyfish chaps Robert Ramsey and Simon Godfrey are along for the ride, as are Also Eden’s Rich Harding and Simon Rogers.

In short it is a showcase of almost everyone who matters in the contemporary progressive rock world.

Other options are blistering electric blues-rock at The Rolleston, with Innes Sibun, or a whole range of genres and eras covered by party band Switch at The Royal Oak.

Tuesday sees former Mike and The Mechanics and Ace frontman Paul Carrack grace the stage of the Wyvern Theatre and The Roaring Donkey sees the week out on Wednesday with the liquid gold vocal talents of Sophia Bovell.

 

All about...  Nudybronque

It may seem that after an initial enthusiastic drive that saw Nudybronque become positively ubiquitous in local venues, the band has seemed to lose momentum in recent times. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The lesson that they learned quickly is that there is no point playing the same few Swindon venues every month when the cause would be better served as part of a wider scene that took in the small club circuit of the rest of the country, making any home town shows the welcome events that they deserved to be.

Something that many local bands fail to understand. They also reasoned that the best calling card is a well-produced and original CD and with this in mind have spent the last few months holed up in Earthworm Studios on a journey of musical exploration.

Whereas most bands enter the studio with one eye on the clock and a fixed idea of what they need to achieve, under the guidance of producer Jon Bucket, the band embraced the studio as an extra instrument and began a musical odyssey that became their own learning curve in song writing, production and sound manipulation.
The resulting explosion of ideas and creativity is their recent release, Moondog.

This five-track offering has seen the band mature from their once cute, pop-punkery into brilliantly eloquent songwriters, capturing all the mercurial charm, humour and depth of the band as they are today.

Quintessentially English and with obvious comparisons to early Pulp, not least in frontman Aidan’s penchant for storytelling and thespian delivery, the band have embraced a sound that takes in the charm of the fey end of post-punk (think Postcard Records short lived roster) the attention to detail of later Beatles albums, the quirky charm of Talking Heads yet enough raw power to stop their sometimes twee muse from dominating completely.

A perfect analogy is that of the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the studio supplying the cocoon from which burst a beautiful and fully transformed musical creature, all fresh colours and able to leave the ground behind.
One wonders now though, where do they go next?