It has, since I first started following a local band a school friend had formed called Thirst (http://www.ziprecords.com/artists/thirst/index.shtml), been a fascination of mine that so many talented bands and artists can exist in towns and cities the world over without getting any real exposure outside their local area. Sure Thirst themselves went on to sign with Zip records and do some tours in the US and yes I readily acknowledge that there are a number of artists from Portsmouth alone who regularly play nights in London and more recently in Liverpool (though the latter is largely due to a Portsmouth promoter moving there), but they are still 'Portsmouth bands' in both perception and mindset.
The point I'm making though is that here, where I call home, there are some fantastic and diverse musicians creating superb music and playing exciting gigs on a regular basis. First and foremost among them, in my mind, is Andrew Foster (http://www.andrewfostermusic.co.uk), a great musician, songwriter and producer, Andy also has a superb work ethic and when not performing himself is a great supporter of other bands and artists. His music is firmly in the singer/songwriter mould and, although easily accessible and appealing to diverse audiences I would place it closer in spirit to the passion of Scott Matthews than the common denominator mass production of James Blunt. Andy is definitely someone it's worth checking out.
Another band who are head and shoulders above most of the rest are Suburbian (http://www.myspace.com/suburbian) a band who I have previously described as 'like Coldplay with balls', and rightly so I think.
At this point it seems only right to mention the work of Iain Martin, and Stiff Promotions (http://www.stiffpromotions.co.uk/), as a local promoter Iain has no competition in my opinion and his unswerving support of and help for local musicians and music lovers is nothing short of exemplary. It says something that I know of not a single local musician of note who has a bad word to say about either the man or the business. I'm very lucky to have been involved with reviewing a number of gigs Iain has put on and they number highly among my favourites.
Before I shut up it's only fair to mention my favourite group of precociously talented teenagers, Hardly Heroes (http://www.myspace.com/hardlyheroes06 ), these pop punk playing teens have a great set of songs but most of all they really enjoy what they're doing and it's very contagious!
Please, please take time to check all these people out and let me (and them) know what you think!
To all those bands and singers I haven't mentioned, please don't take it as a snub, I'll be writing this for a while yet so there's every chance I'll give you guys a shout out.
4 comments:
Wow Matt, this is a really awesome review and it just shows how hard some bands work to get recognised by the public, but anyway great job on this review you are excellent at it =)
Matt, You are so right when you say that Suburbian are head and shoulders above the rest...what a shame we dont seee that much of them since Matt P has gone to Uni....heard they are playing the Cellars on Wednesday though!!
Matt
Just to play devils advocate, I'm actually going to suggest here (and if you have read my blog on myspace then this will not be that new to you) that actually many of the bands in Pompey are very average and the reason that they don't get any recognition outside of Portsmouth is due to a combination of lack of musical imagination, drive, and ambition. There seem to be too many bands (who interestingly are almost all male - where are our girls in bands ?) playing to their mates who tell them how great they are, with no reality check. However, a plus point is that one of the great things about the Portsmouth scene right now is that there are lots of bands and people are putting on their own gigs in venues, so there is good enthusiasm there.
I think it says a lot about the Portsmouth scene though that one of the bands who are getting recognition (Strange Death Of Liberal England) seem sadly ignored in Portsmouth.
Fair point Robin and one that, as we've previously discussed I do, to a degree agree with (especially about Strange Death... though as I haven't seen or followed them closely I didn't mention them). But to look at the argument another way, how come so many Portsmouth bands don;t get the exposure that for instance Gilkicker (who must be the most overrated band in the area) do??
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