a whole lotta Bush

What was simply a plan to put on a handful of bands in a pub’s function room swiftly escalated into a packed bill and the daunting task of squeezing nine bands into just one evening as Bushfest'10 took shape.

Started as the brainchild of 9blind’s Mark Seibert in 2008, this year’s third annual Bushfest took on a new life with the involvement of myself and Rock For Change and evolved into an all-encompassing, 6 hour phenomenom.

With 9 bands performing, there really isn’t enough I can say here to really sink my teeth in and dissect the gig properly, but there were enough people there to experience it that I shouldn’t need to go over the whole thing for them.

Even such an early start, with doors opening at 6pm, wasn’t enough to dissuade the eager crowd that had been gathering outside from as early as 5, keen not to miss a single moment of the action.

I began warming up the audience from behind the decks before the evening’s live entertainment was kicked off by a double whammy of new-comers, Twisted Hearts and Hurricane Season, both recent additions to Enfield’s ever growing list of bands and both attracting enough fans that anyone could quite easily forget how early it was, with another 7 bands still to come.

Deeds of the Dying followed swiftly, along with New Conscience, Room 9 and The Anonymous, all setting the bar high and impressing the throng of people that had continued to gather over the course of the evening with an array of sing-a-longs, moshpits, crowd participation and over enthusiastic dancing between them..

Enemy Planet and Kids Uncanny both held up the high standards that had been set before them, the two female fronted bands on the bill had nothing to prove to their male counterparts whatsoever, as both bands are already well enough known by local audiences to pull out a number of fan favourites and keep the evening moving without losing pace.

And as the night was eventually drawing to a close, 9blind's late headline slot was like an epiphany.

Stood by the side of the stage watching a room of devoted fans sing back every word to 9blind and I realised then just how important tonight was.


Bushfest wasn’t just a gig.


It was a celebration of some of Enfield’s most promising talent.


It was a chance for young fans not to worry about being 18 in order to enjoy a Saturday night out.


It was a landmark occasion that many music fans in our ostracised suburb never thought they would get the chance to see.


Because amazingly, for a town without a legitimate music venue, Enfield has cultivated so many exciting bands, and seeing 9 of our local acts playing back to back it became clear that we have created our own scene without a scene, where enjoying the music is more important than any singular musical tribe, and where we have had to strive to do it all ourselves because nothing has been given to us.



We achieved all this without any light at the end of the tunnel, campaigning for a music venue, asserting that younger fans should be able to get into gigs, and not wanting to travel into Camden or even further afield to see a band that came from our home town when we can't even see them locally, it brought us all to this point.

The fact that a small metal band hailing from Edmonton can inspire such devotion among a fervent fanbase and that a small local festival can breathe life into a backroom-cum-venue might mean that Enfieldians long dark days may finally be drawing to a close.

9BlinD - Promises   stream only

credit where it's due:

photography by Laura Harvey
mp3 stream kindly agreed by 9Blind

BushFest is coming!

2 musicians, a gig organiser and a music journalist walk into a bar.

this isn't a start of a joke, this was the start of planning BushFest'10

Mark Seibert, lead singer of Edmonton metallers 9Blind has been running the annual shindig in a Bush Hill Park boozer since 2008, but this year he reached out to local gig promoters Rock For Change and yours truly, in order to widen the reach of the mini-festival and dig deeper into Enfield's rich musical tapestry.

Initially getting in touch via facebook, a few ideas and band names were knocked about and a meeting and a few jars was planned so we could really bump heads and put the wheels in motion.

Past events held at the Bush Hill Park Hotel have been full on head banging affairs that have seen the cream of the Enfield Underground scene piling into the pub's backroom for a night of supercharged testestorone and relentless riffs while veterans D.Monic held court with a succesful run as headliners.


But since the demise of D.Monic and the uprising within Enfield's musical ranks the repertoire has been expanded this year for a broader listening experience.

Laura and Mehmet from the succesful Rock For Change campaign have built a good track record of putting on gigs within the past year, and my experience and knowledge of up and coming bands within the local music scene make for a well-rounded viewpoint when trying to organise this years one day mini-fest.

so the gears were turning, and a drink and a meet-up was planned in order to thrash out all the details.

and what a meeting of minds that was as....


thankfully when Mark and Joe from 9Blind met up with Mehmet and myself for a couple of pints there weren't too many arguments when settling the bill, if anything the hardest choices were deciding who to leave off.

so you're gonna wanna know what we've got instore for you!!

drafted in to kick things off are young upstarts Twisted Hearts and Hurricane Season, two of Enfield's newest bands, joined by New Conscience and The Anonymous later on in the evening, both alumni of the Rock For Change campaign gigs.

filling out the long evening of aural entertainment are a few names you will undoubtedly recognise from my previous articles and are bands that i will unashamedly champion given any chance.

so if you haven't had the pleasure yet, Bushfest will be a perfect opportunity to acquant yourselves with Deeds of the Dying, Room 9, Enemy Planet and Kids Uncanny before our local bands become too big to play in our fair borough.

and the highly coveted headline slot will be an eagerly anticipated late set by 9Blind, sealing their position as one of Enfield's most loved acts by bringing live proceedings to a close.


the reason for previewing this years BushFest instead of regailing the aftermath is because aswell as providing an input to the nights programming, i shall also be DJing throughout the entirety with my Bubblegum Stomp collective and may very well have little memory of it afterwards.

so, to witness what i may not be able to tell you, get yourself along to this year's Bushfest on Saturday October 2nd at Bush Hill Park Hotel (next to BHP station) St Marks Road, with doors opening at 6 and DJing into the early hours, it's bound to be a messy night.

room with a view

the blog has been quite fast moving this past week, with me fulfilling my promise of posting up some poetry that i hadn't had the chance to publish yet, as well as a little bit of photography and a short piece on Doctor Who.

which has left me no time to post up some more of my music, since today i'm giving you a glimpse of a forthcoming Enfield Advertiser article.  last saturday i saw Room 9 tear the roof of off the Kentish Town Forum and it hardly seemed fair to wait while the paper tries to work through the backlog of reviews that have once again built up.

of course i'll be giving a heads up once the article is in print, but for those that can't wait that long, here it is...

Room 9 @ The Emerganza Final, Kentish Town Forum 03.07.10


Room 9 breifly graced my music column in the Enfield Advertiser when they played an acoustic led set at Bar Form in march.


The Edmonton/Wood Green based band played a powerful set that commanded everyone's attention and had everyone in attendance in complete thrall.


so i was only too happy to check out the full blown live experience when they invited me along to check them out performing at Kentish Town Forum.


and was i in for a shock.


lead singer Lee Tarrier is a friend of a friend, a fairly quiet guy who is never anything less than affable, approachable and sincere but to see him in action as the full band rock out i was surprised by the transformation i was seeing.


my jaw remained on the beer-sticky floor for the entire first song as the the unnassuming guy with a day job as a special needs teacher stalks onstage silohetted against the backdrop of bright lights of white and red strobing through the atmospheric smoke screen and then proceeds to raise the roof and the spirits of the gathered throng with an unbelievable and unboundless energy.


heavy guitars, heavy bass, heavier drums and heavily devoted fans truly rocked the Forum as Room 9 tear through an incendiary four song set, tooled with big Metallica riffs and Rage Against The Machine styled rallying lyrics that iniate many call and responses and fists pumping in the air.


The passion and proffesionalism the band play with belied their short slot in the UK final of the Emerganza Festival for unsigned bands, you could almost believe that this was the homecoming gig of their world tour, with the big production values that the Kentish Town Forum affords them it is truly a sight to behold and hopefully a harbinger of bigger venues and good fortune in the not too distant future.


and although Room 9 narrowly missed out on reaching the international stages of the competetion tonight was an absolute triumph for the band and their fans and will see them blaze a trail with a number of late summer gigs and the release of their eagerly awaited debut album in November.

credit where it's due:
photograph by Floyd

not wanting to get sued

and as promised here is that review of last week's Sel-Out gig, keep you eyes peeled cos a cut down version should be appearing in the local rag soonish


Sel-Out 2 @ Bar Form 18.03.10


People that go along to gigs, have a couple of drinks and catch a handful of live acts often have no idea of the time, effort and worry that goes into putting on even the smallest of events.

And the second Sel-Out held at Bar Form is certainly no exception.

Selma Ramadan is having to deal with one bassist not being able to get out of work early enough for soundchecks, DJs that have gone house-hunting, another bassist having to leave the gig early so he can get to his nightshift despite the fact his band are due to be headlining , and a solo artist calling in sick and cancelling completely .

this is just some of the shit that a promoter has to deal with.

which all comes after the initial complications of trying to book bands and chasing bands that don't return your emails, arranging that there will enough kit to be shared onstage and also holding down a full-time job.

and unless you've got a well known and well respected established event that will thrive purely on reputation alone you also need to text everyone in your phone, email everyone in your address book and make all your facebook friends aware that you need them to come out and show their support.

and you also hope that everyone else involved has been doing the same.



And so, at 8 o'clock on a dreary Thursday evening in Enfield Town, the doors are thrown open for the night to begin.

It’s just a shame that a handful of punters are more punctual than the DJs due to kick off the night.

But by the time Benjamin Darius Ralph steps onto the stage some of these stresses are forgotten as his soothing acoustic solo show flits between original tracks and a number of cherry picked covers.

Room 9 usually like to rock out but tonight they are a man down so instead they bring a stripped back set of songs to Bar Form, anyone that thought this would hinder the act are proved wrong as Room 9 swiftly impress everyone in attendance with a laid back sound and astounding vocals that make you wonder if a full-scale set could ever be any better than the unique and intimate performance being put on tonight.



and in a strange twist of circumstances, Getaway, a band that didn't even have a name when they confirmed to play this, their debut gig, have found themselves plucked from second on a bill of four acts, and have had the daunting task of headlining thrust upon them.

and if there were any nerves, it certainly didn't show as the trio carve themselves a sonic identity that takes its influences from roughly 40 years of rock n roll history filtered down to a memorable 25 minute set, mixed up with diverting aside of self-proclaimed 'Essex hip-hop', and finished off with a rocking bluesy number.

And although the financial rewards are rarely enough to cover costs, the sense of achievement provides satisfaction enough and it’s the risk takers that continue putting on gigs and showcasing bands that keep the music scene alive.


credit where it's due:

photos by Lauren Knight