the pitfalls of living a disconnected life in a digital age

I've had a phone stolen, put one through the washing machine with my work trousers and lost one under about a foot of fake snow at a New Years Eve party at the Scala.

But when my HTC Desire decided to give up the ghost earlier the week, things were different. This was my first sinister smart phone, my connection to the world that went beyond missing out an a few texts or the odd call. ok, it's a slight hindrance to the way I lead my life, but it's no big deal.

so as me and my girlfriend head our separate ways at Liverpool Street station with half made plans to meet again at a certain time if the fates allow, otherwise I'll see her at home.

I was out and about to witness a handful of Enfield's bands dragging themselves away from the Bush Hill Park Tavern for once, I've seen one of my boroughs most beloved bands struggle for attendance as close to home as Camden, so I thought I'd support my boys, support my friends and make the journey along especially. I'd made no promises to anyone, thought I'd just turn up and surprise them, but it was me that was surprised as I descended to the basement bar of the Spitalfields venue.

The doors opened at half 7, first band on at quarter to eight, it was now quarter past eight and I found myself stood in an empty room, just me and one other guy that told me through a muffled mouth of sandwich that the gig was cancelled.

'band members were underage' i just about deciphered before he swallowed.

I wandered aimlessly for a short while, hoping that a recognisable Enfieldian or two would be propping up one of a handful of nearby bars while I weighed up my options.

On any normal evening I'd have checked facebook and twitter for updates on the rather dire situation, texted or called one of my mates playing, been hopping on the train back to the more familiar and predictable surroundings of Bush Hill Park and let my girlfriend know the dealio.

Most normal evenings don't result in me nursing a pint of ale for an hour and forty minutes, sat on my own reading a book in a pub in Great Portland Street before descending down the stairs to the comic-book wallpapered lower level where my other half is among a roomful of uke players , merrily strumming away and singing their way through a songbook projected at the front of the room.

So whilst, unbeknownst to me, Decoy Jet, Building The Songbird and Echochain turn a soured experience into a show of solidarity in front of a rabid home crowd, I grabbed another drink and settled in amongst the well lubricated throng for mass singalongs of Oasis and Mumford and Sons before revealing my presence to my girlfriend.

Sure, it wasn't a normal evening, but sometimes the simple joy of the unexpected is just as rewarding.

(although all the missed instagram opportunities are killing me now)



I

living for The Weekender

when i first caught wind that The Weekender, the entertainment section of The Enfield Advertiser, was under threat things were a little bit hush hush... but word gets around doesn't it...

although the clues were already there, the number of pages had slowly been dwindling over the past few weeks and certain articles and features had either been shuffled elsewhere or were tellingly conspicuous by their absense

which i wouldn't have brought into question if i hadn't known that my own music article had been submitted and yet The Advertiser went for a good couple of weeks (or was it three?) without a single music article appearing


when this type of thing happens i slow up a little, but the week before last the entertainment editor chased me up for a piece since something else he had been waiting on had fallen through, i swiftly finished off my piece dealing with The Fett's debut album

so what happens last week when i take a peek into the paper? The Weekender, apparently, and i quote, 'your number one leisure and lifestyle guide', was a paltry three pages long, and the article i had been hurried on had been replaced with an offer for toby carvery

it was after this sorry excuse for a leisure guide had been published (minus its usual music reviews, fashion features, kids club, cinema reviews and listings, and theatre and resteraunt reviews) that the editor informed me of the sorry state of affairs he was facing...

that The Weekender's days seemed to be numbered

now i'm not entirely sure if this was supposed to be public knowledge, and i drafted and submitted my own letter to express my disapointment, but i wondered whether this would make any difference at all

i know many people i know, band members and music fans alike turn to the centre pages before anything else, but how on earth will the powers that be know this if nobody tells them, and how will people need to know that there is something to fight for if they are unaware that it is in jeopardy

so i put news of this situation on facebook, where it was soon causing quite a stir not just between friends, but also among people that are outside of my own social circle, but obviously care enough to make their voices heard and express their opinion

so if you want to join in and make a bit of a fuss and hopefully make a difference then take a look facebookwards, and more importantly, make your voice heard by contacting The Enfield Advertiser by email on letters.enfield@nlhnews.co.uk 


and this isn't a fight for me, this won't affect my livelihood, i have a full time job that pays the bills and all my contributions to the paper have been voluntary, but other peoples jobs are at risk if The Weekender is scrapped, and i also fear that it is unlikely that Enfield's bands and Enfield gigs would ever have the same exposure ever again...


i only write because i love it, i was doing it on this blog long before i had been taken on by the Advertiser, giving a mention to music of the local and not-so-local kind, and the loss of The Weekender wouldn't stop me writing either


but i felt that it would be a blow to Enfield's music scene if it lost such a well recognised and well distributed platform 




so again, if this matters to you or anyone they know, please take a look at facebook and find a little time to contact the paper on letters.enfield@nlhnews.co.uk 


thank you

Alright Mate!

i am so excited that i can be the one bringing this to the masses, and it was worth the wait.


for a very long time i have been a very stern supporter of Enfield's music scene, it hasn't always been perfect... far from it in fact, and it still has a long way to go if we wish to cement the current reputation we have enjoyed recently.

since the early days of Bubblegum Stomp, through to the time spent commandeering the Enfield Music myspace page and the resurgence of live music in the borough with Red Griffin Records, volunteering at a Youth Music project, landing myself the role of music journalist for The Enfield Advertiser and right up to Rock For Change's successful gigs.

i've been there, through the dips and the peaks, and Enfield's scene is on the rise once again.


and as this is a music blog, run by an Enfield boy, i sometimes feel the need to give the tracks featured a slight Enfield skew and hope that the music being made in my home town can reach just as far as any other track by any other artist, regardless of geography and the constraints of a small town mentality

not long ago i featured a track by 9BlinD, followed swiftly by System of a Down, and in keeping in the same vein i now bring you an exclusive download from local boys, Deeds of the Dying.

those from Enfield already know of Deeds of the Dying, those from further afield may not... but i shall save all the spiel for an upcoming Advertiser article, for now i shall let you revel in the first track they have unleashed upon the world.


Alright Mate! was posted on Deeds' myspace page last week as a taster for their debut EP, it clocked up 150 plays within the first few hours and the band delivered on their promise of uploading a new track when it had reached 300 plays.  The teasing of the EP continued with Cannibilistic Virtues being the second song unveiled by the band while their fans wait eagerly to get their hands on the full EP...

but right now they have agreed to allow me a great privilege, and  i am proud to offer my readers the first ever download of Deeds of the Dying ahead of their full debut EP release

Deeds of the Dying - Alright Mate!


credit where it's due:


mp3 download agreed by Deeds of the Dying
photo by Laura Harvey

more candid shots of the Bush

it's hard to resist these puns when the opportunity arises

and since i didn't want loads of Laura's great shots detracting from my Bushfest write-up i kept the images to a minimum, but it hardly seems fair since all the bands put in such great performances and some of the photos really reflect the atmosphere on display that night

so here are a handful more....

so, that's ten photos of nine bands!! phew! still a couple more great ones in the weekend's write-up, along with a 9BlinD track from their latest album to stream...

and it also appears from these pictures that joe from 9BlinD can't actually stand up straight.

credit where it's due:

all photography by Laura Harvey

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.

Uncovering the Enfield Underground

while i'm glad that my latest article to be published in the Enfield Advertiser sheds light on a number of acts that i might not get a chance to feature individualy, i am slightly disapointed with the way it came across in print.

i don't think the picture used really did the story any justice in capturing an exciting underground movement and the bi-line made it sound as if the scene was focused on Bar Form, unfortunately the picture choice and bi-lines (and even the headlines) are not down to me, although i do try and make suitable suggestions, this time putting forward a handfull of great images of Deeds of the Dying...

i did suggest tho that since there were a lot of bands featured, it would be difficult to cram so many myspace addresses on the end of the article, so i perhaps they could point interested persons in the direction of my blog so that i could run my full length article and provide links to each of the bands mentioned.

enjoy.....



Uncovering the Enfield Undergound


Have you heard about the Enfield Underground?


This isn't a plan for a tube station in our fair town but probably the most loved scene among our boroughs musical tribes.


Ok, so i may have just grouped together a bunch of like minded bands in a rather journalistic fashion to create a nice catch-all term, but the ends justifies the means if it makes it possible to shift this columns focus to some of the heavier bands around.


And I can't even claim to have coined the term Enfield Underground, when Mark Riley organised a gig at Bar Form in April under the banner The Enfield Underground... Overground, featuring Syn-X, Sokit and Unexpected, the appeal of these bands was apparent and the name seemed to be rather appropriate.


It is all large riffage, pounding drums, Famous Stars and Straps t-shirts and maniacally screaming vocals for the most part... not always to everyones taste and quite unfairly overlooked by your local rag... until now.


Heading up my list of personal favourites from the scene are Deeds Of The Dying and Sokit, both full of youthful ambition and genuine talent that only seems to grow with every gig they get under their belts.


9blind have been making waves right across the scene with their latest long-player 'A Negative Response To Change', that was released earlier this year, and blisteringly well received recent live shows.



And Syn X are yet another local band that have inspired savage devotion with their ridiculously hard n fast playing.


Edging away from the borders of screamo, a new EP has recently been released by From Great Height that takes the ever popular metal template and heightens it with searing elements of 70's prog-rock, while for a more FM friendly style you should look in the direction of Enemy Planet, a female fronted band that rock out in a style similar to Paramore, with catchy hooks.


Other names to keep an eye out also include Unexpected, Saifa, Trucida, Folly and Atlas Breaks The Sky.


Many of the bands mentioned share their fan-base, share the same bills and in some cases also share the same band members, cultivating a fanatic sense of community among everyone that frequents their gigs, either onstage or off.


For now I can only provide the briefest overview of a number of the bands but with future columns I will look a little closer at a handfull of these acts that have been rocking the suburbs.

credit where it's due:
Deeds of the Dying photo by Laura Harvey