On Saturday night I attended my second gig of the year, a show for Independent Venue Week in one of Oxford's best indie venues, The Cellar, located underground down a little alley-way right in the centre of town. In the day, the venue hosted their first ever panel discussion, intriguingly entitled The Dos and Don'ts of Live Music, aimed at musicians, promoters and those with an interest in what is a pretty lively music scene here in Oxford. The speakers on the line-up (which you can find more about on the event for the discussion here) had a lot of really interesting things to say and the venue was rammed - perhaps helped by the fact they opened up the bar - it was lovely to have such a visual, physical reminder of all the great people who work in music or have an interest in it (I think I fit somewhere in the middle) around the city, a few of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting through Tigmus and Sofar Sounds.
After emerging from the venue whilst it was still light (a bizarre moment), I headed home for a bit, trekking back to the venue later in the night for their IVW gig, which was just as busy as the talk earlier in the day! Opening up the night were Coldredlight, a local female-fronted duo who I've been hearing about a lot recently but hadn't caught live yet. There was a lot of support for them in the room and an air of celebration as they had just released their new track Bloom, which you can listen to below!
Next up, one of my favourite local bands, Catgod took to the stage to carry on the party. The album launch for their wonderful debut record Ready When You Are was my last gig of 2016, and it feels as if they're just getting better and better as time passes. Cat and Evie deliver beautiful vocals and there's a really exciting and infectious energy as Robin, leading the band on bass and vocals, dances his way around the stage, whilst Henry and George, on guitar and drums respectively, offer impressive solos. I'm excited to hear that Catgod are supporting at an upcoming Tigmus show, Holly Redford Jones' EP launch at Fusion Arts on 18th Feb, and I highly recommend coming along if you can! I'd recommend a particular track but I'm a big fan of the whole record so I'll leave it below for you to do as you wish...
Finishing up the evening, Hudson Scott, who I'd seen supporting Foals back in November 2015... I remember really enjoying their set and being gutted that I couldn't find them on any social media (perhaps I wasn't looking well enough!) But all solved now - they've got a little three track EP up online (below) and recent release Panning For Gold is pretty fun too. Their set went down a treat - who doesn't love a trumpet solo?! The lead singer (who I think I'm right in saying *is* Hudson Scott... though I want to say that they're a band, and not a soloist with a backing band) has a pretty unique voice which sets the tunes apart, and on stage he reminded me a little of Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires (not that I've seen them live, personally, but what else is Youtube for?)
It was a great evening and a brilliant showcase of local talent, with a really lovely atmosphere, a feeling that we were all there to support local music. So that's it for this year's Independent Venue Week, but in truth, every week should be IVW! It's a little like the "a dog is for life, not just for Christmas" notion... if you don't want to see music venues closing, get out and listen to live music locally!
Finishing up the evening, Hudson Scott, who I'd seen supporting Foals back in November 2015... I remember really enjoying their set and being gutted that I couldn't find them on any social media (perhaps I wasn't looking well enough!) But all solved now - they've got a little three track EP up online (below) and recent release Panning For Gold is pretty fun too. Their set went down a treat - who doesn't love a trumpet solo?! The lead singer (who I think I'm right in saying *is* Hudson Scott... though I want to say that they're a band, and not a soloist with a backing band) has a pretty unique voice which sets the tunes apart, and on stage he reminded me a little of Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires (not that I've seen them live, personally, but what else is Youtube for?)
It was a great evening and a brilliant showcase of local talent, with a really lovely atmosphere, a feeling that we were all there to support local music. So that's it for this year's Independent Venue Week, but in truth, every week should be IVW! It's a little like the "a dog is for life, not just for Christmas" notion... if you don't want to see music venues closing, get out and listen to live music locally!
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