Vale Earth Fair: Liberation Day At The Last Post – St Andrew’s, Guernsey – 09/05/24

Over the years the way Guernsey has marked Liberation Day has changed and evolved in various ways. While I can’t claim to know what it was like historically, in my time it’s always been something of a split day with the morning focussing on the more ‘official’ aspects like military parades and church services (as...

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)

Hot in the heels of his adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992 Francis Ford Coppola and his American Zoetrope Productions embarked on tackling the other great monster movie icon in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but this time with directing duties handed over to Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as the titular scientist. Opening with a...

The Nightmares and Stretchy’s Damaged Disco – The Vault – 04/05/24

The first part of 2024 has seen The Nightmares go to ground somewhat as various members pursued other interests and went through some life reorganising but in that time they’ve still kept themselves in our minds with a string of singles building up to their debut album. On the evening of Saturday May 4th (be...

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Seven years after making his name with The Terminator, and following them with arguably equally impressive sci-fi movie Aliens and The Abyss, James Cameron returned to his story of post apocalyptic cyborgs from the future with Terminator 2: Judgment Day (known in some places as T2: Judgment Day). Opening, similarly to the original, with a...

Frank Turner – Undefeated

When I first discovered English folk punk troubadour Frank Turner it was around the time of the release of his third album, Poetry Of The Deed, back in 2009 when, I have to admit I felt something of a late comer to him, now though, as he releases his 10th studio album, Undefeated, and preparations...

The Terminator (1984)

Before he became the creator of such huge blockbuster fare such as Titanic of Avatar, James Cameron was a genre b-movie director making the likes of Piranha 2, but in 1984 he took these origins to a new place as he created the now iconic character and story for The Terminator, which he went on...

The Bare Minimum – Into The Blender

A couple of months ago The Bare Minimum dropped their debut single, The Dog Song, and introduced the wider world to their particular brand of upbeat indie pop which they are now following up with second single, Into The Blender. Already a live favourite this recorded version begins with a bass line from Elliott Mariess...

The Star Wars Saga

There's no denying that Star Wars is a pop culture monolith which, for many of a certain generation, is even more than that. Across nine key films a few extra ones and a seemingly ever increasing number of streaming TV series what was once merely a trilogy has become a full blown saga which has...

Perchard’s Wall – The Tea Pea EP

I first encountered Perchard’s Wall in person when they visited Guernsey in the summer of 2023 and proceeded to all but steal the show over the Vale Earth Fair weekend, but, even before that, I’d heard exceptional reports of the Jersey based four-piece and now their debut EP, The Tea Pea, has dropped on Bubblebrain...

Therapy? – Hard Cold Fire

For the past three and a half decades Northern Ireland rockers Therapy? have been an uncompromising and reliable presence on the UK rock scene across countless live shows and 16 studio albums, the most recent of which, Hard Cold Fire, was one of my highlights of new music in 2023, but I realised I hadn’t...