Don Letts: There And Black Again, Talk and Q and A – St James Cafe, Guernsey – 19/08/21

Letts at St James There are many people in the world of music of whom it’s been said there impact changed the landscape, from Sam Phillips at Sun Records in the 1950s to Stock Aitken & Waterman’s polished pop of the 1980s to Rick Rubin’s work with heavy metal bands and so on, but one...

Sacred Works and NexT Events Night Of Guernsey Songwriters – Hollie Thorne, Blue Mountains and Kiya Ashton – St James Cafe – 07/08/21

Hollie Thorne For a second night in a row I was at the Cafe at St James on Saturday 7th August 2021, this time for an event billed as A Night Of Guernsey Songwriters with Hollie Thorne, Blue Mountains and Kiya Ashton organised by Sacred Works and NexT Events, though in a few ways it...

Dan Ashplant Album Launch with Elliot Albert Orchard and Mimi Helyar – St James Cafe – 06/08/21

Dan Ashplant A couple of years ago a single appeared from young singer songwriter Dan Ashplant but, after that, he seemed to go very quiet. Now though, in August 2021, a debut album, No Nonsense, has been released and to mark the launch Dan staged a show in the Cafe at St James alongside fellow...

Charlie Sherbourne’s Man Feelings Single Launch with The Mike Meinke Band – St James – 14/05/21

Charlie Sherbourne's Man Feelings As I said when reviewing his debut single, The Ballad Of Billy Bradshaw, Charlie Sherbourne has been a familiar name on Guernsey’s music scene for a long while, but this show not only marked the release of his first original output but also a rare ‘big gig’ with his band in...

St James Presents… Bloomfield, Sarnia, Black Paint Is Wet and Aktung – St James Concert Hall – 16/04/21

Bloomfield While not officially a Sound Guernsey event there was no denying the similarities between the latest St James Presents... show an the under 18s live music nights as not only was the audience predominantly on the younger side but all four bands were brand new acts made up of young performers, including some entirely...

Upload Festival CI: Take 2 – St James Concert And Assembly Hall – 03/04/21

The Mike Meinke Band Three months or so ago I was at the cafe at St James enjoying an evening of acoustic performances from a range of artists for the first part of the first, in person, Upload Festival CI that had originally begun during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown. Then, the following morning, while preparing...

Upload Festival CI – St James Cafe and Online – 22-23/01/21

There’s no denying, as I sit here on my sofa on the day after the event, that there’s a kind of dark irony to the latest Upload Festival CI - but we’ll get to that later. The Upload Festival CI began during the first coronavirus lockdown in mid 2020 when local musician Kiya Ashton realised...

BBC Music Introducing In The Channel Islands: January 2021 – Independent Venue Week and Eloise Fabbri in session – 30/01/21

Click here to listen to the show For my first BBC Music Introducing In The Channel Islands radio show of 2021 I marked Independent Venue Week, had a brand new live session and, of course, our track of the week. For Independent Venue Week I spoke to Jon Bisson from St James in Guernsey who...

Robert J. Hunter, Hollie Lucia and Lula & Gene – St James Concert Hall – 16/01/21

Back before Christmas Robert J. Hunter escaped the UK lockdowns to return (temporarily) to the Bailiwick for the holidays and played a sold out show at St James Cafe. Given the success of that night and the continued lockdowns in England he’s stayed in the islands and so another show, this time in St James’...

Music in Guernsey (and the Channel Islands) in 2020

I don’t really know how else to begin my review of music in Guernsey and the Channel Islands this year other than to say something that has already been said far too many times over the past twelve months, that it has been an odd year in pretty much all regards. I also don’t want...