News

For those musicians and gig goers who haven't been down to Monday's regular Groundswell event, it may be a revelation that every Monday night, the Porter Cellar Bar is a throbbing hive of live music fans & singer songwriters.

Since it's inception, the night has worked well, even drawing people from as far as South Wales, Salisbury Gloucester & and Swindon, to perform in the intimate atmosphere of the cellar bar. The format of confirmed opening and closing act plus pre-booked or walk-up singer/songwriters/musicians to fill in between the opening and closing sets seems to be the key to it working so well. We even have a house guitar for those travelling folk from overseas who fancy doing an impromptu spot. Not stopping there, we're thinking about getting a small keyboard and amp set-up as well to help facilitate this. Despite the casual and unpretentious nature of the event, the standard is very high, and a less than good performer is a rarity rather than the norm.

Providing an excellent PA system and a trained engineer to operate the rig also seem fairly crucial to the smooth running of the night - particularly with less experienced performers, some of whom may need some help with their on-stage sound.

There's been a gradual change round in comperes, so we try to have four of them on a rotating basis (a different one each Monday), so that they can fill in for each other, but also draw in lots of new talent to the night. Sadly Polly Gabriel has stopped compering on the Mondays, but we still have a strong team of comperes:- who you can e-mail; Ben Hill; Neil Gay; Steve Wheadon & Paul Eady for further information. You are strongly urged to book with them in advance if you are travelling and want to be sure of getting a slot - although pre-booking is not essential. (Please note: be sure to put Groundswell in the subject box when emailing compere's)

Though the guitar is the mainstay of the night, the range and type of instruments played sometimes leads to improvised jam sessoins with 3 or 4 musicians up on stage at once.

I'll finish with a reminder that  the Battle of the Musos will be back this August, when the Comedy Cavern shuts as is traditional during the Edinburough Festival. There will be the usual 4 weeks of heats, and a final, with duos and solos equally welcome to enter the competition. Call the office on 01225 404445, and ask to speak to Kath, or e-mail kath at Moles to make your application.

Philip Andrews.