Major Melon
Plus special guests God Send and In Like Flynn
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Friday 25th July 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Portsmouth’s own Major Melon have already carved out a sizeable niche in the local music scene with their own brand of sunny pop rock.

Like musical magpies they pick the best ideas from the stars in their record collection and throw them in the blender to create their own tunes.

Leaping between styles as they play, this family band (all the members are related) bind their disparate sets together with one thing in mind - having fun.

Whilst other local acts might strive for searing social commentary or search for new and unique approaches to music, these four just seem to be enjoying themselves!

With their ‘Melon Song’ calling card and their trademark electronic drum kit, Major Melon have been gathering fans since they formed in 2005.

In the last year they’ve played the Tin Hut Festival, supported The Frank & Walters and recently they secured the support spot for Dodgy’s gig at the announcement for the Portsmouth and Southsea Festival, each time gaining new fans.

Now they’re headlining a night at The Cellars at Eastney, with support from pop punks Godsend with their mix of Blondie style jarring guitars and Gwen Stefani pop nous, and In Like Flynn’s angular indie rock.

An evening of upbeat music, tunes that get stuck in your brain for days, and huge grins is on the cards!
 
•Major Melon are at The Cellars at Eastney on Friday 25^th July 2008.


•Tickets, £6 advance, £7 door, are available from The Cellars, Cromwell Road, Portsmouth, Box Office 023-9282-6249 (2pm-6pm) and online at www.stiffpromotions.co.uk and www.ticketweb.co.uk.

By Matt Merritt

"Stayin' Out For The Summer"
Featuring Tiny Spark, Recreation and The Lonely Cardinals
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Saturday 26th July 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Stiff Promotions and The Cellars at Eastney bring you a new night featuring the best up and coming bands locally and beyond.

Welcome to “Stayin’ Out For The Summer”.

Headlining the first of these nights are London based five piece Tiny Spark.

Formed from the ashes of immensely popular Portsmouth band The Aviators, these guys trade in epic scale rock that still manages to tug at the heartstrings and affect each listener on a personal level.

With a debut EP to be released in September and an upcoming tour on the cards, things seem to be taking off for Tiny Spark, so this night at the Cellars is a perfect chance to fan the flames.

South coast quartet Recreation will be appearing too.

These lads have rapidly become extremely popular, splitting their time between Portsmouth and Southampton with a gig schedule that would crush a lesser band, they somehow find time to play regularly further afield and have been seen at London’s Shepherds bush Empire and Camden Barfly as well as venues up and down the country.

With a stripped back approach to their music that brings to mind the likes of Neil Diamond and early Coldplay, their more raw approach perfectly complements Tiny Spark’s polish.

Last, but by no means least, are The Lonely Cardinals.

This duo ply their trade with blistering Blues Rock, pounding drums, soaring guitars and occasional splashes of essence of Funk!
 
   
•Stayin’ Out For The Summer is at The Cellars at Eastney on Saturday 26^th July 2008.


•Tickets, £6 advance, £7 door, are available from The Cellars, Cromwell Road, Portsmouth, Box Office 023-9282-6249 (2pm-6pm) and online at www.stiffpromotions.co.uk and www.ticketweb.co.uk.

By Matt Merritt

Red Light Company
Plus special guests Loose Tongue
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Sunday 27th July 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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“Red Light Company storm into contention with an Arcade Fire-like blast of intense emotion.” - The Sunday Times

That one sentence tells you all you need to know about Red Light Company.

To be compared to The Arcade Fire is the highest of compliments at the moment, one that has only recently been bestowed upon Portsmouth’s own Strange Death of Liberal England.

This London five piece have recently signed to Russell Warby’s Ark label.

That probably doesn’t mean much to you, but Warby made his name (and money) as a booking agent who was willing to take risks and had an unerring ability to know which young hopefuls would explode into the public eye and sign them up accordingly.

He booked shows for the likes of Nirvana, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Ryan Adams, Foo Fighters and Elliott Smith before deciding to start a label with Jamie Davis who formerly ran Transonic (Graham Coxon’s label).
 
Red Light Company’s real gift comes from their ability to craft songs that speak to the listener.

Recent single Meccano tells a story all too familiar to us all “It‘s based around an imaginary conversation between two old friends and the distance growing between them as their lives go on. It’s about the regret of a passing friendship” says vocalist/guitarist Richard.

Hot off a tour supporting The Editors and about to embark in their own tour across the UK and Europe Red Light Company pitch up at The Cellars at Eastney to share their epic sounds capes with Portsmouth audiences.

Support comes from Portsmouth’s own hard hitting, emotionally charged rockers Loose Tongue.
 
•Red Light Company are at The Cellars at Eastney on Sunday 27^th July 2008.


•Tickets, £6 advance, £7 door, are available from The Cellars, Cromwell Road, Portsmouth, Box Office 023-9282-6249 (2pm-6pm) and online at www.stiffpromotions.co.uk and www.ticketweb.co.uk.

By Matt Merritt

Caimbo
Plus special guests The Levels, The Exits and Colonel Mustard
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Wednesday 30th July 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Big hair, plenty of attitude, cocky struts and the sort of head bobbing tunes that meet at a cross roads between Bon Jovi, The Strokes, U2 and The Black Crowes.

Caimbo are certainly turning heads with their chest beating brand of rock.

These lads hark back to the days when every self respecting rock star had big hair, razor sharp cheekbones and the kind of pout that would make every woman they met jealous.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to find that all four of these lads were the secret lovechildren of Robert Plant or David Coverdale.

Thankfully, they have the tunes to back up the image, assured rock that ticks all the boxes!

Classic Rock say these lads have “A bright breezy and energetic sound that combines honest hard rock with the stadium pretensions of U2's louder moments…”, and lest face it, they should know!

Their debut album Electric Dreams, named for the energy the band bring to the stage and to their song writing, is due early next year.

Produced by Ben Mason who has worked as engineer on recordings by Razorlight, The Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks and mixed by Tim Palmer (U2, Pearl Jam, Robert Plant), the band recorded it in rock legend Ray Davies’ Konk Studies (where the Kooks recorded their recent album, hence the name).

Already making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting live presences on the touring circuit, Caimbo come to Southsea to shake the foundations of The Cellars at Eastney with their hard hitting mix of bluesy guitars, pounding drums and searing vocals.

Support comes from a plethora of Portsmouth rockers. Garage rockers The Levels , all fuzzy guitars and distorted vocals. The Exits with their electro tinged dance rock and Gosport based blues rockers Colonel Mustard.
 
•Caimbo are at The Cellars at Eastney on Wednesday 30^th July 2008.


•Tickets, £6 advance, £7 door, are available from The Cellars, Cromwell Road, Portsmouth, Box Office 023-9282-6249 (2pm-6pm) and online at www.stiffpromotions.co.uk and www.ticketweb.co.uk.

By Matt Merritt

FreefallFelix
Plus special guests The White Coats and Splendid Eddie
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Friday 15th August 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Media release to follow shortly

Acoustix
Featuring Flis Pitman plus three other artists
The Square Brewery, Petersfield
Wednesday 27th August 8.00pm
Free Entry

Howard Jones
Rescheduled from Thu 12th June - existing tickets remain valid
For full refunds please contact point of purchase
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Tuesday 9th September 7.30pm
£18.50/£20.00 advance /door
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Kirsty McGee & Mat Martin
Plus special guests
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Wednesday 10th September 8pm
£8.00/£9.00 advance/door
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Peter Conway
Plus special guest Rossco
Drift, Portsmouth
Wednesday 10th September 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Amy Can Flyy
Plus special guests Minds Gone Blank
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Friday 12th September 7.00pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance /door
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Comedy - Chris Addison
Plus special guests Zoe Lyons and Jeff Whiting
New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth
Saturday 13th September 8.00pm
£15.00/£12.50/£10.00 dress circle/stalls/upper circle
Buy Online Now (takes you directly to the New Theatre Royal on-line Box Office)
Box Office: 023-9264-900

One of the creators of BBC 2 sitcom Lab Rats, Chris Addison will be appearing at the New Theatre Royal on 13 September.

Lab Rats was launched earlier this year. Written by Chris with Carl Cooper, who describe it as “ a big, stupid, cartoony new studio sitcom about a bunch of idiots trying to run a lab,” it has already received positive reviews.

Although best known for his acting role as Ollie Reeder in Armando Iannucci’s. The Thick Of It, Chris has written comedy for radio and TV. His credits include the Radio 4 series’, The Department and The Ape That Got Lucky, among others.

However, in a recent interview in The Independent, he made it clear that he considers himself a stand-up comedian first and foremost: "Whenever I see myself described in papers, they always say 'actor' first. Not true. I've done that now and I've thoroughly enjoyed it but I was a stand-up for 13 years and everything comes from that."

A regular at the Edinburgh Festival, his one-man shows Atomicity and Civilization have earned him nominations for the Perrier Award, and Barry Humphries comedy award in Australia.

Tickets are from £10. Contact the New Theatre Royal box office on: 023 9264 9000 or email boxoffice@newtheatreroyal.com. Doors open at 8.00pm.

By Kate Steaggles

The 70's Meets 80's Show
Featuring Saturday Night Beaver & Skool Daze
The Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green
Saturday 13th September 8.00pm
£12.50/£15.00 advance /door
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Fraser Anderson
Plus special guest Ben Pinwill
Drift, Portsmouth
Monday 15th September 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Collapsing Cities
Plus special guests
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Friday 19th September 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Lupen Crook & The Murderbirds
Plus special guests The B of The Bang plus Loz Bridge & The Box Social
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Sunday 21st September 8pm
£6.00/£7.00 advance/door
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Brian Houston (band show)
Plus special guests
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Friday 26th September 7.30pm
£12.50/£15.00 advance /door
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Spiers & Boden
Plus special guest Chris Ricketts
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Saturday 27th September 7.30pm
£12.50/£15.00 advance /door
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If you have heard of Bellowhead, you must have heard of Spiers and Boden. The two masterminds behind the acclaimed folk orchestra will be playing live at the Studio @ TPS on 27 September.

John and Jon are twice winners of best duo at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and they have also amassed further accolades with Bellowhead- the band won Best Live Act for the second year running at this year’s awards.

John and Jon first began working together in 2004. They are long-term collaborators with Eliza Carthy as The Rat Catchers, and solo artists in their own right- Jon released his own album of contemporary indie rock songs, Painted Lady, in 2006.

As well as their original material, their arrangements of the traditional songs range from downright foot-stomping jigs to delicate atmospheric ballads (in the proper sense). The Guardian dubbed them “ the contemporary equivalent of Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick”.

Their appearance at the Studio comes after the release of their new album Vagabond, in May this year.

ickets are £12.50 advance £15 on the door and available through www.stiffpromotions.com or Ticketweb.

By Kate Steaggles

Hot Club de Paris
Plus special guests Hardly Heroes
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Thursday 2nd October 7.00pm
£7.50/£8.00 advance /door
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Martin Simpson
Plus special guest support Will McNicol
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Friday 3rd October 7.30pm
£15.00/£17.50 advance /door
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Multiple award-winning songwriter and guitar maestro Martin Simpson returns to the Studio @TPS on 3 October.

Martin picked up the award for Best Album for Prodigal Son, at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, along with Best Song for Never Any Good.

Over the course of his career Martin has worked with some of the best names in folk, most notably, June Tabor, with whom he is a long-term collaborator. He also continues to tour with Martin Carthy and Martin Taylor.

Influenced by songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and Randy Newman, Martin moved to the USA in the late eighties, where the blues continued to have a substantial impact on his songwriting, but the English folk tradition has never been far away from his work.

So, it seemed fitting then, that the UK welcomed him home in 2002 with BBC Folk Awards for Best Album (for The Bramble Briar) and Musician Of The Year; success that he continues to build on, this year being no exception.

Acoustic magazine called his live shows “i ntense , eclectic, spellbinding and deeply moving .”

His appearance at the Studio comes after a performance at the BBC Proms “Folk Day” in July this year.

ickets are £15.00 advance or £17.50 on the door and available from Ticketweb or www.stiffpromotions.com.

By Kate Steaggles

Ezio
Plus special guests
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Saturday 22nd November 8pm
£10.00/£12.00 advance/door
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Paul Jones and Dave Kelly
Plus special guest support
The Studio@TPS, Petersfield
Wednesday 10th December 7.30pm
£17.50/£20.50 advance /door
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Wilko Johnson
Plus special guests
The Cellars at Eastney, Portsmouth
Wednesday 10th December 8pm
£13.50/£15.00 advance/door
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