It’s been a busy week or two for Honey Be comrade Matt Marr. A warm-up gig at Connie’s Solid Air birthday adventure (featuring a wonderfully funked up David Holmes meets Billy Cobham three-track Sonic Arkestra trip) was followed by a gig at The Luminaire in London, supporting Andy Burrows’ new band I Am Arrows. Both gigs followed an interview on BIRSt, a local internet radio station run by Radio Production masters students at Bournemouth University. More about that later…

Having only very recently recruited Chris Pedley (Baker Brothers/New Volunteer) into his musical bosom, Matt’s Solid Air gig was a welcome, and much needed first live foray for the pair. Their set was preceded by Expeditionguide’s slo-fi grungy electro (if am mp3 player can be worthy of the term ‘electro’), who’s twenty minutes on the (overly) elevated stage was well received by a slowly growing ‘army’ of fans which now includes those fine folk at Bearded. It would be fair to say Matt’s wasn’t the best of sets, hindered by poor sound and the fact that Chris had about five minutes to learn a new set of songs. Still, the cobwebs were blown off. Hopefully.

A four-hour drive to The Luminaire (no wrong turns, just an obscene amount of road works and temporary, malfunctioning traffic lights) saw us arrive at the venue five minutes before Matt’s slot commenced. The Luminaire (pictured above) is a lovely, award winning (Time Out magazine’s Live Venue of The Year 2006 – Music Week’s UK Venue of The Year 2007) 300 capacity venue in Kilburn, with a simple layout but wonderful atmosphere and impeccable sound. Matt played a blinder, with Chris Pedley’s accompanying vocals, bass, guitar and keys all working perfectly. The ever-growing crowd were perfectly respectful of his music, listening with an intensity that was matched by their eagerness to take the post-set free Matt Marr handouts. Gotta be done…

Gold Teeth were a decent support, mixing styles and rhythms to good effect, though much like the lead singer’s excursions into the audience they didn’t really make much of an impact. The same could certainly not be said of I Am Arrows. Clearly, the vast majority (98%) of the near capacity crowd were here to see ex-Razorlight multi-instrumentalist and mighty fine songwriter Andy Burrows’ new band, and despite the set being only eights songs deep, the quality was such that his debut album should be a ‘must have’ for 2010. Clever bastard he is too – he played every instrument on the album – a debut single is due out this May.

So, what is BIRSt? Well, we were made aware of the station by Henrietta Rowlett (Animal Talent Show’s knob twidder), who presents her own radio show on the station. To quote from the site: “a unique ‘on-demand’ radio station delivering Comedy, Drama, Features, Sport, Specialist Music, International & Experimental productions on your schedule, when you choose. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, BIRSt is run by the Radio Production masters students of Bournemouth University. It celebrated its first decade of success with the help of devout ‘radiophile’ Phill Jupitus re-launching the station on the Monday 8th February 2010. This year will also mark the first year where BIRSt will carry a music license allowing it to broadcast specialist music programmes and exclusive live sessions.”

This music licence is currently being used to great effect by Henrie, who’s first show featured a live session from local electro wizard and Swamp legend Chris Catlin aka Yaaard (including a monster version of live fave ‘Tease Me’), as well random chat and a selection of her personal fave tunes. Highly recommended it is too – for fans of 6 Music expect a mix of Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone and the more leftfield side of Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul show. Upcoming session artists include Expeditionguide and Powdered Cows. Nice work Henrie.

Matt Marr has also made a recent appearance on BIRSt, talking at length with Emma Houlton who is a year one Bournemouth resident/student. Matt talks with his usual openness and honesty about the past, present and future of his own music, and the way he sees things for any music makers trying to make their way. Again, this is work worthy of applause with Emma’s and Henrie’s being just two of the many fine programmes to be found on BIRSt – obviously they can be found on facebook and twitter too

Ever since that hideous day in the summer of 2009, when The Gander and Metropole were finally closed for good, we’ve kept our mouths reasonably shut regarding the goings on which preceded the closure. Why? Partly because we didn’t want to appear to be simply bad-mouthing individuals at a particularly sensitive time, as to a large extent it was a team effort in trying to make a success of the venue. Secondly, because there were potential legal implications.

We have previously said that we could write a book about the year or so that Dan Prowse was ‘in charge’. There is so much we could say, but news has come to light today, which in many ways brings some closure to the events. His lack of ability to make a success of a busy, well established and well loved venue was criminal. Very criminal. The only shock in reading this news today is that there were only 22 breaches of the premises licence he was found guilty of. This may sound bitter or perhaps unnecessary, but after spending months reading about how Wetherspoons has destroyed The Gander, or about the blame being laid at anyone’s door other than the one who was mainly responsible, the truth is (partly) out.

Thanks to Dan Renton at Dorset Rock Online for being eagle-eyed (Twitter – it’s the future) and passing on the information.

Here’s the press release, taken from the Bournemouth Borough Council website:

The manager of the Metropole in Bournemouth narrowly avoided going to prison after magistrates heard that he had operated the business in a highly unsafe way which posed a serious risk to the public.

The case was brought by Bournemouth Council when it was discovered that the business was illegally trading after their electricity was cut off. For power and lighting they were using electrical generators in a dangerous manner with some electrical equipment in contact with water in a partially flooded area. The premises was immediately closed and evacuated on the day that Council offices made their inspection in order to prevent an injury or fatality.

The case went to Bournemouth Magistrates on 25 February 2010 following a multi-agency inspection of the premises last August. The manager of the Metropole in Holdenhurst Road, Daniel Prowse was sentenced for 22 breaches of the premises licence. The offences included: insufficient ventilation, failure to provide an electrical test certificate, the toilets not kept in good order or repair, no emergency lighting and the fire warning system was not working.

Mr Prowse pleaded guilty and received the following sentence:

Six-week prison sentence, suspended for 24 months
12 months supervision – 200 hours of community service
£800 costs

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Member for Communities said: “I am pleased to see that the courts have taken strong action in this case. It is clear from the number and type of breaches to the licence that members of the public visiting the club were being put in danger and we cannot allow for this to happen.”

He added: “I would like to praise the work of the Council’s Licensing Officers, the police and officers in the fire service who have worked together to protect the public. We will continue to monitor licensed premises in the town to ensure the safety of visitors and local residents.”

I have been meaning to get a chance to see a gig at Room Six since its re-launch as a live music venue for over a month now, but gig cancellations (Nion Abeo, Rapids!) meant I had to wait. At last a night had finally arrived where I could witness local talent, see Room Six and see what all the fuss was about.

In terms of the venue, I must have caught it on a bad night. This is a brand new live venue advertising “New Management – New Vibe – New Sound System”, but I didn’t get a great first impression. Let’s consider the pros: good location (Lansdowne), good size (150-200 capacity), a big spanking new sound system, a large stage (with crowd control rails!?!), a clean and modern décor with seated booths and big area for standing, very reasonable bar prices and a few bonuses like the filming and airing of live gigs on You Tube and with its very own monthly magazine! Huge potential!

But tonight, there were cons: considering the spec of the new PA, the sound was not great tonight (imagine the Gander on a bad day). There were two young sound engineers that paid more attention to their mobiles than the sound. To top this off miserable bar staff that really didn’t want to be there. For a brand new music venue, this isn’t the best impression to make. Or am I being too picky? Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to bash any place that supports the local music scene, but this place needs waking up to its full potential. I mean, this could be the new Mr Smiths! Maybe it would all be better on one of their advertised “International Live Act” nights. Given time, I’m sure it will fill the shoes it’s so destined to fill.

First up for the night was Streebeck. The soothing and note perfect soulful singing of front man Laurence welcomed me to the evening, himself backed with a talented band of musicians relaying Streebeck’s unique style of country inspired folk/pop songs, not unlike Frank Turner’s most recent offerings. Every song was beautifully faultless and sounding “fresh from the studio” tight. Perfect. Almost too perfect. If anything the songs needed to step up notch to fully engross the audience, but maybe it was just too early in the evening for them to be playing. Still it was a very professional performance. Standouts of the set were ‘Southlands’ and the massively infectious ‘Wrapped Up’.

After a brief break filled with Robbie Williams tracks (what are you playing at sound guys?!?) The Other Half took to the stage. The only other time I had seen these guys was one of their first gigs some three years ago at The Green Room, and my they have come along way since then! Immediately all ears and eyes clamped onto the stage to witness this blast of good time indie-rock. A lovely mixed blend of Jet, Kooks, Bloc Party with moments of Vampire Weekend and even Weller, and they even did a good rendition of Kasabian’s ‘Clubfoot’. These guys are good and I hope they rock the crap out of the DMA band comp they entered this year. Standouts of the set were ‘999’, ‘Too Late Tonight’ and ‘Yolandi’, a song about missing Blighty in California. Top stuff.

Finally, The New Governors (pictured) take to the stage. Now this is a band that really do have a certain something about them. Between singer Mike’s husky soulful voice and heart felt songwriting (“…its time I put more tonic in my gin…” – ‘All Among Friends’), the band’s solid rhythm section and guitarist Chris’s epically elaborate solos, they really can’t be pigeon-holed. Mike sings and gently strums whilst the band perform a solid front of alt-folk-surf-rock-indie-pop (that’s as close as I can get!), dropping in and out of tempo changes, volume and musical styles, keeping the audience encapsulated. This really was an enjoyable set, and the number of freshly unveiled new songs tonight only convinces me further that these boys will go far or die trying. Highlights of the set were ‘Love Lost Generation’ with its machine gun drum fills, new song ‘Lost Days and Forever’ with a blistering guitar solo ending, and the epic ‘Fortune Bound’, a massively emotional pop song that I can’t seem to get out of my head.

All in all, a great night from a new venue on the up…or at least so I hope!

Starting this weekend we’re taking a week off, jetting off to the Isle of Skye for some winter sun, or snow, or rain. Whilst the thought of ‘no work’ for a week is extremely appealing, we’d like to keep the cogs turning regarding the booking schedule at Champions. So, we’d like as many bands as possible to contact us regarding the following slots, all of which are available over the coming months. In particular, on Saturday 3 April we’ll be holding a charity all-dayer, to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity devoted to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer. This is why they need your support…

“Teenage Cancer Trust exists to improve the quality of life and chances of survival for young people with cancer. It costs between £500,000 and £3,500,000 depending on the nature, size and location to build and equip a new unit. We also fund frontline staff such as Youth Support Co-ordinators and Nurse Consultants. We also need to make sure units include everything young people need to be kept fully occupied and entertained during their stay – whether it’s computers, TVs, juke boxes or simply a pool table.

We don’t receive any government funding, so we rely on voluntary donations from people like you. We estimate that with the units we currently have around the UK, only half of the teenagers diagnosed with cancer have access to this dedicated, specialist support. So we need to do more. Our aim is to build enough units so that, by 2012, every single teenager will be treated on one.”

We are looking for nine bands/artists to play for free, djs too, with doors at 3pm, first band at 4pm, £5 entry, with all money raised on the door and through a raffle going to the Appeal. These all-day fundraisers have previously been some of the best events we’ve put on, raising large amounts of money, creating a wonderful sense of community spirit and simply being a day of fantastic live music. For obvious reasons we’re looking for two things with regards to the bands, we want quality bands who can bring a crowd. We want bands who want to play for the cause, and who will make a big effort with promotion. As with all the other gigs, please email tony@championsbournemouth.co.uk with your request to take part.

Below is a list of other potential slots we have available at Champions over the next couple of months. Any bands/artists interested in any of these dates, please can you message us stating the date(s) you’re interested in, with a link to your band’s website or myspace. Ta very much!

Sat 6 Mar – w/Boy Le Monti + Funkin’ Bob Noxious & The P45 All-Stars
Sun 14 Mar – w/The Docks + Amity Road
Wed 17 Mar – St. Patricks Day Special w/Dead Lettuce + tbc
Fri 19 Mar – w/The Joe Public + Badges
Sat 3 Apr – 9 bands + djs required for Teenage Cancer Trust Fundraiser
Fri 9 Apr – w/Jouis + tbc
Sat 10 Apr – w/Jilted Generation (Prodigy tribute)
Fri 23 Apr – w/Bird Jaguar + The November Five

Please mail Tony at – tony@championsbournemouth.co.uk

Whilst we’re talking Champions, feel free to be our facebook or myspace chums, and sign up to our newsletters by mailing champions-tickets@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks!