News / Blog - Gigs & Bands News

I don't think the subject has ever been investigated but maybe there's something for a University study here!!

The question is.... and this has to be asked with the knowledge that Guernsey is a small place, maybe just like a medium sized town in the UK....

So how does our little Isle keep producing so many brilliant bands across many musical genres?

Is it something in the water? Whisky in my case, ha, ha!

One of the new additions to my 'Bands Hall of Fame' are the Amish Car Thieves. I encourage you to get out to one of their gigs. They're really good!

Oh, If you want a proper written review you must check out Tommy Girard's writings. As you can tell from my words, I have the writing skills of a photographer!!!

Photos of Amish Car Thieves can be seen by clicking the link:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF AMISH CAR THIEVES

In just one word I think the 2025 Liberation Day (the 80th) in St Peter Port was 'Spectacular'!

And if you want the longer version here is how my Thesaurus describes 'Spectacular'.....

grand, splendid, magnificent, sensational, impressive, glorious, striking, stunning, staggering, amazing, astonishing, extraordinary, outstanding, remarkable, dramatic, daring, breathtaking, dazzling, eye-catching, colourful, ostentatious, flamboyant

It was all of those!

Thank you to the many who put so much of their time into making 'Lib 80' happen and to all those who joined their fellow Islanders to celebrate such an important day.

I took a few photos and they are now featured on my website if you are interested:
CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE SPECTACULAR 2025 LIBERATION DAY

I now have proof that Time Travelling really is a thing.

All you need is a Band from the past, a Venue from the past and a few beers..... POW! You're back in the 80's!!!!!

My latest trip back was to see The Risk at the 'Tav. Brilliant stuff!

I took a few pics and they can be viewed on my website if you are interested:
CLICK TO TIME TRAVEL WITH THE RISK

The 2025 Decibel Tower event at St James took the form of a single night packed with live bands. And there was a great new venue to check out too..... The Pit.

There were many highlights on the night together with a couple of surprises!

When I arrived I headed straight down to the basement and the new performance area - the blackened room aptly called 'The Pit'. It was a pleasure to watch a favourite band, Space Soul, head the line-up. Mark Le Gallez, Rosemary and Amish Car Thieves also christened the new stage.

Back up in the main hall Doll Motel, Pavé and headliners Honeyglaze all entertained a good sized crowd. The night finished with one of my surprises... Get Down Services. Two guys, a heavy beat backing track and verbal abuse!

You really had to be there to get it. I loved it!

Here's a link to my photos:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2025 DECIBEL TOWER PHOTOS

I've been back to the Fermain Tavern for what turned out to be a fantastic gig.

It's always great to see and enjoy a new band and on this night two Bands on the line-up were new to me.

The opening act was Birte Paulsen and this was great start. Birte is a newcomer to the Island but clearly not a newcomer to performing as her set was confident and polished and showcased her talent as a songwriter.

I have a feeling we will be seeing Birte again very soon.

Next up on the bill was a new line-up called Rosemary. Familiar faces made an appearance but in this form they performed a short set which suggested really good things to come. Keep an eye open for their next gig.

And the headliners finished the night with a high energy performance worthy of the billing. Pillars have quickly earnt a place on my list of the top Bands currently on the Guernsey scene.

So another great night at the Tavern. Bring on the next one!

My photos can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF PILLARS

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF ROSEMARY

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF BIRTE PAULSEN

I've managed to find some time over the holiday period to update and add new Galleries to the NEW WEBSITE.

It's a near impossible job for me to bring all my photos over to the new website as there are many hundreds of Galleries and hundreds of thousands of photos.

But I'm keen to give the new website a fair representation of my photographic work over the decades so when I find a few spare hours I'll continue with this chore!

So, at the moment, if you are looking for photos of a particular event or personalities you might have to use the search option on BOTH sites! But remember that ALL NEW photos from 2023 onwards are only added to the new site. Good luck and happy hunting!

Here are links to each of the websites. Happy hunting.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE NEW WEBSITE
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE OLD WEBSITE

We've reached the time of year when I like to tidy up my work and I've just realised that I never completed the edit of my photos of the 2024 The Vale Earth Fair.

Maybe I'll blame the fact that as the decades pass my recovery rate after a festival seems to take longer and longer!

So, once I noticed my error I had to fix it.... and it's now done!

I managed to cover quite a lot of the VEF this year and there's a big Gallery featuring hundreds of photos of the highlights on my website.

If you're interested just click the link below:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 VALE EARTH FAIR PHOTOS

The Guernsey School of Popular Music continued its support and encouragement of its students with the 2024 'Music for Everyone' event at Beau Sejour.

Created to offer all ages of student a showcase to share their new talents on a big stage it is obvious how much joy and satisfaction the performers feel. You can see how confidence builds as students are supported by the versatile tutors band.

I've said it before but it's worth saying again. I think these events are some of my favourites of the year.

I hope you enjoy my photos and maybe they will illustrate some of the atmosphere in the theatre at Beau Sejour.....
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2024 MUSIC FOR EVERYONE PHOTOS

Another vintage year......

With each year the Guernsey School of Popular Music (SoPM) has raised the bar with its Corporate Battle of the Bands event at Beau Sejour.

The night sits in the middle of a 'three-header' between the Under 18's Battle of the Bands and the 'Music for Everyone' showcase.

The team from SoPM don't hold back or take the easy route and consistently top their previous efforts. I've added Galleries featuring all the highlights of the 2024 Corporate BotB's to my website.

To view photos of all the SoPM events click the link below:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF THE SoPM EVENTS

The standard of performances just gets better and better with each year's Guernsey School of Popular Music 'Battle of the Under 18's Bands'.

The SoPM Tutors have perfected the process of organizing their biggest weekend of the year.

Over the years the weekend has grown to feature three separate events.

First up it's the 'Battle of the Under 18's Bands' which features five talented bands.

The winners in 2024 were The Sexy Mosquitos. Photos of the winners and all the other bands, The Fourth, Polystyrene Pigeons, Cheezy Beanz and Aviation are featured in these Galleries....
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 BATTLE OF THE U18's BANDS
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Those of you who were also born in the mid-fifties like me..... heck, that makes me feel really old when I say it like that!

But back to the point. If you are from around that era you will probably have great memories of the live music scene that centred around the Fermain Tavern.

You will also probably agree that everything has changed so much over the recent decades... including the music scene.

Whilst we can never go back... and probably wouldn't like it if we did... I was encouraged to hear that there are a few plans in place to get The Fermain Tavern back up and active.

I heard this whilst enjoying a four band line-up at the 'Tav on Saturday. Fingers crossed that they can make it work.

Whilst I was there I photographed Kiya Ashton, Pillars, Coastal Fire Department and Hollow Youth. It was just like the good ol' days, eh!

Click the link to visit my new website and use the 'Search' option to find photos of the bands:
CLICK HERE TO SEARCH FOR THE NEW BAND PHOTOS

Conceived by the guys in Teaspoonriverneck, Spoonfest has become a celebration of Channel Islands live music.

During its short life SPOONFEST has created a small niche for itself in the musical arena in Guernsey. A hand picked line-up always showcases some of our best bands and a look around the audience will reveal that many of the Islands most active musicians support the event.

Spoonfest 3 at St James presented Play Nice, Hollie Thorne, Semu Cà from Jersey, Teaspoonriverneck and SkySkrapers.

Sadly I missed Play Nice but photos of all the other Bands have now been added to my website Galleries.

Click the link if you want to take a look.....
CLICK TO VIEW THE PHOTOS OF SPOONFEST 3

Gaelic Football is a Sport that I rarely have opportunity to photograph, which is a great shame as I love this game.

But what elevates Gaelic Football to legendary status is when I can combine photographing this Sport with a trip to Sark. Add into the mix a good number of beers in the sun with some live music and it really can't get much better.... can it?!!!!

Last Saturday I joined the early boat load of visitors and team members heading off to Sark for the annual clash of the Channel Islands Irish!

The Jersey Irish GAA Club were due to face the Guernsey Gaels Gaelic Football Club on Sarks Millennium Field. And there was a promise of many cold beers and live music to end the day!

I'm fairly certain that even the loosing side... Guernsey, I'm afraid, still had a great day out. I certainly did! I hope to get over again next year too.

But really I was only over in Sark to work, eh!

So just to prove it I've just added a new Gallery of my photos!
CLICK TO VIEW THE JERSEY v GUERNSEY GAELIC FOOTBALL PHOTOS

Photos of a special Elysium gig at The Fermain Tavern are now online.

The Pink Floyd Tribute Band's gig was titled 'Run Like Ted'. The event was organised as a send-off for the bands Saxophonist Ted.

Just one thing was missing at this great gig.... Ted (who couldn't make it due to a bug!)

If you want to view my Photos just click this link and don't forget to look at a huge Gallery of my Elysium photos in my archive too.
CLICK TO VIEW THE ELYSIUM RUN LIKE TED GIG

I think I'm done!

The Chaos Events Music & Bike Festival is one of my highlights of every year even though it is a 'working' holiday - but it's great fun too.

But I always end up with a big photo edit.... well it is three days of photography combined with quite a lot of beer!

So the editing has to fit around my normal week of photography and that delays completion. BUT, I get there in the end and the final Chaos 19 photos are now online.

I think I deserve a beer or two! Click the link to view the Galleries....
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COMPLETED GALLERIES OF CHAOS 19 PHOTOS

Congratulations to the School of Popular Music Guernsey on reaching 10 years of teaching young and older students the art and skills needed to fulfil their creative musical ambitions.

During the decade many hundreds have achieved goals and enhanced their lives through the medium of music in all its genres.

I've had the privilege of capturing many of the special performances during the last decade. In fact I was there at the first open day of SoPM. It speaks well of the enthusiastic culture of SoPM that many of the original tutors still teach alongside some early students who are now part of the tutor team.

I had a chance to pop along to Delancey Park for the SoPM 10th Anniversary celebration 'Party in the Park' to take a few photos.

I also have a huge archive of SoPM photos taken during the last 10 years. These links are to some of the Galleries:
CLICK TO VIEW THE SoPM PHOTOS ON MY OLD WEBSITE
CLICK TO VIEW THE SoPM PHOTOS ON MY NEW WEBSITE

As the Chaos Festival fog clears and my beer count has been tallied (it wasn't a record year) I've started the massive edit.

Unfortunately when I combine having a great time, live music, beer and photography at some point I end up with a lot of photos!

So there's no shortcut, I just have to plod through... but its fun looking through the memories again.

I've already uploaded a load of photos which you can view if you click the link. Please share and tag to get the word out.... thanks.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2024 CHAOS FESTIVAL PHOTOS

My edit of the 2024 Guernsey Together Festival is complete, yay!

I've said this before but it's always fun and interesting 're-living' an event through the photos. Oddly, sometimes I don't even remember watching a band or photographing a group of people.... and before someone else makes the comment, yes maybe it was because of the beer!!

So with the edit finished the last galleries are online featuring the Day 2 bands and also an extra gallery offering a feel of the atmosphere and characters.

Click the link to view:
CLICK TO VIEW THE COMPLETED 2024 GUERNSEY TOGETHER GALLERIES

The Guernsey Together Festival fills a gap in the local calendar of events and has now established itself as a 'must go to' for many.

The 2024 GTF was blessed by good weather... apart from late on Saturday eve by which time everyone was in festival spirits anyway!

It is noticeable to me that the majority of the crowd is made up of families and people who aren't regulars at the VEF, Chaos or Sarkfest (when it existed).

The GTF festivalgoers are attracted by a lineup of mostly 'middle ground' popular tribute acts and cover bands. This is not a criticism as the thousands attending prove that there is great support for the concept.

Every act that I saw received an enthusiastic reception. The overwhelming comments from those I spoke to was that they had had a great time and maybe this 'first' taste of a festival format will encourage them to add one of the other local festivals to their calendar as well.

I spent the two days wandering between the two stages (and the bar) and I've added a Gallery featuring the Saturday lineup.

Click the link if you want to view my photos:
CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF SATURDAY AT THE GTF

So as I write this it seems that we are back to the rainy season!

There is a lesson to be learnt from this and that is to really make the most of the good stuff when it happens!

This is what thousands of Islanders did on Liberation Day 2024 when we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day in Guernsey.

I spent my time up at the Last Post where the entertainment was great. I took a few pics too. They are now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 LIBERATION DAY ENTERTAINMENT