UK pop and soul troubadour John Newman is making his first trip over to the island to play at the Villa Marina in Douglas on Wednesday.
And the island’s very own Mae Challis has also been placed on the bill.
Having won the Next Big Thing competition at the Gaiety Theatre last year aged just 15, Mae has been raising her profile and making her presence felt on the Manx music scene more and more in the past year.
Appearances at Jabberwocky, the outdoor show during TT Week in the Villa Marina Gardens and her appearance on the bill at the recent TinkerMann Festival have done well to boost her profile and she is well worth checking out.
Mae is due onstage at around 8pm for the show at the Villa. To find out more, see her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/maechallismusic
Heading to the north of the island, Poison Hearts will be appearing at Ramsey’s Bar Logo on Saturday.
The band has been keeping fairly busy in recent months with their live shows. They’ll also be taking alternative band 7 Year Black Hole with them along for the ride. The 7YBH boys will be onstage at around 9.30pm if you’re in that neck of the woods.
Meanwhile, back in Douglas, Final Cut will be taking to the stage at The Carnival Live Lounge tomorrow (Friday) night. A band that has been a regular on the Manx gig circuit for a good while now, their line up includes Adam Cubbon on lead guitar, Luke Chambers on bass, Ian Astill on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Nick Collings on drums.
I was recently sent a copy of their Erased From Memory EP – so I gave it a spin.
Opening proceedings is Pay The Bill, where straight away I can pick out a big Foo Fighters influence, which is never going to be a bad thing. Not Coming Home and Giants carry the music much in the same vein.
Things slow down a little for the more chilled out and atmospheric Another Way, which is the stand out track I think, where to me vocalist Ian bears a striking resemblance to Elbow’s Guy Garvey, again not a bad thing, although he may disagree with me! Things finish off nicely with Summer’s Here, and raises the tempo back to where we started.
All in all, while the band aren’t breaking any new ground, and that’s certainly not meant in a derogatory way, if you’re into straight ahead, does what it says on the tin, Foo Fighters, Manic Street Preachers, Feeder-esque rock, then Final Cut are definitely worth having a look at.
To keep up to date with their live dates and other info please go to www.facebook.com/FinalCutIOM
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Steve Leach brings the latest rumblings, murmurings, news and views on forthcoming events in and around the island’s music scene. Help support the scene by emailing leachsteve@hotmail.com