The next in the series – and number 13 overall – of the Songs From The Sofa acoustic nights taking place at Amber on Saturday.
These nights run by singer-songwriter Chris Gray have been held at the Douglas-based venue for a good two years now, showcasing a lot of the acoustic talent that the island has to offer – and this weekend is no exception.
Appearing on the bill on Saturday will be In The Blood showing a stripped down acoustic version of themselves, Tiger T, aka Teresa McNulty, Lee Brooks and Eugene Wilson.
The doors for this free event open at 8pm and In The Blood will open proceedings just after 9pm.
For further information on the event, visit www.facebook.com/events/1804944319745652/
Across town on Saturday you’ll find Mae Challis and band in action at The Railway.
Mae Challis is a name that has been very much in the spotlight in the past year or so.
At the age of just 15, Mae won the ‘Next Big Thing’ competition that took place at the Gaiety Theatre.
Born in Sittingbourne, Kent, in May 1998, Mae moved to the island at the age of seven.
As a singer and guitarist she lists her influences as Queen, Oasis, KT Tunstall and Joni Mitchell to more contemporary performers like Hurts, Coldplay, Train, James Morrison, Skrillex, Bruno Mars and Emeli Sande.
‘Winning the Next Big Thing’was a dream start to 2014,’ she said at the time.
‘It’s definitely given me the motivation to develop and grow as a musician and a singer/songwriter.’
Now with a full band behind her, featuring Mark Brabbs on drums, Nell Kneale on guitar and Robbie Sampson on bass, she has supported the likes of UK pop and soul troubadour John Newman at the Villa Marina and earlier this year released her first single and video in the shape of the Gnarls Barkley track ‘Crazy’.
Asked why she chose ‘Crazy’ for a first release, Mae stated: ‘It’s such a groovy and inspirational song that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to record it and try to make it my own.’ You can see the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG9mPNH0Dxs
Ignite The Sky have released their first video!
Lifted from the track Norsefire, which is taken from their debut EP entitled ‘Rain’, released earlier this year, the conceptual video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CIfRs50PPc
The Rain EP can be downloaded for free at http://ignitethesky.bandcamp.com/
That’s it – more next week!