Author Archives: Liam

In the the early 2010’s, Bournemouth promoters Dom Patience and Tom Clarke had a club night called ‘Lost In Stereo’ at iBar on Holdenhurst Road. Often this would be a standalone event, sometimes it would follow a gig that they, or someone else was putting on in the same venue. This show was one ofContinueContinue reading “Friday 17th June 2011 – Tellison w/ The Attika State and Daniel & The Lion at iBar, Bournemouth”

As the Slam Dunk brand continued to grow from the late 2000’s to the early 2010’s, the organisers behind the festival trialed having regional fringe shows around the weekend of the main event. In 2011, one of these dates took place in Southampton. Meanwhile, Stateside, my friend (and the drummer of our former band) George,ContinueContinue reading “Tuesday 31st May 2011 – Slam Dunk By The Sea (Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, Anti-Flag, Set Your Goals) at Southampton Guildhall”

Where to start?  Oooh, I know.  I should’ve known this show might not go to plan when the ticket turned up with the band name printed as ‘The Descendants’.. In April 2011, my friends went to Groezrock in Belgium. I obviously wasn’t big enough to go a punk rock festival on the continent yet (IContinueContinue reading “Monday 25th April 2011 – Descendents w/ Dead To Me and Teenage Bottlerocket at O2 Empire, Shepherd’s Bush”

My memories of this gig are as much about the day as the show itself. Ed and I had long lost touch with our friend from school Darren, known to most as Smiler. We’d seen him a year earlier when we played with Canada Water in Cardiff, where Darren was at University and I guessContinueContinue reading “Saturday 5th March 2011 – Reel Big Fish w/ The Skints at University of Southampton, Student Union”

At the time of writing Frank Turner is number one in the UK album charts with his ninth studio album, FTHC. Not only is this a fantastic achievement for any artist, but also a very unique one for someone this far into their career. Well deserved either way and a great album regardless of theContinueContinue reading “Monday 21st February 2011 – Frank Turner w/ Jim Lockey and The Solemn Sun at The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth”

In 20 years I’ve seen plenty of corporate sponsors come and go. Around the turn of the last decade energy drinks had cosied up to live music. At Poole Percussion where our band practiced there was a fridge full of Rockstar. I tried one once and had a horrific comedown (I don’t drink tea orContinueContinue reading “Sunday 6th February 2011 – The Kerrang! Relentless Tour (Good Charlotte, Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, The Wonder Years)”

In mid 2010 I developed some health issues, possibly stress induced. This, in turn, caused me to suffer from anxiety and depression that lasted throughout the rest of the year. As anyone who has been through anything like this will know, it’s a vicious cycle. I include this here for context because I think thisContinueContinue reading “Friday 4th February 2011 – The Hold Steady w / Wintersleep at University of Southampton Student Union”

Third Eye Blind are another for the category of bands I’d long given up hope of ever getting to see live by the late 2000’s. My introduction to them, as I expect is true for many on this side of the Atlantic, was the American Pie soundtrack. I’m not ashamed to say that for aContinueContinue reading “Thursday 13th May 2010 – Third Eye Blind w/ The Upwelling at O2 Empire, Shepherd’s Bush”

It’s crazy to me that within two years of this show I would be working with Kids In Glass Houses on bringing their debut album Smart Casual to vinyl via Saint November Records. As life rolls on and two years passes in the blink of an eye, the time period between those two events definitely felt aContinueContinue reading “Wednesday 12th May 2010 – Kids In Glass Houses w/ General Fiasco at The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth”

When Motion City Soundtrack’s fourth album My Dinosaur Life was released on Monday 18th January 2010, Sam and I had been together for a little over a fortnight. It was probably the first new album of any significance to me that was released during our relationship. By luck, Sam was also a fan of theContinueContinue reading “Friday 26th March 2010 – Motion City Soundtrack w/ Jenny Owen Youngs at Electric Ballroom, Camden”