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Applefest
This yearly event celebrating English Apples at Middle Farm once again features a superb line up of local acts along with one or two names from the national arena. The Magic Number, Samsara, Pollito Boogaloo, Mountain Firework Company, Carnival Collective, John Crampton and Danni Nichols are just some of the names you can see over the two days alongside folk-roots hero Rory McLeod and John Otway.
Middle Farm, near Firle, 16-17 October
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A Piece of Me: Levellers frontman Mark Chadwick chats about his debut solo album. Jeff Hemmings reports.

For over 20 years, Mark Chadwick has been fronting The Levellers, Brighton’s most successful band, with 15 top 40 hits and a number one album Zeitgeist on their impressive CV. But for the last few years Chadwick has been looking to do a solo album, an opportunity to bring to the fore another side to his songwriting talents that aren’t wholly suitable for the strident folk-rock of his main band.
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Since 2003 Brighton Live has become a barometer for the health of the local music scene. Reports Jeff Hemmings

Once again Brighton Live is here to give us a condensed taste of what is happening in the local music scene, a scene that has grown enormously over the last few years, hand in hand with the development of the city as a growing industry hub. Read the rest of this article »

Village Voice: Villagers frontman Conor O’Brien talks to Jeff Hemmings about the Mercury Music Prize, dark imagery and ‘Becoming A Jackal’

The recent Mercury Music Prize awards ceremony cemented the fortunes of a recent spate of folk-based singer songwriters and bands with Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling and Villagers all producing exquisite albums that told stories rich in detail and melody. And like Marling, Dublin based Conor O’Brien and his Villagers band have quickly found acclaim.

“It was very exciting,” says Conor when I ask him about the Mercury Prize. “I felt it re-affirmed my belief in what I’m doing… but I treated it as any other gig.”
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