The utterly fabulous Thunder and Rain are a Nashville-based “newgrass” band, and, thanks to ever reliable local promoters Jumpin’ Hot Club, they’re playing Cluny 2 in Newcastle this August. Thunder and Rain have carved out a unique space in the modern Am…

Cud? Didn’t they used to be one of the most distinctive and genuinely entertaining indie acts to emerge in the pre-Britpop days? They still are! What’s more, they’re playing Sunderland in early September. While many of their contemporaries leaned rathe…

Attention Kate Bush fans! The rather brilliant Let Me In are returning to Newcastle Cathedral this August to pay homage to one of the UK’s finest singer-songwriters. Oh, man! Are you prepared for this? An evening of pure gothic melodrama and sublime ar…

The ever reliable Jumpin’ Hot Club are bringing the fantastic Garrett T. Capps to Newcastle in early September. Bunting up! Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley is about to get a massive dose of Lone Star weirdness and I, for one, am absolutely here for it. Bec…

Roll up, roll up, and let this Newcastle band into your life. (Particularly if you like your alt-rock to have a louche, rather decadent feel about it.) I’m listening to ‘Shadows from Lamented Light’ from CIRCUS’s fabulous debut album ‘A Kiss Before Dyi…

With the summer heat nicely cooking Newcastle, the Jumpin’ Hot Club are turning up the temperature even further still this August with a high-energy Summer Blues/Reggae Special at Gosforth Civic Theatre featuring the award-winning Errol Linton. The a…

Newcastle’s abundantly talented Melanie Baker has just signed to Tambourhinoceros, news which gets a hearty “Woo hoo!” from me. And the first fruits of Melanie Baker’s dalliance with Tambourhinoceros is her latest single ‘Sad Clown’, which is a blister…

Dolder are Dani and Zara Dolder, twin sisters from Newcastle who have been turning plenty of heads recently with their harmony-dunked alt-pop. And one of the heads that Dolder has been turning is that of Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, who, on hearing a t…