Do they have music in Devon ?

[fryer]

We are moving from Hampshire to either north Devon or north Cornwall. Not quite sure where yet. I miss playing so much and need to get in a band when we move.

Anyone know what the music scene is like 'down there' ? 

[Happy Jack]

Bizarrely, the second-biggest area for Lemonrock (after London & the Home Counties) is the SouthWest. No, me neither.

Go to Lemonrock, go to Band Search, choose (say) Truro as your location with a radius of 50 miles, and you'll get a couple of hundred bands listed.

My guess is Yes, they have music in the West Country.

 

[Zummerbass]

There’s (was/hopefully will be again) a decent scene in SE and south Devon. Not so sure about N Devon,used to be lots of gigs around Barnstaple. It’s a big county, you could be in for some travelling between rehearsals and gigs. Nice scenery though!

[Barking Spiders]

Last time I heard they burnt people at the stake for making music and other general merriment

[Zummerbass]

Only In Tiverton 

[mep]

I live in South Devon. Plenty of live music here. Can't vouch for North Devon or Cornwall but check Lemonrock. If Dave Holwil's book 'Weekend Rockstars' is anything to go by then North Devon is fine. What the post Covid  live music scene will be like is anyone's guess!

[odysseus]

Loads of music in Cornwall. At least there was.....

Mostly bog standard pub rock and pop covers, but there is some good stuff out there too if you head off the beaten track and into some of the dingy back alley bars...

[louisthebass]

3 minutes ago, odysseus said:

Loads of music in Cornwall. At least there was.....

Mostly bog standard pub rock and pop covers, but there is some good stuff out there too if you head off the beaten track and into some of the dingy back alley bars...

A few of my old music buds have relocated to Cornwall recently, and (up to Covid-19) pretty active musically.

[fryer]

do you know which part of Cornwall ?

[pnefc42]

I live in North Devon and, up until my decision to stop playing live a couple of years ago, was gigging regularly throughout Devon with a couple of bands (particularly an 80s tribute band which were always busy....). As mentioned previously though it is a large county so be prepared to travel if you want to gig regularly. Used to play regularly in Exeter (places like The Prospect, General Buller & Corn Exchange) and Plymouth as well as in and around North Devon. The Palladium Club in Bideford (pre lockdown!) hold a weekly jam session on a Tuesday night which is a good way to make contacts, introduce yourself etc

Cheers

Dave

Edited June 17, 2020 by pnefc42

[ubit]

On 15/06/2020 at 17:29, odysseus said:

Mostly bog standard pub rock and pop covers, but there is some good stuff out there too

Excuse me! I resemble that remark! I'll have you know that I have seen and been in bands that did this very well indeed.

[Phil Starr]

I believe the reason the SW is so well represented on Lemonrock is that Mac absorbed another gig website early on. Lemonrock is great when most of the local music scene uses it so new bands join too. 

Anyway my band play North Devon from time to time with our 'bog-standard' covers band. Anyone who comes from the home counties is in for a shock, there just isn't the population density to drive a commercially thriving scene and you'll probably have to be less fussy about what you play. I've played with a few people who were pro or semi pro in London and they kind of feel they are slumming it playing with the likes of me . the other thing is the pubs are usually smaller too.

The other thing to factor in is the holiday trade, we get most of our gigs in the summer and there is a fair bit of open air stuff around. Beer festivals are usually fun to play. A lot of the hospitality trade close off season or wind down so gigs are sparse from Jan to Mar/April

The first thing is if you want to gig then you have to travel, a 60mile round trip isn't unusual, though the travel time isn't that bad as there is less traffic. The busiest areas are in South Devon, Exeter and Exmouth so North Devon isn't great, as people say a bit in Tiverton and around Barnstaple and that's about it for the pub covers bands. Lots of other music around though, there's plenty of open mic/jam sessions and acoustic music going on.

Cornwall I know less well, it's a long weekend for us but we usually take some gear and play the odd open mic. I've seen some great local bands down there too so something is keeping them going but talking to them this is a place to retire to if you are a musician. Most of them gig just for the love of playing.

I've met lovely people down here (I moved from Reading 20+ years ago) there are loads of musicians, lot's going on but it isn't as a commercial thing for all but a few. You may have to adapt a little and look further South if you want a livelier scene.

[fretmeister]

They have both types.

Country and, err West Country.

[Guest]

You'll like Cornwall if you're a Bee Gees fan.  Apparently you can still see Morris dancing there.

[Raslee]

Fantastic on the functions band scene down here, lots of weddings, functions at the tourists sites (be prepared to play cheesy shite though),  and a few great festivals to boot.....whats not to like

[TheRev]

I do about 60 gigs a year across Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. There's loads of great little festivals and a great network of bands and musicians. 

As long as you're prepared to do a bit of travelling, you'll have no problem.

[attackbass]

My girlfriends dad plays in a band called the Rocking Good Knights or something like that down in North Devon. There seems to be a lot of small pubs and places to play down there and he seems to gig fairly often. Lots of open mic nights too apparently, though I would rather cut my ears off than listen to some "singer songwriter's" folk-prog 10minute acoustic epic, personally. 

[fryer]

thank you all.I'll hopefully let you know what happens

[chris_b]

14 hours ago, Raslee said:

Fantastic on the functions band scene down here, lots of weddings, functions at the tourists sites (be prepared to play cheesy shite though), 

ATM I'd happily play cheesy shite, with an extra helping of cheesy shite on the side.

[NancyJohnson]

I have a mate who owns 40 acres near Dolton, part of his land forms a bowl and he currently has a farmer's cattle graze on it as it's unusable.  Last summer he said he was thinking about using it for a music festival, with camping in an adjacent field.  Watch this space.

[Maude]

In general the north of Devon and Cornwall is less populated than the south so gigs will be fewer and further in between. The further west you go in Cornwall the less it matters as the north and south coasts are so close. 

Plymouth, Truro, Exeter, etc are busy-ish as gigs go. We've found that the smaller more rural areas appreciate live music much more and even though the audience might be smaller than in the bigger towns and cities, they tend to be there for the music rather than just out on the lash and there happens to be a band on. 

Neither of our bands are just standard pub rock and we've been doing alright, the Mod/Northern Soul/Ska band more than alright really. 

There's plenty of smaller festivals as well. 

You will definitely need a big car and a willingness to travel though. 

[Happy Jack]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

I have a mate who owns 40 acres near Dolton, part of his land forms a bowl and he currently has a farmer's cattle graze on it as it's unusable.  Last summer he said he was thinking about using it for a music festival, with camping in an adjacent field.  Watch this space.

So basically he's pre-plopping the Festival Site. I like a man who thinks ahead ...

 

[NancyJohnson]

30 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

So basically he's pre-plopping the Festival Site. I like a man who thinks ahead ...

 

Ha!  When he bought the place, I genuinely thought there was a bit of Tom and Barbara going on, but he's already done some phenominal work at self-sufficiency, organic vegetarian farming, going off-grid and trying to get the land back to how it was about 500 years ago (chemical free and ploppy).

The natural hollow that this bit of land lies in is great; it's triangular, about 250 a side, good (possible) staging area, plus a field for camping.  He's always been a man with a plan.

[Maude]

Tell him we'll organise a Basschat festival, a weekend of basschatters bands. 

We'll call it 'Chatfest'. 😁

[Staggering on]

1 hour ago, Maude said:

Tell him we'll organise a Basschat festival, a weekend of basschatters bands. 

We'll call it 'Chatfest'. 😁

Now that would be a great idea.👍