This Saturday sees the Amber Bar in Douglas opening its doors to host a pretty special double header.
On one side you’ll see the excellent trip hop, heavy psychedelia rock behemoth that is Post War Stories.
The band is certainly no stranger to the Manx live scene and have been together since 2012.
That said, the trio of Paul Salisbury (vocals/guitar), Martyn Cain (bass) and Ben O’Hare (drums/samples) have been playing together since their earliest incarnation as Gratiz 3 back in the early noughties.
The band has released offerings so far in the shape of ‘NinedeadAirshow’ in 2013 with ‘The Cold Wars’, and ‘Live at Kenna’ EP’s following in 2014 and ‘Visions: Live 2’ released last year.
Indeed, they also released ‘This Terrible Ordeal : Soundtracking The Lives Of Manx Residents In WWI’ in collaboration with The Isle of Man Arts Council and Manx National Heritage in 2015, so these boys have been busy!
Those who have seen the band live and listened to their output over the last couple of years will know that influence-wise they are in the same ball park as the likes of Dark Star, Massive Attack, Oceansize, iLikeTrains, The Cooper Temple Clause and Amplifier and are certainly one of the big hitters on the Manx live scene.
The band has links to all of their releases on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/postwarstories/
Joining Post War Stories on the bill and making their Amber debut will be In The Blood.
The band were formed early in 2015 by guitarists James Craig of Pigs On The Wing and Mark Lawrence, formerly of Nick Barlow and the Bad Noise.
Soon after, the vacant drum stool was filled by A Little Bitta’ Rosie skinsman Andy James with Dave Brew of local prog band Kvarken joining to take up vocal duties.
The line-up was finally completed with Jamie Christian from Jester’s Dead on bass.
The band, who cite their influences as anywhere from progressive rock to country blues with a smattering of rock, played their debut show in August of last year at the Gaiety Theatre as support to Pink Floyd tribute Pigs On The Wing.
The band is also currently working on a debut release. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/In-The-Blood-1450594495262906/
Now, 995 are a band that have been making themselves known to the Manx gig goers for a little while now.
Formed by Matt Todd on keys and vocals, Maric Thorpe on guitar and vocals and Gerard Hall on bass, they completed their line-up by bringing in Ian Manton on vocals and Danny Mills on drums, both plucked from fellow local circuit veterans Catch 22.
The band drop a variety of pieces into their setlist ranging from One Republic via Jimi Hendrix to Kings of Leon and Stereophonics.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, then you can catch their next show this Saturday night at Jaks Bar in Douglas.
For further details visit www.facebook.com/995theband
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Steve Leach brings the latest rumblings, murmurings, news and views on forthcoming events in and around the island’s music scene. Help support the scene by emailing leachsteve@hotmail.com