- Nightlife round-up
- Jersey Dead Festival returning next month
- What’s on diary
IT SEEMS as if summer has not yet arrived but plans have already been put in place for what could be the final Watersplash event of the season.
Drum and bass stalwarts DJ Hype featuring MC Funsta will be headlining the event on Saturday 26 September, while Annix will be making an appearance as organisers Vanguard’s ‘very special guest’.
Hype and Annix have made their names as part of Fabric’s most successful and longest-running club nights – Playaz.
Support artists already confirmed include J-Breakz, Romano, Marx and MC Wildee.
Early-bird tickets have already sold out. Regular tickets, which are priced at £15, can be bought online by searching for Playaz at eventbrite.com.
Vanguard spoke to the Nightlife about the gig where they are promising music that St Ouen was made for.
What can Islanders expect?
They can expect one of Fabric’s most successful and longest-running nights – Playaz – to touch down at the ‘Splash with a UK DJ icon in DJ Hype performing and one of the most exciting up-and-coming DJ and producer acts in the UK, Annix, both alongside London-based MC Funsta, plus two rooms of Jersey’s finest artists all for a great price.
How much of a coup is it to get the Playaz night over?
It’s massive. Hype is in such high demand all over the world so to secure him any time is great, especially alongside one of the most recent acts he has signed
to his label in Annix. We are super hyped to have them both represent Playaz for one of our Vanguard nights at the ‘Splash.
What will some of the artists, such as Hype and Annix, bring to the event?
Both UK artists will bring the freshest, most underground beats to Jersey, so expect to hear plenty of new music that you have never heard before. It will also be heard the way it should be – on a huge rig with plenty of bass. Drum and bass music is made for huge sound systems.
Are you anticipating a sell-out?
Most definitely, yes. Hype came over quite a while ago, and back then it was a sell-out. So, with how popular drum and bass is these days, everyone attending can expect a roadblock event with the finest production and sound available in the Island. We advise everyone to grab their tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. This will be the last big ‘Splash event of the warmer months.
Saturday 15 August
- Blue Note: Live Electric Blues, at 4 pm
- The Dolphin: Sgt Pipon
- Green Rooster: Backbeat
- Kitty OSheas: Mark & Jim
- Merton Hotel: Goldstar: Retro party cover band
- Savoy Hotel: The LQ Latin-Jazz band
- Soleil: Northern Soul & Motown with DJ Rex
- Union Inn: Karaoke
Friday 21 August
- Best Western Royal Hotel: Bar 27: The Dice Men
- The Inn: Adam
- Kitty OSheas: The Riffs
- Merton Hotel: Blues Bros
- Ommaroo Hotel: Gary Palmer
- The Rozel: Parish 13
Saturday 22 August
- Blue Note: Live Electric Blues, at 4 pm
- The Dolphin: Rockin Robins
- Green Rooster: Backbeat
- Kitty OSheas: Bree & Mike
- Merton Hotel: Goldstar: Retro party cover band
- Soleil: Northern Soul & Motown with DJ Rex
- Union Inn: Karaoke
Jersey Deads back to enliven metal heads
JERSEY Dead – the alternative to the Jersey Live festival – is returning next month for its sixth instalment.
The annual two-day rock and metal gig was first held in 2010 in response to what organisers Deputy Sam Mézec and Sam Delanoe, both musicians, saw as the ‘over-priced and over-hyped’ Jersey Live.
Many of the acts performing are from Jersey, while a couple from Guernsey and some London bands have also got involved as the event has grown from one to two nights.
The main event is at the Watersplash on Sunday 5 September from 10 am until 2 am, while an under-18s gig is being held the night before from 6 pm to 9 pm. Coaches to and from Liberation Station are available, although spaces are limited.
Tickets are £7 on the door, including coach passes, or £5 without the transport. Entrance is £4 for the under-18s event.
Nightlife asked Deputy Mézec what Islanders could expect from the event.
What exactly is Jersey Dead?
Every year on the same weekend as Jersey Live we put on a gig of the best local rock and metal bands, with guests from outside the Island, to provide an alternative to Jersey Live for people who aren’t interested in going or don’t want to spend all that money.
Did you ever envisage it being so popular?
We did. We’ve never been interested in going to Jersey Live because it is far too expensive and doesn’t appeal to us, and we knew loads of people who were the same.
Which local bands should Islanders listen out for?
Demise of Sanity and Masticated are pretty much the best traditional metal bands on the scene at the moment.
There are some groups over from Guernsey and the UK too – tell us more about them?
Neuronspoiler have played in Jersey once before, but since then they have a new drummer who is a Jerseyman. Their debut album was highly acclaimed in metal magazines and their live show will have people’s jaws dropping.
There is also an under-18s event. Is the first time that has happened?
We’ve always been really keen to give an opportunity to young bands to play their music because that’s how you nurture new talent. We’ve got some fantastic young musicians in Jersey who often put on as good a show as some of the bands twice their age.
Who will be performing then?
So far the acts we have confirmed are: Gorst (under 18), Tulum (under 18), Made
in China (under 18), FlashMob, Salem’s Lot, The Outlaw Gentlemen, Mandala, Masticated, Demise of Sanity, Neuronspoiler (UK).
Are there enough events in Jersey that cater for this genre of music?
It’s improving at the moment because of the great work that Twice Dead Records are doing to put on gigs throughout the year.
If you could bring five acts to Jersey Dead who would they be?
Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Nemesis (Guernsey) and George Michael.
