ME5 Launch Line Up Confirmed for 29th/30th November

The weekend of the 29th and 30th November promises to be a good one. The ME5 album (our fifth annual download compilation of Medway music) is in the can and ready for digital release at midnight on Friday 29th November, all 58 tracks of it, and the Just Giving page for donations to Young Minds is under construction. For reasons we’ll come to in a minute, we thought a five year run was worth celebrating with a more than one event, so think of the weekend as a mini-festival.

On Friday 29th November you will have two choices: You can come to the Nag’s Head in Rochester to see Broken Banjo, The Flying Isaacs and The Flowing, or you can go to St Mary’s Social Club in Gillingham to hear acoustic sets by Theatre Royal and Wildfowl plus some open mic performances.

On Saturday 30th we’ll be at the Barge in Gillingham for performances by Balance Lost, Natalie Evans and Chris ‘Arfur’ Allen for a gig that will serve not only as an after launch party for the ME5 album, but also as a ‘goodnight and thank you’ from Medway Eyes. Not only will ME5 be the last album we put out, this will also be the last ever Medway Eyes event. We’ve achieved a lot along the way, but five years is a long enough run for a good idea and it’s time to pursue other things.

So come along. It’ll be fun :0)

Issuing A Broadside

The Medway Broadside launches at Poco Loco at 3:00 this Sunday afternoon (28th November). All are welcome, and there will be live acoustic music from the astonishing talents Didi Bergman, Joe Cottiss and Theatre Royal.

But what is the Medway Broadside?

It’s a community sourced publication, written and produced by volunteers, that focuses on local issues and leans towards the grass roots arts.  The aim is to produce a print run once a quarter and to have a website to complement that. There is no gloss, no advertising and no clutter or careeerism.

Medway Eyes would like to be honest and open and declare its interests here. The editorial team is comprised of two Medway Eyes trustees. Just so you know.

That said, anybody can offer a contribution to the Broadside as long as it is not politically parmesan, simply by writing to editor@themedwaybroadside.com. We’d urge you to do so. We all have our views and our take on things, after all. Everybody deserves a voice, particularly in a local environment where issues like city status are at the forefront of public debate.

Come along. Check it out. Embrace the alternative. We’d love to see you and to listen to you. In the meantime, here’s a word from one who knew…

An Interview With Fizzer Rippon

On Monday 11th october, we sent Phil Dillon to Radio Sunlight to be interviewed by Fizzer Rippon on his radio show. They talked aboutMedway Eyes, ME2 (the second birthday gig and album). A big thank you to Fizzer and his team for having Phil on the show and for sorting out the audio for us.

You can now hear the whole thing, including songs by the three acts playing at the birthday shindig this very evening, Stuart Turner & The Flat Earth Society, The Flowing and Fires Took Over. Enjoy it, and we’ll see you in a few hours.

Pop over to our Facebook profile to stream the interview, or download it if you prefer.