Words by Ollie MacKenzie. Featured Image by Barbora Mrazkova.  The creative process can be a winding, long, and often confusing journey. Seeing a project come to fruition from scrappy origin to a packaged, marketable, and well-rounded piece of work can feel daunting - or even impossible. It took Gus White six years of honing his production skills, amassing an arsenal of musical machinery, and developing a community of talented musicians to bring his album ‘

Who’s ready for walking in the winter wonderland?! Devizes sets to magically transform into a winter wonderland this Friday when The Winter Festival and Lantern Parade opens in the Market Place; excited?! Well, I say magically, it actually takes a lot of hard work to put on; thank you to DOCA and all the volunteers. A spokesperson for DOCA was confident things were all good last week, and was only worried about the weather forecast…..

One part of Swindon was in perfect harmony last night, and I don’t mean the traffic circumnavigating the Magic Roundabout. Rather The Lost Trades were at the Hop in Old Town, honouring a postponed gig from September….. SoP Live, who run a regular Thursday night music club at The Castle, plenty of other gigs, and coordinate the Swindon Shuffle and Swinterfest, arranged this evening’s entertainment at…

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year's pantomime at Devizes’ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it up in a word, the word would be “delightful…..” With Ian dedicated to all things theatrical here on Devizine, panto is reserved for my tuppence; that has become as much a Christmas tradition as Brussel sprouts! Snow White is the choice to loosely base the crazy and fun shenanigans around this time, and while I usually attend just to announce what a treat you'll miss out on unless you've a ticket, this time the Wharf has doubled the run to a fortnight, so it's not sold out ...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Rowdey Cow cafe and ice cream parlour; their Christmas Tree Light Switch On is this Friday, the 21st November….. If you thought an ice cream parlour was restricted to summertime, think again! It’s the first time the Rowdey Cow near Devizes has held a Christmas light switch on event, and we wish them all the best with it.

Raging expressions of angered feminist teenage anguish this month, perfectly delivered by Steatopygous via their mindblowing debut album Songs of Salome, I hail as the pinnacle of Sketchbook Records to date. But it's only been a year since Simon formed the label. It's DIY, a contemporary local counterculture ethos; welcome to the Wiltshire underground of the now; there's more to discover….

Local reporter of the month award, if I had a local reporter of the month award, which I don't, but based on this, perhaps I should have a local reporter of the month award, goes to Newsquest senior reporter Sarah Dalton, whether she wants the award or not, not that there even is one!! Credit where it's due, even if we do take the occasional satirical stab in the dark at Newsquest, this week Sarah wrote…

The only good to have come from Wiltshire having a Police Crime Commissioner was proof The Conservatives used their power to reward their elite bum chums and family with overpaid, high power and often completely unnecessary penpushing jobs…. A Devizes Conservative town councillor once told me if I “get the chance to interview Philip (Wilkinson) you should take it. He is a good man and has huge respect for Mike (Rees) and sympathy that he has had to refinance due to the previous election.”

And so it begins, the build-up, the tension; come all ye faithful round yon virgins and three kings of orient are, spreading joy to the world while shepherds wash their socks and Batman smells. In which, in order to spread warm emotions of peace and unity for the one day, it’s obligatory to rush around like headless chickens for two months, verbally abuse drivers in traffic jams, inevitably cause accidents because we’re too consumed by what little Johnny wants this year to concentrate on our driving!

If you need a reason to understand why I was so excited about The Sarah C Ryan Band coming to RowdeFest back in May, you wasn't there!! And if you wasn't, well, I'm not going to pick on you, just leave said example below and let you decide..... My Radio Silence, recorded for a session at Crescent Records Studio in Swindon, back in July 2024, has recently been published on YouTube for prosperity, and shows precisely why I so absolutely, totally 100% love this band!

It’s nice to hear when our features attract attention. Salisbury’s Radio Odstock  picked up on our interview with Devizes band Burn the Midnight Oil and they gained air time, but the interview was published short of year ago now, and the band have had significant changes to the lineup and their style. So, I the time is nigh to poke my bulbous nose in and interrupt their rehearsal again…..

Devizine can reveal how a new book by a local author might possibly be the reason why Devizine isn't as funny as it used to be…. Devizine, it used to be funny, but sadly it seems it's not so much anymore. Who took the banana skin from under its flip-flop? Who failed to give it a raspberry on the bouncy belly?

Next week, MP for Melksham & Devizes Brian Mathew will be taking on Skynet and raising a question in Parliament about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the creative sector. From writers and musicians to designers and artists, he invites local creatives to have their say…. Only a few weeks ago a Facebook page which posts material about music legends took a picture from a Devizine review of an Adam & The Ants tribute act, Ant Trouble, at Swindon’s Victoria and, believing it to be the real Adam Ant it used it to illustrate a post about him!

In thanking everyone who supported this year's Wiltshire Music Awards, Eddie Prestidge of Stone Circle Music Events revealed his intentions of continuing with the awards into next year…  “Firstly, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported and got involved in our very first Wiltshire Music Awards,” he said. “The enthusiasm, energy, and community spirit were incredible to see.”

Featured Image: Lillie Eiger Frome Festival is launching its ‘25 for 25’ fundraising campaign with a very special concert featuring three locally based acts: Tom Moth – best known as the harpist for multi-platinum-selling band Florence + The Machine – alt-folk duo māsa, and brand-new soul/funk collective The Juice.... The event, taking place at The Tunnels on Saturday 29th November…

I’ve got some gorgeous vocal harmonies currently floating into my ears, as The Lost Trades release their first single since the replacement of Tamsin Quin with Jess Vincent way back in February, and its immediate impact clearly says a Lost Trades classic….. If some previous songs of The Lost Trades had a lead vocal, they’re not the Spice Girls so I couldn’t pick a favourite, and the trio are truly at their best when there isn’t a lead and the song centralises on their astounding harmony!

Rolling out a Barrelhouse of fun, you can have blues on the run, tomorrow (7th November) when Marlborough's finest groovy vintage blues virtuosos Barrelhouse release Open for Business, their third studio album indicative of their astounding live show….. Tim and Stuart's dramatic guitar riff from the off, drums kick in and Open for Business doesn't wait around for you to hang your barn jacket on the juke joint's hall tree.

Wiltshire Council confirmed Blue Badge holders can park freely in council-operated car parks again, following a vote at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 21 October; you might think the majority would support the notion, but misinformation against it is being spread by an ex-Wiltshire Councillor and current Devizes Town Councillor on their popular Facebook group….. Confirmation on the lift was…

Special guests Lightning Seeds to Support Forest Live, Forestry England’s summer concert series presented with Cuffe & Taylor, has announced much loved and revered Scottish hitmakers Deacon Blue as the latest headliner for its 2026 shows. Deacon Blue will be joined by Lightning Seeds at the stunning Forestry England Westonbirt Arboretum on Thursday June 25rd June....... Speaking about hitting the road, and hinting at the band’s recent album title, frontman Ricky Ross said: 

Bristol’s regular Johnny B Goode, Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue goes full on swing with a new single, a take on The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 1998 album title track The Dirty Boogie..... Another high-energy bout of rockabilly guitar divinity we love from Ruzz, but this time we’re transported back to 1920s New Orleans dancehalls for that big band swing sound; jazz hands! The Dirty Boogie, is out today on digital download for a quid, from Bandcamp.

Westbury country singer-songwriter Kirsty Clinch released a Christmas song only yesterday, raising funds for the Caenhill Countryside Centre near Devizes, and it’s already racing up the iTunes country music charts…. It’s one thing to get your song out locally, but Kirsty was excited to announce that she, “woke up this morning, and we are still in the top 10 of the iTunes country music charts and 180 in the overall charts, not only that, last night I saw we hit 7!”

It was never just the fervent ambience created which makes me go tingly with excitement about Melksham’s young indie band Between The Lines’ demo single Fading Time, it was the profusion of potential. A latent driving me to Swindon Shuffle this year, where they’d be playing at The Hop, but now a manifest for all to hear the reason for my tingle, as Between The Lines release their debut EP…

A second track from local anonymous songwriter Joyrobber has mysteriously appeared online, and he’s bitter about not getting his dream job….. If this mysterious dude’s August invective track at racist talk show host Jeremy Kyle, and his patronising attitude, it feels like him telling me he’s “not one for holding a grudge,” might have a smidgen of irony too! His grungy pop-punk response to his career rejection might be biting satire, but amusing with it.

It’s not Christmas until the choir sings, and Devizes Chamber Choir intend to do precisely this by announcing their Christmas Concert, as they have done since they were founded in 1978….. Devizes Chamber Choir is a group of around thirty singers, with a broad repertoire from acapella, through chamber works to major choral masterpieces including The Creation and Elijah. Their programme comprises of three seasonal concerts annually, a spring concert of standard classical works, a summer concert of lighter music and a seasonal Christmas concert of carols, and obviously it’s the latter which is coming up next; deck the halls!

All Images By Helen Polarpix Best part of a week since Stone Circle Music Events’ Wiltshire Music Awards and I’m still at one thousand feet about what we achieved, and dealing with a cascade of feedback. While some of it has been appreciated constructive criticism, that crazy playground called social media is such that some comments have become unfair, misinformed or even blatantly untrue.