The Hobbit Presents ‘Rock Night’
The Hobbit Presents 'Rock Night'
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Click here for a gallery of pictures taken on the night. The Fret Music Open night on 16th November 2009 was by far the most successful event Fret Music has ever staged.The evening opened at 6.30pm when visitors began to arrive and were registered for the “Playing In A Band” initiative. There were 68 registrations and we estimate 100 people in total.The event kicked off with a welcome from Eddy Hailwood M.D. of Fret Music and Tony West proprietor of ADW Musictech.The first event was an appearance by “The Groove Merchant”. This featured two female vocalists, bass,drums, one guitarist and akeyboard player. G.M. is an initiative by the Southampton Music Services to mentor young musicians in band situations to a high standard and be able to perform. Their appearances to date actually include “The Albert Hall!”. Fret and ADW Musictech were instrumental in setting it all up some three years ago. Fret Music actually supplied the backline and PA System with the help of Peavey UK and staged auditions at their premises. |
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This great set was followed by Marshall Amplification’s launch of their new range of amps the MA range. Chris George of Marshall expertly demonstrated their range of amps from the humble MG10 to the MA 100 watt valve head. Fret Music were privileged to be given the opportunity to launch the new accessible range of Marshall MA valve amps. Chris ably demonstrated the universal language of music by discarding his backing tracks and jamming with the bass player and drummer from “The Groove Merchant”. The audience loved this.Peavey Ampification were present demonstrating their Vypyr range of amps. Tom Allan (alias Abraham Lincoln, for obvious reasons) showed just what this awesome range of amps was capable of. We have had a long relationship with this great company in fact thirty years in 2010. Once more they gave us the support we have come to expect.ESP guitars were represented by Kelly Downes. He had brought an Iron Cross along to exhibit. The ESP Iron Cross James Hetfield signature guitar is a replica of the Hetfield’s model featured on the 2009 Death Magnetic tour with Metallica. ESP has only produced a limited quantity of these guitars. The ESP Iron Cross features a relic finish designed to look exactly like James Hetfield’s original customized 1973 ‘Iron Cross’ Gibson Les Paul. |
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Gerry of Mapex Drums was kept busy all night talking drums discussing the full range of Mapex from the QR series to the flagship Orion. A special order for an Orion kit was discussed on the night. There was a lot of interest in Black Panther Snare drums in fact one was donated as a draw prize.Mapex were ably supported by Russ from Yamaha representing Zildjian Cymbals. He mainly concentrated on the new range of Z3 cymbals.The Ranch Studios Southampton were there to give advice. Check out their site. This is the place of choice now for most of the bands including some big names. As a Ranch customer you will qualify for discount at Fret Music.During the course of the evening a draw took place for three prizes . Kath Page the organiser of Groove Merchant made the draw. The Lucky winners were.1/ Rebecca Lombard won a Marshall MG30DFX guitar combo.
2/James Bartholomew won a Peavey Vypyr 15 guitar combo. 3/ Charlie James won a Black Panther Walnut snare drum. |
| Some of the visitors then took part in an impromptu jam session. While all this was going on musicians were being mentored in two rehearsal rooms on the first floor. They were rehearsed with the help of ADW Musictech and our drum teachers. The musicians were then brought down to the performance area where the two bands performed a song each.The evening was video recorded by our very own Adam Chmarny. This is available online.Keith Curtis who is one of the best performance photographers anywhere recorded the whole of the evening and a gallery of all the pictures taken is available online. If you want any of the pictures please contact Keith on keith@keithcurtis.co.uk.The evening eventually came to a halt with a farewell note from Eddy and Tony. And most of those involved went to the pub and then had a very nice curry. | |
| The main message of the evening is that all those young musicians who got together for the first time can now continue those relationships and will not be frustrated in having no other musicians to play along with. Fret and ADW Musictech are making it their prime aim to help to foster this initiative with mentoring , equipment loans and use of our facilities. All of the companies present that night were impressed by the attitude of the kids and how well it all went. Companies like Peavey and Marshall can and do help out with sponsorship and with their massive profiles put bands in situations that would not normally be possible.If you want to be involved at the next one contact sales@fretmusic.co.uk or tel 023 8077 4433Once again thanks to all who attended and made this such a successful night. |
