Each week, there are 10 great acts in our playlist, all with a connection to Reading or Wokingham. As always, we have a wide variety of musical styles, but we think they’re all worth a listen, and we hope you find something new to enjoy as well as maybe getting out to experience the thrill of live music. This week, we’ve got three new entries, with a definite bluesy feel.
1. The Bluepers – I Don’t Wanna Be Managed –
We popped along to the regular Monday music night at The Purple Turtle, run by Groove Cult Shindigs, and were blown away by the headliners, The Bluepers. Effervescent with energy, this Reading-based band know how to put on a show, and their self-penned songs are full of humour. They are influenced by some classic bands such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, T-Rex and Thin Lizzy, but have their own sound. This is their most recent single, all about their preferred career choices. https://linktr.ee/thebluepers
2. Belizaire – Bear’s Claws –
Belizaire are having a productive year, we featured their first single earlier this year, since when they’ve released two more singles and an album, Unravel, which are all worth a listen. This is the second single, and finds main man CJ Silvestre meditating on the state of a relationship. They already have some dates lined up for a short tour, starting at the Rising Sun Arts Centre on 26th June. https://www.facebook.com/belizaireband
3. Bonnie and the Jets – Broke Blues –
This is hot off the presses (if that’s still the right term!), just released on 9th May, this is the new single from Bonnie and the Jets. All the way from Oslo in Norway, they’re heading our way in order to top the bill on the Marquee stage at Wokingham Festival in August (Early Bird tickets on sale now!). As seems to be a common theme, this rocking number looks at the state of a relationship, wondering what’s next, but does it in exuberant style. https://www.facebook.com/ bonnieandthejetsmusic
4. Leoni Jane Kennedy – Closer –
We featured Leoni Jane Kennedy earlier in the year, since when she’s been very busy releasing new material, playing solo gigs and playing guitar and supplying vocals for not one but two great bands – Solstice and and the Anchoress (who supported Manic Street Preachers!). We saw her play with Solstice in Southampton last month, and you can see her not very far away, in Aldershot next month with the Anchoress at the West End Centre on June 11th. Closer is the second single from her first album of original music, and harks back to the pandemic and distance and detachment from the outside world felt during lockdown and how it felt to come out of it. https://www.leonijanekennedy.com/
5. Leonie Jakobi – I Deserve to Shine –
It’s another Leoni/Leonie playlist, and we make no apologies for that! This is a great upbeat track praising self-empowerment and has an old school rock’n’roll energy – the opening reminds us very strongly of Bruce Springsteen, which is no bad thing! Leonie says “In this song, I’m taking a feminist stance, and calling out the way some people are drawn to a woman’s radiance only to try and control it. My message is loud and clear: happiness is something you fight for, and no one has the right to take it away.” We’re looking forward to seeing Leonie playing on the Marquee stage at Wokingham Festival in August. https://www.facebook.com/leoniejaprofil
6. Man/Woman/Chainsaw – Adam & Steve –
Man/Woman/Chainsaw were identified as a band to watch out for in 2025 by NME, and were praised for their “circus of orchestral grunge insanity”. Judge for yourself, with this, their latest single; if you went to the Are You Listening? Festival last weekend in Reading you might have caught them. https://linktr.ee/manwomanchainsaw
7. Henge – Slingshot/Hypersleep –
Henge are a group of interstellar travellers who touch down on earth to take some of the inhabitants on an interstellar journey. Last month it was the turn of some lucky folk in Reading to be taken on a trip to the planet Voltus B and experience the wonders of space, as well as hear a message of universal peace and kindness, before returning via a wormhole to South Street Arts Centre! Catch them on tour, for an unforgettable, playful, experience. https://www.facebook.com/HENGEmusic
8. Sprints – Feast –
Music festivals are a great opportunity to discover new bands, and we are very fortunate to have so many in and around Reading and Wokingham. Sprints headlined the opening Friday night at St Laurence Church. https://www.sprintsmusic.com/
9. John McKay – The Blessed West –
This one is something old and new at the same time. John McKay was the groundbreaking guitarist with Siouxsie and the Banshees for their first two albums and early singles, who then disappeared mid-tour. Post-departure he worked in the studio with a group of fugitives from other bands on some tracks which have been unheard until now, when they’ve been unearthed and released on an album, Sixes and Sevens (due out 9th May). This characteristically jagged and jolting track, angry and claustrophobic as it was influenced by the atmosphere of the Thatcher era, is the first single from it. John McKay is touring too, and you can see John McKay’s Reactor at The Facebar on 17th June, courtesy of Club Velocity.
10. Rila’s Edge – Undone –
We’ve watched Rila’s Edge go from strength to strength over the last few years, from support slots to headlining on the main stage at last year’s Wokingham Festival. We’re expecting big things from them this year, too, if their new single is anything to go by, an intense track that builds to a wall-of-sound big finish. They kicked off their live appearances with a show in London last month. https:// linktr.ee/RilasEdge
You can listen to all the songs featured in our Spotify playlist at https://bit.ly/rawsoundstoday
