Old and new make for a great recipe!     Words & pictures by Dave Whiteman


What a fantastic few days of entertainment we have had this week in the town, with first The Pheasant on Sunday, The Navy on Tues and finally The Lion on Thursday all playing cracking live music.

The ticket only event at the Phez was to celebrate landlord Paul Quinn’s 20 years behind the bar and featured Weasel Diesel playing their final gig in the town before disbanding. A brilliant set from this talented band left hundreds of people in the pub dancing, singing and wanting more.

As one band finishes however, a new one or two (or three) are born….The King is dead, long live the King! New bands Lost the Plot, Shot Glass Heroes and Touch too Much, are all now out gigging and for a lot of these musicians, their first tentative musical steps were made on the stage of the Newport Open Mic.

I expected Tuesday night to be very quiet, with sub zero temperatures and icy footpaths keeping people away, but by 8.30pm the board was virtually full and a crowd of around 75 eagerly awaited this week’s musical mix.

Darcy Crawford recently back from a holiday in Nashville, started us off with a polished performance including U2, Paulo Nutini and Gerry Rafferty. I was expecting lots of Country &Western, but the only evidence of his trip, was a belting pair of cowboy boots!


Malcolm Purvis is back in town and after performing four of his own songs, including an excellent ‘Drifter’, he told me that he has recently started gigging himself in his hometown of Leeds, after gaining the confidence playing at the Navy….nice to hear.

Also back from holiday, Dave Whiteman then took to the stage to sing a few favourites from Police, Springsteen and The Stones before another newcomer to the Open Mic.

Watch out for the name Brent Lee…his performance of his own compositions had the audience wanting more after listening to ‘Bite your tongue’, ‘Moses’ and a work in progress with a rough title of ‘Reds’ that was just superb.







Time now for a Scratchband, often my favourite part of the evening, where a bunch of musicians will just get on stage and jam.  A mixture of youth and experience brought together Dave Blu, Andy Clarke, Remynie Faith and Olly Flavell for a cracking blues set. Who was the youth and who was the experience? Difficult to tell after this brilliant set!

Olly remained on stage and joined by his usual playing partner, Jake, entertained us with a couple of great songs from Bill Withers and Amy Whitehouse, before our second band of the evening, Vinyl Tap. It is clear to see rehearsal paying off….this lot get tighter and tighter, with very strong vocals from Alex on ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ and ‘Don’t Marry Her’. In a new twist, they then brought multi talented Remynie Faith from the drums to the front to sing Amy Macdonald’s ‘This is the Life’…find some more material for her, ‘cos this was fantastic.


First of the two Melissa’s next on stage, 14 years old Melissa Severn brought a few new songs to an appreciative audience. We haven’t seen her in a while, probably busy with other things……like school! She has a real presence, smiley, confident and articulate and her three song set of self penned songs was brought to an end with a brand new composition, ‘Stupid Boy’. Mark my words; this girl will have a career in music.


Our second Mellissa, Walford, had a cold, had left her guitar at home and didn’t want to sing, but after a little arm twisting she plugged in her phone and wowed The Navy with songs from Alicia Keys and the best Dusty Springfield song EVER, ‘Son of a Preacher Man’.  Keep taking the medicine Mellissa, but on this evidence you don’t need it.


Just time before the lights went up for Dave Blu to assemble another Scratchband to close the evening. Dave Whiteman on vocals and Brad Taylor on bass joined the ever reliable Remynie back on drums to rock us out with Thin Lizzy, The Stones and Free.

So once again, when you least expect it, a sizeable audience enjoy another feast of fabulous live music in The Navy. Now established for over 10 years, the Open Mic is gaining the reputation as THE place to come and sing, play or just listen. Held at the Royal Naval Association every Tuesday in Bellman’s’ Yard, just off the High St, start time 8pm.  Entry just £1 including a raffle………why not come along and see what all the fuss is about?