Review of 2015, July to December. Words: Dave Whiteman

Well here we are in another year, with our belief that the Newport Open Mic will continue to go from strength to strength. New faces are joining all the time, equipment is being added and a major renovation to the stage area will soon be started. We thought it might be quite nice to take a reflective look at 2015 and review some of the highlights of the year.

July started with our oldest and youngest performers on the same bill for the first time. Eddie Maiden at 71 years young is our senior member and he showed once again that he can still belt out a tune or two, with a couple of great covers from Neil Diamond.

Following Eddie, our youngest player, 12 years old Jay Harris gave another solid performance with an electric set that featured Neil Young and Tom Petty. It is easy to see young Jay running this Open Mic in the future, such is his passion for live music.

August With a large audience, it’s not unusual for the background noise to climb as the night progresses, but a sure way to shut everyone up is to put Remynie Faith on. As she softly strums her guitar before adding her beautiful vocal, the noise vanishes. You could hear the proverbial pin drop when she played ‘Hallelujah’….. not many people have this talent…..Remynie has it in spades.

Not to be outdone, older brother Hayden Lee followed on stage and another great musician delighted the audience with his very original experimental style. Detuning his guitar and stretching his vocal range he easily won over a receptive audience and made his mum proud! What a talented family.

September Girl Power came to the club in the form of a three piece rock band, a first at the Navy Open Mic, with Emma Woodhouse and Becky Hick on guitars and vocals and Lexi Jones on drums. A rocky set mixed Alanis Morisette, Suzi Quatro, and even The Kinks…..great stuff ladies.

Newcomer 14 year old Frankie Wakefield made her debut in front of a crowd of 50 including her proud dad. With no apparent nerves, lovely stage presence and a voice mature beyond her years, she sang songs by Kodaline and Vance Joy as well as her own "You Said". A great mix of new songs and original material from a young lady destined for a great future. 

October More new faces on stage in the form of Jan & the Noizy Boyz. Guitarist John Cooper, sax Paul Mettem and bassman Andy Plant have all played here before as Syatica, now local drummer Andy Chapman and superb vocalist Jan Bagshaw, have taken them in a new and very entertaining direction……more jazzy and laid back. Opener, Buffalo Springfield’s classic ‘For What it’s Worth’ was understated and simply outstanding.

John Reynolds has been a regular member of the audience for some time now, but he finally took the plunge and got up on stage to play a great Buddy Holly medley, ably assisted by Andy Clark on bass and Richard Thomas behind the drum kit. Since then we have seen John perform a number of times…great stuff.

November I can truthfully say, I cannot remember seeing a more accomplished musician at the Navy than visiting professional Matt Woosey. His guitar playing is simply awesome and his bluesy soulful voice had the crowd spellbound. Self-penned ‘Black Smoke Risin’ was simply outstanding but follow up ‘Love is the strangest Thing’ was even better. Matt has now moved to Germany, but I certainly hope he comes back to see us at some point.

As if things could not get any better, later in the month another touring professional, New Yorker Toby Walker, paid a surprise visit. Freddie King's "Hideaway" opened his set and NO-ONE was heading off for an early night! Toby is a terrific singer/songwriter but his guitar prowess had experienced musicians looking at each other and just rolling their eyes….how did he do that? Fellow American Tosh Murase and blues harp player Ed Sullivan, who were in the audience, were then invited up to accompany Toby, with a song entitled "Just Crazy About an Automobile" which brought probably the loudest applause and cheering I have ever heard at an Open Mic.

December This month saw the club say farewell to local musician Jon Davies, who has moved to London, when his band One Nation played for the final time. With Spence Pollard on drums, Karl Pope-Terry on bass and vocalist Roger Clarke they immediately filled the dance floor with their mixture of ska, funk and soul and it stayed that way till the end of the evening.

This brings us to the climax of the year and the annual thank you to organisers and audience…the Christmas Party. Who better to finish off 2015 than local madcap band ‘Lost the Plot’, who manage to inject slapstick and a huge amount of fun into their act. Don’t be misled, however….these guys are superb musicians and the packed crowd just did not want them to leave the stage. So a magnificent finale to a brilliant year in which hundreds of musicians played at our Open Mic….. far too many to mention here.  Apologies to the many who did not get a name check, but you know who you are, and we are extremely grateful.

Many thanks also to the legion of helpers who have turned up week in week out to set up and break down the equipment, and of course to all the live music fans who have made the regular pilgrimage to the Royal Naval Association every Tuesday evening for the Newport Open Mic. Best wishes to everyone for 2016, and remember…..keep it live!