Back in the 1960s Worthing was a key stop off point for music’s best performers, accommodating greats like Jimmy Hendrix, The Who and Cream. But since that era [them glory days of British music], Worthing mainly hosts only revival bands from yester year and classical music all aimed at an ageing audience. Recently, new venues have been popping up and it’s starting to attract the big names again such as The Horrors. This year, Worthing put on its first Oxjam Festival, which is a nationwide festival run by volunteers to raise money for the good work they do to support the world’s poorest people. For the day of music, they used The Lighthouse Café, Thieves’ Kitchen, The Warwick, The Vintners (that are all on Warwick Street), and Bar 42 (on Marine Parade).

First up were The One Siders at Bar 42. The very young 3 piece, at the beginning of their game, put on a short but powerful set. The lead singer, also on bass, dressed like a young Richard Hawley and had a voice which was somewhere between Jack White and Alex Turner, which any rock god would have been proud of. The band had a great rapport, the guitarist and bassist feeding off each other’s melodies with the drummer holding a tight beat. The One Siders are creating themselves a unique and original sound that lends itself to garage rock‘n’roll and blues. I cannot wait to see what becomes of this band after a few more years of exploring their musical boundaries, as they definitely have a lot of ability and are heading in a great direction.

 

Next to a full Lighthouse Café, which was acting as the Oxjam Festival hub, Jacob Arron took to the stage to showcase his Soulful R&B Pop. Unfortunately this is a sound that could not be further away from the music I love. Albeit, he was very good and got a great reaction from the audience. Jacob has a strong voice with strong lyrics and a strong personality which was nearing on arrogance. Still, he has not swayed me with his sound which has been replicated all too often by the huge number of bedroom producers that are around today.

 

I then caught half of Bradley Hicks, who created unconventional but beautiful cover songs by just finger tapping on his acoustic guitar. This was very easy listening and it commandeered everyone’s attention. Then I took a short walk over the road to The Thieves’ Kitchen to see the end of talented singer songwriter Lewis James’s set, who created a very mellow atmosphere to an appreciative crowd.

 

Following the folky sounds bellowing down Warwick Street, I entered The Vintners where an aged but very tight country blues band performed but didn’t appear to be on the bill. This confused everyone as no one seemed to know their name. The band had a great sound and an old school depressive edge which gave their music some originality. This was mainly down to an amazing electric guitar and an edgy electric violin, christened “the bibble” by the frontman.

 

I had a quick dash to the seafront to see the start of local favourites Bad Billy Band at Bar 42. After a few technical difficulties, the 5 piece knocked out their own take on British folk and rock. For me, their sound lacked originality and it failed to hold my attention past a couple of songs. Not only that, the speakers were stupidly loud which was so unnecessary for such a tiny venue. I made a hasty retreat.

 

Back to the chilled vibes at the Lighthouse Café, where emerging folk talent Dom Prag had just taken to the stage. With his harmonious guitar skills and his poetic lyrics he championed the singer songwriter guise. However, he was not getting the attention he deserved as the audience’s chatting was getting ever louder and his raw and organic sound was being muffled by liquor driven chit-chat. I then pop back to a full Bar 42 to see what the brilliantly named Velveteen Fatty Band had in store. The crowd were loving the band’s mix of soulful tunes and then, after everyone swapping instruments, they churned out beatbox covers of hip-hop songs with ‘Jump’ by Kriss Kross getting the greatest reaction.

 

Onto my 9th band of the day, Bad Mother-Folker at the Lighthouse Café. I was looking forward to seeing him after catching a few clips on YouTube, and in no way did he disappoint. The music of the satirical but relevant “acoustic anti-folk singer/guitarist guy” could be called monotonous or boring, but that only makes you concentrate more on his lyrics which were excellent. Songs like ‘Corn Of The Dead’ a song about vegetarian zombies, a love song about his narcoleptic girlfriend and then finishing off with a fantastic mock song about the Daily Mail. They all had the audience into stitches.

 

The Vril was my final gig at Bar 42. Possibly one of the best bands of the day but there was no audience. I couldn’t understand why as Vril had put together great indie rock which would have definitely got people moving. Perhaps a long day of festival drinking had taken its toll on everyone, or had the still unbearable volume scared everybody off? Whatever the reason, they missed out, or had I missed out on someone else (I heard Little Neve White at Thieves’ Kitchen was amazing), as when I left there was a stream of people heading into the venue?

 

Then I headed to the biggest venue at Worthing’s Oxjam Festival, The Warwick, to see a band I had been hearing a lot of great things about. Fragile Creatures had to deal with a few inconveniences from the start. The band could barely hear themselves, they had a drum that kept running away and also your typical boozy squire was heckling whatever they said (which they managed brilliantly). They performed a well-polished show which was full of energy. The lead singer couldn’t help but jump around to their alternative indie pop, which in turn got a great show of appreciation from the audience.

 

Out of a choice of 5, I chose Sam Walker at the Thieves’ Kitchen to be my headliner of the day. After getting a rave reviews from BrightonsFinest previously, I had to experience him for myself and boy, the one man band did not disappoint. He surrounded himself with a whole assortment of instruments – a cajón as a seat, parts of a drum used by his feat, a steel drum, a keyboard and an electric guitar with a make shift capo made of two pens, some tape and a hairband. The audience eagerly awaited to see how he was going to juggle them all. At the end of his first song you could almost hear gasps from the audience, we were stunned. Not only did he create a blissfully quaint and soulful sound, he produced a strong but heavenly voice which left everyone with their jaw on the floor. Each song was deeply moving in its own way and personal. Sam added an angelic and soft whistle to his orchestra of sounds, which took ambience to the next level. He finished with a truly epic song using the steel drums that became ever quicker before ending at its climax. The crowd erupted producing a standing ovation, overcome with what they had experienced. Sam Walker embodied everything to love about a festival like Oxjam, being in a calm environment, relaxing and taking in the beautiful noise from a local talent that perhaps would have never been known. What a way to finish the day.

 

Worthing’s first Oxjam may not have been the highest quality festival throughout the day, but you got the feeling people were becoming more and more excited with the up and coming music scene developing across the town. A high sense of community came across with locals sharing stories between each other about who’s seen what where and coming up with ideas on how we can keep developing a music scene that had been lost.

Iain Lauder