Is this it then, has summer actually arrived at last? Here’s hoping. It seems a long driven out haul since we last had sight of the hot season and the dog days are only around the corner. It’s the best time of the year, no question about it and no more so than in the music world, because summer = festivals!

Last weekend Gallops played the most important gig of their lives as they performed at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend music festival in Swindon. They were second to headline on the BBC Introducing stage and watching them was none other than the NME magazine editor Conor McNicholas. Obviously he wasn’t the only person watching, they pulled in a decent crowd considering Franz Ferdinand and The Gossip were playing on the other stages.

The trusty BBC cameras caught it all on film and they’ve put a video of one of their songs up on the web, go to http://tinyurl.com/gallopsbbc and watch with glee.

Our wrexhammusic.co.uk ‘Big Sunday Stuffing’ line-up has now been all sewn up. On Sunday 24th May (the Bank Holiday weekend no less), my trusty comrade Andrew and I have organised a belt busting 10 live acts spread across 2 stages at Central Station in Wrexham.

The line-up reads like the haut mode, the bon ton, the crème de la crème of the local music scene, no sprouts here; Trader, Sinner men, Mechanical Owl, Smile Like Texas, The Fag Machine, No Room for Heroes, Craig Williams, Dan Gruff (HRH), Seb Breen and Revurb. It’s a tasty one, and I’ll no doubt remind you about it nearer the time, so be warned.

On Saturday Denbigh will be on the receiving end of another salivating Vod Music Record Fair. With 30+ stalls of vinyls, CDs, memorabilia, DVDs and t-shirts it’s packed with some of the best UK dealers and on Saturday Vod have lined up some new specialist dealers from Birmingham.

It opens at 10am, closes at 4pm and is in the Denbigh Town Hall. If you cut this column out (try your best not to sever my head in half) and present it at the door you gain entry for FREE. Yes you read it, free – in these times of financial crisis as well.

Some ace news from the Sinner men camp. They have been approached by Nigel Pulsford, the lead guitarist of the now defunct post-grunge band Bush to produce their E.P. Some of you might not have heard of Bush. They were a British band who achieved 2 top ten albums and 1 top ten single (‘Swallowed’) in the UK but their success here pails into insignificance when compared to the US.

In the mid to late 90’s they were huge, like Nirvana-huge and they sold over 10 million albums and sold out numerous stadium tours. Bush’s lead singer Gavin Rossdale event went onto marry America’s favourite pop siren Gwen Stefani. Anyway, it’s a big deal as Pulford has learnt from one of the world’s foremost producers, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Manics, Pixies), who engineered Bush’s second album. Top of the pops.

Wrexham band Heal the Last Stand will begin the summer season by playing at the Concert for Peace in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday. This is the first of many shows like this for them as they continue on their lengthy ‘Everlasting Peace’ tour. They will be taking in Glastonbury Festival, Treuddyn Festival, Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Nozstock Festival in Herefordshire, Small World Festival in Kent and two weeks touring Catalonia with Andy Hickie.

When the youngest 3 siblings of the Dickenson family joined forces with friend Thom Bithell just over a year ago, they have been bringing their good vibrations to audience across the UK with their ridiculously beautiful harmonies. Last year they played the legendary Glastonbury Festival and have since been busy with several tours and are now in pre-production for their debut album, scheduled for release in the summer. Expect euphoric harmonies and profound sentiments. Good vibrations indeed.

So there you have it, an exciting time for music in our area at the moment. All of this though does not happen without audiences, listeners, followers or participants. Get involved! Have a good one, take care.