Sutton Coldfield Festival of Arts

[ July 12, 2008; 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. ]

[ July 11, 2008; 9:00 pm; ]  

Scintillating blues guitarist David Moore - unusual for the genre in being a Birmingham Conservatoire graduate - leads his band in a Festival gig at The Gate Inn on Friday July 11 at 9pm.
David, who also teaches guitar and who sings lead vocals, derives inspiration from blues, soul, jazz and funk, with the three Kings [...]

[ July 12, 2008; 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm. ] Emerging Sutton Coldfield star Ben Drummond performs on the Main Stage at 13:30, July 12th.  He has just launched his much-anticipated debut EP in March with a performance at Jools Holland’s nightclub The Jamhouse in  Birmingham.

The self-taught artist, originally from Wednesfield but based in Sutton for the last three years, began playing bass at 12 and has [...]

[ July 10, 2008; 9:00 pm; ]

Minworth’s answer to organ great Jimmy Smith will grace the tiny stage of The Gate Inn during the Festival.
This may come across as Sutton-centric hyperbole, but it shouldn’t. Norman Haines, now aged 61, has a superb pedigree, having recorded for EMI Parlophone.

He wrote and sang Brum blues and soul band Locomotive’s 1968 top 30 hit Rudi’s [...]

[ July 13, 2008; 4:00 pm; ] THE GATE INN, SUNDAY JULY 13, 4pm

The quiet village of Marston on the outskirts of Sutton Coldfield is the backdrop to one of the finest CDs ever to have been released by a local performer.

Mike Gates, who lives there, has come up with the home-recorded gem Resistance To The Passage Of Sound, in league with [...]

[ July 12, 2008; 8:00 pm; ] Hot Monocles (right), winners of the O’Neill’s best unsigned band competition last year, bring their nuanced guitar rock to The Gate Inn on Saturday July 12 from 8pm, along with a strong bill of other locals.

Appearing in turn are bluesy indie duo James & Edwards (bottom middle), prodigiously gifted singer-songwriter Ben Drummond (top middle), and [...]