Every other Thursday night, at 9:30 pm, the Hollybush in Cefn-y-bedd hosts it's Jam Night.
Grab your guitar, pick up your drum sticks or start warming up those vocal chords and come down to our regular Open Mic/Jam Night. Everyone welcome!
- Free Entry.
- Drum Kit, PA, Back Line and pedals provided - just plug in and play.
- All types of instruments/vocalists and styles welcome.
If you're a guitarist, bassist, drummer or a vocalist, beginner or expert, looking to play with other musicians, come on down and join in with like minded people. Perhaps you're in a band and you'd like to perform a couple of songs in front of a friendly crowd, then why not pop along and give us a tune? The jam is a great place to hone new songs before a gig! Or maybe you’re a solo acoustic performer looking to play some favourite songs, or some of your own compositions? The Jam Night always has a great crowd of people who would love to hear you perform.
Alternatively, if you just want to come down, grab a drink and listen to some great music performed by local talented musicians, you're more than welcome!
What can I expect on the night?
The Jam Night is both a traditional Jam Night and an Open Mic night. We love jamming as a band, but also welcome solo performers. By combining the two styles, we tend to get a great mixture of performers and songs throughout the night, that means even when you’re not actually performing, you’ll be entertained!
The Jam Night starts at 9:30pm, but if you’d like to join in and perform on the evening it’s worthwhile getting there a bit earlier. One of the members of the Jam Night will be clutching a clipboard and will be asking people in the pub if they want to perform. Make sure you talk to that person and get your name down on the list. We’ll ask you what you do (do you sing, play guitar, etc), what you’d like to perform, and if you’d like anyone else to perform with you. If you would like to perform with others, we’ll make every effort to find other musicians to accompany you, either from the house band or from other people who have said they want to join in the jam that evening. We’ll try and give you an idea of when you can go on straightaway, although we may have to vary the running order a little depending upon who’s come down to the Jam that night.
The house band will normally kick things off with a couple of songs and then everyone who’s got their name down on the list will be given the opportunity to get up an play. If it’s a particularly busy evening, we might have to ask you only to do a couple of numbers initially just so that we can be sure that everyone who has come down to the jam gets the chance to play. However if there’s time to get you up for another couple of numbers in the evening, then we definitely will! We’ll let you know plenty of time before you go on when it’s your turn, so you’ll have time to grab lyrics, tune your guitar (please do tune up before you get up), warm up with a few paradiddles ,etc.
What do I need to bring?
The Jam Night provides a Drum Kit, PA, Back line and pedals. If you’re a guitarist or bassist you can literally plug in and play, there’s no need to bring your own amps or pedals - we’ve got you covered! If you’ve forgot your guitar we might be able to get one for you to use, but we cannot make any promises, so bring yours if you can! If you’re a drummer you can bring your own sticks, throne and snare if you like, but you don’t have to - sticks and a full kit are provided. The Drum kit is initially set up for a right handed drummer, but we can change the set up if you’re left handed. Vocalists: we have mics and music stands for lyric sheets.
We try and provide as much as we can to make it easy for you to get up and join in and also so that we spend less time changing over and more time playing music. If you play anything else, keyboard, ukulele, banjo, etc you’ll have to bring them with you we don’t have them already.
What’s performed?
There’s a wide range of musical genres performed on the night, blues, pop, rock, etc. We have bands performing, we’ll have collaborations from people who just decide to jam together, we have solo acoustic acts. It’s a vibrant mixture of music and musicians. If you need accompanying, there’s a house band that as well as other musicians who will try to accompany you, we might not know every song but if we can accommodate your request we definitely will. On the night we have a list of songs that our house band know and have performed before (kind of like the list you might get at a karaoke night), so you can have a look through and see if there’s any of those songs you’d like to perform also.
I’ve never performed live before, is that okay?
Absolutely, The Jam Night is a great place to perform in front of a live audience. Everyone is welcome, whether they’re just starting out or if they’re a virtuoso! You’ll find a very friendly audience at The Hollybush, and we do everything we can to be supportive to local music and musicians.
Anything else I should know?
No, just come on down and join in the fun! You’ll be glad you did!
The Jam Night is perfect for people who want to enjoy themselves by playing music, either by themselves or with others. It’s a friendly environment that supports local talent and local musicians. Most of the time performers are playing stuff that they’ve not rehearsed before, and its more about enjoying playing music than it is than playing every single note perfectly. The Hollybush is a lovely venue with great management and staff, and attracts a friendly crowd who appreciate good music. You’ll feel right at home straight away!
If there’s anything else specifically you’d like to know, drop us a message or ask a question in our discussion group, we’d love to hear from you!
Looking forward to seeing you there, the fun begins at 9:30pm!
