Metalheads among you will want to get along to O2 Academy 2 in Oxford on Friday 31 January, as the 7.5-hour marathon of heaviness Skelefest will be taking place. For a long time Skeletor has been Oxford’s finest promoter of metal bands, and they’re celebrating the noise with a huge line-up that includes Bricks & Mortar, Empire Divided, K-Lacura, Retribution, Jabroni Sandwich, Dead Mesa, Crows’ Reign, Lest We Forget, Ignite The Sky and Annero. Whoah! HURRGHGHH! Metal!
The very highly acclaimed folk duo Duotone have been gathering plaudits left, right and centre since their album Ropes was released, and on Saturday 1 February there’s a chance to catch one of them – Barney Morse-Brown – in the pleasingly compact Port Mahon in Oxford. He’ll be supported by Gavroche and Alice Ream at what promises to be a warm’n’fuzzy kind of an evening.
Folk of an altogether more classic nature on Tuesday 4 February, as Fairport Convention play at St John The Evangelist Church in Oxford. It’s part of the somewhat awkwardly-named ‘Wintour’, and it’s a chance to see the nigh-on legendary band in an exceptionally nice venue.
More folk-ish sounds are to be had – it must be the time of year for it – on Friday 7 February at St Albans Church in Oxford. The Deep Dark Woods bring their Canadian country-tinged tunes to town, along with “21st century troubadours” Trembling Bells.
Shake yourself out of your folk-induced reverie on Saturday 8 February: classic-style rock’n’roll metallers Overlord will play the Port Mahon, and they’ll be supported by the “Brutal Southern grooves” of XII Boar and “Old school rock/metal” from 13 Burning. A bit of noise never did anybody any harm.
More noise is to be had on Saturday 8 February at The Cellar, Oxford. Listing Ships play their final gig with current drummer James – go bid them an aggressively-Krautrock-style farewell, why not – supported by Desert Storms, who always bring the house down, and Kid Kin, who cites influences including Four Tet and Oceansize.
Full details of these and loads more gigs can be found in the events calendar.