Christmas may be a distant memory now, no more leftovers in the fridge, decorations begrudgingly taken down, but we wanted to take you back to a time before the first present had been opened and tell you all about the awesome Christmas show we had at Bexhill. Yes it’s taken us a while to put this account together, but when you have so much going on in one show (impromptu drum solos, the history of Bass Music, celebrity guests, bow ties, you name it…) it’s best to let the dust settle before trying to document it all. Anyway, here goes…
Welcome to ‘Funderdosh’. No, we weren’t really sure what it meant either but it was the name the students chose for the show and fair play to them, Google Funderdosh and all results lead to Dv8, now that’s marketing in action. Occasions like this are perfect to showcase Bexhill’s crowning jewel – a 150 seat venue in a disused chapel, complete with stage, PA, projector and lighting. On this particular occasion things were suitably Christmassy, tinsel adorned pews, drum kits and microphones, all filling the sizable audience with festive cheer as they took their seats.
Opening proceedings were DJs Jesse and Jason, our emcees for the evenings, dressed in their Christmas finery including bowties, Santa hats and even antlers. This dynamic duo of J’s would be our guides through the plethora of talent on offer at Dv8 Bexhill, covering a huge range of genres, approaches and hairstyles. For some this show would be the first time they had stepped out on stage and performed their music, for others it represented a chance to refine their act and build on the journey started in previous years at Dv8 Bexhill, but regardless of past experience this night was set to be one no one would forget.
The first performance of the evening was brought to us courtesy of our Level 1 students and took us on a journey over 4 tracks, through dark electronics, down tempo trip hop, upbeat techno and climaxing in haunting love song sampling Adele! The mood was perfectly set for a wintry Thursday evening of musical inspiration.
Next up it was time for Kieran AKA Twitch to take to the stage, Bexhill’s king clown, master of the Mohawk and regular wearer of sunglasses indoors. His acoustic guitar was confidently strummed, twanged and tapped, perfectly complimented by an honest and soulful voice. Rapturous applause duly ensued. With the claps still echoing across the hall Some Other Guys (George, Connor and Josh) rocked up to provide a raucous wake up call to anyone tempted by a spot of winter hibernation. Screams, crashing drums, guitar feedback all came together in an entertaining and energetic performance or well-honed thrash/punk/rock. With ears now pinned firmly back to heads it was the perfect moment to bring out the first special guest of the evening – Dv8 alumni and future rock God Vincent. No Dv8 Bexhill showcase would be complete without the dulcet tones of Vincent adorning the crowd pleaser ‘Everybody Hates Me’ (don’t worry; it is a song which has its tongue firmly in its cheek) and this night was no exception. They came, they saw, they headbanged.
A change of pace now as In Too Deep (Evan, Patrick and Calvin) brought a mix of witty wordplay, laid back beats and accomplished hip hop to proceedings. Confidently bouncing off each other with ease, the intelligent, meaningful lyrics touched a chord with everyone in the room and was a joy to behold.
After a short break for some tuning (it’s important stuff you know) Sanchez, Connor, Adam and Twitch brought us a cover of a You Me At Six track and the upped the visual ante. Smoke filled the room, whilst lasers pulsed in time with Connor’s metronomic drumming. Pink Floyd ‘aint got nothing on us… Adam was then joined on stage by Matt, one of our super talented tutors, who provided acoustic guitar accompaniment to Adam’s versatile voice in an emotional and heartfelt performance that slowed things right down for the interval. Phew.
…and breathe…
Opening the second half, and proving that you don’t always need music to be musical, it was time for some poetry. The students had been set a special project in the first term to commemorate the anniversary of the start of WW1 by writing letters to unknown soldiers (you can read more about this project here). Joined onstage by the acclaimed spoken word artist Hollie McNish students read their eloquent and often very moving letters out for the audience whilst Taylor debuted an amazing ‘meaningless tongue twister’. Hollie then went on to give the students an insight onto what they could achieve if they keep working hard, treating the audience to some pieces of her own including the epic ‘Megatron’.
Now that things had been quietened right down it was time to turn up the rock once more. Nothing makes us happier at Dv8 than when students work together on musical projects and Liquid Chaos are as close as we have to a supergroup! With their well-designed logo projected behind them it was obvioius this is a band that mean business. Lead by Reece in his Bah Humbug anti-Christmas hat (take that ‘the man’) we also saw Taylor on bass, Connor on drums and that man Twitch return to the stage once more to provide vocals. This was a real rock performance complete with arms flung in the air, fingers pointed at the crowd and ending with ‘Bad to the Bone’. As his bandmates left the stage Connor felt the inspiration take him and proceeded to perform an improvised drum solo which astounded everyone. This was the first time Connor had performed such a feat and there was a real sense of witnessing a star being born.
Our autumn term saw some really wonderful partnerships form with established artists who ran projects and offered advice and inspiration to the students. Having already been lucky enough to hear from the wonderful Hollie McNish, now was the time in the night to invite the living legends of British Hip Hop – Inja and Dj Skitz – to take over proceedings. Skitz mixed and scratched the perfect backdrop for Inja to rap his way through (without swearing once!) a history of bass music whilst an ever-changing array of mind-melting visuals pulsed away behind them. Music lessons at school were never like this! The students could hold it in no longer and were all up dancing to tracks as varied as House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ and Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which even induced a mosh pit (though I still prefer ‘Everybody Hates Me‘). We have been so lucky to have these talented musicians devote some of their time to the students and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.
So now it was time for our final act and it was the big one. Marcus and Cai have been with us since 16 and have overcome various challenges along the way. Now in their final year at Dv8 they have become a formidable performance and production duo who are a consistent inspiration to all around them. Under the stage names of Kidzie (Marcus) and Intruda (Cai) they whipped up a storm of hip hop, grime and trap that even got Skitz up and dancing. These beats were peppered with witty and moving lyrics delivered with a deftness that belies their young years. Every student and tutor was front central, cheering and singing along to these future classics in a wonderfully heart-warming end to the perfect night.
Thank you to everyone who came, danced, sang, cheered, it was a night we’ll never forget. If you want to be a part of this amazing college, or know someone who might, there is the chance to join us this year on a short course that will help you to build the musical confidence to progress onto a full programme next year. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of this, apply now!
