Down By The River

31/08/2026

Blues to drive away the blues. Ticket link in bio 🎶🎵🙌

27/08/2026

Live music in venues such as Gosforth Civic Theatre is never an artificial, synthetic experience. Two great sets, a chance to meet the artists and a genuinely into it audience. These events don’t happen by chance, there are people beavering away in the background, making things happen and bringing it all together. Cheers Hapless Museum Worker Gigs for This is The Kit + Seamus Fogarty very possibly gig of the year so far for me.

20/08/2026

We’re back at it next month when Mark Harrison comes to Durham and Stockton.
Ticket link in bio

19/08/2026

We’re back at it on the 20th of September. Can’t wait to see everyone and Mark Harrison of course

Looking forward to an action-packed September/October at The Georgian Theatre/The Green Room 💥👊🎶🕺

🎟 For tickets and full listings, head to our website: https://georgiantheatre.co.uk/live-events/

13/08/2026

Like a lot of people I’m sitting here wondering what AI is up to, especially in relation to music. These words are not mine but they really brought home how awful this thing is.
The link to The Old Town is in the comments.

THE BONNEVILLES
THE OLD TOWN

This is a track we wrote in response to a radio DJ here in Ireland putting his own AI prompted song into the stations rotation, a disgusting and low down thing for anyone to do let alone a DJ. A load of us have all written a track called ‘The Old Town’ which was the name the DJ choose to ask AI to steal other people's ideas and puke a song into the world with that title.

We get our asses kicked and AI is making life harder by closing revenue streams all over the place. The extra work we get for things like writing for cinema, TV is all being choked to death.

AI is the biggest plagiarism engine ever imagined by the darkest of demonic wankers. Our work is scraped, stolen and replicated with mere prompt plus the environment is one of the externalities along with our livelihoods that isn't being considered at all. Then insult added to injury people doing this are claiming to have written the slop. Weak sauce.

I read yesterday that 80% of all energy used in Dublin is being used by data centres and for what? Slop, AI cartoons and more slop. I wrote this song to tribute the welcome I get when I come home off the road. Welcomes, smiles, hugs and love from the people who live in the town I love. We recorded it in our rehearsal room in Belfast with real microphones and finished it in my studio here in Lurgan, a real building.

Don't support AI theft. Venues, stop using it make those awful posters, musicians stop using it for album sleeves it looks like s**t, yeah i've seen a few of those. It's not hard to spot if you pay attention. Support real musicians, real artists, real creation. AI is a machine doing an impression and that impression has the potential to ruin so many of the things we use to help us through our lives.

I said It's easy coming home again
I've still got some problems but you ain't one of them
But knowing that you'll be here
With your arms opened here in my old town

I go walking, walking down my street
Have a conversation with everyone I meet
No more s**tty radio being played here
In my Old Town

As long as I'm home, I'll always be on top
I just need you, you never bother me with slop
Everything's real and everything here
No veneer in my Old Town.
credits
released July 14, 2026
Written by Andrew McGibbon

05/08/2026

DBTR made the trip to Cambridge last weekend to attend the re-vamped Folk Festival. It was great to see artists across all stages who have played gigs with us in Durham. George Boomsma and his band blew everyone away on the main stage on Sunday, Nick Harper and Amelia Coburn were both excellent on Stage 2 and Luke James Williams did his magical thing on the BBC Introducing stage. It’s such a great feeling when you’re working at the very grassroots of the music scene and you see musicians who you’ve promoted early in their career’s progress to bigger things.

04/08/2026

Thanks it was excellent

16/04/2026

Time for a break. Thanks to everyone for continuing to support live music. I’ll be back with more starting in September with Mark Harrison. More updates down the road. Have a great summer ☀️

09/04/2026

This weekend- Kaspar and Lucy. They’re headed our way Blues fans - they’re bringing the superb along for the ride (and to open for them!!!) He’s 🔥
Still tickets left for and you might be lucky for (just 5 left)
🎟 link in bio. Last DBTR gig till September so are bringing the whole juke joint with them.