About Us

Addistock was the brainchild of James Addis. Starting out in April 2009 because ‘why should everyone else get all the fun of putting on gigs and playing shows,’ Addistock became a regular feature in Wednesbury and Birmingham for the next few years. Initially a charity night, Addistock raised money for Macmillan Nurses (a charity close to Addis’ heart) and has been able to smash each target and goal put in front of them. This is thanks to the fantastic audiences, bands, venues and staff that donated money, merch, time, assistance and, most importantly, were there!

As Addistock grew in name and success it was time for a change. So it was up-rooted from it’s safety net of St Marys in Wednesbury and re-homed at The Brighthouse in Birmingham for the remainder of it’s life. This allowed more artists, bigger bands, a larger stage, more seats and easy transport links in and out of Birmingham. Along the way, however, Addistock has been held pretty much anywhere Addis has been able to house it! When venues were not available, his house or garden always was, and thus was used for several nights which a lot of people can’t quite remember (but youtube does)!

2012 brought about big changes in the world of Addistock as Addis bid farewell to Birmingham and The Brighthouse to move to Liverpool. With several farewell shows under it’s belt everyone asked ‘what was next for Addistock?’ to which Addis replied with ‘The Addistock Sessions’. The Addistock Sessions is an opportunity for acoustic artists to perform an original song and a cover song acoustically for a camera. Sounds simple? That’s because it is! The Addistock Sessions does not faff about with studio trickery, multi-angles or fancy images, this is all about good honest music! With the sessions taking off nicely, attention was once again drawn to live shows, a stage at Cheltenham’s 2000 Trees gave Addistock the chance to introduce some past Addistock stars to another audience.

During 2012 The Addistock Sessions became too much for Addis to run on his own. Live shows had also started again, so Matt Latham was brought on board, having far more technical approach to things than Addis Addistock suddenly had a website and looked ‘real’ for want of a better word. Now operating from both Birmingham and Liverpool Addistock is poised to take over the world, I wonder what 2013 will bring?

Meet the guys behind Addistock!

James Addis – Liverpool

Born and raised in the Black Country, the last of five children, ginger, fat and colourblind you could say that Addis has not had an easy life. Despite all of that somehow he has continued to survive. Addis started Addistock back in 2009 because that’s what Addis does, rather than talk about doing things Addis actually does them, and hasn’t looked back. Despite not being very talented he has learnt how to play several instruments through sheer determination, convinced talented people to be in a band with him and play gigs wherever possible.

After becoming rather bitter and jaded with life in Birmingham Addis uprooted himself, shook off an old life and moved to Liverpool where he stated he would find three things – somewhere beautiful to live, the girl he was going to spend the rest of his life with and the perfect job. So far Liverpool has treated him well and has welcomed him into its ever growing acoustic scene long may it continue.

In the future Addis hopes to settle down in a place where people don’t bother him when he plays the ukulele and sings along badly. He also dreams of the day someone will offer him thousands to buy Addistock from him and he can retire happy.

Matt Latham – Birmingham (& The West Midlands)

Based in a town called Walsall, Matthew Latham once found himself walking in the background of a rap video shoot in Las Vegas (which, aside from being absolutely true, fulfilled a lifelong goal to be involved in a rap video). Latham is the technical “wizkid” of the Addistock Sessions, being the only one who knows how the website works and such. He’s the one responsible for some of the pretty pictures of the Addistock events that have happened in the last eighteen months that you may (or may not) have seen.

He has also promoted at most one gig, under the Addistock name, but has attended quite a few gigs and acoustic shows throughout the West Midlands area in the quest to give himself tinnitus. He is under the belief that Alcopop Records are stalking his music taste as many of his favourite bands end up signed to them. A man of varied music taste, venturing between acoustic folk, to a little bit of punk and diving into the odd bit of indie-pop once in a while.

One day he might attempt the whole performing thing once he’s confidence that his voice doesn’t sound that much like a concert of cats screeching. His guitar of choice is a Takamine and his greatest ambition is to to be able to play an open F chord properly. Or An A-shaped B Chord. One day. Maybe.

Gerry Trimble – Nottingham (and Derby & Leicester)

Gerry Trimble is a Singer-Songwriter and independent gig promoter from Nottingham. Putting on shows under the name Acousticated Noise, he has put on the likes of Franz Nicolay, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players and Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun, as well as many other Addistock favourites.

As a performer, Trimble has played for a diverse range of bands, including Beyond Black and City of Kites. He even had his own backing band for his solo endeavours, lovingly called The Bastard Sons.

He is slightly infamous for one rude song, which has been been known to turn gigs around, for good or bad, from “Not very good” (a woman at an open mic in Derby) to “the funniest fucking guy I’ve ever met” (Rob Moir, in Birmingham).

His interests include tea, comics under the Vertigo label, internet reviews, computer games, Dropkick Murphys and nice people. His list of things that can go away include lack of consistency in any medium, tv talent competitions and people who look at their phone whilst stood in the front row and/or /talk through a gig.

All in all, the best man in the world.

People we like and you should too:

Carlos and the Jackal, Neil Morris, Ben Marwood, Oxygen Thief, Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun, Adam Boucher and the Dead Set, B-Sydes, Quiet Quiet Band, Thom Morecroft, Ed Poole, Jasper in the Company of Others, Oh Stockholm!, Shoes4Brakes, My Name Is Ian, Joe Summers, Mark McCabe, Ollie Rudge, Stick in a Pot, PJ Bond, Charlie Barnes, The Dawn Chorus, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Beans on Toast, Joe McCorriston, Tim Eveleigh and many many more!