Welcome to the Blog and News of Alternative Rock Band OPOSIUM

As many of you will have seen, our next concert will be on January 3rd 2009 at St Mary's Longfleet church. Supporting Oposium will be indie punk band Not About The Heroes and acoustic acts JLR and View 93. As we always do, we'll be converting the church for the evening with fantastic arrangements of lights, projections and backdrops. St Mary's also have two installed cameras trained and the stage so we'll be looking forward to using them and projecting onto two of three screens with live pictures from the stage.

And that's before we even start on the music... - We've got some big ideas for this concert, although you'll have to come to find out!



Flyers have been printed and hopefully you'll see either one like the flyer above, or one of our distinctive posters up and around Poole. If you don't, you can download it here.

>> Download St Mary's Longfleet Concert Flyer

For any of you who want to find out a bit more about the church, then according to the St Mary's website http://www.smlpoole.org.uk

We [St Mary's Longfleet] are an Evangelical/Charismatic Anglican Church in Poole on the South Coast. In recent years we have experienced much encouraging growth, especially in our children’s and Youth work.

Together, we are aiming to become the kind of Church described in the Bible – a Church with relevant teaching (have a look at our Sermon Series and other courses), vibrant worship, honest friendships, committed prayer, and compassionate care of those in need. In short, we seek to look upwards to meet with God and grow in faith, inwards to support and encourage each other in small groups, and outwards to serve and make a difference in our local community and beyond.

So whether you’re someone who’s just starting to ask questions about purpose in life and God, or a committed Christian who wants to sink the roots of your faith even deeper, we trust that you can find a place of belonging here.

Tickets are £2 in advance, £3 on the door and are on sale now from the Oposium boxoffice http://boxoffice.oposium.com

Labels: camera, church, concert, JLR, st mary's longfleet, venue profile, View 93

All of Oposium would like to thank everyone who came and supported our gig last Saturday - we had an amazing time!! So thanks to the bands; Not About The Heroes, JLR and The Wheat Beans for playing some wicked music. Also a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped make the gig happen... So in no particular order; huge thank you to ....

Andy Hancock (for an awesome smoke machine and making things happen technically), Peter Sykes and Dan Harwood (for providing the lighting), Julie Sykes (for the photography), the bad ass media crew Bex Sykes, Tim Hancock and Andrew Walters (also our star all round roadie!!), Elliot and Sarah (for gaffa tape hilarity, awesome hair and filming), Jonathan Martin (for total support and the venue), Pete Foxley (for giving up his Friday evening to set the system up), Penny Sills (for making sure it happened and putting up with our poor organisation!) and Simon and Rob Fish for all the amazing work they do with Routes To Roots.

For all the photos of the gig, follow this link to our flickr account;

29th November 2008 Concert Photos



And we'll leave you with this caption competition;



Peace Always,

Richard, Sam, Scott and Dave
OPOSIUM

Labels: caption competition, JLR, Not About The Heroes, oposium gig, routes to roots, thank you, The Wheat Beans

Remember we said we would write an article about Jamie from JLR who is performing this Saturday? Well the BBC have beaten us to it as a result of our previous blog posting and featured his story and Oposium ahead of this weekend's concert. After a hastily assembled photoshoot this morning where Richard went down to not only shoot Jamie busking, but also to visit Jamie's tent in Holes Bay, the article is now up on the BBC website.

>> View the article on the BBC website



The article reads;

From a Tent to a Stage

Kevin O'Donovan

A man who used to be homeless and have a drug dependency is saying thanks to the people who helped him find somewhere to live by performing in a fundraising charity gig this weekend.

A man who spent six months living in a tent in Holes Bay, Poole, has managed to not only find somewhere to live and overcome a debilitating drug addiction - but he's appearing in a gig to help raise funds for the charity that helped him.

The concert is in aid of Roots to Routes, an outreach charity that works with homeless people in the Poole area providing soup kitchens and drop-in services to people in need.

Jamie, 33 and originally from Weymouth, found himself homeless after a chain of events which started after a car accident when he was 21.

In trying to cope with his injuries from the crash, he became dependent on over-the-counter painkillers.

Spiraled out of control

His addiction spiraled out of control and at one point he was taking 96 tablets a day.

He says: "I'd get the bus to different chemists so they wouldn't recognise me buying so many. It would have been cheaper to be a heroin addict."

After he was admitted to hospital with a hole in his stomach from over use of painkillers, he moved onto abusing illicit substances.

Despite managing to hide his addiction for a time, his relationship with his partner failed, and his behaviour became erratic - and he began to miss pre-arranged appointments to see his daughter.

Although depressed, he eventually was able to see that he had to take action. He says: "I couldn't hold down a job, I was letting down my daughter, and I knew I had to get away. I sort of had a nervous breakdown."

Manchester

Someone he knew suggested he go with him to Manchester, where Jamie could access help more quickly than he could in Dorset.

Jamie says: "At the time, there was an eight month waiting list to get help in Dorset, but in Manchester I got it more quickly.

"Drug workers there found me sleeping in a disused toilet, and I didn't like Manchester, but I needed to be there to start to get help with my dependency."

Then in January 2008 he got his treatment transferred back to Dorset, but with nowhere to stay, Jamie found himself in a tent in Holes Bay.

Roots to Routes

It was through going to a soup kitchen in Poole, run by Roots to Routes, that led to him finding a place to live, after meeting the charity's Outreach Worker, Rob Fish.

Having proved he was determined to beat his addictions, in July 2008, with Rob's help, Jamie moved into supported housing in Parkstone.

Jamie also has regular voluntary drug tests, which have all been clean.

He hasn't yet seen his daughter, but that's what he's aiming for:

He says: "My main aim is to get a good amount of stability, to take financial responsibility for her. There's not a day goes by when I don't think of her. Addiction is a disease, but I've got clarity now."

Jamie is now volunteering for a furniture reclaim charity, which he hopes will led him back into full time work, when he's ready.

Busking

Jamie would fund his drug habit by busking ("I never burgled because I was scared of going to prison"), and it's this musical talent that's led him to playing at the charity gig, headlined by Dorset band Oposium.

Says Jamie: "I can't wait. I jumped at the chance. Addiction is really hard to crawl out of, and it affects the whole family and not just the addict, so for them to see me playing is a good sign of my progress."

"It's also a chance to say a huge thank you to all the people who have helped me with my recovery."

Rob says: "It can be quite a frustrating job, but it's nice to be in this sort of situation where we can see how the work we do has helped someone, rather than us sitting scratching our heads thinking 'what do we do?'.

"Jamie is a great guy, and this is about moving him on."

The gig is headlined by Oposium, with support by The Wheat Beans, Not About the Heroes, and Jamie as part of an acoustic duo called JLR.
Date: Saturday 29th November 2008
Venue: Parkstone United Reformed Church (opposite Tyreland, Ashley Cross)
Time: 7pm
Entry: £5

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Labels: BBC Dorset, feature, interview, JLR, routes to roots

The Wheat Beans, Not About The Heroes and JLR will all be supporting Oposium this coming Saturday 29th November.

The Wheat Beans are a funky trio with Lewis Ames on bass and vocals, Jo Cheung on guitar and Sam Naylor on drums. The Wheat Beans influences range through Parliament, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sly and the Family Stone to James Brown...

Not About The Heroes are an indie punk band with influences from Blur, The White Stripes and We Are Scientists. Fronted by Josh Alner on Bass and lead vocals, Ben Sykes provides lead guitar and backing vocals while Ben Rabjohns joins them on Drums and additional backing vocals.

JLR are an acoustic duo whose story coming into this gig warrants a whole article in itself (and we will give it one in due course!). Often found busking in Boscombe and Bournemouth, JLR are a real success story of Routes To Roots, whose lead singer Jamie was living in homeless in a tent in Holes Bay only 5 months ago. The very fact that these guys will be playing on stage is a tribute to the fantastic ongoing work of the charity.

So a packed bill all before Oposium will even take to the stage! Join us on November 29th 2008 7pm when it will all kick off! Tickets are on sale at the Oposium box office

boxoffice.oposium.com

Peace always,

Oposium Admin

Labels: JLR, Not About The Heroes, routes to roots, support acts, The Wheat Beans