Welcome, dear reader, to another edition of The Manx Sound Exchange.

There are a number of our bands and singer/songwriters out and about this weekend and here’s a preview of a couple of them.

If a little bit of synth-pop, rock and generally all things 80s music-related does it for you, then you may want to head to Sam Webb’s in Douglas this Friday night to catch Totally 80’s.

The band that features Dave Holland on keys and vocals, Jonny Peacock on drums, John Barlow on guitar and Johnny Galbraith on bass in their line-up, pull out a setlist from the likes of Duran Duran, Human League, UB40, The Specials and A Flock of Seagulls, amongst many others.

Certainly worth a look at if you’re in the area from around 9.30pm.

Indeed, if you’re out and about at all this weekend, and you fancy a bit of British-style blues and rock you’ll be well advised to catch The Devil Note in action.

Featuring Simon Campbell on guitar with Suzy Starlite on bass and both sharing the vocal duties, you can expect cuts from the likes of John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton, Humble Pie, Cream and Free alongside pieces by Focus, B.B. King, ZZ Top, David Bowie and T-Rex.

They are appearing at Jaks on Friday night, and at Sam Webbs on Saturday.

The music on both nights kicks off from around 9.30pm.

The Devil Note have a number of live dates coming up this year and further information can be found at facebook.com/the.devil.note

Ian Thompson heads West to Peel this Saturday night to one of his now regular slots at The Creek.

They feature classics from The Kinks, David Bowie, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, R.E.M, and the like, along with a selection of tracks from his recently released debut album via U.S. label, The Spectra Music Group. To find out more information about Ian and his music, then visit ianthompsonuk.com.

Finally, Quids Inn have a packed line-up of bands and music this weekend.

Tonight (Thursday)sees rock and blues band Black Water Creek, featuring singer and guitarist Dave Cohen, drummer Ross Doyle and bassist Liam Callow play their first show of the year, from 9.15pm.

This is followed by a night of ’Songs Around the Campfire’, by singer and guitarist Trevor Shimmin, on Saturday night and, to round the weekend off on Sunday evening, The Wanderers will treat you all to a set of 50s and 60s covers, from 7pm onwards.

That’s all for this week!