Meet the categories: Bristol’s music legends

With nominations now open for our new project, Bristol Legends, we want to hear who you think deserves to be recognised as ‘legendary’ in their field.

The independent music scene in Bristol is one that never misses.

From groundbreaking grassroots venues and events to talented artists and performers, there’s something in it for everyone.

We want to highlight your favourites, creating a list of nominations for our expert panel to pick from.

In the music category, we are looking to find a legends in the subcategories of:

Event, Live Act/DJ, Newcomer, Venue and Other.

This year’s Bristol Legends music panel features some of the biggest names that help Bristol’s music scene to thrive on a daily basis. They are:

Jamell Ackford

Jamell Ackford is this year’s head panellist for the music category – photo: Trinity Community Arts

Jamell is the head panellist of the Bristol Legends music panel. He is the Director of Culture at Trinity Community Arts, an arts centre in Bristol. He started in 2010 as an intern and now leads the live events and club programming, while also supporting emerging talent. He works actively on diversifying the cultural sector and is committed to creating opportunities for underrepresented talent, collaborating with key festivals and venues across the city. Jamell is at the heart of Bristol’s cultural scene, helping to shape and manage spaces for popular culture and music, with a strong focus on inclusion and innovation.

Laura Lewis-Paul

Laura Lewis-Paul is the founder and creative director of Saffron Records C.I.C. – photo: Laura Lewis-Paul and PRS Foundation

Laura is the founder and creative director of Saffron Records C.I.C., a Bristol-based music and tech initiative tackling gender imbalance in the music and sound technology industries. She also co-founded Bristol Women in Music (2015–2019). In interviews, she describes her work as intersectional: considering gender, race, sexuality, and class. Laura works to open up music production, sound engineering, and DJing to women, gender-diverse people, and racial minorities, making Bristol’s music tech scene more inclusive.

Carly Heath

Carly Heath is Bristol’s first Night Time Economy Advisor – photo: Carly Heath and Bristol Nights

Carly was drawn to Bristol by the vibrant music scene and was soon involved in the nightlife and clubbing world. She was involved in Pinch’s seminal dubstep night Subloaded and ran the Don’t Panic Bristol flyer packs. Since then she has championed and supported Bristol nightlife in many areas, collaborating on research about Covid-19’s impact on culture, co-founding the community festival Brisfest, and working in digital marketing at what was then Colston Hall, among others.

In April 2021 Carly was appointed as Bristol’s first Night Time Economy Advisor. In her role, she acts as a bridge between night-time businesses (clubs, bars, venues) and local government, focusing on safety, worker wellbeing, and a thriving nightlife economy. Carly plays a key role in making Bristol’s nightlife more organised, safe, and vibrant.

Tom Paine

Tom Paine (L) and Dave Harvey (R) co-founded Team Love and are responsible for many great Bristol events – photo: Sofia Spring

Tom Paine has been central to Bristol’s nightlife scene for the last two decades, starting off running venues including The Tube, Arc Bar and Motion. He is one of the founders and directors of Team Love, the events company behind Love Saves the Day, Forwards and Simple Things festivals in Bristol, the Silver Hayes area at Glastonbury and many other amazing events near and far.

Tom has been involved in some of Bristol’s biggest music events but also in making the festival and events world more inclusive, responsible, sustainable and forward thinking.

Matt Aitken

Matt Aitken is the music programmer at Bristol Beacon – photo: Bristol Beacon

As music programmer at Bristol Beacon and founder of Simple Things festival, Matt Aitken is deeply involved in Bristol’s music scene. A champion of showcasing and platforming a wide range of forward thinking and alternative music there’s few who know the local scene better.

Grove

Grove is a boundary-pushing producer and DJ – photo: Khali Ackford

Grove is a genre-defying, boundary-pushing producer, vocalist and DJ melding punk-infused dancehall, jungle, pop and bass music. Their music is driven by sensual liberation and political defiance. They have played at festivals and events all over Europe and made a big impression with a high energy live set at our magazine relaunch party at Ashton Court Mansion in 2023. We’ve wanted to work with them again ever since!

Main photo: Luca Rosewell

Read next:

• Who are your Bristol Legends?
• Bristol Legends: a new way to celebrate Bristol throughout the year
• Bristol Legends Nominations