Mal Campbell moved to Hebden Bridge having previously stayed with friends in the area. Priced out of London and looking for a new family home he turfed up in West Yorkshire, unaware…
GIANT PARTY White Ink
If we had a record of the week, then this week it would be this strutting beast from GIANT PARTY. They look like the sort of men who are about to have…
Re-DRESS-ed
Found these yesterday in my drawers of demo tapes and early-doors cassettes (there’s a bewildering collection of stuff from over the years as you can imagine – a rogues gallery that even…
FIGHT MILK: Dalston Victoria
By sheer coincidence, in the week which saw us playing Great Records From The 90s You Never Hear On The Radio Anymore, my first gig of 2018 turns out to include a…
SHAME Songs Of Praise
I don’t really understand this myself, but looking ahead to 2018, it struck me this morning that these days I expect more from pop music (and at the same time, I…
IDLES CHANT
(The Story So Far) BRISTOL THEKLA Feb 12th 2016 “Do you know what…?” says the exasperated man on stage staring daggers at his guitarist. “I fucking hate this band.” I…
BACK HOME, BOXED OFF
Not had much chance to think, let alone write, since getting back from the tour, but a belated and genuine thank you to everyone who came to the Going Deaf For…
GETTING SHIRTY
Emerging bands still use them for petrol money, we buy them for memories: the band T-Shirt is a multi-purpose thing. In the same way that I can’t walk past a record shop…
PROTOMARTYR Relatives in Descent
For me, moments of coincidence, more often than not, take on higher levels of meaning. I need to tell you this because during my first listen to Protomartyr’s ‘Relatives In Descent’, I…
WHAT’S THE GIG IDEA?
Just before Christmas last year, the venue The Square in Harlow closed its doors, another victim of plans for redevelopment. In the big scheme of things, this might not…