Catching up with a touring band is no easy feat, and so it proves with New Zealand pop rock darlings The Beths. Fortunately, during a well-earned night off in Germany I’m grateful lead vocalist Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Stokes graces me some of her free time for tour-based questioning. The band’s live schedule is pretty punishing; they […]
Image by Sophie Forster We’ve just begun a short heatwave in the UK when I manage to put faces to names and connect with Slobo & Azere via Zoom. They look suitably fresh and summery, Owen (Slobo) in a baking attic room in Leeds and Rowan (Azere) in bloody Kenya, which turns out isn’t as […]
Image by Uncredited Singer songwriter Eve Simpson, South Shields born, and Edinburgh based releases new music this month. ‘All Her Strange’ is a grand mix thematically. An EP concerned with growing up in the midst of heartbreak, grief and misogyny but mostly it’s an exploration of love. Of the self primarily and then about finding […]
Image by Georgia Claire Tyrie There’s a calm at work. You can feel it from the early stirrings of their song, “This Town is Big Enough for Both of Us”, as the duo’s unified, soothing vocalised oohs and the long breathing sighs of Amy Thatcher’s accordion bellows float over Francesca Knowles’ metronomic snare snaps and […]
Image by Amelia Read There’s a looming paranoia in the air. Maybe the vaguest scent of imposter syndrome too. It’s palpable and honestly best not dwelt upon too long, but Matt Baty, vocalist and lyricist with Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (let’s say Pigsx7), is definitely feeling it. It’s a regular occurrence with […]
Image by Uncredited Last year was big for Jay Moussa-Mann. Since picking up the guitar and a book of chords the self-taught performer mixed in some Grade 6 piano lessons and emerged as a singer-songwriter with folk tinged leanings. With a batch of music that was “safe and a voice that wouldn’t offend anybody” she […]
Image by Victoria Wai Following the initial ‘hello’ greetings, the first thing I encounter in our interview is an hilarious but genuine apology from Phoenix (bass player) over their screen profile picture, Lucy (guitarist/songwriter) also in attendance, howls at the image and then the two fall about laughing. It transpires that they haven’t spoken properly […]
Image by Leigh Anne Elliott North Shield’s Hector Gannet release their second album The Land Belongs to Us in January and I caught up with songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Aaron Duff on a dark November evening to discuss his music, simultaneously being a solo performer and in a band, nature, the local music scene, keeping […]
Image by Tia Ylinen I love the delight in discovering, by chance or fate, beautiful sounds that resonate deeply. One such recent discovery for me has been Dutch singer-songwriter Catch The Sparrow’s delicately delivered, richly narrated songs. That such spellbinding vocals and sparse orchestration exist in a time of daily global turmoil seems incongruous. However, […]
By the time you read this Newcastle’s own Charts & Graphs will have played perhaps their most prominent gig to date supporting Jesus Jones. The day before this however I catch up with Dan Greener, the band’s vocalist and guitarist to talk all things music related, having fun and recording their two albums, the latest […]
