October Journalism Roundup

While I'm here, I may as well keep you up to date with my recent scribblings for various publications.

Firstly, my most recent piece was a 25 Classic songs of the 80s feature, which a lot of people seemed to enjoy.

Secondly, I hit the Guardian with another of my articles, this time on the recent falling out between Mani of Primal Scream, and Peter Hook. The disagreement thankfully got sorted, but I'm proud of the piece as a decent bit of journalism for a major publication.

Meanwhile, the recent visit of Mark Ronson to the city was exciting, and although the mess up by PR company meant I didn't get to interview him, I at least got a ticket in and wrote a review of the gig.

As a fan of Frank Turner, I was happy to get the chance to interview him, (he's currently in Europe, and will be back soon) for Skiddle, the results are here. He had some firm opinions on file sharing which were an eye opener.

It isn't just a succession of Indie bands that I interview, thankfully, as I spoke to young grime MC  Aggro Santos about his two top twenty hit singles, the origins of the current, commercial "urban" scene, and his Grime background.

Back on a local tip, I interviewed Jeremy of band-of-the-moment, Everything Everything for Skiddle. He was just insanely eloquent and knowledgeable about the current music scene, and had a lot to say relationship that new bands like Dutch Uncles, Delphic, and EE have to Manchester's heritage. had to leave that bit out, because I had so much stuff, but a fascinating, cool guy, and a great band. Well worth a read.

Going back to the end of August, I was privileged to interview LA hotties The Like, a 4 piece girl group with the look of a 60s girl motown act, and the sound of a British invasion band like the Animals. They were hot and feisty. Great fun.

A completely different music style was offered by Trance meister Paul Van Dyk, who I had chance to interview this summer. He didn't seem to like it very much when I suggested the superclub and superstar DJ era was over, but nevertheless, a very high profile producer, and he had a lot of stuff to say.

Probably my favourite discovery of the entire year has been that of Nashville / Dallas singer Caitlin Rose (pictured), who  had her debut album out this August, and I had the chance to meet her in person and chat. She was cheeky, funny, and knew her music. 

Later that same day I saw her perform at Manchester's Night and Day, where she was absolutely amazing.

Somewhere in there, dunno if I mentioned this before, I spoke to Esben And The Witch, who gave me their first major interview for a publication. They're now signed to Domino records with an album to come next year, so watch this space.

Sadly, it was the three year anniversary of the death of my mentor and journalistic idol, Tony Wilson this August, so I talked to Factory and Hacienda stalwart Dave Haslam about the late, great broadcaster.

That's it for now. There where a few other acts I spoke to and wrote about here and there, but you get the idea!