#Nottingham

Apr 26, 2019
2 min

Bangers from Down Under: The Chats

Ever heard of a ‘goon sack?’ I first heard The Chats in 2017 after seeing a post on Reddit for the new music video for their single ‘Smoko.’ I enjoyed the song, questioned whether they were a serious band and then closed the video, leaving the song to flee from my memory. That is until about a year later when I re-discovered the song and fell in love with The Chats once again. The Chats are an Aussie three-man punk band, headed by Eamon Sandwith (bass, vocals) and accompanied

Cameron Chadwick

Apr 19, 2019
3 min

Bear’s Den @ Rock City

Indie folk lads turned arena rockers Bear’s Den balanced the intimacy of their early material with the seismic sounds of their later tunes at their most recent outing at Rock City. Bear’s Den turned a pretty significant page with their last album, ‘Red Earth & Pouring Rain.’ Similarly to their close associates Mumford & Sons, no longer were they North London indie heroes quietly playing banjos and reminiscing old tales of love and sorrow; their music became powered by synths

Cameron Chadwick

Apr 17, 2019
2 min

Fontaines D.C. @ Rescue Rooms

Fresh off the hype of their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Dogrel,’ Irish post-punks Fontaines D.C. performed a rapid set to a sold-out Rescue Rooms. “My childhood was small/But I’m gonna be big,” proclaims the opening track to ‘Dogrel.’ One would have thought, in light of perfect scores from The Guardian and NME, ‘Big’ would have been the sure-fire opener to a sold-out headline set in Nottingham. This wasn’t to be however, as the Dublin 5-piece opted to open the set with

Apr 15, 2019
2 min

Nina Nesbitt @ Rescue Rooms

Last Tuesday, I was lucky enough to get a last minute ticket to see Nina at one of my favourite venues in Nottingham. Whilst I had never really heard of her before the opportunity to watch her had come about, when I was asked if I wanted to go I quickly googled her and came across a photo of her stand out pink hair and instantly thought that she’d be my kind of vibe. Whilst I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I was totally right! I arrived ‘fashionably late’ to the

Shadows Like Strangers @ The Angel Nottingham

Abby Clarke

Feb 9, 2019
3 min

Shadows Like Strangers @ The Angel Nottingham

Last night saw the album launch show for Shadows Like Strangers’ debut album Cali. They managed to sell out The Angel in Nottingham with support from Cut the Heroics and Jetlines, whilst also raising money for GRL PWR- a charity in aid of ovarian cancer. I had never attended a gig in The Angel before and the venue itself was very interesting. They’ve cleverly converted an old chapel above the pub into a music venue with a capacity of 110, using the old area for the organ as

Abby Clarke

Feb 7, 2019
4 min

Busted @ Rough Trade

This afternoon, Busted went down to Rough Trade in Nottingham to perform an intimate set ahead of the album charts tomorrow in which they are in close competition with The Special’s greatest hits for the number one position. Having only announced the show on Monday, and then announcing a second Rough Trade show yesterday, as well as a third in London the same evening, Charlie, James and Matt managed to sell the venue out. Doors opened an hour before they were due to perform,

Album Review: Shadows Like Strangers - 'CALI'

Abby Clarke

Jan 25, 2019
3 min

Album Review: Shadows Like Strangers - 'CALI'

The Mic got an exclusive listen to Shadows Like Stranger’s debut album ‘CALI’ which is due to be released on February 1st, after nearly four years in the making. Shadows Like Strangers themselves are still less than a year old but the four-piece pop-punk group from Nottingham have had a successful time, ending last year supporting Lacey at Nottingham’s Rock City Basement for a sold-out show. The album opens with ‘Counterpart’ which sets the scene of the album perfectly being

Abby Clarke

Dec 11, 2018
3 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly 10/12/18

Last night was The Mic’s last acoustic rooms of the year before the Christmas break, and it did not disappoint. Accompanying the usual great standard of live performance was a back drop of Christmas decorations, a tree and on top of the all-night happy hour, Rescue Rooms are also doing a different drinks deal each day in December. Kicking off the acoustic night were returning duo- Stella and Chris. The pair have opened a few of the previous nights and their unique covers of c

Abby Clarke

Dec 8, 2018
2 min

Don’t Forget Rupert @ The Bodega

Nottingham based indie-rock band Don’t Forget Rupert headlined the Bodega last night for their last show of the year, managing to sell it out just under a day before. They were supported by Ava Saint and For the Girl, also both from Nottingham, and succeeded in performing an explosion of a homecoming show. Ava Saint kicked things off with an alternative-rock/punk performance including a unique take (but not quite cover) of Brittney Spear’s ‘Toxic’. Lead singer Holly Taylor-Ga

Patrick Donnelly

Dec 4, 2018
6 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly: 03/12/18

Kicking off the night was Elliot Willaims. Undeniably a strong singer – confident and loud, with an indie-rock style – he got the attention of the room straight away. Although strong, he could use some more variety in his singing and guitar playing – some songs were hard to distinguish from others. There were some nice switches between strumming, picking and palm muted strums, for instance in his song ‘A long way home’. A good song, which felt like an acoustic Kings of Leon s

Abby Clarke

Nov 28, 2018
3 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly 26.11.18

After Alexandr Misko gave an amazing performance last week at Acoustic Rooms as a special guest, it was exciting to see what this week would hold. The beauty of an open mic night being you never know exactly what you’re going to see. The night started with Ryan Dunn from the band Gazelle, who performed a strong triad of songs, turning the volume high for the night with his acoustic guitar and rough vocals. Next up was singer Kaiori, also accompanied by her acoustic guitar. Sh

Abby Clarke

Nov 20, 2018
6 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly 19/11/18

This week Rescue Rooms held another packed night of Acoustic Rooms, with the exciting addition of special guest Alexandr Misko – an amazing guitarist that impressed the whole room. Kicking off the night were the returning duo Stella and Chris with their jazzy rendition of ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motörhead. It’s clear that the duo has a lot of fun performing – their happiness fills the room through Stella’s powerful voice and big smile. Chris then performed a solo cover of ‘Space O

Abby Clarke

Nov 13, 2018
4 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly 12/11/18

This week at Acoustic Rooms was a lot busier than last week, back to normal after a quieter bonfire night the week before. There were a lot more artists signed up to play so they kept to three or four songs each this time. First to perform were Stella and Chris- with Chris on guitar and Stella providing the vocals. Stella seemed very comfortable performing and interacting with the crowd and it was obvious this wasn’t her first performance. Next was Louis Croft, a young Jake B

Nov 9, 2018
5 min

Interview with Primal

The Mic caught up with Primal's guitarist Dan. You’re a Notts-based and you formed in the summer of 2017. Tell me a bit about how and where that came about? Absolutely. So, I’m the guitarist – I’m Dan. Rory is the singer and we used to go to school together. Went to all the same schools. And we were band mates really – over the previous few years we’d been in different bands and we’d always remained friends. So we got together – we were hanging out together as friends anyway

Abby Clarke

Nov 6, 2018
3 min

Acoustic Rooms Weekly 05/11/18

Acoustic Rooms Weekly Rescue Rooms hosts an open mic night every Monday from 8pm until late, and The Mic magazine will be going down every week to keep you updated on who’s performing, including weekly interviews with a performer from the night. To set the scene, Rescue Rooms has been an iconic music venue in Nottingham since it opened 15 years ago, hosting a variety of artists from The Killers to Bloc Party to The Libertines. The open mic night is run by Laurie Illingworth-

The Mic Magazine

Oct 25, 2018
4 min

Live: Black Honey at Rescue Rooms

Brighton-based indie rockers dazzle a sold-out crowd in Nottingham with a career spanning set and a bill that showcases women in rock music. It has been four years since glamorous indie-rock band Black Honey first entered the music world, with a dazzling display of confidence amongst a huge catalogue of hits which were instantly picked up by representatives for BBC, NME and Q Magazine amongst others. Since 2014 they’ve released a mix of EP’s, toured with fellow Brighton rock

Abby Clarke

Oct 25, 2018
2 min

The Blinders @ The Bodega

After the successful release of their debut album ‘Columbia’, The Blinders have embarked on a UK tour, bringing their political punk rock music to The Bodega last night with support from Nottingham’s Those Howlin’ Sounds, and Calva Louise from London. First up were four-piece Those Howlin’ Sounds, who also released an album earlier this year. They opened with an instrumental song and had a grunge/punk feel to them. The crowd really enjoyed them and by the time their set finis

Abby Clarke

Oct 25, 2018
3 min

Interview with The Blinders

A couple of hours before their headline show at Bodega, I sat down with Matty, Charlie and Thomas, better known as the alternative political-punk band The Blinders. Nottingham marked a quarter of the way through their UK tour and the three were finding it great so far, having played in Birmingham the night before at The Castle and Falcon which sold out. The three really enjoyed playing Manchester and were excited to play in Nottingham having only played a couple of times befo

Abby speaks with George Gadd before his UK tour kicks off

Abby Clarke

Oct 23, 2018
4 min

Abby speaks with George Gadd before his UK tour kicks off

I sat down with musician George Gadd on an unusually sunny October lunch time to chat about his ten-year anniversary of performing, his upcoming UK tour and some the highlights of his time in music. Going back to the start with George’s first ever performance, he told me that he used to have “floppy emo hair” and even put on an American accent which he admits is really cringey to look back on. Apparently, there are videos out there although George assured me that they are ver

Oct 23, 2018
3 min

Interview with Estrons

“You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough” is the debut album by the alternative welsh band Estrons, and two days after the release, I talked with Rhodri, the guitarrist, right after an intimate and energetic live in-store performance in Rough Trade Nottingham and chatted about the new album, touring and aliens You guys have been touring a lot, how’s that been? It’s been great! Just came back from a european tour, it’s good to be in cities I’ve been to before. We were he