Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds played a short acoustic set at Rough Trade on Sunday in support of his new book ‘Dear Future Historians,’ which is a collection of all the Shikari lyrics, including essays explaining them. This is the second edition of the book, and this time round includes the lyrics from the most recent Shikari album ‘The Spark.’ Rou performed several songs off ‘The Spark,’ including lead single ‘Live Outside,’ and also played ‘Constellations’ from 2012’s

The all-smiling, all-snarling, all-dancing punk trio caught up with The Mic backstage in Leeds to talk about their headline tour, a debut album and social evolution. Over the course of the past eighteen months, Tunbridge Wells trio Lady Bird have attempted to cause a perpetual shift within our social consciousness through the medium of brash, witty punk rock. Having worn the label of one of the UK’s brightest new sparks, the band are now putting plans into motion for what loo

Melancholic, seductive and timeless are three words which I would use to describe the indie rock band Black Honey. But simply labeling them as ‘indie rock’ does not do the four-piece justice; they encapsulate so much more. Listening to a Black Honey track is like being transported into your own feature film wherein you, the hero, are as equally broken as you are bad-ass and empowered. I met up with Black Honey (minus drummer Tom Dewhurst, but three out of four’s not bad) back

On Sunday afternoon, before the penultimate night of their ‘Trust’ tour with Papa Roach, I sat down with guitarist of Nothing More, Mark Vollelunga, to discuss tour, crowd response and the appeal of the breakfast taco. He was an absolute delight to talk to and didn’t seem to mind that this was clearly my first interview! So you’ve been touring since the start of February in the US? Yeah, as far as this year goes. That was our headliner, our ‘Truth’ tour, which was awesome. It

I met Palm Reader singer Josh McKeown on a sunny Saturday afternoon for a drink and a chat about the goings on with Palm Reader for this year and about the entire career of the band: How likely is it that we’re going to hear any new material this year? We’re going into the studio in November, so it’s pretty unlikely, but we might put out a few teasers or start playing a few new ones live. What’s your writing process like? For the first two albums, we just sat in a practice ro

One of pop’s most recognised voices speaks about collaborations, her solo aims and the music industry ahead of her sold-out show at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms The pop industry can be a tough and, at times, horrible business to be involved in. An increasingly competitive industry flooded with young and talented artists who act as mirror images to thousands of singers with budding futures, the pop world is a fickle and infuriating beast, and Worcestershire artist Becky Hill know

Following on from the release of a new album, 3 intimate Rough Trade gigs and the beginnings of a tour, The Japanese House, otherwise known as Amber Bain, kindly took the time out of her busy schedule to sit down and talk to me about all things sad indie pop. ‘Good at Falling’- What inspired you with this album? The album name is from a video game called ‘Thomas Was Alone’ and its basically this square called Thomas, having an existential crisis. There was a part in the game

We spoke to frontman Leo Wyndham and drummer Matt Hodges of Palace before the show: So, you guys have known each other for a long time, do you think that has had an influence on your bond as a band? Leo: Yeah, definitely. I guess the chemistry with how we play together and being relaxed and having fun – it all plays a big part. We’ve known each other since we were like 13 or 14. Matt: It’s just like being on tour with your brothers, you know? You can say anything, do anythin

I joined Larkins ahead of the penultimate show of their tour, at Nottingham’s Bodega, to chat about their new music, inspiration and how the tour has gone so far. The four-piece indie-pop group last came to Nottingham supporting Cassia last Autumn at Rescue Rooms. Their use of lighting and production had impressed the crowd, and they were set to do the same for their own headline show. The group explained that they put a lot of thought and effort into their shows to make them

Shortly before I sat down with The Half Eight, I got the opportunity to listen to a short preview of their new EP ‘Rose Tinted Soul’ which will be released on 1st March.  I immediately thought of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” as “End it Right” kicked off, but it quickly progressed bringing high energy and catchy lyrics. “Timezones”, second on the EP, was another high impact and high intensity song whose lyrics were mainly written by Charlie. This was obvious from the longing to be wi

The Kris Barras Band are rising stars on the rock and blues music scene, having made several major appearances on the UK and European festival circuit in the past couple of years, including Ramblin’ Man Fair (UK) and Rawa Blues Festival (Poland). On the first leg of their 2019 European tour, the band brought their signature brand of blues-infused heavy rock and roll to Rescue Rooms on Tuesday 12th of February, supported by the Irish singer/songwriter Grainne Duffy. Former pr

Cancer Bats absolutely levelled Rescue Rooms on Tuesday as part of their extensive UK tour to celebrate their latest release ‘The Spark That Moves’, which was released by surprise on April 20th 2018, almost ten years to the day after they released their iconic sophomore album ‘Hail Destroyer’. Their exhausting 19 song set took songs from both those albums and everything in between, with special highlights being “Lucifer’s Rocking Chair”, “Hail Destroyer”, and their legendary

SHVPES played an absolutely blinding set in Rescue Rooms’ Red Room to a pretty packed out crowd despite it being a cold Wednesday night. The majority of the setlist was taken from new album ‘Greater Than’, but they made sure to play older fan favourites like “State of Mind” and “Skin and Bones” off their debut ‘Pain.Joy.Ecstasy.Despair’ which received the biggest singalongs on the evening. The absolute highlight however came from album closer “Counterfeit” with its iconic lyr

Sean went down to Beat The Streets on Sunday and got a chance to have a chat with rock band Haggard Cat before their set, here’s how it went: Favourite venues in Nottingham? We absolutely love JT Soar and Chameleon, but we’re lucky to have all these independent venues like Rock City and Rescue Rooms rather than a faceless O2 Academy. Favourite Local Bands? 94 Gunships – they’ve got lots of bluegrass/shanty elements and are playing Beat the Streets later on, but most of our fa

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

Indie folk champion Jay ‘Beans on Toast’ released his 10th studio album ‘A Bird in the Hand’ on the 1st December (an annual birthday tradition). A sweet and honest record about family, growing up and the bright side of life, you can read my thoughts on it here. This year, he marks the occasion this year with a performance of the record in full at Rough Trade Nottingham and a launch show in Nuneaton. I was lucky enough to catch up with Jay on release day. First things first –

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

As we walked into the backstage area of Rock City, we were immediately enveloped in a hug by Liverpool-based indie singer-songwriter Zuzu. Hand-picked by indie-rock hall-of-fame The Courteeners as a supporting act for their UK tour, Zuzu was everything her energetic, sassy music would suggest. We had a chance to catch up with her before the show. So how did it get set up with you supporting The Courteeners? What’s it been like? Z: Liam heard some of our demos and then they as

A couple of hours before their show at the Bodega, I sat down with King Nun singer/guitarist Theo to talk about their ‘punk love songs’, ‘sending out an honest message’ and his mysterious connection with the number ‘57’. 19.11.18, 17:45, Bodega Social Club. ‘Why don’t we do love with a punk element? There must be a way to do a violent, twisted, cathartic version of a love song. So we did five of those,’ Theo recalls this epiphany when asked about his band’s latest EP, ‘I Have

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