I live in <\/strong>Colliers Wood, South London and work in Soho, Central London. Londoner born and bred. Quite a rarity these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am one of the Directors at CAN YOU CIC IT, the Community Interest Company that runs Independent Venue Week<\/a> Primarily I look after production & logistics and liaise with venues. I also put together our live record. We\u2019re a small team so we all help each other out at various times. The run up to the week and the week itself is intense but I\u2019m so lucky to work with a wonderful team. We have a lot of fun along the way. I\u2019ve met some incredible people through this job. I think that’s the beauty of the independent music sector, real creativity and passion is at the heart of it. Of course budgets can be tight but that also goes for the major sector too. We had exciting plans to do much more activity throughout the year but sadly with the pandemic, this was put on hold. With some time to not only come up for air and the live industry coming to a complete standstill overnight, we\u2019re working on some things behind the scenes that we\u2019re really excited about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the moment, we\u2019ve just been putting our 2020 live record together that’s due for release in December. We\u2019ve got an outstanding selection of artists, Anna Calvi<\/a>, Sleaford Mods,<\/a> She Drew The Gun<\/a> to name but a few. It will be available directly from our shop<\/a> and all good independent record stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent Venue Week 2021<\/a> will be happening one way or another. Like the rest of the industry, we\u2019re in a state of flux at present but we have every intention of going ahead, we\u2019ve just got to see how things pan out over the following months. It is imperative that the work that venues and crew do is recognised more than ever at the moment. It\u2019s frustrating but a positive is there seems to be a real willingness from all different areas of the industry. Amongst the chaos and uncertainty, it\u2019s amazing to have some conversations with people I admire and have great respect for and get their input. It\u2019s rare to catch many of them with some downtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in saying that I don\u2019t want things to go back to the \u201cold way\u201d. If any good comes from this, once gigs & events can resume I hope some lessons are learnt and better practices are put in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently I\u2019ve been on a bit of a Buzzcocks<\/a> & The Clash<\/a> binge. Billy Nomates<\/a> album is on heavy rotation along with The Genius After Hours<\/em> <\/a> – Ray Charles, Electric Mud<\/em><\/a> <\/em>– Muddy Waters & Paradise & Lunch<\/em><\/a> <\/em>– Ry Cooder. With the Winter weather, I always have a tradition of listening to a lot of John Martyn<\/a>, Nick Drake<\/a>, Fairport Convention<\/a>, Pentange<\/a>, Sandy Denny<\/a>. I love that period of 70\u2019s English Folk. Mainstays on my headphones are Stevie Wonder<\/a>, James Taylor<\/a>, D\u2019Angelo<\/a>, Nina Simone<\/a>, Paul Simon<\/a>, Earth Wind & Fire<\/a>. I could be here all day reeling off artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m also really enjoying Off Menu<\/a> , We Are The Road Crew<\/a> & Questlove Supreme<\/a> podcasts. Someone who is very much part of the IVW extended family, Stewart Baxter<\/a> has launched a podcast called Keep Talking<\/a> which is focusing on mental health amongst other topics. Like many others, I\u2019m glad that the topic of mental health is very much a talking point and an important discussion within the music industry. Stewart is someone that I admire immensely and apart from being a fantastic drummer, he\u2019s mentored many people within the city of Hull and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another podcast\/mix I\u2019ve really enjoyed features a friend who I\u2019ve known personally for years and grew up with, Bear Winder<\/a> who is a London based DJ. She has been sober for just over a year now. Her story is so inspiring and I have nothing but love and respect for her journey to where she is now. The mix is a killer and I\u2019m delighted that she\u2019ll be joining me on my radio show in December. You can listen to the podcast here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In all manner of ways. 6Music is constantly on in the office. I also listen to the radio when I\u2019m at home. There are some great curated playlists on Spotify. Most of my circle of friends are all music lovers or musicians so we\u2019re always sharing albums and artists between us. I love going record shopping whenever and wherever I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going to gigs and making sure I catch the support is really important and that’s how I discovered Billy Nomates<\/a> at the beginning of this year at 100 Club<\/a>. She really blew me away. Lastly, I\u2019m a discreet Shazamer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All formats apart from cassette only because I don\u2019t have a deck. Primarily vinyl, digital & CD\u2019s but I\u2019m not snobby about formats at all, the music always comes first for me. It may come across as pretentious but I\u2019m a stickler for good sound, that’s the bottom line. Streaming services are fantastic for discovery and convenience but the model for paying artists and labels is appalling. It\u2019s simply not sustainable. I\u2019m a big fan of Bandcamp and have just started using Tidal after being a Spotify user from very early on. Purely for audio quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Streaming services are fantastic for discovery and convenience but the model for paying artists and labels is appalling. It\u2019s simply not sustainable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Everywhere but my favourite place is at home. I have a wonderful setup that I\u2019ve put together over a number of years. Technics 1200\u2019s & CDJ\u2019s going through a vintage Bozak mixer with a Quad 303 power amp & Tannoy Little Red monitors. It sounds incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing can beat a well tuned PA in a venue or a sound system at Notting Hill Carnival. These are two things I\u2019ve really missed this year. I must also give a shoutout to my dear friend Marco Perry who has an amazing company called Immersive Audio<\/a> that specialize in 3D sound. Marco is master of his craft and I always leave his studio inspired and blown away by his own work and collaborations. Excuse the pun, but he really opened my ears to what is capable within the audio realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I keep an eye on certain labels\/artists such as Soundway<\/a>, Analog Africa<\/a>, Heavenly<\/a>, Bella Union<\/a>, Rough Trade<\/a>, Leaf Label<\/a>, Council Records<\/a>, Thrill Jockey<\/a>, Slump Recordings<\/a>, My Only Desire Records<\/a>, Space Ghetto<\/a>, Funkiwala<\/a> & Gearbox Recordings<\/a>. I was much more in the loop when I was working in distribution but you still can\u2019t beat a good recommendation from a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being able to listen anywhere to anything on the go is great and I like the immediacy of it but If I\u2019m really into something I\u2019ll buy the record. It\u2019s unbelievable to have so much at your fingertips but it can be hard to keep up with it all. On the whole, I wouldn\u2019t say there are many frustrations with it. I still love a physical product, that will never change but with storage not being a problem anymore, having access to lossless audio is amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love a good playlist. Most of mine are put together by a theme, genre or country. I\u2019ve got a huge starred playlist which is basically a genreless dumping ground for anything I come across. It can make shuffle interesting sometimes! I tried the whole alphabetically organized record system but that quickly went out the window. I much prefer to pull out something at random and take it from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a music obsessive and not afraid to admit it so it\u2019s often a hot topic of conversation. I\u2019m constantly sending friends links to music. Again, I love making playlists for friends and long journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The whole team at Independent Venue Week<\/a> and the extended family around it (you know who you are). More importantly, all of the venue owners and operators who we work with. At the end of the day it\u2019s about them, not us. It\u2019s an incredibly difficult time for everyone in the music industry at the moment and it\u2019s heartbreaking to see what’s happening. I\u2019d really like to highlight the #WeMakeEvents<\/a> campaign. Gigs, no matter the size, can only happen with crew and in some respects, they\u2019ve become a victim of their own invisibility. We are renowned for having some of the best crew in the world and have a whole supply chain that is in imminent danger of collapsing completely if the government doesn’t step in and recognise their importance. On a more positive note, I\u2019ve been keeping the Independent Venue Week Show<\/a> which I\u2019ve now taken over and renamed Acid Chaz<\/a> on Totally Wired Radio<\/a> I\u2019ve been giving the second hour to friends to give them a platform to put a mix together or play their selections in these bleak times. I never dreamt in a million years that I\u2019d end up doing radio but I really enjoy it. I never take these things for granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"template":"","tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhere do you work? What do you do?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are you listening to?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you discover new music?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Where do you do most of your music listening?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Do you tip other people off to new music? How?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Anything you want to \u201cpromote\u201d?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n