The Soundsphere Magazine Podcast

Samuel Sweek discusses Jeremy Corbyn's Peace & Justice Project, Music For The Many and more

Grassroot music venues are the beating pulse of any music scene worldwide. On the surface, it’s a small, dimly lit room with a stage that creaks with every note, but to artists, it’s Woodstock, it’s the Pyramid stage, it’s an opportunity to project their music to anyone that will listen. As Friedrich Nietzsche once said, ‘without music, life would be a mistake’, so why are we seeing so many venues closing their doors for their final times, and what is being done to help?
Within the last year, 22 million people saw music events in grassroots venues, resulting in it bringing in over £500 million to the British economy. Despite this, the profit margin was a mere 0.2% as running costs sat at £499 million, yet night after night up and down the country, venues still continue to host the backbone of music with no support apart from the love of this sadly diminishing craft.
In April 2023, Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Peace and Justice Project’ launched the ‘Music for The Many’ campaign to help protect these venues and demand that the government create funding and support to help save the futures of the venues at risk. Music For Many has three demands in order to help secure the future of these grassroot venues:
Have a grassroot venue fund to ensure that all communities have access to opportunities in the music industry.
Tax corporate sponsors of larger music venues.
Invest in grassroots music venues to secure the sustainable long-term futures of the music venues.

Jason Wilsher-Mills on his art, being inspired by his disability, favourite bands

#disabilityempowerment #disabilityawareness #disabilityadvocacy
 
In March 2024, Wellcome Collection will present ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’, a major solo exhibition by Jason Wilsher-Mills (b. 1969, UK). Showcasing his largest and most personal commission to date, this free exhibition will be a joyful and subversive exploration of the body, drawing on the artist’s experience of becoming disabled as a child.  
Reimagining the gallery space as a hospital ward, Wilsher-Mills’ immersive installation of sculptures, illustrations and interactive dioramas will challenge the cultural and societal perceptions surrounding disability, medicine and the human body. Through a kaleidoscope of colours and a touch of magic realism, the exhibition will also be a celebration of family, his working-class background and the opportunities he received through hospital education, inviting audiences to explore childhood memories and creativity through the artist’s trademark humour.  
‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’ will delve into the transformative moment of Wilsher-Mills’ diagnosis of an autoimmune condition, triggered by contracting chickenpox at the age of 11. Paralysed from the neck down until the age of 16, and unable to physically explore the wider world around him, the artist came to inhabit an interior world filled with action heroes, TV shows, films, comics, books and his own vivid imagination.
The exhibition’s title alludes to 2.54pm at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, on 1 August 1980, when he witnessed his parents being told of his diagnosis at the end of his hospital bed. He can pinpoint this exact moment in time as it coincided with British athlete Sebastian Coe winning the gold medal in the 1500 m race at the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was being shown on the ward’s TV at the same time. In the exhibition, visitors will step into the physical manifestation of this memory, encountering a mesmerising dreamscape where a monumental figure lies in a hospital bed watching TV, surrounded by oversized plastic toy soldiers delivering the virus, inflatable germs that hang in the air and a 30-metre illustrative wallpaper depicting significant episodes from the artist’s life.  
The exhibition will also feature a series of nine lightbox dioramas which distil Wilsher-Mills’ childhood memories of this time, both before and after his diagnosis. Throughout the space visitors will be invited to activate different scenes inspired by his working-class background and his experience as a young person. In ‘Mum as Mermaid’ (2024) the artist recalls a family holiday to the seaside where he imagined his mother as a mermaid surrounded by bioluminescent jellyfish, while ‘Hippo Scare’ (2024) depicts a childhood encounter with a hippopotamus at a zoo in Manchester, which Wilsher-Mills credits with the beginning of his creative awakening as an artist.  
The installation will be supplemented by sketchbooks of pen-and-ink drawings – a practice Wilsher-Mills has returned to for the first time in 30 years – which are then reconfigured in layers using an iPad to become the eventual work. They are inspired by encounters with anatomical studies in Wellcome’s historic collections, which evoked memories of the artist’s own hospitalisation. After the exhibition, the sketchbooks will be acquired into Wellcome Collection.  
Alongside the exhibition, Wilsher-Mills will take over Wellcome Collection’s atrium from 20 May to 8 September 2024 with works from the series ‘Jason and his Argonauts’. This will include his monumental sculpture ‘I am an Argonaut’ (2021). Originally installed in Folkestone and taking inspiration from William Harvey (1578–1657), the Royal Physician credited with the first description of the human circulatory system, the work is a reflection of Wilsher-Mills’ own experience of disability. It contrasts medical imagery with the social model of disability: “the understanding that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference” (Scope, 2022).
Jason Wilsher-Mills is a disabled artist born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, now living in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The son of a coal miner, he is the youngest of eight children and grew up on council estates in Wakefield. He was the first in his family to go to university, and studied painting at the Cardiff School of Art and Design. 

Joe Henley talks fronting Buddhist death metal band DHARMA, and the Taiwan metal and punk scene

#taiwan #deathmetal
Dom chats to Joe Henley (frontman of Buddhist death metal band, DHARMA) talks moving to Taiwan and being part of a thriving metal and punk scene. 
More coming to Soundsphere magazine in the coming days...
https://www.soundspheremag.com/

Esteban Flores comments on his TikTok fame, creating with raw emotion for 'Mi Amigo Slow Joy'

#slowjoy #emo #alternativerock
Esteban Flores talks to Dom Smith about the inspirations and ideas behind 'Mi Amigo Slow Joy', alongside the emotional connection he has with the music.
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Slow Joy, the solo project of Dallas based, New Mexican born Chicano artist Esteban Flores, releases his latest single, the urgent and anguished “King Cowboy”.
Along with the single, Slow Joy exclusively premiered the official music video via Under The Radar today, watch HERE. “King Cowboy” is the second track from Slow Joy’s forthcoming new EP Mi Amigo Slow Joy – set to be released on June 7th via Mick Music. He will be hitting the road with his band in June for a North American tour that includes headline shows, festival sets at So What?! Festival in Fort Worth, TX and Ohio Is For Lovers Festival in Cincinnati, OH, and opening for beloved Nashville based American emo band Free Throw in the US and Canada. New single “King Cowboy” looks at the consequences of existing in a capitalist society, including challenging economic realities. The song represents Flores’ foray into telling personal stories from the perspective of a character. “With ‘King Cowboy,’ I didn't want to critique the American Dream in a way that was preachy,” he says. “So I thought it was interesting to put yourself in a character and say, ‘I'm the King Cowboy,’ which is such a ridiculous term to say.” It’s also the second song to be released ahead of Mi Amigo Slow Joy and follows the Foo Fighters-meets-Pixies single “Pulling Teeth,” which was released last month with news of the new EP – listen HERE and watch HERE. The new EP was produced by Mike Sapone (Oso Oso, The Front Bottoms, Grouplove) and follows 2023’s Wildflower EP. Flores first started releasing singles under the moniker Slow Joy in 2020 and by 2022 the project gained momentum via a pair of singles – “Crawling” and “Soft Slam” – that accumulated millions of views on TikTok and secured impressive playlist placements. These early singles featured a sensitive combination of soaring space rock, noisy shoegaze, and dynamic post-rock. Flores originally started writing music to help him process the death of his mother and after his early success, continued to hone his craft. The new EP reflects lyrical and sonic growth that Flores attributes in part to working in the studio with Sapone. In addition, the EP’s visuals and title reflect his Hispanic heritage and culture – something very important to Flores. “Naming it Mi Amigo Slow Joy is like, ‘Hey, this is rock music. It’s serious, and it's important, and it's me.’ And one thing that is me is being a Mexican-American person, and being proud of that culture, and showing it off.” Look for Mi Amigo Slow Joy on 7th June 2024 via Mick Music.

Late Night With The Devil star David Dastmalchian shares his love for the dark heavy sounds of Failure and Nine Inch Nails

The word ‘success’ is an undefinable mystery, as the word changes definition depending on who you are speaking with and what point of life they are in. However, few could look at the career of David Dastmalchian and think that he has not been successful, as the films he has starred in are staples in the cinematic history of many people’s viewing lives. David is an inspiring man with an admirable dedication to his work and craft. Any piece of work with his name on it is worth looking into. From the anxious chaos of his turn as Thomas Schiff in The Dark Knight, or the heroic comedy of Polka-Dot Man in Suicide Squad, and the creative intensity he brings to roles like Piter de Vries in Dune, or Jack Delroy in Late Night With The Devil. It is hard to imagine someone of his distinction ever struggled with something as common as addiction, but everyone has their own story of dark times, and David shares his with Soundsphere, and how alternative music helped him through it.
Read more at: https://www.soundspheremag.com/features/late-night-with-the-devil-star-david-dastmalchian-shares-his-love-for-the-dark-heavy-sounds-of-failure-and-nine-inch-nails/
Photo credit: J. Konrad Schmidt

David Plumtree of Cafe Indie talks inspiring creativity through music and community in Scunthorpe

Cafe Indie in Scunthorpe is a not-for-profit.
They work to provide work experience, training and youth work support to young people aged 16-25. Our cafe is staffed by young volunteers, giving them the chance to develop job skills and improve their prospects. It works too – over 60% of our volunteers go on to secure paid employment. We also host a daily drop in for children aged 13-18 and work with a vast array of community groups to address social issues, serving as a springboard for community development.
https://cafeindie.org.uk/

Hull's Chiedu Oraka reflects on a mega run of shows at SXSW 2024 in Texas

Hull's Chiedu Oraka reflects on a mega run of shows at SXSW 2024 in Texas The only type of Rap that can be curated if you’ve grown up in the 01482.
And if you haven’t, well you’re about be taken on an incredible journey. Joe the Third is spinning the beats. Stepping back, rapping along with his brothers, feeling the groove.
Deezkid, if the crowd was a box of play-doh then Deez is the kid that mashes all the colours together into a giant ball, and plays with it to his heart's content. And then there’s Chiedu Oraka, the Black Yorkshire mayyyyyyyne. Throwing kung-fu kicks and beasty bars into the Austin air and the audience is just lapping it up, as if it’s the English Breakfast section at an all you can eat buffet.
More at: 
https://www.soundspheremag.com/features/interviews/hulls-chiedu-oraka-reflects-on-a-storming-set-at-sxsw-in-texas/

Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker talks finding flow in creativity, success and legacy

With their new album ‘NATURAL MAGICK’ topping the Independent Album Charts and the first London date of their April/May UK Tour now sold out, Kula Shaker announce a second night at London’s Electric Ballroom on Saturday 27 April 2024.The full list of April/May UK Tour, including the second London show is:
22/04/2024    Cardiff ,Tramshed23/04/2024    Bexhill, De La Warr Pavilion25/04/2024    Wolverhampton, The Wulfren26/04/2024     London, Electric Ballroom27/04/2024     London, Electric Ballroom (*new show)29/04/2024     Newcastle, Boiler Shop30/04/2024    Glasgow, SWG3 TV Studio01/05/2024     Leeds, O2 Academy03/05/2024    Manchester, O2 Ritz04/05/2024     Bristol, Marble Factory05/05/2024     Bournemouth, O2 AcademyTickets for all shows via gigsandtours.com  ticketmaster.co.uk  kulashaker.co.uk  Just back from a sell-out tour of Japan, frontman Crispian Mills adds, ”Gracing the charts again means so much to us and our fans.”These days, as anyone who has seen them in the flesh could tell you, Kula Shaker’s live shows are less like gigs than bona-fide happenings… communal gatherings of like-minded souls where the bilateral flow of positive energy feels powerful enough to levitate the Royal Albert Hall.This same kinetic energy curses through every second of ‘NATURAL MAGICK’, the band’s 7th studio album, which finds the reunited original four members of Kula Shaker casting their most powerful spells yet — in no small part due to the return of keyboard wizard Jay Darlington from a decade with Oasis and various Gallaghers, therefore reuniting the band’s classic line-up (Crispian Mills: guitar/vocals; Jay Darlington: Hammond organ/ keys; Alonza Bevan: bass; Paul Winter-Hart: drums). 

Ellis Best talks The Hazy Janes' 'Welcome To Cylinder City' EP and comic

#halifax #thehazyjanes #welcometocylindercity
Dom Smith chats to The Hazy Janes' frontman Ellis Best about the band's new EP, and the accompanying comic book, 'Welcome To Cylinder City'. In this revealing interview, we go in-depth on the characters and ideas that led to the creation of the new music, and explore the possible future of Cylinder City as a Universe for Ellis to create. 
For more information visit:
https://www.soundspheremag.com/

Benjamin Francis Leftwich pays homage to York and reflects on 'Some Things Break'

Ben Leftwich goes in-depth on his York roots, new album 'Some Things Break' and much more. Here, the artist pays tribute to those that got him here, defines what success means to him, and looks towards an exciting 2024, with some tour dates on the horizon. 
Find out more here: https://www.soundspheremag.com/