Roping in the likes of Beth Jeans Houghton, Richard Dawson, and Natley’s Whore’s Kid Sister, the Blank Sessions have helped put Blank Studios firmly on the radar of region’s supposed musical know-it-alls. Like us!

So, with that in mind, I collared Sam Grant, one of the brains behind the operation, and quizzed him on all things Blank. Plus, for your enjoyment and understanding, we’re including the sessions in the piece. Tune in everyday for a different one. Today: Richard Dawson – Wooden Bag.

For the uninitiated, what are Blank Studios, and how do they differ from your usual recording space?

Blank Studios is a collective of four engineer-producers: John, Chris, Doug and myself [Sam]. We’ve grown up with each other in recording terms, learned from each other, and through our progression now run and work from a studio we built in the Ouseburn Valley.

There’s a strong collective vibe between the four of us, which helps in growing and learning, and supporting each other. I’d say that that’s probably a unique thing to our set up; to run and operate with a general consensus, as a collective. There’s a founding principle too that making and recording music comes before running a business. That said though, it’d be hard to try and highlight points of difference between us and other recording spaces. We only really have our own philosophies to go by and other studio owners may share these, but I’d like to think Blank shouldn’t be considered a recording space at all to be honest. It makes more sense to see us as four attuned people who work out of a particular space – in this case our studio in Ouseburn. A studio could have all the gear in the world, but it’ll only be as good as those understanding the bands’ vision.

I’d also say that we’re well into community building, and being a part of the bigger wheel of music. We try to be free or helpful where possible, and love the work of the Star and Shadow, of Leave Me Here Presents, Portions for Foxes, Mike Platt and his live sound skills, Ross Lewis… There’s a big list, and as a studio operating within all this we want to support and be supported by it, as everyone is working to make a better platform for bands and for music.

Oh, and we also film bands, I guess that stands as unusual for sound engineers and a studio.

Your website mentions a “shared ethos” between those involved, can you tell us what that ethos is?

I think we’re fortunate as the four of us have very similar outlooks with music, with what it means to us and how it makes us feel. Also fortuitous I guess is that we have very similar opinions on recording music; how to go about getting particular sounds and vibes, and where the magic of a record lives. It’s all led to us being a bit of a hydra, four heads of sonic geekdom! When one of us makes a leap forward (or mistake) the rest can move with it.

How did yourself, John, and Chris and Doug come to work together? What is it that you all bring to the equation individually?

We met at Newcastle college doing a music production course and immediately gravitated toward each other. As I say, we all have a similar outlook with music. All things Blank took off though since each of us had a handful of gear that we’d make our own recordings with, and we began to borrow bits and pieces off each other and help each other on bigger jobs. It wasn’t long before we went for a drink at the Cumberland and put a name to what we were doing. Things then steadily progressed from there.

By the nature of how we’ve come to be, we all have a part in most areas of the collective. Decisions are made by general consensus and no one person could really be said to provide something that the other couldn’t do otherwise. It’s been an important part of Blank for each of us to be able to fill in and deputise for anyone else if needs be. It helps our own development and also helps things run as smoothly as possible. That said, no one rushes to sort the books.

What inspired the Blank Sessions?

For a couple of years now we’ve produced live sessions for clients – like bands, blogs and radio. And this process has given us time to really learn about what can make a live sessions come to life. It’s fair to say that we’re definitely still learning, but about 6 months back we were reaching the end of one particular contract and thought it’d be interesting to start doing our own, to take it all on from the bottom up.

When you don’t have to answer to a client, or subscribe to some sort of branding or continuity bullshit, you find yourself with a lot more freedom for creativity. We try to reflect each band specifically within the video, as we would with sound, and we can also work with bands who we’d enjoy doing a session with. It’s also allowed us to build the website, without any extraneous crap and purely have the focus entirely on each video. It all adds up, I believe, for a more honest and enjoyable view. I hope so anyway!

Mausi, Beth Jeans, NWKS, Richard Dawson, Knuckle Dragger, and Shields aren’t exactly 6 particularly similar artists, so how did they all get involved? Had you worked with them before or did you approach them about taking part?

We’ve worked with most of them before, but that isn’t really the decisive factor. Often we want to work with bands that are working toward a grand ideal. While it’s quite difficult to quantify – when a band is setting up tours, bringing out a record, putting merch together, basically pouring themselves into the music and getting themselves out there with every part of their focus, there’s a force and energy behind it all. When a band’s also fucking brilliant too it’s almost unfeasible that we wouldn’t ask them to add to it with a session. In terms of the bands to date not being so similar, there’s a strong argument that in the current musical landscape genre means little these days, and peoples tastes are often far more eclectic than they’d assume. This has helped us in our decision to be broad in style with the band selection, and it’s bolstered by a kind of “if you don’t like this one, you’ll like the next one” approach.

If you’ll pardon the pun, there’s rather a lot of blank space in your archive. Does this mean we can expect to see a lot more Blank Sessions over the coming weeks/months/years?

Oh yeah, this is a new branch to the Blank collective and our intentions is that herein it’ll grow slowly but steadily until Blank perishes. We also now provide recorded sessions as a service to bands through Blank anyway, so the practice will only develop and improve. That archive will soon be packed, and I’ll be looking for bands not because they’re good but because they start with a J or Z. It’s going to be like my old Merlin Premier League sticker books, and I’m going to get drunk when the alphabet is complete.

If so, who can we expect to see? Who would you like to see?

My sessions website dream team would be, Zun Zun Egui, Treefight for Sunlight, Willy Mason, and Efterklang – and then I’d work from there. I don’t think you can expect to see any of these just yet though, and I also thing the other lads would beg to differ on band choices. But i don’t think names-you’ve-heard-of is necessarily the end goal of what we’re doing. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of good music in the world, and at all levels. In fact, quite the opposite, there’s a shit load of it, and most of the good stuff you or I have never even heard of. A few weeks back we did a session with Liz Green while she was on tour – I hadn’t heard of her before the session. I watched her gig the evening before down the Cluny and she was absolutely class. If people like music, and keep an open mind about the Blank Sessions I’m sure they’ll enjoy a lot of what goes up there, regardless of it they’ve heard of it or it falls into their remit of music-I-like.

Are there any other Blank projects in the works at the moment?

We’ve been closed for the last 3 weeks and just finished a big rebuild of the studio, if that counts as a Blank project. We put in a second mixing room and editing suite, and our control room has been extended. It all looks very posh and exciting – and my bones are now aching as testament to the progress. Besides that though, it just the usual stuff and the Sessions for the time being. We’re careful not to undermine any big project by distracting focus with other things – especially in this early stage. We’ve secret plans for the future though, and it’s always been our way to never rest on our laurels.

For more information, head over to blank-studios.com - a new session to follow on KYEO.tv tomorrow…

And you almost can; as Ben Butler & Mousepad, the latest alias of Joe Howe, who has previously performed as Germlin, and as one half of Gay Against You, is set to bring his unique brand of electronic music to Newcastle, after having performed in venues and festivals all across Europe, and touring US tour with Deerhoof last year. The late night show will be kicked off with support from up and coming local electronic artists Betamaxx and Man With Feathers.

Ben Butler & Mousepad, Betamaxx, Man With Feathers play the Star & Shadow Cinema in Newcastle on Friday 18th May.

Anyone who’s followed the career of Slam Dunkworth (© Emmy The Great) over the last decade will know that while keeping one foot in the indie camp, he’s always been keen on collaborations and causes (working with everyone from Africa Express to Shy FX and lending support to Love Music, Hate Racism! and Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors charity).

Maps is the first GCWGF album in a couple of years (although Duckworth released the solo set The Mannequin in 2011) and despite vocals from UK hip-hop hero Jehst, is being touted as a return to the band’s fairly straight indie-pop roots (even inviting some comparisons to early Blur).

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, RAM’s Pocket Radio and Shoes & Socks Off play O2 Academy, Newcastle on Monday 21st May.

Established in January this year by good friends Asif Sheikh and Jamie Thompson, both 19, Bassic Clothing describe themselves as ‘a small clothing brand with ‘bassic’ ideas and big ambitions.’

“Our range is heavily influenced by American and British street culture, as well as the club scene, hence the double S in our name,” explains Asif.  “We want to keep it cool and limited.  It’s not about getting everyone to buy a t-shirt, it’s about keeping things exclusive.”

The discreet and simplistic designs definitely have an air of cool about them. The kind that would get you knowing and appreciative looks from your peers if you were to hit the tiles wearing one. The promise from the brand of “keeping things limited” is also reassuring as you can go out without the fear that someone is going to be dressed as your carbon copy.

Asif and Jamie, both local lads, definitely have their ear to the ground (of a really cool club being such music lovers and all), and know exactly what their customers want.  Their love for the North East music scene combined with a strong interest in fashion is the result of a brand that is really different.  Forget your cliched slogan tees and vests bearing obscure images that nobody (including the wearer) understands, Bassic Clothing is niche, refreshing and definitely one to keep a close eye on.

Their Spring/Summer line of t-shirts have just gone on sale online and at the Independent Fashion Space in Grey Street, Newcastle, and are already a massive hit amongst music lovers and club revelers alike.

Visit their website or their Facebook page for more information.

The Feastival will help develop the idea of the city culturally, in regards to food. It’s something we’re always keen to… beef up… if you know what I mean. It’s important that we do develop the attractiveness of the city with restaurants, theatres, and all the rest of it because culturally there are elements of the city that need to move on a bit.

There’s a misconception around the country that there isn’t a good food offering in Sunderland. Hopefully things like this, and the wider work we do, will go someway towards changing that.”

Finally, I couldn’t resist asking him who, if time space and money weren’t an issue, he’d like to have on at Split this year… “I’m trying not to tell the lads that I’m into Adele and stuff like that at the moment. If I was booking though I’d have to go for The Beatles and The Stones. We’ve got to remember we’ve got some great stuff coming to Sunderland anyway though, with Springsteen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”

Split Feastival runs Friday June 15th – 17th at Herrington Country Park, Sunderland.

As the audience enters the Elektra theatre, there is no variety performance, no juggling clowns or ragtime pianists, no wren’s livers or ocelot spleens. Yet there is still a strange sense of occasion and excitement in the air.

The band’s instruments are setup below the screen in what would have been the orchestra pit. A violin and autoharp rest in their cases, notated scores are perched on music stands. Yes there are several keyboards, an electric guitar and a multitude of flickering lights from pedals, samplers and the PA, but magic and mystery still abounds.

A speaker from Birds Eye View (seriously, it took me about a week to get that one) gives a short introduction. Their organisation promotes female filmmakers, or in this instance female film-scorers with the work also scripted by the late, great Clara Behringer.

Blue Roses are announced and as the polite applause subsides there is a brief moment when it feels as if modern technology may have failed us. Sat waiting in halogen lights, the film fails to roll and the illusion is momentarily shattered. A silent collective intake of breath and they finally fall, the titles roll and we tumble down the rabbit hole into a dramatic maelstrom of whirling organ and vaudeville piano.

As the characters emerge onscreen this subsides into the more subtle sounds of scraped cymbals and worm-like synths. The band continues in this fashion with an astonishing attention to detail and expert musicianship, following the narrative to the nth degree.

If there is any criticism of tonight, it’s that it’s often very difficult not to be entranced by the band’s performance rather than allow them to simply support and emphasise those of the actors. But that would deny them the sense of space they create, with brushed snares like rattlesnakes, minute music boxes and languid guitar chords all in harmony with the varying moods and subtexts of the piece.

Different characters have returning themes, which develop according to plot and mood. Particularly memorable is the drunken music hall and sultry tango of the Italian dancer who tempts Jekyll in to awakening his inner Hyde. The darkly romantic violin motif, seductively tempestuous at the crux of the piece, later returns as a seedy and base atonal slur following the troubled doctor’s fall at the hands of his demon. This “impossible separation of man’s two natures; good and evil” is synonymous with these intertwining musical themes.

As Jekyll concocts his fatal elixir, the tension builds with a discordant, nagging guitar groove at odds with the free-jazz skittering drums. This later wrestles with the soft pizzicato synth of Millicent’s theme, the love interest and calming influence on the doctor’s soul, before giving way to B-movie Theremins as he descends into total control by Hyde.

The score is a labour of love for the band who have obviously poured themselves into a deeply narrative and evocative suite soundtracking perfectly this classic piece of cinema. It ends as it begins with grinding organ and crashing cymbals before tonight’s musicians take a well deserved bow to a standing ovation; a promising future for revisiting the past.

The Whores, as nobody at all calls them, will be playing at the tiny White Room, with support from Fathoms and Watchers on the decks.

NWKS – skullcrushing riffs and genuinely anguished vocals to the fore – are fast turning into Tyneside’s brightest hope. Their debut EP Ribs gets a physical, official release on June 4^th, although it’s already available on iTunes and Amazon (and it’s great, obviously). Since this is the last chance to see them until June 1^st (when they appear at the Evolution Festival), and since – as already mentioned – there is very limited capacity at the venue, you probably don’t want to leave this one too late.

Alex Burgess, she of Lone Wolf Promotions fame and directly responsible for this brilliant abomination, told us; First time I saw them I was lost for words, they’re one of the best bands I’ve seen live in a while and I’m absolutely chuffed to have them on in such a small, exclusive venue. It’s going to be class. If you haven’t seen them live, it’s something not to be missed. You’ll leave the gig amazed and disturbed.

Natley’s Whore’s Kid Sister play Sunderland’s White Rooms on Friday May the 18th.

Part of the nationwide Museums At Night weekend, The Late Shows is the biggest (and local regional pride demands we suggest, the best) event of the lot.

Friday night is all about Ouseburn, with 11 locations open until 11pm. As well as exhibitions and art workshops (at 36 Lime St, Mushroom Works, Holy Biscuit and Northern Print, amongst others), there will be music and visuals from upcoming and established artists at The Biscuit Factory and a vintage tea party at the anything but vintage Toffee Factory, with music from the wonderful Lady Koo & Her Kooky Kitchen.

At Seven Stories, we’re told childrens’ book characters will come alive, while street theatre outfit The Time Bandits will be lurking around Ouseburn Valley for a Jack The Ripper themed show. There’s everything two-wheeled at the new Newcastle Cycle Hub and an art / architecture collaboration at Ouse Street Arts Club, a new shipping container-based site at the bottom of the valley.

On Saturday, as well as the Ouseburn venues staying open again the rest of the Newcastle / Gateshead area gets involved, and while some of these events have entry fees, if you grab a Late Show glow stick there are plenty of reductions and offers. Among the dozens of events – many the usual mix of exhibitions, tours and workshops – a few things stand out: there’s circus skills to learn at the Discovery Museum, while tours of the ‘electro-acoustic machinery’ artwork-cum-tidemill are available to those who book.

There will be open studios, installations and performances at the Baltic’s new Baltic39 space in High Bridge St and all sorts of curious happenings at the main Baltic, including a choral version of A-Ha’s Take On Me. The Sanctuary has street art, B-Boy street dance demonstrations and live hip hop, while The Sage has everything from a ukulele jam to a tribute to legendary Los Angeles songwriter hotbed The Troubadour, featuring local talents like Natasha Hawes and Matt Stalker. DJ collective Soft Rocks are at the Star & Shadow to 5am, and World Headquarters are offering cheap entry as well. There’s a bar screening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark at the Tyneside Cinema and African house and electro from DJ Vamanos at Shipley Art Gallery. There’s also… well, why not download the brochure?

The Late Shows gets underway this Friday.

Telling the personal tale of Paul’s trip out in the immediate aftermath of one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in living memory, Tremors has recently been released in both e-book, and real life paper formats. I caught up with the author to find out the story behind the story.

First of all , what made you want to keep a journal of your experiences?

I’ve travelled quite a lot and always kept travel journals so there was no big decision to keep one this time, so it’s actually something that I would have done regardless of whether there’d been an earthquake or not. I keep journals for personal use; partly due to a poor memory if I’m honest. Sometimes little extracts or stories of real-life experiences can work their way later into a piece of fiction but on this occasion, it seemed very much like this was the story.

Given how sureal living through something like that must be, was it ever tempting to write the book away from the first-person, and possibly turn it into a work of fiction based around your experiences instead?

Not really. When I got home from Japan, I realised there was a story here that should be told and to me the ‘hook’ was always a personal account from someone in a strange land at a strange time. At times it is an intimate story, especially in regards to the personal relationships, so a temptation could be to turn it into maybe a romance-in-troubled-times story, but to me that would have trivialised the nature of what was happening in Japan at the time. I think some of the most interesting stuff for readers will be the differing media portrayals of the situation and I think it hits harder in terms of the seriousness of the situation as being an actual historical document or period piece.

You’re a writer by trade, but how did keep ing a journal like this differ from the styles and processes of writing you’re more accustomed to?

I’m afraid that I’m actually merely an office monkey with aspirations of eventually paying the bills with my writing, but it’s certainly different to the fiction I’ve written. If you were to write an entire book in three weeks whilst travelling, your head would be stuck in your notepad and you’d miss the feel of what was going on around you. So it’s important to come up with a method that works for you. I’d never remember everything so I made notes when I got the chance and took plenty of photos then fleshed it out and tried to make some sense of it all when I got home, whilst still trying to maintain the feelings that I was having at the time. That’s important when writing up a journal I think; don’t appear wiser than you were at the time. You have to reflect the innocence you had in the moment or the moment will be lost forever.

Had you known before you flew out, what you now know about about what would happen and what you’d experience, would you have gone? Would you have done anything differently?

Absolutely. Never for a second did I consider not going. Whether it’s the writer and need for adventure in me or not I don’t know, but if anything the situation made me more determined to go. Friends joke that if I’m off on my travels, then that country had better be warned. Japan at the time of its worst natural disaster, I was in Thailand when they had the political uprising and protestors took over the airports and I’ve been to Israel which is always on edge but it was just a week after they attacked a Palestinian boat and tensions were particularly high. I can’t think of a single thing that I would have done differently, though you can never know too much of a country’s dialogue before visiting.

When, and why, did you decide to try and have the journal published? How did you go about doing that?

When I got home and started fleshing things out I realised that it could work. But I realised there was a story when I was following the media portrayals of what was happening. There were two very different versions of events between the media back home and the Japanese media. I just had to make sure I could reflect that. I went very much down the DIY route that is publishing these days. I’d been in touch with Bangkok Books – who specialise in books about Asia – before with a novel I’d written called ‘Butterfly Me, Butterfly You’, which was set in Thailand but reading it now, I’m glad that never came about as I wasn’t ready as a writer. It’s not ideal; there’s very little, if any, money to be made and the promotion is completely left to the author but publishing houses are feeling the recession as much as anyone and the chances these days for new writers are very few and far between.

Even once accepted, a book can get stuck in development hell for years and I thought this had to get out there whilst the earthquake was still fresh in people’s minds, which was why I always had the one year anniversary in mind for its release. It was a lot of hard work at times but I made it so it was very worthwhile. I’m also a bit of a luddite; I love the feel, the touch and the smell of a book. I love turning the pages so I paid for my own print run which the publishers organised. They sort out the Amazon and other sales distributions too but I’m sure there are plenty of other similar publishers out there or if you have the time and the knowhow, you can put your own stuff out. Charles Bukowski put out his own stuff until he was nearly 40 and that was before the days of the kindle. It’s been a learning experience and it’s great to say I’ve had a book published, but for the novel I’ve been working on for a couple of years, ‘Release’, I’d prefer to go down a more traditional route.

Sarah Hall of Let’s Buy Happiness fame did the cover art for you, how was it she came to be involved in the project and what do you feel her work adds to things?

I had an image that I originally wanted to use but after an initial positive response from the designer, it fell through fairly close to submitting the final edit to the publishers so there was a chance the whole thing might fall through. I’ve been a huge Let’s Buy Happiness fan for a couple of years and always liked Sarah’s artwork that featured on their records so I was thrilled when she said she was interested. I came up with the idea for the Manga style artwork and already had the ruptured flag concept, but Sarah took those ideas and did something wonderful with them. I can’t stress how massive that was because it’s the first thing people see before they pick up a book and read it. In a way, I really hope people do actually judge my book by its cover.

How does being “home” feel after the events in the book? What perspective has it given you on day to day life? Do things like paying a gas bill or getting a hole in a sock feel considerably more trivial in comparison?

To a certain extent, I think we’re always changed by these experiences, even if we don’t realise it. We’re a sum of our parts, the things we’ve done and the people we’ve met. If we don’t take anything from these situations, be they positive or negative, then it’s a waste of time. Travelling is the greatest learning experience I can think of. Educating ourselves is how we become more tolerant and understanding of other nationalities and will ultimately make for a better world. I think the most important thing to remember, in order to give ourselves perspective, is that life continues after the experience. I left Japan’s troubles behind but Japan’s troubles haven’t left them behind. There’s still a story to be told after the final page has been turned.

Tremors – Travel Adventures In Post-Earthquake Japan by Paul Broadhead is available now, both in e-book and in paperback.

I may have been under the misconception that The Living Room was a ‘diamond strip’ kinda place – all fur coat and no knickers, as my dad would put it. I stand corrected though – the clientele was fairly mixed, with the bar being home to after work drinkers and the restaurant dotted with a mixture of young couples and normal bods like us, out for a treat.

Running late for our reservation, we didn’t stop in the bar first, but it was fairly busy and I’ve heard it gets uncomfortably full at weekends. The slightly dark and stylishly decked out restaurant is a contrast to the bright busy bar, but a welcome one. We were shown to a table with comfy cream leather benches, mood lighting and a saucy painting on the wall. A good start.

Describing itself as a ‘piano bar’, the music journalist in me was frankly relieved to see no musicians in residence at the cream baby grand this evening (live music on weekends only) as being serenaded by a Britain’s Got Talent reject with Michael Buble standards is my idea of hell. The music was jazzy to start with, fairly unobtrusive, but got a little more varied as the night wore on. Nothing so inoffensive to be offensive, if you know what I mean.

Our waiter was attentive and knowledgeable, plying us with at least three different food menus and a couple of drink ones too. When asked for recommendations, he spent several minutes describing his favourites in detail – a nicer touch than hearing the ‘recommended dishes’ being trilled out for the tenth time that night.

The menu comprised of a healthy selection of starters, sharers and nibbles (unfortunately they had no tapas sharing boards when we attended, a shame as the chorizo in chilli and red wine and goats cheese and olive empanadas sounded right up my street), with none of the starters breaking the £8 mark.

Their Perfect Set Menu is of particularly good value, and really makes The Living Room the sort of place you could go for a nice meal in stylish surroundings and not feel totally robbed at the end of the night. One of my companions chose from this, with 3 courses coming in at just £14, with the option of adding a (perfectly quaffable) bottle of house wine for just a tenner. My glass of recommended Argentinean Malbec was so stunning I was loathe to try anything else for the rest of the night, whilst my other whisky loving diner was furnished with one of the best Old Fashioned’s he’s had despite it not appearing on the extensive cocktail menu.

And so to the food – we shared a superbly chunky Moroccan spiced houmous with toasted ciabatta (£3.25) and a pot of Edamame beans coated in soy, ginger and chilli (£3) which had us licking our fingers in delight. The set menu starter of Thai fishcakes were a little more cake than fish, but the sweet chilli sauce had a very pleasant kick and more than made up for the slightly dense fishcakes.

Since it’s not often I get an opportunity to eat fancy food, I plumped for the pan-fried monkfish with parsley fishcake served with a very light pea and tomato dressing (£17.50) which was heavenly – the fish meaty yet succulent with the fishcake adding a pleasant crunch. The side order of sesame glazed sugar snap peas and mange tout (£3) had us fighting over eachother to consume; crispy and delicious. My companions had a monster of a burger (£10), topped with cheese and pancetta so crispy it shattered in your mouth, an amazing chunky tomato relish and proper chips; and from the set menu, the pappardelle pasta with slow cooked shin of beef and ragu was extremely flavoursome and very rich.

Leaving ourselves precious little room for dessert, we devoured the set menu’s serving of intense chocolate truffle cake served with vanilla ice cream and crushed ‘hokey pokey’ (cinder toffee), and we shared a cheeseboard (£8.50) which came with a rather disappointingly pedestrian cheddar, but the excellent goats cheese and biting stilton more than made up for it.

Overall, our little party of three were thoroughly happy with our dining experience. With superb service, excellent quality food at a not unreasonable price, and surroundings that made you feel you were a million miles away from a rainy corner of town a little too close for comfort to Flares.

Yes, the big yellow thing in the sky might be taunting us with its tween style ‘will-they-won’t-they’ romance with the Earth, but it’s time we all accepted that there are far brighter things to be found on stages up and down the region, starting on Wednesday night.

Brought to you by booking mavericks Not Your Cuppa Tea, we were provided with the following…

“Blackbird Blackbird (formerly Bye Bye Blackbird) is the moniker/musical outlet of San Francisco, California wunderkind Mikey Maramag. His reverb-laden musical collages tend to lean towards anthemic, inspirational, and dream-driven themes. Maramag’s influences range from various ends of the musical spectrum. Blackbird Blackbird often tweaks nature-samples and mixes electronic textures with organic instrumentation (guitar, drums, synths, vocal-harmonies). Ghostly female vocals are chopped and screwed, spun around a paint-splattered collage of sound. 

Maramag’s deep, textured, and hypnotic pop songs pay homage to the psychedelic pop that the Beatles could have imagined but cannot make today. Blackbird Blackbird’s music is made with the warmth of analogue instrumentation spliced with digital bells and twinkles.

Blackbird Blackbird’s debut album “Summer Heart” was self-released by Maramag in July 2010, and is really just a collection of his past EPs: “Happy High” and “Let’s Move on Together”. His standout singles “Pure” and “Hawaii” received the most attention, and his single “Ups and Downs” helped Mikey capture the ears of Pitchfork, Transparent, Prefix Magazine, The Fader, Brooklyn Vegan, and other musical tastemakers”

Best of all, the first 10 people through the door will be presented with a free t-shirt for their troubles, and for every three people with a paying ticket you can smuggle a 4th mate in for nowt. Tremendous fun.

Blackbird Blackbird, Waskerley Way, and Betamaxx play The Cluny on Wednesday 16th of May. Tickets are £6 and avaiallbe online.

First becoming aware of the skating subculture when a skateboarder flew over his head as he was leading a walking tour of the city’s 60’s architecture, Jeffries soon found himself emerged in what he describes as a hidden world that exists parallel to the Newcastle that is experienced from the general public. After examining city planning documents Jeffries saw a struggle for power in the city, and believes that the reason the skate subculture is viewed as a nuisance is due to the fact that they use the city in a way that doesn’t cost them money, and therefore get in the way of the ‘valued customer’.

Having become involved with the local skate scene and developing academic research to suggest that the city should be investing in helping sustain the scene rather than attempting to design them out – he tells me that Gateshead council recently invested £11,000 in a skate park because the public felt safer when the skaters were around occupying themselves, as opposed to groups of loiterers. Skating gives them something to occupy their time and keeps them creative, with many young people pursuing careers in creative fields like photography, the arts, music, blogging and web design.

Jeffries believes that these youngsters are to be celebrated and promoted rather than hidden away from the public eye, and is out to break the stereotypes of both the skater as a wasteful inconvenience and the city as a town for drinking and hen parties.

The latest incarnation of his PlayToon initiative sees things culminating in a week long exhibition of photography and video from Wednesday 16th to Wednesday 23rd May, including a day of live action skating and free running on Saturday 19th all at the Holy Biscuit gallery in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley.

See the PlayToon exhibition from Wednesday 16th to Wednesday 23rd May and witness some of the live action during PlayOut at the Holy Biscuit, Newcastle on Saturday 19th May, as part of the Late Shows programme.