Michael Franti Interview: Anger Is Not My Superpower
It’s the evening of the parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal and Michael Franti is pondering the question of whether music really has the power to change the world. He jokes that if he could sing a song to trigger a second referendum (regarding the UK’s fractuous...
Hero Fisher Interview: Strong Women, Self-Belief & Dreamlike Place Called Glue Moon.
When I meet Hero Fisher in a bar in East London’s Brick Lane, it doesn’t take long to realise she’s a force to be reckoned with. It’s subtle; more zephyr than full-blown storm but it’s palpable. She’s smart, funny and expressive; the words she speaks should definitely...
Nic Cester Interview: A Psychedelic Sugar Rush Hits The Streets Of Soho
Meeting Nic Cester, I’m not sure what I expected. All I knew of him was all that my twenty-two years of life has allowed me to: he was the lead singer and songwriter from Jet, the band that wrote Are You Gonna Be My Girl, otherwise known as that song that everyone,...
Chris Difford (Squeeze) – Cool For Cats In Summer
Festival season has been blessed with a heatwave in the UK this year. Not something that rolls off the tongue, as any mud-bathed, Wellington-booted, festival stalwart will testify. Yet, here we are in sweltering central London, for the first of the annual BST Hyde...
Phoxjaw An Interview With A Band That Bites
2000trees were excited to add Phoxjaw to their festival lineup, so I took some time to get to know a little more about the Bristol alt-rock band who have been getting a fair bit of attention this year. I began our interview by getting a little introduction to the five...
We Are Scientists Embark On A New Megaplexpedition
We Are Scientists clearly didn’t get the memo. Almost 20 years and six albums into their career, bands are supposed to start sounding tired, bored, and fresh out of ideas. But with Megaplex, the duo of singer-guitarist Keith Murray and bassist Chris Cain have released...
Nils Lofgren Looks Back On 50 Years & Ahead To His Next Album
Nils Lofgren first hit the road as a 17-year-old fronting the band Grin. In the half century since, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee has worked and toured with everyone from Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band to Neil Young, all the while maintaining a...
The Penny Black Remedy A Tonic For The Times
On a chill, wintry afternoon, Keith M Thomson and Marijana Hajdarhodzic of The Penny Black Remedy, meet me in the illustrious Groucho Club, in Soho, central London. Over coffee, they discuss their obsession with making death funny and how Imelda May might just be...
Victor Vox And An Indomitable Talent
When I arrive at Albion in London’s Shoreditch, singer-songwriter and musician Victor Marichal is waiting patiently with a pot of tea, perhaps the most quintessentially English thing you can do in an East End café. It’s his accent though, richly Parisian and largely...
Jim White Keeps His Destination In Mind
Jim White describes himself as a “singer/songwriter, author, fine art photographer, crackpot philosopher, folk artist, record producer, film maker, dad”. But the multi-hyphenate, who’s just released his sixth solo album Waffles, Triangles & Jesus, could also add...
Kobra And The Lotus Guitarist Jasio Kulakowski Prevails
Kobra and the Lotus were back in the UK in December, as part of their world tour supporting their album Prevail I (released in May 2017 on Napalm Records). Gunnar Mallon caught up with the band's very chilled-out guitarist Jasio Kulakowski before their show at...
Mark Mathews – Carrier Bags, Careers and New Music to Heal
It’s a bustling Tuesday lunchtime when I meet Mark Mathews - arguably the hardest working solo artist in the UK right now - for the first time in Camden, North London, the backdrop where Rachel Lipsitz will later take her portraits of Mark. “Over there they used to do...
Keith Christmas Rediscovers His Folk Rebellion
London’s folk music scene was in full bloom by the late 1960s and Keith Christmas was right at its centre, playing not just on David Bowie’s Space Oddity album but at the very first Glastonbury festival. Ahead of his appearance at RockShot Mag’s #BLOGTOBER FEST night...
Flight Brigade, Standing To Attention, An Interview Redux
Back in October 2015, Lauren Patel sat down with Hampshire-based band Flight Brigade for a chat about their roots, their music, multiple Glastonbury Festival sets and their forthcoming album release. Fast forward two years and their debut album Our Friends Our Enemies...
Glenn Hughes Interview: Trust, Openness & No Fear
Glenn Hughes may have lived in California for more than 40 years, but the Black Country will forever be his home. His birthplace of Cannock gave rise to the band Trapeze, which launched a five-decade-and-counting career for the singer and bassist. Stints in Deep...