Issue 3.4 Released

We are very pleased to announce our final issue of the year, 3.4, is now complete and ready for you to hunt out and devour. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter to see where they end up, though we always get some to The Hop, Diamond Studios, Trad Music, Jam Gifts (Wakefield) and Crash Records, Jumbo Records, Nation Of Shopkeepers, Brudenell (Leeds) first of all. 

What’s inside?

David Cooper interviews Simon Armitage at Wakefield’s Literature Festival which took place back in September. Simon talks about his recent book Walking Home, his continuing love of writing and where he seeks inspiration. We conduct an interview with Album Of The Year nominess St Gregory Orange over a series of gigs, supporting a wide range of people as they work towards fully realising their exceptional second album in the live arena. Laura Thompson follows up her previous article, shortlisted for best of the year, with ruminations on a quarter life crisis and finding solace in the simple things in life, and bird watching. We speak to Leeds based OK Comics as they celebrate ten years of an award winning Indie shop and the future of the graphic novel / comic medium. Josie Long spoke to us when she recently played in Leeds about being a comedian in the current political climate and why it is ALWAYS a good time to be DIY. Clive Smith questions whether kids these days are simply too lazy and scared to face the kind of mass exposure he deals with on a day to day basis. This issue’s Working Artist is Jamie Roberts, one half of a folk duo with Katriona Gilmore, and he speaks about taking the huge step to purely making a living from his music. Our Best of 2012 feature backs up our blog entry about our mostly highly rated things of the year. There is still time to vote. You may also find a CD copy of our Snowglobe EP. If not, there are details on how to download it for free. Andrew Whittaker spent an informative afternoon with Wakefield Wheeled Cats and discovered the DIY ideal is as strong in all female flat track roller derby teams as it is in music. Why I Zine focuses on Leeds based No-TiTLE magazine and it’s editor Nadine Cuddy. Roland X predicts a future based completely on celebrating and rehashing the past in Follow The Drum vs The Bicentennial Loop and finally, this issue’s Endtroducing band is Wot Gorilla? whose debut record also found itself shortlisted as a potential RB record of 2012.

Thanks are naturally extended to all the contributing writers. Massive thanks are also due to John Jowett for supplying a large proportion of the photography in this issue. This issue’s cover was created by our designer Matt Sidebottom, with illustrations by Laura Thompson. The fantastic OK Comics / Batman strip was by Brent Liam Barker and the Josie Long illustration was by Jack Moss.

Huge thanks to our sponsors this time around; The Hop, Bombed Out Records, Philophobia Music, Rock and Roll Circus, Jam Gifts, Trad Music, Diamond Studios and Warehouse 23.

Enjoy!

Dean Freeman
Editor