MEANWHILE, BACKSTAGE IN SONIC BOOM SIX’S WORLD

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged Anti-Vigilante, artivism, backstage, Barney Boom, Brexit, Capdown, commentary, costa, enter shikari, EU, gentrification, Ghould, Ghouls, gig, Great Britain, Imperial Leisure, interview, James Routh, King Prawn, Laila K, live, metal, Mobb Deep, Mouthwash, MTM, music, music that matters, Nick Horne, No Man No Right, O2 Academy, performance, petrol girls, politics, punk, race, racism, rage against the machine, Random Hand, Remain, series, show, ska punk, social commentary, Sonic Boom Six, subway, The Clash, The Specials, The Tuts, Truck Store, uk, Warped Tour, women in music, Zodiac.

Content Warning: Racial slurs, homophobia

by Chris Jarvis

A few minutes’ walk from the dreaming spires for which the city is famed lies East Oxford’s Cowley Road – the hub where ‘kids of the multiculture’ grow up. An area undergoing rapid gentrification, it still retains its working class heritage, ethnic diversity, and unique character under the strains of the expansionist middle classes settling, with students and university professors increasingly filling the nearby terraces.

Cowley Road is home to the O2 Academy. Previously the Zodiac, the venue is emblematic of other changes in the area – a corporate takeover of a formerly independent music venue. Across the road sit branches of Subway and Costa, but a little further down is the Truck Store – the pivot of the local independent music scene. Here, at Oxford’s O2 Academy, Manchester-born Sonic Boom Six get set to tear up the stage on a Friday evening. Continue Reading

THE 20 BEST RADICAL MUSIC RELEASES OF 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged a tribe called quest, Against Me!, anohni, austerity, b-real, chris t-t, chuck d, climate change, cypress hill, drone warfare, dubstep, enter shikari, far right, fascism, folk, folk-punk, fugazi, gentrification, Green Day, hardcore, hip hop, Kate Nash, Lobster, Martha, michael kiwanuka, mischief brew, Muncie Girls, obama, OPS, petrol girls, pop punk, post-hardcore, post-punk, prophets of rage, public enemy, punk, racism, rage against the machine, rap, refused, reggae, reggae punk, Saul Williams, Ska, ska punk, sleaford mods, slyvia plath, Solange, Sonic Boom Six, soul, suffragettes, surveillance, taj weekes, The Selecter, The Tuts, tom morello, war.

By Chris Jarvis

Yes, yes, we all know that 2016 has been an unmitigated cluster-fuck, with rising fascism, worsening humanitarian crises and intensifying conflict. In moments of darkness, many of us turn to the arts world – especially music – for comfort, for release, for explanation. With David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, George Martin, Phife Dawg, Erik Petersen, Leonard Cohen, Nick Menza, Greg Lake, Sharon Jones, and too many others all having passed away, many have found music to have also fallen on dark times.

That notwithstanding, 2016 has been a year of some undeniably and uniquely brilliant music too, especially music that espouses messages of a better world, of political analysis, of radical alternatives. Here are the 20 best of those radical releases from the past year.

“WE’RE FIGHTING A DOUBLE BATTLE IN THIS WHITE-DOMINATED WORLD” – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE TUTS

Posted on July 31, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged #WomeninMusic, Akala, Apple Music, billy bragg, Boris Johnson, Colour Me Wednesday, DIY, equality, EU referendum, female musicians, Free Education, grace petrie, hate crime, Itch, Kate Nash, music, music industry, music scene, music that matters, musician, musicians, NHS, petrol girls, politics, pop punk, punk, Riz Ahmed, Sonic Boom Six, the king blues, The Selecter, The Tuts, women.

by Chris Jarvis

2016 will be the year of the Tut. After a crowdfunding campaign that achieved double its original target, The Tuts are set to release their debut album – Update Your Brain – in September. The all-woman three piece from Hayes have nurtured a loyal and growing fan base in their first few years, with tours alongside UK veterans Kate Nash, The Selecter and Sonic Boom Six helping to build a wide creoss-genre appeal.Continue Reading

KILLING CULTURE: THE CLOSURE OF THE OWL SANCTUARY

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged activism, business, Capdown, closure, Community, faintest idea, gentrification, grassroots, JB Conspiracy, Muncie Girls, music, nightlife, norfolk, norwich, Norwich Soup Movement, NPA, ONSIND, politics, Random Hand, response, Slaves, Sonic Boom Six, The Owl Sanctuary, The Tuts, venue, working class, working class culture.

by Chris Jarvis

Last night, my Facebook timeline erupted. It’s customary for this to happen every once in a while, typically following an international atrocity or a major political event. Instead, this time it was in relation to the news that beloved Norwich music venue The Owl Sanctuary is set to close its doors at the end of January. Waves of solidarity swept across the internet, with the venue’s lengthy, emotional and angry announcement on their Facebook page being shared more than 2,000 times within three hours. Friends, musicians and fellow Norwich public spaces all joined in to stand with their venue and condemn its closure. I couldn’t express my rage.Continue Reading

The Tuts

THE 20 BEST RADICAL MUSIC RELEASES OF 2016

“WE’RE FIGHTING A DOUBLE BATTLE IN THIS WHITE-DOMINATED WORLD” – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE TUTS

KILLING CULTURE: THE CLOSURE OF THE OWL SANCTUARY

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