We speak to artists and innovators from around the globe about their success.
Soundsphere Magazine are pleased to present KEEP TALKING—a brand new podcast centered around the music industry in lockdown presented by Stewart Baxter, drummer in Hull based band LIFE.
Supported by funding from the Disabled Entrepreneurs Network, Soundsphere commissioned a locked-down Baxter to record a series of podcasts with the simple goal to re-connect, catch up, and check in with musicians and friends he has met along the way.
Launching on Friday 18th September 2020, for the first episode Baxter speaks to Primal Scream bassist Simone Marie Butler, who has also performed and recorded with artists including James Williamson (The Stooges), Faris Badwan (The Horrors), Ed Harcourt, Zak Starkey, and more.
The pair first met when Baxter performed live on her Soho Radio show a couple of years ago. Over the course of their candid chat we hear about Simone’s early musical memories, her journey as a bass player, and she talks openly about mental health and the experiences of being a touring artist. The pair also discuss Simone’s recent work as a spokesperson for the #letthemusicplay campaign, lobbying for government support to keep the live music industry afloat during this unprecedented year.
Commenting on the project, Baxter says: “When I’m touring with LIFE I meet so many wonderful and interesting people, but we rarely get a chance to have a proper chat between the constant movement. Allowing time to talk and listen is an important thing, right now more than ever. These podcasts are an open and honest discussion about life, art, and everything in-between, and a chance for myself and my guests to take time out to just hang out and catch up.”
The remainder of the first series will also include interviews with Lee Kiernan (IDLES), Jehnny Beth, Chris Slorach (METZ) and more TBA.
An alternative music and culture media brand for the North of England and Worldwide, Soundsphere was created by editor Dom Smith, who was winner of the National Diversity Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence (Disability) in 2012. He has been voted “one of the happiest people in the country” according to The Independent on Sunday, and has also carried the Paralympic Flame for the city of York.
He also works as part of Wobbling About and Rocking Out promoting disability and mental health awareness, and has written for The Metro, Rock Sound magazine, WhatCulture, The Quietus, T3 magazine, NME, Stuff magazine, Metal Hammer magazine and more.
Commenting on the new project, Smith says: “Stew is the beating heart of Hull’s music scene. His love and dedication to maintaining the area’s creative soul for young people, and the wider arts community, is something I’ve admired for more than a decade. I have wanted to work with him for a long time, and I’m proud that we could launch this podcast through Soundsphere, and pick the brains of some of the best and most dedicated musicians and artists in the world.”
In our latest audio chat, we have a conversation with Frank Turner about his motivations, as well as his own definition of success alongside the importance of cats and self-care….
Have a listen to the interview below!
In our next in this series of Creative Spotlights, we chat to Hull-based photographer Joshua Elliot about his work and inspirations.
Can you introduce yourself, and tell us about what you do, please?
My name is Joshua Elliott. I’m a 19-year-old photographer and videographer that specialises in many fields. I’m both a hobbyist and professional, meaning that I do it for fun, and I do it as a job as well.
What are the biggest challenges that you face?
Getting started professionally was a task that was hard at first, and still has its struggles. When you first start out in the creative industry, you have nothing to work with, no reputation, no portfolio, nothing. It can be tough to get those first few initial shoots to jump start your career. That’s why I love keeping it as a hobby too, I don’t have to worry about expectations from clients. My mental health also has a massive impact on what I shoot, and has at times made me consider giving it up.
When you live in a world where everyone knows everything about you, and can see your work 24/7, it can sometimes be overwhelming for me knowing that I have expectations to provide a high quality service to both my clients and followers. It makes me doubt my skill a lot of the time. Luckily, I have people around me that support my journey, and leave positive feedback, and even constructive criticism so I can constantly strive to improve.
What kinds of things motivate you – people, places or games and music?
Getting out and doing photography for fun is one of the many ways I motivate myself. Getting out and doing it is the best way in my eyes. I also love taking a scroll down the feeds of other photographers on Instagram and down pages on Facebook to see what other Togs have done/are doing.
Even though it may seem that I only do photography, I’m also a gamer, I love taking days off just to play on my Switch, PC or Xbox One. Having a wide variety of genres helps to keep me occupied and prevents me getting bored. It’s similar to photography actually, as I don’t just stick to one thing, I play anything from shooters and racers, to RPGs, platformers and adventure games. I have a small passion for music as well. I don’t listen to mainstream music, even though I don’t have an issue with it. A lot of the music I listen too actually comes from YouTubers. One of the albums I’m in love with at the moment is called Flashdrive, made by Will Ryan.
What have been a few career highlights?
There has been quite a few so it’s kinda hard to narrow them down haha. But if I had to pick one, it would have to be my first exhibition. Taking place in 2017, I submitted a photo that I took during NCS in the summer of 2017. It was of a house across the lake from where we was staying during the first week at the Lake District. It was easily one of the best photos I had taken at the time. Seeing the photo on the wall in an actual exhibit was weird and surreal considering that I had only being doing photography under a year at that point. It made me realise that I had a talent for photography and that I wanted to keep going with it. And here I am in 2020, three years later and I’m still doing it. Another highlight I must mention would be starting up my photography Instagram account. While it doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment to most, to me it signified the start of my portfolio and journey. If you scroll down my feed and go to the first photo, it’ll be from April 2017, only improving from there.
What does success mean to you?
Success can be interpreted in many ways. for me, success is can be successfully working with a client and having them be satisfied. Success can be going out on a shoot with other photographers. Success can be just editing a good photo and being proud of it. It could even be just having one comment from someone saying the photo is good. It can come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re all as equally important.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to start a career in photography with a disability or mental health issue?
The best piece of advice I can give to anyone who wants to start a photography career, if they have mental health issues or any disabilities, would be to work for free at the very start. I get that this seems backwards, I mean you’re working and putting time in, and your time is worth money, so what gives? Well, at the start you have no experience or portfolio to show a client your skills. And if they’re not impressed or have nothing to look at, they’re not going to want to put money into you. I suggest finding what genre of photography you want to work in, contact people who would need that service and offer it for free. After you’ve done it for a while and have a few good shoots under your belt, then you should start charging. I know some people will disagree with this, and thats fine, but this approach has worked, and still does work for me and many others.
For more information visit Temponics.
Blaine Harrison talks to WARO’s Dom Smith about his attitude to success, staying creative and his work as an activist with Attitude Is Everything.
Listen to the chat below…
http://www.attitudeiseverything.org.uk/
WARO speaks to local tattoo artist Troy Eyaad who is helping people in his local community get the food and supplies they need in this current crisis. In this interview, we talk about how he started paying for it out of his pocket and the volunteers who stepped up to help, alongside a lovely story about 50ps.
In times of uncertainty, people have to stick together and show community spirit to get through great ordeals such as the current coronavirus crisis. One such man is doing his part for his local community; 36-year-old tattoo artist Troy Eyaad owner of the House Of Ink tattoo studio, and Prospect 82 mini-market in Hull has stepped up to help his community in this crisis.
It is amazing what Troy has achieved and is a far cry from years earlier when he was working as a bouncer in McDonald’s breaking up fights. He shares one particularly harrowing story of being attacked with a bottle: “I nearly got killed once I was helping out a guy and five people jumped on him that were bullying him, and I got hurt by a bottle and then literally next thing I knew I had sixteen stitches in my head.”
Before the lockdown, Mr Eyaad was already donating paracetamol to vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and the elderly. But he wanted to do more, and he started “making little boxes at first by myself making between five and 20 boxes a day, and then I start advertising on social media asking for help and I got a great team – I call them the A-Team because they’re like local heroes,” he says. “We’ve started putting money together and just buying more boxes, and putting more stuff inside it, and now we send them over 200 boxes a day.” He labels the boxes with the phrase, ‘You are not alone’ in order to raise people’s spirits. Troy has even had donations from Makro (a whole food retailer in the UK) and other members of the public to support his cause.
Troy and his volunteers have managed to reach so many more elderly and vulnerable people than when he started – the group went from providing 20 boxes a day to 200.
Troy also comments on the process that is involved in running the operation, which involves being contacted, usually through Facebook, but with the elderly community, it’s often done by word of mouth: “I’ve got elderly people down the road from where I live asking me if I can send them a parcel to help, and of course I need to do that – a lot of elderly people don’t have social media they don’t know about Facebook or the internet.”
It also involves a lot of early starts for the Hull native, “These are the kind of people I’m trying to reach by 12 pm or 1 pm. I start waking up like six in the morning and going stand in the queue, and that’s how I get the stuff at seven o’clock, and then I start setting up. From 10 am to 12 pm, by that time I have usually done 100-150 boxes.”
With this new venture, there are surely some different clientele than his usual customers at the studio. Troy tells the incredible story of an elderly lady who wanted to thank him for his amazing work, he says: “I dropped the box to her, and she said ‘hold on I want to give you something’ – she literally donated 50ps it was like 1ps and 50ps in the bag and I said, ‘We’re not taking money, we get help from other people, we’re not taking money from elderly people, and yeah she cried and she said ‘don’t make me feel useless’ and that really hit me.”
Troy’s work has not gone unnoticed either, along with news articles on the work he does, there is a Facebook group titled ‘The Troy Eyaad Appreciation Group’ which is for people in the local community to say thanks to him for all his hard work.
Rarely, local heroes come along too often, but Troy and his volunteers certainly fit the bill. Let’s hope they keep doing this for a long time to come.
Words: Brett Herlingshaw | Interview: Dom Smith
WARO sits down with NEWMEDS vocalist Nick Cobley about finding catharsis in music, and the importance of sharing thoughts and feelings when out on the road, in the bar or at home.
The music scene in Yorkshire is a deluge of talent at the moment. Bands like Bonnie and the Bailers and CARO are killing it at the moment, and the Hull- based NEWMEDS are another rock outfit to really keep your eyes on.
Consisting of vocalist Nick Cobley, drummer Joe Brodie, bassist Sam Rudderforth and Mark Wood on guitar, the band have been exciting crowds with their angsty and in your face anthems since late 2017.
Their material has never shied away from speaking about mental health, most notably in their 2018 hit, Cognitive Behaviour, and Nick spoke of how the subject matter makes its way into their music: ‘’It can kind of happen by accident. Dealing with past issues is how the songs come about really, things that are stuck in your mind. It’s always been my way to get it out and rationalise how I’m feeling. It’s been a progression of doing CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and learning to deal with irrational thoughts. That’s really helped us to write the songs and pick apart what I was saying and thinking.’’
Nick also explained how having such a deep library of material on mental health can also be rather cathartic, as well as the impact it has on their fans: ‘’It was never an aim for us to write about mental health, but it just started flowing. I guess it was stuff I had trapped in there that I didn’t know I needed to say. And when I started saying it, people appreciated how open we were being, since the stuff they’re going through is quite similar. I don’t know if it helps put any issues to bed, I mean we’re still writing about the same stuff! But it definitely helps me realise what’s wrong or what’s going on in my head.
‘’The live performances can be a really big help though. Obviously we don’t write with that in mind, but to see people screaming the lyrics back at you means a lot.’’
When it comes to speaking about mental health, a lot of people can struggle to take that first step. Whether it’s talking to a professional or just a close friend, it’s often difficult to accurately portray just how you’re feeling. Nick is no stranger to that and stressed the importance of it: ‘’I was never comfortable talking about anything, and I think that’s why I got into such a pit. About seven years ago I hit rock bottom, but I dragged myself out of it, did CBT and eventually full-blown counselling. In the band we try and talk as much as we possibly can about thoughts and feelings. If someone isn’t feeling practice one day, we always give them the time they need, that’s most important.’’
NEWMEDS’ transparency around mental health issues has heralded acclaim across the country, such as being spotlighted by the BBC. The group have essentially been given an ambassadorial role for their work, and Nick appreciates that attention: ‘’I’m more than open to being that person people look to when it comes to mental health. I’ve not been a counsellor for people or anything, but I think it’s easier for them now that they know we’re willing to be open. I’ll always give my time to somebody that needs it.’’
For people out there who struggle with mental health, it can be a task to find coping mechanisms that keep you happy and in control of your own emotions. Nick has his own suggestions on the matter: ‘’I just try and remember that the feelings are temporary, it won’t be forever. I used to do unhealthy stuff like going out and getting smashed, but I’d realise the next day it wasn’t particularly the best way to deal with it. My main one now is just talking about it. If I’m down, I’ll tell whoever I’m with about it, although these days they can usually pick up on it. Even if you don’t know what the problem is, at least you’re openly saying that something isn’t right.’’
Obviously NEWMEDS is Nick’s most common way of finding inspiration and improving his mood, whether it’s writing or performing, but what about during his everyday life? ‘’I’ll watch a lot of films, and that’s been the inspiration behind some of our music videos. I’ve also gotten massively into street fashion lately. If I’m feeling a bit s**t, I’ll go and buy a new t-shirt to help perk me up. Pets can also be a massive help. I never used to be a cat person and now I’ve got three of them! They can tell when you’re down and just sit with you. It’s almost like therapy.’’
NEWMEDS’ willingness to speak up on a subject that is sadly still seen as a taboo in our society is nothing short of inspirational. They’re putting themselves out there in an often cruel world, showing that it’s ok to be open about your struggles and that there are people out there going through it themselves, willing to listen and help.
The group’s electric latest single Psycho is out now. Be sure to give it a listen if you need a boost, or you just wanna hear some sick riffs.
Words: Jordan Roy Morris // Interview: Dom Smith
WARO sits down at The Brain Jar in Hull, with comedian Jed Salisbury to discuss work and making his living in comedy, being on television (‘Who Are You Calling Fat?’) and coping mechanisms for mental health.
He’s had a very successful few years, with gigs up and down the country and several TV appearances, but Jed Salisbury is still extremely up front about his continued struggles with mental health.
The issue of mental health has thankfully become a much more widely discussed topic in recent years. Celebrities have spoken up about their own personal experiences, and people have used social media to come together and show support for one another through tough times. The government has also promised increased spending on mental health (although we’ll have to wait and see if that comes to fruition).
Jed is one of those aforementioned people who has been vocal about his mental health struggles in order to increase awareness. The Hull-based comic spoke about his coping mechanisms should a bad day come around, in the hopes of potentially helping others: ‘’I try and get myself out. I realise if I stay in things will downward spiral fast, because I’m my own worst enemy. If I’m having a bad day, I’ll go to places in town that I frequent and talk to the staff. I know that sounds cliché, but it gets me out of a toxic environment and keeps me out of my own head.’’
As you can probably imagine, constantly touring across the country can sometimes be a downer when it comes to mental health, as you rarely have any free time to yourself to sit and think, but more importantly to enjoy other things. In those rare moments of solace, Jed has a selection of hobbies that help keep him in a positive mood: ‘’For the longest time comedy was my hobby, but now it’s my job so it kind of became everything about me. I’ve had to find passion elsewhere, so I act, I do announcing for a wrestling company, I write things other than comedy, I try to take an interest in other people’s creative outlets.’’
Jed also spoke about how essentially being self-employed can play on that free time: ‘’When you’re self employed you almost feel bad for having free time. There’s always that thought process of ‘I should be chasing this or doing this’, but you have to just let that go. That’s why I enjoy going to the cinema so much, phone off, it’s like a little escape.’’
Many people in and around Hull and Yorkshire see Jed as somewhat of an inspiration. He’s a local lad who’s been able to use his talents to grow into a recognisable figure in UK comedy, despite having mental health issues. For those in similar situations, Jed provided some useful self-care tips: ‘’If you ever feel out of place somewhere, just think about all the steps you took to get there, because its so easy to doubt yourself if you just focus on the current situation. I doubted myself with the TEDtalk thinking ‘I shouldn’t be doing this, I’m not that smart’, but then I took a step back and realised I’ve essentially been a professional talker for 10 years. I’ve got things to say.
‘’Keeping on top of things is also important. I’m a serial procrastinator, so I’ll get into these cycles of not wanting to do something, and then being depressed about that, and then becoming more depressed that I never ended up doing it. I’d say just get it done and you’ll be much happier later.’’
There’s a common misconception out there that if you’re from up north, specifically a city like Hull which isn’t known for its stars, you can’t be a success. But through his comedic success as well as his TEDtalk, Jed has proved that judgement to be a falsehood. How you may ask? He claims the answer is simple: ‘’I worked hard, but there’s also an element of right place, right time. The main reason I got the TEDtalk is because I was in a nightclub and got talking to the right person. Obviously not all things can work like that, but you shouldn’t be afraid to take a risk. When I was an amateur comic I’d go out there and flop, but I’d use the opportunity of working with pros to pick their brains and up my own game.
‘’There’s gonna sadly be a point where I have to move out of Hull, because I can’t achieve anything more. Hull is great, but it’s an hour away from anything major so if I want to take that next step to TV, I’d have to unfortunately leave.’’
As someone who suffers with mental health issues myself, Jed’s story is inspirational. He’s overcome a lot of obstacles to get to where he is now, and his current success shows no signs of stopping. There’s arguably no one in comedy more deserving of a big break than Jed right now, and long may the success he’s found continue.
Words: Jordan Roy Morris // Interview: Dom Smith
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