Drowned in Sheffield #2

My city, my home. Frustrating mistress she is. Big Eyes and Cats For Peru both excellent, i quite like Louis Romégoux (wonderful voice see).

Probably deserved to be in there, actually. Shall I stick a track in? Yeah, why not.

...Liars Beware, Japanese Sleepers, Nature Set and The Sweet Nothings (who I am definitely not a member of)?

I know what you mean though, it has gone a bit quiet lately. Doesn't help that loads of our small venues have closed in the last year or so...

Thanks though Dan!

I'm not sure I agree with this. There are quite a few bands that give a great show, but sometimes they need that extra push (publicity / online presence / PR / younameit ) to get more attention.

I'd add Hope Explosion (they need to gig more) and Monicans to that, Eoin.

Well we supported dum dums and we're from Sheffield... and really, you can't deny that things have quietened down a hell of a lot in the last year or two, and it's entirely true that there's not a huge amount obviously going on. That's not to say there's nothing lurking under the surface but bands have to claw their own way out and there's just a lack of vigour in my unscientific opinion. What Sheffield really needs is a good local label, but no-one can be arsed (me included) it seems. SPC are great but only really deal with the uber-indie side of things. x

Here's a list of all the stuff we've put on. See how many Sheffield acts you can spot:

Abe Vigoda, The Agitator, A Place To Bury Strangers, Banjo Or Freakout, The Big Eyes Family Players, Black Lips, BLK JKS, Blood Red Shoes, The Bon Bon Club, Broken Records, Brontide, Bhurgeist, Calf By Calf, Calories, Anna Calvi, Cats In Paris, Cats:For:Peru, Caribou, Chapel Club, Champion Kickboxer, Children For Breakfast (DJ), Clinic, Crocodiles, Crystal Antlers, The Cuckoo Clocks, Dananananaykroyd, Darlings Of The Splitscreen, Dash and Blast (DJ), Death By Shoes (DJ), Death Rays of Ardilla, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Django Django, Double No No, Efterklang, Electric Tape Recorder, Elle S'Appelle, Errors, Esben And The Witch, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Jonjo Feather, Fixers, Forest Creature, From The Kites of San Quentin, Future Of The Left, Fury Of The Headteachers, Ghost Hunter, HEALTH, Here We Go Magic, The Hipshakes, Japandroids, Gentle Friendly, Ghosts, Glistening Pelt, Gold Panda, Grammatics, Gringo Star, Idiot Box (DJ), Idiot Glee, The Invisible, Is Tropical, Islet, It Hugs Back, Japanese Voyeurs, Johnny Foreigner, Jonny, Kill The Captains, La Folie, Larsen B, Laura J Martin, The Legend Of The 7 Black Tentacles, Les Savy Fav, Liars Beware, Long Blondes (DJ), Love at Death Beach, Low Duo, Nat Johnson, M83, The Mae Shi, Mairead, Male Bonding, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Maps, Eugene McGuinness, Me My Head, The Megaphonic Thrift, Memory Tapes, Mika Miko, The Millipedes, Munch Munch, MV & EE with The Golden Road, My Latest Novel, Napoleon IIIrd, Navvy, New Ears (DJ), Offbeat (DJ), Oxo Foxo, Papercuts, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Pickers Knickers & Shitkickers (DJ), Pictureplane, Pocket Satellite, Pull Yourself Together (DJ), Pulled Apart By Horses, Pygmy Globetrotters, Razor Stiletto (DJ), Gruff Rhys, Robert George Saull, Rotary Ten, Run Toto Run, School Of Seven Bells, Seal Club (DJ), Secret Diaries (DJ), Screaming Maldini, Sian Alice Group, Situationists, Sky Larkin, Smokers Die Younger, Stagecoach, Standard Fare, Marnie Stern, Stricken City, Damo Suzuki, Tableaux, Take A Worm For A Walk Week, Talons, Tame Impala, Telepathe, Tellison, Tender Maulings (DJ), Their Fault (DJ), Titus Andronicus, Toro Y Moi, Trophy Wife, Tubelord, The Twilight Sad, Three Trapped Tigers, Visions Of Trees, The Week That Was, White Hinterland, Wild Beasts, Wild Nothing, The Witches, Women, Wooderson, worriedaboutsatan, Urgent Talk, Y Niwl, Young British Artists, Young Legionnaire, Yuck.

When we think there's something appropriate, we'll choose a local. Bands can drop us a line if they want to play certain shows and we'll consider them - it's far from a closed shop.

See: Liars Beware supporting Les Savy Fav, The Big Eyes Family Players supporting A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Fury Of The Headteachers supporting Johnny Foreigner, Robert George Saull supporting Anna Calvi, The Hipshakes supporting Black Lips, Wooderson supporting Future Of The Left... I could go on, and these are just the ones that spring immediately to mind.

To say we don't support Sheffield music isn't just insulting, it's plain wrong.

As for ticket prices, we don't set them in the majority of cases - agents do. If you think we're going to be able to retire to the Bahamas from bringing bands to play in Sheffield anytime soon, you are severely mistaken.

To be honest the bigger bands are starting to arrive, but only really through what Rob's doing for DiS at Queen's Social Club. I think this is only going to get bigger and better. The main advantage is that it is a large-ish independent venue. The academy can't be bothered to bring in big names, the plug are a business more than a venue, and the leadmill's dying on its arse because of a misunderstanding of current musical trends.

Local bands find it notoriously difficult to break out of Sheffield because there is little impetus to start a label / scene in the city, partly because the bands in Sheffield are proudly idiosyncratic (and rightly so), but partly because any band from Sheffield that does make it out does not really try and build up the scene in the city, but rather de-camps to London.

The very best bands in Sheffield have always been those that would never break the mainstream, and we love them for it. See Big Eyes above, or Smokers Die Younger. Their music is sublime, but not easily marketable. Just because bands from Sheffield don't often become big sellers doesn't mean they are not valuable.

Now for the Jag: I was not surprised to not see my band on this as Rob used to play for us, but if you want to check us out you can here: www.myspace.com/robertgeorgesaull or robertgeorgesaull.bandcamp.com.

There is a small amount of people doing great stuff in Sheffield, and this needs championing. It's growing, but the city's music is currently in a pupal stage. It has been a quiet period, but things are going to change...

be an incredibly frustrating place that's true. We have been fortunate enough to play with some terrific bands here, and be involved in some fantastic events. Similarly, there've been times (more often than not) when we've been roundly ignored by promoters and local publications, finding it considerably easier to get shows further afield and get press there too (all without the aid of a PR company to "position" us, who at last check were asking upwards of £400 per month to do so).
DiS events are breathing fresh life into local events, and promoters such as Taz and family at West St Live and Liam at Bungalows And Bears are doing great things too.

I guess she's not that new but she released a new EP the other day and plays fairly often in Sheffield.

Other than that, I sort of agree mostly with what Bob says. I've only been here 3 years, and it's had ups and downs even in that short space of time, but it's definitely keeping steady, and more so in the independent venues. Queen's Social Club is a terrific venue, and places like Bungalows & Bears, The Bowery, The Harley are still pretty good for smaller stuff coming through. Largely thanks to Dis, Children for Breakfast, Small Ideas, Uneven Blonde and all the other promoters who feel enthused enough to try and get bands to Sheffield who may not normally put it on their schedule and aim to put on local support when they can etc.

Even if there aren't many bands coming through on a larger scale, a lot of bands from Sheffield seem to stick around for a long time which can only be a positive thing in my opinion.

They couldn't get funding to go this year. They did play last year though.