Dials Festival 2018

Good news everyone! Dials Festival has returned, bringing a day of music to Albert Road, filling the hole made when Southsea Fest headed into the sunset. The Dials organisers have been hard at work behind the scenes since they tweeted their 'save the date' message, conjuring up the first wave of acts that has now been announced.

On the bill (so far) are [deep breath] Los Bitchos, Thyla, Fake Empire, Barbudo, Hotel Lux, Penelope Isles, Sad Palace, Lauran Hibberd, Art School Girlfriend, Bella Spinks, Highlights of Our Modern World, Horsefiles, Margot, Lice, Temples of Youth, Melt Dunes, Libralibra, Mystic Peach, Breathe Panel, Tigercub, Omar Baba, Attack the Fire, Jerry Williams, Bokito, Salt Ashes, Vinyl Staircase, Ugly, Sleep Eaters, Violet Mud and the most excellent Curxes.

That's hell of a line-up and, if that wasn't incentive enough to get aboard, Dials have partnered with Solent Mind, a registered charity that provides a wide range of high quality services, across the South, which support people with mental health problems. I can, from personal experience, vouch for the good work organisations like Mind do.

Super Early Bird tickets are on sale now for just £12 [sorry, all gone!], with regular advance tickets still a bargain at £16, available now from the festival website. For more information and updates check the Dials Twitter feed.

Save Maida Vale

The BBC recently announced that its iconic Maida Vale Studios are to close and, whilst I can see value in Auntie building new state-of-the-art facilities (because, lets face it, a converted roller rink in a sleepy part of London seems out of place in this digital age) the building is of great cultural importance (thanks in no small part to its association with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the many Peel Sessions recorded there) so shouldn't be demolished and replaced with another block of flats.

Having been lucky enough to visit Maida Vale Studios it strikes me as odd that so much interesting music could come from such a nondescript building, hidden away as it is on a quiet residential street. From outside there's not much to give the game away, a brass nameplate (as in the image above) and a flaky paint job. Once inside however the corridor walls are adorned with photos of artists past and present, in various states of performance, all hallowed visitors to NW6. There is brief time to ogle these images though as, crocodile fashion, punters are led past flight-cases and into one of the large studio rooms where sonic wonder awaits.

So then fellow music lover, how to save this quirky, odd,yet highly significant piece of British music history? Hope? Thoughts and prayers? Perhaps not, but one enterprising soul has created an online petition to implore the BBC to reverse their decision. Sign the petition and follow Maida Vale Studios on Twitter for updates. Whatever happens, when/if Maida Vale closes, I trust the BBC are going to throw it one hell of a goodbye party.

Kick Kick Kick Kick...

Names have been changed to protect the innocent... 

[INT] An office building on an overcast Thursday afternoon. In a quiet corner of an open-plan room a team of IT types are hard at work; they are of similar ages, all awaiting a mid-life crisis, with the exception of the considerably younger PFY.

Mr Ex: 6Music just played the Hey Duggee football song, it's brilliant!
Mr Stick: Is that the Kick song?
PFY: What's Hey Duggee?
Mr Stick: Listen to this [banging tune emanates from a mobile phone's speaker, all listen]
Mr Check: It's OK, but it's not the best World Cup song is it?
Mr Shorts: Which is? 
Mr Check: New Order's one obviously
[several quiet seconds pass]
PFY: Who are New Order?

Bless. And people wonder why I never watched The IT Crowd. However, yes, the interesting people behind Hey Duggee have re-worked their retro club classic Stick song for the World Cup. No, really...