2 Promoters, 1 Pod

The drinks are flowing as the mailbag is plundered for a good ol’ fashioned Q&A. 

Gav and James tackle secret sets, the latest Metallica tour, favourite festival memories, worst Machine Head records and of course, meal deals. 

Cheers. 

We go again, every Thursday morning.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Corrosion of Conformity and Napalm Death are FINALLY announce to top the festival bills... but it wasn't plain sailing.

In fact, it was a series of sleepless nights aboard SS Nightmare which left Gav and James wondering whether "headliners" for events likes Damnation and ArcTanGent are really worth the effort at all?

There's also James being accosted at the school gates about his views on Kneecap, a Dragged Into Sunlight boxset and two headline offers from Eyesore Merch and Lou's Brews.

We go again, every Thursday morning.

Irish punk Meryl Streek has bagged a unique hattrick of bookings at Trees, ATG and Damnation this year.

But for one-man live revolt, who refuses to play the music industry game, how has he found himself being embraced by the those on its fringes, from the promoters and press to politically driven young students and crusty old grindcore fans?

He discusses picking up the mic after 15 years behind the drumkit, winning over "Mr John Lydon" while touring with PiL and pissing people off in as candid fashion as you'd hope for.

And explains how much he loves hearing he'd better with a live band...

We go again, every Thursday morning.

The settlements have been paid, the bank statements have been printed off and the spreadsheets collated. 

Exactly how much were Gav and James paid on their debut tour and how much of it did they spend, and on what exactly?

The importance of merch sales, thinking outside the box to drum up extra income and keeping James as far away from hipster coffee shops as possible.

£226 on taxis for three drunks and £20 so Gav can have a nap in Birmingham is just the tip of the spending spree.

We go again, every Thursday morning.

It was supposed to a fun afternoon arguing over the 2,000trees clashfinder but Sharon Osbourne, Scotland’s First Minister and the pesky bloody Tories had other ideas…. so the spotlight is back on the Kneecap lads.

But what about the promoters, like James, who have red hot Irish trio on their poster?

Well, there’s death threats for a start. 

We go again, every Thursday morning.

Gav and James dive back into the virtual mailbag to tackle the most pressing issues of the day.

Is Ghost's mobile phone ban a step too far? Have Kneecap become too hot to handle following their controversial Coachella sets? And how much money did we lose on the first years of our festivals?

Throw in a some Watain and smelly animal carcasses, checking if bands are racist on ChatGPT and Elton John and you have yourself a belter of a Q&A.

Let's go... 

We go again, every Thursday morning.

There's few things in the live music business quite like the circus of a band's contractual agreement with a festival.

From sloppy copy and paste jobs to being told to sign off technical specs you haven't received and a shopping list of reasons why a band can cancel to a litany of clauses to say why a promoter can't, it's all a bit of a clown show which would be laughed at in any court of law.

But as the promoter do you play the game like everyone else to appease the big agencies or is simply hitting the delete button the best course of action?

Especially when no signature means you accept all terms and conditions, obviously...

We go again, every Thursday morning.

After a couple of weekends on tour, social media threw a wobbler to welcome Gav and James back with a bump as well as Brand New, Dragged Into Sunlight and poor old Clutch under the bus. 

We wade through the murky waters of cancel culture, questionable decision making and an unwillingness to be straight with ticket buyers before lightening the mood with some Burzum banter.

Laughs galore.

We go again, every Thursday morning.

Gav and James hit the road for their first ever tour.

From mad for it Manchester to Village Wembley, gifts to guests and hot sauces to hecklers… here’s how it panned out.

We go again, every Thursday morning.

The first leg of the debut tour is over but there’s no time to unwind as Malevolence drop a bomb on Damnation and there’s ArcTanGent bands to announce. 

Oh, and it’s Glasgow tomorrow…

We go again, every Thursday morning.