Davy Sims's Podcast

Henry McDonald is a journalist and author. He is probably best known as the Ireland correspondent for the Guardian and the Observer. But there is much more to his thirty year (plus) career.

As an author he has published books about paramilitaries and politicians, he has been a teacher of journalism, a broadcaster and within the last year has moved to work fulltime in the Guardian's London headquarters.

He's a football fanatic – Everton is his team across the water. And, like the central character his second novel Two Souls, Robbie McManus , he supports Cliftonville here in Belfast.  

Also, like Robbie, Henry grew up in the Markets in Belfast.

He and I have been friends for those 30 years and one of the passions we share is punk rock – particularly if it's from Belfast, but anywhere, really, it doesn't matter.

Henry still makes his way home very often and while here to launch the Two Souls novel we met in Cathedral Quarter and sat down in The Dark Horse for coffee and a catch up. I had just finished reading the book and was still reeling from the rawness of the picture Henry painted of life in Summer 78, Spring 79 and September 1994. Punk, Politics, Football and that passion to tell a story. He and Robbie have a lot in common.

Two Souls is published by Merrion Press – if you hear this episode (or read this post) before 12 September, you might want to get to Oh Yeah in Belfast for the launch.

 

The music from the Free Music Archive is from Blue Dot Sessions.

 

There are more episodes of this podcast on creativity here on my blog.

It was recorded in our kitchen. An odd place to record a podcast. But it's Saturday morning and Sonja Sleator and Daniel Lynch live nearby, and, why not? A conversation over a kitchen table and coffee.

I've known Sonja and Daniel for a couple of years, and I've followed the progress of her career over that time. Her new single Protection has just been released. While Sonja has more recently got a wider media profile I wanted to recap on the story so far. Also talk to Daniel about their collaboration and his new project. So, I filled the Moka pot with coffee and we talked …

Protection is the latest in a series of singles Sleator is releasing through 2019 following the release of her third EP Violent Strawberry in April. 

Stream: https://soundcloud.com/sonja-sleator-1/protection/s-2yLW7

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8r9jgxa8ommro7e/AADV5PxHuAuqcoWXfr_ehdSda?dl=0

Watch: https://youtu.be/33pYWpnNGzA

 

 

Social Media:

 

www.sonjasleator.com 

 

EPK: https://spark.adobe.com/page/dKtZ80Gr38nSN/

 

www.facebook.com/sonjasleatormusic/

 

https://twitter.com/sonjasleator?lang=en/

 

https://www.instagram.com/sonjasleator/?hl=en

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaEFeA0aRRll9AgG8hezJWw

 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1mPpPTujsgM118SPjV400f

 

 

Tin Man Heart YouTube Channel 

Virtual reality on the podcast this time. I talk to three people creating a VR and an immersive media industry here. Dee Harvey is a producer as is Phil Morrow who runs the production company RETìníZE and Nigel McAlpine who runs Storyfx and Digital Catapult in Belfast.

This is the last episode in this series. I'll take a break for a few weeks and plan the next series. Always looking for ideas and suggestions. Who should I be talking to? What should we be discussing? The themes: creativity, innovation, investment, media and technology.

You can subscribe to

• The RSS feed here,
•  iTunes here, 
• TuneIn here and
• Spotify here

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music. 

If you are interested in learning about podcasting visit my other website PodcastingFor.com

 

Music journalist Stuart Bailie's new book Trouble Songs will be officially published in May, but it's already starting to stir conversations and commentary. He takes on difficult stories from our history since the mid-1960s at the place where music meets social and political change and through interviews and analysis tries to understand and explain what happened.

It will be in the shops around now, but you can also order it on the web at TroubleSongs.com The book launch will be at Oh Yeah on May 11.

Stuart started at a musician in a punk band, but quickly replaced his bass with a type writer. A smart move as he went on to build a considerable reputation as a leading and influential music journalist We met in the Oh Yeah Centre which Stuart set up and ran for almost 10 years. Charlotte Dryden – who features in another episode of the podcast – took over from Stuart when he left.

Oh Yeah is in a corner of probably the most creative parts of Belfast – Cathedral Quarter, on a cobbled street in an old warehouse which has its own music history. 

This is the penultimate episode of the podcast that still remains un-named. One more to go and I take a break and plan the next series on Media, Tech, Creativity, Innovation and Investment. People have already suggested some subjects and interviewees – and I'll be following those up but If you think there are people I should be talking to do let me know.

For the final show next week we'll be talking virtual reality with three VR producers.

 

 

On this episode the story of the Oh Yeah music centre with Charlotte Dryden and Paul Kane. There's music from Hand Models, Reevah, Strange New Places and Cut in Blinks.

In June, it will be 10 years since Charlotte Dryden started working in Belfast's Oh Yeah music centre. She and the founder Stuart Bailie began on the same day, although Stu had been driving the project since early 2006 and doors opened to music in 2007.

Charlotte's now the Chief Executive of this remarkable organisation which manages a careful balance between celebrating the history of music from Northern Ireland and developing new music, young musicians and music business talent.

Stuart has moved on and we'll be hearing from him on the next episode.

The Oh Yeah building in the cobbled streets of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter once a warehouse – is now an exhibition, performance space, a recording studio, offices from where people promoting music business work. And there's a bar and cafe. As well as music events, Oh Yeah runs courses for talent development, music business development, youth outreach and a whole lot more.

And it ain't just for kids. Paul Kane is the Outreach Development Officer – one of his jobs is to manage the Older People's Project. He joined Charlotte and me in the David McWilliams room to look back over 10 years and to look forward.

The Oh Yeah website  has plenty of information about what's going on in the centre. And if you were a female punk you might want to get in contact with them and tell your story.

 

Subscribe to the podcast here

• The RSS feed here,
•  iTunes here, 
• TuneIn here and
• Spotify here

 

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music.

I'm Davy Sims – you can find me on Facebook and Twitter  and all the usual places.

The music and musicians in this episode

Hand Models Biography

Gareth Murray – vocals, guitar Peter Devine – guitar Brendan McCann – bass Richard Bailie – drums

Bandcamp

Soundcloud

October 17, 2017 and Hand Models are blasting out of BBC Radio 1 and the Huw Stephens Show. The song is 'Skate Shoes' and it fits the playlist with tremendous ease. A crunching intro, guitars that wail and soar plus Gareth's admirable drawl. The lyric is about an untouchably cool girl in her Vans sneakers who causes the Belfast boys to swoon and to lay all of the flowers from Ormeau Park at her feet. Sigh.

Hand Models began in Armagh with Gareth, later introducing Brendy, sometime bassist with Let Go Dive. Many drummers were tested and found wanting. After relocating to Belfast, they encountered Richard, who was previously in the band January. They were searching out the internet one evening when they came across Peter's Soundcloud page. He was from Strabane, had similar tastes in music and previous form with the act Freaks. They sent him a message and presently he was in.

The false starts and deliberations were over and 2017 saw fierce shows and early releases, 'TV Kids' and 'Sun Rooms'. The latter was also a Huw Stephens play. "Nothing's ever been difficult for this band because we're all singing from the same page," says Gareth.

They are avid students of songs that may sound simple but are expertly constructed. Gareth got his musical education in his early teens when he heard 'Monkey Gone To Heaven' by The Pixies and his imagination was lit. Pavement and Smashing Pumpkins were soon revealed and now artists like Wavves also supply encouragement and style.

"We're not gonna overwhelm ourselves with plans," Gareth figures. Don't believe the nonchalance though: Hand Models are potentially super models. 

  Reevah biography

Bandcamp

Facebook

Reevah is an artist from Derry with an impressive voice and songs that stretch out of the material world into another, entrancing zone. She mentions with a smile that "dreamy folk is what I'm going for".

Her music has featured on BBC stations such as Stephen McCauley on Radio Foyle plus Across The Line on Radio Ulster. In October 2017 she travelled to Warsaw, Poland for a performance at the PROM Kultury venue. Songs such a 'Nights' and 'Daydreamer' are beginning to register beyond Ireland.

"I've grown up with music and art throughout my whole life," she says. Her mother is an artist and so she has witnessed exhibitions, bold ideas and fresh expressions. Her father is a musician and it was no surprise that she would pick up an acoustic guitar at the age of 13. At the same time, Reevah was introduced to Van Morrison and the indefinable beauty of his 'Astral Weeks' album.

She also learnt how to play violin, piano and drums. She sang in a choir and tested her mettle at the Derry Féis. She took a degree in music at Magee College, where she started to find a voice. There were open mic sessions and the obligatory cover versions before a slot at the Sandino's in early 2016. There was a determination to make an impression and thus she wrote a set of original songs in two months. This was also the moment Aoife Boyle created her alter ego, adopting the name of an acquaintance in Boston.

"One of my dads friends was called Reevah. As a teenager I always thought, she's really cool. And I've never met another Reevah since then. Now it starts to feel like a different person. Aoife is the one who works part-time and gets on with her day-to-day life. Reevah is the one that goes out and plays.

She rates Dallas Green, Lucy Rose and Bon Iver as exceptional voices. Her songs, she figures, are like "an ongoing diary". Expect tremendous updates, soon. 

  Strange New Places – Biog

Bandcamp

Facebook

Strange New Places is a story about good humour and queer punk, untold stories, neurotic fizz and the 261 bus from Enniskillen to Belfast. Strange New Places is five intelligent people, variously displaced and collectively great. They may be sited on the cultural margins but it takes little imagination to put them in the centre of some other, evolving ideal.

Ash Jones sings and plays guitar and writes many of the lyrics. Brother Rory plays keyboards and Michael Smith also plays guitar. These three featured in a little-known Enniskillen act that performed cover versions and made spoof music videos. They relocated to Belfast and Ash caught the attention of Emer McGuckian at a poetry night in late 2015 when she read the words to a Los Campesinos! song, 'The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future'. It was memorable. "You wore a great cardigan," Emer recalls. "I was also in the point of coming out at this point," says Ash.

Emer became their drummer soon after. Caleb Roberts was a classically trained violinist from Lisburn with a passion for Green Day. Caleb was on the same film course as Ash at Queen's University but only asked to join the band when a friend made an intervention. "I was too nervous," says the band's new bass player about his prospects. Still, they were plugged in now. "When the electric came in it was like – right. Now I'm angry about something."

They played an anarchist bookshop event to three people, including two organisers. They featured in an Outburst Queer Arts Festival event with the non- binary performance poet, Alok Vaid-Menon. Meantime great songs were emerging, like 'Coraline' and 'Trombone' – the latter was recorded for the 'Scratch' programme at the Oh Yeah Music Centre and premiered by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music. 'Sappho & Star Wars' was written, "partly to celebrate lesbianism, and partly like, I am a girlfriend as well".

Band members admire The Front Bottoms and Billy Bragg, Amanda Palmer and Modern Baseball. The band took their name from an episode of The Simpsons when Barney tries to reimagine the hugely successful barbershop quartet as an avant-garde adventure in audio. 'I'm takin' us to strange new places," he announces. Their sense of humour is evident but so is the intent. Caleb says it thus: "It's not about the fence-sitting, wishy-washiness. If you have a cause and you're gonna have an opinion on it, say your opinion on it. And stand for it."

 

Cut In Blinks – Biography

Bandcamp

Facebook

 

Cut In Blinks is a Belfast-based electronic act, the work of Neil Hughes. The music reaches into immense atmospheres and sentiments. Sometimes there are vocals and otherwise there are samples, guitar and Moogs. This is an artist that is intrigued by the flickering of a fluorescent tube, by random weather incidents and found sound.

The name Cut In Blinks is a reference to Shakespeare – about concepts of time, meaning and perception. This translates well into Logic Pro software and the unique workings of an artist who was raised in Newtownhamilton, Armagh, beside the Fane River and surrounded by the Mourne Mountains.

There were various musical excursions before 2016 but in December of that year there was significant track called 'Sad Love'. It was a slow-burning expression with a deal of human release and the rumble of post-rock. It was played on BBC Radio Ulster and it later transpired that the piece was about bereavement, "a mix of sadness and a deep love for that person".

Cut In Blinks is impressed by the film soundtracks of Hans Zimmer and there's every likelihood of the music following suit. Another meaningful connection is to the pioneering work of the London artist Burial, particularly the 2007 album 'Untrue'.

"I was obsessed with that album for a good year. It was a strange record and so unlike all the dance music I'd heard up until that point. It just felt really earthy and human compared to the four-to-the-floor stuff. Quite an emotional album." And it was a gateway into other sonic composers: "Four Tet, Aphex Twin, dark ambient, noise music. I went really hard into the rabbit hole. I'm just slightly trying to crawl back out of it now".

Further varieties of Cut In Blinks were revealed in a mini-album, 'In The Mouth of Sandbanks', released in March 2017. Two of the tracks featured Pixie Saytar, an American artist based in Belfast who collaborated on the tracks 'Sinking' and 'Taste'. This was another breakthrough.

"I went to Pixie with songs, lyrics, everything. She took the songs and changed lyrics and switched up the melodies and vocal rhythms. I really enjoy working with singer songwriters".

Mood is paramount. Expectation is high. Cut In Blinks is close to the edit.

 

 

 

In this edition, women who work in tech, three leaders who were involved with the Women Techmakers summit which was held in Belfast last weekend.  On Friday evening there were workshops and on Saturday the main event was in W5.

Victoria McCallum was on the podcast to preview the event a few weeks ago, and she's back to reflect on how it all went. Claire Burn and Danielle Topping were with Victoria when we sat down to talk about the summit and more generally women in technology here.

They talk about a number of groups and organisations, here are the links:

Women in Tech Belfast Lean In  Facebook Twitter Meetup (which lists all our events)

Women TechMakers Belfast Facebook Twitter Website

Women Who Code Twitter Website Meetup

Women Tech Space  Twitter Women Tech Space events page (next event April 30th)- 

Django Girls Belfast Twitter Django Girls Belfast event page (we're currently waiting on DG HQ updating it for June 16th event) - 

 

Subscribe to the podcast here

• The RSS feed here,
•  iTunes here, 
• TuneIn here and
• Spotify here

 

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music.

 

 

Innovations and new ventures in this episode of the podcast (with the really clever name). From TV to YouTube and celebrating collaboration with Digital DNA Belfast.

 

When Maxine Mawhinney left the BBC this time last year, she had plans and ideas about what she wanted to do. Yet her most recent project was not even on the horizon. A few weeks ago, she announced plans for a YouTube channel,  The Moment with Maxine Mawhinney. Maxine started out as a journalist 40 years ago in The County Down Spectator in Bangor. Since then she has worked as a reporter, a foreign correspondent, a news anchor – now a move to YouTube for The Moment.

In June, Digital DNA returns to St. George's Market in Belfast – it's an exhibition, a conference, ……. The founder is Gareth Quinn.

You can subscribe (yes, for free) to get all new episodes and to find those that are already posted.

• The RSS feed here,
•  iTunes here, 
• TuneIn here and
• Spotify here

You can also hear a long interview with Maxine about journalism on my other podcast at podcastingfor.com and that's the place to head if you are interested in learning about producing podcasts. There are loads of interviews with broadcasting and journalism professionals. 

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music.

  To je vse – adjio!

How do you fund creativity? If you are planning to make a business from your passion, be it music or technology or animation or film making or anything from the creative industries, how do you find the financial support to follow that dream?

And when you begin to earn money from that passion, how do you protect it, your business and your clients or customers? And what about tax and VAT and all the other legal obligations?

Creativity and innovation needs support, funding and professional advice. From claiming the cost for guitar strings to global exports – Finance and Investment - the theme of this episode. I'm Davy Sims

Vasiliki Carson from Sapphire Capital Partners and Martin Gilchrist from Gilchrist and Co  met me in the Loft shared workspace in Belfast to talk money.

In the next episode I'll be talking to former BBC News Channel journalist Maxine Mawhinney about her new YouTube show, The Moment.

You can also hear a long interview with Maxine about journalism on my other podcast at podcastingfor.com

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and more on the Free Music Archive – I recommend it whole heartedly.

Until the next time "Adijo".

The keywords for this podcast are Creativity, Innovation, Tech, Media and Investment and the subject of this episode can be tagged with all those words. Matthew Scott is the CEO of Navada Group. The company's mission, they say, "is to empower your digital audiences to 'become the story'". It's a digital media company, But, that phrase isn't quite the right description.

 

I've known Matt for more than 10 years - since the early days of his career and I wanted to get behind the straplines and marketing pitch and discover what Navada is, what Matt does and what the company plans for the future.

Navada HQ is in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but it has a presence in Belfast, London, New York and about to open an office in Sweden. But the founder is from Bangor. He lives there now in preparation for a major development expected to be announced officially in June. Matthew Scott says that for the last three and a half years, Navada has been in R&D Mode and this year they will launch their single biggest investment --- between 30 and 50 digital media channels.

Earlier this week, I nipped down to Matt's place, sat in the front room and began to record.

Matthew on LinkedIn, and on Twitter

• The RSS feed here,
• Here for iTunes, 
• And Spotify

Coming up next time, Funding creativity and bootstrapping Innovation. Whether your passion is music or tech, design or development, a business cannot run on adrenaline alone. What happens when it's time to reimburse the flautist? I'll be talking to two experts in money, how to get it, how to spend it and how to protect yourself – Vasiliki Carson of Sapphire Capital and Martin Gilchrist of Gilchrist and Co.   If you are running a small business particularly in the tech and creative industries sector you should not miss this.   Guests are already lined up for the show for the rest of April and for May. We'll be hearing from Oh Yeah's Charlotte Dryden, and in a separate episode I'll interview Oh Yeah founder Stuart Baillie whose new book Trouble Songs will be published in May. We'll have reflections on Belfast Women Techmakers summit after the event on the 13 April. We'll be talking more about innovation and creativity, virtual reality and whatever catches my attention. And there are plans for more episodes during the summer.   Don't miss a thing; sign up here – it's all free. And there you can catch up on previous stories – Artist and VR developer Deepa Mann-Kler, Farset Labs, U105's big investment and move, and Popup with Ross Moffat, Stuart Lunn and Sonja Sleator. To je vse Fajn se mej

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music.

 

One of the many things I like about making podcasts is after years of producing formal radio programmes lots of the conventions can be abandoned. For decades I lived under the whip of the tyrannical Greenwich Time Signal. The most grievous sin of all was to crash the pips – so many interesting conversation was brought to a hasty conclusion well before time should have been called. A podcast episode can be as long or as short as it needs to be – this will be one of the longer ones. 

This is the podcast that almost has a name I am tentatively going to call That Creative Business Podcast what do you think? Is that crap? Please subscribe and if you like contribute here (see below).

Technology bringing real people together in real spaces in this episode.

We have two interviews. Victoria McCallum is one of the organisers of Women Techmakers Belfast. The main summit will be held in W5 on Saturday 14 April and there will be workshops the evening before. 

The second part is a conversation with Andrew Bolster – known almost universally simply as Bolster. He was one of the founders of probably the first hacker space in Belfast – Farset Labs. It's a tech lab, a creative hub, a workshop, a tech store, a networking place and partly a museum of a techie childhood. It also has the biggest blackboard in Ireland.

We all know that Belfast used to build the worlds biggest ships. But it also had the worlds biggest fizzy drinks factory – ginger ale from C&C was the thing back then, and exported Linen to the world. There's a cluster of high tech globally known names now where the ships were launched, and one of the great linen mills now houses tech and media companies, has one of the fasted internet connections in the city and is the home to Farset Labs – the first hackerspace in Belfast.

They say that they are "an open community of students, professionals, academics, freelancers, artists, hackers, and organizers that believe strongly in experimental learning and the Do-It-Yourself ethic."

Bolster and Victoria are on Silicon Island's list of top 10 tech influencers in Belfast. 

As St. Terry of Wogan would have once said – "a letter has flooded in" – well and email, from Pete McVeigh with some interesting observations on innovation in radio. Thanks Pete, much appreciated. You can hear that episode on U105's big move, also the interview with Deepa Man Kler and the discussion about young musicians by subscribing to the podcast.

And if you are interested in learning how to produce your own podcasts, I have a series on that and a couple of books at PodcastingFor.com

Zato Na svidenje

The podcast music is Arizona Moon by Blue Dot Sessions and you can find that and thousands of more rights free music on the Free Music Archive – which is a fantastic resource for podcasters and video makers in search of excellent music.