Lockdown! at the Disco

Hiya! Are ya fumin? I’m fumin. And I’m gonna have a big ol’stomp about it…

TRACK ONE: “Army of Me” – Bjork

Hiya gang! And welcome to episode #25 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco. That was the unparalleled Bjork with “Army of Me” and it was requested by Shan. And we’re playing it because this is The ‘Own-Your-Anger’ Episode where we’re going to be talking about everything we’re angry about right now, how to manage that anger in healthy ways, and also why sometimes it just feels great to sit inside that anger and to own it and to just enjoy a good old fashioned stomp.

In our Safe Spaces group this past week, we had a little chat about how playing music really loud and just singing along to it as noisily – and as badly – as you can manage (and side note on this: please be considerate of your neighbours and family), can be really cathartic when you’re feeling mad at the world.

Personally, I’m a huge believer in this and always have been. When I’m feeling angry and fed up and mad as heck at everything, just picking tunes that validate my anger and blasting them loudly – sometimes having a little dance to them in my living room – makes me feel so much lighter for it. And so, that’s what we’re going to be doing today. This episode is full of songs hand picked by myself and our awesome Safe Spaces gang here at Comics Youth with which to validate your anger and to find a way to engage with it and maybe even enjoy it in a healthy way that isn’t harmful to yourself or to anyone else.

You know, so long as you aren’t breaking the sound barrier with your angry caterwauling, that is. Please shout along to your shouty songs, responsibly. 

As ever, this is our usual weekly disclaimer that while every effort is made to keep Lockdown! at the Disco as wholesome and cleancut and free of naughty content or language that occasionally the odd song can feature language or content that could be inappropriate for younger listeners. Today’s episode does feature a couple of instances of explicit language that are sadly unavoidable given the theme of today’s episode. 

Which brings us to the political elephant in the room. Heck, it isn’t just in the room. Ol’Nelly here is practically squatting on our shoulders at the moment. I think we can all agree at this stage that our government in this country isn’t doing a great job of anything right now and that’s something to be very angry and concerned about and we’ll be swinging back to this point in a moment.

But many of us have also understandably been very stressed out concerning the incredible mess of an election currently happening in the United States. I’m recording this on Saturday 7th November and at this stage the votes are still being counted, the current president is still lying that he’s won and claiming that any votes currently being counted against him are illegal, and he’s also whipping up his cult of fans to engage with this dialogue in increasingly violent ways.

Now, we’re all savvy enough here at Comics Youth to understand what a dictatorship looks like – you know, leaders of countries who refuse to step down and relinquish their power and who abuse that power for their own ends and agendas. And we’re also all savvy enough to know white supremacy and fascism when we see it.

Ordinarily, we wouldn’t give too much attention to US politics – particularly when we need to keep our focus on things that are happening in our own country right now – but the results of this election can have such an impact and influence on a lot of troubling attitudes and leadership qualities that are current prevalent in this country and across Europe right now.

So, we’re all understandably aghast at what’s happening there – and angry that so many people feel validated in their hatred of policies designed to help people and particularly marginalised people.

I want to reassure each and every one of you though that hate will not win – not here, not in Europe, and not in the united states – no matter what the outcomes of elections may be. And that you will always have support, and a home, and love for everything that you are right here at Comics Youth.

And now that my Ted Talk is over, let’s act like a US Republican and throw a strop over everything, shall we? Rest assured, we’re gonna do it with 1000% more sass and more dignity too. This is “Hate Conquers All” by Anti-Flag and it was requested by Lucas M.

TRACK TWO: “Hate Conquers All” – Anti-Flag
TRACK THREE: “Mildred Pierce” – Sonic Youth

That was “Mildred Pierce” by Sonic Youth and it’s probably one of my favourite tracks by the band. It’s named after the 1954 noir classic which very aptly tackles ideas of social status and class and how capitalism can destroy people.

I’ve played that track on today’s episode because the way that song is structured reminds me very much of a classic temper tantrum, you know? It starts slow, and as the music evolves – in the same way that a bad thought or idea will sit with you and rise – it explodes into this messy crescendo of rage.

We’ve seen a lot of strops this past week with the US elections. And I think we’ve all learnt a lot from seeing a certain potential presidential loser throwing a temper tantrum that even the most tempestuous of toddlers would likely side eye and be like ‘damn lad, get up off the floor and show some respect for yourself’.

And I think we can all learn a lot from Donald Trump’s tantrums in how not to throw a strop. Because I’d like to put it out there sometimes we all need to throw a little tantrum and just go berserk at the world. But if your strop or tantrum harms anyone or even makes you feel worse for it, then it shouldn’t be done. Go and take minutes to meditate instead. Light some incense, play some FKA Twigs, and put yourself in time out for a little bit while you cool off.

But, I’d argue that there is an art to throwing a healthy strop and that every now and then you need to give yourself permission to be a little bit childish over things and just let it all out.

Some advice on doing this in a way that is healthy and not detrimental to you or to anyone else:

First and foremost: Make sure you do it in private, honey! Put your phone on silent or turn it off for an hour, and just give yourself some you-time. Nobody needs to be involved in your strop but you do deserve the time to explore it and to unleash it in a healthy way.

Secondly: Make an event out of it! Maybe light some candles, and most definitely play the tunes that allow you to bathe in this anger and to pour it back out into the world that’s caused it.

Thirdly: Be constructive with your strop! Use it to get some stuff done! Maybe pour that anger into aggressively tidying your bedroom or giving the kitchen or bathroom the scrubbing of a lifetime! Or, if you’re feeling creative, pour your anger into poetry or artwork. Make stuff that you might not ever want to share with the world but that makes you feel better for putting it down onto paper.

I promise that by the end of the strop, you’ll feel lighter and better for it. And on that note, here’s another fine childish strop of a song – and one of my absolute faves – get ready to stomp about to some chonky riffs cos this is “He’s My Thing” by Babes in Toyland.

TRACK FOUR: “He’s My Thing” – Babes in Toyland
TRACK FIVE: “Gold Medal” – Destroy Boys

That was “Gold Medal” by Destroy Boys and it was requested by Rosa. That’s my first time hearing that track and hearing anything by Destroy Boys – great band name by the way – and I am officially obsessed. So thank you as ever for this one Rosa. 

Now, I wanted to move away from the noisy, chonky, stompy tunes for a moment to offer the reminder that sometimes in order to process your anger, you need a little swagger. A solid beat, some snaking basslines, and a furious flow.

R&B and hip hop can be oh so good for the soul on days when you’re feeling mad at the world. And the next two tracks that I’ve got lined up for you are two of my fave angry R&B songs from way back when.

Now, both of these songs deal with the idea of owning your anger but they’re from the perspective of a woman discovering that her other half has cheated on them. At their core, they’re songs about being lied to and the fury that comes with that. But they’re also songs about acknowledging the lie, rising above it, and of refusing to be treated like a fool.

You know where this is going, right? Allow me to hop back up on my soapbox here to address y’all about the lies and mistreatment we’ve all received from this current government.

Because there’s definitely a certain parallel to be talked about in terms of the levels of gaslighting and hurt that can come into play when a partner cheats on you to how it feels as a member of society being cheated by and lied to by their government, as well.

But, we’re gonna listen to these next two tracks, we’re gonna vibe with our anger over everything, we’re gonna rise above and refuse to be made fools out of, and repeat after me: We’re gonna be ok.

This is “Caught Out There” by Kelis.

TRACK SIX: “Caught Out There” – Kelis
TRACK SEVEN: “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay” – Whitney Houston

That was “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay” by Whitney Houston and I’m playing it for my fellow Whitney fan Tom, who had asked for “Beautiful Liar” by Beyonce and Shakira – I adore that song but I just couldn’t make it fit the narrative for today’s episode, sadly. Even though, I agree – it’s also one of my anger jams. We’ll be hearing a different song requested by Tom in a little while though – and it’s an absolute BANGER so look forward to that one!

For now though, some more notes on managing and processing anger.

Obviously, this episode is encouraging you to see anger as a bad thing and to find healthy ways with which to take ownership if it – and maybe even turn that anger into something constructive.

One thing you can do that might be helpful is to write to your local MP about things you’re concerned about when you’re feeling angry. It can help you to feel like you’re being heard for one thing, but writing to your local MP can also help to bring about tangible change. Especially if you can organise a group of likeminded people to back you up on whatever issue is of a concern to also write to them as well.

We have a guide about how to write letters to your local MP up on our website on comicsyouth.co.uk which will give you all the advice and information you need to get that done.

But I also want to serve the reminder that sometimes anger can be so overwhelming and so powerful that you don’t want to engage with it and you just want comfort and relaxation.

I’ve certainly felt that over the past couple of weeks. Something that I’ve been doing is making what I call a duvet cocoon – which is where I drag my duvet off my bed, bring it into the living room, and wrap it around me while I read, or re-watch Gilmore Girls for the millionth time, or play games on my switch.

I’ve realised I have sensory issues that come with anger and so having that soft, cushy shell of a duvet just really helps me to cool down and chill out and feel safe when the news has left me feeling mad and insecure about the world.

Listening to really chill music can also help with that. I’ve been listening to Karma and Desire, the new album by Actress, which I heartily recommend for such things. Actress describes the album as being a romantic tragedy of two lovers caught between heaven and hell and it’s just absolute bliss. Especially when you have a duvet cocoon to enjoy it within.

Massive shoutout to my lovely parents too who gave me the money to buy a new cosy, snugly winter coat this year so I can basically wear a duvet cocoon on my way to and from Comics Youth HQ.

I also want to give a massive, huge gigantic shoutout to one of our listeners and a regular attendee of our junior sessions here at Comics Youth by the name of Noah – although we know him best as Pumpkin.  

Pumpkin runs the world’s smallest rock museum from his family shed and you can check that out on Facebook by searching for The World’s Smallest Rock Museum on there. Sometimes when I’m angry at the world, I think about the world’s smallest rock museum and it brings me so much joy and makes me feel so light and it reminds me that this next generation – all of you listening to this episode right now – are going to change the world in the most positive, wonderful ways.

We have an amazing profile about Pumpkin and the world’s smallest rock museum in the first issue of The Comics Youth Newspaper Project which we’ll be printing up and have available for everyone in the coming month or so. That will also be a great salve for all of our anger, I think.

But now, we’re going to return to our chokny, stompy, riff-heavy tunes. These next two were requested by Cheesecake who has an 800+ song playlist full of tunes they like to blast when they’re feeling angry.

And let me tell ya, with a great set of headphones, and in a solid pair of boots, you can take these tunes to the streets and stomp your angry out against the floor. Give it a try sometime, it’s therapeutic.

This is “Papercut” by Linkin Park.

TRACK EIGHT: “Papercut” – Linkin Park
TRACK NINE: “Plug In Baby” – Muse 

That was “Plug In Baby” by Muse and those two tracks took me back to my teen years when these songs were a huge vibe for me and my pals. So I hope they were a huge vibe for all of you listening right now too.

And that draws us to the end of another awesome episode! I don’t know about you but the past fortnight has been exhausting for numerous reasons and I strongly suspect that we’re all feeling that at the moment.

So with that in mind our next episode is going to be The Always Tired Episode because I’m tired and I think all of us are tired and I feel like we’re just always tired right now.

So for that, we want song requests for tunes about feeling tired or sleepy or that feeling of being half awake most the time – tunes like “I’m So Tired” by Fugazi or “Pretty Pimpin’” by Kurt Vile.

Let me know what you wanna hear over email via [email protected]! We’re also looking for anecdotes about the silliest thing you’ve done recently because you’ve been half awake or sleepy.

A few months ago, for instance, I went absolutely out of my mind looking for where my milk was when I was making a coffee. Couldn’t find it anywhere. And then when I came to make dinner that night I discovered that I’d put it in the oven after making my morning coffee.

And then yesterday morning, I completely forgot how to drink coffee and accidentally inhaled a mouthful of it and err – yeah, almost drowned. On coffee. Spat it out all over my duvet and, well, I really wish it hadn’t happened.

Let me your stories so I feel a little less stupid about all of this.  

And until then, remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness – stay angry. But channel that anger in healthy ways please, gang.

This is “Shout” by Tears For Fears and it was requested by Tom and this is Amy Roberts signing off, 

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

TRACK TEN: “Shout” – Tears For Fears

TRACK ONE: “This is Halloween” – Nightmare Before Christmas

Hello hello hello! You’re listening to episode #24 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco and this is the fourth and final episode of our Haloween spook-tacular this year, so we’re throwing a heckin’ spooky shindig right here! I am your host Amy RAAAARRRGGGHHberts – see what I did there? Cos we spookin? – and today we’re just gonna be playing some straight up Halloween bangers and spooky bops to celebrate this fine season.

Opening the show there was Halloween classic “This is Halloween” from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – a film that we all agreed in our safe spaces group this week is in fact a Halloween movie more than a xmas movie. But that it’s also fine to be both. And I’m playing that for Ash who very enthusiastically requested it. 

Now, I’m very aware that this episode will be going out into the big bad world after Halloween has been and gone and I just wanna reassure you all that that’s really besides the point. Halloween can always be extended, honey. Long live the spook, we say!

This will be a slightly longer episode than usual cos Halloween is a super special time and we have a lot of tunes to play to reflect that!

Now, this is our usual disclaimer that while every effort has been made to keep this episode friendly and appropriate for all ages that occasionally the odd-naughty word or idea can sometimes slip into some of the tunes that we play which may not be suitable for some of our younger listeners, so parental discretion is advised.

And to reflect this point perfectly, this is the Dead Kennedys with “Halloween”!

TRACK TWO: “Halloween” – Dead Kennedys
TRACK THREE: “Halloween” – AFI

That was uber-goth spoopy punk band AFI with “Halloween” taken from their All Hallows EP – and they’re a band that many-a-spooky-punk know can only be listened to between the sacred weeks of the start and the end of October. Thems just the rules, folks. It’s just how it is!

Something that I love about Halloween – and about tunes that people associate with Halloween – is just how wide and varied everyone’s points of reference are with it. All of us have very different and unique ideas about what does and doesn’t qualify as spoopy or scary or Halloweeny and we all have our own traditions for it.

Personally, I’m a fan of the basics: I love a selection of spooky snacks – anything that’s delicious and shaped like a ghost or a Dracula or a zombie or a witch or a bat or WHATHAVEYOU, and it’s going in my belly – and I love to watch proper atmospheric gothic horror movies.

I don’t mind the odd slasher movie on Halloween – so long as they feel thematic and they also have to be brooding, creepy numbers like John Carpenter’s Halloween – but for some reason I just love traditional classic monsters. Anything with fog and doom and dread. A haunted castle is always good. A haunted person – EVEN BETTER.

Ideally, my Halloween celebrations also involve spending time with the people I love too. Cos it’s goth Christmas! So we should all get together over some good grub to share the goth love, ya know?

I’m a little sad this year cos I couldn’t spend goth Christmas with my absolute faves but I’m just going to eat my body weight in pumpkin shaped sugary treats and scare myself silly instead. I live alone and probably shouldn’t do that because scaring myself out of my wits is a silly thing to do when you live alone and don’t have another person to check under the bed and inside all the cupboards for ghouls and creepos so you don’t have to – but it also kind of makes those thrills more exciting.

Just know that even though it’s November now, that Halloween is still very much alive in my heart and I hope it’s still alive in yours too. So many of us haven’t had the chance to celebrate goth Christmas properly this year, and so this is our little belated celebration and to remind you all to carry on being your best spooky selves.

This ain’t a costume, man – it’s a way of life.

And now, we’re gonna gather around the cauldron together and conjure some spells. This next track was requested by Shan who came last in our spooky Halloween quiz during our safe spaces session last week, and so we allowed them to pick a song as a prize for coming last – cos you know we love an underdog here at Comics Youth. Shan actually picked a different non-spooky song to be played which we’ll be blasting on our next episode for them, but they also asked for this absolute gem too.

This is Love Potion No. 9 by The Searchers.

TRACK FOUR: “Love Potion No. 9” – The Searchers
TRACK FIVE: “I Put a Spell on You” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

That was Screain’ Jay Hawkins with “I Put a Spell on You” and the Bette Midler rendition of that song from the magnificent Halloween classic Hocus Pocus was requested by Tom and Ash. However, I love the OG version of it so so much and though I adore the extraordinary talents of one Bette Midler, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins deserves to be played loud and proud this time of year.

Plus, I reckon all of you have likely watched Hocus Pocus to absolute death by this point in our Halloween celebrations, right? And if not, why not?! Get it on. It’s still not too late.

Now, we like for this show to operate as an escape from everything that’s happening in the world right now. Even if we’re practicing self-care and trying to stay away from doom scrolling through social media or reading too many news feeds, it’s also impossible to avoid updates on what it is happening in this city, this country, and at the world at large.

We’re not gonna go into details about any of that here, but I just wanted to remind you all that Comics Youth is always here for each and every one of you. If you’re feeling anxious about things, need an outlet to express yourself, a project to keep busy with, or just some cool like-minded people to gab with, Comics Youth and our entire community is always here for you.

And remember also, that music has the power to be an incredible comfort for difficult times. And when I was putting this playlist together today, I knew I wanted to pick at least one song that is still a little dark and spooky that’s also uplifting for times of upheaval.

As this next track serves as a reminder, there is a light within all of you that can help to navigate you through the darkness. As the lyrics in this one suggest, when the power is out in the heart of man – where there’s something wrong in the heart of man – take this light from your heart and put it in your hand.

You’re in control and you’ve got this. This is Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) by Arcade Fire.

TRACK SIX: “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)” – Arcade Fire
TRACK SEVEN: “Pet Semetary” – Ramones

 That was the kind of insane “Pet Semetary” by Ramones which unbelievably was the hit theme song to the 1989 movie adaptation of Stephen King’s very creepy book of the same name.

And when I first saw that film as a teenager I almost fell of the couch laughing so hard when the end credits rolled and this song came on because it’s just a strange track to end such a dark horror film on. You know, nobody expects Joey Ramone to saunter in at the end of a scary movie and just lay down a jive, do they?

And I’m playing that one for everyone’s pets here at Comics Youth! For all the kitties, doggos, bunny rabbits, birds and whomever else! We’ve seen this awesome pet costumes from y’all over the past week and we’ve been LOVING it. Animals love Halloween too. And as we hurtle into some more potentially difficult times this Winter, remember that your pets love you and totally have your back.

And if you’re like me and desperately wish you had a pet but don’t at the moment, then I hope you take comfort in seeing all the boss pictures of everyone else’s floofs – cos – not to make us sound like a cult or anything, tho we have been accused of such things in the past – we’re all family here at Comics Youth. And that extends to our pets too.  

Now, let’s keep the scary jives alive – or, just about -  with “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads.

TRACK EIGHT: “Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads
TRACK NINE: “Casper (1995)” – Speedy Ortiz

That was “Casper (1995)” by Speedy Ortiz, named after the spectacular 1995 classic movie Casper – of course! – which a lot of you have mentioned in sessions in the past week or so that you’ve been watching at home with your family.

Now, I must admit – it’s been a while since I’ve watched this film, which is something I need to rectify. Especially because I never like to miss an opportunity to swoon over perennial 90s dreamboat Bill Pullman who played the dad in the film – and I suspect that myself and Comics Youth head honcho Rhiannon may be the only people who continue to swoon over him, but hey ho. This is what happens when you get old, people – you just really get dizzy over good folk who look nice in a fine jumper.

Incidentally, that was 100% my focus while watching The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix. Just a lot of really lovely characters in a vast array of very lovely jumpers. We stan.

I wanted to give a massive shoutout to everyone who took part in our Halloween special of Safe Spaces this past week. We did a spooky quiz over video chat – written by my fabulous co-worker and pal Emily – and we had an absolute blast.

Big props to Shan, Raf, Katie, and Soren for taking part and for having the best time with us, you really made our week with that fun time. And especially massive props to the winner of the quiz, Jake who won an extra special song request and shoutout on today’s show for absolutely smashing the quiz.

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see Jake and it was so lovely to catch up and have a great time. Their knowledge of different words for ghosts was truly unsurpassed! Though I maintain my stance that ‘demon’ cannot be counted. Soz Jake – I know we’ll likely argue till the end on this one – but demon ain’t no ghost. No sireee!

And here’s what Jake requested for today’s episode: The classic “Witch Doctor” from 1958 by David Seville. Watch out for those chipmunks will ya? I think they’ve gotten loose…

TRACK TEN: “Witch Doctor” – David Sevile
TRACK ELEVEN: “Jump in the Line” – Harry Belafonte

That was “Jump in the Line” by Harry Belafonte and that’s the tune that finishes Tim Burton’s amazing Beetlejuice. Lydia Deetz does a floating shimmy to it accompanied by the ghosts of some dancing American footballers and it’s an absolute treat. That song puts an absolute smile on my face whenever I hear it – I hope it made you levitate with happiness and that you were vibing to it just as hard as I was!

And that’s it for another week, pals! The Halloween spook-tacular is over but Lockdown! at the Disco is not.

Our next episode is going to be about owning your anger. There’s a lot to be angry about right now and it can overwhelming and difficult to know what to do with that anger. So we’re gonna be talking about healthy ways to deal with anger as well as playing some super stompy tunes that let you own that anger and thump about the place in your docs!

For that, we want to know what you things you do when you’re angry: What helps you feel better? Maybe you do some stitching? Maybe you write or doodle? Or maybe you just like to blast music super loud and scream into the abyss, honey. Don’t we all.

And I also want to know your song requests for the episode – let me know what songs you like to play when you’re feeling miffed and fed up and mad at everything. What songs help you to own those emotions? For me, I will always turn to my bad girls in L7 – the band, not the Liverpool post code – their tunes have and always will help me out with those vibes.

So let me know via [email protected] and I will be back in your ears in a fortnight! Until then, stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness stay spooky. This one was requested by just about everyone – so this goes out to all of you! This is – of course! – “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, and this is Amy Raaaaarrghberts, signing off.

Byeeeeeeeee!

TRACK TWELVE: “Thriller” – Michael Jackson

Join Comics Youth and host Amy Roberts in a riotous recording about living through lockdown! We're continuing our Halloween Spook-tacular by chatting about some of our favourite scary movies and their relevance to modern society and politics (yep! We get INTO it!). Plus our fave scary movie jams from Paramore, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Norma Tanega, The Specials, and more! Everything is not cool - but it can be! Stay safe, stay sassy, and STAY SPOOKY (wooOOooOOooOO) with Lockdown! at the Disco!

Lock-Ness! at the Disco #22:

Monster Hunters, take note: You don’t have to search too far and too wide to discover a monster. They’re everywhere and amongst us and within us. Sometimes what has been perceived as monstrous is actually an unconventional mode of humanity worth celebrating and saving. And other times, these monsters need to be faced and fought and vanquished for our own safety and wellbeing and survival. When fighting monsters, remember: All monsters are human, honey – and they’re of our world, not beyond it. Sometimes that’s for the better, and other times not. It’s all about balance.

As cheerful German nihilist Werner Herzog once said, “What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams…” 

Quite. 

TRACK ONE: “Human Fly” – The Cramps

*in spooky voice* Good evening – come in, get comfortable, and let your monstrous side out, honey! I’m spooky girl Amy Roberts and you’re listening to episode #22 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco and this is The Monster Episode where we’ll be dissecting what a monster truly is – and by the same account, what a human really is too? As the Tories prove time and time again, all monsters are human.

And remember, if you work in the creative industries like we do, then you can always retrain as a Tory and make billions of pounds by simply biting the heads off the poor and feasting on the miserable, gory scraps of an impoverished country. Which is where we’re at right now, innit? And there are few things scarier…

ANYWAY! This episode is part of our Halloween Spook-Tacular this year and as ever it has been completely produced and curated with the much appreciated help of our fabulous and amazing Safe Spaces squad here at Comics Youth.

If you’re new to all this and don’t have a clue what I’m on about, Comics Youth is a Liverpool based youth organisation made by and for marginalised young people and we do a whole bunch of creative workshops and work where make things like zines, comic books, and blog posts and develop artwork, poetry, activism and other such valuable creative tools with which to fight back against this very very not so nice or fair world – to put it politely.

And remember – the people in power might hate the arts and not see the value in it, but Comics Youth does and always will. If you’re a creative of any age feeling worn down and a devalued by the work of this government, please keep tight hold of your spirit and your skills – we need the arts and we need you more than ever. Keep on creating and don’t let them dull your voice – we will always find ways to platform and exhibit it.

Now, this is our usual content disclaimer for the episode that while every effort is made to keep naughty, inappropriate language out of this podcast that occasionally some words do slip through in the odd song here or there, so may not be suitable for some younger listeners and parental discretion is advised.

But now, let’s get a monster groove on the go. This is “Dracula’s Wedding” by OutKast feat. Kelis.

TRACK TWO: “Dracula’s Wedding” – OutKast feat. Kelis
TRACK THREE: “She Wolf” – Shakira

That was “She Wolf” by Shakira, Shakira – so nice they named her twice. And that might be the greatest pop song ever written about lycanthropy – I strongly urge everyone to watch the music video on YouTube because it’s been 84 years and I’m still trying to contort my body in the same way that Shakira does in that video.

Clearly, me and Shakira were not born of the same stardust. Which is heartbreaking, really.

To get away from my own personal existential crisis of not being even remotely close to Shakira’s level of goddess, I wanna talk about monsters as metaphors. Now, I know for a fact that I go on about Buffy the Vampire Slayer far far far too much – in life and on this podcast – BUT, I really credit Buffy as being one of the first narratives that really made me understand and realise the significance and power of using monsters as metaphors.

In that show, of course, a variety of monsters are used to symbolise some of the various challenges not just of growing up, and puberty, and going to school – but also just of the various fights that we all have to face in our everyday lives.

You know, the very fact that Buffy’s high school is located on a literal gateway to hell symbolises a great deal of how I think many teenagers feel about their own school and experiences there.

But once I understood that part of the show, it really opened my eyes and my curiosity to how monsters have symbolised various things throughout literary history. For instance, there’s been much literary analysis done on the fact that vampires were partly written to symbolise how the rich – for generation after generation – continue to feed on the poor.

There’s also notoriously a great deal of academia done on the symbolism of zombies, particularly in something like George A. Romero’s Living Dead movies in which hoards of zombies are said to symbolise societal unrest and a culture of mindless, subservience where people can no longer think for themselves. Romero infamously denied that was ever any such subtext to any of his films, but the symbolism is too rich and overt to argue against.

Night of the Living Dead, for instance, has some astounding commentary about the rising class conflicts and still prevalent racism of the late 60’s while Dawn of the Dead – set completely within a shopping mall full of the shuffling undead – has a lot to say about the rising consumerist and new capitalist dawn of the late 70’s in the United States. And it actually made some prescient statements about that prior to the booming mall culture and mass consumerism of the 80s.

Basically, there’s a lot to sink your tooth into when it comes to horror. Horror narratives aren’t just for scares most of the time – the best horror makes profound statements about the monsters within our society, and sometimes within ourselves too.

So, next time you watch a scary movie, have a think about what the monster may represent beneath the scares and the costume. Dig deep and give your brain a wiggle.

And now, we’re gonna howl at the moon a little more and scratch our hairy heads about the symbolism of the werewolf with this treat of a tune requested by Lucas M who says that he loves it because his dad has always played it on guitar and got the rest of the family to sing the howls on it with him. This is Warren Zevon with “Werewolves of London”:

TRACK FOUR: “Werewolves of London” – Warren Zevon
TRACK FIVE: “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)” – The Wombats

That was The Wombats with “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)” a song where bad feelings and memories from the past manifest themselves as creatures of the night. And I really wanna swing back to the idea of monsters as metaphor too because werewolves are also very interesting monsters in terms of what they may symbolise.

There are a fair few werewolf stories, for instance, which fixate on the idea of the teenage werewolf. So films like Ginger Snaps, The Company of Wolves, and even on a ridiculously literal level with Teen Wolf, where puberty is made into this very obvious physical change.

In Ginger Snaps, which in our opinion is one of the greatest werewolf movies ever made, menstruation manifests as lycanthropy with a teenage girl experiencing the most extreme PMS ever encountered when she’s bitten by a werewolf.

But there’s also something very interesting about how werewolves are controlled by the lunar cycle – and naturally that’s something that works very well in Ginger Snaps when we think about the links between moon phases and menstrual cycles.

There’s been a lot of dissections exploring the meaning of the moon in relation to the werewolf with some horror and literary academics arguing that such stories are about humans in their most primal, natural state: That perhaps we’re all a type of monster deep down. Meanwhile, others have argued that the idea of werewolves being controlled by the moon is actually owes a great deal to old fashioned ideas about mental health.

After all, the word lunacy is derived from lunar, the moon. The suggestion being that the werewolf is a manifestation of mental illness – and of the unkempt, wild and prowling victims of mental illness. Which is not very nice, really. For those of us with mental health issues and mental ill-health, we can safely say that we’re not exactly howling at the moon and baring our teeth at passers by just cos we’re feeling anxious or low.

But it’s interesting nonetheless – and these depictions reveal a very interesting trajectory in terms of how things like puberty, the human condition, and mental health have been viewed by society throughout history.

And on that note, this is Cat Power with “Werewolf”:

TRACK SIX: “Werewolf” – Cat Power
TRACK SEVEN: “Dark Hours” – Ainsley Farrell

That was wonderful “Dark Hours” by Ainsley Farrell, and it was requested by Bell who says that it’s ‘a love song from the perspective of a queer vampire’. Which we stan – for all the obvious reasons.

If you’re looking for some queer-friendly, trans-inclusive feminist dissections of horror and of monsters then we heartily recommend the podcast The Faculty of Horror – in which two very sassy, super smart Canadian academic women break down a different horror movie each month by analysing its subtext and core text.

And if you’re looking for something to read then Sady Doyle’s phenomenal book, ‘Dead Blondes + Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power’ is an awesome dissection of modern horror movie tropes. It’s very funny as well as being super smart, and it’s also extremely queer friendly and trans-inclusive.

But now, to the important stuff. We’re here today to ask What is The Monster Mash? In a couple of the Safe Spaces sessions we do in our HQ every Saturday at 3pm, we’ve been doing investigations into what in the heck The Monster Mash actually is.

Because if you really listen to the song, it’s deeply unclear as to what it is – and we’ve got a whole wall full of red string and post it notes and pictures of ghouls with random words and question marks around them in exploration of this question.

Because, on the surface The Monster Mash sounds like it’s about a dance. One that all the monsters do together. And we’ve all discussed how The Monster Mash could be a song like The Macarena or Saturday Night, say, in which a song is about a dance and exists solely to make the listener do the dance. 

But when we delved deeper into the maddening lyrics of the song, we discovered that it’s not chattin’ much about no dancing – oh no. The Monster Mash is hiding some wild mysteries and acts of pure corruption and conspiracy, and we’re gonna get into them a little while after we’ve listened to the track…this is Bobby Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers with “The Monster Mash”:

TRACK EIGHT: “Monster Mash” – Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crpt-Kickers
TRACK NINE: “Dragula” – Rob Zombie

That was”Dragula” by Mr. Robert Zombie and it was requested by Raf – cheers for the great tune, pal!

And now we’re swinging back to our dissection of The Monster Mash – the scariest line of which, by the way, is this very troubling couple of lines which state, “For you, the living, this mash was meant too/ When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you”.

No thanks. Don’t want none of what Boris is selling, thank you very much.

We were also very troubled by the suspect guest list for this party, which includes all the usual monsters – the Wolf Man’s there, some random zombies have gatecrashed by the sounds of it, but some reason Dracula is here – with his son.

Now, I dunno – I haven’t heard about Dracula ever having a son, firstly. Secondly, if you’re to party Drac, don’t be palming your kid off on someone else to look after if you’re here for a kick off.

And he is – what’s really strange about the Monster Mash, is that it’s revealed in the middle of the song that Dracula – who, based on these lyrics, has arrived still encased in his coffin which is diva behaviour if I’ve ever heard it – turns up to this party with his son where he comes out of his coffin, quote ‘troubled by just one thing’ end quote – and he opens the lid to his coffin, shakes his fist, and asks, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?” and the band – The Crypt-Kickers – tell him, It’s now the mash, it’s now the Monster Mash.

So what we’re listening to is a song in which Dracula attends a party in which only one song gets played on a maddening loop, and he attends this party specifically to attack this song because it’s ripped off his song – The Transylvanian Twist.

He’s fumin! And the band are just like, Nah, it’s all good fam. And they solve it by making Dracula a member of the band. Which I don’t think is how copyright infringement is solved – and quite frankly, I reckon my boy Drac was still fumin and likely wrecked that party before he left.

And they probably had to slam his coffin shut and wheel him out to get rid of him.

So there you go. That was The Monster Mash. And I think we’ll all sleep better for knowing the truth about it now.

This is “My Beloved Monster” by Eels and it was requested by Anna.

TRACK TEN: “My Beloved Monster” – Eels
TRACK ELEVEN: “Monster” – Paramore

That was “Monster” by Paramore and my lovely Saturday Safe Spaces pal and co-worker Kay Dale requested that one and reminded me that allegedly she asked for it at the start of October and I said no because it was on the soundtrack to Michael Bay’s Transfromers – that doesn’t sound like something I’d do. I think you’re mistaken Kay.

Before that we had Eels with “My Beloved Monster” which Anna asked for and then felt bad about asking for it because it’s from one of the Shrek soundtracks and she doesn’t want to be known as some Shrek superfan – just own it, girl. You love Shrek. Don’t feel no shame. Embrace that Shrek love. Live it. Love it.

And that brings us to the end of our Monster Episode. Next week, we’re doing our Horror Movie special and we want to know what the scariest film you’ve ever seen is and why, and we’re also looking for your fave songs from horror movies. These can be theme tunes like the theme from Rosemary’s Baby or The Exorcist – both of which continue to haunt me to this day – or they could be just really great songs that have been appeared in horror films such as Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” from the Scream films or the Tethered remix of “I Got 5 On It” from Jordan Peele’s Us.

Let me know what you want and send me your spooks via [email protected].

Until then, remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness stay monstrous when you need to, honey. This is “Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne and it was requested by Tom and this is Amy Roberts signing off until next time – byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

TRACK TWELVE: “Bark at the Moon” – Ozzy Osbourne

Spoopy sound effects

Ah, pipe down will ya?! Some of us are trying to record a podcast up in here…cripes, some ghouls, eh? They just don’t know when to shut up!

TRACK ONE: “In the Room Where You Sleep” – Dead Man’s Bones 

Hiya! Bring your spooky self in here and rest those weary bones of yours because you’re listening to Comics Youth presents Lockdown! at the Disco and this is the first episode of our Halloween spoot-tacular this year which we we’re calling The Haunting of Lockdown! at the Disco.

And this episode is dedicated to all things haunting and haunted, ghoulish and ghostly. The unseen things that follow and watch us. The mirages that sleep on our shoulders and whisper bad things into our slumbers.

Opening today’s episode there was “In the Room Where You Sleep” by Dead Man’s Bones and that’s taken from their one and only album of the same name and it’s something I listen to pretty much non-stop throughout every October since it was released in 2009.

I just love that it’s a concept album about spookiness and Halloween and it kind of plays like a Saturday morning cartoon of spookiness and morbid fascinations – full of affectionate dedications to ghosts, ghouls, the afterlife, cemeteries, monsters, and things that go bump in the night.

Another interesting thing about Dead Man’s Bones is that album features a really awesome children’s choir throughout it but it’s also the project of Hollywood actor – and one of my many unofficial Hollywood husbands – Ryan Gosling who is a self-proclaimed spooky boy. He just loves horror and Halloween and good grief, do we stan people with a whole lot of spooky in their souls.

So, today’s episode has been lovingly curated as ever with the help of our spectacular Safe Spaces group and we’ll be chatting about ghouls and ghosts and how every human is haunted with a spattering of some ghost stories in between.

And to keep those vibes jumping, this is “Haunted” by Beyonce.

TRACK TWO: “Haunted” – Beyonce
TRACK THREE: “Walking With a Ghost” – Tegan and Sara

That was “Walking With a Ghost” by Tegan and Sara and it was requested by Tom, who also shared that his favourite ghost story is Boy Scout Lane – so let’s set the mood today by delving into that one shall we?. But first, lemme just casually hop into this haunted graveyard here like the cryptkeeper to really set the atmosphere for y’all.

Spooky sound effects

Okay, there we go. SO – Boy Scout Lane. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Boy Scout Lane is a notoriously spooky and isolated road located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and its so renowned for apparent paranormal activity that gangs of youths often hang out there hoping to experience something spoopy – and it’s also, as its name would suggest, the basis of a number of ghost stories and urban legends surrounding a bunch of unproven and allegedly fictional deaths of a bunch of boy scouts.

According to DangerousRoads.Org – which just FYI, is obviously my go-to website for looking up such things – Boy Scout Lane was quote, “given its name because of a tragic incident that a troop of Boy Scouts were killed while on a camping trip in the 1950s or 60s. It is said that the desolate road is now haunted be the ghosts of the Boy Scouts who died there. It’s a stretch of unpaved road that runs through the woods, with little around it to recommend itself. But many will still often wander down it, curious to see whether the stories connected to it are true.” END QUOTE

Interestingly, the Urban Legends Wikipedia page on this tale delves deeper into the intricate folklore of it all and how there are multiple variations on the story behind this notorious stretch of road and what even supposedly happened to this boy scout troop. The page states, QUOTE:
In some variations the murderer is the troop's Scoutmaster. In others it is their bus driver. In other versions of the legend, a small group of Scouts leave their camp during the night and accidentally drop their lantern, resulting in a forest fire that kills the entire troop.

Other variations of the story exist including one in which the Scouts are killed after their bus crashes or accidentally catches fire. There is also a version in which the Scouts vanish without explanation and are never found.

In some versions of the legend, two Boy Scouts escaped the fate of the rest of the troop and tried to find help, only to become lost in the woods where they die of starvation and/or exposure.

In most variations of the legend it is said that the dead Scouts haunt the forest where they died and can be heard hiking through the undergrowth, or their lights can be seen at night as they seek help or their fellow Scouts.

It’s worth noting that people have reported the feeling of being watched, hearing snapping branches and footsteps though nobody is around, as well as weird visual occurances like ghostly lights and figures as well as more extreme reported incidents like phantom buses or handprints on windows.

Spoopy, spoopy stuff indeed!

And if you have a favourite ghost story you want us to talk about this month then please get in touch for us to investigate and read out on air, drop me a message on [email protected].

And now, let’s “bury a friend” with Billie Eillish…

TRACK FOUR: “Bury a Friend” – Billie Eilish
TRACK FIVE: “Suspiria” – Goblin

That was the supreme “Suspiria” by Goblin and it’s the lead theme to the stupendously kitsch and beautiful Giallo horror from 1977 by Dario Argento. That film isn’t about ghosts but witchcraft, but regardless there is something undoubtedly haunting about that theme which really creeps between the cracks on your knuckles!

And now for another spoopy story, this time courtesy of Lucas M. So lemme just crawl back into this haunted graveyard once again to set the atmosphere for this one.

Now, some important context for this story: Lucas worked in a care home for a while and so he was apparently privy to a great deal of unusual happenings and this story is about one such unusual happening. Lucas says, QUOTE

“In winter last year a lady had just passed away. It was the end of the day shift - 8pm in winter so it was pitch black outside- and we had like 10 minutes left before we had to leave.

The building is split into two ends, so I went down to the unit at the bottom - all the residents that live down there were watching TV in the lounge, or they were in bed because they couldn’t mobilise independently, so everyone was accounted for. 

I sit down next to the other carer that was down there and I hear footsteps going down the corridor towards the door.

Proper clear footsteps

Nothing ambiguous

Those were damn footsteps

Me and the other carer look up to make sure everyone is still in front of us, and then both look at each other and say, "did you hear those footsteps too?"

I don’t believe in ghosts but there was NO ONE THERE and those footsteps were going AWAY from the room of the lady who had just passed away.

No thanks”

END QUOTE

Thanks Lucas! And Bell also shared with us a similarly spoopy tale where she said, QUOTE:

“There was a spooky story my friend told me when she lived in an apartment where they said lots of weird things happened like doors banging and cupboards opening.

But she told me one time her and her friend were sat chatting by the window and said friend went really still and quiet for a moment.

Later in the day they told said hat they were too scared to say anything at the time, but they saw someone walk past the window – crucial note here, their apartment was on the second floor...” YIKES!!

This is “Ghosts” by Mayday Parade and it was requested by Lucas M

TRACK SIX: “Ghosts” – Mayday Parade
TRACK SEVEN: “Ghostbusters” – RUN-DMC

That was “Ghostbusters” by RUN-DMC – the lesser known and lesser loved Ghostbusters track but one that I love nonetheless. You can’t go wrong with those lads as far as I’m concerned!

I’m still reeling from those ghost stories there – and I’m so fascinated by all ghost stories and what they represent to us as a society. You know, I love the horror genre especially for how horror narratives delve into difficult subject matter and explore societal and existential ills through the conduit of monsters and suffering and hauntings. 

Ghost stories are fascinating because they really hinge on our collective fear of the unknown and our collective fear about death. For some of us, ghost stories are horrible and terrifying because they press their thumbs too deep into our sore, sensitive spots – those places that we don’t like to think about and that we don’t want to engage with.

But for others, ghost stories can bring about a weird feeling of morbid curiosity and intrigue – sometimes even a little bit of comfort. It’s like Lydia Deetz says in Beetlejuice when the two ghosts she’s just casually befriended in the house she’s just moved into ask her how it is she can see them.

And she explains that the handbook for the recently deceased says that “live people ignore the strange and unusual” and so she can see the deceased because she herself is strange and unusual.

And I think that is part of the reason why horror and spoopiness is a genre for marginalised people all round to enjoy – because it’s a genre that explores otherness and the types of fear and survival and difficulties that many marginalised people sadly experience.

When we look at ghosts we’re simply looking at humanity through a veil of extinction. And there is something as equally tragic and terrifying about that as it is familiar and comforting.

We’re all just ghosts in human form.

And now for a weirdly wonderful and haunting bop about romantic transmutation, I guess? I dunno. See if you can figure this one out – it’s a weird one and I love it and there’s definitely some kind of a ghost story or a possession story buried within it. I just…I dunno…

This is “Centipede” by Rebbie Jackson.

TRACK EIGHT: “Centipede” – Rebbie Jackson
TRACK NINE: “Somebody’s Watching Me” – Rockwell

That was “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell and both those tracks have Michael Jackson connections, obviously – and they’re also weirdly spooky which we stan – Ash requested a different Michael Jackson track for today but I think we’ll probably be saving that for one of our next episodes in which we continue our Halloween Spook-Tacular with more tricks and treats of the musical and chatty variety and spookys-a-plenty!

Until then friends, remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness – stay spooky.

And maybe grab your ghost crush and do some casual sexy pottery, maybe because this is “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers as excellently requested by Ellie and this is Amy Roberts signing off and getting clay EVERYWHERE…it’s a “Ghost” reference, folks!

Byeeeeeeeeeee!!!

TRACK TEN: “Unchained Melody” – The Righteous Brothers

Join Comics Youth and host Amy Roberts in a riotous recording about living through lockdown! This week we're hitting snooze on our alarm and chucking books in our bag at the last minute cos school is back in session & we're here to chat about it! With some musical school spirit support from Nirvana, The Runaways, Deftones, Red Kross, and Belle & Sebastian! Everything is not cool - but it can be! Stay safe & stay sassy with Lockdown! at the Disco.

Hiyaaa! Pop the kettle on, will ya? And have you got any cinnamon based snacks there, la? Yeah, lash them on plate for us. I’m gonna get under me blankie and get proper snug and crunchy and cosy…mmmm…I love this season…

TRACK ONE: “Autumn Almanac” – The Kinks

That was “Autumn Almanac” by The Kinks and it was requested by Tom and this is episode number 19 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco  - with me, your dead leaf crunching pal and host Amy Roberts. As ever, this is our usual content warning for the episode that though we try our hardest to keep inappropriate language out of this show, occasionally bad words do end up slipping past us within songs. As a result, this show may not be suitable for some of our junior listeners and parental discretion is advised.

Now, as Summer is ending and Autumn is officially starting this week, we thought it was time to dedicate an entire episode to celebrating this beautiful season because, in this goth’s opinion, Autumn is the best season!

There’s just so much to love about it. In Autumn you get this crispy, fresh air and it gets a little bit cooler but no too cold and the nights draw in but the days aren’t too dark yet – you still get those bursts of sun with the chilliness which just makes the world sparkle.

And there’s something so special about that as the leaves drop from the trees and the world starts to end one cycle of life as it preps to bring in the next one. And I just absolutely love that. There’s a certain romance to Autumn that no other season has. It’s cosy and crunchy and a little bit moody – there’s an atmosphere to Autumn that feels both optimistic and full of light while also being a little bit on the darker side of things.

In that way, Autumn really serves up a boss reminder about balance: Summer can be obtrusively bright sometimes and Winter can be oppressively dark, but Autumn has the best of both. And just like this season, it’s important to carry the light alongside the dark.

Autumn reminds us all that though a brown leaf is significant of death, it’s also symbolic of the chance for rebirth. It reminds us all that it’s okay to embrace bad moods or even sadness so long as we accept those things alongside optimism and happiness and the chance to take something bright and worthwhile from those bad feelings.

All of life is about accepting the light with the dark, and the dark with the light. And as Autumn rolls in and we get nestle up inside our cosy homemade bedroom dens or inside our fave coats for crunchy walks in the park whereupon we can enjoy the season, remember to reflect on the light and the dark of the world, your life, and this beautiful season.

And now for some super crisp and cosy Autumnal tunes that really reflect that vibe. This is “Wasteland, Baby!” by Hozier and it was requested by Rosa who says that it makes her feel so cosy and like she could nap for a week…

TRACK TWO: “Wasteland, Baby!” – Hozier
TRACK THREE: “Bloom” – Paper Kites

That was “Bloom” by Paper Kites and it was requested by Lucas M who says that it’s basically in his top tier Autumnal tracks and it’s easy to see why. That’s a crispy dreamboat of a song. 

We’ve had a whole bunch of requests for today’s episode from the awesome gang who make up our Safe Spaces group here at Comics Youth. And as we’ve mentioned during previous episodes, one of our fave things to talk about during our safe spaces sessions is food. Inevitably, everything comes back to chatting scran.

And I feel like Autumn scran is some of the best scran. So, I’m gonna do a little roundup right here of some autumnal food faves.

Let’s get some of that food mood music on the go – hit it!

Let’s start first and foremost with CINNAMON. Just cinnamon in everything when it comes to Autumn. Cinnamon in my porridge. Cinnamon on biscuits. Cinnamon in my cereal. Sometimes I even like to grate and shake some cinnamon into my coffee or on top of some hot chocolate or just stirred in with some warm milk before bed.

And can we please take a moment to appreciate the spectacular flavourful delights of a good cinnamon bun. Oof! Me and my fella had some coffee and a cinnamon bun sat outside HOME in Manchester the other day and it was a vibe, let me tell ya. A bun so big that me fella had to stab a fork through it and eat it like a king chewing on a hunk of meat.

CINN-A-MON BUNS!!

Other Autumnal food vibes: It’s the start of soup season. But in Autumn, you start light – you save those chonky soups for the Winter. But in Autumn, you get those warm, thick blended flavourful soups. Tomato, pea and mint, onion, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot – oooh baby! YES!

Throw some cream on top, get a colossal chunk of bread to dip in that beauty and GO TO SOUP TOWN, HONEY!

Teas!! Drink all of the teas! Spiced teas! Vanilla teas! Fruity teas! Roobois! Have em in a massive mug you can hug against yourself and warm up some cookies in the microwave for 20 – 30 seconds to enjoy with them. PERFECTION!!

And – this is the last reference we’ll make to Halloween until our spoopy October editions of Lockdown! at the Disco – but, Autumn is boss because all of the Halloween sweets are out in the shops and – I dunno what it is about snacks with ghosts or pumpkins or skulls or witches on the wrapping, but Halloween treats always taste the best.

And that’s our  essential Autumnal scran roundup. Have I not included one of your faves in that list? Get in touch to let me know and maybe I can address it in another episode – hmu via [email protected].

And now, this is another solid Autumnal request from Tom by the almighty Fiona Apple: This is “Pale September”…

TRACK FOUR: “Pale September” – Fiona Apple
TRACK FIVE: “Autumn Sweater” – Yo La Tengo

That was “Autumn Sweater” by the wonderful Yo La Tengo who make me smile all year round, to be honest! But they had to get an extra special shoutout for this seasonal edition of the show because damn, they’re putting the season in the song title!

And also, props to any song that celebrates the joy of Autumn clothing. Because that’s also something that I get excited about the second that September starts. Like, I’m not gonna lie – once the first of September hits, I’m there unpacking my fave biggest and thickest jumpers and – even when the sun is still blazing and the temperature is pretty high – I will sit there and I will sweat just so long as I can wear that sweater and be happy.

I dunno, it’s just better clothes when you get Autumn innit. It’s all about comfort. The majority of Summer fashion is uncomfortable because it’s an uncomfortable season in general. But Autumn, you get layer up a little – you don’t have to dress too warm. You can wear your Docs again without your little feet getting too sweaty and you can start not having to do your hair in the morning cos you can get away with wearing a hat indoors during the Autumn, honey.

Ooh, it’s a good’un. Got me Autumn rail and my favourite cardies and jumpers ready and waiting. Is that a bit naff? I don’t even care, I’m happy.

This is “Autumn Leaves” by Nat King Cole and it was requested by Raf.

TRACK SIX: “Autumn Leaves” – Nat King Cole
TRACK SEVEN: “Les Feuilles Mortes” – Iggy Pop

That was Iggy Pop covering “Les Feuilles Mortes” and I don’t know if you maybe you noticed or not, but that is actually the French version of the song you heard before it. “Les Feuilles Mortes” translates to The Dead Leaves and it’s one of those jazz standard tracks that has been covered by a huge variety of artists since the song was written in 1954.

The French version of the song has been covered by artists including April March, Andrea Bocelli, Grace Jones, and Francoise Hardy and the English version has been covered by just about every musician who has been known to dabble in jazz in some way including Bob Dylan, Eartha Kitt, Mark Lanengan, Frank Sinatra, and Miles Davis.

I really love Iggy Pop’s interpretation of it tho – and Grace Jones’ is absolutely wondeful too – because I think it shows how adaptable the song is. I find it interesting just how many different versions of that song there is and how so many of them sound different to one another – the same but altered.

The many, many, many different versions of Autumn Leaves and Les Feuilles Mortes remind me, quite aptly, of one of my favourite Autumn crafts which is leaf printing. You know, the foundations of the leaf – or the song, in this case – remain the same. You know, the shape and the pattern of the veins on the leaf much like the basics of a melody and the lyrics that sit on top of it – but then you can colour it differently for printing each time and you can use that leaf to create whole new patterns and shapes. One song can be many.

This is another Autumnal request from Raf – this is “Dark Skies” by Brick + Mortar.

TRACK EIGHT: “Dark Skies” – Brick + Mortar
TRACK NINE: “Obstacle 1” – Interpol

That was “Obstacle 1” by Interpol and though that song has no reference to Autumn in it whatsoever, I played it because that song and the album that it comes from  - 2002’s Turn On the Bright Lights - reminds me of Autumn so strongly. And I tend to return to that album again and again around this time of year because it just sinks me into this feeling of enjoyable angst and comfort. Like, I just wanna throw on my duster coat and brood around Liverpool in it while listening to it.

The only way I can really describe how this song and this album makes me feel is that they’re like a musical weighted blanket. I just feel so reassured whenever I hear them – almost at home, no matter where I am in the world when I’m listening to it. I couldn’t tell you why that’s the case but it is. It’s imprinted on me -  for life probably.

Do any of you have a song or album like that? If you do, let me know [email protected] – because that’s something for us to explore sometime, you know? Music as comfort blanket. And in the Autumn, that’s just a little bit of what you need.

Speaking of Autumnal comfort blankets, we need to talk about a TV show that most of us here at Comics Youth are obsessed with and basically just keep on a rewatch loop for comfort – but especially so once we reach Autumn – and that show is Gilmore Girls which you can watch the entirety of on Netflix still. And I strongly urge that you do because it’s a wholesome, snuggly, easy-to-watch treat. And for whatever reason, it’s a total Autumn vibe! It just is.

For those of you who may not be familiar, the show is about a single mother from an affluent, privileged background raising her ridiculously smart and talented teenage daughter in a way that is a little less affluent and privileged.

They live in a quaint small New England town called Stars Hollow and it’s populated by the most wonderous mix of weirdos and outcasts and sweethearts you could every hope to call your neighbours.

It’s also strongly influenced by the screwball comedies of the 40s and 50s, so the dialogue is really quick and the wit is sharp and it’s genuinely just terrifically funny and full of great, well-written characters who you can’t help but love but you also see their flaws and you kind of hate them every now and then too. And it’s cool to do that – it’s one of those shows that’s so well written that it reminds you that there we all have our good and bad qualities.

I started my Gilmore Girls rewatch a little early this year because I basically gave up on Summer sometime around the end of July when my lockdown misery got the better of me and I was just like, Ah, to heck with it. Let’s just go to bed and watch Gilmore Girls again.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing. And let me tell ya, it absolutely helps make a bad day a little bit better. And this next track is the theme tune from Gilmore Girls. This is the iconic Carole King with “Where You Lead”

TRACK TEN: “Where You Lead” – Carole King
TRACK ELEVEN; “I’m Getting Cold” – The Microphones

That was The Microphones with “I’m Getting Cold” and I don’t explain that one to you do I? Autumn’s coming! The temperature’s dropping! We’re all getting a little chilly! So wrap up a bit when you go out, eh? Don’t get caught short – the evenings can be cold now, honey. Put a jumper on!

And that’s us done for another week! Next week’s episode is going to be our back to school special – because, I don’t know about you, but I get kind of excited this time of year about new school supplies and a fresh start to things! I haven’t been in school for a very long time, but I know that a lot of people who I love still use September as their official restart month – their version of a new year – based on that vibe of starting school again.

So, whether you’re returning to school, college, or university, let me know how you’re feeling about it all! Particularly during a pandemic- like, it’s okay to be nervous and a little anxious about things, and maybe that’s something we need to be talking about?

but also, please let me know if you’re excited about returning to school or college or uni, and why! Or maybe you’re starting or have just started uni and feel some boss vibes about that – tell us how you feel! Let us know your fave subjects or give shoutouts to the teachers who make learning fun!

And I also want to know your fave tracks about school or going back to school – so let me know any requests or shoutouts or ideas or comments you’d like share for our next episode via [email protected].

And that’s us done for another week! REMEMBER – Everything is not cool, but it can be! Stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness – stay cosy. This is “October Song” by Amy Winehouse as requested by Shan and this is Amy Roberts, signing off – BYEEEEEEEEE….

TRACK TWELVE: “October Song” – Amy Winehouse

Ahem, this is Amy Roberts on Space Channel Comics Youth, can you read me, over? Again, this is Amy Roberts on Space Channel Comics Youth, reaching out for signs of life – over. This is an emergency message – we’ve ran out of snacks. Urgent request for Monster Munch and mini party sausages pronto, over! Engaging melodramatic flare gun sequence for snacks in 5 – 4 – 3 - 2- - - 

TRACK ONE: “Intergalactic” – Beastie Boys

Iyaaaa!! That was “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys and this is Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco with me, your host Amy Roberts currently floating about her little isolation chamber in zero-gravity because this is The Space Episode and we stan over-commitment to a theme here…

As ever, this is our usual content warning for the episode: While every effort is made to ensure that no inappropriate language or content slips through the Comics Youth Radio net, there may still be some content and lyrics which could be inappropriate for younger listeners so parental discretion is advised.

NOW THEN - besides the simple fact that space is just a super cool thing to talk about and an ace subject for songs and albums to revolve around, we’re focusing on space today because I think we’re all feeling a little alien at the moment. Lockdown has eased up but the pandemic ain’t over! And while we’re all starting to return to little pockets of normality here and there, everything just feels a little bit otherworldly and weird – we may as well be on a different planet sometimes.

Alien vibes aside, I think we would all probably favour moving to a different planet if it meant we could officially and finally get away from the Tories but sadly, that isn’t an option yet. But as and when it is, hot damn – we’re gonna build us a spaceship and get the heck outta here. Go live amongst the stars like a Clanger. 

This is Modest Mouse with “Space Travel is Boring” – a statement I strongly disagree with but oh boy, what a sweet racket…

TRACK TWO: “Space Travel is Boring” – Modest Mouse
TRACK THREE: “Alien She” – Bikini Kill

That was “Alien She” by Bikini Kill and I think that’s just a great song about alienation and about feeling other – particularly when it comes to feeling pressured to adhere to assigned gender norms and heteronormative looks. Those of us who are marginalised – be it for health reasons, our gender identity, our sexuality, or our race or ethnicity – we can feel other and alien within mainstream society. And that’s because so much of mainstream society is made specifically to function for able-bodied, heterosexual, cis-gender, white folk – and preferably those with a nice fat bank account too.

And if and when we don’t fit those moulds, we can feel completely outside of society and the world as we know it. We can feel alien.

And I think that’s why there is so much culture that revolves around outer space, and other worlds, and of alien beings that explores marginalised identity too. It taps into our own sad little planet and the divides and disconnect that exist within it – and by reflecting on our world from the stars and remote planets, we can inspect and attack systemic issues from a safe distance.

And that brings us to a really interesting and powerful genre of space-culture known as Afrofuturism. Now, this genre can be applied to just about every type of culture going – it pops up in music, literature, art, movies, TV shows, and books – and it’s basically a cultural movement which uses sci-fi themes which incorporate black history and culture in a way that reflects on modern societal issues. In doing so, Afrofuturism provides a poignant commentary on modern life and politics via a fantasy, futuristic lens.

Stories like Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time, Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone are all Afrofuturistic as is the work of artists like Ellen Gallagher and Wangechi Mutu.

There is a glorious wealth of Afrofuturist music to enjoy too and we’re about to play a double bill of two of the OG’s of Afrofuturistic music right here, starting with space-obsessed jazz legends Sun Ra with “Somewhere in Space”

TRACK FOUR: “Somewhere in Space” – Sun Ra
TRACK FIVE: “Mothership Connection (Star Child)” – Parliament

 Heck yes! That was “Mothership Connection (Star Child)” by Parliament – a band led by funk legend George Clinton who was inspired by the space-age creativity of Sun Ra but also by Star Trek. Parliament’s joyful brand of space funk serves up a future where black astronauts explore new worlds, as Clinton puts it, quote: “Afronauts, capable of funkitizing galaxies.”

And before that was the incredible and hugely influential Sun Ra who explored the vast potentials of space via cosmic free jazz that makes you feel as though you’re sitting amongst the stars.

In 1972, their seminal album Space is the Place even inspired a movie, written by the band, in which Sun Ra colonise a new planet which they travel to via the power of music.

Afrofuturist music has continued to be huge ever since with many spectacular black artists such as Africa Bambaata, Eyrkuh Badu, Outkast, and Flying Lotus finding inspiration in futuristic visions and sci-fi narratives. And here’s two more spectacular modern Afrofuturist joints from contemporary artists that I absolutely LOVE – this is “Astronaut” by Quasimoto and Madlib.

TRACK SEVEN: “Astronaut” – Quasimoto, Madlib
TRACK EIGHT: “Moon Whip Quaz” – Shabazz Palaces

That was the amazing Shabazz Palaces with “Moon Whip Quaz”. And that song is part of a double sci-fi epic release from 2017 about a traveller coming to Earth from space and attempting to understand the modern world.

The first album Quazaz vs The Jealous Machines was loosely inspired by the way that society is overly connected to and dependent on devices and social media – to a point of no return. Meanwhile, the second album, Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star, reflected more upon African-American identity and feeling alienated as part of that identity within the United States.

And that’s something that I really love about all sci-fi stuff – and particularly Afrofuturist material – is that it’s a genre and movement which manages to delve into and enquire about the political while providing a safe, nurturing distance by which we can engage with those narratives via fantasy.

Symbolism and metaphors and creativity and imagination can be incredible tools for interrogating societal issues in a manner that doesn’t force us to engage directly with the issue. Sometimes issues like these can unearth deep trauma and be triggering in minor or major ways – but by embedding it within a creative response, these issues can be easier to navigate and to think about.

Having said that, there’s also nothing wrong with being up front and direct with your political takedowns. And this next track is a great example of that. This is a phenomenal protest poem from the late 60’s by Gil Scott-Heron about the true, unseen costs of the US winning the space race. This is “Whitey on the Moon” 

TRACK SIX: “Whitey on the Moon” – Gil Scott-Heron
TRACK NINE: “Sally Ride” – Janelle Monae

That was Janelle Monae with “Sally Ride”. Obviously, Janelle Monae is an absolute Afrofuturist goddess who has brought out so many amazing albums that stem from the movement and which explore sci-fi narratives within her music.

“Sally Ride” is one of my fave tracks by her – and it’s less Afrofuturist than it is a direct tribute to an incredible black woman by the name of Sally Kirsten Rode. Sally was the first African American woman to travel to space in 1978 at the age of just 32 years of age – which is an incredible accomplishment. It’s also worth noting that Sally Ride was also the first lesbian to go to space – although she was never publicly out as a lesbian, something which may not have actually been her choice.

A 2014 story in The American Prospect suggested that seven years after Ride had gone to space that NASA had tried to quietly order a working group of physicians to declare homosexuality a psychiatrically disqualifying condition. Thankfully, the rule didn’t end up going through, but it’s telling that they tried.

To this day, there hasn’t been an open member of the LGBTQIA+ community in space – regardless, NASA maintains that it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. But damn, can we get a rainbow flag on Mars soon, please? It – is – time.

I’m playing this next track for our Anna who requested it and who am I to say no to such a classic? This is Ash with “Girl From Mars”.

TRACK ELEVEN: “Girl From Mars” – Ash
TRACK TWELVE: “Meteor Shower” – Cavetown

That was “Meteor Shower” by Cavetown and it was requested by our in-house resident Cavetown fanatic Lucas M who is continuing to prove that Cavetown well and truly have a tune for just about every theme we’ve handled on this show so far!

And that’s us done for another week, folks! I hope this episode has been a cosmic dream, my little space monkeys.

On next week’s episode we’re gonna crunch some leaves, get out the pumpkin spice and the chai lattes, and eat cinnamon buns till be burst because we’re gonna bring in and celebrate the arrival of my favourite season – Autumn.

You can smell it in the air at the moment, can’t you? The leaves are slowly changing and falling and the temperature is dropping and I just want to get snug and cosy and watch Gilmore Girls 24/7.

SO – for next week’s episode I wanna know your song requests for tunes that make you feel Autumnal and cosy. What songs feel like a snug, warm hug to you? What tunes make you feel like you’re being wrapped in a massive duvet while your best pals drink warm spiced apple tea with you? Let me know!

And please – don’t be giving me any spoopy, Halloween requests just yet. We’re saving those treats for the entire month of October when we’ll be dedicating every episode to the spooky, the eerie, the haunted, the horrorfying, the camp, and the ghoulish.

So, until then remember: Everything is not cool, but it can be. Stay safe, stay sassy, and keep watching those stars…

TRACK TEN: “Moonage Daydream” – David Bowie

Greetings and salutations, superstars! Come in and get comfortable and take a little step into the past with us. Prepare yourself for some warm, fuzzy memories because we’re about to get super misty-eyed up in here…

TRACK ONE: “Playground Love” – Air, Gordon Tracks

That was “Playground Love” by Air from the French duo’s breath-taking original soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides and you’re listening to Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco. This is The Nostalgia Episode where we’re going to be talking about what nostalgia is, why it can be super comforting, and how sometimes – when used badly – nostalgia isn’t always such a great thing.

But we’ll get more into that in a little while! As ever, we’d like to remind listeners that while every measure is taken to keep Lockdown! at the Disco free of explicit language that some songs featured may still feature content that could be inappropriate for younger listeners, so parental discretion is advised.

Now, let’s swing things back to that opening track from Air there and about the movie from which that soundtrack comes from. The Virgin Suicides is a really lovely but dark movie from 1999 about a tragic set of sisters who are forced into isolation by their overbearing parents.

The film is adapted from the spectacular novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, and the story is told from the perspective of the men who loved these young women and who are still heartbroken that they were never given the opportunity to grow up and to flourish and to become.

Both the film and the book are set in the 1970’s and so the story is incredibly nostalgic – as is the phenomenal soundtrack that Air made for it. And there’s this dreamlike quality to the nostalgia at play in The Virgin Suicides – it’s hazy and feverish and so it never feels entirely real.

And because of that the story also talks about the darker side of nostalgia. The past can bring comfort and there are things that take us back to a specific time and place which make us feel and re-experience pivotal times and moments. But we have to be careful not to become trapped there. We have to be careful not to be so consumed by that nostalgia that we forget to enjoy the present.

In The Virgin Suicides, the men recounting the stories of the ill-fated Lisbon sisters have lost themselves to this nostalgic fantasy of a group of young women who they didn’t actually really know or understand. It offers the reminder that nostalgia can be beautiful, but it can also be meaningless as and when it fixates on people or a time which never really existed in the way that they’re being remembered.

Nostalgia is at its most powerful when it reminds us of where we’ve been while also acting as a focus by which we can be guided into the future. And another terrific film which I think demonstrates this idea perfectly is Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce. Essentially, the film is her entire live show from her 2018 Coachella performance, intercut with intimate scenes of her developing the show and rehearsing it while balancing the roles of being a wife and mother alongside it.

It’s a film that’s rich with nostalgia – it drips with it – but it’s also a film that shows you an artist who has always drawn power from the past in order to propel her to greater things in the future. And this is “Crazy in Love” from it…

Requests from Tom and Irish River??

TRACK TWO: “Crazy in Love (Homecoming Live)” – Beyonce
TRACK THREE: “Kids” – MGMT

That was “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce taken from the live album for Homecoming and following that was “Kids” by MGMT, and both of those tracks were requested by Tom and Irish River from our Safe Spaces group here at Comics Youth. 

MGMT’s “Kids” is such an interesting song too, I think. And in an interview with Time Out London, the band shared that their motive and mentality for writing the song was very much centered around the idea of nostalgia. They said that at the time that they wrote kids they “were just happy-go-lucky, going crazy on campus. But at the same time, we were nostalgic for childhood and there was the threat of post-college life coming.”

I also always loved the music video for this song and the quote that begins it – which is weirdly attributed to Mark Twain even though it’s a Nietzsche joint! – and it’s that classic quote of, “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster … for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you….”

And I guess that’s a quote that can be applied to all sorts of ‘monsters’ – real and imagined, gigantic and everyday – and particularly those that we might face when peeking into our pasts too.

But the other thing that I love about “Kids” is that it’s both a song about nostalgia but which also evokes a certain amount of nostalgia when you hear it too. It’s definitely a song that takes me back to a specific time and place whenever I hear it.

Hearing it reminds me of dancing very late at night and of working very early in a café the morning after – and of a waning summer sun. It reminds me of things that became hazy and lost.

And this next song is very much the same. It’s full of an intense romantic nostalgia but it also serves a literal sense of nostalgia – and I know I’m not the only person who feels this way about this particular track – that whenever I hear it I can hear the laughter of friends from a certain time, I can feel the exact dance moves I’d throw to it and the floor I’d drag them out on, I can feel the crowd around me and bittersweet ache of youthful heartache.

This is “Heartbeats” by The Knife.

TRACK FOUR: “Heartbeats” – The Knife
TRACK FIVE: “Die Anywhere Else” – Alec Holowka

That was “Die Anywhere Else” by Alec Holowka and it’s taken from the soundtrack to the amazing indie game Night in the Woods. That track is one of the tunes that you’re given the opportunity to clumsily play on bass as lead character Mae. And it’s a real touch of genius with that game that every song you play on it is engineered for you to play badly – to miss notes and beats – so that you really understand and feel the character’s frustration and distress. 

Night in the Woods is an incredible game – one of my absolute, all-time faves which makes me sob my heart out every time I play it – and it’s a game that very much explores the dangers of nostalgia. Particularly in how it deals with mental health and the various life issues being faced by troubled teenager Mae as she returns to her hometown of Possum Springs.

On the one hand Mae needs to deal with a traumatic incident from her past but is understandably struggling to. And on the other, the small town that she’s returned home to is a place that is desperately clinging onto the past – to a faded history and some former glories – rather focusing on the issues that are preventing the town from moving forward and remaining a place where people can work and live.

Night in the Woods is about a lot of things – a single deep dive into this game can uncover all sorts of incredible depths and meaning – but I’m so fascinated about what the game has to say about the dangers of nostalgia when it becomes all-encompassing: Like, how can we possibly move forward if we continue to only allow ourselves to live in the past?

And I think the reminder that Night in the Woods serves up so perfectly is that this attitude can be especially dangerous when it’s applied by and to a place. A large amount of patriotism exists solely around nostalgia – of people clinging onto the perceived former glories that a location enjoyed at some point in the distant past.

The thing is, that kind of nostalgia is an absolute fallacy and that kind of nostalgia is often fixated on a ‘former glory’ that never actually existed. The things that people like this are often proud of came at a high cost to human life and freedom – things that people conveniently ignore while they’re lost in the warm glow of remembering. Even if those memories and that nostalgia is built on a lie or even about a time that the person wasn’t actually alive to experience first-hand.

But it’s understandable, right? Sometimes, it can be easier and more fun to live in the past and so wonderful and cathartic to lose ourselves in an era which we may not have even been alive to experience ourselves. How about the 80’s? Shall we pop there for a while? Let’s do it.

TRACK SIX: “Title” – Disasterpeace
TRACK SEVEN: “Hanging Lights” – Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein
TRACK EIGHT: “Main Title (Assault on Precinct 13)” – John Carpenter

Personal nostalgia of that film and the power of John Carpenter’s work within a nostalgic framework: It’s textured and provocative of a particular era and though it’s one of the most copied sounds in modern music, it has yet to be successfully replicated.

 This next song is requested by Lucas M who says that it makes him nostalgic because “it was one of those songs that was always played in the car when I was little, so it’s always a nice one for me to listen to”

TRACK NINE: “Somewhere Only We Know” – Keane
TRACK TEN: “The Suburbs” – Arcade Fire

TRACK ELEVEN: “The Boys of Summer” – The Ataris

Hello! Hi! I hope you’ve got your passport handy for this one because we’re about to take a little trip to Japan. If it’s all cool with you, we’ll be taking a ramshackle roguish space shuttle to get there – don’t ask me why. It is what it is, we just have a tiny pit stop to make amongst the stars in order to get to our destination – so hop in, space cowboy and let’s do this…

TRACK ONE: “Tank!” – Seatbelts

And here we are! We’ve landed. That was a smooth, fun journey, huh? Although, our travel snacks went all over the place. Who smuggled Malteasers on the ship? We’ll be cleaning them up until Christmas…ANYWAYS - this is Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco and I am your tour guide for today because this is The Weeb Episode where we’re going to be celebrating our fave Japanese culture – including anime, manga, and music. 

Opening our show today was “Tank!” by Seatbelts and that’s the opening theme tune to Cowboy Bebop which is perhaps one of the greatest and most fun animes you can watch. You can track that down on Crunchy Roll and I highly recommend that you do, it’s a great time about a gang of misfit bounty hunters in space which Joss Whedon wholeheartedly ripped off with Firefly.

It also has one of the most banging soundtracks you might ever hear – just jam after jam of upbeat jazz, which is currently available in full on Spotify. Give it a listen, it’ll make your day better.

Now for those who might be unfamiliar with the phrase, Weeb is generally a derisive term used for a non-Japanese person so obsessed with Japanese culture that they wish they were actually Japanese. And here on today’s episode we’re going to be reclaiming it – many of us here at Comics Youth are weebs and proud.

For one thing, I’d be happy to be anything but British right now. But also, Japan just has so much interesting culture – better than some of the stuff that gets churned out of this country - and you know what? I’d be sound with being Japanese. Give me an honorary citizenship because I’m down for it.

And maybe that’s partly also why throughout lockdown I’ve been just escaping into a lot of anime and manga when I’ve had moments to relax. I don’t want things that remind me of what is happening right now or of this country and it’s many issues, and I find American and British content to be extremely difficult to watch right now for that reason. 

Like, I read the news. That’s enough with connecting to the real world. In my downtime, I want to flee – and I do so by fleeing to Japan via books and a screen.

A little content warning on this episode that while the songs are clean from explicit language as far as I can tell this week – and let’s thank our lucky stars that I’ve managed to pull that one off for once – that some of the anime and manga we’ll be talking about in this episode may be better suited for some of our more mature young adults.

We’ll be chatting about plenty of fun, wholesome content too – but also anime and manga that explores mental health and apocalyptic scenarios and which contain horror or violence. Though we’ll obviously try and keep those recommendations to a minimum.

So let’s get into it shall we? This next track is “Ride On Shooting Star” by The Pillows from the maniacal anime FLCL.

TRACK TWO: “Ride On Shooting Star” – The Pillows

TRACK THREE: “Hit in the USA” – Beat Crusaders

That boss little number was “Hit in the USA” by Beat Crusaders and it’s the theme tune to a terrific anime show called Beck – also known as Mongolian Chop Squad.  It’s all about a bunch of teenagers who decide to start a band and get big in the US! It has so many great songs in it and a lot of very sweet and relatable moments. But it’s also very, very funny.

If you are or have ever been or intend to be in a band, then you’ll see a lot of yourself in this show whether you want to or not!

And before that was “Ride on Shooting Star” by The Pillows from FLCL – spelt F-L-C-L just FYI – and it’s this super oddball delirium of a show about a boy who meets a very strange Vespa-riding girl who causes mad things to grow out of his forehead.

Loads of insane stuff happens, including them getting embroiled with a mysterious, otherworldly organization and it’s just a hyperactive gem with a really unique animation style. My fella introduced me to several episodes of FLCL during our first date and let me tell ya, there’s a show that really wins a girls heart!

But I was really taken with the animation style and it helped get me into a lot of great anime off the back of it. And there’s one creator in particular who I’ve become obsessed with in the past year – for his unique animation style but also his distinctive perspective on the world – and that’s Masaaki Yuasa.

He’s the director of very sweet films like Ride Your Wave and Lu Over the Wall, but he’s also renowned for making much more experimental and acerbic stuff like Mind Game – which is this strange, cerebral exploration with an incredible collage art style almost that leaves you breathless to watch. My jaw was on the floor for most of that film – and also The Night is Short, Walk On Girl – which you can currently watch on Netflix and I very much recommend it.

But he’s also known for his TV shows. One of them, The Tatami Galaxy is related to Night is Short, Walk on Girl and is this fast-paced story about a teenager trying to figure out his life and who he is and in the process of that finds these strange multitudes to existence which I won’t go into in too much detail because it’s so special and has some genuinely spectacular twists and turns.

More recently, he’s made TV shows for Netflix like Devilman Crybaby and Japan Sinks which explore more horror narratives. Devilman Crybaby is an ultra-violent story about a world that starts to slowly get overcome by demons, and this gang of teenagers try to figure out how to survive and how to live in this new world. It’s a devastating show, I’ve gotta say. And not an easy watch – and definitely one only for over 18’s by the way! But in how it talks about people who are ‘other’ via the metaphor of humans taken over by demons, the show makes some very interesting statements about discrimination and the violence put upon marginalised people and the hatred that can boil over when people choose ignorance over compassion.

And then a couple of months ago, his latest show Japan Sinks: 2020 came out on Netflix.It’s about a devastating earthquake that shreds through Japan and the impact that has on a family and the people they meet along the way as they try to survive the aftermath of it and the looming threat of more devastation.

And again, it’s not an easy watch. The drama and the horror escalates with every episode. But what really struck me, and made me sob my little heart out by the end of Japan Sinks: 2020 is that despite the constant horror depicted in it, the show really pivots around the idea of hope and resilience and of rebirth and rebuilding.

It’s kind of the show that we needed this year. It’s a show that says Yeah, things are tough and sometimes – just when you think they’ll get better, they get worse. But out of the hardship and the ruin that we can all encounter in this life and this world, we can also rediscover our humanity and our kindness and we can rebuild the world into something wonderful.

One of the characters in the show clutches a couple of precious vinyls tight and lovingly to his body throughout the start of the show. And one of them is an album called Green by Hiroshi Yoshimura – who is a pioneer of ambient music. And this is the beautiful title track from that album.

Listen to it, clutch it tight to your chest, and always remember to retain some hope.

TRACK FOUR: “Green” – Hiroshi Yoshimura
TRACK FIVE: “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” – Yoko Takahashi

That fun little number was “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” by Yoko Takahashi and it’s theme tune to Neon Genesis Evangelion – a show that myself and Comics Youth head honcho Rhiannon are very much obsessed with.

Again, this is a show I only discovered while in lockdown but it absolutely blew me away and there hasn’t been a single day since that I haven’t thought about it. In a nutshell, the show is about violent, monstrous angels who descend upon Earth to destroy humanity. For whatever reason, a very shady organisation decides that only special teenagers of a specific age are the ones who can clamber into some mecha robots to take on these monsters and save humanity.

There’s a lot going on in Evangelion – it has a lot of layers and much to say about some surprising things including gender, exploitation, and the burden that’s put upon young people to undo the damage of previous generations – but what really struck a chord with me about the show is what it has to say about hope and mental health.

Hideaki Anno created Evangelion in the midst of discovering his own depression, which was so bad that he barely left his home for four years. He described himself during this time as being “a broken man who can do nothing for four years … one who was simply not dead.” And his experience of mental illness is something that spills into Evangelion in incredible ways.

The show starts out quite lighthearted with this bubbling darkness beneath the surface, and as it goes on that darkness builds. It threatens to destroy everything. And the weight of mental illness, and the battle against it, is a thread that lingers throughout. The final episode of the show – and the movie that followed simply called End of Evangelion – really delves deep into mental illness and it also provides the reminder that every life is worth fighting for. The simple act of shared existence, of connection, of survival – is worth fighting for. And where there is life, there is hope.

The message is uplifting, but word to the wise: It’s another show and movie that can be difficult to watch. The movie actually made me feel nauseous in how devastating it is. But it likewise made me cry and smile for how powerful its message is regarding survival and hope.

But there are also more wholesome and less heavy anime films you can watch for similarly hopeful narratives – particularly as they pertain to saving the planet and taking better care of nature as well as ourselves and each other. And to bring us into that vibe, here are two beautiful themes from the world of Studio Ghibli.

TRACK SIX: “Kiki’s Delivery Service” – Joe Hisaishi
TRACK SEVEN: “One Summer’s Day” – Joe Hisaishi

It’s just cosiness on tap, isn’t it? There we had the theme to Kiki’s Delivery Service – a coming of age film about a young witch who does odd jobs to bring in a little cash – followed by “One Summer’s Day” which is the theme to Spirited Away.

Throughout lockdown many of our young people at Comics Youth have been watching a lot of Studio Ghibli films and they’ve been doing wholesome watch parties online together of them. And it’s easy to see why – the majority of the extensive Studio Ghibli back catalogue is currently available to watch on Netflix, and with the exception of one film which we won’t talk about, all of them are phenomenal and everyone has their fave.

Rosa told us that she’s a huge fan of the adorable Ponyo but can’t explain why, but did say that Sosuke looks like her best friend and that she loves the scene where he has Ponyo in a bucket and is hiding her.

Bell told us that her fave is Princess Mononoke because of how it explores the balance of nature, life and death and how fruitless war and greed are – as well as the amazing creature designs and the amazing soundtrack.

Meanwhile, Tom shared that he loves Spirited Away because of how kooky and bizarre it is. Something that Lucas M struggled with when he watched it with his pal Avery the other day because neither of them knew what was going on.

So, here’s a little Spirited Away 101 for ya: It definitely is a kooky and bizarre film as Tom put it, and it follows a 10 year old girl who stumbles upon an abandoned amusement park with her parents. She then gets stuck in this mysterious place after her parents help themselves to a giant feast and are promptly turned into pigs and she’s forced to work in this supernatural realm in order to free herself and her parents.

It’s a wild ride! And it has many similarities to Alice in Wonderland and to The Wizard of Oz, if you want to look for such things.  Like those stories, Spirited Away centers around a coming of age story, but it does so in a way that incorporates Japanese Shinto-Buddhist folklore alongside some deep commentary about some very interesting topics.

For one thing, the film explores the effects of western capitalism – taking sharp aim at capitalist greed, western imperialism, and the capitalist mythology that work is not a form of enslavement but of liberation – and how western capitalism has impacted and changed traditional Japanese culture.

And in delving into these pretty complex ideas, the film also has plenty to say about environmental issues, protecting the planet, and of the generational conflicts that can arise when young people hold different values to the generation who may well be running a country and a planet into the ground for capitalist profit.

Looping back to how the film is inspired by Japanese Shinto-Buddhist folklore, Studio Ghibli head honcho Hayao Miyazaki that how spirits are encountered in the film stems back to his grandparents’ time, when it was believed that these spirits – known as Kami – existed everywhere – “in trees, rivers, insects, wells, anything” and he says, “My generation does not believe this, but I like the idea that we should all treasure everything because spirits might exist there and we should treasure everything because there is a kind of life to everything.”

So there you go, that was my Spirited Away 101 – and I hope you can rewatch and take something even deeper from it next time you do.

And now, we’re gonna blast some real heavy tunes for you by two Japanese bands. This is “Farewell to Words” by Japanese screamo band Envy and it was requested by my wonderful friend and Comics Youth co-worker Anna.

TRACK EIGHT: “Farewell to Words” – Envy
TRACK NINE: “Karate” – BABYMETAL

That was “Karate” by the ever fun BABYMETAL – a band who prove that you can still be totally heavy and gnarly and shred while being as femme and as cute as girly as you like. Femme doesn’t equate weakness, folks! Femme can be heavy and gnarly and it can shred.

And that’s it for today’s episode! I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey with me and picked up some fun recommendations along the way. Lockdown! at the Disco will be on hiatus for a week because I’m on annual leave for a week of relaxation and recovery and I intend on eating a lot of crisps and swaddling myself in blankets and reading all of the manga.

Our next episode when we return will be The Nostalgia Episode where we talk about all the things that gives us nostalgia, what nostalgia is, and why it can be such a comfort in times of upheaval and change. And so for that I want to hear your song requests for the tunes that make you nostalgic for a specific time or place and why. Or songs that are about nostalgia or invoke the feeling of nostalgia.

Get in touch with me to let me know what you’d like to hear for that via [email protected].

Until then, remember – everything is not cool, but it can be! Stay safe, stay sassy, and don’t let anyone tell you that being a Weeb is a bad thing? It’s pretty cool.

This is “Goodbye” by Toe and this is Amy Roberts signing off….BYEEEEEEEEEE

TRACK TEN: “Goodbye” - Toe