The final episode of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast is the series’ most ambitious. It brings together 27 of the guests that feature over the course of the previous 14 episodes, this time, all with one subject on their lips - music as a gift of life. Over the course of this episode the speakers talk on themes that include; mental health and well-being, coping mechanisms, the ecstasy of performance, and the shifting consciousness enabled by music. All this is tied together by Sam Hodgson’s thoughtful hosting style and a soundscape that underpins the topics of discussion.

Thank you for all the support we received from those who made the making of this podcast possible, and a special thanks to all those who listened. Please continue to share the episodes and series with anyone who you think will enjoy it.

Episode Fourteen digs into the unheard stories of some of the areas’ most prolific event organisers. A rare opportunity to hear about the behind-the-scenes in the biggest and smallest venues in Kirklees, where stars are born and others are booked. From world-renowned venues like The Batley Variety Club and The Picturedrome in Holmfirth, to smaller outfits like The Watershed in Slaithwaite, we hear about the complications and the beauties of running live music in these post-industrial hills. Whilst they talk, listeners will be privileged with new music from the area from such artists as PENNY, Jordan Higo, Here’s the Steeple and Long Island.

The speakers for this episode are: Promotions Manager of the Batley Variety Club and author of King of Clubs, Maureen Prest; Owner of The Picturedrome, Peter Carr; Creative Producer at The Watershed and ex-Manager of Small Seeds, Huddersfield, Noah Burton; Balbir Singh Uppaland Donovan Brown aka Dee Bo General.

It also features music with the kind permission of the following artists: PENNY; Jordan Higo; Here's the Steeple; Long Island; Dee Bo General; Noah Burton; Easy Stride Band; and Armagideon.

After a successful 12 episodes in 2023, the TOWNSOUNDS podcast is back with another 3 episodes for 2024. This first episode of the year takes an intimate look into the personal stories of a topic that you might not associate with music at all - parenting. The podcasts’ host, Sam Hodgson, couldn’t help but notice that throughout the archive interviews, used for this podcast series, the musical parents couldn’t help but mention the huge impact having kids had on their musical lives. In this episode Sam has the opportunity to pick the topic apart and in doing so reveals topics that are rarely spoken about in public at all. This is a heartwarming, joyous episode overall but it also reaches places of great depth, personal achievement and struggle. Whether you’re a musician, a parent, or an expecting parent, or if you care deeply about your local community and the people in it, or if you are fascinated by the stories of real people, this episode is likely for you.

The speakers for this episode are: Community musician and loop pedal wielding singer Jess Baker;  Music therapist and roots musician Emily Druce; Bob Lockwood, who has been the double bass player for the Graham Browning Trio, Edges Ensemble, Crooks and Claridge, Marsden Community Jazz Band, String Fellows, Sabrina Piggett and many more; The Hanson family, who run Hanson’s Musical Instrument; Shop and Hanson Community Arts; Organiser of Holmfirth Festival of Folk, Alex Bywaters; Member of the Mash It Up Parang Band, John Joseph; Singer, songwriter, Ruby Wood.

All the music clips you hear come with the kind permission of our speakers.

This episode is about as close as we’re going to get to a Christmas special. It’s about brass bands and steel bands and handbell ringing bands. We’ll hear loads of music, some of which is bound to put you in the spirit of the season. So, get your scarf on, grab a cup of something wet and warm, and settle in for a fun and information-packed episode of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast - the last of this series.

This episode features contributions from: Rod Fisher from the Grange Moor Brass Band; Peter Crossley from Skelmanthorpe Brass Band; Thomas Benjamin and Phil Wood from the North Stars Steel Orchestra; Peter Fawcett and Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers.

Rebellion is one of the many artistic personalities of Kirklees and has been for some time. In fact, it could be argued that much of the music that is made here in Kirklees has a rebellious streak. Amateur music scenes in a way, all have the spirit of rebellion within it. It’s music despite hardship, despite having a lack of money or time, despite not having the right instrument or the most prestigious training. These are determined musicians, standing in the face of what we, as a society, deem popular or successful or, in some cases, possible.

The musicians and musical facilitators featured in this episode have taken that spirit of rugged determination to its conclusion - connected by innovation, experimentalism, chaos, and anarchy.

This episode features snippets of music with the kind permission of the artist: Chris Ruffoni’s Solar Phones at Butterley Resevoir; Full Circle by the Instigators; Stopped in the Zoo by Giblets and Cheese; News from Nowhere by Laffmad; Etch by Bodycoder; Light Boxz by FoxGlove Riot; and the TOWNSOUNDS theme tune by Sam H. Song.

Jazz does have a reputation for being a bit more complex than some other genres of music. Outside of trad-jazz, the genre tends to push the boundaries, and do things that most musicians can’t and most audiences probably can’t handle. Sometimes words can’t describe what you are trying to say about music. You have to feel it and see it and sing it and squeal it. And that is what this episode will attempt to bring to life. It’s not only Marsden jazz that has put Kirklees on the jazz map. One of the first residencies at the Batley Variety Club was Louis Armstrong. And Huddersfield has a Jazz Guitar Society and a Jazz Guitar Festival. There are a number of local jazz nights, jazz singers and professional jazz instrumentalists around the area. Jazz, for some reason, has a special place at the heart of Kirklees. And in this episode we’ll do our best to find out why.

The contributors featured in this episode are: Laurie Stead - founder of Huddersfield Jazz; Stan Sagan - double bass player; Paul Smith - drummer and organiser of the Head of Steam jazz night; Paul Chamberlain - bass player and organiser of the Head of Steam jazz night; Michael Massey – singer; Pat Fulgoni - singer and organiser of the Sunday Blues Train; Sean M Corby - trumpet player.

The episode also features excerpts of the following pieces of music with the kind permission of the copyright holders: Lay it Down Charlie Brown by Elements; Saratoga by Larry Van Kriedt; Roll Rizla Roll by Swing of Things; Caravan performed by Band of Jays; Pennies from Heaven performed by the Jazz Dawgs; Pat Fulgoni blues band, live in Prague.

Over the course of the series, we have heard from music projects that continue to run, but up until now, the episodes have been filling in the gaps of what music in Kirklees used to be like. Many of the people who we interviewed no longer have a connection to the local music scene. Instead, they look back fondly on the music scenes of the past.

But in this episode we look at what has been happening throughout more recent years in modern popular music. We’ll go as far back as the early 90s, but try to stay even closer to now than that. The episode covers musicians that are still on the scene right now, making music, performing, touring, writing, playing, and organising.

The speakers for this episode are: Ruby Wood - Submotion Orchestra, Extra Curricular and Ruby Wood; Martin Chung - Jah Wobble, Nu Popes, Ruby Wood and Extra Curricular; Rob Bradley - Jack Flash, Extra Curricular and Rob Bradley; Nigel Cudjoe - Savvy, Asaviour and The Saving Grace Collective.

As well as the show theme by Sam Hodgson, this episode features excerpts of the following tracks which appear with the kind permission of the copyright holders:

02:10 - MUSIC: Woodwork by Samh; 05:50 - MUSIC: Martin Chung guitar improvisation; 07:25 - MUSIC: Martin Chung guitar solo on Wadcutter Blues track; 11:40 - MUSIC: Funked Up and Freaked Out by Kava Kava; 13:05 - MUSIC: Hour of the Wolf by Savvy; 16:05 - MUSIC: Huddersfield to Hollywood by Savvy; 25:26 - MUSIC: My Favourite Song by Ruby Wood; 27:50 - MUSIC: As One by Keeno, featuring Pat Fulgoni.

Over the course of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast series, host Sam Hodgson has already interviewed a number of people who have migrated to Kirklees from somewhere else or who are second-generation migrants. As listeners have heard in Episode Two (choirs), Episode Three (rock and roll), Episode Four (South Asian music), Episode Five (folk) and Episode Seven (reggae soundsystem), migration is a vital part of the story and the history of Kirklees’ music. In this episode Sam dives into the migration stories themselves. How did the musicians get here? How did they end up in Kirklees? And what music did they bring with them? The stories and the reasons people arrived here are fascinating, diverse and sometimes very challenging.

The speakers for this episode are: Dieudonne AKA Didi Manirakiza - Burundi drummer; Emira Husarevic - Bosnian accordion player and singer; Fatima Hama - Iraqi singer; Hussain Suliman - Iraqi saz player; Frank Grombir - Czech singer of Polish church songs and historian of migration to Kirklees; Supriya Nagarajan - Indian singer; Thomas Benjamin - Trinidadian steel pan player.

The original music in this episode appears with the kind and express permission of the artists:

00:00 - MUSIC: ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson

03:20 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers

06:15 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers

07:40 - Love Over Light Years’ by Foxglove Riot

12:48 - Hussain Suliman demonstrating saz

13:00 - Fatima Hama & Hussain Suliman

13:49 - El Pollito by Fransico Canaro, performed by Max and Alessia

18:30 - Czerwone Jagody performed by Sam Hodgson

20:10 - Hallelujah Chorus performed by North Stars Steel Orchestra

21:45 - Mira’s Bhakti from Posse of Fireflies

24:55 - Geamparale performed by Klonk

32:53 - ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson

In this episode of the TOWNSOUNDS Oral History Podcast host Sam Hodgson will be finding out about the well documented and highly influential soundsystem and reggae music scene in Huddersfield. Sam will explore this topic in a unique, new way.

Firstly, this will be through the voices of local people involved in soundsystem. From the people that know it first hand, he’ll find out about Armagideon Soundsystem, Axis Valv-a-tron, Zion Inna Vision, Likkle Warrior HiFi, Jah Amharic and Black Hudu. Sam will also speak to an MC on the scene.

The way that Sam will find out about reggae soundsystem is through the process of putting it on - building the systems and amps, organising and promoting the night, and through the understanding of soundsystem nights themselves.

As part of this exploration, Jeff Lewis will tell us all about Hans Alfred Mathias from Matamp. Learn about the technology, the history, and some funny anecdotes.

The original music in this episode appears with the kind and express permission of the artists:

00:00 ‘TOWNSOUNDS Reggae Style’ by Sam Hodgson

05:10 - ‘General Reggae Guitar’ by Sam Hodgson

11:23 - Armagideon Soundsystem at Cambridge Road Baths

16:49 - Improvised MCing by Ras Sis Highness

19:35 - ‘Carolina My Love’ by Abz Jaxon

27:10 - ‘Worries in the Dance’ by Simply Dread

28:40 - ‘Worries in the Dance’ by Simply Dread

29:05 - A brand new track from Mighty Funkhouser

30:50 - ‘This Thing’ by Mighty Funkhouser

32:53 - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers

An episode about community music, looking at charitable organisations and community interest companies with some focus on music. It will also delve into the world of open mics in Kirklees.

Community music isn’t a style or genre of music so there aren’t necessarily any audible cues. Rather, community music refers to some kind of value system or intention or purpose regarding music. As the name suggests, these values are related to the power that music has to affect the communities that gather around it. Community music is often about education and the improvement of mental wellbeing. It's also about trying to make sure that everyone has access to music creation. These are the themes of this podcast series. In the process Host Sam Hodgson will speak to educators, community leaders, open mic comperes and service users. We’ll hear music from Hoot Creative Arts, The WomenCentre, Monika Zlamalova, and Musica Youth Orchestra.

The speakers for this episode are: Phil Russell - Founder of Hoot Creative Arts; Emily Druce - Music Therapist at WomenCentre, Huddersfield; Eddie Dobson - Founder of Yorkshire Sound Women Network; Thom Meredith - Principal at Musica Kirklees; Sean Leonard - Business development manager of Beaumont Street Studios; Monika Hodgson - Ex-compere of Wood Street Open Mic; Lindon - Compere of Wood Street Open Mic; Jess - Bar person at Northern Quarter Huddersfield; Ethan - Attendee at Wood Street Open Mic; Natalie - Attendee at Wood Street Open Mic; Adam - Attendee at Wood Street Open Mic

The music in this episode is: TOWNSOUNDS podcast intro music by Sam Hodgson; ‘Catching the Dream’ by Another Planet group, Hoot, Dewsbury; ‘Catching the Dream’ by Another Planet group, Hoot, Dewsbury; ‘Swing Thing’ by Yellow Goose; ‘Wasting My Times and My Tears’ by Druce and Jones; ‘Body Work’ by Dekanter; Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, performed by Sam Hodgson; Gustav Holst’s Planet Suite performed by Musica Youth Orchestra; Instigators; ‘Salty Lips’ by Monika Zlamalova; TOWNSOUNDS podcast theme music dub plate by Sam Hodgson.