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Who Remembers........The Sheffield Music Scene Of The Mid Noughties?
A burned demo, a city of small rooms, and a chorus that started before the debut single—this is the story of how Sheffield’s 2000s music scene caught fire. We welcome Substack Sam (of Pinch Fanzine and the Pinch Podcast) to map the living web that connected Arctic Monkeys, Milburn, Harrisons, Reverend and the Makers, Bromheads and beyond. It’s less a straight line and more a circuit: shared producers like Alan Smyth, players switching line‑ups, and nights where four support slots minted tomorrow’s main acts.
We dig into the venues that taught bands to breathe with a room—The Boardwalk and its tiny under‑room, The Grapes’ upstairs, The Leadmill’s embrace, Plug’s perfect sightlines—and how those spaces made discovery addictive. Sam takes us back to the Beneath The Boardwalk CDRs passed hand to hand, the MySpace moment that turned curiosity into community, and the surreal thrill of seeing a tent of strangers sing every word months before a label was in sight. We talk rivalries and folklore too (including the infamous practice‑room brawl), then zoom out to why the timing landed: post‑Strokes and post‑Libertines, the UK wanted new voices with local detail and rhythmic bite.
The story widens as guitars meet Sheffield’s electronic DNA. We track Toddla T’s warehouse sets, Cabal nights, and the pivot from indie sweatboxes to bass‑heavy afters, all while nodding to the city’s lineage from Human League to Warp. Along the way, we weigh Reverend’s chart climb, Milburn’s enduring pull, and how later acts like Drenge and Slow Club’s orbit kept reshaping expectations. It’s a love letter to the specifics—taxis, sticky floors, narrow stairwells—and to the way a scene lets artists grow, split, and recombine without losing the thread.
Press play for a guided wander through the rooms, riffs and refrains that made Sheffield feel like the centre of the map. If the episode sparks a memory—your favourite venue, a first gig, a CDR you wish you’d kept—share it with us. And if this trip down West Street left your ears buzzing, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a mate who still knows every word.
Sam's Now That's What I Call Sheffield Music Of The Naughties playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0e6PCzh80iisM7vRgBD7r9?si=a09398de970744f1
Toddla T's Ghettoblaster #1
https://www.mixcloud.com/oldschooltapes/toddla-ts-ghettoblaster-mix-1/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOSatpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF6UmJmZjIwVlRBZGZ5bHl5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuMbP6Njh2cz-j3SEI7BfbmzvD8rCrz9LBNQO1CuYJsa1AEOEx2l3Zbzl9Fa_aem_dK57eWlliwP3hpotUn4gBA
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By Andrew and LiamA burned demo, a city of small rooms, and a chorus that started before the debut single—this is the story of how Sheffield’s 2000s music scene caught fire. We welcome Substack Sam (of Pinch Fanzine and the Pinch Podcast) to map the living web that connected Arctic Monkeys, Milburn, Harrisons, Reverend and the Makers, Bromheads and beyond. It’s less a straight line and more a circuit: shared producers like Alan Smyth, players switching line‑ups, and nights where four support slots minted tomorrow’s main acts.
We dig into the venues that taught bands to breathe with a room—The Boardwalk and its tiny under‑room, The Grapes’ upstairs, The Leadmill’s embrace, Plug’s perfect sightlines—and how those spaces made discovery addictive. Sam takes us back to the Beneath The Boardwalk CDRs passed hand to hand, the MySpace moment that turned curiosity into community, and the surreal thrill of seeing a tent of strangers sing every word months before a label was in sight. We talk rivalries and folklore too (including the infamous practice‑room brawl), then zoom out to why the timing landed: post‑Strokes and post‑Libertines, the UK wanted new voices with local detail and rhythmic bite.
The story widens as guitars meet Sheffield’s electronic DNA. We track Toddla T’s warehouse sets, Cabal nights, and the pivot from indie sweatboxes to bass‑heavy afters, all while nodding to the city’s lineage from Human League to Warp. Along the way, we weigh Reverend’s chart climb, Milburn’s enduring pull, and how later acts like Drenge and Slow Club’s orbit kept reshaping expectations. It’s a love letter to the specifics—taxis, sticky floors, narrow stairwells—and to the way a scene lets artists grow, split, and recombine without losing the thread.
Press play for a guided wander through the rooms, riffs and refrains that made Sheffield feel like the centre of the map. If the episode sparks a memory—your favourite venue, a first gig, a CDR you wish you’d kept—share it with us. And if this trip down West Street left your ears buzzing, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a mate who still knows every word.
Sam's Now That's What I Call Sheffield Music Of The Naughties playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0e6PCzh80iisM7vRgBD7r9?si=a09398de970744f1
Toddla T's Ghettoblaster #1
https://www.mixcloud.com/oldschooltapes/toddla-ts-ghettoblaster-mix-1/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOSatpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF6UmJmZjIwVlRBZGZ5bHl5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuMbP6Njh2cz-j3SEI7BfbmzvD8rCrz9LBNQO1CuYJsa1AEOEx2l3Zbzl9Fa_aem_dK57eWlliwP3hpotUn4gBA