Seasick Steve

Our absolute favourite person in the world right now is Seasick Steve. After years spent drifting around America he has hit the big time with his blues. His voice is a beautiul amalgam of woody tones, just a hint of something charred and a rawness that never falters. No matter if he's performing live or heard through our cd player, we can't help but stop what we're doing and listen to him.

Damian Lazarus

He cut his teeth as Deputy Editor for Dazed and Confused in the early 90s, then went on to work at record labels, set up record labels and DJ, before starting to make his own music, which is mind-blowing in itself. You could say that he's a musical man (the music man?). His astounding mix of 'Twisted, raw, deep underground techno, house and electro' has got us all hot under the collar and we're keeping tabs on his every move. Not in a frightening way...

High Torque

We got together with High Torque - master of electronic sounds - for a chat and to find out what he likes and what he doesn't. Turns out he likes quite a lot of things.

How's life treating you?
Not too bad! I’m working down at Cr2 Records, which is wicked and have some exciting DJ bookings coming up. I just need to find more time to write music.

What's the first thing you did this morning?
Had a cuppa.

What inspires you?
Music, life, anything really.

What scares you?
Being deaf. I’m not really sure what I would do.

What's on your iPod?
Lots of live mixes and podcasts. Fresh music is great for sparking ideas.

Do you have any pets?
Nope, I would like a dog but I live in London and work all day.

What's the hardest part of making music?
Getting into the studio.

What other artists do you admire?
Too many to name them all, but Steve Lawler is amazing.

What is your favourite place in the world?
The South Pacific is pretty amazing

Who's better, Superman or Spiderman?
Both are a bit geeky, mind you being able to fly would be pretty handy, so Superman.

Tell us a joke.
My uncle is an agnostic and also suffers from insomnia and dyslexia. He lies awake every night wondering if there really is a dog.

What was the last thing to make you laugh?
A lady working in the supermarket wondering what Sainsbury’s would do if all their staff came down with ‘Swan Flu’.

What’s your proudest moment to date?
Getting my swimming certificate for 5 metres with a float. I was so chuffed at that that I didn’t take it any further. I’m not a very good swimmer.

What's your best trait?
Being laid back. Though it can also be my worst.

What's your worst habit?
Procrastinating.

What's your favourite tipple?
A good old fashioned ale.

What can't you stand?
Warm-up DJs that don’t get the meaning of ‘warm up’.

Tell us something that nobody else knows.
A snail can sleep for 3 years, not a lot of people know that. (Spank is suitably amazed and sort of wants to sleep for three years too.)

When was the first time a song made you go "WOW!"?
The first album I bought was Michael Jackson ‘Off The Wall’ on cassette. I remember being pretty blown away.

Why did you start making music?
I loved music and was intrigued to know how it was made, so decided to give it a go.

Where are the next five years going to take you?
I’m working as an artist scout for Cr2 Records and will hopefully get to meet a lot of cool people and listen to fresh and exciting music.

What's more important nowadays – skills or hype?
Skills are essential to get noticed by the right people, but hype creates the superstars.

Do you have any regrets?
Nope, whatever it is, it’s in the past

Ever made a fashion faux pas?
Like most of us in the 80s I had a shell suit, but not everyone’s was purple. (Actually, mine was too)

Use the word Spank in a sentence.
It’s been a long time since I was last spanked, take that how you like.

You and I, in a little toy shop, buy a bag of balloons, with the money we've got...

Because it makes us smile.

Petebox

A word about the Petebox. Amazing doesn't quite cover it. The guy's a machine - except that he's not. He's a human beatboxer with mammoth talent, a small amount of well-crafted hair and an incredible way of molding a stage show to wow audiences the world across. Fresh from a stint at the Bahrain Formula One, Pete is back in the country and busy making music, if not with his mouth then with his new band SWIMMInG. Go and watch the video. It takes a minute to get going but it's definitely worth it. We thought we'd have a word or two with the man himself and see what he's like in the flesh.

Whereabouts are you from?
Perth Australia, mate.

How's life treating you?
Life never really treats me, just exists alongside me, doin' my ish.

What's the first thing you did this morning?
Ate Shreddies, did my teeth and worked on the song I’m working on at the mo – it’s emo you know.

What inspires you?
Seeing people doing stuff they’ve obviously spent a long time working on. Oh and the graceful flight of the condor. They’re very big.

What scares you?
Age.

Describe yourself in three words.
Kinda alright really.

What's on your iPod?
Amusement Parks on Fire, We Show Up On Radar, Pilgrim fathers, Lone.

Do you have any pets?
Nup.

What's the hardest part of making music?
Getting rich and famous from it.

What other artists do you admire?
I guess it’s people I work with – the folks in my band Swimming – my brothers and friends from my city who are constantly working on their ish.

What is your favourite place in the world?
Don’t know, I’ve never been there.

Who's better, Superman or Spiderman?
Superman – Spiderman’s cooler indeed, but Superman is way better.

Tell us a joke.
Do you like fishsticks?

What was the last thing to make you laugh?
Happiness and cyanide.

What's your best trait?
Have you seen my hair?

What's your worst habit?
Not speaking another language fluently. Bad habit.

What's your proudest moment to date?
In beatboxing land… I got a Channel 4 Talent award in Dec 2007. That was pretty cool.
I’m also quite proud of my band SWIMMInG’s debut album ‘The Fireflow Trade’ which was released on 11/5/09. Oh and I’m proud of SWIMMInG’s website – www.swimmingband.com
I’m also proud of my website – www.thepetebox.com.

What's your favourite tipple?
Vodka!

What can't you stand?
Mushrooms.

Tell us something that nobody else knows.
The trouble I’ve seen.

When was the first time a song made you go "WOW!"
I had a children’s party hits compilation tape when I was about 7. There were a couple of tracks that either made me go nuts with excitement, or hit me in that emotional spot… awesome.
After that it was I get Around by Beachboys and Da Da Da by Trio. I made a tape with a whole side dedicated to each of them on repeat.

Why did you start making music?
It just made sense to. I used to have piano lessons from being a kid and I used to mess around writing bits and bobs on that, but it was when I heard Nirvana for the first time, when I was about 12, that I realised that being a musician was exactly what I wanted to do. I got a guitar and put everything I had into making music. Haven’t stopped since.

What's more important nowadays – skills or hype?
Hype goddammit

Do you have any regrets?
17 of them

Ever made a fashion faux pas?
Have you seen my hair?

Use the word Spank in a sentence.
Spank you very much

Music Goes Down Under

There's no way we could have heard Midnight Juggernauts' Into the Galaxy without giving them a very, very, VERY hearty mention. It gave us that balled-up excitement that you get when your favourite band comes on stage and it stuck in our heads for an entire day. We like. A lot.



Another Australian band that have caught our eye is Empire of the Sun. Just the video for We Are the People was enought to get us going, but the song itself is just the sort of epic, toe tapping, soul-grabbing soundtrack you need for a long summer walk by yourself.



And let's not forget Cut Copy, whose heady mix of electronica and catchy lyrics have got us totally hooked. Their version of Hearts on Fire is inspired. In our eyes, these three can do no wrong. Unless they go all Joaquin Phoenix on us and nose-dive into a rap career.