Dom Smith runs alternative culture magazine Soundsphere, based in Yorkshire. Here are his latest hot tips for up and coming bands.
Dom Smith © Jamie Mahon
They’ve been doing it for years and they’ve just gotten better and better. Monolithic metal sounds from this hard-working unit that mix progressive guitars with bulldozing heavy vocals to great effect. One of, if not the best alternative metal act in Yorkshire.
RSJ
Great anthemic sounds for fans of modern rock – anything from The Chilli Peppers to Zeppelin and even Foals; they’ve got the look and the skill to back up the hype that’s enveloping them at the moment. Expect big things from this lot in the next few years, as they’re getting bigger in Europe and we’d expect them to rock America very soon. We hope.
We Could Be Astronauts
Cracking indie from Sheffield – hugely anthemic and totally uplifting in its impact, Hey Sholay!’s sound builds upon a backbone of intelligent riffs, frenetic drumming and melodic vocals. Absolutely bloomin’ brilliant, effortlessly intelligent stuff.
Hey Sholay!
This lot are one of the best live acts I’ve seen all year. Absolutely blistering! The energy of this lot is infectious, and there’s a strength to this material that will carry the unit very far if they can maintain momentum – think Pulled Apart By Horses meets Blacklisters via At The Drive In and you might be close. Your ears will most certainly bleed, and you’ll love it.
Two Trick Horse
It’s a weird time for York bands and music right now – there’s an emergence of fantastic weird and wonderful guitar music, and this lot are doing great and freaky things with their instruments. What La Petite Mort do is create confident music that falls somewhere between The Doors and Bad For Lazarus. Quirky and beautiful. Let their excellent vibes be a lesson to you.
La Petite Mort
Okay, so at Soundsphere magazine, we push content that’s not just Yorkshire-centric, but covers the whole of the North. Because Yorkshire bands don’t really tend to get a tonne of mainstream press for whatever reason, I’ve selected a load of Yorkshire acts in these lists, but here I’m going to sneak in a cheeky one from Preston in Lancashire. I really dig what Johnny 5th Wheel are doing, it’s like cabaret-alt-indie; a smidge of The Dresden Dolls meets Pavement, or something like that. It’s epic though. Trust. Well worth a look and listen!
Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards
*Dom Smith founded Soundsphere alternative culture magazine which appears in print and online, and as an app. He also helps train people in media as well as running other training projects including mentoring disabled entrepreneurs. A human dynamo, he made The Independent’s Happy List of “100 inspiring people who have selflessly enriched the lives of others in the past year,” and last year received the National Diversity Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence for Disability.