Reverend and The makers release sizzling new single, High.

14th Dec 2022 — Leave a comment

Why feel low when you can feel good?

Jon McClure, frontman of Reverend the Makers captured in Sheffield by Steve Schofield

A soul filled symphony, takes you back to lounging on a beach in summer High, by Reverend and the Makers, is the track we all need to smoke to escape these winter blues. (Don’t smoke, it’ll decrease how long you can listen to this banger for)

The heat this single brings burns with social commentary, showing us a clear world view. It sets diehard fans a challenge, demonstrating the sound of Rev cannot be pinned down or pigeonholed. Ever experimental this track lends itself to a blend of funk and classic soul. The psychedelic synths could almost convince a listener that everything is good, we are floating, light, above it all, but listen closer between the fluffy smoke clouds. This is an immersion into a haunted psyche. 

The pressure of one’s own potential can crush us, we are in the graveyard of who we could have been. Lead singer, Jon McClure laments, referencing his previous track heavy weight champion of the world, who he may have felt he could have been/ who he was in his youth, when he confesses, he never was that guy. The person you wanted to be is merely a watercolour daydream, a drug induced trip you bought the wrong ticket for.

It’s insightful, poetic and foreboding. Why try to change when you can escape it? Life is dark, we lose, we burn out, we breakdown, give it our all and get none. No one will blame you for needing a vice. So, get high, keep tripping over who you could have been instead of trying to be that person. Once again, these legends encapsulate the constant battle between what is and what could have been perfectly.

Or perhaps I am thinking too deeply into it all and it is simply about having a good time, enjoying the heat and being in love, after all Jon has described it as being about “lazing around on a sunny day with your lover getting stoned”. Our narrator has come to terms with who is and forgotten who he is not, for if we always try to be something else we undermine the achievements this version of us has met.

Either way you interpret the single it is undoubtedly set to get you BOUNCIN at their upcoming gigs!

After a 4-year hiatus, Reverend and the makers are set to tour the UK in 2023. The gigs will run from 2nd February until 17th February 2023 hitting venues in Brighton, Northampton, Cardiff, Norwich, Liverpool, Birmingham (sold out), Bristol, London (sold out), Glasgow, Newcastle & Manchester before concluding with a sold out homecoming show in Sheffield on February 17th. Get your tickets quick!

High is the second track to be announced from the band’s upcoming album Heatwave in The Cold North which is set to be out on April 28th, 2023. You can pre-order it here. 

Follow my TikTok to see the moment I almost got a photo with Jon.

The Publics release TV inspired single Young Hearts

12th Dec 2022 — Leave a comment

What is worse than a heartbreak? A heartbreak that happens on national TV. New single, Young Hearts,by indie powerhouse the publics recounts a friend of the band and their unfortunate date on Channel fours exceptional programme Teens First Dates.

The Publics, Elliot Stephenson, Ebony Broughton and Josh Porter.

Clothes pressed, hair done, speech prepped,a few deep breathes and its lights camera action. The room is lit but the spotlight is just on you then she walks in, and you don’t know what to do. The steady pace of the drum in this track echoes the stilted breath and heavy heartbeat of any first date goer. Crack a few jokes in the hope they’ll crack a smile, hoping the money you’ve spent on cocktails is worthwhile.

Conversation stunted and a few awkward silences,you start to realise they’re not looking at you but at the door, maybe this is not the one you’ve been looking for. Their phone rings as you ask for their number, she half mutters“I’ll catch you later’ and instead of calling her you call a taxi to take you home.

The optimism echoed throughout the track is aided by the influence of 80s synth that complement the lifted harmonies and evoke images of hopefulness, a bad first date doesn’t mean you can’t have a decent second one. The shredded guitar paces the vocals to the chorus build up which will have you bouncing on the dance floor. The poetic lyrics to this track juxtapose the frustration felt in the face of rejection with the determination to overcome and find salvation in the same arms that shoved you away. 

Young Hearts. The Publics

Once again, the narrative explores themes of heartbreak, rejection, and dancing through it all, this semantic is what gives The Publics their distinctive sound and recognisable identity. They stand as a reminder that hearts heal, adorned in audible armour, buttressing us for better. It is no wonder that on playing this banger on BBC Radio Nottingham Dean Jackson described it as “brilliantly written and wonderfully performed”


The song was recorded at Electric-Bear Studios in the band’s hometown, Mansfield, which has recently undergone a huge renovation. The studio improvements help further elevate The Public’s reimagined sound as ‘Young Hearts’ aims to propel the band into the limelight of the UK Indie Rock scene.

The Publics, made up of Elliot Stephenson (lead guitar and songwriter), Josh Porter (guitar and singer) and Ebony Broughton (Keyboard and Singer), are making moves in the indie genre. Within 5 months they’ve gone from playing at a garden party to supporting indie powerhouse The Reytons. Their previous release, Marathon in heels, saw them sell out their Nottingham headline show.

 They’ve also headlined Mansfield Wetherspoons, Stag and Pheasant, twice and have supported the likes of Corella, Deco and Overpass. This upward trajectory continues with their next gig set for the 21st of December supporting The Clause. With a flurry of gigs planned for 2023, the first in January supporting Albany,The Publics are a name to add to your playlist, so you can say you knew them before everybody else.

Links to upcoming shows:

The Clause– In Nottingham

Albany– In Lincoln

The Thieves- In Newcastle

To keep up to date with The Publics follow their socials!

To discover more sounds follow my instagram!

It must also be said that Teens First Dates does also lead to some finding true love and is a really entertaining show.

BLOODWORM leaves you ‘Alone In Your Garden’

2nd Dec 2022 — Leave a comment

Their latest single leaves you brave in the face of the unknown.

Though our dark and damp high streets may be lifted with twinkling Christmas lights and foggy with the smell of roasting chestnuts and melted chocolate,winter has not yet fallen upon us . Autumn tries to linger, clawed trees cling to the skies as stubborn as summer’s ghost, we are forced to watch as the final brown leaves fall through the veil. The gradual demise of a season as the year slowly comes to a close can leave us all feeling slightly forlorn as we reflect on the previous 12 months. This retrospective outlook we are gripped by is echoed perfectly in the gothic punk instrumentals of East-Midlands based band, Bloodworm.

Alone in your garden Bloodworm

Days fall short and shadows grow darker, this plummet into the inevitable unknown inspired the bands’s latest single ‘Alone in your garden’.Band members Chirs Walker, George Curtis ad Euan Stevens,perfectly capture an ear with an intro that echoes a train coming up to it’s station, a drum beat that promises you’re on track to your desired destination.

The foreboding doom and inkling of victory imbued in the melody lull a listener into themselves. We sit lamenting the loss of a longed for loved one, damning the inevitable burial or final wave as the train pulls away.But one must seek comfort in the potential of a garden. Amongst the trees and crowded shrubberies things are born while others are buried, there is grown in these leaves and defiance in the soil.

Inpirsed by greats such as The Cure and Siousxse and The banshees, Bloodworm protests for more punk antics. Heralding change and making space in the industry, perhaps the rebelliousness that punk breathes is what we all need as 2022 comes to a close.

The birth of Bloodworm began the band’s pattern of defying the odds when their identity blossomed in the unlikeliest of places; A shed, where originally, they started as a grunge band before finding themselves more fit for gothic punk.

From the shed the band have gone on to support acts such as the Lounge society and LIFE at sold out shows in Nottingham.They have headlined at The Bodega with support from OTALA and with 2023 promising more up coming support slots, (in January they are set to support household names The Cool Greenhouse,(tickets here) , it is no wonder why Dean Jackson from BBC Radio Nottingham said he “absolutely loved it” when he listened to one of their previous bangers’ Cemetry Dance”- listen and hear for yourself.