Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Hey, here it is. Friday 17th June's top five. It's my consolidated list of all things awesome this week. Here we go;

1) Video of the week;

The Staves  - Live at Glastonbury 2015.

I first heard of Staves when I went to watch Adam Buxton's Bug Show, he played the video to Black and White which is also excellent, worth checking out.

2) Gig of the week;

OhBoy! Lucky Shivers and Future Love at The Garibaldi.

This is a great line-up and a great venue, I'm away this weekend so I wont see you there, but I am very jealous of you. Unofficially called 'the Meg show' as she features in two of the three bands on this lineup.

p.s. don't mention me to Meg, our feud is real and long-standing.

3) Quote of the week;

If I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton.

This can be attributed to people as far back as the 12th century, but I first heard about it in relation to Newton. I totally agree with it, without the people that have gone before us we'd be nothing. Most of what I do is inspired by someone else, or i'm emulating them in my own way, and that's fine. There's a difference between copying something else, and re-imagining it or using it to direct you.

4) Article of the week;

Led Zeppelin Appear in Court for colourful start of Stairway trial.

5) Thing of the week;

GIGS. Live music is my thing of the week this week. Go to The Northampton Music Festival and you'll know why.

Speak to you Monday.

Josh.

The one upgrade to rule them all.

If I just get that piece of kit everything will be fine.

I've thought that a lot over the last 6 years, mainly because starting a business means all funds go to that and any personal purchases need to be REALLY justified. I often think that this extra piece of kit, this upgrade, or this new thing will make my mediocre thing exceptional, and that's rarely the case.

I put off starting a podcast for 2 years because I was waiting for the money to setup a professional broadcast quality studio, I finally realised it's more important to get it going, than get it perfect from the start (which is nearly impossible).

I bit the bullet, bought a budget all rounder microphone (Zoom H2n) and got cracking. I'm so glad I did because I've got to have long conversations with people I really respect and am intrigued by. If you haven't heard it treat yourself to an hours listening, CLICK HERE for iTunes or here to listen in your browser. Pick one at random and if you like it subscribe. There are so many amazing people, and they're all around us. It could be better sound quality, it could be more polished and produced, but I'd rather have it in it's current form than not at all.

It's the same with this blog. I was holding out for some kind of approval that I had interesting stuff to say, but in the end I knew I had to stop making excuses and get going. I'm not a great writer, and maybe I'm not interesting to you, but as with anything some of you will like it and some of you will hate it, and that's OK.

So, stop making excuses and get going, it's far better to get started and adjust along the way than it is to postpone for the ever-evading perfect moment.

If I can help you with what you're doing please get in touch josh@audio-works.co.uk.

Speak to you Friday,

Josh

The 5 best things this week, EVER.

Hey, here it is. Friday 10th June's top five. It's my consolidated list of all things awesome this week. Here we go;

1) Video of the week;

DJ Brace - 2016 Online DMC Finals.

I'm a newcomer to DJ Brace, but as you can see he is both technical and musical in his turntablism style, which is a rarity. I don't think the perfectly timed seagull at the end is planned, which is a sign in itself. On a similar note checkout Jon1st, he has both been on The Audio Works Podcast and is a former DMC champion.

2) Gig of the week;

Knees last ever show!

Local band Knees are unfortunately splitting up, and to join them on their last show are Big Evil Grin and Bloodvisions (at The Garibaldi on Saturday 11th June). This gig will be busy and it will be mighty, three powerhouses on one night, get involved. Hopefully it will be a good show an they'll realise they shouldn't be splitting up anyway.

See you there.

3) Quote of the week;

"I'll burn it down, and build it up better." - Billy Lockett.

This is a lyric from Billy Lockett's single, Burn It Down. It's a great example of what I admire in lyrics, concise but emotional and you understand the feeling immediately.

4) A̶r̶t̶i̶c̶l̶e̶ Book of the week;

The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. - by Neil Strauss

New York Times Best Selling author Neil Strauss wrote this fantastic book on the history of Mötley Crüe, and it is shocking, really shocking, not like TMZ shocking, but crazy rock and roll shocking. We have a copy at the studio so please feel free to come and give it a read.

5) Thing of the week;

Arctic Breeze USB Fan

It's hot, and if you don't have air conditioning where you are (or you are not in control of the thermostat) this is the answer. It's cheap and effective, stay cool, be cool.

Speak to you Monday.

Josh.

My number one guilty pleasure.

"guilty pleasure"

1. something, such as a film, television programme, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.

I don't believe in guilty pleasures.

If something is a pleasure, then why should you feel guilty about it? The only reason you may feel guilty is that you think someone else doesn't think it's worth your appreciation, but why does anyone else get to decide what you should and shouldn't like?

In reality everything that you think is great, someone else thinks is poor, so everything can be classified as a guilty pleasure, rendering the phrase useless.

Like what you want, do what you want. Providing that it doesn't negatively interfere with anyone else everything is fair game.

I like the Spice Girls, more of the earlier material, but it's all enjoyable. I'd reccomend the greatest hits, it really is great. I went to see them at the Birmingham NEC on the Spiceworld Tour when I was about 13. Geri Horner locked eyes with me for at least 3 seconds, our fate was sealed.

What is your non-guilty pleasure?

Speak to you on Friday,

Josh

The key to being remarkable.

Hey, here it is. Friday 3rd June's top five. It's my consolidated list of all things awesome this week. Here we go;

1) Video of the week;

Mistabishi - Printer Jam

This a great video, and a great song too. It's on the formidable Hospital Records, most of their artists are original, intelligent and extremely good. It's worth clicking around on their YouTube channel.

2) Gig of the week;

Garrison at The Wig and Pen.

Local rockers and thoroughly bloody nice blokes (½ of the band are in my family) Garrison, will definitely rock your face off.

3) Quote of the week;

"You can't develop if you know you don't have to" - Louis CK

I'm a big fan of Louis CK. He is leading the way when it comes to stand-up, tv production and general nicery (fair gig ticket and episodic TV pricing, amongst other things). He often writes, directs, produces and edit his own TV show, and it really is good.

I like this quote as It's so true. I've done my best work when under pressure, and without that pressure it wouldn't have happened.

4) Article of the week;

Read more Blogs. - Seth Godin.

Seth Godin is right, he always is in my opinion. There are lots of interesting people out there and some of them write blogs, have a look at this article and start interesting yourself daily. Read Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable, it's a mind-blowing read, and like most things it applies to more than just it's subject matter.

5) Thing of the week;

Integral USB Key

I carry this with me everywhere I go. It's so useful having a large storage capacity drive with you wherever you are. Mine is attached to my keys so It's always at hand. Wether your sharing photo's, recordings from the studio or illegally downloaded movies it's great! (don't illegally download things).

See you next week,

Josh.

Train hard, fight easy.

Train hard, fight easy.

It's an age old adage that you hear from athlete's, chess champions, musicians and military alike. The idea being that if you train harder than the competition/event/gig/war it will be easy to accomplish when the time comes.

It's a great theory, and I'd argue that it's true. It's only through pushing yourself to the point of failure that you really understand what you're capable of. The added bonus is that once you know where your failure point is, you can train to extend it, and therefore improve. Without that test you simply don't know what you're capable of and therefore can't improve.

I remember listening to DJ Craze explain that he trained 8 hours a day for the upcoming Technics DMC World Championship. That's 8 hours a day practicing turntablism, the same as a full time job and probably the same or more than most professional athletes. Now, if you want to be the world champion at something or even just competitive then clearly you need to put more time in than the hobbyist.

This does still apply to the average person on the street however. Most of us are doing something that requires learning, wether that's exercise, music, art, or chess for example. All of these hobbies require a sequence of learning and evaluating. You learn the new skill, test that it works and then move on to the next problem.

If you do it right it enables you to struggle less and potentially enjoy the event itself too, rather than grinding it out because you haven't prepared enough.

Practice more, get better and breeze through the big day, whatever that may be.

Speak to you Friday,

Josh.

p.s. The Obstacle is The Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity into Advantage by Ryan Holiday is a great book. The simple change of attitude towards potential road blocks/problems really helped me working through them, I thoroughly reccomend it.

John Bonham, Tennis Elbow, the US Navy, Cory Henry and Girls. Go!

Hey, here it is. Friday 27th May's top five. It's my consolidated list of all things awesome this week. Here we go;

1) Video of the week;

Cory Henry - Tribute to Melvin Crisp.

I've only just discovered Cory henry, he's pretty damn good. There's also some great sessions on YouTube, google that shit.

2) Gig of the week;

This Is What Makes Us Girls

The Lab Saturday, 28th May, Northampton. This is a really interesting concept and the Fanny Pack DJ's are spinning too, get involved.

3) Quote of the week;

"The latest you can be is five minutes early." - Unknown

I heard this on a podcast, but I can't remember exactly who said it. I think it was someone that served in the US Navy, which makes sense. I consider punctuality to be very important, it's more of a point that I do what I say I will, wether that's meet at a specific time, or do a particular task, whatever really. Letting people down is not acceptable, we're all busy, It's disrespectful to keep people waiting.

"An unreliable man is not much of a man at all." Unknown (sorry).

4) Article of the week;

Phys Ed: An Easy Fix For Tennis Elbow?

I got this from Tim Ferriss (surprise, surprise), but I know a lot of drummers suffer with this and we could have found a cure. I bet you or someone you know has this problem, help them out and send them the link.

5) Thing of the week;

Lacrosse Ball

Use one of these to work out any sores, aches and pains. I regularly get back strain from DJ'ing (basically craning over the decks for a few hours). All you have to do is find the sore/strained muscle and lay on the lacrosse ball. Use google (some good info here) to find techniques on specific areas of pain, and don't hurt yourself. I'm not a doctor.

See you next week,

Josh.

What Oscar Wilde, Bravo Two Zero and Ben & Jerry 's have in common.

"Everything in moderation, including moderation." - Oscar Wilde (also, Benjamin Franklin, Apollo, Publius Terentius Afer...)

I like this phrase, partly because it helps me not obsess about sticking to the rules all the time and partly because eating an entire tub of Ben & Jerry's while watching Bravo Two Zero is totally part of a healthy lifestyle. There's also science to back this shit up.

I exercise daily and eat a healthy diet so I believe this allows me the occasional indulgence. Sometimes that's a large portion of sugar (90g is the Guideline Daily Amount) and sometimes I go to a gig and have as many pints as I want (14 units per week for men, (7 pints) is considered the maximum safe amount). It's strange that I say 'allow' as that implies someone else has the decision, I suppose what I really mean is 'not feel guilty'.

It's the 'not feeling guilty' that can really affect how and what you do. There's nothing more satisfying than having a beer/ice cream/(choose your poison) on a Saturday after a week of hard work, but that same beer after a week of slacking is significantly less pleasing. It's like rewarding yourself for mediocrity. The harder you work, the more pleasing you find your pleasures.

I used to be far lazier than I am now, and back then I did not see this point. It's only after I've put more effort into things that I realise not only can you derive pleasure from the work itself, but the rewards you allow yourself after and exponentially more betterer*, (and the outcome from the hard work is also greatly improved as opposed to slack work), It's win-win.

So, practice more and have a beer after the gig, work harder and go to that new restaurant at the weekend, go the extra round and pick-up a chocolate bar on the way home. Tell yourself that 'OK' is not good enough and then reward yourself for your accomplishments.

Or don't, do whatever you want.

Speak to you Friday,

Josh

p.s. I'm personally happy that I've managed to shoe horn Bravo Two Zero into a blog post because i'm totally not obsessed with it at all. If anyone wants to talk about that I'm down.

*it's not a word.

Life lessons from Skepta.

Friday 20th May's top five is;

1) Video of the week;

Skepta - Man

I'm really late to the party with Skepta, having only given it a listen this last week, but it's  really good. I need to look up on Grime history, if any of you know, then hook me up.

2) Gig of the week;

2016 Northampton County Beer Festival

If you like beer, cider, ale, lager (and probably all the boozes) food and music then this is the place to be this weekend. Live music all weekend too. In my experience it does get busy so get in early to avoid cues.

3) Quote of the week;

"The moment you feel like giving up that's the moment you lose." - Skepta

I like this one because I'm not sure I agree with it. I've felt like giving up a few times, but that's when you either find your resolve and carry on, or actually give up. Still, if it helps you keep on pushing then it's all good.

4) Article of the week;

Seth Godin's Blog.

Seth Godin is a marketing guru of sorts, but not in that 'sign-up to my online course for $1000 and I'll tell you how to get that yacht' kind of way. He send daily e-mails, some one sentence some one page, but always insightful and informative. Usually stories or insights that give you genuine ideas about how to approach things, either designing/selling a product or choosing where to buy your groceries. The only blog that I read every single email from.

5) Thing of the week;

Headspace. I used to think meditation was a bit too patchouli, lentils and hippy-dippy for me. It turns out it's not, it's fairly straight forward and really beneficial. I say use Headspace because it's free to download and they do a free 10 minutes a day for 10 days course, give it a go, you'll be surprised.

See you next week,

Josh.

All you need is Coffee, Musashi & Indie.

Friday 13th May's top five is;

1) Video of the week;

Reggie Watts - Coffee Sips

I've been following Reggie for a few years now and he keeps getting better and better. It's such a new style of entertainment, and so unique. Watch as many videos as you can find, it's all dynamite.

2) Gig of the week;

INDIE NIGHT #3 @ The Lamplighter.

Another banger of a night from Alex Taylor and Lee Irons (you can listen to them on our podcast here). Not to be missed, quality music and quality DJing.

(p.s. It's also Secret Gig #11 the following night in the same place.)

3) Quote of the week;

"...if you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.." - Miyamoto Musashi.

I first heard this on JRE. I take this to mean once you find the way in one thing, you can see or apply it to others. It comes from The Book Of Five Rings, a great read and I thoroughly reccomend it.

4) Article of the week;

Depression is not a battle that can be won or lost.

It's an interesting read, anything that helps me understand depression is a bonus in my opinion. I still feel like I have no understanding, having only had briefs episodes of intense sadness as a result of loss. It's an important one to think about as a lot of people (350 million to be precise) do suffer with it. Worth ten minutes of your time.

5) Thing of the week;

Here are some excellent podcasts I've listened to this week:

The Joe Rogan Experience - Whitney Cummings

Found My Fitness with Rhonda Patrick Ph.D - Ray Cronise

Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast

See you next week,

Josh.

What I've learnt from 5,000 rehearsals.

I worked out yesterday that we've had somewhere in the region of 5,000 rehearsal sessions booked at Audio Works. That's amazing. It's also really nice to know that people like to rehearse here.

Some people practice on their own, some bands have 10 members. Some sessions are 30 minutes and some are 6 hours. Some bands come in and don't leave the room until their session is finished, and others have a cigarette break every 20 minutes. But what makes a good rehearsal?

Whenever I'm practicing anything I consider it useful, worthwhile or successful if I've improved what I was practising or constructed something that didn't exist before I started. It depends on your objective. I've had successful rehearsals when I've jammed for 60 minutes, and also had good practice when I focussed on one specific, minute detail.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, states that to achieve expertise in any field you need to spend roughly 10,000 hours. Now, clearly this depends on how you define expertise, and not many people start out with the goal of becoming an expert. Most of the fun is in the journey, the learning and failing, and trying again. That does show however, that if 0 hours is no knowledge and 10,000 is maximum knowledge, then we need to start putting some hours in.

Most of the bands at Audio Works rehearse once a week for 2 hours with no breaks. Know, that's not to say that if you don't do that you're good or bad, I think we all know when we've put in the time, and that's what drives me to progress. Whenever I do something that turns out not good enough, I know if I've put the time in so I know what needs to be done and where the mistakes where.

My overriding motto while practising/rehearsing is 'practice makes progress', a good friend of mine, Mark Ski (funkbyfunk) added that as a comment to an image I posted a while ago and it's stuck in my head ever since. I'm not sure perfection can be achieved, but that's OK because most of my most personally satisfying work has come from the pursuit (and failure) of finding perfection.

PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS.

See you next week,

Josh

A brownie a day keeps the doctor away.

Friday 6th May's top five is;

1) Video of the week;

Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek ft. London Contemporary Voices.

This song does something to me. I first heard it on the album and there are several versions knocking about, this is the best by far. The combination of the powerful lyrics and the force of the choir is breathtaking. Click the link, turn it up and relax (and cry).

2) Gig of the week;

Reverend D Wayne Love (Alabama 3).

A great headliner, with 3 local support acts and only £5 on the door. Get involved.

3) Quote of the week;

"You've been thinking thoughts all your life and look where that's got you!" - S. Hands.

Sometimes I overthink things and this usually straightens me out.

4) Article of the week;

Apple Stole My Music, No, Seriously.

I just don't trust anyone with all of my digital information, either photo's, spreadsheets or music which is why I don't use cloud services. I don't use Apple Music or any other music streaming as they don't pay the artists enough, amongst other shady practices, but to erase your music as part of the deal is fucking mental.

5) Thing of the week;

Death By Chocolate Blender Brownie.

These things are very nearly healthy, but are very actually delicious. If you have a sweet tooth, then this is your answer if you want eat them all the time but still live for 100 years. You're welcome.

See you next week,

Josh.

How to rehearse the right way.

I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to speak in front of people on several different occasions, and someone asked my advice on an upcoming speech they were struggling with.

Sometimes I've spoken to groups of five, sometimes 200, and every single one is fucking terrifying. I've prepared, written, rehearsed, re-written, thrown away, started again and promptly gone freestyle during the speech. The only thing I've learnt is that I don't know what i'm doing.

I know people that have taken toastmaster lessons to the highest degree, and some that ad-lib every time, and the results vary. There certainly is a skill to speaking to a crowd, or at least maintaining the interest of a crowd, and I'm not sure it can be learnt. People I know that have taken public speaking coaching have gone on to be very mediocre and frankly boring, then some with no training or education on the subject have gone on to be captivating.

Just like anything creative, (and good public speaking is creative), there's only so far the technical knowledge and theory can take you, if you don't care about what you're saying and have no passion, it shows. There are countless examples of this in the form of TED talks, Google it and watch some. I've watched very interesting talks on boring topics, because the speaker made the difference.

All of my talks and speeches have felt bad. I've gotten compliments and praise sometimes, but it's difficult to tell what is friendly support and what is genuine appreciation (although either way it's nice to hear). When I think back on them I cringe and try to forget them rapidly, it's difficult to deal with because some of them are about my closest friends and family and I care about doing a good job.

Therein lies the rub, if you don't try your hardest, you'll regret it, but sometimes utilising the ad-lib really works. Should you rehearse? It's totally dependant on your objective. If you're a freeform jazz saxophonist rehearsal isn't necessary, the journey is in the exploration of the unknown and unplanned. However, If you have a best man speech to perform, it's wise to prepare, particularly as there is a list of people you must mention in a certain order, but you can ad-lib the stories element.

But, as I always say, do what you want.

See you next week.

Josh

I've found the perfect title for your autobiography.

Friday 29th April's top five is;

1) Video of the week;

Billy Lockett - Burn It Down.

Billy is a local boy done good. His quality of work is fantastic, and after our chat on The Audio Works Podcast #29 it's clear to see he's well on the way to a fulfilling and hopefully successful career. Check him out and get his music.

2) Gig of the week;

The Jackall Nine EP Launch at The Black Prince.

The Jackall Nine EP launch is tonight. Stalkers Studio are heavily involved and any gig at what used to be the Racehorse is fine by me. Get down and support them.

3) Quote of the week;

"Everything's sh*t, so f*ck off." - Anon

I used to work in a call centre (like most of us) and a colleague said she'd call her autobiography this. It never fails to make me laugh.

4) Article of the week;

The Not-To-Do-List.

I must admit, I am something of a follower of Tim Ferriss. You can't deny his ability to break down daunting topics into something easy to understand and carry out. This article is a small example of that. Subscribe to his podcast for extra knowledge.

5) Thing of the week;

NASCAR on YouTube.

NASCAR upload their races in it's entirety a few days after each event on YouTube. I can't think of any televised sport or event that does that. It's great. I watch it from time to time and it's great that we get this much free access. I think a lot of other events can learn from this, rather than holding onto each event and releasing the DVD or subscription service. I'm more of a fan because of this than any other reason. Go NASCAR!

See you next week,

Josh.

How to keep your life effing simple.

-CONTAINS SWEARING-

Friday 22nd April's top five is;

1) Video of the week;

Prince, Live 1982.

It's sad that Prince died, he had created so much good and potentially had a lot left in him. This video is nice and lo-fi, put it on and dance. WWPD (What Would Prince Do).

2) Gig of the week;

Lucky and Liam Dullaghan Saturday, 23rd April at The Playhouse on Claire Street.

This is shaping up to be a really good gig. Both acts are exceptional and the venue is also interesting, it's nice to be excited about gigs, we get complacent and take them for granted but it is a privilege to have shows like these on our doorstep.

3) Quote of the week;

“Come the f*ck in or f*ck the f*ck off.” - Malcolm Tucker, The Thick Of It.

It's just excellent swearing. Malcolm Tucker's ability to strip down what he wants to say to the fewest words possible (with a f*ck or two) is wonderful. Watch The Thick of It, In The Loop and Veep if you like great writing and acting.

4) Article of the week;

How to live without Irony - Christy Wampole

5) Thing of the week;

WTF Episode 700 Part 2 - Louis CK

I am a Louis CK fan, and his latest piece of work, Horace and Pete, is fantastic. He wrote it, starred in it, directed it, and paid for it. Regardless of how well it does, his rationale for doing it this way is very inspiring. Watch the series, then listen to this episode (as it has spoilers).

See you next week,

Josh.

Audio Works Rehearsal Studio

The Audio Works Podcast

The Secret Gig

How to save time, health and artistry.

We've got some heavy hitters this week, it was tough to narrow each one down. Here we go...

1) Video of the week;

Lyrical School - Run and Run - Must be watched on your phone!

A previous podcast guest DJ OP1 showed me this. It's a mind bending video, as I said to him, it's like another fucking dimension. Must be watched on your phone to get the full experience.

2) Gig of the week;

It has to be Record Store Day at The Lamplighter. Spiral Archive record fair and music until the early hours. EVENT DETAILS HERE.

3) Quote of the week;

"Too blessed to be stressed." - Ben Hebert via Noah Kagan

I am not a religious person, I don't believe in any of the gods but I like the idea behind this one. I felt that simmering lava-like fury boiling up inside me when someone cut me up on the high street yesterday, and this popped into my head and sorted me right out. So, that means it's useful, help yourself to it.

4) Article of the week;

Want to help Louis CK out of debt? Four great reasons to watch Horace and Pete.

This TV series is groundbreaking and inspirational, both in it's creation and delivery. I'm genuinely surprised it's not a massive success, get involved and ensure this starts something big. You will enjoy it.

5) Thing of the week;

Preparing food in bulk at the beginning of the week is both simple and effective, two things I very much appreciate. It has both saved me time and prevented my usual quick trips to the shop to get a little something (usually chocolate or crisps). Good for time, good for health. Google it for billions of ideas & suggestions.

See you next week,

Josh.