I never trusted people who say they love heavy metal but have no opinion on where it comes from. At school in Newcastle in the late 90s, every argument in…
I’ve spent most of my adult life measuring distances in songs rather than miles. From Newcastle to Leeds, Sheffield to Manchester, I can tell you how long each train takes…
I’ve spent half my life trying to explain drum and bass to people who only know it from office playlists and gym remixes. The phrase “drum and bass city guide…
I first learned what a Northern Soul all-nighter actually was from the back of a chip shop in Whitley Bay, not some scene documentary. I was about sixteen, folding pizza…
If you’re looking for a British rave heritage travel guide in the usual sense – train times, hotel tips, bar lists – you’re going to be disappointed. For me, the…
I didn’t set out to invent an “East London grime walking tour” for myself, but that’s basically what happened the first few times I wandered around Bow and Stratford with…
If you grew up on guitar bands in the 90s, you’ve probably done a Britpop cities road trip in your head already. Manchester, London, Liverpool, Sheffield: those names come with…
I’ve never trusted anyone who calls punk a phase. A haircut is a phase. Learning the chords to “Wonderwall” is a phase. UK punk was more like someone rewiring the…
If you’d told me at fourteen that one day someone would ask me to write about a “Blur Britpop London walking tour”, I’d have laughed and gone back to taping…
