1646 - Issue 1

Theo Meenderink Having left RBC in 2015, last year saw Theo Meenderink (T. Matthias) work with some big names, hit 600 thousand fans on Spotify alone, and bring in millions of views on platforms such as YouTube. ‘I’m currently signed to management at Disturbing London Records (Tinie Tempah’s label), being contracted for remix work for major labels such as Universal and Sony. I’ve recently done remixes for artist such as Craig David, Jess Glynne and Not3s. My stuff has done about 12 million streams so far across all platforms.’ Alistair Shuttleworth LICE lead singer, Alistair Shuttleworth, left Reading Blue Coat in 2014. The charismatic Bristol-based band released both the It All Worked Out Great, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 EPs in 2018, tracks which the band had been playing live over the previous two years. A vinyl version, recognition in The Guardian and NME, as well as a string of debut European shows capped off a great year. ‘I left school and moved to Bristol in 2014, with no musical aspirations or awareness of the city’s incredible underground/avant-garde scene. While studying English and documenting the scene as a journalist (for UBTV, BBC Introducing and my own publication The Bristol Germ), I’ve also been the vocalist in LICE. Beginning with support slots for The Fall, Psychic TV and The Fat White Family, we released a one-off single in 2017 and toured the UK extensively. This year, our mentors IDLES released our double-EP on their label and we’ve begun to tour Europe. If there are any current students reading this who might have an interest in starting a band or doing something else in music, I’d like them to know that university is a great place to pursue that, and it’s possible to balance it all with a degree.’ Joe Holley 2018 has seen Old Blue Joe Holley (leaver 2014) continue his work as Joseph Marcus to release his second single, Better Love . Working with fellow Old Blue, Alex Lewis, Holley is signed to Lemon Records. ‘Over the past couple of years I’ve been working with Alex Lewis as my manager to progress my career in music. Beforehand I was so used to working on music by myself; being a bedroom producer and only ever really writing my songs by myself. For the last two years or so I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great songwriters, producers and musicians to create music I really love. So far, I’ve released two singles and I’m so happy with the response they’ve received. Both have had over 200,000 streams on Spotify which I’ve found baffling, and my latest single Better Love , that I wrote with singer/songwriter Frances, has been featured on a number of music blogs across Europe. I’m really excited to continue to release new music and start gigging regularly in 2019.’ Sam Lewis You can’t have missed SG Lewis’ rise to becoming one of the top names in electronic music. It’s impossible to boil the last few years down into just one paragraph but 2018 alone saw sold-out shows in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America, the release of Dusk and Dawn (the first two of three parts of album Dusk, Dark, Dawn ), extensive radio play and even a spot as one of Zane Lowe’s World Records on Beats 1 for Again . In December, a sold-out show at London’s 3,000-capacity Printworks capped off a hugely successful 2018. Tom Rowlands Having left Reading Blue Coat in 1989, Tom became one half of The Chemical Brothers; the duo’s success over the past three decades includes six number one albums and 13 Top 20 singles. 2018 kicked off with the confirmation of work on album number nine, No Geography . The Chemical Brothers also played a number of festivals throughout Europe in 2018, including a headline slot at Boardmasters in Cornwall, and enjoyed two sold-out nights at Alexandra Palace. They released their first track in three years, Free Yourself, in September and announced a mammoth UK and US arena tour for 2019. and ld Blues 1 5