The online resource for Dom Smith Journalism - Blog

New things!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:36:06 -0800

Hi there!

It's been a busy month for me.

I am doing loads of work for Bar Lane Studios and I am now a resident of the Phoenix centre which is now my office located at York St John's University. The space is for business incubation and for me it's a way to not only focus on getting the print version of Soundsphere (more on that in a moment...) out there using great contacts and a dedicated space, but also to expand on my freelance work and to raise my personal profile. Big thanks to Creative York for getting me into that space!

Now, on to the matter of Soundsphere magazine (still located, for now at www.spheremag.co.uk). We are changing the name to reflect the development and progression of the business into the print market. Our publication has always been more about music (but we won't ignore culture and the arts) and we hope that our dedicated online readership will support the change of Sphere Magazine Online / spheremag into Soundsphere Magazine. For those who are wondering, we also wanted to move away from the other Sphere magazines out there to avoid any confusion or major trademarking issues as we head into print. We are looking at an August (late) deadline now. We'll get this thing done! Promise.

The team are headed to Sonisphere (how fitting?) this weekend having recently been over to Download and done a fantastic job - hats of as always to the team of Giles Moorhouse, Helen Gilroy and Adam Peeroo who will be taking Knebworth by storm this weekend, I hope! There will be the usual epic amount of review coverage for bands and interviews with Gary Numan and 65daysofstatic taking place.

What will I be doing? Why am I not there as Editor? I should be doing more work, you say? Agreed. I am ridiculously lazy, but this weekend (well, Sunday August 1) I will be running the Jane Tomlinson 10K (for Jane's charity) and I am pretty nervous. As I have cerebral palsy, I have never (as you might imagine) attempted to run / hobble at speed to anywhere, let alone six miles around the lovely city of York. It's for a good cause and fortunately, my little sister will be there to run it with me. We have raised over 1,000 pounds in a week, so I better finish, eh?

In other news, copywriting work is going well. I mean, I am really proud to be working for Treasures Revealed in West Yorkshire now - it's certainly one of my more challenging jobs. It's a lot of fun to write about diverse cultures and religious beliefs and this job allows me to do that. The last work I did for that project was to report on their AGM where representatives discussed how the whole thing was developing and moving forward. The delegates came to talk about their faith and beliefs and it was interesting for me personal as I gained a real understanding of Islam and its similarities and differences in relation to Christianity. Exciting stuff!

Regarding my role as Enterprise UK Ambassador. It's an honour and priviledge for me to be asked to undertake this role and despite constant changes that are being made within the framework of Yorkshire Forward, I am very proud to still be able to call myself an Enterprise champion. The talk that I gave in Bradford just after the last time that I wrote on this 'ere blog was pretty nerve-wracking to say the least - I didn't stick to my powerpoint and rambled on (albeit very enthusiastically) about my career as a journalist and role as Editor of Soundsphere. The feedback was pretty great and people praised my 'infectious' level of passion and drive - which was nice.

I have also been nominated by the York Press to be a part of their business awards. I will be going for the young entrepreneur of the year title against some fantastic businesses including The Creative Condition (run by good friend Mike Leigh Cooper) and fellow Phoenix residents Snapshot Media. It's going to be a lot of fun - I will keep you posted!

I think that's most of what's been going on. I have, of course been doing reports for York LINk, Digifish's work has slowed for the moment which is a shame but when you are a rockstar like Director Paul Banks (guitar, Shed Seven) and currently on tour doing the summer festival circuit, then I suppose it's fair enough!

I'll keep moving forward with the knowledge that I can sleep when I am dead and start worrying about getting through that 10k, and getting my team to Sonisphere festival safely - accreditation for big festivals is the most fun thing about this job...really.

Thanks ever so much to all who have supported the publication so far and to those who are enjoying my work.

Keep in touch with me via the site, Twitter and Facebook which you can get to via my links page!

Dom

As usual, I leave you with a couple of alternative rock gems...

The first is a BBC introducing session for some friends of mine, Testtone3 - a fantastic band. Here they are performing 'Turn It Around' live.

The second is a brand new favourite for the mag, an Aussie act called Violent Soho have produced a good ol' grunge tune that recalls the glory days of Nirvana, The Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins. The tune itself is not meant to cause offense to Christians in any way - I just think that it rocks!

Before the storm...

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:58:17 -0800

So, it's been a while (again). This site is a year old now! Wow. All kinds of things are happening with me at the moment. I am still working hard on SPHEREmag's conversion into print which will now see the light of day in August (or, as I like to term it 'In late summer'. It's been a massive challenge, but I know that it will be worth it. We'll also be re-branding soon, so keep your eyes peeled for a wonderful new site - www.spheremag.co.uk.

In other news, the Explore Media project in York has finished. It was a huge success and we are very proud of everything we have achieved. It's now back to focusing on the future of KhaoZ.

Click here to find out more about the Explore Media York project and its work teaching the community of York skills in new media. This work included workshops in blogging, newsletters, website building and film and television production. You can watch the final video for the project here.

In other great news, I am now an ambassador for Enterprise UK and will (on this Friday 11, June) be talking about my career in support of the Enterprise For All event which will look at how useful entrepreneurship can be for people with disabilities. It's going to be fantastic and you can find out more about that here. I am very lucky to have such a fantastic opportunity.

With regard to SPHERE online, we have had some great interviews over the last few months. For some more recent ones, check out some of the links below. As usual, we have been fortunate enough to work with some great bands and I am excited about some of the stuff that we've got coming up over the next few months too. Have a look around the site too and let me/us know what you think?

- AFI
- Soulfly
- The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
- Sulpher
- Bombs Into You

Also, there's one band that everyone knows right now that has been impressing me a lot recently, if you haven't already then you should check out Crystal Castles. This band make chaotic trance-infected dance-rock with a twist - here's a review of the album by one of SPHERE's brightest new writers Rhiannon Williams - now all I have to do is see them live. There's a video below, and I hear that they are pretty mental!

In other news, I have been doing some copywriting work for Digifish Media and York LINk. I have a lot of fun working for these respective brands as they are both totally different. With Digifish, I get to work with Paul Banks (of Shed Seven) and translate some of his great visual concepts and ideas into writing - I have set up a blog for them where I now post regular updates. To check out more on that organisation, you can visit the blog.

Meanwhile, my work with York LINk has been completely different. The group are constantly working to improve health and social services in the city and act as a gateway between the people at the centre of those services and those that use them. I have been doing some reports for the group recently and you can read more about what they do at their official website, and here at the official blog.

Now, I know there's already a video on this darn thing, but you know what? I am going to give you another one. You will have probably heard this track before, it's by a US band called Flobots and it's called 'Handlebars' - hopefully you will find it as uplifting as I have recently - it's helped me through moving and getting older !

Thanks for reading and keep in touch.

Common Dreads

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:50:13 -0800

So, it's been a long time since I have posted on this blog.

I've realised a few things recently.

It's time for me to "man-up" - I'm changing my attitude to a lot of things. Life's changing a lot for me now, and I know that everybody approaches things differently, so feel free to offer feedback and input.

I am moving over to York next month - it'll be a new challenge and a new start. I mean, I am still working on the launch of SPHERE magazine in print and I am still going to be working as as a self-employed journo, but yeah, things are changing.

My thinking about moving to London to succeed in the media industry has changed somewhat. Now, by no means am I a "homeboy" and I love the idea of travelling around, but I think I am going to see what York has to offer me (bearing in mind, I already have great friends and work there with the council on the Explore (and KhaoZ) Media projects. That's definitely the simplest move for me - here's hoping it's the best.

I am not sure what everyone else thinks about this topic? When I was doing the MA we were told that something like 80 per cent of the industry was down south, which of course makes sense, but I know (and I am hoping) that I can still make more of a success of myself in journalism and the media up north, what with the BBC coming to Manchester in 2012, there could be more options there.

Feel free to voice your opinions though, I'd like to hear what people think on the north and south divide in terms of media accessibility.

On a lighter note, www.spheremag.co.uk's move in to print is going well. I have got some advertisers on board (it's not been easy getting people to part with their money for this launch issue, but people have been incredibly supportive still!), I've also applied for the trademark and it's all now very real and very scary. I think that may be my one major mistake in business - the fact that I went straight for "the dream" - I mean it's paid off to be honest as we've got confirmed interviews with Combichrist, Paradise Lost, Rammstein and more to be announced, but I still think there are other ways I could have gone about it. Still, onwards and forwards. It's all looking good though, and I have a great team of people behind me now.

The other big thing that's happened since we last got together on these 'ere interwebs, is the launch and development of the Explore Media project. It's been great fun getting to work with friends, colleagues and friends in such a productive way and on such a fascinating project. I'm really impressed with how it has developed and progressed. I have really enjoyed teaching people of all ages skills in online journalism and blogging - it's certainly something I am incredibly proud of at this stage in my career.

As for SPHERE online - well, I have, as ever been pouring my heart and soul in to the website and there's some grand features on there with the likes of Deathboy, Dommin, Luxury Stranger, DV8Fest and more. Of course you can check that out by going to the site here and the Twitter here.

I've recently been working with the York Press newspaper - it was really enjoyable and the team over there is really great. I was lucky enough to get a few features in there, and a splash which I am very proud of.

I think that's all for now. I have tried to keep things short(ish).

Keeping things positive, I am very much looking forward to the future. Today (Monday, February 22, 2010) I will be interviewing soul-jazz-blues-pop sensation Beverley Knight East Yorkshire magazine 24sevenlifestyle.

In just over a month, I shall be heading over to Los Angeles in the states to see my brother race over there as part of the American Le Mans Series. Not only that, but I will be working with the exciting local film-maker (and my good friend) Mike Leigh Cooper. We're going to be filming an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Guy Smith's racing experiences and also grabbing some great interviews from the race weekend which will take place in March.

Great stuff.

Speak soon, I hope.

Cheers!

Dom

Massive update on my progress [KhaoZ, SPHERE, Adam Stafford, NME Freakscene, Rock Radio, Skindred and more!]

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:08:30 -0800

I should really have done this a long while ago now. I do apologise to any readers.

I now work (alongside my journalistic obligations) as part of the York Transformation Bid 2010. I am a media-orientated research and development consultant on the project with a group of fantastic creatives based in the city at KhaoZ Media. I’ll post more information soon (it's a project that will see a new-media space developed in York for people to come and learn about film-making, journalism, radio and more) but for now you can keep up-to-date by clicking on the KhaoZ Media blog link.

I now write regularly for NME.com’s Freakscene – click the link and you can see my blogs on Deviant UK, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Modulate and Flesh Eating Foundation.

I am also working for Manchester’s Rock Radio. I am doing a regular alternative and dark culture blog for them. My first blog is on York-based industrial rock band Digicore. I have just been working on a blog based around Sheffield band KIK – that’ll be up soon so I will post that up.

I've also been appearing on a local station in East Yorkshire. You can check out the Vixen 101 broadcasts and my stint with Hull-based rock band Divine Sinn here.

I’ve also been working for latestgadgets.com – there’s a review of Throbbing Gristle’s Gristleism project – it’s an incredibly nifty and noisy piece of work – you can check that out here.

There have been so many great things happening for me since my last blog. It’s all going so well – fingers crossed it stays that way, eh?

Thanks to the wonderful people at Creative York and Creative Protege, SPHERE magazine will be going into print (I hope) in July of 2010. We are aiming to launch at DV8 Goth Fest in York from 15-18 July. It’ll be a special publication – the idea at this point is to release the publication twice a year in July and October. Keep your fingers crossed and show your support (as always – thank you) at www.spheremag.co.uk .

Another highlight has been working with Mike Leigh Cooper on a project based on the disabled sport of boccia. The film was actually directed by the very talented Adam Stafford. The film has been picked up and it will air on the community version of Match Of The Day on Thursday, December 16, 2009. You can find out more by clicking this link.

The coolest thing though, has to be the Skindred video interview we completed this month (well, MLC and SPHERE staffer Helen Gilroy did all of the work!). You can check that out below. Skindred for the win!

All the love in the world – I hope that everyone has the most amazing Christmas.

As always you can find me at the above SPHERE address. I also have a personal Twitter and Last.fm.

Cheers.

Dom Smith

New update: Paradise Lost, Blue October, Mesh, Kill Hannah, Psyclon Nine, Skindred and more...

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:28:45 -0800

Current mood: artistic
Category: Music

So, it’s been a pretty exciting time for us over the last few weeks – if a little stressful. But then, in this industry it always is.

I am going to keep it very short and sweet and tell you what we’ve got for you since our last update.

Let’s see...

Awesome CD Reviews

Psyclon Nine

Septic IIIV

Rotersand

Paradise Lost

Skindred

Angelspit

Japanese Voyeurs

Electric Six

There’s also a lot more…so do come and take a look-see…?

Five Minutes With…

Paradise Lost

Blue October

Kill Hannah

Mesh

Model / Artist / Event Spotlights on...

Senser

Alice In Videoland

London Edge and Central 2009

The Exquisite Bodies Exhibition

Hull Freedom Festival

Bonnie Baker

AND a live review of blues-rockers Beggar Joe at their album launch in Manchester.

You can check out all these wonderful things by heading over to SPHERE magazine right now - do leave us some comments and let us know how you are!

All the love in the world, as always.

Dom and team SPHERE. In otherKhaoZ Mediarelated news we are working together with some wonderful individuals to create a documentary for York council which is based around elderly people (and those with dementia) and music. To elaborate. While Mike Leigh Cooper has been doing some filming I have been interviewing some of the elderly community who have been taking part in this scheme.

The project involves the mastermind (Fiona Chapman) teaching selected groups (in various care homes around the city of York) to keep their rhythm going and also to keep them active despite difficulties. This is done by making music with bins/drums, cheese-graters and more while playing along with certain songs including Elvis' 'Jailhouse Rock'. I had a great time (as did Mike) and spoke to each participant at two different homes last week about what they like most about the project. There will be a video up soon. Find out more by checking the official KhaoZ blog.

In the aforementioned blog we also talk about our project with special olympian and Boccia champion Adam Stafford. What is Boccia? Find out here. Adam has been asked to produce a documentary on his sport to let people from different backgrounds and with different abilities know about it. Myself and Mike have been asked to work closely with Adam and his Mum Penny on the film and to produce some visual and written work based on interviews and footage both Adam and ourselves have collected over time. It's a very exciting time for KhaoZ Media and we are incredibly proud to be involved.

Again, there will be a video and some other written work to show of in the coming weeks so watch this space, as they say in....space? Well, that was a short but sweet update and now I leave you with some friends of SPHERE and their comeback video for 'One Of A Twin' which was released last week. Check out Sunna...

A massive update from SPHERE magazine and more...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:56:44 -0800

Hi everybody, it's been particularly quiet over the last few weeks because we’ve have had so much on at SPHERE towers. It's all good though and we've got some fantastic new stuff up on the site now. Our experiences at Sonisphere are documented below...

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

PLUS...

INTERVIEWS WITH...

SOiL

Hollywood Undead

SOW (Anna Wildsmith)

SPOTLIGHTS ON:

Audio-FX

Nachtmahr

Idle Jack And The Big Sleep

A GORGEOUS MODEL SPOTLIGHT ON...

Gypsy Rhodes

A LOVELY EVENT SPOTLIGHT ON...

Rebellion Punk festival

TASTY REVIEWS OF...

Audio-FX

Pro-Jekt

Leatherhead

Sigue Sigue Sputnik (LIVE)

PLUS LOADS MORE!

We also have an interview ready to go with Greg Mackintosh from Paradise Lost and a review of the awesome new album, but you’ll have to wait and see for those nuggets. It’s going to be awesome!

We've now launched SPHERE LIVE and are waiting for a suitable venue in the North East to get back to us.

In other non-SPHERE related news, I have been accepted on to the Creative Pods course in the city of Scarborough which deals with business management. Hopefully I will be able to hone my skills and expand on what I am doing right now. I’m very much looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities that will offer.

KhaoZ Media completed its very first live web broadcast a few weeks back and you can check that out here along with some of our other work. I hope that you find something to enjoy!

Thanks for your time, as always.

All the love in the world,

Dom Smith

A Khaotic update: Romania and much more new stuff on SPHERE magazine!

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:29:22 -0800

Hi there guys, how's everything out there? Thought I would post a short update. Please note that I've imported this from my official Myspace blog, so all the links are safe.

Okay, so I got back from Romania on Tuesday, and I miss everyone there so very much. Obviously I had my friends (Mike, Colm and Linda) there, but we made some real connections and I am very proud to have worked with so many amazing people. You can check out the official KhaoZ Media blog here. That has some wicked video and written interviews with people from different countries including Ukraine, Portugal and France. It's definitely worth a look if only to laugh at my ramblings.

We have some awesome new stuff on SPHERE magazine this month:

Interviews:

My Ruin
Skinlab
Infected Mushroom
The Birthday Massacre
Gypsy Rhodes (model)
Experiment Haywire
Gwar
EsOterica

Reviews:

Skin Two (Fetish Ball)
Screaming Banshee Aircrew
Zeitgeist Zero
The Birthday Massacre (live)
Life Cried

We have loads more coming up before the end of the month, and we'll be taking a trip to Sonisphere to cover that too.

Thanks for reading.

Take care everyone,

All the love in the world,

Dom.

Currently listening:
Era Vulgaris
By Queens Of The Stone Age
Release date: 2007-06-11

Check out one of my interviews from Romania...

New SPHERE magazine and KhaoZ Media updates

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:04:01 -0800

Fear not this blog has been copied from my Myspace, so all the links are safe.

Current mood: angsty

Hi everyone!

How is it going?

Well, I am going to Romania next week as part of KhaoZ Media for the Digital Global Village. I will be blogging like mad and updating at most times during my days there on behalf of KhaoZ. You can learn more and track our progress by checking out the official KhaoZ Media blog, here.

In other news, I have been busy with SPHERE Magazine collecting a number of interviews and reviews. Check out some of the links below:

---

esOterica
Infected Mushroom
Ourfamous Dead
Coreline
Combichrist (audio from Sheffield)

Reviews of:

Skin Two North (Event)
Portion Control (CD)
Dope Stars Inc (CD)
The Moon OST by Clint Mansell of PWEI (CD)
Flesh Eating Foundation (Live)

Incase you missed them, check out our spotlights on Mis-Fest (by Maisey of Legion) and The Farmyard Party (by Dan Buckley of [DIGI]Core).

and much more exciting content and news!

Go here to check it all out.

The ed will be in Romania as of next week for a few days so we are going to try and keep on top of things for all of you lovely readers.

Don't forget to keep checking us out @ Twitter, Facebook and here on Myspace. Get in touch! We would love to have a chill with you.

---

Stay safe, and drop me a message.

All the love in the world. As always, thanks for your time.

Dom [S]

Currently listening:
Viva Machine
By Viva Machine
Release date: 2009-06-15

Check out this video below by my good friends over in the States, Left Spine Down. This is the video for their track 'Reset'.

KhaoZ and Romania / your opinion on Nine Inch Nails?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:29:48 -0800

Current mood: argumentative
Category: Life

Going to Romania

So it’s been an interesting week. The weekend was tough in some ways but cool in others. I ended up in Liverpool on Saturday for a MA reunion with a couple of old friends and we went to The Krazyhouse which is a kick-ass venue in the centre of Liverpool. I had the most awesome time there rockin’ my little bum off.

In other news, I am hopefully off to Romania with KhaoZ Media on July 14 which should be loads of fun. I think it will be great to reach out to so many other young people who are as interested in the media as we are. It’s something I never thought I would get to do and I’m very excited to be given the chance.

It’s also cool because (quite aptly) SPHERE Magazine will be covering Sonisphere festival this year. That’s right the ultimate team of myself, Linda Chester and Helen Gilroy (the doctaaa) will be unleashed all-over that wicked little festival on August 1 and 2 of this year...KEEP ON ROLLIN BABY!

---

Your opinion on Nine Inch Nails?

Carrying on from the above subject, people are talking a lot about how Fred Durst and NIN will react to each other as there is such a long history there and a storied rivalry. It got me thinking, just how important Nine Inch Nails have been (whatever your opinion) to both alternative and industrial music. I have realised more recently, and on a personal note because of the decline of my favourite artist Marilyn Manson.

Reznor commented on Manson recently, “During the Spiral tour we propped them up to get our audience turned on to them and at that time a lot of the people in my circle were pretty far down the road as alcoholics. Not Manson. His drive for success and self-preservation was so high, he pretended to be fucked up a lot when he wasn’t." He continued, "Things got shitty between us and I'm not blameless. The majority of it though was coming from a resentment guy who finally got out from under the master's umbrella and was able to stab him in the back."

Honestly, the above was a little hard for me to swallow as a long-time fan, and so I went to Download festival earlier this month hoping that Manson’s performance would outshine all of these negative comments, and it did not. Whether he is ill, or just really f*cked up on whatever drug, it seems that (despite a decent last album) the age of the Antichrist Superstar is dead.

I digress, my point is that Reznor and/or Nine Inch Nails have without question outlasted or just plain overshadowed their doubters (Manson, The Bizkit) and some of those that they influenced (Manson, Gravity Kills, Stabbing Westward, pretty much every industrial rock act of the mid 90s actually...) and while it’s sad because all of the aforementioned made/make great music what is even worse is that now with the last US tour out of the way and the current NIN/Jane’s Addiction tour about to start over here, we are going to be seeing the last of Nine Inch Nails for a while at least.

Fortunately, while in the first instance this silly journo actually spurned a first chance to go see the band in Manchester in favour of an awesome trip to Romania with KhaoZ, fate hath smiled upon me again because I/we are hopefully going to cover Sonisphere. Result. I know, I did mention that earlier but it’s pretty important, so I make no apologies!

The thing is that, as I sit here now listening to ‘The Fragile’ album, I am as always, blown away by its complexity and its beauty. In the same breath I am compelled to ask for your thoughts on the band, are they totally overrated or the best thing since sliced PVC? Obviously this has been a crazy few weeks for tributes to legendary musicians. This one is slightly different, and I want to ask for your honest opinions on the band Nine Inch Nails and theartist Trent Reznor (one and the same), are they one of rock music’s pioneering bands or are they not?

The floor is yours and as always, I thank you for your time.

All the love in the world,

Thanks,

Dom Smith =)

Currently listening:
The Fragile
By Nine Inch Nails
Release date: 1999-09-21

New interviews with Collide and Alter Der Ruine and new reviews of Flesh Eating Foundation, We Got This Far, Uberbyte and Ana Kefr on SPHERE

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:08:34 -0800

Hi there guys, I just wanted to tell you we have some cool new interviews up on SPHERE now with Collide and Alter Der Ruine, along with a pretty awesome live review of Flesh Eating Foundation in York. Obviously, that's not all - we've got CD new reviews of Ana Kefr, Uberbyte, Cryogenica and We Got This Far.

This stuff comes hot of the heels of our wicked interview with VNV Nation and our exciting review of Pink Punk's new album.

Check them out along with loads more up-to-date news here.

Dom SPHERE