Common Dreads 02/22/2010
 
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

 
 
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


 
 
 
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...
 
 
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

 
 

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...

 
 

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'.

 
 

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

 
 

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

 
 

Hi there guys.

The below is copied direct from my own and SPHERE's own official Myspace - hence the Myspace links when you click, all safe!!
---
We have a bunch of new stuff up on the site as of today. You can check out our interview with Ronan from VNV Nation, our thoughts on Michael Jackson's passing and Aesthetic Perfection's UK diary from the 'Demons On Tour' dates in the UK.

We hope you enjoy the new stuff. We have a bunch of cool things coming our way in the next week on SPHERE.

In other news, I have a review in Rock Sound issue 124 of the Acey Slade gig at Satan's Hollow. It's only small but I thought it was worth mentioning. Also, Hull Daily Mail recently alerted me to the fact that I had something published in there on my Birthday which was around a month ago on May 23.

Incase anyone is interested, the article is below, and it's an article about a book by Hull-based author Haris-Livas Dawes.
---
-- blurb....

Former Mail columnist Dr Haris Livas-Dawes has published a book about 10 Greek islands. She spent 35 years living in the country before moving to Hull.....

-- body..

Dominic Smith ....

A CITY author has written a book about 10 small islands in Greece in the hope of inspiring people’s sense of adventure.....

Dr Haris Livas-Dawes, who lived in the country for 35 years before moving to Hull, wants her work to show people there is more to the holiday destination than sun, sea and sand.....

The former Mail columnist and her friend, Rhea Sampson, an illustrator, travelled to the islands to research the book, titled Adventures On Small Islands: A Fresh Look At Greece.....

Dr Livas-Dawes, of Westbourne Avenue, west Hull, said: "I am concerned by the amount of British people who set foot in the bigger places like Athens and Crete, because they will never discover the real Greece.....

"It’s so different now. You get on a plane with fellow Brits and you travel around with them, there’s no real sense of excitement because it is all planned for you."....

When choosing the 10 locations featured in the book, Dr Livas-Dawes picked places that were new to both her and her friend.....

She said: "We hitch-hiked with rucksacks and travelled with the friends we made on each island.....

"We would spend months on each of these islands, getting to know people and getting their thoughts on the place.....

"We would always make friends so my companion would do sketches of these people and our surroundings and I would collect our thoughts in a diary which then went toward creating the book.....

"We wanted to keep a low-style of tourism. We made sure we didn’t spend much money and we moved around like the locals.....

"It was a lot of fun."....

Dr Livas-Dawes has worked for about 30 different international publications, including The International Herald Tribune, The Ecologist and Advertising Age.....

The aim of her latest work is to give readers a "fresh" perspective on the country she loves. She said: "I would hope people still have their sense of adventure.....

"Around here many seem a little stuck in their old ways. I think they should aspire towards adventure."....

The book is available from Browns Books, in George Street, city centre.....

Links....

Browns Books....

@www.brownsbooks.co.uk....

Visit Greece....

@www.visitgreece.gr....

---
Thanks for reading all! I also posted an update on the KhaoZ Media blog. So for any York-based people looking to get into volunteering, check that out.

Speak soon.

All the love in the world.

Currently listening:
Earth Song
By Michael Jackson
Release date: 2006-06-06

 
 

Following Michael Jackson's shocking death yesterday, SPHERE offer our deepest sympathies to the artist's family and friends.

Paramedics were called to the singer's Beverly Hills home at about midday on Thursday after he stopped breathing.

He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. Jermaine Jackson, said he was believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest.

Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to stage a series of comeback concerts in the UK, beginning on 13 July.

For more information visit the artist's website.

As the Editor of SPHERE Magazine, I am proud to say that the first music tape I was ever given was a copy of 'Dangerous'. As a child I was a massive fan of the artist and he gave me a huge amount of inspiration and drive to overcome various obstacles in my early life. He lived an Alternative lifestyle that has come into question many a time over the last few years, but musically he has influenced many great Alt-artists and performers. I am deeply saddened and I certainly speak for all of the SPHERE team when I say that.

Once more to the family of Michael, and to his three young children, we offer our sympathies and hope for the best.

All the love in the world,

Dom Smith and SPHERE Magazine.

Here is our favourite video by the artist. Thank you Michael.