New century. Good excuse to add some more stuff to the playlist and share them with you all.

No guests this week, so it was just you, me and airwaves between us.

Here is what I played…

1. Arctic Monkeys – A View From The Afternoon
2. Wolf Alice – Giant Peach
3. Them Crooked Vultures
4. Twin Atlantic – Yes, I Was Drunk
5. These New Puritans – Elvis
6. Fidlar – Drone
7. Vampire Weekend – Finger Back
8. Viola Beach – Really Wanna Call
9. The View feat. Paolo Nutini – Covers
10. Walking On Cars – Speeding Cars
11. White Stripes – One More Cup Of Coffee
12. The Lunar Tides – Right From The Start
13. Matt Cross – Don’t Leave So Soon
14. Adam Sinclair – Passenger
15. Velvet Tree – Celebrity
16. De La Soul – The Magic Number
17. A Tribe Called Quest – Better
18. Kings Of Leon – Pyro
19. Mumfords and Sons – The Wolf
20. Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk
21. Grouplove – Tongue Tied
22. Bring Me The Horizon – True Friends
23. Biffy Clyro – In The Name Of The Wee Man
24. Slaves – Cheer Up London
25. Elastica – Connection
26. Peace – Lovesick
27. Blur- Bank Holiday
28. Radiohead – There There
29. Finding Miranda – A New Kind Of Beast
30. Weekend Recovery – New Tattoo
31. Roisin O’Hagan – At Our Finest.

Well, I made it to 100 shows. So as this was the 100th time I hosted this show I felt it was only natural to have my bandmates from Finding Miranda come in to have a chat.

Order of the day? Well I booked a session at Creative Studios on the A128 to have a gathering of local musicians who I have had on the show previous to play three or four songs to be played especially for the show. Also it seemed an appropriate occasion to play new Finding Miranda material on the show.

So the songs below which were recorded by the artists at Creative Studios are the ones in bold. It was quite a show, which you can hear in full underneath this weeks playlist.

1. Foo Fighters – The Feast And The Famine
2. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
3. Bow Flats – Battle
4. John Paul Elliot – Song One
5. The Sheratones – Shake Your Tamborine
6. Kieran McLoughlin-Spink – Song One
7. Weekend Recovery – Rumours
8. Finding Miranda – A New Kind Of Beast
9. Matt Tubey – Song Two
10. Roisin O’Hagan – Dark, Dark Lie
11. Neil Davies – Song one
12. John Paul Elliot – Song Two
13. Kieran McLoughlin-Spink – Song Two
14. Amy Sergeant – Racing The Tide
15. Velvet Tree – My Love
16. Matt Tubey – Song Two
17. Neil Davies – Song Two
18. Finding Miranda – New York Can You Hear Me?
19. Chay Appleyard – Song One
20. Lee Tallon – Song One
21. John Paul Elliot – Song three
22. Kieran McLoughlin-Spink – Song Three
23. Horse Heads – Coffee
24. Lee Tallon – Song Two
25. Matt Tubey – Song Three
26. Stephen Rudd – Into Your Heart
27. Chay Appleyard – Song Two
28. Lee Tallon – Song Three

I also couldn’t resist getting my bandmates to participate in 50 Grade Smarter, my weekly quiz for guests on my show. Are my pals smart enough to compete with the best?

Well actually it turns out they’re not too bad. In fact they are 4th in the rankings. It may not be enough to get them in the final. But it was a worthy effort.

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Finding Miranda – 12.5
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Doojip And The Wotnames – 11
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Polly Haynes – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Caution – 8.5
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
The Vision – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Polly graduated from Essex University with a 1st class distinction in Popular Music in 2014.

During and after Uni, she fronted rock/funk band, Newton’s Apple and later went on to form the
band Polly Violet Collective. Over the next two years, Polly proceeded to tour the region and perform at countless venues and festivals before making the decision to concentrate on her solo
performance.

Since then, Polly has been promoting her new solo act and so far has shared the stage with
multi-platinum artist’s, performed at countless well known venues and has also performed on
the stages of many small festivals, with a number of dates still to come.

Since choosing to perform as a solo act, Polly has gone from strength to strength, having recorded with chart topping producer, Tom Donovan and secured her backing band she is set to continue to flourish with each new performance.

With big things planned for 2016 and having already performed at Proud – Camden, Strongroom – Shoreditch, The Magic Garden – Battersea and many other venues and festivals, Polly is set to up the ante and surprise critics and fans alike.

This week I had Doojip And The Wotnames!

Great name right?

They take inspirations from the likes of Weller, Stones and others of the old school rock and roll ilk. They put on a great show as you can hear below.

Here is the playlist from this week. With the songs the band played live in bold…

1. The Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There
2. Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall
3. The Last Shadow Puppets – Miracles Aligner
4. Arctic Monkeys – The View From The Afternoon
5. Biffy Clyro – In The Name Of The Wee Man
New One
6. The Enemy – Gimme The Sign
7. Asylums – Missing Persons
Woodcutter’s Son (Paul Weller cover)
8. The Sheratones – Shake Your Tamborine
9. Killatrix – Bad Language
10. Horse Heads – Coffee
I Know Why
When I’m Hungry
11. Mumford And Sons – The Wolf
12. Chvrches – Recover
13. B.O.B Feat. Bruno Mars – Nothin’ On You
14. The Vaccines – Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
15. BoyKillBoy – Suzie
Real Life
Would I Lie To You
16. Beach Boys – God Only Knows

It was going so well for the guys in the quiz, answering the first seven questions correctly. They ended up with 11 points which is not quite enough for the final in December.

The Leaderboard…

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Doojip And The Wotnames – 11
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Polly Haynes – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
The Vision – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Back to the guests and this week I had The Vision came on to give us their version of perfect pop.

The band have only been going nine months but are gathering a following online through their live performances and live streams.

The band songs are below on the playlist, the rest are recordings from the best indie around. And you know its true…

1. Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure
2. Asylums – Joy In A Small Wage
3. The Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
4. Stereophonics – Hurry Up And Wait
5. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
Stitches
6. The Vaccines – Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
7. Vampire Weekend – A Punks
8. We Are Scientists – Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt
Drive
9. Viola Beach – Boys That Sing
10. The View – Grans For Tea
11. Reverend And The Makers – 18-30
La La
12. Rae Morris – Closer
13. Swim Deep – Honey
14. The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
15. Miles Kane – Inhaler
16. The Courteeners – You Overdid It Doll
17. The 1975 – The Sound

The full show…

The band, although were good live, they were not so good at quizzes. They scored on six out 15 on my weekly quiz 50 Grades Smarter. Better luck next year lads.

The leaderboard…

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Polly Haynes – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
The Vision – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Show 96! Can you believe they let me get this far!

So this is my last all music show before we get some guests on in the next couple of weeks. So I decided to get a good 30 songs-a-playing in my two hour slot this week.

These were the tunes I decided to play, and who could blame me…

1. Frank Turner – I Still Believe
2. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
3. Django Django – Default
4. Courteeners – You Overdid It Doll
5. Delphic – Doubt
6. Foo Fighters – The Feast And The Famine
7. Palma Violets – Rattlesnake Highway
8. The Fratellis – Creepin’ Up The Backstairs
9. The Enemy – Our Time
10. Jake Bugg – Gimme The Love
11. Kasabian – Vlad The Impaler
12. Paolo Nutini – Scream (Funk My Life Up
13. Richard Ashcroft – They Don’t Own Me
14. Viola Beach – Boys That Sing
15. General Fiasco – Dancing With Girls
16. James Vincent McMorrow – This Old Dark Machine
17. Keane – Nothing In My Way
18. Queens Of The Stone Age – The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
19. Pulled Apart By Horses – Outahead
20. Luke Sanders – Mary
21. SJ Denney – The Great Unknown
22. Narrow Plains – So Rewind
23. Emnibis – Origami Heart
24. The Horse Heads – Coffee
25. Fightstar – It’s Blood Is Black
26. Blur – Bank Holiday
27. Arctic Monkeys – Snap Out Of It
28. Franz Ferdinand – Dark Side Of The Matinee
29. The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It
30. The Maccabees – Go

Next week we have The Vision on the show! Join me then.

As we hit closer to the 100th show, the pace of great show isn’t dimming. In fact. They get a bit more interesting as the weeks go by.

This week we had Colchester singer-songwriter, Polly Haynes come in for a session, supported by her band’s drummer Tom on cajon. Polly played a host of her original material, and she was nothing like what we’ve had on the show before. A jazz-trained guitarist with a knack for a killer hook.

Here is the playlist of the show with the songs Polly played live in bold…

1. Viola Beach – Boys That Sing
2. Richard Ashcroft – They Don’t Own Me
3. Band Of Skulls – I Know What I Am
4. Asylums – Joy In A Small Wage
5. Slaves – Cheer Up London
Wasting Time
6. Nothing But Thieves – Trip Switch
7. Yuck – Get Away
Tree Tops
8. Iggy Pop – Gardenia
9. The Maccabees – Go
Launch To The Floor
10. Paolo Nutini – Scream (Funk My Life Up)
11. Travis – Sing
12. Ren Stedman – Honestly
Good For You
13. CJ2 – Never Seen A Day Like This
14. Disorder Kid – Everybody Knows The High Chick
15. Alt-J – Left Hand Free
Crazy Today

Polly and Tom also participated in 50 Grades Smarter, where I put my guest brains to the test and not just their musical prowess. They scored an above-average 10 points. Which leaves the scoreboard like this…

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Polly Haynes – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Sometimes things do not go to plan. Our guest this week unfortunately couldn’t make it to the studio. As much as that is a disappointment, we replace that time interviewing with just lots of great music.

The playlist this week shows…

1. Bombay Bicycle Club – Evening/Morning
2. Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
3. The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It
4. Catfish and The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
5. Mad Winter – Let Me Know
6. Narrow Plains – Belong Together
7. Keane – Nothing In My Way
8. Jake Bugg – Two Fingers
9. The Velvet Tree – My Love
10. Blur – Bank Holiday
11. Indigo – Upside Down
12. Radiohead – Just
13. Iggy Pop – Gardenia
14. Darren Jones – Rise Above
15. We Are Scientists – Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt
16. S J Denney – This Is Where It Rains
17. James Vincent McMorrow – This Old Dark Machine
18. Ren Stedman – Love Wins
19. Matt Cross – Let You Down
20. Son – Warm
21. Vampire Weekend – A Punk
22. Franz Ferdinand – Dark Of The Matinee
23. All Time Low – Stay Awake
24. Royal Blood – Little Monster
25. Green Day – Basket Case
26. Linkin Park – Crawling
27. Kings Of Leon – Pyro
28. Roisin O’Hagan – Dark, Dark Lie
29. Taylor Swift – Treacherous

More Musical goodness next week.

On my own this week. So I added my tradition 10 new songs to my playlist and spent the whole two hours playing the good stuff.

Here is my playlist…

1. Two Door Cinema Club – Come Back Home
2. Grouplove – Tongue Tied
3. Miles Kane – Inhaler
4. The Black Keys – In Time
5. Iggy Pop – Gardenia
6. The Horse Heads – Who Are You?
7. Editors – Racing Rats
8. Sunflower Beam – Easier Said
9. Bat For Lashes – All Your Gold
10. Different People – Line Em Up
11. Peace – Lovesick
12. Reverend And The Makers – Mr Glassalfempty
13. Foals – Providence
14. Queens Of The Stone Age – Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
15. Franz Ferdinand – Dark Side Of The Matinee
16. Gorillaz – White Flag
17. Darren Jones – Pretending To Be Kings (Intro)
18. Nicola Collis – So Slam Recording
19. Ben Howard – Only Love
20. First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
21. Band Of Skulls – I Know What I Am
22. Bloc Party – Helicopter
23. Indigo – Take On The World
24. Ellie Goulding – Human
25. Clean Bandit – Come Over
26. Everything Everything – Blast Doors
27. Friendly Fires – On Board
28. Tall Dark Friend – Corridors
29. Dolly Mavies – Wait For Me

We have Orlean playing in the studio on Thursday (4th August). So join me then at 8pm.

Billy Collins explains his musical journey…

“Have been playing music from a young age starting out on drums with my first ever gig at the age of 11 where dads drummer let them down for a gig in Wales so I stepped up and performed on drums for the night
From there music was all I wanted to do.

“I grew up listening to a wide range of different genres of music. But my main interests are Country, Blues, Folk , Rock n Roll / Rockabilly and more
My influences growing up were: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Green day, Busted, My Dad and a few more

“Everything I have done has been self taught from learning the drums to little bit of the harmonica and learning Guitar.

“Way I started on drums was I started playing on pillows playing long to my favourite songs I was listening to.

“Guitar – I was home one day from college and I had always wanted to learn guitar so I decided to pick up a guitar we had in the house and started trying to make a decent sound out of it and I had remembered my granddad showing me a C chord ages ago but I couldn’t quite remember it. So I decided to learn a Johnny cash riff ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ only the start part and then once I kind of got it I rung my Dad and Step mum and played it to them over the phone. And from there I learnt all the chords just from reading out a book and using my ear. I learnt on a fender acoustic guitar and now I have one of my dream guitars which is a martin guitar.

“I have been on a holiday to Memphis Tennessee and stayed at the heartbreak hotel it was one of the best times I have had visiting the kings home at Gracelands and then doing sun studios and Beale Street.

“In the process of getting recordings done and demos done to send out and get my music out there”.

To contact me –
FACEBOOK- @BillyCollinsAcoustic
TWITTER – @billster95
EMAIL – billyc.n@hotmail.co.uk

This week I had Billy Collins come in for a radio session.

He is a singer songwriter who will soon embark in recording some of his own material.

Here is the playlist for the show, with the songs Billy played live in bold…

1. Yuck – Get Away
2. Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
3. Jake Bugg – Two Fingers
4. Ryan Adams – Style
5. Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood 2 (Laika)
The Love We Had
6. Peace – Lovesick
7. Wolf Alice – Bros
Rebellion
8. Kaiser Chiefs – Oh My God
9. The Rifles – Sometimes
Paradise
10. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
11. Twin Atlantic – Yes, I Was Drunk
12. Catfish And The Battlement – Soundcheck
13. Arctic Monkeys – Snap Out Of It
14. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
15. Iggy Pop – Sunday
Seen It All (Jake Bugg cover)
Ocean Of Love
16. All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
17. Don Broco – Yeah Man
Mother’s Words
18. Circa Waves – Talking Out Loud

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

This week I had The Horse Heads as my first guest on the show for six weeks.

They are old friends of mine from playing gigs with them in my band, Finding Miranda. The guys are a great laugh and a pleasure to have them on my show.

Here is the playlist from the show…
1. Pulled Apart By Horses – Outahead
2. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
3. Fidlar – Drones
4. The Enemy – Gimme The Sign
5. Nothing But Thieves – Trip Switch
Castles
6. Catfish And The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
7. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
Teeth
8. The Wombats – Moving To New York
9. REM – Orange Crush
Who Are You?
Coffee
10. These New Puritans – En Papier
11. The Rifles – Sometimes
12. Twin Atlantic – Yes, I Was Drunk
13. Circa Waves – Talking Out Loud
Snow
14. Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
15. The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again

The guys also participated in 50 Grades Smarter – my quiz show for acts that come on the show. They scored a total of 9.5 points. Mid-table but consistent from the Chelmsford trio.

The scoreboard goes as this…
Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
The Horse Heads – 9.5
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

In life you come across bands/artists on the radio, in magazines, word of mouth… but what about the ones that get away?

I thought it would be an interesting experiment to go through the PhoenixFM library to see what bands I have missed through my years. So here is 30 songs that I picked out to test out, from bands who I feel I’ve heard loads about but never seem to get round to listening to.

1. Art Brut – Nag Nag Nag Nag
2. Asylums – Missing Persons
3. Aztec Camera – Walk Out To Winter
4. Barenaked Ladies – It’s All Been Done
5. Belle and Sebastien – I’m A Cuckoo
6. Blossoms – Charlesmagne
7. British Sea Power – No Lucifier
8. Sleater-Kinney – Bury Our Friends
9. Cage The Elephant – Mess Around
10. Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – War Of The Worlds
11. Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battle The Robots
12. Zac Brown Band – Loving You Easy
13. Theme Park – Tonight
14. Teenage Fanclub – I’m In Love
15. Broken Bells – Leave It Alone
16. Divine Comedy – At The Indie Disco
17. Daughter – Human
18. St Vincent – Rattlesnake
19. Walking On Cars – Speeding Cars
20. Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You
21. M83 – Midnight City
22. We Are Augustines – Chapel Song
23. The Joy Formidable – Whirring
24. The Damned – Love Song
25. Jagwar Ma – The Throw
26. I Am Kloot – Life In A Day
27. The History Of Apple Pie – Jamais Vu
28. Guillemots – Annie, Lets Not Wait
29. The Go! Team – Doing It Right
30. Egyptian Hip Hop – Rad Pitt

The experiment was a success, was fantastic to find some new stuff to listen to. And I encourage others to take the dive!

I just came back from England’s disappointing effort in France but I had a wonderful, wonderful time. Saw some fantastic sites, tasted some expensive beer and experienced some of the best memories that I will cherish forever.

Now, however, is business as usual and I’ve chosen some great songs to brace my homecoming…

1. The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secrets
2. Arcade Fire – Neighbourhoods 2 (Laika)
3. Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
4. Catfish and The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
5. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
6. Wolf Alice – Bros
7. Don Broco – Yeah Man
8. Blur – Bank Holiday
9. Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
10. Fidlar – Drone
11. Bombay Bicycle Club – Evening/Morning
12. The Cribs – Hey Scenesters
13. Everything Everything – Blast Doors
14. Two Door Cinema Club – Come Back Home
15. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
16. Jake Bugg – Two Fingers
17. Disorder Kid – Everybody Knows The High Chick
18. Let’s Be Strange – Daydream Boy
19. LJ Howard – Nothing
20. Luke Sanders – Mary
21. John Paul Elliot Feat. Ashley – Nothing But Love
22. Band Of Horses – Feud
23. Ryan Adams – Style
24. Radiohead – Just
25. The Vaccines – Blow It Up
26. The Young Knives – I Can Hardly See Them
27. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
28. Ellie Goulding – Human
29. Clean Bandit – Come Over
30. Kasabian – Vlad The Impaler
31. Fightstar – It’s Blood Is Black.

Ladies and gentlemen, its good to be back.

For our last group game it was another tricky one.

Plan: take a 9:30am train to Lyon to where we put our bags into out hotel and head to St Etienne for our last group game against Slovakia. Similar scenario to our game in Lens against Wales.

So we got to the station via the tram service, had a Le Mixte each (cheese and ham baguettes) then headed off for our two hour journey to Lyon. In that time the others can sleep and I can ponder why I cannot sleep on trains.

So we arrive just before midday and took a walk to our hotel, which was about 50 minutes away on foot. One problem…

IT WAS ON TOP OF A MASSIVE HILL!!!

So with everyone who had one bag, I foolishly took two a holder and a rucksack. So it took me a good time longer than everyone else and by the time we got up the 947 flights of stairs to the top, I was shattered.

We put our bags down but wasn’t allowed our rooms till 3pm so got some lunch at a nearby burger restaurant and I drank a well earned beer. The burger was delicious, bacon and cheese. I even made the waitress laugh when I requested no salad or Mayo.

I believe she said “well you won’t grow up big and strong” as a 25 year old I found that amusing.

FYI this was mine and Coatesy’s room for the night. Sometimes on this trip we had to double up on beds, but this was too romantic for my liking…

Once we checking in our lovely hotel, we headed in direction of the station. We did stop off for a beer beforehand and we noticed there a special edition glass for the football. And we were excited to see who got it… This competition was win by yours truly…

The train to St Etienne was less chaotic than the trip to Lens. Less people taking the train, and less time to get onto the train. Perfect. The journey took just under an hour.

Upon arrival we sensed St Etienne was very much like Dijon. Not much in the town but at least here there was a few bars to get beer. We found a takeaway that was service beer which wasn’t too busy and it was five euros a beer (doesn’t sound great but in most places this was a bargain).

England fans were kicking a football around and we heard the broke a window, they did have a whip round to replace it however. We ain’t all bad I guess.

The game itself was again a bit of a bore. I called it “uninspiring”! I think I had a point. Roy Hodgson made six changes, which I kinda understood given the fact we were practically through anyway but even with all those changes, we should destroyed them, or at least tried to.

I don’t need to tell you, you all saw it. In my next post I’ll explain how coming second in the group made our plans to the last 16 game very problematic.

So after the game we headed back to the train station, it was carnage. We fiddled about (which probably didn’t help us), debating whether to get an Uber cab, or wait for the train. It was too expensive and unlikely to obtain an Uber so we braved the queue for the train. It was lucky we got there where we did, there was thousands of people behind us who likely were going to wait ages for a train.

We got a train comfortably all in all, but it was somewhat shambolic organising to have games in small cities where the majority of fans couldn’t get hotel rooms and therefore had to travel from other cities located an hour away on the day of the game. And us England fans got two of them. Ridiculous. Also the lack of extra trains made everybody’s lives, including the French police very difficult.

We eventually got to out hotel around 2am, knowing we have to get up and out by 7am for a train from Lyon to Paris at 8am. We got a taxi to the station without Nick who planned a later train and who also wasn’t coming to the last 16 game in Nice as he was going to Glastonbury.

Our two and an half hour train to Paris went smoothly and like a few days before had to make a switch in the capital before heading on the Eurostar to Kings Cross/St Pancreas.

I love the Eurostar, it’s so much better than flying. The weird thing about it is that it took only 150 minutes from Paris to London. I mean that’s nothing!!!

One thing Trigg says that sticks out to me is that it’s amazing how big France is where it takes 90 minutes from Paris to Callais but it only takes 45 mins from Dover to London. Or more to the point how small England and the rest of Britain is.

So, phase one complete we’re home! After 11 days on the road up and down France we have the chance for a few days rest before returning for the last sixteen.

May the adventure continue…

As our last group game was tomorrow we took a day to wander in the quaint town of Dijon.

Although waking refreshed from no booze, I didn’t not have the best night sleep. However, I did wake up at 8am to go to the hotel gym. It was a bit of a disaster, not going to lie. My health has deteriorated from our travels, and when I tried to run – lets just say it was very difficult.

We got a tram into town to get some breakfast. We stopped off at a shop which specialises in milkshake and muffins (to further my point of my current unhealthy lifestyle), they were delicious and thoroughly enjoyable.

There was a iPad on each of the tables of this restaurant, for some reason or another Trigg thought it would be funny to put “Coatesy” into urban dictionary (dictionary for definition for slang words), and it strangely come back with this…

“Noun. A person who genuinely serves no positive purpose to society. See also d***h***.”

For PG censorship, this has been edited. He got bullied for that all day.

After our nutritious breakfast we went for a mooch around town after taking the short tram ride to the centre. To be honest, despite Dijon being a nice little town, there wasn’t much to see. In fact we were pretty much done by 3pm in the afternoon.

On the plus side we found a lovely Turkish restaurant and we ate handsomely there. We saw some lovely churches, there was a wonderful market where Trigg and I bought some gifts. We even spent a nice little while in the park .

We even found time to have a flag picture by a lovely fountain.

The weirdest thing of the day was seeing Coatesy knock a local man off his bike.

Now some would say he punched the man, some would say he pushed him, some even would say that he attacked the man with a roundhouse kick, depends on what version of the story you believe. As we entered a palace/castle-like building through an archway, Nick and I were queueing for a toilet when all of a sudden we heard a collision, and as we turned we saw Coatesy helping up a poor cyclist from the floor.

Coatesy to this day claims his innocence. It is plain to see he wasn’t having a great day.

Before we headed back to the hotel we took a quick trip to the Dijon football ground. It is in closed season so we wasn’t allowed in but we did see one side of the ground having refurbishments of a new stand. We took a few snaps then headed back to the hotel for dinner. Oh and we saw someone up high in the tree urinating on the stadium, but that’s a story for another time.

Today was travelling day – where we made our way to Dijon which was our stop off before our last group game to St Etienne.

I woke up at 7am, mainly due to the fact I came home first. I hit my wall on our night out and I went to bed around midnight. But after my shower I awaited to hear how my teammates spent their night after I left.

They made friends with some locals, drank with them for a while. Trigg came home but Coatesy and Nick went to a nightclub, to which they initially got refused entry (mainly because they were British). Coatesy thought it was naff so he came home, but Nick was out till at least 4am.

Gee, I am boring.

When Nick woke he was still under the influence and sang to me “Appleyard!!!!! Appleyard!!!!!” When I saw him. Trigg however, was worse for wear.

“I hate life, I hate football, I hate France” was his opening statement. I think it’s fair today, today will be a sober one for all. A detox in Dijon!

The plan today: get a train from Lille to Paris then switch stations in the capital to get another train to Dijon at around 5pm. There was no need to rush as the first train arrived in Paris at 2:20pm. This gave us a couple of hours in Paris to get some overpriced tea/coffee before our two journey to south east France.

Also, on our journeys we had many cheese and ham baguettes, or “Jambon et fromage bagettes” as the French call it. Isn’t “Jambon” a better word for ham then “ham”?

No! Just us then.

Thank god for trains. Turns out if we had drove, it would’ve taken us four hours 23 minutes to 505km by car. I don’t fancy that.

We arrived in Dijon around 7:15pm, and we had to examine our options as the hotel was on the other side of the city. So we went to a bus stop but realised that there was a cab service nearby. I heroically offered to call the taxi service…

(After 10 mins of waiting on the phone I heard) “Bonjour”

“Bonjour …. Err…. I want taxi”

Okay yes, I panicked. My French hasn’t improved in the week or so that I have been in this country. Coatesy, Trigg and Nick robbed me about that for a while after that.

Anyway after making arrangements for a taxi, we waited for 45 minutes or so, till eventually we caved and got a tram.

I like trams.

It is my favourite mode of transport. It’s what London and Essex fails to have is a good tram service. I know there is one in Croydon but nothing too central. So I was a bit excited. And… It was only one euro 70 cents. Bargain!

On this journey around France we haven’t always eaten ‘properly’. Our diets have been regularly filled by the likes of bagettes, pasta, pizza and burgers. But on this night we had what Delboy would describe da “slap up meal”

As we watched the football, where we saw Austria and Portugal battle out a 0-0 draw, we had a three-course meal which was reasonably priced at 25 euros. I had mozzarella for starters, chicken for mains and cheesecake for desserts.

It made a nice change. We went to bed and we gee’d ourselves up for our walk around Dijon tomorrow.

After the heroics of the day before, mood was good in the camp.

I went to bed first last night, I have this thing of hitting the wall, and rather force myself to carry on, my thought process is “if I end my day here, I’ve had a good one”. This can sometimes be seen as a sign of weakness to some of my friends.

I woke up in need of orange juice so I head to the hostel bar where I could also obtain breakfast. BBC Radio Five Live team were still in the building and I was asked to do another interview about my views of yesterday’s game, and the proceedings around it. Twas good fun.

We had another day in Lille, so the plan was to have a mooch and go to the “Free Zoo”. Now, I was a little excited by the prospect of a zoo, but a free one as well! My word!

I didn’t get to go to the free zoo.

“Why?” Do you ask? Because it was raining. Not that a light drizzle would put me off, but it lashed it down. I said in a previously edition that it was like being in a different country from coming from the south to the north of France. The tropical conditions of Marseille and Montpellier then turned to what easily could’ve been mistaken for a rainy Tuesday evening in Barnsley at around January time.

So what does one do when the “Free Zoo” is not an option and mooching seems improbable? Well you simply find a bar!

I wouldn’t like to say we were “forced” into drinking on this day, but options became somewhat limited. The rain was so bad we even encountered a power cut in the restaurant where we had lunch.

We had one task to do and that was a Trigg booked twice at the same hostel (one booking each for both nights we were there) so we have to check in and check out.

Like the day before we had to put our luggage in cupboard until our rooms were ready. The receptionist (bless her) thought it was hilarious that we identified the “Luggage Room” as a cupboard. She was in stitches. She said “It’s funny because a cupboard is small”. We did raise an eyebrow each between us, but at least we were bringing some joy to the locals. Trigg who initiated the “cupboard” comment, left the hostel identifying himself as a “Walking, breathing – banter merchant”.

No, I have no idea what that is either…

The streets were empty, due to the rain being that bad.

As previously noted drinks are not cheap in France. Period. Most people have a system when buying drinks, such as a whip system or rounds. We do the latter. The failure of the rounds system, however is that sometimes one person could spend more than the other, it’s a game of chance.

Anyway once before we did round during an England away game in Ireland (dubbed by the media as the worst England game in history), I ended up buying a 28 euro round in Temple Bar, which was at least 8 euro higher than the next highest round. And because I moaned about it, my mates had been winding me up about it since.

So throughout our time in a bar where we spent most of our evening, they were warning me that the round was 32 euros (highly believable in Lille but it still was the most expensive round). So as far as I was concerned, Coatesy, Nick and Trigg all bought a round each.

I did wonder why we stayed so long in there, because surely we could find some place cheaper.

I walked up to the bar fully prepared to pay the 32 euros. And I took out my credit care (don’t do this, upon reflection it will cost you extra), and the lady behind the bar took it and used it with contactless – to which the limit was 30 euros).

Rather confused I gave a look with a raised eyebrow, she gave me the receipt and I gazed at it. And low and behold… 17 euros and 60 cents.

My mates are hilarious!

Sometimes.

“A last minute goal, can you imagine it?” – my words to Nick in 89th minute.

Game day number two – and as we all know, it was a huge improvement – as a spectacle for England fans and as a day experience for all.

The plan: Paris to Lille by train, check in at hostel, drop off bags, go to get train to Lens for the game!

Bad news first off, we had to wake up at 5:30am (thats 4:30am BST) to get our first train at Paris’ Gard Du Nord station. We talked the 1.5 miles from our hostel and got there in plenty of time for our 6:40am train. Not much time for sleep however as it was only 65 minutes to Lille.

Arrive at our hostel just after 8am, and strangely enough there was a radio crew to the right hand side of the entrance. It was none other than BBC Radio Five Live. After a small while we were asked to do some interviewing, which again I jumped the chance at after our previous appearance on Channel Five news. The others this time, were not too keen. Still that didn’t stop me.

We were first asked to sing a rendition of Three Lions (being a singer in a band, I was all up for singing on national radio – just didn’t imagine it being with a bunch of England fans singing Baddiel And Skinner). Then I was asked what our predictions were going to be. I said that “Gareth Bale was going to make Kyle Walker cry today”. How wrong was I?

Now prepping for Lens which was a 17 Euro train journey. One part of it was to be prepared for the drinking ban that was set in place, now the thought of starting 9am frightens me but that didn’t scare off Coatesy and Nick.

When we got to the station it wasn’t the best organised. No real guidance but we soon figured out that the queue going around the station wasn’t for tickets, it was for trains. The train was short and sweet – and we were for the game.

Now to kill some time before kick off. But what is there to do with a drinking ban….

Oh wait, it seems as though that was a myth – there was no drinking ban. As seen here in the picture above. We had a good few drink at this bar (which was basically someones back garden).

In a way it didn’t make any sense to have the game at Lens – it was in a small town which has less people in it than the stadium has seats. Still, we eagerly anticipated the game.

The English and Welsh showed solidarity after arguments from trouble making Russians (or so reports says – again we show no trouble), with chants such as “We’re England and Wales, we’re England and WALLLLLLEEEESSSS, **** off Russia, We’re England and Wales!” – not the best chant I’ve ever heard. Everyone was in good spirits. One man said to me that it reminded him of Notting Hill Carnival.

All in all – IT WAS EVERYTHING I DREAMED THESE GAMES WOULD BE!

I wont go too much into the game but we dominated the game, again Wales tactically were brilliant – especially in the first half. There was something in the seconds in the build up to the free kick by Bale which made its way to the back of the nets where I knew it was going to go in. I knew! In fact I believe I turned to Coatesy and said “****, this is going in”.

Half time was horrible – with the Welsh fans singing “England’s going home” – it looked like a possibility.

Still Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge came on and he made a different – not just because they both scored. Roy Hodgson went for it the second half, it’s exactly what we wanted.

The winning goal? I glad you asked. I was emotional, not going to lie. The place went mad. We hugged each other for a long, long time. Trigg got a bruise on the back of his leg (which he moaned about for days). At one point I thought Nick was going to fall of the railings to held on to him.

We sang “Please don’t take me home” for about 10 minutes after the game. It was the best moment I’ve ever witness at a football game.

We got food and drink after the game. Seven euros a pint again, but for once we didn’t care. It was worth it. Trigg foolishly said to a quite precarious looking male “Oi mate, thats my drink” (it wasn’t) after leaving it on the side in what he thought was a mix up. This guy had already taken the mick out of me because of my southern accent. Luckily he took it in good spirits and said sorry. To be honest – I thought he was a goner. Trigg soon claimed he didn’t like Lens too much… I wonder why.

The train station in Lens going back to Lille was a disaster. We went for a train at 8pm – there wasn’t one for another two hours or so. Thats a lot of waiting around – especially as bars were starting to shut. So we got an Uber cab.

If you’ve read the other articles in this series – Uber has become a regular occurrence. For all it’s bad press, it was our life saver on many occasions on this trip. We paid 59 Euros, which considering the distance was good enough for us. The only weird thing is that when we got to Lille he knew all the places to get the “women of the night”.

We politely declined and spent the rest of the night in the hostel bar.
A last minute goal, imagine that?

Today we went to the Catacombs.

Well most of us did, Nick decided he rather go to a racing track which was cool, he likes betting and he works in the industry – and no he is not a horse. Trigg, Coatesy and I however, decided to go to the Catacombs.

We queued for over an hour and half, it felt a long time. I think that’s what pushed Nick over the edge, he much rather of watched the horses. They did laugh at me because I wasn’t too sure about what the Catacombs was, and the fact I forgot it was called and couldn’t pronounce it…

Cataprawns? Catadawns? Capahippos? They had a good laugh.

I’m not going to bore you with the history of the Catacombs – but to put a long story short, its basically lots and lots of bones.

Bones?

Yes, bones. Made into some kind of “art?” If thats the best word for it. The whole thing is a good mile long down a tunnel. So imagine this, down a tunnel, lots of human bones around you, mainly skulls, not much light. Like I wasn’t freaked out but there is a moment of “Yeah… these were people once”.

As Trigg puts it… “I wouldn’t like to life down there.

We didn’t want to walk as much today compared to the 13 miles the day before, so we sat and watched all the football in nearby bars. Slovakia beat Russia 2-1 which delighted us, Romania and Switzerland drew 1-1, and we watched the France game in a bar whilst having dinner.

By this point Nick has rejoined us, returning from he races. It was Five Euros entry, and he was up Five euros on betting – so he broke even. Well kinda, according to him due to exchange rate he was actually up £2… don’t ask.

It was a pretty dull game, but as the tournament was going on there was a theme of late goals in the games. So when France scored two late goals the restaurant exploded with joy. It was one of my highlights of the journey so far, seeing a whole bar go absolutely mental because the host nation was winning. Even against Albania – who have been defending very, very well.

Two things about Paris before we leave tomorrow. 1) There is no different between restaurants, cafes, and bars. They’re all the same. Some even quadruple up into newsagents as well. 2) Nobody turns left or right. All the roads seem to one way systems. I can barely remember having to use the green cross code in Paris. Isn’t that weird?

We went to bed a reasonable time due to our 6:40am train to Lille in the morning. Across the evening however, we heard of more violence occurring between English and Russian fans as the earlier game too place in Lille.

I’m sure nothing to worry about again.

Day five: Sightseeing in Paris.
I had the worst night’s sleep.

I’ve never shied away from being on a top bunk in a hostel but on this particular occasion, we was not up against the wall, nor did it have an barriers around the sides, nor a step ladder. I have no fear of heights but I feared for my safety.

So I moved the mattress onto the floor waking Trigg up in the process where a couple of times he moaned “What are you doing?”, I apologise sincerely for waking him up, but I just couldn’t stay up there.

I then declared, “I’m not drinking today”.

Will I keep to it? We’ll see.

Today we did a lot of walking. I mean we worked it out we did a good 10 miles at least, probably half a marathon if we’re honest – but its a good excuse to walk off the booze. Paris is a big city, but I didn’t expect us to do that much. We went 150 minutes without stopping until we got to the Eiffel Tower, to which we were going to climb the top and take pictures of some shots of Paris.

Wrong! The Eiffel Tower was closed due to strikes. Which brings us onto another issue. I mentioned earlier about the strikes. We were teargassed (kinda) in Marseille due to the trouble behind us when they were walking. But it must of been a good way back, but tear gassed travels! Trigg and Coatesy caught the end of it in Marseille luckily I avoided it, but they said the effects carries on for a few days.

In Paris they were having demonstrations due to the transport strikes, French police brought out the teargas (which becomes a regular thing it seems) to calm the situation down. As we were walking down the River Seine, it travelled and I got a whiff of it. Let me tell you, it is not nice! It goes up your nose and makes your eyes water and makes them sting. Now I got hit from a good half-a-kilometre away from the demonstrations where the teargas was released – imagine if we were closer.

I was coughing for days after that and it affected my sleep.

We got our third picture done with the flag with the view of the Eiffel Tower in the background. Arguably our best one to date.

On our journeys round we also saw the Arch De Triomphe, which is weirdly situated on a roundabout – not just any roundabout but possible the most lethal roundabout in the world. Thank god for underground passages or it would’ve inevitably have made us road kill. We queued up for a good 20 minutes to the box office to buy our tickets. But wait? Whats this? If you’re 25 year old or younger coming from a country in the EU you get free entry? RESULT!

So we wandered in, and my good self carrying a bag with the flag in, obviously we got checked of our possessions, and I was refused entry due to the flag. I said I wouldn’t take it out the bag but he wasn’t having any of it. Anyway, he did say he would take care of the flag while I go up. Okay thats fine – so I handed him the flag.

He put it in the nearby bin.

“WOAH, WOAH WAIT A SECOND MISTER! Someone has gone out of their way to make us this flag, and its cost us money” (blatant lie – it didn’t cost us a penny, I just wanted to make a point). Anyway I was fuming, what about if I put his country’s flag in a bin?

I sat outside and waited for Nick, Trigg and Coatesy to come down. They wasn’t long but I didn’t want to go up in the end, probably out of protest. I wasn’t that bothered.

Still, my perspective of Paris has changed. The scenery is beautiful, the tourist attractions are great and we were having a great time despite a few minor things.

Okay, okay, we starting drinking. What a shock! We went on the wine because beer is too expensive. It went from a healthy day of walking to drinking cheap box wine in a french bar.

Two things about this bar:

The first is that the French box red wine was horrible. My god it was disgusting. We had four bottles of it. Why? Well after spending 32 Euros on a round the previous day – you’ll take anything. We went for a fifth but luckily the bar closed.

The second thing is that not long after we entered the bar, the lights went down a hoard of people came into the bar. A projector came on and showed a film. Now I had no idea what this film was about as it was in French, but it was so weird. It must’ve been a student thing. Trigg classed it as “The most French thing I have ever seen in my life”. Cool thing though to see happen. It only last five minutes or so, the room was empty not long after it finished however.

We got an Uber cab back to the hostel. Trigg decided it was a funny idea to fake putting the room key down a drain… He wasn’t in charge of the key for much longer after that. And we went to bed for the greater good.

After two hotels in three nights it was worth setting up camp for a few days.

There was a five day gap between the Russia and Wales games, so before we hit Lens on the 16th we made the three and half hour train journey to Paris from Montpellier, and began our three night accommodation in a nice hostel.

Before leaving Monpellier we had our second flag picture. In a park, we ask an old man to take the picture and he put his thumb across, but its was the best one out of the three he took. Never mind! Here it is.

The train was delayed for two hours due to strikes – which was something to be wary of in the lead up to the tournament. The others slept for most of the journey on the train, unfortunately I cant do such a thing, so I spent my time on the iPad playing football manager. It certainly passed the time.

Upon arrive we walked to our hostel, it was mid-afternoon and to put it bluntly, I didn’t enjoy my first impressions of Paris. I witnessed a young boy running down the road his mother chasing him, nearly getting run over from an oncoming car. Luckily, tragedy avoided. But it almost felt that we were walking through a ghetto. Just people hanging about on a Monday afternoon, smoking, certain people drinking on corners. As I dragged my case through, I didn’t feel particularly comfortable.

We reached the hostel and checked in, paid our outstanding fees and put the stuff in our room – which we had to ourselves. Then we headed to a nearby bar for a beer and burger round the corner in the Clichy region.

Now – Paris prices. Yikes! £8 a pint. I’m going let you that sink in for a second…

Disgusting right?

Okay there is no such thing a cheap pint in France, but Marseille and Montpellier both had what I regarded as ‘London prices’, but you’re looking at just under £7 a beer.

It wasn’t soon until we converted to wine which turns our cheaper.

We did have a bit of moment in a bar where a drunk man who spoke little English came over and spoke to us, he was passed the point of “Mate, you’ve drank enough – we are not serving you anymore” but he seemed like a regular who was friendly with the manager. He kept trying to give us drink and I even made the excuse of going to the toilet to avoid more awkward moments, like you know, putting his face up in my personal space.

He eventually moved to the next table and started stealing their food.

A bad start in Paris for yours truly. Still the night was young.

We did some sightseeing, saw the Paris Eye (if thats what its called) and saw a few monuments under the night sky. The weather was considerably colder than the sunny south. It was like you’re were in a different country compared to earlier in the day. Finished the night with a few more bars before taking an Uber cab back to the hostel. More on them later in the series.

In between games we made a plan to go to stop points visit a couple of cities to see a bit more of France whilst we’re there.

So our second stop off was Montpellier on the south coast. A mere 90 minutes train ride from Marseille. How much did it cost us? Seven of your English sterling pounds. £7! Can you image a 90 minutes train journey anywhere in UK for £7? Ridiculously cheap.

But whilst at the station in Marseille, we made our first ‘flag picture’. We got a flag made as a favour for free and the plan was that we would get a group photo in every city we went to with us holding it.

You may be asking about the “Alright Pal?” reference, and to be honest I’m not the best person to ask. However, it made a few people laugh and it caught the eye of a nearby television camera crew. After a small while waiting for our train, the journalist and his camera crew came over and asked us for an interview. He was from Channel Five and asked us all a few questions, which delighted me, Nick was okay with it, but for the others maybe wasn’t their cup of tea.

The journalist asked if the “Alright Pal” reference was a social media fad, to which we denied (maybe with a hope it may become one after the interview). It was fun but I felt as though he tried to trip us up to say some controversial about Marseille and the game. Perhaps to say “it was horrible, we saw some horrific things”. We said we didn’t see anything, we had a great time, but looking forward to elsewhere. Albeit we were not overly enthusiastic about Marseille, it certainly was a great experience.

Anyway onto Montpellier we arrived early afternoon, checked into our hotel and went for a walk around. On arrival at our hotel for the night, the manager was very helpful supplying us a map, the WIFI code and a couple of bottles of free water, which was a nice gesture.

We went for food at an Italian restaurant nearby (Italian cuisine was a common thing in the first few days of the journey), then went to a few bars in the centre.

It was great, I loved my 24 hours in Montpellier. No football fans, very clean city, great scenes, and very hot weather to compliment it. If anything I felt as though the rest of the journey would be hard to compete, despite the fact we still had to go to Paris, Lille, Lens, Dijon, Lyon and St Etienne in the group phases.

We ended up settling in a bar where we had some dinner and settled to watch two games of football. First we saw Poland beat Northern Ireland and The Germans ease past Ukraine. I was advised by a family member that if you stayed in a bar long enough, eventually they will give you free drinks. Which this little bar did, much to our delight.

Once the football was over we went to another small bar in a side-street where there was music playing. It wasn’t long until the locals played some popular English music because of our attendance, including “Free From Desire” – to which the Will Griggs’ version got sung. They even played some French pop music too which the locals sang and drank.

The side-street bar was nice, it wasn’t that busy and we had a say in the playlist. Up steps Trigg, who I think has a great taste in music. He strides up to the laptop which was playing the music and says “I’m going to put some Gary Rafferty”. Whose Gary Rafferty you ask? I think he meant Gerry. Throws on some Baker Street.

What a tune! However, is it suitable for a night out with some Montpellier locals who want a dance? No! The bar went dead for the duration. People walked outside or went straight to the bar. Not his smartest move.

The day drew to a close, on the empty streets of Montpellier. The rest of the guys pretended they were wrestlers. Despite being 25, there is always a child deep inside your soul. Wrestling wasn’t for me however. What’s a ‘Stone cold stunner’ anyway?

A beautiful sunny day in South France.

We spent the remainder of the night before at a Italian restaurant which was a five minute walk from the hotel. Coatesy ordered this meaty pizza which the rest of us were jealous of. Each pizza was named after each of the 1998 World Cup winning French side, and I’m afraid that Christoph Duggary’s one just didn’t cut it for me.

The plan for today was simple, we checked out the harbour (where all the trouble was alleged to be occurring) early so we don’t get caught up in any problems, we strolled around Marseille, grabbed a few beers and headed for the game later that evening. We achieved it without any fuss.

There were lots of nice squares in the centre of Marseille, full of bars and restaurants, even the port/harbour was a lovely walk this morning. Despite what people may say about the events surrounding the match, Marseille certain had some great spots and we had a great time.

The thing that I found people didn’t realise about the violence from the two previous nights was that we wasn’t going into a tinpot town, we were going to a city to play our opening game. Let me put it this way, if something kicked off at Wembley tube station, would anyone be directly affected if they were in Upminster? No, of course not. So we were aware of the “troubled” areas. So we just stayed away. It’s that easy.

I don’t want to pass blame onto anyone for whatever happened, I couldn’t comment, I wasn’t there and did not witnessed any violence. From an outsiders perspective, I wouldn’t be surprised if the French police weren’t partly to blame, along with the locals of Marseille and some sections of the fans. Our trek to the stadium is where I formed this opinion.

After a good day of eating and drinking we ended up on the long road to the stadium where we met one of Trigg’s friends for a quick beer before we walked in. The atmosphere was great walking up the long road, lots of singing “Don’t take me home” amongst other chants and it seemed the mood was positive. We reached the outside of the Velodrome (which by the way – is a fantastic stadium, a thing of modern beauty in football), and it wasn’t clear where to go. We approached to go in the left side and found that there was no entrance – but did witness a small number of fans jumping the fences but to no avail.

There was only one entrance into the Velodrome, which I guess if you were a Marseille regular or had been to the ground before – you would know this. Once we found it and made our way in – the checks were not what I would regard as sufficient. I was searched, and asked about my glasses case but let through easily enough, but it was carnage, I was not surprised when explosives and flares got into the ground in the Russian end, more on that later.

Don’t get me wrong at no point in the time or at any stage of the tournament up to the point in writing was there a time where I felt unsafe, but given the high intensity of terrorist alerts from different sources regarding the tournament – I’d like to of thought there could’ve been more to prevent something as simple as a flare or explosives getting into the ground.

There was a realisation of “Oh my gosh we’re actually here” when we were walking up the steps to our seat. Perfect timing when we got our first glimpse of the turf we heard the song “Three Lions” was blaring out in the speakers. A tingle went through me and the buzz of exciting I’ve had since arriving in Marseille came and I sang “It’s coming home” at the top of my lungs. Even Trigg who announced “I refuse to sing Three Lions until the semi finals if we get that far” – went totally against his word and got his voice working.

The game itself was a little – meh. A pattern which continued to the next two group games, where England had lots of possession of the ball but found no cutting edge.

Half time was brilliant, the DJ who was playing the music obviously was keeping up to date with British football, as they played “Free From desire”, to which 85% of the ground were singing the Will Griggs version. It was really good fun.

The best part however was the goal itself.

Not in a million years would I ever expect Eric Jeremy Edgar Dier to score a free kick. It was a little unexpected. Still, the place went potty. The four of us hugged each other, pandemonium ensued. Even the random guy in the next seat along and I embraced. It was a great moment and something I will never forget.

Like all England fans however, I am used to disappointments. The last minute goal was against the run of play and shamefully conceded by the England defence. We should’ve seen that game out, and we didn’t.

Seconds earlier we did hear a bang in the ground (which I believe some people mistook it as a terrorist attack in the ground when hearing it on the telly), after looking around nothing was to be seen. We were led to believe that this was the signal for the Russian fans to attack, questionable whether that is true or not, we did see a bunch of England supporters run away from the opposition faithful soon after the goal. The pictures of the attack can be seen all over the internet, one image that stuck with me was the one with the gentleman holding his son protecting him the from the violence – asking to be left alone.

We left the ground without any problems – walked out, turned left and headed back to our hotel which was 5 kilometres away. On the way back, Coatesy and myself were bombarded by messages of asking reassurance from girlfriends, family members and mates who wanted to know were we okay due to the issues outside the ground. There were reports of clashes between English and Russian supporters outside the Velodrome. I’m pleased to say that we saw none of this. We got home and went straight to bed.

Despite the reported trouble and the result of the game, I had a great day. The Dier goal was something to treasure, and we were to leave Marseille in the morning unscathed.

It started as an idea in 2012.

A conversation down the pub with a few friends dreaming of going to see England in an international tournament. As a 21 year old lifelong football fan, I was totally game! Who wouldn’t want to go to a distant land and support the mighty England compete in a major tournament with the hope in your heart that they’ll come home with the trophy at the end?

Although I am always the optimist, I am also a realist, and the original idea was the World Cup in Brazil 2014 I felt was a little farfetched, and certainly wasn’t possible in my eyes. But France 2016? Yes absolutely.

I belatedly got my England membership, so I had to play catch up with my friends, Coatesy, and Trigg, who had gone to many games already and accumulated many “caps” which are required to apply for tickets for matches at major tournaments. Along the way we have seen some great games (Away to Scotland 3-1 at Celtic Park was a standout), and some major drosses (A midweek painful viewing of a 1-0 win against Norway, a converted Wayne Rooney penalty was the difference).

It’s come down to this, over the last four years we’ve gone to so many England games that we are able to get tickets for all three group games and the four conditional games in the knockout phases, depending on how far we get.

First up, Marseille. So Trigg, Coatesy and I got up early and luckily transported to Stansted Airport (Thanks Sammy) where we met Trigg’s uni friend, Nick, we then flew to the south of France and got going on our tour of France.

Oh yeah, it turns out that airlines are clever and bump up prices for major tournaments such as the European Championships. A bit priced out of a direct flight to Marseille, we first went to Rome Ciampino, then got a taxi from there to Rome’s main airport, Fiumicino.

Now it sounds hectic enough, but let me ask you a question. Have you ever been in a taxi that goes 20 KM/H over the speed limit at all times, go from overtaking someone in the outside lane by using the hard shoulder to cross over three lanes to get back to top speed? No? Well we have. The funniest part was the fact he had the audacity to moan at other driver who was sticking to the speed limit, then looking at yours truly to concur with him.

How much did we save by doing this crazy act, you ask? a mere £70 each! Totally worth it.

Okay, so eventually we would have to get onto the subject of the trouble which was widely reported in the press. Yes, it happened, its all there on the internet for you to see. I had messages from a schoolfriend who was also out for the Russia game in Marseille,about the trouble he said “Don’t go down dodgy streets”, and even claimed he had a knife pulled on him by a local on his first night there. My friend kept messaging me reporting when things were “kicking off”, especially on the Thursday night prior to us arriving. So its fair to say although I wasn’t afraid – I was apprehensive. More on this later.

We arrived in Marseille around 7pm local time and as we arrived, there was hoards of cars full of Turkish fans waving their flag, leaning outside their cars, cheering and beeping their horns. It was good to see them enjoying themselves. We got a bus into centre of Marseille and the roads were busy. I was thrilled by what I originally saw of Marseille, it seemed a bit run-down, nothing much to look at. However, once we got to the centre it was a bit more promising.

It took a while to find a taxi – the streets were so full of cars it was difficult to pick one out. Eventually we succeeded, but it wasn’t until we got to the hotel where I was made to look like a fool.

We walked through the door of the hotel with the hotel manager looking a little perplexed the fact we arrived. I said the booking was in the name of Appleyard to which he looked through his papers. Around 90 seconds later he asked for my confirmation. His English wasn’t perfect and after a slight gaze at my paperwork he simply said the word “Non!”.

He pointed out to me that I had booked the wrong day, and wasn’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow.

After a few minutes later we realised we booked the flights after the rooms and didn’t clock they didn’t match. We negotiated a room for the night and then cancelled the one for Sunday. At a cost of around 135 Euros extra between the four of us.

I’m lucky Trigg, Coatesy and Nick took it in good heart.

Well this is it… for a few weeks anyway – I am off to the European Championships tomorrow.

So lets play some music before we go, yeah? I mean who can beat this combination?

1. Radiohead – Just
2. Miles Kane – Inhaler
3. Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
4. The Vaccines – Blow It Up
5. Palma Violets – Rattlesnake Highway
6. Vellocet -Better Days
7. Adam Sinclair – Passenger
8. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
9. Matt Cross – Don’t Leave So Soon
10. The Extons – Make Fun Of It
11. Wolf Alice – Bros
12. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
13. Reverend And the Makers – Mr Glassalfempty
14. The Velvet Tree – Shade
15. Ryan Adams – Style
16. Courtney Barnett – Nobody Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party.
17. Climb The Attic – Got Any Change
18. Castaway – Life Of The Lose
19. Fall Out Boy – A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Bit More Touch Me
20. Alt-J – Left Hand Free
21. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
22. Bring Me The Horizon – True Friends
23. Editors – The Racing Rats
24. Paul Weller – Find The Torch, Burn The Plans
25. Fidlar – Drone
26. Two Door Cinema Club – Come Back Home
27. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
28. Tall Dark Friend – Hang With The Happiness
29. Let’s Be Strange – Party Political Broadcast
30. Mumford and Sons – The Wolf
31. Catfish And The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
32. Vampire Weekend – A Punk
33. Marmaduke Duke – Rubber Lover
34. Blur – Song 2
35. The 1975 – The Sound
36. Calvin Harris Feat. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love

COME ON ENGLAND!

Every now and then I get to a stage with my playlist and start again. I do not know whether its just to avoid playing the same songs or something but it’s always good to have a shake up.

So in my signed music folder (I have one for acts I’m a fan of and another for acts I’ve either played with whilst being in a band) I am going to add 10 new songs a week. You know, to keep it fresh.

So as I had no guests on this week, I had enough time to play most of my catalogue, and also recap on the bands that have come on my show this year on 50 Shades of Chay.

1. Frank Turner – We Shall Not Overcome
2. The Enemy – Gimme The Sign
3. Bring Me The Horizon – True Friends
4. Mad Winter – Let Me Know
5. Fidlar – Drone
6. Jake Bugg – Two Fingers
7. The Black Keys – In Time
8. Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out
9. Dolly Mavies – The Weight Of You
10. The 1975 – Loving Someone
11. Cameron Davidson – Invented
12. Arctic Monkeys – Snap Out Of It
13. Mumford And Sons – The Wolf
14. Blink 182 – Bored To Death
15. Wax Colour – IDK
16. The Cribs – Hey Scenesters
17. Kaiser Chiefs – Oh My God
18. Alt-J – Left Hand Free
19. Different People – Over Your Shadow
20. We Are Scientists – Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt
21. Bloc Party – Helicopter
22. David Bowie – Starman
23. Art Block – Don’t Call My Name
24. Courtney Barnett – Nobody Cares If You Go To The Party
25. Circa Waves – Talking Out Loud
26. Vampire Weekend – A Punk
27. Queens Of The Stone Age – The Lost Art To Keeping A Secret
28. Indigo – Pins And Needles
29. Paramore – My Heart
30. General Fiasco – Sinking Ships
31. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
32. Elbow – The Take Off And Landing Of Everything.

Upbeat, driven and hugely exciting- Castaway have quickly established themselves as a promising Indie rock band within the Essex music scene.

Started by Singer/Songwriter Matt Buckle, the band has been relentless since early 2015 and taken their guitar heavy sound through Essex and beyond.

With influences such as The Who, Oasis, Green Day and Nirvana- their back to basics approach is a refreshing homage to their heroes.

Hello all!

This week I had the last of my long stint of bands coming into my show. I now have nothing else booked until after I come back from the European Championships to watch England.

I had Castaway who came from Colchester who came on the show, played some songs, had a chat, and participated in the quiz. The band’s bio and live videos will be uploaded sometime in the near future. But here is the songs that were played on the show, with the songs played live by the band on the show in bold…

1. Disorder Kid – We Just Go
2. Arctic Monkeys – Snap Out Of It
3. Queens Of The Stone Age – The Lost Art To Keeping A Secret
4. Bring Me The Horizon – True Friends
5. Bloc Party – Helicopter
Be Someone
6. Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out
7. David Bowie – Starman
Come Alive
8. Wolf Alice – Bros
9. Climb The Attic – I Know
Home
10. Darren Jones – Pretending To Be Kings
11. Temper Trap – Fall Together
12. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Zephyr Song
13. The 1975 – Loving Someone
Only Get Better
14. Fall Out Boy – A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch *Touch Me*
15. Paramore – My Heart
16. General Fiasco – Sinking Ships

You can hear the full show here…

The band also participated in the quiz, in which they accumulated 10.5 points.

The scoreboard goes as this…
Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Castaway – 10.5
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Climb the Attic are a four piece alternative rock band.

Based out of west London, we have been recording our first EP and booking gigs around the capital throughout the last few months.

So far we have played at venues such as; The Magic Roundabout(Old Street), New Cross Inn and The Water Rats in Kings Cross. We currently have our first single out on soundcloud ( soundcloud.com/climbtheattic ) and hope to release the Ep on all social networks by the end of may. Taking influence from 90s hard rock, punk and grunge we have a unique sound mixing elements from The Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Greenday and Queens of the Stone Age.

We are looking to continue to book more shows throughout the year and want to play as many different venues as possible by the time the EP is released.

The band is made up of vocals, two electric guitars, bass and drums aged between 19-22 with the view of building a larger fan base and getting a foothold within the music industry as professional artists.

Please contact me with any opportunities that may suite our style as we are now looking for bookings.

This week I had Climb The Attic from London come on the show and play some songs, told us about their upcoming EP and they participated in a quiz.

The videos from their performances will be up very soon, but you can listen to the full show below and here is a list of songs played on the show with Climb The Attic’s live performances in bold…

1. Wolf Alice – Bros
2. Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
3. The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
4. Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life
5. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
I Know
6. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
7. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
Mistaken
Doss House
8. Alabama Shakes – Hold On
9. SoSlam – Chris Hobart
10. Stephen Rudd – Into Your Heart
11. Mumfords and Sons – The Wolf
Got Any Change
12. We Are Scientists – Nobody Moves, Nobody Get Hurts
13. The Young Knives – I Can Hardly See Them
14. Vellocet – Better Days
15. Snow Patrol – You’re All That I Have
Incomplete
Great Place To Hide
16. Castaway – In And Out Of Time

The band also participated in 50 Grades Smarter, my weekly quiz for the artists who come on my show. Despite the awkward start where the band were the first ever to get negative points, then answered the question “Finish the famous song by Lou Bega, ‘Mambo No…’?”. To which the lead singer answered… “7”. They clawed their way back to get a respectable six points.

The scoreboard goes as this…
Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Climb The Attic – 6
Forever and Out – 5

The Velvet Tree is a dynamic acoustic/rock band from Essex exclusively performing original material to appreciative audiences all over.

Comprised of Neil Raymond (bass), Joe Reid (drums), Marc Howson (vocals & guitar) and Tarek Papworth (vocals, guitar, Harmonica), The Velvet Tree focuses on compelling rhythms and melodies in their music, attempting to lead the listener on unexpected lyrical journeys and leaving them with a story to consider.

In 2013 the band signed a deal with Soundz Studios in Southend on Sea to produce an album, “Pockets Full Of Rain” – following the success of that project they are collaborating once again on a follow up album, “Everything Is Everywhere #SoWhyBother” which is due for release in the summer of 2016….

This week on 50 Shades of Chay I had my friends, Velvet Tree on the show. Charming guests which played at The Alex in Southend on the 1st May with my band, Finding Miranda.

You can hear the full show below, but here is the full list of songs played on the show, with the live performances by Velvet Tree in full…

1. Biffy Clyro – Black Chandelier
2. Bombay Bicycle Club – Evening/Morning
3. Queens Of The Stone Age – The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
4. Disorder Kid – We Just Go
5. Domino Collective – Not Worth It
S.O.S
6. Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life
7. Editors – The Racing Rats
Shades
Petricor
8. Mumford and Sons – The Wolf
9. The Extons – Grown Up
10. Courtney Barnett – Nobody Cares If You Go To The Party
11. MGMT – Kids
12. Blink 182 – I Miss You
13. Ren Stedman – Break
Pockets Full Of Rain
Falling Back On You
14. Cameron Davidson – Sundown and Hurricanes
15. Ciara Waves – Talking Out Loud

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Velvet Tree – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Let me tell you a bit about our band Imaginary Dreamers.

The band is Kevin on vocals and guitar, Valentin on bass and Dana on drums.

We’ve been going till 2013 and playing lotsa gigs, recording every chance we get.
We play melodic guitar based rock/pop with a unique original edge/sound/style.

Matt Cross is a 21 year old singer/songwriter from Grays, Essex.

Matt describes his sound as indie, rocknroll, mixed in with a bit of blues. His main influences come from the 60’s and 70’s British bands such as the Stones, Beatles, Kinks and T.Rex, but also drawing from songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Noel Gallagher and Alex Turner.

Matt only picked up the guitar around a year and a half ago and have been writing songs for about 7 months. He have posted a few demo’s onto Soundcloud for that same length of time, the first song posted was the first song he ever wrote.

Currently in my final year (final weeks) of university where I’m studying Economics. Once he finish the degree he looking at releasing my debut EP within 2 months of finishing, whilst gigging to hopefully build up some momentum before the release.

Back to the guests this week and I had Imaginary Dreams on for a session.

You can hear the full show below, but here are the songs played on the show, including the songs Imaginary Dreams played live in bold…

1. Editors -An End Has A Start
2. Future Islands – Waiting On You
3. Them Crooked Vulture – Dead End Friends
4. Wolf Alice – Giant Peach
5. Maximo Park – Our Velocity
6. Slaves – Cheer Up London
Beyond Starlight
7. New Order – Singularity
8. Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool
Inside/Outside
9. Beatles – Drive My Car
10. Black Lips – Dawn Of The Age Of Time
Changealing
11. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
12. Don Broco – Yeah Man
13. Fightstar – Mercury Summer
14. Dananananakroyd – Think And Feel
Tradgedy
15. John Paul Elliot – Nothing But Love
16. Disorder Kid – Everyone Knows The High Chick
17. The Velvet Tree – The Ballad Of Frank Magnum

The band picked a LEVEL THREE Beatles quiz and scored an impressive seven out of 15. Here is the scoreboard…

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Imaginary Dreamers – 7
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Due to a unfortunate cancellation, I was on my own this week. Doesn’t mean the music doesn’t stop!

Here is the playlist!

1. MGMT – Electric Feel
2. Shed Seven – Getting Better
3. The Stone Roses – She Bangs The Drums
4. The Subways – Oh Yeah
5. Wolf Alice – Your Loves Whore
6. Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
7. Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know
8. The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
9. Palma Violets – Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach
10. Foals – Balloons
11. The 1975 – Settle Down
12. Finding Miranda – Karaoke Singers
13. Velvet Tree – Celebrity
14. Florence + The Machine – Queen Of Peace
15. The Kooks – Ooh La
16. Paramore – Where The Lines Overlap
17. Biffy Clyro – Whose Got A Match
18. The Cribs – Mirror Kisses
19. Peace – Lovesick
20. The Libertines – The Boy Looked At Johnny
21. Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang
22. The Young Knives – Light Switch
23. Nicola Collis – SoSlam Song
24. Rae Morris – Love Again
25. Matt Cross – Let You Down
26. The Black Keys – Tighten Up
27. Reverend And The Makers – Mr Glassalfempty
28. Paul Weller – No Tears To Cry
29. Amy Sergeant – Racing The Tide
30. General Fiasco – Waves
31. The Enemy – Our Time
32. Grouplove – Love Will Save Your Soul
33. Blink 182 – Not Now
34. Bat For Lashes – Laura

Join me on the 5th May where I will have Imaginary Dreamers in the studio with me.

Till then peeps…

And now I’m back on my Thursday slot after covering Sunday. This week I had new singer/songwriter Matt Cross, from Grays who has had success by getting thousands of plays on his Soundcloud from songs he has recorded in his house.

You can hear the full show below. But here are the songs played on my show with Matt’s songs played live on the show in bold.

1. Bombay Bicycle Club – How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep
2. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
3. The Beatles – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Them Crooked Vultures – Dead End Friends
5. Courtney Barnett – Aqua Profunda
6. The 1975 – The Sound
Dedicated Medicated Fool
7. T Rex – 20th Century Boy
8. The Kinks – All The Day And All Of The Night
9. The Clash – I Fought The Law
Wheels Stops Turning
10. The Cribs – Mirror Kisses
11. Peace – Lovesick
12. Alt J – Every Other Freckle
13. Black Keys – Tighten Up
14. Kings Of Leon – Pyro
15. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – You Know We Can’t Go Back
Let You Down
16. Manic Street Preachers – Australia
17. The Editors – An End Has A Start
18. The Stone Roses – This Is The One
19. Mad Winter – On My Mind
Shadow Of A Man
20. Tall Dark Friend – Didn’t You Know
21. Bow Flats – I Know What I Know

Matt Cross also participated in my quiz show, 50 Grades Smarter! He is now leading after doing a Rolling Stones quiz. Scoring an impressive 14 out of 15! The scoreboard is as follows…

Matt Cross – 14
Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

As I missed Thursday due to my holiday in sunny Wales. I thought it would be nice to cover a show on Sunday. Just to kick back, play some tunes, and cram as many songs in as humanly possible.

So here is the playlist this week…

1. Dananananakroyd – Reboot
2. Foo Fighters – Rope
3. Don Broco – Superlove
4. Last Shadow Puppets – Separate And Ever Deadly
5. Slaves – Sockets
6. Two Door Cinema Club – I Can Talk
7. Arthur Warwin – Hard To Love
8. The Vaccines – If You Wanna
9. Peace – Wraith
10. Pigeon Detectives – I Found Out
11. Disorder Kid – Everybody Knows The High Chick
12. The Las – Feelin’
13. Sum41 – Never Waking Up
14. Elastica – Vaseline
15. Free Recovery – Our Summer Is Dead
16. Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool
17. The Jam – Start
18. The Kooks – Eddie’s Gun
19. Matt Cross – Don’t Leave So Soon
20. De La Soul – A Little Bit Of Soap
21. Miles Kane – Come Closer
22. Circa Waves – Get Away
23. Blur – Bank Holiday
24. Indigo – Take On The World
25. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Mexican
26. Paolo Nutini – Bus Talk (Interlude)
27. Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full Of Lead
28. Stephen Rudd – Into Your Heart
29. The 1975 – She’s American
30. The Enemy – Our Time
31. Velvet Tree – My Love
32. Buddy Holly – Rave On
33. Beatles – Drive My Car
34. Courtney Barnett – Aqua Profunda
35. Arctic Monkeys – R U Mine?
36. Bring Me The Horizon – Throne
37. Pulled Apart By Horses – Outahead
38. Amy Sergeant – Bite The Bullet
39. Dolly Mavies – The Weight Of You
40. Stornoway – Love Song Of The Beta Male

40 Great songs here. Wanna hear more? Listen to 50 Shades Of Chay on Thursdays at 8pm.

The Extons are a four piece Alt-Indie rock band formed in May 2015 and originate from King’s Lynn.

They soon gained attention from BBC Introducing after uploading their first demos ‘Grown Ups’ and ‘Make Fun Of It’ in the Autumn.

Huw Stephens has broadcast the band on BBC Radio 1 and they have had continuous airplay from their local BBC Introducing show.”

Vellocet emerged in the alt-rock scene in Brighton who’s sound blurs the line between the likes of Gaslight Anthem and Hozier.

The sound takes on dynamic songwriting with heavy melodic Lines, energetic performances, and engaging the audience breaking down the fourth wall.

This week Kings Lynn natives, The Extons joined me in the studio. You can hear the full show below.

The band profile and video will be posted in a forthcoming post. Here is the playlist of the show with the band live performances in bold…

1. Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls
2. The Vaccines – If You Wanna
3. The La’s – I Can’t Sleep
4. Wolf Alice – Giant Peach
5. Palma Violets – Step Up For The Cool Cats
Infactuated
6. The Last Shadow Puppets – Separate and Ever Deadly
7. Jake Bugg – Seen It All
8. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
Balaclava
9. Slaves – Live Like An Animal
10. The Strokes – Last Nite
11. Rolling Stones – Jumping Jack Flash
12. Indigo – Upside Down
Seventeen
13. Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out
14. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
15. The Cure – Friday I’m In Love
16. Arcade Fire – Rebellion
17. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
18. The Extons – Grown Up
Be A Nobody
19. Chas And Dave – Rabbit
20. Harry Cash And The Loose Change – Flaming Room
21. The Enemy – Don’t Let Nothing Get In The Way

The band also participated in 50 Grades Smarter which is the weekly quiz, to test the artist’s knowledge and not just their musical abilities. They scored an above average of nine points. Here is the scoreboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
The Extons – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

This week on 50 Shades of Chay. I have Brighton based quartet, Vellocet join me in the studio. The band have been working hard recently with music videos, writing an album worths of material, and coming on my show – of course.

You listen to the full show below underneath all songs played on the show – with the band’s songs they performed live in bold…

1. Catfish And The Battlement – Soundcheck
2. The Vaccines – 20/20
3. The 1975 – She’s American
4. The War On Drugs – Red Eyes
5. Squeeze – Up The Junction
Build Me
6. New Order – Singularity
7. The Young Knives – Light Switch
Mad Love
8. Paul Weller – Push It Along
9. Noel Gallagher’s Hight Flying Birds – The Mexican
10. Maccabees – Love You Better
Better Days
11. Pulled Apart By Horses – V.E.N.O.M
12. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
13. SoSlam – Si Brandon
14. Amy Sergeant – Racing The Tide
15. Climb The Attic – Doss House

Vellocet participated in 50 Grades Smarter – my weekly quiz show for artists who come on my show. They scored a mid-table eight points. Better luck next time lads. Here is the scoreboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Vellocet – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

This is from Aether Enterprises…

“Island City is to release their debut self-titled EP on 29th April 2016 under Aether Records, with a South Coast Tour in May-June 2016.

The EP is an introduction to the band and the message they stand for; Find your passion & share it with the world.

Supporting aspiring musicians is a big part of the Island City ethos, which is why the debut EP will host some great session musicians from the boys local areas, creating a community of performers.

This concept of community is important to the band, without music the world would be a very dull place, Island City dedicate portions of their time to causes that help aspiring musicians & the community.

Drawing on influences from Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Amy Winehouse & Doves – Island City composes hard-hitting, emotive hooks delivered with powerful, soulful vocals that will make you forget you are listening to a working class London boy.

Each track on the debut EP will speak to you directly, as the lyrics tells the age old story of love & self-development with a modern perspective.

Combining dirty Hip-hop inspired drum patterns, with progressive piano accompaniment, held together with grooving bass & sealed with funky guitar riffs, Island City sets itself apart from all others.”

Here are videos of their performances

This week on my show I had Island City from Leigh-On-Sea on the show.

The guys have an EP on release on 29th April, with a gig on the same night to celebrate it’s release.

Here are the songs played on the show with the songs played live in bold…

1. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – By The Way
2. Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
3. Eagles Of Death Metal – I Only Want You
4. Stone Roses – I Am The Resurrection
5. Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows
6. Biffy Clyro – Who’s Got A Match
Hidden Little Island
7. The Vaccines – Dream Lover
8. Palma Violets – English Tongue
9. Everything Everything – Regret
10. Circa Waves – My Love
Lately
11. The 1975 – The Sound
12. Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle
13. Velvet Tree – My Love
14. Vellocet – Better Days
15. Indigo – Take On The World
Showtime
16) Matt Tubey – Prison Van

You Can Listen to the full show here…

During the show the band participated in 50 Grades Smarter – my quiz show for my quests. They scored an impressive 12 out of 15. Here is the current scoreboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Island City – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

This week I had local heroes Indigo in the studio.

The first band EVER to give me a copy of their EP on vinyl. I was a little happy about this, being the musical nut that I am.

You can find out more about Indigo in my other post “Introducing Indigo” – but here is the full songlist what was played on the show with the songs played live by Indigo in Bold.

1. Circa Waves – Get Away
2. Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
3. General Fiasco – Waves
4. Drenge – We Can Do What We Want
5. Catfish And The Bottlemen – Kathleen
6. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Working Man
7. Lucy Rose – Nebraska
8. David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
Pins And Needles
Upside Down
9. Stevie Wonder – Superstition
10. Elvis Costello – Pump It Up
I Will Take On The World
Whats In Your Mind, I Wanna Know
11. Nothing But Thieves – Itch
12. Foo Fighters – Rope
13. Sarah Holburn – So Slam Recording
14. Vellocet – Better Days
Shelter
Mysterious Ways (U2 cover)
15. Biffy Clyro – Modern Magic Formula
16. The Cribs – Mirror Kisses

Here is the full show…

Like all bands/artists who come on my show, Indigo participated in 50 Grades Smarter – my quiz show. They Accumulated a mid-table score of eight points. Here is the scoreboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Indigo – 8
Me And The Moon – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Indigo are a young 4 piece band originally from Leigh On Sea in Essex.

Coming together with a host of influences they quickly discovered a shared passion for crafting intelligent, rocking indie tunes with exciting ferocity and infectious hooks and established a reputation for high-energy live shows.

Front man Tom Cunningham delivers their original set with exuberance and confidence Tom studies popular music at Goldsmiths College in London. Guitarist Dale Hold-Mead (studying music in Holborn) and bassist Finlay Cunningham create the band’s grinding and pulsing soundwave, and powerhouse drummer Matt Lamb creates the groove and dynamic drive that the songs are hung on…

Videos of performances…

Guildford based four piece ‘Me and The Moon’ write original and catchy Indie-Pop. They have just self released their first EP ‘Run With Wolves EP’.

Me and The Moon have received continuous support from BBC Introducing with both ‘Hold On’ and ‘Run With Wolves’ being featured as ‘Track Of The Day’. The band have also played live sessions and performances for BBC Radio Suffolk.

Reviews have already started popping up online from around the globe. “The band’s sound is like a lighter, poppier version of Florence + The Machine with a terrific melody and fine harmonies”(- The Revue, Canada).

The band consists of Vocals from Tamara Jane, Guitar from Jonny Elstone, Bass from Yani De Jesus Patel and Alex Archer on Drums.

The quartet are currently playing around the country (with recent dates including Victorious Festival 2015) and are busy writing new material.

Live performances

This week on the show I have Guildford quartet Me and The Moon on the show. They brought an unique brand of folk/pop/indie to PhoenixFM and they were very enjoyable to listen to.

You will be able to find more details regarding in the following post, including videos of their performance. In the meantime here is the playlist with the songs that were played live by Me and The Moon in bold.

1. Tame Impala – Let It Happen
2. The 1975 – The Sound
3. Bombay Bicycle Club – Lights Out Words Gone
4. Everything Everything – Regret
5. Reverend and The Makers – Making Babies
Coward Escape
6. Indigo – Upside Down
7. Castaway – Life Of The Lost
The Light
8. Biffy Clyro – Victory Over The Sun
9. Maccabees – Pelican
10. Foals – Two Steps Twice
Meant To Be
Hold On
11. Sarah Holburn – So Slam Battlelines Recording
12. First Aid Kit – Emmylou
Daydreaming
Run With Wolves
13. Mystery Jets – Telones
14. Matt Cross – Split Plum

Here is the full show…

Me and The Moon also participate in 50 Grades Smarter and answered some interesting questions. They chose to do an Indie quiz – they choose to answer Peter Andre and Westlife to a couple of these questions… that being said they accumulated eight points. Here is the leaderboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Me And The Moon – 8
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Forever & Out are a refreshing upcoming band from Essex, hitting home with their captivating brand of upbeat melodic Pop/Rock anthems.

Their sound could best be described as a fresh mix between All Time Low and 5 Seconds of Summer which they deliver in their own unique way.

Forever & Out toured extensively last year in the UK, also hitting the road in Amsterdam and Paris, winning over new fans along the way. Their efforts gained them media attention, including a nod from Kerrang , and Featuring on BBC Essex Olly Winiburgs Unsigned Essex.

Here is some videos of the band playing live in the studio…

This week I had pop-punk rockers Forever and Out on my show.

They played three great uplifting songs on 50 Shades of Chay, they did great – even for a band who were one member short due to illness and haven’t played a show in 2016.

Here is the playlist, the songs that Forever and Out played live are in bold…

1. +44 – When Your Heart Stops Beating
2. Paramore – Thats Whats You Get
3. Kate Nash – Mouthwash
4. Slaves – Sockets
5. Sum 41 – Never Waking Up
6. Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen
7. General Fiasco – The Age Where You Start Losing Friends
8. Yuck – Get Away
9. Plain White Ts – Hate (I Really Don’t Like You)
Electric Heartbeat
10. Bring Me The Horizon
11. Fidlar – 40oz On Repeat
Forget Tonight
12. Blink-182 – All The Small Things
13. All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
Call You Mine
14. The 1975 – Chocolate
15. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
16. Circa Waves – T-Shirt Weather
17. Mad Winter – On My Mind
18. Ease Springs – Swayze
19. John Paul Elliot – Follow Your Star
20. All Time Low – Poppin Champagne
21. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

Here is the full show…

Forever and Out scored only five points on 50 Grades Smarter. Perhaps will get another chance next year. The leaderboard currently shows…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Wax Colour – 6
Forever and Out – 5

Art Block to release Borderline EP

Reverb drenched vocals accompanied by fizzing electric guitars – the new Borderline EP from London-based alt-folk singer-songwriter, Art Block, is due to be released on 4th March 2016. Inspired by the plight of migrants into Europe and produced by BBC Radio Award Winning musician, Ben Walker, of Folkroom Records, the EP explores issues of alienation, relationships and suffering.

“A top notch singer-songwriter” – Emerging Indie Bands, Tim Whale
His debut Los Feliz EP inspired by the underbelly of Los Angeles was produced by Ed Seed, who plays for signed artist, La Roux. The song ‘Polly’ featured on Amazing Radio by Scottish Xfm DJ, Jim Gellatly and on internet radio stations including US college radio.

“His music often brings comparisons to people like Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley” – Indie Minded, Jared Thomson

Here are the performances from 50 Shades of Chay…

“Five perfectly crafted alt-folk songs” – Find a Song Blog, Steffi Fixemer
“Stirring and powerful song-writing in a classic acoustic-alt-rock vein, recalling the passion and grit of Tom Petty” – Sound Event Solutions
You can listen to the title track of his forthcoming EP via his promotional video shot in Brighton and directed by Ada Cotton, a French-Rwandan ethnographer based in London. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MPjnJM0BWM

Further media links are below:-
Soundcloud http://www.soundcloud.com/artblock
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/artblock75
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/artblockofficial
To contact Art Block, please email artblock75@gmail.com

This week I had Art Block come on the show.

Art hails from East London from He was a great guest, with lots of great songs. You can hear his full show on my following post.

He is set to release an EP entitled ‘Borderline’ on the 4th March (This coming Friday), I’ve listened to it – it’s ace!

Here is the playlist of my show with the songs Art Block played live in bold…

1. Future Islands – Season (Waiting On You)
2. Klaxons – Gravitys Rainbow
3. These New Puritans – Elvis
4. Matt Tubey – He Below Me
5. Ryans Adams – Bad Blood
6. SJ Denney – The Great Unknown
Borderline
7. Tall Dark Friend – Corridors
8. Tame Impala – Elephant
Don’t Call My Name
9. Climb The Attic – Doss House
10. Vellocot – Better Days
11. Eagles Of Death Metal – So Easy
Stowaway
12. Different People – Line Em Up
13. Editors – All Sparks
14. Foo Fighters – St Cecelia
15. Franz Ferdinand – Dark Of The Matinee
16. Little Green Cars – The Song They Play Every Night
Some Days
17. First Aid Kit – Heaven Knows
18. Last Shadow Puppets – My Mistakes Were Made For You

Here is the full show…

Art Block did participate on 50 Grades Smarter in which he obtained 11 points. Here is the scoreboard…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Wax Colour – 6

This 4 piece rock band from Essex formed at the start of 2014 and consists of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Matt Whitta, rhythm guitarist Thomas Carter, lead guitarist Lee Sambridge, and drummer David Nolan.
 
Different People take their audience on an emotive journey with their high energy live sets, infectious riffs, soaring melodies and powerful rhythm section. The band have been busy making a name for themselves on the Essex and London live circuit and supported Scouting For Girls in November 2014.

 
Venues played have included:
• 02 Academy, Islington
• 299 Club, London
• Underbelly, Hoxton Square
• Roadtrip & Workshop, Old Street
• Chinnerys, southend-on-Sea
• Bassment, Chelmsford
 
After forming an alliance with Backwater Channel Records and working closely with their producer and recording engineer Barry Banks, the band have been busy writing new material throughout 2015 and are now pleased to announce the release of their debut EP entitled Picture Perfect which is currently available to purchase in physical format on CD and via digital download from our store (see link below).

On the show this week I have South Essex five-piece Different People on the show.

After hearing so much about them, it was a pleasure having them on the show and they were a delight to have around.

You can listen to to the full show on the following piece I will post up shortly, with a full biography to read all about them.

Here is the playlist of the show, with the songs the band played live in bold…

1. Radiohead – Paranoid Android
2. Everything Everything – Blast Doors
3. Foals – What Went Down
4. Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian At Best
5. David Bowie – Starman
6. Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales Of San Francisco
7. The Cribs – Men’s Needs
Picture Perfect
8. Cameron Davidson – Open Your Eyes
9. Frank Turner – Mittens
10. Dananananakroyd – Think and Feel
11. The King Blues – Headbutt
Over Your Shoulder
12. Wolf Alice – Giant Peach
13. Yuck – Georgia
Daniel
14. The Vaccines – 20/20
This Dream Ain’t To Fade
15. Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows

Here is the full show…

The band also participated in 50 Grades Smarter. They accumulated nine points which is good, just not good enough to put them near the top. Here is the leaderboard.

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Different People – 9
Wax Colour – 6

They’ve only just started playing in January but it was good enough to convince Phoenix FM’s Tara to put them on 50 Shades of Chay.

Tara caught them at their first gig at the Traitors Gate in Grays. The band start last April where lead singer, Charlton needed to get his songs out in the big wide world.

Two of the band turned up to play three songs on the show which you can hear from the show files at the top of the file.

You can find their two downloadable songs on Soundcloud by clicking the link below. You can find more about the band on Twitter and Facebook. Both songs available to download, the band played live on the show.

https://twitter.com/waxcolour
https://www.facebook.com/waxcolour/?fref=ts

This week I had two members of the Chelmsford quartet, Wax Colour on the show with me. You will be able to listen to their full show on the next post.

The band released a brand new song on their Soundcloud prior to coming onto the show. The song, “Liberty” is available to listen and download right now on their account, so go check it out.

Here is the playlist of the songs I had on my show – the ones the band played live in bold…

1. Don Broco – Yeah Man
2. Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
3. Foals – Balloons
4. Chvrches – Empty Threat
5. Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach
6. Peace – Wraith
Liberty
7. Reverend And The Makers – The Trip
8. The Vaccines – 20/20
9. Paramore – Daydreaming
10. Wolf Alice – Fluffy
S.P.S
11. Snow Patrol – Spitting Games
12. LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
13. Pulled Apart By Horses – High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive
14. The Libertines – Glasgow Coma Blues
15. Jungle – Busy Earnin’
16. Howler – Wailing (Making Out)
17. Tall Dark Friend – Corridors
18. Everything Everything – Spring, Sun, Winter Dredd
IDK
19. Art Block – Borderline

Here is the full show…

The band also participated in 50 Grades Smarter which they accumulated a total of six points. Here is the leader board as it stands…

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9
Wax Colour – 6

“Something seriously special and it won’t be long until the rest of the world realises it.” – Pure M Magazine

Cameron Davidson was the frontman and songwriter for Southampton based 6 Minutes to Sunrise.

Since going solo he has played with Lonely the Brave, Natives, Man Made, Dolomite Minor, Funeral for a Friend and Nothing but Thieves. He recently played a live session for BBC Introducing, which was chosen as one of the best of 2015.

Playing emotive alt pop with soaring melodies, Cameron has built up a solid collection of work as he looks to release further music throughout 2016

He arrived late – but the show was inevitably great Mr Cameron Davidson came all the way from Southampton to appear on my show. Unfortunately he was held up by all the traffic on the M3 and the M25.

We have had some terrific guests on my show in the last few weeks. Cameron added himself to that list. The full shows will be added to the site soon. But in the meantime – here is the playlist with all Cameron’s songs he played live are in bold.

1. Fidlar – 40oz On Repeat
2. Squeeze – Up The Junction
3. Ryan Adams – Bad Blood
4. Bombay Bicycle Club – How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep
5. Circa Waves – My Love
6. Kings Of Leon – Pyro
7. Luke Sanders – Mary
8. Paolo Nutini – Diana
9. Don Broco – Yeah Man
10. LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
11. The Libertines – The Boy Looked At Johnny
12. Vellcoet – Better Days
13. Wax Colour – IDK
Cameron Davidson – All I See Is You
14. Dolly Mavies – The Weight Of You
15. Adam Sinclair – Passenger
Cameron Davidson – Alive
Cameron Davidson – Beautiful
16. The Last Shadow Puppets – My Mistakes Were Made For You
17. Foals – My Number
18. BoyKillBoy – Suzie
Cameron Davidson – Scrapbooks
Cameron Davidson – Inventor

Here is the full show…

Cameron did partake in the 50 Grades Smarter quiz and this week obtained 12 points. He is currently ranked second in the leaderboard.

Adam Sinclair – 13
Cameron Davidson – 12
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9

Adam Sinclair was the first guest on 50 Shades of Chay in 2016.

When asked, Adam describes himself as a “Singer/songwriter & Podcaster with a eye and and ear for lush light and vibrations”.

Adam has a song on the Thames Delta Compilation, called “Passenger”. You can hear it on Spotify or you can buy the compilation on iTunes and other mediums. See link below…

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/compilation-pt.-1-thames-delta/id1062997628

You can also listen to his podcast on the following link, but be warned it is for a “mature audience”…

Mad Winter are a four-piece indie rock band from Manchester. Our main musical influences come from Stereophonics, Foals, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Noel Gallagher.

The members of the band are Scott Morris on bass, James Hartley on vocals and rhythm guitar, George Fitzgibbon on lead guitar and backing vocals and Callum Thomson on drums.

The members met at Access To Music in October 2014. The band began by making acoustic songs, then moved onto an indie-dance genre until Summer 2015 when they started to turn and speed things up to become louder and rockier.

Since then, Mad Winter have put a lot of hard work into gigging, song writing and covering and have produced our their home recorded, 5 track EP.

The EP was released on the 21st of November at our headline gig at Academy 3 – their biggest gig to date. It was also where the pictures above were taken. The EP was uploaded onto SoundCloud on the same day as well – which this link will take you straight to:

https://soundcloud.com/madwinter2/sets/get-away-ep

Mad Winters have already began working on our second EP and have a number of gigs booked for the early months of 2016 – Including Manchester Club Academy and the MET in Bury.

You can find the band on Twitter: @madwinter1
And on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/madwinter2

Dolly Mavies is a blue eyed soul singer-songwriter from Oxfordshire, with Welsh roots and soulful sounds; Dolly’s music is captivating with poetic lyrics and haunting vocals and her enchanting voice is one to be heard.

Dolly’s first EP; Behind Closed Eyes, released in December 2015, rose to number 25 in the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. Dolly’s Music has been played on BBC Radio Oxford’s BBC Introducing show and following an interview with BBC Oxford, a video of her performance racked up 3 thousand views in an hour.

Dolly’s influences include: Patti Smith, Eva Cassidy, Florence and the Machine, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, James Taylor and an array of punk rock bands. Dolly has supported Coasts, Little Comets and Pixel Fix, and continues to gig across the country.

Dolly’s EP Behind Closed Eyes is available NOW on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

Twitter: @dollymavies
Instagram: @dollymavies

This week I had Dolly Mavies come into the studio all the way from Oxford. Having beaten all the dodgy traffic on the night, she arrived early in Brentwood, and eventually come on air to wow us all.

More information regarding the show will be posted shorty. In the mean time, here is the playlist with the songs that Dolly played live in bold…

1. General Fiasco – Ever So Shy
2. Stornoway – I Saw You Blink
3. Haim – Forever
4. Pulp – Common People
Old Shoes
5. Supergrass – Caught By The Fuzz
6. Tall Dark Friend – Now You Need Me (Now You Don’t)
You And Yourself
7. Florence And The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Jerk It Out (The Caesers cover)
8. The Cribs – Martell
9. Lucy Rose – Bikes
Wait For Me
Bille Jean (Michael Jackson cover)
10. Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full Of Lead
11. The Cure – In Between Days
12. Weezer – Buddy Holly
13. Mad Winter – On My Mind
14. Matt Tubey – Prison Van
The Weight Of You
Pretty Please
The Rain

The full show is right here…

Dolly also took part in 50 Grade Smarter which she accumulated 10 points. Making her currently joint second place with Mad Winter.

Leaderboard
Adam Sinclair – 13
Mad Winter – 10
Dolly Mavies – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9

This week I had Mad Winters on the show. They hail from Manchester. They were a delight to have on the show. The songs they played were great and they had a decent taste in music.

This is a band who travelled far but they were delighted with their evening’s work. And so they should be.

Here is the playlist, the songs the band played live were are in bold…

1. Everything Everything – Regret
2. Foals – Birch Tree
3. Frank Turner – Josephine
Get Away
On My Mind
4. Miles Kane – Better Than That
5. Palma Violets – English Tongue
6. Pulled Apart By Horses – Outahead
7. Wolf Alive – Giant Peach
Running Low
8. Reverend And The Makers – Glassalfempty
9. The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again
Last Request (Paolo Nutini cover)
Let Me Know
10. The Young Knives – Terra Firma
11. Circa Waves – T Shirt Weather
12. Catfish and The Battlemen – Pacifier
13. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
14. The Shermans – Shake Your Tamborine
15. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – You Know We Cant Go Back

Here is the full show…

The band did participate in 50 Grades Smarter and accumulated 10 points.

Here is the leaderboard..

Adam Sinclair – 13
Mad Winters – 10
Jenni Pettican – 9

It’s the first show of 2016, and my first guest of the year I have decided to bring in a man who is well travelled. Adam Sinclair left the country to go travelling for the second time at the beginning of 2015, and in the process gigs in Australia and Panama. He came into the studio and told me and people listening in to the show of his experiences.

My playlist for the show included…

1. Biffy Clyro – Victory Over The Sun
2. Blur – Ong Ong
3. Catfish and the Battlemen
4. Disclosure – You And Me
5. Foals – My Number
6. Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting On You)
Adam Sinclair – Passenger
7. Kasabian – Where Did All The Love Go?
8. Matt Tubey – Lady In Grey
9. S J Denney – So Much More
Adam Sinclair – Buffalo
Adam Sinclair – Bow And Arrow
10. Slaves – She Wants Me Now
11. The View – Same Jeans
12. The Young Knives – Terra Firma
13. New Order – Tutti Fruiti
14. Crystal Fighters – Love Natural
Adam Sinclair – Tribal Attraction

You can listen to the show below. ..

He was also the first participant in the second series of 50 Grades Smarter. On my guest to find the 2016 champion. We may have a finalist already with Adam scoring a record 13 points. He specialised in a quiz on the Beatles…

Leaderboard
1. Adam Sinclair – 13 points.

Essex electrodirters Killatrix came into the studio for their third Phoenix FM session just before their performance at the Brentwood Festival.

SinDii, Sam, Chris and Paul told us about what they’ve been up to for the last few months and also gave us three songs live in the studio which you can see again below:

You can find out more about them on their official website or their Facebook and Twitter pages.

I think I had a bit too much fun with this week… But who cares? IT’S XMAS SOON!!! I wanted to celebrate it in the best way possible.
This week I had three guest, Amy Sergeant from Southend, Roisin O’Hagan from Chelmsford and S J Denney from Leigh-On-Sea, who filled in last minute for the unwell Amy Westney. All three are aspiring musicians all acoustic guitars were used but each with their own unique flavour. One rule: they all had to play at least one Xmas cover… and all acts were fantastic.
Along with the live performances, the playlist includes…
1. The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York
2. The Wombats – Is This Christmas?
3. Eddie Cochran With The Holly Twins – I Want Elvis For Christmas
4. S J Denney – War Is Over (Live)
5. Cee-Lo Green – What Christmas Means to Me
6. This Remarkable Vessel – Xmas Carols
7. Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas
8. S J Denney – The Great Unknown (Live)
9. S J Denney – Bite My Tongue (Live)
10. Dean Martin – Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
11. This Remarkable Vessel – Xmas Carols
12. Amy Sergeant – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Live)
13. Amy Sergeant – Temper (Live)
14. Kylie Minogue – Santa baby
15. Glen Campbell – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
16. Roisin O’Hagan – Last Christmas (Live)
17. Roisin O’Hagan – Blood (Live)
18. Roisin O’Hagan – Dark, Dark Lie (Live)
19. Peggy Lee – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
20. This Remarkable Vessel – Xmas Carols
21. Mud – Lonely This Christmas
22. Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody
23. Kingston Trio – We Wish You A Merry Christmas
24. The Impressions – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The This Remarkable Vessel tracks are made from my fellow bandmate Lee Tallon, who last year made everyone a Christmas Album which he put in the cards he sent out to people. He is planning to repeat the idea this year but with new songs. I also used some of his Christmas instrumentals throughout the Xmas quiz.
The quiz was a last minute idea I had. It was a funny experience and it caused a tense atmosphere. Amy, Roisin and Stuart (S J Denney) all wanted to win. There could only be one winner, and that was Amy Sergeant who became a proud owner of some Cadbury Milk Tray chocolates, all of which was likely to be stolen by Amy’s mother when she returned home.
Here’s to a great Christmas with only 11 days to go! See you on Tuesday, I am covering for Tracy Morter. 