TMMP’s Top Gigs Of 2014

2014 has been a difficult time for underground live music in the UK. With small venues across the country facing all manner of issues, it was heartening to see the team behind Guildford’s Boileroom make it through an emotionally trying licence review process and move on to host some incredible gigs and community-oriented events. With any luck, 2015 will see a change in fortunes for venues like the Boileroom.

From intimate showings from ska legends to inhumanly tight math-pop sets via beatboxing virtuosity and an audience with the professor of punk, here are TMMP’s top gigs of 2014. Read more…

Posted on 21 December 2014

Yeti Love Discuss: The Boileroom & UK Live Music

yeti loveWith Guildford venue the Boileroom facing the possibility of closure, TMMP caught up with Peter James Hamilton of acoustic fast-risers Yeti Love to discuss the Boileroom and the state of the UK’s live music scene.

This interview is part of a larger TMMP feature which can be read in full here.

What is your general opinion of the Boileroom?

The Boileroom is one of those venues that bands on the circuit would always have played. These venues are important to us (bands and musicians) as we all cut our musical teeth on them! Whether it was a good gig or a bad one, these are the venues that taught us our craft!

They’re also hugely important to us socially and culturally. What happens when they all shut down? Where do we go?

How did you feel when you heard about the Boileroom’s current problems?

Sad! Very sad! Places like the Boileroom should be embraced by Read more…

Posted on 10 September 2014

Artists & Industry Discuss: The Boileroom & UK Live Music

boileroom bannerSometimes the old ways are the best.

Over the past fifteen years, the music world has been revolutionised by digital technology. There have been many positive developments facilitated by the Internet, from social media sites to digital music stores and crowdfunding platforms. Smart and savvy musicians now have access to a wealth of tools that previous generations could only dream of – but the physical world still holds the key to a thriving, successful career.

The ease with which a band can break through barriers previously manned by a handful of power-hungry gatekeepers represents the bright side of digital music – but there is also a widely recognised and heavily debated Read more…

Posted on 10 September 2014

Yeti Love – ‘Yeti Love’ [Review]

logoWhen an album brings to mind Boy Hits Car (one of my favourite bands of all time) and Spotlight Cannibal (one of my favourite bands of right now), it’s a winner in my eyes. On this, their eponymous debut album, Yeti Love are winning at music, and doing it in style. Read more…

Posted on 21 July 2014

Nick Oliveri / Prosperina / Welcome The Howling Tones / Yeti Love [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 3/6/14]

nick oliveri boileroomLast night, I left this show in an ambulance. Now, given Nick Oliveri’s reputation as a hellraising rock demon, you’d be forgiven for jumping to conclusions here – but the truth is a lot less rock ‘n’ roll than whatever you’re thinking right now. More on that later. Before we get into why my exit was so dramatic, and of course how immense this show was, you need to know a little bit about the state of grassroots live music in the UK today. Read more…

Posted on 04 June 2014

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