Welcome to Fleckies, where we highlight the venues and creatives shaping local culture.
Earlier this week, I saw a post online that read, ‘Every UK creator owes Jamal Edwards one’, and my immediate reaction was, damn well ain’t that the truth. This week marks 20 years of SBTV. Twenty years since a teenager from west London started filming his friends and uploading their
There’s something about Jake Jaggard’s journey that feels familiar to anyone who’s ever tried to build something in their local music scene. You start by going to parties, getting to know people and eventually finding yourself wanting to be part of it all. But what happens when the opportunities you’re
One thing everyone knows about me is how passionate I am about collecting music. In an increasingly digital era, our musical consumption has moved behind screens, algorithms and streaming services. And so, it is genuinely delightful to take a break from that and dig through records in a locally run,
From the emergence of reggae and jungle to the development of house and techno, some of the most exciting movements in underground music have emerged from artists willing to challenge expectations, break conventions and bring seemingly unrelated sounds together. But what happens when that experimentation becomes something deeply personal? How
Every now and then, I come across an artist and find myself wondering how on earth I’ve managed to miss them. Revelle27 was one of those discoveries. What started as a scroll through social media turned into a rabbit hole of connections. Laurie Revell grew up in Kettering, practically on
Two years ago, The Whisky Flowers were finding their feet in Kettering’s local music scene. Now, they’re preparing to represent the UK on two international stages. Not bad for a band that started at a jam night. The four-piece, made up of Steph Ashcroft, Aiden Pryor, Elliot Clark and Ben
Digbeth isn’t just somewhere you go for a night out. It’s an ecosystem. For decades, this corner of Birmingham has been home to independent venues, clubs, promoters, DJs, bands, artists and businesses, with different genres, scenes and generations existing practically on top of each other. Now, a significant part of
There is something about Gigi Gold that feels completely considered. The music, the styling, the photography, the visual world around it – everything feels like it belongs together. I first came across Gigi through mutual connections after her drummer Elliot and, more recently, guitarist Zak joined the band. I love
I remember the day I discovered Panic! At the Disco. It was a quiet Sunday morning at home. I flicked on the TV, searched Kerrang! with the Sky remote and suddenly… There she was. A woman’s head submerged in a fish tank with tiny orange fish drifting around her. At
