Wednesday 11th March 2015
Leics Music More Music
The Soundhouse
By Keith Jobey
On Wednesday I found myself doing something unusual. I was knocking on the door of a music venue trying to get in. There wasn’t a gig on, the venue was closed for the day, but hidden inside something was happening that the whole world could watch if it wanted. It felt as if I should be doing a secret knock to get in, but a plain old rap seemed to work.
Photo Keith Jobey
Once inside I discovered a scene reminiscent of a pirate radio station, laptops and recording equipment scattered around the room alongside a carrier bag of Red Stripe. But despite, like pirate radio, the ability to beam music out to the masses, what was happening here is completely within the law. For this was Leics Music More Music preparing for one of their weekly live internet streams. This particular one featuring Leicester singer/songwriter and all round lovely person Siobhan Mazzei.
Photo Keith Jobey
If you haven’t already discovered the show, Leics Music More Music, beams out to not only Leicester but also the world each Wednesday evening from 20:15. You just need to find the link and watch it from your chosen device. Liking their Facebook page is an obvious way to find the link and here is a link to that page to make it even easier.
Utilising the green room of the Soundhouse, the pool table acts as a makeshift control centre on which laptops are placed. A couple of cameras point at the artist alongside the necessary microphones. Posters of famous bands look down upon the events from walls also adorned with old Soundhouse flyers bringing back memories of some of the top acts the venue has seen pass through its doors.
Photo Keith Jobey
The team consists of Trevor Cobbe, Joe Doyle and Bhav Solanki, with Trevor handling the task of interviewing the artist. A job he seems to be naturally suited to and never seems to be short of pertinent questions and insightful comments. His soft Northern Irish accent flowing like the bytes of data carrying the information from the venue to your home. More importantly, he’s a character that is easily likeable, putting the artists at ease and allowing them to perform to their best.
The format of the broadcast is a mix of conversation and song. Trevor will ask questions, the artist will answer. Then the artist will play a couple of songs. This process is then repeated a few times. In a way it’s a little doing a session for a radio show, but with video. Each broadcast lasts about an hour but is known to go on longer. And don’t worry if you can’t catch the live stream because like most things, you can watch it on demand on YouTube later at your own leisure.
The aim of Leics Music More Music is to help people to discover what live music is available locally and encourage them to head out to see some shows in the flesh. Future plans may see it expand to perhaps a small live audience (kind of like the Jools Holland show I imagine) and/or the occasional proper gig.
So if you like music, why not give the show a try, and perhaps, if you like what you see, head out to a see a gig. Or if you or your band would like to be streamed out live to the world get in touch with Leics Music More Music. I’m sure they’d be interested to hear from you.
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