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With national lockdown ending this week, so does the daily run of lunchtime grassroots radio broadcasts from Great Music Stories radio.
As with the first lockdown in March, throughout November Great Music Stories has switched to lunchtime broadcasting, airing special interview hours with rising artists through every day of lockdown. Interviews with acts such as Ravenbreed, Verity White, Jack J Hutchinson, As Sirens Fall, DeadBlondeStars, and Elles Bailey have allowed a platform for artists to keep their music out there at a critical time and to engage with listeners on the conversation on the role the arts and live music plays – and needs to continue to play – in post-pandemic society.
As the lunchtime season draws to a close, Monday will see a jumbo 12-hour broadcast on just one grassroots band, the first time Great Music Stories has considered such a broadcast, and possibly the first time a grassroots band has been on air for an uninterrupted 12-hour run.
The band chosen for Monday is SKAM, a band that has been at the forefront of the rising scene for a few years, and an act that has worked extremely hard to keep music in front of fans during both lockdowns. Beyond regular forums, the band has broadcast concerts from home, released an acoustic Lo-Fi album, and now is writing music for a new album. Proactivity in the face of uncertainty.
For Monday’s ‘Skam Monday’ GuyB has meticulously drawn together all the Great Music Stories audio interviews with the band over five years and, for the first time, the collection will present an audio documentary of a band’s story over time – the highs, the lows, the milestones, the issues and the key learnings.
Featuring during the day:
– The Magic of Festivals: Three interviews backstage at grassroots festivals since 2016: Audio that captures the excitement of the live events we miss and a reminder of the magic they bring to culture and wellbeing.
– Two listener Takeovers: During the last five years, two spoof series have been run on fictional character ‘Geoffrey Goddard’ who was the central character for the band’s last album ‘The Amazing Memoirs of Geoffrey Goddard.’ These series were entirely run by listeners and serve as a reminder of the crucial and involved role fans play in keeping the music scene alive and well.
– Life through lockdown: Bringing the run of 14 interview features, shorts and sessions over time up to date, the day will conclude with interviews through both 2020’s national lockdowns, authentic interviews on how musicians can react and adopt to unprecedented events.
GuyB of Great Music Stories comments: “This is a big gamble. My thing has always been interview hour specials and even here you have to think about the flow and how to keep radio listeners engaged for 60-minutes, often listening to a band they may not know and for the first time. The lunchtime series through November has been a great success, we’ve had so many messages from listeners saying the interviews have helped them get through the day. This new ‘all day’ experiment is a chance to put all the interviews I’ve done with a band together and for the first time to present their story over time.”
“Skam for me are a natural first choice. I was relatively late into their story, but having now done around 20 interviews with them, what strikes me is all the band members are characters and, beneath their sense of humour there is a real serious passion about the scene and them developing their art as dedicated musicians. Monday’s all-day Skam broadcast will allow fans and people new to the band to literally get on the ‘audio bus’ for an immersive journey – and to re-live the band’s journey as it happened since 2016.”
The #SkamMonday radio specials air on Great Music Stories 7am-7pm. Everyone is invited!
Schedule updates during the day on Twitter @GuyB_rockshow
