BLOG 49 – NEW MUSIC: THE BEST OF 2017…PART 2

Jade Bird

In the modern vernacular, this girl’s voice is EVERYTHING. Jade was a fellow military brat, schlepping around the world like the the littlest hobo. She moved to London at 16 to make a career out of music, and 4 years later she’s finally starting to get some recognition. File next to Laura Marling and First Aid Kit.

Dizzy

I really don’t know a lot about this lot other than that they’re a 4 piece from Canada. I just thought this was a really nice tune when i first heard it, and find myself wondering when i’m gonna hear more. Or see them live. Which is always a good sign.

Billie Eilish

Strong name game going on here. A fellow O’Connell. Not related for all the transparency fans. She’s a 16 year old girl from LA who began making music with her brother a few years ago. Being the right age to be on the path to pop stardom is one thing, but also making catchy little bangers is another. Eilish is a social media over sharer, definitely worth keeping an eye on. Did I mention her middle name was Pirate? Arrrrrrrr. Shiver me timbers.

Sigrid

I love Skandi pop. They’ve always made some of the best tunes. I almost included Sigrid earlier in the year for part 1 of this blog, but had’t heard this at that point. Already looking like one of the first big pop songs of 2018, this Norwegian had to go on the list for this track alone. She’s also the BBC Sound Poll winner which in theory should be a great indicator of trajectory, but is becoming a little unpredictable. ‘Strangers’ is a TUNE.

Lil Xan

There has been a shift in the last few years to the idea of rockstar rap. Post Malone being the first big success story of this fusion genre. Think Kurt Cobain on trap snares. Lil Xan currently has a name issue though. The glorification of Xanax has all of a sudden become uncool, as millions of young people around the world are getting xaned off their nut on pills they’ve bought online. (Xanax is a prescription only med) So Lil Xan has decided his new name post re-brand will be ‘Diego’, his actual name. Although at the time of writing, the rebrand has been put on the back burner *shruggy emoji face* He has smashed 2017!

Greta Van Fleet

I’ve been accused of not supporting real rock this year \m/ So how about this? Greta Van Fleet could not be more Led Zepp if they tried. They got together in 2012, and these boys from Michigan are lining up a big 2018 with tours & a big Spotify session already in the diary. Viva La Rock!

Blog 48 – Trolling

I started working in radio at the age of 18. It was the year 2000. We’d just survived the millennium bug. The computers hadn’t imploded, or ended civilisation as we knew it.

Phew.

Text messaging was also being embraced at stations across the world. SMS was really “taking off”, according to one boss. “What?!” blurted out one old jock. “Like the listener will ever give up the phone to call the DJ. Never.Gonna.Happen.”

You get the idea.

It seemed so simple to text. It was a revolution. Interacting with your favourite djs had never been easier.

After a few years of working on other people’s shows, I got my “big” break. Now I was under no illusion that anyone was actually listening to a student radio station on a Monday morning at 4am. In fact, it made it slightly easier. No pressure.

So when the station manager told me they thought it was important for the listeners to interact with Leeds Student Radio, I thought he was completely batshit crazy.

“We’ve strapped a Nokia 3310 to the desk. The number is 07855662117.”
(It clearly wasn’t that exact number)

So let me get this right…people are expected to listen so intently as to remember a 10 digit phone number? If one required a definition for delusions of grandeur, then surely this was it?

But this grey Nokia 3310 strapped to a desk in a Leeds Uni cupboard was to be my first experience of what we have now come to understand as “trolling”.

The first message I read from that tiny mobile screen was “You’re shit. You’re boring. Get the fuck off.” Can you imagine how much hope, joy and excitement was in my little heart as I went to open that? Only to be greeted by the hate filled bile at 5am on a cold, wet winter morning. I’m sure it would have been tougher to take if it hadn’t been for the quarter bottle of vodka I’d neck before every show to deal with the nerves.

That would continue in much the same vain, for the remainder of the broadcast. Which was about one month, twice a year.

The following year I got an ACTUAL job. AN ACTUAL JOB IN RADIO. Paid and everything. I’ll never forget my first ever pro-troll. Dave, the taxi driver from Wakefield. That’s how he signed off every text message. Loud and proud.

When he didn’t, I could recognise the number. I’ve never forgotten his first message. It was so angry. It contained so many swear words, it would be so hard to mistake his hatred for me.

“You’re the worst fucking radio presenter I’ve ever heard. Shut the fuk up u stupid cunt. This is the shittest radio I’ve herd.” (The great thing about trolls is their spelling is often atrocious. I imagine it has something to do with the explosion of anger that kickstarts their furious tapping on a keyboard.)

Say what you REALLY think Dave.

It’s worth pointing out that these days text messaging systems in TV, radio etc blank out swear words so the person can’t actually read what’s been said. But back in the day you got the full message. In all it’s glory. One really got a sense of the emotion in a troll.

Around that time, another troll of mine wasn’t as angry or hateful, but often made me uncomfortable. She was a woman from Scunthorpe who would often send in pictures of herself naked. Her questions were basically about my penis, or what I like kissing? This wasn’t your classic troll activity, granted. And I know this happened to other people on air. It was, however, still uncomfortable. And weird. Very, very weird.

Like with most things in entertainment, there is no training on how to deal with this. In fact, the only advice you’ll ever hear is just to ignore it.

Anyway in 2005, I left Dave from Wakefield and the pervy woman from Scunthorpe, and headed for a bigger station in Leeds. Galaxy 105. What I found here was that as the audience size increased, so does the level of troll.

One massive fan of the show would often text me and tell me that I was a “posh cunt.” Now as someone who’s lived all over the place, I know i have the most generic accent possible. A slight Northern twang probably. Possibly even a whiff of Yorkshire. But nothing that would make you think I spent my weekdays in Chelsea, and weekends in the country. The same person actually turned up to a DJ set once, and said the same thing TO MY FACE. Imagine taking the time to do that. But I got used to it. Essentially, he was saying “you don’t sound like me and I don’t like that.” Galaxy 105 was a Yorkshire station for Yorkshire people. It’s strength was it’s regional pride. And I understood that.

However in 2006, there was a definite gear shift to the next level of the troll.

Whilst on-air threatening messages with varying degrees of violence directed at me started to appear during my shows. So I began searching the number to see what else they’d been sending to the station. They’d be contacting one other presenter, my mate Dave Kelly. Dave was on after me and i remember briefly mentioning it in passing as we handed over one night. We laughed it off. Neither of us reported it. They were just words. But not long after, in bold black capital letters, the most punchy, impactful, hate filled message arrived.

“I WANT TO PUSH YOU OFF THE HIGHEST BUILDING I CAN FIND AND WATCH YOU FALL. AND AS YOUR HEAD SMASHES TO THE GROUND. I WANT TO SEE THE BLOOD DRAIN FROM YOUR HEAD.”

They had my attention.

I thought it best to report it. A lovely lady who looked after me told me she had to ring the police. They quickly arrived to interview me. They offered to have someone walk me to my car and follow me home, but it felt overly dramatic. All very unnecessary.

A few weeks passed. Dave Kelly and I stopped getting the messages. The police contacted us to say we wouldn’t be hearing from them again, and not to worry.

WHAT HAPPENED? WHO WAS IT? AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

As the years passed, social media exploded. Facebook and Twitter became the playground for the opinionated, ignored and unheard. Finally, they had a platform. They can tell you exactly what they think. Solicited or not, 24/7.

As a radio presenter today, there is an expectancy to curate the station’s online presence, as well as your own. I therefore know what people think about me on a daily basis. Good, bad and indifferent.

My experience with the trolling we’ve all come to see and experience online is, at times, bizarre.

There was the man on Twitter who claimed to have gone to school with me . He would tweet me vague things about what had happened whilst there. Always implying something sinister. And all completely made up.

Then there’s the people who think you’re 100% responsible for the entire output of the radio station you work for. They hate the music, something someone said, the adverts. They are relentless and grinding. They get blocked quickly.

More recently, the troll’s new paradigm of “guilty, until proven innocent or guilty” visited my little corner of the internet.

A man listening to me on the radio, believed i’d been doing Jimmy Saville impressions. Disgusted, and rightly so, he took to Twitter to express his outrage. He contacted Radio X and Ofcom, (and lots of other important people) to have me taken off air. And i’d probably agree with him…if it had happened. But it didn’t matter to the hundreds of people who’d already retweeted his calls for my head. They hadn’t even been listening, but they were also “shocked and disgusted.”

And just in case I was in any doubt these people weren’t listening, they began to tell me.

One inquisitive tweeter asked his followers, “Did @danocdj do an impression of Jimmy Saville on @RadioX today? Seeing many retweets so guessing it’s true.”

GUESSING IT’S TRUE?!?!?!

Then I laughed. Then I felt deflated. Then I felt despair. Then I shook my head.

Noel Gallagher once told me in an interview that “the man on the street is a cunt.” I disagreed with him. But I was starting to think he might be right.

We really had hit the bottom. Not one, but many people believed I thought it was appropriate at 1:20pm on a Friday afternoon to be doing Jimmy Saville impressions. I contacted my bosses, they checked all the show audio. It definitely hadn’t happened. Still the retweets clocked up. It took a couple of days to gradually die down. But die down it did.

What had the instigator troll been listening to? Did he just make it up? Was it all a big mistake? Again, so many questions.

So few answers.

Occasionally, one gets an answer. Danny Wallace writes brilliantly about confronting a troll in his book, ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ I thoroughly recommend it for a play by play account of how someone reacts IRL when confronted about their actions online.

I too, have confronted one of my own. The long story short, was that a 14 year old boy, (posing as an adult) ended up apologising when I explained what his actions were doing, to not only me, but the universe as a whole. He told me he was bored. That he didn’t think he was doing any harm.

It’s become a potent mix. That mixture of boredom, hopelessness, relative anonymity, anger and the realisation of how little control one has in the wider world.

Online we have control. A tiny weeny bit of control. But control of our own little bit of cyberspace none the less. You are the master of your own Twitter ship. You get to set the course. Unfortunately, a lot of people haven’t learnt how to sail. So it’s like setting off in dense fog. Lots of people are just smashing into each other because they haven’t got a bloody clue.

I can’t know most people are doing their best in life. I operate from a place where I hope they are. But I fully accept that most people don’t know, what they don’t know. So if someone isn’t aware that they’re constantly pissed off with the world, and with themselves, they’re only ever going to operate from that place, doing the best they can.

Does that make their behaviour right, or acceptable? No. But it does give us a place to start from. We most certainly need to educate at school level the impact we can have online. And while we get to control our own minuscule parts of the internet and certain parts of our lives, we can no longer operate from such a personal base. We need to think bigger. And contemplate how our words, thoughts and feelings will affect humanity, as a whole.

This is not controlling what each individual can say, think or feel. This is not about silencing voices. This is about realising the positive impact we can all have on each other. And ultimately, how our interconnectedness as human beings thrives when we stick together, and support one another.

I’m not saying we all need to agree on everything. I’m not declaring peace and love is the answer mannnn, or hippy liberal BS. However, I can quite happily accept you have a different opinion to me without becoming angry. OR SHOUTING SWEAR WORDS AT YOU ONLINE LIKE A CHILD. I’m just a person saying do me a favour, let’s treat each other with some respect and decency.

Brit Awards 2018

Happy Monday! I just got a lovely email from the people at the Brits asking if i’d be on the voting academy again next year. Which is a real honour. It’s also very easy, and you get to go to the Brits – so what’s not to like. We usually vote in December, and the actual awards are then dished out in London on Wednesday February 21st 2018. Good luck everyone.

Blog 47 – #metoo

Yesterday, both Ed Sheeran and Tom Jones talked openly about the abuse of power, and sexual harassment within the music industry. It’s something I’ve seen first hand. Unfortunately, more than once.

When I was 18, I’d been on a team night out with some friends who all worked at stations in the North of England. I’d spent a small amount of time talking to a senior radio producer about my hopes and dreams. He then said a few people were heading back to a radio station to carry on the party. Would I like to go?  My overly ambitious ego, out of control, and hungry for approval, told me to go and carry on the night. When we got to the building, the man in question turned to me with a snarl and told me to “get my cock out”. He was very intimidating, but also someone I saw as a gatekeeper at that point in my life. The seedy, drunk, pathetic, weasel repeated himself.

“Go on get your cock out.”

He nodded at my crotch.

I was shocked, scared and speechless. We were alone, in an unfamiliar setting. From nowhere, some force within me managed to break my silence.

“Fuck. Off.” Were the only two words I could gather.

As I pushed by him and made for the door, I looked back. He was clearly angry. But his face was also filled with disbelief. I’m not sure what happened to him.

A year later, a senior male record company exec, acted in a disturbing way in a hotel toilet after an industry event. He was nastier and vile. However I can’t recall the exact wording he used, and I don’t want to invent anything that clouds the truth. I, however, remember exactly what i said.

“I’M NOT EVEN GAY!”

It seems strange that I would say that. I mean, i’m not gay, but the subtext would appear to me that on some level, it would have been more acceptable if I was. That in both cases, if i was a man who liked other men, it would have been ok for someone to instruct me to remove my penis from jeans. BONKERS.

There’s no doubt the power game was clearly in play in each of those uncomfortable moments. Neither of them ever said, “Show me your cock and you can have the breakfast show.” Or “Get your dick out and I’ll make sure X does an interview next time she’s here.” But there is an implication, in their words and actions, that you should go along with them – if you want them on your side.

Was there anything to report in these cases? Maybe. I didn’t of course. Like many of the accounts we’ve heard over the past few weeks, it often feels like par for the course. However, I believe the strength of people sharing these stories makes for safer working environments. It will also, hopefully, act as a vehicle for the perpetrator’s education that this behaviour is unacceptable, and will no longer be tolerated by anyone. Anywhere. Male or female.

We Are Manchester

I’m truly humbled, and dead proud, to tell you all that i’m going to be doing the radio show live from the Manchester Arena as it reopens on September 9th. May 22nd 2017 was a terrible day for the city. But as many of the victim’s families have said, this is part of moving on. This is how we show the people who try to divide us and make us afraid, that we’re not scared. And that our lives will continue to flourish. Noel Gallagher headlines the night, with Courteeners, Blossoms and Rick Astley on stage. All the money raised, goes to the Manchester Memorial Fund which is building a permanent memorial to all the people who lost their lives in the attack 3 months ago. I wish we were going in different circumstances, however I know how much work is going into this, and I can guarantee it’ll be a truly special night: Ticket details: www.radiox.co.uk

RoughRunner

September 16th is Rough Runner day. Think of it as Takeshi’s Castle meets Gladiators. A 10km assault course race on London’s Clapham Common. Dan will be running it in support of one his key charities, Global’s Make Some Noise. The charity helps young people right across the UK suffering from disease, poverty and general lack of opportunities. To sponsor Dan, and to help raise vital money, click the link. Your cash can, and DOES, make a huge difference!www.roughrunner.everydayhero.com

Blog 46 – New Music: The Best of 2017…So Far

Arlissa

This young lady from Brixton was on the BBC Sound Poll a few years ago. So technically not new music to the semantic online nerds. However, it’s becoming increasingly common for tracks that are two, or even three years old, to break into the mainstream as “new music”. This big, powerful soulful voice, has so much more to give!

Superorganism

YES! I screamed. Finally, something…well…a bit different. This US/UK collective already caused a big stir in the music industry at the start of the year when they posted ‘Something For Your Mind’. Dollar signs flashed before the eyes of the biz, as the hungry wolves salivated at the money to be made from advertising and brand deals alone, from what is, a very catchy tune. Early days, but easily one of my favourite’s of 2017.

Stereo Honey

The first time I heard this back at the start of 2017, I wondered if this was Dougie from The Temper Trap starting a new project. The voice and melodies are a perfect match. Their festival bookings are off to a strong start, and they support the Naked and Famous later this year. Keep your ears and eyes peeled.

The Howl and The Hum

Band names. No rules on how you choose. This lot have been inspired by an Allen Ginsberg poem. Obvs. Why the hell not? They’re from York. Shambles? No they sound bloody great. (This is a really good York based joke) If you don’t get it, then visit York. Or google it. DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU? Couple of gems from them this year. Start with this:

Dermot Kennedy

Here’s a 25 year old Dubliner with bags of potential. He’s just released his debut EP this year.
And he’s quickly building up a solid fanbase around the world. There are moments when his voice reminds me of Paolo Nutini. And that big voice meets some huge pop production on this tune. Check out ‘Glory’, or just head straight for the ‘Doves & Ravens’ EP.

Mondo Cozmo

Josh Ostrander has been around for a long time, making music and feeling like he “wasn’t making it.” Although his name rebrand has left him sounding like a holiday cocktail, his music has now found itself a massive global audience. He’s playing Reading & Leeds in August, and he’s just finished touring with Bastille. And I love him even more for not quitting when it was shit and nothing was happening. A life lesson for us all!

Blog 45 – Dementia

My writing recently took me to a few words on this personal experience. I normally just keep this stuff in journals, but maybe you, or your family are going through something similar. So I thought I’d share.

Granny, the matriarchal, sometimes fierce, yet loving woman, has got dementia. It’s been gradual, and gentle in a way, but it’s constant and certainly worsening.

I first thought things were getting strange just before christmas 2016. After another fall, all her wine was replaced for an alcohol free alternative. Yet, four months later she still hadn’t realised we’d swapped it. She was constantly referring to it as “real” wine and dishing it out as gifts. Not once has she read the labels. Not once had she noticed, the surely differing effects the two wines produce. There was quite clearly no cognitive connection taking place around her alcohol consumption.

Just the other day she mentioned how boring life was and how nothing was happening. It was the day after the Manchester Arena bomb, and my dad pointed out that one of the worst UK based terror attacks had just taken place. “They get what they deserve in Manchester…” She replied, tailing off and looking away. Now, at this point it’s very important to note that my dear granny grew up on the outskirts of Manchester during WWII. She has lived a lot of her life as a proud Lancastrian. This statement made NO SENSE. Rightly or wrongly, where did she think Manchester was? She certainly wasn’t referring to the town she’d grown up around. Did she even understand what had happened? Was it a throwaway comment to something she had just misheard? So many questions…

The follow up to this was even more intriguing. My dad then asked her what she would find interesting.

“Space”. She paused. “I hear they’re just about to send someone into space. Now that will be interesting.”

With a few more comments around her marriage and the death of certain people we’ve identified that, in her mind, she’s bizarrely stuck somewhere, flitting between the present day, and the early 1960s.

Documenting this over the past few months or so, has been such a mixed bag of emotions. At times, it has been funny. Her imaginary tales of taking a dog for a walk. Her description of the routes they travel on these casual bimbles are hilarious. There is a dog where she lives. Granny, however, can barely walk.

Mostly though, the decline is a slow shallow sadness. Which is fine of course, being sad. It hasn’t consumed our family. Everyone has still turned up for her. Loving and caring for granny as best they can. I see her children develop a patience and tolerance one can only really muster in situations like these.

The dementia is only one part of this old age story. Broken bones are now not a surprise as she’s wheeled out of the x-ray department after another fall. And it’s kind of weird because we all know how this ends. But, in the meantime, she marches on(in plastercast) And we’ll laugh and cry as much as we need to. Because it’s life. And it’s the only way.

Live At Your Local…

On Friday August 18th, Dan will be judging the ‘Live At Your Local’ final, at the O2 in London. Over 2,000 people are expected to watch the 8 finalists battle it out for the £5,000 prize money. The winners will then receive a day at the world famous Red Bull recording studio in London. Show sponsors Greene King are also promising the winning artists their weight in beer! Razorlight will be performing a headline set just before the 2017 ‘Live At Your Local’ winner is announced. Ticket details www.radiox.co.uk

#onelovemanchester

After the recent tragic events in Manchester, #onelovemanchester has been launched to raise money for the victims and their families. A huge concert will take place this Sunday (June 4th) at Old Trafford. As part of this, Ariana Grande is also releasing ‘One Last Time’ as a charity single with all proceeds going towards the #onelovemanchester fund. Dan has been busy recording the voiceover for the worldwide campaign this week. Please help if you can, by buying and downloading the single, which is out now.