It’s been said a lot, not least on this very website, that there’s a hell of a lot of music-related activity going on in Oxford. Many towns of this size don’t have any kind of regular source of local music information, news and reviews, but Oxford is in the very fortunate position to be able to support several. As well as a variety of websites – this one being the best one, of course – there is the stalwart Nightshift, whose editor we interviewed recently, and also Oxfordshire Music Scene, a print magazine that’s been around for a couple of years now, and that slots neatly into the mix of Oxford music resources.
The editor of Oxfordshire Music Scene, Stewart Garden, answered our probing questions in order to fill us in on the whats, whys and hows of the magazine.
MIO: When did OMS start up, and why?
SG: OMS was first started in 2008 by Darren Brinham from Vital Publishing. Darren was making videos (he had been making films at Truck), doing photography, designing and publishing other, non–music magazines, and I think a music magazine was a logical progression. I heard about the magazine launching on Facebook before the first one was published. I had just left Truck and was looking around for new stuff to do, so I got in touch straight away. When it came to the July issue last year, I had become so involved with the editorial that I had nearly put it together myself. When it came to the printing of that issue, Darren announced that he was leaving for Devon. He decided that I could continue with it myself, though. I postponed that issue until September, got a new designer and printer sorted out, and changed the size. It was lucky, as that was my first one as editor, and I had most of the copy in place, which made it easier to put it together. I think the new size and input from the new designer has given it a fresh lease of life.
MIO: What’s your background – both OMS/music-related and not?
SG: I had been in bands back in Scotland and moved to London to join up with my friends, who had joined London indie band The Wishing Stones. The band was fronted by Bill Prince, the bass player in The Loft who were on Creation Records. We were all massive fans of The Loft, so it was quite a big thing to be joining the band. We did a couple of national tours (one with The Weather Prophets, also ex–Loft) and made an album. The album didn’t come out as the band split quite acrimoniously (another story – an incident that happened in Oxford, funnily enough). I played bass – you can hear us and read some of our reviews here. We were managed by Jeff Barrett and were signed to his label Sub Aqua which later became Heavenly, home of Doves and Manic Street Preachers. The album came out posthumously and was one of the first releases on Heavenly but aside from a few followers, I don’t think too many people took notice. We did our first gig in 20 years at Truck 3 years ago, and there is talk of recording again as there are some tracks which weren’t recorded. There was an interview done a couple of years ago which tells the full story. When the band broke up, I moved into music distribution as a label manager with Rough Trade, RTM and then Vital (now PIAS). I got fed up with London life and record labels and moved to Oxford around seven years ago. I worked for Truck for nearly a year – my first experience of working at the Festival was the famous flood year – quite a baptism of fire! Being stranded in the office while the waters rose around us was something I’ll never forget. Then, out of that, the hastily–arranged festival which went ahead at Brookes made quite an incredible weekend to be part of. It was a short time but I learned loads and met lots of people in Oxford – all of which has been great for what I’m doing now. I’m also researching an oral history of The Clash for publishers Random House. I’m doing it with John Niven, who I was friends with from Glasgow. He was the Wishing Stones’ guitar player, and he’s now doing really well as an author.
MIO: Who’s involved with OMS?
SG: It’s really just myself, and all the people who are out there doing the reviews, writing the features and taking the pictures. Leo Bowder who’s in The Deputees helps me out with the proofing too, which has been important. It couldn’t happen without all those people’s input so I’m eternally grateful for that support. I do most of the distribution myself but I have to mention Trevor Williams who puts it out round Wantage and Faringdon way, and Michelle from Crash Records who distributes it in Thame. I actually worked out recently that most of the people who are involved now are musicians or former musicians – make of that what you will!
MIO: What’s the best thing you’ve ever published?
SG: I think because of all the uncertainty last year, I’d have to say it was the September 2010 issue with Dead Jerichos on the cover. I have worked with magazines before, but had never done anything like that myself. When it came back from the printers I was visibly shaking, just waiting for something to be wrong, but thankfully it was fine. I’m really pleased with the way the Equipment pages, written by Chris from Spiral 25, are going. It was just an idea I had to go into that side of things and it’s just kept going once we had the format. I’ve even had a national equipment distributor get in touch about it. That’s part of what I like doing about this is trying things out, not knowing whether they’ll come off – seeing them come to fruition is really satisfying.
MIO: Who have you correctly predicted for big things?
SG: If you look through the previous issues, you’ll see most names in there in some shape or form – Little Fish were on the cover of the first issue in 2008, we had Stornoway on the cover of issue eight well before they signed to 4AD. We’re all out there going to gigs regularly, and there are lots of people with differing tastes, so I like to think we’re pretty good at seeing what’s going on. I was blown away by Fixers when I first heard them, and went along to one of their first shows at Port Mahon. You can read my review in issue nine – they were called Fixies for that night. It’s the only review I’ve ever written for the magazine. I don’t consider myself much of a writer when it comes to music (though I do write all the news), but I was forced to do it myself because nobody else would come with me! I was so taken with them immediately, I was going to put them on the cover – I just got it straight away (possibly because I’m into the Beach Boys!). We’ll continue to champion local music that we’re excited about whether they’re signed or not. I do think that who is on the cover has an effect on the number of people that pick the magazine up so I have to keep one eye on that.
MIO: What are your future plans for OMS – and anything else that we don’t know about yet?
SG: I just want to try to continue to improve the quality of the magazine and the writing in there – there are always new people coming on board which keeps it moving along. I always try to make the new issue the best one yet, and I think that’s true of the last one that came out. There is scope to go up more pages but I don’t think it’ll go up in size again. It’s too much hassle to carry about, for me and for the people who read it. It’s going up to five times a year, from four, from now as I thought there were key times of year which we were missing out on. I’m also launching a local dance and electronic magazine called The Sampler in May this year. The plan is to run these in between issues of OMS. I’ve put the word out about it starting and I’ve had a fantastic response from people wanting to get involved which is a good sign. It seems obvious from speaking to people that something like that is missing from what’s out there in Oxford. It’s a long way from becoming a reality but I do hope it gets off the ground.
MIO: Does the internet affect OMS‘s standing as a place for Oxford music news and reviews?
SG: Websites can get information out there quicker and can make it more visually stimulating but it’s clear from the number of people that pick OMS up that they still like to read it in a magazine. Richard from Gappy Tooth remarked once that OMS was like a yearbook, which kind of stuck with me and made me think it was alright to publish stuff which was a bit older. I think whether people write for a website or a magazine is expressing a different viewpoint anyway on a band or an event, so people are getting a good depth of opinion over a longer period of time. Also, I know that OMS goes to a lot of people who may not read websites or Nightshift or listen to BBC Introducing, so it’s all generating more interest in the scene here. You could say the bands and punters are the real winners from the vibrant local media we have. I’m sure not many places of our size or even bigger places can say that they have as much going on as we do in Oxford.
MIO: How can people contribute to OMS?
SG: We are always open to new people contributing – I’m particularly looking for people to get out to see local bands and up and coming touring acts. I’m also looking for people who’d like to write for The Sampler. E-mail me!
You can pick up the latest issue of Oxfordshire Music Scene at venues, shops and other such places throughout Oxfordshire. Downloads of all issues of the magazine are also available online.