Andy McCluskey: Kicking Down Fascist Art with OMD

by Lawrence Peryer
September 14, 2024

Today, the Spotlight shines On Andy McCluskey, the singer, songwriter, musician, and producer best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (also known as OMD). Andy joined Spotlight On producer and guest host Michael Donaldson to discuss topics as varied as the political messages behind their latest work, post-modern ...

Jonathan Crossley

It began at the age of five, lying flat on the floor, just outside Belfast, with an old set of (loud) Rotel headphones on, completely immersed in a smorgasbord of vinyl. Tangerine Dream & Vangelis, Bach to early Genesis …. this variety an early indicator of what was to come. After emigrating to South Africa at the age of six a family acoustic guitar led to classical guitar lessons, and the instrument of choice.

Yet while classical guitar was the instrument, a secret love of diversity never faltered. Music studies were paralleled with a continued love for electronic music, indie rock like the Pixies and Sonic Youth, stronger fare like Metallica and inevitably grunge were interwoven into a musical fabric, often to the disdain of music tutors.

Jack Taylor

Born: March 18, 1994

Based in Liverpool, UK, Jack Taylor brings over a decade of experience in the music industry. As a versatile musician, Jack has thrived in various musical settings, including pit work, session gigs, and functions. 

Jack's career as an international and national touring musician boasts over 500 performances across four countries. Highlights of his performance venues include:

• District, Liverpool (Supporting GRAMMY award winner Mark Lettieri)

• Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, Nepal

• House of Music, Kathmandu, Nepal

• Pro Music, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Jack Cooper - Guitar

Born: February, 1980

Joanne Stewart

The Weave

The Weave is a collection of truly world class Liverpool based Jazz musicians playing a repertoire of warm, melodious and largely friendly home grown tunes. For years now Liverpool has been home to a small but extremely vibrant and healthy Jazz community. There is a deeply rooted, direct, honest and often humorous charm that is the hallmark of Liverpool music across the genres, and this is no less true of the Jazzers. The Weave harnesses these qualities and aims to present them to a national and eventualy international audience.

Barry Dallman

Born: April 23, 1976

Phil Hargreaves

Born: November 7, 1959

phil hargreaves is a Liverpool-based instrumentalist and composer working in the field of improvised and experimental music. I began playing as a guitarist in a punk band in the West Midlands, where i grew up, before moving to Liverpool at the age of twenty and buying a tenor sax, both decisions that would radically shape the rest of my life. Initially i was involved in Liverpool's pop scene, recording John Peel sessions with Personal Column, but eventually i moved via streetband work into the jazz field. After stints playing fusion and dinner jazz, i finally found the area where i could fully combine my talents, interests and influences, in improvised music, an area first stimulated by work with Peshkar theatre, and my subsequent study of Indian music with Aziz Zeria in Manchester. I played with guitarist Phil Morton in the duo Bonehouse, and also helped establish the Frakture club in Liverpool, a club space for improvised and experimental music

The Beatles - On the Road, 1964-1966

by Nenad Georgievski
August 19, 2017

The Beatles -On the Road, 1964-1966 Harry Benson 272 Pages ISBN: 3836533227 Taschen 2017 Feted British photographer Harry Benson first met the Beatles in 1964, when he was assigned to go to Paris and document their gig there at the Olympia Theatre. At the time the Beatles were rising ...

Guapo: Obscure Knowledge

by Glenn Astarita
October 27, 2015

This British band sports a colossal sound as they merge discrete flavors and variations of progressive rock into a singular or rather idiosyncratic group focus on its tenth release and third production for Cuneiform Records. With mesmeric minimalism, doomsday crescendos and certain movements built on math rock, the coalescence of keyboardist Emmett Elvin with guitarist Kavus ...