Lockdown! at the Disco #3: The Liverpool Episode

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Hi!! It’s me your friend and Lockdown! at the Disco host Amy Roberts on Comics Youth Radio broadcasting live from Fairfield and Kensington and welcoming you to episode 3 of the show. Come in, make a brew, get the good biscuits out of the cupboard, and get super cosy and comfortable.

Today is a Liverpool special where we’re going to be celebrating the local community and local artists and generally just vibing off how creative and radical and resilient we are – not just in Liverpool – but in the north of England in general. And I can’t think of a better song to bring us into this fold than this classic by Echo and the Bunnymen.

TRACK #1: “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen

That was “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen and I continue to think that song is one of the greatest ever written. It’s so dark and dreamy. It’s like being dipped into a warm lunar bath.

I really owe a massive apology to Ian McCulloch – the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen – because when I was a rambunctious teenager me and my best friend used to always see him in the big Tesco on Allerton Road and we used to follow him around the fruit and veg aisle and we’d shout his name dead loud and then go pegging it as far away as possible.

It wasn’t even funny but we did it every time we saw him in there and he must have been absolutely sick of it. Also props to his commitment to wearing sunglasses indoors 24/7 – even in Tesco. Got a lot of respect for that look.

Anyway, we have a playlist today that is stacked with great music by local artists of past and present – and yes, we are absolutely including the Wirral and Cheshire and other such ‘wool’ affiliate places because come on, let’s stop with that term and these divisions - and we’ve got some nice anecdotes and shoutouts to share, and I’m gonna try not to get as emotional as I was on air last week. But I may well get just as political!

But don’t worry – nothing too heavy. Consider this show an escape pod from a lot of the frustrations and upset of what is happening right now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still vent a little – because what’s a rant between good friends, right?

So for this episode – which may be a little bit longer than usual because we have so much to share today - we’re gonna vent, we’re gonna beam with pride, we’re gonna dance, we’re gonna feel wholesome, we’re gonna feel like we can fight back against whatever challenges are coming our way as a community, and we’re also gonna let ourselves get a bit silly and a bit angry. I

t’s kind of what we do here. This is “Our Mother’s Sons” by SPQR.

TRACK #2: “Our Mother’s Sons” by SPQR

TRACK #3: “Sissy Fists” by Queen Zee

So that was “Our Mother’s Sons” by SPQR, who are a really phenomenal local band doing great things at the moment. I keep missing them live and have been for a fair while now and I live in regret with that fact because wow, live music feels like a sacred relic from the past already and who knows when we’ll get to have it again - and that was followed by the amazing “Sissy Fists” by Queen Zee which to my mind is one of the greatest queer anthems of our generation.

I spoke to Zee of Queen Zee and they were very kind to tell us a little bit more about this song and they told us:

“The first time I played sissy fists, I was playing acoustically above a curry house in Manchester to a bar of 2 people. The last time I played it was to 5000 people at Brixton Academy. If you ever wanna have a bit of something, have a go, cos you never know where it can end up.

“The chorus of that song “Raise Your Sissy Fists” was something my boxing coach used to say to me as a kid, it’s just made me fight harder and be tougher and work harder and I think that’s what we have to do in this world.

“Go take what we want even when we’ve always been told we don’t deserve it, whether that’s a queer kid wanting to play Brixton or any struggle we might face in our life to pursue our dreams or just feel like there’s something more...”

Thank you so much again Zee. I think that’s a really vital message to be sharing right now.

And yeah, to everyone who needs to hear it during this challenging and uncertain moment: Keep those sissy fists raised throughout all of this – don’t let it change you and don’t let it stop you. The world is still yours. And you are still you.

Let’s keep this punk rock vibe going for a while with a song by long-standing Liverpool skate punk band The Hunx. Reece from The Hunx got in touch with us about the release of their new EP, 3 Bags for 50 which you can stream or download on a pay what you want basis via their bandcamp page – thehunxpunkrock.bandcamp.com - and that’s The Hunx spelt H U N X, just FYI - and Reece wanted to give a shoutout to Andy Dazzler for recording them and for generally helping the band out. This is “Golden Boy” on Comics Youth Radio.

TRACK #4: “Golden Boy” by The Hunx

TRACK #5: “Boys From the Blackstuff” by Down and Outs

That was “Boys from the Blackstuff” by classic local punk band the Down and Outs. And it was requested by our Anna from Comics Youth. She wanted to give a shoutout to Sarah Lovelock - owner and chief boss lady at Lovelocks Coffee Shop in Liverpool city centre. And Anna had this to say about them:

“Sarah puts extra love into everything she does, so much that it's in her name. Lovelocks is more than a local coffee shop it's a home away from home that feels comfy and cosy and that is all down to Sarah. She is super generous and has genuine care and compassion for all her customers and the food and coffee is the best in Liverpool. 

It was the cafe's 4th birthday on Saturday 9th May, which is so fantastic for a small business but the lockdown is hitting hard. Right now, Lovelocks are selling a boss birthday t-shirt designed Anna to help cover some costs during lockdown so please go check it out on their website lovelocks.coffee or via their facebook page.

If you can afford to buy a t-shirt then please do but if you can't right now no worries. Like the Facebook page and share it around if you can and be sure to make a mental note to treat yourself to a coffee there in the future because you won't regret it.”

Now when we did the Razorcake event with Will from Good Grief, we hosted it at Lovelocks and the whole team was so kind and accommodating and supportive and we all really appreciated it.

On a personal level, I’ve been eating and drinking the sublime food and coffee at Lovelocks for a while now and it really is a home from home. And the coffee – oh my lawd, the coffee! It really is one of the best cups in the city -  When I’ve been going through some really heavy personal stuff in the past few years, Lovelocks has been one of those places I love to go to and hide out in with my book and just feel better about life.

The staff are so lovely and it has such a nurturing vibe so yeah, happy 4th birthday to you Lovelocks and we love you very much.

TRACK #6: “Seventeen” by Ladytron

TRACK #7: “War It” by Forest Swords

That was “War It” by Forest Swords – which I’ve been smashing a lot lately. Just really beautiful, intricate stuff – nice for putting on and gaining some focus to right now. And as we all know, focus is very much in short supply in most people’s brains at the moment.

And before that was “Seventeen “ by Ladytron, which is a huge vibe from back in the days of the Korova scene. My friend and very talented DJ, David Jones – AKA Alec Tronic - used to work on the bar in Korova back then and he got in touch with us this week about the amazing weekly radio show that he does every week on melodicdistraction.com.

So every Wednesday from 8pm until 9pm he does a show called mxsticate – masticate? Mixsticate? I’m not cool enough to know how to pronounce it, sorry. I feel like Elon Musk and Grimes’ baby name has made me unable to prounounce anything with an x in forever more now -  anyways, as David beautifully puts it, it’s basically your fave queer power hour and it aims to showcase global queer centered underground electronic music – because that’s something that David reckons is largely overlooked, and I’m inclined to heartily agree.

The show gives the listener something to chew on in the form of non-pretentious dance tunes to make you move your feet. And as a footnote, David adds that in his opinion queer is who you are, not what you are – which is something he’s added because he reckons the word has been co-opted in recent times as a buzz word.

It certainly has been. I identify as queer myself and I know a few people in the Comics Youth office do, working in marketing I’ve certainly seen that word used as a way to pull in a certain audience and to slap a broad yet vague LGBTQIA+ friendly bumper sticker on a product or event which is otherwise doing nothing tangible for or even representative of that particular community. So yeah – it’s really important that we all support grassroots queer art in this city – because it doesn’t get the attention or platform or applause that it deserves, to be honest.

And now, let’s get a little weird and a little bit spooky with your local ghoul gang Zombina and the Skeletones.

TRACK #8: “I Go Psycho” by Zombina and the Skeletones

TRACK #9: “Something’s Rotten in the Back of Iceland” by Half Man Half Biscuit

That was “Something’s Rotten in the Back of Iceland” by Half Man Half Biscuit who are still one of my favourite local bands and they’re a lot of fun. And I’m playing that for a very nice man who lives in a Lancashire town with the amazing name of Oswaldtwistle, which is home to the largest pear drop in the world – and that’s a brag that Liverpool just simply can’t contend with.

This man has put up with a lot of my nonsense over the past few months and repeatedly helped to make me smile when things have felt a little frustrating or tough so that’s my shoutout for the week.

And before that was “I Go Psycho” by Zombina and the Skeletones who are local punk rock icons. They went to my school and were a few years above me and I’ve always admired and looked up to them.

They play horror inspired punk tunes and they put on a helluva show and when I was first starting out as a teenage musician they gave my first ever band – when I was 15 – our first gig and I deeply appreciate them for that to this day.

And that’s something I wanted to drop a quick note about: If you want to make music or you want to perform or you just want to get up in front of people and make a noise about the world and how you feel about it, then don’t let fear stop you.

Your perspective is important and I know anxiety and self-esteem can be massive barriers, but lean on your scene and lean on your friends and your community to find the confidence to get up and do these things. I guarantee it’ll be one of the most satisfying things you ever do.

To get back to Zombina, I spoke to Gen who is the very charismatic titular Zombina of the band and she gave us some fun comics-based facts about the band which I really liked.

And she says, “When me and Ash (AKA Doc Horror) started the band aged 15 we were obsessed with the Forbidden Planet shop on Bold St. We loved a few comics in particular and one was Patrick The Wolfboy by Art Balthazar. By the time we self-released our first album a few years later, Art Balthazar did the cd cover artwork (feat. said Patrick Wolfboy and us!) for absolute pennies as by then he was a fan of ours too!

As a final fact, Jonny Tokyo who was in the band for half of our career was drawn into The Beano as a baby because his Dad was friends with the artists.”

Which is pretty rad, thank you so much for sharing that with us Gen.

Next we’re gonna play a song by local superstar Callum Crighton. This wonderful 80’s inspired song is called “Fame” and as Callum told us it’s “about having a sense of inner fame. In believing that you are capable of chasing any dream and achieving any goal. In being authentically yourself 100% of the time and never allowing others to change you.” I hope you’ve all got your finest threads and your dancing shoes on for this bop…

TRACK #10: “Fame” by Callum Crighton

TRACK #11: “I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls

I mean, of course I had to follow “Fame” up with “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Flock of Seagulls. And they’re one of those local bands who seemingly every person in Liverpool is distantly related to in some way. I’m almost certain that I have at least one second cousin who is married to a guy who was the roadie for the keyboardist or something like that.

Our marketing maven Emily wants to give a huge shoutout to her friend Ella Fradgley! She’s part of our marginal crew and she’s also the illustrator of Emily’s upcoming poetry book (which we’re soon to publish!).

Emily says, “Ella has been sending me letters and little pieces of art during lockdown and she has inspired me to write more letters and create more playlists! She’s sending letters to all of her friends and is making sure that everyone feels loved.”

Anyway, I know a lot of you like music on the darker side of the spectrum. You like it loud and you like it heavy and that’s cool, man! We kinda like that stuff too and Liverpool has always had a thriving metal scene. A lot of which is sadly not appropriate to be played on this show, but I’ve done my best. For the metalheads out there, these two tracks are for you to do a mosh around your bedroom to.

For everyone else – it’s probably best you go and make a brew for five minutes and then come back, alright?

This is “Songs in the Key of Compromise” by local anti-fascist black metal boys Dawn Ray’d.

TRACK #12: “Songs in the Key of Compromise” by Dawn Ray’d

TRACK #13: “Drone Eagle” by Video Nasties

That was “Songs in the Key of Compromise” by Dawn Ray’d – who are a really terrific and progressive local black metal band who do a lot of great stuff about class war and fighting systemic injustices and oppression which is all something that we talk about a lot at Comics Youth – and that I think various communities in Liverpool can all unite over.

And that was followed by local horror junkies Video Nasties who recently released their first full-length album Dominion and it’s kinda blown up for them. Kerrang are crawling all over them at the moment. Which is boss cos they’re really ace lads and they deserve it.

Now, how about a palate cleanser after all that because we have some very wholesome shoutouts to some local heroes.

Starting with a big shoutout to YKids – a youth charity based in Bootle – who have been sending out cakes and presents on birthdays to all the young people who use their service. If you check out their Twitter page – which is @ykids_charity then you can see all the good that they’re doing in that community – including some terrific fundraisers and stuff like delivering activity packs to kids during lockdown.

Acts like this really go a long way at the moment and I know all of us in Comics Youth love reading about other places that are doing great work like this.

Meanwhile Rosa – who you might remember from last week’s episode as being the Perks of a Wallflower superfan – has also been in touch with a really lovely story about some kindness that her family has enjoyed recently.

Rosa says, “My auntie has down syndrome and only really eats pasta because she’s supppppeeerr fussy, and she went to Tesco and they didn’t have any. She explained everything to the lady at the till because they know her and she brought the manager to talk to my Nan.

Basically the manager said he’d give my nan a call when they had more pasta in. But then obviously he realised my Nan is of Nan age and said she shouldn’t be out. So instead, he offered to bring the pasta to her house. He took her name and address and all those types of details and they said they’d get in touch.

Then my Nan went to Frankie and Benny’s and they just GAVE her a big ol bag of pasta and 2 blocks of frozen sauce too!! And then a few days later, the man from Tesco knocked on the door with loadsss of pasta and she tried to pay but he’d already covered it for her.”

Which – I’m not gonna lie – when I received this in my inbox the other day it made me proper choke up because it’s just so nice and so wholesome and exactly the kind of community spirit that I think the north has always been renowned for having. And I really think that right now people are looking out for one another more than ever. In a crisis, always look at the people who are helping.

And lastly, Lucas – who by the way, has been keeping me sane by writing some incredible pieces for us and also by giving us a running update of the daily breads that his mum is making every day and let me tell ya, that woman is a bread machine and I’m living vicariously through her baking because Oh! I miss sourdough so much.

To get back on track: Lucas has shared a really lovely shoutout to his favourite local pub which is Kash 22  - spelt K A S H 22 – in Frodshom. He says,

“since the very start of lockdown they’ve been cooking TONS of food and delivering it to the vulnerable.

”The owner is called Paddy Bleakley and he’s a legend. They’ve been doing this every week – I think at least twice a week actually – and it’s so good.”

And you can look up Kash 22 on Facebook to see just how much they’ve been cooking and all the good they’ve been doing there.

Now obviously, we know there are countless more businesses and individuals and organisations and charities who deserve a huge shoutout right now and as always we’re happy to share those vibes. So please, if you know of someone or somewhere who deserves the applause then let me know via email at amy@comicsyouth.co.uk.

And obviously, general massive love to everyone who has been continuing to work during lockdown. To NHS staff and those working in supermarkets, bus drivers, taxi drivers, community help centres, takeaways, food banks, corner shops and to people involved in artistic events who are figuring out ways to still showcase and celebrate art to people in different ways like the Writing on the Wall festival who have made an amazing online programme for this year which includes people like Irvine Welsh and Jeremy Corbyn on the roster and stuff like Light Night as well too who have shuffled elements of their amazing programme to being online.

All of this is so vital and all of you are doing amazing work during a supremely challenging time, so we have nothing but love for you in keeping the fire burning and serving the light.

Now I’ve been talking for far too long here, so I’m gonna dish up a triple-song feast for you now. First up is “Give Me Your Dream” by Bye Louis. And Kieran from Bye Louis had this message to share with the song:

“I used to volunteer and work with Comics Youth, and some of the young people I met have found their way into my music in some ways. I love learning about what people are passionate about or interested in, especially if what you’re interested in or passionate about is a bit out of the ordinary or might be considered less cool, I suppose.

”I was always interested in trains and trams, for example. I still love imagining how new train or tram lines could make life different for us. You might be able to hear a bit of that in this song. 

“In terms of inspirational messages, I think it’s just important right now to take things one day at a time, and to do things for you.”

TRACK #16: “Give Me Your Dream” by Bye Louis

TRACK #15: “Into the Sea” by Code Break

TRACK #17: “So Nah” by 32 tens

That was “Give Me Your Dream” by Bye Louis, followed by “Into the Sea” by local melodic hardcore band Code Break, and we ended that trio of songs with “So Nah” by 32 Tens.

And Sam from 32 Tens wants to dedicate that song to Cheesecake, who is one of our beloved young people here at Comics Youth. He volunteers at the youth service that Sam works for called Cells. Sam says that "So Nah" is about when you get to that point where you’ve been doing what you feel like you’re supposed to for so long and then you finally break and release how you really feel.

Which is basically the point where you say "Nahhhh' to the way other people want you to live.

And Sam also had these lovely, inspiring words to share with everyone right now. He says:

“Keep and nourish those connections though anyway that you can right now. Be creative in using Phone calls, texts, social media, Zoom, Playstation ect. Reach out to your people and check in with them. Maybe with a piece of music, video, memes, or pictures, that have touched you and see if these things touch them too. Maybe try and collaborate with others on one of your passions.”

Which is a fantastic note to start closing this episode down on. I’ve spoken to a lot of super creative and talented and smart people this week of all ages who are feeling kinda bummed out about the fact that they aren’t being super productive right now. You know, they think they’re playing video games too much, or they’re just trapped in this cycle of sending memes back and forth to the same people.

And I get it – we all wish we could be doing more, but that’s also because we’ve developed really ridiculous ideas of what productivity entails and really strange ideas on what types of things have value and what don’t.

Which is ludicrous. Because, let me tell you all right now: Playing video games has value. Sitting and staring out the window has value. Watching movies and TV shows has value. Eating all of the snacks and not regretting a bite of it has value. Reading and dancing and walking and crying and surviving and sending memes to friends and sharing music and telling jokes and just doing nothing at all – it all has value.

You have value.

And all of that can be creative in some way and can be something that you share with another person – if you want to. We all have a range of passions and talents and they can be nourished and in a variety of ways that can uplift other people on small and major levels.

This is something that I think we do really well in Liverpool – and in the north, in general: We take what could be considered a small thing – a meal, a song, a poem, an event, a person, an idea – and we gather together as a community to support these things and to nourish them until they become huge and acknowledged and appreciated and known.

We aren’t ever quiet even when we’re silent. So, continue to be creative and continue to be kind and continue to be unapologetic about who you are, where you come from, and where you want to be. Because you deserve to have the world and deserve to face no opposition in obtaining it.

Got that? Cool cool cool.

Next week’s episode of Lockdown! at the Disco is going to be The Snoozetime Special – basically a much more chill and ambient episode focused on different techniques, affirmations, and meditations to help you sleep.

So for that I want to know what music are you currently putting on to help you relax or to drift off to? And maybe share with us your own advice for things that help you to get some sleep.

Because I know that right now it’s hard to maintain a decent sleep pattern or to even just drift off when there’s so much anxiety in all of our little heads right now.

So please do get in touch to let me know your ideas for that – this radio show is very much a collaborative effort and you’re all involved in making it happen. Get in touch via our various social media channels or with me directly over email amy@comicsyouth.co.uk.

And that’s it for this week. Until next time gang, gang: Stay safe & stay sassy and remember that we love you. And if your head feels like its spinning off your shoulders at the moment, just let it spin, honey. You’ll make magic from it someday, I promise. It’s kind of what we do here… <3

Byeeeeeee!

TRACK #19: “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive