‘Put On A Show’ is a melancholic, energetic orchestration of melody, with verses complimented by gentle high pitched twanging of guitar strings and choruses that bring out the lightly distorted indulgence of power chords. It could be the distinctive sound of Chris West’s vocals or possibly the light fuzz of electronics in the background acting as the black outline of the painting, bringing out the striking colours, but it sounds different to any contemporary rock band out there, much to the band’s delight, this writer is sure!

‘Down From Your Skies’ begins differently, with a deceptive electric opening that baffles, before opening into the equally as catchy and sing-along-able vibe. The bass lines are very impressive here, it never stops for a breath! Towards the middle it really starts to work together with the guitar, and it couldn’t be more powerful.

After the first two energetic tracks it’s a welcome change when ‘Time Slows Down’, an appropriately slower song takes the stage. Now the range is stretching far off into the sunset. Acoustics, more prominent electronic sounds, and lyrically, much deeper concepts. There’s also some fantastic leads during the choruses, and even a short but sweet clean solo at the end.

The final track, ‘Why Should We Change’, retains the slow pace of its predecessor, and yet is full of energy. What’s particularly impressive is its compactness. The changes in sound and vibe are constant and surprising.

Unlike many artistic alchemists who mix electronica with raw instruments, this band keeps it real. Keeps the rock the front-seat driver, and the electronics a subtle addition. They’re simple but effective, complex when they need to be, and that unclassifiable albeit familiar sound will make them agreeable with the masses and take them far indeed! There are great things ahead for Drop Down Smiling, and if this EP is anything like what to expect in the future, we’ll be waiting with bated breath.

Brew said: “We’ve had the pleasure of releasing some incredible records over the years and have been fortunate to work with so many amazing people. We’d like to thank everyone that has ever supported us, bought a record or a t-shirt and spread our music in general. Humanfly’s ‘Awesome Science’ is our final release and we couldn’t think of a better record to go out on which sums up what we love about physical records both musically and aesthetically. The label will still remain active for a while as we wind things down and continue to take and fulfil orders.

To celebrate and commiserate we are currently running a big sale on our store where every CD/vinyl/shirt/poster (except the new Humanfly album) is now reduced in price. For the next 2 weeks all our releases are set to ‘pay what you like’ on bandcamp too – except the new Humanfly album – so feel free to explore our back catalog and if you feel like paying some money we won’t complain’.”

Sad times. Thanks for everything, guys! Here are some of our favourite Brew bands…

Upon first listen, you won’t believe what you’re hearing. You’ll recoil, taken aback by the disturbing guttural monotony that’s hitting you again and again. Then, as you submit to the fury of these beast-like songs, you’ll learn the twisted ways of the world you’ve entered, and become attached to it, as we have. This isn’t an EP to just put on in the background as you surf the web. Oh hell no. This steals your undivided attention. Everything that’s real fades away and you find yourself losing your sanity to a terrifying purgatory.

With the opening monster track ‘User’ you’re dragged into an eerie and encapsulating atmosphere. Whether you want to be or not, you’re mesmerized by the tame methodical aggression. It creeps up on you without your realisation or consent. With the second track you begin to move faster, the unknown dimension spiralling into the abyss around you. And then it just gets heavier. The title of the third track ‘Rot And Seethe’ is exactly what the band wants you to feel. The riff pounds relentlessly and furiously, pausing only for screeching feedback and unsettling electronic touches.

“Waste” is incredible. The inharmonious slam of guitar strings throughout grasps you and doesn’t let go. It’s a more straightforward song but in this writer’s opinion, is the most arresting track on the EP. And finally, ‘Flux’, which follows on in the same vein as its predecessor and delivers a different form of vocal style that projects those vital metal emotions in a more outward way, as opposed to the subtle menace burning furiously in the vocalist’s diaphragm that we hear throughout the rest. And what better way to end a disturbing experience like this but with an incredibly perturbing concoction of noises bordering on terrifying?

Stepping back from it, any other band you’re used to will seem like a far-off friendly dream. A comfort to make you sane again. That’s something that Concrete Lung should wear like a badge of honour. There’s nothing like this. Nothing at all. And that’s a damn good thing. This band are providing originality like never before, setting new hurdles for others to jump over. It’s one that simply needs to be experienced to be believed. The discomfort couldn’t be greater, and it will leave you questioning every musical paradigm you can think of.

It’s one for those of us who aren’t afraid to step out of reality – and suffer a few psychological scars as well.

The recent revival of the euphoric setting of early 1990s house music is taking people back through time and beyond the future once again. Its recent wave into the charts once again is a sign of yet another trend but its roots remain underground in this particular, current field spawning what could be described as a mash-up of different subcultures.

One of these is that hipster culture has become part of the new wave of electronic music since taking over the UK. Its prognosis is barely mentioned in the music pages of the national press because of its part in the youth movement of today where previous cultures that included underground acid house and the football fanzines were also rarely mentioned.

Different topics of news apply to different audiences; indeed critics could argue that hipster culture applies only specifically to a student audience but arguably this age range is critical in many ways to the shape of musical periods exploring over a period of time. Teenagers, students and 20 something people have grown up largely with the internet, of course that is home to a thousand services championing music but it is always important to listen to the age group particularly within regards to the movement.

Since coming through to the UK, hipster culture marginally appearing through the internet and various related media is involved in a series of things including a crossover of vinyl records, art and design, niche brands. Fashion has been hitting on increasing retro drives developed considerably over the last few years largely inspired by the high-street retailer, Urban Outfitters. Independent niche and clothes shops are selling the things that you will need as a token gift for a coffee table and there is an element of a submerge of festivals providing graphic artwork, including the Parklife Weekender that brings 2013 to a faded P-30 camera look which defines the era but also through bringing a scale of emergence.

Musically, the rise once again of house and disco too has been played on a backdrop of a revival of pre-internet technological inventions including vinyl and cassette, which have been evoked alight by the movement. The music coming out lends itself to euphoric vocals almost trying to capture in a rage the spirit of the early 1990s almost like everyone was young first time around but taking the sound to measures in different ways but there are other kinds of music around too.

For example, disco is also in the emergence, played in the backbeat of a series of underground club nights across the UK mainly based on the 1980s element. Mono_Cult in Leeds is a big example of this with regular DJs mixing in disco and funk sounds. In the mainstream, Daft Punk and Niles Rodgers’ collaboration of ‘Get Lucky’ has been a catalyst for the disco movement with the song number 1 in the UK for just over a month. If the album is anything to come by, it could be a pioneer for disco’s revivalism. If it can manage to get more people interested in disco music and attending more parties, then this can only be a good thing. There are other minor examples of albums that set a particular period including La Roux’s self-titled album in 2009 for the synth 1980s revival and more majorly, Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ in 1991 that defined the post-rave comedown.

Perhaps what is most contrasting with these genres of old is this wave of music’s comparison to the flavour of Ibiza-trance R&B that originally swept the charts two years ago. The sound is largely credited to Will.i.am who spearheaded the Black Eyed Peas from a hip-hop direction to a new mixed infusion. The big-beat sound largely influenced by late 90s trance and possibly circa 1991 Hip-House that spoke lyrically about the feeling of being in the club and being part of the social perspective, the effect largely arguably influenced by television programmes such as Jersey Shore and The Only Way Is Essex.

There are records still in the mainstream, David Guetta’s ‘Play Hard’ and Pitbull’s ‘Feel This Moment’ both are songs still out currently in the downloaded charts. However there seems to be a gradual shift once again with electronic music becoming more serious in nature.

In the charts, ‘Need U’ by Duke Dumont has an expertly-timed chord change seemingly borrowed off Kevin Saunderson and Inner City’s ‘Big’ which prompts nostalgic memories of lifting hands in the air on an airfield and seems Disclosure’s ‘You And Me’ a fresh-sounding garage track with Eliza Doolittle vocals almost sounds like it owes its favour to the re-emergence, played regularly under the cosh of MCs in the already mentioned Boiler Room.

In the pop culture book, ‘Retromania‘, the author Simon Reynolds said he was worried that through this cycle, we had run out of ideas forward. This is a critical point worth exploring but history can define itself in the way further forward, we should enjoy the process of revivalism and different subcultures mixed in in the blend of youth culture in the this time, now.

Got any thoughts? Comment below!

“You kind of have to ruin your life to be in a punk band,” states Justin Pearson, currently on tour with new band Retox and renowned for his work with ground-breaking noise outfit The Locust, along with some high-profile guests, shed light on the hardships and rewards of doing what you love instead of what you’re “supposed to,” discuss days and nights of relentless touring and the intense emotions experienced on stage and making music.

The band will be touring in Europe this summer, confirmed dates are here.

It’s important to remember that building a site is only half the battle too; websites also have to be hosted on servers, ready for, what you hope will be the thousands of people who are wanting to read your content, hire your services and/or book your band.

Here, web hosting is to our creative business; we need you, and we need it to get you to look at us. With online publishing of content, and the marketing of music being two of the most popular things to do now on the web; every musician has more access to fans than ever before, and every artist has a bigger platform to explore at the same time.

The web, of course, has created the type of environment where anyone can write about what they want (just like us), and speak freely, it doesn’t matter who you are, the job you’ve got, or your age; opportunities are equal (mostly). It’s as simple as this, by hosting a site on the net, every musician or young business can reach a massive audience; really it’s all about effort, and using the resources around you, using the website, and the appropriate hosting provider to get what you want out of the creative industries. It takes some time, but it is worthwhile. Quality web hosting companies like 1&1 have a a wide range of both Windows and Linux Web Hosting packages available, and will work to understand the needs of your business, or indeed, what you are trying to do creatively.

Much like the servers that websites reside on, web hosting services are popping up all the time, and it’s important to find one in the many that provides top service at all times. Indeed, while there are hundreds of options to consider, here we take a look at the most important things that you need to examine when checking out web hosting plans.

A good start then, would be pricing – albeit an obvious place to begin. You’ve got to think about what this is going to cost you? All prices that you will encounter are rounded to the nearest pound, and will generally reflect the cheapest options available (that’s good).

Remember though, that discounts, promotional codes, paying up front, and signing-up for multi-year contracts will make these figures rise substantially, again, that’s why you need to connect on a personal level with your provider to discuss the best options for you.

As a creative, you need to be able to access your e-mails at all times (we’d say that’s most important?), and so when considering a host you need to look at whether they offer a service to route all e-mail sent to any address (whether or not that address has been set up) to an inbox, so that you can keep track of everything and respond on time – deadlines and last-minute jobs are the creative’s lifeblood after all.

There’s also the small matter of Static IP addresses to consider as well, and it’s definitely not advised that you overlook this aspect, so you need to ask if there’s an additional charge for this sort service. It gives you a little more certainty and control over your site (and brand) in the long-run.  Last but not least, think about phone support around the clock, it’s not ideal if you’re site goes off in the middle of the night (it does happen!), so is there access to this support, and does it come at an extra price is something else you need to be asking about, before you get started.

For more advice and to look at web hosting plans visit 1&1 Domains.

It’s easy nowadays, to forget just how popular Menswe@r became during Britpop’s early years; the band performed regularly on Top Of The Pops and were seen as the UK’s next great export along with Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Now in 2013, Officers’ Jamie Baker talks to ex-Menswe@r frontman Johnny Dean in an exclusive and candid interview about the demise and the fallout from being at the centre of the whirlwind that was Britpop, being “missing” for 15 years and the gigs he’s putting together for autism awareness.

“I don’t own any Menswe@r records!”

S] Firstly hello Johnny, and how the bloody hell are you?

J] “Right now I’m wondering why I’m not doing a tribute to the Sex Pistols, or the Ramones, or the Clash. It would have been a lot easier than Bowie…”

S] It’s been years since we’ve heard anything from you at all (even to the point of having a website dedicated to finding where you were) can you talk to us about where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to and why the disappearance.

J] ”I’ve been on a journey that saw me facing up to self-loathing, self-doubt, self-blame, self-pity, anger, with myself, resentment, and regret. And I kicked every last one of those things to the curb. Except certain regrets. People who claim to have no regrets have either lived a very dull life, or have difficulty accepting they could ever have made mistakes. Regrets are what make us most human. It’s about having a conscience. Accepting responsibility. I came to the realisation that choosing who you surround yourself with is half the trick to gaining a happy life. The other half is having courage. Real courage is about accepting the truth and learning from your indiscretions. Understanding that saying ‘sorry’ makes you strong. There was nothing spiritual about this journey, that Deepak Chopra guff just ‘ain’t my style. That’s all about “avoiding” the truth, dodging responsibility, spouting holier than thou bull**it because you’re afraid of what might happen if you actually considered the repercussions of your actions. A lot of it seems to hinge on deferring responsibility to some great power in order to exonerate oneself of any blame when it come to committing wrongs. That’s a massive monolith of mammoth sh**. Cowardly. Easy. I can see why people buy into it. But self-awareness is important. You don’t get self aware by reading self-help books or re-tweeting the Dalai Llama. You get self-aware from getting “real”. You have to be honest with yourself and accept your faults and limitations, and then see if you can better them, or learn to live with them. Yeah, it’s been quite a trip. Basically I am the Britpop Ulysses…”

S] You’re performing the work of Bowie at a London show in June, how are you feeling in advance of the show? It’s been awhile ‘off the stage’ – is there anything else we can expect? Could we perhaps see a tour?

J] “I guess I’m nervous. I don’t have the best singing voice, and Bowie’s is immaculate. Bowie is my biggest hero. And I don’t have that many heroes. But he’s number one head-honcho in my book. I revere him for his effortless talent, his apparent dignity, his vision, his class. So doing a set of Bowie songs is fairly daunting. I’m hoping people aren’t expecting to see some kind of carbon copy replica of an actual Bowie show, because that’s not going to happen. Fun. That’s the point of all this. So if you fancy a bit of noisy Bowie revelry and maybe want to get involved, come along. If you’re going to stand there arms crossed and compare it all to the 1973 Hammersmith Apollo show you’re probably best off waiting to see if the man himself will do a tour at some point. There might be some more surprises on the night musically, it depends how I feel, and if I think the audience deserves it. Ha! As for touring, it’s a drag to be honest. I thought it was a drag when I was 23, so I doubt I’m gonna fall in love with it at 41…”

S] The show is in aid of the National Autistic Society – can you tell us a bit about your reasons for working with that charity and some of the work that they do. How else can people get involved?

“Autism is still fairly misunderstood in the UK. There are so many myths that people have accepted as fact and it’s important, to me, that people are educated about the condition. The National Autistic Society work hard to inform people about autism as well as giving those affected by it much needed support. Roughly one in every hundred people have some form of autism, so it’s not as rare as some might think. It’s my pleasure to help the NAS in any way I can. Anyone can contact the NAS if they want to do a fund raising event, it’s not difficult, how hard is it to write an e-mail or make a phone call? But just educating yourself about the condition is enough in my book. An hour or so of your time reading about it on Wikipedia, or the NAS website. Ignorance is not an excuse…”

S] You’ve talked a little bit recently about having Aspergers, and a few other luminaries, such as Gary Numan, have now started to speak out about living with the condition. Can you explain when you first got diagnosed, how you deal with it and is there any advice you can give to others..

J] ”Ha! A little bit?! It’s all I talk about these days! And rightly so! I think it’s essential for people with Aspergers to talk about it. Even more so if they are people in prominent positions. It helps to dispel any illusions people might have about us guys being helpless or unable to function or needing full-time care in order to survive. If encouraged properly, given the right guidance, tolerance and a lot of love, a person with Aspergers can excel. Fact. Since I could remember I had always felt different. I was very conscious that the way I thought was different to my peers. The way I interpreted the world. Information. Language. People. A lot of things confused me that seemed to leave other kids unaffected. At the same time I felt I understood certain things better, picked them up quicker. I would feel I had more in common with adults. When I was growing up, in the 70s and 80s, people were quite aware of full-blown autism but conditions on the other-end of the autistic scale were unheard of, especially in the UK. I had always felt an affinity with autistic people, some of the traits seemed to ring bells, but I ignored it. I can’t be autistic! I’m nothing like Rainman, etcetera, etcetera. Naturally the result of being undiagnosed led to depression, alienation, wanting to escape, drug abuse, meltdowns. I struggled. For years. Life was just a long painful slog. Everything just felt wrong and even worse, I felt, and was often made to feel like I was some kind of idiot loon. It was hellish basically. No one should have to struggle like that. I’m convinced to this day that certain people who I worked with back in the Menswe@r days have very little, or indeed no appreciation of what it was like for me back then. Even now. It was intense, just trying to keep things together was such a strain, a monumental task. Seriously, they have no idea. And when I hit walls there was very little support. They had their own self-generated ‘problems’ to worry about I guess, or maybe they didn’t care? They’ve certainly had ample opportunity to express any regrets. Understand I’m not bitter about it, just disappointed. Sad. Massive difference. Like I said, half the trick to having a happy life is surrounding yourself with the right people.

Eventually, approaching my mid-thirties I heard about Aspergers. It was like someone had turned the lights on. Bang! That’s it! Home! A few years later, after one of the worst bouts of depression that left me catatonic, I bit the bullet and sought a diagnosis. Enough was enough. I was tired of hiding from it to be honest, or in fact hiding it. Some people are dragged kicking and screaming into hospitals to be diagnosed with autism. It’s a shame. A symptom of a society that is intolerant, bigoted, and places stigma on mental illnesses or neurological conditions like Aspergers. I, however, felt nothing but relief. It was like getting off at the right station even though you were asleep for much of the journey. Home. And I embrace it. As should anyone diagnosed. It’s who I am. Most people go through most of their lives without knowing who or what they are. I’m lucky. So my advice to others, my fellow travellers in autism is this. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Live like you want to, and never let anyone treat you as an inferior, don’t let anyone talk to you like you are less of a person. You are a wonderful human being. You are extraordinarily precious. You are going to do great things. If you are a child or teenager, don’t worry, it gets better. If you are an adult, diagnosed late, then hold your head up high, you have come so far and against unbelievable odds you are still here. I know that path you’ve walked and I have nothing but utter admiration for you. Love.”

S] How do you feel about the legacy Menswe@r left behind and everything else that followed with Britpop at this point in your life? There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the band, and people seem to forget you were ostensibly kids writing tunes for a laugh. The premise seemed pretty much at odds with the machinery inevitably behind the band and the britpop movement. To then go fu** the record company off, experiment and make a country album must have taken some balls. How did you get away with it?! Anything you regret looking back?

J] ”After Menswe@r split I tried my very best to avoid anything to do with it. I actually don’t own any Menswe@r records! We were given such a hard time, by the music press especially. Well, it was usually certain journalists. I understand that there’s a demand for music criticism, and criticism is fine, but a lot of what we received wasn’t even criticism. It was just people being nasty at the end of the day. Mean. Bullying. It’s endemic in British culture isn’t it, bullying? And the press are the biggest bullies out there. Which in turn makes it okay for people to come up to me in the street and be abusive. Sometimes physically. Some people might find that great fun. I don’t. I think it fu**ing stinks. People need to be more responsible. Picking on some kids for making music, having fun and getting a record deal is fu**ing dumb. Sure, if you don’t like the music, that’s fair enough,  just don’t listen to it. Easy. But getting personal? I think that kind of thing says a lot about the person writing that kind of sh**.  So having been put through the mill for daring to make some pop records I was a little bit reticent to get back in the saddle after we split. Over the years I’ve had conversations with people who loved what we did and inevitably the same question always pops up. Reunion? I don’t think so. But maybe something else…one day. I am however very proud of what we achieved. We took the music industry on, we had hit records, some of which I personally think are great pop singles. We made a mark in what may prove to be the last important cultural movement produced by Britain. We were as much a part of Britpop as our more successful peers were, our input can’t be ignored. I embrace it now. It’s part of me.

A lot of people still hold the misconception that Menswe@r were a manufactured band. This is because certain publications still push the idea. It’s not true. I’ve met people who were in nappies during the Britpop period who think they know better than me because they read an NME special or saw a blog by someone called BritModChamp. We manufactured ourselves. If you have a problem with that then you really should have a problem with just about every other band out there. Okay, so we looked good. And? If we’re going to go into the whole ‘manufactured image’ thing then it’s worth pointing out that two of the most iconic bands in British music history were far more contrived than Menswe@r. That’s right, I give you The Beatles and the Sex Pistols. Nobody told me what to wear. I pity anyone who’d try. The Pistols were put together to sell clothes! So let’s not have that discussion. It’s just silly. I think it’s lazy really. Just cribbing what someone else has written. Which brings me to the music. So apparently we were ripping off Elastica? Really? This argument usually arises because the person blurting it has heard one of our songs, ‘Daydreamer’. Point of fact. ‘Daydreamer’ is ripping off Wire. Not Elastica. And we were not sued by Wire like Elastica were, because ‘Daydreamer’ is influenced by Wire, rather than plagiarising them. I was actually introduced to Wire by Graham Coxon, not Elastica. Additionally, none of our other songs sound like ‘Daydreamer’. Again, it’s just lazy…and boring.

The second album is quite a befuddling thing really. A strange beast. Very much a cocaine and heroin record. I have difficulty listening to it. I don’t even regard it as a Menswe@r record to be totally honest. We didn’t set out to piss London Records off by making a country rock record. I was fairly unconvinced by the whole thing, but by that point I had passed the point of caring. It was a compromise, that album. Internally Menswe@r suffered from a lot of disruption. There were always factions within the band and it’s entourage. Sometimes it appeared the entourage had far more influence over what happened than the actual band members. It was very unhealthy. ‘Schizophrenic’ would sum it up perfectly. Looking back I can see that certain people were not team players, they wanted things their way or else. That’s how ‘Hay Tiempo’ happened. Absolutely. A compromise to keep people happy. It basically prevented the band from splitting in mid ‘96. That’s the actual truth of it. Matt Everitt’s sacking was the start of a shift in power, most definitely. He had always been the voice of reason, an anchor that kept the ship from drifting off into arbitrary territory. When the chain to that anchor was cut we were pretty much sunk. Ultimately we paid the price, London Records didn’t want anything to do with that album and I can’t blame them, so our contract was mutually terminated. Understandably, nobody else wanted to invest in Menswe@r,  surprise! And that was that. So we didn’t ‘get away with it’ at all.”

If you could have held things down without the industry and media pressures do you think you’d have taken the same experimental approach? Would we maybe have seen a kraftwerk-esque menswe@r record further down the line?

J] “This amuses me because I don’t view ‘Hay Tiempo’ as an experimental affair at all. The ‘mental’ part maybe. I think it’s fairly plodding, ‘pedestrian’ rock. Ostentatious. Self-indulgent to the point of being masturbatory. The kind of thing your (grand) dad listened to in the late 70s. I, personally, had always envisaged going down the Eno ‘Warm Jets’, Roxy Music, mid-to-late 70s Bowie route. Because that’s what I identified with. I’m British. And because it seemed more of a natural progression from ‘Nuisance’. And yes, a bit of Kraftwerk. You can hear this on ‘Crash’, a demo that appeared on one of the ‘We Love You’ releases. But like I said, pushing for that would have seen the band split mid ‘96. Definitely. Thinking about it now, I think that maybe we should have split. It would have made more sense. Less stressful.”

S] Apart from the Internet advances in selling and communication, what do think are the main differences for bands starting out these days. Is the ‘industry’ that much different at its heart do you think or do you think it has the same challenges.

J] “The industry is so different now. The physical market is pretty much dead. Over. The big wigs have had to do a lot of adjusting in the last few years, and I bet they’re still running scared because it’s only going to change even more in the next decade. The world wide web has completely changed the game. And I expect it to make more of an impact in the next decade, I’ve actually studied this stuff. There’s so much potential for bands to bypass the recording industry and the various businesses that feed off it. My advice to bands that are starting to make waves is this: do not blindly swim into the nets cast by record and management companies. Consider things very carefully before you sign anything. Remember the industry will be very different in just a few years time. The power is shifting. There are people out there who are perpetuating certain myths because if they didn’t they’d be out of a job. You don’t need them. You’ll need an internet connection, a bit of savvy, and a PA at the most. An administrator. They’re a lot cheaper and won’t make you feel like you’ve sold your soul to the devil.”

S] It’s been almost 20 years since the “Britpop” tag was coined. And we use the term loosely. Do you ever think we’ll see a movement in music, art, society, politics cross over like we did in the 90s come around again soon?

“No. Hand on heart. No. It’s a different world now. The web has changed everything. The Global Village has changed everything. They were innocent times. The last time we were so innocent I think. So, no…”

What types of cultural things are inspiring you right now? Music art or other. Are you working on or thinking of working on any new musical or creative projects (Brit pop gladiators aside). Are we about to witness a bit of a thaw session? Or is it strictly a one-off revisitation.

J] “I like it all. It’s all good. I’m not as bothered by contemporary music as I used to be. Strangely I think that’s made me happier, not giving a fu** about the Band of the Week. I go to more art exhibitions now than I do gigs. I used to be an art student. An “arty fu**er” as Matt Everitt would put it. I’d love to see people use the web more with art and music. It’s so accessible, no matter where you are. Smartphones. Tablets. There’s so much potential. So much. Excited. Who knows what could happen? Who fu**ing knows?”

For more information visit the official Menswe@r website.

Follow Johnny Dean on Twitter, find out more about the National Autistic Society, and buy tickets to his must-see show here.

Images: Hannah Goodwin

Tickets to the tour will be on sale 9am on May 17

03 – Bristol, The Fleece        www.seetickets.com

04 – Southampton, Talking Heads  http://www.seetickets.com/Event/LETLIVE/Talking-Heads/709971

05 – Birmingham, Asylum  http://tickets.theasylumvenue.co.uk/

06 – Leeds, Cockpit  www.lunatickets.co.uk

07 – Newcastle, Warehouse 34 www.ssdconcerts.co.uk

09 – Manchester, NQ Live  www.seetickets.com

10 –  Belfast, The Limelight http://www.ticketmaster.ie/venueartist/199340/1486149

11 – Ireland, Dublin, Fibber Magees  www.wavtickets.ie

12 – Glasgow, King Tuts  www.gigsinscotland.com

14 –  Nottingham, Rescue Rooms  www.alt-tickets.co.uk

15 –  Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach  www.seetickets.com

17 – London, Underworld  http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/letlive-tickets