Nightshift Magazine

27/10/2025

Little Clarendon Street is where the action is this week. On Thursday (30th) it's a very welcome back to the promoting game for Irregular Folks as they bring genius cello virtuoso Laura Moody to town at Oxford's newest gig space The Nest - tickets at https://wegottickets.com/event/677733. And then on Friday it's a very long overdue return to town for Prolapse at Common Ground. One of, perhaps THE best live band I've ever seen. Good to see it's sold out in advance but there's a waiting list at https://wegottickets.com/event/666917 if you want to try for tickets.

Print copy of November's Nightshift should be out by Thursday, but if you want to plan your gig going for next month, it's online athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/nov.pdf

24/10/2025

"I like the pretty lights," says Myca in 'The Crow' (showing my grasp of contemporary reference points there. Sadly I don't know any 'Gabby's Dollhouse - The Movie' quotes and hope I never will). Similarly, I like the pretty pictures in Nightshift, and as ever I'm very grateful to Ian Hanham and Rory Constant for their pics, which you can see here. Honestly, the amount of gigs those two go to puts the rest of us to shame, and we're lucky they both manage to document the scene so well.

If your feeble Friday brain can stand the overstimulation of seeing photos and words at the same time, the reviews of these gigs and much more can be viewed athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/nov.pdf

23/10/2025

A reminder cos I haven't done one for ages, that Nightshift isn't on Instagram. There seems to be a dormant nightshiftmagazine account on there but it ain't me, so dont bother me. The only social media I do is here, Bluesky, which seems to be a bit quiet but quite civilised, and X, which is so dead I've handed the account over to Martha, the Nightshift cat. For each like she gets, she gets a treat.

22/10/2025

"Magnificent".

I ran out of superlatives to describe THE AUGUST LIST, so I thought 'magnificent' would sum it up pretty well.

They're on the cover of November's Nightshift which has just gone online athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/nov.pdf

Kerraleigh and Martin talk about their new EP, 'Sun Pinned On Ghost Sky', about ghosts and about moving to the metropolis of Watlington. Read the interview, read the EP review and then just go and order your copy. It is, frankly, magnificent. Oh, and go and see them live at The Jericho Tavern on the 6th November - they're even magnificenter live. They'll be sharing the bill with Bedd, whose new album 'Do Not Be Afraid' is also reviewed in the new issue. That too is rather lovely.

Elsewhere MAZAWATTEE get the Introducing treatment; Duncan from BIG GINGER TOM talks about putting on folk gigs in Abingdon and Harwell (I very nearly used a photo of his quite magnificent big ginger tom George in the feature, but I know how easily people get confused, and really, there's no point asking a cat for a gig. There'll be all sorts of conditions, mainly revolving around food, and the organisation would be an utter shambles).

All the other usuals - news, previews, gig reviews, new releases. And six and a half pages of local gigs for November. As someone commented on last week's post, "it's just a load of tribute bands round here." Go and see just how wrong they are.

Have a magnificent month my dears and see you at something superb.

18/10/2025

We're simply the best. Better than all the rest.

According to statistics gathered to mark National Album Day, the historic city comes out on top.

15/10/2025

Back in the mists of some time ago – June 2004* to be precise – Nightshift featured a band called Sextodecimo on the cover.

Choice quotes from that feature include: “the first thing that hits you when you hear Sextodecimo is a large block of concrete”; “even on Oxford’s metal scene Sextodecimo stand out like a sore thumb, a sore thumb that throbs with pain and never stops throbbing until your head falls off and your feet rot”, and “Sextodecimo smoke more drugs than every other band in Oxford put together.”

Back then the band had a reputation for clearing venues of all but the devoted few, such was their intensity. An intensity that lead us to describe them as the band the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl might form.

They split up after releasing one almighty beast of an album, ‘The Banshee Screams For Buffalo Meat’ – co-produced by Dave Smart from Sevenchurch, who knows a thing or two about heavy. But in their absence their legend grew. Bands like Desert Storm and Undersmile were inspired by them and in Nightshift’s 2010 Metal special (here:https://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2010/nov.pdf ) , we hailed them as the greatest metal band ever to come out of Oxford.

Their rare reunion gigs – guitarist Oli lives in Canada so they really are rare – now take on an almost spiritual nature: the faithful come to worship at the altar of molten metal sludge.

And tomorrow night (Thursday) will be one of those nights. Sextodecimo play at the Little Bully. You can be there to witness their majesty and be royally punished for your sins. Or you can sit at home weeping like a wuss and trying to convince yourself that Sleep Token are heavy (oh, there’ll be letters…).

See you there (won’t be able to hear you, obviously). Tickets at https://wegottickets.com/event/673408

(* - yes, I know it says May 2004 on the cover but Sextodecimo are so heavy they can stop time. Or I cocked up due to my head falling off because of Sextodecimo, one or the other).

08/10/2025

You've read the interview, you've listened to the new album, now see them in action - Unbelievable Truth return for a hometown show tomorrow night (Thursday) at the Bully. Tickets at https://wegottickets.com/event/660328

27/09/2025

Print copy of October's issue is out and about now. Forgot it was uni graduation day, so that was fun. Only mowed a few of them down. Academic brilliance does not equal common sense when it comes to wandering into the road, apparently.

Pick up a copy from your fave local outlet - maybe from Truck Store tomorrow (Sunday) where you can not only read about Unbelievable Truth's new album but watch them play a few songs from it instore. It's almost like I plan this stuff. Kicks off at 5pm.

Or, as ever, stay in, read it online athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/oct.pdf and allow yourself a warm smile at how the golf is currently ruining Trump's weekend.

23/09/2025

Tribute acts. Nowt wrong with them really. Plenty of reasons to go and see a tribute act: the originals are dead, decrepit or defunct; it's cheaper than the actual thing; you were too young or indisposed first time round. Sometimes seeing a tribute act can be more fun than seeing the real thing - they play all the good stuff and nothing off that frankly disappointing new album.

Across September and October alone Oxfordshire venues played or plays host to tributes to: The Beatles; The Rolling Stones; AC/DC; Thin Lizzy; The Cure; Siouxsie & the Banshees; Chic; Black Sabbath; Rage Against the Machine; Red Hot Chili Peppers; Motley Crue; Radiohead; Pink Floyd; OMD; Kraftwerk; Metallica; Ghost; Duran Duran; Iron Maiden; Fleetwood Mac; Oasis; Def Leppard; Mumford and Sons; Meatloaf; Amy Winehouse, and The Who. I might have missed a few.

Great, lots of live music to see.

BUT

Every one of those original acts began life as an unknown, playing tiny venues to a few dozen people before fame came calling. And without those small venues and new acts just starting out, there'll be no global megastars in the future to pay tribute to, right?

This month's Nightshift has SEVEN pages of gigs for the month ahead in and around Oxford. That's more than any month since long before Covid. In amongst all that there will be something barely known as yet but destined for great things. So take a punt, eh. Pick a name you're not familiar with or think you liked a song by on the radio/Youtube/game at some point and go along and see them. Maybe buy a t-shirt. It's not easy being a musician on the grassroots; that extra tenner might make the difference between playing the next gig or not.

And as ever, I know I'm preaching to the converted for the most part here, but maybe drag that mate along who wouldn't normally step foot in such a lowly establishment (lowly meaning 'bloody brilliant' in this context). Who know, you might see the next Glastonbury headliner or the next Mercury Prize winner. You might see something too strange to ever be huge. You might see the worst band you've ever heard, but even that can be a whole heap of fun (take it from an expert).

Anyway, here's your gig guide. Happy gigging and keep spreading the word:https://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/oct.pdf

23/09/2025

Pictures! Nightshift can be a bit wordy at times and some of those words are wilfully fancy, so there's also pictures in there, which speak a thousand words. So save yourself time and a headache by just looking at the pictures. Thanks to Ian Hanham and Nikki Clifford for their action shots of Ut and The Samurai Seven in this month's issue. If you need more information on why Sonic Youth owe a debt to Ut or how The Sammies can still do mid-air splits after all these years, read the wordy bits athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/oct.pdf

And now I'm off to look at some pictures of cats doing silly things. Possibly mid-air splits and influencing Sonic Youth. One of these is less likely than the other.

22/09/2025

S'TRUTH! IT'S THE TRUTH!

Yes, Unbelievable Truth are back baby, and they've been talking to Nightshift about their new album, their upcoming gig at The Bullingdon and the state of the world. All in the new issue which has just gone online athttps://nightshiftmag.co.uk/2025/oct.pdf

There is a lot of truth throughout the issue, from the truth that there are some proper corking new records out by local bands you'll want to hear, to the truth that October is a properly bonkers month for gigs in and around Oxford, to the truth that sending us a cover version of 'Gimme Shelter' to review is a pretty bad idea, all things considered.

Anyway, have a read and then pick which gigs you're off to. If there's nothing in that gig guide for you you've probably picked up the wrong magazine. The new issue of Dullards Monthly will probably be along in a short while.