Chris Talks Music

Sheffield’s renowned house music brand, Love to be… is set to stage an all-day festival on Bank Holiday Sunday, 25th May at FORGE, taking over the warehouse, courtyard, and even bringing the party out onto Effingham Road.Ahead of its return, I spent some time with the co-founder and now brand owner, Tony Walker, alongside Marc Dennis the operations director to find out all about it — plus stay tuned there’s even the added bonus of a VIP giveaway.Competition Time: Get your hands on x4 VIP ticketsIn the run-up to this event, Love to be… is giving away x4 VIP tickets to one lucky winner.Winners will get their hands on the following:Access to the VIP Area, including queue jump,VIP toilets (aka Posh loos)Private VIP barPlus even more exclusive DJ sets and entertainment.All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this prize is the following:Entrants can simply email their name and mobile number to: [email protected]&CsOver 18s only.The competition closes at 5pm on Wednesday May 21, 2025. Winner will be notified by Thursday May 22, 2025.Event DetailsLove to be...Festival SheffieldSunday 25 May 2025FORGE, 148 Effingham Road, Sheffield, S4 7ZB12pm – 11pmWhere can people get tickets?Tickets are already selling fast and are on second release priced at £52 plus booking fee on Skiddle.com. For those wanting some extra treatment, upgrades are also available for the VIP level. Book your tickets here: https://www.skiddle.com/festivals/love-to-be-in-the-park/

We’ve met the Reverend and now here’s one of the Makers, Ed Cosens returns to the fray as a solo artist once more with his sophomore album, Somewhere Between Dark and Light, releasing on Friday (24th May, 2024) alongside a gig at the much-loved city venue, The Leadmill. Ahead of his headline show at The Leadmill this Friday, Ed Cosens took a little time out of his hectic schedule to speak to me about going it alone (again), life and naturally his music — both new and old. You can still buy tickets to see Ed Cosens at The Leadmill on Friday, 24 May, 2024. Book your tickets here: https://leadmill.co.uk/event/ed-cosens/ Somewhere Between Dark and Light will be released this Friday also, and will be available on CD and Vinyl from 1984 Recordings — as well as all of your usual streaming platforms.

Sam Lee joins me this time around to discuss his latest album, his upcoming Sheffield show at the Crookes Social Club, and the importance of nature. It's a wide-ranging conversation discussing ecological disaster, respecting, revering and treasuring nature... and also a little about the amazing Right to Roam, an ancient custom that allows anyone to wander in open countryside (read more: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/). His fourth-album, ‘songdreaming’, represents the latest stage in the development of Sam Lee’s music, from its roots in traditional folk song to a new way of imagining and performing these old songs, making them relevant for a modern audience. Sam Lee will be performing at Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Doors open before 7pm. You can buy tickets from: ⁠https://samleesong.co.uk/live/⁠ Sam Lee’s new album, ‘songdreaming’ is out now and was released by Cooking Vinyl on 15th March, 2024, on Vinyl Album, CD, and digital download from: ⁠https://samleesong.co.uk/⁠ 

The iconic multi-genre band return to the UK to celebrate the 25th anniversary tour of their classic album ‘100% Colombian’. Brian 'Fast' Leiser joins me once more as we shoot the sh*t and talk all about it, by it we mean the music their adventures over the past 12 months and what kind of bewildering goodness we can expect in this celebration of the white stuff. And we don't mean snow... despite Christmas being just around the corner. So pour yourself something strong, something long and sit down listen to the good ol' chat that's going on. Fun Lovin Criminals will be performing '100% Colombian' at The Foundry, Sheffield, on Friday 15th December, 2023. Followed by a finale at the o2 Academy in Liverpool on 16th December. Once again, thanks for listening. Like, follow, subscribe and all that other stuff.

Ahead of his Sheffield show on November 26, Billy Lockett caught up with me (Chris Hallam) to discuss his debut album, Abington Grove, and it’s certainly been a long-time coming. Billy Lockett will be performing at Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield, on Sunday 26 November, 2023. You can buy tickets for the show here: https://www.yellowarch.com/event/billy-lockett/ His debut album Abington Grove, released by Photo Finish Records in February, 2023 is out now. Cover Image courtesy of: Billy Lockett

In this week's episode, Finnish DJ and music producer Darude joins me for a chat about all manner of things music, life and skateboarding. We also spend some time discussing his 1999 hit, 'Sandstorm', but not too long as there are so many other things to chat about, like his new record label and upcoming single, Nobody Listens with the excellent Gid Sedgwick. From the idyllic peace of life in Finland (considered to be the 'happiest country in the world) to living in the United States and back again, Darude gives us a little peek into his life, passions and so much more. Along with some lovely anecdotes. Darude will be one of the headliners at this weekend's 90s Fest at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield on August 5, 2023. His new single, Nobody Listens feat. Gid Sedgwick is out on Friday, August 4 and will be available from all of the usual streaming outlets.

In this episode I spoke with Alex and Elliot from the Liverpool band, Stone. We touched on all sorts of themes from their formation to the excellent EP Punkadonk and their blistering new single I Gotta Feeling, which is a spoken word, punk tour-de-force, attack on 'toxic masculinity' and the lingering faux bravado that often accompanies it. It's been one heck of a crazy year for this Scouse quartet, who have stormed straight out of the new era Liverpool scene with a formidable live reputation preceding them and a boom in their online following. I Gotta Feeling is out now on all streaming platforms and you'll be able to see this brilliant band at Tramlines on Saturday, 22 July, 2023.

In this episode of Chris Talks Music, I speak to the Israeli popstar Noa Kirel about her path to superstardom in her home country of Israel. We also spend some time discussing her musical upbringing and the importance of being authentic. Naturally our conversation also spent some time focussing on her recent performances at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, where the 22-year-old star placed third with a visually and vocally astounding performance of her song Unicorn... which extols the importance of being individual, proud, brave, unique and believing in yourself for your differences are your superpower and a vessel for your beauty within.

In this episode, Hugh Cornwell came onto the podcast to discuss his Moments of Madness tour, which will see him performing at Sheffield's o2 Academy 2 on Sunday 7th May. As leader of The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell was the main songwriter of all the band’s most memorable songs across ten stellar albums: from “Golden Brown” to “Strange Little Girl” and from “Always The Sun” to “Peaches”, “No More Heroes” and “Nice ‘N’ Sleazy”. Widely regarded as the poet laureate of the punk era, Hugh Cornwell embarked on an illustrious solo career after releasing album ten with the band, and he has created a body of impressive solo albums to date.  Following on from the critically acclaimed release of his tenth solo LP, Hugh shared some insight into his recent overseas tours and also his excitement at returning to Sheffield later this week. You can buy tickets to his upcoming Sheffield performance here: http://www.hughcornwell.com/

In this episode of Chris Talks Music, Jim Glennie talks about the James Lasted tour in celebration of the band's 40th Anniversary, as well as the upcoming double album Be Opened By The Wonderful.  Featuring a full orchestra and a gospel choir, Jim also gave an insight into what we can expect from this orchestral double album of the band's biggest hits and a brand new song. But that's not all, he also shares with us his career journey as well as why the music industry needs to get serious about supporting artists with mental health issues. James will be performing at the City Hall, Sheffield, on Thursday 4th May, 2023 as part of their Lasted UK tour. For tickets and further information, go to: https://james.tmstor.es/