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From sunny Leeds, Hello Bad Signal readers!

Herein lies a brief description of some choice pop nuggs to be found over on our side of the Pennines. While other cities in the north have a culture of promoting the arts, Leeds has cleverly side-stepped this forward thinking trend and based its entire image on valueless wanky shops, and jerks. Gang of who? Delta what? The average shmoe on the street neither knows or cares. However, Leeds has consistently maintained a fertile DIY scene, rooted in antipathy towards this bloody-minded shillery. The 90's saw Ablaze! zine (initially based in your fair city) setting up shop in LS6 and partying with Mudhoney, for many years Cops and Robbers zine has informed and amused the local populace of DIY shows in the area, and the amount of great bands, labels and promoters based here is genuinely countless. It may be difficult to come across at first, but there is what can only be described as a rich seam of rad shit to be found. Wharf Chambers is the primo venue for hot rock action. All the other clubs are owned by Tories, have bad sound / vibe, are full of drunk students in fancy dress, or all of the above. Wharfy C is a member's co-op, hosting DIY gigs as well as club nights, film screenings, zine fairs, hair cuts, and a ton more stuff. As a members club with a safe-spaces policy, all vegan drinks and semi-hidden roots in Anarchist politics, WC feels more like a community than a venue. Bands-wise this dumb city is also home to world renowned and highly personable noise duo Ashtray Navigations, the corrugated skronk of Beards, the over-stimulated indie rock / Devo crossover legends Cowtown, the long-standing, Butthole Surfers meets Beefheart absurdist rock jive of Bilge Pump, day glow synth punk menace from Executive Legs, booze-orientated grind thrash across the Afternoon Gentlemen/Shoot The Bastard axis, surf-violence crew Los Pecadores (with an album ready to drop any min), freshly-wed post-punk group Pifco and our own witchy no wave outfit Etai Keshiki to name but ten. Own Noise is a new read, with one figurative foot in Leeds zines of old, and the other in 90's reads like HeartattaCk. It's editor Jon Mohajer delivers a tasteful mix of music, politics and personal writing, which are free to flow into each other, frequently hitting all of these points at once. Issue 1 came out mid April and issue 2 is allegedly forthcoming late May. Word is Jon's moved back to Wales for a bit so this may not technically be a Leeds thing. For record shopping, Leeds isn't exactly bursting with options. Once mighty Jumbo records has become increasingly whack in recent years, leaving only merch metal and fringe-core new releases at Crash Records, or the Dio-era Black Sabbath bins and wall of unattainably priced classic punk sevens at Relics. Luckily the wave of online music retail has a home in Leeds with the ever expanding Norman Records. Stocking new releases from the weirdest bands around the globe and taking a hit on postage to keep prices low in hard times. These cats know their onions, and if you ask nicely they'll let you look round their warehouse full of treasures! This is just a small slice of the Leodis pie. For a bigger serving you'll have to come visit.

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