Every year in the weeks before each Harkive day we post example stories. These aren’t intended as templates to follow, rather instead guides tell give you an idea of how you might go about contributing your story to Harkive.
The stories presented here have been provided by music journalists, musicians, DJs, record collectors, digital music academics, musicologists, to name but a few. Each example story is behind a link below that follows a brief introduction to the person concerned. One thing you’ll probably notice is that all the stories are different in style, and all unique in the story they tell. Your own story will be equally different and unique, and we look forward to hearing it.
Stephen Duffy
Stephen was a founding member of Duran Duran, and had his first hit in 1985 with ‘Kiss Me‘, before forming The Lilac Time in 1986 and releasing several acclaimed LPs. They reformed in the early 2000s and continue to make marvellous records. In 2009 Stephen’s work was the subject of a Douglas Arrowsmith documentary, ‘Memory & Desire: 30 Years in the Wilderness with Stephen Duffy & the Lilac Time’, which was accompanied by a career retrospective LP of the same name, released on Universal. Stephen’s Harkive story from 2015 is here.
Jude Rogers
Jude is a music journalist based in London. She regularly contributes reviews and interviews to a number of publications, including The Observer and Q Magazine. Jude contributed her Harkive story in 2013 – Read it here.
Neil Codling
Neil is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter and is a member of the group Suede. He also tours and performs regularly with Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Neil contributed his example in 2014. Read it here.
Joe Muggs
Joe is a music writer based in London and regularly contributes reviews and interviews to MixMag and The Wire. He is a founder member of The Arts Desk, an online review co-operative. Aside from his writing activities Joe is also performs an A&R function for the Finetunes digital record label. Joe contributed his example in 2013. Read it here.
Maryam Snape
Maryam has been DJing and promoting since October 2002, as well as promoting live and club shows using her own brands, Chicks Dig Jerks, Hott Date and Come Together. She has also worked with countless venues and clients, from Rizzle Kicks to The Queen Of Hoxton and produced radio shows, fanzines and blogs, interviewing bands such as Franz Ferdinand and LCD Soundsystem. Read Maryam’s 2015 Harkive story here.
Tom Satchwell
Tom Satchwell is a Campaign Executive at Live Nation, artist manager of Fitz and a contributor to Fortitude Magazine. Read his 2015 Harkive entry here.
Andrew Dubber
Andrew’s Music Tech Fest is one of the most interesting music/technology festivals in the world, and has been hosted in London, Berlin and elsewhere. He is the former Professor of Music Industries Innovation at BCU and a founder member of New Music Strategies. Andrew contributed his example using Audioboo in 2013. Read it here.
Lindsay Bruce
Lindsay is a schoolteacher by day, and one half of Scottish DJ duo Bonnie Rockers by night, ‘bringing you the tunes you didn’t know you wanted’. Lindsay made some notes on her music listening on Wednesday 15th July 2015. You can read her story here.
Rob Fitzpatrick
Rob is a music journalist based in London who contributes to a number of publications including The Guardian. He is also employed as a music consultant for the streaming service, Spotify. Rob contributed his example using Twitter in 2013. Read it here.
Andrew Harrison
Andrew is the former editor of Q magazine, Select and Mixmag and the current host of the Bigmouth podcast. He is a music journalist of 25 years standing, and has interviewed Madonna, U2, Morrissey, Wu Tang Clan and Half Man Half Biscuit among others. Andrew contributed his example using Twitter, in 2013. Read it here.
Joe Bennett
Joe is a musicologist, music journalist and author, composer, songwriter and music educator based in Boston USA. He is Dean of the Boston Conservatory and acts as a ‘forensic musicologist’ consultant in music copyright disputes. Joe’s 2015 Harkive story is here.
Lyle Bignon
Lyle is a music writer, PR and promoter based in Birmingham. He has promoted shows and events at Birmingham Town Hall and contributes reviews and interviews to The 405 and Counteract magazine. Lyle contributed his story in 2013. Read it here.
Phil Macy
Phil Macy runs 3.45rpm, a quality vinyl lathe cutting service based in Brighton, UK, which specialises in ultra-limited editions, with each and every vinyl disc individually and expertly hand cut by Phil himself. In this interview with The Quietus, Phil talks about how and why he set up his business. Phil told us his Harkive story in 2015.
Marcus O’Dair
Marcus is a music journalist (Guardian, Pitchfork, Wire, Uncut), one half of the group Grasscut (Ninja Tune, Lo Recordings), and lecturer in popular music at Middlesex University in London. He is also the author of Different Every Time: the Authorised Biography of Robert Wyatt (Serpent’s Tail, 2014). He told us his Harkive story in 2015.
Ian Fenton
Ian is a Scotsman living in Helsinki, Finland, who runs a record label called Frozen Reeds. They produce records and books, such as Morton Feldman – ‘Crippled Symmetry: at June in Buffalo’, and a forthcoming volume of interviews with composer Jakob Ullmann. You can keep an eye on the label’s activities by following them on Twitter. Ian’s story from 2015 is here.
Jonathan Troy
With brother Matt, Jonathan makes music as The Hi-Life Companion. Since releasing their first EP in 2008 on Cloudberry Records, the band have issued two LPs, ‘Say Yes’ (2009) and ‘Our Years In The Wilderness’ (2014), picking up radio play on BBC Radio 1 and 6Music along the way. Reviews have hailed their ‘joyous 60s pop’ and compared The Hi-Life Companion’s to bands such as The Beach Boys, Belle & Sebastian, early-REM and The Go-Betweens. Read Jonathan’s 2015 Harkive story here.
Ian Wade
Ian is writer, PR, copywriter, TV caption writer, occasional DJ and musician. Over the years he’s worked for The Quietus, Sunday Times, Clash, BBC, Bitterwallet, The Official Charts Company, Red Bull, NME, Smash Hits and The Face. Ian contributed his example in 2014. Read it here.
Raphaël Nowak
Raphael is a cultural sociologist. His research examines music consumption in the digital age. He released his first book ‘Consuming Music in the Digital Age: Technologies, Roles and Everyday Life’ (Palgrave Macmillan) in late 2015 . He told his Harkive story in 2015, which you can read in full here.
Clutch Daisy
Clutch is a musician, producer and songwriter based in Scotland. He writes and records under various guises, most notably X [is greater than] Y. Aside from his musical activities Clutch writes online about whisky and has contributed to a number of publications on that subject. Clutch contributed his example using Instagram, in 2013. Read it here.
Craig Hamilton
Craig is the founder of Harkive. He is also a musician, songwriter and consultant to several independent record labels. Since 2011 he has been working in the School of Media at BCU. Craig contributed his example using YouTube, in 2013. Read it here.
Pete Ashton
Pete is a blogger and photographer based in Birmingham. He offers consultancy to individuals and businesses aiming to get the most from the Internet. Pete contributed his example by posting photos to Flickr and his own blog, in 2013. Read it here.