A brief but englightening chat with an artist who reveals an interesting or unexpected story from their career
Felix Hagan & the Family play grandiose pop songs tinged with hints of musical theatre, classic rock, and jazz. Hagan's shows have been described as a whirlwind of show-off nonsense (in a good way!) with Hagan playing ringleader to a seven-piece backing band of highly theatrical, immaculately dressed, misfits. The group has released two EPs to date and since their formation in 2013 have traveled across the UK winning over fans and critics. They play shows with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks and the hands either in the air or around someone’s hips. Recently Felix Hagan completed a tour with Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, playing keys while Sleeping Souls’ member Matt Nasir was busy having children. For this installment of the Greatest Story Ever Told, Hagan explains how playing in the band all started with a fan email. "I first met Frank a few years ago when, in a fit of boundless optimism, I emailed him a track from my first album. Someone had compared our general tenor of lyricism, and I decided to waste half an hour and send an email to the Famous Guy, sure it would never be read. This was before I knew him, of course. Lo and behold I got a reply in which he was awfully nice about the song. We corresponded a bit (by which I mean I showered him in more unwanted music), and he ended up coming out to see us play after the mighty Beans On … Read more
Nahko Bear is a multi-instrumental, multi-talented, musician born in Portland, Oregon. Nahko’s songs are categorized as world fusion, and while those words are generally a meaningless catch-all for anything slightly … Read more
Leatherface never achieved the success they deserved. In the late '80s and early '90s, the UK punk band created a sound - marked by gravely vocals, killer riffs, and an … Read more
Earlier this year folk-punk troubadour Frank Turner released his sixth studio album, Positive Songs for Negative People. Recorded in Nashville with producer Butch Walker, the record is an attempt to … Read more
Advertisement
We post a variety of features in recurring series – click below to browse them.
A regular series by Robert F.
A wide-ranging guest column written by BJ from Ancient Shores, mainly covering film but extending into philosophy and aesthetics too. Check out BJ's work on the A389 podcast.
How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music.
Guest column by T of Vegas
A cookery column by Nick, vocalist with metal band The Famine. Veggie/vegan friendly!
A roundup of coverage of the annual punk rock festival held in Gainesville, Florida
Our annual roundup from Gainesville, FL's famous Fest.
SPB's coverage of the annual festival in Gainesville, Florida.
Our coverage of the annual Fest extravaganza.
Our coverage of the 19th edition of the Fest – an independent multi-day, multiple-venue music festival held annually in Gainesville, Florida.
All our coverage from the long-running music festival
Articles about the Fest 21
Our coverage of the 22nd edition of the FEST.
We dive into the back catalog of a record label and ask them to nominate their most memorable releases from their label's history–with a few suggestions of our own.
An interview format where we ask a band to rate and review a bunch of music
A radio DJ profile series created by Christopher D & Matt Hutchison.
There’s so much music released, whether physically or digitally, that keeping up with what’s going on becomes almost like a full time job. With Only Death Is Real, the aim is to bring you something new.
A life lived and lessons learned by Eddie Spaghetti of Supersuckers.
Welcome to Running on Nothing, the latest addition to our stable of columns at Scene Point Blank. Running on Nothing offers a look at the world through the eyes of Kole, bassist of The Lippies, guitarist of The Bloody Lips, and gigposter artist.
We survey some of the other music releases out there. Results may vary...may get weird, but hopefully something covered here piques your interest.
A semi-regular column where we choose a specific area and give a local scene report.
Discussing the state of the music business at the kitchen table
A brief but englightening chat with an artist who reveals an interesting or unexpected story from their career
A collection of items grouped by topic, eg. "Top 5 Worst Beatles Songs" or "Top 10 best '77 punk releases".
One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.
A collection of coverage rounding up the year 2012, covering our favorite albums, shows, bands, and more, as well as asking record labels and bands about their past twelve months in music
It's the end of 2013, so here's our best-of roundup for the last twelve months.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2014.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2015.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2016.
Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2017.
Our summary of the best music (and more) of 2018.
Our wrap-up of the best music and more from 2019
Our wrap-up of the best music and more for the year we'll all want to otherwise forget, 2020.
Our roundup of the best music from the worst year (since the previous one, anyway).
Our favorite music and more from the year 2022
Our roundup of the best music of the year 2023
Our roundup of the best music—and more—of 2024.
Looking for the SPB logo? You can download it in a range of styles and colours here: