Muso’s Guide was launched in 2003 by journalist Holly Noseda. The early version was built, nay, hand-coded, on a dying PC perched in her kitchen. It was launched for a number of reasons, namely the lack of coverage of classic music alongside new releases, the oh-so-obvious press release drivel in a lot of music mags at the time, the desire to create a website full of city guides with music tourists in mind and the desire to get to listen to promo CDs all day.
Fast-forward nine years:
We’ve relaunched. Four times.
In November 2012 ownership of the site passed from Holly to Joe Watson, Stewart Anderson and long-time contributor Kenny McMurtrie with a view to maintaining the already high quality of coverage and expanding the site’s reach. We still want to cover the classics and the best new music. We still bristle at the press release drivel and regurgitated guff but city guides have died a death. Now we listen to Spotify & Last.fm all day and have combined forces with Unsigned Bands Online to get closer to the grass roots of the music scene. How things have changed …
The new site is a work in progress, with lots more planned for the coming months. We have taken down some little-used and/or superseded areas of the previous incarnation and plan to replace them with what we hope will be exciting new areas for our dedicated following to explore.
PR people – we’re as green and digital as possible, completing most of our reviews without CDs, thus saving you guys postage, and hopefully making it quicker and easier for us to review more stuff. So wherever possible, please send us digital links to new music.
Back in ’03 there was no such thing as YouTube (and wasn’t for another two years) so we were very ahead of our time to have a dedicated video section (Videodrome). By 2006 our little video section was a veritable dinosaur and so in 2012 we have killed it off but we continue to promote videos through the site’s Facebook page and Twitter feed so if you are doing anything particularly cool with video, drop us a line.
WHAT WE COVER
Music: Single and album releases, books, soundtracks, films/dvds, news, interviews, features and live photography.
Videos: Dazzle us.
General: Columns of assorted ramblings.
WHO ARE WE?
Kenny McMurtrie - Editor-in-Chief
In November 2008 Kenny felt the need to contribute in writing to the music industry. No one tried to stop him and look what it’s lead to … He has a day job, is older than he looks & lives in Edinburgh.
Joe Watson Jnr Performance Manager
Joe operates out of Barrhead in Glasgow & will clean the table with you at both chess and poker.
Hayley Scott – Managing Editor
Originally from Brighton, Hayley began sporadically writing for local music magazines aged 15 as an excuse to go to free shows, while she also immersed herself in the music scene of her adopted home, Leeds. She is a compulsive collector of vinyl and a devout believer in The Fall. When she isn’t stuck in the past, she also likes to champion new music.
Rob Aldam – Deputy Albums Editor
Cat Schaupp – Features Editor
Cat lives and lurks in Edinburgh, where her lowly life of academic research is enlivened by fiction writing, foraging for new records, and drinking endless cups of tea.
Matt Jones / David Beech – Live Editor
Matt’s come a long way since crowd-surfing at Klaxons in Cardiff Uni Student Union in 2007. Currently most often spotted in venues host to funky, souly and afro-beaty beats and bands. With ears almost surgically attached to 6music he’s also very open to any new music which is funky in the wider sense. Big on bigging-up local venues that aren’t heard of enough despite pumping out a constant stream of danceability. Get in touch whether you want to review Slick Rick at the London Palladium or unsigned avant-gardians Psychadelia Smith playing the dilapidated helter-skelter round the corner.
Danielle Gibson – News Editor
Currently dwelling in Falkirk, Danielle is a media and communications graduate and a freelance writer specialising in music. She escapes to the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow for new bands and sounds. Always happy to chat with anyone about music but make sure you catch her after the second morning coffee.
Currently we have vacancies for an editor of Photography. Columnists with energy to spare are also welcome.
Gone but not forgotten …
Muso’s Guide wouldn’t be a patch on its current self if it wasn’t for the years of hard work and brilliance gifted us by Catherine Wilson, Natalie Shaw, Rebecca Schiller, Russell Warfield, Paul Brown, Louise Coles, Sam Cleeve, Melanie McGovern, Greg Salter and of course the mighty Holly.
GET IN TOUCH
albums.musosguide@gmail.com – albums, soundtracks & singles for review
beatfienduk@yahoo.co.uk – photographic submissions, music-related books for review
features.musosguide@gmail.com – feature submissions, interview and column suggestions & music-related dvds and film for review
joewatson@unsignedbandsonline.co.uk – sponsorship, advertising opportunities, commercial partnerships and Unsigned Bands Online-related queries/submissions
live.musosguide@gmail.com – live reviews, gig and festival review opportunities
mail.musosguide@gmail.com – press releases with files for sharing, applications to join writing team & general enquiries
news.musosguide@gmail.com – press releases of purely news content and direct enquiries with information to be broadcast
Muso’s Guide Live Music On Pinterest
Muso’s Guide On This Is My Jam
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