Category Archives: Blog

This month had a near single focus; organise and host two events to celebrate Grapevine’s first anniversary as an employee owned business, with just a few weeks notice. Against the odds, we welcomed 60 guests to our home at 19-25 Nuffield Road on Wednesday this week.   Since we made the transition to employee ownership inContinueContinue reading “Grapevine’s 1st EO anniversary”

This week our Star Wars fandom took us to an event a little closer to home than usual. The touring exhibit ‘May the Toys Be With You’ made its way to lovely Wimborne, where it has a residency at the Museum of East Dorset from til April 2024.  Having seen photos of the collection at previous stops,ContinueContinue reading “Star Wars memories from generations of fans”

20 years ago I started a record label. I bottled it within a year. I was a student at college and imposter syndrome (even if we didn’t know it to be called that then) kicked in just as things were starting to happen. It took me another 7 years to try again. Talking to BenContinueContinue reading “Ground Zero podcast with Ben Franklin”

Yesterday I headed to London with Tom to see Less Than Jake and Bowling For Soup, on the closing night of their biggest UK tour ever at Hammersmith Apollo. It really is incredible to see two bands from my youth still absolutely smash it two decades later. https://vimeo.com/917242980 We were very lucky to get toContinueContinue reading “You asked for it”

When I ran the Saint November Records, I used to include a handwritten note with each order I sent out. People told me they liked these and in the years since have messaged to say they kept them. Overnight I received a message from someone to share that not only did they keep the note,ContinueContinue reading “Monday morning validation”

I’m becoming fairly desensitised to celebrities passing, but when I received a text from my Mum to say that the DJ Steve Wright had died it stopped me in my tracks. Like the shock of hearing someone you’d just seen the other day is no longer with us (there’s a reason for this that I’llContinueContinue reading “My 90s nostalgia trip loses a key player”

Our Grapevine team event took me back to Foundry in Poole, for our first attempt at a company wide, new financial year briefing. I wrote last month about our plans for this, and how, given the evolution of our business in 2023, an in-person delivery of our strategy for the coming year felt like theContinueContinue reading “Grapevine EO team event”

I managed a total of 24 gigs in 2023 (browse the whole list). I’m not sure if I’ll top that this year. I got off to a good start this month though, with two back to back shows across the first weekend of February.  Number one took Sam and I up the country to LeicesterContinueContinue reading “2024 gig season begins”