Reading & Leeds 2014

Undoubtedly amongst the best festivals in the world, Reading & Leeds 2014 have just finished, and they were spectacular. Headlined by Arctic Monkeys, Blink-182, Queens of the Stone Age and Paramore, we had a few writers at Leeds who each had a different view on their favourite acts. Here are our picks of the best of the weekend, in no particular order:

Bombay Bicycle Club
London based indie-rock band BBC headlined the NME/Radio 1 stage on the Saturday of Reading and Sunday of Leeds. The band, led by angelically voiced frontman Jack Steadman, had the crowd in the palm of their hands for the entire set. The light and picture show going on behind them only exaggerated the brilliance of what was, for me, possibly the best performance I saw all weekend. Everyone lost their shit at What If, and songs like Lights Out, Words Gone and How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep prompted huge singalongs from the loved up crowd. I was a fan before, but they went so far above any expectations I had and absolutely blew me away.  - Molly 

The Hives

The Hives. Photo: Giles Smith

As soon as Peace left the main stage on the Sunday at Leeds, huge white letters spelling 'HIVES' took their place, forming the most part of the Swedish band's incredibly cool backdrop. The backdrop suited them well as they are an incredibly cool band, not least deservedly cocky frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. Dressed to match the rest of the band, he swaggered and jumped about the stage, howling (hence his name) at the audience to "Cheer! We deserve more applause than that!". During the now famous freeze-frame bit of Tick Tick Boom, he spent around five minutes introducing the band and then went into the crowd to get us all to sit down, in preparation of going mental for the last part of the song. "If you're still stood up I'll come out there and make you sit down!" he commanded, and his adoring crowd obeyed. They finished with Hate To Say I Told You So, and as we showed our appreciation, Almqvist yelled proudly, "I know you're cheering in part because I've told you to, but the other part is because you fucking love me!". He wasn't wrong. - Molly

Baby Strange
Following their support slot on Palma Violets' Rattlesnake Rodeo tour last November, Glaswegian three-piece Baby Strange have built up a loyal following, and it certainly showed in Leeds; their fairly large crowd seemed to be loving every blast of punk rock they were showered with. After an extremely well performed and received cover of the Talking Heads' Psycho Killer, they expressed their wish to play "a couple more songs" which "are really short, only about two minutes each" but they were denied it, resulting in much booing from the crowd (including me), eager for more. However, the booing did turn to applause as the band left the stage - what we got from them was fantastic, and I know we'll be seeing much more of Baby Strange in the near future. - Molly

The Wytches
Filling an opening slot on the NME stage on Friday at Leeds festival, Brighton three piece The Wytches had a tough job. Their unique brand of "surf doom" could easily have fallen flat, with their heavily distorted guitar and piercing screams not being the usual fodder for this stage. However, they certainly impressed, filling their short set with pit-worthy anthems from their debut album Annabel Dream Reader. The standout moment for me was their opening song- Burn Out The Bruise, showcasing their Bleach-esque style and ability to write and perform a seriously heavy yet catchy chorus. - Benny

Mongol Horde. Photo: Giles Smith

Mongol Horde
Frank Turner's hardcore project Mongol Horde aren't what you'd call radio friendly, and of course in their sub-headline slot on Leeds' Lock Up stage, they didn't alter this one bit. Their music is effectively a massive "fuck you" to basically everything ever, full of genuine humour and brought together by Turner's deafening roar. Their set consisted of twelve songs from their self titled LP released this year, bringing huge circle pits to the adrenaline (and whatever else) fuelled crowd, with Frank frequently being hoisted in the air by adoring fans. A band which has a song about Natalie Portman's tapeworm forming a republic clearly doesn't take themselves too seriously, so they clearly don't give a shit what I think. All the same they were definitely a highlight of the weekend. - Benny

Queens Of The Stone Age
Possibly the best stadium rock band currently touring, Queens Of The Stone Age destroyed this years' Leeds festival, which isn't surprising as their latest album Like Clockwork is amongst their best. New songs such as Fairweather Friends and If I Had a Tail sat comfortably among their old classic songs from Songs For The Deaf and Rated R, with godlike frontman Josh Homme delivering them with his trademark swagger. Ending on the near satanic Song For The Dead, this band seem as good today as they've always been, and look unwilling to stop. My only criticism (and no fault of the band) is their short set, caused as a result of their headline slot being shared with the simply cringeworthy pop-punk of Paramore.  All in all however, Queens shone; their catchy desert rock being my personal highlight of the festival. - Benny

Peace
After standing through Dry The River (a very good folk band) Peace took to the main stage. I'd headed down early to get a good spot - I was in an alright place, quite far left of stage left. The crowd was pretty chilled out throughout their set. Each member walked on one at a time, starting with Dom who started playing a drum line, followed by Sam with a bass line, then Doug with some chords and finally Harrison. They burst into 'Lovesick' their last single from debut album 'In Love' and I must say it's a crowd pleaser. The band continued to play through some older album and EP tracks including 'Float Forever' and 'California Daze'. The guys didn't fail to impress with new songs 'Money' and 'Lost On Me' and they, as they have been recently, replaced '1998' with rap track 'World Pleasure', but who can complain when there's a groovy bass solo? No one. This was my fourth time seeing Peace and I've never been so proud of them; seeing them play on the main stage made my festival. - Laura

Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice. Photo: Victor Frankowski

When Wolf Alice took to the stage in the Festival Republic tent on the Sunday of Leeds festival, they did so in matching white outfits. I must say I was surprised; that was one thing I was never expecting a young indie rock group to do. As always, they didn't fail to impress. Ellie's vocals blew me away; how she can go from singing a quiet slow song such as 'Blush' to having loud, wild vocals in 'She' amazes me. At one point Ellie and Theo started doing their swaying side to side type dance while they played a solo together, and this always manages to make me smile. The band played through well known EP tracks and followed these up with a couple of new tracks, closing with a sped up version of 'Fluffy' as they were about to get pulled off stage. - Laura

Superfood
These guys were one of my favourite acts of the festival. After chatting to frontman Dom Ganderton (he remembered me from a few months back and gave me a slighty wobbly, possibly drunken hug), they played the BBC Introducing stage on the Thursday night. This, like Peace, was my fourth time seeing them, and they really did blow me away. It was nice to be surrounded by hundreds of people there to see them and being in a Superfood-loving crowd was incredible. The band played well knows tracks 'Melting', 'Bubbles' and 'Right On Satellite', a couple of album songs and finished with debut song 'Superfood'. Superfood really never fail to put on a good show. - Laura

Feel free to comment with your favourite acts of the weekend! 

A FIBLAR Christmas...

During the festive season, it is always guaranteed that you will run into old and new friends and family; many wonderful, many annoying. This has inspired me to create the scenario of "A FIBLAR Christmas" where you can learn a bit more about the members, how they deal with festive #ladbanter and all the associated weirdness of the festive season. Let the party begin...

It's Christmas day at the FIBLAR HQ flat and the team were tucked up in their beds after a late night of writing their upcoming posts, their laptops still whirring quietly beside them. A loud smashing sound came out of no where and woke everyone up - the team soon realised Paige had moved her arm and her half full bottle of gin had fallen off her bedside table and smashed on the wooden floor.

"You daft slag!" Came a shout from underneath the covers. Laura had woke up with a start from the commotion and knew the culprit would most likely be Paige. The next person to wake up was Molly, who instantly jumped out of bed and went towards the tree, sorting out all the badly wrapped presents beneath it ready for when everyone woke up.

The team rose out of their bunk beds and walked towards the neatly sorted presents in a zombie-like manor, all still half asleep and hungover from the party the night before.
"Can we open them right now?"  Avalon asked excitedly.
"Of course." Georgie smiled, kneeling down to open her present.
"I'm gonna go make us all some coffee or something." Charlie smiled, drifting out the room to the kitchen.
"It's just as well! We all need it and you can't open your gift 'til we've all opened ours!" Connor shouted at him.
Laura, walking into the room in a festive outfit of dressing gown and elf socks, squealed as her present from Calum turned out to be a Telgram t shirt that she had been after all year. "OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH" she said, hugging him tightly.
"Haha no problem Laur," Calum replied before he went to pick up his own pile of presents.
In confusion, all but Paige were unsure of the wrapped human like figure standing next to the Christmas tree that was waiting for Amy to unwrap. "Well this is terrifying..." She laughed, as she began to take off the paper. To her utter delight, Paige had in fact bought her a cardboard cut-out of Harrison Koisser to admire and perhaps stroke...
"Oh my god Paige! Thank you!" Amy squealed, running over and hugging Paige.
"Your drinks are ready guys! They're on the table." Charlie said as he walked back in and sat down in front of his present. "Who's opening theirs next?"
"I am!" Calum shouted, quickly unwrapping his present - Specially made Diiv PJs. "Thank you Laura!" He shouted in glee, getting up and hugging her tightly. 
"Paige, you're next." Connor smiled, handing her a flat, square present. She gently peeled away the tape and opened it to find an MGMT record - Congratulations to be exact.
"Oh my god Connor! Thank you SO SO much!" Paige jumped over the paper to hug him.
"I know how much you love The Horrors Georgie." Jacob said as Georgie opened her present with a squeal of delight - it was a signed poster.
"Thank you so so much Jacob!" She hugged him. "Open yours!"
Jacob sat down on the floor and unwrapped his gift, a smile spread across his face as he opened a signed Morrissey autobiography.
"Thank you wow, thank you so much Georgie." He smiled, hugging her once again.
"Here, since Charlie didn't bring the drinks through and they got cold I've brought us a festive plate and jug of mulled wine." Paige smiled, putting it on the floor. Laura and James looked at each other and raced for the rum truffles and of course James snatched them out of Laura's hand before she could even take one.
Amelia was handed a rather wonderful Spector poster from Lydia to a lot of thanks and general madness who in return got some signed Drenge vinyl. "OH MY THANK YOU!" Laughed Lydia, as she and Amelia hugged each other.
Everyone was sitting round in their festive pyjamas (no inappropriate 'santa' lingerie here) as Molly and Avalon opened their presents from each other. Avalon received a pair of homemade Peace-themed socks while Molly got a Biffy Clyro mug, because everyone should drink their favourite beverage with a band label slapped across it.
"Okay, here's your present James." Charlie smiled, handing him an envelope. James opened the envelope to reveal a £50 HMV giftcard. "I didn't know what to get you." Charlie smiled.
Charl opened her present, a hamper filled with records and old band shirts. "Who's it from?" She smiled.
"All of us!" Nina called out.
"Thank you all so much!" Charl replied, inspecting one of the records.
"Wow thanks man." James replied, fist bumping Charlie.
"Okay Charlie, open your box!" Avalon shouted. 
Charlie shifted across the floor and knelt up in front of the box. "Guys, I swear it just moved." He said, looking around at the group.
"I don't think it did, I think you're still drunk mate." Connor laughed.
Charlie lifted the lid off the bus and out popped Superfood.
"Merry Christmas Charlie!" The quartet shouted, engulfing him in an awkward group hug. The band climbed out and played a few songs...
***
The day went on, the group got drunk and ate loads of food and soon found themselves slumped around the living room on their laptops, Superfood watching a Christmas movie and the neighbours banging on the walls because of the ruckus everyone had caused. 
"I think we should head to bed." Charlie yawned.
"No, let's stay up and party!" Charl shouted.
"I don't know, I'm really enjoying this movie." Carl said, the rest of the band nodding their heads in agreement.
"Well, I think I'll head to bed." Charlie sighed, getting up and walking out of the room.
"Yeah me too." Amelia smiled, shutting down her laptop.
A few more members of the group went off upstairs to bed. 
"It's been a very eventful Christmas." Avalon concluded.
"Better than I first anticipated." Charlotte replied.
"Its been brilliant." Paige sighed, not even bothering to look up from her laptop screen.
"This year has been brilliant, with the blog and all." Nina smiled.
"Yeah." Laura agreed. "I'm so thankful for our readers."
"Me too." Paige sighed happily.
"Well, shall we go to bed?" Connor asked.
"We may as well." Cal said, standing up and stretching.
"We're going to bed now guys so the blankets and airbeds are in the kitchen for yous to bring through, enjoy your movie, night!" Avalon said to Superfood.
"Thanks for having us guys, goodnight!" Dom said as the group wandered out.
"Night!" Emily and Ryan shouted in unison.
And so the FIBLAR crew went to bed, Superfood stayed up and watched a Christmas movie and everyone had a great time.

Thank you everyone for your support over these last two months, it means the world to us! We'll keep the mosts coming, we wouldn't be able to run this without you all! Merry Christmas, have a great holiday!
Love from FIBLAR!
xxxxxxxxxx

As Part Of The Crowd You're Also Part Of The Show

Crowd interaction and participation are important at gigs. Whether a band member is speaking to you directly or you're all doing a mexican wave, it all matters. This week I've chosen to write about how the fans in the crowd can play a big part in the show.

Harrison Koisser talking to the crowd in Newcastle

1. Making A Band Do Something
I saw Peace a few weeks back in Newcastle and the crowd were crazy. Harrison Koisser took time to talk to the fans at the barrier (these fans happened to be myself and my friends) and listen to everyone shouting at him; one lad stood in the middle of the crowd threw Harrison a denim jacket and Harrison offered him a trade for it - I don't think anyone knows what happened with that trade or whether it took place. Throughout the show the crowd chanted "Last Christmas!" and even more between songs to try and convince the quartet to play their latest Christmas cover and so they did in the encore between California Daze and Bloodshake.

2. Glow Sticks and Neon Paint

Glow sticks and neon paint are mainly taken to larger shows such as arena and stadium concerts and festivals. Neon paint is often seen to be worn by ravers and festival goers with an interest in seeing dance or electro artists. Glow sticks are held high and often during emotional songs - take Robbie Williams' song 'Angels', I've seen it performed twice and both times fans held up either glow sticks or lighters.

3. Xylobands

Xylobands are a more recent invention by Jason Regler, they're radio signal powered bracelets that flash to the beat of a song and light up the venue. Coldplay were the first to use them on their Mylo Xyloto world tour. They have been described as a progression from lighters held up in concerts and are now used regularly in huge shows.

Xylobands being used during a Coldplay concert in 2012

-Laura (@FloatForev3r)

Bedroom Walls

I am guessing that most teenagers of this day and age have bedroom walls covered in posters, gig tickets, photos and other precious memoirs; I am only assuming this though. I have discovered that here at FIBLAR, we have quite a varied range of bedroom walls which are all magnificent and need to be shared. 

Molly's Wall

It's kind of typical nowadays for a teenager's bedroom walls to be entirely dominated by pictures and posters of the things that they love. The wall behind my bed used to be just that; every inch covered in tiny little pictures cut from magazines, no order or pattern at all. Thankfully, that phase has ended and around a month ago, I decided I no longer liked how my wall looked. I took everything down and kept only the biggest things, arranging them in a new, minimalistic and almost symmetrical way, which I am immensely proud of. The wall includes Palma Violets, The Smiths, The Vaccines, JAWS and more, but taking centre stage is Biffy Clyro (I also have a poster of them on my ceiling) because really, I just love looking at Simon Neil.



Amelia's Wall

  This is above my desk. My stereo is blocking out a lovely picture of grimes and hidden behind my lamp is the poster of peace that came with In Love.

This is a close up of my main wall featuring some bunting and fairy lights. I think I stuck this up around the time In Love came out and every magazine was filled with Peace pictures as there seems to be an alarming amount. Having a slanted ceiling makes fitting stuff in a challenge but all the more rewarding when it ends up looking ok.








Laura's wall

 Filled with indie dreamboats, memories, tickets and whatever else is up there; my walls are the best part of my room. The photos of me and band members from gigs of the past are there such as Peace, Swim Deep and JAWS. Smaller sections are dedicated to various artists such as Everything Everything, Arctic Monkeys and Haim. Almost every band or artist that puts a smile on my face, they're all on there.




Sometimes I take a moment to step back while music hums in the background and look around my walls - reading what the Peace lads wrote on the back of the photo we got together in April, seeing photos of me and JAWS taken inside the Think tank and Swim Deep outside. Metro tickets with the dates of shows on them, reminding me of how good thise nights were and that limited edition poster of Mark Owen my friend got me last year when I thought I'd never get to meet him. Everyone on my walls, they're all there for a reason - because they mean something to me.


Paige's Wall

 I tend to hoard any music related 'stuff'. That stuff is usually posters, old tickets, ripped magazine articles. This is for a few very basic reasons which I shall list:

1. It makes my very dark room look very cool

2. I feel like I'm hanging out with a different rockstar every night - a thrilling idea!

3. It's a form of escapism for when I want to burn my school work






Rohanie's Wall

 I have 3 walls covered in various scraps of paper and magazine cuttings, but this is the wall by my bed and so is my favourite.
I moved on from the plastering my walls from top to bottom with posters when I was about 14, since then I've been blu tacking various gigs tickets, adverts, articles, photos and posters until I was almost back to my circa 2009 roots, this time without dodgy google images of mgmt and Jonny Pierce (of The Drums) printed from my more than temperamental printer. My favourite parts of this wall are my Horrors tickets signed by the band when I met them in 2011 and Felix of the Maccabees' plectrum I caught in a fantastically James Bond moment at their gig in Birmingham in January 2012. My room was once a hideous cerise colour (the paint was actually called "sexy pink" which made my 7 year old self feel so punk rock) but it got painted to a more ~mature~ pastel colour, that ended up acting as a canvas for the scraps of all sorts that ended up being stuck on the walls. Other highlights include the 7 pictures of Grimes, a limited edition print by artist Robert Ryan and a handwritten setlist by Gareth of lc!, handed into my very hand by the then bassist Ellen, a moment that I replayed in my head in the car journey over and over until I had near convinced myself it hadn't happened and was a materialisation of my dazed mind. 

As skin crawlingly embarrassing as it may appear, my walls feel like memories, scrapbooks of what's happened so far in my life, although the majority is gig tickets from the past 3 years, there's dodgy disposal camera photos from a school trip to Germany when I was 14, clothing tags from the first time I went to brick lane aged 12, a photo of me dressed as elvis Presley as part of my tap dancing classes aged 3, a Drums poster I took off a notice board from Birmingham city university social sciences department when waiting for my mum to finish work. The only regret I have is when I move away for uni in (hopefully) 2 years, and having to intricately prise everything off the walls, pack them away and reapply them to my prison cell of a halls room, nostalgically reminiscing of a time when I had pastel pink walls and enough floor space to ultimately unsuccessfully practise doing the splits for 8 years. (the bird paintings came when I was on a school trip to france and my mum got bored)

ps. the square shaped hole is where one if my mums paintings was before being used for an exhibition, I haven't found anything suitable to fill the geometric gap yet

Nina's wall

I wish I could say there's some really deep meaning behind the posters on my wall but really all that's behind them is blu tack. But at the same time I guess certain posters can bring back memories like songs can such as my Swim Deep tour poster which reminds me of where I met one of my now best friends.

Avalon's wall 

I have always enjoyed having posters on my walls - when I was ten, I had a slightly creepy obsession with the youtuber charlieissocoollike, so I built my own 'wall of stuff' to match his. This summer, I decided that the jumble of pictures on my walls was pointless, outdated and ugly. I spent two days tearing them down and painting the wall white. I listened exclusively to Splashh and Dog is Dead and wore only my bra and faded denim cutoffs. Starting from scratch I made a 'music wall' - basically a shrine to my favourite bands and musicians. The pictures are a combination of ebay and tour posters, cutouts from NME, and A4 sheets printed secretly from my school's art room. There are a bunch of gig tickets, and awkward photos with band members, and just things that make me happy - photos taken on broken disposable cameras at gigs, polaroids with friends, pages ripped from magazines, photobooth pictures. I add things to it everyday, and it is very much still a work in progress. I am not even sure that it will ever be done!

Amy's Wall

I don't like my room. I never actually have. The first stages of my wall started in the summer of 2012 where I thought I was very cool having pictures of YouTubers and small, motivational yet cringey notes stuck up on every inch of my wall. I then started reading NME and a huge Jake Bugg obsession hit me like a swarm of flies; this urged me to have NME cutouts and front covers arranged on my wall in a messy fashion. My skin would be crawling if I had to re-live that wall and see the chaos of it. My next stage came quite recently, perhaps during summer this year, and is now the stage of my current wall. I decided that order and organisation satisfied me a lot so wanted to portray this on my wall. I built it around my Ben Howard poster which I bought at the Summer Stampede earlier this year. I have a small section dedicated to David Bowie as know that my obsession with Bowie will (fortunately) never leave. I bought The Beatles poster with no real reason at all; It just fitted in the gap that my wall once possessed. I only put the christmas lights up earlier this week but may have to keep them for the whole year until I need a new set. A few weeks ago, I decided that, yet again, I dislike my wall. I haven't tried to rearrange it as I simply do not have the effort. I plan to paint all my walls white so it feels minimalistic and clean; just how I want it. I probably won't change it for a while as I know my mind will surely return to the state that it were once in.

-Amy x

Our Favourite Albums

Hi guys, Laura here! I guess we all have a favourite album so a few of us thought we'd share ours with you all...

Georgie - My favourite album is definitely Primary Colours by The Horrors. I started listening to The Horrors when I was in Year 7 of secondary school and I guess that was the time my taste in music really began to develop and change. Of course, I loved everything about Strange House- but there's just something about Primary Colours that no other album will ever beat (for me personally anyway). It's literally everything you could ever ask for from music and everytime I listen to it it blows my mind how something this beautiful was created by human hands. There's no end to the reasons of why I'd recommend it to someone as it's incredibly difficult to put into words just how great this album is. Like, seriously. It's amazing. Listen to it.

Laura - My favourite album is probably Reality Killed The Video Star by Robbie Williams. It was the first album of his I heard and instantly fell in love with it, my 13 year old self was obviously very pleased with what she heard as the love has lasted. The album kicks off with Morning Sun, a slow ballad-like song hich was the official single for Sport Relief 2010. The album glides through a range of genres including the pop sounds of Do You Mind, then the more dark electro sound of Last Days Of Disco and a little dance-rock before ending with Morning Sun Reprise, slow and graceful. I recommend this album to anyone and everyone. It doesn't fit the classic Robbie Williams sound and is quite unique. 

Molly - I always say that choosing a favourite album is tough, yet there's always one that comes into my head straight away when asked: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines, by The Vaccines (funnily enough). It was the first proper guitar album I really got into, and I have spent many a happy hour prancing about in my bedroom, pretending I'm a part of the band (usually switching between being the air-guitarist and the air-drummer; I've pretty much perfected Norgaard). In summer I'd lay down in a field listening to Wetsuit or stroll through a wood to my personal favourite track, All In White. Now it's winter, I often bring out my What Did You Expect vinyl for a spin and quietly appreciate the thrashing guitars (bit of an oxymoron there) and often serene melodies that go with them. I honestly love this album like a child loves their favourite cuddly toy, and I don't know what I'd have ever done without it.

Amy - I don't think it is ever possible to have a specific 'favourite' something. You can have favourites, but not a favourite, as people's minds change all the time. One of my favourite records I own is 'Precious'. It's a compilation album of various britpop/90's song of the 'indie rock' genre. As most people know, I am a huge fan of this era so 'Precious' is a perfect album for me. It includes many artists such as Blur, Suede, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Lush and obviously, a lot more. It being a double album is also great as there is always a slight satisfaction about owning two vinyls in one hard sleeve. My mum owned it before I borrowed/stole it. The great thing about having similar music taste to your parents is that you get all of their old CD's and vinyls. Something worth treasuring.

Paige - Although there are many albums that have touched my heart over the years (NB: The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album) and made me instant fans of their music. However, there is one album that sticks out as being one of those "favourite" albums. For me, this is (rather unsurprisingly) MGMT's second album Congratulations. Released in 2010, I didn't discover it until a year or so later, when I quite whole-heartedly fell in love with the richness of the sound the general all out weirdness and fuzz that made it so brilliant. It was also one of the first albums I was very excited to buy because I had just got into my soon-to-be-favourite-band-of-all-time and actually felt cool being a girl who listened to MGMT. My favourite song has to be Brian Eno for the last 2 minutes where it feels like your head is going to explode into a fog of glitter and you are going to break into a dance wherever you are. Other favourite tracks include Siberian Breaks (unadultereated heartbreak) and Flash Delirium (silly money you're my honey) because they are guaranteed to take you somewhere else.

Soundtrack of your Childhood

Memories are odd things. They can resurface at any time, with anything acting a trigger, a smell, a jacket, a place, a name, a taste. But perhaps most poignant is music - nostalgic moments entering your mind of walks in the park on Sunday afternoons, going to various relatives' houses, rainy Saturday mornings, walking home from school, that tv program your household drop anything for and watch religiously. The most embarrassing songs from childhood I find are the best. Documenting moments in your life that were so significant and important at one point that now serve as nothing more than laughable memories, like a tattoo encapsulating the person you once were, but now desperately try to suppress. The great thing about those 4 minutes of audio is that whenever, wherever you are, whomever you are with - when those opening bars are played, when the signature voice of that singer you once idolised is heard, you're instantly brought back, you're instantly the 5 year old on a drive with your dad again, you're instantly the 8 year old in your bedroom dancing to a pop party compilation cd again, you're instantly the 10 year old watching the youtube video over and over again mesmerised by what you're watching. as hard as you try, those songs cannot be suppressed.

Avalon~

Most of my childhood memories are of America, where I have spent almost every summer of my life. 'Suspicious Minds' by Elvis Presley, 'Rattled By The Rush' by Pavement, and 'Where is My Mind' by Pixies. The songs remind me of unjaded summers spent dancing in the kitchen of our tiny house in Maine, while morning sun crept in through backdoors left swung open. They remind me of ice-cream sandwiches eaten on the beach, of bonfires and sunsets, thunderstorms and drive-in movies. Of woods near my grandparent's house in Vermont, sandy swimsuits and bike rides to the store. Of family singalongs and falling asleep on the plane on the way back to England. These songs were the soundtrack to the summers of my youth, repeated endlessly on cheap record players, tinny radios of cars, and walkmans with complementary British Airways headphones
Tyler~
Growing up, I didn't really relate to the music my parents would play; Neil Diamond and The Eagles dominated my Sunday mornings courtesy of my father, whilst Westlife and Ronan Keating would resonate through the walls of our house whilst my mum cleaned. I don't feel nostalgic about this music, though: all I really remember are the songs I would play on my Walkman to drown out the noise my parents were playing.

Kate Bush's 'Babooshka' is definitely the first song that springs to mind; I remember seeing her for the first time on some kind of Greatest Hits countdown on the TV singing this song. Naturally, I didn't understand it at all back then: I was oblivious to her role as a musical pioneer and her lyrical content completely escaped me, but 'Babooshka' is a fun word for a seven year old to sing as he gallops around his bedroom. I dare say it's just as enjoyable for an eighteen-year-old. Unfortunately, Ms. Bush is the only example of taste I displayed as a child. Another glaringly obvious song from the soundtrack of my youth would have to be AllSaint's 'Rock Steady'. I think this was the first single I ever owned; it was either this, or the 'Cha Cha Slide'. I remember how amazed I was when I put the disc into my computer and saw the music video, in which the girls are clad in latex and use whips to rob a bank. Brilliant. It's difficult to pick a third song, but I think I'm going to choose Lily Allen's 'Smile'. That song, however crass, was my gateway drug into music. It was the first song that pushed me to buy (or rather, ask mum and dad for) the album. Of course, I wasn't old enough for 'Alright, Still', But I loved it nonetheless. And now, here we are.

Amelia~

My dad is a big led zeppelin fan and one of my favourites is 'Going to California'. It reminds me of the childhood feeling of having had a really great day playing in the sunshine, and also of the excitement of actually going to California when I was little.
My dad is also a massive Bob Dylan fan. By massive I mean he owns pretty much everything he's ever released on vinyl and has seen him live loads. 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' in particular reminds me of my childhood - my dad would always try and slip the lyrics into conversation wherever he could, sort of like an elaborate dad-style version of name that tune. It's a classic Dylan song that always makes me nostalgic for my childhood. My mum is a huge Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks enthusiast, and I've been lucky enough to inherit such a gene. 'Edge of seventeen' by Stevie Nicks is so brilliant to dance around to - an important factor when selecting a favourite childhood song. It's also on the soundtrack to the film School of Rock which was one of my favourite films as a kid. Amy~
Sunday Morning // Maroon 5 Judge me if you must but I love this song. It's one of those songs which does actually remind me of my childhood, not just a song from that time. Now I'm not looking for sympathy here, but when my dad died in 2009, I had Sunday Morning on repeat constantly as he loved it and we made up dance moves to all the words and danced round on (supposedly) sunday mornings. It's a very warm song, you could say, and has very inviting lyrics which I love. 

Don't You Want Me // Human League

My mum loves the Human League and I guess this is their most famous song so I would be genuinely shocked if anyone had not heard it before. When it was just me and my mum living in a flat about 8 years ago, this song would be sung at the top of our lungs. We would dance around the small hallways and into the rooms singing. This something that, now I am older, I miss. It's also just a massive #tune. (sorry for hashtag-it just seemed appropriate). Lastly is Fire Coming out of a Monkey's Head // Gorillaz - Me being a huge Blur fan, it probably wouldn't be surprising if a Gorillaz or Blur song popped up somewhere. I think my step dad introduced me to Gorillaz in about 2007 and I used to steal his iPod and listen to this song when he was out. This song tells a story as well as it being a song which I think is genius. It wasn't until about 2 years after discovering Gorillaz, that I found out they and Blur were connected. I think knowing this has made me love both bands more as they sound so different! I also love all of Jamie Hewlett's artwork and damn that bassline!
Molly~
Floating Away (In The Bathtub) // Toploader My dad always used to play this in the car when I was younger and I didn't know what it was (I had to ask my brother what 'that song about bubbles that dad used to play' was for this) but I always sang along to the first verse. After that it got too heavy for my young, innocent ears and I pleaded with dad to turn it off. Being the loving father that he is, he did just that. By The Way // Red Hot Chili Peppers Another of my dad's favourites (mum didn't tend to listen to much music), we had lovely family singalongs on our journeys to this song, although the STEAK KNIFE bit wasn't really to my taste. Oh how things have changed. Air Hostess // Busted I have the most fond memories of this band; me and my brother would spend hours listening to our Busted's greatest hits CD on repeat whilst playing Mariokart on our Nintendo 64, until mum sold it at a carboot. I don't think we forgave her for months afterwards. Rohanie~
When I was 11 my dad discovered youtube. Then followed prolonged evenings, turning into the early hours of him hunched at the computer systematically watching live footage of every single single he'd bought when he was a teenager, Johnny Appleseed was perhaps his most played. "Just listen those drums", of course none of us were interested, at 11 I was just at the end of my faux punk Avril Lavigne phase. But the more I listen to this song, the more I appreciate it, the more I realise how beautiful it really is, and how pertinent it was to my childhood. One of the best films I've ever seen was School of Rock, I remember the cinema trip with such detail. The last scene of the film features the cast playing It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) // AC/DC, which I fell in love with. We walked to Fopp and my dad put on the original on those cute headphones attached to this big machine they don't seem to have in music shops anymore and I listened and I fell in love further. That christmas i got AC/DC's discography and I've continued to be in love ever since. The last song I feel really grasps my childhood in a song is Sweetest Thing // U2. Yes U2 is a slightly embarrassing choice, but the lyrics "Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyes girl" might has well have been written for/about my parents. There's a weird warm sense of nostalgia surrounding this song when I listen to it, it's one of those tracks that was played in long car journeys, when everyone was fed up of feeling sick and of each other - yet this song managed to perfectly cut through put a subtle smile on everyone's faces. Laura~
Weird Al Yankovic // White and Nerdy

Weird Al Yankovic's parodies were played constantly through my late primary school years. In year 6 when it was raining and we couldn't go out onto the yard our teacher used to let us run the classroom and use the whiteboard to listen to music and watch videos S Club Juniors // Automatic High As a youngling I loved nothing more than singing S Club songs in the car, the Juniors being my favourite. This song was often played on repeat and I used to sit in the back, wind the window down and sing along - it must've drove my parents mad! Take That // Shine As many of you will know I'm a HUGE Take That fan. In year 6 when we ran the class on rainy break times I always requested this song, I don't know why - I wasn't a fan at the time but it was riding high in the charts and loved by the full class

Georgie~
I guess the songs that provided the soundtrack to my childhood are pretty much the same ones that are sound tracking it now. My parents were a big influence on the music I listened to and they bought me up on Nirvana, The Cure and various bands from the eighties. So my first song is In Bloom by Nirvana. I put it on my mp3 player and thought I was the coolest thing going. The next is Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. This is such a great song. Words cannot describe the love I have for this song. I remember listening to it and thinking how awesome it would be to be this moody teenager. Now I’m 19 and this real life teenage dirtbag and l still listen to it all the time. I’ve saved the best till last because this song, no matter how cheesey you find it, still remains to be my all time favourite song. This song is like, my anthem or something. It’s so feel-good and amazing and is just the best. It’s the classic- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. Nina~
Yellow Submarine // The Beatles I've always been brought up around the Beatles when I was younger I remember me and my dads endless sing a longs on our way to the football to yellow submarine. I often changed the words to 'we all live in a yellow submarine we didn't like the colour so we painted it green a shark came along and now were all dead I found out it was a hammer head.' But it still has a sentimental feeling to me of innocence and a sense of homeliness about it (is that even a word) Sexbomb // Tom Jones The one artist that really made up the soundtrack of my childhood was Tom Jones. I have a fond memory of being in my extremely uncomfortable car seat singing sexbomb or as i remember it 'stinkbomb'. When i was around 5 my mum took me to my first concert which was to see Tom Jones the only strong memory I have from this is seeing lots of older ladies throwing their bras on stage and me asking my mum if i could throw my knickers on stage obviously the answer was no. Viva Las Vegas // Elvis Presley - I've always been brought up listening to Elvis he was even my first crush but this song used to really stand out for me. On my first visit to Las Vegas at the age of 4 we had this song blasting as we were driving down the strip my mum even recalls me saying 'is this what movie stars feel like'. Every time I listen to that i get memories of not only sunny Las Vegas but driving to the equally as glamorous Sutton listening to the best of Elvis. Calum~
When asked to think of three songs that soundtracked my childhood, a number sprang immediately to mind. I've grown up shrouded in music, as my parents and lodger are all mad about it. So here is three songs that I think were very "instrumental" in my upbringing. Downtown Train // Tom Waits Tom Waits is one of my favourite singers, to this day even. But when I was growing up, my dad used to constantly play his music in the evenings, which was brilliant. As a really young child, I was obsessed with trains so Downtown Train was my favourite of Waits’. I love this song particularly because of the upbeat guitar and Waits’ vocal delivery as well as the mention of the word “train”. Rock Me Amadeus – Falco
Falco’s one hit wonder Rock Me Amadeus was the first song I ever had an obsession with (and it wasn’t the last). It is mainly in German and when it was my favourite song I knew all the words to it, despite not speaking a word of the language. It is incredibly catchy and Falco is a very cool guy. I Bet That You Look Good On the Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys When I was about 8, The Arctics came on Top of The Pops to play their debut single. As a young boy, this song mesmerised me- I loved it to bits. Then a couple of years later I saw the Arctic Monkeys headline Glastonbury (2007) as a 10 year old and it was one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. They were my first favourite band.