The Zine UK

It was one of those Liverpool days when the wind doesn’t so much blow as audition for a disaster movie: sideways rain, chip papers taking flight, and every pub door in the city groaning on its hinges. We were tucked into a corner of a dimly lit boozer, the kind with sticky carpets and a jukebox that’s seen things, when the air itself seemed to rip open. A flash of ’80s glamour, neon, hairspray, the ghost of a leather jacket, and out tumbled the chaos twins, all limbs and laughter, as if a wormhole had opened somewhere between a Bowie video and a lost weekend. Behind them, with the calm of a man who’s seen stranger things, came Dean: former frontman of Generation, current frontman of Die Tonight, and a walking, talking hurricane in his own right. We got a round in. We sat down. And then we talked about Vienna, strippers, Rick Owens, the death of the scene, and why the best nights always end at Teddy’s. This is what happened.

Hello, my name is Dean. I’m the frontman from Die Tonight, and here’s some nice little fun facts about me. One is that I have the same name as Rick Sanchez off Rick and Morty. Two is that—let me think of something—I don’t know, I fell in love recently and I’m going back to Madrid to go and see her. Third is I fucking love music and I love getting on stage. I’m wild; I can’t give a straight answer because my head’s scatty. Perfect.

Can you just give us a rundown of what’s happening with Die Tonight in the next couple of months? Anything that we should know?

Yeah, so basically we’ve been in Vienna. We’ve recorded like so many songs, probably nearly an album’s worth or more. So there’s going to be a remix of Shrine Song coming out, which I’ll show a later opportunity to have a listen. Mixed by Tom Saint (@tomsaintxo), who’s a top G—shout out bro. And then that’ll be coming out this month, coming off in September. And then in October, we’ve got a new song coming out called Reason to Believe. So yeah, and we’ve got loads of gigs coming off. So going off the date, for your band, dude.

What can someone expect from a Die Tonight gig?

A lot of chaos, a lot of sexy vibes, a lot of crowd interaction, ’cause that’s something that we love, as you know, ’cause you’re to our shows. But yeah, just a lot of crowd interaction and just getting people involved with each other. ’Cause I feel like you can go to some shows where it sounds unreal, it sounds amazing, but does that ever happen? Between the crowd and the audience, and the band. So yeah, that’s just something that we want to do.

Ruby: I don’t—I think I have been to a gig where I haven’t been kicked in the head by you.

I’m actually sorry about that. There’s a few people actually saying that.

Dizzy: Right, now we’ve actually got a document if we sue. And I mean, you just said like, “Right, we’ve got them, that’s all we need. We’re off now.”

Ruby: I hope you’re okay with me talking about this as well, but you had Generation before and you’ve gone into a completely different direction. The last few songs I’ve heard you play with Generation though, do you think that would have potentially been the direction Generation would have gone in?

No, I don’t think it would have been, because I think with Generation that was a lot more—you know, I loved it at the time; it was like more pop rock type stuff, do you know what I mean? I’d come off stage feeling unfulfilled, if that makes sense. I wasn’t getting a convey and the message I wanted to and I wasn’t getting the emotion I wanted to out. So with that though, everyone’s still amazing friends. It was a mutual thing where everyone wanted to do different things. So we all just were like, “You know what, this has been a good one. Let’s all just stay friends and just do our thing.” I think this direction is way better. It’s more me; it’s more dark; it’s more sexy, and I just feel I could just be a freak. Do you know what I’m saying? I could just be weird, and I don’t have to answer to anyone because it’s me leading the project. Do you know what I’m saying? So yeah, if I say or do anything wrong, it’s on me and I’ve got my answer.

I think you’re definitely doing music for strippers.

Oh yeah, definitely. Well, the second song that we played, that was actually written for a stripper. Because she said to me—she didn’t give me a dance or anything, but I was in there just chatting away—and she said, “Dean… somebody needs to write a song for me to dance to.” I was like, “Leave it with me.” Literally, like two weeks later, I wrote it and sent it to her, and now that’s one of her songs that she dances to.

So any strippers that want any songs?

Yeah, any strippers that want any songs, it’s 0151.

Speaking of songs, Illusion was an interesting song as well because the way you introduced that on stage, it was like, “Yeah, the world is burning. It’s all shit, but we’re right here.”

So, yeah. That’s what it’s like, yeah, because Illusion—that’s about… So it’s treated that way. So my brother James, he wrote the first, first verse, and that’s more about, like… Drugs sell pad how as people—like, obviously we’re consuming things, whatever, and you get like, you see people getting no drugs left behind, which is all fine, all different things like—and it’s about, like, um, society making you feel as if you have to do something like that. And then the second verse is by me, and that’s more about the state of the world, and it’s saying, you know, we’ve got not to believe in these sellers paying in gasoline, blah blah, drugs; it’s like they’re just—yeah, the way I just fuck basically. So it’s about the whole two different matters but the same thing kind of. I think that was definitely one of my favourite songs.

Ruby: So how did you all sort of end up meeting?

Do you know what, it’s mad because in lockdown, me and Lenny, we were writing songs over Skype or whatever the hell it’s called. So we were writing songs back and forth. I always said to him, “Lenny, we need to meet. Since back then, we need to make something together.” Because I just love Harry’s guitar sounds. And he was just like, “Yeah, yeah.” He’s always just too chill, isn’t he? So years later, I met this producer and he was like, “Come fly to Vienna, come record.” So I hit the end of it and I’m like, “Bro, I’m dead serious, right?” I was like, “Just get on this flight now. Come to Vienna.” And he was like—his voice is like, “Talks like that”—and he was like, “Fucking come on, yeah lad!” and all that, and he jumped on the flight. Jay’s my brother. And then with Harry, this is a crazy one. I know Harry because he interviewed me and James when we was in Generation and he was doing drum covers of our tunes. Joe and I, we just became like really good friends, so.

Dizzy: So you can be in the next band?

Yeah! And I’m in it, just like another year and just like, “By the way, do you want to come play bass?”

Ruby: I’ll have to be the Bez of the band.

You’re in it, yeah, just some maracas or something. I’ll tell you what, I’m throwing a party; it was just a last-minute thing. Go to the studio, see who’s wanna come, come down.

Dizzy: And I can put that in the interview so everyone can come out, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ruby: It’ll be like a Skins party. So how did you get to know the producer?

That was through… I have a friend called Evin; you might have seen him? Evin, yeah. So he’s a really cool guy from Ireland. So we all went to his family—his family had this like, I don’t know whether to call it a manor house or whatever, but it’s like this historical house anyway; it’s really nice. And his mum’s a musician, so anyway, he threw a right retreat there. So all musicians all over the world flew in; we all got home. And then I met this producer Simon there. We get talking and he’s like, “Broke in Vienna, just comes through.” By the way, Simon is one of the nicest guys ever. He’s going to be down in October. I don’t know if he’s ever done interviews with producers. He’s like a massive producer in Vienna. So if you want to ask any of his teachers, come and do an interview with him. He’s flying all this stuff over. And he’s doing a really interesting thing here: he’s using my studio, flying his stuff, and he’s asked us to curate some arts for him, so he’s just doing it for free just to see what the stuff is about; he’s just making some music. But yeah, that’s how I met him anyway, through Evin. Shout out to Evin (@evinevinevinevinevin). Come and do me make up as well, bro. Yeah, honestly, he will one time. I need to get him down. We’ll literally just get him down to do all our make up. That’s what we’ll do.

Ruby: What are your recommendations for Vienna if you want to go out?

I’ll tell you right now, this is the best part of Vienna. I don’t care what any Viennese says. Is that what they’re call Viennese? Let’s just say they’re Viennese. It’s called Bukowskis, yeah. It’s named after the dude who wrote the books, whatever. But it’s called Bukowskis. Literally, it’s such a vibe. So, she’s played the game; it’s called Shithead. Do you know how to play it? It’s a card game. Everyone carries a fucking deck of cards. We didn’t know this, and we’ve been a few times. So, we’re chilling. And there’s like these girls playing it, and me and the drummer like, “Hey, they playing Shithead.” I was like, “Harry, I’m too shy.” I was like, “Ask them if you can join them.” And then we ended up becoming like dead good mates with these two girls, just genuine mates, and like every night we’d all just meet up playing Shithead. It was just wow. Yeah, go to the Kowski’s; it’s so sick.

Ruby: I will remember that next time I’m in Vienna. I’m now going to ask a very basic question, but if you could collaborate with anyone, who would you collaborate with?

Do you know what, I love this question because it changes all the time. I’ll answer it this way, but I’m curious if you have ever had it—in whatever field you do—where there’s a time when you’re like, you strongly feel you want to collaborate with a person. But then as the years go on, you look back and you’re like, “Actually, maybe not,” but then there’s another person. I’ve had that look. Right now, probably—um, you know what, I’m actually doing my dream collab, to be honest. It’s with mokk.me (@mokk.me). They’re flying out in October, so um, they’re doing a song, and then we’re going to do a tune together, so that. My dream one is mokk.me right now, and that’s happening, so yeah.

Ruby: What can we expect from the collaboration?

You can expect—so you’ve seen them live, haven’t you? So imagine it’s going to be a mix of mokk.me and Die Tonight. So it’s going to be—expect sub-light energy, sexy vibes, major harmonies between me and her. I mean, that’s the plus side. You know, you’ve got a female vocal and a male, so we’re going to harmonise and forth. And just loads of crazy changes and stuff like that. It’s just going to be chaos. Sexy chaos; that’s what it’s going to be. Sexy chaos. Yeah, sexy chaos.

Ruby: Sexy chaos is always the best. I’m also gonna do a little bit about fashion as well because I’m a fashion graduate.

Yeah, yeah, go for it.

Ruby: So, because you’ve come up on my feed a lot with advertising for Phix while I’ve been doomscrolling.

I’m watching you all the time.

Ruby: If you could collaborate with any designer, who would it be?

Do you know what? So with this one—so do you like Rick Owens?

Ruby: Yeah, I love Rick Owens.

There’s so many people. With me, I love fashion—same as you; I got, all of us can see it, we’re all into fashion. By the way, I love your outfit; it’s a vibe.

Dizzy: It’s my Penny Lane coat.

I’m just… it’s a vibe; the whole style’s a vibe. I love fashion, but there’s so many people I meet with—they’re like, erm… They’ll walk into a room and they’re like this. See the way they’re wearing, head to toe Rick. And again, like, yeah, you know, Rick—I like Rick Owens, but when it’s just head to toe Rick, it’s like they’re all just copying pictures. They’re all like nonchalant like this (demonstrates being nonchalant). When you go to London, you go to these things and they’re all just like… And you go, “Yo, what’s happening, bro? You good?” And they’re just like… And you’re just like, “Oh, okay.” So basically anyone that acts too nonchalant, if you’re listening to this, it’s actually not nonchalant to try and be nonchalant. I just want to get that out there because honestly, the amount of times I’ve been in rooms where people like… You just think, “Why am I even trying?” You know what I mean? Like, it’s so boring. But sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent. So Rick Owens—and I know the exact ideas I do, because I was actually having this conversation with the other guy who owns Phix; he’s one of my friends—and I was actually having this convo with him. Rick Owens is on my radar, that I wanna do a collaboration, and I’ve got everything that I wanna do with him. So Rick, if you’re reading this, bro, hit me up. But get on this—I swear to God, it’s mad that you asked me this question. Say, for example, someone’s just in uni, do they ever give you any contact and say, “Right, we like what you do, we’ll put you in touch?” Sometimes, yeah.

Ruby: They’ll put you forward for internships and stuff.

Oh really? Would you never do that?

Ruby: No, I discovered I absolutely hated the fashion industry, like the whole thing—like what you were talking about with the overconsumption. It’s like the fashion industry is just built on that.

Yeah, it is. It’s so fast-paced. All the creative industry is similar, isn’t it? Like, you know, it’s so fucking superficial. I feel dead bad sometimes when you’re doing a shoot, and then you see the assistants are so amazing, and then they get treated like shit, but then they’re trying their best to be… You can see inside the hating; they’re trying to be positive, and I just want to give them a hug and be like, “Fuck, you’re worth more than this.” Do you know what I mean? Honestly, it makes me feel dead sad when I see that shit on a set, and like, fuck all you horrible people. But yeah, sorry, I always get on tangents with that, because I just think, like, people just get fucked over so much.

Ruby: I just continually got jumped, stared by you with those adverts.

To be honest, I get fucking scared of myself. There’s a hair on that wavy one, knife and all, and I look proper ugly on it. And I’m like, looking back with curly hair in it, and I’m like, “Fuck off.” You know, this is it; look how mad. So I said to him, “I’ve had the idea for Rick, whatever. Gonna get the samples made and shit.” But it’s just crazy how you mention that. And I had that convo literally that night. That’d be the one that I’d collab with—Rick Owens, again. Hit me up, bro. I’ve got some fire ideas. I’ve got all the ideas there. I’ll send them over. You can’t see what we all look like, but us three look like we could be off The Lost Boys, okay? In the best way, we’re all sexy people.

Ruby: With the band as well, it’s obvious you’re all into fashion. How would you describe your identity as a band?

I’d describe the identity as—with this, I’d say it’s quite a sexy, raw, good stroppy. Because Lenny—I love Lenny’s style; he just rocks up in his leather trucker jacket, his jeans, and it looks simple, but he’s very specific, Lenny. It has to sit on his leg a certain way; it has to fit his body. But I love that. I like the way it’s a simple fit but it looks great on Lenny. With James, he rocks up in his suit; I would take it like a fitted suit. Harry just loves having his top off; he likes having his top off. Then for me, I just walk up in some of those rise pants and then I’ll be topless.

Ruby: With platform shoes to kick people in the head.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Do you know what’s crazy? I haven’t worn platform shoes for a while, you know. I’ve just been wearing like these—these are Phix. I’ve just been wearing these, which nowadays—got to tell you—they are nice. Yeah, they are, aren’t they? You can actually get these online, I think; they’re like, I think like 500 pounds, but they are good quality, made in Spain. And these ones are one of one because they’re the sample Rolling Stones ones. So on the back it says the Rolling Stones there, but all the other pairs don’t have that; they just have the metal can. Shout out to Adam Legend.

Ruby: So, shall I do an announcement about the Music Tourist Board?

I’m taking over a thing that the Zine are doing called the Music Tourist Board.

Dizzy: It’s basically creating something within the grassroots for musicians and stuff, and it’s to build bridges. It’s a kind of like a TripAdvisor for musicians, so which venues they’re promoted to avoid, which venues they’re promoted to good. To help our bands up and coming to know, to get ripped off what they did when they were ripped off. The Zine for about 10 years has been being Caffy St. Luce. She’s the brains of the outfit with whatever we are. But because it was just me and Caffy, we’ve got Ruby here.

Ruby: I feel like, has such a block on bands in the north, especially with grassroots bands—they all just go to Manchester, but they don’t go anywhere else in the North. I sort of want to build a network within Liverpool, Huddersfield, Blackpool, Chester, etc., so we can have something that actually thrives and has its own ecosystem.

100%, I agree with you, Ruby; that would be amazing. Honestly, that’s so wild that you say that, because it’s so true. Even for example Liverpool—this is a conversation that you probably have heard yourselves, but I have this all the time—I think that the music industry is dying from the inside out because the promoters who are putting the gigs on, it’s just a job for them; there’s no passion, there’s no anything. And around here they probably disagree with that, and there’s loads of people that are like, “Nah, nah,” but it is; it’s dying from the inside out. There’s no passion, there’s nothing, because I know that from living it. If they try and say to me, “What are you talking about?” I’m like, “Well, it’s just a job for you.” Same with BBC Radio Introducing—I’m going to be honest. All of them, they just play the same band, same artist, same whatever. Nothing progresses. Yeah, they bring a new song out; they get to play it. But you get bands like us, for example, who we actually have such a big vision. And this isn’t me shitting on any bands, because everyone’s amazing. What I mean is when you don’t get given… It’s kind of like… The more you want to be massive and the more you want to be big—and we’re nice people—the more they want to put you down, and they’re like, “That’s too different; we’re not gonna take a chance.” None of us DJs want to be the first one to take a chance and go, “Do you know what? People might think, ‘Why the fuck is he playing them?’ But I’ll give it a chance.” Do you know what I’m saying? It’s just the same indie band, same this, same that. And it’s like, give some chance to other—not just us; I mean other bands—a bit more different, a bit more commercial where they could go massive, get sound. That’s just my belief in us. I think we work really hard; we’ve got good stage presence, good tunes. Give us a chance, do you know what I mean?

Dizzy: That’s the point of why we’re doing it, and also to build a network where the music—commercial music industry—is for a very select certain class of people. So we’ve got no choice but to help each other out. Which is the idea behind the Music Tourist Board: having bands say this promoter’s good, that promoter’s not, this venue’s good. And also to develop gig shares. So it’s like, I’m playing this gig, I need support; you’re playing this gig, you need support; let’s swap. And that’s really what I think the only way we’re going to save the indie scene is to actually work together and be collaborative, and that’s kind of what we’re shoving over Ruby’s shoulders now.

After a long (and very neurodivergent) tangent involving Jimmy Savile (and him eating babies), and an unusual amount of songs that revolve around him—Craic Killers doing a lot of good for Ireland and the Gaeilge language—we land back where we started, about collaboration and the behind the scenes of the industry.

If there’s any booking agents out there that read this, that’s the thing we need is a good booking agent. With us, we just need to get put in front of the right crowd so we can deliver. Just put us in front of a crowd, and that’s it. I can’t think of any promoters because honestly, a lot of them are just… They all just need to basically not see it as just a job; they need to put some fire in there. You just all need to put fire into the scene, feel that fire in your belly, or get the job to someone else. Because, yeah, you have to pay your bills; yeah, it’s tough out there, but listen, it’s even tougher for musicians. So, with you guys—or girls, whatever—being the sole link to bands getting gigs, I put some fucking effort in. Like, why are bands having to go out with grind even ten times harder? Like, my mum’s not even in the industry, and over the years, she goes to me, “They don’t promote the gig.” And if my mum’s seeing that—she’s just like the most like chill normal person you’ve ever seen, like, she’s going about day to day, and she sees it—she’s like, “Dean, what the fuck? The industry’s messed up.” And it just is. When you go to Europe, you just notice yourselves—you get treated like royalty over there. Whether you have one follower at 10 million, they treat you amazing; they get like whole cases. I’ll be finished, then one’ll be like, “We’ll get you some more beers.” Like, that’s what. In the UK, disrespects artists and treat us like shit, but we bring billions every year, so make it make sense, so I’m saying. And I mean, it’s ridiculous.

Dizzy: You’re saying with Europe they’re like, “What do you need? We know what we need,” but here, pay to play is making a comeback; it’s terrifying.

And even like one warm fucking beer. They’re like, “What, you want a warm beer? Can of Fosters?” Nah.

Dizzy: You don’t get a rider any more. I was about to book an Irish tour for the band I manage. And everywhere was the deposit. Like, we can’t. We have no fucking money. Literally, like, that’s why you’re trying to get it. We can deposit for the group. In fact, we don’t have. We’re here to make money.

Honestly, it’s crazy how it’s all about money. Honestly, to be fair, I just thought of actually amazing, amazing, amazing team and promoters, which genuinely I think they’re gonna make a massive, massive impact on the scene. It’s just the brand Wolfies Whisky (@wolfieswhisky). He’s on to the team there—shout out Kelly and everyone. They are actually so amazing; they’re just genuinely about the music. Hard Kelly’s even got a radio show; it’s called Booglaloo Radio (@booglalooradio). And honestly, she’s amazing.

You’re a native Scouser and I’m a transplant, so with talking about Liverpool, do you think there’s a huge difference between the Liverpool scene and the London one?

100%. In London, you could go like… Because when I lived here, every night there was something like this; there’s always a gig on, there’s always a party, you can always go to a pub and you can speak to a band or a musician, start networking or whatever. In Liverpool… In Liverpool it’s so cliquey, and it just is. I’m over not voicing how I feel about it because no one does anything for you anyway, so I may as well say tell the truth. The scene is so cliquey. Like, you’re walking to a place, everyone knows who each other is; you go up, “Hi, like, how are you?” and they just like look at you as if you’re just absolutely weirdo. Nobody knows what collaboration is any more. Everyone’s so, “I’m going to just be on my own; I’m going to play every single instrument.” It’s just become such an isolated world. That’s fine doing it all on your own, but I feel like people have forgotten what music’s about: fucking collaboration. People always go to me, “Dean, I can’t play guitar—amazing.” And I say, “I don’t want to. My point is, singing, being a fun man, writing the lyrics, writing the melodies—I want someone else to come in and do that.” So I just don’t understand how the scene has become so clique and so shit. There’s just no scene. There’s no scene. That’s my point on it: Liverpool, do better.

Dizzy: That’s exactly where you were going to come in.

It’s culturally isolated, Liverpool. No bands come here; barely any bands leave here.

Literally, it’s true.

Dizzy: And it makes no sense; it’s the home of the Beatles and they’re home to Echo and the Bunnymen.

I think the Beatles may have done more damage in the long run, to Liverpool scene because like everything’s just based around them.

A small conversation about the music scene in Sheffield (pre-COVID) starts and how they have celebrated their musical history, and how COVID has put the industry on its knees across the country and how the effects are still being felt.

It’s crazy, isn’t it? It is mad everything shut down. Each year the government, they come up with a reason why to take more money away from the arts. I feel like—this might sound freaky, maybe, I don’t know—but I just find everything’s just, it’s been put in the wrong hands on every level. Like even say a community music project, right? Let’s say they get a grant of, let’s say, 100K to pump into it. I just feel like it always gets put into the wrong hands in the sense they make it feel untouchable, unapproachable. They’re like, “Right, so there’s no community that’s like, okay, no matter who you are, come into this room. It’s not about where you’re coming from; it’s about your skill, your love for passion, whatever, and just come and pull out.” So you get a lot of community things, and the people that run it—they have the best intention, but the way they run it, it gives the government an easy excuse to say, “Well, what’s happening there? Bin it,” because there’s no actual progress. They could build it up better all the time, and the way to do that is become a solid community. Don’t just be so fucking stubborn to be like, “Well, fuck that person, they don’t get my show.” Go be like, “Okay, we’ve got this; let’s see and collab; let’s put our minds together.” Whether you’re from a rich background, a middle class, poor—let’s all just come together. And just build it from something underground up to the point it doesn’t matter, and you don’t have to think, okay. But you get to the point where you’re going to be like, “This is too powerful for the government to shut us down,” because everyone’s going to come together and be like, “Fuck you, you ain’t taking this away from us.”

Dizzy: That’s exactly what the vision of Music Tourist Board is, because we can’t rely on the government; we’ve got to rely on ourselves.

This is kind of a venue shout out, but I feel like Future Yard (@future_yard) in Birkenhead are doing really good stuff.

I haven’t been there yet, but it does; they’ve done like the crates and stuff like that.

They do a lot for the community in terms of collaborating with local charities and the grassroots industry, including a festival in Birkenhead with smaller local bands playing various venues. They also put the work in with promoting their gigs, and it’s shown when a band plays Liverpool to an almost empty room vs. a crowded room there which is double the capacity.

That’s amazing though, but that’s it, isn’t it? When you get a good promoter, it’s amazing, because if they’re treating you well and you see they’re putting work in, you want to automatically, organically—obviously bands do anyway—but you want to put even more grind in to do well for them, because you’re on that same journey. This to do as well as each other; let’s make it fire. Well, honestly, I just can’t see it happen anytime soon with local promoters. And honestly, the amount of times I’ve sat there—which I’m so happy that yous are gonna make a change; I just know yous are—and it’s mad, the amount of times I’ve sat there fucking just thinking like, “What can I do to make the change?” I don’t know; I was like, “Should I make a TikTok channel to fucking like talk about it and try and get people?” You know, I just didn’t know what to do, but it’s nice to hear that you’ve got got it in the reins.

Ruby: Well, you say that; it’s more like we’re trying to tame it at the moment.

It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?

Dizzy: I mean, it’s insane. Promoters now will be the first ones to not pay you because you’ve not promoted enough.

Literally, it’s like, yeah, like what the hell. And they go, “I paid for this.” It’s like, “Oh yeah, that’s cool, you paid for like the venue, whatever, but it should be in their best interest to like promote the gig; it’s exciting.”

Ruby: When I was in contact with the Future Yard and in contact with Caff, they were saying that we’ve got our own in-house PR, so we can do that, but we can also work with you as well.

So yeah, it is that sort of essence of collaboration.

Future Yard during the time of this interview are in the process of building a 600 capacity venue and have been fundraising money through a series of shows. Birkenhead has also been shortlisted for UK’s Town of Culture, which if they win could receive £3million towards regeneration. Birkenhead is the only town in the North West to have been shortlisted.

Ruby: I feel like venues in Liverpool are doing some good because they’re getting bands and fans from outside Liverpool. But I think again, they’re resting on the laurels of the Beatles.

Honestly, I do know what you mean about that. If you ask someone, “Liverpool,” wherever you go in the world, or the Beatles—which that’s an amazing thing that they brought; it’s important. But I do know what you mean. People aren’t looking for anything else other than the Beatles.

Ruby: They could do so much with Mathew Street.

100%, because that’s where everyone goes, isn’t it? Yeah. The Cavern and that, and it’s so true. Yous get this—me and my brothers all say it—when you walk past a pub and you hear the acoustic guitar and like, do you know like the thump and guitar, it makes you want to go to sleep. Do you know, like, when it’s the acoustic playing and it’s just like, fair play, but it’s like, oh, like, do something. I don’t know; there’s nowhere to go where every week—I imagine there was a place every Friday where all of us could go, “Hey, let’s meet.” Let’s just think of a name off the top of my head; like, let’s just call it the Fire Exit. Imagine, like, 8:00, “Let’s meet the Fire Exit at 8:00 p.m. tonight.” Yeah, like, there’s something like new bands on tonight; let’s go and check them out. There’s nothing like that any more. I’ve never thought about that—the fact that, what the fuck, why aren’t they getting some sick bands on? Look, like, this band is sick; get some OG bands on.

Ruby: Also, as well, I even think Teddy’s would be a great music venue. I’m not sure how well they would be able to sort of deal with it, but like the downstairs would be so great because you could—where it’s split as well—you could like, I want to listen to the band but I don’t want to be involved.

I know. Right, Teddy’s, if you’re reading this, you need to get a live music license. Can you imagine that though, being like, “Let’s go and watch this band of Teddy’s”? That would be sick. And then your party after.

I’ve never had a normal night in Teddy’s, like, add that to the mix.

Honestly, that would actually be amazing, because Teddy’s is always the place in it you go when everywhere else is like black, and you go, “Teddy’s one, yeah?” And you just, you know it’s going to be a 6am y’all.

Ruby: I feel like Teddy’s is Liverpool’s version of the Dublin Castle. Yeah, 100%. I remember seeing graffiti in the Dublin Castle going, “Dublin Castle is the last resort.”

Yeah. It is true that though, innit? I’ve never had a normal night in the Dublin Castle either. Same here; it’s a crazy place for the vibe, innit? Yeah.

Dizzy: Shall we wrap it up? I mean, you’ve been talking for an hour. Any last bits that we need to… Do you have anything coming up that you want to really promote?

Yeah, the remix of Shrine Song. Wait till you hear it. It’s like—imagine the scene off Blade where the vampires are raving. It’s that times 100. So there’s going to be a music video. I’m going down London in two weeks, and we’re going to shoot it. So yeah, keep an eye out for that. That’s all you’ve got to say. Tune. And the finish comes on. I love it. That was good timing.

Remix of Shrine Song out now