Kevin’s not technically local but we’ve put on Tubelord, Cats & Cats & Cats and Blakfish at Joy this year, all of whom are on his label, Big Scary Monsters. I’ve also been to gigs by This Town Needs Guns and Pulled Apart By Horses, also on BSM. In short I love the label and asked Kevin for his highlights:

Recorded music highlights of 2008
My favourite albums of the year are probably ‘Alopecia’ by Why? and ‘Years’ by Secondsmile. I’ve also fallen seriously in love with a number of single tracks including, ‘Another Bag Of Bones’ by Kevin Devine, ‘Pulling Push Ups’ by Copy Haho and ‘I Am Azerrad’ by Tubelord. Sadly enough, 90% of the music I listen to each year is released by BSM, so I struggle to think of too much else!

Live music highlights of 2008
Much like my recorded music habits, everything tends to revolve around BSM! This Town Needs Guns, Pennines, Colour and Mimas at The London Barfly was an amazing gig back in September. It was well over sold out and had a really nice atmosphere.

What else did you enjoy this year?
This year I’ve enjoyed finding many new and exciting bands. I know a lot of people like to talk about how no new music excites them, or how British music is all boring, but personally I find that to be a little bit lazy, as I don’t seem to have turned a corner over the last 12 months without finding something new and enjoyable. I’d say that ’08 rates higher than many recent years for quality and bodes well for 09. Away from music I’ve enjoyed moving to a nicer house than my previous one, watching my beloved Reading FC start the climb back to the Premiership (the fact that they were also relegated this year matters not!) and discovering garlic bread. After 24 years of thinking I hated it, it was a pleasant surprise to realise I was wrong!

2008 was…
…the Chinese year of the pig.

2009 will be…
…the Chinese year of the ox.