Meet our writers

What would we be without our writers at FFS? An empty website, that’s what. So it’s high time we introduced them to you…

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“Hello, I’m Joe Downie, a Londoner for the past 10 years – a period of time spent mainly gorging myself silly on live and recorded music. Random gig highlights over that time include Arcade Fire in Brixton, LCD Soundsystem at Trash, and Emmy the Great pretty much anywhere. In these post-eclectic times, I’d still claim to be into a (relatively) wide selection of music – folky stuff, electro & disco, country, blues, post-punk… When not listening to music I’m probably at work, as a web monkey for an international development charity.”

Read Joe’s articles here

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Liane Escorza works in book production & design and as a freelance music journalist. When not typing away, she attends gigs and exhibitions in London, travels around the world trekking and enjoying festivals, experiments with photography, ‘attempts’ to play violin, cooks for friends or is seen scouring the thrift stores of Brooklyn.

Read Liane’s articles here

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“Hello, my name is John Fagan. I’m a twenty-six year old musician and a writer from Glasgow. I’ve been playing the piano since I was nine and writing music for around five years. I’ve written three books so far and I’m currently working on a new one. At the moment I’m doing a Master’s in Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University. I really enjoy listening to Damien Rice, Sigur Ros, William Fitzsimmons, Ben Harper, Mumford and Sons, Missy Higgins, Jose Gonzales, Tim Buckley, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Yiruma and Clem Snide.”

Read John’s articles here

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Lois Jeary is reluctant to admit that the profession of Lois Lane influenced her decision to become a journalist, but something deep inside her childhood self clicked one day whilst watching Teri Hatcher (disturbing stuff) and she hasn’t looked back since. However, rather than proper news, this Lois prefers music and theatre reviewing, while also trying her luck in television and reluctantly updating her blog, Terms of Endearment. Her musical quest is to recreate the tingly feeling she got when she first saw Rilo Kiley do ‘With Arms Outstretched’ – M. Ward and Joanna Newsom come closest. Sharing music with others is the single most erotic thing she knows, so don’t tell her you like what she recommended to you unless you really mean ‘I love you too’.

Read Lois’s articles here

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“Hi, I’m Robbie Hayward and I’m an English lit student at UCL. Along with books, music is my life. I play guitar, flute, piano, ukulele and whatever else I can afford/find. I am co-Head of Music at our student radio station, Rare FM, where I present a two-hour radio show each week. I’m a massive Owen Pallett fan, and also list Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, Sunset Rubdown, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Parenthetical Girls, The Magnetic Fields, Patrick Wolf, The Unicorns, Beirut, The Antlers and Buddy Holly among my favourite artists.”

Read Robbie’s articles here

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Mary Machin is a Northern girl with a penchant for tea, owls and big knits. She is currently studying at The University of Glasgow and spends her spare time drawing, reading and doing the occasional piece of work for her courses. Favourite artists of the moment include Yeasayer, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Mumford & Sons and Beach House. She also thinks that any music fan worth their salt should have read, or be planning to read, Nick Hornby’s “31 Songs”.

Read Mary’s articles here

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Kat Nicholls is a 23 year old freelance music journalist from Surrey. Currently *cough* unemployed *cough* her time is spent prepearing for her month in Thailand coming up, updating CVs and looking for internships in the fashion/music magazine industry. When she’s not doing this she listens to whatever music she can get her hands on (from folk to dub step), attends gigs, attempts to take fancy photos, orders Chinese food with her boyfriend, lusts over fashion magazine, drinks wine with friends… oh and occasionally writes in her blog.

Read Kat’s articles here

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Jack Phillips, a final year student of Music Journalism someplace in the Midlands, when not writing or blogging is probably sat with a coffee in hand believing every song needs to have an acoustic guitar in it somewhere. Brand New are the gospel and Bon Iver frequently fills in.

Read Jack’s articles here

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“Hello, my name’s Mike Rudge! In my spare time I enjoy reading comics, playing videogames and, of course, listening to the melodic tones of a variety of Indie/Folk bands. Some of my favourites include The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, The Unicorns, Slow Club and Two Gallants. KISS are also my guilty pleasure. I love live music and have been to Reading Festival for the past six or seven years aswell as a number of gigs in my hometown of Bristol. Some of the many amazing bands I’ve been lucky enough to see include Tilly & the Wall, Arcade Fire, The Shins, Jeffrey Lewis and Death Cab for Cutie. Anywho, that’s enough about me!”

Read Mike’s articles here

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Stephen Thomas is an Optimistic Realist, except when things aren’t going very well. His favourite music includes Elbow, She & Him, The Leisure Society, Sufjan Stevens, Sam Cooke, The Hold Steady, Stephen Fretwell and Girls Aloud – unless you’re pretty, in which case his favourite music is your favourite music. Stephen names all of his pets after former English prime ministers, but otherwise holds no real interest in politics. He is a serial lister, and has previously listed his Top 25 Disney Females, his Top 10 Albums from 1973 and his Top 20 Billy Joel songs. He frequently publishes his lists at www.wewritelists.com

Read Stephen’s articles here

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“Howdy, I’m Jonathan Wilson. I’m a Psychology student at UCL and even when I should be immersed in my dissertation and endless statistics I find myself in a constant search for new music, gig tickets I can’t afford and new instruments. I’m the Head of Music at the UCL radio station Rare FM alongside fellow FFS contributor Robbie Hayward, who also hosts a Radio Show with me each week. I also film acoustic sessions and run a reviews show for the station. Folksters I love include the late John Martyn and Nick Drake, who have to be two of the most talented songwriters ever to grace my eardrums. More recent obsessions include Woodpigeon, Owen Pallett and Okkervil River. It’s not all about folk though, I’m currently really excited about Gil Scott-Heron’s comeback and have an unhealthy fondness of all things alternative and Canadian.”

Read Jonathan’s articles here