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Rosie Mead is a Music Sociologist finishing her PhD at the University of Exeter. You can find her on Instagram - @iamrosiemead I think it might be fair to say that if you’re reading this blog, you’re an active music listener. By this I mean that you listen to music probably on a daily basis, you have regular conversations around music, you might be a musician, music is a part of your life. But have you ever thought about how music affects your wellbeing? It’s something I hadn’t thought of until I was in the last year of my Music...

We have partnered up with AV Online to giveaway one of their brand-new and eye-catching wooden headphone stands (worth £49.99) to one of our lucky customers that orders a vinyl from our Wax and Beans online store until the 2nd December.  We are happy to support AV Online, a fellow Lancashire business and an online specialist in turntables, audio-equipment and Hi-Fi accessories from all of the leading brands. A new home for your headphones could soon be yours! We made this draw on the evening of December 16th. Thanks to everyone that placed an order and continues to support Wax and...

Road trips, no matter where, are a source of great enjoyment. When I say road trip, I don’t mean an hours drive looking for somewhere to have a picnic with the kids but a destination that includes certain stop off points for historical or culture significance.   Every year my best friend Rob and I take a trip to God’s own country, Yorkshire. Actually, as a 40 year old, is it acceptable to still refer to someone as a best friend? It’s fine as a kid but somehow, as an adult it doesn’t sit well. Either way, he’s a great friend. In fact, he’s more of a slightly older...

That might sound a bit drastic but as he was completing his sign-off to his listeners and introducing ‘A Forest’ by The Cure, which would be the closing song of Show 44, his mind started wandering…“Was that my favourite playlist so far?” He thought to himself. “Cos there were some absolute bangers in shows 42 and 43. And show 39 got to number 6 on the Mixcloud New Wave chart so that must’ve been half decent” Still very new to the DJ/Presenter role on Express FM he’d stumbled into back at the tail end of 2019, he was quite self-critical...

As live music announced its unfiltered return, I found myself scrolling through my camera roll and reliving some of the biggest and best artists I’ve had the pleasure of catching over the past decade or so, and subsequently reminiscing about the great times in the lead up and wind-down of the shows either side of the 4 hours spent inside venues ranging from social clubs to huge stadiums. When we break it down, much of the time spent surrounding a gig is not the gig itself. It is the initial buzz when you see that an artist you adore has...