With over 500 live shows played, an ever growing legion of fans and a new album out, A Poetic Yesterday are making sure their music is heard loud and clear. Koko Magazine caught up with the Reddich-bred band to find out more about them and what they think about their latest record.

Can you give us a ‘who’s who’ of A Poetic Yesterday?

Dave: Me on drums, I give you the beats.

Ryan: Well I’m Ryan Stewart, bassist and backing vocals.

Gavin Stewart – Guitar / Main Vocal
Rich Marshall – Guitar / Backing Vocals

When did you first start playing together?

Dave: I started playing with Gav and Rich about 11 years ago, we met through skating. We shared music interests and really bonded and wanted to start playing music.

Ryan: I joined the band about 4/5 years ago once the old bassist left. I’ve been in bands since I was 16 though so I kinda had an idea of the commitment that’s needed to be made to make a band work.

How did the album come together?

Dave: The album has been in my opinion the writing, gigging and learning of the 11 years of playing music. I think after so long of playing music, once you find the right people it just flows. This to me is the right time, the right people and the music has just come about. We didn’t set out to write in any way particular way, the album kinda just wrote itself.

Ryan: Well we had been writing since our first album came out 3/4 years ago and slowly but surely got to grips with what we wanted once our old guitarist left and everything just fell into place really.

What’s your favourite track on the album? Why?

Dave: Now that’s a very hard question, mmmm can’t I just say I like each one in a different way? Ok I will choose my favourite at the moment. I can’t do it, it’s between Midnightmares, Frown Proud, William Bill Cooper, and Rise and Fall of a Hometown Hero, but then there is so many more! Sorry I like this album a lot and it’s strange to say that cause we wrote it but I am really proud of what we have here.

Ryan: Personally my fave track is ‘The Rise And Fall of a Hometown Hero‘ mainly because its a deep track with loads of meaning but I love all the tracks on the album. ‘Midnightmares‘ is another favourite of mine.

How would you describe your sound?

Ryan: Well someone once wrote that if Blink, Four Year Strong and Nirvana had a baby it would be APY so I kinda like that description.

Dave: A fruit smoothy of Nirvana, mixed with some fine Rage Against The Machine a twist of Four Years Strong and then a sprinkle of Blink 182 and a nice slice of lemon, lime and a big helping of tequila!

Has it developed with the new album? If so, how?

Dave: Do you mean from the last album? I think we have finally found our solid ground, it’s what we have been working towards all these years. To be honest everything has flowed so well, it’s amazing!

Ryan: Definitely developed but mainly due to how long its been since the last record and the changes the band have gone through whether it be life changes individually or our old guitarist leaving. Just many different aspects that come into play.

How did the idea for ‘The Movie: Director’s Cut’ video come around?

Dave: Well our wonderful label Banter and media company had the idea and we really really liked it, we all work together as a team and it works very well indeed.

Ryan: We all had our own little inputs but the basic idea came from the label.

You have played across the country at various gigs. What’s the best thing about touring?

Dave: Yes we have been playing hundreds of shows, I think it has to be well over 500 if not pushing the 600 mark now.

Ryan: The best thing about touring is meeting new people and seeing the different views and cultures. I also love travelling the countries with my band mates We have so much fun every night whether its Dave getting angry because he wants food or anything like that, tour is fun!

Dave: The best thing about playing music is meeting new people and sharing what you have created. It’s such a great feeling to just be on stage playing music, I feel so blessed to have such great friends.

You can see A Poetic Yesterday next on 17 December at the O2 Academy Birmingham.

Upcoming singer Dele has a released a new video for his track ‘Feel It.’ View it below.

The official video for Ikes’ new track ‘Tailormade’ is here.

Liverpudlian artist KOF is not an artist that wants to be confined to tightly specific labels, nor should he be. As a singer/songwriter and rapper, a listen to his music will tell you that his musical interests and inspirations are eclectic and overlapping. For KOF, music is not about keeping to strict genres – it’s about merging them to create a sound that makes you ‘feel something’. Read our interview below to find out more about his musical journey, Liverpool’s urban scene and whether he’s interested in more than just music.

How did you get into music?

I’ve always listened to music for as long as I can remember. My first memories where watching an ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ concert that my dad had on video. I used to watch it every morning. After a while I knew all the lyrics and all the movements they did on stage. I would just sing along to the whole thing. That’s probably the catalyst that started my infatuation.

You’ve described yourself as an inbetweener when it comes to your music.  What influences do you draw from?

I’m influenced by so much which is why I describe myself as such. The different styles of music I listen to kind of dictate my sound. I’m into RnB, hip-hop, neo-soul, dub step, dnb, house and more, so elements of each are visible within the music I create, just not always in an obvious way. I’m also inspired by creative’s, people who have unusual ways of working. A lot of the stuff I’ve learnt over the years in terms of producing, recording vocals and mixing has come from observing how other creative’s work in their field and seeing how I can adapt and add my own style in that to see where I can take it to. I think those type of influences help to evolve an artists. It’s all about trying to take it to the next level and trying to create something different with it.

Whether recording or listening, what makes a song stand out for you?

Catchy melodies is a the main thing but I love songs that create a mood as soon as you press play. The songs I tend to keep on repeat are songs that make me remember certain times in my life. One in particular that I always mention is ‘Butterfly’s’ by Alicia Keys. It reminds me of one of my earlier relationships and everytime I hear it, it’s like I go back to that time and I feel all the things that I felt then. It’s weird but when music can make you feel something, that’s the best kind.

How do you think the urban Liverpudlian music scene has developed in recent years?

It’s got better in terms of artists who are getting involved to try an help create a scene. I’ve been doin my thing in Liverpool for a few years now and the quality of artists and music that is coming out is at a level much better than before. I think to have a scene though there needs to be much more than just artists. We’ve got some talented video directors in the form of Mr Green and The Elaborators and a few more but we lack in terms of radio stations and media that are willing to support or push on a wider scale. Unlike most of the big cities, we have no pirate radio stations to help nurture some of the talent. The main stations in Liverpool don’t play upcoming urban artists from Liverpool. I get some support on some levels from the likes of Dave Monks at BBC Merseyside or Olabean & PL when they were at Juice FM but on the whole, there is no radio support for most of the artists in the city. It’s crazy to see that my song gets played on Radio 1 and added to the A-list on 1Xtra but still gets minimum to no support on the main stations in Liverpool.

Are there any other fields of entertainment you are interested in?

Yeah I’m interested in directing and  editing. I’ve directed or co-directed most of my videos. I’m especially proud of the video for ‘Looking At Me’, it took me a while to edit it but I’m proud of the end result so it was worth it. Doing videos takes up a lot of time so it’s something I need to do in moderation. My music is my main focus at the moment.

‘Looking At Me’ is out now on Itunes. You can follow KOF on Twitter @kofmusic

Camden Town’s very own Tribes have released the video for their single ‘When My Day Comes.’ They are currently touted as ‘ones to watch’ annd you can download a free track of their music music here

Allen Mask is back with the new video for his song ‘Right Now!’ featurinng Simtraks. The 70s retro video is directed by Andrew Zenn.

Photo Credit: Sebastian Kim

Bruno is back (well he never really left, did he?) with new single ‘It Will Rain’ which is the soundtrack to ‘Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1′. The song is out on 31 October 2011. Do you like?

LFrom LA, Needmore caught our attention with their stirring rock numbers.   Described as ‘Self made. No gimmicks’,  they’ve just announced the release of a free live album download.

Listen to their track ‘Lost My Way’ here:

You can find out more about Needmore on their website.