Dan's Mersey Blog • 30th April 2022

Catching up with the Coral on their 20-year anniversary tour

The Coral frontman James Skelly has said the band are creatively in “a really good place” on their 20th anniversary tour, following two years without live performances due to the pandemic.


Formed in the Wirral in 1996, their songs include: “Dreaming of you”, “In the morning”, “Jacqueline”, and “Rebecca you”. Their eponymous debut album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2002 and was voted fourth best album of the year by the NME.


“These times creatively do suit us, whereas I thi...

Mersey Music • 15th February 2024

Miles Kane’s time has come – Live Review

Miles Kane is back and his time is now. Daniel Zambartas covers the Wirralian’s latest stunning Manchester performance.


Read about Miles Kane and you’ll see he has worked closely with some of the best in the industry – Alex Turner, the Gallagher brothers, and The Coral, to name a few. 


While his popularity, perhaps unfairly, isn’t on the same scale as some of those artists, seeing him live makes you question why. 


The man from Birkenhead is confidence personified. The forthright stance...

MerseyVulture • 8th December 2022

A tribute to John Lennon

By Daniel Zambartas (Headline photo credit goes to Pixabay)


42 years ago today, Beatles founder, music icon and peace activist John Lennon was murdered outside his home in New York.


Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan called Mark Chapman, just a few hours after the rockstar from Liverpool had autographed his copy of Double Fantasy.


A new trend seems to be to hate on Lennon, especially amongst the younger demographic. He certainly had his flaws, as we all do- his were exacerbated by...

The Modern Age • 5th April 2024

Pixies Paradise In Amsterdam's Paradiso

Pixies played through their 1990-1991 albums Bossanova and Trompe le Monde back to back, from start to finish at a frantic pace- both stylistically and in the briefness of the breaks between songs. It took its toll on frontman Black Francis, who could have refilled the Amsterdam rivers if there was somehow a drought, with the amount of sweat that was pouring off his body.You can’t blame him, given the effort behind the intense vocals, whilst also playing often complex guitar pieces simultaneousl...

Importing...

The Mancunion • 7th December 2025

Live review: Bleach conquer their third-ever gig at Aatma - The Mancunion

A wonderful review of a gig played by my own band Bleach, written by Samuel Chamberlain for The Mancunion

Insider Media Ltd • 10th February 2026

ATC acquires two prominent music venues in Brighton - one of which hosted Amy Winehouse and White Stripes - Insider Media

Independent music company All Things Considered Group has acquired a majority interest in two prominent Brighton-based music venues as well as an associated festival amenities company.

ATC, through its subsidiary Joy Entertainment Group, has increased its ownership of Concorde 2 to 80 per cent and acquired full ownership of the amenities operations entity JTR Productions for a total cash consideration of approximately £2.49m. 

Separately, Joy has acquired 60 per cent of Brighton-based late-nig...

Mersey Music • 10th February 2026

Scousified punk rock – there’s a thirst for STONE

When the lead singer enters the stage topless and jumps into the crowd within the first three songs, you know you’re in for a treat.

When the lead singer enters the stage topless and jumps into the crowd within the first three songs, you know you’re in for a treat.

Mar 8, 2024

Miles Kane is back and his time is now. Daniel Zambartas covers the Wirralian’s latest Manchester stunning Manchester performance.

Miles Kane is back and his time is now. Daniel Zambartas covers the Wirralian’s latest...

The Modern Age • 19th December 2023

Inhaler: Gig Review

Inhaler are a gifted band. Both in recordings and when performing live they are truly talented. They’re not bad looking either, and being Irish doesn’t exactly take away from that. This is just me reflecting on what I saw from thousands of screaming girls around me, of course.We were lucky enough to see them in the city they were formed- Dublin. It was clear just how much the band were up for performing in their hometown where it all began, and that was reciprocated in the excitement from the cr...

Daniel Zambartas • 5th March 2024

Why is Taylor Swift coming to Anfield In June?

TV news report by Daniel Zambartas for MerseyNewsLive

Photo by Yunus Erdogdu on Pexels

MerseyVulture • 13th October 2022

“Liverpool is Ukraine!” Ukrainians in Merseyside thrilled at Eurovision announcement

By Daniel Zambartas


With the Russian invasion ongoing in Ukraine, it was announced that Liverpool will be hosting 2023’s edition of Eurovision on Ukraine’s behalf.


Merseyside has acted as somewhat of an asylum for Ukrainian refugees, and the news about the Eurovision song contest has been met with glee from the Ukrainian community.


Priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Liverpool and theology lecturer at Hope University Taras Khomych said that he was “struck by how much the Ukrain...

Dan's Mersey Blog • 24th October 2022

“A 60 year career out of 5 half decent songs” The most overrated bands and artists of all time

Funnily enough, as many songwriters use their dreams for inspiration, this idea came to me in my sleep.


It’s a weird thing to dream about, but I dreamt an idea where I asked everyone who they felt were the most overrated bands and artists in music history.


As soon as I woke up I asked the question on social media and got a collection of responses. For those interested, I’ll be putting my choice forward after everyone else’s comments!


So, let’s get started:


Drake


Drake and moder...

Mersey Music • 17th January 2024

The Vaccines storm Content – Live Review

The Vaccines were in town and Daniel Zambartas was among the 2,000 fans bouncing to their music at Content.


It seemed too good to be true; there were still £16 tickets available to see The Vaccines in Liverpool at Content, just two days before the gig on Saturday.


It wasn’t too good to be true; it was even better than expected.


Anticipating a live play-through of their new album Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations, the band from London did some of their strongest new releases, but mainly w...

Insider Media Ltd • 10th February 2026

Music education provider tunes up for growth with PE investment - Insider Media

Private equity firm Vespa Capital has invested in Rocksteady Music School, a provider of  music education services to primary schools and children.

Rocksteady, based in Hampshire, aims to transform music education for the next generation by delivering progressive lessons in a band-setting to tens of thousands of children across thousands of primary schools.

Vespa Capital and Rocksteady are partnering to support the roll-out of Rocksteady lessons across the UK and internationally, as well as de...

Mersey Music • 9th February 2024

New Music Friday – Keyside, Sleeping Together & more

Don’t miss out on any of the latest music from Merseyside! Here’s a list of some of the best new releases from Liverpool and beyond this week.


Published February 9, 2024.


A slower but intriguing new single from the distinctive sounding Keyside, reflecting on the sudden passing of time.


You can follow Keyside here.


Sleeping Together may have written their best song to date with this Strokes inspired number. The bouncy guitar playing and powerful vocals make for a great indie tune....

Insider Media Ltd • 10th February 2026

2025 Mercury Prize to be staged in Newcastle as event leaves London for first time - Insider Media

Newcastle has been unveiled as the new host city for the 2025 Mercury Prize, marking the first time the prestigious music awards will take place outside of London.

The shortlist for the 12 ‘Albums of the Year’ will be revealed on Wednesday 10 September, ahead of the main event at the Utilita Arena on Thursday 16 October.

The move is a collaboration between Newcastle City Council and the North East Combined Authority and Generator, with the support of the BPI. 

The Award Show will feature live...

The Modern Age • 16th June 2023

Arctic Monkeys Concert Review

It felt poetic that Alex Turner chose to open with ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’, as that was the Arctic Monkeys song that led to my discovery of the band. I loved the riff- those who have seen The Inbetweeners will remember that it’s played when a hopeless Simon Cooper passes his driving test only because the examiner fancies him.For a while Fluorescent Adolescent was my favourite song, but I then discovered I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Mardy Bum and 505, and the band from High Green quick...

Photo by Renan Braz on Pexels

MerseyVulture • 21st November 2022

Will Eurovision make your-o-banks go bust?

By Daisy Walker, Mollie Savage and Daniel Zambartas


Since the announcement of Liverpool winning the bid to host Eurovision 2023 on October 7th, there has been array of responses and reactions.


The 67th year of the competition is expected to bring economic growth to the city and help boost local businesses.


In the final stretch of the bid, the North-Western city beat Glasgow, which it initially announced it was a part of earlier this year- June 17th.


However, despite the elevation s...

The Modern Age • 2nd November 2023

Gig Review: Wunderhorse

The last gig review I did was on Arctic Monkeys back in June, which was a great concert, but this was also great for very different reasons. This one was in a much smaller and intimate venue. We had a great view of Wunderhorse lead singer Jacob Slater and his…divisive mullet. This was more emo, had a lot more energy to it, and in all honesty, the crowd was way more up for this than when I saw Arctic Monkeys.I criticised Alex Turner for not interacting with the crowd much, but somehow Slater mana...

The Modern Age • 20th December 2023

Gig Review: The Clause

The Clause played in a tiny venue in the Wirral but the band from Birmingham deserve to be playing in front of bigger crowds, and may well be on their way to doing so.I only had to listen to a few seconds of In My Element before agreeing to go to this gig. Yes, the lyrics could have been written by a 14-year-old after winning a tournament on FIFA, but it does help make what is one of the catchiest songs I have ever heard even more of an earworm. And musically it is actually very good; the riff i...