Waxmouse, otherwise known as Dave Bain, is an extremely active and creative young man with many strings to his bow. A thoughtful DJ who really puts a lot of effort into his work, Dave has a real drive to seek out music that excites him and, as a result, his sets are diverse and interesting. His many years of record collecting have given him an innate skill in recognising music that is right on the cutting edge yet he also has a knack of spotting tunes that are timeless and will still sound great ten years from now. As well as being a DJ, Dave is a prolific artist whose work is highly sought after and when you see it you’ll know why. Here’s a little insight into the things that make him tick:

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Did you know that Bristol has one of the most prestigious, successful and well respected graduate theatre schools in the country, whose alumni regularly grace TV and film screens, theatre boards and radio plays nationally and internationally? It has been a bit of a standing joke in the school that the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is one of Bristol’s best kept secrets, despite garnering huge acclaim around the world. Thankfully, that is changing, and so it should. With graduates like Jeremy Irons, Pete Postlethwaite, Helen Baxendale, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gene Wilder and Sir Patrick Stewart, this home-grown Bristol establishment deserves to be held aloft as one of the jewels of this city.

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In each issue of Suit Yourself, Creative File goes behind-the-scenes to talk with Bristol creatives in their own working space. Zuleika Gregory is a seriously multi-talented woman working here in Bristol involved in aerial, theatre, performance and design. We caught up with her at her home workspace in Montpelier.

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The Bristol Drugs Project is an organisation offering support to anyone affected by addiction. Starting from a team of probation officers which now also includes ex-drug users, BDP uses its years of experience to battle physical, social and psychological harm related to substance abuse. We spoke to Maggie Telfer about her experiences working with the organisation.

What is your role in the organisation and how did you come across the job?
I’m the Chief Exec at Bristol Drugs Project and have been involved since the beginning – almost 25 years ago. In that time we’ve grown from a small organisation of 4 employees to that of around 100 staff with 70 volunteers today. We lived through the massive expansion of heroin use from 1992 and crack cocaine from 1999 and of course (par for any voluntary sector organisation) lots of funding crises over the years. However it has always been a fantastic, if challenging, place to work.
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Monday 22nd November 2010 @ Academy, Bristol

During the 90s, Skunk Anansie were one of the most controversial and provocative rock bands this country had ever seen. After a nine year hiatus, they were back last year with a greatest hits album and a sell out tour that heralded a roaring return. This year their new album, Wonderlustre, has bought them back to the audiences that sorely missed them and also cemented the band in the hearts of new fans of all ages.

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Beautiful people making beautiful music as effortlessly as cutting a slice of cheese; the folk lot are an achingly pleasant bunch aren’t they, all simple gorgeousness. Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling are right in front of the barge boat too, casually meandering on the folk river, probably on cycling swans. Sometimes they join together on a gondolier and make music like the stunning single, The Water, on Flynn’s latest album, Been Listening. Their impressive talent and wondrous audible merge of nature, voice and instrument is stunning.

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Thank you 2010. The music industry continues to flounder, the death of BBC 6Music, more cookie-cutter synth-pop and plumbing the all new depths of NOW 75. You may come to the conclusion that my outlook on new music for the decade is a rather negative one; this is thankfully not the case because of Teenage Rampage.

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Getting noticed as an electronic music outfit in Bristol is a thankless uphill struggle. Not because Bristol as a place makes it hard for aspiring producers you understand, quite the reverse in fact: Bristol has a long tradition of spearheading emerging genres and fostering the artists that define them, from the Wild Bunch to Massive Attack to Portishead, as well as Roni Size, DJ Die and Daddy Skitz, all giants in their field. The last few years have seen the rise of Dubstep, from Appleblim to the H.E.N.C.H crew and, well, you get the idea… The trouble is, with so many madly talented outfits knocking about, you have to be something really special to stand out.

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Roni Size kicked off this New Year with a tune most people had never heard before but one which every single person at The Greatest Show On Earth started whispering about immediately. The track, Where’s My Monkey?, was an instant hit and having been aired on Radio 1 subsequently, it’s pretty fair to say that DJ Parker, one of Bristol’s very favourite sons, has well and truly arrived!

Since launching his debut album, To Eternity, in 2008, Parker has been “the one to watch” on the national Nu Funk scene so it was only a matter of time until he reached the same level of critical acclaim as DJ Yoda, who we believe is a massive fan alongside Massive Attack who have also come out in support of our favourite DJ; not bad, eh?
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The Cube is a volunteer-run cinema and arts venue that has been a Bristol landmark for the last 10 years. A look through their eye-catching monthly programmes will have you spoilt for choice be it sublimely intimate gigs, showings of good recent releases, art-house cinema, re-runs of classic films, themed cinema marathons, community events, documentaries put on by Bristol Indymedia, or performances from the Cube Orchestra. Suit Yourself goes behind the scenes to discover who some of these volunteers are and what they love about The Cube…

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