Tuesday, 9 December 2025

New Spoken Label Podcast - Zoe Mitchell

 












Latest up from Spoken Label (Spoken Word / Poetry Podcast) features Zoe Mitchell.

Zoe Mitchell is a widely-published poet whose work has been featured in a number of magazines including The Rialto, The London Magazine and The Moth. She graduated from the University of Chichester with an MA in Creative Writing and was awarded a Distinction and the Kate Betts Memorial Prize. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, examining witches in women’s poetry. In 2018, she was joint winner of the Indigo-First Collection Competition and her first collection, Hag, is published by Indigo Dreams Publishing. 

Her second collection 'Untold  Fortunes' which the Podcast primarily discusses, is published by Animal Heart Press and is described as "Women have long been connected to mythology and witchcraft, often as cautionary tales. Untold Fortunes explores the experiences of women of the past, both mythological and real, giving voice to many who were so often silenced. In histor,y both ancient and modern, these poems tug women from the footnotes. Some are heroines, some monsters...or are they products of the circumstances society forced on them? And how do these echoes shape womanhood even now? In this powerful collection, poet Zoe Mitchell examines what it means to be a woman in the world, through lenses of past, present, and future."

*

https://youtu.be/YifuFLXgqR0 (Chat)

https://youtu.be/AMruO_Kr-4s (Reading)

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/zoe-mitchell-spoken-label-december-2025/id1501847969?i=1000739573374

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Zoe-Mitchell-Spoken-Label--December-2025-e3anu3n

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/00e71aaf-fe76-42d1-9642-9c495d21a736/spoken-label-zoe-mitchell-spoken-label-december-2025

https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Zoe-Mitchell-Spoken-Label-December-2025/B0G4XRL6XK?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=5240ZP5VAVQ5DB6XRN2Y&plink=rQybWXsSkzdrTP6z&pageLoadId=lH3Vb3jgJAlnUE45&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_1

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4aCuYMlKiGDxduGDllc59K







New Ocean in a Bottle and Distance tracks out on comp

 











New tracks by my ambient band ‘Ocean in a Bottle’ and drone band ‘Distance’ have appeared on the new various artists album on Silber Records.

This has been described as “Our feedback oriented compilation Almost Always Considered Undesirable. Guitar walls, no input mixing, straight up noise, delicate ambience, it’s all here.

I first conceived this compilation in the early days of Silber, but never quite gained enough traction to make it come together. If it had come out in 1999 it would have been a noise guitar fest, what we have instead I think is much more interesting. Not only do we have guitar gods thundering, we also have delicate pieces of audio engineering & sound manipulation that were nearly impossible all those years ago.

Listen up & experience sonic explorations that make you feel the wonder of a youth again.”

Free download

(Also features Alan Sparrowhawk and Robert Poss among other things)




Friday, 5 December 2025

Ward - Blind Dirt / Green Light released today


 










A new EP for #bandcampfriday from my new band 'Ward' featuring myself and Courtney Ward is out today. “Green Light / Blind Dirt” is a fierce double A‑side that captures two distinct but complementary bursts of energy. “Green Light” surges forward with restless momentum, guitars and vocals colliding in a breathless rush that embodies urgency and release. “Blind Dirt” the other track in the single digs into grit and chaos, its jagged edges and uncompromising tone delivering catharsis through confrontation. Together with additional mixes (Dub Mix and Spoken Word version), they form a statement of intent: raw, bold, and impossible to ignore. This EP doesn’t just showcase range - it announces a range, a vision, raw yet purposeful, and brimming with defiance. Pay what you want download from https://oceaninabottle.bandcamp.com/album/ward-blind-dirt-green-light-ep

But we would prefer all monies to go direct to:

https://www.facebook.com/sandscharity

Speak Easy - thank you's for December 2025 and how to book for February 2026

 












Thanks to everyone who attended Speak Easy last night.

A great way to take us out this year, with around 45 or so people there and 19 readers.

Want to thank the following for reading:

1. Thomas Marsden

2. Joe West

3. Alison Knowles

4. Michael Hulley II (Volodya Gorky)

5. Lee McShane

6. Amanda Nicholson - Author

7. Roy Page

8. Andy N

9. Gordon Zola

10. Andy Cash

11. David Bond

12. Joe Gill

13. Martin Elder

14. Lynn Walton

15. Joe Tetley

16. Robert Sideshow

17. Martin CM (Martin Corlettmoss)

18. Lindy Newns

19. Grant Curnow

Also a thank you to among other people in the audience, Courtney Ward for helping us have a great night as we had and also to Andy Cash for doing a great job hosting. Quality m8.

We are not meeting for Speak Easy in January and will be back on Thursday 05 February 2026 and bookings open this Sunday 07 December 2025 from 12 Noon by emailing me (Andy N) on aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk

Amanda has got lots of pictures of last night and will be uploading this all being well on Sunday.





Saturday, 29 November 2025

New Spoken Label Podcast - Rachel Hammond


 











Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist Podcast), features making her debut is the wonderful Rachel Hammond. Rachel Hammond is an actor-musician, writer and theatre maker based in Manchester. Rachel trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and since then has worked in theatre nationally and internationally, including: Climax: A Work in Progress (Close to Home), Underneath a Magical Moon (Tutti Frutti), Joy Unspeakable (Ordinary Glory), Firebird and Pulse (Bamboozle Theatre Company), Give it Back Mak! (Riding Lights), Twitchers and A Force to Be Reckoned With (Mikron Theatre Company), The True Adventures of Maid Marian and Robin Hood (Barn Theatre, Cirencester), A Christmas Carol (TNT Theatre), Swallows and Amazons (York Theatre Royal), Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Broadsides), Babe - The Sheep-Pig (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Macbeth (Wiltons Music Hall). Rachel loves making new work, and is passionate about telling the untold stories in our society. Writing credits include: Joshua (and Me) (The Pleasance Theatre & International tour), Rising Tides (Small Disasters Theatre Company), and Dear Lilian (Northern Broadsides Young Writers). * https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/rachel-hammond-spoken-label-november-2025/id1501847969?i=1000738592891 https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/spokenlabelpodcast/episodes/Rachel-Hammond-Spoken-Label--November-2025-e3anskj https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/bae49616-2295-4e7c-b931-91415a724cb6/episodes/98dcec08-d73f-4c8b-859b-371779c3d148/spoken-label-rachel-hammond-spoken-label-november-2025 https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Rachel-Hammond-Spoken-Label-November-2025/B0G45N8CHM?ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=a202f891-0d90-47a2-ac3f-8ebc4b2943db&pf_rd_r=B4AKCKAYEANEM8D26TRF&plink=kj41SpjJ8oFgL0Gt&pageLoadId=wuvFeS3s7oVY1jGB&creativeId=43463e8d-6f2b-4d01-a759-854a1034c4b8&ref=a_podcast_S_c4_lAsin_0_0 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4rBzfmllMv5MBfRrsdsw7F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSvz78_AP0k (Chat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4h7DA-oGyY (Reading)


Thursday, 27 November 2025

Speak Easy - December 2025


 











Enclosed below are the readers (Not the running order) for the next Speak Easy

(our spoken word open mic night) at Dulicmer, Chorlton on Thurs 04 December 2025.

Night should start around 7.30pm.

Cancellation list enquires to Andy N on aen1mpo@yahoo.co.uk


Andy N

Amanda

Lee McShane

Courtney Ward 

David Bond

Gordon Zola

Eve Nortley

Lynn Walton

Steph Cater

Alison Knowles

Martin CM

Michael Hulley

Joe Gill  

Andy Cash

Roy Page 

Grant Curnow

Joe Tetley 

Anne Delargy 

Martin Elder

Piper Cusmano 

Thomas Marsden

Lindy Newns

Natasha Morris 

Joe West 

Polly Anna