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“The smaller the attendance the bigger the history. There were 12 people at the last supper. Half a dozen at Kitty Hawk. Archimedes was on his own in the bath”. Well Stamp The Wax the brain child of North London messers Josh Brill and Aaron Levitt has just hit 5000 views within the two weeks of going online, so maybe Tony Wilson was wrong after all. Not that these boys and their rag-tag team of students come writers claim to be making history, their mission simple “to maximise your new music experience by bringing it to you in many different forms”. Like others before them Stamp The Wax are trying to discover undiscovered artists and hidden talent which could have slipped under the radar altogether. What started out as a bedroom project is fast becoming a cultural bible for the modern music enthusiast.
I spoke to Josh Brill co-founder and contributor about what’s hot, the state of the UK music and his visions for the future of Stamp The Wax.
What makes Stamp The Wax that bit different to your average internet music blog? I think it's a string of many things. Firstly, we're collectively committed to quality new music. It seems obvious, but I think that's important to stress. Secondly, the whole team is made up of students that have a passion for music. We have writers, artists, musicians, photographers and film makers all contributing in their different ways. Clocking up over 6000 hits in such a short space of time, and being featured on the Reading and Leeds Festival website has added some real drive for us to get stuck in over the summer. Next year we'll be integrated within university societies, offering students a chance to get valuable experience within media, and so all our output will be serving two purposes. I think we're offering a platform where students can get creative with the music they love. If you look at something like The National Student it's whole function is so two-dimensional. It's actually impressive how they've managed to think so perfectly inside the box! No offence to them, but what a boring idea. There's endless amounts of potential there to do something so interesting and it seems like such a waste. Students pour out creativity left, right and centre and Stamp The Wax is there to chuck a canvas infront of it whenever we can.
Do you have a particular vision for the direction of Stamp The Wax?
Of course. The blog is more of a building block to something we hope will be much bigger. I'm currently working on our new website, which will move Stamp The Wax from a blog to a webzine - an important step in our company that will allow us to add more interactive and unique media for our readers to engage in. This will significantly aid us in creating an individual experience for each visitor on our website. There are a lot of specifics in terms of video interviews, live events etc etc, but we don't want to give much away at the moment. It's just important to note that we'll rest heavily on viral marketing and interactive experience, something that we can see becoming commonplace in the music industry.
What would you say is good about the UK Music Scene right now I think the UK music scene is the best it's ever been for at least a decade now. Everyone's doing their own thing, and doing it well. We're often catching America looking over our shoulder trying to catch some inspiration, which I think is a major credit to the state of the scene. I'm not sure why it's so colourful and vibrant at the moment. It could be something to do with the weather? I'm really not sure. I'd watch out for Michael Kiwanuka, Lucy Rose, Vondelpark and Alunageorge to lead the British music revolution.
Your blog seems to imply that London, Bristol and Brighton are where its at in terms of finding the best new music?
That's not strictly true. Aaron and I are from London, we grew up there, that music scene is our home. I'm studying Philosophy at Sussex and Aaron's studying History at Bristol. Just by coincidence however, I'd personally say that those 3 cities have the best outlet for the music that I listen to - which is mostly Electronic.
Want to see more? Check out "Stamp the Wax" now.
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