An abandoned warehouse in the heart of Sheffield has been converted into a space for exhibiting urban music by a company dedicated to promoting local talent.
Hope Works is the latest initiative by Sheffield company ‘Mixed in Sheffield’ to promote the city’s best in musical talent. The warehouse, that sits just off Effingham Road, has been transformed by MIS, with its once grey walls now full of commissioned local graffiti art. The room was filled with speakers, with multiple MIS DJ’s on the turntables throughout the night playing to the sell out crowd.
At the event, MIS founder and local DJ, Liam O’Shea, spoke in frank terms about how his company was born:
“I was in a bad place in my life. I felt low and isolated. I am an artist myself,and I was burned out and basically as I look back now, in a depressed state. I wanted to reach out and connect with people around me, and importantly do something of worth my time.”
“I had spent ages trying to be a success myself, but it had left me in pieces. I turned my attention to doing things for other people, and beyond that, doing things that actually mean something and are not ego driven....they are concept driven statements....like an art project that interacts with my environment...the people and the city I live in.I wanted to go beyond myself and find a new model for making music work in Sheffield....that idea was a community based, multidisciplinary, all encompassing approach to music events...Mixed In Sheffield.”
“It was inspired ultimately by my belief that we can go further as a bigger whole, that what Sheffield had lacked in my time here was cohesion and cooperation as an artistic and musical community. Tolerance and acceptance, as well as taking the time to appreciate other people's styles, to help each other more and celebrate each others work more, rather than constantly banging on about our own selfish ambitions.Thats not to discourage ambition at all! Just to temper it with the idea of balance.”
After these internal revelations, Mr O’Shea put his passion for music and knowledge of the local area together and set about putting his thoughts into action:
“I set out to chart the electronic landscape of the city. I've been here since 1991, first as a student at the university, then I stayed on. Ever since I came here I immersed myself into the Sheffield music scene. I began in bands but in about 93, I started playing electronic music in various places. I've amassed so many friends because I've always been interested in new forms of electronic music.”
“I began programming in the early 90's and set up my own studio which has grown into a sizeable studio which is now MIS HQ.The place I record and master records for Mixed In Sheffield and other projects.”
“So it began by me researching who does what and where. I already knew a lot of people but I went on a mission to find as many as I could.The result was a mix tape of 41 Sheffield artists from Oris J to Toddla T. I launched the project with a massive 3 room event at Yellow Arch Studios in early 2009 with a cross section of Sheffield's artists playing.lots of live bands as well as electronic artists . I set up a blog to support the project and I also made thousands of cd's with the mix on and gave them away....it was paid for by the event and also a bit of help I got from Creative Sheffield. They saw the value in the project,which was clearly from the outset a positive statement of strength through unity.”
Since then MIS has released tracks and remixes of some of the area’s biggest names, such as Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) and Toddla T. The success doesn’t stop there either. The company runs a project each year that makes a free album with artists from all over Sheffield collaborating on one release. The project has been so successful each time, that it’s now on it’s third year. Mr O’Shea explained:
“The 3rd album was olympic themed. Taking the number of disciplines in the London olympics, 39, as the theme. (there i got 39 of sheffield's best electronic producers to remix 39 of our best bands....with 39 separate pieces of cover art...each one by a different Sheffield creative.”
“I had 10 000 cd's made as samplers which i've given away...nearly...there are a few left going into Shops in Sheffield town center over Christmas...look out for one. The full albums are always available from the website for free. These albums are designed to be free and to publicise our artists here in Sheffield.”
Including national events, like the Olympics, shows a canny sense of business knowledge and clear understanding of how to use national interests to promote your local artists. Mr O’Shea’s background in the local area and his work as an artist means he can provide local talent with strong and useful promotion whilst his deep understanding of Sheffield musical culture means he can design nights like tonight, that speak to Sheffield’s music fans.
If you want to get more information about Hope Works or any other of MIS’s upcoming events, check out their blog atwww.mixedinsheffield.co.uk.
by Matthew Gee
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