Richard OBrien

By Hanzala Mojibi was it all toooffensive,that i existed? was it rudethat i stood still,silent,a night watch on the northern wall? is itrooted deep,a primal urge to...

By Dean Jolly Long shadows cast by seagulls on the quayUpon the walls of the old brick factory.Inside, a blackbird's eyes adjust to seeThrough a...

As a child, Nev Clay recalls seeing North Shields as a ‘mystical place.’ Every Saturday, his family would take a diesel train from Benton to visit his paternal grandmother in Chirton Green. He remembers holding his breath through the series of three tunnels between the town and Tynemouth, ‘coming up for air’ in a ‘different realm’ where they would watch Doctor Who, play word games like Lexicon and marvel at a vitrified rock in the garden. Like much of Nev’s work, this story seems to overlay the ordinary with a sense of wonder, or perhaps to discover the wonder that was always there. It’s a quality that’s well in evidence on So Little Happened For So Long, his first album since 2001, released last month, and its centrepiece, ‘Cuddy’s Cave.’