Sounds of an Eccentric

Grimbsy indie band MINT have launched a charity campaign in protest of the of Air Strikes in Syria.  After claiming that Hulk Hogan had tweeted about their latest single, the band announced that it was all an hoax . The group wanted to illustrate how easy it is to create Fake News and to coerce the public into believing a skewed message.  The band have since announced that they have created two 'Mintamania' t-shirts. All the profit made from the shirts will be donated to Save the children. I caught up with their front man Zak Rashid to find out more. Now you've caused a bit of a stir on social media recently. Talk us through the whole Hulk Hogan tweet scenario.  Basically, the idea stemmed   from us being so sick of seeing fake news. We assumed that if people saw it was a joke, its comical and harmless. And if they believed it then point proven. So we were scratching our head thinking how we could make it relevant and useful. Y

Soma Fest hits London venue The Cellar this Saturday - with performances from Sisteray, The Garage Flowers, The Barrats, Feral Family and many more, you'd be mad to miss it. The all day festival is ran by promotions company Modern Age Music, an organisation that goes above and beyond to showcase and nourish the UK's independent music scene. Doors are at 1pm and bands will be performing until 1am - so wear your sturdiest dancing shoes. Tickets are priced at £6.60, and with 15 bands performing, that means that you're only paying just over 40p per band you see. The festival coincides with Independent Record Store Day, meaning that you can really indulge in the best of what the independent music scene has to offer. When you support your local bands and stores, you give them the ability to flourish, injecting a sense of community and culture to your area. For the price of two pints (or maybe one - it is London afterall!) you can make a difference and have an &

Photos by Jack Herron I caught up with J Smirk ahead of his show at Newcastle's O2 Academy to chat about his slot at Hit the North Festival and his new exciting side project. It's been a while since you've been on the blog. Welcome back! You've not been making music for very long but you've already achieved so much! For the readers not familiar with you and your work - give them a whirlwind introduction. I'm J Smirk, I'm a Newcastle based hip-hop/rap/r'n'b artist. I started making music seriously about a year and a half ago and it's just flown over. I've already had the opportunity to work with so many amazing people. At the moment it's all abut pushing forward and experimenting. You've been selected to play Hit the North Festival. Although it's only in its second year, it has established an indie-centric sound. How do you feel about playing a the festival as an urban artist?  It's going to be interesting.

Happy Easter y'all. This week's additions to the SOAE playlist come from: Hello Operator , Velvela, Purple Thread, The Pale White and Avalanche Party. FOLLOW SOUNDS OF AN ECCENTRIC FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM