Dear readers — That Sheffield is a great music city is not in doubt. Which makes it all the more surprising that no one has ever written the definitive history of music in the city. Fortunately, that ends today with the publication of Groovy, Laidback and Nasty: A History of Independent Music in Sheffield by our regular contributor Daniel Dylan Wray. We’ve known about the book for quite a while, and have been really looking forward to Daniel writing something for us about it. In today’s piece, which is an absolute must read for all Sheffield music lovers, he writes about the process of writing the book, and why he felt it needed writing.
Groovy, Laidback and Nasty is available in all good bookshops (La Biblioteka at Leah’s Yard has a supply of signed copies if you’re interested), and there will be a special launch event at Crookes Social Club tonight featuring Daniel in conversation with broadcaster Elizabeth Alker, as well as DJs and bingo!
Cheese so good it’ll cause a riot
Hayley Rage, founder of Sheffield business Cheese Riot, has one central ethos: big flavour, good music, no rules and no snobbery. Hayley founded Cheese Riot to offer a one-of-a-kind service – perfectly paired cheeses and drinks.
Her expertly-paired boxes invite you to riot at home, at a party, at a picnic. The box’s theme changes monthly, with up to four cheeses, four drinks and snacks. There’s also stories from the maker and even a perfectly paired playlist. May’s edition, The Picnic Box, is designed for sunshine, grass, hikes, festivals and gardens. To learn more about their offering – from one-off-boxes to event catering – click below.
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🪧 Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has refused to be drawn on whether the party’s candidate for Woodhouse Nathaniel Menday will be allowed to serve as a Reform councillor is he wins in Thursday’s local elections. In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Tice defended the party’s selection of the Sheffield council candidate accused of praising the Nazis, saying “we’re all human”. He added that if elected, Nathaniel Menday would “be assessed” and “decisions will be made”, later accusing the Yorkshire Post of printing “pathetic misleading twaddle”, “sneering libellous nonsense” and “fake news” about the party in the run up to this year’s local elections.
🏡 We’ve been hearing that many more Sheffield households have been receiving letters about their leaseholds from two companies we covered last month. Tixerbon and Watt and Sorenson (who share a director, former Russian national Roman Khripko) have been sending out letters offering householders their freeholds for several thousand pounds, but then suggesting that if they don’t buy, their homes could be subjected to “internal inspections” to find out if they have broken the terms of their lease. Some householders have also found their properties listed on Rightmove without their knowledge and one even found a for sale sign in her front garden. As we found out in our piece last month, some householders have decided to purchase the freeholds from Tixerbon, while others have decided to sit tight and see what, if anything, the firms do. Leasehold reform has been promised by governments of different stripes for more than 20 years. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook last week said reform would not happen “overnight” and that abolition was “almost certainly impossible”.
🏛️ An exclusive private members’ club is to open in a Grade II-listed building in Sheffield city centre, reports the Star. The Mulberry Club will be located in the former Midland Bank at 35-37 George Street, opposite the Curzon Cinema. The building was occupied by the NSPCC until 2021 but has lain empty for the last five years. Permission for the change of use was granted in 2023. Construction workers are currently on site and the owners say they hope to open “this spring”.
Sheffield’s a world-leading music city. So why aren’t we shouting about it more?
By Daniel Dylan Wray
Being a big head in Sheffield is a mortal sin, we all know this. So much so that when The Tribune’s own Victoria Munro moved here a few years ago from London, she soon described the people of the city as possessing "near pathological humility”. Being humble is an admirable trait, but it has a knock-on effect and can result in a place and its people — and its incredible music scene — perhaps not getting the kind of focus and attention they merit.
But Sheffield’s music history merits the same global worship that a rather less pathologically humble city 30 miles to the west of us inspires via endless books, documentaries, podcasts, films and exhibitions. If you were to walk a straight-ish line from West Bar via West Street up to Glossop Road, a roughly ten-minute walk, you would encounter spaces – some still standing, others demolished – where The Human’s League’s Dare and Heaven 17’s Penthouse and Pavement came to life. Where Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio stood, a place where they made countless innovative records of their own, as well as the first ever recordings by New Order. Not to mention spaces and venues – from The Limit to Hallamshire Hotel – that housed early shows by everyone from Pulp to Def Leppard. Bono even split his leather trousers down the rear one night in the former.
But look for any heritage plaque outside such spaces, and you’ll be disappointed. That’s because the story of Sheffield music can often feel overlooked, under-celebrated and less well documented compared to other cities. There has been some excellent local documentation of the music scene – in particular the tireless work of the late great Martin Lilleker via his books, Not Like a Proper Job and Beats Working for a Living – but those titles were released on a small local publisher over 20 years ago, are hard to find, and only cover up to 1984.
For my forthcoming book, Groovy, Laidback & Nasty: A History of Independent Music in Sheffield, I wanted to write a more expansive history. And being lucky enough to work with a major publisher, with national and international distribution, I wanted to write something for a wider, broader, audience – the kind that Sheffield’s music has reached over the years. When you think of the musical output of this city, it feels remarkable that my book, released in 2026, is the first of its kind to connect the dots through the decades and make the case for Sheffield as a world-leading music city. So why is this the case?
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