It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeeear! Yes, the Joyzine Advent Calendar is back once again to bring you 24 days of fantastic free music downloads from a amazing array of our favourite artists. This year marks the 21st edition of our online calendar making it (as far as we’re aware) the longest running on the net (though we’re always happy to be corrected). As always, every track is completely free to download and we don’t require you to sign up for a mailing list (though you can if you want to) or hand over your personal data – it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s visited the site during 2024 and to hopefully bring a few more listeners to some very deserving artists.
However, if you do enjoy the tracks we would love you to consider making a donation to our chosen cause, which this year is the wonderful First Timers Fest, a brilliant grassroots DIY organisation helping people take the first step into making music. Alumni include Joyzine faves Big Joanie, Panic Pocket, Charmpit and Breakup Haircut, with many more great bands coming through every year. We asked First Timers for a few words about what they do:
First Timers Fest is all about supporting new people into music! Yes that’s right, we mean you! We demystify the music making process through a series of beginners workshops that encourage people to try something new, no pressure to start a band after. The festival is open to everyone, but we particularly want to encourage people from marginalised groups to apply.
Next year we will be hosting our workshops at the Cavendish in Stockwell but following a sell out festival at the Victoria in Dalston we have decided to host the festival at a much bigger venue: The Oslo Hackney! This will take place on 4th May 2025. See you there!!!
We’ve got a sleigh-full of fantastic tracks for you again this year, including some festive tunes, plenty of exclusives and some of our favourite songs of 2024. Let’s get crack(er)ing!
Today it’s the turn of this year’s chosen cause First Timers Fest to take centre stage. We’ve been highlighting their excellent work bringing new voices into the DIY music scene through their series of workshops (which this year included introductions to vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, experimental vocals and songwriting and speed bandmating!) and their festival at which every band plays its first ever gig. After a sell-out show at The Victoria in 2024, the fest is moving to Oslo in Hackney, with workshops taking place at The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell (one of the most beautiful DIY music spaces in London).
There are loads of great bands who’ve come through First Timers, and I even had a go myself (though covid thwarted my chances of appearing at the fest) – if you’ve ever had even the slightest inkling that you might fancy swapping the crowd for the stage, I’d heartily recommend giving it a try, it was the most supportive and open group of people you could hope for.
Details of this year’s workshops will be available soon, and if you are a more experienced musician you can get involved too – First Timers are looking for facilitators to lead workshops on songwriting and how to sound check, and they’re also after volunteers for the workshops and festival – get in touch to find out more.
Today, we have two First Timers alumni from the 2023 fest providing the calendar tracks:
Queer, woman and nonbinary-led three-piece pop/punk DIY band Gay Skeleton Club, who love making music that you can dance/laugh/yell to, about things that make them angry (tories! transphobia! the planet getting f*cked! menopause!) and things they love (DIY music! skeletons! cats!). They released their debut EP Gay Skeleton Demos earlier this year and play The Cavendish Arms on 6th December, supporting Perennial at a show promoted by the ever excellent A Cellarful of Noise.
And all-girl alternative/punk/grunge/whatever three piece Skutterfly. Inspired by your favourite proto-punks including The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, mashed up with 90s bands like Pixies and Hole. Expect a genre-bending performance that takes you from bittersweet, moody melodies to full-on screaming.
We asked them both a few questions about their year.
Tell us a little about your track please
‘W3t L3g’ is a song about DIY music and doing something just because you love it. Wet Leg play guitar better than you? Fuck it, play guitar anyway! Reject that scarcity mindset! You’re not too crap to be in a band! First Timers Fest forever!!
What have you been up to in 2024 and what do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We have plans to record and release more songs next year – we have approx 4 more songs ready to record, but we have more in the works too. One of these is our song ‘Summertime (Free Palestine)’ that we hope to also release with funds also going to Palestine Action. We don’t have gigs booked for 2025 yet but we hope to apply to more festivals and line up some more gigs. We hope to play more gigs out of London soon too.
Christmas songs – love them or hate them? Why?
Chris: I like a DIY Christmas song, one that’s not obviously about Christmas, not the cheesy ones. Gold Baby – ‘Looks Like a Cold Cold Winter’ is a lovely one and donations going to a good cause.
Nic: Wham!!!!!!
CJ: Officially I hate Christmas songs but at some point in December I will probably be found at karaoke and/or face down in a mince pie singing “Christmaaaaas BABY PLEASE COME HOME”
Download ‘W3t L3g‘
Make a donation to First Timers
Gay Skeleton Club: Instagram / Bandcamp
Tell us a little about your track please
This is the first track we ever put together and finished as a band, so it feels fitting that it’s our very first recording too; it was just released into the world this October. Get In Her Ears recently called it “scuzzy and jangly” on their radio show, which we think fits it well! It’s a bit of a bop, unless you listen to the lyrics, which are pretty melancholy. Luda, our singer and guitarist, wrote this song but we don’t feel that we need to tell you the personal context – people can hear what they want in it, and it is more fun that way!
What have you been up to in 2024?
This is only our second year as a band; Luda and Maia met at First Timers in 2023, and our bassist Hana joined in November that year. In 2024 we’ve basically been playing a lot of gigs, writing music together, and working on our single release. It’s been a blast!
And what do you have planned for the next 12 months?
More of the same; we’d love to record a little EP with a few more tracks, and we’ve started working on an acoustic set too – our bassist Hana also plays violin, so you can expect to see some of that happening. And more gigs, of course. This year we played shows in London and Brighton, let’s see if we can add to that in 2025… if any promoters or venues would like to book us, reach out!
Christmas songs – love them or hate them? Why?
Hana isn’t too fussed about them, but years of working in retail as a teenager means that Maia harbours a pretty deep hatred of them… Unless it’s Mariah, because who doesn’t love Mariah.
Luda doesn’t mind them at all, she likes all things escapist and Christmas is a big one for everyone.
Download ‘Changing Room‘
Make a donation to First Timers
Skutterfly: Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / Youtube
First Timers: Facebook / Instagram
Catch up on all of this year’s Advent Calendar Tracks so far:
1: Piney Gir – Reindeer
2: Gabriel Minnikin – Said Information
3: LOUD WOMEN – Smallways, Butterknife, Daddy Issues, Witch Spit, R.U.B, Vipersnatch, Worm Girlz, Lady Lazarus and Stabbitha & The Knifey Wifeys
Check back tomorrow for another free festive download!
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