By Alfie Dook
Photo Credit: BBC
A true titan of British Music broadcasting, Steve Lamacq has been a central figure in the industry since the 80s. This year, his great legacy was officially recognised with an MBE for his outstanding services to broadcasting and music venues—a testament to his decades of dedication to the scene.
From his earlier days as an editor at New Musical Express (NME) to becoming one of the most trusted voices on the BBC, Lamacq has always been at the heart of music. Over the years, he’s graced iconic platforms such as the Top of the Pops (alongside Jo Whiley), hosted the Radio 1 Evening show, and continues to support and highlight emerging artists on his BBC Radio 6 Music show, Steve Lamacq’s Teatime session.
Often referred to as the ‘UK’s most influential Indie radio show’, Lamacq’s programme is a powerful blend of fresh discoveries and beloved classics. It’s a weekly ritual for listeners who trust his instinct in spotting the next big thing.
I had the privilege of catching up with Steve about the BBC Radio 6 Festival—a highlight on the music calendar. We spoke about what sets this festival apart, the exceptional headliners in this year’s lineup, the platform it provides for rising stars, and who might just be the next to break through.
Our conversation also delved into the constantly evolving role of social media in music, the realities and compromises artists have to navigate in today’s dynamic industry, and the personal hurdles that come with success. We found out about his hilarious ‘pinch me’ moment in his career, and how he’s tackled imposter syndrome along the way.
Alfie Dook
On the build up to tonight, I was thinking about obviously all the experiences and knowledge you have, and there were a million different things I wanted to talk about, but I thought we’d dive into the most important, the most exciting, and the reason we’re talking right now, being the Radio 6 festival.
In terms of festivals, obviously there’s a lot of twists, themes and genres. What do you feel is the sort of key element and that key ingredient that makes the Radio 6 festival so special?
Steve Lamacq
Well, if you look across these six artists that are appearing on the main stage, then none of them are the same. And I think that’s indicative of where 6 Music is now.
We are a champion of music across a multitude of genres, and I think that’s representative of where music is now. I mean, not just in the UK, but globally, really. And yet I think with this year particularly, we’ve taken in the music of now, but also with the nod to the heritage of the music that people still hold dear, 15-20 years since it emerged, so from somebody like Mogwai, who I know I thought would never surprise me again, and then with their last album I thought they made a terrific record, and a new sort of Mogwai record, so you have artists who are taking genres from that kind of post-rock genre and reinventing it to people who are doing things which are essentially very new, quite zeitgeist, really, so I think it’s the breadth of the music and the appreciation that the 6 Music audience likes different sorts of music. I think that’s why this works as a festival.
Alfie Dook
Yeah, I mean, you can’t see many other places where you’ve got Ezra Collective, Mogwai, and Fat Dog altogether – it’s not the sort of usual thing you see, but it works terrifically, so it’s really great.
And now obviously it’s impossible not to talk about them, and I know on the teatime show, you’ve said how much you’ve managed to watch them, see them live and get to catch up with them, that being Fat Dog themselves. I saw you give a great introduction to them last night at Victoria Warehouse. What did you think of the performance?
Steve Lamacq
It was great. I mean, the thing with Fat Dog is, even though I think last night was the 15th time I’ve seen them, they never stand still. They’re a band who will do things in their in their own way, and really, they’re still at their core a band that just wants to make the music that they want to make. They’re incredibly conscientious and they played so well. I mean the thing about last night; you can see how tight they are. And I know they’ve been doing that set now probably for two years, but they keep adding extra assets to it. Last night was the first night I’ve seen with the violin. It’s like – what are you gonna throw at this next?!
There’s still an element of unpredictability about them as well, but yeah, I know those most of those songs now off by heart. The energy they brought to the room – which I know is a terrible cliche – but the way that they can make people move, and feel stuff, and engage with people – I think that’s one of their special qualities really. There’s very few Fat Dog gigs where I’ve walked out and the audience have been left flat. It just doesn’t happen at their shows.
Alfie Dook
I think it really highlights just how amazing a band they are, if like you said, you can go see them 15 times and still come out stunned there’s something new. I think it’s especially great as well, going back to that perfect thing about the Radio 6 Festival – it’s great to see bands that have progressed up through the festival, because if you look at Ezra Collective, who are now BRIT winners, they’ve gone from a small supporting set back in Cardiff in 2022, to now headlining the entire thing.
Do you think there’s anyone that’s got a really high chance or someone you’d personally love to see headlining the festival?
Steve Lamacq
Ohh, crikey, that’s far above my pay grade to be asking me to book next year’s 6 Music Festival, there are people far better qualified than me to do that!
Alfie Dook
Haha, we’d get a hell of a lineup though, I’m sure!
Steve Lamacq
I think there’s one band who springs to mind that I think would be really great on the festival next year, and that’s Big Special. I think they’ll be ready for it. Maybe not headlining… but certainly on the bill somewhere. I saw them twice at South by Southwest (SXSW) recently, and they’re definitely ready for the big stage now.
…for other bands, they will show themselves over the course of this next festival season, I think, and we’ll see where certain bands have got to. But yeah, I’m not gonna make any predictions.
Alfie Dook
Haha yeah, that’s fair enough for sure.
And obviously it’s nice to see these bands get that sort of reward for all this hard work and creativity that they’re pushing into the industry. Do you feel like there’s any bands that deserve a second look that might have been overshadowed by the mainstream media, especially despite their great work?
Steve Lamacq
Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? Because there are always bands who are sort of slightly under the radar, who I think are making good records, but yeah, maybe no one’s really taken the time to listen, and I mean it’s hard really because you get to a stage where you’re not the new thing, and you’re not the next big thing, but you’re making records which are probably better than the records that you made when you were, you know.
But I mean I don’t know, I’m not sure whether there’s bands that have been ‘overlooked’, I think certainly there are bands who will progress into making better records, […] people like Sprints, maybe, who will make a bigger and better record next time round and it’d be good if people, you know, stick with that.
But I don’t think there’s anyone we’ve ignored particularly or overlooked exactly. But I mean I’m certainly in the mind, that I try not to dismiss a band and never go back to them because I used to do that. And you run the risk of then not seeing how bands can progress.
Alfie Dook
Yeah, for sure cause I mean if you look at how bands are over the space of like 30 years, they change up massively. I think it’s difficult as well, especially with how social media and technology are sort of changing the game.
Do you feel like that has a big impact for people as well, because obviously Fat Dog, as you said, stick to what they love doing, and don’t feel like they need to ‘normalise’ to any standards. Do you feel it’s difficult with the added pressure of social media, because artists feel like they have to go for that ‘hit song’ that’s gonna work well?
Steve Lamacq
It depends what your ambition is, I suppose. I mean, if you want to be an accessible and commercial artist, who’s battling it out in the mainstream, I think there is, as there always was, a level of compromise. It’s slightly a red herring in that there have always been compromises to make, and the compromises to becoming a pop star are probably the same as what they used to be, except, you’re compromising on social media instead of compromising in the way you’re presented in music magazines.
So there’s always been, and probably will continue to be, a way of slightly changing your art to make it more accessible to a bigger audience. I think however, that the change with social media for artists, is opening up, essentially, the letterbox to everyone who can tell you what they think of you.
Alfie Dook
It’s definitely a double-edged sword – isn’t it? Because you can obviously get all this flooding in of people that love your art, and it boosts you to the top of the charts, but yeah, at the same time trying to avoid that negativity that can get pushed by a lot of people. I can imagine it’s a difficult one.
Steve Lamacq
I think it’s a really hard ask for artists, if I’m honest. You know, back in the 70s and 80s, you used to reply to fan letters, and that’s fine, that’s a nice relationship. And I’m sure you would get some hate mail as well, but it’s the fact that the music industry now thinks that part of your job as an artist, is to do your own promotion by engaging with the audience, and that’s not everyone’s specialty.
Some people are great creatives because they grew up slightly withdrawn, with a creative, slightly isolated, persona. And then expecting somebody like that to then go out, and do the hard work of a marketing department, by posting 3 TikTok’s a week, and going on Instagram – I think that’s a that’s a difficult ask, and a hard ask for some artists, and I don’t think that’s fair, and I don’t think that’s been a change in the record industry that’s been for the better.
Alfie Dook
Yeah, I was going to ask about this, and about one thing you feel like has got better, but one thing that you don’t appreciate about how the scene has sort of changed, because you’ve got people that might be more introverted, but have this amazing music they’d love to put out there – I’ve seen it time and time again that they just don’t get that crowd that they really deserve.
Steve Lamacq
Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing. I mean the pressure on bands to be their own marketing department, when actually, the only thing that an artist should be doing is thinking about their next song or their next album, because that’s what they’re good at. Particularly, artists coming through when there’s not a lot of money to find people like managers or employ people to help you out with the marketing, this need for an artist to be ‘Jack of all trades’, is something I don’t think is really helping certain artists these days. That’s the downside.
The upside, which is also a downside haha, is the accessibility to music I think for a lot of people. We now have to find some sort of way of finding a balance where new audiences can find music that they like, while not being drowned in the amount of music which is available really. I mean Spotify is the ultimate punk-rock app in that anyone can do it and anyone can listen to it. The problem is… not all of this stuff is good haha, and I suppose 6 Music is one of those ways of having somebody else weed out what is good, and then present it to people.
But I mean being able to listen to loads of music is good. How we then translate that into a sustainable financial model that will also pay the artist – that’s gonna be another challenge for the future. I think, in a way, I love the fact that I could only buy one album a month when I was growing up, but I would have loved to have heard more music at the time… then again, I wasn’t overburdened with like 200 albums.
Alfie Dook
I think you definitely hit the nail on the head there, and I think it’s great we’ve got Radio 6, and all of the local BBC stations as well, and it’s great to see how they are supporting these artists just trying to make it out there, especially with the social media impacts and how difficult it is.
Steve Lamacq
I think what I’d really like to say is, it’s just having something that you fall in love with and you remain loyal to. I think if there’s one sort of trend that is hampering the progression of new artists, it’s the fact that these days – and maybe it’s just because the artists don’t deserve it – but I used to buy into artists in a way where, you know, they were the thing, they were the band that I was gonna like, and I would like them through thick and thin. And I wouldn’t just jump off and like somebody else when another record came along.
But yeah, I’d like to see people go ‘this is an artist, I love this artist, I’m gonna stick with this artist through thick and thin.’
Alfie Dook
Yeah, because there is obviously that switch around, so it would be nice to see, because it’s a difficult one out there. I mean I’ve only just become heavily involved with the industry quite recently and from that outside – coming-in perspective, it’s been really like ‘wow yeah, its tough’, especially at the grassroots level.
To switch it up real quick, there have been a lot of firsts for me over the last seven days – I’m a music photographer, and reviewer as well with my publication, and I had my first ever arena gig last week – The Wombats at AO Arena. They are one of my favourite bands, so you can probably guess that I loved your feature from Murphy on Monday – but I’m intrigued because this for me was the surreal, pinch me moment; that I was right in front of one of my favourite bands, and I was wondering, looking back… is there anything that sort of stands out to you as that ‘massive moment’; that you sort of realised everything was coming together?
Steve Lamacq
Do you know what, that’s a really good question. I mean when I was 21, I was sports editor at the Harlow Gazette and at the age of 23, having been a fanzine writer for a few years, just put out issue 10 of my fanzine, and I went for a job at the New Musical Express (NME), which was obviously a really important feature in the musical landscape of the time. And so, I applied, I was invited in for an interview, I was invited back for a trial, and they gave the job as a sub-editor. Now, I grew up in a village, which at the last census, the population was 1003. It’s out in the sticks in Essex… and I’d gone to college in Harlow, and ended up on the paper in Harlow, but I mean I knew nothing about the inward workings of the music industry – apart from what I picked up from the fanzine. Anyway, I get the job at the NME, so I’m a kid from the sticks, I go to work there, and on the third day, I went to the gents loo’s and I stood two urinals away from Mark E. Smith from The Fall. Two weeks earlier, I’d been reporting on Sawbridgeworth Town’s home game in the Essex League. And now, I was standing next to Mark E. Smith from THE FALL!!
Alfie Dook
Hahaha, that is just incredible.
Steve Lamacq
Haha and I thought, boy, your life has changed.
Alfie Dook
Hahaha yeah. I was not expecting that the pinch me moment would be in the gents bathroom!
Steve Lamacq
Hahaha. You can see what I mean though, I was like, crikey, this is how my life has changed, I’m now working for the biggest music paper in Britain.
Alfie Dook
It’s incredible, but I feel especially because when you’ve got these opportunities that come, a lot of the time they’re just out of nowhere, and you’re suddenly thrown into it all. I feel like I’ve struggled with it and I know a lot of other people have, do you ever get that sort of imposter syndrome? Not anymore, I assume, haha, but did you earlier on?
Steve Lamacq
Absolutely. I mean when Jo Whiley and I started at Radio 1, we spent the first four years, I mean, almost our entire time together, presenting the evening session. We walked into Radio One when it was full of the sort of names that frequented the major tabloid papers and everything. There were all these big stars and stuff and we were suddenly at Radio 1, thinking we don’t think deserve to be at Radio 1!
So yes, yes, you do have imposter syndrome, and I don’t think it particularly ‘goes away’. I mean, I talked to Joe on and off about this, and we’ve been in the game now for 30 years, but there are still times where you match yourself against the greatest broadcasters of our times and think, ‘I’m not sure I’m as good as that, I don’t know why we’re here’, but you know, you get over that by just grafting, I think.
I think the thing that imposter syndrome makes you do is just work really hard and try really hard, and you carry on doing the best you can, and you don’t get complacent, because you’re constantly trying to justify why you’re there. I think that’s certainly why I still spend 7 hours on a Sunday listening to records, and prepping shows, because you don’t want that moment where someone opens that door, and you’re stood there in your pants!
Alfie Dook
No absolutely, and I mean sometimes you’ve gotta have that fake it till you make it mindset, but when it pays off, it’s just that incredible feeling.
Now I’ll let you get off in a minute, but quickly before you go, you have your set at 11 o’clock in a little bit… do you have any surprises in store, or is it just going to be the absolute classics?
Steve Lamacq
There will be some absolute classics played in a different order.
I mean I’m going on after Lava La Rue, and I don’t think anyone will be expecting me to start with a 70s TV theme tune.
Alfie Dook
Haha, I think you’ve got a good point. I don’t think anyone’s predicting that one!
Steve Lamacq
No, there you go! That’s my surprise!
Alfie Dook
Perfect. Dare I ask which show are we going with for the introduction?
Steve Lamacq
We are starting with The Sweeney!
Alfie Dook
Hahaha that is going to be cracking! Anyway, it’s been an honour to speak to you, and I’ll let you get off, thank you very much for your time!
Steve Lamacq
Oh bless you mate, thank you very much, and good questions. Have a good weekend!
Alfie Dook
Yeah, you too, goodbye!