Luton music collective Vandalism Begins at Home (VB@H) has announced a new initiative to showcase local artists and The Castle live music venue that they call their “spiritual home”, with the first in a series of VB@H Live Sessions featuring Jacob Kyte, the frontman of hometown favourites SOURDOUGH.
VB@H, who won the Arts Award at last year’s Luton Community Awards, began life as a music and arts fanzine re-born in 2018, and now promote ever popular popular live gigs at the venue on Castle Street, as well as running a record label and a weekly new-music podcast, all showcasing up-and-coming acts.
Their new venture, the VB@H Live Sessions, which was also announced on the VB@H Radio show, is aimed at showcasing a different side to their favourite artists that they’ve worked with over the years.
Ben Barry, a co-conspirator of the collective said: “In true VB@H spirit, the Live Sessions are another string to our bow in championing not only great artists, but The Castle, our marvellous hometown grassroots music venue, at a time when so many similar spots up and down the country are closing, likely never to return again.
“Even in Luton, we’ve had the sad news that The Bear Club could soon be closing, through no fault of their own. We can’t stress this enough, but once we lose music venues, they are unlikely to return so we must not only cherish the ones we’ve got, but also use them or lose them.
“So, as well as our gigs, podcast and record label, now every second Friday of each month we’ll be bringing you live music sessions from artists you may know and love, if you’ve been to a show at The Castle, and some you’ll soon fall for. So make sure you subscribe on YouTube to never miss a beat.
“As the first signings to our Vandalism Begins at Home Records label, it’s only fitting that we start with SOURDOUGH frontman Jacob Kyte. Amid all the trio’s trademark noise and chaos, Jacob is a magnificent songwriter, as SOURDOUGH Stans will attest.
“With the VB@H Live Sessions we want to create a nostalgic Luton home for the 1990s MTV2 / Evening Session-style television programmes that we grew up with, that we’d switch on after we got home from the pub. The Castle is our spiritual home and the Live Sessions will be a gentler, more revealing window into the full-throttle rock n roll rampages of our gig nights at the venue.
“We’re also delighted to shine a light on the talents of local creatives. And to help us deliver the best VB@H Live Sessions are new Luton-based film production outfit Two Side Studios, The Castle’s legendary live house sound engineer Arnie Darmanin and our friends at Bedfordshire-based rock n roll drink of choice Seeing Eye Rum, which you can also taste exclusively at The Castle.”
Also announced on the VB@H Radio show, the first VB@H Sessions is available to watch on YouTube where you can see and hear Kyte play an raw, honest, intimate and stripped back three-song set of unreleased tracks, ‘Home Invaders,’ ‘Garden of Hope’ and ‘Courtyard’. The exclusive new tracks are also interspersed with a chat with VB@H’s Barry, so you can get to know a little more about the songwriter, SOURDOUGH and The Castle’s place in backing new grassroots live music.
WATCH the first VB@H Live Session below (and remember to subscribe):
Find SOURDOUGH at: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter/X | Jacob’s Noises From the Box solo project
Find Vandalism Begins at Home for news of upcoming VB@H Live Sessions, live gigs and record releases at: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter/X | YouTube
