{"id":4433,"date":"2011-11-10T17:26:28","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T17:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=4433"},"modified":"2011-11-10T17:26:28","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T17:26:28","slug":"cardiff-character-simon-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/10\/cardiff-character-simon-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Character: Simon Read"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Simon Read talks music, magazines and his fleeting folk career<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 480px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4444\" title=\"SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH-300x138.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4444\" title=\"SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Big_SH-300x138.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simon Read is Chief Editor and one of three founders of The Miniature Music Press<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Writing and recording folk music can sometimes lead to odd encounters. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/simonmread\">Simon Read<\/a>, who began by playing open mic nights and small gigs after he came to Cardiff in 2005, laughs as he describes some of the stranger things he experienced during his brief music career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the highlights was meeting Ronnie Rogers from <em>T\u2019Pau<\/em>,\u201d he grins, before explaining that the two of them went on to record a song together after meeting in Monmouth. \u201cHe saw me playing around up there and invited me to go to his studio, which was quite cool. It had two floors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Working with Ronnie, who had a number one hit with <em>China in your Hand<\/em> in 1987, wasn\u2019t Simon\u2019s only memorable experience. His other career highlights include travelling to London to support Rachel Taylor-Beales in one of the last ever gigs at The Point, and being managed by the former band manager of a successful eighties pop group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe guy who managed <em>Curiosity Killed the Cat<\/em> was also my manager at one point,\u201d he says, looking almost sheepish. \u201cHe actually had me shaved at one point because he didn\u2019t like the fact I had a beard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simon, whose beard is now back in full force, smiles as he recounts this experience. \u201cHe took me to the poshest barber shop in London, then proceeded to have an argument about the cost of the shaving,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was just ludicrous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that he managed to record an album and play at a variety of big venues, Simon is very humble about his time as a musician. \u201cThat\u2019s all my career in those summary highlights,\u201d he jokes. \u201cIt all petered out pretty quickly after that. I just ran out of time. Starting the magazine really curtailed the whole of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moving on<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Simon\u2019s foray into the world of folk music was put on the backburner, when a local musician named Rowan Liggett approached him with the idea for a new project. Simon later joined forces with Rowan and a designer named Aimee-Jade Hayes, and they spent the next year planning what is now known as <a href=\"http:\/\/themmp.tv\/\">The Miniature Music Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Simon explains that when they started the project, they wanted a magazine that would encompass the wide spectrum of music on offer in Cardiff, from the bigger bands all the way down to grassroots level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt actually, when I was doing music, that Cardiff was kind of a closed circle,\u201d he explains. \u201cShining a light on everything means that you try and make sure that everything gets noticed in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Miniature Music Press, which focuses on everything from up-and-coming bands at small open mic nights to bigger, more established bands like <em>The Joy Formidable<\/em>, certainly seems to follow this philosophy. \u201cThat was the key ethos, really,\u201d Simon says. \u201cTo embrace everything and be inclusive of all that stuff that doesn\u2019t normally get covered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>A rocky road<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Building a magazine from scratch can be hard work. Simon and his colleagues eventually discovered that the amount of time and effort involved was a lot for just three people to handle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was a very long time before we realised it was going to be difficult with the three of us,\u201d he explains. \u201cKeeping ourselves going was taking up 120% of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Simon also works as a social sciences researcher for Cardiff University, his time constraints are not hard to imagine. These difficulties eventually led to the magazine being taken out of print for several months earlier this year, before being brought back in September.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that time we were just running our articles online,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe\u2019ve come back into print with renewed energy, and hopefully we\u2019ll be able to stay there for awhile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simon\u2019s quiet, positive energy and upbeat nature are perhaps what make him well suited to the demanding work he does. He doesn\u2019t even view the arrival of other music magazines (such as Bristol based magazine Crack\u2019s recent Cardiff edition), as a threat. In fact, he seems to like the idea of multiple viewpoints.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be competition in the sense that there will be other voices, I suppose, but I don\u2019t really see that as competition exactly,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe\u2019ve got our own kind of unique voice and we welcome other unique voices onto the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With an unrelenting workload and fresh ideas in the pipeline, perhaps Simon is too involved in the magazine to let outside factors concern him. One new project is \u2018MMPTV\u2019, an online video section that he is hoping to develop. \u201cWe made some great videos over the Swn Festival which are all online,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of worrying, Simon channels his energy into the things he loves doing the most.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love music, and I love writing about it,\u201d he smiles. \u201cI love writing about the city too.\u201d <strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simon Read talks music, magazines and his fleeting folk career Writing and recording folk music can sometimes lead to odd encounters. Simon Read, who began by playing open mic nights and small gigs after he came to Cardiff in 2005, laughs as he describes some of the stranger things he experienced during his brief music career. \u201cOne of the highlights was meeting Ronnie Rogers from T\u2019Pau,\u201d he grins, before explaining that the two of them went on to record a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":4445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1029,495,1030,1031,1032,1033],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-aimee-jade-hayes","tag-folk-music","tag-music-magazine","tag-rowan-liggett","tag-simon-read","tag-the-miniature-music-press"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cardiff Character: Simon Read - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/10\/cardiff-character-simon-read\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardiff Character: Simon Read - alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Simon Read talks music, magazines and his fleeting folk career Writing and recording folk music can sometimes lead to odd encounters. Simon Read, who began by playing open mic nights and small gigs after he came to Cardiff in 2005, laughs as he describes some of the stranger things he experienced during his brief music career. \u201cOne of the highlights was meeting Ronnie Rogers from T\u2019Pau,\u201d he grins, before explaining that the two of them went on to record a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/10\/cardiff-character-simon-read\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-10T17:26:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/SimonRead_Interview_Small_SH.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"altcardiff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"altcardiff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/10\/cardiff-character-simon-read\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/10\/cardiff-character-simon-read\/\",\"name\":\"Cardiff Character: Simon Read - 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