Star names, punk podcasts and T-Shirt Day coming to 6 Music this autumn

BBC Radio 6 Music today announces two brand new series - Sound & Vision and The Leisure Society - featuring major names from music, film and the arts, including Russell Crowe, Sam Mendes, Tracey Emin and Goldie. Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt to Work Day 2017 returns for the 10th year and Marc Riley’s A-Z of Punk podcast series launches. 

Paul Rodgers, Head of 6 Music, says: “This autumn on 6 Music, series like Sound And Vision and The Leisure Society are two new ways of exploring the musical and cultural tastes of some interesting people from film, music and the arts. Plus we've launched the brilliant A-Z of Punk podcast series and we will be wishing a very happy 10th birthday to Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt to Work Day.”

BBC Radio 6 Music has a weekly audience of 2.43m listeners (Rajar), making it the UK’s most listened to digital-only radio station.

6 Music delivers a rich and varied range of programming and presenting talent. Across the past year, this has included the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow in March with live performances from artists including Depeche Mode, Bonobo and Goldfrapp, and 6 Music Live at Maida Vale in October which included sets from Morrissey, alt-J and Robert Plant.

Other highlights have included Loud And Proud programming as a part of the BBC’s Gay Britannia season; Paperback Writers (which has featured authors Stephen King and Margaret Atwood among others); 6 Music’s Hip Hop Hooray - a 12-hour back-to-back celebration of hip hop and rap; and Underworld’s Home - a piece of aural art created exclusively for 6 Music as part of our coverage of their Manchester Street Poem installation for Manchester International Festival. Plus guest presenters including Beth Ditto, Michael Kiwanuka, Henry Rollins, Loyle Carner and Amy Lamé.

And with over 300 live music performances, the station broadcasts more live music than any other station in the UK.

Sound And Vision

From Sunday 5 November at 1-2pm

Sound and Vision is a four-part weekly series presented by Miranda Sawyer, exploring guests’ film careers alongside key musical moments from soundtracks.

Sam Mendes, the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning director of American Beauty, Skyfall and Spectre is the guest for the series’ premiere on 5 November. With Academy Award winning actor and musician, Russell Crowe, (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Les Misérables) appearing on Sunday 12 November.

Sam Mendes says: “It will be a genuine pleasure to play some of my favourite records and also to talk a little bit about how music has played an important part in my life and in my films. 6 Music is my favourite station and I massively look forward to joining the line up in November.”

Russell Crowe talks about his career in the film industry and how music played a major part in many of his films. From Romper Stomper through to The Nice Guys, Russell Crowe brings the 6 Music audience his thoughts and memories of Australian and New Zealand music, why Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s score for Gladiator was so important, and how music can be hugely important when filming a movie.

On using music when preparing for roles, Russell says: “Music on a set can be so effective while you are shooting. I learnt that with Peter Weir. The concept is, if he hears your voice above the music, you must now leave the set. It’s designed to keep your voice down. When I was directing the Water Diviner I did the same thing. You can be in some fabulous location, you’re looking out over the battlefields of Gallipoli, you’ve got music playing – it can be extremely inspiring, not just for the actors but for the crew as well.”

Miranda Sawyer says: “Music and movies are intrinsically linked so to have some of the biggest names in film discuss their careers in relation to the music that has shaped them is going to be fascinating.”

The Leisure Society

From Sunday 31 December, 1-2pm
The Leisure Society is a new series presented by Gemma Cairney, interviewing cultural icons, tastemakers, artists and musicians about their pastimes, hobbies, collections and loves - beyond what they are known for.

The five-part weekly show will discover how each person’s passions influence what they create.

Gemma joins Turner Prize nominated artist Tracey Emin at the Shell Grotto in Margate, where she discusses her love for her home town, her passion for sea swimming and how both have shaped her life and her work. Gemma also meets up with Kelley Deal, lead guitarist with The Breeders, in a wool and craft shop, where she describes how she swapped her heroin habit for knitting.

After a hot yoga session in South London with Gemma, Goldie explains how yoga saved his life. And Gemma travels to Norfolk to the home of punk pioneer and provocateur Cosey Fanni Tutti, the performer from avant-garde group Throbbing Gristle, whose art and music inspired a generation and rocked the establishment - to talk about her passion for gardening.

Gemma says: “It’s such an insight and privilege to find out about and explore the secret passions of these fantastic artists. It’s a great opportunity to get beyond what we normally see and know about them and chat outside of a studio too!”

The series will be available as a podcast at www.bbc.co.uk/6music

Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt to Work Day 

Friday 10 November
This year is the 10th anniversary of BBC Radio 6 Music’s Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt to Work Day. Over the past decade Steve Lamacq has encouraged music lovers around the UK to dig out their favourite band T-shirt and wear it with pride, with the likes of Kate Moss, Simon Pegg, Debbie Harry, AC/DC, Brian Cox and Pete Townshend taking part in previous years.

To mark this fantastic milestone, designer Peter Saville has created a signature design for T-Shirt Day 2017. Peter is known for his work with Factory Records. He designed Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album cover which itself won the Best Band T-Shirt vote for T-Shirt Day in 2015. Peter will be joining Steve in the studio to discuss his design.

Also joining in the celebrations, the British Music Experience in Liverpool will be featuring display of Steve’s personal collection of t-shirts. All visitors who come along to the museum in a band t-shirt on 10 November will get half-price entry to the exhibition.

Steve says: “Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt to Work Day is an opportunity for music fans to share their t-shirt stories with each other, reminiscing about a favourite gig or just sharing their passion for a favourite band, past or present. Band t-shirts are a huge badge of honour - a sign of allegiance to the artists we’ve loved and perhaps lost - and T-Shirt Day ensures they’re not left languishing neglected at the bottom of a drawer somewhere.”

A to Z of Punk

6 Music has released the A to Z of Punk, a 26-episode box set podcast available at bbc.co.uk/6music. Across the past year, music journalist Rob Hughes has joined Marc Riley in his show for an exploration of all things punk and new wave. These have now been brought together as a podcast series.

Punk’s DIY ethic - “here’s three chords, now form a band” - ignited the creation of indie labels, decentralised the music industry from London, with Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield becoming centres of music creation, and helped bring about the UK’s cultural rebirth. The A-Z of Punk encompasses bands, individuals, record labels and influential movements, each a core part of, or owing its roots to, the punk movement, its ethos and the mindset it created.

Marc says: “It’s fair to say Rob Hughes and I have enjoyed researching and delivering the A to Z of Punk and New Wave as much as anything we’ve done together over the past 13 years on 6 Music. It's not the definitive guide - it’s our guide. We may have missed your favourite band out (with apologies) but hopefully you’ll find the tales of mischief, skulduggery, and defiance, alongside some fantastic music - to be an engaging way to devour your podcast allowance. Turn On… Tune in… Rock Out!”

Marc Riley’s Radio 6 Music programme broadcasts Monday - Thursday, 7-9pm

Watch previous coverage of 'Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day' and Goldie's 'I Adore You' video below: