Shows
THE AWESOME COMICS PODCASTEpisode 549 - Is 2026 Going to Be a Big Year for Comics?The new year is upon us and this week we look at what we would like to see in 2026 in the world of comics. Plus comic making resolutions from the pod hosts, listeners and lots of great comics community folks. Plus there's banter about great indie comic recommendations, expiry dates, hats and more!
Great stuff to check out: Absolute Batman, Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell, Zak Cahill, DUI4, The Cartoon Museum, Keiron Squires, Lawless Comic Con, Film and Television Thoughts and Notes, Ben Wheatley, Ferocious, Mad Cave Comics, Incorporated, Lords on the Piss, Saint Malo, Creative Mussell...
2026-01-051h 51
Bromley BuzzEpisode 264: Su Pollard bestrides The Beauty and the BeastDarren Weale , Zeenat Noorani and Jacqui Weale greatly enjoyed the pantomime The Beauty and the Beast at the Churchill Theatre, and spoke with stars Su Pollard (playing Mrs Potty), Ben Stock (Betty Boufant), and Tom Mussell (Flash Harry).
The interviews also include a show sponsor from The Landing Hotel at London Biggin Hill Airport, and one of our fellow media watching the show, Katie Rose of Rose Reviews, who called it a 'fantastic pantomime'.
Tickets here.
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2025-12-1316 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#24 - RICKY CHARLTON: From Cartoons to Kindful Creating with Boats, Race Cars & Everything In-Between‘Kindful’ video editor Richard 'Ricky' Charlton joined me to chat about going from a young kid from Grimsby fiddling with cameras, to being a paid video editor who’s previously worked with cartoons and currently senior editing at the biggest content agency on the south coast of the UK.We chatted about:< >< >< >< >< >< >Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/https://www.tiktok.com/@r...
2025-11-1446 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#23- Mark Aspinall: 15 Year Journey from Music Assistant to Olivier Award Winning Musical DirectorBenjamin Button Tickets (before it closes): https://shorturl.at/vk8LEFiddler On The Roof UK Tour Tickets: https://shorturl.at/qg6HdInto The Woods Tickets: https://shorturl.at/35c9IAward winning musical theatre maestro Mark Aspinall joined me to chat about his 15 year journey from being a music school assistant to becoming one of the best in the biz when putting the music into musical theatre.We chatted about:< >< >< >< >< >< >< >Follow...
2025-09-0540 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#22- Amy Shepherd: Deli Worker Turned Copywriter, ‘‘it still seems to be…an enigma’’Freelance Copywriter Amy Shepherd joined me to chat about the relatively unknown art of copywriting, so much so her Nan doesn’t really understand what she does for a living. We chat about:< >< >
2025-08-0841 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#21 - Joshy Clements: The South’s Drone Specialist, His "booming" Drone Side Business, AI & His Ideal DroneJoshy Clements is the go-to drone guy on the south coast. He joined me to chat about how he discovered and mastered the drone, how he's using its situational versatility to run a "booming" drone side business 'Horizon Drone Specialists' with multiple clients, the future of drone usage with the addition of AI, and pitched his ideal drone features to DJI in the process.Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/
2025-07-1156 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#20 - Nate Williams: Instruments, Sessions, Gigging, Touring & PodcastingNate Williams is a multi-instrumentalist & podcaster who has worked with many well known artists. Nate joined me to chat about growing up in a musical family, playing musical instruments, life on and off stage as a gigging musician, working with Jamiroquai, Steve Winwood and others, as well as chatting with his industry friends and heros on his podcast 'In Session With...'Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/https://www.tiktok.com...
2025-06-0657 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#19 - Lara Simpson: Violins, Gigging Life, Wedding Songs & Abbey Road + Rudamental + Nile Rodgers!PSA: Due to unforeseen circumstances, only a certain amount of guest video and audio was usable for this episode. As a result, the episode does end somewhat abrupt. Apologies, and enjoy the episode.Lara is a violinist and composer/orchestrator originally from Liverpool, now based in London. Lara chats about her musical upbringing, deciding to learn the violin, life of a gigging musician & composer, and how she ended up in Abbey Road Studios with Rudamental and Nile Rodgers... at the same time.Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:
2025-04-1845 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#18 - Simon Howard: Texas, Cancellations, Song Writing & Indy Artists Juggling an Online PresenceSimon Howard is an independent singer/songwriter and musician from Gosport. Originally, he though computer science was his calling. Then after it was too late to change, he decided to take himself to Texas, took his guitar with him and become a musician.The rest is history…Simon chats about his time in Texas, his song writing process, his popular single 'Cancellation' and about how he tries to maintain an online platform amongst other things.Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:Reaching Th...
2025-03-141h 01
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#17 - Elspeth McBain: Chrismas Decorations, Everything Panto 2024, Financial Reality of Touring & 2025Elspeth McBain is back for a second chat. This time, we chat about everything Panto 2024, the financial reality of a touring production, and she gives a brief rundown of that is coming to the venue in 2024.Find out what is on at Lighthouse Poole in 2025: https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/whats-on/Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:Reaching The Crescendo Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/https://www.facebook.com/re...
2025-01-2740 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#16 - Joe Hayes: From accounting to Kindful Creating & being all about the peopleJoe Hayes started out as a full time accountant with a massive photography hobby. Several businesses later and and a network of over 3000 people, Joe now facilitates photography, videography and more recently podcasting for some of the biggest brands on the south coast and in the UK in general.Joe chats about how his unique path led him to where he is today, where he thinks the direction of podcasting as an industry is going, along with some advice on building networks, tech and how to get started in the 'content' industry....
2024-08-2350 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#15 - Jose Ramos: Digital News, National News, Opinions & Nailing the DrumsJose Ramos wanted to work in the news industry since he was young and used his Mum's phone as a camera to film his version of The News, and all these years later he is doing exactly that as a newly senior reporter.Jose speaks about his journey from his self news tape all the way to now reporting on both local and national news, meeting and almost meeting a lot of interesting people, and his stories that have featured in some major UK newspapers along the way.Follow the podcast and...
2024-06-141h 04
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#14 - David Catterall Designs: Graphic Design, E20 To Hocus Pocus Unofficial Posters & Val From AnfieldDavid Catterall started his career as a drama teacher and then co-hosted Channel 4's third worst show of 2006. It wasn't until a friend of his introduced him to Photoshop and a chance encounter in a Food Hall that changed everything, and the rest as they say.... is history!David chats about his unique journey to where he is today, how he turned his hobby into his job, and slightly peels back the curtain on his creative process in creating viral unofficial posters that have ended up on national television.Follow the podcast...
2024-02-2342 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#13 - Tor Da Force: Female DJs, Festivals, Frau & Breaking FreeTor Byrnes aka Tor Da Force has been an indie DJ for the last 15 years and over that time has become a staple of clubs, festivals and venues inbetween.Her career as a DJ has since turned her into an events promoter with her company We Broke Free, making her a force to be reckoned with as a 'Good Time Dictator'.Tor chats about how she got to where she is today, being a female DJ in a male dominated industry and her previous and present work at some of Europe's biggest festivals.
2024-02-0956 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#12 - Will McNicol: Playing Fingerstyle, Antonio Forcione, Album Formations & Favourite GuitarsWill McNicol has been playing fingerstyle guitar since aged 6 and enjoyed it so much, he never stopped. It has taken him all over the world and counts his mentor Antonio Forcione as a friend.Will chats about first picking up a guitar, his love of recording, his favourite gigs and his love of passing on his pearls of fingerstyle wisdom to his fellow guitar player through his workshops and online college.Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:Reaching The Crescendo Podcasthttps...
2024-01-2658 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#11 - Elspeth McBain: From Lambeth Council to Lighthouse; Running the Largest Arts Centre outside London & working in PantolandElspeth McBain is the CEO of Lighthouse in Poole; the largest arts centre outside of London. However, if her parents had had their way, things would have been very different. So in true rebelious young adult fashion, she ended up at a holiday park in the Isle of Wight and the rest is history.Elspeth speaks about her journey from the Isle of Wight - Croydon - London and ending up in Poole in 2009. She also details the behind the info on the year long preparation to put on a pantomime for young and old that runs...
2023-12-2243 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#10! - Abi Logan: From Footlight to taking FLYT as a choreographerAbi Logan started dancing lessons at age 3 and it all spiralled from there. The rest is history! Abi chats about her beginnings at her local performing academy, getting the choreographer bug through the Rock Challenge competition, using the Covid lockdown as an excuse to start a dance troupe and now going full circle by choreographing her first panto (oh yes she is...)Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:Reaching The Crescendo Podcasthttps://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopodAbi...
2023-11-2643 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#9 - Emily Young (Founder & Editor in Chief) @ Square One Magazine: Uni project to printed publication, capturing gigs, interviewing artists & the future of physical music mediaEmily Young has been a photographer since 2014, starting in portrait mode. Then at university, she switched to live music photography, created a specimen magazine for a group project and has run with it ever since. even as far as Texas.Emily explains how her group uni project spiralled a tad out of control and in the process led her to meet some of her favourite bands, connected her to her now team of volunteer photographers both in the UK and across the pond, create PR connections that would make Scooter Braun's jaw drop and give her stance...
2023-08-2733 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#8 - Totally Music Blog: Meet Tracey; the brains behind the blog, how her passion for music started, and using her blog to provide a platform to the best unseen and up-and-coming musical talentTracey started Totally Music to act as a digital scrapbook to collate pictures from her gig experiences. However, when the Covid lockdown hit in March 2020, she saw an opportunity to use her blog to provide a platform to the best unseen and up-and-coming musical talent when they were not allowed to perform. It has been growing ever since.Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:Reaching The Crescendo Podcasthttps://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopodTotally Musichttps://www.totallymusicofficial...
2023-07-2307 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#7 - Lee Townsend: Living and playing in Spain, being a wedding singer, YouTube, AI & having your hobby as a jobLee Townsend saw his Dad in cover bands from a very early age so it was inevitable that he would pick up a guitar eventually. His parents then moved to Spain when he was 18, so he followed suit and the rest is history.Since then, he has become a reputable wedding singer, has built a YouTube channel to nearly 12,000 subs being a go to guy for loop covers/tutorials and musical gadget reviews.Lee chats about living in Spain, the life of a wedding singer, YouTube BTS, his opinion on AI entering the music space...
2023-07-161h 28
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#6 - Imprints: Sunny Bristol, being space pirates, thrash fiddle, Zelda being a Tory & what's next for them as a bandImprints started off as a University project and spiralled from there as many bands do. Ever since then, they have found their unique gypsy/folk-rock sound, their space pirate hats, potentially invented the coolest fiddle playing style ever and even got Michael Eavis' (yes that Michael Eavis) phone number in the process!Andy (frontman) and Vince (thrash fiddle) talk about their humble beginnings, inadvertently starting crowd fights, Feeder being their support act, wanting to headline Glastonbury and the all important next studio album.Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:
2023-06-1833 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#5 - Edward Clark: Worship band member to worship pastor, the lost demographic & worship music entering the mainstreamEdward Clark has spent his life in and around the Anglican church and has been in worship bands for around half of his life. So it was only a matter of time before he realised he was being called to become a worship pastor.Ed speaks about going from the congregation to band member to pastor, the lost demographic in the church, working for a church during the pandemic and where he sees himself in the future.Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:Reaching The Crescendo Podcast
2023-05-2137 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#4 - Chris Sherry (Digital Lead) @ Teddy Rocks Festival: Teddy Rocks turning 10, changing lives & raising money through the power of rock musicChris Sherry first got involved with the Teddy Rocks Festival by helping a friend do the lighting when it was held at the Greyhound pub in Blandford Forum. A chance glance at the website and a message to the festival director and sound guy (it will make sense after listening) later and Chris created the first proper website you see when you type Teddy Rocks into a search engine.Teddy Rocks has steadily grown year on year to a 5000 capacity and raising more and more money as the years have gone by, raising £60,000 in 2022 while bouncing back f...
2023-04-2342 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#3 - Luke James Shaffer: Live looping, living in London & utilizing ChatGPT in music makingLuke James Shaffer started out just so he could be better at the guitar than one of his older brothers, the rest is history.After gigging in his native Ohio and New York, Hollywood came calling in American Idol. After this experience of the mainstream music system, he went home and met his future wife. Together they ended up in Washington D.C for a decade, discovered live looping and grew a YouTube channel to 20k subscribers. Optimistic consistency defined!In 2022, him and his wife fulfilled a life-long dream of living overseas and so they...
2023-04-0242 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#2 – Kadie Jacobs: The Song House Social Media Songstress Moving The Needle in the Nashville Music SceneKatherine ‘Kadie’ Jacobs started out performing in talent shows in her native Birmingham, Alabama.Everything changed when she moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University to study for her musical Bachelor’s degree.Kadie quickly started getting involved in Nashville writer’s rounds and in a musical twist of fate became part of the Song House; a collective of songwriters found by YouTube music legend Tyler Ward who use social media to market test potentially viral songs. If the song goes the viral, they record and release it.Kadie talks about her humble beginnin...
2023-02-1936 min
Reaching The Crescendo with Ben MussellEP#1 – Mischa Weston-Green: The man behind the Merry MenFrom starting off as a solo act at 25 years old, to becoming a regular on the south coast festival circuit with his Merry Men collective 12 years later, Mischa Weston-Green has had a long journey to spreading his unique message of piece and love.He is also the definition of hard-work from working in marketing/events by day and the leader of a 45 strong ethical musical collective at night and weekends.Discussing everything from his humble beginnings as a solo artist performing at Chaplin’s Bar in Bournemouth, gigging stories, his mental festival summer of 2022, 2 recently re...
2023-02-0533 min
Now For Someone Completely InterestingEpisode 6 - Morris IrvineFor the first time, Ben meets Morris Irvine. A recipient of a double lung transplant who has been paying forward ever since with the 2nd Chance Trail Ride for the last 10 years. Ben sits down with Morris in his home in downtown LA! (that's Lindbergh, Alberta) where Morris shares his story. You can find out more about the 2nd Chance Trail Ride, by visiting the website, www.2ndctr.com or find them on Facebook, 2nd Chance Trail Ride Society.******Due to COVID- 19 restrictions announced after the episode was recorded, the "Tunes And Tailgates Drive-in Concert" fundraiser planed in con...
2021-05-0216 min