Noods Radio takes the sounds of Bristol across the world

When Jack Machin and Leon Pattrick first met each other as part of a 14-person house share on Cheltenham Road, they stayed up until the wee small hours of the morning sharing music.

Noods Radio, the internet radio station that the pair founded in the front room of the same house in 2015 shares that ethos, sharing some of your favourite music with your mates. Since then it has left that front room where it was streamed via Leon’s laptop and is now listened to by thousands of people across the globe seven days a week.

Visit their website and be tempted in by shows with a myriad of genres. Anything goes here, as long as it’s interesting. Featured shows at the end of last month included Ram Dance with Neek (hardcore & jungle), Mun Sing (electronica, pop & hip-hop) and All Cweamy (traditional Arabic and folk).

On a recent Sunday afternoon, regular residents Queens of the Neighbourhood segued Kate Bush into Annie Lennox before promising a show featuring “plenty of witchcraft and pagan things”.

Many of Noods’ shows are broadcast live from their small studio above the Crofters Rights on Stokes Croft, with others pre-recorded from anywhere in the world. Such is now the repute of Noods that DJs passing through Bristol often ask if they can have a guest show.

One of Noods’ most popular resident DJs are Katie Houston and Kim Glegg, the proprietors of the former Katie & Kim’s Kitchen on Picton Street in Montpelier, hosting a show which sees them natter and play a few records while cooking on a camping stove in Noods’ current studio, which moved here in early 2018 from its previous home above the former Surrey Vaults in St Paul’s.

In the early days, Leon would take his laptop around the houses of friends who had decks. Since then, Jack and Leon have saved up, borrowed and been gifted equipment that currently includes two Pioneer CDJ-900 Nexus media players, two Technics 1210 turntables and a Pioneer DJM-750mk2.

More people have also been brought on board as well, including programmer Izzy Cross, who on a recent Friday night after work was in The Bell pub off Jamaica Street with Jack and Leon, planning what the upcoming weekend would bring.

Jack and Leon were not keen to be too self-congratulatory, so Izzy did it for them. “I have never met two more passionate people,” she said. “When I went to the studio for the first time, it had such an aura to it. It’s cool, it’s slick. People want to be there.

“I think that 2019 is going to be a very exciting year for Noods, with a lot more pushing the boundaries and looking at being more creative.”

Part of this renewed creativity will see a couple of upcoming Noods events. On February 16, Noods takes over the Arnolfini with Billie George warming up for Bruce.

And on March 22 at the Exchange, Noods host MXMJoY – birthed from the seminal 1980s post-punk band Maximum Joy, dramatically reimagined by founding members Janine Rainforth and Charlie Llewellin – with Slack Alice on DJ duties after the gig.

Anyone can get in touch with Noods if they have an idea for a new show. For Leon, the most important factor is that it is interesting. “We are always looking for something a little bit different. Something that we find interesting, especially if they can curate it in a way that flows together nicely.”

One of Jack and Leon’s earliest shows on Noods when it was still broadcast from their front room on Cheltenham Road was called The Noods On Sunday and featured lots of jazz, with the pair playing for up to eight hours on Sunday afternoon into the evening, and always finishing with some Krautrock.

“Our mates would tune in and we would have a bit of a laugh,” Jack recalls. “The webcam was through a fish tank.”

Drinks finished at The Bell, Jack, Leon and Izzy walked the short distance to the Crofters Rights where the Noods studio is accessed up some rickety stairs and along a corridor.

Once inside, it’s easy to see why lots of guest DJs like to get on their Instagram Stories while in here, with bright red walls and shelves packed with music memorabilia and old gig posters. Guest shows are frequent and have included such acts such as Ruf Dug, Crazy P and 4 Hero.

Jack Machin, Izzy Cross and Leon Pattrick in the studio at Noods Radio HQ above the Crofters Rights

“What Noods has been about for me is building up a community,” says Jack, who works as a cleaner while not devoting his time to Noods. “It’s about having an openness with the music, encouraging people to work together.”

As if to emphasise the point, Leon shows Jack and Izzy a YouTube video on his phone from Franco Franco and Kinlaw, with Franco being an early Noods volunteer who one day in the studio started to MC in Italian.

“The music they are making is wicked,” Leon says. “The live shows are so exciting as well, it feels like a cross between hip-hop and hardcore.”

Pointing out a chopping board in the studio that Katie and Kim have left behind, Jack explains that one current Noods project as well as the live events is the release of a tape featuring, Anina and Rob Smith from Smith & Mighty.

The tape is certainly not dead according to the team. It’s also a homage to old-school pirate radio from this internet radio station that takes Bristol’s name via the digital airwaves across the world.

Arnolfini Winter Music Series with Noods is at the Arnolfini on February 16. Noods: MXMJoY takes place at the Exchange on March 22. Listen to Noods Radio online at www.noodsradio.com

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