OK, a little backstory here. In 2006, when I first moved to Manchester, I started a fanzine called Mushaboom, which eventually led to me promoting shows. My first booking was alt-folk musician Rob Taylor aka Sparky Deathcap, who I’d discovered on myspace. He’d just released Let’s Build a Fire on french label Pulsar Records. I had no fucking clue what I was doing to be honest, but my first event went well enough that i stuck at it.

Rob played several amazing shows for me during this time, the most memorable being where he wrote and performed a one-night only ukulele rock opera discover here I charged £5 on the door, and there was perhaps 100+ people in the audience, watching beautiful sets from Meursault and Jeremy Warmsley (Summer Camp). He would continue to stay in touch, sending me the microphones influenced Tear Jerky EP (2009) in the post, along with some beautiful illustrations.

Although his music had a small but devoted audience, even finding himself playing a show with Daniel Johnston (Live at the Union Chapel dvd) Sparky as a solo endeavour took an understandable backseat when Rob joined welsh indie pop band Los Campesinos! And here’s where things get wonderfully weird… over a decade after it’s initial release, his song September has now become a viral sensation!

Starting with a popular Twitch streamer Wilbur Soot and now finding millions more fans in the TikTok community, he’s re-releasing the original EP and working on a new album with Sony. I’m not going to pretend to understand how these things happen, but it has reminded me of his brilliance and why I fell in love with his music all those years ago. Taylor has taken a long and unusual path to success and I couldn’t be happier for him.

Love Sparky Deathcap here:

Follow him here: https://twitter.com/sparkydeathcap