Nightshift is a free monthly music magazine in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Distributed via music venues, pubs, and shops, it provides music news, gig listings, and reviews for the city and surrounding area.

History

First published in March 1991, it was originally titled Curfew, and continued under that name until the end of 1994, when the then main venues

Music venue

A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...

 in Oxford - The Venue, The Jericho Tavern

Jericho Tavern

The Jericho Tavern is a music venue and pub in the Jericho area of Oxford, England at 56 Walton Street. In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was an important part of the music scene which spawned Ride, Radiohead and Supergrass.-History:...

, and The Hollybush - closed down temporarily and there was little music scene to cover. Curfew was notable for featuring the earliest reviews and interviews with Radiohead

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

 and Supergrass

Supergrass

Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....

, including in their incarnations as On A Friday and The Jennifers.

In July 1995, publication started anew as Nightshift, ahead of the opening of venues The Zodiac and The Point.

Content

Each month has a feature on one local artist or group, with their picture appearing on the front cover, and an interview inside. There are occasional exceptions to this format, for example the November 2010 issue featured a round up of the Metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 scene, and July 2010 covered Truck Festival

Truck Festival

Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family , who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. It is held in July at Hill Farm in Steventon, near Abingdon...

.

The magazine includes local music news, new release

Release (music)

In the music industry, a release is usually a term referring to the creative output from an artist available for sale or distribution; a broad term covering the many different formats music can be released in, and different forms of pieces .The word can also refer to the event at which an album or...

, gig, and demo

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

, reviews

Review

A review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...

, and a gig guide for the month. Advertisements support the magazine's production and distribution.

In the Demos section, editor Munro reviews demos sent by local musicians, with no pretence of being unbiased. The reviews are entirely based upon his opinions and preferences, but — despite sometimes harsh words for music deemed lacking — there is genuine constructive criticism, and many bands later submit improved demos. The best and worst entries in a month are put in Demo of the month and The Demo dumper, respectively.
The instructions for submitting demos include the warning "If you can’t handle criticism, please don’t send us your demo".

The Nightshift online web site features PDF downloads of the magazine since 2005, and a bulletin board

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

 for local musicians, fans, and promoters.

The Punt

Nightshift organises The Punt, an annual music event typically featuring around 20 unsigned Oxfordshire-based bands in five venues around Oxford. The Punt was originally conceived during the warm-up for Oxford Sound City in 1997 . Among the acts that received early exposure after being picked to play at The Punt were Young Knives, Stornoway

Stornoway (band)

Stornoway is a British alternative indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. It consists of singer and guitarist Brian Briggs; multi-instrumentalists Jon Ouin and Oli Steadman, and the latter's brother Rob on drums. The band is usually joined by trumpeter Adam Briggs and violinist Rahul Satija...

, Little Fish

Little Fish (band)

Little Fish are a British garage rock band from Oxford, United Kingdom, formed in 2006 by vocalist and guitarist Julia "Juju" Sophie Heslop and drummer Neil "Nez" Greenaway....

, Fixers and Elizabeth, the band featuring a teenage Yannis Phillipakis and Jack Bevan, later of Foals.