In case you missed it, British boyband and pop-rockers Scouting For Girls have announced a 20-date UK tour for early next year.
They’re already planning potential set lists for the tour already including some very special surprises as well as an entire brand new album.
Lead vocalist Roy Stride reminisces on life in a boyband, career highlights and just how excited he is to play Manchester once again.
After playing at Manchester Cathedral earlier this year, the boys are coming back to one of Manchester’s city centre music venues for a 15-year anniversary tour for their sophomore LP, Everybody Wants To Be On TV.
With the announcement of a new tour, can we expect any new music to coincide with this?
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We have announced a new album that will come out after our tour. This tour is all about celebrating the second album, we’re going to slip in maybe one or two new songs into the setlist as we go, though.
How excited are you to be coming back to Manchester after the reception of your cathedral gig earlier this year?
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That Manchester Cathedral gig was like it, I was gonna say biblical, but it really, it really, like, it was an amazing place to play it and it, it was unlike any gig we’d done before. Audience participation and people singing along works so well in a cathedral.
It really was a great feeling.
Are there any songs that you’ve put out on Everybody Wants To Be On TV that have grown on you over time or become your favourite all these years later?
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There’s a song on there called ‘Posh Girls’ which I still can’t believe we put on the record, but it’s so ridiculous and fun, you know, that’s probably a real favourite of mine. It’s a real live favourite too.
Scouting for Girls are heading to O2 Apollo in Manchester early next year.Credit: Press Shot
This time round you’re playing O2 Apollo and in the past you’ve played multiple venues in our city centre, which has been your favourite?
Night and Day Cafe and O2 Apollo but we’ve even played old Trafford. We played in between a football or rugby game, that was pretty epic.
There’s a video which went round our band and crew WhatsApp group of the first time we played [O2 Apollo] in 2010, like when the album first came out.
We played the Royal Albert Hall the night before with these trumpet players, and they got really drunk and ended up staying on the tour bus with us. The trumpet players weren’t supposed to be there, but we hid them in the Manchester crowd and got them to play this fanfare intro.
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It was really bad because they were just incredibly hung over, it was all over the place and our guitarists’ were just filming it but it’s still a real core memory for me.
It’s not just Manchester you’re stopping off at either, you’re playing a 20 date UK tour, how are you feeling ahead of playing a tour this big?
I love traveling around the country. I love being on a tour bus. I love getting a show really good. Our shows are quite fluid and they change, and the setlists change, but when you get really tight on tour it’s a magical place because you go on stage and you know, whatever happens, it’s going to be amazing.
And in fact, the weirdest stuff that happens, whether I end up in the crowd or the balcony, doing a conga – it’ll be a great night every night.
On your album you have a song titled ‘Michaela Strachan’, you all met for the first time last year at your Shepherd’s Bush show – Have you considered the potential of her joining you on stage during this song?
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Maybe. I don’t know, however, I’m quite a good friend of Chesney Hawkes, who was just in the Big Brother house, and he was supposed to play a couple of songs last tour.
He was going to pop up and play like ‘The One and Only’ at one of our shows last year and we couldn’t make it happen because our guitarist ended up having a baby early and we didn’t have enough time to do it. I think we will have to play ‘Michaela Strachan’ on tour, though.
You have a song titled ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ named after the rock ‘n’ roll legend, besides the Memphis icon, who are your favourite music legends?
I’ve got a holy trinity: The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The [Rolling] Stones, everything goes back to those bands for me.
I also like REM I’d love for them to get back together. They were one of the first bands I saw and when they split up I honestly mourned when they split us up, I was depressed for like two weeks. Their last album was so good.
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They’ve done a few shows now so I don’t whether they’ll get back together, but that is definitely something I would love to see.
With this tour celebrating the remarkable 15 year anniversary of Everyone Wants To Be On TV, are there any songs off this project you wish fans showed more attention to when the album initially came out?
There was a song called ‘Take A Chance’ which was the last single, I hadn’t listened to the album for many years but going back and listening to it properly there’s some really good moments on it.
You spoke on social media about your single ‘The Place We Used To Meet’ and the album of the same name being very personal to you. Did fans respond the same way they did to your first few records?
It was a slightly different record. I suppose the songs were a bit more like this inner love song in terms of being more introspective, a bit more ballady. We still had an amazing response to it and we’re really, really proud of that album. But I don’t think it had like a banger like our first records.
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If you could pick one song off The Place We Used To Meet that each of you connects to the most, what would it be and why?
Glow. It was one of the singles and it’s all about how I sort of met my wife and how we met in Tokyo, got engaged, went back to Tokyo and I proposed to her. I went and did a video [for ‘Glow’] in Tokyo too. So it’s really special.
I think we’re working out what songs we’re going to put in the festival set but I think that’s still got to be in there.
Have there been any moments in your career that have made you feel like ‘The Luckiest Boy In The World’?
‘This Ain’t A Love Song’, because it went to number one and we got to play ChristmasTop of the Pops. It was a massive thing for us – that was definitely a bucket list moment.
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We also made Pete, our drummer, wear a Santa costume and told him we were all going to dress up, then we walked out the dressing rooms and he was the only one in an outfit, so he’s just there with this whole Santa costume and beard set while we’re just dressed looking normal.
To this day, he can’t prove that he was actually on Top of the Pops because it just looks like a guy with a massive beard.
Scouting for Girls are heading out on tour to celebrate 15 years of ‘Everybody Wants To Be On TV’.
Wigan band The Lathums announce five gigs at five intimate Manchester venues
Daisy Jackson
The Lathums have announced five intimate shows at some of the most iconic grassroots venues in Manchester.
The huge Wigan band will be taking it back to their roots and performing at some of the venues that ‘helped them get started’, from super-intimate bars to legendary small venues.
The Lathums have announced the five-night tour in Manchester in celebration of the fifth anniversary of their chart-topping debut album, How Beautiful Life Can Be.
They’ll be playing to small crowds at Night & Day, Deaf Institute, Gorilla, New Century, and the O2 Ritz next spring.
At each of the five gigs they’ll perform their debut album in full along with other fan favourites from their impress back catalogue.
How Beautiful Life Can Be went straight to number one on the UK official charts on its release in 2021, with top songs like ‘Oh My Love’, ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’, and ‘I’ll Get By’.
Meet Larishka – the DJ making her mark on Manchester’s Garage scene
Emily Johnson
It’s time to meet Larishka – Audio North’s Artist of the Month for October.
For Larishka, music has always been around her in some form. Growing up surrounded by classical and rock music, she never expected her route into electronic music to begin with a Parklife set from Carl Cox, before eventually becoming a DJ, promoter, and co-owner of Manchester’s Ghosts of Garage.
Today, she runs events, DJs across House, Garage and Bass, and is helping build a community around one of Manchester’s most exciting electronic music brands.
From promoter to DJ
Larishka actually started out as a promoter while doing an apprenticeship at a music booking agency. She always knew she wanted to work on the events side rather than bookings, but felt like she wasn’t going to make many connections within the industry while living in Oldham.
Her plan was to go to university to study music, with the hope of learning to produce while also moving into Manchester and making connections within the city’s music scene.
Quite quickly into her studies, she joined Ghosts of Garage. After about a year, she had something of a lightbulb moment.
Meet Larishka, the DJ making her mark on Manchester’s Garage scene / Credit: Supplied
“I was studying music, I run my own nights, and I was always on the aux at house parties, so why have I not learned to DJ yet?” she explained.
That realisation came while she was sitting on MATTIK’s living room sofa, where she asked if he would teach her. Before long, she was calling him every day asking if they could go to the studio and practise mixing.
“I owe it to him really, he was a brilliant teacher.”
“I get it” – the Parklife moment that changed everything
Larishka’s introduction to electronic music wasn’t exactly the traditional one.
“I grew up on classical and rock music – my dad was a sound engineer in the 70s so that was his thing really, and my mum played the piano every single day so that’s what I was constantly around.”
She first heard house music when she was around 15 or 16, after a friend sent her a track they had found on SoundCloud.
“I listened to it out of my phone and didn’t really get it, it was too repetitive.”
A few years later, everything changed. After hearing Parklife from her window every year growing up, Larishka eventually went to the festival for the first time and watched Carl Cox close The Valley. He played ‘Finder’ by Ninetoes, and it was the first time she had experienced electronic music on a huge sound system.
“I remember being in absolute awe and turning to my friend and saying ‘I get it’ and from then, I was just absolutely hooked.”
It became a genuine turning point.
“I had my A Level exams that following week and when I was revising all I was listening to was house music and I remember my Dad coming in and saying ‘Is this you forever now?’ and I said ‘Yeah I think it is'”.
Larishka is Audio North’s Artist of the Month for October / Credit: Supplied
Why Manchester means so much
“I mean it’s home, and always has been.”
Having become part of the city’s music scene, she says she feels incredibly lucky to have found a community around her.
“There’s a certain camaraderie that exists here that I don’t know that you’d find anywhere else.”
For her, that sense of community is what makes Manchester’s music scene so special.
“Seeing people you know everywhere you go, you kinda feel like you’re never alone and that you’re actually part of something.”
That spirit extends beyond electronic music, too.
“And it’s not just in electronic music either, that spirit exists across all genres – Manchester music history is so rooted across such a broad spectrum of genres, and to see that still prevailing today is something we should all be proud of.”
Building Ghosts of Garage
It’s impossible to talk about Larishka’s journey without talking about Ghosts of Garage.
She’s a co-owner of the brand, having joined in 2021, and works across its marketing, bookings and creative direction alongside Rich Reason. For her, one of the biggest things that makes a Ghosts of Garage night stand out is its commitment to the music.
“The music and lineups truly never miss, which is a credit to Rich. The guy knows how to program a lineup.”
The team makes a conscious effort to champion new talent, often including at least one Manchester or UK debut on a lineup.
“A big part of each event is making them unique while keeping the brand consistent – each event has to have its own USP or else the nights get boring and people think they can just skip this one and go to the next and it’ll be the same.”
For Larishka, music has always been around her in some form / Credit: Supplied
Community is a huge part of the brand.
“We’re also big advocates of community and want to create the gap between audience and DJ as little as possible, so try to get the crowd involved as much as possible through things like our WhatsApp community.”
The aim is to make people feel like buying a ticket means becoming part of something bigger.
“We want people to feel like if you buy a ticket for our event, then you’ve unlocked a key to be part of something.”
Larishka’s advice for getting into Manchester’s music scene
For anyone hoping to break into Manchester’s music scene, Larishka’s advice is simple – go out.
“I’m way more likely to book you if we’ve met and we’ve had a good chat because it means I can put a face to a name and I know what you’re like.”
For her, being part of the community is about more than simply sending messages and asking for opportunities.
“Being an active member of the community means you’re already part of the night, so booking you to DJ just makes you even more part of it than you already are, rather than someone I’ve never met before who’s in my DMs.”
Ultimately, it comes back to the same thing that has shaped so much of Larishka’s own journey – showing up, meeting people, and becoming part of something.
Thomas Melia -
5th May 2025 
