It’s often said that all the best ideas are born in bars. With the pandemic closing pubs across the country, it’s a wonder where the next great creation is going to come from.
The concept for LooseHeadz was one of many lightbulb moments flickering into life across British boozers back in 2017.
Three men were propped up at the end of the bar at Wilmslow Rugby Club when they had this crystallizing moment that stopped them mid-sip; turning their heads away from the Lions Tour on tele.
During conversation, Dave, Mark and Rob all realised that they knew someone in sport who’d had what they called a ‘life wobble’; a moment where they’d been seriously down in the dumps.
In the past, they’d tried to raise their pal’s spirit with a cold beer, a reassuring slap on the back and distracting sports talk.
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It was all they were qualified to do. And at times it did help.
But the more the trio talked about it, the more they realised that these ‘life wobbles’ were too big for a pint to fix.
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Some of these issues were serious – and maybe even had the potential to last a lifetime.
Dave, Mark and Rob knew they didn’t have the expertise to help. But they could build a network of people who did.
Co-Founder Rob Shotton
It was at that moment they launched LooseHeadz – a brand that didn’t just talk about mental health in rugby but ‘banged the drum’ as loudly as they could so it was impossible to ignore.
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The founders drew up four core aims – prevent, promote, educate and signpost issues around mental health – and partnered with some of the best wellbeing support teams in the business, bringing the toughest athletes on board as ambassadors.
The outdated concept of masculinity as stoic defiance is so deeply embedded in sport that many male athletes have kept schtum even when they’re struggling. Sometimes with tragic consequences.
“Nobody ever wants to talk about mental health,” Rob tells us.
“But we realised that needed to change. Suicide biggest killer of men under 45.
“What makes us a bit different is that we use rugby as a vehicle to inspire and educate people as to what we’re all about: Normalising the conversation and tackling the stigma.
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“We’ve got 26 ambassadors on board now. If the likes of Ugo Monye, Gareth Anscombe, Brad Shields, Josh Matavesi – these big macho characters – are saying it’s ok not to be ok, people will listen.”
One ambassador, Saracens’ Alex Lewington, says he’s “loved being involved in LooseHeadz”.
“The world is constantly evolving and providing new and challenging issues for people to deal with,” commented the winger.
“The more we talk about it, the better equipped we are to understand and combat mental health issues.”
Amber Reed, England and Bristol Bears player, has also voiced her support for the brand – labelling herself a “LooseHead and proud”.
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“I didn’t hesitate when asked to be part of the LooseHeadz movement that looks to tackle the stigma around mental health,” she added.
“LooseHeadz do a fantastic job in reaching out to the community, sharing relatable stories, and supporting those in need.”
Another big name on the roster is rugby league legend Shaun Edwards – who acts as patron of the LooseHeadz Foundation.
Another arm of the brand is the LooseHeadz Academy – which offers a membership scheme and open forum for people to talk about wellbeing with confidence.
The Academy is now home to 100 global fans who fervently believe in the LooseHeadz mission and do their bit to spread the word.
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There’s also the Partnership Programme – which sees LooseHeadz work alongside clubs at grassroots, amateur and professional level to raise awareness of just how important great mental health is – and the Wellbeing Through Sport initiative; which is designed to nurture the positive mental health and wellbeing of children through physical activities.
To make all this happen, money is generated through the LooseHeadz fashion range – which is worn by athletes right the way around the world.
“We made an effort to create some really cool clothing,” Rob explains.
“We wanted to create a really high quality range.
“With most charity t-shirts, you wear it once or twice and then it just gets left in the bottom of your wardrobe.
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“But our stuff is something people can be proud to wear.
“The logo is an ‘L’ and “H’ – made up to look like rugby posts.”
The company is currently working with as many as 62 clubs in multiple countries.
Domestically, the brand is already well-recognised. But long-term, the plan is to ‘get a LooseHead’ (a mental health support officer who champions wellbeing) inside most rugby teams.
That way, they can start to make a real difference.
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“Having a LooseHead in a team removes the stigma,” Rob informs us .
“They do different roles depending on the needs of the club, but they also create constant awareness too – spreading the world and educating people about mental health.
“There’s so much more we can do to keep normalising the conversation and we need to keep doing it.”
It’s been a busy few years since the three owners found the idea for LooseHeadz at the bottom of a pint glass. But the hard work has only just started.
With lockdown sending mental health plummeting in 2020, having the likes of LooseHeadz keeping a close eye on rugby isn’t just advantageous – it’s essential.
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“Looseheadz is not for us – it’s for everyone,” Rob says.
“We’d love to grow and expand into more rugby-loving nations beyond Britain. But right now it’s all about striking up great relationships wherever we can.
“Hopefully we can change things.
“Of course, we’ll never truly know how many people we’ve helped.
“But one thing for sure is we’ll just keep on going.”
Feature
Wunderhorse’s Jacob Slater on the band’s rise, second album, raw energy on stage and more
Danny Jones
We recently sat down with Wunderhorse lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Jacob Slater to discuss the alternative rock band’s rise and the release of what we’re naming the frontrunner for album of the year.
Nope, not exaggerating – it really is that good.
As one of the most exciting lyricists and all-round talents, not to mention the frontman for arguably one of the best new bands around right now, Jacob Slater is amassing a fiercely passionate following of loyal fans who are lapping every second, from the quietly released solo project to cult favourite live clips.
He also happens to have helped co-write and create one of the biggest middle fingers to so-called ‘sophomore syndrome’ there’s been in years, as Wunderhorse’s second record Midas has genuinely been on repeat in the office non-stop since release – safe to say we had a lot to say in this interview.
Interview | Jacob Slater on Wunderhorse gaining serious traction
So what’s it been like watching this thing become as big as it has of late?
We’ve all been in various projects over the last decade or so that have, kind of, maybe gone somewhere, but not kind of like properly taken off to the point where we were satisfied with, and I think this is the first time we’ve all been in something that’s really starting to work.
So, yeah, it’s been sort of 10 years plus in the making and so, yeah, it feels good.
We first saw you supporting Sam Fender at Castlefield Bowl and the crowd was already there – do you have any standout memories from that gig?
Manchester’s always just been very good to us. It usually sells out; it’s one of the first ones on the tours to kind of sell out and people always seem really up for it.
I think from that Sam show it was just that it was a big step up for us. I think that was the day after we did those two gigs with Fontaines [D.C.] at Ivy Gardens, but prior to that weekend, you know, we hadn’t done anything quite like that.
We’d been playing, you know, 200-250 cap venues max, so to go from that to thousands of people was, you know, it’s quite a shock but it weirdly felt right. It was like, ‘Yeah, this is what we want to be doing’, you know?
For sure, and you’ve just mentioned Fontaines there, who also have new music out and you’ve spoken before about them bringing guitar-driven music back to the forefront. How does it feel to be helping spearhead that revival?
It feels good, man. We’ve been lucky enough to play with them a few times and they’re definitely very good at what they do, and it’s nice to see so many people connecting with that kind of music again. And, yeah, if we’re included in that, then all the better.
Now onto Midas itself, we have our own favourites already but do you guys have a particular standout that you’re most excited for people to hear live?
It’s interesting really – I think the one that wasn’t actually going to be a single.
You know, these days you think you’re going to do three singles and you end up doing 10, because you know the general population has the attention span of a goldfish, but it’s like you have to kind of try and keep people engaged or whatever. I don’t know why. If it was up to me, we’d release a lot less.
But yeah, one that wasn’t supposed to be released as a single was ‘Rain’, but actually I realised it’s one of my favourite moments on the record. I probably would have still saved it for the album, but now it’s out, yeah, I like that one.
Yeah, that’s a really addictive song. I’d say it has a lot of the qualities people love about you guys in that it’s very straight to the point – maybe a bit more aggressive. It’s almost like the attitude comes first and the melody comes second this time, is that how you see it?
I think it’s just more of an accurate representation of who we are. The Cub [debut album] stuff, those songs some of them were written when I was a teenager and I was still finding my way in and trying to find my feet in terms of how I felt comfortable writing.
I think Midas is arriving at that point with a band around us and going okay, this is who we are and I’m confident in that, you know.
Did it come out of more of experimentation, that you sort of like got back to that? Like, was there a sound you were going for or just whatever came out in the studio?
No, I mean we came into the studio with all these ideas, most of which just fell by the wayside, like we didn’t actually work them out, which is quite scary.
We were over in America, the label spent a load of money and we didn’t know what we were going to do, but once we got ‘Midas’ the actual title track together, everything sort of fell into place and we ended up just writing most of the record out there in the studio.
It was that old cliche about capturing lightning in a bottle; there was something in the air that allowed us to create this world very, very quickly, so yeah, yeah, it’s just a product of that really.
I think it’s everyone’s input as well, i.e. you’re hearing songs as they’re coming into being rather than after they’ve been learned and played live and kind of levelled out.
You’re still hearing them, with all their errors in, and I think that’s a really magic place for songs to live and they’re only there very briefly, so I feel very lucky that we managed to capture them at that point, because most of the time you don’t.
Love that. There’s also plenty of breadth to the sound as well, from grunge to shoegaze and then more indie roots. I know you’ve mentioned a lot of your influences in the past but what sort of stuff were you listening to when making Midas?
I mean, I’ve always listened to grunge – that was always a big thing, especially for me and Harry [Fowler, lead guitarist] growing up. I met Harry when I was like 14 or something and that’s what we bonded over, you know, that 90s sound, so it’s always been there.
And you know I’ve always loved sort of the older, heavier sort of stuff from the early punk days in the US like The Stooges, they’re one of my favourite bands of all time, so it’s always kind of been there it’s just that on Cub I wasn’t really exploring that.
I wanted to, I just couldn’t get the sound right for it, but this time it’s like, okay, this is more like bringing that into the picture and I feel like it was missing before and now it’s well represented in Wunderhorse.
For sure, I mean you’re very much considered part of this modern post-punk movement – do you feel assigned to that at all or is it just you play whatever you like?
Yeah, we just make whatever music we feel like at the time. Yeah, the whole post-punk thing: I always get confused with the labels. You know, there’s people who sort of can fit everything into all these little tiny little pigeon holes and I get lost with all the posts and pres. I just like what I like really.
The best way to be. What about the contemporary then, who are you listening to at the minute?
There’s an artist called Wu-Lu from south London headed up by a guy called Miles, I’m always interested to see what they’re going to do next.
There’s a band called Sorry as well who are heading out on tour with Fontaines and, yeah, I like bands that you know sort of unpredictable and I just don’t know what they’re going to do next but honestly, I’m a bit of a hermit in that a lot of my music taste is kind like I’m a bit of an old man.
I sort of like live under a rock a bit; It’s great when people show me new stuff, I’m just not that active and kind of going out and and looking for it. If I come across it then great but you know, it usually takes somebody who’s a bit more in the know to give me a nudge and say, oh, have you heard this?
That’s fair haha. Well, going back to old stuff, with the news that one of your favourites, the Sex Pistols, going back out on tour with Frank Carter, if you could front for one band’s reunion who would it be?
Oh I dunno, I don’t think I’d do it with any. I think if it was a band I really liked I’d be sort of quaking in my boots trying to. There’s plenty of bands I’d want to bring back, though.
I’d love to have, you know, seen The Clash around 1979. That would’ve been great as London Calling was kind of coming together, and The Stooges back in the day, around ’69-70, would have been off the chart as well.
Absolutely, and speaking gigs, how excited are you to head out on tour and how do you think the live experience is going to differ from previous shows now, if at all?
I think it’s just that the songs are really, really simple and they all just go pretty hard for the most part. There are a couple of slow ones on the record, but they’re just a great vehicle for just thrashing sh*t out.
I think that’s really what we wanted to do with this album as well: make something super simple, just really simple, good songs, and I think that we’ve done that. It makes it very easy to just take it out, play it live, just have some fun and not be too precious about them.
These songs don’t want you to be precious, they don’t want to be handled with care, so that’s good.
That works for us and yeah, I mean you’re known for a fair few antics and being pretty raw on stage, from sticking your fingers down your throat to jumping in the crowd and pretending you’re in the front row. Where does that energy come from, or is it whatever feels right in the moment?
Yeah, I never plan anything I do. I feel like sometimes you can catch yourself and find you’re almost about to do something because it worked last time. You have to stop that immediately because then it becomes a performance, it becomes this like a rehearsed thing.
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You’re just kidding yourself and you’re kidding the audience, it’s not a good way to be, I don’t think – well for us anyway. I think a lot of that stuff just comes from being cooped up in a tour bus all day, you know.
You’re naturally someone who’s got quite a few things going on in your head, then you’re offered this stage and loads of people you’re, so it’s a good place to sort of bring those things into like tangible reality however you want.
Honestly, it sounds like a sort of cliched kind of thing to say but, actually, the stage is that time where I can really be myself and do all the things that I want to do the rest of the day – but you usually can’t, because then, you know, you wouldn’t get invited around for Christmas anymore [he grins].
There are so many things that I think a lot of people feel and want to do and you can’t, but on the stage for that hour, what we say goes and what a rare opportunity to actually just do whatever you want, so yeah yeah, like you say, it’s not contrived if it’s your domain and it feels right in the moment.
And lastly, it would be daft not to ask you about any Northern bands you’ve admired coming up?
Stone Roses, they were a massive influence. I think you just hit a period in your mid-teens where suddenly The Stone Roses just make so much sense. I mean, those Manchester bands are so well documented, I’m sure I’d just be saying the same as everyone else, but obviously, The Smiths and Joy Division, Happy Mondays.
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For the most part, I mainly listen to American artists – I always find myself going back to American or Canadian songwriters, you know, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, but bands and people definitely seem to be quite drawn to that area of the country.
It’s also exciting getting an interview with an up-and-coming band but to get time with an artists like Jacob Slater and an outfit growing as fast as Wunderhorse, who might genuinely have just put out album of the year is a privilege – and if you haven’t started listening to them yet, we advise you fix that now.
Featured Images — Polocho (supplied)/Banquet Records
Feature
Review | Jonas Brothers turn Co-op Live Arena into a time machine
Oli Lowe
Watching the Jonas Brothers at the Co-op Live Arena was like stepping into a time machine that none of us ever wanted to get out of.
Although the tour was literally called ‘Five Albums, One Night’, we still somehow had our doubts as we walked up to the ever-impressive Co-op Live that we’d actually get the full spectrum of hits we were hoping for (mainly due to my disbelief that they’d actually play Camp Rock songs…)
But sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say ‘fair play’, because the Jonas Brothers delivered nothing non-stop hits, from nostalgic classics to the modern-day stuff.
What a venue, what a night. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Jonas Brothers at Co-op Live, Manchester – Review
Special mentions from the off
Before I really get into the bulk of the review though, I’d just like to shout out Mimi Webb, who opened the show brilliantly at the Co-op Live. From the moment she walked on stage you could have genuinely been fooled into thinking she was the one headlining.
Delivering many of her hits such as ‘Erase You’, ‘House on Fire’, ‘Good Without’ and more, she was the perfect support act for a crowd that was ready to party the night away.
Special mention also goes out to the actual venue: last night was admittedly my first time stepping foot into the Co-op Live and I was absolutely blown away, not only by the sheer size of the place but by how smoothly everything ran.
I know it may sound like a moot point but the best venues are the ones where you barely even notice all the effort that goes into the operation of ensuring customers have the best experience possible.
There’s nothing worse than paying good money for a ticket only to be held up in queues for the bar, toilet, or even just to get in; Co-op Live certainly ensures those problems don’t occur. It genuinely filled me with a little bit of Manc pride knowing that we have a music venue that good, right on our doorstep.
Let’s go, Jo’ Bros
Anyway, onto the actual concert and can I first of all just start by saying, or rather screaming, AHHHHH!…
I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and admit Camp Rock was a seminal part of my early teenage years and that I’ve had a burning love for the Jonas Brothers ever since.
One thing that I really respected about their show is how they didn’t try to hide from their roots. There’s many a ‘child actor turned superstar’ out there who would love nothing more than to eradicate the memory of them ever being a plucky Disney channel regular.
Not these lads, however. The Jo’ Bros seem to fully own their pre-teen and small screen past, wearing that reputation not with any adolescent cringe but instead like a badge of honour.
The show truly did span their entire discography, from ‘Gotta Find You’ (Camp Rock), all the way through to their latest record – fittingly called, The Album. It was two and a half hours of banger after banger… after banger, after BANGER, (I could go on—actually, I might…); after banger, after banger.
Okay, I’m done. Seriously though, the crowd were absolutely loving every moment of it. Every time one song ended and another began, within the first three notes being played, all you could hear was 23,000 simultaneous screams from adoring fans, ourselves firmly included.
In summary, the vibes were immaculate, the songs were stunning, the audience had the times of their lives and for one very special evening with inhibition left at the front door, a trio of siblings from across the pond made it felt like all might be well in the world once again.
Hyperbole? Maybe, but that’s what pop music’s all about.
For future reference, we’ll fight anyone who dares to mock the Jonas Brothers as just some guilty pleasure.
That anyone should show shame for enjoying because last night they completely rocked (‘Camp Rock!’) the show, in an arena already heralded by many music legends.
You just have to be grateful for moments like these. Thank you, Jonas Brothers.
We know this write-up is 40% ‘review’ and about 60% Jonas Brothers fanboying — deal with it. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The Manc -
11th February 2021 
