We love competitions, you love free stuff. It's a lovely set up, isn't it? Well we're bringing you a massive February give-away courtesy of Sheffield's own Glory Watch Company.

We're giving you not one, not two, but three seperate deals staggered over this month, all of them from Glory. Located down on Hickmott Rd, Glory have been supplying Sheffield with the finest writst-bling for a year now, and thanks to their website, they've even stretched their borders to the rest of Europe and beyond.

So how do you enter?

Peasy ... just keep your eyes peeled on our clock for the release dates of each watch competition. As the clock counts down, we'll release the competition teaser, the first to send in the right answer, wins our first watch.

Would you rather take a short cut and be emailed when each competition goes live? No problem! Simply click here and enter your email address. (Don't forget, you need to be registered with us before you can enter any competition!)

Get 20% off in store!

But we're not just content with giving away these three fabulous watches, however. There's 20% off to be had at Glory's shop throughout February and March when you simply quote 'Exposed'. Or if that's too far to trek, head over to their wesbite for a 10% discount. Just use the voucher code expo777.

Click here to read Exposed Magazine's Competition Terms & Conditions.

We love competitions, you love free stuff. It's a lovely set up, isn't it? Well we're bringing you a massive February give-away courtesy of Sheffield's own Glory Watch Company.

We're giving you not one, not two, but three seperate deals staggered over this month, all of them from Glory. Located down on Hickmott Rd, Glory have been supplying Sheffield with the finest writst-bling for a year now, and thanks to their website, they've even stretched their borders to the rest of Europe and beyond.

So how do you enter?

Peasy ... just keep your eyes peeled on our clock for the release dates of each watch competition. As the clock counts down, we'll release the competition teaser, the first to send in the right answer, wins our first watch.

Would you rather take a short cut and be emailed when each competition goes live? No problem! Simply click here and enter your email address. (Don't forget, you need to be registered with us before you can enter any competition!)

Get 20% off in store!

But we're not just content with giving away these three fabulous watches, however. There's 20% off to be had at Glory's shop throughout February and March when you simply quote 'Exposed'. Or if that's too far to trek, head over to their wesbite for a 10% discount. Just use the voucher code expo777.

Click here to read Exposed Magazine's Competition Terms & Conditions.

“She is so fucking mainstream.”

In episode five of Channel 4’s popular student sitcom “Fresh Meat”, Vod explains why she wants to attack a statue of Florence Nightingale and I am not the only one to laugh out loud.

Tonight, actress Zawe Ashton playing the rebellious character is DJing O2 Academy’s club night Propaganda in Sheffield. As she steps to the decks, a booing crowd greets her.

“Boos are good, right,” she shouts confidently and kicks off with Blink 182’s ‘All The Small Things’.

The Arctic Monkeys are next, followed by Vampire Weekend and Franz Ferdinand. She has chosen a very safe set list for her first Sheffield gig.

A group of pub golfers lend the celebrity DJ a hat, Nirvana is blasted through the speakers and the crowd is raving to music a tiny notch heavier than what is normally played at ‘the UK’s biggest indie night’.

Zawe demands “more tongue” and plays Mumford & Sons before rounding up.

“This is for you, the students. I can smell the freshers, the fresh meat,” she says and thanks her ever booing, yet dancing, onlookers.

She skilfully finishes off with student song number one; The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’, and I find myself wishing that she had tapped into her daring character more, playing her personal favourites rather than anyone’s idea of a student rock soundtrack.

In comparison to Vod’s lines on the show, Zawe’s DJ set is predictable and way too mainstream. Not sure we should attack her for it, though.

Bella Qvist

Jan 27

I'm Chloe, the newly appointed fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger for Exposed. Few facts about me. 1) I’m from Sheffield.  2) I love anything fashion or beauty related, I am literally obsessed. 3) I have over 50 pairs of shoes and counting. 4). I can’t stand flat hair, I simply CANNOT leave the house without a bouffant or some sort of backcombed style (I have a small head you see).

ANYWAY, with the introduction and formalities over i can now tell you all about my blog and all the exciting things I have in store (well, closet). There'll be fab reviews on the latest beauty products, I'll be keeping you up-to-date with the latest trends, as well as letting you peek into my own style and happenings in my life (don’t worry it’ll only be the exciting stuff, I won’t bore you with what I had for tea today etc). As a Sheffield girl I'll also be keeping you in touch with any kind of fashion/beauty related news that is occurring in the steel city, as well as around the country.

So jump in, don't bump your head and I hope you enjoy reading my blog! 

Love

Snoxin

Snoxin. Not the prettiest of names for a beauty product i must admit, however, this peptide formula which has been described as “botox in a bottle” and “facelift in a tube” claims to reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles in just 3 days, yes you didn’t read that wrong, 3 DAYS! At £29.99 a bottle, this product is affordable and according to quite a few testimonials it actually works. Which is nice for a change. See the evidence for yourself here.

Snoxin is generating a buzz as the best anti-ageing beauty product of 2012, so keep a look out for it’s’ release in February at all Boots stores. If you see a riot of wrinkly women outside Boots then you know Snoxin has just been launched.

Noir G de Guerlain Mascara

Guerlain have created the first mascara that gives your lashes a blow-dry effect, meaning eyelash curlers will be a thing of the past! Personally i have never used eye lash curlers as 1) I’m lazy and 2) They feel weird. However i don’t think i can resist something that is packaged so luxuriously and will make my make-up collection look more expensive than it is (this is a challenge due to my love of hoarding crap). It is enclosed in a lavish jewel case, and the mascara contains a formula that plumps and thickens every lash.

If that isn’t enough, Guerlain have gone one step further and made it a refillable wand applicator, making it easy and convenient to switch to a new one as soon as you need it. And of course to top it off, the case includes a hidden mirror; is there anything Guerlain can’t do? I’d say this isn’t just any old mascara; it is a super-duper, out-of-this-world magic mascara and is definitely worth all £35 of it. Available from February.

The Harley Medical Group Skin Care Range

If you were going to trust any skin care range to improve your skin then I’m pretty sure the Harley Medical Group’s skin care range is the one. Having been the choice for cosmetic surgery by celebrities for years, it isn’t hard to believe that these guys know a thing or two when it comes to improving your appearance.

Available for the New Year, this range has taken three years to develop, which is priced from £14 to £69. Trials have shown visible results including dramatic skin smoothing and anti-ageing!  There are different packages for different skin types including a range for guys; which could be a fab Valentines present (just make sure he gets you something just as amazing) Available now from The Harley Medical Group website.

Clarins Instant Light Blush

A limited edition liquid blush that puts the glowing life back into post-winter skin, and will be available just in time for Spring! It will be available in two gorgeous shades, Vitamin Pink and Coral Tonic, which applied on top of Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector guarantees a natural, healthy-looking, luminous glow.

Applied with a sponge tip applicator these liquid blushes promise to glide onto cheeks and deliver natural looking colour. I love light weight blushers when the weather starts warming up, so i shall be at the front of the queue for these bad boys, watch out! Available in February, £19.

Have you tried any of these products yet? If so how did you get on? Let me know if there’s any other new and exciting beauty products that you would like me to review!

CC x

Red Tape Studios is Sheffield’s leading ICT, Music Technology and Business Administration centre - offering a host of training courses and industry recognised qualifications.

We caught up with head honcho Omith Mukhurjee, Studio Manager, who himself has enjoyed an illustrious music past prior to taking over the reins. Here's what he had to say....

You’ve worked with a host of stars over the years. Forget modesty, dish the names.

Probably the most famous people I’ve worked with are Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Lionel Richie, Spice Girls, Chemical Brothers, Ant and Dec. Some real cheese, but big names. I think the most exciting one was Celine Dion because I went into the studio and heard her stuff and thought ‘this isn’t going to be a hit’ and it was 9 weeks at number one. I clearly don’t know how to spot a hit record.

Are you still in touch with any celebs?

Honestly, not really. The industry is very fast moving. I got older and just moved on. I’m probably in touch with the musicians more - thanks to Facebook. It’s great for that kind of thing. I’m in touch with some people but not the top names. Funnily enough, I called up Lionel Richie a few years ago. I had a demo and, like an exciting kid, I wanted him to hear it. Someone answered and said he’s moved. I was like, ‘oh, that’s it then’. I still have the number in my book but it doesn’t mean anything anymore.

Is there anything you regret in your career?

I’ve made tons of mistakes. I can’t add Mariah Carey at the height of her fame to the list, simply because I was disorganised. My passport wasn’t up to date so I didn’t get the job. That was thousands of pounds I missed out on. I don’t mind telling students that the only reason I didn’t get that job was because I was disorganised. Hopefully, they’ll learn from me.

How do you feel about shows like the X-Factor?

In the days I was working, it was very different to X Factor. You went to interviews and they’d give you a cup of tea or a beer and say do you want to play something? And you’d just whip out the guitar and play. It was all very friendly. It wasn’t like this corporate stuff you see on TV. It’s very much about the people who can’t sing - and once it gets onto the finals people seem to lose interest.

That’s where I got the idea that Red Tape should be much friendlier than it was because it was becoming a bit elitist. Like ‘oh no, you can’t do this.’ And I thought: ‘hang on a minute, if you saw me the first time I played on stage they turned the lights off and the whole audience was laughing and one teacher was threatening to expel me’. I was that terrible. You wouldn’t think ‘that kids gonna play on number one records’. But I did.

We do a thing which we call Red Tape X-Factor which is one of the things we do to try and get young people to come in and refine their skills. We video them and then gently criticise. It’s not so much a competition. We will give more studio time to the people who perform the best - but everyone gets free studio time, which would cost £50 an hour in some cases. It’s kind of a band development programme.

We’re a good version of X-Factor because we see everyone as on a journey. X-Factor is basically taking the mickey out of people and it’s primarily entertainment. What we’re doing here is kind of inverting that and assuming that people need to learn. So, we accept that.

Did you play on any songs our readers may recognise?

A lot of the things I did were promoting songs like ‘Think Twice’ (Celine Dion). So I was involved in promotion rather than being involved on the albums. That was the kind of work we did in those days. And the background of it was when these Americans come over it was actually a lot cheaper to hire musicians from England than it is to bring in their own people. So it was good fun working on records.

Is it true there’s footage of you on Top of the Pops?

I do have some footage on Top of the Pops. But there was a lot. There was about 30 Top of the Pops performances that I did. I played with Celine Dion a lot and Lionel Richie. Then little things you may not have heard of - like the Tampax advert. ‘It’s My Life’ (Dr Alban). It was number two or something in 1996. But lots of stuff like that. I was mainly playing guitar. I did bits of bass and I did one gig with keyboards… but I’m really bad. I have little hands. Some would say I’m not good at guitar as well, but let’s not go there. Backing vocals was a big thing too because I didn’t sing. And then my agent said ‘you would make a lot more money if you could just sing’ and I said ‘I sort of sing’. So I sang for him and he said: ‘no, that’s not singing’. So I went off and got these classical lessons in Sheffield, which is what’s always kept me linked to Sheffield.

How easy was it to make the transition from musician to lecturer?

It wasn’t easy. Basically, as I got older, I realised that you don’t know when the cheques are coming in or what gigs you’re doing. A lot of the Red Tape staff are gigging still. Even me. We play for free, and as a bit of fun, but we all came here wanting to teach. I used to teach people how to sing and play guitar just one to one. And then I thought I better do this more, because I’m not doing as much work as I used to. As I got older people started telling me ‘well, you don’t look 21 anymore, you look 30.’ So you can’t work with such and such people - and you can’t apply for certain jobs. I was quite flattered I was getting away with it. I was about 30 and I still looked like a baby. So I got away with it long enough. I then started doing jobs with older artists and then I started teaching.

Lecturing was really hard. The first couple of lessons went well but I was struggling. I went from being an ok lecturer with fantastic stories to a really good lecturer with no stories. I don’t tend to dwell on it so much now. I don’t talk about my past too much now unless it’s relevant to the lecture. Whereas in the past I used that to get people’s attention.

Do you try to pass on your wisdom to your students?

What I’m really grateful for is that I can use my stories in context to the lesson. It’s nice to bring my experiences into the lectures so I can tell people that there’s sharks out there, how they’ll get ripped off, how they can avoid being ripped off. Maybe how to negotiate with people to get them to pay a bit of money for what you’re doing without pushing it so far that they tell you to get lost. Bring that into the lectures. So, that’s why it always comes up, and that’s how my stories are told.

What do you tend to teach your students?

This is not really well known but we actually cover every single corner of the modern music industry; business, performing arts, technology. It’s the whole package. It’s everything from audio recording, music technology and production, performing arts and music business. Performing arts are the singing and training. We also offer a DJ course. A lot of students who come to Red Tape end up going onto university.

Visit the Red Tape Studio website here.

ALL BANDS CONFIRMED AND IN ORDER....
 
 

SKY ROCKET JACK a new discovery that landed no earth not long ago. Get spaced out to Reggae, Ska, Comedy and Punk.

Fusing Folk music and Punk in a celestial music union , 5 piece orchestra THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND.

Further guests TBC.