We’re really really pleased to announce that 1 More Thing will be hosting our own monthly radio show on BMC Radio!
From May 3 onward you can catch us on the first Saturday of every month from 12 – 4pm as we roll out boundary-free musical explorations complete with guests, interviews, b2bs and plenty more.
Heck, you can even come down, join us live and enjoy some food or drink and get involved as we broadcast!
This is such a beautiful spot… Operating from a storage container in a South London pub beer garden – The Pacific Tavern, Surrey Quays – BMC Radio have a unique set-up and inspiring ethos that complements our own principles perfectly and, following our takeover a few weeks back in March, we can’t wait to return and consolidate our link-up. For a little flavour of BMC studio and how conducive it is to musical mischief, just take a peep at the recent Come B2B With Me episode with Pinks which was captured during our takeover…
Vibes! There’s a strong chance you’re acquainted with BMC Radio already. But if not, here’s how it all began and why it’s such an exciting platform and community.
The Story Of BMC Radio
Just like all grassroots projects, there’s a deep and inspiring story behind this. A story that – just like our own platform and so many others – effectively came about through that really shitty period five years ago where none of us could see each other or even be within two metres of each other.
“Yeah it’s your classic lockdown story,” laughs BMC co-founder Larry over the phone. Known as Larry Plays Records, he’s been a jobbing, full-time DJ for 16 years. A well versed musical afficionado with a special penchant for soul, disco and house music, he’s what one might describe as a ‘real DJ’ in that he’s just as comfortable, and likely, to be playing at wedding or a private member’s club as he is a club, festival or indeed a radio station. You get the vibe from Larry that you could book him for literally any type of event and he’d have the perfect tunes for it.
With DJing playing such a core role in his life, when lockdown hit, he found himself rather lost.
“Oh massively, I didn’t know what to do!” he admits. “So I did what I do best… DJ’d!”
Part of the streaming community who kept us all sane during those frustrating years, at one point Larry did a 24 hour stream raising over £5000 for a local food bank. This triggered some neighbourhood focus which would lead to BMC.
“A guy from a pub had this shed which was a kind of outdoor bar that had got run down. He was like, ‘Do you want to use this as a studio?” Larry explains. “It was open at the side so we couldn’t keep the equipment there but we had a drinks company to pay for it to be developed and made proper and then we started. Just me and some mates. Then others would come down see it and asked if they can get involved I before I knew it, we had around a hundred DJs and a full schedule going on. By then it was the end of the 2021 lockdown and that was us for the next three years.”
From these selfless acts of giving a community developed. The shed in The Hope & Anchor’s beer garden was BMC’s home and created a spot where a people could gather, collaborate and inspire each other just as much in reality as they could via the internet. What’s more, because the spot had been provided for free, the show could be free for DJs to join too. While most stations have to rely on subs from contributors to survive and cover operational costs, BMC could create a space for creatives, DJs and budding broadcasters for free and fund itself through donations.
“This isn’t about making profit, this is about creating something that really inspires people and gives the community a service. I hope to keep it that way, too.” Larry smiles. “Certainly while we’re being provided with spaces for free.”
Which is handy as the 2.0 version of BMC happened in the summer 2024 when the whole operation was given a complete reboot, refresh and relocation.
“Honestly? I wasn’t sure if it was going to continue,” Larry admits. “It was getting a bit much, my wife went back to work, we were juggling nursery, childcare, I was doing the radio and all my gigs as well. I was ready to pack it in, but then the guys at Pacific Tavern were like, ‘Do want a shipping container? How could I say no to that?”
BMC 2.0
When The Hope & Anchor spot had run its course, the Pacific Tavern stepped in and saved the station’s life. Once again it provided a physical location that’s purpose built for socialising and once again it was a creative DIY idea that triggered it all.
“People just keep giving me spaces to do studios in and I can’t say no,” Larry admits. “It would be a disservice to all the people around me if I didn’t kind of give it a go. So yeah, we moved, we took a little while to get the shipping container sorted out. We had a lot of condensation and issues with the freezing cold temperatures over winter. But now we’re kind of getting into springtime. It’s great. We’ve got the hatch open. People are out in the garden while we’re playing. Yeah, it seems to have all paid off. All the hard work paid off now.”
Hard work needs hard recognising and no DJ is an island, of course. Larry is quick to list many other core members of the BMC family who made this all possible.
“My right hand guy is Joe, AKA Coulson,” he explains. “Joe has always been good at setting up the tech side of things. he does photography and pulls out some weird and wonderful music for his shows. Such a great person to bounce ideas off. His partner Emma came up with our logo and helped us develop branding. She and her sister have also done some great shows.”
“Another original founder is Ulysse,” Larry continues. “When we started he was working in a club and used to organise BMC events there which helped pay for a lot of the stuff we needed when we were starting up. Cory Bocker is another old DJ friend who has been broadcasting with us since the beginning and is great at editing audio so works on little idents and things like that for us.”
Larry’s list is steeped in close BMC family names and wholesome stories and connections. While there’s no way to shine a spotlight on every person involved in the station within this short feature, heart-warming stories include ones such as Keep Movin’ AKA Rory and Brooke; a couple who literally got together through BMC and met through playing on the station.
“Rory has really stepped up with BMC 2.0,” says Larry. “He’s now doing a weekly Friday morning show and putting together loads of videos and bits of social media content for us.”
Another wholesome tale is that of a DJ named Shuvaluv, a name now well known and respected around London through collectives and platforms such as Suena Hermosa and Animism. “He came down to the studio on the day of our first ever broadcast,” says Larry. “He had barely started DJing at the time so started helping out so he could lock himself away in the studio whenever it was free and practice mixing records.”
The rest is history and future…
Shuvluv is part of a healthy roster all representing from the new Pacific Tavern location with weekly and monthly shows. Our own monthly journey on BMC commences this Saturday May 3 but our experience hosting our takeover sealed the deal. Larry’s attention to detail and assistance as we hosted our first show (guiding us every step of way on the phone while watching us on the camera) empowered us and made us feel instantly welcome.
“I’d love to be there every day,” Larry explains. “But obviously with life and family I can’t really do that. But it’s not too hard if I’m logging in and taking a phone call quickly and getting people up and running, checking they’re all happy and then, you know, leaving them to have some fun.”
Fun being the operative word. The container has everything you need to broadcast and the location has everything you need to roll deep. It’s the perfect creative laboratory for anyone with an interest in radio, broadcasting and hosting on any level.
“Our DJs are super keen and driven and it’s nice that we can give a little space to get comfortable and practice and hone their skills,” says Larry who’s had hosts and guests pass through who have gone on to get spotlight gigs on major stations. “There’s not grassroots movements like this. It’s just like the lack of smaller clubs that we’re experiencing now as well. Those 150 capacity type spots where people can like take a risk and do their thing. Now it seems to be like either massive lineups, big clubs or like nothing or you’re just seeing a DJ at like a food market or something like that.”
It’s why 1 More Thing will always remain grassroots and community focused; creating spaces for people to grow and take risks is essential for culture to continue to take deep roots and grow strong. Without these movements, there would be no progress. Also, on a much more personal level, projects and collectives like this are where you are far more likely to make meaningful connections and friends than you would at something much bigger and commercial. These connections are the network that holds the cool stuff together.
“People say there are six degrees of separation between us all, but I think through music there are more like two degrees or separation and we all seem to find each other along the way,” Larry grins. “I actually get so much more satisfaction out of doing the radio stuff than I ever did when I was just, you know, running solo as just a DJ. When you’re a DJ, you don’t really get to see all your other mates who are DJs. You never see them because they’re out DJing when you’re out DJing. And all your mates who are your mates from growing up, you don’t see them on the weekends because you’re always DJing. But now I’ve got all these wicked mates around the radio who we could just hang out in the studio, everyone seems supportive of each other. We’ve got this WhatsApp group and it started just to relay information to people en masse, like if there was a change in the studio or something. And it just completely took on a life of its own. And people are like, sharing music that they’ve made, they’re linking up to collaborate on music, they’re sharing gigs with each other and creating things with each other. It’s beautiful.”
Long may these beautiful actions and interactions continue. As well a full broadcasting schedule, BMC can also be found hosting sporadic fundraisers across London to keep the station as buoyant as possible. One takes place the same day we host our first official show on May 3. You’ll find it at the Saint Louie, a converted church with a hand-built soundsystem. Kicking off 7pm-midnight, it’s another chance for the community to gather in a real life space.
“They’ve given us the space for free and I went down to the opening night, it was absolutely shaking. You can feel the bass going through your body. Oh god!” Larry laughs. “It’s going to be really special. Just a few of us playing back to back and hopefully a lot of familiar faces from the BMC community. It’s quite nice when people who’ve been tuning in come down and say hi. It’s nice to put names to those Mixcloud accounts.”
All proceeds will go towards BMC’s ongoing costs and help them continue to develop their shipping container studio into a permanent sweet spot that shines like a beacon amid an exciting terrain of London studios and stations. While it’s true that so much of dance music has been coopted by commercial mindsets, and life in general is becoming harder and harder to find fun on a budget, collectives and spaces like BMC give us hope for the future.
“At the end of the day it’s all about friends coming together isn’t it?” Larry wraps up. “Collaborate and listen was our old tagline and it really is all about that, you know? You can get involved, you can tune in, you can listen, but also everyone is welcome to come along and get involved as well.”
Get involved yourselves… May 3. 12pm-4pm. NoDave, Lakeway, WAWA, Sonnet and Stateviolet will all be on deck and on air. Join us online via their website or MixCloud or come down and merrymake with us IRL in the beer garden!
Then head to the Saint Louie for the night and help raise funds for BMC to continue to rise and thrive: Tickets and info
