Having a GAS...

Today I'm Having a GAS™ with Nils Leonard, CCO & founder of Uncommon, a creative studio building brands. More on Uncommon here: https://www.uncommon.london Nils Leonard has spent over 18 years in the advertising and design industry working across a spread of the most recognised and influential agencies in London. In his most recent post as Chief Creative Officer of Grey LDN, Nils oversaw the most profitable and awarded years in the agency’s 52 years history and became one of the youngest agency chairmen in the world leading its brands globally and locally. In 2015 Grey LDN became the only agency in the world to win two Grand Prix at Cannes Lions and under his creative guidance the Grey was named most awarded agency of the year twice in just three years at D&AD. Nils was voted into the Ad Age creativity 50 and named the most creative person in advertising globally by Business insider. An unconventional background in design, his most recent work on the Tate Britain won the Grand Prix at the Design Week awards and picked up 15 lions at the Cannes festival of creativity. A creative champion, agitating for change and diversity in the industry, Nils is a regular speaker and judge at industry events, is on the board of trustees of D&AD and is listed as the Sunday Times 500 most influential people in the UK. Over the last year Nils has led the inception and launch of the ethical capsule coffee brand Halo to global acclaim. A true challenger brand Halo was reviewed by GQ Magazine as ‘The coffee keeping Nespresso ambassador George Clooney awake at night.’ More recently Nils has founded the Uncommon Creative Studio alongside Lucy Jameson and Natalie Graeme. Uncommon is a creative studio building brands the world is happy exists. Having a GAS™ is the podcast that talks to the great and the good of the creative industries, and in particular finds out what makes great music for film, for TV, for advertising; for dancing to, for cooking to, f*cking to, and more... GAS™ Music is a music production agency in Manchester, UK. We compose and produce original music, create awe inspiring sound design and have a fully integrated audio post-production studio. We also have a great record collection, and welcome any additions, recommendations or criticisms. http://www.gasismusic.co.uk​​​   © GAS™ Music 2023

Rocker-turned-engineer, Jason LaRocca, is formerly known as the singer/guitarist of acclaimed punk band, The Briggs. By the age of eighteen, the Los Angeles native had also become a full-fledged producer and recording engineer. Jason has recorded and mixed for such top recording artists as Jay-Z, CeeLo Green, Fiona Apple, Schoolboy Q and Serj Tankian of System of a Down. In addition, Jason mixes tracks for film, TV and games, including 'Morbius', 'Fortnite' and 'The Rings of Power'. Join Jason and host Greg Owens for an enlightening conversation.

Based in Brisbane, Aiden Kenway is a professional music producer and successful YouTuber, with over 250k subscribers at time of recording. Aiden describes his channel as "the ultimate hub for mastering music production and discovering creative inspiration!" Aiden's most popular videos are full recreations of popular hip-hop tracks, including 'Industry Baby' (Lil Nas X), 'Sicko Mode' (Travis Scott) and 'The Hills' (The Weeknd). His viewers value Aiden's content for his commitment to accuracy whilst maintaining a personable and accessible style. In this episode, Aiden discusses the inception of his YouTube channel, how he intends to evolve it and how his recreations have expanded his own production tool-set.  

Crispin Hands is a Canadian composer and sound designer. He is an award winning audio creator who has been involved with video games for over 17 years. He started working on games in May 1995 at Electronic Arts. In April 2000, he left and started work for Relic Entertainment as an audio director. He stayed there for 6 years and then moved on to Pandemic Studios in March 2007. At the beginning of 2009, he worked for Electronic Arts again at their Black Box division. He left there before the end of the year and then worked for Rare, working on their Axis & Allies title. In March 2010, he worked for BigPark, also working on their Axis and Allies video games. Today, Crispin runs Lionhead Studios where he composes music and sound for all sorts of media including video games. He is currently composing the music for Minecraft Legends.

Dr Tim Summers researches and teaches music in Western popular culture at Royal Holloway University of London, with a particular focus on music for film, television and video games. His books include Understanding Video Game Music, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – A Game Score Companion and The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music. He edits the Journal of Sound and Music in Games for University of California Press. The main recurring theme of his research is an attempt to understand the musical experiences and educations that mass media provide for the huge audiences they address.

Rob Henderson, a PhD graduate from Cambridge specializing in human behavior, dives deep into the world of Don Draper from 'Mad Men.' He explores how Draper's character reflects evolving masculinity and the psychological complexities behind his need for validation. The conversation also touches on the significance of classic literature versus modern works, and the duality of anti-heroes in television, particularly in advertising's portrayal of morality and identity. Their dialogue captures the intricate relationship between media, personal ethics, and societal expectations.

A veritable powerhouse of the Croatian techno scene Insolate has been establishing a global presence as a DJ and producer for over 20 years delivering as both a label boss at Out Of Place and the creative force behind their electrifying TRAUM events. Hailing from Osijek, Croatia, on the wide Croatian East – a town that at first glance a heavy industrial atmosphere overshadows, she is making her first steps as a DJ back in 1997 before taking over European and worldwide clubs. Her list of clubs and partys she played is impressive and includes Berghain, Rex, Tresor, Under Club, Club d’Anvers, Unter, Exit Festival, Tomorrowland, ADE and Dimensions Festival. Amongst many European clubs she played numerous tours in Colombia and recently added USA, China and Argentina to the list. As a producer, she's had a string of releases on highly respected labels including DJ Deep's Deeply Rooted, Marcelus’s Singular and Developer’s Modularz - supported and played by some of techno's finest including Laurent Garnier, DVS1, Dax J and Ilario Alicante. Also she released the stellar Obscure Object Of Desire EP on JoeFarr's new User Experience imprint, EP for a Suara and beautiful EP for Proletarijat, label run by Sev Dah. She also contributed to Ben Sim’s compilation Tribology among giants as Planetary Assault Systems, Oscar Mulero, Steffi etc. and also made super interesting collaboration with french producer Arnaud le Texier and released EP with him for Prodigal Son. In 2019. she announced her debut album. The album Order is Chaos was released as a double vinyl and contains 10 tracks with extremely interesting collaborations with MATRIXXMAN and singer SARA RENAR. DJ Mag (UK) described album as “exciting journey thru trans-dimensional vocals, acid drenched sequences and floor obligated bangers.” Insolate is also a major contributor to the Croatian techno scene, so much so that she was in Ibiza to receive the award for "Dance Nation of the Year" at the DJ Awards on behalf of her nation. Her and long-time partner in crime Volster also run the event series TRAUM in her native Osijek. TRAUM events have cemented their place in the clubbing calendar with quality artists like Paula Temple, Antigone, Cassegrain, Janice, Etapp Kyle and Milton Bradley, just to name a few. The success of the TRAUM nights caught the attention of Red Bull Music Academy and Dimensions – both of which they have hosted official events for. Insolate being an international messenger of techno was recognised by Ambassador award that gave her a title "Croatia’s ambassador overseas" for 2017. The final part of putting Osijek on the techno map was taken in 2015 with the launch of the label Out Of Place which Insolate runs with Volster. The label was named in honour of the beautiful struggle of carving your own way into the scene from a place that's well off the grid from the traditional capitals of techno. Now five releases strong, the label has already had contributions from heavyweights like Milton Bradley, Developer, JoeFarr, Francois X, Janice and many more. As a DJ, Insolate is well known for her no-compromise, pure-bred techno sets. It's clear to anyone who's seen her perform that she's an artist with a lot of experience but also plenty of inspiration and ambition, and a deep knowledge of techno. She is simply a natural presence in a DJ booth. If you've seen her play, you will know exactly what this means.

Anna Lapwood is an organist, conductor and television and radio presenter, currently Director of Music at, and Fellow of, Pembroke College, Cambridge. On appointment she was the youngest person to hold the position of Director of Music at an Oxbridge college, taking up the position at the age of 21. As a broadcaster, Lapwood hosted a weekly classical music show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire from 2018 to 2020,[4] and is a contributor to BBC Radio 3, having appeared on Record Review with Andrew McGregor. Because of her popularity on social media, she has occasionally been referred to as the "TikTok Organist" and uses the hashtag #playlikeagirl.

Troy Farnworth is an Executive Creative Director at Leith with over 10 years of experience.  Phil Evans is also an Executive Creative Director at Leith. A copywriter and former agency owner, Phil has been recognised at countless award ceremonies. On the back of successive record-breaking years, Leith is opening its second home on Richmond Street in Manchester, their first office outside of Scotland that will focus on offering end-to-end production facilities through their recent venture Leith Studios.

Alex Grieve is the Global and London CCO of BBH. Helen Rhodes is Executive Creative Director. They both join host Greg to discuss all things creative. After 12 years Alex returned to his alma mater as Global & London Chief Creative Officer of BBH. Prior to that Alex was Chief Creative Officer at AMV BBDO where for the last three years he's been ranked the No.1 CCO in the UK by WARC & The Drum. He's also been ranked the No.1 Creative Director in the world at the Cannes Lions. In 2021 AMV BBDO achieved an industry first by winning 'The Treble': Global Agency of the Year at Cannes, D&AD and The One Show. Under his leadership, AMV has won over 30 Agency of the Year awards at regional and international shows. And won 10 Cannes Grand Prixs including Titanium & Glass Grand Prix. 3 D&AD Black Pencils in consecutive years. 2 'Commercial of the Year' at British Arrows and multiple Grand Prixs at One Show (6 in 2021 alone), Clios, Andys to name but a few. After a couple of years at the BBC’s in-house creative agency, Helen Rhodes is returning to advertising to take up the role of executive creative director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty. At the BBC, as well as creating big campaigns like “Bringing Us Closer” during the pandemic, she worked on less traditional projects like an immersive online exhibition for “I May Destroy You,” a Dracula special build that got creepier as darkness fell, setting posters on fire for David Attenborough’s “Perfect Planet,” and an educational film series around Steve McQeen’s “Small Axe” series. Rhodes was previously at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, TBWA, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and DLKW/Lowe