The Devil In My Guinness

Writer Mark Roberts/ Photographer Jess Whitty

As you enter Norton’s on Meriden Street, you really get a sense that this is a proper Irish pub. I can’t quite put my finger on it, it’s all very subtle. Perhaps, it’s the 8-foot-tall pint of Guinness by the door, right as you walk in.

 

The Devil and St. Joseph are made up of Joe Frascina, on vocals and a guitar oddly reminiscent of the Selfridges building, but it’s matte black and gold, and actually not hideous to look at. Emily Doyle, on vocals, synth and a snare drum and Billy Beale, on a second guitar, who somehow seriously pulls off wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a pyjama top on stage.

At this point, I’m worrying that The Devil and St. Joseph are going to suffer the same issues as other bands with no bass instruments, but as soon as they kick off, I’m subjected to a subterranean and disgustingly filthy sound that seems to come from deep in a swamp.

 

The guitars, which range from dark, sludgy tones to chicken-wire razor-sharpness, are the main body of the music. Impeccable solos ranging from cavernous shredding to atonal bliss disperse through the music courtesy of Billy Beale. All cut together with beats from a drum machine that somehow sounds like it had been sent back to the era of cowboys, recorded on a piece of paper and then played back through a 1930s radio. 

Emily’s synth ranges from the keyboard equivalent of jelly on a vibrator, to an organ that wouldn’t be amiss at a funeral. Joe’s pugnacious drawl and Emily’s pure tones vibrate within the tunes, embedded in the swampiness of the songs. Joe, taking the lead, draws me in, but Emily is regularly utilised to incredible effect, her voice at times peeking through the mix, harmonious and clear.

Then, Emily turns to the snare drum and engages it. The snare brings a punch that the electronic beats just can’t achieve and as it pierces the sonic landscape, I find myself yearning for the snare drum, hungering for it. I’m falling in love with Snare Drum. It’s warm wooden body, subtle metal frame…

Anyway, I digress. The Devil and St Joseph move around the stage with a jaded nonchalance that is fitting and natural. Though as my last note, this coolness may stray into coldness unintentionally, something that could easily be resolved with a bit more eye contact.

Overall, it’s clear that The Devil and St. Joseph are a band which take command of an impressive sonic landscape. It’s a shame that there aren’t more people in attendance. It’ll be great to see them play backed by the energy of a full crowd.

 

For more on The Devil and Saint Joseph visit www.facebook.com/thedevilandsaintjoseph

OPINION: The Hold Tight Sessions – Nerina Pallot

Ed’s note…

This was first published in Nerina Pallot’s newsletter, issued to her fans on 18.03.20 – we thought it was such a good idea (and such a warm piece of writing) that we asked if we could syndicate it to our readers. With all the fear in the world right now, alongside the damage to the creative and other industries, we loved seeing a silver lining.

The clue’s in the title, but watch out for Nerina Pallot’s online concerts – The Hold Tight Sessions –  streamed every Thursday at 8pm; we’re still safe to make sound, even if it’s a little further away than the traditional front row. For more on this, click here to visit the Facebook event page or click here to visit Nerina Palllot’s YouTube Channel.

And there’s a couple of sneaky peaks of Nerina live at the end of this article, please excuse the picture quality of the first one but we thought it was a good clip/representation (and please excuse Gloria Hunniford’s segue…)

Be safe and be kind to each other; now is the time for community and compassion. With love from all at Birmingham Review x

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Words by Nerina Pallot / Pics by Katja Ogrin

Before I sat down to write this newsletter, I looked for a poem with which to begin it. I rifled through the books I already have, thought ‘surely me old mucker Philip Larkin has something to say about all this business. Or Pablo Neruda. Maybe go all high falutin’ and rustle up something by that naughty Mr Marvell. Or a bit of Rilke to make us all pause for thought and look all moody like tortured teenagers.’ I spent a long time leafing. Gave up. Googled – what was I gonna Google? Poems for uncertain times? (The poems in existence didn’t bank on times as uncertain as these.) Poems for a world on lockdown? (Nope. Nada in that larder.) Poems for when we’re up a creek nobody knew existed and you have ten thousand spoons when all you need is a paddle?

Guess what. There are no poems for this, but I suspect many will be born because of it.

Tell me, if even a mere month ago somebody had come to you and said in France, if you want to leave your house, you need papers to explain where you’re going and what you’re doing you would have thought them mad. The whole notion was preposterous; a conspiracy theory cooked up by the sort of people who think juicing cures cancer and love to tell you all about it on Facebook. And yet at midday yesterday, this is what came to pass. In France. Land of la liberté, egalité et fraternité. In Italy, people are singing to each other on balconies because that is all there is to do. The world is shutting its doors to keep out an enemy it cannot see, smell or hear.

Now, some of us have waited our whole lives for state sanctioned introversion. We feel validated. We got this. A legitimate excuse to stay home in our pants and read and listen to music and draw and never have to see people? Yes please thank you very much. But now that the option to come out of ourselves has been removed it doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel very good at all. Perhaps we have more in common with those folk who move through the world as if it were an amusement arcade. We’re just not very good at parties. But now there aren’t any parties to go to anyway.

And suddenly, I dunno about you, but I could do with a bloody good party.

None of us have any real idea of what is about to unfold, or how long this unfolding will take. Some of us are living week to week, pay cheque to pay cheque. We may be working from home, but only for as long as the companies we work for can keep going. We may run businesses that are trickling away before our very eyes. Some of us may have seen our pensions – everything all those years of slog and sacrifice were meant to be worth it for – slip like sand through an hourglass in just a fortnight. Some of us may be ok. But if we don’t know what it is to come, how can we know for sure?

Here’s the thing. It’s a WE thing. Because for once in human history, every single one of us is affected and we are all in this together. And not in the way David Cameron meant either.

And that is a wonderful thing. I don’t mean this flippantly. Not a single one of us can come away untouched from this – not even Jeff Bezos or Vladimir Putin or Kay Burley’s hairdo. And for all the crappiness in the world – the war, the sickness, the terrorism, the poverty – we also live in a time of extraordinary progress. At the peak of scientific discovery, where right now, at this very minute, all over the planet, there are amazing men and women in white lab coats straining over microscopes and working at lightening speed to find a way to despatch this pesky virus into the biohazard dustbin of time. They will do it. They always do.

We are humans. We do some shitty things, but we also put men on the moon (like in my song sort of) and figure out that as well as making some excellent cheeses, mould can make life saving drugs. We also like to dress our cats in unicorn costumes.

Right now, as I see it, we can only control ourselves. Everything else is out of our jurisdiction – but isn’t it always that way, much as we like to convince ourselves otherwise? So with that in mind, we have to sit this out. Take care of ourselves and each other as best we can. Eat well. Brush our teeth. Get some rest. Watch the bare minimum of news. Concentrate on only each day as it comes. Add gin where necessary.

Do what we can.

What I can do is sing and play music and chat nonsense. And so that is what I’m gonna do for you in coming weeks. Every Thursday at 8PM UK time I’m going to do a little concert from my living room for you. I will happily take requests – although I may need them a day or two in advance to avoid disappointment because I have written A LOT of songs now as I’m old. If glitch free technology allows, I might be able to get some musical friends to join me from their living rooms too. We’re looking into it.

Feel free to dress up and share your photos of sartorial elegance. THIS MEANS PLEASE WEAR CLOTHING. The fancier, the better. I refuse to let you slip into the slovenly ways of the couch potato. We are going to get up every day and make an effort and put lipstick on even if the only person there to witness it is the cat.

‘Stay Lucky’ – Nerina Pallot (live from the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge)

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‘Sophia’ – Nerina Pallot (performed live on Heaven and Earth / BBC)

Nerina Pallot will be hosting a living room concert every Thursday from 8pm GMT – The Hold Tight Sessions. For more on this, click here to visit the Facebook event page – or click here to visit Nerina Pallot’s YouTube channel.

For more on Nerina Pallot, visit www.nerinapallot.com

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NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual aggression in the music industry and beyond – from dance floor to dressing room, everyone deserves a safe place to play.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.

Q&A: [SKETCH]

Words by Ed King & [SKETCH] / Pics courtesy of [SKETCH]

On Saturday 21st March, [SKETCH] will be playing at the O2 Institute 3 – alongside Louise Bartle’s Bloc Party splinter group, NOVACUB, supporting the alt-rock powerhouse REWS as they come to Birmingham on The Phoenix Tour.

Minimum age of entry to gig is 14 years old, with doors open from 6pm. Tickets are priced at £10 (+ booking fee) – as promoted by Metropolis Music and Birmingham Review.

For more gig info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page. Or for a direct link to online ticket sales, visit: www.reviewpublishing.net/product/rews-novacub-sketch-o2-institute-21-03-20

[SKETCH] are Birmingham’s own tartan clad rock/punkers, currently promoting their latest single ‘Do You Love Me Yet?’ – set for release later this spring. Birmingham Review caught up with them for a small cranium crunch, ahead of their gig supporting REWS at the O2 Institute on Saturday 21st March:

BR: Hi [SKETCH], thanks for agreeing to a quick fire Q&A on the run up to next Saturday’s show supporting REWS – we’ve got a good feeling about this gig… any butterflies in [SKETCH] stomachs?

[SKETCH]: Hi, we have a good feeling about this show too. Wouldn’t say there’s butterflies just a nice excitement brewing as tickets start to sell and our Setlist was decided this week so we just can’t wait to get on stage.

BR: You’ve played the O2 Academy before, as part of the Catapult Club showcases there – but is this your first time at its sister venue across town?

[SKETCH]: Yeah, we played a few times with the Catapult Club when starting out as a band, it’s a great beginning circuit for any local acts. This isn’t our first show at the O2 Institute, we’ve headlined the Institute 3 a few times and had a gig in the bigger O2 Institute 2 as well; it’s a great venue with some good pedigree and we always enjoy playing there.

BR: On the run up to the REWS gig, we’ve been referring to you as ‘Birmingham’s own tartan clad rock/punksters’ – but geography aside (we know Matt comes from Stratford) how close to the mark are we musically?

[SKETCH]: To be honest pretty close. Whilst Foley would marry the very un-brummie Sid Vicious if he could and Joe adores the likes of Slash, Black Sabbath has played a part in all of our lives at some point and Foley and Matt both love the pioneering work Jaykae is doing in the grime scene and have followed him from his really early days. We think we carry that seemingly Birmingham (definitely nothing to do with Peaky Blinders) attitude of ‘work hard, play hard’, and it’s an attitude we have great pride in showcasing in our music.

BR: Individually, you embrace a wide spectrum of genres and styles – you’re all rock fans, sure, but Matt likes his hip hop and Foley started out playing the trumpet. How does this factor into your song writing?

[SKETCH]: Oh god, please don’t tell us Matt has asked you to beatbox whilst he ‘spits some bars!’ Yeah, we all come from different music backgrounds which helps massively when song writing. Matt and Foley do the majority of the composing before Joe and Sam put the needed icing on the cake.

BR: Who writes the lyrics? We’ve got a song about your girlfriend being a vampire in our minds…

[SKETCH]: It’s usually Matt who writes the lyrics. That song was actually about a couple of lovebirds in his class at college. It was the kind of relationship where one person was into it way too deep and despite all the warning signs they never learnt the lesson, so Matt imagined one night about being that person and how it must have been easier to think of your girlfriend as a vampire because she’s always out at night and smells of others rather than the seemingly bitter truth.

BR: And where did the tartan come from? It’s not a look everyone can pull off…

[SKETCH]: Have you spoken to our ex-girlfriends? They’re usually the ones who say we can’t pull the look off! It’s a look that Foley has triumphed since the beginning of the band and then Matt had the idea of everyone wearing a different colour of Tartan, almost like a teenage drink fuelled punk rock Power Rangers.

BR: We last saw you at The Sunflower Lounge, when you were smashing it wall to ceiling packed with The Pagans S.O.H and Kioko – great to see the show sold out, but how was that gig for you on stage?

[SKETCH]: Yeah, the last show at The Sunflower was a great one, especially to have the Pagans and Kioko on the bill to make it a jam packed night. It was a great show to play, very sweaty as all of our shows seem to be and if we remember correct one of the only days that week where it didn’t rain so someone up there was looking for us to have a good night.

BR: You’re playing with The Pagans S.O.H again on 30th May, this time at Muthers Studio. Was this after the success of The Sunflower Lounge show or are you just professionally stalking them?

[SKETCH]: We love that term, ‘professional stalking’. We’ve played with the Pagans a couple of times now and we love their energy. This gig came from conversations following the Sunflower Lounge show and it’s a show that we think will sell out quickly (we’ll be sure to invite you guys along!)

BR: But before that you’re supporting Barnsley alt rockers Hands Off Gretel, when they come to the O2 Academy on 7th ​May – a band with a pretty big online audience, over 22k Instagram and 25K Facebook followers. We heard you got that gig after sending them a copy of ‘Do You Love Me Yet?’

[SKETCH]: Yeah, we sent through ‘Do You Love Me Yet?’ to the band and they passed us onto their agent who liked the track. It’s a show we’re really excited about and a band that are making some great music. It’s nice that this next track is getting some early recognition pre-release and hopefully it will do well for us.

BR: Any other bands you’re itching to support, you never know who might be coming to Birmingham…?

[SKETCH]: There are too many bands we would love to support! Anyone travelling with a great sound and who you could go for a pint with they’re usually the kind of people we get on best with. If we had to name names of bands we reckon we’d rock a stage with SWMRS, Muse, The Libertines, that kind of sound and attitude.

BR: ‘Do You Love Me?’ is an absurdly addictive track though, it certainly grabbed our attention. Again, with some great lyrics (‘Got rosy cheeks ‘cos I’m running from cop’ is our personal favourite). What’s next on the [SKETCH] release schedule?

[SKETCH]: ‘Do You Love Me Yet?’ is next to release in April. We can exclusively let you guys know that we’ve been recording the music video for the song and we hope it’s a goodun.

BR: Will it be back to The Magic Garden, getting Gavin Monaghan in again as producer?

[SKETCH]: The recording of ‘Do You Love Me Yet?’ was the first time we’ve worked with Gavin and we had a great time in the studio so assuming dates can be matched we’d love to work with Gavin in The Magic Garden again shortly.

BR: And we have to ask, because it’s been ‘eagerly awaited’ for some time, but how is the debut album looking…? And why is it a problem when you’re cooking under the influence?

[SKETCH]: I think our parents are most eagerly awaiting an album so we can set up a direct debit and start paying them back for all of the equipment we’ve broke over the years! We have a couple of plans in place to release music a little differently to what the usual industry expects and we hope it’s a move that can really make a difference. One thing is for certain and that’s music is coming from April onwards!

In answer to the second part of the question, we decided to call our first EP Don’t Cook Drunk as a nod for the first time we all were in a room together (which was at a party).  The line-up was a little different back then and after the said party Matt decided to cook some chicken nuggets for the band but didn’t turn the oven on so after 20 minutes when he (with oven gloves) removed them from the oven, our then guitarist Charlie got through about 6 or 7 before we realised they were raw and he was ill for a few months. Matt hasn’t been seen cooking since…

[SKETCH] play at the O2 Institute 3 on Saturday 21st March, performing alongside NOVACUB and supporting REWS on The Phoenix Tour. For more gig info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page.

**Birmingham Review will donate £1 from all tickets sold through Review Publishing to the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign – click here for tickets: www.reviewpublishing.net/product/rews-novacub-sketch-o2-institute-21-03-20

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For more on [SKETCH], visit www.sketchband.com 

For more on NOVACUB, visit www.wearenovacub.com
For more on REWS, visit www.rewsmusic.com

For more on the O2 Institute, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual aggression in the music industry and beyond – from dance floor to dressing room, everyone deserves a safe place to play.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.

EP: Brain Food – Brain Food 13.03.20

Words by Ed King / Pics by Radek Kubiszyn (Psychedelic Eye)

‘According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day, making it the most feared day and date in history.’

I was Googling ‘Friday the 13th’ to come up with some witty framing technique, as Birmingham’s psych rockers, Brain Food, have ear marked this notorious end of the week to release their self-titled sophomore EP. But in the wake of a bulbous buffoon with his finger on the button and the grip of fear the world’s most popular sneeze has on half the planet…

A five track kaleidoscope of echoing psychedelia, Brain Food EP by Brain Food is indeed a tasty cranium treat – opening with ‘Poseidon’ and a surprisingly dirty riff, which had me fish hooked from the off, Liam McKeown’s perfectly lost vocals soon slide across the track.

An almost perfect front man for a band covered in the glow of a hyperactive lava lamp, McKeown sets the tone perfectly on the EP’s opener – sitting somewhere between a rock star joie de vivre and an introspective blotter acid trip in the dark corners of a Velvet Underground after party. Works for me.

But this is prog-something-psych-something-rock-something else… so, a small noodling siren is sounded as ‘Canyon Crawler’ sends seven minutes of blissed out guitar waves over a slowly marching tempo. It drags a little, to me. Today. If I was a younger man with a bit more mind left I’d probably be finding ways to lose it in this, but after about five minutes I’ll admit I’m swimming to the shore.

Then, as if my silent selfish prayer was answered, ‘That Feeling’ draws a sweet line down the middle of this Brain Food EP – in a surprisingly short (under four minutes??) foray into a more melody led track. It might be a bit too accessible for the prog purists, and you could be forgiven for thinking if psych rock was ever going to be radio friendly this is probably the closest it is going to get, but it’s still a damn fine few minutes.

‘Cosmic Jones’ takes us down the other side of the hill – opening with a cheeky little wah wah and keeping us cheerily on our toes for just over five minutes of soft crescendos and pretty nifty fretwork. Before the swan song of ‘Forbidden Tongue’ closes the show, which you can check out below instead of reading me try to be funny.

Which reminds me, where was I with that framing technique…

I’m not sure how many registered voters this EP will keep safe on its auspicious release day, but the idea (and to quote another LSD soaked ensemble) of encouraging the hope barren masses to ‘feed your head’ instead of panic buying toilet paper couldn’t be better placed.

And Brain Food by Brain Food seems to sum it up quite nicely this Friday the 13th… so, put that in your literary trope and smoke it.

‘Forbidden Tongue’ – by Brain Food

On Friday 13th March 2020, Brain Food release their self-titled second EP, Brain Food. For more on Brain Food, both the band and the extended play, visit www.facebook.com/brainfoodofficial

Brain Food are also hosting an EP launch party at The Night Owl on Saturday 14th March, with Cave Girl and Exhaler supporting. For more gig info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page.

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NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual aggression in the music industry and beyond – from dance floor to dressing room, everyone deserves a safe place to play.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.

BREVIEW: The Devil and Saint Joseph @ Hare & Hounds 25.01.20

The Devil and Saint Joseph @ Hare & Hounds 25.01.20 / Sam Frank Wood Photography

Words by Hassan Ul-Haq / Pics by Sam Frank Wood Photography

(Ed’s note: This review was taken from the This Is Tmrw 2020 Season Launch Party at the Hare & Hounds, with The Devil and Saint Joseph playing alongside Coffee Breath, MUTES, The Cosmics, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, and Table Scraps.

Tackling a somewhat mammoth sized line up, we opted to cherry pick a band we’ve not reviewed before… may the Gods of garage-punk-indie-rock forgive us.)

When coming across the Birmingham music scene, in particular the fuzz esc locality of various bands across the city, you begin to familiarise yourself with those artists. Whether it be through their artistic and stylistic choices, or for their various side-projects.

That being said, The Devil and Saint Joseph might be familiar to many – as two of its members, Joe Joseph and Emily Doyle, where once part of the Trash-Blues band The Hungry Ghosts.The Devil and Saint Joseph @ Hare & Hounds 25.01.20 / Sam Frank Wood Photography Now that the former is dead, from the ashes rises a new project. Alongside guitarist Billy Beale, the new trio create a live experience that is immersive and experimental as it is engaging and mesmerising.

Opening the stage for the This is Tmrw 2020 Launch night (which had an array of incredible bands performing) The Devil and Saint Joseph kicked off the evening in a way I’ve not seen any local band do for a long time. Performing alongside a projector, that plays a fictional film created by front man Joe Joseph, their music is filled with various influences of country and psychedelic blues that immerses the audience into the creation of this new project.

Seeing The Devil and Saint Joseph play live for the first time, you could be forgiven for thinking they are an American band with the Velvet Underground sensibilities and elements of The Psychedelic Furs. Front man, Joe Joseph, oozes an eerie mystique, one that is partially due to his love of Americana across both film and music.The Devil and Saint Joseph @ Hare & Hounds 25.01.20 / Sam Frank Wood Photography Singing songs like ‘Hollywood Babylon’, which showcase a different Joe Joseph from his previous incarnation, it is as if he has just been resurrected and born anew – reaching a new level of reinvention in the local scene.

We shouldn’t forget the contribution of the other members, who help to deliver a great performance. Emily Doyle – taking the stage as a drummer, keyboardist and programmer – layers the tracks with pounding percussion (especially on songs like ‘A Season of Crime’) and has some incredible vocal chops to add as well.

Whilst guitarist, Billy Boyle, delivers some incredible blues riffs that would make Muddy Waters blush. Boyle’s range on the fretboard often helps set the tone and are the highlight of the song ‘Motel Dreams’ – I a track straight out of the 60s psychedelic era. Again, you would be forgiven to think that the track was a Cream B-Side.

I like to think The Devil and Saint Joseph come from an alternative world, a world where their music is from an American TV serial based in a small city with a population of 51,201. I like to think they perform in a venue called The Roadhouse.

But for now, they are an Earth bound Birmingham band that everyone needs to check out – especially live, to experience the immersive nature of the music. Where they go next, we’ll have to wait and find out.

For more on The Devil and Saint Joseph, visit www.facebook.com/thedevilandsaintjoseph

**The Devil and Saint Joseph will be playing at The Sunflower Lounge on Saturday 8th February, supporting Japanese Television – with Mutes also supporting. Promoted by Killer Wave, for more gig info and links to online tickets click here**

For more from This Is Tmrw, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk

For more on the Hare & Hounds, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

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NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual aggression in the music industry and beyond – from dance floor to dressing room, everyone deserves a safe place to play.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.