Meet our core team
Ashley Bird
Ash spent years as a writer and editor in the UK’s music media scene (Melody Maker, Kerrang!, other stuff) before diversifying into photography and more in the 2010s.
His early radio experience came at Bournemouth Uni, then in London he joined Total Rock Radio, presenting a weekly Saturday afternoon show. He was head of specialist programming for some of the licence bid broadcasts of Kerrang! Radio, also hosting shows and helming guest takeovers (using the Kiss FM studios!). And he presented a Kerrang! show which was syndicated across the UK’s Student Broadcast Network. A near-miss with a big job at the BBC left him sulking with the radio world for a while. But it was ages ago, so of course he’s over it now. Isn’t he?
Despite being known as a ‘rock guy’, Ash’s musical tastes include: indie-rock (but not ‘lad indie’), alt-folk, alt-country and singer-songwriter sounds, hip hop, alt-pop, proper pop, electronica… and yes: rock, punk, hardcore, post-hardcore, emo, grunge and a bit of metal.
Lucie De Lacy
Lucie is an engagement manager at a much-loved Derbyshire arts charity, and has a background in copy writing, PR, event organisation and other digital-led business.
She is also the ‘spark plug’ of VPR Audio Club - bringing her infectious positivity and unrivalled people skills to the team and lighting up the (online) airwaves every time she presents a show. Considering she’d never been involved with radio until a few years ago, we can only surmise that she is, truly, ‘a natural’.
Lucie loves all sorts of sounds which you might call ‘a bit sexy’… from alt-pop, indie and alt-folk to grooves, jazz, funk and a bit of dirty alt-rock here and there. Thanks to Ash’s influence she also likes a bit of Mastodon. But that’s not really sexy.
Corey Lavender
The proprietor of Vanishing Point Records, Corey’s generosity with his former stockroom space is the reason VPRAC has a ‘clubhouse’. But he’s also been a core part of the radio team since its early days.
A former accountant, Corey switched up his career after a life-changing walk (the Camino De Santiago) in the early 2010s. He decided to open a vinyl record shop, just as the ‘vinyl revival’ began, and a decade on, VPR has moved to bigger premises, then expanded those premises to become a multi-room record-digger’s paradise.
After growing up listening to pop, pop and more pop, Corey went through his 90s indie phase while also getting into the more beat/electronics-led sounds of Chemical Brothers and their ilk. His tastes now also include alt-folk and Americana, plus trip hop and downtempo and lots of deep-cut soul and disco. Oh, and he’s seen Bob Dylan play a squillion times.
Rob Hardy
The longest-serving DJ on VPR Audio Club, Rob was there almost from the very beginning (Radio Free Smedley Street) and is our unofficial-but-undisputed head of grooves and vibes.
A ‘brother of the brush’ as his musical hero/friend Steve Cobby of Fila Brazillia once described him (painter and decorator to you and me), Rob is an equally dab hand at ‘painting with musical colours’. Okay, that sounded naff, but he’s a quality DJ - sometimes all-vinyl, sometimes digital, but always mixing funk, jazz and grooves with downtempo beats.
Rob is also ‘man of many side quests’ and his current one is his mobile Joined Ends Listening Lounge - a roving experience involving some gorgeous vintage hi-fi equipment and some carefully curated sounds, creating an evening of ‘offline’ relaxation as a counterpoint to our relentless and stressful world.