During my last year of school, I had a period of mental disintergration which the teachers tried to appease by allowing me to take my iPod into a special chillout room. Taking an iPod to school has both positives and negatives; it often goes through the juice in a battery like Nothing Face from Spirited Away gets through the mountains of food bestowed upon him, and there's always the possibility that someone may get more than curious about the £100+ gadget that you're carrying around.

During this last year of crazy comings and goings, the top five artists were Placebo, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Elliott Smith, Manic Street Preachers, and one of the more recently celebrated bands from the late '90s emo contingent, The Ataris. Formed by Kris Roe in 1995 in Anderson, Indiana, they hit widespread acclaim with 1999's 'Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits', and had a surprise hit with their cover of 'The Boys Of Summer' around the time of their 2004 album 'So Long, Astoria'.

My personal introduction to them was the 'End Is Forever' album, which was lent to me through my friend Nathan K (who I later went on to start my first band with). This album got played a ton of times whilst crashing out on his sofa with a bottle of Stella in one hand and a Playstation controller in the other. Good times. They were also the headlining band of the first gig I ever went to; I left Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall with a black eye, but for the mosh pit during 'Make It Last', it was oh-so worth it.