It’s been one hell of a maiden voyage.
NTKO has always been about more than just doing a job. It’s been our day-one mission to give people a sense of hope and belonging in a world that all too often forgets that we need compassion, art, and music as much as we need food and water. Above all, through our work, we’ve always wanted to empower our community to be themselves – to be gloriously, unapologetically weird. To be human.
You’ve been with us from our very first steps carving out a place for the rebels and the outcasts; watched us grow from our very first Battle of the Bands to taking the best of Lincolnshire’s alt-music scene on tour to the rest of the UK. But what’s next for us? If we’ve learned anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. 2026 is almost sure to be as exciting as it is inscrutable, and we’re proud to announce that we’re kicking it off with a signature NTKO-roundhouse to the teeth in January with NTKO’s first ever ‘Blue Monday’ gig.
Spekkoids, playing at one of our Riff Room Events.
What’s Blue Monday?
Whether it’s the seasonal morbs, money problems, a lack of sunlight, or a collective slump in motivation, we think that like most things to do with mental health, it’s not something that gets talked about enough – which means it’s something we definitely SHOULD be talking about.
That’s why we’re hosting a gig to raise awareness for mental health struggles and to give people a chance to socialise and listen to some great music from some of our most beloved bands. We’ll talk more about that later. ‘
But, hold on, Mitch’ I hear you cry. ‘I thought you said we were getting some ‘extra festive crimbo F*ckery’ in December’s blog?’ Oh yes, dear reader. Festive F*ckery is indeed afoot, but if you can wait all year for a magical snow wizard to climb down your chimney and distribute socks to everyone you’ve ever breathed near, you can hold on for 5 more minutes while I get to the good bit.
Yes, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Let’s skip the carol singing and get straight to me giving a little present to all of you – a present ever better than 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy, starring Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz.
Okay, maybe not that good. But it’s something.
We spoke to some of the bands NTKO has loved working closely with this year to reminisce about their year’s highlights, what they’re looking forward to in 2026, what mischief they’re planning with their New Year’s Resolutions, and their most cherished NTKO memories. Isn’t that lovely and festive? I can almost smell the roasted chestnuts.
LA-85
You know them, you love them. I even have one of their T-shirts. Best recognised by their dynamic power-metal/modern rock fusion sound, LA-85 have been one of NTKO’s heavyweight performers of 2025, with frontman Pat Kosmala delivering consistently strong performances with his Vedder-infused vocals and profound, powerful lyrics. He also happens to be a great guy and one of our strongest supporters from the beginning.
Although the full band are unable to attend the scheduled 2026 Blue Monday Gig, Pat – legend that he is – is showing up to perform anyway as part of the supergroup finale, alongside Withered drummer Alex Blendell, fellow LA-85 bandmate Jordan Pritchard on Bass, Sacred Starfish guitarist Blayze Tate, and vocals from NTKO’s own Dale Tyler as well as Dean and Ross from Now Disconnect – all to help raise awareness for a mental health cause that they feel strongly about.
LA-85’s neon-drenched performances are a favourite with all of us at NTKO team.
“We’ve had so many great opportunities to share the stage with some pretty superb bands thanks to NTKO,” says Pat. “It’s really important to all of us at LA-85 to be able to continue to share the positive mental health message that NTKO are all about.”
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
Releasing our A/B side of Faces / No Way Home. It’s had great reviews so far!
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
Turning some of our new ideas into some epic new material. Stay tuned!
What’s your new year’s resolution?
To write a ballad.
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
Getting to work with you guys over the course of the year to spread awareness for mental health causes. It’s something really important to me and all us of LA-85.
“It’s really important to all of us at LA-85 to be able to continue to share the positive mental health message that NTKO are all about.” – Pat, LA85
Spekkoids
It’s hard to believe that the 4-piece AltPunk afficionados in Spekkoids are relatively new to the block – crisp performances and enough musical chops to end a butcher’s career bely the fact they’ve only been playing together in front of a live audience since October this year.
Rocking out from Skegness with the shredding 6-string skills of Guitarist Fletch Bradley, they took the NTKO community by storm with their alternative sound. Watch out for them – we certainly can’t wait to see them play a full set at our Blue Monday gig next year.
Spekkoids: (From left: Jonny, Adrian, Fletch and Carlton)
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
After leaving Post Mortem, we got to give Carlton the opportunity to try vocals. Putting together a group of people he feels really comfortable with has been great.
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
Honestly, we’re really looking forward to Blue Monday in 2026. It’s a chance to show a wider audience what we’re about.
What’s your new year’s resolution?
To keep doing what we’re doing and making sure it stays fun. We’re trying not to take it too seriously or get carried away in the moment.
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
The absolute encouragement and warmth from the most genuine people at NTKO. They’re a great team, giving Carlton the confidence to get up a sing in public, under no pressure… I hope he can encourage other people who struggle with anxiety to give it go too.
Sacred Starfish
Calling them ‘just another metal band’ is like call a hurricane ‘just a bit of rain’. Sacred Starfish embody one of NTKO’s most cherished values; they’re off-the-wall mad, and proud of it.
With tracks ranging from acoustic ballads about faeces to roaring thrash and death metal, frontman Jordan Burton-Morris (AKA Blayze Tate) leads the charge into 2026 as NTKO’s champion of weirdness, creativity, and boundless inspiration:
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
It’s got to be progressing to the final of Brainache Promotions and BSB TV’s Battle Of The Bands.
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
Finally finding a permanent drummer – it’s like trying to find rocking-horse sh*t!
What’s your new year’s resolution?
Not to give a F*CK about what other people think.
Sacred Starfish frontman, Blayze Tate.
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
Our best NTKO memory of the year would have to be F*CK NORMAL ON TOUR – Grimsby. It was the first and only time this year we’ve been able to share the stage with our amazing friends in BalaClava, a band we look up to very much… and the night out that ensued was some of the best fun I’ve had in a long time. We can’t wait to see what next year has in store!
Now Disconnect(ed)’s Ross and Dean.
Now Disconnect(ed)
Whether it’s as the brutal 4-piece metal act Now Disconnect or the acoustic Duo Now Disconnected, Lincolnshire-based Metal Brutalist Dean and Ross always deliver – featuring prominently in our Sanity Check events, we’ve loved getting to see them grow as a band and we’re even more excited to get front row seats to some of their new material next year:
“This year has been incredible for us as a band, having more gigs than the previous year, and releasing our 2nd EP as well,” says Dean. “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with NTKO, and they have been so encouraging! Dale and her team are dedicated to local music and bringing people together, helping young bands, and creating opportunities for everyone.” “NTKO has put us in touch with some amazing bands and people, helped us to gig more, and reach a wider audience. It’s an absolute dream come true.”
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
Our highlight of 2025 was finishing writing and releasing our EP – Interexternal (available on all streaming platforms and to buy).
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
We’re most looking forward to writing more music next year, and beginning our journey to releasing a 3rd EP.
What’s your new year’s resolution?
Our new year resolution is to play bigger gigs! We’ve always wanted to play a local festival, or bigger!
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
Our most favourite NTKO memory is Dale and Ed’s reaction to finally seeing our metal music LIVE, alongside incredible bands, in the venue Liquor where we played our first ever gig. That was a special night for us.
Withered, Winners of the 2025 Battle of the Bands
Withered
Young legends Withered are one of our up-and-coming success stories – already NTKO circuit veterans with performances across the country on our F*CK Normal on Tour gigs, all under the age of 20, and already with a Battle of the Bands win under their belt, frontman Alex Blendell craves even bigger wins in the future:
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
We’d have to say our highlight of 2025 has got to be playing on stage at Firebug in Leicester as part of F*CK Normal on Tour, 100 percent. Such a brilliant experience!
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
We are looking forward to working more with NTKO in the future and seeing how far we can get with our music and recording.
What’s your new year’s resolution?
Our new year’s resolution has got to be getting a festival slot somewhere! We want to take ourselves to the next level.
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
Being awarded best band at battle of the bands – that was such a surprise, and an amazing reward for us as a band.
Balaclava
NTKO’s Punk duo BalaClava were another headline regular this year, bringing a distinctly No F*CK’s given energy to venues across Lincolnshire. From humble beginnings on Tiktok to writing Jesus Loves The Bag and filming the Saint and Sinner music video with us at the Mannequin Graveyard, BalaClava have punched an indelibly fist-shaped hole in NTKO’s legacy for good. Enigmatic drummer and synth-king ‘C’ even joined us as an NTKO Director, and is planning further mayhem in 2026:
Enigmatically known only as ‘C’, BalaClava’s Beast of Beats brings rolling thunder to a packed crowd.
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
Watching the band go from being an idea to a reality. There’s something beautiful about watching your words, musical creativity and chords go from an idea in a living room to a live event on stage.
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
I’m most looking forward to the gigs we have lined up and the release of our new EP (coming July) that really shows how BalaClava have grown, evolved, and levelled up our sound/live show.
What’s your new year’s resolution?
To make everything bigger. Bigger shows, bigger laughs, bigger sounds, and a couple of bigger venues!
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
There’s so many to pick from! Filming the Saint and Sinner music video was a big giggle, as was the late-night antics with Jesus (AKA Blayze Tate) in Grimsby whilst we stumbled through the pouring rain. Honourable mention to The Courthouse 2.0, which was, uh… an experience that we will never forget. Genuinely believe all involved will have that night seared into their brains forever. (#lovemynewcarpet.) I just want to thank you for the ride, and I look forward to where we go together in the future.
The Circus Master, the NTKO Mastermind, and the driving force behind F*CK Normal – Dale Tyler.
Not That Kind Of
And of course, we can’t close out the year without hearing from NTKO’s founder and managing director, the Queen Regent of Chaos herself, Dale Tyler:
What’s your Highlight of 2025?
There were honestly so many highlights that it’s hard to pick. It’s been quite the year, with so much happening! It’s hard to believe that this time last year we didn’t know BalaClava, Sacred Starfish or Withered.
I think for me, the highlight had to be the Saint and Sinner video shoot with BalaClava at Mannakin. That was a hell of a day! Far too many laughs – I’m surprised we got anything done. I think we’d have to say the highlight was discovering the bands and people we now consider part of the Not That Kind Of family.
What are you looking forward to most in 2026?
In 2026, we are looking forward to more of the same to be honest, taking the bands on the FCK Normal tour and seeing bands from other cities coming to us for Sanity Check gigs. We would love to see these events growing with more people getting to know about them and coming along. We have so many plans for new projects – it’s almost scary to think how far we’ve come this year and how much further we can go next year!
What’s your new year’s resolution?
New year’s resolution – I guess to give ourselves more credit for what we achieve and how many people we help along the way. It’s easy to overlook it when you’re right in the centre of things, but honestly, our team deserve so much love for what they do.
What’s your favourite NTKO memory?
I want to say thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us and made this entire mission a reality. Every chance we get to help bands realise their potential is an incredible feeling, and we couldn’t do it without all of you.
That’s it for 2025! We’re outta here.
That’s a wrap! As you can see, 2025 has been good to us – we hope that it’s been good to you too. We’ve genuinely loved getting to know such a creative crowd of musicians and bringing them into our strange little community, and we’re so excited to be able to keep doing what we’re doing by showing you all what we’ve got in store next year.
So, until then, this is Mitch, signing off – 2025 is over, but our NTKO journey has truly only just begun.
I wish you all the happiest new year.
Stay weird, Lincolnshire. And remember – always dare to be loud.
– Mitch
