Siôn Smith: Writer. Podcaster. Lyricist.

My name’s Siôn Smith (that’s pronounced Shaun, but I’ll answer to anything if there’s coffee involved). I write, host a podcast called Starfish and Coffee, and generally operate in the liminal space where music and memory meet the slightly off centre. I get my kicks from old monster movies, airports and coffee, run a minimalist mindset and own just twelve things because you should never own so much that you can't leave town in 24 hours with your world in the back of the car… including your dog.

I don’t do social media–you’re more likely to find me handing out flyers or postcards outside a bookshop, somebody else’s event or putting a sticker somewhere I shouldn’t.

The Writing

I have a few short story collections available—small, peculiar stories about regular people doing irregular things. There are no vampires or wizards, but you will find someone chasing an idea they can’t quite grab hold of, a girl who writes letters to dead rockstars, or a man who wakes up and decides to live a little differently. Think Richard Brautigan with a slice of Nick Cave.

This last week or so, I finished a full length scorcher called Raised On Radio. It’s a story about what happens after the dream changes shape. From cassette tapes to dive bars, late-night broadcasts to dead-end jobs, it tracks a lifelong relationship with music — not as background noise, but as a survival instinct. Part personal history, part cultural reflection, it’s held together by old records, good friends, bad decisions, and the songs that still show up when everything else goes quiet. These stories aren’t nostalgic. They’re lived-in. Loud when they need to be, quiet when it counts — asking one simple question:
Do we shape pop culture, or does it shape us?

If you want to keep up with what happens to it now it’s finished, hit subscribe and you won’t miss a thing.

The Podcast

Starfish and Coffee is a podcast where I talk to musicians, folklorists, paranormal investigators, and anyone else who’s got one foot in the real world and the other in something... stranger. Sometimes it’s supernatural. Sometimes it’s sonic rituals. Sometimes it’s just me with a microphone, trying to make sense of something.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when rock ‘n’ roll and the occult cross paths, this is probably for you. You can find it here.

The Music

Johnny Beatnik is the ghost of rock ’n’ roll if it had died in a back alley with a cigarette still burning.
He’s a skeleton in a trench coat and fedora, drifting through a pulp-fiction universe stitched from broken jukeboxes, cosmic dive bars, and bad deals with worse gods. Sometimes he’s alive, sometimes he’s not—but his songs always come back louder than they should. Born from a mix of always my own lyrics, AI music, gritty storytelling, and pulp-noir visuals, Johnny isn’t just a character—he’s a myth in motion and he’s here.

Sometimes, I also play real world low-key acoustic shows with a Gretsch Rancher Falcon…

What Ties It All Together?

I tell stories. That’s the through-line. Some of them are written. Some are spoken. But they all come from the same place: that urge to capture something real, especially when it doesn’t feel quite real. Why?

Because stories save people. Because songs don’t judge. Because somebody out there is listening—and that matters.

Read some stories • Listen to some music • Check out the podcast • Subscribe to the newsletter
or email me (there’s a contact link somewhere above) and say hello the old-fashioned way.

If you’re feeling brave, join the Dead Letterbox - there’ll be lots going on there.

If you want to dig deeper, I had a great run as a counter-culture
magazine editor that you can read about here