How did you start out in promoting gigs, Joe?

"Erm, it was an accident. A couple of my favourite acts were coming to the UK but didn't have any gigs lined up in the north, so I invited them to York so I could see them. I'd been working in Track Records in York for six or seven years at that point so knew a lot of people who were interested in seeing particular types of music.

"They went pretty well – although I seem to remember the homemade pizzas I did for Kelley Stoltz burnt and fell apart – and I found promoting gigs quite addictive. Simon Micklethwaite was busy turning The Basement at City Screen into a regular venue at the time and he asked me to get involved."

Why is your gig organisation called Please Please You?

"Haha, oh dear. I never particularly liked The Beatles but I liked lots of bands that sounded like The Beatles. A couple of my colleagues at Track will have had some kind of influence on this somewhere down the line, I don't really remember. We used to play word games with album titles all the time. It was a joke, it stuck and I'm still apologising for it ten years later."

What was the first gig you saw and what are your memories of that night?

"The first gig I remember was in The Spread Eagle with my dad when I was 11 or 12. For years I could remember the band name but it escapes me now. Don't remember much other than I think it was a Sunday afternoon and I was mostly stood on a bench. REM at Huddersfield in 1995 is probably the first big gig."

What is the best gig you’ve ever seen?

"Best is impossible really, I tend to say 'That one was in the top ten'. Yo La Tengo on the Summer Sun tour at City Varieties in Leeds was magical; eventually seeing New Zealand legends The Clean at Primavera in Barcelona; Neil Young at Manchester Apollo; Times New Viking at Stereo in York in 2010; Chic in Manchester a couple of years ago; The Replacements at The Roundhouse earlier this year was wonderful. I was lucky enough to be right at the front for Radiohead's Glastonbury headline show in 1997, which was an amazing performance."

What qualities do you need to be an independent concert promoter in York, as opposed to London?

"I think it's important to be single-minded, self-motivated and very focused. It's actually an isolating lifestyle; you spend hours alone designing artwork, emailing and organising people and promoting your events. There's a lot of boring work that goes into people having fun at gigs anyway!

"In London, my events would create a well-paid job; in York, it certainly doesn't do that. It's very difficult to create a situation in York where you get paid for that huge amount of really boring work. You have to remember the music; it was the point in the first instance. Fortunately I still like music, old and new."

How do you talent-spot for the shows you put on?

"Same as everyone else, I'd suggest, going to gigs, listening to the radio, reading blogs and magazines, talking to people. Nowadays, I also receive a lot of emails from bands and booking agents introducing artists. You have to trust your ears and find a balance between booking with your heart and with your head. I can certainly improve in that department."

What have been the highlights of your ten years of promoting gigs? What was the first, the best and the worst?

"The first Please Please You show was in The Basement in 2005 with Liverpool pop band Ambulance, Boss Caine and Dallas Boner. Basically a bunch of my best friends. It sold out, we all got very drunk and argued a lot. I learnt a lot from that. I didn't publicly speak into a microphone again until last year!

"I didn't do another gig until a year later, but then hosted wonderful San Franciscan Kelley Stoltz and Toronto garage-country kings The Sadies in The Junction in York at the end of 2006, which remain two of the best I've been involved in.

"We did a Tribute to Ron Asheton in 2009 where Avenging Force & Friends did the most amazing live performance of The Stooges' Fun House album in full. That was special. Basically I have enjoyed most of them!

"I went through a phase in the early days where I'd get very nervous about people showing up.The odd occasion when no-one comes out can be difficult, but that doesn't happen very often fortunately. I've been quite lucky, I've had very few prima-donnas or particularly difficult individuals. Quite the opposite, I've met so many great people doing this that I find it very hard to complain about any of it.

"There's a list of all the old gigs on the Please Please You website, if anyone is interested."

Who would you like to book that you are yet to do so?

"I'd really like to have Sturgill Simpson come and play in York, but that bird might have flown, I went see him in Leeds last night. Thurston Moore needs to visit. Yo La Tengo at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds would make me a happy man. Or The Clean in there. Neither are likely, but it's the best venue in the north of England and those are my particular favourites; both are yet to play there."

What does the future hold for you?

"I was born in York in 1980 and have always been here, so I don't envisage that changing in a hurry! More gigs I guess. I'll be doing some more with The Crescent, the old working men's club behind the Reel cinema on Blossom Street.

"It's a really great sounding room, which is a treat in York! Sweet Baboo and The Delines are playing in there next month for Please Please You, which is exciting.

"I'd actually like to encourage people now to come and take a chance on the venue; hosting more regular gigs there will be great for York music lovers, it's a good size, it has a high stage and good viewing angles and the bar is sensibly priced."

"I've worked at a lot of festivals recently, Kendal Calling, Beatherder and Indietracks in July. It's different and gives me an opportunity to learn different skills. I may well do more of that next summer if anyone want me."

How are you celebrating your tenth anniversary?

"I'm hosting PPY10 at The Fulford Arms on Saturday, featuring many bands that have played regularly for me over the years and some interesting touring acts with past links too.

"It's an all-day affair with a bunch of friends DJing and making silly cocktails. It'll be daft, but the music is amazing from start to finish and it's only a tenner, so…y'know. My Dad taught me to enjoy life and enjoy work, whatever the future involves I'll try to ensure I do that."

Did you you know?

Tickets for all Please Please You shows can now be bought from The Inkwell, in Gillygate, York, at face value.