Hello,
Fox Cubs in Camden
Overall a fun-packed weekend, had a visit from the Foxcubs....well.... I went to see them first at the Purple Turtle on Saturday and they came over to Tommy's afterward. I was at Tommy's to see how the refurb had gone and I'm really impressed. The stage is great, as is the PA, house backline/kit and the new area around the back.
The gig was great, heard some new material that I was impressed with and I like the new direction the band seems to be taking.
If you're interested they're headlining my night on Saturday.
Final Lineup for Saturday Night
I'm getting this finalised today, one band couldn't make it and the venue manager has made room for one more slot, so that'll be five acts on.
I got loads and loads of responses to my appeal for acts, I've forwarded on a shortlist to the venue to help me decide. Thanks to all those who've contacted me.
It's Not Free :-(
As of Saturday I've found out that I'm not getting the venue for free as I have to hire backline and get an engineer in. I'd engineer myself but I'm going to be filming this aswell. Plus I'll be mingling :-). To cover costs I'm going to have to charge on the door but will keep it low as possible. I'm thinking £2 should do it. If there's any profit I'll stick it back to the bands or charity depending on what I agree with everyone. WIll let you know. It should only cost me about £85/90 to run.
Digital A&R Scouty Bods
I've had a big response to those wanting to do my job, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! IT'S MINE, ALL MINE I TELL YOU!!! Actually, a little help is always appreciated as the best acts I come accross are usually on the recommendation of someone. I'm getting a core group of UK based people who I'm going to meet a few times a month. I will be contacting the person who is co-ordinating this today so further details later this week hopefully.
Beyond that, I want to build a small, possibly international network of those interested scouting.
You have to be really really passionate about new music as self-motivation is the key. If you spend all your time and myspace and youtube checking new stuff out anyway this is the sort of person I'm after. Have you been into a band and 12 months later they're huge? Happened more than once? Again, those are the sort of folks I'm after. I'll set up a group accordingly.
The way to approach me on this is:
Send me a PM entitled - RE: Digital Scout
Include links to two bands you know or have approached that you think are truely amazing and exceptional (that's actually quite hard). 'Sell' them to me as to why they would make a good signing. This would be very difficult without actually speaking to the band. Aswell as the music, what they're working on, who they're working with, radio/media exposure, current sales activity etc all count towards the desireability of a potential signing.
A short bio of yourself (100 words of less) so I know what music-y background you have.
Collaborations
Over the weekend I wrote my proposal for what functionality/interactivity I'd like to see between Vox and LastFM which I'll be forwarding on shortly. Again, as I have no real idea what I'm talking about when it comes to the more technical issues, I need to find out what's possible, how it works etc etc. I will keep you up to speed as things happen. I hope to have more developments by the end of the week.
Overall
I'm thinking about making some quite big changes to the community now I've got what seems like a good direction to take from the suggestions made. Ideally, I want a general facelift of the blogs and they way they are currently used. A lot more people will be publishing via them in the new year, which will mean a lot more posts rather than it being used mostly as a channel of communication for submissions. I see the central A&R 'group' being tied to, or becoming, the central portal for all submissions, and first port of call for artists, with a page directly attached to that to publish A&R-group-specific information.
The new year should be really interesting as regards what happens with this as as long as it's kept driven by the motivations and input of the community, I don't think we can go far wrong. If we do, I'm sure it would be sortable anyway. :-)
Hope all is well with you.
IB
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Gigs 26/11/2007
The Mattew Bennett are playing my hometown Stockport at The Venue. Starts at 8pm, maybe I'll ask my mum to go along.
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