60 posts tagged “indieboy”
Officially my favourite festival of all time though I didn't get to see as much of it as I hoped. Def heading there next year.
After many cans of beer I felt full of Scottish hospitality. :-)
I got up early the next morning and decided to explore the city and walked miles and miles to find me a pair of wellies and a raincoat. Really got a great taste for the city, took hundreds of pics and got back to the flat later than I should have.
I then hopped a lift with the band to Inveraray. I've never seen scenery like it (though I am poorly travelled). It was mind blowing and it didn't seem like a long drive at all. I will get all the various pics I took together and stick them on here.
On getting to the site the first thing that struck me was how uncrowded it was. 15,000 people. That's not even half a field's worth at Glasto. I was alble to walk around at a normal pace, see all the things I wanted to see and not feel hassled or claustraphobic.
The first act I got to see was Amplifico as it took me ages to get my tent up in the rain. I hate errecting tents in the rain, most depressing. Anyhow, they were really really good. The last time I saw them was the Islington Bar Academy a few months back and although they were great then, they seem to still be moving onwards and upwards despite an apparent hiatus.
A new addition to the band in the form of Az, as a percussionist and backing vocalist, really added a new depth to the sound. Allowing for a much more layered and high impact vocal performance. Az is a temporary fixture I think which is a shame as she was a great supliment to an already very tight act. Be sure to check out her myspace, have a listen to Sunshine as her sliky vocal is the perfect antidote to festival comedown. :-)
With my extra stong cider in hand, I stumbled accross Gomez. I'd forgotten about Gomez! I loved them when I was at Uni. The Bring It On album was an essential on campus for every student, I think it came in the post with the student loan ad's and free condoms. As they came on stage they announced "It's been ten years since we relased Bring it On, so we thought we should just play through the whole thing". I couldn't have asked for more. It's been years since I heard the album and I had a huge hit of nostalgia. I could practically smell the pot and McCoy crisps, though that might have been the hippy next to me.
I quickly ran to catch the end of Broken Records' set, I've liked them for a while. The guy that manages them used to be an A&R guy and is a really nice chap. He even came to a few of my old bands gig's back in the day. I only caught a couple of songs so it wouldn't really be fair to try and sound like an expert. Though I will be heading to more gigs in the future. Be sure to check them out soon as I know they're just going to get bigger and bigger.
After sampling much of the festival fayre available before I knew it I was watching Bloc Party in the evening. They were fricking amazing. I really wasn't prepared for the show at all. I could never say I was a hug fan, but seeing the performance on Saturday left me dizzy. At a basic musical and musicianship level they're stunning and I still think their drummer is one of the best around today. The crowd actually booed on hearing "Here's a new one for you off the new album". That's totally wierd!!?! All the classics were a 'new one' at one point. If you want a best of set go see a tribute band. Personally I think their performance is one of the best performances I've seen and probably will see all year. Really good stuff. As always, have a look and a listen if you're not familiar.
After having my eyes rattled by bloc party I hooked up with the Amplifico chaps again as I wanted to see where the parties were at (and hopefully get backstage for some free drinkies). We ended up in a dance tent dancing our tits off to the sounds of bagpipes and drums. I think that is something missing in clubs. I'd love to launch a clubnight of celtic music. It was MENTAL. People dancing on tables, hanging from the ceiling, everyone was smiling and going crazy. It was a great feeling. I took my video camera and will upload footage shortly.
On the Sunday I MISSED SPARROW AND THE WORKSHOP. I can't describe how gutted I was. This was due to being stuck in the mud at the opposite side of the site. So I couldn't get accross there in time. Travelling around the site was a bit difficult sometimes. Anyway, luckily the BBC filmed them and I hope to see the footage up online soon. Please have a listen to their stuff if you haven't already as I think I've truly fallen in love the Jill's vocal on the tracks they've recorded so far. I cannot wait to hear something produced outside their flat. Any producers who want to get involved be sure to send them a message.
BBC introducing had a strong presenence there and video'd a lot of what went on. I think their sites are fantastic, especially after they totally eclipsed Glastonbury's own site with their coverage this year. It really is become a great resource for new talent. Have a look there to wet your unsigned whistles.
After the 11 hour commute back I was welcomed to Camden with my girlfriend's homemade pizza and a very warm welcome from my housemates which reminds me why I love living there so much. Was worth going away just to come back. Anyhow, before I get gushy I will start the huuuge catchup process of going through the new submissions.
I hope all is well with you.
I'm really excited.
Firstly, I'm going to what is probably one of the most beautiful parts of the country and secondly I'm getting to see two of my favourite bands of the moment. Amplifico and Sparrow and the Workshop. Both of which are going to be filmed by the BBC and there are a couple of interviews and such happening. So it seems that interest is already building. Not too quickly I hope as I want to be punting them to the labels at some point.
Have a look at the pics on google of the place, it's really lovely.
I'll be taking my cameras along so will have plenty to show when I get back. Please do have a listen to Amplifico and Sparrow and the Workshop as I think you will really like em.
Managed to catch up on a lot of submissions yesterday and a lot of good stuff has come through. I think gone are the days of half baked demos.
My searches of Myspace, LastFM and the various usnigned podcasts I listen to have also produced heaps of good stuff. I'll have to do some shortlisting in my tent this weekend. :-)
Anyhow, hope all is well with you.
Hello,
Any of you who are familiar with London music venues, or having a good night out in West London will be familiar with the venue Ginglik.
Formally an underground gents toilet, the local government seems to have other plans for the site.
For all you Facebookers out there who are interested in saving this important venue there is this group you can join:
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=532554330#/group.php?gid=35587928336
It gvies you email addresses to send messages of support and such, plus a couple of events to save the venue.
I wrote to the coucil folk stated in the group and put my best grown up voice on. Don't send some ranty message, just something stating why you think it's important for the venue to stay:
Hello council folk,
Apologies if these messages are becoming a pain, however I thought it would be important to highlight the importance of the Ginglik venue from both a music industry and local community perspective.
Working as a talent scout for a major label gets me to pretty much every venue in London. The Ginglik's accessibility to both emerging acts and promoters makes this an invaluable resource of new music to the local population and music industry. Also, it's placing means that many people from areas such as Ealing, Acton and Shepherds Bush have easy access to a solid grass-roots multicultural music venue. I do not no of one A&R person or artist who does not know the venue well. I also have many friends and colleagues who live in the surrounding area who are very concerned that the venue is under threat.
To remove this as a venue would further fence off live music to the areas of central, north and east London, remove yet another accessible venue for new and out of town acts and also remove a valuable asset that forms part of the area's cultural image. In the years I have lived in London I have seen local governments efforts to tidy up Shepherds Bush green and surrounding areas which have been noticed. However removing this important cultural centrepiece of Shepherds Bush Green would have a detrimental effect to both the area's image and micro economy.
kind regards
So be sure to join the group and let's see if we can save the venue! :-)
Hope all is well with you.
Hello,
Apologies that I haven't been around for a while. I've been swamped in sorting out my new place and worrying about Visa's n such. All quite complicated but I think it's all heading in the right direction now.
I finally moved the rest of my stuff into the new place. Which is a huge load off my mind, and my brother's van. He volunteered to help me move again. Which I think is increadable after the last move. All involved, including bystanders, were left emotionally scarred by that experience.
The highlights of the move involved getting a punchbag set up and getting a sofa onto a roof, up a fire escape and having to take a door (and part of the frame) off. Luckily my brother is a joiner so he made a very quick job of it. Although my brother's first words on seeing what needed to be done was "I hate you" in his most deadpan voice, he still went through with it and carried shteloads. He explained afterwards that he's saving all these favours up for later on in life to ask one huge favour. I dread what it's going to be.
I'm now in the process of gradually whittling down my stuff as I have tonnes. But the room is useable, just.
Music highlights of the past couple of weeks included seeing the Cold War Kids. I've never had much interest in seeing them live but my girlfriend is a big fan and bribed a bouncer to get us in which I was well impressed with. I've also just found out that I'm heading to the Connect Festival which I'm really looking forward to. Mainly because Amplifico and Sparrow and the Workshop are playing. Both of whome are amazing.
Spent last night watching Richard Prior do standup with gf and friend who is visiting from the states. I'm quickly becoming a fan.
Anyhoo, apologies for the non-correspondence. If you've sent an email and had no response I am trying to get through them all. I have 500+ messages still to get through with more landing each day. Please don't send the "Hey, check me out messages" as that's what the A&R group is for. All it does is fill my messagebox.
Anyhow, I hope all is well with you and I will continue with regular posts again. Let me know what you're up to.
Was having din din outside one of those lovely pubs near the Dublin Castle and heard my name being shouted from the corner.
Normally I try and hide at that point anticipating an ear-bashing from some disgruntled artist who, though my comment of "Nice, still early days, maybe more rehearsals?", wants to make it clear how pointless a human being I am. That actually happened once.
But no! It was Chris from the Lost Levels. They'd just played a set at the Dublin Castle which I'd unforgiveably forgotten about, even after my girlfriend reminded me, twice. I was too busy doing manly DIY things such as putting up shelves and errecting my punch bag. Luckily I had already agreed to go to the 93 Feet East gig which everyone should attend. Every time I see them their set develops another shiny coat of lushness. Visit their myspace now, make friends now and get their newly released single, er now.
Hope all is well in gigland.
Helloo,
Yep, I dissappeared for a while. I'm in the process of moving both office and home at the moment, I think I'm a glutton for punishment.
Someone else is organising storage space around the office so I've had to be very creative with stuff under my desk. I never liked putting my feet under the desk anyway.
High Street Kensington seems like a nice enough place, lots of shops and the like. Plenty of eateries which is all I care about.
My new work phone scares me as it resembles a car dashboard with satnav. Luckily I don't use the landline very often, only to accept calls and I think I've worked that out. Hopefully.
The new house I've moved to is a mouse-infested dive, poorly mainted and a bit smelly but I love it as it's in the centre of Camden and I can know get anyway in a short amount of time. I'm in the process of making it proper nice, painting, disinfecting etc etc.
Music-wise there's been so much going on I can't really keep track of what I've done. Caught up with The Chapman Family last week. They'd just finished recording a Radio1 session at Maida Vale. Momentum is really building for them now and I need to decide on what my stance is as regards what they're doing. I think it's fantastic and love what I see live, but I wonder if it's too left of centre for a major?
It's an annoying fact but worth considering, if I love a band for whatever reason I have to think of they're capacity to generate revenue. 40k units for a major wouldn't be considered a hit but if a smaller label shifted that amount it would be considered a big success by them.
Currently I like what they've got recorded as I know how it turns out live, so I have a pre conception when listening to their music. However, someone who knows nothing about the band, having a listen may not win them over as it could be a bit inaccessable. Saying that, I've heard some new mixes of existing material which I hope will edge them further towards the mainstream.
I came accross Cats and Cats and Cats last week through the myspace page (soon to be developed and intergrated into the existing platform). I always like listening to something a bit different in the way of 'band-based' music. Ie, not something that sounds like a low-calorie Libertines or 8bit Killers. The first act that springs to mind on listening to is 70's prog-rockers The Nice, except they don't have an organ, or Keith Emmerson. But apart from that, they're very similar...?....:-s
I think it's Ben George's vocal that feeds that idea into my head. I like the fact they can create a large, grandiose sound without cliche reverb and bizarre extended intro's. A very English-upbeat Sigur Ros or Arcade Fire perhaps? Hypnotic layers of melody and the relentless stopstart drums from Doug Jenkins make for quite emmersive and engaging tracks. I'm really interested to see what they're like live. Once I get a night going again maybe I can get a booking out of them.
Other than that all is pretty good in the world over here. Let me know what's happening with you.
Hope all is well with you.
Nope, Broken Hand isn't a new band. Though I do think it's a good band name.
I manage to royally mess up my hand playing djembes in a jam session last night. Went a bit drumcrazy and attempted some kind of pseudo-latino thing and manage to acheive stupido-fracturedhando instead. Kinda hurt at the time but my mate Chalky took me out for a few medicinal beers before coming home to a rather amazing lasagne. This morning was a different story, could barely grip my muffin.
(that's not slang, I had breakfast muffins this morning)
Anyhow, damaged body parts aside. I went to see Josh Weller playing upstairs at the Lock whilst medicating myself. I'd forgotten how much I like his quirky stylings, observant lyrics n such. He played a favourite of mine 'What Would My Girlfriend Say'. At least I think that's what it's called. It's not on the myspace at the moment. I had a brief chat with him after whilst he was surrounded by young pretty scenester girls (I really miss gigging). He seems to be developing well as an artist and taking it all in his stride. What does suprise me is the lack of deal. I would have thought an indie would have got an EP out of him at the very least by now. Last time I heard he was touring with Lightspeed Champion, he mentioned another peachy support coming up but I can't remember what he said. Think that was the medicine kicking in.
Anyhow, I have to do desk tidying in preparation for moving offices and also I will be getting a work experience assistant. THis is something I'm really looking forward to as it means I can spread the load a little and start exploring new avenues as regards talent tracking both in here and further affield. I'm talking to the digital creative guys about the changes being made to the pages today too. So that should be good fun.
Ran into one of the guys from Melody Nelson last night too. Great band well worth seeing if you like balls out retro riff driven rock. He did ask if I ever check my Vox which probably means there's a message unanswered for some time in my mail box. I do get quite a lot so it's difficult for me to get through them all. I must admit if it's entitled 'Check This Out' it kind of goes to the bottom of the pile as I will check it out anyway if it's in the A&R group. The tracks are simply added to a queue and I pile through them.
Anyhow, I think I'm waffling now. So I should get on with my tidying and maybe get me a special K bar in the process.
Hope all is well with you.
Hello,
A while back I was investigating Secondlife for what it had on offer in the way of music. Crap was what I found with very little success in the way of live performances. Everytime I attended an arranged performance it was always dogged with technical problems and never a good musical experience.
After attending a couple of lame concerts and witnessing bedroom songwriting at it's worst I gave up for a while.
Now I've come accross Chouchou. This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping to come accross in the SL community. An act which exists only within SL and the entire product, promo etc exists only in this user generated world. Take a look at one of their videos, 'shot' in secondlife (wonder what camera they used? :-)
I find some of the piano work on there a bit reminscent of Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood in it's very minimalist yet quite progressive nature. Generally a quite emmersive sound, epic in scale but not overpowering with the various layers of reverbarating piano and processed digital hisses. (What?!?!?! I'll settle down in a min, bear with me)
I guess rather than seeing this as involving records/albums/units/whatever you want to call them, I think Chouchou's approach is more focused on how people consume and interact with their music. For me I find their videos and music all part and parcel of the same thing, like an AV art installation. I will get back onto the whole SL thing just to get a look at what they are doing on line.
Be sure to take a look at their blog and have a listen to their stuff. Possibly lacking a place in today's commercial music market but definitely good to listen to at the right moment. I'll be sticking some of this on my MP3 for those quiet moments when I need some musical mescaline.
Is the first review I saw of the Chapman Family after I had booked them to play last Saturday. More about that in a min....
This had me worried, considering the organisational nightmare that had led up to the night. The Lost Levels had to pull out due to illness on the day which was a bugger but unavoidable. Plus I had another cancel the day before. Ugh, matters were getting desperate. I ended up asking my mate Sam the night before if she knew anyone. Luckily she came up with the goods in the form of Darkroom Project, which is nothing to do with Dark Room Notes who are a favourite of mine. They were brilliant as it turned out.
Spent the day trying to get hold of DAT's and DV's. Luckily I made it just in time and had to make my way straight to the venue. No time for rest, just running around like a madman.
Once I got the cameras and DAT deck there everything started to feel a bit better. There were a fair few people there and I wasn't too stressed.
Matt Fisher opened the evening with a wonderfully uplifting set. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the guy who was playing piano for him who was also excellent. Many thanks to Stewart at Emsar for bring them along.
The Chapman Family were perfect. They were really supportive of what I try to achieve with my nights at TF's. It's great when I meet an easy-going band rather than a bunch of premadonnas. Kingsly is one of the most engaging frontmen I have seen in ages. I actually forgot what I was doing as did my backup camera person towards the end of the set. Chalky scrambled over the bar to shout in my ear "Of all the bollocks you normally film why aren't you filming this!!?!" By the time I got my camera sorted the moment had passed and they ended their set leaving the crowd completely spent. "It was just like history in the making or something" was a comment I heard from one of the punters. Slightly over-dramatic for me but then I am an A&R t**t who doesn't like anything too much. I actually thought they were going to go back on for an encore, they would have got it had they tried. Which is funny as they were second support.
Totally rough around the edges and there's nothing mindblowing recorded to speak of yet. So you will have to see them live sometime soon. Make sure you see them in a smaller venue.
Third slot saw the return of King Hermit who I didn't envy having to follow the atomic set of the Chapmans. Luckily they squared up to the crowd and showed what hard work in rehearsals does for this three piece from Coventry. Home Cooked Cookin is one of my favourites of theirs and I got some great footage of their set. Another thankyou to Stewart at Emsar for sorting this one out too.
Headlining the night were Darkroom Project, the complete wildcard of the bill but on listening to the myspace and chatting with the band I thought it would be good to punt them as the headline. Fan-fookin-tastic. Was like Rage Against the Machine fronted by more feminine Linda Perry (in vocal style, not tattoos). Check out Strong Enough, Intervention. I will be booking them again at some point soon as I want to get them promoted properly and playing to a bigger crowd.
I've got the footage to go through still, but not before I get through the acts from the last one. Which I will be doing today. I've got one happening this Saturday also and I had a few messages asking about playing could you send them again as it's really difficult to search/filter messages in Vox.
Will try and get a video up tomorrow for you to watch.
Let me know what is happening out there. Hope all is well with you.
IB
"Where's your blog? You'll be loosing readers!"
Is the message I got from mum on the phone last night. I've not been ignoring it, it's just been there, like an unpaid bill (which reminds me, must sort the gas out). Actually it's not like that as I enjoy writing posts, just been really amazingly busy this week.
On Friday I was in Brighton filming The Electric City as I want to do an 'Indieboy Special' or something. Thinking about it that sounds like a sandwich or a cocktail maybe. Anyhow, I've really got into this band and want to capture where they're at now before things really kick off for them as I'm certain they're going to get somewhere relatively soon. Speaking of which, I've just found out we've got a signing off the blogs. More details on that as things are finalised.
Saturday was another End Of Camden. Can of worms anyone? Christ, that was the worst night ever. Don't get me wrong, the bands were great. In fact it was the most consistent lineup I've ever had and I got it all to tape (see preview left). But everything that could have gone wrong did. My door person didn;t turn up and my last min replacement was an hour and a half late. The first hour and a half is where I make my money back. So one heavy loss that night. Plus I had an extra band turn up?!?!? Slight lack of communication there, but I also had one band drop out so it all worked, sort of. My regular engineer didn't turn up so I had to break a new guy in etc etc. So I'm a little greyer, but looking at the footage I really got some great stuff off the bands.
Sunday I got food poisoning.
Monday I got better (and lighter)
Tuesday was Jujitsu, luckily all traces of my illness were gone as I have to wear a white outfit and I couldn't face the disgrace of an embarrassing accident. In fact in ancient Japan you would probably be expected to commit Hara Kiri as a result. THere's a really good (or bad) video of a guy doing just that on youtube.
After Jujitsu on Tuesday I went to see The Hoosiers (see, I'm well busy). It was great. I hardly ever get to see signed talent as I'm always out and about in London's high spots trying to find the next big thing n such. They're very pop and they've also been voted 'Worst Band' by the NME which I think they should be very proud of. Very ELO in places which I like and the live show is great, had the audience standing and generally jumping around. Ran into my old boss from royalties and a couple of the chaps from finance which was great. I was drinking the pints quite quickly as a result though.
As a result of the shananigans at the venue, by the time I got to the aftershow (ooh get me) I was already half plastered. On arriving I realised I really should have gone home first. I tend to dress for comfort when I know I'm not going anywhere, everone looked uber trendy. I was wearing my 'I'm a bit ill' blue sweater and geography teacher-esque cords. Also, the girls with the trays of canopes worked out if they came by me they could pretty much clear their tray and bugger off to wherever they were hiding the rest of the time. I must have looked like a right tramp.
Anyway, several bottles of Sol later I was introducing myself to everyone, getting on my soapbox about this and that and had found a new best friend in the world, who's name I can't remember. When the 'you're talking crap' bell rang in the back of my head I made my exit into the harsh realities of Shepherds Bush bus stops. Wish I'd smuggled and canope picnic out with me. Took ages to get home.
Wednesday was another jujitsu class preparing me for this competition thing. Got thrown around by big Andy, got landed on a couple of times and really messed up my hair. Once I sucessfully got myself looking like Ed Norton, complete with bruises, I had to head to camden (for a change) to see Zut Alors at Barfly then say hello to Kojo at the Dublin Castle. YOU NEED TO GET TO KNOW THIS BAND. They are fantastic. Sooo good live. They got more gigs coming up and I really think you should get hold of some of their stuff somehow. There's also real character in the band too.
Last night was spent on Medival:Total War. Yep, I have proven myself as a complete geek. I actually found myself thinking "I'll just see if I can conquer eastern Europe then I'll head to bed" :-/ Hmm. Time to get a girlfriend or something I think.
Tonight I'll be heading to see a band my friend is managing. They're great, need a little development but are superb live. I will do a feature on them here. Will give you more info soon.
Tomorrow I'm doing Roman-Greco wrestling. Yes, it sounds very erm..... something. It conjures images of nearly naked musclemen groping and generally rolling around on the floor grunting. That's pretty much it but it's about sport rather than amusement. I've got to get better at submission grappling for competition and these chaps are experts. So that'll be fun.
Whoops, long post. WIll shut up now. For those of you interested in getting involved in the night I now have been given several dates in advance. So just pop me an email, private message, myspace message or whatever way you want to get in touch.
Hope all is well with you.
