53 posts tagged “indieboy”
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.
For you Oscar fans out there I'm sure you're familiar with the film 'Once', which is an indipendent production, filmed for about 100k which has subsequently gained recognition and support from just about everywhere. It's not just the story of the film that appeals to me but the stories behind the film. Such as Cillian Murphy was originally meant to play the lead but pulled out, apparently due to the nature/difficulty(?) of the songs he had to sing in the film. I think the storyline is actually based around the chap who ended up playing the lead. Also the story of the on-screen/off-screen romance of the leads and the fact that neither of the leads have any interest in acting again I find really charming. I've got my DVD ordered and will have a very rare night-in to watch it. Have a read about it here.
So as an entertainment industry are we for want of a better expression 'buggered' (still)? Should I go sell my soul and get a job at Foxton's now? We've got artists running around with handicams making their own films getting investment from here and there, placing their own music and getting international recognition without massive massive M&P costs. Then I hear about an artist I really liked (and pursued) having his album funded entirely by donation, soon to be distributed this week.
For me, someone who spends about 80% of their life infront of this screen and the rest (bar 2% sleeping) at gigs, film and music to me are basically the same thing, which is content. As are blogs, great sites (and crappy ones), viral apps etc. What I think I'm witnessing is a renaissance of artists who exist in several mediums with great ideas and the motivation to follow them through. About a year ago I was giving a talk at the Apple Shop on Regent St. about the industry as it is today. I had some rather irate guy in the audience tearing me a new behind about how the record industry was dead and in the hands of the artists. I retorted by asking him to name 5 truely landmark, critically acclaimed albums that had stood the test of time that were DIY projects. This was a little unfair as I knew he'd struggle. Looking back, if I'd said name 5 truely landmark pieces of content that were produced indipendently, I probably would have shot myself in the foot.
So, where's the money? Show me the money. Where in this huge d-list party is the money being made and where can I get some? Everywhere, absolutely everywhere in small amounts, here and there, on this site, that site, under the sofa at that gig, via that youtube channel. As an artist, or a label, I think the trick is to tie together and centralise the dozens, maybe even hundreds of channels of potential revenue. Pair this with not spending colossal sums of money. I'm talking about artists rather than labels on that one. Why spend £10k on what essentially is a 14 track demo (saw this recently) when you could spend £5k on a great EP with video and the remainder on promo? If I was still a recording artist I'd set up the following as the most basic set of tools.
Myspace - obvious but inclusive of
Online radio - get your music on LastFM and Pandora, befriend specialist stations and podcasts, really get to know them and get your stuff played, a kind of digiplugging I guess.
- Snocap, CD baby, Magnatune and any other distrubutors you'd care to involve
- Youtube channel - you need video content all the time, rehearsals, vidblogs, inspirations etc and get subscribers
- Tight analytics - you need to be identifying who is interested an where - getting lots of hits for Australia? Get linked on triple J's website etc etc.
- Top eight friends of bands very similar to you who yeild more than 1000 hits a day (it's not that difficult)
- 'Blidget' of your blog - go to widgetbox.com, they've got a great one that you can stick in Facebook aswell. Blogs are essential and the myspace one is fairly crappy.
- Merch - You need this, as simple as badges and t-shirts but you'd be amazed at how much you can make.
Blog - This isn't simply an endorsement of this platform (though it is pretty good). Everything you do should be syndicatable and very very easy to find, plus associated with stuff similar to what you're doing. Have your main 'this is us' blog which brings the fans closer to you. But also have blogs on all the major platforms with all your content on, heavily tagged in a way which doesn't have to compete with other popular tags. Get your lyrics up there, and tagged. If someone hears a line from your tune and google's it. You want your track, to appear, and from that page links to your other content and somewhere to spend some cash or re-direction to a site where you're making ad revenue.
Youtube channel - for me this is becoming as essential as myspace. More and more people use youtube as a method of discovering new music simply because you can search for that track you want easily and it ranks highly in google when you type a track title in. Even if you have no video's do an iMovie montage or something that promotes your track like I did for Dark Room Notes.
I-Tunes/Amazon - consider this your premium content host. This is where the people prepared to part with cash for what you've got. So make it feel special, exclusive mixes, access to content as a result of purchase etc etc.
Links Links Links - You need to be found easily by people who've either heard of you or are interested in the sort of thing you are doing. Myspace friends is the most obvious example of this, but new music blogs (such as mine ;-) are
great because search engines pick up the tags and links plus the posts themselves drive traffic.
Regular content - plus the means to distribute it. You want to be RSS'ed as much as possible and as interesting as you can be. Simply because public memory is short and the closer people feel to you as an artist the more involved they'll be and support you in many ways.
Anyhow, I've really rambled now about not a great deal. New showcase this Saturday which I'm sorting this afternoon, be sure to get yourselves down and tell people about the acts you see there.
Hope all is well with you.
IB
Hello,
Firstly check out the media play in my sidebar, yes, I nerded out for the best part of an hour to get that working. Oooh, and it autostarts too! (Yes it's deliberate)
That is where the 'New Music Podcast' is starting it's life, as a wee thumbnail video over to the left there in the sidebar. Double click
to go to the youtube original (though you've probably already seen the preview thing.Anyhow, currently I've got two bands confirmed for Saturday, I'm still waiting on quite a few to get back to me. They are The Toy Guns who are really good (as is everyone I book) and Minus IQ. I'm still hunting through various demos trying to find bands that I want to see play. To aid me in this, those of you in amazing bands please come forth and make yourselves know to me. :-)
I'm still nursing a hangover and managed to develop a couple more random bruises and I'm not sure how. Wierd.
Talking of wierd I was asked "Why do you talk like that?!?!" by my boss. I can be
quite strange when I talk to people sometimes, I think it's because I asked "Did you engage in some of the lasagne downstairs at lunch?". I spend a lot of the day in slience listening to demos and writing. I'm begnning to wonder if I'm loosing the power of real-world interaction. Another interesting development is the complete lack of internal dialogue. Namely either talking to myself whilst doing day to day tasks (such as peeing or cooking) or saying inappropriate/abstract statements. The most recent when I was in a conversation about a recent signing and the state of the industry and I contributed with "My eyelids itch, what causes that?", they went to lunch.Anyway, I really am rambling now. I want more bands (as usual) so get in touch if you're good and I'll carry on going through the sea of demos at my end.
Hope all is well with you.
Hello,
I wasn't exposed to any boobage today. I was almost disappointed, but not quite.
Reading Jack Kerouac "On The Road" at the moment. Fantastic book, though I do want to quit my job and hitchhike accross the US. I recommend you have a read.
Anyhow, I went to see the Lost Levels last night at 93 Feet East. As mentioned before, I really like these chaps and their set was really good. The sound was amazing too which is sometimes a bit hit and miss at 93FE. They threw a new song in there called Five which I really liked. Not that they were bad when they played my night but they really seemed to up their game for last night's gig. You could see them enjoying performing songs like the Early Sheets (one of my favourites). Plus their overall look on stage was really good. They certainly benefit from a larger stage. For some reason I was reminded of early Super Furries in places, I could imagine them playing
Ugh, I've got so much to do and so little motivation to do it. It's not the fun stuff like writing this, listening to new stuff etc. It's mostly mess cleaning, meetings, organising etc etc. Cannot be arsed to say the least. :-)
Ouch,
I have a nice line of dark bruises down each forearm from Jujitsu last night. I'd send you a picture but I think blogging parts of my anatomy may raise concerns with the management. It was soooo much fun last night.
I have 20 weeks until my first competition which is really exciting in many ways, scarey in others. It's a national, though I don't expect to become national champion, I hope to hold my own against the youngerfasterfitterstrongertaller chaps. I might just make sure my health insurance is in order beforehand though. :-) Someone told me I should do a 20 week training blog to make sure I stick to the plan and compare notes with others like fight geek.
My boss described me as Stig of the Dump today in referring to my workspace. Looking around me I think he may be on to something. I look at Neato's desk who sits behind me, and there's quite a stark difference. Hmm.
It just shows I'm crazy busy and always movin and shakin or something.... Maybe not.
I'm getting the cameras and footage back from Camden today. It's been a nightmare trying to get the equipment back. I've been told it will arrive this afternoon after I was told I'd get it sorted this morning. Crap. That does mean I can start working on the footage and get it over the suite for a proper edit for you lovely people who couldn't make it down. Fingers crossed, this should be the first properly done podcast.
Anyhow, I'm rambling as usual so I'll sod off before I say something controversial. ;-)
Hope you're having a lovely sunny day like us Londoners.
IB
Howdy,
Before I get to the gig I guess I should mention the whole big fire thing. Whilst the gig was getting into the full swing of things Camden Market and the Hawley Arms were burning down. You could probably smell the incense sticks and bamboo for miles. That's a horrible thing to say I know, just making light of it. Truth is it's a horrible state of affairs but no one was injured so the important thing. I'm sure insurance and such could handle the losses.
Gig-wise it was supaduper. I had two cameras running and the desk going into a DAT machine. So I'm hoping for a slightly more professional look this time.
Opened up the night with a new singer-songwriter called AJ who needed a gig. He hasn't got a page, myspace or anything. I think he has a phone number and that's about it. Don't think I should publish that. But I will get him to set up a page here.
Following that were 'Happy People Go Home' a last minute replacement who dished out some anthemic indie rock.
My personal highlight of the evening were The Knock. If I'm being honest, I found the recordings I heard a little lacklustre intitally but thought the songs were good and they sounded interesting. I wanted to see what they were like live. I was blown away to say the least.
It's rare that I see bands that have two singers that works. Rather than a frontman with backing. As musicians they were really tight. Toby's vocals were truely stunning and emotively performed. I heard elements of a heavyier version of Softcell, Blondie and Small Faces (bear with me). I definately hear some Steve Marriott in there somewhere. :-) Apparently Alan McGee has been championing these fellas for a while and have been getting bits and bobs of interest. I really like these fellas and think you'll be hearing a lot more from them soon. I'm going to be pushing them as best I can.
They're gigging all the time it seems so if you want to go to one of the best gigs you've seen in ages. Get yourself down. They even had me dancing down the front.
Sennah was loud. Let me say that again. Sennah was really really eyeball poppingly, teeth shatteringly LOUD!! But also great fun. Laura as a singer and performer is really engaging and certainly knows how to grab an audience by the knackers and back them against the wall with some intensely peformed metal. I think I managed to get good footage of her walking up and down the bar whilst belting out a tune. I forgot my lamp for the camera but hopefully I got some good shots.
Next on were the eagerly anticipated Clik Clik. I'd got a few people down to see these and I was glad I did. Really articulate and accessable DIY electro/hiphop stuff. I found them really charming as an act and they've got some very strong songs. They'll easily be getting decent radioplay in short order and I imagine getting a deal shouldn't be too difficult either. Whether it's with us/another major or they start taking the indie route is in the hands of fate I guess. Check out 'Done You Wrong' if you get chance.
Playing us through until the wee hours were Mano de Dios. An interesting Spanish/Flamenco influenced folk-rock out fit fronted by a fella called Jackson Scott. I didn't really know much about them as it was a recommendation from a friend. One of the girls in the crowd asked me "Is that Jackson Scott?" "Yes" I replied "You seen em before?" "Nope, I used to fancy him when he was dating Sadie Frost" Ahhh. You see, I have never kept up with whos dating who and I'm crap with any kind of celebrity, even the major ones. I'm crap at recognising anyone. Apparently I was chatting to Anna Friel for ages in my office. I didn't know who it was until it was explained to me three days later. I was ruthlessly taken the piss of for that.
All in all they were really good, but I was spangled by that point so camera work and cognitive thought proved difficult by 1am.
The place was crammed all night which considering I do very little promotion (apart from a mention on here) is pretty good. I want it to be a word of mouth thing really. :-)
After the gig me and Chalky went to have a look at the damage at the other end of Camden. Looked pretty bad and most of the other half of town was sealed off. I think it's going to be a long time before they get stuff sorted up there. The Hawley is probably going to be out of commission for a very long time.
I will get some previews of the video up asap. I'm quite excited to see how the footage turned out.
Hope all is well with you.
IBx
---------------------
YES MY KETTLEBELL HAS BEEN DELIVERED!!!
STOCKPORT!
That's where I've been, town of culture, mystery and high teenage pregnancy.
Was visiting the folks and getting my teeth fixed. Was a lovely visit though you couldn't imagine the amount of food I ate over the weekend. Imagine as much food a slim bloke could eat over 6 meals, then treble it and you'll be somewhere near.
Since moving to London a few years back, like many people here I have developed the dellusion that everthing outside London isn't quite as good. Ooh what a culture shock I had in my home town. I wanted to go to the gym and was fairly insistent that I had to go to Manchester city centre as anywhere else would be crap. Ended up having to go to Didsbury expecing a shithole and ended up in the best gym I've ever been in. It was huge, well equipped, clean and the people were nice.
Something that really struck me was the difference in culture between there and here. I know people go on about the North/South divide n such but it really showed. I was at a different branch of the same Gym I go to in London, yet everyone was really different. In the sauna's and steamroom people were chatting, as in the changing room and they weren't all mates. Just stood nearby. When I'm at my place in Ealing everyone is pretty much silent with iPod's in.
Anyway, completely random post about nothing in particular and certainly not music related. There is a showcase this saturday but I'm still confirming the lineup. Will post more details tomorrow.
Hope all is well with you.
Hello,
OH MY GOD HOW AMAZINGLY GOOD WAS SATURDAY?!? I really enjoyed it and yet again all the acts went beyond all expectation. The place was packed out for most of the evening and I think everyone had a really good time.
I did the whole 'host' thing and announced each act which was good as people knew who to ask about the bands. Everyone got interest from the crowd which was really good to see.
The impishly lovely Lizzy opened the night with her delicate and insightful tunes. Certainly a candidate for the alternative folk night I want to start somewhere.
I'd been looking forward to seeing Young Husband for a while as I'd taken an interest in the scene surrounding Emmy the Great. He's been playing guitar for her for a while and had a gig literally right before mine at the Barfly. So he had to run down the road to get to TF's and perform. He must have been a bit gigged out by the end of it.
Rebbecca Jade was as quirky and emotive as I imagined. In her bespoke golden cocktail dress she wooed the audience with her combination of whimsical and darkly influenced songs. She certainly won over the crowd and I look forward to getting her involved in a bigger event. You must check her out at some point.
Daniel Flay and the Irreperable Guilt were all I hoped. TF's is possibly not quite the venue for his soft touch songwriting but once the set was in full swing the strength of his material was easy to hear. Really enjoyed the set and I'm looking forward to seeing how his material progresses over the coming months.
King Hermit were mental. Loud, very loud and reasonably mental. But also bloody good fun to watch. They were telling me their last gig had a bit of a moshpit thing going on, I said you don't get much of that from the usual Camden glitterati but there are venues/nights around London which are good for getting something like that going. Shame the Red Eye was knocked down.
Anyhow..... KOJO WERE AMAZING AND ONE OF THE BEST LIVE ACTS I'VE SEEN IN A WHILE. They were the first band I've put on that weren't allowed to leave the stage without an encore. People walking past the venue would stop, look through the window at what was going on, then come in the venue to see the band. That was a first for me aswell. You can hear a lot of influences in there and I heard Prince being mentioned in the crowd when people were chatting about them afterward. Plus I had several punters ask me for details of when they're next playing. The band dynamic/chemistry and a fantastic frontman make Kojo one of my personal 'one's to keep an eye on' for 2008 I think.
OK, video matters. I met up with a couple of people at the venue and discussed something slightly more professional in the way of video'ing. They're an independent company who specialise in music videos (I think) and said they're willing to start filming and editing these nights. All early stages yet but some months ago discussions were held in the blogs about establishing some kind of regular podcast/video podcast. So hopefully this could be the start. As regards the first one I filmed, thanks to Fooligan I have something to stick on here. Unfortunately, my poor skills as a cameraman were highlighted and he didn't have much to work with methinkgs. But please check out the below for a flavour of what the showcase nights are like.
Hope all is well with you.
