Did the comp on Saturday, I didn't win put put in a reasonable show which was nice.

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Hello,

Saturday night was really rather jolly good. Murray James opened the evening with a strong set. There was some new material in there that sounds really interesting. Ball and Chain was my personal highlight and I'm looking forward to getting a recorded version off his manager soon. TF's crowd is quite tough for singer songwriter types, but he came across really well and got a warm reception. Though I did end up shouting at some hecklers afterward (I shouldn't be allowed a mic between sets).

It was weird starting a gig whilst it was still daylight. I guess it's now officially summer. Evening though it's sodding raining (again) outside.

Daniel Flay & The Irreparable Guilt followed. There was only to of them, so I guess it could have been Daniel Flay and the Nearly-Irreparable guilt, the Slightly Guilty, perhaps it could have been Daniel Flay and the bit Shifty? Anyhow, enough Michael-taking. His set was great.

Millionaire is one of my favourite songs and regularly features in my iTunes, as does The Antagonist which I hum a lot. As I raved on about that night, I find a really charming vulnerability in his music but real strength in its execution. (what am I on about?!?!?) But seriously, as a character, Daniel is quiet, reserved, possibly slightly introvert which is apparent on stage but the music expresses some really strong sentiments. The almost continuous two part harmony between Dan and Ellie Walker makes for engaging melodies and songwriting that works really well. Be sure to listen to both Daniels and Ellie's stuff. They finished the set with a really great Cyndi Lauper cover (bet you can't guess which). I hope they're doing some more London dates soon, if they are check them out.

Ched followed (I approve of the name change). The six string bass implied to me that it was going to be quite jazzy, or really frickin heavy. Jesus H Christ it was loud. There is a really strong reference to Rage Against the Machine in their style which is no bad thing. Lots of manic synchronised head banging interspersed with leaning back screaming vocals. Really taken aback by the performance and I was smiling the whole way through. At one point the bassist had his foot on the window sill to the left of the stage and was performing to his own little crowd gathering outside. Christian has real presence as a front man and knows how to grab a crowd by the goolies. They haven't got any gigs booked, which needs to change I think.

Occupying that uncomfortable space that followed Ched, Capisce? followed. Luckily their tight performance and stark contrast in style didn't highlight them as a lull in the evening's line up. I've never seen a guitar with a piercing before but that's exactly what I saw on Ian's instrument. Possibly early days for the band but Time Crisis 4 really stood out as a potential hit with moments of brilliance in its performance.

So, headlining the evening was Tough Love. I'd been looking forward to this literally all month. The only reason I got them booked is I've known the manager for 10 years and lived with him for a while. Otherwise I think this lot could have been an optimistic booking on my part. Because there's a lot going on stage-wise. I sound-checked them earlier in the evening. Two drummers, FIVE vocals, guitar and bass. Crazy sound. When listening to their stuff I hear Paul Simon (during the whole Ladysmith Black Mambazo thing), Adam and the Ants, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Scissor Scisters, and a whole heap of others. Getting Over It is another iTunes highlight of mine and I recently really started to get into Alpha Male which I think could be a hit for radio depending on the mix. They're currently working with a producer I'm familiar with and I'm really looking forward to hearing their new stuff. As mentioned before, they're really involved in the whole London burlesque scene and have picked up a lot of fans as a result. Their night White Mischief is eagerly anticipated and was described as the 'Event of the year' by Timeout last time. No dancers at my gig unfortunately. Hopefully this is something I can rectify in the future. Purely for artistic purposes. Anyhow, visit their page and say hello. Be sure to check them out at some point soon.

------

Apart from that, all in all a quiet weekend. I didn't get to bed until 7 on Sunday morning. I don't really get to enjoy the gigs as I'm too busy running about making sure everything is ok. Plus I'm filming n that. One day I'll just sit back and project manage, having my own 'people' for such things.

Will all this busyness I've lost track of time, and not been doing the excercise that I've meant to. Checking my diary my competition is 2 weeks away!!! :-s So I thought last night "Right, intense training, now! Nothing but training for the next two weeks" Then I looked at my diary and every night is booked up with something. As is the weekend. Hmm. Maybe I should use Condaleeza Rice as a role model (she gets up at 4am every day for the gym). Saying that, I get my bike tomorrow which Sony BMG has supplied me with. Hopefully I can take it off some sweet jumps.

Anyhow, hope all is sweet with you.

IBx

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"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.

Carrier Pigeon

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.

IB

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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.

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

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Limpieboy

Hello all.

I'm still limping. Though not as badly which is a good sign. Thankyou very much for the messages and piss taking I got over the past few days. Much appriciated and has helped keep me chirpy when immobilised. :-)

Went out with Tony on Friday in Angel, met some randoms and went to the Alex Zane/XFM thing at the Academy. Was fun though I woke up in Bermondsey, a place where you can get burgers/kebabs/dirty fried chicken at 10 in the morning. Ugh.

JujitsuFace

Saturday I had dinner with a mate in Acton, it's been so long since someone else cooked for me it was great. Sunday morning was a bit of a dodgy one. I'd volunteered a couple of weeks ago to attend this jujitsu seminar and training thing in Milton Keynes. So I taped up the knee, a support over the top, more Ibuprofen and some glycosamene for good measure. Worked out really well as I took it easy and there was nothing involving legs. There are pics but I was training with my mate Debs and they look a bit....compromising.

The 'Look' and Performance of a Band

Anyhow, I got a call from Alexi the other night. He's the singer from The Picture Show and wanted to chat about what my thoughts were on the gig last week, feedback and such.

I like the Picture Show, they're a good bunch and I'm liking where their songwriting is going. Oslo and The Revolutionary are my personal highlights. We got talking more about what happened on stage for each of the bands which I found really interesting. The music's good and Alexi has a great voice, though I didn't think they were engaging live as they could have been, there's lots there though. This got us talking about stage presence and presentation on stage.

The Picture Show

There was a fair cross-section of performing styles on the night ranging from the minimalist to onstage bedlam and jumping about. The Fox Cubs' set stood out for me due to the way they 'perform' their songs and I think this is something that can only be achieved when a) you can play your instrument effortlessly b) you've gigged the songs so much playing them is second nature and c) you're really enjoying what you're doing.

If a band is really nervous, bored, narked off or generally negative in some way I think this really translates to the audience irrespective of how well they play. It's a bit like watching a stand up comic, the same material can be performed exactly the same two nights in a row with totally different audience perception through the minutiae of the performance (ooh get me trying to be intellectual). Have you ever been to a gig where it seems 'forced' the stage show seems shallow and unconvincing? I'm thinking this is when the band's head isn't in it but they know how to go through the motions.

The next thing we chatted about is the 'look' of a band. I remember the conversations me and The Approach (oh how I miss the gigging days ;-(  ) of 'what you wearing for the gig?' 'you can't wear that...etc'. This doesn't mean everyone has to dress the same, but I do think the look of a band should carry a message of sorts. I think when a group spends enough time together and they're of a similar mentality, personality and image start to rub off on one another. The stronger character traits start to emerge and a 'look' develops. Not necessarily in just clothes but in body language. I saw a band a while ago who all somehow moved the same. Clothing-wise, totally different. But even if you took a still image of them they'd still some how look similar. Holding themselves the same maybe. Am I making any sense? I think I'm starting to ramble and talk bollocks now but it's so easy to see when bands get it wrong, or don't get it at all.

Ultimately, I guess it's being with people of a similar mindset to yourself, and spending all the time you can with them both playing and outside the studio. The best chemistry develops between bands who are good mates aswell. It's easy to see the divisions in bands onstage when they're not all in it. What are you thoughts? As usual I'm making this up on the spot.

Oh yes, I got the intro for the End of Camden video from my mate. It looks fookin brilliant. I'm really excited.

Hope all is well with you.

IB

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Looks like we might be set for tomorrow, just about.

Holy moly it's been difficult to get this going. Getting everyone in a slot they can play has been beyond difficult (am I sounding dramatic yet?).

Ok, I think....I'm fairly sure, though I haven't ok'd this with the venue manager THE FIRST ACT WILL BE ON AT 8PM! So get there before if you want to see This Morning Call, and you should be they're great and they're coming down from Manchester especially. So make the effort to come from what ever part of wherever you're coming from.

Beverly Williams will be joining us from Spain it seems, can you believe that!?! I'm not sure I can fit her in anywhere as there are too many acts playing and it would just get mental otherwise.

Anyway, look to the left....ooooh, colourful eh? I'll be dishing these out as best I can on the night to those that want them. Badges, things for you mobile (I think) and t-shirts galore.

All pretty good I think so far. This is the first gig I've arrange in about 5 years which is a little worrying. I'm already starting to panic as to what may happen. I've known the guy that runs the place for nearly 10 years (starting to feel old) so I don't want to let him down. Plus I feel responsible for the acts attending so I don't want them having a shite night either. Plus there's those that turn up (if any?) so there's lots of people to keep happy in this one and I'm starting to feel a little shaky under pressure. God, it's a good job I'm not a tour manager.

On top of that I've got the busiest weekend ever ahead of me. I'm taking a friend out tonight but I've got to go home first carrying all that free stuff, plus a DV camera and tripod. Good job I've been buffing up at the gym.

I have to get up at 7 tomorrow morning to go to Leyton Buzzard, yes that is a name of a town. It will take me two hours to get there. I'm going to a Juijtsu coaching thing. Trust me, there is no worse sensation in the world than being punched in the head or thrown to the ground with a hangover.

Sunday is gym and swim day, plus Sunday lunch then out again in the evening for dinner and a gig. Better than being bored I guess.

Although I'm going to be on the door, then the cameraman, I will probably get smashed in short order so if you want sensible conversation catch me early in the evening. :-)

Really looking forward to meeting some of you.

Have a super Friday night, I'm off to carry all this stuff home.

IB

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Jujitsu was excellent last night. Did more excapes from garotting, though now I have rope burns on my wrist and a couple of scratches on my back. Hmmm. Sounds dodgy but was all in the name of getting my blue belt. Bit battered and stiff today though. Decided to join a gym as I'm eating too many pies.

Although we have sent the message out that we don't accept physical submissions, they keep coming in. I asked the postroom to forward them onto me so I can send them a message getting them on here. However, I've not had time for a couple of weeks and now they've mounted up. I've got loads to get through. It's going to take me ages. I'm going to have to do a pile a day or something as there's too much to sort out.

Ok. The media player, the first and easiest idea to start on. The spec I'm working to so far is:

1. Sidebar embeddable
2. 30 Track Playlist (20 Playlisted 10 Wildcards - changed weekly - best of get added to playlist)
3. Can Be embedded on other sites
4. Each track has link to artist's Vox homepage
5. Artwork window at top
6. Play/Pause/Skip/Random Play Buttons

That's the spec. I'm going to approach our digital creative dept to start work on it unless there's anything screaming out at you that needs adding?

Artist services - Well the gigs thing could work. After all I've already started working on my own thing. So if that works out maybe it could be taken larger scale? We'll have to see how that works. The distribution thing is a whole other matter which will need a lot of talking about.

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Gigs 31/10/2007

Busy one tonight for Hallowe'en, you doing it in fancy dress?

Worldview is doing an acoustic set @ The Purple Turtle (Oxford) from 6pm

Our friend Susie Wilkins is returning to the Troubadour tonight, though the actual stage time has been sketchy. I'd say get there for 7 and you'll be fine.

Angular Electro Pop outfit Molloy are celebrating Hallowe'en at 93 Feet East which should be a good laugh. 8pm.  Be sure stop by Beyond Retro. It's one of my favourite bits of London around there.

Right, I'm going for a quick sit in the carpark whilst it's sunny then onto the mountain of demos, emails, letters etc.

Hope all is well with you.

IB

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Howdy,

Bit stiff this morning but my elbow survived the class last night. Did plenty of fun stuff including escaping from garotting?!? Was excellent though, felt like James Bond for a brief moment or two. I'm sure I could do a better job than Daniel Craig, (maybe if I was a bit taller).

Concept to Work Through

Anyhow, I got to have a proper think about the suggestions made of late. Although I like to think of myself as a bit 'tech-savvy' I do like to have things written down or set out in some non-on-my-screen way. So now I'm filling my wall with the concepts mentioned and working through them one at a time.

The obvious and (hopefully) easiest to start with is the better media player. The current one in all fairness isn't that great. It does the job though. It was something Vox had and I needed something fairly quickly.

With that in mind, what would you want to see from a media player? Has there been anything out there that you've seen recently that you think is applicable here? Obviously each track should contain a link to your blog. Should it also have a rating on each track? If so, how would we encourage rating? Would we have the player stop after 15 tracks and tell you to rate the next track playing to continue? What other links should it contain if any? Maybe a 'buy now' which passes the user through to your Snocap or CDBaby? Also, would it be beneficial to have the player embeddable outside Vox like a youtube player? If so, why would you want to put it on your myspace? Perhaps have a version where you control the playlist with your tracks at the top?

That's the easiest one. The biggie which I'm also looking at is what I'm calling an 'Digital Artist Services Model'. Although the concept does extend beyond an artist's digital activity. Both Silo's and Susie Wilkin's suggestions fall under this concept as do many others who have been talking about this.

The main question on how to do this is to what extent is it desirable/feasable. It could be left at simply setting up gigs and setting up an online storefront for your music. You could extend this further with distribution through something like our C-Connect project which is helping us establish relationships with record shops throughout the country.

You could keep expanding this further to encompass areas such as publishing or merchandise, but again, is that desitable to the artist? There's more to cover but this is quickly turning into another hefty post. More tomorrow.

In the meantime I'm heading to the Trailer gig tonight at the Clapham Grand which should be fun if you can make it. For those at the pointy-er end of the country maybe check out Ashley Hicklin who's playing at the Elbow rooms in Leeds tonight.

For those who were interested in doing a gig for me, they're back! Starting in November, more details to follow tomorrow. ;-)

Hope all is good with you.

IB

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Hug an Engineer

http://beverleywilliams.vox.com/libra...

It's not quite a hug, but I'll let her off as it's the first.

Apologies for no post yesterday but I was quite busy. Couple of things of interest I guess, but I'll get onto those in a minute.

Jujitsu was excellent fun. Though I did get bashed a little bit. I realised it's my grading week after next. It almost feels

Eek!

like I'm doing my GCSE's again (high school exams for the non UK'ers). Already started looking at the next grade and I thought the 'moutain storm' throw was bad enough in this grade there's something called the 'Indian Death Lock', sounds scarey.

Anyhoot. Found a great new artist yesterday. She's 18, produces her own indie-electro tracks and has a voice reminiscent of Bjork. Something special there I think. Will investigate and let you know more.

I don't know if either of the ideas will come to fruititon (such as my night STILL hasn't been sorted) but...

I was to develop the 'real world' aspect of this community a little more. Firstly, I'm looking at the possibility of a partnership with a company who specialises in developing unsigned talent (tbc). They have worked with what are now really big acts, but when working with them they were still at their early stages. I think this would make an additional benefit for artists who are on here but possibly aren't quite ready to be working with a label.

The second idea I've been investigating is the possibility of starting an imprint label within the company for cutting small deals/single deals with artists I find in here. I wouldn't have a budget as such but it would be good to be able to make a decision on an artist and release something fairly quickly and easily. It would be a punt for want of a better word I think. Of course if the artist started to do really well I wouldn't hold onto them, I'd see if I could get them onto one of the labels.

As I say, these are pipedreams at the moment but I am doing my homework and seeing what may be possible. I'll have to chat with my boss about it as both would take some setting up. But I think it might be the natural progression for the community and essentially increase the chances of getting acts on the ladder at different levels.

What do you think about this. Like with my Hug a Sound Engineer post I'm sort of making this up as I go along, though I did do more homework for this one.

Hope all is well out there in noisey voxland.

IB

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Grrrrr. Had a rant yesterday and must have one today. Though it will be my last rant for a while. I prefer happy posts.

Got my mobile stolen on the nightbus. In a bizarre clothing assault.

DSC00268.JPG

Whilst asleep on the bus (yes I know, stupid thing to let happen) some nobhead cut a hole in my jeans, through the pocket lining and then robbed my phone. They spent the evening calling international numbers and I didn't cancel the handset until this morning. Crap. £200 I would have liked to spend on something else.

It was kinda ironic that I was on the way home from Jujitsu. I like to feel prepared and such but I never thought about defence from attack whilst asleep. I will have to invent the 'sleeping drunkard' style for those who are verging on narcoleptic like myself.

Anyway, class was really good fun, lots of new people to play with.

Musically, there's a gig on tonight that I wanted to see of that Jono chap I was telling you about. Will tell you more about him as I find out, he's set up a blog and will let you know the address once I find it.

Got a really excellent Friday planned and already looking forward to it. There are a few good gigs coming up and maybe will have another bbq if the weather is good. Listening to some really good submissions this morning aswell, don't know why but quality has stepped up a notch over the past couple of weeks again. I've sent a list around RCA and Columbia of some tracks that jumped out for me. I hope to follow these up next week.

So, did anyone else have an interesting evening last night? Hopefully not as expensive as mine, if it was I'm hoping it was worth it. ;-)

IB

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