1 post tagged “rickenbacker”
I was at the Dublin Castle last night to see Victors and had a really nice evening. Plus I didn't get drunk which was a bonus. That's part of my new healthy regieme.
What do I do again?
To be honest, last night was probably the first time I really felt like some kind of 'A&R', rather than a chap at a gig who works for a label trying to stumble across a good act. Mainly because I was able to read the lineups on the walls for the forthcoming weeks and recognise a lot of names and knew some of them personally, aswell as the various stickers dotted about the place. Plus on watching the band I was able to think beyond are they 'good' or 'bad' confidently and think objectively about what I was witnessing. I do feel like I'm going to be found out one day or something and ejected. "Him, there! Yes that's the guy. Posing as some digital A&R twat, get the dartgun". It's difficult to know when you're actually doing a good job.
On going into the venue I noticed a CODA sticker on the door and saw Shortwave Fade listed as playing on Monday. This gave me a bit of a paternal feeling and grinned for a while. It's been really great to see the community grow and getting a feel for who's out there. There's a couple of other bands playing who I want to see and introduce to the whole Vox thing too as I've heard them about and had mates rave on to me about them.
V For Victors
Ok, Victors. Just as with bands like the Standards it's very obvious when you see a band that's been playing for a while which was apparent here, even though they had a stand-in, in the form of fromer Ultrasound guitarist Richard Green. The first thing you notice is a seemingly effortless tightness to the playing, and the other thing tends to be amazing equipment. Fantastic amps, Rickenbacker guitars, and Gibson organ and a Fender Bass Piano (!?!?). (I looked for one of those Fenders for about a year). The keyboardist had a true Manzarek set up. Musically, can hear a lot of influences in there which gave me an early 90's Pulp/Soundtrack or Our Lives feel. Whereas tracks like 4400 show a blues-rock influence which gave a nice stompy interjection. Really tight set and enjoyable to watch. If you're in Leeds get along to a gig.
Should Bands Be Breaking Their Ass Getting to London?
There were a couple of moments of true brilliance which I felt really happy to witness in the exclusive crowd of about 10 people. This also posed a problem. It's rare that you get much in the way of passing trade in such venues, which made me think. Are you better off playing smaller towns where there is more of a hunger for live music, or playing London where the more historic venues are? I for one know that our guys travel all over the country (and beyond) to see people perform so is London really the centre of everything that is used to be? Don't get me wrong, passing trade does still exist and there are those music lovers who turn up at venues just to see who's playing but this takes hard work on the part of the promoter. Dirtyboots' night has been built up over a long time and as a result people usually turn up because it's a Dirtyboots night, rather than who's playing. That's because he only books great bands, rather than many promoters who'll book whoever can pull a crowd. Plus you can only play a gig like the 100 Club, at the 100 Club. Hmm, not sure where I'm going with this but it did get me thinking. Should you play at home or away?
Back To Business, Changing Vox Music Bits
Further to the suggestions made in the various discussions here and there, very slowly but surely, I think I'm making some progress as regards the music developments in the A&R element of Vox. Hopefully tonight, or tomorrow night I'm going to be speaking to someone from their product team about what can be done with this platform. So far I've been thinking it would be good to have a series of music tools for artists. Maybe even an option for a 'music profile' similar to the upgrades you make in the likes of myspace or facebook. Obviously they're a different style of platform whereas this is blogging, but it would be good for the tools to be there if wanted I think:
Media player - either we (labels) develop something, or we get a Vox bespoke player integrated. I would image they would be far better for the job as the level of integration into the community would be far better with less margin for bugs.
Hit Counter - This could mean, page views, track plays, who's been playing. I'm curious to find out what's possible. I've embedded a 3rd party counter on mine for the past couple of months and it's nice to see traffic.
IP Map - I.e.Like the thing I posted the other day, but sidebar compatible. It's nice to know where your readers are, and who they are.
Degree of Adjustable Layout - The beauty of this platform is it's simplicity and ease at setting up. However, it would be useful to be able to format the size of the side bar (within reasonable limits) to accomodate larger 3rd party widgets.
Syndication - Just as there was Sega or Nintendo kids, Nike or Reebok, PS3 or Xbox, there will always be Myspace people, Facebook people, Bebo people etc etc. However, everyone dabbles to a degree. I've got hundreds of accounts in everything, very little of which I use. However, if I could tie the ones I do use together a little more on a central blog I'd be over the moon. Vox's ease at linking to outside sources is great. Plus that whole preview page thing when you hover over the link is excellent too. I think this is an area that can really be capitalised on. It would be great to have a page in which focus could be drawn to other pages and content also drawn in. Or, take pieces of your blog and place elsewhere. This is what the likes of Reverbnation seem to thrive on. I managed to make my vox blog a facebook widget using widgetbox, it was horrifically difficult for me. Wouldn't it be great if your blog could be packaged up and included on your preferred page with functionality you'l like to share with others? Or vice versa, if you're more of a 'Vox' person then bring the other elements of your digital identity into one place.
Anyway, have a think about that and add to whatever you think needs adding too, or come up with something else.
Back To Music Matters
Back onto music. I listened to Daniel Flay and the Irreparable Guilt last night. Really great stuff, there's no track listing but I LOVE THIS TRACK, LISTEN TO IT NOW. Quite Snow Patrol in places, but more interesting. Any track that makes me feel different, think of someone or somewhere, or feel like a different person is good in my book. I've had a poke around their blog and their myspace and I'm going to get onto seeing them live (if they'll reply to my damn message).
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Gigs (for the next few days)
Quite one tonight - Dave Hughes is playing at Varsova in Paisley, can't find him in Vox though. Would the real Dave Huges please stand up?
The Standards are playing at the Enterprise tomorrow at 8.30 onwards. If you haven't seen them live and you live in London you need to see them as part of your musical education. As much a part of the fabric of the live circuit as plastic cups and sticky carpets. Excellent songs and a great spectacle live.
Also playing tomorrow are Coda, Alright the Captain and the Avangelists at the Common Rooms in Dungannon. Looks like it kicks off around 9ish. Just had a listen to the Alright the Captain stuff and it's really good. Coda are great of course too, but I've said that before. Check dem.
For those that couldn't get enough on the first night, Coda and Alright the Captain are at Lavery's Bunker in Belfast on Saturday. Looks like it might be in the afternoon but check the sites for details.
Runner are at Feeling Gloomy (?!), Carling Bar Academy in Islington. Go take a looook.
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Ahhhh. What a long post, finished now. To keep thing random I was walking around the park near work and realised how lucky I am to work near a park in Autumn and felt all poetic n such. So I took these.
Hope all is well with you.
