3 posts tagged “sparrow and the workshop”
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.
I spent about an hour yesterday writing one of those proper industry type posts that'd generate a few comments. Then my PC conked out on me and I lost the lot. Bum. Really p'd off about that. Took two dark chocolate KitKat's to sort that one.
Sorry for the delay in posts, I've been pulled in all sorts of directions.
The biggest thing I'm on at the moment is an act that came to me through one of the online scouts that Columbia is coming to see. I've booked a local rehearsal room to showcase them to the label head. It can be really frustrating getting an act, A&R and label head in the same place at the same time. I guess the better a band get the more busy they are so I can't complain. Anyhow, it's booked now, I've cleared the time with the boss's PA and the band are up for doing it. I've been asked to suggest what I'd think is their 'best of' set. Which is a big responsibility. Do I think what I would want to hear? Or maybe try to guess what the label head would want to hear? Or maybe all the tracks I'd see as 'radio tracks'? It's a toughy. But I think I will go for what I think is great live rather than gunning simply for the three and a half min belters that would get played everywhere on radio. Hmm, quite excited about that.
I've spent the past few days listening to Sparrow and the Workshop. Think I've mentioned them before but I really love her voice and the overall feeling of the tracks. There's a real charm and sensitivity to the vocal and style to the song. They're based in Scotland but the singer is from the US and has a wonderful twang to her accent which gives the songwriting an authenticity which I think is lacking in a lot of female songwriters of the moment. Check out 'The Gun', which is a great track.
Spent the weekend painting a bedroom, I think I'm turning into my dad. I found the process of filling gaps with lightweight filler most satisfying and kept standing back with my hands on my hips to admire my work. I was thinking about doing some kind of mural but stuck with sanitorium white instead. The better option methinks. Ended up listening to Anchorman three times as a result. I love that film, I had the urge to hone my guns afterwards. ;-)
I didn't have any internet access or mobile phone this weekend. I went into a panic. After much pacing and Woody Allen-esque monologues I decided to think back to 1996, when the internet was a new thing you used in college to look at Gillian Anderson and mobile phones were huge, pay as you go brick-like things. When I used mine it looked more like I was calling in an air strike than talking to mum. So I didn't really bother with mobiles. How did I cope. I decided to buy cider and chocolate before heading to the park in the end. Who needs Facebook anyway?
Been speaking to a colleague of mine about formalising an online scouting process. Currently I have a few scouts dotted about who regularly send me great stuff because they love music and want to see the acts they love become successful, which is great. But rare.
There are some great filter platforms out there such as slicethepie, which really do a great job. I do find limitations in their effecacy because of their reactive nature. The acts you tend to find on there are the sort of act that register with all online platforms and spend a lot of time marketing, which is great. But what about those acts who feel that simply having a myspace (or vox ;-) is enough? You end up getting the best of one type of artist demographic (ooh check my terminology). You need to work both ends and have a function which is hunting out talent. This is pretty much the tao of traditional A&R. I'm thinking the future of this is a hybrid of both methods. Open door for submissions, whist at the same time having an educated, targeted filter network in place who's job it is to seek out the best stuff. The higher up the chain it goes the more it's filtered. You can't depend on artists to champion other artists as they're too busy with their own careers, as so they should be.
With that in mind I've just got the info I need of Vox to skin and update the pages of the A&R platform. I wont bore you with the details of the new platform structure, I'd rather just do it and explain afterwards.
So what it gwanning out there, anything good. Haven't got much in the way of interesting messages recently. Just the usual "You don't know me but..." or "CHECK THIS OUT!!!xxxx" sort of thing. Come say hello.
Hope all is well with you.
A couple of weeks back I went to the Covstock Festival to see some great acts. Managed to film some of it too. I will do a proper posts of it once I get the video together (same old story, waiting on video stuff I know).
