8 posts tagged “susie wilkins”
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.
Howdy,
All in all not a bad evening last night but I have important things to talk about. Namely getting you wonderful people playing. I'm all excited again at the prospect of putting on a gig using Vox people. There have been loads of suggestions regarding this on mine and the most recent Columbia post (thanks to those that have contributed so far).
So, KEEP SATURDAY 1st DECEMBER FREE!!!! Yes that's right. I GOT THE DATE WRONG AGAIN! It's actually the 1st of December. I fancy a big night out and getting some great film of the bands. It's going to be a free night with 4 bands. How often does that happen eh? Those who contributed to the flyers a month or so ago, I NEED YOU AGAIN. To that photographer bloke who contacted me, please contact again. I get so many emails it's been lost in the deluge of recent emails (I've still got about 90 to get through)
So who's playing that night? Well so far I've asked the below. But as I've just found out the date is different I've had to ask them again. Nob.
I really like the above bands and have a list of loads of others I want to see. So it's going to be good fun.
I haven't thought of a format for the evening other than loud music and filming. I might try and get a compare. Any takers? Either pretty or funny and can engage a crowd for a couple of minutes at a time. :-)
We Got Radio!
I was speaking to a chap called Phil that Marc introduced me to today who has a regional new music radio show and wants me to contribute talent from here for broadcast. Possibly recording my own slot/introductions. It's an community FM station. There's about 150 similar community radio stations around the country. So if I can get something going there I'm going to try punting the same thing to other reigons. I've been thinking about doing a new music podcast for a while (hence the night in Camden). I've got a mate who I think I could do it with so we'll see how it goes.
I'm also starting discussions with other unsigned sites that have great online tools to move towards sorting out the models for the Artist Services concept that came up in the discussions
I realised with all this talk of development and such I haven't been talking enough about music. Take a look at Vote Show Pony. Something that tickled my fancy as it was quite different to submissions I've received recently. Reminds me in places of Goldfrapp but a bit pop-ier.
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Gigs - 30/10/2007
NOTHING APPARENTLY. Loads on this week though.
Hope all is good with you.
Long post today as I have some catching up to do.
On Thursday night I was invited to a do for the RCA label near Baker St. It was excellent and nice to see them all in a social setting. There was a buffet consisting of the hottest curry I've ever eaten. I was trying to look cool whilst speaking to Stormyduke, one of their A&R fellas, when I had my first mouthful, nearly spat rice accross the room. Subsequently I ended up drinking a lot of beer for its' medicinal value. Luckily, I didn't make too much of a t**t of myself.
The highlight of the evening was a performance by newly signed Ray Gun & the Aggitators. When I first started this blog I made a deal that I wouldn't use it to punt signed talent but I was really left childishly excitable after the gig.
The vocalist Ray has a great voice, moves and looks like Iggy Pop/David Bowie and the band are musically brilliant. Once more, it's a rock n roll band (with elements of disco). I mentioned to Craig that I thought it was a really brave signing when labels are searching out retro-electro wizardry or mass-acousitic Arcade-Fire-Esque bands to sign a four piece rock band who would have easily
been at home playing CBGB's in the mid 70's.
Irrespective of what you're into. You couldn't sit back and say Ray Gun and the Aggitators were crap. I doubt I'm articulate enough to make clever comparions and insightful comment on their influences. So it's easier to give you a link to their myspace and leave it at that. You have to see this band live before the venues get too big and the tickets too expensive.
On Friday I was asked to film Celine Dion. You're probably staring at your screen like it's a magic-eye picture with a '?' above your head. A colleague of mine asked if I had access to a decent video camera. I said yes but suggested that I come along to film as it would lessen the chance of mishap.
It was at the Dorchester Hotel in an amazing suite. After much shuffling about, testing and re-tesing the camera, the light etc. I was ushered into the room where I was filming. I've not met many international superstar-types, infact she's the first but she was lovely. I was really hoping she'd be a major nasty diva so I'd have lots to write about in the way of tantrums, but no. Polite and friendly after a long day of interviews and such. On finishing the shoot she asked "Is that ok sir?" and then I was left to pack away my stuff. All straightforward. However, after about five mins I realised I was locked in. I was meeting a friend, itching for beer, and a knew my taxi was waiting. There was a fully stocked bar aswell that I didn't touch. The only way out was through a room where they were recording a radio interview. Damn. So I explored the various features of the camera on my phone and got the pics to the right. I didn't ask to take any of C.D. as I didn't think I should. I think the film might end up on youtube so I'll post the link once I have it.
Anyway! Here we go THE END OF CAMDEN IS BACK ON!!!!! Come on you good thing! I have a better DV cam, and people to help me film and edit. So, who have I got confirmed so far? Well, I want FOX CUBS to headline the 10th November slot so far supported by Vote Show Pony and Susie Wilkins. I've got one more slot to fill. The venue manager and me will be going through what I've got to decide what we need to complete the lineup. I'm really excited about this. It's going to be a FREE GIG. So come down and get inebriated with me and watch some fantastic bands at Tommy F's in Camden. I hear there's already some non-Sony BMG industry types turning up. Maybe they're spying. ;-)
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Gigs 29/10/2007
Just the one tonight it seems.
Ashley Hicklin is playing (again) a free solo acoustic set at Revolution, stage time 8pm. If any of you go let me know.
Hope all is good with you.
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).
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.
This weekend was great fun.
Got invited to the Groucho Club to watch the rather dissapointing rugby but was able to take a friend that I'd been looking forward to catching up with for ages. Was good fun, though it was like going to watch the rugby in someone's front room. Was a bit pricey for the likes of a mere minion such as myself but I thought I should have a look at least once in my life. Had a really good evening even though the only meal we managed to find after was noodles from that dodgy place next to Oxford Circus tube.
As has become my routine, I had a check through all things Vox on Sunday afternoon whilst munching my pizza (my Sunday Lunch) and I'm really impressed by the comments on the columbia post and my post of a few days ago. It's getting to the time where I need to extract some of those ideas/themes from the discussion. So far I can see:
- Better media player - (Gnome label)
- Public Shortlist of What's being listened to for Vox community input - (Freddy)
- Artist Services Model (Silo) ie Running Gigs, Handling Distribution on a 50/50 share
- Strategic Partnerships With Existing Music Sites ie Amiee St, Slicethepie, Grooveshark - (Steve Spalding)
- Greater Transparency in A&R Activity, ie Why We Signed Something - (Freddy & JB Newman)
- Greater International Involvement/Centralisation of Digital A&R Process - (Dark Nightingale)
- Greater focus on gigs/calendar, offer of live updates to those interested. - (Silo/Dark Nightingale)
- Popdcasts/Mainstream Radio Support - (This Morning Call)
- Vox 'Best Of' pushed through iTunes with promo - (JB Newman)
- Tranparency of A&R stratagy and new concepts being implimented. - (JB Newman)
- Assoicated live showcase events, co branded and supported by the labels - (Susie Wilkins)
I rate all the above as really solid ideas which I am starting to invistgate today. I also find the results surprising as I thought the concept of an indie label model stemming from the community would surface. But it seems the feedback I have so far is to further concentrate on Digital A&R and artist support/services.
This is really encouraging so after I've gone through today's submissions and sorted my label stuff. I will work through the above one at a time.
Huge thanks again to those who have contributed so far.
(Elbow's still knackered :-( )
To get around to writing my posts.
I had a really great weekend, the weather was great, had some great nights out. Gosh, all pretty damn good really.
On Friday I went to 'The Queen is Dead' night at the Borderline, always a decent night. I can't remember the name of the band that were playing, but the singer bore a striking resemblence to Joe Strummer. I got a bit tipsy and woke up in Shoreditch at a friends house.
This was quite lucky as I was due to meet up with Susie Wilkins for an interview in Shoreditch. I couldn't get my camera as it was locked up at the office so we just discussed some ideas over a pint near her studio. I was itching to have a go of the Rhodes I saw at the Troubadour gig so I jumped at the offer when she suggested going to see her studio.
Really good set up, the perfect media studio, with midi kit, decent mic's and a good shape for mixing. Listened to some bits and bobs of what she was working on, all good, I played her a couple of the artists I've been listening to, had a good tinkle on the Rhodes then I made my way onto Camden over to Tommy Flynn's.
Had a few OJ's there before heading home to try and get some domestic stuff done, didn't happen.
Sunday was quite chilled, though I decided to do a spot of gardening because I was struck with the idea of having a bbq. My first in several years. The plan was to get the stuff and have it yesterday. I got distracted. I went up to Crouch End for a few bevvies with friends. Ended up staying on a sofa in Highgate and woke up with a very stiff neck and a hangover yesterday morning.
Finished the mix of that track, properly, ran to the shops got bbq stuff, then forgot one of the main elements. Inviting guests is always a good plan when aspiring to create a social event. It's very difficult to have a gathering on your own as I've discovered. 20 text messages later I realise that most of the population in London is at the Notting Hill Festival. Doh. Luckily the evening was saved as I had someone to share the bbq experience and a bit of Pinot.
I still smell of smoke today, one of the side effects of bbq'ing. However, I'm up for a big week this week. I'm about to head over to Phonogenic to present some Vox talent which will be good, fingers crossed on that one. There's a Juice gig on Friday, so will head to that. Other than a couple of non Vox gigs this week I've got some evenings spare, so let me know what you're up to.
Anyhoo, long post today, I guess it because I've been away for a few days.
Let me know what's happening with you.
I managed to survive class without chucking up my rather lovely lunch over my freshly pressed white gi. So that was good.
Had a play with the new camera last night aswell. Will have a look at the results so I will be well prepared for the next gig I film. Got quite a beating, in the nicest and safest possible way, but feeling a bit stiff this morning. Will have to move about a bit today to shrug it off.
Time to get a new phone, I have to scroll through my phonebook to select who I want to text and I managed to text two people and mix them up, so both got seemingly random texts (similar names). I'm doing this more often as I get more names in there now. I text more than phone too, anyone no a really text friendly phone?
Anyhoot, so what's happening. I'm hopefully going to a gig at Tottenham ct rd tomorrow, looking forward to that and will take a pal for company. I'm not drinking at the mo in my bid to get the figure of bruce lee.
I got an PM off Susie Wilkins this afternoon who told me an interesting story of how she ended up meeting Tony Visconti. I love hearing about stuff like that, mainly because I'm nosey and like stories. They don't have to involve David Bowie's producer, just be a good story, so more of those please. Or even better. Make a post about it and send me the link so I can have a read and link to it from my blog.
Had a couple of enquiries about doing the gig on Saturday but no confirmations. If you're up for it let me know and I'll forward you on as mentioned yesterday. It's on Camden high st, free entry apparently.
So what gigs are happening with you for the rest of this month. I'm trying to sort out my diary and it would be good to know who is where and when.
thanks
IB
It's Friday!!! Woohoo.. hang on is it?
Yes it is, whoohoo!! This week has gone rather quickly and all of a sudden I'm here, Friday morning sat at a sunny desk enjoying a bacon sandwich. So that's good. :-)
Shot off to the Troubadour last night to catch some of Susie Wilkins (Apologies for the mis-spelling yesterday) set. I've never been to the Troubadour before. Once I got there I wondered if I was at the right place as I found myself in quite a posh looking deli/restaurant surrounded by grown-ups. I eventually worked out how to get the the basement, paid my £7.
Was surprised at the size of the place and there was a decent amount of stage area. Suzie plays a Rhodes which is nice to see, but must be really heavy, it looked like a MK1 but I coudn't quite make it out.
Overall a really strong, resonant voice and performance that reflects experience. Really comfy performing, with great contrast in her songs. I would recommend saying hi and giving her a listen. I'm not sure where her next gig is (leave a comment on here Susie?) but if you get chance go have a looksy.
I left towards the end of the set unable to get a setlist so I can't really comment too much on individual songs. If you were there, my personal highlight was shortly after Suzie mentioned she got a 'Big Muff' for her birthday. Plus she kept her promise and sang 'She's Like the Wind' for you Patrick Swayze fans. :-)
Not sure what's happening tonight, I quite fancy getting out and about somewhere but I haven't had any chance this week to make any plans. Suggestions always welcome.
