8 posts tagged “the electric city”
Hello,
After much telling off from mum I'm back on the blog, who needs a boss when your mother reads your blog? (Hence why it's quite tame in places)
So where have I been? Some creek or other without a paddle would be a good description. Referring back to one of my first ever posts, I genuinely need to clone myself as I think I can pretty much do anything (which I can of course) however, I have recently given up sleep as one of my passtimes.
My recent time has been domniated by working on a couple of big film projects for internal and external use. I've just done a video with The Electric City who I'm well into so that was weekend before last and many spare moments over the past week or so taken up. I worked on an internal video at work, plus I have to get the podcast together. :-(
On top of that I'm still trying to get this whole process re-vamped and more straightforward as an A&R submissions process and also make life a bit easier for me :-)
Plus I'm still booking bands for the nights I've got coming up. As usual I have a couple of 11th hour slots for this Saturday should anyone want to get involved? Just send me an email/message.
Here's a low res version of one of the recent projects I've been working on. It looks amazing because my mate Tony put this one together, I just did the camerawork. I'm going to get a hi-res version up somewhere.
Hope all is well and easy going 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.
Hello,
Looks like a may have a lineup for Saturday
| Modernaire |
| The Dead Class |
| Momeraths |
| Death Can Dance |
| Melody Nelson |
| JB Newman |
Just got a call from my best mate Tony who's editing the footage for the podcast. I s hould get the finished results today which I'm really excited about. I'll stick it up on youtube/here. :-)
I finally set me up a myspace, mostly because I keep getting emails with myspace addresses on or people handing me demos that only has myspace contact details. So to message them about Vox I need an account to do it and I'm not using my old band one. That would just be wierd.
My organisatonal skills are possibly the worst on earth, hence the slap-dash methods of my gig organising. In fact if I were a little more organised it would probably be 'The End of Camden Festival' by now with big stage n that. However, for the first time in my life I now have a diary. For all the blackberries, cool software and jiggery pokery there is around here the most important piece of kit is my diary. Problem is, I'm now a slave to it. I feel naked without it, I start to panic. Is that normal?
I have to plan 'Early Night's and 'Beer Nights', kind of takes the surprise out of things. :-(
Anyhow, enough of that rubbish. I'm off to Brighton today to see The Electric City play at Concorde. I'm going to take a camera down and a mate to help me to film it as I want a record of this gig. I like the band and think they will be destined for bigger and better things and I want to get footage of them early in there career.
I think tomorrow's showcase is going to be excellent as the lineup (as always) is really good. It also see's the return of JB Newman which will be excellent. I want to get him in the podcast and his sort of stuff comes across really well. I hope you enjoy the results. Or even better, get yourself down and see the real thing. :-)
Anyway, I think this is quickly turning into a random and possibly crap post. So I'll head off, hope to see you on Saturday night.
Hope all is well with you.
Howdy,
I nearly always have something to whinge about. Living in London it's very easy to find something inconvenient or otherwise annoying. However today I'm in a sickenly good mood. I'm probably irritating the tits off my colleagues with my relentless chirpyness and overall ready-brek-glow. I think it's the weather and the fact that I've got loads going on with some great acts coming up.
Not sure what's brought this on but I'm going to go with it I think. I went to see The Electric City play at 93 Feet East last night. I went after JJ class so I was really late and only got one song. Damn. It was a bloody good track though, 'Sleeping With the Enemy'. So to make it worthwhile I had a couple of pints with the manager, a lovely curry on Brick Lane then headed back to the opposite side of London for a reasonably early night (by my standards anyway)
Someone has recommended I go see the Xcerts tonight. I don't know if they've got a Vox page but if they're any good I'll make sure they do. :-) I'll be taking along a couple of scouts for company and their opinion as it's always good to have a second pair of ears involved.
I got a punchbag delivered yesterday. Oh my god it's brilliant. You can't imagine how much fun and de-stressing the experience is of beating the crap out of it is. I'm getting my kettlebells today aswell. But I'll shut up about that sort of thing. I'll be going on about Whey again any minute (nerd).
I'm still doing these showcases twice a month, so no sooner is one over and I have to start booking the next one. So I'll open the lines now for anyone wanting to play. :-) Of course there are a few who I want to see so the night's already filling up quite quickly. Just PM me, but make it quick as hopefully I'll get a few.
Got another songwriter coming in today. Can't say who as it isn't one of mine really and it's early days yet. Looking foward to it as I really enjoy the experience of meeting the artists. It's wierd, from the artists' point of view they're coming into an office environment to play to some 'industry executives' in their office with lots of gold discs and awards about the place. Must be quite intimidating for them. For me I see the whole experience quite differently and enjoy it like a mini gig. If I ever run a label I will have a venue attached I think. It still feels strange for me to be thought of as the industry guy after so many years of being percieved as a band member.
Whoops, long post. By-product of being a fast typist with ADD I think. So what's happening out there? I really want to know and comments have been thin on the ground as late.
Hope all is well with you.
Hello,
Working from home today as it's all digital stuff, no meetings or requirement for the real me to be anywhere until later.
Caught up on some of the influx of demos we've been getting. Need to catch up with the really good ones.
When to see this chap last night. Really excellent stuff, reminiscent of Ray Lamontagne. For you females out there he's quite a handsome fella too.
I went to the regal rooms at The Distillers in Hammersmith. First time I;ve been there but really enjoyable. Very well put together night that's also webcast live. Good idea, I'll have to give that a try.
There's one track you really need to hear called Fortune. I'm highly impressed with this one and will be punting as best I can.
I'm going to try and visit The Electric City in the studio today. I also have a good feeling about this one too. A tight unit of a band who are great on stage. I'm looking forward to going to another one of their gigs soon. I would check them out asap.
I will post up the stage times of the bands for 'The End of Camden' showcase tomorrow as I need to contact them all individually to make the arrangements. As usual, these are all acts I really want to see so I'm excited about it. I should probably be slightly less self-indulgent with my choice of bookings. I'm hopefully getting this one filmed professionally. But I'll believe it when I see it. :-)
So what's happening out there, anything interesting?
Hope all is well with you.
IB
Gigs @ 24/01/2008
As I haven't been drawing attention to the gig guide I thought I should start writing these bits again.
Just the one tonight. The Blood Choir are playing the Porter Cellar Bar in Bath tonight. So go check em, espcially if you like your vocalists from the Richard Ashcroft camp.
Hello,
I am still in an exceptionally good mood from the gig on Saturday. It actually made my month and has taken my mind off glandular fever (well I think it is, waiting for the results).
The venue manager wanted to stick a couple of acts on much later on in the evening, as my last band finished at 10.45 I didn't have a problem with that.
The Lost Levels were everything I hoped. I was speaking to a couple of artist managers who were in attendance bigging them up so they had some expectations to fulfill. Admittedly, they started the set with a couple of slower tunes which is often risky with people who don't know the material. However, when the likes of 'Never The First' kicked in it had even the most elitist camdenite bopping on the spot. I could imagine much pogo'ing to both this and 'The Early Sheets'. If you are lucky enough to live near somewhere they are playing, go see them, make them famous.
Molloy. Molloy....... MOLLOY! Got it?! I can't tell you how many time I got asked about 'That second band that were on'. Not to make any negative comments about any punters that were there but never follow a career in forensic science. Apart from the molloy t-shirts, molloy badges, a TV screen with Molloy written on, "We are Molloy" being mentioned throughout the set it was also written on the schedule and flyers everywhere. Anyhoo, all questions were because of how much they enjoyed the set. It was as charmingly odd as I'd imagined. Everything was in their green and orange colour scheme which I'm a big fan of. Much respect to Ellis the engineer who I think had years knocked off his life keeping the mix balanced throughout. Never before have I seen a band needing 'more telephone' in the monitors(?!?) Interesting use of toys and megaphone onstage too. Stomping electro anthems and mad performance from the impishly sexy Caz. Plus it was loud, really really loud. 'Tracey' and 'The Healer' were my personal highlights. They're playing the 31st January at The Cross Kings in Kings Cross if you fancy it.
Ok, The Electric City (still trying to find there Vox page) were spectacular. A couple of people wanted to know what that 'signed band' were called, which is a good sign if people are already assuming they have a career going. I think this was because of how comfortable they are on stage, how tight their playing was and the continuity/gang look they had about them. I like being able to see a band in a crowd, dressed as everyone else but just having a natural way of standing out. Not in a forced 'look at us way', just as a group I guess. I often get to see what I consider good music, well performed sets etc, but it's rare that I really get to enjoy a gig. That is feel like I'm not working at it, listening, looking, picking a band apart and such. I really enjoyed the set and found two tunes stuck in my head straightaway. Those being 'The Game' and 'Dark Skies'. Dark Skies is truely like receiving a good kicking off several large blokes, but in a good way (?). Even the rude shits in the corner who'd been talking through everyone's set stood up and had a listen for that one. They're playing 93 Feet East on the 29th. I would really go to see them whilst you can still see them in smaller venues.
Every band that played are what I consider 'Headline' bands and I'd been looking forward to seeing them for a while, so it was a great night for me personally. It was also good that the place was packed for the evening. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to speak to anyone as it was so packed and loud plus I couldn't spot anyone. I'm going to have to get some kind of Vox badge thing going so Voxers can identify each other. What do you reckon, good idea?
Anyway, I'm off to get various orifices probed and have some blood tests (I hate needles). Please leave me some comments on what you're up to. Need to get various balls rolling as I don't feel like things have started again properly since xmas. What you doing where you at etc etc. :-)
Hope all is well with you.
Hello hello,
Looks like I have a lineup with still space for another act maybe (or two depending). So keep sending messages if you fancy playing. Kicks off around 7.30 and is at the usual venue, Tommy Flynn's.
This Saturday has a stunning line up. I'm really excited about this one. Saying that, gigs normally make me quite excitable but in this case the acts are really special.
Headlining the bill will be The Electric City. This is something that was passed onto me, I don't have their Vox address yet but will link to it when I do. You can always have a look at their myspace if you like.
Molloy (who've I've been trying to get for a while) will also be playing some of their crazy 'angular electro'. This band look a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to what they can do live. Check out the video for Tracy that I linked to a while back.
The Lost Levels (YES!) are also playing. I'm hoping they'll play the Early Sheets as I like that track so much I'm using the instrumental for my podcast hopefully.
All in all this is going to be a really fun night so if you can make it down it would be great to see you. I am going to have to charge the £2 to make up for the other night aswell so I'll be doorman for a couple of hours I think. :-)
Once again, many thanks to My Kalashnikov for his design, it's going on my facebook invite thing.
Maybe see you on Saturday, hope all is well with you.
I booked a couple of bands over the weekend for this Saturday's End Of Camden new music showcase. One being Molloy and the other being The Electric City. I would like to get a couple more bookings, I've sent out a few emails but yet to get confirmations so please feel free to throw your hat in via a message.
Looks like Sony BMG is moving away from DRM. Got sent this article today regarding the whole thing. Check it out, means the whole way digital music is distributed is now changing accross the board. As a consumer, this means great freedom of choice as to how you consume and where your music comes from and as an artist this provides greater freedom of distrubution. Tha's my personal opinion anyhoo.
How was your weekend? Apart from listening to some demos and sorting out a couple of bands for Saturday I did gym stuff mostly. All very healthy, ooh, except I got hammered on Saturday. Made up for it on Sunday though. :-)
Right, I need to prepare for my meeting. I'm in with Columbia today to show my wares.
Hope all is well with you.
