Monday, 30 September 2013
IC1s - Beautiful Ugly (Official Video)
The new single 'BEAUTIFUL UGLY'by IC1S out on the 14th October on TWO SISTERS RECORDS...
http://www.ic1sband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/IC1sband
http://twosistersrecords.co.uk/
twitter: @2sistersrecords
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Animal Farm
Many of you out there (and indeed sitting right here writing this) have played in bands far and wide across the London pub circuit trying to scrape together a few quid for beers as well as promoting your group to a usually ever diminishing audience. You would have found out soon enough the hard truths of a gigging band along with the tools of the trade required to deal with angry sound guys (they're all angry) as well as meeting a variety of dishonest promoters looking to rob you blind and convince you that the prestige of playing in a half empty backroom in Camden is reward enough instead of readies in your back pocket.
Animal Farm are a brand new promotions agency looking to turn things on their heads and offer a new template that will share the profits between the bands and the promoters more fairly and in a way that will benefit all involved.
Below is a quick Q&A with Ben Widdall on behalf of Animal Farm.
Q) Describe your new company
A) The Animal Farm Tours started off as a boutique booking agency within the artist development company/label The Animal Farm by myself and Tom Green in January 2012. For the beginning we started booking shows for a small handful of bands for their releases and eventually built it to a point where we were booking national tours and gigs for 20+ bands. Over the summer I decided I wanted to get more involved in live gigs so I now run the monthly label gig nights called "The Hog Roast" (currently at The Spice Of Life in Soho). The plan now is to keep running regular London shows to get some notice in the promoting world and slowly move across the UK so we can eventually run nights all over for our touring bands.
Q) What engrained problems do you hope to change with your new company i.e. profit shares, more exposure for bands etc.
A) Over the years we have heard a lot of horror stories. I myself have been victim to them when I used to play in bands as well. I am not going to name and shame but anyone who gigs in the big cities know who I'm talking about! As we all know we have gone through a financial crisis and with this have seen a lot of venues and promoters offer door split deals. What most companies do is say to a band they have to sell 20-30 tickets before they start to make any money back (even then it is maybe £1-2 per ticket after etc). Now we know why people do this, to cover their costs and make profit, that is just a standard business model but this does leave the bands in the dark.
What we plan to do is to follow the same model but in a much more band friendly way as we are a company who believes the music comes before the business. Obviously we do not want to loose money, that is a given, but we also want to give the bands a chance to make some money on the road and give them a chance to work together with us at making a successful show. All profits get split equally between us and the bands. This is straight away better than any door split promoter I have come across for sure as everyone makes equal amount of profit.
Alongside this great deal we are trying to be more involved in terms of promotion. We will target all local radio, publications, blogs, listing sites, papers, twitter feeds, facebook groups etc to try and get coverage and work side by side with the bands at coming up with a targeted social media strategy. If everyone is equally as involved than it becomes OUR night (bands and The Animal Farm) which gives everyone more incentive to make it successful.
Q) Will there be a specific genre of music the new company will promote or are you open to all kinds?
A) As a company The Animal Farm are open to genres all over the board. We work with folk artists, solo singer songwriters, indie bands, hard rock bands, electro/dance bands, pop rock bands etc. We tend to stay away from rap and r'n'b as we just simply have no knowledge or experience in that field. But who knows, there's always time to learn!
Q) How exactly will it work? Do you have a select number of venues that you’ll work with and act as the middle men for or will you deal with the bands/artists directly?
A) So basically we are having 2 test shows, one in London and one in Hull, both on hard nights (Wednesday & Sunday) to test the waters and find out what works/doesn't work organisational wise. We will then start running more regular shows in London to start spreading the company name and get a bit more awareness. In the new year we have got quite a few tour plans so we will run a few shows on each tour ourselves in different cities and slowly grow to eventually running full tours our selves all over the UK for bands. We will hire the venue, book the bands, organise the night etc. Who knows maybe even a festival or similar event in the pipeline?
Q) What do you think are the main things wrong with the current model of promoting bands and paying them for their efforts?
A) This is a tricky question. You see as we book bands all the time we hear all the different deals and everything the promoters have to say about paying bands: "We simply don't have the budget", "It's a charity event", "It's a free entry event", the list is endless. You get promoters, who I have come across myself being in bands previously, who will pay bands a small percentage of tickets sold after they get 20 people through the door. Door splits are the most common way of doing nights now as 1. we are in a bad financial time, 2. it makes the bands actually work for the show and do something to get people through the door and 3. having the ticket retainer makes sure that costs are covered. Although it's only good if you make it a low ticket retainer so that you are just covering costs and not purely making money, that should be split with the bands!
The other side of the argument is that due to their being soo many bands out there in the country now, we are just inundated with bands left right and centre, and most of them are not very good. Most of these bands are very lazy, they will tell a friend or two on their Facebook they are playing a show and then just turn up on the night, not having discussed anything to do with equipment so just expect to use everyones stuff and play to an empty room expecting to be a pre-made crowd...the world doesn't work like that I'm afraid boyos. You have to work hard every day personally contacting everyone, targeting people n twitter and other social media who like bands that you think are cool, so possibly they would be interested in you. Go busking in your local town, get street teams etc, but that is a different conversation!
At the end of the day a band needs to be paid for the efforts they have put in. As a promoter, you need to be paid for the effort you have put in. If you are a promoter like we are trying to be, then A LOT of time and effort has gone into it, so you should be paid too. As long as the costs are covered, everyone should make equal money. That is what we are trying to do, make it so everyone splits any profits equally!
Q) What’s coming up next?
A) So next up we have our monthly label club night "The Hog Roast" in Soho at The Spice Of Life on Saturday 28th September. Some really cool bands in an awesome location. Our two test nights will be at The Dalston Victoria Pub in London on Wednesday 9th October and at The Adelphi Club in Hull on Sunday 6th October. Those nights are featuring brilliant local bands plus our band Base 11 who are out on tour then.
Q) What do you hope for the future?
A) For the future I hope for our company to be responsible for the big great shows that stick in your memory as your greatest moments. We want to put on awesome bands who put on amazing shows all over the nation.
Q) Where can someone find out more about the company?
A) You can find out more about The Animal Farm by checking out our website at www.theanimalfarm.co.uk, looking us up on Facebook or just send us an email and ask!
Website -- www.theanimalfarm.co.uk
Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/theanimalfarmmusic
Video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_T-MQU5L1I
Animal Farm are a brand new promotions agency looking to turn things on their heads and offer a new template that will share the profits between the bands and the promoters more fairly and in a way that will benefit all involved.
Below is a quick Q&A with Ben Widdall on behalf of Animal Farm.
Q) Describe your new company
A) The Animal Farm Tours started off as a boutique booking agency within the artist development company/label The Animal Farm by myself and Tom Green in January 2012. For the beginning we started booking shows for a small handful of bands for their releases and eventually built it to a point where we were booking national tours and gigs for 20+ bands. Over the summer I decided I wanted to get more involved in live gigs so I now run the monthly label gig nights called "The Hog Roast" (currently at The Spice Of Life in Soho). The plan now is to keep running regular London shows to get some notice in the promoting world and slowly move across the UK so we can eventually run nights all over for our touring bands.
Q) What engrained problems do you hope to change with your new company i.e. profit shares, more exposure for bands etc.
A) Over the years we have heard a lot of horror stories. I myself have been victim to them when I used to play in bands as well. I am not going to name and shame but anyone who gigs in the big cities know who I'm talking about! As we all know we have gone through a financial crisis and with this have seen a lot of venues and promoters offer door split deals. What most companies do is say to a band they have to sell 20-30 tickets before they start to make any money back (even then it is maybe £1-2 per ticket after etc). Now we know why people do this, to cover their costs and make profit, that is just a standard business model but this does leave the bands in the dark.
What we plan to do is to follow the same model but in a much more band friendly way as we are a company who believes the music comes before the business. Obviously we do not want to loose money, that is a given, but we also want to give the bands a chance to make some money on the road and give them a chance to work together with us at making a successful show. All profits get split equally between us and the bands. This is straight away better than any door split promoter I have come across for sure as everyone makes equal amount of profit.
Alongside this great deal we are trying to be more involved in terms of promotion. We will target all local radio, publications, blogs, listing sites, papers, twitter feeds, facebook groups etc to try and get coverage and work side by side with the bands at coming up with a targeted social media strategy. If everyone is equally as involved than it becomes OUR night (bands and The Animal Farm) which gives everyone more incentive to make it successful.
Q) Will there be a specific genre of music the new company will promote or are you open to all kinds?
A) As a company The Animal Farm are open to genres all over the board. We work with folk artists, solo singer songwriters, indie bands, hard rock bands, electro/dance bands, pop rock bands etc. We tend to stay away from rap and r'n'b as we just simply have no knowledge or experience in that field. But who knows, there's always time to learn!
Q) How exactly will it work? Do you have a select number of venues that you’ll work with and act as the middle men for or will you deal with the bands/artists directly?
A) So basically we are having 2 test shows, one in London and one in Hull, both on hard nights (Wednesday & Sunday) to test the waters and find out what works/doesn't work organisational wise. We will then start running more regular shows in London to start spreading the company name and get a bit more awareness. In the new year we have got quite a few tour plans so we will run a few shows on each tour ourselves in different cities and slowly grow to eventually running full tours our selves all over the UK for bands. We will hire the venue, book the bands, organise the night etc. Who knows maybe even a festival or similar event in the pipeline?
Q) What do you think are the main things wrong with the current model of promoting bands and paying them for their efforts?
A) This is a tricky question. You see as we book bands all the time we hear all the different deals and everything the promoters have to say about paying bands: "We simply don't have the budget", "It's a charity event", "It's a free entry event", the list is endless. You get promoters, who I have come across myself being in bands previously, who will pay bands a small percentage of tickets sold after they get 20 people through the door. Door splits are the most common way of doing nights now as 1. we are in a bad financial time, 2. it makes the bands actually work for the show and do something to get people through the door and 3. having the ticket retainer makes sure that costs are covered. Although it's only good if you make it a low ticket retainer so that you are just covering costs and not purely making money, that should be split with the bands!
The other side of the argument is that due to their being soo many bands out there in the country now, we are just inundated with bands left right and centre, and most of them are not very good. Most of these bands are very lazy, they will tell a friend or two on their Facebook they are playing a show and then just turn up on the night, not having discussed anything to do with equipment so just expect to use everyones stuff and play to an empty room expecting to be a pre-made crowd...the world doesn't work like that I'm afraid boyos. You have to work hard every day personally contacting everyone, targeting people n twitter and other social media who like bands that you think are cool, so possibly they would be interested in you. Go busking in your local town, get street teams etc, but that is a different conversation!
At the end of the day a band needs to be paid for the efforts they have put in. As a promoter, you need to be paid for the effort you have put in. If you are a promoter like we are trying to be, then A LOT of time and effort has gone into it, so you should be paid too. As long as the costs are covered, everyone should make equal money. That is what we are trying to do, make it so everyone splits any profits equally!
Q) What’s coming up next?
A) So next up we have our monthly label club night "The Hog Roast" in Soho at The Spice Of Life on Saturday 28th September. Some really cool bands in an awesome location. Our two test nights will be at The Dalston Victoria Pub in London on Wednesday 9th October and at The Adelphi Club in Hull on Sunday 6th October. Those nights are featuring brilliant local bands plus our band Base 11 who are out on tour then.
Q) What do you hope for the future?
A) For the future I hope for our company to be responsible for the big great shows that stick in your memory as your greatest moments. We want to put on awesome bands who put on amazing shows all over the nation.
Q) Where can someone find out more about the company?
A) You can find out more about The Animal Farm by checking out our website at www.theanimalfarm.co.uk, looking us up on Facebook or just send us an email and ask!
Website -- www.theanimalfarm.co.uk
Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/theanimalfarmmusic
Video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_T-MQU5L1I
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Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Babyshambles - Sequel To The Prequel- ALBUM REVIEW
BABYSHAMBLES
SEQUEL TO THE PREQUEL
Parlophone Records.
Babyshambles have always divided opinion both in the press and amongst music fans. Some have seen them simply as Pete Doherty’s drug buddies playing in a group with him whilst his ‘proper’ band The Libertines barred him from the good ship Albion due to his self destructive drug habits. A gaggle of chancers looking to gain a bit of fame and publicity on the back of the bespoke suited walking car crash that can be Doherty. For others though Babyshambles have always been the perfect foil for Doherty’s more personal and sometimes ramshackle creations who have managed to steady the ship while Pete chased and circled his wayward muse with equal success and failure on both their debut ‘Down In Albion’ and the sometimes overlooked follow up release ‘Shotter’s Nation’.
Album number 3 ‘Sequel To The Prequel’ is a stone cold sure fire winner! There are not just a few decent songs and a single hidden within the grooves, there are reams of great songs and musically everyone is firing on all cylinders. From the opener ‘The Fireman’ (with it’s Buzzcocks fuel and driving drums!) to the mesmerising ‘Farmers Daughter’ which in my opinion has some of the best vocals from Peter since ‘Breck Rd. Lover’. The first single to be released from the album is ‘Nothing Comes to Nothing’ with it’s tight, catchy arrangement and dare I say ‘POP’ sing along chorus which has managed to move from ‘new’ track to ‘indie classic’ within the week of it’s release. And for those of you that felt the same way after hearing ‘Delivery’ for the first time fear not they haven’t just plucked the strongest song first in a ruse to sell a few more albums this track is just a sign of things to come. Each track on ‘Sequel to The Prequel’ stands alone from the others and has been treated with equal love as a potential favourite that could have easily been the 1st single with matched success.
What separates this album from the others available is how complete each song sounds. Each track sounds free of slack or half finishes lyrics that have been forced due to time constraints or record label impatience. The band changes pace throughout the album with rockers, acoustic tracks (the excellent violin led ‘Picture me in a Hospital’ ) and even flashes of Reggae and dub intertwined. The track ‘Doctor No’ which on paper sounds like it could’ve been the unwanted missing link to ‘Pentonville’ (probably the most skipped over track in the Babyshambles cannon) from the debut and ‘I Wish’ from ‘The Blinding’ EP, easily fits here due to the tight performance from the band who keep the beat steady and grooving while the band offer up some pretty group harmonies a long, long way from the out of tune lost vocals of the album version of ‘Killamangiro’. Not everything is a piece of fried gold mind you, the track ‘New Pair’ sounds unrealised and confusing even for the other members of the group who don’t seem to know where even they’re going next musically after each verse. ‘Maybeline’ is bound to be a future live favourite for the fans although in the sphere of this album it is the closest track to approach the mantle of ‘filler’ and sometimes creeps a bit too close to a Babyshambles by numbers song. The song that has been raising the most eyebrows in the music press has been ‘Penguins’ (the first song Doherty wrote for the album), a simple hymn describing his love for Penguins at the zoo, although like most of his previous output both in song writing and poetry judging a book by it’s cover can be a mistake and I’m sure fans will be dissecting it’s hidden meanings online for many moons to come. The song does have some of Pete’s most simplistic lyrics ever written although sometimes simpler means purer and to think that everything Doherty creates must be a stream of consciousness William Blake-esque poetic gem needs to be moved to one side. It’s beautiful and heartfelt piece no matter the content.
The true heroes of the album in my opinion have to be Bassist, Drew McConnell who the group has been quoted in the press as saying was responsible for influencing and exciting the other members to get back together and attempt to make this album (he also contributes to the song writing throughout). The other is Producer, Stephen Street who has managed to create a strong album that will be palatable to both casual passing fans and diehards without losing any of the Babyshambles grit or soul that they are known for. His work on the good time track ‘Fall from Grace’ (a possible nod the The Pogues?) as well as the whammy bar incendiary wig out ‘Minefield’ which ends the album perfectly shows that he was looking to make their best album as much as they were.
‘Sequel To The Prequel’ is the album that was always promised and whilst glimmers of classic status have often appeared in Babyshambles live performances they have finally delivered on all sides. The next time someone corners you in the Barfly to ask why the hell you should care about some “washed up junkie like Pete Doherty” simply palm a copy of this album into their confused and gormless hand, this is the third act and amazingly it may have a happy ending after all.
‘Sequel to The Prequel’ is released on the 2nd September On Parlophone Records Ltd.
http://www.babyshambles.net/
many thanks to Jack Delaney and Adrian Hunter
Originally printed via ARTROCKER TV
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