2009 Round-up.......HECTIC!

Well, as we have our last gig of the year on Thursday, and Emma heads off to warmer climes for her regular Xmas excursion – we'll do the round-up blog now, as I imagine any other blogs posted between now and when we start up again in early Jan will mostly consist of one of us moaning about the cold/Xmas/working over Xmas etc.

It's been what can only be described as one hell of a hectic year – but we can all stand back and admire what we've done, the work and dedication we've put in to the project and results we've achieved.

The obvious one is the album. It was an idea that started pretty much exactly a year before it was released, and the finished product is something I think we're all very happy with, although are looking to top big style with album number 2 (tentatively scheduled for early 2011, so long as we're all still alive). The sell-out album launch gig was a night all of us will remember for ages – and indeed the 20+ dates we did over the summer to support it.

Radio 2 airplay was a massive highlight, as was all the reviews we've got for the record. It's nice to hear someone say something good about you when they don't have the first clue who you are! The radio slots were good fun too.

The main thing for me (Phil) this year though is how we've gelled as a unit. We are slowly but surely becoming a really solid act musically – both in the stuff we're writing and our performance. Everyone is confident playing the old material so can relax on stage and really enjoy it, and the new material – although requiring a little more concentration is really holding up against the established stuff. Always a good sign.

So – 2010 is looking likely to be just as mad. We already have multiple dates sorted for the New Year which sees us descend on the West Country acoustic scene in a fairly big way – and we're also planning on taking in a few more festivals in the summer – although that's if we get booked for any!

So for everyone who has followed us on here, come to the gigs and especially bought the record – thanks very much. I've said it for years, but it is the hardest thing for a band to do, get a loyal following and expect them to stick by them, but we're slowly getting to that stage, and hopefully the music we play, and juvenile banter that comes with most live performances have been of some entertainment to you all, and that you'll join us in the New year when we attempt to take over the world!

The future is Folk!

Cheers

ATC

P.S – One last gig for this year, tomorrow night (Thursday 17th) at Varsity Bar in Reading. We're on about 10pm with music coming before hand from Ben's mate Olly (who we're told is very good), our ex Ecoute guitarist James Fayers, and fantastic Reading acoustic act Scattered Few.

Free entry – kicks of at 8pm. Come and have a few beers.

More Reviews

We’ve had another album review, this time on NetRhythms - and again positive although I’ve had to apologise to the band for being too loud!


A five piece acoustic outfit from Berkshire fronted by Emma Johnson and with instrumentation that includes violin and African drums, their ‘folk fusion’ meld of trad, blues, and world music has seen them regularly performing across the South East and London. They’re now looking to spread the horizons with the release of their debut album. It’s a crowded field out there, but, ahem, all things considered, they have several factors in their favour.

For a start, Johnson’s pure but earthy vocals combine traditional leanings with a contemporary sensibility, so that you’re as likely to hear Jacqui McShee and Sally Oldfield notes as Denny, Eliza Carthy or Rusby. The playing too is strong, exemplified by violinist Gethin Webster’s short intro instrumental Kuebiko (a Japanese scarecrow deity) and the textures he brings to Manipulative Perspectives, Adrian Holden’s intricate guitar work and Phil Daniel’s smouldering ethnic hand drum percussion showcase on The Neverending.

The material stands tall too, with the bruised heart emotions of Self Pity, the heady musical interplay on Clear Your Conscience and the wounded Numb all highlights.
If there’s a reservation it’s that sometimes the percussion overwhelms the more delicate aspects, but there’s no reason to think this isn’t about to see their gig diary and order books about to become increasingly full.


It is extremely heartening to have positive feedback in the form of published reviews. You obviously take praise and criticism from your friends, family and fellow artists but this is endorsement from people who generally have no real idea who you are. They have made a judgement on your music with no other factors influencing them to sway one way or another. With that taken in to account, we can be nothing but delighted at the way the album has gone down since its release. We could however do with an upturn in sales……..

We’re in Reading next Thursday – a free entry gig at The Varsity Bar, which will either be fantastic or truly horrendous (we don’t have much luck with Reading). Why don’t you come along to find out? It’ll be our last gig of what has been probably the most hectic year of our musical lives (however 2010 is looking even more so – watch this space), so be great to see a few heads out for a celebratory pint.

We’re playing with cracking acoustic duo Scattered Few and also for all you people who remember most of us in our old Ecoute days, our guitarist from that time James Fayers (the bloke with the hat) will be doing a rare acoustic set. Nice.

Radio Blah Blah

We’re on the radio on Monday (7th), as guest on a show hosted by the most committed man in local radio, David Durrant at Brooklands FM. So this is a rallying call to get as many people listening to our show as possible! We have 2 hours to fill, which means we’ll be playing a few tracks (including a possible attempt at a yet to be finished new track – which could be horrendous, but might be a stroke of absolute genius, you’ll have to tune in to find out how that goes) and also you’ll get an insight in to the sort of music we listen to. Already knowing the list of tracks we’ve submitted – I can tell you its eclectic to say the least……

So here is the plan. To find out the amount of people listening in, we’d like you all at some point during the broadcast to send an e-mail in to the studio – so we can give you a shout out. As the station broadcasts only on the internet anyway – you’ll be at your computers/phones/whatever else you can get internet on these days, so a quick e-mail should be nice and easy. Call it a social experiment if you like, and not in the slightest a way of finding out if anyone actually gives a shit!

To listen in to the show, which will be on 8-10pm on Monday 7th December, head over to http://www.brooklandsfm.co.uk/ and click the Listen Live icon. The icon to contact the studio is next to it.

Another quick plug – and that is we now finally have a presence on You Tube. 3 videos have been uploaded and you can access them by going to the official site. These were all filmed on a phone, so credit where it’s due I assume on all three occasions to Emma’s boyfriend Darren, who can be seen at most gigs snapping away.

We’ll be looking to add more live footage so if anyone fancies coming along to a gig and shooting some live stuff, we’d be keen to hear from you.

Battersea Gig Cancelled

Yet another London date has been cancelled. Our gig in Battersea at The Halo Bar this Tuesday (1st) has been pulled due to the venue closing at short notice.

With the only London date now not until April, we'll be looking to get something in the book for February, so watch this space.

London show cancelled

As you'll see form the latest blog - the Half Moon gig in January has been cancelled.

We'll be looking to book a replacement London show for early New Year, but we do still have the one more London gig for this year, in Battersea on 1st December.

Another Venue On The Brink

It’s with a great deal of sadness that we heard today that the legendary venue The Half Moon in Putney is facing closure after over 50 years of live music performance. Our gig scheduled there for January has been shelved as they have had to book acts that will definitely pull a full house while they get themselves sorted, and hopefully continue trading.

I think I speak for the entire band when we say that playing at The Half Moon is one of the highlights of this bands existence so far, such is the history and reputation of the place. The Rolling Stones, The Who, John Martyn, U2, Kate Bush and Nick Cave are all world famous acts that have graced that stage at one time or another. Even over the last couple of years it’s played host to the current crop of outstanding artists gracing the music scene from Newton Faulkner to Kasabian. There’s even rumour that Fairport Convention’s manager used to run the band from the pay phone in the corner!

It’s venues like this that bands like us, in our current position aspire to play. It ranks up their with legendary London venues like The Marquee and The Troubadour and is the sort of venue that, once you’ve played it you know you’ve made a giant step in the right direction. To be booked for places like The Half Moon is almost like getting your act validated.

So I imagine the immediate future will be fundraising gigs and the current staff doing all they can to get people coming through the door. With more and more venues going under because of lack of support for live music in these times – it’s increasingly difficult for venues like this to stay open, and without venues, you don’t have live music, and without live music you don’t have a music industry. Like Sting said recently, if you think the X Factor is the future of music, you’re very much mistaken.

So, have a look at the Half Moon listings – www.halfmoon.co.uk and see if there’s something there you fancy. There is usually something for everyone and the more they get in, the more chance of places like this staying open for years to come.

Update

Just a couple of dates to make you aware of. We've just confirmed a slot in Taunton, Somerset on Saturday 9th January - supporting the outstanding Tinderbox at The Perfect 5th music venue.

Also just announced is what we hope will be the first of many festivals for 2010. We'll be doing a slot at The Secret World festival in Lincolnshire at some point between the 20th and 22nd August.

Latest Goings On

Premature? Perhaps. But the Christmas countdown has begun!
Only 21 working days until I (Emma) set off for sunnier skies for a family festive season, and I couldn’t be more excited.

However, the countdown with All Things Considered is a busy period as we try to squeeze in as many get togethers – gigs, rehearsals and interviews between work parties and family gatherings as we can.

Our next event you are all invited to is in Battersea on the 1st December, and we look forward to hopefully seeing some friendly faces to welcome us to this new venue. Details of that gig can be found on the website as usual. Also coming up is a return appearance on Surrey radio station Brooklands FM on December 7th. We have a full 2 hour show to play a few tracks, pick a few tracks and generally have a bit of a chat and a laugh. We'll post details on how to listen to the show a bit nearer the time.

Anyone interested in coming to see us in Reading on 17th December - we'll keep you fully updated with that, as there are a few promoter issues with that gig currently (i.e. the promoter has left!). We're trying hard to keep the gig on, but will of course keep everyone 'in the loop' with any news.

In the meantime, I assure you we will be working hard, writing to keep our set fresh.
Also, keep checking back on the website as we have some pictures from previous gigs and even some potential video footage being uploaded on the site very soon.

Have a good week!

TFL - Just Another Nightmare

I’d like to start off this week’s blog by thanking everyone who came to support us at The Slaughtered Lamb on Sat night. It was great to catch up with you all and we hope you enjoyed the night. We enjoyed the night – at least we did up to a certain point…after leaving the venue to catch the last train home the evening took a gradual decline for the next few hours….

We left the venue in an attempt to make the 11.15 train back home, however Ben & I (Emma) managed to lose the others who had gone to catch the tube and we were left wandering aimlessly around for the next 10 minutes searching for a tube stop. Eventually, with the aid of a sat nav on a mobile phone we found the desired location. On we got, Ben successfully going his way, and me n my fella on our way to Waterloo, with little chance of getting there now to catch the train, but travelling in vain hope until the announcement of several lines being closed due to work being undertaken.

DAMMIT – we thought as we planned for a new route back.

45 minutes later, we were standing in Waterloo station looking for any train going in our general direction…we’d just missed 1 back to a nearby town by 3 minutes! Never mind…last train 1.05 – we’ll get that one. Off to Burger King it was to kill a little bit of time – and to be fair, it went quite quickly. 1.05 arrived and we happily made it to our platform and found a seat…we waited – and waited…and waited!! But our train never left – SIGNAL FAILURE – the guard informed us all.

Genuinely not having any other option other than to sit on a train which was now well over an hour late, which may never move or pay £80 for a taxi home – we opted for the taxi…only 50000000 other people had also had the same idea and there were no taxis available! We queued, n waited, n waited and queued but we didn’t seem to be moving in the taxi line!!

THE TRAINS GOING!, came the shout from out of Waterloo – so we ran, back to the platform, back onto the train, found yet another seat and sat there – and waited, and waited. We waited – and eventually – over 2 hours after schedule the train left the platform. We finally made it back to the station, where we now needed to get a taxi as we were further from home than we would have been had we not missed our initial train. So we stood in yet another queue and waited for taxis. I’m sure you can imagine taxis are few and far between at gone 4 in the morning so it was a fair old wait, but eventually – tired n grumpy we arrived at ours at 4.30am

So – conversations were had the next day as I informed people of the torture we’d been through the night before and the decision was made that never again will we ever trust public transport to get us to or from a gig!!!

We’re hoping for a more successful, more accessible and equally enjoyable evening on Thursday and look forward to seeing you all at The Icarus Club in Lewisham tomorrow!!

One More Time

In these times of hardship, the banks have quite rightly been getting it right in the neck for crumbling this once great country to the brink of oblivion – however for the common man, the bank should still be seen to be a place of trust, or good management with our precious monetary assets.

We’re in a lucky position right now that we are making enough money from the band to warrant opening a proper band bank account. The days of Emma taking the couple of quid here and there and putting it in a nice piggy bank on her mantelpiece are now gone.

So, back in July we all wondered in to Bracknell town centre with the paperwork required to set up our account with this particular ‘reputable high street bank’, who are still (to my knowledge) one of the few who haven’t needed to worry about Government bail-outs. We thought this was a good sign, and as a few of us have banked with them for a long time, couldn’t really see any issues.

We gave all the details over to an affable bald chap, who duly took all our forms of ID, got our signatures and promptly sent the paperwork through. Done and dusted – great. Within a few days we’ll have a band bank account that will be so much easier to deal with than our current set-up.

Cue the 5th of November – some 4 months later and after the 5th copy of the mandate is sent out to us to sign AGAIN, another phone call is received by an ever increasingly irate Gethin – we believe this to be at least the 12th one he’s taken from this ‘reputable high street bank’. Still no account…..apparently one of the addresses they have is wrong, even though the correct one was confirmed to them on more than one occasion.

It appears the only thing wrong in this situation are the people that work for this bank. I don’t know whether the whole economic climate issues have frightened this ‘reputable high street bank’ – but it appears they are doing all they can to not open accounts. I blame the bloke with the dodgy eyebrows who always looks incredibly smug once a year while holding up a tattered red briefcase, which contrary to popular belief doesn’t hold the budget paperwork – but the latest copy of Viz and a moldy peach he forgot to eat a week last Thursday.

Anyway – in honour of this monumental hassle we’ve had, Emma has decided to pen the following poem, which may or may not turn in to a song at some point. A peanut to each of you who guesses the bank – it really isn’t that hard.

One More Time – By Emma Johnson (copyright All Things Considered 2009)

‘One more time’ they said to me
I’ve heard these words before
But still I trust, still I hope
It’ll be right this time for sure

But no it’s wrong again it seems
What’s your excuse this time
Just a few minor details
Where do we draw the line

But we forgive, we try again
They’ll get it right – you’ll see
But no, they still want more from us
The fricking _ _ _ _

We even went to see the man
Who claims to be the boss
But he was useless & a waste of time
We’re really at a loss

All we want is an account with you
Don’t play so hard to get
Or we’ll take our custom elsewhere
Your bank we will forget

One more time, it’s all we’ll give
You’d better get this rightOr we’ll release this wonderful track
Telling how _ _ _ _ are shite


In other news – if you’re London based we’re at The Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell this Saturday, on sometime after 9pm - £5 on the door. Alternatively, you can pop along and see us in Lewisham next Thursday. We’ll be doing 2 short sets from 8pm at The Station Hotel, which is right outside Lewisham station, funnily enough. Free entry for that one. Hope to see you there!

News Update

Thanks very much to Paul Burke at Forest FM in Dorset who playlisted our track The Neverending on his show on Friday. A few more like that would be nice!

New dates for the diary (although both to be 100% confirmed) are Thursday 17th December at The Varsity Bar in Reading, and Sunday 28th February at Bournemouth Folk Club (yes, another folk club gig!)

Random MJ Ramble

Its 34 degrees in my office. The air-con has packed up, and with all the windows in the building unable to be opened due to health and safety (even though we’re only on the first floor and you’d be lucky to break a leg if you jumped), it’s pretty damn uncomfortable.

As luck would have it, I (Phil) have little work to do this afternoon so I’ve just been reading the reviews online of the new Michael Jackson concert film, released internationally last night. The consensus is a bit hit and miss, some of it is good, some bad – in some of it you can see his genius shining through, whereas in other bits he just comes across as a frail man with what seems like the whole world on his shoulders. As expected, every paper, news website etc has a comment on it – which is of course to be expected.

I personally am a little uncomfortable with the fact that this film has been reviewed in exactly the same sort of way any other cinema release would have been. It’s blatantly obvious that this material, however good, was never intended for mass viewing - at the very most a 10 minute segment as part of the extras DVD of what would have been no doubt a tremendous live DVD after the shows had been completed. The fact that respected film critics for national and international news agencies can criticise the filming techniques is a little out of line. I’m sure had they known the bloke was going to drop dead before the opening night, they would have got the finest camera and sound crew available to capture every last detail of the show……but they didn’t, so this is all we have, and maybe we just need to be thankful we even have that – but I suppose that view doesn’t sell papers.

The one thing that is certain is that everyone is in agreement this was going to be some show – so lets hope we actually see it one day, with the worlds top performers taking on the Jackson role.

Anyway – in other news, it looks like we might have finally sorted a date in Reading. After almost 2 years of searching for the right venue, it looks like we’re going to be playing The Varsity Bar on Thursday 17th December, alongside two as yet unnamed acoustic based acts. So, if you’re from the Reading area, like most of us are – stick it in the diary.

London dates for the diary

We have 3 London dates coming up in the next few weeks. We'll be at The Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell on Saturday November 7th, then a return to the brilliant Icarus Club at The Station Hotel in Lewisham on Thursday November 12th, before making our debut at The Halo Bar in Battersea on Tuesday 1st December. Full details on all these gigs can be found in the gig section of the site, as well as on all our other random pages!

Getting back to it

Well, we’re back gigging tonight for the first time since we finished the summer album tour in Finedon near Kettering at the beginning of September. So much has happened in the last 6 weeks that this gig seems like an age ago – but we’re somewhat refreshed (well, some of us are) and really looking forward to getting back playing tonight.

We had our first rehearsal with all 5 of us present for the first time in two months on Tuesday, and ended the session with a new song, which we plan to have a crack at tonight. Those of you who follow us regularly will know that the rate of our output is not exactly what you would call prolific – but two new songs in as many months isn’t bad going, although I make no promises that this will continue…..

So it’s Folking Live tonight, which is actually the night I (Phil) run. The fact that I’ve booked us for it does reek of complete self promotion I admit, however it’s a nice little gig to get us back in to the swing of things and The Cellar Bar at South Hill Park is a really nice cosy little venue with great sound – although pretty horrendous toilets it has to be said!

The bill is really good (even if I do say so myself…) with one of the best bands I’ve seen in ages coming down to play. If you do one thing today, check out Lewis Garland & The Kett Rebellion – www.myspace.com/lewisgarland, it’ll be well worth your time and effort.

So, be good to see some of you there - £5 on the door, 8pm start and you should be able to get back for at least half of Question Time.

The rest of the year looks pretty solid, with a few London dates confirmed – and no doubt more writing to be done. It’s nearly Christmas, and then it’ll be on to record album number 2…..hectic!

The big 'five-o'

As you may know (especially if you're one of our regular readers - we know you're out there somewhere!), we're currently taking a bit of a break from regular band activity. Unfortunately, this tends to make writing a blog about what we do as a band quite difficult...

Because of this, I was kicking myself slightly when I woke up this morning and remembered that I'd promised to write a blog post today... But, just as I logged on to Blogger, and was about to churn out 2 paragraphs about nothing in particular, I noticed that we've somehow made it to the marginally impressive milestone of 50 posts!

It seems a long time ago that it all started - since then we've recorded and released our debut album, and done almost 30 dates in support of that, everywhere from Northamptonshire to Portsmouth. Not surprising that we need a bit of a break after all of that...

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read our blog (and of course bought our album and come to our gigs) over the last few months, we hope to keep you entertained for a few months longer at least! And for now, we're off to go and drink Guinness in celebration of the wonderful drink's birthday, under the thinly veiled excuse of having a rehearsal... Cheers!

Last gig for a while

Tonight is the last date on our summer gig run, so thanks to everyone for coming out to see us and to those who have bought the album so far. We’re going off now to go on holidays, become parents and various other things that people do when on a break! We’ll be continuing to write for the next month or two and hope to have some more new material to debut when we start gigging again at the end of October.

The Musical Raffle

It’s a Green Ticket, a Green Ticket – and it’s 107

A Yellow Ticket, a Yellow Ticket – and it’s 264

Shuffle!

You kind of have to perform the above, in a rock and roll style, with a walking bass line, to get the feel of the Rock and Roll Raffle that we had the pleasure of witnessing last night in Portsmouth. We were one of two featured artists at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night and had earlier in the evening played our best set in ages, to a really enthusiastic crowd at what is a great little club, just a stone’s throw from Fratton Park (in fact the pub to which the venue was attached to was a real home fans boozer, with pictures of the Pompey team from almost every year since the early 70’s adorning the walls).

The guy running the night, Nick Courtney – who has admirably kept the club going after his fathers passing some years ago, is one of the most affable men you could wish to meet. Not only that, but he seemed prepared for all sound and musical issues – having nothing less than a spare acoustic bass handy when Ben’s battery decided to die before we’d even played a note. You can’t beat that for forward planning.

So it was with interest that we sat down for a beer after our set, to watch some of the open mic performers. We were treated to a double act resurrecting the comedy song, a blinding bagpipe player with added percussion and then said percussion player then switching to guitar and running through a set of well played covers which included what myself and Adrian have come to agree was a song by the band Therapy? Certainly a mixed bag but all really good stuff.

‘You can’t leave before the raffle’ we were told by Nick as we upped to get on our way – ‘you’ve not seen anything until you’ve seen the raffle – it’s a rock and roll raffle!’.

And right there – we thought to ourselves ‘a musical raffle? We’ve seen that before……..’

Some time ago we did a show at what really was quite a similar set-up at a club in Watford. A nicer bunch of people you couldn’t wish to meet, although the builder who we spoke to outside who seemed to get a bit agitated when we said we didn’t know any U2 covers made us slightly uneasy.

However, other than a sound guy who enjoyed turning everything up to 11, and the odd random drip from the leaky ceiling, we actually had quite a good time, and played a solid first set.

………then however came the raffle…….the musical raffle.

Cue the theme from Bullseye, played on the slightly out of tune piano in the corner – it was all very music hall. Jim Bowen was not in attendance, so it was left to the sound guy to dart from the back in almost Ultimate Warrior fashion (80’s wrestling fans will know what I’m talking about), don a black bowler hat, and while doing his 2 step dance routine proceed to reel off the winning numbers. The excitement in the room as one after another people went up to get their prizes – a shower curtain, some lace doilies and a tube of toothpaste amongst other things.

When we went back on for our second set, we just couldn’t compete – it was so intimidating to follow what was obviously the weekly highlight that Gethin very nearly soiled himself – and that isn’t a lie.

So musical raffles – I’m actually excited to find the next one. I may make this part of the booking criteria that we only play nights with musical raffles. Sod bowls of M&M’s with all the brown ones taken out – or sandwiches with the crusts cut off, or 1000 purple balloons in the dressing room – the only contracted stipulation for us to play is that there has to be a musical raffle – it is the way forward!

To end – I’d just like to thank Nick and the folks at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night, one of the best nights we’ve played in a long time. If you’re ever in the Portsmouth area on a Thursday night, go along. There aren’t enough clubs like that – so long may it continue.

Festival Woe

Sitting here bored out of my brains in the office on a Friday afternoon, after a pint at lunch which has made me extremely lethargic – so thinking about what to write for the blog post is proving very difficult.

We have a gig tomorrow in Adrian’s pub, The Bull, in Bracknell High Street. Not the most glamorous of locations but it will be a good laugh, and we also have the rather brilliant Matt Hegarty on the bill – who is one of our favourite artists on the acoustic scene.

We’re doing this gig due to having a free weekend because a festival we were due to perform at was cancelled a few weeks ago. Matt Hegarty is doing this gig for exactly the same reason – yet it was a completely different festival he was playing at that was cancelled.

So – right there I’ve stumbled across a theme for today’s post. Are you sitting comfortably?

It isn’t rocket science why so many festivals have gone tits up this year. The term ‘current economic situation’ has become the favoured buzz phrase among business analysts the world over in the last 18 months or so, and with that ‘situation’ comes victims – none more so than in the world of the arts, a sector of business hugely under-resourced at the best of times with many a performer and organiser involved just for the love of it.

The festival season is one that is looked forward to by many acts across all genres and styles – both musically and non musically, as a way of showcasing their craft to a bigger, wider audience – and being involved in something that brings people together, hopefully bathed in summer sun. Aside from the big corporate behemoths of Reading, V, The Isle of Wight – or indeed the master of them all on a Somerset farm in mid June (however this is a whole different talking point – mostly a positive one)….the festivals with real atmosphere are those that are a bit smaller, a bit more local, organised by a group of friends or local promoters with a love of live art and a willingness to share it with the community.

Unfortunately, it is these events that have suffered this year. The type of events that, we as a band performing in more of a semi professional environment look to play. Whether it’s due to the promoter not being able to afford the land due to rising prices, not being able to promote it due to rising costs – or more often than not, getting as far as advertising a fully booked event, only for the punters to keep their money on their pockets this year – because everything is that little bit tighter than last year.

The big corporate events obviously don’t have this problem – as they have the money to throw at the world’s top acts, and the money to advertise this in every single possible way – which then gets the people in. People are happy to pay if they have a guarantee of a good time, which these events can offer. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a major issue with these events – as a punter I have a ticket to one of them this year. It’s just a shame though, that for the smaller events – the events where the term ‘festival’ means so much more, are falling down left, right and centre this year, sometimes just a week or two before the thing is supposed to take place.
I’m sure no-one in the government is going to take a blind bit of notice to these goings on and offer some kind of grant. The Arts Council is over-stretched anyway but at least some events get their backing so not all doom and gloom. I suppose it boils down to the fact that these events are great if they can be justified – but in the ‘current economic situation’, they obviously can’t

If you are English, look away from the television now. Hide under a rock and don't come out again until its safe. The Australians are doing rather well, and I can already hear the bashing.

Anyway, you don't come here to listen about sport. As we have nothing to really plug this fine Friday, although we would like to say a massive thank you to Keith and Delta FM for a cracking time on Wednesday, I'm going to ramble.

There has long been discussions of etiquette at gigs for the bands who are playing the bill. Are bands honour-bound to stay till the very end of the evening, are they allowed to sneak off, how many people do they have to bring and such and such. The most annoying thing is that there are often many people who have different opinions of correct etiquette. So, I hereby look to lay down these 3 golden rules of etiquette for bands at gigs.

• Although while you are at the venue you have to stay front of stage listening to acts, don't feel obliged to stay there all night. It is perfectly understood that while it is incredibly rude to sit in a bar away from where the music is happening until you play and then leave, sometimes acts have had umpteen gigs a week or just plain and simple need to be somewhere else. There is nothing wrong with playing your set, making your apologies and saying goodbye at times. There is something wrong with sitting in a bar away from all the other acts, playing your set then leaving.

• Fans. Gotta love them. We aren't under any illusions and know that a solid 70% of our fanbase is family and friends who have to legally like us. However, we would like to think we have a few who turn up to gigs and buy records who don't know us personally. Anyway, the moral of the story is you are generally friends with your fans at the level I am talking about. You do want to chat to them, if its a gig outside of your normal stomping ground you may want to catch up with them, and they want to talk to you. This is dangerous territory, though. No matter what you do, don't sit in the venue yammering on. Although you can get away with it at loud gigs, we generally play in acoustic venues so at times we can actually sit and listen to your conversation. There are intervals for a reason. However, rule 2 has another downfall. It is the single rudest thing I personally think a band can do while at a gig. Under no circumstances, sit in a different bar or part of the venue with your fans (especially if you are the main local draw and therefore have more than half the audience there), bring them in while you play then take them away again when you are finished. It ruins the atmosphere for the rest of the paying fans, it puts bands off the venue (and you, personally) and is just a selfish thing to do.

• Last, but not least, is inter band communication. We have all been in and around music scenes for a long old while and I think I can speak for everyone when I say this – the most important thing in getting ahead is the respect of your peers. Probably its more important than knowing the right people, as I know plenty of people who know the 'right people', but the 'right people' think they are douche bags and won't work with them. Let me give you an example – I used to know one band who were, musically, pretty rubbish. However, one of them had a rather well off daddy and so they had their recording paid for in New York, a marketing budget and were able to play pay-to-play gigs and slots at festivals (a vile practice). I think they did all of this without so much as playing a gig they booked themselves. Just wrote a few songs and had money poured at them. And of my did they act the part, like every little thing they did was just a motion to go through on their way further and further up. Needless to say, they didn't actually last that long. On the flip side, I knew one band who were incredibly well supported, promoted their own nights, had a manager but were still actively involved in the business side and had spawned instant success. They had every right to be a bit cocky, or to act big and mighty and make peers jealous of them (a common problem), but were in fact the nicest people ever to work with. We even kept going to Bicester to play for them. Moral of the story is this – if you are nice, friendly and level headed to other bands (even if inside you think you are better than them in every way) you will get an awful long way. If you are douchebag, prepare for a lifetime of ridicule and anonymity.

Addendum: I just thought of this story, which was over heard by Phil. Two members of a real 'scene' band in Reading were in the toilet, and one said to the other “Mate, don't wash your hands. That isn't rock and roll!” I fear for the human race at times.

Delta FM + The Acoustic South

Well, we’ve been quiet for a couple of weeks – although did get in some much needed songwriting last week with a couple of very interesting ideas coming from it. Hopefully we can continue with those and get something new in to the set before the end of this current gigging run.

Wednesday of this week we’re on the radio again – this time on Delta FM which broadcasts across Farnham, Alton, Haslemere etc, or indeed online at www.deltaradio.co.uk. We’re going to be promoting the new album of course, but also talking about our appearance and the indeed the acoustic stage in general at Weyfest this year, which takes place on the 5th and 6th September.

We then play near Watford on the 10th August, and finally do a slot at Adrian’s pub The Bull in Bracknell on Saturday 15th. You would have thought it would be easy for him to book his own band to play, but that hasn’t been the case – however we’ve finally got a date sorted so come along if you’re in the area, it’ll be a good laugh.

The other big thing going on at the minute is the overhaul of Artree Music’s website (www.artree.org.uk) – which is the promotions company a number of us host regular gigs under, and also the company that acts as our record label (which we intend to build up over the coming months).

Within this redesign and update, we’ve started a new acoustic music forum, dedicated to the acoustic musicians and fans of the genre for the South of England. We’re hoping it will become a hub of activity and promotion and be a place where musicians and fans alike can discuss various topics and see what is going on in the area. Please visit www.theacousticsouth.co.uk and sign up – it’ll be well worth your while!

A brand new bag of crazy

Well, we have had a short break from updating our blog, however we are now back to hurl a big old bag of crazy at you twice a week. Hazar!

Not much new stuff has been going on in ATC-world. Just a nice bit of hard gigging. We have had some fantastic gigs recently, with perhaps the best being at the Icaurus Club at The Station Hotel in Lewisham. However, much to our sadness (but perhaps my wallet's joy) tonight is our last sojourn into London for a while, where we are playing at the Half Moon in Putney in a rather stacked line up that contains a bit of a who's who of the London acoustic scene. If you like spontaneous trips to Putney, come on down tonight.

After tonight, we are bouncing around the glorious South East of England (a full list of gigs is of course up at www.myspace.com/atcuk) and doing some radio stuff. We are also starting to put a definite emphasis on writing some new material, which is always fun. So it means that you might catch something new from us. Keep your ears open!

On a personal level, not much is going on. I've scared the rest of the band after sharing a dream I had, Adrian is still trying to work 25 hours a day, Phil is still a bit of a bastard, Emma is still wonderful and Gethin is still regularly surprising us with random acts of genius.

And now we are back sharing it all with you. In the words of General Melchett – Baaaaaaaaa!

New gigs confirmed

So, back after a weekend (well, Thursday and Friday, that almost counts) of gigging in London, and we've got some more gigs confirmed for all of you lovely people:

Sat 15 August - The Bull, Bracknell - Playing a slot at our guitarist Adrian's pub. Other acts TBC.

Thurs 22 October - Folking Live @ The Cellar Bar, Bracknell - 30 minute set opening the night alongside great roots acts Eddy Johns and Lewis Garland & The Kett Rebellion.

Mon 9 November - Good Intentions, Puttenham - Playing a 25 minute featured slot at the great Good Intentions night near Guildford.

Hopefully we'll see some of you at these, and please check out our full listings as well!

When it all goes to plan

It can be tough sometimes. Rehearsals can go badly, you can turn up to a gig to be told you have to make do with 2 microphones and no sound tech, or even worse trek halfway across the country for a gig just to play to three people and a cat. We've been in all of those situations in the past (I might have invented the cat), and it does make you wonder why you're in a band. But then, once in a while, you have a gig where everything runs smoothly, everyone plays well, and a great time is had by all, and you remember why you put up with all the crap.

Last night was one of those gigs. I have to admit, we had all been dreading it slightly as, being in South East London, it was going to be a bit of a nightmare for all of us to get there. But we persevered, and despite detours to Maidstone and broken Sat-Navs we all managed to get there just about on time. And from the minute we walked in, we knew it was going to be great.

It was in a great pub called 'The Station' in Hither Green, near Lewisham. A proper old-school London pub - high ceilings, a long bar selling good ale (we're all getting a bit old you see), slightly battered but comfy seats. Then we saw where we were going to be playing - as one of the other acts commented, "it's like playing in someone's living room". And it was - a big wooden fireplace, pictures on the walls, everyone gathered round sat on sofas and old-fashioned chairs. Even the tealights on the tables seemed to work, rather than being the acoustic music cliche that they usually are!

And then the music started - 3 other great acts (whose names I'm afraid I can't remember, but should be up on the promoter's blog at http://icarusclub.blogspot.com at some point), all top-notch musicians, playing everything from intricate acoustic ballads to country to traditional blues. We played two pretty good sets as well, but that almost seemed besides the point - it was the warm atmosphere, helped no end by Andy the promoter and compere (from Icarus Music), and the fact that everyone was there just to play and enjoy great music in great surroundings.

So - we've now just got to hope that our next few gigs are up to the same level! We're playing at The Spice of Life in Soho this evening, and last time we played there it was a great night, so we've got our fingers crossed... Pop along if you're in the area, and see what happens.

Reviews

Well, first BBC Radio 2 airplay and now a really good review posted on Folk and Roots - http://www.folkandroots.co.uk/reviews9.html#allthings. We haven’t made a bad start to the album promotion!

It’s a strange feeling, opening up your work for other people to critique. It’s like opening your front door and letting people who you’ve never met before loose in your house, picking fault with things, expressing their loudest opinions about your choice of curtains or the state of your carpets (well, unless of course you’re a Z list celebrity who seem to welcome that sort of thing).

Granted, we’ve made a hugely positive start, but for every positive opinion – there is the likelihood that somewhere down the line there will be a person who isn’t going to like what we’re doing and are going to document that fact. It will be interesting how we react to that. Part of me hopes we take the view that a review is a review, and that one person’s opinion doesn’t mean everyone is going to think like that. That you just need to brush the negative views aside and concentrate on impressing the people that are in to what you are doing. That is the correct way to deal with it.

However, like any act – we’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money creating, honing, recording, mixing and mastering these tracks, and we’re pretty attached to them. Yeah, like anything we could look back and think we could have done this and that better. We’re sure we could have done more in the mixing but time was short. On the whole though we’re pleased with the product, happy it portrays us and the music in a positive light and believe it is a good representation of what we are currently about. So, the fact that someone could slate it is likely to be quite a hard pill to swallow – even if it is just one opinion.

Being a reviewer of folk based artists myself, I know of multiple big names in the genre that have blacklisted certain reviewers (myself not included) after they gave them bad press. However, unless you put your record out there, open it up for critique and take the hit if it is panned, not only do you never improve, you’ll never make any money – as without people commenting on your material whether good or bad, you’ll never get any publicity.

So, we’ll wait and see. So far, we’re very very happy. We’ll hope that it’ll all be positive, but as soon as the first negative one hits the web – we’ll be on here to rant about it! At least then it’ll be out of our systems and we can get on with things……

Gigs this coming week by the way are a short set at The Farnham Maltings tomorrow (Friday) at about 10pm. Next week we are in the capital for back to back gigs at The Station Hotel in Lewisham on Thursday 9th as part of The Icarus Club nights and then the following evening we’re in Leicester Square for a return to The Spice of Life.

Be good to see you at any of those.

Radio 2/Jackson RIP

Well, Ben wrote the blog entry for today, a brilliant piece about the sad departing of Michael Jackson last night - however before we get to that, some really good news about the band.

On Wednesday night, our track Clear Your Conscience was played by the great Steve Lamacq on his BBC Radio 2 show. We're stupidly chuffed and owe a huge thank you to David Scott who put us forward after buying the album and liking what he heard. Thanks mate - we all really appreciate it.

You can hear the show again for the next few days by using the BBC iPlayer on the main BBC Radio 2 site - www.bbc.co.uk/radio2 and selecting Steve Lamacq's show.

Anyway - on to todays post.


Well, when I volunteered to do today's blog posting I didn't expect this. In case you have been living under a rock for the last 12 hours, Michael Jackson has died aged 50. I'm sure one or two of the others will chuck their own views in on him, but I just want to say this.

Michael Jackson is a musical genius. He came from an era of pop music where artists weren't just people who turned up for a half day of vocal recording on songs that their management had already signed off on. He was a true musician, writing parts and pushing boundaries. He was was the first black artist widely played on MTV when even that media behemoth was still heavy with racism. He wrote some of the most loved songs in the modern era. He was a genius.

On a personal note, I can't imagine music without Jackson. Its just not something that I can comprehend. I was excited about his run of concerts this summer. I was excited about seeing Jackson's redemption. I was excited about seeing this spectacle put on by one of the few geniuses of popular culture. Two of his songs are within my all time top 20. That is double that of anyone else. Same way my folks may remember where they were when Elvis died, I will be able to tell my kids where I was when Jackson died. To those who said he couldn't manage it, he physically dwarfed Dermott O'Leary, who is no small chap, and has been a dancer for 40 years. If the Rolling Stones can do it at nearly 70, he could do it at 50.

What I have noticed, though, is already the press are determined to tarnish his memory. I've been flicking between CNN, BBC and Sky News and what I've seen so far is a collection of people who have all claimed they were in his “inner circle” but ended their interviews “but I haven't spoken to him in a few years.” Uri Geller is the worst offender, and while I don't doubt his friendship to Michael he hung up on BBC News claiming to be too upset while about 8 minutes later he appeared live on Sky News doing an interview. Then an hour later he was back on the Beeb telling the same stories. Unsurprisingly, there is a direct correlation between the celebs which have been on the news tonight and their reputation as self promoters.

Lets not let the public spectacle of his later years tarnish the 40 that preceded it. The man was a genius, he created amazing music and has sold more records than anyone else. In every feasible measurable category, he is top. I hope that the morbid surge in record sales that will accompany his death mixed with the release of any new material he allegedly has worked on will push him over the 1bn records sold threshold. I also hope that all of his dates at the O2 aren't canceled and a fitting tribute is put on.

But, I fear, although his musical skills are winning at the moment, someone will make a quick buck off of his recent reputation. For someone who has survived two child molestation charges, changed skin colour and has his personal trainer as The Incredible Hulk someone will. I actually had a sizeable amount of money on Jackson not completing all 50 gigs at the O2. I burned the betting slip. I fear that the media, eventually, won't be so kind.

This week

We kick on with our album promotion this evening (Tuesday) with a gig in Basingstoke at The Haymarket Theatre. None of us really know the score with this one, so it’s certainly going to be a case of turn up and see….

Basingstoke is one of those places that if you love ring roads and roundabouts, you’ll have a field day. You can always see the town to either your left or right – but can never actually reach it. In the early 90’s it was billed as a ‘whole new shopping experience’, or so the cheesy radio jingle said. I’m not actually sure if anybody actually found it to discover if they were telling the truth.

Either way – we’re looking forward to it. With no rehearsal last week we’re very keen to get back in the swing of things, especially with the Big Day Out festival coming up on Saturday. We played a mid afternoon slot last year – to probably our biggest crowd of the year. We’re on similar time this year – on a bill where the acoustic acts seem to be on first before the ‘louder’ bands take over. We’ve got no issue with that – the weather is looking like its going to be good, and so we’ll take advantage of the chilled out vibe.

So – if you can make either of these gigs – they are both free and will both be entertaining in one form or another. After Saturday, we’re in Farnham next Friday before a stint as London’s resident acoustic roots band with 4 London slots in a row. Well, if we’re going to crack the place, may as well have a damn good go!

Internet Piracy

One of us just wrote this up to the BBC website. We aren't telling you which one, and this isn't the official band stance or anything, however it is both music related and food for thought. Let us know what you think.

"I first started downloading illegally in the Napster era. Then into the Kazzaa, then Limewire and now into the Torrent era.

In my experience, although there will always be a hardened core who will, music downloading is no longer a big issue. Back when albums cost £15 for their first 6 months of release it was rampant, however with ease of delivery and better pricing, music downloads aren't a major issue. The only downloads of Music I have made in the last few years has been to replace albums that have been lost, stolen or damaged.

The problem with downloading TV & Film, which is what the lions share of modern downloading is, is caused by two underlying problems and both of them are at the studios end.

The first is odd program scheduling. If a film is released in the UK a week, or even at all, after a USA or Japan release then studios cannot expect hardened audiences to wait for a release when the film will be available online. The same for television, as most series are broadcast in the UK 6 to 12 months after the USA, and so asking audiences to wait when the media is available online is highly naive.

The second is archaic delivery techniques,an issue that the Music industry took far too long to correct. Instead of fighting hard to keep current distribution channels open, they need to embrace new ways to spread, and profit from, their product. Any look at the number of seeders and downloaders on a torrent site shows how popular they are, along with the viewers on streaming channels.

However, this is the crux of where the problem lies. US Studios do not have agreements in place with distributors to allow them to broadcast better online, and they do not have good deals in place with Unions in terms of online royalties. They have tried to meet halfway, with sites such as Hulu, however it simply won't come to pass. End users do not want to catch up on last weeks show, or see selected clips, or see an advert for next weeks. They want to watch their show, whether it be the the latest episode or the first ever broadcast. Turning a profit from advertising embedded in online film and TV should also be much easier than the failed attempts to do so with media, as audiences are used to seeing advertising on television.

Changing the culture will also be harder. Music acts finances aren't as widely known, and musicians are generally more respected artistically than actors. Unlike when prominent bands such as Metallica spoke out against music piracy, actors will not find the same sympathies. Especially when the struggling student, low paid shift worker and debt ridden post grad hears a lead actor who earnt $20m for a movie asking not to download it for financial reasons.

It is also harder for ISPs to crack down, as before they could act based on high download and upload figures for an IP addy. However, with the rise of digital delivery for software and online gaming, it can be hard to distinguish a genuine high traffic user from a rampant pirate.

I am not defending what I do. I know that legally it is wrong, however the crime is viewed by many with an amount of non-chalance. This is how I choose to view my media, and it is not provided by official channels. Film and TV studios need to see the struggle record labels went through before realising they needed to embrace, and not fight, new distribution channels and business models. There are those who do steal because they don't want to pay, but many others do it as a matter of convinience.

Although, as most studios have no intention of adjusting themselves to suit customers needs, the only way to control the current form of media sharing would be to laws similar to prostitution. Do not make it a crime to download, however make it a crime to solicit. Each time an illegal stream is caught broadcasting copyrighted material, and each time a poster places a torrent file to copyrighted media, punish them. This will lead to fewer users risking uploading, providing less chances for those to download and start to put studios back in control."

First of all, we'd like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who came along on Friday. The album launch was a huge success, and we couldn't have done it without your support! A big thank-you also to our support acts Matt Wellard and Naama Hillman for providing wonderful music (check out their websites if you haven't yet!), Al Heslop for doing a great job with the sound, and Tom from Tomodo for coming along and taking some great photos. I'm sure I've forgotten lots of other people, so thanks to all of you too!

Other than that there's not a huge amount to say really. We've got LOTS of gigs planned over the summer, up and down the country, so please come along to some of those - there's a list on our website. Also, one more plug (yes, I know, it seems to be all that we've done the last few weeks...) - as the album is now officially released, you can buy your copy in any of a multitude of ways - at www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk, from Amazon (hard copy or MP3), and from iTunes, as well as of course from any gigs that we play. Make sure you get your copy soon, as copies are currently quite limited, so they may not be around for long!

Anyway, thanks again, and we hope to see you all again in the very near future!

The Time Is Now

Yes, that's right, it's the day of the launch party! We had a slightly shaky start to the rehearsal, with Adrian turning up and announcing he'd had pretty much the worst day imaginable - ask him for the full story, but when a band member turns up and announces "I crashed my motorbike today" and you have a big gig the next day it certainly makes your heart race! But, once we had got all of the gossiping out of the way, we got down to work, ran through the set a few times and pretty much nailed it. Lets hope that we can manage the same tonight...

So, with just a few last minute jobs to finish off (I've been sent on a string-buying mission by Adrian!), we are just about as ready as we can be. And we hope that you all are too!

Anyway, there's not much more to say really, other than we hope to see as many of you as possible tonight! Advance tickets are no longer available, but if you haven't got one yet there will be a limited number (so turn up early!) available on the door, at just £6. Here's to a great gig this evening!

The Final Call...

Hello!

Well, if you didn't know already - this Friday (12th) is our album launch party at Jagz in Ascot, where you can for the first time buy copies of our debut record 'Scarecrow'.

We've had a great response from people buying tickets in advance, but there is still some space available before we reach capacity . So, if you're up for coming along and haven't yet got your ticket - head over to www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk and book now.

There are likely to be some pay on the door tickets available, however this will strictly be on a first come, first served basis. The cheap album deal we are running with pre-ordered tickets will not be available on the night - where album's will be sold at normal gig selling price of £7 (although as its a launch party - feel free to haggle to an extent, it'll be fun!).

Further dates past this of note are this coming Sunday, when we support the hughly talented 'nu-folk' artist Lisa Knapp at South Hill Park in Bracknell, and also festival apperances at The Big Day Out, Walton Soundfest and Weyfest during the summer.

Thanks a lot for your continued support - it really is appreciated.

Hope to see you on Friday!

Cheers

All Things Considered

The Thursday Night Ramble

Well then its 5pm, nobody has a fresh idea for a blog post so you lucky, lucky people get to here me (that is Ben... We should really identify ourselves better) rant and rave for a few hundred words. Aren't you lucky!?

Well we are T-minus 8 days till the album launch. We all got given our advanced copies last night at rehearsal and they are officially amazing. That means if any of you haven't headed over to www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk to order your copy (along with the tickets to the launch next Friday) then you need to do it. Now. It's okay, I'll wait...


...good. Other than that, we have no news to report. We have been working hard to ensure that we are on top form next week, and for the rest of our gig run. I'm sure there is other news I should be reporting, but frankly its sunny and my thoughts are firmly entrenched on a pint of beer.

Oh, and don't forget to go out and vote today. It takes three seconds and makes you cool. Anyone who turns up at the launch at Jagz with proof that they voted gets a free kiss on the cheek from Emma. Luckily for me, I voted 7,281 times...

Festivals, sun etc....

It's official. I've checked every available data source possible and everything is coming to the same conclusion. It's summer.

Yes indeed, it's that special time of year when office workers the country wide stop smirking at those working outside in the rain and start looking on with longing desire. The 3 till 5:30 dead zone of the working day becomes even longer with the sheer will to get to the pub, and the whole shebang is done with a glazed over brain as the nights get far too hot to sleep.

Or, as we prefer to say, welcome to festival season! These days there are more on than ever, with seemingly every farmer with a field that isn't filled with dung more than happy to fill it with artists and fans. Its a glorious time – sunshine, beer and good times follow. Oh, and have I mentioned that we are appearing at a few of these festivals? Of course we are, you didn't think I could go a whole blog posting without a cheap plug did you? Starting this Saturday, we are at a few. A full list can be seen at the ever present website.

Other than the news that for the next 3 weeks Britain will grind to a halt as people head outside to worship the sun, there is nothing new to report. We are putting the finishing touches to our set for the June 12th album launch at Jagz, and gearing up for our biggest gig run to date. You will be seeing an awful lot of us in the coming weeks. Hopefully, you will also be hearing an awful lot on the radio, however more on that as it happens.

Oh, and also just to use the communal band blog as my own personal soapbox, you have got to love Gordon Brown. Yesterday, a poll put Labour 3rd in the popular vote behind the Lib Dems and Torys and only just ahead of UKIP. Today, to address this disturbing situation on the brink of a bashing at local and European elections, the embattled PM went onto GMTV to talk about Susan Boyle.

Till next time folks...

The Printed Press

Everyone living in Berkshire who reads this blog, buy your local paper this week – cos we’re in it!

Yes, the first stage of ATC world domination has been secured with a countywide write up on us and a major plug for our album launch. Although they made the fatal error of printing the box office number for Jagz when it's us who are selling the tickets direct from the website – but we’ll give them that slight faux pas...

It is the biggest single bit of promotion we have had as a band, and while maybe not making waves on a national scale – you have to start at home and as Berkshire is the home county of at least 3 of us, it's not a bad start. With a couple of radio slots confirmed and to be confirmed, and also hopefully a number of album reviews in the coming months, anything we can get that is positive from any media outlet needs to be seen as a good thing, and like anything, the more you get your name out there, the more people pay attention to you – or at least I hope that'll apply to us.

With only 2 weeks left until the album launch – anyone who hasn't yet got their tickets, get them today! As we’ve said, you can get them online at www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk, and I know for a fact there are some people reading this who haven't yet made the all important purchase who've already made it clear they are coming...do the right thing!

There – I feel better now. We’ve just named a brilliant young singer/songwriter by the name of Matt Wellard to open for us on the 12th. He, along with the gloriously impressive Naama Hillman will entertain you before we try and at least match them...we're going to have to be good that night...

Summer is here

What a lovely weekend it was! We don't quite know how, as the combination of Emma planning a birthday camping trip to the south coast and it being a bank holiday would seem to guarantee huge amounts of rain, but somehow it stayed dry! Until last night anyhow, but as we're mostly back in our offices (Gethin/Phil), pubs (Adrian), and study/living room/toilet (or wherever else Ben finds inspiration today) we couldn't really care less about a bit of rain...

Anyway, the weather had be looking forward to some of the outdoor gigs that we have coming up, and I thought that would be a good excuse to remind all of you lovely people of a few of the dates coming up in the next few months.

We kick off the festival season with an afternoon of music at Gostrey Meadow Charity Fair on the 6th June. This is pretty much bang in the middle of Farnham town centre, and is free to everyone, so there's pretty much no excuse not to come along.

We then, of course, have our album launch on June 12th, but I'm sure you all know more than enough about that, so I'll say no more about that...

June 14th brings us to our home(ish) town of Bracknell, to support the wonderful Lisa Knapp at The Wilde Theatre in South Hill Park. This should be a great gig, and is a brilliant opportunity for us to support a top-notch alternative-folk artist.

Some other highlights of the summer include:

• Big Day Out at South Hill Park, Bracknell, another free-entry event on 27th June


• A trio of London gigs on the 9th, 10th and 20th July at The Station Hotel, Lewisham, The Spice of Live, Soho, and The Half Moon, Putney


• Our first Birmingham gig at The Dog, West Bearwood on the 9th August


• Weyfest on 5th September.

There are, of course, plenty of others, and our debut album will be available to buy at all of them, so check out our schedule at www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk to find one near you!

We hope to see all of you very soon, will as much sunshine as possible!
ATC

Well, it has started...

As you all know, as we tell you at every available opportunity, the album launch is up coming on the 12th June and we have just started the build up. It started last night actually, when we supported the outstanding Rory Ellis. I know artists always say people they played with are the best thing since sliced bread, but in this case it may actually be true. He is a supremely talented man, and if you see his name pop up on a local gig listing then get down there. Tell them we sent you. It may get you a present.

Aside from an awkward string snap in the middle of the set (we suspected it may occur, and the collective groan\cringe was highly audible) we played well. We were tight, Gethin made a strong debut multi tasking by playing the violin and singing and aside from the string snapping fiasco, there were no major mistakes. It's going to be a good summer, and we put a great foot forward last night.

What is mildly hilarious, however, is the state of some of us at the moment. Adrian could get an extras role on Day of the Dead without needing to go through make up. Phil is living in fear of his wife, who if she reads this he loves very much and every day with her makes him grateful for life itself, and I'm (that is to say, Ben is) working for some Americans meaning my standard operating hours at the moment are about 1pm till 6am. Which just isn't fun. You should be a fly on the wall at rehearsal, all we have done is eat cake.

But its gigs like the one last night that make you redouble your efforts. Silly as it sounds, the fact that the string broke and even though we had to stand there while Emma and Gethin valiantly filled the gap where music was supposed to be, we coped well and it gives you that little buzz. It makes it stand out. Silly as it sounds, sometimes a gig is just another gig. I think that it was a good thing Adrian broke a string, as it may show us that we have to work harder and make each gig stand out like that., although more for positive performance than disaster overcoming We won't tell him that, of course, we will continue the company line of calling him a bleeding idiot, but you fair reader will know the truth.

London here we come!

This Thursday sees us play what is probably our biggest gig to date. We’re playing main support to the staggering Australian singer/songwriter Rory Ellis at the famous Half Moon in Putney.

Rory is a guy I (Phil) have known for a while through my folk connections, and met up with him on his first ever tour over here about 6 years ago – where he played a 30 minute set in-between two acts from a local acoustic guy at the back of a tiny pub in Newbury. Suffice to say the local talent got absolutely blown off the stage by Rory’s sheer power and emotive songwriting – I can’t imagine he was invited back!

He’s since gone on to gain quite a reputation for himself in this country, generally heading over here for the summer months and playing all over the place. He’s a guy who needs to be heard. Without a doubt the finest talent I’ve ever had the pleasure of ‘discovering’ through a CD sent to my house for review. Not only that, an absolutely brilliant bloke, full of stories.

This gig then is big for us in two ways. It is the first of a couple of main artist support slots we’ve got in the next few weeks (the other being nu-folk songstress Lisa Knapp on June 14th), which is a position we were looking to get in to around the time of the album coming out – which is great. The second reason is because of the venue. The Half Moon marks a step up in class for us. A venue synonymous with top quality intimate acoustic performances from the very best artists on the scene, both from the UK and from across the world. Acts like Billy Bragg, Eddi Reader, Show of Hands, Nick Cave, Paul Brady and KT Tunstall have all played there in the last few years – so it’s a bit special to be joining that calibre of act to play on that stage.

These are the sort of venues where we absolutely have to make a good impression on both the promoter (for re-bookings and recommendations) and also the paying punters who will visit here expecting the standard of act to be very high. This is the sort of venue where a band like us, who have been playing everywhere we possibly can over the last year or so need to aspire to headlining one day and its up to us on Thursday to put in a performance worthy of the venue. Hopefully a good reception to that and the album might go some way in making a headline appearance happen somewhere down the line!

So – for anyone wishing to see this momentous occasion, tickets are available by visiting the Half Moon website.

A month to go...

With the launch growing nearer and ticket sales growing larger we're all getting quite excited about getting out tonight to start gigging again. We've had a bit of a quiet few weeks, largely due to my holidaying obsession visiting Cyprus, Dublin and Greece all in the space of 6 weeks – but we're now all in the country and here to stay for a good couple of months at least!

We had our 1st get together as a 5-piece for the first time in aaaages on Tuesday night, which was thoroughly enjoyable! We all got together, had a good old chin wag and ate rum cake before knuckling down to rehearse the set, reminding ourselves of our own material! We also had a bit of a mini jam, hoping to get something new together for you guys to enjoy listening to this Summer.

So – business as usual seems to be the way forward for the foreseeable future. Thanks to all of you who have purchased tickets already, and for those of you who haven't – get booking! It's going to be a cracking night for all included, so make yourself a part of it!

And... for those of you joining us in Godalming this eve – we look forward to seeing you.

The point of no return

On friday we finally took the plunge and, in the first step towards making the album available to all of you lovely people, we uploaded it to ReverbNation so that they can submit it to a number of digital download sites, including iTunes and Amazon mp3.

Yup, that's right - the album is all mixed, mastered and ready to go, and now there's no turning back - what will be the final version is currently working its way around cyberspace in anticipation of the release on the 15th June!

To celebrate, we have decided to make three of the tracks available for you to listen to on Myspace, ReverbNation and last.fm. These are just a taster to whet your appetite, and will only be available until the album is launched, so make the most of it while you can!

A bit of a news update

A quick one to keep you up to date with what we're doing in the near future - we've just been confirmed as playing at the Halfmoon Putney's Unplugged night on 20th July, and in the next few weeks we're playing Susie Clarke's "Living Room Players" night at The Star, Godalming on 14th May, supporting Rory Ellis, again at the Halfmoon Putney on 21st May, Gostrey Meadow Charity Fair in Farnham on the 6th June and supporting Lisa Knapp at The Wilde Theatre, Bracknell on 14th June.

Not forgetting, of course, our Album Launch on the 12th June at Jagz, Ascot, tickets are on sale now, and are flying off the shelves (as it were), so be sure to get yours soon - either from any of us or through our website or Myspace. Tickets are £6, or you can grab yourself a bargain by pre-ordering an album at the same time for just £10 for the two.

Read All About It

Well, everyone has gone on holiday…...again. Emma is in Greece for her bi-monthly sun and alcohol excursion, Ben is in the Caribbean making sure he stays far enough away from the beach so Greenpeace don’t come running and Adrian is camping – at work. He’s just taken over as manager of The Bull in Bracknell but doesn’t have any staff. So it’s 12 hour shifts and then a retreat back to his 2 man pop up situated between the Guinness Extra Cold and the Speciality Ales which I believe this week include Skinners – a nice pint.

So, it’s left to me (Phil) and Gethin to keep things ticking over and it’s album mastering and press blurb this week. Writing a press release about your own band is tougher than you might think. Yeah, it’s easy to write about the band and whole album process but a much harder task to actually make it interesting. It’s one of those things where its interesting to the people involved, but pretty dull to those who aren’t, and are just reading it on a page (similar to this blog at times!). The problem when you write a press release is, if it isn’t full of quotes and a mountain of information you get journalists on the blower asking you questions every 10 minutes – but if it is a well written document with lots of info and quotes, they basically just do a bit of cut and paste and suddenly you’ve just done their job for them!

I’m confident though that the one we’ve put together will mean a bit of ‘creative freedom’ for anyone wishing to do a feature on us, which brings up a whole new problem! Who wants to do a feature on a local band?

Sure, we are getting a few good slots further afield these days and people are legitimately interested in what we are doing and the music we are making, which is great – however, until someone tells us otherwise or we have enough money and supportive bosses (not likely) to actually tour the country, we are still a local band. And who wants to write about them? So far we’ve lined up a further radio slot which is great, but isn’t until August and also a feature in the local rag The Bracknell News, which again we are very happy about – but we’re kind of looking for a bit more……and it isn’t through lack of trying either. You can kind of see their point, but it’s extremely frustrating as these are the people we need to help spread the word.

So this week its all hands on deck with regards getting a few more people to actually write about us, feature us and generally get the name out there. It’ll be a slow process and I don’t think any of us will actually expect to see the album reviewed in the June edition of Mojo or anything – but you have to try and start somewhere….

Its All Getting Complicated.......

We are having worries. No, don't worry, the recent economic strife hasn't run us into ruin, we don't need a government bailout (although I wouldn't complain) and haven't been rendered immobile by Swine Flu. Although, as Phil is spending his time pointing out to me, I'm going on holiday tomorrow and getting rather close to the source of all this. Eeep.

Anyway, we are having worries. What with the album launch coming up, which is the 12th of June at Jagz in Ascot, we are undergoing a pretty major transformation. Before, we ran the simple band business plan of just turning up at rehearsal, turning up at gigs and where possible recording. Now, however, we are undergoing the slightly odd process of turning into what has been a hobby project, don't get us wrong a very serious hobby project, into a business. Signing up with royalty collection companies, figuring out business plans, distribution channels and all the rest of it. It is very confusing.

Still, as per usual, Google, Gethin and Phil have combined to create some triforce of brilliance. Distribution channels are emerging, we have received the mock ups of CDs to go full steam ahead with them, royalty agencies are being joined and insurance is being sorted. It is a rather large learning curve, but as usual we will endure and succeed. We will....

What not to wear?

Some days it seems that what you wear says more about you as a band than anything else. Music? Don't be so silly, it's all about the shirt. Or possibly, as suggested on The Guardian Music Blog, the jeans. If that is the case, then we're a bit screwed to be honest - our band 'uniform' is jeans and black shirts (although Emma gets to wear whatever she wants, as she has more fashion sense than the rest of us combined!). So, unless we can join the ranks of Mötorhead and Status Quo, singled out by the Guardian article as the two bands who wear jeans and "are not s**t", it would appear we're destined to burn forever in music hell...

So, do clothes actually matter? If The Levellers gig that me, Phil and Emma went to on Saturday is anything to go by, people don't really care that much! The crowd, as might be expected, had quite a few beards (ok, technically not clothes), a fair number of scruffy waistcoats, and a LOT of ripped jeans. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. So how about the bands? Well, first up we had Hobo Jones and The Junkyard Dogs. The only way I can really describe their outfits is some combination of pirates and farmers - a bit odd, but not that out of place, considering the gig... Up next, Pama International. They walk on stage and, shock horror, they're all wearing suits. The audience seem slightly confused. But then they start playing a very tight set of Specials-esque Ska/Dub/Reggae, and no-one really cares - they're all enjoying the music (or at least enjoying the cider anyway). And how about the headline act, The Levellers? Well, needless to say, they were all wearing jeans...

So, for now anyway, we think we're going to stick with our combination of jeans and black shirts - it might be a bit dull, but it seems to have worked for enough bands in the past, and we reckon that our energies are much better directed to entertaining you with our music! And you never know, if you come along to the album launch we might even splash out and wear some brown...

Plug Plug Plug

OK, I know it's Tuesday - it's a slackness we need to get out of our systems. Three posts in a row that are late is not good, although there is reason for this one being a day later than usually scheduled. We have the following good news:

Last night we finished the album (well, Gethin did along with our engineer Al Heslop)!

All mixing has now been done, so all that is left to do is approve the packaging (when the CD proof copy finally arrives in the post) and then send it off for final duplication and hosting on iTunes etc. Its been a long time coming but we're nearly there.

With that in mind we should really plug the album launch again. We're looking forward to this gig immensely and it would be fantastic if as many of you as possible could make it. I'll list the details in list form so as not to waffle too much.

Date: Friday June 12th
Venue: Jagz Club, Station Hill, Ascot (right next to the train station)
Time: 8pm
Cost: £6 for entry (to the gig and also the club downstairs afterwards) or £10 for entry plus a copy of the new album - which we will be selling for £6 on the night for anyone who hasn't bought the joint ticket.

We will have a full supporting cast for the gig, with the hugely talented Naama Hillman already confirmed (www.naamahillman.com). You can purchase tickets for the night from any of us in person or if you won't be seeing us before the event, online through our official site www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk

While we're in shameless plugging mood, for our London audience we're opening for the superb Aussie singer/songwriter Rory Ellis at The Half Moon in Putney on Thursday May 21st. Tickets for this are only a fiver, which for anyone who has seen this artist will concur is a real bargain.

Tickets for this will probably be available on the door, however for any London event its always worth booking in advance if you can, which can be done here:

www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=317279&interface=halfmoon

We promise we won't bug you all about these gigs for at least another week.

When illness strikes...

Oh dear, this whole bank holiday thing seems to have completely thrown all of us - two late posts in a week, what is this coming to... We promise to try harder next week! Anyway, the post:

As you may have seen (and hopefully heard!) we had our first ever radio session on Monday. We had been hoping to play a few tracks live, but unfortunately Emma seems to have contracted some sort of mutant super-cold that has been plaguing her for weeks now, and resulted in her virtually losing her voice! So, no radio appearance it would seem... But, being the hard-working types, we managed to cobble together a selection of just-about-finished tracks from our album, and turned up armed with that and a bass player who can talk for England and managed to get through the session without any major hitches!

Anyway, you might be wondering while I'm rehashing old news. It's probably mainly because it's 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, so I'm bored almost beyond belief at work, but also because Emma's throat has meant that we haven't rehearsed or really done anything of note since Monday!

But... We've decided that we're bored of being bored, so are going ahead with our gig this evening at Artsbar in Wokingham, which should be lots of fun, with lots of great friends (Anthea Neads, Liz Williams, Philippa Berry and a few others to boot) playing as well, so come along if you're free. We can't promise that there won't be the odd mid-song cough, but we can promise a great evening of local, live music, and also the opportunity to get hold of tickets for our album launch!

So, see you this evening hopefully...

Our First Radio Appearance

Firstly, apologies for the late update, I would try to give a proper excuse, but I think the main reason was that we all forgot because it was a bank holiday! Now, normally we like to spend our Bank Holiday Monday's firmly entrenched at a pub, drink in hand and desperately trying to hang on to our freedom.

This Monday, however, we did something completely different. We went on the radio! A massive thanks needs to go out to 87.7 Brooklands FM for having us, we had a ball and can't wait to come back. You can hear our appearence in a special media player which that clever so and so Gethin has embedded somewhere in this page. I honestly have no idea where, so look around this post 'till you find it. It may even autoplay, who knows?

We had a chat about the album, some of our tracks, how we write and generally have a bit of banter. Enjoy!

Are We a Folk Band?

Coming close to getting this album out, we’ve found ourselves more than anytime before having to label our music – and it’s really difficult. We’re an acoustic band, plain and simple – but with that comes the inevitable question of what sort of acoustic band we are? There are many genres we could fall in to if we really thought about it, but it seems folk music is the closest match.

But, are we a folk band - and if so, what kind?

Acoustic music is a strange thing, and it’s something I didn’t quite realise until I sat down and tried to book an album tour for us. If you type in ‘Acoustic Music Venues’ in an internet search engine, it will pretty much always come up with folk and roots sites, listing folk club gigs which will generally be everyone in a circle having a sing around. Now don’t get me wrong, people that know me (Phil) will know I’ve taken years of abuse for my love of folk music – but this just isn’t any good for us. Does acoustic music mean folk music? Is it an instant reaction in the main that if you say you are an acoustic band, people immediately think folk band? Does the fact we can’t rock up and sit around with a bunch of instrumentalists and reel off some traditional standards mean we aren’t a folk band?

Maybe we’re a ‘nu-folk’ band…..

We’ve just been named as support to ‘nu-folk’ artists Lisa Knapp – a gig we’re very happy to get. ‘Nu-folk’ in my mind means a younger, trendier take on the genre. Performers who wouldn’t look out of place walking down Camden High Street yet sporting a fiddle on their back, not a guitar. Performers who have taken the tradition and given it a swift kick up the arse to bring it in line with this century and make it relevant for a whole new audience.

That sounds more like us – but again, the fact we don’t play traditional based songs could be our undoing here as well.

So, maybe we’re contemporary folk?

This is a controversial one – and one the traditionalists hate, yet I think it’s where we fall. We play acoustic, folk sounding music – yet we make no reference to the tradition, there are no murder ballads or songs about the sea in our repertoire and we don’t encourage Morris Dancing. Surely that is sacrilege?

To be honest, it’s got to the stage now where we’re combining genres to describe us. ‘Folk Fusion’ has been used, as we sound like a folk band musically, but not lyrically. The same could be said for ‘Contemporary Roots’. It also appears that opinion plays a big part in it. Some people say we have a very folky sound, yet people who participate regularly in folk music would say we don’t, and that we are far more contemporary.

It’s enough to fuck with your head if you let it – maybe we should just label our stuff as ‘Music’, and let everyone decide whether they like it or not, it will be a hell of a lot easier……

Back In The Studio

What a nice day it was on Saturday. Unfortunately for Gethin he was holed up in the studio most of the day along with our good friend and engineer for the album Al Heslop. It’s funny that recording studios never usually have windows. I imagine (although I’ve never done it myself) that being in there with a metal band full of hairy men is probably not the most comfortable of environments. It’s bad enough for us when Ben decides to show up.

We’re now at the mixing stage, and after Saturday’s gargantuan efforts by the pair, are close to being past it in a flash. 7 of the 10 tracks were looked over, dissected, listened to with almost alien like hearing from the pair to see if they could pick out the minutest of sounds that needed to be gotten rid of etc. Things were turned up, things were turned down, but by the end of the day they were sounding pretty damn good – and bang on schedule as well (I love a good schedule).

We want the album in as many places as possible to reflect our live sound, as if we’d basically just rocked up and started playing in front of you. Obviously we can’t help but use a bit of technical wizardry to add 800 fiddle parts at certain times, but the majority – apart from a few effects and double tracks is just the 5 of us, as you would hear us live.

So, have a listen to the snippet we have of The Neverending and see what you think.


Remember – the launch is Friday June 12th, which will be the first day you’ll be able to get your hands on the finished product. Tickets for the Jagz gig are available from any of us, and also the official site.

Phil.

If We Were A Business

Exciting times indeed. The news of our (get ready for the first shameless plug...) 12th June album launch at Jagz has already generated a few ticket sales, which is pleasant. Based on that, I really should hurry up and design said tickets...

Other than that, we have been having a quiet week really. Emma is off sunning herself somewhere, Phil and Gethin have been working hard on the promotions side, Adrian has gotten our artwork pumped out and I've been holding the whole endeavour together by cracking wise at each and every opportunity. Oh sure, I could do something a little more constructive, but the others all seem to have it perfectly under control. Who really wants to go that extra mile and find work. If this was a real business, I'd be fired.

In fact, bands often do run a lot like real businesses, with everyone having different roles. I think if we were an actual “business” so to speak, we would all have the following roles -

Phil – Managing Director

I make fun of him like its going out of fashion, but I think its fair to say that he isn't nearly as bad as I make out. Most of our bookings come through his connections, he takes it upon himself to make sure we all know where we need to be and what we need to do. He is a pretty decent driving force, and I don't think the others will begrudge me saying that.

Emma – Promotions Manager\Finance Director

Because Emma is so wonderful, she can pull double duty here. Emma is probably our Promotions Manager as, to put it simply, she is great at meeting people and it is impossible to hate her. Plus, if you're a promoter who would you rather nag you for a gig – her or one of us blokes?

I have also given her the title of Finance Director. This is because she is the one who knows the sort code to the band bank account.

Adrian – Art Director

Its simple, pretty much every photograph, illustration and bit of marketing material you see us with was designed by this great man. If we didn't have him, I shudder to think what would happen. Everything we did would be designed in crayons and coloured in with felt tip pens. And I bet we wouldn't even get them between the lines.

Gethin – Marketing\Web Design

Gethin can get a double job description as well (but you only get one pay check *rim shot*). The site you are reading this on, our own website and pretty much each and every other site we are plugged into online are his doing. Bravo!

Ben (aka me) – Erm...

You know that guy that always seems to be hanging out by the water cooler, or making tea, or outside smoking, or in a meeting room clearly not having a proper meeting? You know that guy who never usually does anything, is the worlds quickest at Alt + Tab-ing down windows he shouldn't be looking at and says cringeworthy phrases like “Hey, you working hard or hardly working?” That's me in this scenario. Emails fly around the others willy nilly with sensible conversations and I spend all day trying to insert juvenile gags into it. I know what Alan Sugar would say to me...

The Time Has Come

Well - we have all got our arses in gear over the weekend to bring you the big announcement we promised last week. Whether it'll make you jump for joy or spur you on to at least clench your fist in excitement - we hope you'll join with us in being pretty happy about this news.

Our debut album 'Scarecrow' will be released on Friday June 12th 2009.

It will be released on the Artree Music label and available to buy through both Artree's and our own website, on iTunes and hopefully (although we're still clearing this) through Amazon. You'll also obviously be able to purchase it at gigs.

The album will have 10 tracks, most of which are over 5 minutes long so you'll certainly be getting value for money. We are still in the process of mixing and mastering the music but we're well on course for the 12th June - and on that day, we'll have a nice little album launch party!

Jagz in Ascot will be the venue, where we'll be playing a full set - with a great support card including the blindingly good Naama Hillman (www.myspace.com/naamahillman) and one more act TBC. Your entry ticket for the night will not only get you in to what will hopefully be a very special gig, but also entry to the after show club until 2am - where we all intend to get smashed (if we haven't by the time we get on stage that is).

Tickets for this event will be £6, however we are doing a special deal for this night only of entry to the gig + a copy of the album for £10. Usual price of the album will be £7, so worth taking the deal if you want a copy.

Both entry and entry+album tickets will be available from any of us up until the event, or until we reach capacity (which we hope we do). However, if you won't be seeing any of us before the gig but would like to come, you can buy tickets through our website. Your tickets will then be waiting for you at the box office on the night.

So there you go - I make it about 11 weeks and counting...........better get some work done then.

Big news to follow...

We have a big announcement coming regarding the album on Monday (well, we hope we’re not jumping the gun there – if not Monday, definitely Thursday!) so this will be just a short entry to update you about a few gigs.

Tickets are now on sale for our show at The Half Moon in Putney, where we are opening for the fantastic Aussie singer/songwriter Rory Ellis.

It would be great to see you at this legendary London venue, and you can do so for the bargain sum of £5. Tickets for the event can be bought on the door, or to avoid disappointment in advance here.

Also, we’re going to be playing at Bracknell’s free festival day, The Big Day Out on Saturday June 27th, and have also confirmed a date at The Icarus Club in Lewisham on Thursday July 9th.

More news on gigs and festivals as they become available. Remember to check to website and Myspace pages for full details.

The State of the Industry Post (aka. Ben used his brain today)

Tell you what, even though Phil is the one away sunning himself, this week feels like we have been the ones on a break. No more emails going round at 9:05 exactly detailing what we need to do that day, no more gig, recording and rehearsal schedules organised with military precision, no more phone calls to find out whats wrong if you dare to reply to an email in a less than orgasmically joyous manner...

I'm hard on Phil. I can't help it. Without his tireless efforts, things would fall apart, but he is so much fun to mock.

Apparently, Gethin has been manning the band's email account in Phil's absence and has replied to two emails. He won't tell us just what those emails are though, so I personally thing he just got a the 'Lowest priced viagra on the web!' and sent some bank details over to an African prince who needed his help to get $50m out of the country, and we had been recommended to them through their network of business networks as being trustworthy and reliable. Emma and Adrian are still under the sofa, it appears.

Anyway, today I'm going to break from the norm and offer an intelligent point of view. I know, I know. Bare with me.

If you think about it, these days the business model for record labels has returned to the good old days. Labels aren't pouring their finances into pre-manufactured pop bands or just studio based artists any more. It appears those days are dead and gone. These days, labels are looking back to the guitar based band for their hits. Sure, you do still get all the proper pop durge as per normal, but think back to last year. How many bands popped up, had a top 10 hit then promptly disappeared last year? And how many had names along the lines of “The Whatevers”? Exactly.

But if you think about it, this is just a throwback to the way things were done between the 50's till the end of the 70's. The way hit singles got out, before the electronic music revolution became truly epidemic, was a band wrote and rehearsed and practised their little hearts out, got a single they were proud of and then tried to find anyone in The Biz to listen to it. If they succeeded then a label might take a chance and give that single a push, or they may have to go back to the drawing board.

Now look at today's market. There is a reason no label really has an A&R department any more, and so no more Artist Development. The reason is this – it is more cost effective (and fashionable) for a major label to either recruit new popstars via talent shows and media, or to urge old bands to reform\make new bands out of old members of old pop groups. So where do labels get their proper, guitar based music from? Gethin began the rumblings of this thought a few weeks back.

Recording costs are pretty low these days. You can record, mix and master an album for less than £1,500 these days. And that is if you do it well. Bands can use the internet to generate their own buzz. All labels really need to do if they want one song a band has written is sign them, release it along with an album, push it and then release the band. Sure, the band can bounce back but it is a hard adjustment.

What has gone missing from all of this is labels forgetting where their income comes from – from artists, and long term artists at that. The last band I can think of that went through a few years of A&R were Coldplay. These days labels are so intent on pushing their main cash cows, they forget about developing new talent to replace their older stars. They battle against new distribution channels rather than embrace them, still refusing to believe that its past the year 2002.

What labels need to realise is that rather than signing a flash in the pan band, it is far more benificial to sign bands up and develop them. Get them working with producers to help encourage their sound. Get them understanding the business. Even go as far as to ensure they have music lessons! It is time labels did their job and developed artists.
Of course, some bands still succeed these days. The Darkness, Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen were all signed off the back of some serious underground buzz. Lady GaGa had written hits for pretty much every band in the States before bringing her own unique style to the forefront. Biffy Clyro fans actually sent death threats to reviewers who panned one of Biffy's albums. There are still success stories who thrived under this current state of the industry.

But look at the casualties (and thesea re ones that just popped into my head) – Hundred Reasons and InMe are both without labels. So are The Futureheads. As are Mercury Award nominees The Zutons, despite the fact their track “Valerie” was one of the most annoyingly popular tracks last year. Even Mercury winners The Klaxons had their album thrown back at them by their label for being “too experimental”. Even popstars aren't immune, as Leon Jackson and Ray Quinn have both been dropped quietly after their X Factor fanfare broke down. Rumour even has it was that what finally ended Velvet Revolver wasn't Scott Weiland re-entering crazy-world, it was the fact that their second album made such a small impact they were dropped. Same goes for Audioslave.

Basically, my point is this – with the invent of technology, the music industry is suffering on many fronts. Each time they sort one problem, or think that they have, seven more turn up. What they really need to worry about, though, isn't how to maximise file copy protection whilst minimizing the impact to the end user. The need to concentrate on the bands. Sure, there will always be one hit wonders, flash in the pan bands, but the industry needs to think long term. What it needs is to get scouts back out into local scenes. What it needs is to sign hot bands to A&R contracts instead of looking for finished products only. I don't mean monetary contracts either. I mean just simple bits of papers that give said label first refusal on a recording deal and entitle the band to two industry showcases in the space of 18 months. I know through experience that when rumours emerge that an A&R scout is doing a stint in a town, the whole scene goes nuts. It is a fantastic shot in the arm for local music.

Every industry is suffering. All of them, with the possible exception of debt councillors and bailiffs. What the music industry needs to do is swap their current tendency for flash in the pan acts, who will be out the door 6 months down the line, and start re-investing in grass roots music. The people change the musical world aren't ones who have friends in high places. They aren't the ones who simply make the most noise (Razorlight were signed before even playing a gig...). And they deffinately scene kids, who hang around and brown nose whoever is popular in the local scene at that time trying to pick up some success by osmosis.

The people who change the musical world are the ones who sit at home on Friday nights playing guitar while looking at posters of their heroes. They spend summers in the studio, writing and rehearsing for one gig. They play for free and act as a roadie too just to get onto a good bill. The people who play every gig like they are headlining Glastonbury. What labels need to do is start investing in them, and stop throwing money at glorified karaoke and one hit wonders. They are being their own worst enemy.