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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.
Showing posts with label radio 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radio 2. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Thursday, 2 July 2009
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.
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.
Friday, 26 June 2009
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.
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.
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