Just a gentle reminder that tomorrow, 6th November, Commercially Inviable’s own Friends of the Stars will be treading the boards once again, playing as a full band for the first time in a wee while in support of rising folk star Beth Jeans Houghton.

Details…

Beth Jeans Houghton with support from Friends of the Stars and Banksa

Friday 6th November
The Hare And Hounds
106 High Street
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7JZ
Doors Open 8pm
Admission £5.00

Here’s the blurb from the promoters, Lunar Society:

This month once again we bring you 3 fine acts. Beth Jeans Haughton, Friends of The Stars and Banksa.

Beth Jeans Houghton was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Beth is also Observer Music Monthly rising star for July.

Her very limited edition first release sold out almost instantly and second release Golden has further proved her to be a talented songwriter. She’s played alongside a diverse collection of artists including Fiona Regan, Imogen Heap, and Scott Matthews and what more endorsement could she need than when Devendra Banhart interrupted his Greenman Festival set halfway through and invited her to play her own song.

Friends of the Stars emerged earlier this century from the fated ashes of John Peel favourites The Toques.
Principal members Anna Russell (vocals, keyboards), Craig Hamilton (vocals, guitars), Cam Docherty (guitars, vocals) and Phil Robinson (drums) hail from Birmingham, UK via Brighton, Northampton and Kilmarnock. Friends of the Stars share out song-writing and vocal duties, with Anna’s soaring voice on its own or complimenting Craig or Cam’s more weather-beaten tones.

Banska is singer /song writer Rowena Knight. She is based in Birmingham and proves that creativity and originality are still alive in contemporary acoustic music. This is Folk music with a unique atmospheric sound and driving rhythms with a rocky edge.

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When you start a record label you are warned by lots of people about the unfortunate litany of independent record labels who start, with good intentions, and then fold after just a few releases.  World of Fox’s “Everything Is For The Best” is the 5th release on our label, and the 3rd full length album by a Brummie artist, and we’re naturally very proud to have gotten this far.  It’s a long, hard process hawking independent music in the 21st century and whilst we might not necessarily be pulling up any trees just yet, we’re still kicking and looking forward to a huge 5 (FIVE!) releases in 2010.

The following info is from the Colour website.

We’ve teamed up with Birmingham’s own Commercially Inviable Records to celebrate the recent launch of Simon Fox’s new album, Everything Is For The Best. Simon will be supported by label mates and good friends James Summerfield, Friends of the Stars and Richard Burke.

Expect a night of luminous, contemporary takes on folk tradition, with collaborations between the musicians and Colour DJs playing some of the best leftfield folk, indie and Americana. We’ll be projecting vintage slides and there will be homemade cakes.

About the Artists

World of Fox

Simon Fox is one of the region’s most talented folk musicians and he’s just released a new album via Birmingham label Commercially Inviable. Featuring gentle fingerpicking laid over swirling, mesmeric backgrounds, it’s a captivating record that reveals itself slowly, unfurling a great range and depth beneath it’s beguiling exterior.

For the best part of a decade Simon was the leader of post-rock outfit Grover, which is evident on Everything Is For The Best in the immersive atmospherics that add a twist to the pastoral folk guitar that eddies above. This makes the extended instrumental passages coursing through the album a beautiful place to lose yourself a little. Lyrically, Fox playfully adapts tried-and-true verse and rhyme structures to tell modern tales of lost loves, existential malaise and drunken belligerence.

Stream: Everything is for the Best in full.

MP3s: Leaves Me Blind / Yarlington Mill / Idiocracy / Witness (.zip)

James Summerfield

Last year’s Count To 10 and Start Again (one of our favourite albums of 2008) saw James Summerfield working through the fallout and self doubt caused by divorce, but with a lightness of touch, dark and strange humour and his finely-honed, fantastic ear for melody to tell sweet tales of the biggest blows. Live, James is a revelation: delicate, hushed Americana and folk songs full of beautiful sadness. James has recently supported fellow Midlander Scott Matthews on his UK tour and has previously opened for Josh Ritter and Richmond Fontaine.

MP3s: Films / Another Day With You Is Like Torture / Once / Films (.zip)

Friends of the Stars

Entering their seventh year together and soon to release their second album, Friends of the Stars aren’t a band who like to rush things – nothing about their songs feels forced or unnatural, which is why their country and folk debut Lighting and Electrical took two years to come out, as the band selected songs from hundreds they’d stepped into over the years. On stage, Anna Russell’s vocals take the centre, often with the rougher-edged harmonies of Craig and Cam in accompaniment.

MySpace

Richard Burke

In a similar way to Simon, Richard initially liked things a little louder – his previous band The Starries played melodic indie rock and toured with Idlewild, before splitting in 2003. Since then, Richard has focused on weaving the melodic surge of indie music with more traditional folk music, influenced by Elliott Smith, Jason Molina and Will Oldham

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From the nice ladies over at Capsule….

Dark folk rock on the Static Caravan label, Starless & Bible Black will play Birmingham on 8th October 2009 - with support from multi instrumentalist Fox and new act Health & Efficiency who explore psych, folk, no wave noise and electronic soundscapes.

Joining an already impressive line up, Lewis Garland provides intimate folk tinged sounds that act as a backdrop for intricate wordplay.

Should be a great show and only £6!

Thursday 8th October 2009
Starless & Bible Black
Health & Efficiency + Fox + Lewis Garland
@ The Hare And Hounds . Birmingham
Doors 8pm

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From the Lunar Society site….

Come November we’re back once again at The Hare And Hounds after our brief diversion in October.

This month once again we bring you 3 fine acts. Beth Jeans Haughton, Friends of The Stars and Banksa.

Beth Jeans Houghton was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Beth is also Observer Music Monthly rising star for July.

Her very limited edition first release sold out almost instantly and second release Golden has further proved her to be a talented songwriter.

She’s played alongside a diverse collection of artists including Fiona Regan, Imogen Heap, and Scott Matthews – and what more endorsement could she need than when Devendra Banhart interrupted his Greenman Festival set halfway through and invited her to play her own song.

Friends of the Stars emerged earlier this century from the fated ashes of John Peel favourites The Toques.

Principal members Anna Russell (vocals, keyboards), Craig Hamilton (vocals, guitars), Cam Docherty (guitars, vocals) and Phil Robinson (drums) hail from Birmingham, UK via Brighton, Northampton and Kilmarnock.

Friends of the Stars share out song-writing and vocal duties, with Anna’s soaring voice on its own or complimenting Craig or Cam’s more weather-beaten tones.

Banska is singer /song writer Rowena Knight. She is based in Birmingham and proves that creativity and originality are still alive in contemporary acoustic music.

This is Folk music with a unique atmospheric sound and driving rhythms with a rocky edge.

Friday 6th November
The Hare And Hounds
106 High Street
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7JZ

Doors Open 8pm
Admission £5.00

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The celebrate the appearance of 3 Commercially Inviable artists at the 2009 Moseley Folk Festival we’ve put together a package for you…

James Summerfield, World of Fox and Friends of the Stars will all tread the boards at various points this weekend at the sold-out, 4th annual festival and for a limited time only, you can purchase each of their albums for a bargain total price of £15 (including postage).

The Moseley Folk Festival bundle includes….

Friends of the Stars - Lighting & Electrical (COMIN003)

James Summerfield - Count To 10 & Start Again (COMIN004)

World of Fox - Everything is for the Best (COMIN005)

Hope to see you at the festival!

TEAM INVIABLE

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Listen to this…

(Feed viewers: This is the full 6 minute 07 second, 12″ promo version of “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by the late Michael Jackson. View it HERE)

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You are an internet savvy music lover and have probably found your way to this page because you are engaged in some form of social online activity. Welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Now that you are here, we’d like you to join us in an experiment in grassroots, online music promotion. The experiment is also a competition, with over £400 worth of prizes up for grabs, and all you need to do to win it is come up with one, simple idea.

Here’s how it works…

We’ll provide you with 3 unique codes, each of which will enable a free, high-quality download of the next album release on the label, “Everything is for the Best” by World of Fox.

The first download code is for you, as a thank you from all of us at Commercially Inviable Records for agreeing to take part. The second code is for you to give away to a friend. We hope that both you and your friend enjoy the album.

The third code is for use in the competition…

We’re challenging you to come up with a clever, quirky and innovative way of giving away this code to your audience. The code can be given as a prize in a competition of your own, or as an incentive to subscribe to your feeds, or purchase items from you. The general idea is that you use this code to help grow your own audience reach in some small way, and in that way we all benefit.  Once all the entries are in, our expert panel of judges will then look at all the individual entries and select the best mini-campaign as our winner.

THE JUDGES

Andrew Dubber

Andrew Dubber is a Senior Lecturer in the Music Industries at Birmingham City University; a member of the Interactive Cultures research team and is the author of New Music Strategies.

Bruce Warilla

Bruce is a strategic advisor, analyst and blogger focused on the music industry.

Capsule

Capsule, the brains behind Supersonic Festival, are curators, promoters and fans of the finest music, revealing the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music and art, crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences.

Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton does Internet stuff and thinks about what it all means far too much. Sometimes people pay him for this. Which is odd.

Team Inviable & World of Fox

That’s us here at the label and Simon Fox, the man behind the album.

THE PRIZE

• £50 in cash
• Signed CD copy of “Everything For The Best”
• Signed Limited Edition Print of Album artwork by Ruth Green 
• A selection of Commercially Inviable CDs and goodies
• Hand-made vinyl bag from Needles and Hooks (one of only 7 made)

RESOURCES

Here’s everything you need to complete your entry. If you need anything else, please feel free to ask. We’ll accommodate all requests for supporting material wherever possible and within reason.

ARTWORK (JPG)
PRESS RELEASE (Word Document)
4 TRACK SAMPLER (ZIP) or (RAR)
WEBKIT - Contains all of the above in one file - (ZIP) or (RAR)

HOW TO ENTER

Email info@cominrecords.com with your name, a brief description of yourself and your online activities and links to your own website. Shortly afterwards we’ll email you back with the download codes.

The competition runs from 28th May 2009 until 1st August 2009 and details of your entry must be posted online on or between these dates, and must remain online until at least 1st September 2009.

When you post details of your entry to your own site or blog, please include a link to this page to enable us to track entries, and for others to see yours. Additionally, and in the case of two separate ideas being the same (or very similar), the first entry posted and linking back here will be considered the original of the two.

The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Twitter: If you post anything regarding your activity to Twitter, or are running your campaign exclusively via Twitter, then please use the #foxprcomp hashtag so we can trace the activity.

Good luck!

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NAS PRESS RELEASE: 21st May 2009

James Summerfield supports National Autistic Society with album and tour

Birmingham singer-songwriter, James Summerfield, is supporting the National Autistic Society (NAS) by donating £1 from his latest album ‘Count To 10 & Start Again’ and collecting money for the charity at all of the gigs on his upcoming tour as he supports Scott Matthews.

The tour will take him from his home town of Birmingham to Nottingham, Oxford, Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Leeds and Wolverhampton.

James said: “Autism is a cause very close to my heart as I have worked with children and adults with autism in the past. I hope that people will dig deep at the gigs and donate as much money as possible to the NAS as I know they work hard to support people with autism all over the country.”

NAS Head of Fundraising, Steve Cheshire, said: “We are really greatly to James for his generosity in supporting us in this way. Autism is a serious, lifelong and disabling condition that affects around 1 in 100 people. As a charity, we are dependent on donations and fundraising to continue to provide services and support to as many people as we can.”

For more information on James’ album and tour, please see www.jamessummerfieldmusic.com. For more information on autism, please see www.autism.org.uk

Please contact Kimi Gill on 0115 847 3528 or 07946 590614 or email kimi.gill@nas.org.uk for more information, interviews, photos

DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL DOCUMENT - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR MAILING LISTS

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In the late 1990s in California Dorian Wood decided to track down his worldwide namesakes using the interweb and eventually got in touch with Birmingham-based Dorian Wood. Finding someone who shares your slightly out-of-the-ordinary name on the other side of the globe would be one thing, but to find out that you are both involved in the creation of strange and beautiful music is something quite altogether different.

On Friday 8th May 2009 we are bringing together these two unique talents to play on the same bill for the second time… It’s the Million Dollar Rematch.

Here’s what happened last March, when we did this for the first time and when Anna sang with Dorian Wood USA:

(FEED Readers can see the video here)

Friends of the Stars and Commercially Inviable cordially invite you to kick off your weekend with a night of music, dancing and collaboration.

If your name is also Dorian Wood then you’ll receive FREE entry but proof of identity will be required.

Boringly-named individuals will need £3 to gain access.

We hope to see you there.

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DORIAN WOOD (USA)

His recently-released Bolka album is without doubt one of the best things we’ve all heard in a long time and really, really deserves to be heard by a much wider audience. Dorian has a voice that is really beautiful and he writes songs that call to mind Rufus Wainwright, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Anthony Hegarty - all rolled into one.

THEY SAY: “Wry, wistful and deliciously eerie, BOLKA is a valentine to the brokenhearted”

DORIAN WOOD (UK)

One half of the marvellous and frightening TeaTowel, the Friends of the Stars remixer of choice and the man behind the world’s only and best Happy Hardcore covers band, Pete_Prescription. Dorian will be playing brand new compositions freshly minted in his Kings Heath studio so expect Krautrock, Melody, Noise or something else entirely.

THEY SAY: “Elevator Music for people descending into hell”

FRIENDS OF THE STARS

Commercially Inviable Since 2000, this alt-country outdfit have harmonies, tunes and hooks in abundance and after surviving over 7 years of mild success and self-inflicted disappointment they bring you songs from ”Lighting and Electrical”, their first full-length album.

THEY SAY: “Their new disc is packed with the kind of authentically sad, lovely, and whiskey-drenched tunes that are tragically absent from the modern country FM dial.”

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INFORMATION:

Email info@friendsofthestars.co.uk

Call +44 (0) 7740 358 162

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USEFUL LINKS:

FRIENDS OF THE STARS

THE HARE & HOUNDS

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DIRECTIONS:

LOCATION ON MULTIMAP.COM FOR DIRECTIONS

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You can listen to entire albums, download selected tracks and share with friends, all within the individual Bandcamp windows.

It’s what all the cool kids are doing, you know.

Friends of the Stars

James Summerfield

World of Fox

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