Crumpled Critique

Forthcoming albums...

2013-09-16T19:49:00.000+01:00

So I've been hammering on about this band for a good while now, about a year if we're going to be precise, and finally they have an album out, are also touring the UK and received airplay on the uber-cool station 6 Music. Mount Kimbie are the band I am of course talking about. Please, if you do anything tonight (or for the rest of the week) check this band out and grab a ticket to their forthcoming tour.

Also, keep your ears engaged for the stunning sounds of Nadine Shah. We will be hearing a lot more from her - with an album out now and tour dates pending for late September get your tickets now before someone else does.

Check both tour dates out here.

New Music

2013-09-14T18:00:00.000+01:00

New music is what keeps everything fresh and if we didn't have this wonder, things would become a little stagnent and we'd more then likely be listening to ELO, and Bananarama, forever. Indie new music stations such as 6 Music would cease to exsist and we'd all be hanging on to our long hair and horrendous style faux pas.

Alas, here we are in 2013 listening to The Killers, Everything Everything, Lady Gaga and a whole host of modern musicians that keep pushing those boundaries, and it doesn't stop there.

Here are some new bands to keep you on your toes, enjoy.

A.S Swanski - Red Wolf

Kodaline - Love Live This

London Grammar - Strong

Kings Of Leon

2013-09-10T21:22:00.001+01:00

I'm sure the majority of you reading this will have heard of this band taking over the, erm, the world right now. Well, that is unless you have been hiding under a rather substantial rock for around 18 months or longer. Caleb Followill and co have their sixth studio album entitled Mechanical Bull due for release at the end of September - a few spell bounding tracks that are worth your ears are; Beautiful War - reminiscent of Cold Desert on Only By The Night, raspy and eerie vocals take hold of the track with thumping drums and reverberating guitar parts adding to the emotion - Wait For Me and current single Super Soaker echo the Kings Of Leon of old, think California Waiting and Back Down South.

However, if you can't wait for a whole month until the pay check arrives, here my friends, is a live preview from Radio One's Maida Vale studio's.

Kings Of Leon at Maida Vale…

Sounds of Summer

2013-08-17T18:57:00.001+01:00

Now, festival season is firmly upon us and we have already seen Glasto, T In The Park and now V Festival pass in a flash. For some of you reading this, it will perhaps be a hazy and distant memory while the rest of you can sit in the comfort of your own homes and watch with a warm beverage in hand. Here are Icona Pop, you'll love it.

Musical findings...

2013-05-06T21:51:00.001+01:00

Not one, but TWO, yes you heard me right, two new bands to excite you ears. Let's get on with it, eh. Here are my top tunes…

AND…

https://soundcloud.com/jagwar-ma/man-i-need-white-label-version

Both amazing, but your thoughts on my often questionable music taste are welcomed.

Enjoy!

EE - Kevin Bacon not included

2013-05-03T22:25:00.000+01:00

Yes, 4GEE (how many E's?) is new, exciting, phresh, and all the other ridiculous adjectives you care to think of. Everyone is talking about it, or maybe that's just Kevin Bacon, is it? All this aside, new, shiny, and pristinely packaged products allure people, a bit like Everything Everything then. Now on their 'difficult second album' the boys seem to be right on the breadline - featuring on indie stations such as err, Radio 1 and BBC's Later With Jools Holland. No such worries of a difficult second album, then. Ever since debut single Kemosabe said a demanding hello in the office one morning, I have grown rather fond of them. For those of you who have heard the single - put simply - you were thinking, "WHERE IS THE F***ING DANCEFLOOR". Weren't you? Typically, high velocity indie with a Gordie twang. But this is only the very beginning my friends, songs such as, Cough Cough, Don't Try, and Torso Of The Week only add to the overwhelming urge to dance your indie socks off.

When the pay cheque arrives at the end of the month, forget about the mundane things for once. Indulge yourself with something you REALLY NEED.

Enough said.

Delightful Dub

2012-12-05T21:03:00.000+00:00

Not exactly dub-step, more, erm…real dub, as in that reggae stuff Bob Marley used to do? Y'know?

They're called Gentlemen's Dub Club and really the name suggests what they sound like, BUT, if you don't want to go and pay for a gig ticket (on sale now) you can listen to them here…

Would love to know your thoughts and even if you think they're shit and I'm way off the mark, feel free to say then leave and listen to Gangnam Style - joking...

New Music: Kate Tempest

2012-11-24T22:03:00.003+00:00

A truly talented spoken word artist. Touring around the UK now, check her out here…

http://katetempest.co.uk/

Enjoy!

Live Review: Patrick Wolf @ The Lowry, Salford Keys

2012-11-24T21:17:00.002+00:00

Having recently chewed the fat with Patrick Wolf, we here at Clash are full of innovative ideas and what a great idea it was to watch him kick off his UK tour at Salford Keys, the media hub of the North. With a venue named after possibly one of the best artists to come out of the North West, it was rather fitting that Patrick embarked on his 10 year anniversary tour at The Lowry. Turning up at the correct venue on time counts for a lot in this industry, and thankfully Clash’s timekeeping is spot on, so much so that the talents of supporting act Abi Wade were fully appreciated.

Being a multi-instrumentalist is a talent in itself but having the vocals to enhance the performance further brings talent to another level. Abi Wade certainly possesses all these factors – her haunting vocals reverberating around the theatre amongst a deafly silent crowd. Yes, you heard correctly, a silent crowd for a support act – something you don’t come across very often. Her cello playing was captivating, used as a percussion instrument with drumsticks and the bow itself thumping against the body to create a complex web of sound whilst her fingers created the bass that complimented her vocals so very well. Holding similarities to Wolf, her modesty, musical ability and personality it is easy to see why Patrick has her as a supporting act. Think Florence Welsh without a Machine using acoustic instruments and you’ve just about got it.

Alas, with the Wolfpack out in force it was time for the Wolfman himself to grace us with his presence. Extravagantly dressed and sauntering toward the glossy grand piano, anyone could have been mistaken for thinking a musical was taking place. How wrong they would be, opening up about the difficulty of his teenage years and interacting with the audience about his musical struggles, we see a different side to Wolf, relaxed, at ease and jovial between songs. The ninety minutes was awash with atmosphere, emotion, and the deep and, at times, dark vocal we have all become accustomed to, taking hold of the theatre and the audience within it. Crowd favourites such as; Hard Times, Oblivion, and Wind In The Wires are stripped of their electro-pop roots being reinvented on the plethora of instruments that Patrick so effortlessly plays. The raging spotlight of yesteryear seems to have faded, but Wolf seems as content as ever with his current situation and tonight that shone through with the stunning vocal and instrumental performance he gave. The Wolfpack may be trudging home through the unforgiving Mancunian weather, but each one of the knows they have seen something special and as another decade beckons who knows what lies ahead for Patrick Wolf.

10 Years Wiser: Patrick Wolf.

2012-10-09T18:29:00.004+01:00

Hitting 30 is a very daunting prospect whoever you are, the realisation you are edging ever-closer to Saga car insurance day by day is enough to put anyone off. So, rather unsurprisingly when I mentioned this to Patrick Wolf he gladly passed the subject off as just another milestone.

Another milestone, though, is exactly what this is when you’ve survived a decade in the fickle and ever-changing music industry. I mean we all remember last year’s X Factor winner don’t we? Ah, yes the familiar guy with acoustic adorning his neck and a flat cap perched on his head. His name was, errm…ok, so I can’t remember his name and this proves that longevity within this industry is a tough nut to crack. Patrick Wolf however is celebrating his tenth year with a double album entitled Sundark & Riverlight. The album consists of new arrangements and re-recordings of songs from his career to date and documents his struggles and euphoric moments on each CD. “This project started when I realised I had reached a 10 year jubilee as a recording artist. My first EP came out when I was 19 and in the 10 years hence, my voice has grown with me. I started out playing with just one instrument and singing with no microphones in folk clubs, on the streets and galleries”.

His debut album Lycanthropy was just the start of knowing how bright and alluring the lights of the music industry could be and by time the tour of second album The Magic Position had come to a climax, Patrick found himself in the midst of a public meltdown and the feeling of longevity in the business had never resonated louder. “I know that as a musician I crave comfort and especially after last time being so domesticated, so rooted and settled I thought that lyrically there was no way I could do it again. So I like to move around from week to week, not knowing where I will be living from one week to the next. I think that it is quite healthy as a writer and musician that I don’t become stagnant”.

The idea to make copious amounts of money is what attracts the majority of budding musicians to the industry, and certainly myself back in the day when I was too, a budding musician. Patrick Wolf is differs from your ordinary artist by quite a stretch, though. Music is in his blood, it has been since he was a young fledgling running around on a school playground. “The reason why I started making music when I was Ten and Eleven wasn’t to be popular or to impress anybody, more then anything it was to make myself feel better about living, waking up every day and going to bed. I realised that musically this journey that I was on had to be about creative fulfillment, and not that I had to do things to impress over people then I couldn’t be let down. I don’t have ambition to get a number one in the charts or sign to a huge label with my work. When I was younger I realised very quickly that it was more important to be happy then achieve instant success”.

Each stage of Patrick’s life is documented within this double album and it is clear to hear the stages of progression throughout his ten years in music. Albums that are now instantly recognisable such as The Bachelor and Wind In The Wires, didn’t receive the acclaim they deserved at the time of release and press who are now fighting to talk to him, were almost non-existent. I wondered what emotional effects, if any, it had on Wolf and the difficulties he faced having slaved over albums he just wasn’t receiving the credit he desired. “Well, The Bachelor is a pretty prime example of an album I released at the time that received hardly any press, people were confused by it and my fan base just really didn’t get it at the time. Because that album was such a personal statement I didn’t care if nobody was going to buy it, I was just so happy to have the album finished. However, now people are going out and saying ‘Oh, I love The Bachelor, The Bachelor is a great album’. The thing is that you could write a song now and it might actually mean a thousand times more in like forty years then the song that’s in the charts at the time. It doesn’t necessarily mean that your song is any less powerful, it’s just sometimes it isn’t the right time for your song to be popular. I think you defiantly need to make sure that something you do is good for you first and that way I feel it gives your song a longer life”.

Many artists write an album to close a certain chapter of their lives and once the hard work is completed they tour, move on to the next record and the cycle continues. Patrick has never been one for any sort of routine or cycle to abide by, as you may have grasped by now. Although he doesn’t really work to a set pattern, he does admit he found it rather strange trawling back through the years in order to produce Sundark and Riverlight. “Doing the Sundark and Riverdance project was realising that, at the end of the day, these songs are going to be here longer then I am and hopefully that is the dream of every songwriter. Also songs that are now ten years old, and songs that I wrote as a teenager and are on this album still seem quite alive to me. It really didn’t feel like any of the songs that appeared on my first or second album were a flash in the pan. I think you just have to ignore time and make your own time and calendar, y’know?”

Time is one element that mainstream artists have very little of – the pressures of touring, making albums under strict time constraints and talking to press take their toll. Without adding partners and family into the equation this would be sufficient to send anyone over the edge. So when Patrick parted ways with Universal, you would expect his days to be numbered as a high flying musician, however he admits it was one of the best decisions he had made. Time, flexibility and directional influence were once again his own. Sundark and Riverdance, then, was bound to be different from the word go, but being a double album were these decisions any easier? “I think this album was the best in terms of being a producer because I put all my knowledge of working in studios into it. This album was the first one I had made where I was 100% within a studio and it’s funny the things you pick up about how to record your voice properly and really stuff I had no idea about when I was starting out. So, I think it was maybe the most professional and deep recording I’ve done. The recording session was all done in analogue in a residential studio, so I tended to get a slight bit of cabin fever. But I once went to a residential studio about six years ago because the major label put me in there and I went absolutely bananas, I could not deal with myself and not having any space to get away from the music. Where as this time I loved it and I think that just shows what I can do at 29, and couldn’t do at 19 – it shows a level of progression I think”.

In terms of making and the recording of music, Patrick differs from other artists because over the past decade he has bought the rights to his songs back of labels, this also avoids, like I have mentioned earlier, the parting of ways between labels and the distribution of rights and ownership of songs, where a lot of money can sometimes be lost. “Well, during the length of my career I have bought my songs back of labels so I now own all the rights to them. I just didn’t see the point, when I’ve spent a lot of time and money buying the rights to my songs recording them with a label. I set up a label a long time ago for The Bachelor and I still have that now, so I thought there was no point in taking this album to a label because I knew exactly what to do. I didn’t have any form of A&R and there was no manager until the album was completely finished. So I think this was a really private project y’know, and I really wanted it to be that way. I think such a personal project from the past shouldn’t be allowed to be touched by anyone else and it should be kept that way”.

A truly unique and spellbinding double album from an ore inspiring musician who over the past decade has delivered some of the most breathtaking and challenging albums people have experienced. The past decade for Wolf has been one that has defined him as an artist and the ‘Wolfpack’ is growing ever stronger. As for hitting 30 I’m sure Saga car insurance is the last of Patrick’s worries with a fruitful and buoyant career that is showing no signs of slowing down. “It's time for me to be retrospective about the last ten years before I move onto the next ten”. And, maybe just maybe, Jools Holland will be in touch over the next 10 years. We at Clash wish you every success in the next decade Patrick.

Shifting into a higher gear.

2012-08-27T23:19:00.001+01:00

As many of you may have noticed over the passing months this blog has been rather idle, the reason why you may ask? Well, quite simply I have been dabbling in the wonderful world of radio production at my local community radio station. South Cheshire-based station Redshift Radio started roughly around two years ago, and ever since the conception of the station back in those (very) early days the directors (Bizzy) Lizzy and (Dr) Gav have hardly drawn breath to expand and vigorously advertise the station to the wonderful community and businesses that we have contributing and sponsoring it today. Redshift have around 60 presenters, contributing in a manner of different ways towards the stations continuing success and once a month we all come together to talk about the visions, progress and aspirations of the station - discuss events going on around the area in that specific month. However, the main aim is for each of us to discuss how we, as a community, can build on what Liz and Gav have put in place. I can honestly say now that I am approaching a year with Redshift, the gears a really shifting and it is hugely exciting to be part of something that is growing with such pace. The ultimate goal for the near future however is to obtain that all important FM licence, and, who knows what may come after this? Bigger offices, swanky leather chairs, cigars? Okay, so maybe I'm getting carried away but with a new sports show firmly in the pipeline - think BBC Radio 5, but local - things are looking up.

Find out why I'm so excited and give it a listen, go on, GET INVOLVED.

http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk/

Daughter - Smother

2012-08-27T22:14:00.000+01:00

A new band to get your ears engaged to. Oh, and they're relatively good...

Dry The River @ Manchester Academy

2012-04-25T18:24:00.002+01:00

“I think people are surprised when they come to see us live. They expect us to be really calm and quiet but in some ways we’re the opposite”. These are the scarily accurate words of Dry The River’s heavily tattooed front man, Peter Liddle. If you stumbled drunkenly upon this band in a night club – with long locks and their bodies ladened with tattoos your instinct would tell you, protect your ears and go elsewhere as this is going to be deafening. Even so, the previous comment would only apply to those who have been hiding under a rock for the past seven months and are vastly unaware of the headway this band have achieved, i.e – selling out Camden Electric Ballroom 3 months in advance and the same is said for London Scala…so no biggie then? Tonight sees Dry The River bring their falsetto inspired folklore to a sold out Manchester Academy brimming with anticipation.

With a modest entrance that subjected the crowd to an entire three minutes of Michel Jackson’s Will You Be There (which, surprisingly, was quite enjoyable), Dry The River finally bounced onstage with the up-most vigour and enthusiasm – and received a raucous reception from a pumped up crowd. Commencing with the ever popular No Rest, the nerves seemed to be kept at bay, at least for now, enabling the impressive falsetto they have become branded with to work its magic on the crowd. An audience thoroughly satisfied with a note perfect performance to start the evening, Peter began to tease and probe for a better reaction “We’re called Dry The River, it’s good to be back in Manchester. This is one of our favourite places to play”. To which countless men and women exclaimed their love for the folky five piece.

Shield Your Eyes takes the show to another dimension aided by intense lighting creating silhouette-like figures, whilst your ears are being treated to breathtaking harmonies coupled with bizarre lyrical content ‘Frigione line with excellent eye sight’ – peter later jokes that even he doesn’t know what the lyrics mean, but it’s nice that people are taking an interest! The mention of Rio Ferdinand being here tonight in one of Peters interjections obviously throws the crowd into complete turmoil and ‘Rio, Rio’ can be heard reverberating around the walls – enough to make anyone leave I would think.

What impressed me most about Dry The river was not the impeccable falsetto, harmonies or the breathtakingly talented but underrated violinist in the background – nope, none of those. It was the fact the whole performance was seamless and the band were able to relax with each other and the crowd, this allowed all of the above to flow so effortlessly and none other than in Weights and Measures.

This song was like no other song I have heard live in my life. Spine tingling, emotive, earth shattering. I could go on but none of those words would capture the moment that eerie and echoing falsetto vocal filled the room as the band took a stand away from their mic’s and a pin drop could be heard as the crowd fell deafly silent. A simply stunning piece of lyrical work and one that will stay with me for a very long time. If you have the opportunity to experience this bands exceptional talents live grab it with both hands, you will not be disappointed. An accomplished and professional performance from a band who I’m sure have a lot more talent to share.

Interview Feature: From Clapton to Crashing RV's - The Capelle Story.

2012-04-17T15:48:00.000+01:00

Australia is famous for a number of reasons; its annoyingly talented cricket team, Kangaroo’s, Koala Bears, and not forgetting the beloved wildlife warrior Steve Irwin. Above all of this though we should remember some of the exceptionally talented music acts to come out of the country. I spoke to Australian born producer and vocalist of multi cultural outfit Capelle, about what music influenced him growing up in a country that spawned acts such as; AC/DC, INXS, and Wolfmother. “Well, as with most people my parents were a huge influence in that respect. I used to play with my grandfathers old records, stuff like Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Eric Clapton and growing up as a youngster I was really into N.W.A [A Californian rap group]. When I was eleven or twelve I had a friend give me a mixtape of N.W.A and I loved it so much that I went to buy the latest album. However, the lady behind the counter wouldn’t let me have it because I was to young! So I turned to the Terminator 2 soundtrack and on there was Guns n Roses – You Could Be Mine and I’ve been a Guns and Roses fan ever since”.

Like anyone Nick’s influences changed and developed as he got older, the pendulum sung as he listened to more rock inspired music so inevitably the gangster rap took a back seat. Nonetheless, I’m sure you know as well as I do that everyone’s musical influences change during their lifetime – and this doesn’t mean we are all going to be music artists. I was very curious to find out at what point Nick felt the influences steered him towards a career in one of the toughest industries out there. “Well, I can actually remember the moment that happened. I was in my twenties and I’d entered into a competition called Nescafe Big Break and it allows young people to focus on what it is they love doing. There are all sorts of people there, inventors, scientists, people who are starting businesses. The winners of the competition get a £20,000 grant and I was one of the first artists to get that grant. That was the moment I thought I could really do this. As much as I loved playing music I just couldn’t see it as a viable option, so when I got the grant it really changed everything for me. I haven’t looked back since”.

So with the beginnings of a career on the horizon and £20,000 better off, were Nick’s days as a producer well and truly over and fully focused on creating a band or was he partial to producing the odd record now and again? “Well, I produce and record all the Capelle records and I’ve done loads of stuff in the past as a producer mainly in Sydney, Australia. Yeah I mean I still get the time to work with other artists, I’m actually working with a Chicago artist called Amanda Baker and we’ve been doing lots of different stuff, we’ve just recorded a whole album together actually”.
With Capelle firmly in place and having ample time to produce other artists records does Nick feel the pressure to succeed as an artist and to one day not have to fall back on his producing skills. “I would be lying if I said no I don’t fell that sort of pressure, but I don’t feel it from an external sort of place, I tend to feel that from within myself because I’m very driven and determined. I don’t really feel the need to be famous or make shit loads of money, for me it’s more about the fact that the rest of the world will be able to hear and listen to my music. Without that I can’t just make music for my own satisfaction. I get a kick out of people listening to my music and saying, ‘wow, that inspires me’ or they listen to the production of the record and say ‘fuck, that is so cool the way the drums are done on that I’m going to reference that for my own music”.

It is clear from this that one of Nick’s and of course Capelle’s primary aims is not to make lots of money and get rich from the profession, but to inspire people to make music, enjoy life and get fulfilment listening to their records. This is an aim that featured heavily while making their forthcoming documentary; Capelle – All Roads Lead to America. A documentary that is a no holds bared, first hand account of the bands escapades whilst on tour across the United States. The highs, lows, and bar brawls are seen up close and personal, the aim being to give the outsider a raw and real view of what a band can and will get up to whilst on tour. “Well, it’s a wall to wall documentary where we travel from LA all the way to New York – so that’s over 8,000 miles, with five of us stuck in an RV truck. It is a documentary about a band and their journey, but I also think it’s more then that its about the people we met on the way. All the forgotten heroes, blues artists we jammed with and having to get your own gigs whilst other ones fell apart and were cancelled. The documentary sees the highs of having a great time and the genuine love for each other that we have as a band, then the lows of us having some hard times, not getting the gigs that we want and tempers flaring between the band members. There is actually a moment where I crash the RV into the side of a gas station! It was such an emotional rollercoaster and the feedback we are getting from people is that they absolutely love it. I think it’s rare that a band can do a documentary because there tends to be too much of the cliché rock n roll lifestyle, although there is some of that in this documentary…but I think there are really solid characters that you can genuinely fall in love with”.
Forthcoming in March 2012 the refreshing element to this documentary is that– what you see is what you get. As Nick puts it “When you go into a project like that you have to be real about it, I think you can’t really hide and edit out stuff you are afraid the public is going to see, if you’re going to do something like that, you’ve got to give it 100%”.

It looks as if, for now Nick’s dream of being an artist is taking off rapidly with a DVD, new album and tour in the pipeline – producing may just have to wait a little while.

Podcast Session

2012-04-14T19:06:00.001+01:00

Take a listen:

Interview Feature: Brennan Dylan delving into dubstep

2012-04-12T15:06:00.001+01:00

He has been writing music since he was ten, picked up a guitar at the tender age of fourteen and began receiving airplay from radio stations at sixteen years old. Any other music artist with those sort of credentials would be forgiven for being slightly arrogant and pompous – but the modesty of the gently spoken Brennan Dylan is somewhat refreshing. “I would describe myself as a hard worker, very dedicated and I love what I do. I have to play guitar every day and if I don’t I just go crazy, it’s something that I just love to do y’know”. The element of hard work and graft is evident just talking to Brennan, his passion for music and especially playing the guitar is mind blowing, however there is a certain amount skill involved not just to play an instrument, but to take it to a new level and there are very few people who can get to this level, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, and Eric Clapton are a few who have reached the pinnacle and made it possible for others to succeed in their footsteps. “What I do to practice usually to practice is to first warm up then I play some classical and a few scales or read some sheet music. From there once I’m warmed up I would usually go on to playing other stuff. It is fun but I find after a couple of hours it starts to get a bit boring, it’s kind of like a workout really. Also if I’m playing a gig that night I don’t tend to play [guitar] at all that day, I’ll just warm up for an hour or so and then I’ll leave it until I play the show. If I’m not playing show though I can play all day with different scales and practice all my songs. It is quite a lot to do but it is a lot of fun”.

Although the technical ability and skill is thanks to all his hard work constantly playing guitar, what baffled me most about Brennan was how young he started receiving recognition and success for his work. I was curious about just how Brennan caught the music bug so early on in his life. “When I was ten I used to watch the Simpsons and you would see Lisa playing the saxophone and when I heard that for the first time I was like blown away. The sound was just so cool, I just felt I had to do it y’know. So I went and got my parents to rent a saxophone for me and ever since then I was playing up until I was fourteen. I think that’s what really helped me with the guitar because I learned how to read music at such a young age and I’d go and play in stage bands, so somehow everything just worked, y’know?”.

An early age viewing of the Simpsons meant Brennan’s parents bore the brunt of his artistry at that young age. Nonetheless the transition from saxophone to guitar for Brennan was an effortless one, as the young songsmith had already learned to read music from playing the saxophone and as his interests matured a new instrument entered his life. “Well, when I was fourteen I started to listen to rock music. Before then it was mostly jazz, classical and big band music really. Then I really started to get into bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 and I thought it would be fun to try this. So my dad had an old guitar lying around in the basement so I just picked it up and tried it when I was about fourteen. So I put the saxophone down because all I wanted to do was play rock music. Saying that though, it was around that time when I used to write a lot of classical songs and I would go to bars about three times a week when I was in high school to these inprov gigs which played jazz, blues and rock. So what I would do is just get up on stage, not knowing any of the songs and just play them by ear. A lot of this came from playing the saxophone because I was doing a lot of melody [on the guitar] and playing in a band at that age just felt kind of natural”.

With Brennan being an electronic artist it was quite hard for me to see where he fitted into the scene, because the majority of electronic music uses sampling, looping and computer software to achieve its sound. Only a handful of bands are able to create the same effect on a live stage, and even fewer of these bands are recognised by the mainstream press. However, he tells me how electronica got his pulse racing and he decided to leave rock music dead and buried. “Well, in 2007 Tommy Lee and DJ Aero toured in the summer and they brought Deadmau with them. Now I had no idea who they were until I went home and googled one of their songs because I remembered hearing it in the club. So in 2007 I went to Montreal to see them because I wasn’t old enough to go the show in Iowa. And, well it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen because I was just so used to a rock concert, so when I went in there and they had giant speakers and dancers on stage, and people were just going nuts! I thought that I could defiantly do something with this style of music. The beats and the rumbling bass was the starting point where I thought I could put my guitar in here and see if this works. So really ever since then that’s what I’ve been doing”.

Brennans creativity incorporating his guitar into electronica records and making music from it has effectively paved the way for a new genre to exist and new bands to break through to the mainstream and follow his lead. His new album focuses heavily on the sub genre of electroinca named dubstep which is much more bass driven sound and allows greater freedom to sample instruments and layer guitar parts in the form of loops.

“About a year ago I got into dubstep which is slower than electronica, so you can do different things with it and create different vibes. Also when I’m playing live I have DJ gear so I can run all the electronic and dubstep tracks off that, but when I’m playing guitar it’s exactly the same as on the record. So it is a lot to do but it’s a lot of fun. I think once you’ve practiced it all and it eventually comes together it’s very cool”.

The live process of putting an electronic show together can be stressful but with a new album for imminent release Brennan talks through the difficulties he experienced creating all the different parts to his record in the studio. “Well, the last record was recorded in about two weeks in a studio in West Hollywood and I think that was in the summer of 2010. When I started I didn’t know how to record any of the electronics, so when I went into the studio and the main thing the guys taught me in there was structure. When I used to record a song I used to just add lib and play anything for the entire song. The trouble with this was that I couldn’t remember what I’d played when it came to recording individual instruments. So I’ve learned how to put my songs into a verse, chorus, verse structure and I’ve really just kept it the same for this record. Making this record I also learned how to do all the drum programming and the Eq so I could put the effects I wanted onto the album, so it made it a lot easier to manage myself on this album”.

As a musician the influences you take on board can ultimately make or break your career as an artist. If you cite the same influences continuously throughout your career this stifles you, makes each record sound like the last and fundamentally you loose the creativity and individuality that once made you who you are. “Well there are a lot of people really, Deadmau5, Skrillex, Wolfgang, and obviously Tommy Lee and Dj Aero those guys really started this whole journey for me. Those guys are really great live as well, so if they ever come to the UK you should go and see them! I think the thing with Tommy and DJ Aero’s shows is that they have a lot more visuals now then back when I saw them, it’s really cool. I guess I’m also influenced by a lot of drummers, just because it’s a bit more interesting then having a looped drumbeat, y’know? People like Tommy Lee, Travis Barker and Dream Theater’s drummer Mike Mangini, he’s just a monster! I can’t even remember half the people that influenced me, there are just so many of them”.

The British dubstep scene is thriving in tents, at festivals and in underground basements at present. So I wondered, like any person would, was Brennan aware or maybe even influenced by the raging dubsteb scene taking place across the pond while making his forthcoming album?

“Yeah I mean the British dubstep scene is really cool, like there is this guy called Gemeni and he is awesome. But there are a lot of really good British dubstep artists out there and even the British music scene is very different and I think it’s really cool. I think some of the British dubsteb scene is just brutal though, I think some of the stuff is crazy”.

With an in-depth knowledge of the British dubstep scene that baffled me I could already see with the obvious change of genre that Brennan had progressed, but was there more freedom to actually produce a record than on previous albums he has recorded, or was that focus and drive what he needed to produce something different.

“Well, [with this album] I didn’t have another guy telling me that you can’t do this or you can’t do that. So for example, when I was recording everything was structured but it wasn’t strict, y’know? But on this record I took everything I’d learned from recording my previous albums and because it was just me on my own, I didn’t have someone telling me ‘no’. So this meant that I could just create, let it happen and flow naturally, y’know”.

Dylan felt that over previous albums his most recent offering had more of a personal edge to it. This was largely down to the creative process being a lot more relaxed and he was in command of which songs made the record and which didn’t.

“I’ve recorded a lot of demos in the past and every album that I’m doing is progressing in a way. I feel that the more albums I produce the more extreme my work is getting, y’know. I find that when I’m in the studio there are some parts of my guitar playing where I think instead of having one solo I could have three and it doesn’t sound like a mess on the record. I felt like it was almost a conversation with music and it worked having three guitars in there instead of one. But I’d listen back to the record and think ‘it could do with another part in here actually’ and I had to stop myself from getting carried away because it can just end up sounding like a mess”.

Touring an album has become more paramount then producing it in some cases. Mainstream acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers are away from their native country for sometimes years at a time. The constant drag of a tour can tend to sap the life out of an artist, so it is refreshing to see someone come along now and then who has unbelievable mental strength and the charisma and energy needed to wow the crowds. “Well I haven’t really toured yet, but I’d really like to with this record. I know that in Europe there are tons of festivals so playing some of them would be a really good experience. The thing is I love playing live, that is my main thing, I think everything else is fun but I really live for playing on a live stage. It feels like the best feeling in the world to go and play for a bunch of people, it’s very rewarding and the feeling you get is indescribable”. I mean I would really like to try and make it out to the UK this summer because they have some really cool electronic festivals going on”.

After winning guitarist of the year at the LA Music Awards and a forthcoming album due for release what does the future hold for Brennan Dylan and will he ever pick up that saxophone again?

“Well, to tour, I think I defiantly need to do that. I think I need to figure out what type of venue to play, which suits me best. I’d love to find like a dubstep night that I could play regularly. But it takes time to find the right audience and I need to think carefully about who that’s going to be. An electronic festival would really put me on the map to get the right audience and exposure that I’m looking for.”

Brennan Dylan’s new album Broken Glass is out April 17^th.

Podcast Session

2012-04-11T17:24:00.000+01:00

Some great tunes and chat, of course!

Interview Feature: Tommie Vaugn – This Rock In My Heart

2012-04-10T22:59:00.000+01:00

Songstress in prevalent American outfit Wall of Tom, mother and author of a 3-part novel, Tommie Vaugn has been busy, to say the least. With the first edition forthcoming in May 2012, I asked Tommie about the concept of ‘This Rock In My Heart’.

“Well, I’ve had the idea for the book for about ten years now but I haven’t really had time to pen the book. The opportunity actually came along for me to do so during the last few years, so I’ve been working on it since then”. Having been established within the music industry for a number of years, Tommie took influences from the experiences she has gained over the years. “The book is about a lot of my experiences in the music scene, being in Los Angeles and really what its like to be an artist, to struggle and chase your ambitions and dreams”. Having released music as a vocalist in her band Wall of Tom from their inception and with a new album pending for release in May 2012 I was intrigued to find out why Tommie stopped writing records and decided to use her talent in a different way. “Well it kind of coincided with me getting pregnant because I broke the band rule with my guitarist [laughs] on our honeymoon! So with that I had all this time on my hands but still was able to play the Viper Room (West Hollywood music venue) when I was seven months pregnant. Other then that my hands were kind of tied with the music and I got this very odd creative bug with being pregnant and I just had to write this story. So it really came out of me at the same time I birthed this child”.

With time firmly on her side Tommie set to work on the novel, drawing experiences from her life, giving a refreshing insight into the real workings of the music industry from an insider’s point of view – but through the eyes of a fictional character named Frankie. She documents the struggles, strained relationships and drug fuelled studio sessions with a refreshing honesty. “I really tried to use a lot of the fun life experiences, the stage experiences and things like that you can draw from. All I know about writing is that you are suppose to write about what you know, and all I know is performing and making music so it was kind of a natural evolution as a songwriter to write a story that was about my songs”.

A passionate love of fiction is what drove Tommie to pen a novel rather than an autobiographical account of her life, as she explains that you are able to have a little more freedom and imagination writing a novel. “I love the element of fiction. When I read, I read fiction so in a sense I feel like I can have a lot more fun, and if I make it fiction I feel that I cam add a lot more fluff to it. If it’s real and it is an autobiography then everybody kind of already knows what happens, but with fiction I like to able to tweak characters and have a lot of fun with my characters in the novel. A biography is just a different way of writing, it’s a different writing style a defiantly fiction is where my interests lie”.

Knowing the music industry inside out, one of Tommie’s primary aims when writing this novel was to inspire other artists on the verge of giving up and quitting on their dreams to keep going and eventually pursue their goals. I wondered if every music artist, especially Tommie, went through a stage early in her career where she was on the verge of giving up and just what inspired her to keep going a pursue her dream as a musician. “I think that even though an artists life may be a more difficult life I think that it is so much fuller and more colourful. The main inspiration behind the book was to hopefully inspire people to stick with their path and follow their dreams and enjoy their lives. You’ve been given a gift, a special gift that can make you a little bit different – some people may not understand you but the gift of being an artist is a wonderful gift and you should share that with the world. I feel very strongly about that”.

It was this understanding and acceptance that Tommie wanted to share with the world and show the minority of naive people that a fruitful and successful career can be carved as a musician, just as much as any other job in the world. “I’d like to give them the inside look, I think especially with this being the first book it’s more about the character discovering herself and realising the strength that she does have to chase her dreams. All the other characters in the book are also starting out at the same time, expanding on their talents and creating a band. I think that it is defiantly going to show to a lot of people that may not even be artists that may just want to enjoy the journey that these artists are going to be taking”.

With the main character Frankie discovering herself, her talents and her ultimate goal in life in the first edition of the novel it made sense that Tommie aimed the readership toward the younger male and female audiences, who are ultimately experiencing that biggest changes in life and trying to find that all important career path however long or bumpy the road toward their goal may be. “I would say the book is aimed at a younger audience. I definitely think that there are so many girls and boys out there with stars in their eyes, they’re growing up in their towns weather that be a small town or a big town but they have their dreams and aspirations. So, yeah I defiantly think it’s for a younger audience. There’s such a wonderful community out there and I just hope that they enjoy it”.

The debut edition of ‘This Rock In My Heart’ holds some defining moments for Frankie, ones that I’m sure will certainly shape the next two editions of the novel – one poignant moment, for me, is when Frankie first sets foot into the recording studio that will later be her work place and says ‘I knew it was over the first day I walked into that recording studio…he didn’t want me to work there’. I wondered if this was a mindset everyone, artist or not, goes through at least once in there life and how they eventually muster the strength to get over this. “I think you have certain things that define you or curtain moments that change your life and you can almost pin point those moments of when those things happen - you feel a shift and you know you can never go back to the other way that you were. I think that was the moment for Frankie when she walked in and she knew that she belonged where she was. I think on a personal level I was battling a family that didn’t really understand my artistry, they thought that those were ‘hobbies’ and you don’t really go after being a musician, you just play music on your off nights when you’re not working. So I was personally struggling with trying to get the support that I needed from a family that wasn’t an artistic family. So I think that can happen to a lot of people too, but I think parents nowadays are more lenient with there children”.

Being a mother herself - juggling family life, looking after a child whilst out on the road and writing a novel must be draining, so does Tommie intend on being a different type of parent and more open about career choices for her Child? “I mean I grew up in a different family, so moving to Los Angelis was a huge moment for me that changed my life. I mean it was a struggle, for years I would be proud of something and I would say ‘look what I did, this is an album I made!’ and they would be like…oh great, so how’s your job?. I plan on being a different type of parent myself, although my parents are wonderful, now they understand what I’m doing but I have to say it’s taken them about ten years to wrap their head around it”.

Despite her unwavering passion and love of music during her journey Frankie can’t help but dabble in the darker side of the industry. First it becomes harmless fun with her band mates after the studio sessions, but a slippery slope begins to develop and before she realises she is smoking marijuana whilst recording and before gigging. We all know the industry is rife with drugs and alcohol but is the reality really that bad?

“Well it is kind of the reality of being in a rock band. With the second book that will be coming out next year I’m going to show a lot of the down side of to much smoking to much drinking, things that there are a darkness to. Also with a lot of artists they can get in to deep with that side of things. If you smoke too much and drink too much you’re going to have issues. I definitely wanted to portray the realism of it and I didn’t want to sensor any of it because it’s a reality of rock n roll that I’ve dealt with. In the second book those are defiantly some of the things that Frankie is going to struggle with. We’ve already kind of established in this book that she may have a slight addiction to marijuana and in her relationship that is kind of how she dealt with a bad relationship, she just got high all the time so she could get through her normal life. So I think that it just touches on that in the beginning and then mid way through the book she has a little bit of a run in with marijuana again and she was just like ‘Jesus, if everybody jumped of a cliff would I just jump of a cliff with them?’. I think she is still gaining her strength and obviously things are going to come back and haunt her, so basically she’s going to have to find that strength within herself and rise above all of that”.

With a glimpse of what the sequel will hold, with darker days to come for Frankie as she continues to forge her own path to success I wondered if the forthcoming album from Wall of Tom had success written over it. “Well, right now we’re in the final mixing stages. And actually Paul Frost of the UK band the Zico Chain is producing and mixing it for us, he’s doing an awesome awesome job! We love Paul he’s very very cool, and we’ve got about eight songs of the twelve completely done. Now we’re just working on shining up the final few of them with some edits and mixing and things like that. But yeah it’s almost done and we’ve just shot our music video for our first single last week! So that was really wonderful. It couldn’t have gone better and I think we’re going to make a couple of people cry with this one! It’s a song very close to our hearts and I can’t wait to share this video. The videos almost done now so we’re hoping it will be released next week or the week after but very very shortly so we’re excited”.

The progression of an album is an important step if you are to improve as an artist and grow your fan base, a natural progression if you will. So how do the majority of artists keep a distinct sound whilst expanding their audience and branching out to the next level. “I think the way I write and the way my band writes it has been a progression of the way we live. The first album was more of an acoustic/singer songwriter album and then the second album was more rock orientated. We were influenced massively by the things we saw, and I also think it was just an evolution of who we are [as a band]. I think this album that is coming out is going to be a lot of influences. There are also songs on the album that are alternative rock so I think that this album is definitely a blend of all of Wall of Tom’s influences over the years”.

It is clear from this that Tommie Vaugn like Frankie cites and picks up on a lot of influences throughout her career and this ultimately pushes her to make better music and improve as an artist. Alas, when an artist begins their career they want to make music that will be listened to, hopefully for generations to come, receive recognition and acceptance whilst doing so and want to make money whilst doing what they love. “In the beginning of every artists life they want the affirmation that they are good enough to make it. Back when I started it was really a different time for the music industry and I think during the time I have been a musician I have seen so much happen within the music industry, with the labels, the internet, with everything really. Everything changed and now there’s new rules and new things about being an artist. For example social media and everything else that you have to do, you can’t just write the songs anymore you have to be a business person on top of that. Where as ten or fifteen years ago you just wrote the songs and went on tour and you had other people doing all of this for you. Now it is very different, the artists are very hands on. For most artists it is about the money when you are starting out but I like that I have done it my way and I haven’t conformed to what other people have wanted me to do. My music comes from my heart so there is no filter there between me and the music. I think that is the most important part and that is what being an artist is about for me”.

Longevity as an artist earns you the recognition you crave and having now experienced the different changes that a budding musician is faced to go through when they start a daunting career Tommie has achieved it all. You now need to engage fully with your audience, wise up on social media, talk to press, make a visually exciting video and then release a record. “[My advice would be] they need to write from their heart, they need to separate themselves from ‘making it’ because there is always going to be the next big thing or the next pop artist created. There are masterful people out there who write wonderful songs and these pop artists are chosen and created – that is always going to happen but hopefully if you write from your heart the music itself will fulfil you. I think everybody has dreams of making it big but the rules are a little bit different now so I think if you stay as true to who you are as possible that is the best place to start.”

Finding success as an artist is admittedly not the easiest path you could take in life – however by the climax of the first instalment Frankie has found some sort of success, more recognition then fame I would say. This was outlined as one of her biggest ambitions at the start of the book, and with a lot of grit and determination she eventually concurred her ambition. “My aspirations for the future would be to continue making music, keep writing my book, raise my child and not having to have a day job – I would love that! I think that would be a wonderful aspiration and I’m going to continue that path forever. It’s who I am so I don’t really have a choice. I am who I am and I will always write music no matter if I make it or not”.

Drug addictions, achieving personal goals and landing the perfect job at Cherokee Recording Studios, is their anything left for the next edition?

“Well Frankie has just got a taste of success and what it feels like to perform in Los Angelis. So this next book is definitely going to be about her being immersed in the music scene as well as who she meets at the shows. Also her friends are going through the same thing, so you’ll see them supporting each other. Frankie is going to go through a lot of dark moments and a lot more heartbreak in the next book. I also think that Frankie’s best attribute is her heart because she is a hapless romantic, and she seems to fall for very charismatic artists that are probably wrong for her. In this next book she is defiantly going to see a lot of accolades with her music but also she is going to experience a lot of the down sides about the industry. She will experience things that she perhaps didn’t realise were a part of becoming a successful artist”.

Tommie Vaugn’s novel This Rock In My Heart is due for release in May 2012, and can be pre-ordered off Amazon.

Ellie Goulding - Your Song

2012-04-09T18:27:00.001+01:00

“It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside,” are the lyrics that begin Ellie Goulding’s latest offering. Your Song - originally by Elton John – will be the first single on the re-released album ‘Lights’. The simplicity and venerability from this 20-something songstress is unlike we have heard before. Ellie’s previous album ‘Lights’ was a combination between dance and folk, which was heavily reliant on autotune, to achieve the desired affect on the album. At times the album sounded over complicated, but with Elton’s Your Song the autotune is banished and her mesmerising vocals are aloud to shine through. Although the chord progression differs from the original, I think this is for the better because the keys are made to sound more prominent throughout the record. The end result is a simplistic, beautiful and unspoiled version of Your Song, and one I’m sure Elton would be proud. Expect to hear this on more than a Christmas John Lewis Advert.

Kindness - Swinging Party

2012-04-02T17:06:00.000+01:00

Moshi Moshi records are famed for show - casing some of Britain’s hottest talent. Bands including; Mirrors, Slow Club and the greatly adored Florence and The Machine are signed to the label. So it came as no surprise when the Kindness were plucked from obscurity and signed to Moshi Moshi via the aid of a mix tape. The debut single ‘Swinging Party’ originally written by The Replacements, was a slow acoustic love ballad fronted by Paul Westerberg’s western vocals, and assisted by the plucking of an acoustic guitar.

The sad walking home alone love ballad is no more. A modern and catchy dance groove that is worthy to be played at any club has taken its place, much to the disappointment of the 40+ audience that were hanging on to the original. A familiar disco beat begins proceedings with a lone eight bar introduction, a walking bass line is then slotted firmly into place to achieve the ridiculously 80’s sound that so many of today’s’ bands are mimicking. Nevertheless, the difference is, it’s so very annoyingly catchy, however much you restrain yourself from tapping, dancing, or even singing horrifically, non of this will prevail, the track is bound for a revival across clubs and dance floors almost anywhere. The lyrics carry a trademark drone – think Joy Division but in key, and one lyric that particularly stands out in my mind is; ‘Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there’s a party, here it’s never ending, can’t remember where it started’ for me it invokes the absurd image of people carrying utterly hideous 80’s lampshades to a house party!

The second track is still as 80’s as The Replacements’ cover, or maybe even more so, nonetheless it is incredibly short and lacks the substance that the previous number oozed. I feel ‘Gee Up’ is something that would feature on the beginning of a soap like Hollyoaks rather then a serious contender for a single. The only real instrument that speaks volumes in this track is the funkadelic bass line and combined with, yes, yet another 80’s style disco beat it goes together like bread and butter.
The Kindness’ live shows are very thin on the ground, with a grand total of; two. One of these ‘gigs’ being a self – organised party in their house in London (sounds almost Libertines – esque to me), and the other was a free for all at a venue in Kreuzberg, West Germany. Further ‘gigs’ are planned, almost certainly more 80’s inspired records will be set for release and with an ever – growing fan base the future looks bright for Kindness.

Podcast Session

2012-03-30T14:53:00.000+01:00

Some great tunes, take a listen:

First Ever Podcast

2012-03-25T18:12:00.001+01:00

Have a listen. As ever, comments are always welcome.

Top Tune

2012-03-14T18:54:00.001+00:00

This is my band of the week. You may have heard it on Radio 2 or 6 Music of late, but I can't stop listening to it. Quite infectious.

Reading and Leeds Festival 2012

2012-03-13T12:21:00.001+00:00

So, who's going this year and what do you think of the line up? Complete drivel or Glorious?
Priced around £200 a pop, unfortunately I can't afford to go, but here's the line up for those of you like myself where the pennies won't quite stretch far enough...

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - The Death Of You And Me

2012-03-10T11:24:00.000+00:00

Brotherly love has never come easily for the Gallagher brothers. On one hand you’ve got the little brother who goes above and beyond to be noticed, calls his brother a ‘shitbag’ for holding a press conference about the demise of Oasis, and does everything in his power to get his new band noticed. On the other hand however; a more subdued, relaxed and approachable Noel Gallagher casually slips back onto the radar with his new band, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. You’d think the talisman behind Oasis wouldn’t have any trouble releasing a debut solo record, and you’d be 100% right. Suitably titled ‘The Death of You And Me’ a familiar upbeat acoustic strum begins proceedings – think Importance of Being Idle – got it? Before a soft flute drone accompanies Noels trademark falsetto of lyrical rhyming. ‘Why the sea is calling out to me, I seem to spend my whole life running from people who would be the death of you and me, cause I can feel the storm clouds sucking up my soul’. Despite the predictable wordplay that made Supersonic such a hit, we see a deeper more emotional side to Noel’s writing, one that he has perhaps honed throughout his lengthy Oasis career. And his little brothers reaction? We’ll have to wait for that. An uplifting number, despite the deeper and darker lyrics.