Sunday Mercury - Markus Sargent

Why we all run the music business, and the big labels come second

2008-07-13T09:00:00Z

Hello again! One whole zoomin' week later!

Today I'll be at my favourite village café, reflecting and savouring a busy week. Such a pleasurable, self-educating and balancing thing to do.

It makes all the difference to how we see and feel about so many of the meaningful aspects of our lives.

For this week's blog, I'm going to drift back in time to when both the music industry landscape and music lovers' access to discovering music was so much more limited and controlled by the egotistical plans of major record companies.

I shall then share a few gems and best kept secrets with you in the form of emerging bands that have played the Glee this year!

My connecting to the music industry was born out of quite wayward times of life.

If my memory serves me well, I had just returned back to Wolverhampton, having enjoyed two years of travelling Europe on the Inter-Rail ticket and found myself somewhat searching for substance and direction in-between inappropriate jobs!

Sentimentally, I distinctly remember a few albums that were the soundtrack to travelling trains, waiting all through the night at stations and drifting around streets, intrigued and enamoured by new faces, places and cultures.

The albums were Faith No More's Angel Dust, REM's Document, Life's Rich Pageant and Fables Of the Reconstruction and Pearl Jam's Ten, all of which stirred the spirit .

JB's club in Dudley was the place (on its original site) and I was there to see my cousin's band play.

Within weeks, I found myself relinquishing my dole money for the purchasing of envelopes, stamps, photocopying, and sometimes train tickets, in the pursuit of the dreaded A&R men, in the hope that they would see a glorious path to be beaten by the contents of what I'd sent to them.

Our next step was to form a management company and release our own 7", which was a great learning curve revealing of the reasons you do, or maybe don't, believe in all the ideas, dreams, people and ultimately yourself, as you perhaps thought you did!

Eventually, after everyone concerned had given all they could, the band and the project drifted off individually into pastures new. I later repeated the process with another band from the town, which had it's own story, before coming to the same junction.

It was a time when the hearts and minds of young wishful songwriters and musicians carried a fearful expression of innocence as to what might be required to scale the intimidating walls of the music industry and be judged before they could let loose their urgent and natural creativity.

I also remember having to pay up £15 to see if a band I'd heard and liked one song by, might have a great album, before having to spend the same amount again to get the gig ticket.

We now have access to tap into the vibe of the music via myspace etc. and how it's getting fellow fans going before heading to the gig bristling with anticipation.

It pleases me endlessly to now see that there are far fewer restrictions for artists to gain information on being a musician and de-mystifying what the paths into and through the music industry are, mainly from the benefit of the internet.

The fact that artists can communicate their experiences and ideas by the same medium is wonderfully empowering to the artist.

Although I believe we need the structure of an industry and its organisations to keep the vital aspects well organised, it's immeasurably fantastic that the industry is being challenged by endless and unlimited waves of individuals with ideas ranging from the acutely personal to the stimulating cross-fertilisation of others.

The freedoms to write, distribute, promote and connect with who becomes your audience is a truly inspiring experience by which to educate yourself and define the meaning of success in your life.

So, is there anyone to blame? Anyone to feel sorry for?

No! it's all about life's learning curves and appreciation of who we can be for ourselves and each other, whether we're entertaining or addressing personal or worldly issues.

There are many different ways to see and feel the same experiences in life before we choose to apply our meanings. Let as much as you can be your soul nourishment, dark or light, and burn of all the ideas that are not you on the road to discovering yourself.

The above notions naturally apply to all the new artists that visit the Glee Club, often before they go on to greater heights and recognition in their careers, notably Duffy, Adele, Kate Nash, Damien Rice, Bat For Lashes, Scott Matthews, Beth Rowley and Laura Marling.

We often share moments of conversation with them, hearing their humble versions of the same story and how they have gone about making progress.

What is relevant in this blog is that anyone reading should hopefully be able to take great confidence and hope in launching themselves into their own experiences and learning curves!

Substance over style any day.

Given our internet playground, I would like to leave you with a shortlist of new artists who have passed through the Glee this year and left mesmerising impressions.

Angus & Julia Stone, Johnny Flynn, Jaymay, Stephanie Dosen, Lykke Li, Melody Gardot, Phoebe Killdeer, Duke Special, Marissa Nadler, Dawn Kinnard, Ida Maria, Noah & The Whale and Jens Lekman all have engaging songs to captivate hearts and minds.

I would also like to suggest you surrender your soul to the amazing Joan As Police Woman!

Rave On, Cymru Gooner Spartacus!

Duffy, Damien Rice, Duke Special and DIY

2008-07-02T21:16:49Z

Hello! I guess the best foot forward here and now is by way of an introduction!

One that illustrates what a purposeful and passionate working life involves and means to me in the world of music and, in particular, Birmingham and the West Midlands!

I am currently six and a half years into promoting music at The Glee Club, which resides in The Arcadian, in the Chinatown area and next to the Hippodrome Theatre.

Music at The Glee Club began pretty seamlessly as Ronnie Scott's club closed, where I had presented shows for four years, including shows by Coldplay, Elbow, David Gray and Ryan Adams.

Loosely speaking, the musical genres we book are a broad spectrum of singer-songwriter expressions, along with soul, jazz, blues and roots.

The atmosphere and ambience of the club is one of intimacy where the expressions of the artist can be fully appreciated and weave their magic under your skin.

We sometimes take a detour off this track, as we did with the mighty Gutter Twins recently, and Mr Scruff before, but essentially we keep to our natural path and what both moves us and what we know the music fans who attend the club wish for.

Often people state that they would like to switch jobs with me and maybe presume that something special happened to get me into such a position.

However, I can truly say that at a young time in my life where work was not fulfilling and life generally quite confusing, something very instinctive combined with my deep and wide appreciation of music.

I felt purposeful and passionate about moving forward.

I strongly believe that following a path about what you are passionate about will inform you beyond education (although I wouldn't ever ignore that as a basis).

The awareness and desire that connects with the will to be committed and visionary is paramount.

I always found the punk DIY ideal of 'if it ain't happening, make it happen' very inspiring. The raw element of being hungry to make things happen is always the real fire!

We can all use our life experiences to interpret someone's abilities and help them see that they can develop their own path.

We generate our energies and ideas by engaging ourselves, creating our own luck in the process and taking life to the places that are there for exploration and bringing into wondrous realisation.

One of the most engaging and heartening aspects of the shows at The Glee, for both the club as promoter and the people who attend, is the opportunity to 'discover' someone new and see them in such close-up surroundings.

These can often be the best times by far that you enjoy an artist's performance in their career! To satisfy your discerning tastes, take a chance, be open to something new.

That's the wonder of being alive!

Some of the artists who have performed in our 150-capacity Studio Room and then returned to play in our 375-seater Main Room are Adele, Duke Special, Joanna Newsom, Martha Wainwright, Regina Spektor, Scott Matthews, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Ray Lamontagne.

Others who have played at The Glee Club before their name flourished far further in the universe include Damien Rice, Anthony & The Johnsons, Guillemots, Jose Gonzales, Richard Hawley, KT Tunstall, Bat For Lashes and Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals.

We've hosted Julian Cope, Cherry Ghost, Feist, Nouvelle Vague, Kate Nash, Fionn Regan, The Polyphonic Spree, Josh Ritter, Amy Macdonald, Newton Faulkner, Tom Baxter, Beth Rowley, Idlewild and Duffy.

A few delights for your consideration at the club before the summer are Jah Wobble - Chinese Dub, Cerys Matthews, Jim White, Henry Rollins (spoken word) and Candy Box Burlesque.

See our website www.glee.co.uk

I'll be looking to create further insights in future blogs.

Rave On! Cymru Gooner Spartacus