This week I shall mainly be wearing a mankini. The only garment for this weather. I shall also be attending Musexpo Europe . Musexpo is a music biz conference. Movers and shakers of the music business meet there to discuss all the evil corporate stuff that forces artists to make crap records. I shall be hobnobbing with all the decision makers from the world over.

Hell, someone has to bring out the canapes. I need the cash…

Glastonbury - that bastion of new cool music. Madness, Status Quo, The Boss, Neil Young, Blur… Couldn’t they find anyone at least a little current-ish? 

Nice thing: Madness’ sax player. See, I bought an alto sax last week. Used to play the sax in my junior high school marching band. So I bought one (inspired by an artist we are working with, a guy called Finsbury Smith who had learned to play the trumpet all by himself just recently) and it is my mission to learn to blow. It’s hard work. You need jaws of steel to be able to do it for any length of time.

Come back for a Musexpo update. I’ll tell you all about it.

Shock And Awe - Proportionate Response

You’ve probably seen the news about the Minnesotan woman who has been fined nearly $2m for illegal filesharing. That’s a mighty sum. Have you checked out the music she is into? It’s great! All your 80s classics from the very best hair metal to the most pompous shoulder padded pop. Rather than sue her, I think the record industry should THANK her for sharing this wonderful music with everyone.

Back when this was just a field….

They made good records in the 80s. Autotune didn’t exist, so Steve Perry from Journey had to hit those ridiculously high notes all on his own. The one handed drummer from Def Leppard had no beat detector to rely on. How did people survive before Protools? Legendary producer John Leckie said that if you can’t play your song from start to finish without making mistakes you shouldn’t be in a recording studio, you should be in a rehearsal room. Wise words.

Original Sin

We did some work with a gifted young band earlier in the week. They’re in the middle of a name change, so I can’t say who they are. They had a song that had echoes of classic Rush in it. Of course, these young turks had never even heard of the band. So, for half time entertainment during the sessions, we played some choice Rush clips on YouTube. One was once again reminded how their stuff is ORIGINAL.

The irony is that the more advances we make in recording technology, the less original music is. Instead of using the technology to push the envelope, we just fall back on it to take the easy way out.

Tweet my ass!

More on technology: with so much of everyone’s time spent on tweeting and blogging and myspacing, when do young aspiring musos find time to play and explore music? Everyone’s a crack marketer these days. But the songs are crap.

Is It As Good As Abba?

I have a young daughter who’s just getting into pop music. We were having a daughter/father moment listening to some Lady Gaga and Laroux. She said it was good but not as good as Abba. Wise words. Listen to a song like Knowing Me Knowing You. It’s a great song with amazing architecture, with light and shade, drama and narrative both musical and lyrical. Just when you’ve got to the end of the chorus thinking you’ve heard about half a dozen amazing bits, they hit you with an instrumental hook that tops them all. Contrast that to the Ting Tings chant about what isn’t their name over and over again. Of course, one shouldn’t equate also rans with one of the all time greats, but you get the point, I’m sure.

The world has changed…. hmmm… how?

Going back to an earlier post about life changing bands, I can’t for the life of me accept that as very excellent as they are, The Libertines or the Arctic Monkeys are not, nor do I think they ever will be, in the same league as Zep, Nirvana and any of the others I mentioned. My earnest response to those who say that times are different, that there is no way in the modern world for music and artists to be as important as they used to be, is, with the utmost respect, this: bollocks.

As long as there are people whose hearts beat with emotion, music expresses those emotions like nothing else. The good stuff will always find an audience and it will last. People are starved of it, thirsty for it. I sure as hell am. Just cuz we’re too busy tweeting to write a decent song… to be original…

I can think of two things from my own world that are original: Esteban guitarist Liam’s style of playing and The Brent Flood singer Jay’s lyrics.

I don’t mean that cool music has to be weird and difficult to understand. It can be like In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, too.

I’m reminded of a cool quote from a Kurt Vonnegut book. When asked how to explain what good music is, a character in the book says something like “I was listening to Beethoven on the gramophone. A bucket fell down the stairs. I like the way Beethoven sounded. Didn’t like what the bucket did.” 

Do the B&Q Radio test.

It’s this: in your local B&Q they will have the shop radio playing golden oldies. Which tracks released this year will be on there in 20 years’ time? Which one will get sampled in a TV ad to give endless mirth to a new generation? To give you something to go on, these are the biggest songs of the year to date.

1 Lady Gaga Poker Face Interscope
2 Lady Gaga Just Dance Interscope
3 La Roux In For The Kill Kitsune
4 Lily Allen The Fear Regal
5 James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado Broken Strings Polydor
6 Flo-rida Right Round Atlantic
7 Tinchy Stryder feat. N-Dubz Number 1 Island
8 Kings of Leon Use Somebody Hand Me Down
9 Kid Cudi Vs. Crookers Day ‘N’ Nite Data
10 A R Rahman & Pussycat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) Interscope
11 Calvin Harris I’m Not Alone Columbia
12 Beyonce Halo Columbia
13 Taylor Swift Love Story Mercury
14 Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow Interscope
15 Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) Columbia
16 Alesha Dixon Breathe Slow Asylum
17 T.I. feat Justin Timberlake Dead & Gone Atlantic
18 Kelly Clarkson My Life Would Suck Without You RCA
19 Lily Allen Not Fair Regal
20 Dizzee Rascal Feat. Armand Van Helden Bonkers Dirtee Stank

My money is on ol’ Phil to rule Radio B&Q for a while longer….

Peace.

V.

One of the perks of working where we work is that you’re guaranteed to run into famous people here. Lily Allen, Girls Aloud, Calvin Harris, Leona Lewis. This week we’ve been lunching with Yusuf Islam who in a previous incarnation was Cat Stevens. Ol’ Cat wrote some terrific songs. He’s been on tv a lot recently. The other night watching some show about him I realised where James Blunt must have got his inspiration from. I was amused to find that the pair of them sing in a very similar style.

So, we were sitting in our cafe and I was digging the fact that this near legendary songwriter was sitting in the table next to ours. I asked the gal working behind the counter if she knew who he was. Her guess was: “Someone from Status Quo?”

No cigar.

Following on from this stuff, we had a conversation about life changing artists. We could think of a couple from the 50s, several from the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and 90s…. but not one from the noughties. Have a think. We’re nearly at the end of the decade and I can’t think of one undeniably life changing artist in the league of Zep, Marley, Nirvana, Radiohead, U2 and so on, to have broken in the last 10 years.

Who are your candidates?

This is how you build a buzz…

Desert Funksters ESTEBAN get a nice review in Noise Addiction on page 19 of the E-Zine.

The band are also featured in their local rag, Burton Mail. They have very nice words to say about us, as well. Thanks, fellas!

I especially like the bit about being “midway through a whopping 70 date tour”.

Read the complete article here…

 (photo by Craig Marston)

Smudge get a live review… “By the final song, the crowd is animated with swinging, head-banged hair and fervent pounding fists, evidently sold by the bands supremacy of sound.” 

Looks like someone won the crowd over, eh??? Read the rest on Rockindustry.

(photo by Sakura)

I got an email from someone who referenced Metallica’s Some Kind Of Monster in the subject field. Naturally my curiosity was aroused. I loved that movie. It should be compulsory viewing for bands. Observing Lars Ulrich at work gives a new meaning to having the drive to do new things even when you’ve done so much already, wanting to push the envelope. The cool thing is that he explains right at the beginning of the movie the kind of album he wants it to be. That St. Anger was roundly dismissed by fans and critics alike is irrelevant. He had a vision and that’s what he delivered.

Onto the email. It was from a psychologist who was offering his band psychology services to artists. The angle was that if there is a band who aren’t functioning he could help them unlock their potential. The service was being offered to up and coming bands.

I can well see the point in wishing to unlock potential, whatever the level. Bands are weird animals with lots of filtering, second guessing, self censorship and blocking going on. Lots of egos, mismanagement of time and bullying happening. To unlock some those of things is certainly not a bad thing, on the face of it. But then it occurred to me that those very things are a big part of what makes bands tick in the first place. It’s about conflict and arrogance. It’s about fury, competition and showing off.

It’s not office work and self-improvement. Good rock music makes you want to get drunk and get laid. A nicely managed office environment makes you want to chit chat about “marketing bias” around the water cooler. That phrase “marketing bias” was something some dude threw at me at our last squash match. On being asked what I did for a living I told him that we produce records for artists. To which he replied “Is that with a marketing bias?” Then he started discussing cars. Although it was more like a monologue, to be fair.

I can understand if a monstrous music and money making machine like the top brand that is Metallica will do everything possible to continue to function. They’ve been at it for years and there are many vested interests to keep it going - and also the guys, I would have thought, really don’t want it to end. Hell, I’m sure that at one time in their lives they didn’t have those kind of problems. They were firing on all cylinders. Changed the world.

But if you’re a young emerging band and you’re faced with problems that prevent you from working with each other, would it be possible that you’re not really meant to do this thing? At least not in your current configuration. If you’re not getting along now, just wait to see how bad it gets should things develop for you.

So, rather than encourage a band to spend money on a shrink, I’d urge them to find members who are able to work with each other. The legendary guitarist B. B. King said about looking for band members that playing ability is always secondary to character. If a guy’s got the right character, he will learn to play the way you want him to play. But if the character is lousy, you’re up shit creek with no paddle in no time.

Work with like minded people first. If you get lucky enough to have the problems that having a career brings with itself, spend your money on a shrink at that point - in order to protect your career, which at that point is worth protecting.

Keeping it fresh

It’s important to keep your pecker up, no matter what level you are at. You must keep the excitement level up. It’s tough to do. Over the years I’ve been banging against the proverbial brick wall countless times. I always gravitate to new music. That seems to work for me. Right now, I’m getting into a lot of Latin stuff, bossanova and all that lot. I’m getting into tango music. Some of the chord progressions are very inspiring as are, of course, the rhythms. I can spend hours learning that stuff.

When I started touring, a long time ago when I was in Snowdogs, I would spend a lot of time doing scales backstage. It was therapeutic to my mental health as well as complimentary to my playing.

Unlocking the secrets of music takes time. There is no finishing line either. I heartily recommend getting into new kinds of music. New grooves. And applying them to your own music. The vocabulary at the end of a simple search on Spotify is vast.

Tracks you might like

Most music sites suggest tracks that I might like. They get it wrong most of the time. See, I don’t like a certain genre of artist. To me classic Van Halen is magic, but Bon Jovi and just about any other 80s rock band is terrible. Nirvana rule, but Alice In Chains don’t do it for me.

What I would love is a suggestion list that is the mother of all mix tapes. I have no trouble with Slipknot followed by The BeeGees followed by Busta Rhymes. And here’s one off the new Green Day album, which sounds wicked, by the way.

I remember going to New York in the late 90s. I had lived in the UK for a few years by then and missed the sound of rock music on radio. It was all Blur and Oasis. Nothing that rocked. So, I walked into a electrical store and bought one of those handheld radios. Asked the guy what the best local rock station was. He tuned it into K-ROQ. I walked out on the pavement and turned it on. The first song was Runnin’ With The Devil by Van Halen, the second song was Pretty Noose by Soundgarden, the third was Spin The Black Circle by Pearl Jam. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

With my ear glued to this little box of magic, I walked along the avenues, letting it all sink in. In about 30 minutes I began to feel unfulfilled. Too many tracks doing the same thing. Not enough variety. After another 15 minutes I switched off. Couldn’t take another singer who seemed to suffer from constipation (the singer in Creed is the master of this type of singing) and couldn’t hack another guitarist who had the most amazing phat Mesa Boogie sound. Bo-fucking-ring.

I tried another couple of times back at the hotel to get into it. In the end I think I left the radio in New York.

New bands worth a plug

We recently produced new music for I Remember Tapes and The Jayways . Both very good bands. Worth five minutes of your time, surely?

It was a pleasure to meet up with some mates last night at a pub near the ruins of Cutty Sark in Greenwich Sarf London. We were a collection of musicians and managers. The rhythm section for a household name boyband, the musical director for a legendary Irish artist, the manager of a true British guitar hero. And then there was me, shit for brains squash wannabe. My only connection to household names is my ability to spell their names. Only modesty prevents me from revealing their identities.

Lots of musical knowledge around the table. Good banter. Lots of opinions. About everything.

As ever, when people in the music business gather round, conversation pretty much centres on how bloody difficult it is to make stuff happen out there, how record sales are dwindling and life is hard. No exception here.

Mr. Manager had received a report from whatever is the international federation of record labels or some equivalent, which seemed to suggest that the CD is far from dead. Lots of people still buying them the world over. It seemed to suggest that no matter how much people spin about DIY internet buzz word of mouth, it’s good old radio that still drives sales like never before. And TV.

These are interesting ideas/facts. Of course, there are many different levels of success and not everyone can sell a zillion records, not everyone can be on the A list. Everything can’t keep growing all the time. Upon exiting the pub I took a quick glance at Canary Wharf to remind myself that we used to believe otherwise.

So, next morning I’m on the tube (some chav bastard had stolen the saddle from my bike, which is my usual mode of fair weather transport) reading the Metro in which Tim Henman was interviewed. He said of Andy Murray, the current world number 3, that he could get to the top, but if he concentrates on the result instead of the process, it will be tough.

That’s an interesting thought. Concentrate on the process and the desired result will happen as a consequence.

That’s exactly what everyone should do. If you concentrate on the process you will get great and as a result you will probably get a career. The better you are, the more ably you will adapt to changes in the surrounding world, the longer your career. In all likelihood.

OK, I admit that it doesn’t quite explain the success of the boyband in question. We see them in our parking lot because they rehearse next door. A thought occurred to us: rock peeps like dismissing those on that side of the business, but I don’t think there’s anything funny or uncool about them. They’re just a bunch of guys who are in the entertainment business, singing for their supper. That they’ve been able to do it for more than a decade now is admirable. Enviable, even.

Music business, eh? Compared to the software business it may not be the greatest business in the world, but to me it’s the coolest and we’re damn lucky to be part of it.

My brother Mat went to see Pink at O2 the other night. He was dragged along by mates of his from the old country (Finland) who hadn’t managed to get tickets for the show in Helsinki. They are super fans willing to travel to see Ms Pink… and so to London they came.

I don’t think there is an artist out there for whom I’d be willing to travel quite that far at quite that expense. Maybe if the original line up of Van Halen reformed. Just maybe. I’d probably walk from my house to the O2. It would take me about 20 minutes.

What does an artist have to do to get superfandom to happen? Apart from appealing to people who have the money to buy the airfare, that is.

According my Mat, the show was spectacular. The level of musicianship was outstanding, the showmanship was amazing, the skill and entertainment level had been raised through the roof. Pink swinging on a bloody trapeze while singing the songs note perfect. The drummer playing the cello. A fantastic rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, including all the operatic bits. A cavalcade of hit songs that even Mat, who didn’t count himself a fan before the show, knew all the words to. It was such a mind-blowingly credible affair, that the enthusiasm with which Mat speaks about it gets everyone going.

Therein lies to answer to the question posed above. You have to be very very amazing to get that sort of superfandom to happen. Not only do you keep your old fans happy, but you convert new ones. Mat bought the new album after the gig. (Yeah, I know, what a wuss…!)

Of course, you don’t become amazing unless you work at it. Loads. Now, I don’t know Pink’s history at all, but I’m willing to bet anything on the fact that she’s busted gut from an early age to become who she is. She’s busting gut on a daily basis to stay ahead of the pack. To create stuff that’s better than other people’s stuff. To be able to perform at an intensity that blows everyone else off stage.

So… to the point: it really pisses me off to see lazy artists who think the world owes them a living. It really fucking does. How many hours did you spend on building your career, on honing your craft today? What sacrifice did you make today to enable you to do what you profess to love?

Sacrifice as in “I haven’t eaten much this week because I had to pay for rehearsals”. I’m tired of hearing excuses for not doing stuff. The worst ones complain about not having the money to do this or that for their career, while packing their bags to go on holiday in Spain. What are your priorities, mate?

A memory comes to me… of reading about the Norwegian band A-ha, back when we were dreaming of making a career out of music. They spoke about moving to London to make it, about fainting in the street because they didn’t eat that well. Sleeping on floors. Writing, writing, writing - at the expense of everything else. 

It seemed really romantic and cool. I was itching to throw myself into it. When I did, I soon found out that it certainly isn’t fun to struggle to survive. But I’m a relatively simple person: I’m at my happiest when making music. The fact that other people, business people, might or might not like it doesn’t even factor in. All you’re doing is creating. Pushing it further. Trying to make it sound/feel/kick better.

Many seasons later I feed and clothe myself and my dependants by making music, by doing music biz. It’s an honour and a privilegde. And you know what? You get honours and priviledges for busting gut, for sticking at it, for working hard. Crying into your beer gets you a salty beverage.

Right, self-righteous rant over! ;-) Get your twanger in tune and let’s start chopping wood.

We just spent an amazing few days with Soma High. We’ve been working with those guys for a while now and it so pleases me to see a band making progress in their writing, their playing, their attitude. The new tracks turned out excellent. Very very much so. Can’t wait to post them here.

We like the sound of progress. It’s a little bit like the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells of victory.

While we’re on the subject of winning, let me talk about losing… due to unprecedented demand for information on how my squash final went, here goes: I lost 3-1. I put up a decent fight, even took the first game, but my opponent, the club no 1, was stronger when and where it mattered. For my part, I was chuffed to bits just to have made the final and next year there will be a new name engraved on that trophy.

I often tell artists to video their gigs. When you see yourself play, you can tell what you’re doing wrong and right. And then you can develop your stage craft. A mate of mine videoed my game. At points it resembled proper squash. Of course, the fact that I lost had nothing to do with how I played. I just need a manager with contacts in the squash business….

I read an article somewhere about learning your craft. Musical craft. In it, the author wrote that back in the late 70s, the punk movement brought new sounding music out of the garages into the mainstream. That it sounded exciting at the time. Years later, do you think that the novelty of hearing someone bash out chords has worn a bit thin?

As was wrily observed in the studio the other day, the only people who think shredding is uncool are the people who aren’t able to do it.