Thursday 27 October 2016

Eight questions with Hazey Jane

Photo from Hazey Jane Facebook
1. Who are Hazey Jane? (a short introduction)

We're a folk quartet from London, keeping it real staying safe.

2. How long have you been making music as Hazey Jane and what have the highlights been so far as a band?

Bobby (Vocals) and Laurent (Guitar) met when they were very short. The duo started writing together at Secondary School, rendezvousing with Paul (Drums) and Connor (Bass) some years later. Enjoying the vastness of London's folk circuit has thrown up a few highlights. Playing at beautiful old venues like The Borderline and rising the ranks to play our first headline show at The Barfly last year. It's all good stuff.

3. Your ‘Us On A Wire’ EP was released last month, how has the response been so far? When was it recorded, and where? It there is an interesting story behind how you and any producers and session players met and started playing together, please do share!

It's been going down a treat thanks. We recorded at Urchin Studios in London Fields. June. 2016. Our current front of house engineer Sander Van Laere set the whole malarke up; we met at an open mic in Camden two years ago. His former teacher, Marcel Van Limbeek mixed and mastered the tracks at his studio in Netil House. This guy toured with Tori Amos for twenty years and mixed every album she's released. Ever. Even the musical. They're genius men and we're very lucky to work with them.

4. You used Indiegogo to crowd fund for the launch of the EP, smashing your aim with 131% raised… how did having that level of support from your fans and friends feel?

Stunning. We have incredible people in our corner and cannot thank everyone enough for donating their sweet sweet $$$. Funding this kind of project from the bottom up is hard work but so rewarding. In an industry where chance A+R meetings are biting the dust, these campaigns can be the best way for unsigned bands to release professional material. We're very fortunate to have been able to do so.

5. Following on the EP theme, you also played an EP launch show, how was that?! We can’t wait for this Surya gig you’re playing for us!

Next level. We hosted at The Bedford in Balham, lovely old venue with a gorrrrgeous candle lit circular auditorium. Our pals Jake Morrell, Vannessa Forero and Horatio James played phenomenal sets beforehand. Cracker of an evening. SAME, it's gonna be a beauty! Looking forward to seeing Temper Cartel strut their stuff.

6. Who is your audience and how do you connect with your fans? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

Our Dads still come to every show. We like to make sure they enjoy themselves.

7. What would your dream gig look like? Are there any artists you’d love to play alongside, or cities you’d love to visit? Perhaps European shows?

There's nothing legal about our dream gig, perhaps another time. Cor blimey, yeh for sure Kings of Convenience, Thomas Dybdahl, Alexi Murdoch … there are plenty. We'd love to spend time touring around Northern and Central Europe. Really getting into Switzerland at the moment. Could definitely get us some Bern or Zurich.

8. What does the rest of the year hold for you, and looking towards 2017?

We're setting up a couple of residencies in Dalston and Stoke Newington over Christmas. Otherwise we're hunkering down and mapping out our 2017 UK tour, can't wait!

Hazey Jane play a show at Surya for us on 28th October (not long to go!) with Temper Cartel, tickets available here.

Sunday 23 October 2016

Eight questions with The Travelling Band

(c) Dan Wiebe
1. Who are The Travelling Band? (a short introduction)

We're an indie rock band from Manchester, UK, who write dark songs with killer melodies and sunshine pop harmonies.

2. Your upcoming ‘Close Your Eyes and Count To Ten’ tour is drawing pretty close - how are you getting ready for the shows?

PUMPING IRON EVERY DAY. We've been working pretty hard in the studio with the new line up and looking back at old songs and rearranging them for the road.

3. The tour is a celebration of your 10 year anniversary as a band, what have been the highlights? A lot of the bands we work with at Tigmus are just starting out, playing some of their first headline shows, any advice you wish you’d had 10 years ago?

Highlights have been getting to make albums, touring over 25 countries, playing great festivals like Cropredy and Glastonbury and sharing the whole ride with your best mates. Forming a label and opening a studio have been important steps for us too. 

Advice I'd give is maybe don't be so precious about making music. You can spend a whole bunch of time dithering. Learn to make decisions and trust your instinct but also develop a capacity to listen to others. Strength in numbers!

4. At this point in an interview I’d usually ask about the recording of a recent release… do you have an EP or album in the pipeline?! When can we hear it?!

Yeah we have a new EP compilation coming out on our label called "Pinhole Sounds Volume One' (named after our studio). It features two new recordings of ours - 'Wasted Eyes' and a live version of 'Borrowed and Blue. We'll be selling it on the tour! Check it out here.

5. Who is your audience and how do you connect with your fans? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

We have a real mix. We played Carlisle the other day and the age range was 16 - 65! They like beer and they like rock n' roll and harmonies. We really like playing shows in people's living rooms. The other day we played in a laundrette in Durham. It was pretty mental. We like to think we adapt to any environment.

6. The Oxford gig is the final night of the tour… do you have anything special lined up for the night, or perhaps some plans to explore the city before the show (or will catching up on sleep be top of the agenda?!)

We're going to have big party afterwards back at my bothers house who doesn't live too far away. Sunday will be a write off!

7. What would your dream gig look like? Are there any artists you’d love to play alongside or cities you haven’t visited yet as a band?

Neil Young
The Band 
Bob Dylan 
Wilco 
The Travelling Band 

 Live at The Albert Hall in Manchester.

8. What does the rest of the year hold for you, and looking towards 2017?

Nov/Dec we're going to get back in studio and work on a few side projects and get ready for releasing our new album in 2017.

The Travelling Band headline Oxford's The Bullingdon on 29th October with support from A. Dyjecinski, Arch Garrison and Great Western Tears. Tickets available through our site here!

Friday 21 October 2016

Music Venue Trust’s ‘Venues Day 2016’ - review

In July this year, The George Tavern in London’s east end won a historic case in a legal battle to prevent a block of flats being built next door. The case was significant not only because it was fought out in the High Court (supported by a host of celebrities from Kate Moss to Justin Timberlake), but because it proved a rare victory in the battle to save grassroots music venues from closure. 

The case rested on the premise that residential flats and music venues don’t often make great bedfellows. A single noise complaint can result in a venue’s license being revoked, spelling the end to centres of creativity that have been cultivated over decades.

Over the past 10 years it has been estimated that 40% of small venues have closed, a depressing figure which is born out across the UK; this despite live music being the fastest growing sector in the music industry, contributing over £3bn to the economy each year.

Why is this the case? The Music Venue Trust’s ‘Venues Day 2016’ set out to explore the issues surrounding grassroots music venues: why are they declining? What can be done not only to stop the decline but, as Mark Davyd (Founder of the MVT) asked in the opening panel, encourage new venues to open?

Over 2,500 delegates from across the UK packed into London’s Roundhouse - one of the city’s most iconic venues - for a day of panels, each focussing on different areas of concern: how to build a grassroots community; fundraising; relationships between venues, agents and promoters; legal issues etc.

Everything Everything headlining the Fightback gig after Venues Day at The Roundhouse

Sitting in on several of the panels, it was fair to assume that everyone present was there under a common banner: all agreed that grassroots venues are absolutely instrumental not only to nurturing new talent, but are also epicentres of communities. With this basic plank of agreement dealt with in the opening session, often to rapturous applause from the audience, I had assumed that the sessions would delve into the problem and work out solutions. 

But there seemed to be a disconnect between big and smaller players, who pulled against each other. A panel on promoters and venues, for example, was dominated by large promoters and small venues. Both extolled often overlapping merits of their systems: big promoters argued they supported gigs in small venues with a view of growing talent a reaping the rewards later; smaller venues believed it was that precise nurturing that was key to a growing music industry. Yet it was how the spoils of this nurturing were distributed that proved a point of friction. The big promoters said they would loss-lead on the smaller gigs, while the small venues believed they were squeezed to such a degree that they also lost money. Surely that can’t be sustainable?

Another hot point of discussion was around the relationship between independent venues, royalty collection (via the PRS) and public money (Arts Council England). How could independent venues access grants? How can we renegotiate the terms of royalty collection to give smaller venues a better deal? These are absolutely key questions and ones that the Music Venue Trust has worked tirelessly to highlight and challenge, with some brilliant results. But as Mark Davyd declared, more needs to be done. Given the vagaries of public funding, what happens to a venue the face of spending cuts? Should they put themselves in a postion in which they become dependent on these grants?

At times, as I walked around Venues Day, it felt like I was in an echo chamber. There was broad consensus about the headline issues, but then panels often got bogged down into arguments over how to cut up the cake with the tools we have.

I went to check out a panel on social media, in which representatives from Twitter, Facebook and Google gave a masterclass on how to make the most of their platforms to reach more people. It was perhaps instructive that this was the quietest session I attended, outside and in an open, windy marquee: literally and figuratively on the periphery of the debate.

Technology seemed to be absent from many of the discussions, yet surely this is where ground can be made. How can new technology build audiences, engage with fans, sell tickets? With so much innovation and data out there, how can venues and artists be brought together in a more efficient way that results in more of the revenue being directed to them?

This is, really, at the heart of everything we do at Tigmus - using technology to boil gigs back down to their core components: venues, artists and fans. We’ve proven that by harnessing artist and venue data in an efficient way, we can increase revenue for both parties while creating magical experiences for the fans. Economically the results are so clear and yet we constantly come up against an intransigent industry.

Forums like Venues Day can only help to improve things for venues and artists, but only if issues turn into debates which turn into action. My hope is that, over the coming year, new technologies like Tigmus can not only help venues make more money, but allow them to stand on their own feet as successful business, without recourse to grants and public money.

The enthusiasm and expertise is clearly there. Time to harness all that energy and redraw the map.

Sunday 16 October 2016

Eight questions with Slate Hearts

Cristina Camilla Corazza
1. Who are Slate Hearts, and where did the name come from? (a short introduction)

Hellooo we're Slate Hearts we're a 3 piece from Oxfordshire and people say we're grungy. How we got our name is a really boring story, we had managed to book a gig but needed to put some demos up online for the promoter to hear and obviously to do that we needed a name. We were going to be called CUBS but then we decide we didnt like it (boyscouts, beavers, sound like an indie band etc.) so Will's ex girlfriend pointed out that there were slate hearts hanging outside his house and in our haste thought it was a good name, now not so much but it's kinda stuck.

2. You’ve just finished up supporting on the Lucy Leave tour… how was that?! Seeing you guys at the final date of the tour you all looked like you were having the time of your lives, particularly when they invited you back up to play ‘Carry’ with them, which went down an absolute treat with the crowd.

Supporting Lucy Leave on tour was great fun. It was basically just a week of playing music, hanging out with friends and having a few beeeeers, I'd recommend it to anyone. Playing Carry with them was sweet, Ed looked so happy and so lost at the same time going back and forth between the mic and a cymbal, a beautiful site. Haha we're glad people enjoyed it too as it was a bit self indulgent of us.

3. Your ‘Blood Fluff’ EP has been out for a few months now… how has the reception been?! It was a pleasure hearing ‘Take Me To The Green’ at the Lucy Leave show - what a tune! When was the EP recorded and where, any cool stories about collaborations with other artists, producers etc?

People have told us that they like it so it can't be too bad which is cool. We recorded everything back in April and used Ed's friend's studio to record the drums (which was a bit of a waste of time as things didn't go so smoothly and we could have done them ourselves). Everything else was recorded in Ed's little shed of a studio that he built. Ed produced everything you hear on the EP as he's some kind of wizard but our friend Callum Marinho from Too Many Poets mastered it for us which was v nice of him!

4. What’s next for you, is another EP on the horizon? (If so we can't wait!)

We're currently writing new material which should eventually turn into an EP at some point so look out for that. It probably won't be as long as our previous 2 though.

5. How do you approach the songwriting process? Does it start with the lyrics or the melody, or does it vary from track to track? Do you draw on any particular musical influences?

It always starts with the melody for us and then I mumble over the top of it until they somehow turn into lyrics, I think I'd like to be more of a poet but you can't win them all. I don't think we actively draw on any particular influence, it's just a combination of them all and if we think something is sounding good we'll try and turn it into a song.

6. Who is your audience and how do you connect with your fans? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

Our audience is absolutely anyone, bring your grandma to our next gig.

7. Tell us about your dream gig… are there any venues (anywhere) you’d love to play, or a band you’d love to support, or maybe a line-up of local bands you’d love to be a part of?

Hmmmm our dream gig? That's a tough one. Maybe like headlining a packed out Oxford O2 with free beer and pizza for everyone. Yeah that sounds like it could be fun.

8. What does the rest of 2016 hold for you, and do you have plans for 2017?

We have a few gigs left currently in 2016 such as Oxjam and the Idiot King Christmas party. We are just going to try and gig as much as possible next year and really try and get ourselves out there and heard.

Sadly we haven't got any gigs with Slate Hearts coming up yet, but we love them and can't wait to work with them on more shows so watch this space (and their Tigmus profile here!)

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Eight questions with Flight Brigade

Steve Gullick
1. Who are Flight Brigade? (a short introduction)

We're seven friends who grew up very near each other in Hampshire & after going separate ways, and being in different bands at uni and stuff, we came back together. The two girls, Miriam & Dorry (violin) are sisters and Ollie (lead singer) is married to Miriam (microkorg, backing vocals) so nearly half of us are related.

2. How long have you been making music as Flight Brigade, and what have the highlights been since then?

We've gigged as Flight Brigade for five years, a recent highlight would definitely be playing Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg last month, our show completelely sold out, they had to turn a load of people away, which kind of took us by surprise. The audience were really responsive, dancing and even singing along. We'd already fallen in love with Germany but now we're totally psyched for touring there at the end of he year!

3. Your biography mentions comparisons to Arcade Fire and Of Monsters and Men… two other bands with a mix of male and female vocals (and two of our favourites!) - how do you take such comparisons, and which bands do you find inspiration in?

These are both bands we admire hugely, both for their albums and their live shows. Arcade Fire especially have incredible intensity on stage and are so good at drawing the crowd into the experience, we're deeply honoured if people do say they see a comparison. We also love heavier bands, especially Queens of The Stone Age, & Nine Inch Nails. Our drummer's a metal- head and is always introducing us to his latest discovery.

4. Your debut album ‘Our Friends Our Enemies’ is being released in a couple of weeks… how exciting is that?! When was it recorded, and where? Tell us if there are any interesting stories about producers and session players you met and worked with!

We recorded it by the sea in Eastbourne, of all places, you don't associate Eastbourne with rock music but it's a great studio called Echo Zoo, with a huge live room and lots of vintage gear. We had the chance to record drums, bass & guitar playing together to try to capture some of the energy of a gig. We also recorded the singing together which was something we were dead keen to do. The studio is literally a one minute walk from the sea so, when we took breaks we got to walk out on the beach which makes you feel so good and gets rid of any cabin fever.

5. Who is your audience and how do you connect with your fans? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

We seem to have quite a broad range of fans. We often seem to find ourselves meeting Canadian and German fans after playing gigs which excites us as we're heading to Germany but would also love to tour Canada too of course! We still find Facebook the most useful way to let people know about things that are happening and especially for inviting people to gigs. We've some fans who volunteer at the festivals we play at, it's really heart warming to get a message asking where we'll be playing cause they're planning their summer and wanna know where to apply to volunteer.

6. What are you doing to prepare for the album release tour? Any surprises in store? The Oxford date falls in the latter half of the tour… how do you keep band morale up when you’re on the road?

We've been meeting up for 'Band Camp' -taking a weekend to play & work on a few new songs too, just to throw somethin new in the mix and keep things fresh! We always like to have a couple new toons to road test. We keep up band morale by listening to Kenny Loggins & watching Baseball! But seriously, we just try to ignore small annoyances and remember how lucky we are to be with a group of close mates travelling round playing music.

7. What would your dream gig look like? Are there any artists you’d love to play alongside or cities you haven’t visited yet as a band?

Our top dream would be to support Death Cab For Cutie touring round America. We haven't played in the US yet but would lurve a road trip and Death Cab are huge heroes of ours.

8. After this 17-date tour, what does the rest of the year hold for you? A break? Any plans for 2017 yet?

No break, nooo, we head off to tour Germany and Holland (soon to be announced- we're supporting a Finnish band on tour) so it's pretty all-go till Christmas which will be a well deserved break we reckon! We haven't thought too much about 2017 yet - just enjoying what we're up to today!

Flight Brigade headline a show at Oxford's The Cellar on 21st October, with Harry Pane and Water Pageant supporting - tickets available here

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Eight questions with Wille and The Bandits


1. Who are Wille and The Bandits? (a short introduction)

Wille - Lead Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Lapsteel, Weissenbourne, Dobro 
Matt - Six string Bass, Five string Double Bass, Foot Piano, Vocals, Percussion 
Drew - Drums, Djembe, Tongue Drum, Vocals

2. Your upcoming tour is in support of the new record ‘Steal’ - when was it recorded, and where? If there are any interesting stories about meeting producers and session players and working with them, let us know!

The album was recorded and produced by Dave Williams in analogue at the Grange studios. The studio is one of the last remaining analogue studios and recording reel to reel tape was an amazing experience. When recording in this way it is all about playing live together much like how the old classic records were made. I think with us being at our best live, it has a really bought the energy we put into live shows. We were also very fortunate to have Don Airey the Hammond Organist of Deep Purple play on the record. He is a great guy and as expected has done a fantastic job on the keys!

3. The album is set for release in January but fans can grab a copy early at the upcoming tour… surely that's incentive enough to get along to the shows! Do you think it’s pretty important to let fans that come out to see you live get the first chance to listen to the record?

It is something very important to us, especially with our roots coming from playing in pubs and our DIY ethic which has always meant we have had a very close relationship with our fans. Without our fans we would not lead the life we have playing music full time and touring the world. So for us I think it was a way of giving something back.

4. How would you describe your audience and how do you connect with them? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

We are very lucky that we have a massive age range in our audiences the older generation love the more retro side of the band harking back to Pink Floyd and Led Zeplplinn in the riffs and guitar solos but we incorporate more modern influences in our music that the younger crew enjoy.

5. You’re touring pretty extensively over October and November… what does playing live mean to you as a band, and how do you manage to keep spirits high on the road for that long?

We love playing Live and love being on the road, the social aspect of meeting new people and the constant changing of landscapes and cultures breeds inspiration. I think also travelling with your music to different countries is a great way of seeing the world as you are not treated like a tourist and people make a special effort to make you feel very welcome. We are all lucky that we have a good crew that all get on and enjoy each others company which is important when playing so much.

6. After your huge crowd at Cropredy we imagine you’re pretty excited for Oxford… what can we expect from the show?!

There will be many of the new songs from the album “Steal” in there with some older classics. Being that it is our own show we also have a longer set which allows us to create different dynamics and take the audience on more of a musical journey.

7. What does your dream gig look like? Are there any artists you’d love to play alongside or support, or perhaps a city you haven’t yet visited as a band?

I think we all would love to tour in the USA and to visit some of the great music cities such as Nashville,New Orleans and Austin and it is very much on the cards too.

8. After touring the UK and Europe, what does the rest of the year hold for you, particularly looking towards 2017? A big rest?!

More touring, More travelling and more FUN!

Wille & The Bandits headline Oxford's Jericho Tavern for us as part of their October tour... tickets are available here for the cheapest price (and no booking fees!) Details about the rest of their tour on their site.