The Bedlam Six now has a snazzy new electronic press kit featuring interviews, promo and live footage plus rare clips of the band. Hopefully this five minute film will capture pretty much everything anyone needs to know about the band.
“Three Down, Four To Go” Cover Art
This is the cover art for our upcoming single. Once again photography is courtesy of the brilliant Grebo Gray (who also provided images for our Memoir Noir EP sleeve). Released on Debt Records 22nd October.
New Article: “‘Twixt Underdog And Overlord: On Amanda Palmer”
The problem with success is that it can be expensive to maintain. You might enter a raffle and win a Rolls Royce, but what’s the point if you can’t afford the fuel?
There’s been a lot of Amanda Palmer bashing going on over the last few days. If you haven’t heard about it (or her) here’s the brief gist:
Former Dresden Doll famed for dramatic and inclusive stage shows raises over a million dollars ($1,192,793 to be exact) to fund her self-released album and its accompanying tour through the crowd-sourcing website/phenomenon Kickstarter. As a consequence she is promptly crowned empress of the modern DIY model, “Exhibit A” for any anti-label argument and general pin-up for the “pay-what-you-want” philosophy. She then angers the artistic community for putting an advert on her website asking string and brass players to join her regular salaried ensemble for selected dates on her tour and perform for NO PAY.
Impressive numbers and recent controversy aside, she is pretty amazing, proving to possess almost Christ-like powers in converting her audience into acolytes, not to mention investors and contributors.
But the rules change when you become one of life’s winners. Palmer has drawn damning criticism for extending the crowd-sourcing model into the human realm, calling for fans to accompany her for “beer and hugs”.
Press Release: “Three Down, Four To Go”
In 1895 an express train travelling from Granville to Paris overran a buffer stop and crossed over thirty metres of concourse before plummeting through a window at the Gare Montparnasse. One hundred and seventeen years to the day after that catastrophic but oh-so-photogenic moment, Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six release their latest single “Three Down, Four To Go” like a steam locomotive through a station wall.
In the manner of most train wrecks, however, this release has not been on the cards for long.
“We hadn’t originally planned on releasing the track at this time” says Louis, “but we’ve been playing this new number throughout festival season and at the end of each performance it’s the one that gets singled out by people we meet afterwards, they’ve been asking where they can get hold of a copy so we figured we’d better record and release it ASAP.”
The release date itself is an auspicious one throughout history, full of great leaps (both literal and metaphoric – some positive and some, like the train, less so). 22nd October was, in 1797, the day of the first recorded parachute jump (by André-Jacques Garnerin) and, in 1879, Thomas Edison’s first successful test of the incandescent light bulb.
“The song itself is loosely based on the Seven Ages Of Man and the Seven Deadly Sins as well as the usual stuff about love and revenge” says Louis, “but we’re trying not to be too fancy with this one as those are old themes that very much speak for themselves. Really the whole thing is just a vehicle for a massive, face-melting riff – indeed it’s our most unashamed rock number yet – that’s probably why it’s had such an enthusiastic response.”
The accompanying music video is also a little different from The Bedlam Six’s usual promotional material. This one is being created entirely by the audience.
“We sent out messages via social media announcing the upcoming release and calling for weird and wonderful footage to edit into a music video. We’ve had a great response in all sorts of visual styles; it’s great to include more people in the process. Thinking about it, this whole release has been a collaboration with the audience – from choosing what song to record, to how it’s marketed etc… it’s been a fantastic journey and I hope they enjoy the results!”
NOTES TO EDITORS
“Three Down, Four To Go” by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six is released through Debt Records on Monday 22nd October 2012.
There will be two launch parties: the first at Islington Mill in Salford on Thursday 18th October and the second at The Picket in Liverpool on Saturday 20th October.
Un-Conversations
As you may know I do some work with Un-Convention and occupy a place on their board. They are currently putting together a series of short videos made by people who work in the music business. I’m very flattered that they invited me to take part and say a few words about my experiences as an independent musician and general plate-spinner.
I must admit I find this kind of thing difficult though. I enjoy writing my thoughts down and I also enjoy talking to people. What I am not good at is sitting alone having a one-way conversation with a camera prompted only by a list of questions such as “what advice would you give young musicians” (every path is different and no two artists are alike – it is hard to give any useful tips when one is addressing oneself to a void). I guess that’s why they’re called “Un-Conversations” – they are about as far from a conversation as it is possible to get!
My friend Andrew Dubber recorded the one before mine and he is a hard act to follow, a very confident man who knows his own mind. I imagine he filmed his in the ten minutes between finishing his latest book and hopping on a plane to Guatemala. I, on the other hand, ended up talking for about half an hour at least, rambling on about juggling roles, definitions of success and staying motivated, spinning one questionable analogy after another and generally tying myself in knots. In the end I managed to cut it down to just under ten minutes of content that I hope is vague enough not to alienate anyone but also honest enough to be of some use to emerging artists. The stuff I edited out (mostly personal gripes about industry con-men and the occasional moment where I bang my head against the desk and cry “what the hell am I going on about?!”) is the usual ranting that happens in my Keyhole Observations series of articles so feel free to peruse those whenever you have a couple of idle months to spare).
The Un-Converations series can be found at the Un-Convention website (more to be uploaded soon I gather).
