All posts tagged fresh on the net

Delete as applicable: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Looking Inward, Looking Stupid.

Wednesday 7 January, 2015
Tags: album, bedlam six, fab radio international, fresh on the net, musicians union, snowapple, tom robinson, youth

New Year’s Day and Epiphany are both rapidly fading in the rear view mirror so I suspect I’ve missed the window for a 2014 retrospective. Probably for the best, retrospectives tend to be more for the writer than the reader, it’s a way to get a sense of closure on a year whilst simultaneously smuggling out old news under the guise of new writing.

So rather than posting a month by month roundup of events I’ve opted for a sort of existential belch. A pause, a glance over the shoulder, a deep breath and then a continuance.

For me 2014 was a good year on paper but one that left no lingering sense of satisfaction. The Bedlam Six released what most of us deem to be our best work yet (the album “Youth” – available here); it received good reviews from both crowds and critics before disappearing down the plughole of cultural indifference without leaving so much as a ripple. It’s fine, that happened to Tom Petty’s new album too. Later in the year we played some relatively impressive shows across the UK, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, most were healthily attended, many sold out (a few were the opposite but they probably clashed with football matches or something, right?). A more zealous PR man than I would have polished it all up into a big glistening progress-shaped press release but it all felt rather same-old-same-old and I couldn’t help notice my knees were starting to hurt after the nightly power slides. So we promptly disbanded to nurse our wounds and look quizzically at our respective bank balances.

My favourite moments of 2014 were those that took place out of my comfort zone. I joined the newly-formed Live Performance Committee at the Musicians’ Union, became a radio presenter on Fab Radio International and accepted an invitation from Tom Robinson to join his team of moderators at Fresh On The Net. All three of these new positions have done wonders for invigorating my sense of the greater music scene. Context can be a terrifying thing, but it also enriches our understanding and appreciation of everything we decide to view as important.

In other news I shaved off my trademark moustache during a photoshoot with Manchester legend Karen McBride. It kind of made sense at the time, when I first grew the thing in 2008 moustaches were artistic shorthand for “loser” and “deluded throwback” – stereotypes that suited the angry little narrator of my Bedlam Six songs. Now they’re synonymous with cereal cafes, beanie hats and tumblr, I’m not sure the look really chimes with my thwarted little protagonist. Maybe I’m just over-thinking it. I did a lot of over-thinking in 2014.

So, looking ahead… I think the main thing I want to continue in 2015 is the attempt to keep eroding all the “industry” bullshit that everyone seems to think is so essential to our everyday lives as musicians, putting up pointless walls between audience and artist in an attempt to make the latter feel more authentic. At the label we began an ongoing project of public recording sessions whereby we’d put together tracks in full view of anyone with a passing interest in the process. We also started holding Bedlam Socials where we’d just let our audience know when we’d all be in the pub at the same time so anyone who fancied it could come over and say hi without having to buy a ticket to a gig or negotiate a website contact form. I know, it’s not exactly the fall of the Berlin Wall but it’s a gesture of sorts. So, yes, more of that sort of thing.

As for new projects, I’m currently recording a solo album that should be out in Spring (NB I tend to say “Spring” when talking about things that aren’t finished yet – it always seems so far away when one is shivering in the Winter chill, so infinitely achievable… it’ll probably be out in the Autumn really) and there’s a musical I’m about a sixth of the way through writing (I hope to finish that this year but as for when it might ever see a stage, who knows). And there’s a novel. But there bloody would be wouldn’t there? Don’t hold your breath for that. I’ll also continue writing songs for people with better voices than mine (that’s a pretty wide net I’m casting there) because my single greatest joy of 2014 was hearing Snowapple sing the song I wrote for them. Hopefully something similar will happen again this year.

Anyway, I won’t say “here’s to 2015!” because it’s probably high time to just get on with the damn thing.

Better The Demo You Know

Sunday 21 December, 2014
Tags: fresh on the net, music industry

Sometimes the best teachers are not our elders but our contemporaries.

At Fresh On The Net we’ve just sifted through the final batch of submissions for 2014. As usual there was everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I’ve learned a lot from Tom Robinson’s music site since joining the moderation team at the beginning of the year. True, working at a label means I’m no stranger to demo submissions but until I became a FreshMod there was no effective framework within which to satisfactorily listen to unfiltered independent music.

One thing I suspect all label stooges can agree on is that there is NEVER an ideal time to get contacted by an unknown artist wanting attention/advice/affirmation/adoration. Even if there are four minutes at your disposal with which to listen to a new track does that artist really want to be judged by someone who has just spent three hours battling with the PPL database and is about to spend the rest of the day attempting to fill the annoying Tuesday gap on a tour that begins next week? Surely such a listener will just hate everything in the world, they’d probably hate the bloody Beatles. I’m a songwriter myself and I know what the ideal listening circumstances are: a sealed silent room and a freshly peeled mind ready to appreciate every nuanced lyric and lovingly ignore every botched metaphor. But no one listens like that, there’s always distraction: your phone might ring at the start of the game-changing tuba solo, the dog will want to go outside just when the really impressive bagpipe harmony kicks in, you’ll miss the incandescent pay-off in the closing verse because a starling has fallen down the chimney and is now flapping soot all over the chaise-long.

Music is never born within a vacuum, neither is it consumed in one.

And what is the arch nemesis of every unknown band? EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD. Particularly the lives of their potential listenership.

Yes I have a thirst for new art but No I don’t want it flung at me all day from all angles, especially not accompanied by inane second-hand PR nonsense about how much “buzz” so-and-so has, how “hotly tipped” they are and how this will “definitely be their year”.

When exactly did Music and Bullshit become such persistent bedfellows?

But every Thursday I sit down to listen to about 150 tracks of all genres, unaccompanied by explanation or excuse. The songs are bereft of clothing and context, entirely at the mercy of human patience. And the best thing about this strange mixed bag of high hopes and hot air? Just that, it’s a mixed bag.

It’s all too easy to get duped into believing the music business is one clear linear narrative of trend begetting trend – Rihanna then Adele then Cyrus then Swift… like some kind of pop evolutionary diagram.

But every week emerging artists send us brand new stuff of all flavours: indie, rock, shoegaze, hip-hop, ambient, electronica, reggae, dance, folk, country, alternative, punk, jazz… almost all of it produced to a professional standard. This is what new musicians are up to – EVERYTHING.

I am so encouraged by this variety, simply because it is so at odds with what the dreary mainstream media would have us believe.

That’s not the only thing I have learned though. Regularly confronting such a tangle of talent and trash has taught me a lot about the attitudes all musicians are up against – because I adopt those attitudes myself. Unfortunately (for me at least) the only workable criteria when confronted by such a formidable deluge of new material is (at first glance anyway) “What do I hate the least?”
Sad isn’t it?

These songs are loved by those that made them and they are loved by those that love those that made them and, with the help of some cultural eruption that somehow makes them the soundtrack to every sixteen year old’s GCSE results day, could potentially be loved by an entire generation. But, to me, most are merely new assemblages of old cliches and the skip button looks mighty enticing.

This process has explained why so much of my own early songwriting got ignored by reviewers. Why didn’t they appreciate that extended intro? Didn’t it effectively set the scene and shepherd the listener into exactly the right mood to properly appreciate the song? No. No it most certainly did not. Poor anonymous reviewer was waiting for the damn thing to get to the damn point so they could make their own judgement about whether or not it was the sort of thing their magazine/website/radio show even covered (let alone liked). Ten extended dramatic intros later and anonymous reviewer is beginning to wonder whether reality itself is melting or just his brain. A hundred extended dramatic intros later and aforementioned brain has been blown all over the walls by a self-administered bullet.

But the wonderful thing is that once I’ve whittled the 150 songs down to my 15-20 “What Don’t I Hate” list then I can properly listen and decide what I actually actively like. And that’s when the pleasure begins. Like picking flowers rather than pulling weeds.

Then after the most popular tracks go through to public appraisal we take it in turns to write reviews of the favourites before starting the whole process again. When it was my turn to write the reviews (http://freshonthenet.co.uk/2014/07/faves116/) I resolved to like everything (sometimes necessitating no small amount of willpower!). And what was the final lesson I learned from Fresh On The Net? That if you really want to like something then you’ll probably end up liking it quite a lot. Indeed that’s what we do with all art: it makes no sense until it somehow invades (or is invited into) our world, then once it’s there becomes one of the things that not only makes sense in our world but makes sense of our world.

Unfortunately for artists that do not have the zeitgeist (or the media) at their disposal the process by which one ingratiates oneself into the cultural imagination still largely relies on uncourtable serendipity jumbled up amongst the peculiar personal prejudices of individuals just as confused as the artists themselves.

Still, if it was easy everyone would do it.

Hang on, I just looked online… it seems everyone does do it.

Fresh On The Net

Wednesday 4 June, 2014
Tags: bbc, fresh on the net, introducing, tom robinson

Fresh On The Net logo

Ever since I first saw the Secret Policeman’s Ball footage of “Glad To Be Gay” from 1979 I’ve been a huge admirer of Tom Robinson. Subsequently, when I became a full-time independent musician (then later a label hassler) and was looking for ways of both promoting myself and discovering new music, my admiration for Tom was renewed and reinforced. Through his radio shows, lectures and blogs he has become a sort of Gandalf figure to the DIY Fellowship (do I go too far?). Indeed, over the years Tom has given almost everyone on the Debt roster their first taste of national radio airplay, a tremendous boost in morale to any artist. His influence on the current UK independent scene is inestimable.

Over the last couple of years I’ve tried many ways to keep myself from becoming too cynical. It’s not easy though. I’ve seen floundering artists rebrand themselves as entrepreneurs, play-acting with a dwindling currency of second-hand industry fairytale jargon; seen good venues close down, seen bad ones get worse, decent promoters give up completely, corrupt ones become ever more predatory… It’s sometimes hard to stay optimistic.

Even harder is maintaining a sense of context. For a while I developed a kind of tunnel-vision wherein all I could see was my own band and the world’s reaction to it.

THAT WAY MADNESS LIES.

And this is where Fresh On The Net came to the rescue. It’s a website that grew out of Tom’s BBC Introducing show. As well as featuring guest articles and how-to pieces pertaining to the music industries there’s a listening post where bands submit their tracks for feedback (and a possible play on the radio). For me what began as a place to throw my own stuff became a place to be reminded about the diversity of new/underground UK music. And yes, some of it is utterly dreadful. And some of it transcends superlatives. But crucially, all of it means something to someone.

Since that first introduction I’ve made it a part of my general routine to visit the listening post every week and remind myself of the wider community of artists I belong to as an independent practitioner.

In this sense, I guess Fresh On The Net is my periscope.

And this week I got an email from Tom asking me if I’d like to join his team.

And I said yes.

See you at the Listening Post.

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