Kim Lowings: the tricky path twixt traditional and brand new

Traditional music and powerhouse songwriting. Delivered digitally, of course. 

Photo: Laura Whittington

It turned out to be a busy day. I needed a rare vinyl 7" for a show I'm producing. There's only a few hundred copies. But, lo! a dusty copy is unearthed from a King's Heath attic.

Just as well I was in the neighborhood. Long before questions of exotic vinyl, I'd set up a chat not remotely to do with vinyl nostalgia.This was to be all about right now, with a storming folk talent: Kim Lowings.

Kim Lowings heads up Kim Lowing and the Greenwood: a powerful, articulate, highly intelligent folk-oriented local outfit. The new album swings between Kim's own songs, which are resolutely modern, and traditional material. And Kim just happens to have a fantastic voice. Comfortably settled in over coffee, it looks like things are starting to kick off for her and the band. But we did, actually, touch on vinyl. In the end.. 

All that Ruby Turner Is

Straighten up and fly right! Ruby's still in the game, and that makes me happy.

 Photo: Caroline Harriott at PurpleOrange

It's a nice afternoon – sunny and bright. King's Heath is managing to look quite pretty, which is no mean feat. I've fixed to have a catchup with Ruby Turner. Normally it would be at her place, but the builders are in. So the excellent Adam Regan has kindly given us the back bar of the Hare and Hounds to chat in. That makes six blog interviews so far at the Hare – Katherine Priddy, Goodnight Lenin, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls upstairs in the dressing rooms, Brian Travers and Terry and Gerry downstairs – and now, Ruby. There's a new album. Out on her own label again, 'All That I Am' packs a very wide range of punches.

Ruby and I go back a loooong way. When she was a wee slip of a girl, just starting out, she was surrounded by some of Birmingham's best musicians. We did sessions at the old BRMB, she gigged at the 70s Lark in The Park at Cannon Hill. It was grand. Ruby wound up representing commercial radio at the European Broadcasting Union Rock Festival, with me elected as tour manager. It was testing - half the band disappeared into a bar at Frankfurt station the moment we got in from the airport. They eventually showed up in Nuremberg, 140 miles down the road, slightly the worse for wear. Ruby went on to to tear the place up and down and sideways. Gratifyingly, Ruby and band completely blew Radio 1's entry away. We were on a tight budget; the BBC mob was definitely not. Score one for the indies. 

Decades down the line, Ruby is still at the top of her game. Now, when not touring with Jools Holland, she runs her own band. She picks the musicians, rehearses them, and keeps them in line. And with the possible exception of the great Steve Gibbons, she's had the longest recording and gigging career of any Birmingham musician that I've been lucky enough to work with.

These days, it's not a question of begging for pathetic airplay scraps at risk-averse local radio. Ruby takes it to the top, scoring a huge chunk of time on the top show on the UK's biggest station, guesting on Chris Evans' breakfast show on Radio 2. 

So... the new album. Lots of nice things being said about it. Lots of airplay on BIG shows on the big station – Chris Evans on Radio 2 is a cracking way to tell the world... But it's taken a while since your last. Why?

It took a very long time. There was so much going on. As you know, a lot of tours with Jools... then I had to find a new producer to work with. Cos you know I used to work with Bob Lamb – the last album, Moving On, was amazing. But Bob decided to quit and leave. That left me in limbo. He was a great friend and a wonderful producer. We had a great connection musically. But I understood why he had to call it a day – he just wasn't happy.

But look, Ruby, you now have vast professional experience and a brilliant reputation – you could have your pick of great people.

I guess I can. But I keep to a small circle of friends that I know. The truth is I work well with these people, and I always go back to them, where I always feel comfortable and I can be myself. I'm not saying I wouldn't venture out and work with new exciting producers. But unless you're a huge name and you've got a huge record company behind you, then nobody's really interested. So I work with what I've got,. That's the story of life – work with what you got.

You've got some killer musicians to work with, though

I am blessed, yes.

You're writing a lot more these days.

I guess it's confidence and life experiences. With any album, the process is – you get writing. Obviously you have a producer in mind, but in Bob's absence, I kept writing anyway. I'm learning. Learning to be myself and to trust myself. We all have our stories. I've gathered a few myself. I feel quite liberated and, dare I say it, quite grown up!

You kick off with a gospel track that nails it from the first lick.

I cut that as a prayer. 

Then there's an older track – your duet with Passenger. 

This is a much more ambitious album technically. You've even got show tunes. That's a bit of a mix.

Well, that's me. It's what I am. Way back I did a wonderful night of Gerschwin. It was like a moment of time. Great days. When I was putting the album together, that was my thinking. I was going to put Embraceable You on there. Then Time It Was came up.

Even though your faith pumps thought every bone in your body,you've still got a cheatin' and lyin' song there. Dark End Of The Street: the classic country song of adultery and deception

Humans. Human failing, It's all that we are. There's a track on there called Ask Me. There's a line that goes

I'll Tell You I Ain't No Saint

I Got My Faults And I'll Take Some Blame.

I wanted to do our failings, our spirituality, our longings...all those things that makes us human.

So what kind of reaction have you had?

Oh, great. I've had feedback from America, where I don't have a deal at the moment. Everything is happening so quickly. But because I'm working so hard with Jools Holland, I don't have quite enough time to look after all that. But - lots of airplay – Radio 2 have been very good to me. It means an awful lot.

Tell me about being a working muso. You've done this for over thirty years.

It's a battle. You have to be match-fit. I've got some down time before the next tour. So I'm doing badminton, and walking and swimming. Make sure you've got the lung power and the stamina. A fitness level that will take you through the day to day stuff – sitting in cars for hours, lugging your cases into hotel rooms.

Eating right?

Oh yes. You got to start the tour in a good place. You got to hit the stage running, at your peak, every gig. Some people use Jack Daniels. I don't. It's about taking care of yourself. Dairy can present problems. You got to keep yourself hydrated. And plenty of sleep. And walks, plenty of fresh air. I'm hanging in there.

And where's that kid who plays piano with you?

Reuben James? I got a text saying 'I've just landed in DC' ...that's Washington. So he's off and flying. He's had to put college on hold. I can say to Reuben: Well done, and good luck, mate'. Spoke to him mum a couple of days back. Bless her, she's so concerned. He came to me when he was eighteen. So talented. So I said - the first rule is to get a roof over your head. Invest that as soon as you can. Instead of renting and sleeping on other people's bean bags – get yourself a roof.

That's what you do at that age

If I look back on myself, it was the same. No holds barred Yeah, I'm having this. But as we get older, those walls get harder to climb.

Ruby and her band of desperadoes, Nuremberg, 1984. Spot the faces...

Know what? I'm so pleased that we can have talk like this after over thirty years. It's life-affirming.

I'll never forget Nuremberg! Have you seen that photo floating around on Facebook? With you looking terrified in the background, and me looking like Ma Rainey...

Know why I was scared? Stopping the renegades in your band sparking up on the train back to Frankfurt.... with German police walking up and down the corridors...

Ha!

Links
Ruby Turner website. Ruby would just love it if you bought her album here.

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Erica Nockalls - she's going to melt your iPhone

"Music isn't free, it takes time, effort and energy, training and all the rest of it. I want to see something for it."

In the September sunshine, backstage at Moseley Folk, Erica Nockalls was all smiles. She'd just played a breezy set as half of Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls – see this earlier blog post. Sunday was her birthday; the MoFo boys had given her a cake, which she cheerily shared around. 

But now we're already, suddenly, deep into Autumn. Things are getting more intense, with a new solo album coming up in October: EN2. Erica is selling the album directly from her site.

It's a world away from her work with Miles Hunt, The Wonder Stuff or the Proclaimers: self-financed, self-produced, self-distributed and self-marketed. And it's punchy as hell. 

It's a move on from her first, Imminent Room.

Erica explains: "The music is more progressive, more quirky, still maintaining melody and pop sensibilities. My first record came out on a record label, and I was very happy with how it went. But I'm not a fan of doing things twice. I wanted to self release to have complete control over my rights. It's not going to be on iTunes for now. It shan't be available on Amazon."

That's very precise. 

"Once you realise that every aspect of the music industry is seemingly totally sewn up, it's liberating to not have to ask for permission, validation or approval from anybody to make my own music. Why should I? Once you stop trying to please or impress people, then that's when the good stuff happens. 

"I started writing EN2 on January 1st this year. I wanted to create a record and release it within the year. I get bored of my own ideas quickly. I wanted a more urgent sounding record. I also wanted to make as much of this album by myself, so it's a true representation of what I'm capable of. It's entirely self produced, though I called in a huge favour from guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite on five tracks. I also sought the opinion and assistance of a record producer/sound engineer friend, Simon Efemey. He works with Napalm Death and produces heavy metal bands. It's completely undiluted, which is what I wanted." 

What about distribution and sales?

"I'm pressing up 1000 CD copies of EN2 and for now, these will only be available to pre-order through my site. That's to generate income to pay for mastering, manufacturing and distribution. Once those copies are sold, I may consider the usual bullshit iTunes route. If a label shows any interest after that, then I'll consider my options. I'm doing it my way first. A basic version of crowd funding! It feels like right, and most importantly, it's fair to everyone involved. 

You said specifically it shan't be on Amazon. 

"You just get ripped off left right and centre. Everyone takes their little percentage and before you know, you've just spent seven or eight months toiling over something for very little in the way of reward. And I'm not being greedy. I'm not being a bread-head about any of this - it's just music isn't free, it takes time, effort and energy, training and all the rest of it. I want to see something for it. If I do break even, the extra money can help fund my live band, which costs an absolute fortune. Everybody's band does. 

You present a very precise image. I think that reinforces the online loyalty you've generated: you have an unusually passionate following. 

"We do have some very nice fans. Mainly Wonder Stuff fans! I don't think I've particularly got my own audience yet for the Erica Nockalls Band, but this may change. 

It's very nice that The Wonder Stuff audience has taken to you.

"It's incredibly nice. I'm overwhelmed that they've taken to me, and I really appreciate their support.

When you're running your own band, do you have to be a bastard?

"Absolutely not. You have to be fair, you have to be kind and you have to give praise where praise is due. And surround yourself with musicians who are smart, intelligent, kind, fun and who like your music.

That's an ideal. How do you achieve that?

"It's not easy. I'm on my second line up already, and the band haven't been playing live for much more than a year. It's hard keeping a relationship going with four other people. It's hard enough with one other person. If we had to spend a lot of time on the road together, it would be more difficult. It's not yet an issue. We're all getting on.

From the first Erica Nockalls album, Imminent Room                          

Tell me about the extras: the bundles and packages. Your marketing strategy.

"So. The videos made for Imminent Room: there are nice things used in these that I have no further use for. Take Serpentine City: I have some ex-Soviet gas masks that we used in the video. If anybody wants them, they can buy them along with a record from my website. I'm going to have a nice menu: interesting, quirky prizes that you can buy.

That's almost crowd funding.

This fetching hat could be yours.   

"It's my own version of Pledge but I don't have to pay 15% to someone who's not doing anything. I don't think Pledge are ripping people off. I'm not saying Pledge is a bad thing, it's not for me. And to give percentages away before you've even sold your first copy just seems counter-productive. 

Ok. Apart from the gas masks, your hats...

"...necklaces, clothing, paintings, yes. 

I have an album art exhibition coming up in October. It's a new gallery - Havill and Travis - that's opening in Harborne in Birmingham. The launch night is Friday 17th October - invites only - and it then runs for 10 days.

I'm going to paint a piece for every track on my new record . These oil paintings will come in album order as you walk around the art gallery; there'll be listening booths where you can listen to a piece of music, with a pair of headphones, and view a piece of art that's directly inspired by a track. It's not an easy thing to do.

Closing Of Day: a  painting by Erica Nockalls, available in print form from her site    

"And it's invitation only, with a limited amount of guest passes available from my website. So when you pre-order an EN2 copy of the physical record you can also get tickets to the exhibition."

Some of your online stuff is sweetly candid. You put personal stuff up: it's charming... but here, there's a slight aloofness - red carpets and such... is there a conflict there?

"I don't think so. It's important for people to see you as approachable if you want them to buy the music. I don't have any issue there – I'm not that personal. You have to be careful of negativity. If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

"I do try to be engaging, and I enjoy watching people discuss their points of view. I share my personal interests publicly, mainly for my own amusement. I talk a lot about food, booze and art."

Smartphones in the crowd: I really dislike audience videos. You have a technique for that...

"Yes. My band are quite heavy. Simon Efemy does our sound. He knows what I want. If it feels like you're being hoofed in the stomach by a raging horse, and your head feels like it's going to crack open cause it's so loud - then that's what I'm going for. It's quality loudness. I have it so incredibly loud that poor little camera phones can't deal with it."

Ha! Melt those microphones! But there is volume and volume.

"Yes there is, it has to be quality and it has to cover all the different frequencies. My band doesn't sound like me playing the violin with backing. Everybody is as important as everybody else."

Links
Erica Nockalls website

The Album
EN2 is available directly from Erica's website, initially in a limited edition CD run. 

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Boat To Row. They rock.

Boat, schmoat... the new video is going like a train

Boat To Row at All Tomorrow's Leaving, December 2013

Boat To Row's Lydia Glanville and Anna Louise Bennett are cheerily considering how things are over hipster coffee, while Michael King parks up and finds change for the meter. 

The hot topics are a tour, a single on vinyl and download, their own label, and a video shot for very little money. We're weighing up what they should charge for the single launch gig on February 28th, with the vinyl thrown in. It's all very impressive, garlanded with effortless, unflappable charm. 

Maybe they're horrible cynical bastards with a devilishly smooth act aimed at suckers like me.

Nah, they're lovely. They really are. 

Getting your music on the air - get the basics right and then work up.

UPDATED as of August 2013: Kris Halpin, who kicked off this whole post, has now scored  favourable reactions from Tom Robinson at 6music

It's never easy to get your new stuff on the radio, but you can do a lot to help your chances.

Plenty of barriers to get round, past, through, or over

I got an email from a muso pal, Kris Halpin....  “I’ve got a new direction. I think it’s commercial – certainly it’s my best chance for success to date. And it’s picked up a bit of local airplay. You’re a radio guy – what do I do next?”   Kris's new direction - and it is indeed well-crafted and commercial - can be found later in this post. 

So what do I tell Kris? Does radio work for musos in 2013? It’s not what it was. I hear that with a few exceptions, big radio is over as a tool to sell records. We don’t need radio to get new music; its importance has declined. 

But I think that the right local music programmed the right way can serve local radio very nicely as part of the mix. So maybe that's where to start. But to do this, to use radio, you have to do the legwork: all of it, consistently, all the time, everywhere. 

I talked to a lot of people about this; here’s a distillation. A basic and incomplete recipe for 2013 progress. It may be what you need; it may be entirely wrong. There's some great tips here – like Toy Hearts’ detailed social media strategy tips, quoted verbatim because they are so good. All after the jump. 

The Traps: T-Shirts! Music! Er... Interesting Slogans! A band-operated Record Label!

You're a band, and you run your own label. Sounds great, doesn't it? Puts you ahead of the pack, right? Well... maybe. It can make for even more work than simply keeping the act afloat, and normally that's quite enough for most people. But there are compensations, and it can develop from a simple idea into something bigger.

Nick Berry is one of The Traps, a fine and inventive band of this parish, and one of the many very pleasant high points of the Songwriters Cafe 2012 season. They kicked off a label, Speech Fewapy, to go with their own recordings, and then those of some pals. The label has become a brand, extending to clothing and, for a brief period, a rather inventive radio show that aired weekly(ish) on Rhubarb Radio. As far as small-scale local labels go, SF are in good company, with Friendly Fire, Stately Homes of England’s Spritely Records, Misty’s Big Adventure‘s Grumpy Fun Records, Silvery Records in Coventry, and Friends of The Stars’ Commercially Inviable all raising their heads fitfully above the parapet when there’s a release to big up.


So tell me about your label...

It came about two years ago. We were getting very tired of the ‘write three songs, record three songs and send them off to A&R people to chase a deal’ routine. We found we were recording single-type songs, not songs that were suited to albums or EPs. So we set up Speech Fewapy records… 

When you say; ’set up a label’, what are you talking about, exactly?

Funnily enough, I’m reading a book about that at the moment – what makes you an official ‘label’ – like a company, or a business? Actually it wasn’t like that. We set up a website online, and released everything, digitally, through that. We didn’t have a plan. We did think of eventually stepping that up as it grew, including having physical product.  

 We had some t shirts made, hand-drawn, with ‘You Need Speech Fewapy’ as a slogan, very much influenced by the old Stiff Records t-shirts. 

You mean the old ‘If It Ain’t Stiff, It Ain’t Worth A Fuck’ t-shirts? I had one of those…. 

Yes. I had a repro version! Anyway, we had about 150 of those made, and they really worked as our marketing tool. Interesting, but accidental, although very successful! It gave our label a personality, which was really important.

Then we started to look at releasing other artists. We got Greg Bird and Flamingo Flame on board. We’d really liked the work he’d done with Sunset Cinema Club.

At the start of our chat, you described the 20th century record company model label and the problems in the way they worked with artists. We’re well into the 21st century, and things have changed - for the better in some ways, and in other ways decidedly not. But that 20th century model was very damaging for bands. Bands wound up jumping to the tune of the A&R men…

Exactly. When you start a band, you do it for the love of it, the fun and the music. The deeper you go into any kind of involvement with the music industry, the more you run the risk of starting to dislike something you absolutely love. I found that whenever we had interest in London - the longer it went on, with the expectancy that something was going to happen, the empty promises and all that - frustration sets in. It stops you listening to music! The roles in the band change too: certain people have to take a more business-like lead, but still focus on the music. With the setting up of the label, it was very much about bringing the fun back. 

A lot of bands have this problem, getting bogged down with administration. 

I think that’s what kills bands in the end. 

So tell me how Speech Fewapy has worked as a sidebar to your musical activities?

At the moment it’s at the trickiest stage, because we’ve just finished recording an album (Calypso)...

When we set the label up it was just us and our music, so the label ran when we were ready to push our own music. But then we released Greg Bird, we did an EP with Tom Peel, and started working with Black Heart Generator. After that, we decided as a band that we wanted to go away and write and record an album. We wanted to write for a whole year, basically. So now we have a problem, now the album’s done – but it’s a nice problem.

What sort of agreement do you have with your other artists – is this a handshake relationship, or something more formal? Is there a sense of responsibility to your artists?

It is a handshake thing. Where it goes in the next year, we don’t know yet. But we, as a label, take the responsibility for all the manufacturing, all the press and PR. That’s not to say we don’t involve the artists in that. We very much like to involve them, and make it a collaboration – how we can think of different ways in which to approach that. But ultimately it's down to us. Surely a label shouldn’t release an artist unless they’re very excited about that artist? 

Well, yes, I agree. But I can think of dozens of examples to the contrary in the mainstream industry…

So to go that extra step and help them with the whole release – it’s a no-brainer for me. 

Moving Pictures - The Traps    The second single from the new album

So, whether it’s a semi-dormant label, as it has been for a spell, or a side project of yours, as opposed to the formal business relationship it may well become, you still have an imprint, a concept. I’m aware of the artists you’ve released; I also listened to your rather good Speech Fewapy radio show; so I feel that you have a brand. 

Because the T-shirts were so successful as well, we saw a lot in the ‘You Need Speech Fewapy’ slogan. It was slightly controversial, but we weren’t too concerned. We very much wanted to make it a brand, and if you go on the website, you’ll see that we separate the music and the clothing. We value the clothing thing as a complete, very important feature to our label – our brand, if you like. I’m not ashamed to say that at all.  We’re now looking at working with retailers - if you look at how stores like Urban Outfitters, for example, they sell music, and they sell clothes. But they don’t have any brands that work together. So maybe they’re missing a trick. Ultimately, the people who buy clothes there also buy music.

Who else might you be thinking about associating yourselves with, on the label?

This week, we released a new single by Tom Peel... 

... and last month we did a release with a band called the Bombergs – a really good at three-piece with bits of Talking Heads and Television  - they’re great…and we’re talking to a couple of other guys. 

And clothing lines?

Last year we did a different t-shirt every month for a year, the idea being that a different designer would design a t-shirt based around the slogan. That worked really well. The idea is to get that going again, but to have more of a name, to evolve the brand and the clothing range. 

And are you following the Factory records model of giving everything a sequential catalogue number?

Yes! Your Headland, the new new Traps single.

Links
The Traps
Speech Fewapy Records

Toy Hearts: Family. Tradition. Attitude. Experimentation. High Heels. Don’t Mess.

Hannah              Stewart                Sophia           

Birmingham has brilliant musical dynasties. Many of today’s brightest are the children of 70s veterans; they grew up absorbing music, tech skills and more from their parents, almost by osmosis. 

Fabulous talent can emerge from this kind of music-intensive family environment, and that’s a great thing. But that doesn’t mean that, even if you’ve got the music nailed, the path is any smoother. 

Promo work: flyers and posters ready for mailing at THHQ

On a hot Spring afternoon, Toy Hearts are hard at it, doing promotion, prepping the latest mail-out, marketing, answering emails and booking gigs. That’s Sophia and Hannah Johnson, who run the band. Their father, Stewart, who also plays in the band, isn’t working quite so hard – but then he’s just engineered their next album. Hard work it certainly is. Four albums, constant touring, developing and self-managing over six years is a lot of work, most of it an uphill slog.

Toy Hearts operate in a very tricky and sometimes unforgiving area. Family bands aren’t uncommon in Folk music in the UK, and even more so in Country and associated genres in the US. But it just so happens that followers of those genres in the UK are not always, shall we say, the most open to new and experimental approaches. Genre-bending works a treat in Rock, Jazz and Urban fields…  but you mess with ‘traditional’ genres at your peril. To negotiate those landmines, Toy Hearts have developed tougher skins. They're now battle-hardened, and perfectly happy to go eye to eye and toe to toe. 

Marketing yourselves as a bluegrass-western swing-country band, in a home territory which doesn’t really get this music, can’t be easy.

Hannah: I don’t think it would be anything any of us would have chosen to go into – such small, niche genres – especially as young people. People have expectations of a down-homey, check-shirt, dungarees type look, and we definitely don’t have that. That’s made it difficult in a way. People see us and then don’t expect us to be able to play our instruments well, or think we’re going to play pop music. 

Fact is, Toy Hearts can really play. Sophia Johnson is an ace guitar player, and Stuart has excelled on dobro, lap steel, banjo and other exotica for well over thirty years. Hannah is a great singer and a seriously good mandolin player with it. 

With what you play – bluegrass, country and western swing - you have to be ironclad; bullet-proof, especially when you take your act to the US…

Sophia: Actually, I disagree! I think where you have to be bullet-proof is here. We go to America, and people are lovely to us. In this country, we’re told we shouldn’t be writing our own songs; or we should only be playing Bill Monroe music from the period when Flatt and Scruggs were in the band… Don’t you go down the Chris Thile  route! Who wants to win a Grammy and sell out concert halls all over the world? 

You’re kidding… 

Stewart: No, that’s a typical set of English attitudes! In America, they’re just fantastic. We’ve never had anyone in America pick us up on what we do, or try to tell us what we should be doing in the genre – unlike in England. 

But England doesn’t own the genre

Stewart: The people who are into bluegrass in Britain are a very closed community.  Those are the people who criticise us. When we put this music in front of people who’ve never heard it before, they just seem to get it. The actual bluegrass/country community in this country… unless they can have some kind of ownership over it, they just want to criticise what we do.

On the other hand… because you can play really well, and Hannah and Sophia have that sisterly harmony thing going on, doesn’t that get you acceptance?

Sophia: We have more success going into rock gigs and converting people who’s never head this stuff before, than in the UK bluegrass scene. The festivals don’t book us. 

We in the UK tend to consume and re-interpret big chunks of American culture, and put these chunks in boxes which have nothing to do with how the music emerged in the first place. People dressing up at country gigs…

Sophia: The Americans would be horrified at what goes on here. Nobody dresses up at US Bluegrass festivals in America! 

Stewart: We did a UK tour with Robert Joe Vandygriff. He’s from Texas. One of the first gigs was full of people, all dressed up... wearing guns. Robbie Joe got really uneasy.  We had to reassure him. If anybody walks in to a bar in Texas with a gun strapped on, everybody hits the deck! We had to explain to him that these are people living a fantasy, which they probably got from cowboy films rather than music.  And of course, this sort of thing puts young people off. Nobody in his right mind would want to go to a gig where he might see his uncle dressed as Wild Bill Hickok…

The band is unusual. A Father and Daughters combo 

Sophia: This was never, in any way, Dad making Hannah and I join his band. Of course he influenced us; we heard all this stuff we really liked; bluegrass was one of those things. When got to be 14-ish or so, we started to see all these Bluegrass gigs over at this Bluegrass club in Kenilworth, ad we fell in love with it.  We wanted to be in a band. And we told Dad.  

So, not Svengali territory…

Stewart: No, not at all. I mean, I would come home, and I’d hear Bob Wills coming out of one bedroom and Hank Williams out of the other, and I’d think: Those are my CDs; will I ever get them back?  The first gig that we did together… I was playing with some people at the Ceol Castle in Moseley, and they all dropped out. So I asked Sophia and Hannah them if they wanted to sit in. An ad-hoc arrangement. That became a regular one night a week residence. 

When did things move forward… seriously? Now you’re slick, tough and road-hardened. I watched you waltz on stage at Moseley Folk last year, without a sound-check, and knock the crowd dead. How did you get to that place?

Hannah:  That’s really hard. I don’t think there is a specific point when we could look and say, yep, we’re there. I don’t think we’re there! We still think we’re not good enough, and there’s work to be done; and we probably always will. All we’ve ever tried to do is to be the best we can be and be on top of our game. That’s helped us.  Constant gigging, constant practising… I’m not saying it’s made us good – but it has made us really tight – and people do notice. A lot of bands don’t do that.

You can always tell a band that works that way. It shines from the stage. 

Sophia: Dad always said to us that from day one, you need to get out and gig. Give yourself permission to not be that great for the first year or two, and to really work at it. There are so many musicians that I know who really great musicians – in their bedrooms. They cannot get on stage and perform. Part of learning to do this is that we were made to get up and perform. Play a song a million times in your bedroom – fine. Perform that song once on stage and you learn far more about it.

The album isn't officially out until late May; the rough mixes that Toy Hearts kindly let me hear me when we did the interview are very promising indeed; bearing in mind last week's post about local bands scoring national airplay, I would not be in the least surprised to hear their new material daytimes at Radio 2. Here's a video from last year, where Hannah went over the top with the kohl... 

So, the new album…

Sophia: ... is called ‘Whiskey’. We recorded most of it right here, in this house, and then we sent all the files to Nashville for mixing by Ben Surratt. We wanted to have a go at doing it our own way, so we weren’t clock watching. Another big factor in the album, bluegrass apart, is our big love for Western Swing. We’ve been to Austin, Texas about four times, and one of our favourite bands over there is the Hot Club of Cowtown, who really inspired us. A couple of years ago, Dad bought his triple-neck steel guitar, and I bought my 1958 Gibson Arch-top. And then we said… right! These have to work their way in. 

It’s the first album which is half covers, half original material. Two Bob Wills songs, a Bessie Smith song, a Ronnie Self rockabilly song, a Wayne Hancock song. And it’s the first album that has drums on it – courtesy of Dean Beresford, Richard Hawley’s drummer. We added fiddle in Nashville. 

Weird feeling doing all your tracks, and sending it all over to someone to mix – someone you trust, but still, they’re your babies, aren’t they?

Hannah : It’s a good thing, but… ooooh – when you’ve spent so long writing and crafting them, and getting so involved with them… it’s actually a relief. We became really ground down by the whole process with previous albums. You live with the tracks and the mixes and the remixes for soooo long. I guess the key to it all is trust.   

In terms of basic kit, how did this work?

Stewart: We wanted a total live rhythm track – no tracking on the core of the band. We put the drums in one bedroom… the double bass in another, I had Sophie playing rhythm guitar in that room over there (up the hall), and Hanna singing live guide vocals in here (the kitchen).  I recorded on to my computer in the front room, with industry-standard software… but I used vintage mics – some vintage Neumann U87s, with valve pre-amps. The only problem was running cabling all over the place, and closing doors and wrapping people up in duvets… and it’s worked! 

Marketing the band is critical…You take that one on head-on.

Hannah: I’ve never understood why, playing the music we do, that we can’t have a commercial image. That doesn’t wash with me. We want to get a certain look – to be true to who we are as young women, and how that relates to our music. 

That’s crystallised over the past couple of years…

Hannah: We’re in an industry dominated by men. I’m five foot two, and I do feel more empowered when I’m on everyone’s level!

Sophia: We’ve always dressed up. The Bluegrass bands that we really loved made an effort. Sometimes they got it horribly wrong – all the band are wearing putrid yellow shirts… but at least they all matched!

You’ve amped this up several notches over the past couple of years. . You’re a lot more made up, the heels are higher…

Sophia: We live in a visual world. Our music is good enough if we get people to the gigs, but you’ve got to pique the interest. And that gets us to newer audiences.

Is there a danger that you’re going to be dismissed as two cute girlies?

Sophia: We are continually dismissed as two cute girlies. But you’ve only got to come to our shows and watch us play. 

                                      

In a lot of the photos, you (Sophia and Hanna) are upfront… Stewart, you’re in back.

Stewart: It’s important that they see what the front of the band is. The girls are the front of the band. I don’t see my role as a very visual one for publicity purposes. But I am wearing a cowboy hat on the new shots…  After all, they formed the band; the asked me to be in it. Actually they said I’d better be in the band 'cos I’m the only banjo player we know…. 

And you’re doing all the PR right now

Sophia: Not just the PR. Hannah and I joke that our second instruments are our laptops. You can’t not. It takes too bloody long, but it absolutely has to be done. There is no manager to this band – everything that has to be done, it’s done by us. 

Helluva workload…

Sophia: Eventually we’ll get a manager - but it has to be someone we trust. 

For full gig details, check the gigs page on the Toy Hearts website. 

Friends of the Stars and Misty’s Big Adventure: Two bands who take the long - very long - view

Grandmaster Gareth                     Craig Hamilton

Music-making for the joy of it first, and business second.  Running record companies. 

Wait a minute. Record companies?

The  20th century ways are well and truly gone. You don’t work in recording studios the same way  - see this post - you don’t promote the same way, you don’t get paid the same way - now, it’s even worse. Record labels are having a catastrophic time; sales have collapsed in the face of torrent sites.

And yet, and yet. There’s at least three bijou record labels operating out of Birmingham, two of them featured in this post,  that may just have escaped your notice.  The third – Spritely Records – has been known to issue a jar of chutney as a release, complete with Catalogue number – and another has issued packets of, er, fried chicken seasoning.

Commercially Inviable Records are the chicken seasoning merchants, and the album that goes with it – Faith’s Meat Kiosk – is due out at the end of April. Craig Hamilton runs the label and plays in Friends of the Stars… who are, of course, released on the label. 

You run a record label. And it’s 2012. Can I, politely, ask – what on earth possessed you to do this?

"We finished an album in 2007. Self-releasing and self-promotion on the internet had taken off in a big way. So I set up the label, in name only, to give that release a boost. I didn’t think any more about it than that, until people I know – and some who I didn’t know – got in touch with me, asking if the label would be interested in their material. James Summerfield, who’s a friend of mine, gave me his third album, and I put that out. Simon Fox did the same, and we released his album as World of Fox. By the end of the year, I’d put out about five albums."

Here's one of two tasters from the album: 'Railroad Towns': 


Tell me something about costs………?

"Initially I made the same mistake most small labels make – pressed up 1000 copies of Friends of the Stars, and another 1000 of James Summerfield’s album. I still have several copies of both albums at home… And I realised that wasn’t a sustainable way of doing things, having laid out the best part of £1500 for each album. The money does come back, but in a trickle…"

A trickle of bits and pieces, scruffy fivers at gigs….?

"Yes. And if it comes in in cash, it fritters away…"

How the hell do you keep track of all this stuff? Does it not take more time than it’s worth?

"Well, recently, I’ve reduced the size of the release. I now press and print the CDs myself. I’ve released more EPs, and they come in limited editions with hand-coloured sleeves. That makes the run more collectible.  I did a limited edition single release with Fields of Ypres – he’s a lovely folk guy from Wolverhampton. That sold out - 50 CDs at four pounds each - and actually turned a small profit after we split the proceeds. The artist has been paid, which is important to me, and the money that came back into the label paid for materials, and the funds are now sitting in the Commercially Inviable pot."

It’s lovely to turn a profit on a 50 EP sale, but… that means you’ve taken even more of the process in-house: the recording the publicising, and now the manufacturing…

"If I factored in my time, I would probably cry a little bit! But having done all this work, the next recording – the Friends Of The Stars album, 'Faith's Meat Kiosk' - will be the 23rd release on the label, and I’m now building up a catalogue of stuff. There’s about 150 or 160 songs on the label. And in terms of digital revenues, that’s starting to tick along on a monthly basis."

Does a physical release stimulate online sales?

"Yeah. I want the record, I’m that kind of person. Others like the downloads. It’s nice to be able to say that I’ve sold out, and getting a sell-out is good promotion." 

And here's another Faith's Meat Kiosk track - 'Wagons'



Craig, it must take as much time to manage a 100 unit run as a 1000 unit run. This can’t be cost-effective!

"It’s a labour of love. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. All of the artists – people I really like - have been really chuffed to have had a record released, even if it’s on a really small record label. .The other side of things is that as an artist, I’m really interested in the business side of things, how the nuts and bolts work…the other thing is that if an artist moves on to bigger and better things - and one of my artists may just be about to do that – that I’ll always be the label that first recorded that artists. And it will drive people back to my label." 

It's worth noting that, among those early artists who first had an outing on Commercially Inviable, you'll find the excellent Gurdan Thomas. 

Friends of the Stars go back a long, long way. Two John Peel sessions under their belt in previous incarnations.  Two name changes. Members rotating in and out… and the members now live in three separate cities. 

"We all still want to play together, we all still believe in what we’re doing. Over the last couple of years, we’ve worked out our way of recording. The second album is finished, and about to be released – but we’ve also completed material for the third, and we’re working on a fourth. The plan is to release a record a year." 

How does distance recording work?

"I’m in Birmingham, and Campbell is in Glasgow. Rachel, the bass player and the drummer are also in Birmingham, so the basic rhythm section is on one place.  The problem we’ve had in the past is - which is why it’s taken twelve years to release two records  - is that you wind up with something like a snare being very slightly late, and it’s very very tricky to fix and still make it sound like a live record.  

Folk For Free, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 2011

"Now, rather than record drums live, we use a digital midi signal, so when we do put everything else back on top, it’s a simple matter to move something if it’s not right. There’ll be a session in Birmingham; then it goes up to Campbell in Glasgow; then it comes back down, and so on. Everybody has an input, and we’ve all been working so long that we can be honest with each other."

What about the band – after twelve years? Are you going to step up a gear?

"Having put all this time and effort in… We’re doing it for the love of it, but we want something to show for it.  We’d be happy to do five or six gigs a year and to put out a record that appealed to between five hundred and five thousand people a year. We’ve be happy with that. And after that, as music fans, the beautiful thing about the internet is – once it’s out there, it’s out there. It’s now really important for us to compile and present our body of work." 

Moving across town: here's Misty's Big Adventure: 'I See A Cloud', from the new album, Family Amusement Centre:

Sitting in the sun in King’s Heath, Misty’s Grandmaster Gareth also takes the long, long, long view…

"There’s eight of us. Has been for ten or twelve years. We started as a three-piece when we were 15. I guess the biggest fuss was around 2006 when we put out ‘Fashion Parade’ as a single. It stumbles along in a non-directional form."

Gareth’s being too modest here – ‘Fashion Parade’ is a brilliant slice of great pop… if you haven’t listened, fire it up now. More videos follow further down the post; they're well worth exploring, just to get a taste of one of the country's more unique operations. And there's a new video in the pipeline, which you might wish to participate in - read on... 

"We were signed to Sunday Best, which is Rob Da Bank's label. After that we’ve been funding our records ourselves on our own label, Grumpy Fun."

And how does that work for you? 

"Not that well in my case….We had a manager from 2004 to 2008, Matt Priest, who drums with Dodgy. He’s gone back to playing with Dodgy, so that’s handed back to me now. But for a while that worked really well for us."

So after all this time, with all this intelligent appealing pop that you send out, I would have thought you’d have built a reasonably solid following. Is that the way it is? 

"Of sorts… but it’s very cult. A lot of it’s word of mouth. We can go to Manchester or London and do well. And we have followings via the internet. There’s people listening to us in places we’ve never been to." 

Misty’s have been touring as Misty’s Little Adventure, working as a three piece, while their trumpet player has been otherwise occupied with Birmingham Opera Company. Their album - Family Amusement Centre - is out, and videos are in production as you read this - scroll down to the bottom of this post. 

"The main problem is always recording. We want it to be as good as possible, and that involves pulling a million favours. So it took us three years. We used the Guillemots’ studio – for free – and one or two others… and then I worked on it on my own…  We managed to get a 100-piece choir on it. The father of (Band members and twin sisters) Lucy and Hannah runs the Birmingham Choral Union. We managed to persuade them to sing on the album. It’s a long process…."

"When I was a teenager, a lot of the local bands I liked were the post-rock bands like Novak, Broadcast and Pram. I met them as I got older. So we’ve done stuff with Pram and broadcast… I was really lucky to be a teenager when that was going on. It got me into a lot of ignored sixties music."  

So you were watching those bands as they were wrestling with the industry?.

"We did a tour with the Zutons, which was great – we got to confuse thousands of people on that tour. What was clear was the… rigmarole… of what they were dragged into. They’d hardly played any pub gigs before they got signed. Suddenly, they were on a tour bus playing academy venues.  It seemed such a soulless vacuous experience. You can see how the drugs, and the boredom and the arguments with the others come in. So the Zutons, even though they had Valerie, covered by Amy Winehouse, even though they got sent to LA to record their album by Sony, they still got dropped.  It’s just weird seeing that happen. Dave (of the Zutons) is a brilliant songwriter, but you feel like their (new) record company is holding them back, because he has to keep delivering what they want. And at the moment what they want is another ten ‘Valeries’ from him…"

"We’ve been friends for twelve years, and we’re better friends now than we’ve ever been, while a lot of other bands have split up.  When you’re younger you think that’s exactly what you want - to get signed, to get a big deal. As you get older, you start to realise that what we’ve got is a lot better, because you can still be creative, we’re still going, and each album is an improvement on the last."

Misty's want you for their video! Over the next couple of weeks, Misty's are shooting a new video for their song 'Aggression' with director Mark Locke, who shot the video for Fashion Parade (above). Here's the pitch from Misty's: 

"This looks like being the most ambitious yet. It's set on a typical Friday night and we need extras (or essentials) based near Birmingham to come and be townies on a night out. If you're interested, please email mistysmovie@live.co.uk for more information. The main night of shooting is going to be the 9th of April, but there are a few other evenings when we also need extras, including for a scene set in A & E. If you could ask friends too that would be amazing!

It's got the potential to be an incredible video, and if you think you could spare the time, we'd be really grateful."

Links
Friends Of The Stars
Commercially Inviable Records
Misty's Big Adventure Wikipedia page