Un-Convention Factory

29 March 2010

Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six have been invited by the good folks at Un-Convention to be involved in an amazing music first. What’s even better is that you can be involved too.

Register Now for your chance to attend Un-Convention Factory.

• Eight Bands
• Sixty Music Industry Professionals
• Three Hundred People
• Twelve hours to record, produce and release an album

Get involved: watch the bands record the tracks live, design the sleeve, debate ideas, learn about releasing music, explore new digital platforms and create a unique piece of history.

At Un-convention Factory, we’ll be transforming a mill space to contain all of the elements and processes involved in creating a record. You’ll be free to explore everything that is going on, interact with music industry professionals and ultimately make all the decisions along the way.

We’ll even provide food, drink, a free pair of trainers, and a CD of the finished album by the end of the day for everyone who attends.

And to cap it off, the day will end with a free evening show featuring the bands involved, with a line up including Reverend Soundsystem, The Whip, I Am Kloot, New Education and more.

It’s all taking place on May the 8th 2010, at Un-Convention Factory, in The Heritage Centre, Macclesfield.

For the chance for you and a friend to attend this free, once in a lifetime event, please fill out the registration form below by Friday 23rd of April. Numbers are limited, so we are looking for the most creative and inspirational people we can find to come along, and to make this a unique and very special event.

If you’re in a band, make cool videos, design amazing things, run a cutting edge blog or are just keen to get involved then tell us about it and you could be coming to Un-Convention Factory.

It’s that simple. There is only one rule: This is a Factory

You have to turn up on time, and stay ALL day. We’re making this album together, the bands, the industry and the people, from start to finish. We clock on together and we clock off together. You’ll have to be at the venue in Macclesfield centre for 8.30am on Saturday May 8th. The evening will finish at around 1am on Sunday morning. Food and drink will be provided.

Please only register if you can DEFINITELY attend the whole day. There will be a standby list, so anyone arriving late may find their place has been allocated to someone else. Successful applicants will be notified by Monday 26th of April, and further details will be provided then.

To apply for 2 tickets, for you and a friend, register at www.unconventionhub.org by Friday 23rd of April.

Successful applicants will receive two free tickets for the ‘Un-convention Factory’ event to be held on Saturday 8th May 2010, at the The Heritage Centre, Roe Street, Macclesfield, SK11 6UT. The event will begin at 8.30am prompt, and to ensure entry all applicants must arrive by this time. The event will last all day, and will include the Factory event, lunch and an evening show that will end at approximately 1am on Sunday morning. The individual who completed the application form will have to provide proof of identity when registering on the morning of the event in order to collect their pair of tickets.

Visit www.unconventionhub.org for the relevant application forms

Enquiries to: steph@fatnortherner.com

For more information about Un-Convention visit their website

The Un-Convention team and board will decide on the final 300 participants by Monday 26th of April.

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MCR Scenewipe

23 March 2010

Over the past six months or so, Manchester’s gigging musicians have one by one been dragged down alleys, into basements and up trees for intimate (not to mention secret) acoustic performances, captured on camera by two very enthusiastic guerrilla film-makers who operate under the name MCR Scenewipe.

Now the fruits of this ongoing project are finally available to the whole world. At www.manchesterscenewipe.co.uk you will find both local heroes and international big-name visitors. So go on, spend an evening getting acquainted with some of the talent (and keep checking back because these boys are always adding more).
Below is what happened when our very own Red Tides were approached to contribute…

Here’s what the folks at Scenewipe have to say about themselves:

“Manchester Scenewipe is an online channel devoted to bringing together and uniting one of the world’s greatest music scenes….Manchester.

We want to create a platform where the best local talent can be seen alongside the biggest acts in the world, with no boundaries of genre or status.”

To be kept updated about the latest artists featured on the website join the mailing list at www.manchesterscenewipe.co.uk

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HONEYFEET!

18 March 2010

NEW SIGNING … NEW SIGNING … NEW SIGNING … NEW SIGNING … NEW SIGNING

We are overjoyed to announce that Debt Records has now signed the wonderful, incomparable HONEYFEET. We’ve been hoping this would happen for some time now, they really are one of the greatest outfits on the gig circuit. We’ll be properly updating the website in due course to make room for their formidable boots to sit comfortably in the label’s hearth.

In the meantime, check out their music and upcoming shows on the Honeyfeet myspace

And join their facebook page for updates and discussion

Joy of joys.

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Free Fairhurst!

17 March 2010

ANTI-PRESS RELEASE - “FREE FAIRHURST - KING OF SPRING”

JOHN FAIRHURST’S ACCLAIMED DEBUT ALBUM WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE FREE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

21st March, the traditional beginning of Spring, will this year feature a unique opportunity to procure John Fairhurst’s highly praised debut album Joys of Spring for absolutely nothing.

“This is an unbridled, joyous explosion of simple textures, thrilling musicianship and handsome melodies.”
(Chris Long, BBC Radio Manchester)

When Joys was first released in 2008 critics and audiences alike were stunned by its sheer majesty - the common consensus was that it signaled the auspicious arrival of a formidable new talent.

Since its humble beginnings in a Wigan shed the album has reached audiences all over the world and accompanied its creator on tours that have included North America, Australia, continental Europe and the Far East, as well as nearly every music festival imaginable (including Glastonbury and Texas’ prestigious SXSW).

Now, we are pleased to announce that John is giving this infamous LP away free of charge to fans old and new. The national press don’t know about this one, the publicity is limited to informing individuals who have supported the independent music scene and followed the progress of artists affiliated with Debt Records and like-minded progressive labels.

How do you get it?

Avoid the usual retailers, head straight to John’s personal shop (which will be linked in to www.debtrecords.net/shop on the day of the giveaway) and download your copy in whatever format best suits you.

Offer is limited to Sunday 21st March.

Details of John Fairhurst’s follow up release will be announced in due course.

NOTES TO EDITORS

There shouldn’t be any editors reading this. This information is not for journalists, they received their free press copies years ago.

For more information about John Fairhurst’s music contact us or visit www.johnfairhurst.com

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Mum's The Word

16 March 2010

We had a lot of responses about the Bedlam Six’s “Mother” release. Here’s a selection.

in the words of robert burns “The mother-linnet in the brake Bewails her ravish’d young; So I, for my lost darling’s sake, Lament the live-day long.”
- Connor Brook

It´s hard to raise a kid, but an english kid pfff. Congratulations for all the UK mother´s from México!! The relationship between a mother and a son, it is the most sincere in the world.
- Juan Carlos

i saw my mum (and dad for that matter) in a whole new light when i became a parent. Awesome people
- Nik Sheppard

Even though i’m a pretty good mum myself, my mam is a thousand times better and i love her loads!
- Elaine Pickup

ohhh mother!! It’s always your fault. :)
- Mick

Dear Mum Thank you for all the years of hard toil and graft that you put in to raise me, and the many more to come ;)
- Anthony Brown

Mother Nature……why she did make us this way? Sicko.
- Helen Crosbie

My mum the Mezzatron is a Irish robotic step boxing legend.
- J-Dog

My mum is fantastic because she understands me more than I understand myself. She’s beautiful and caring.
- Terri Lucas

I can’t be with my mum this year as I am at uni but I hope she has the best day :) She deserves it. Best mum in the world
- Hollie

can’t live with them, can’t be born without them!
- Gav

Oh mother, just look what you’ve started…
- Nim

Thank you for putting up with 13 hours of labor to eventually squeeze out this one of a kind jack-ass, i hope your proud, i know i am. i wouldn’t change anything about my upbringing. I Love You Mum.
- Dan Kennard

never try to break the bond
- Gill Watkins

Mother why did you raise me this way?
- Bill Stockham

Thanks a bunch of bananas, you are probably the only good person around these days , much love ste x
- Stephen Ballinger

Happy mothers day mum! Betcha never thought I’d remember!!
- Anna Mellow

My mum’s Janet Jackson.
- Laura Jackson

It’s not mother’s day in Australia
- Oli Pope

I like the moustache of both mother and son.
- Peter

I was a horrid, thoughtless, selfish teenager but She has never let me down..Always there with a dustpan, brush and words of glue to mend the pieces of broken hearts and other tragedies of adolescence. Plus the get out of debt free card, hotel bed and board and the personal taxi service, She has raised a child that can now happily face the world and survive! I now finally appreciate all that my mother given me…except for the hips - she coulda kept them!! :) x
- Claire

Great mothers sometimes make pancakes on mother’s day, but rarely do that pancakes make great mothers on pancake day…. I’d like mine with golden syrup and vanilla ice cream, please.
- Martyn Cawthorne

I am only a good Mum because my children made me so. I have been a Mum for the past 50 years with three great kids now grown up with their own families, they keep me young by producing offsprings, I have 8 grandchildren and a ninth due in June, and 1 Great grandson. xx
- Marie Boon

Some mothers do ave em
- Phyllida

Thank you for being so good to me without question or hesitation. I love you very very much
- Ali

Hi, i’m not really up to a radio-friendly witty request. i just would really like the single emailing to me please. Happy Mothers Day!
- Gareth

Dear Mum, happy mothers day , you are totally awesome and amazing at putting up with all my rubbish! well done!
Abigail xxx

Mother, why indeed did you raise me this way?????
- Adz

Happy Mothering Sunday to all the mothers out there….
- Miggs

Mother why did you let them lead me astray?
- Dexter

Well, this will be the first time I got a Mothers Day message! (You going soft?) Lots of love,
- Mother Barabbas xxx

The single “Mother” by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six is now on general release and can be purchased in the Debt Records shop (as well as all the usual digital retailers).

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Save BBC 6 Music

10 March 2010

Below are some words from the Association of Independent Musicians about the BBC 6 Music fiasco:

TAKE ACTION NOW TO SAVE BBC 6MUSIC & THE ASIAN NETWORK

You will all by now be aware of the recent announcement that BBC 6Music and The Asian Network are set to close as part of a costs review.

6Music has been a vital platform for independent music lovers since it was established in 2002. With diverse playlists, passionate presenters and a focus on all that is cutting edge and iconic, it has been the first station to provide cutting edge music that would not be heard elsewhere.

AIM has been quick to respond to this announcement and spread the message that 6Music and The Asian Network MUST NOT CLOSE. AIM CEO Alison Wenham, Beggars’ Chairman Martin Mills and Bella Union Founder Simon Raymonde have all spoken out on the news and in the press to explain the importance of 6Music. Together with the BPI, we have sent an open letter to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson (you can read this here), and we will be submitting a formal response to the BBC Trust consultation.

We must all do what we can to keep these important stations alive…let’s make our voices heard!

What You Should Do:

1. Click the link below to complete the BBC Strategy Review Online Survey - tell them how important 6Music is!

http://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/consult_view

1. Email the BBC Trust: srconsultation@bbc.co.uk

2. Sign the petitions:

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/BBCcuts http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/

1. Join the Facebook group to Save 6Music: www.bit.ly/aJ04tq

2. Show your support by listening to 6Music on the iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_6music/

3. Forward this message or send the links to all of your colleagues, artists, friends and family, and post the links on Twitter (use tag #savebbc6music), Facebook, Myspace etc.

The BBC will take note if enough people take action, so spread the word!

“Commercial radio can never replicate 6 Music’s cultural value - it’s not viable for us to do so. The commercial landscape has featured many fine rock music stations that have never made any real money - over time we water them down and gently shepherd them back towards the traditional commercial heartland. We will gain nothing from this closure yet the music industry will lose much.”

Steve Orchard (a former group programme director of GWR, who launched Planet Rock and programmed Classic FM, also ex-group operations director of Gcap, responsible for XFM and Capital.)

“Cherry Red Records is one of the 3 or 4 independent record labels that started in the late 1970’s and is still going strong. Last year it released over 500 albums. The majority were catalogue releases, i.e. releases of music that was no longer available. Many were from artists that were long forgotten by all but a very few. 6 Music were one for the few radio stations that played some of these tracks enabling people to become aware of some wonderful music that was virtually forgotten about. It would indeed be a tragedy if this opportunity was lost to us all. We should all do what we can to make the BBC wake up to the monumental mistake that they are in the process of making.”

Ian McNay, Cherry Red Records

A message from Domino Recording Co. Ltd…

We would like to make it clear that we are extremely concerned by BBC plans to cut BBC 6 Music from its schedule. BBC 6 Music is an extremely important and rare outlet for much of the music that we release on Domino. For many of us who grew up listening to, and learning about music from John Peel, we’ve come to appreciate this station of mostly free playlists, diversity, new things, old things, the unexpected. Indeed we’d argue that the BBC should be making this fantastic station more readily available via the masses of unused FM bandwidth.

Comments from just a few of our artists…

Noah Lennox (Animal Collective/Panda Bear)

“When I was a lot younger radio used to be the place I’d go to find new music and I feel like I would find it everywhere on the dial. Since then it seems like less and less stations are willing to or have the means to play new music. I miss unpredictable radio. Please support these guys…”

Alison Mosshart (The Kills/The Dead Weather)

“Please don’t leave us musicians and music lovers with such a void. We need BBC6. It is the only radio station we all listen too, and seemingly, the only station that plays anything worth listening too. It would be culturally damaging to lose this station. I highly doubt I would ever listen to radio in England again, if it were gone. And that goes for a great many friends and colleagues of mine. BBC6 has been very supportive to the bands that I have been in and supportive of my friends and label mates. We are all greatly appreciative of the fine work they do, and the open minds that they have. It baffles me why art and culture must always suffer and get the boot before sport or the generic music which EVERYONE plays already, anyway. We can get these trashy things anywhere. But we’re relying on BBC6 to encourage and inspire. To shut it down would be a real shame and a real mistake. Think of it as the Tate Modern of radio. We want it; we need it… because it’s unique and culturally significant.

Please save BBC 6 Music.”

Hayden Thorpe (Wild Beasts)

“The closure of BBC6 music would be a huge blow to British arts in general. I don’t know any other established vehicle, which allows for inventive and contemporary music to reach such a wide audience. I’m in no doubt the unrelenting support we have had from BBC6 has massively helped our career. This sends out a damning message to creative young people.”

Jack Barnett (These New Puritans)

“BBC6 was and is incredibly important to bands like us. In the world of ‘independent music’, where it can be difficult to survive by your ideas, it really is a unique and completely positive force. Its closure would be a massive blow to the possibilities of creative people doing creative things in this country.”

Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion) “The end of 6Music is such a disgrace and catastrophe, I learnt so much from it, and imagine that if I was younger I would have learnt more. A lot of people are going to remember this. This is so upsetting for music fans across the country.”

Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) “Please don’t close down 6 music and Asian network. It’s important to have stations on the radio that don’t just play mainstream music.”

Finally, a note from AIM Board Member Martin Mills…

Good afternoon,

My name is Martin Mills, and I run the Beggars Group of independent labels, the largest in Europe producing new alternative music, comprising currently the labels XL Recordings, Rough Trade, 4AD and Matador. I am also a board member of PPL and UK Music, and of the independent label associations AIM, Impala and A2IM. I chaired the Department of Culture Committee which produced the report Consumers Call The Tune, and was awarded an MBE in 2008. A list of artists signed to our labels who have recently been played on 6 Music is attached below.

I firmly believe that the BBC should not close 6 Music. 6 Music is a station for music lovers and plays music that largely is not heard anywhere else on the dial. Isn’t that what the BBC is meant to do? The BBC’s public service remit charges it to do exactly that - and 6’s output is distinctive, eclectic and unique.

Radio’s 1 and 2 do a great job at what they do, but are essentially pop music stations. 6 is the Radio 3 version of that, and is a home to great artists and music, particularly independent, who don’t fit in with its larger brothers’ programming needs - ‘album’ artists who have large followings like The National, who can sell out the Albert Hall, but who won’t fit on 1 or 2 until when or if they come up with a pop radio-shaped track. Then there are new artists like The xx, who got all their initial radio exposure on 6.

This is not an area that the commercial sector will fill - Virgin and Xfm both started off with similar ambitions, but commercial pressures diluted and normalised them. A station like 6 can only survive and prosper in the public radio sector. See annexed below * for what a specialist in commercial radio had to say about 6’s prospects in that world.

91% of listeners to 6 Music say that it introduces them to music that is new to them, and 89% say they hear music on 6 that they don’t hear elsewhere. It plays five times as many new songs as any comparable commercial stations. Last week its playlist of 28 titles included just six that were also on Radio 1, three that were in the national airplay top 50, and one that was on Radio 2. 80% of 6’s music can not be heard elsewhere on the dial. This is exactly what the BBC should be doing.

Please don’t believe that integrating 6’s programming into Radio 1 and/or 2 is the answer. They cannot avoid operating in a competitive radio environment, in which the criteria for play are tight, logical and well-researched. The kind of music that 6 plays does not by definition belong or flourish in that space, it needs its own station, not its own programmes, or its space within programmes.

6 Music is a big part of the reason that the UK’s music scene is so vital and healthy at the moment - and I don’t just mean UK music making, I mean the appreciation for and love of artistic creativity in music.

I have nothing against commercial radio. Commercial radio is commercial radio. But the beauty of the BBC is that it is a public service. It can put art and culture above commerce. That is precisely what 6 Music does. And that is precisely why we need it. You’ll hear tomorrow’s Bob Dylan on 6.

Thank you for listening.

Martin Mills, Chairman, Beggars Group

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This One Is For Mother...

02 March 2010

LOUIS BARABBAS & THE BEDLAM SIX WILL GIVE AWAY THEIR NEW SINGLE FREE ON MOTHER’S DAY. SIMPLY CLICK HERE AND LEAVE A MOTHER’S DAY COMMENT - THE BEST ONES WILL THEN BE READ OUT LIVE ON BBC RADIO MANCHESTER ON SAM WALKER’S SHOW.

IN YOUR MESSAGE PLEASE STATE WHETHER YOU’D LIKE US TO:

1. EMAIL THE MP3 TO YOU DIRECT

2. EMAIL IT DIRECT TO YOUR MUM

3. EMAIL YOU A DOWNLOAD CODE TO SAVE YOUR INBOX THE STRAIN
   
   

BELOW IS THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE AND VIDEO

Unlikely Mummy’s Boy Louis Barabbas, better known for his high-energy live performances and vitriolic lyrics, has announced that he will distribute his new single to mothers across the world free on UK Mother’s Day (14th March 2010), the day before its official release on Debt Records.

The song - aptly entitled Mother - sees Louis address themes of filial angst typically eschewed by more mainstream songwriters.
He doesn’t think his choice of subject matter is a strange one though:

“Why aren’t there more songs about the Mother/Son relationship? It’s one of the stock dramas, deep set in pretty much every myth going… that bond is so terrifying - in every sense - it’s both terrific and terrible.”

He goes on to wonder:

“Why does the music industry keep on churning out the same old inferior shadows of Peggy Sue when there are far richer models to revamp: Volumnia, mother of Coriolanus; Jocasta, mother of Oedipus - now that’s really destructive, properly violent, mind-altering love… Romeo and Juliet were such light-weights.”

So in what form will this give-away manifest itself?

Well, as much as we wanted to have a 7” vinyl pressing wrapped in the Maestà of Duccio waiting on every mother’s doormat, it’s just not possible in the current financial climate. The internet will, consequently, be our agent here. Visitors of the Debt website will be able to pick up the free single there and fans will have the option of giving us their mother’s email address so that we can send it direct. A selection of Mother’s Day messages will be published in the Debt Records news pages and the favourites read out on the evening of Mothering Sunday on BBC Manchester where Louis and the band will be in session to promote the release.

If you miss the offer, the record will be out through the usual channels on Monday 15th March.

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