The next Debt event is in Liverpool, running a stage at the wonderful @ThresholdFest on 11th Feb. Details here: http://t.co/Yla1OZOQ
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DEBT Records is a label born out of troubled times, a label nurse-fed on the understanding that current music industry practices are failing both artists and listeners. DEBT IS A LABEL THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO THAT INDUSTRY
Artist News Articles
Threshold Festival
31 January 2012
Threshold Festival returns to Liverpool 10th-12th February 2012 and, once again, Debt Records is a part of it.
The Debt Records stage (Saturday 11th Feb) will feature a range of artists plucked from across the UK and Ireland: Age Of Glass, Felix Hagan, Bridie Jackson & The Arbour, TE Yates, Pearse McLoughlin and Rik Warren. Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six will also be playing on the Liverpool Live stage on Friday 10th.
Festival Director Chris Carney said “Even though there is talk of juicy headliners this year, the focus will again be stoically grass roots. Last years event prided itself on being the platform for those without one, and this is as important as ever.”
It promises to be another great event.
For more information visit the Threshold Festival Website
All tickets are available here so click on and buy yours now, or to offer your services as a volunteer just email info@thresholdfestival.com
Festival Directors: (and press contact) Chris Carney, Chris@Thresholdfestival.com, Kaya Herstad Carney, Kaya@thresholdfestival.com Festival Co-Ordinator: Rachel Dyer, Rachel@Thresholdfestival.com
An Open Recording Session presented by Louis Barabbas
04 January 2012
IT’S LOUIS BARABBAS’ BIRTHDAY ON SATURDAY 21st JANUARY… AND HE WANTS TO MAKE A NEW RECORD.
Louis J. Barabbas does not want presents… he wants PRESENCE. Specifically YOUR presence at an open recording session in the theatre space above the Black Lion pub (on the Manchester/Salford border).
Louis will open the evening with an unplugged set of new material and old favourites. Next up will be Newcastle’s Bridie Jackson followed by Manchester’s infamous Richard Barry.
The event begins with a drink and chat with the performers before we close the doors at 8pm and begin the recording. Late-comers will not be admitted whilst recording is taking place (though there will be intervals). Once the performances are over we’ll be letting our hair down and dancing to some old swing classics of Louis’ choosing.
We do hope you can come be a part of this recording (they always sound better with the tinkle of glasses in the background!)
Tickets are £5 on the door
Danny Mahon release postponed
02 December 2011
Due to events beyond anyone’s control we are having to postpone the release of Danny and Becca’s single “Four Walls” (originally scheduled for release on Wednesday 7th December).
Once we have an alternative release date we shall announce it here as well as the various social networks.
In the mean time, you can still enjoy Danny’s last single “Odd Socks Is The Secret Recipe”
We thank you for your patience in this matter
Tides Out
20 November 2011
We are sad to announce that one of our first signings Red Tides have decided to call it a day.
This is not the end, however, as singer/writer Molly Macleod (pictured) embarks on her solo project Silver.
The other members of Red Tides are also as busy as ever. Matthew Cleghorn continuing to play lead guitar for Richard Barry & The Chaps and The Bedlam Six, Phil Howley also for The Chaps and Liz Green, Sam Alder drumming for Milk Maid and working on the ever-expanding Manchester Scenewipe as well as film company Plastic Zoo.
Expect great things from them all in 2012.
You can find “Silver” on Soundcloud and social netoworks Facebook and Twitter.
Ladies and Gentlemen... a warm welcome to Danny Mahon
13 October 2011
Debt is happy to announce that we will be releasing Danny Mahon’s next single “4 Walls” in late November. The song, a duet with our own Becca Williams (of Broken Biscuits fame), has been put together specially to raise money for Francis House Children’s Hospice in Manchester.
Danny has been on our radar for a while (indeed, if you live in the Northwest he’s a difficult artist to ignore). His upcoming album, recorded at PlainSounds studio where many of our artists have recorded in the past, features members of Debt stalwarts The Bedlam Six among the session musicians for a number of the tracks. He has just come back from touring in Italy with Liam Gallagher’s new band Beady Eye.
We look forward to telling you more about the release over the next few weeks…
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six "Live At The Dancehouse Theatre" now on sale
08 August 2011
Now on general release from the Debt Records Online Shop and all the usual digital retailers LOUIS BARABBAS & THE BEDLAM SIX - LIVE AT THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE
The seventeen track album was recorded live at a packed out show at Manchester’s beautiful Dancehouse Theatre on Saturday 5th February. The album sleeve features photography from local photographer Gordon Jackson and the names of audience members present on the night.
Described by Louis as the band’s “most joyful, energetic and honest album to date” the record is now on general release.
We hope you like it.
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six Album Launch Party at The Ruby Lounge
04 August 2011
The launch party for Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six’s new live album will feature special guest appearances and exclusive collaborations with Kirsty Almeida, Liz Green, Richard Barry and Becca Williams at Manchester’s Ruby Lounge on Saturday 6th August. The album is officially released the following Monday (8th August).
The first album by original Dirt-Swing progenitors Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six featured a string section, brass ensemble and twelve-piece dog-impersonation choir; the second release closed with a Richard Burton-style narrative-led instrumental epilogue. This new record, however, is much simpler - seven friends playing seventeen songs recorded live in their hometown of Manchester at the beginning of a Europe-wide tour.
They chose the prestigious Dancehouse Theatre as the location for the ambitious recording of their infamously energetic live show. That night (5th February 2011) the auditorium was packed to bursting and those that didn’t book ahead had to be turned away from the door. The band played three sets (including a stint as backing group for special guest John Otway) and over the course of the night the bar had to be restocked no less than three times. When the final curtain fell the calls of Encore rang out long after the houselights came up.
“It was a real career highlight” says Louis, “it’s been a hard slog getting to this point but walking out onto that big stage in our hometown, playing with my personal hero to a full house and making a record all at the same time was an experience I’ll never forget… it also energised all of us in anticipation of our first European tour.”
Now the album they recorded that night is about to be released and the band have got a fittingly spectacular launch party planned. This time the Ruby Lounge will be the venue - “it’s a less formal setting than the Dancehouse” says Louis, “a place where people can feel at ease heckling or throwing their drinks at the stage - and it’s good for a boogie!”
As well as performing two sets of their own material the band will be joined by contemporaries from the Manchester music circuit, playing specially prepared collaborative pieces. Guests include the internationally renowned Kirsty Almeida and Liz Green, as well as popular label-mates Richard Barry and Becca Williams.
The collaborative aspect of this launch is typical of The Bedlam Six, a band that have always avoided conventional support/headline events if they can help it, especially in Manchester:
“There’s only so much control you can have over a show when you’re out on tour” says Louis, “but when you’re playing to your home audience - some of which were there at the very beginning - you are obliged to make that show something special, something a bit exclusive. The day we stop making that special effort is the day we retire.”
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six play Manchester’s Ruby Lounge on Saturday 6th August. The live album is out the following monday, available from the Debt Records Shop.
Bedlam Six Live Album Inlay Notes
10 May 2011
We are going to send the Bedlam Six live album to the pressing plant soon. As promised, the names of audience members will be among the sleeve notes.
If you were at the show please have a quick glance at the list below to check that we have transcribed your names correctly. If you see a name of someone you were with but the spelling is inaccurate let us know about that too as they may not see this post.
Only about half the people present on the night gave us their name so if you know anyone who was there and isn’t on the list but would like to be let us know and we’ll add them.
Right, here it is…
Stefan Elsaesser, Dan Keehan, Ruthie Roo, Jennifer Liddle, Alex Mastin, Kim Casement-Mastin, Helen Crosbie, Adam Harper, Jess Connor, Vivienne Webster, Jade Mellor, Paul Rawlings, Richard Mullineux, Annemarie Visser, David Smith, Phylidda and Mike Maude Roxby, Terri Lucas, Carol Lucas, Gus Fairbairn, John Weldon, Louise Bilous, Neil Hilton, Erik Swyngedouw, Cail Kinton, Ian Moss, Mr Beg, Robert Woodhead, Richard Taylor, Eric Hamill, Trish Nevitt, Patrick Maude-Roxby, Danny “Mr Beat” Chorlton, Tom Munday, Jess Maude-Roxby, Lucy Moffit, Richard O’Connor, Ant Parr, Becky Dixon, Martin Connell, Chris Bye, Sam Garrett, Bee Gebhardt, Maria Kaika, Melanie Phillips, Ben Ferguson, Eleanor Goddard, Eric Thomas, Elaine Ellery, Kirstin Ramskir, Rashid Bouaissi, Liam and Nazia, Sam Saxby, Gemma Bradley, Laura Mackey, Andy Holland, Chris Naylor, Keith Naylor, Kyle Naylor, Judy and Len Cegielka, Jimmy Cush, Lynne Maggie Jaap Jenkinson, Gemma Hadsall, Rattler Damo, Ratther Jenkins, Louise Silous, Neil Hilton, Chris Wood, Mike Morris, Caroline McKevitt, Nick Wright, Mark Wharton, Sinbad, Mark Dwyer, Aiden Spencer, Philip Taylor, Adam Robertshaw, Colin Jackson, Sam Roberts, Jennifer Jackson, Alison Jackson, Sarah Wilde, Sophie Wright, Lorna Bennett, Arwell Jones, Damian McAreavey, Benedict Gifford, Jonathan McAreavey, Daniel O’Connor, Lauren Beard, Carol Hamson, Julian Romero, Johno Johnson, Eleanor Ives, Anne Hogan, Joe Brannigan, Michelle Gibson, Claire Ashton, Lisa Clarke, Derek Green, Alan Ackerley, Paul Addison, Chris Parkinson, Sean Bechhofer, Richard Cowan, Linda Irish, Mike Grierson, Richard Wood, Michelle Goodrich, Julia Goodrich, Mick Harris, Helen Nightingale, Gary Nightingale, Jeff Thompson, Zoe Thorman, Neil Tiffen, Kate Stephenson, Andrew Robinson, Claire Philbin, Jane Stratton, Lauren Wroe, Matt Panesh, Lissa Pinard, Gareth Hacking, Amelia Ubergoover Asburg, Jennifer Nelson, Laura Nixon Carfield, Mini Tombie, Ursula Pabisch, Camille Audsley, Lemmy Mark, Becky Webb, Alan Jones, Caroline Channing, Vicky Higgins, Nim Burgin, Victoria Symonds, Jessica Mancini, James Carr, Jo Eyre, Warwick Holland, Chris Horkan, Aidan O’Rourke, Charles Britten, Claire Hewitt, Claire Slatter, Clare Heaton, David Harbottle, Nick O’Sullivan, Doctor Yad, Christin Kusitzky, John Banks, Ina Prugel, Samantha Bail, Aleksandra Vuruna, Hannah Riley, Jane Mooney, Joan Wilson, Sam Alder, Chris Mitchell, Alex Lee, Dee Outtara, Tom Duffy, Jonathan Ritson, Zoe La Bron, Sophie Jane Daniel, Steve Pearce, David Crabtree, Marielle Hehir, Richard Barry, Gemma Foxcroft, Kelly Joseph, Hannah Crayk, Molly Macleod, Pam Shurmer-Smith, John Otway
Phew.
The launch party will be at Manchester’s Ruby Lounge on Saturday 6th August. We hope you can all join us for that. The album will be on general release on Monday 8th August.
John Fairhurst the Film Composer
21 April 2011
John Fairhurst has been commissioned to write the score for Glory Road, a documentary film scheduled for release after the London 2012 Olympics.
Watch the trailer here:
Some words about the project by director Steve Read:
Liverpool is a fighting town and boxing is its blood. It flows with a force through every Scouse lad’s veins, like the River Mersey flows through this great city. It is relentless.
This a city of tension and hardship. You can’t avoid it — the harsh reality of life in Liverpool is evident. The front pages of The Liverpool Echo keep us abreast of such things on a daily basis.
So too is the Scouse Humour™ , the Scouser’s unflinching desire to succeed and a point blank refusal to give in. All these elements inform the Scouser’s undying love of boxing.
That spirit is evident in every man and woman I’ve come to interview for this documentary. Liverpool, I’ve come to understand, is the city that will never throw in the towel.
“Boxing is the world’s biggest drug, it’s an addiction no one can ever explain”. These are the words of 1984 Boxing Olympian John Hyland. His words resonate, they ring clear like the final bell of the 2010 ABA Championships, when Anthony Fowler taking the Senior Title home from the York Hall for the first time. It’s every young amateur boxer’s dream. Only one achievement in amateur boxing ranks higher.
John Hyland knows, he’s been there, just as he’s there every Thursday night at Liverpool’s beloved Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing Club in the South End of the city. He goes to watch future Olympians in the making, including his own son, Blane Hyland. He looks on with pride as they go through hours of rigorous exercise with unquestioned commitment, under the watchful eye of legendary trainer Georgie Treble. Meanwhile, his counterpart Mick McAllister, hones his considerable stable at the Rotunda ABC in the North End of the city.
Fowler’s boxing year ends in anguish as he loses the 2010 GB Championship’s gold medal prize to another Olympic hopeful, Callum Smith. In 2011 he’ll be back to challenge once more - he knows only one boxer can take that prestigious 69kg place on the GB squad. Callum’s convinced it’s his spot to take; Anthony’s got other ideas. Watch this space to see who gets the decision. Like the South and North Ends and Liverpool and Everton Football Clubs, expect this rivalry to run and run. Expect our documentary Glory Road to be there every step of the way.
Like John, Georgie and Mick we’ve also been there. For over a year now we’ve been following these exceptional athletes as they make their journey to London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Their goal is to stake their claim for Olympic boxing glory. We’ll be there also in July 2012, to show you how the story ends.
Along with Fowler and Smith, we’ve met and interviewed some of the leading amateur heroes of the past and present — the aforementioned John Hyland, Joey Frost, Robbie Davies, Roy Jones Jnr, Tom Stalker, James Degale and Jazza Dickens. Then there’s Natasha Jones, a history-maker in her own right as part of the first generation of women to compete for boxing gold at the Olympics.
But will she make it to London 2012? That’s just one of a thousand unanswered questions in this complex web of real life stories. In the merry-go-round of docu-soaps stars and disposal icons, this film represents the real lives of true athletes with exceptional stories, competing for something truly special, Amateur Boxing’s Olympic Glory.
‘Boxing never stops, it’s like religion and it will always be there.’
Follow the hopes, dreams and prayers of these exceptional sportsmen and women on their journey to London 2012 - The Glory Road.
T.E Yates and John Fairhurst support Curtis Eller on UK tour
10 April 2011
T. E. Yates and John Fairhurst follow in the footsteps of The Bedlam Six and Al Baker as the latest Debt Records musicians to play with exceptional US writer-performer Curtis Eller.
CURTIS ELLER is North Carolina’s (formerly New York City’s) angriest yodelling banjo player. He sings about pigeon racing, performing elephants and Jesus, all of which he has seen with his own eyes. He started his show-business career at the age of seven as a juggler and acrobat in the Hiller Olde Tyme Circus in Detroit, but has since turned to the banjo because that’s where the money is. His biggest musical influences are Buster Keaton, Elvis Presley and Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Eller and his band, The American Circus stubbornly perform and record in New York City. They have appeared at funerals, horse races, burlesque revues and punk rock dumps. Haunted by the ghosts of silent film and wearing a dead man’s clothes, Mr. Eller and the band have staggered their way into the hearts of audiences from London and Amsterdam to Los Angeles and Montreal. 2008 promises to see them touring extensively on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.
Along the way, they have shared the stage with strippers, contortionists, glass eaters and folksingers. They play more waltzes than any other band I know of, but nobody ever seems to feel like dancing.
On the lastest American Circus CD “Wirewakers & Assassins” Mr. Eller presents songs about John Wilkes Booth, Joe Louis, Fidel Castro, Jack Ruby and Richard Nixon (as well as the usual tales of Civil War generals and Elvis Presley). As always, sporadic yodeling and some strong language should be expected. Mr Eller’s tune “Alaska” was voted “2003’s most Popular” on NPR’s All Songs Considered. The music has the unmistakable sound of a pistol being fired in an abandoned salt mine: lonesome and violent.
The bands three previous CD’s, “Taking Up Serpents Again” (2004), “Banjo Music for Funerals” (2002), and “1890” (2000), prove The American Circus capable of being recorded magnetically. On them you will here true stories about snake handlers and Coney Island, lies about P.T. Barnum and Amelia Earhart, and all the banjo playing and yodeling anyone can reasonably expect in these dark times.
T. E. Yates is supporting Curtis at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester on 26th April and John Fairhurst will be in support the following month at Hoxton Grill in London on 6th May.
Honeyfeet launch Friends Of Mine Festival Jazz Stage
04 April 2011
This Year Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club have been asked by Friends Of Mine Festival to curate their Bowl stage for Saturday 21st May
To mark the occasion, Manchester’s most famous jazz bar will be launching their Friends Of Mine Festival stage on Friday 8th April with the magnificent Honeyfeet!
Renowned for their guerilla gigs and energetic performances Honeyfeet manage to weave together so many influences it’s nigh on impossible to describe their sound, but to try and sum them up, they include influences from Irish Folk, Gypsy and Eastern European Folk, New Orleans Jazz, 60’s psychedelic, Delta Blues and even a touch of Pirate shanty music.
With this melting pot of sounds the atmosphere is always electric.
Honeyfeet will play three 45min sets from 9pm
£5 entry.
Bedlam Six European Tour
16 March 2011
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six are taking the Get Religion tour to the continent after playing to packed venues in England, Scotland and Ireland. You can follow their daily progress by visiting the The Bedlam Six Tour Diary which features a blog, photos and video clips.
The wheres and whens are as follows:
Thursday 17th March 2011 - Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim Germany
Friday 18th March 2011 - Hafen 2, Offenbach Germany
Saturday 19th March 2011 - Erfurt Jazz Club, Erfurt, Thuringia Germany
Sunday 20th March 2011 - Villa Hasenholz, Leipzig
Monday 21st March 2011 - Weekender, Innsbruck Austria
Wednesday 23rd March 2011 - Schokoladen, Berlin, Germany Germany
Thursday 24th March 2011 - Zentrale, Hamburg Germany
Friday 25th March 2011 - Glocksee, Hannover, Niedersach Germany
Saturday 26th March 2011 - Kino Ebensee, 4802 Ebensee, Traunsee/S Austria
Monday 28th March 2011 - Hirscheneck, Basel Switzerland
A John Fairhurst Track and Tour
03 March 2011
John Fairhurst’s instrumental track “Berkman House” is now available for free download here.
Fairhurst is now on a UK tour, check the tour poster below to see if he’s coming to a venue near you.
Debt Records at Band On The Wall
02 March 2011
Debt Records are joining forces with event organizers With A Little Help at legendary Manchester venue Band On The Wall to stage a fund-raiser for music therapy charity Nordoff-Robbins on 13th March.
With A Little Help have been staging events for the Nordoff- Robbins Music Therapy charity since 2009, raising funds and awareness and working to unite the Manchester music scene around this worthwhile and fitting cause.
They now announce a series of shows at Band On The Wall this spring. Showcasing some of the city’s most prominent and interesting artists, labels and collectives, they aim to celebrate the incredible diversity and richness in Manchester music today, whilst continuing to support the charity and their work.
First up, on March 13th, Debt acts Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six, Honeyfeet, Becca & The Broken Biscuits, Alabaster Deplume, Richard Barry & The Chaps, Red Tides and John Fairhurst will be joined by Caulbearers and Josephine to give you a night of entertainment you’ll never forget.
Tickets are available from Band On The Wall here
For more information about Nordoff-Robbins and the work they do visit their website here
Monkey Poet's North America Tour
23 February 2011
Monkey Poet Matt Panesh is about to take his two award-winning shows “Welcome To Afghanistan” and “Welcome To The UK” to North America.
Described by The Stage as a “MUST SEE”, the two shows have garnered Panesh no less than seven awards around the world. There will be one last chance to see the two pieces in England (back to back) on Friday 25th February at White Circle (14-16 Lever St, Manchester) before he takes them across the Atlantic.
The USA and Canada tour is as follows:
3rd + 4th Canuck Cabaret, New Yorks Frigid Fringe, NYC
11th Welcome to Afghanistan Fringe Central, Mass Ave, Indianapolis
12th Welcome to the UK! Fringe Central, Mass Ave Indianapolis
18th UK + Afghanistan Toronto
25th UK + Afghanistan London, Ontario
For more information visit www.monkeypoet.co.uk
Causes and Cures launch party
18 February 2011
Al Baker & The Dole Queue’s long awaited new album, “Causes and Cures”, is being released on Monday February 21st through Irregular Records.
To celebrate the release from this long time friend and associate of Debt Records, we are helping the band put on a very special (and FREE) show at Fuel Cafe Bar, our spiritual home in Withington, South Manchester.
Al Baker & The Dole Queue will be playing material off their new record, and will be joined on the bill by some of Debt Records’ finest folk players: Becca & The Broken Biscuits, Richard Barry & The Chaps and T. E. Yates.
There is a facebook event page with all the relevant information here
A Valentine's Day Poem by Alabaster Deplume
14 February 2011
A short verse
For true love
Mid-February
Chocolates Are for children:
Are we nearly there yet?
Have some chocolate.
Will you love me forever?
Have some bloody chocolate
You are prompted to be kind to your Significant Bother.
The roses are dead:
For you, my love,
The decapitated corpse
Of a once beautiful living thing
(A gift that says it better than words ever could)
Buy him
Or her
(With) a trinket,
And somehow
At astronomical seasonal prices
You will still manage to feel very,
Very cheap
What’s that in the sky?
Is it the Easter Bunny?
Is it Santa Claus?
No, it’s True Love!
It’s pink and red,
It tastes of strawberries
And it’s coming to a
VD clinic near you!
Happy Valentine’s Day
One and all!
International tax on idiocy
Full House for Bedlam Six live album!
06 February 2011
On Saturday 5th February Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six recorded a live album at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester. The evening featured two sets by the band and one by special guest John Otway (accompanied for two numbers by The Bedlam Six).
The night was a sell-out. By the closing number the audience was dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage. Then the bar was drunk dry and restocked no less than three times.
BBC photojournalist Gordon Jackson was granted an Access All Areas pass to cover the event. You can view some of his photos and commentary here
John Otway and The Bedlam Six
11 January 2011
Manchester Dirt-Swing outfit Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six team up with their hero to create a new live album at the Dancehouse Theatre on Saturday 5th February 2011.
It has been a busy year for the Manchester band, releasing the album “Found Drowned” in February, followed by the controversial single “Mother” (later included in Drowned In Sound’s top singles of 2010). They also played shows with rock behemoths Motörhead, jazz legends Sun Ra’s Arkestra and musical inspirations The Blockheads, before gaining national notoriety with their seedy lounge version of Take That’s “Relight My Fire” commissioned by the BBC.
But all that is nothing compared to what they have planned. Not content to mark the release of their new record with a conventional gig they have instead asked one of their musical heros, the anarchic John Otway, to join them for a special live recording session in The Dancehouse Theatre - a stage more famous for ballet than rock & roll.
“I first saw John Otway when I was sixteen,” says Barabbas, “he tore open his shirt, head-butted the microphone and put his head through the ceiling… to say he inspired me would be a criminally gross understatement - he was THE reason why I became a performer… I’m absolutely thrilled to finally be sharing a stage with him.”
This isn’t just a dream project for Louis though, the band are also keen to use the event as a gesture of thanks to their fanbase. Last year, members of the mailing list were asked what songs they’d like the band to play at the show and the band have since been busy rehearsing up old material and obscure covers. They have also announced that everyone present at the Dancehouse show will get their name added to the record’s liner notes and receive a free signed copy of the album upon release.
“The cyclical nature of it all is very appealing to me” says Louis, “this new record sums up the band in a way that our past releases don’t… I feel like it’s got a lot of truth in it. The decision to mark its release with a show in an old fashioned theatre, scripted in part by the audience and doubling as the next release, seemed very apt - a snapshot of The Bedlam Six on the first date of a Europe-wide tour at the beginning of a new decade. To then add to that mix a performance by the man who got me started in this business is the final piece of the puzzle - it just makes the whole thing perfect. One thing is certain: it’ll be a hard show for us to top!”
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six with special guest John Otway will take place at The Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester on Saturday 5th February 2011. Tickets are £10 on the door and £8 advance. The show begins at 8pm. “Get Religion!” will be on general release from Monday 7th February.
Red Rides: Housebound and Free
08 January 2011
Red Tides present their debut single “Housebound” as a free digital download on 10th January 2011.
Following a great year which has seen this unique five-piece release their debut EP “Wild Hour”, support San Francisco’s Vetiver at the Manchester Academy, take pride of place as BBC Manchester’s band of the week and feature on Music Week’s cover CD, Red Tides welcome in the new year with this very special two track digital single - completely free.
Singer/lyricist Molly Macleod describes the song as being about “the fear of decay… a song for people who are in the throes of the beginning of a relationship but cannot silence the worry that we are all bound to rust and weather.”
The mood is perfectly captured by filmmakers Mark Kendrick and Hossein Mirshahi who produced the stunning super-8 music video that accompanies the track.
“Hossein has a true love for film and art, he is the most passionate filmmaker I have ever met and is really inspiring” says Red Tides composer/guitarist Sam Alder.
Iranian filmmaker Hossein Mirshahi has been capturing and animating super-8 and 16mm film for the past 4 decades. Hossein grew up in rural Iran, and first moved to the UK in 1980s. Since then he has produced and collaborated on numerous films and art installations. After meeting four years ago, Manchester based producer and editor Mark Kendrick and Hossein began to collaborate on numerous projects. This work drew the attention of Red Tides who believed this style of art would be the perfect accompaniment to their music.
Kendrick commented “It is always an honour to work with Hossein’s beautiful footage and animation, and to combine this with the beautiful music of Red Tides was really special.”
“Housebound” will be made available for free download direct from the band’s online shop through www.debtrecords.net/shop on Monday 10th January 2011.
The EP is on general release from March.
Barabbas' Stocking (and suspenders) Filler
07 December 2010
Free Music giveaway on 7th December 2010
Now that the bleak mid-winter is fully upon us Debt Records feels compelled to add to your chills with this free download of Louis Barabbas’ Christmas Single from 2008. Gawd Bless Us, Every One!
Today marks the eleventh year since The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against the Napster file-sharing client alleging copyright infringement. What better way to mark the dawn of this most controversial of musical epochs than with some free music at Christmas time, a season famous for its generosity (though characterized by its greed).
The song was originally commissioned in 2007 by a London label called “Old School House Recordings” for a Christmas album featuring, among others, The Broken Family Band’s Steve Adams and Humble Soul’s Aidan Smith. Louis was working as a Christmas elf in Manchester’s German Market at the time (see photo right) and wrote the song “Writing My List” in a typical post-shift rage during the bus journey back to Withington. The Bedlam Six (then known as The Black Velvet Band), recorded it the following day with the haunting cello part provided by The Moulettes’ Hannah Miller (who was living with Barabbas at the time).
Unfortunately the label folded and the album never reached the shops. The band were thus left with a song that was rapidly approaching its use-by-date. In the end they decided to self-release (or should that be “elf” release) the record the following year accompanied by a creepy music video directed by Joseph Mannion (who recently shot Becca & The Broken Biscuits’ “Train Driver” promo) with animation from Plastic Zoo’s Sam Alder (who later worked on the Bedlam Six’s celebrated “Tell-Tale Hound” video).
Anyway, we forget what the Christmas Number One was in 2008 but it certainly wasn’t “Writing My List”.
So here it is, a Christmas gift from Debt Records to you with all the festive cheer we can muster - available for free download from www.debtrecords.net/shop. Humbug!
2008 BBC coverage can be found here
Here is the Music Video:
The song will be available to download free from the Debt Records shop on 7th
December 2010 and will remain there until epiphany.
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six’s next record “Get Religion!” is released on Debt
Records on 31st January 2011. They then embark on a UK and Europe-wide tour.
Becca & The Broken Dreams
10 November 2010
Pop music has always been about hope. After all, it’s a young person’s genre and Hope is what young people trade in. The rule applies to every pop hook from “We’ll meet again” in the 1940s to “I hope I die before I get old” in the 1960s and it continues on into the present day with no signs of abating.
Well now Becca & The Broken Biscuits are telling Pop Music that it’s time to grow up.
“Train Driver”, the new single from the Manchester three piece, was directly inspired by a list of bullet points its singer had come up with in response to the common question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” - a list she’d written over twenty years earlier.
On it the words “alt/folk-pop vocalist with day job in higher education and administration” are conspicuous by their absence. “Deep-sea diver”, “cowboy”, “explorer” and “spy” are just a few of the fanciful answers that pepper this moving song about when Rites of Passage give way to Rites of Past-It.
Songwriter Becca Williams (like the other artists on Debt Records) has always chosen
to do things her own way. Attempts by others to change her image or influence her
performance style have repeatedly been met with disinterest from the singer. As a
consequence Becca’s beautiful voice, easy onstage performance style and naturally
infectious music has, for the best part of a decade, been confined to the opening slots of
dingy Northern pub music nights. Nevertheless, a mixture of indomitable enthusiasm
and dogged determination has meant that over the last year she has finally been getting
the recognition that was always due to her: receiving regular airplay, mainstage festival
bookings and a growing international fan-base.
It’s strangely apt that the songs are so often about going somewhere - both in terms of geography as well as aspiration. “Astronaut Song” - the single’s B-Side and a long-time live favourite with fans - is a good example of this but, when one delves a little deeper into Becca’s lyrics, the message is more often about going nowhere. They speak about a life away from Pop Music’s promises - a life far more familiar to the X-Factor generation than to any other in the history of the mainstream music industry.
So it is with great pleasure that this independent label announces the release of “Train Driver”, the first of many projects Debt Records has planned with The Broken Biscuits. I’m tempted to make a Train Driver pun about being “on the right track”. But I won’t.
Relighting Fires
01 November 2010
As Take That celebrates the release of their latest studio record and the twentieth year since they first squeezed into the leather waist-coats and learnt how to head-spin, Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six show that it’s not all about the Take, but also a bit about the Give.
Last Summer, Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six were asked to be a part of BBC Manchester’s 40th Birthday celebrations (along with label-mates Richard Barry and Becca Williams). The project, entitled 40x40, saw forty of the best new bands on the Manchester circuit rearrange and record famous songs with a Manchester connection - each song being specially chosen to represent a year in the life of the Radio Station.
Chris Long, Producer of BBC Introducing, says: “We were asked for ideas to celebrate 40 years of BBC Radio Manchester and the idea instantly popped into my head for 40 of the acts that I work with on BBC Introducing to cover 40 Manchester musical moments. We’re trying to showcase the fantastic musical history we’ve got and the brilliant musical future in Greater Manchester.”
At first it seemed that The Bedlam Six had been given a rather short straw - their year was 1993 and the song was Take That & Lulu’s cover of Dan Hartman’s disco classic “Relight My Fire”. Not exactly Music’s finest hour!
Louis accepted the challenge with relish, however, and quickly knocked the pop classic into a lounge-shaped barfly lament with a generous helping of customary Barabbas filth. The band then spent a day in Nether Alderley’s Kasbahn studio (which is run by Bedlam bassist Dan Watkins) and put together this five minute dirt-swing epic that couldn’t be further from Take That’s chart-topper if it tried.
“We’re all rather fond of this strange little number” says composer Louis, “we thought it a shame to just let it disappear after BBC Manchester’s birthday celebrations fizzled out so we’re letting people download the mp3 and they’re free to do what they like with it. We don’t own any rights to the song and, what with our new record and preparing for a big tour, we really don’t have the time to chase up the legal side so there will be no money changing hands and no email addresses bartered… it’ll just be there for anyone who enjoyed listening to it on the radio over the last few months.”
“Relight My Fire” is now available to download free from the Debt Records Shop.
Becca's Secret Single
25 October 2010
Manifold catastrophes literally rained down on Becca Williams last month as a calamitous flood put all the worldly possessions in her Chorlton flat (and nearly also her pet cat) under water.
Rain and sewage may have drowned the instruments but it did not dampen Becca’s ambitions as she prepared for the release of her debut single “Train Driver” (along with its heart-breaking B-side “Astronaut Song”).
The record - on general release on 15th November - got a special “fans only” launch on 20th October at An Outlet in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Becca explained the reason for this unconventional approach:
“There were all sorts of delays to this release that weren’t anyone’s fault, just unforeseen circumstances and bad luck. We didn’t want to keep pushing the date back and back though… we have such a great bunch of people who have supported us at shows and festivals over the years and they’ve been asking about the single - we didn’t want to let them down so decided to organize a free concert (for all the people on our mailing list) in which the audience would be given a free limited edition press of the single while we get the official release sorted properly. We basically just wanted to say ‘Thanks for the help over the years and hope it’s been worth the wait!’”
So the single was home pressed, the sleeves hand drawn by Becca and the distribution happened face to face. A fitting beginning that has been a long time coming.
BBC’s Chris Long - regular champion of Becca & The Broken Biscuits - had plugged the show as Manchester’s gig of the week and was in attendance on the night to see the action play out for himself, later tweeting that the event was “absolutely stunning.”
The evening’s entertainment closed with an appearance from label-mate Richard Barry (who had also been the opening act) duetting with Becca on their celebrated reworking of The Smiths’ “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” to roaring applause.
“Train Driver” is available to download from the Debt Records shop and will be on general digital release (complete with music video) on Monday 15th November.
Photos courtesy of Andy Darbyshire
Barabbas and the Beards
22 October 2010
Every now and then something crops up in the life of every record label that absolutely no one thought to prepare for. Recently just such a thing happened as Debt co-founder Louis Barabbas was approached to model for the Beards Of Manchester calendar 2011.
So it was that during one of the busiest months in the music industry calendar Louis grabbed Alfie the Debt Records Dog and flounced off to have his picture taken.
The calendar was the brain child of b&n magazine’s Samantha Bail and Hey Manchester’s Chris Horkan and was produced to raise money and awareness for Manchester’s homeless charity Lifeshare.
The photographs are currently on exhibition in Common’s Kestrel Suite in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and will remain there until the end of the year. You can’t miss Louis’ June photo (see below) - it’s the biggest picture in the room!
Other beards included our friend Jay Taylor from The Ruby Lounge and Pat “Mad Dawg” Macaulay (who also has a cameo in The Bedlam Six’s music video for their cover of “Relight My Fire” - released in November).
All photos by Gill Moore.
Visit http://gillmoorephotography.co.uk/ to see more examples of her work.
Visit www.beardsofmanchester.com for more information about the project and where you can buy a copy of the calendar.
New Record from John Fairhurst
11 October 2010
Internationally acclaimed guitarist John Fairhurst is to release his much anticipated second record - enigmatically entitled “BAND” - on Monday 18th October 2010 through Debt Records.
Laid down in a small German analogue studio with a group of international musicians assembled specially for the event, BAND takes inspiration from the extensive touring John has done since his last album came out - a journey that took him to SXSW in Texas, the UK festival circuit (including Glastonbury), a three month tour of Australia and the Far East as well as continual Europe-wide performances.
Fairhurst’s debut Joys Of Spring (released in 2007) was an instrumental album that daringly fused Indian Classical guitar trends with the raggedy American blues licks of the early nineteen hundreds. Its limited run of 1000 copies sold out almost immediately and the critical response propelled its author onto a world tour that still continues today. Later the record even secured John endorsement from legendary US guitar manufacturers National and an apprenticeship with Sarod Maestro K. Sridhar.
Though the album featured contributions from The Leaf Label’s Nancy Elizabeth and Humble Soul’s Denis Jones, Joys Of Spring was for the most part a private undertaking recorded in a secluded shed in Fairhurst’s native Wigan. Its follow-up BAND, however, could not be more different.
This latest release transports John Fairhurst’s singular blues fusion style (with newly acquired fearsome singing voice) boldly onto the dance floor. Indeed, whilst his first collection of songs exhibited an artistry that compelled audiences to sit forward in their seats and marvel, the dominant message of BAND is undoubtedly “Get on your feet!”
John Fairhurst’s BAND is on general release from Monday 18th October 2010. Limited Edition numbered advance copies will available at Debt At The Dancehouse (where John is celebrating the record’s launch) on Saturday 16th October.
Debt At The Dancehouse
05 October 2010
On Saturday 16th October 2010 - as Manchester’s In The City delegates nurse their wine-hangovers and fringe promoters stack up the unused chairs - Debt Records will throw open the doors of the beautiful Dancehouse Theatre for its annual live extravaganza.
For one night only the Northern Ballet School’s sumptuous art deco headquarters will be transformed into a hub of independent music and performance, brought to you by Manchester’s cooperative imprint Debt Records.
Debt is a label ready to admit that the music industry is currently in a condition whereby live performance is, for the first time since the formation of EMI in 1931, the only dependable way in which a artists can realistically and sustainably ply their trade. What better place then to hold this independent label’s annual party than in the splendour of a 1930s proscenium arch auditorium?
The timing is not insignificant. The three day ITC conference that precedes Debt At The Dancehouse is a world famous music industry event that will facilitate (albeit naively) many local bands being seduced into performing for no pay by fringe promoters promising them the attentive ears of hungry and sympathetic industry representatives (who, in reality, will all be half a mile away in a four hotel campus getting drunk). Debt Records is not opposed to the ITC conference - indeed a number of Debt associates are taking part and Debt’s technical director Dan Watkins is on the team recording the event - but this showcase will be an antidote: an evening of exceptional entertainment free from agenda or artifice.
The Debt Records team believes that no space should be ignored when planning a concert. They have to date performed and organised shows in museums, churches, libraries, olive groves and derelict buildings but, for their yearly label celebration at least, they prefer to be old fashioned: a theatre is the proper place for an evening’s entertainment, especially in a time when the world outside seems so uncertain.
According to BBC Manchester, last year’s Debt At The Dancehouse elicited “a general feeling of bonhomie”. This is precisely the sentiment musical performance should be associated with rather than the commonly accepted posturing of the recorded industry. It is with a spirit of inclusion - as well as independence - that Debt Records is run. Come see for yourself on 16th October 2010.
The line-up is as follows:
JOHN FAIRHURST - www.johnfairhurst.com/ “As gripping as it is totally different” - The Guardian
LOUIS BARABBAS & THE BEDLAM SIX - www.louisbarabbas.com “Excellent in every way” - BBC 6 Music
BECCA & THE BROKEN BISCUITS - www.beccaandthebrokenbiscuits.co.uk/ “Thoughtful, emotional music that cuts to your heart and feeds your soul.” - BBC Manchester
RED TIDES - www.myspace.com/itsredtides “Music that sounds like the last day of summer, like shadows creeping across golden fields, like the echoes of a time long past finding their way into modern-day dreams” - Manchester Music
RICHARD BARRY & THE CHAPS - www.richardbarry.net “A talent that Vivian Stanshall would roll around in flames for” - 3 Weeks Magazine
ALABASTER DEPLUME - www.myspace.com/alabasterdeplume “Absolutely stunning, evocative, confusing, tragi-comic. I felt like laughing and crying - I didn’t know whether it was poetry, music or theatre, all I know is that it was wonderful” - Shambala Review
HANNAH MILLER (from THE MOULETTES) - www.myspace.com/moulettes “Complex & beautiful…Intriguing & unique” - Mojo
PLUS A special DEBT SUPERGROUP to close the night…
£5 advance £8 on the door
Tickets available in person from the box office (0161 237 9753) and online at ticketline
We hope to see you there!
Debt at the Museum
27 September 2010
It’s Un-Convention time again.
From the amazing team who brought you the public recording of an album in one day (plus a dozen international conferences and showcase events) comes Un-Convention Salford 2010 - number twelve in the Un-Con series - held in the city where it all began.
Debt’s first signing Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six have played at two Un-Conventions so far and this year our little label has been asked to curate a stage of its own, a saturday afternoon acoustic showcase in the Edwardian Engine Hall of Manchester’s People’s History Museum.
The Debt Records Stage at the People’s History Museum will be the only Un-Convention event open to the general public as well as to pass-holders (free entry).
In addition to providing music Debt’s own Louis Barabbas will don his “industry cap” and join one of the panels at Sacred Trinity Church. The discussion - entitled “Building A Sustainable Career In Music: 9-5 What A Way To Make A Living” - takes place at 2.30pm on the saturday.
He will then be playing with The Bedlam Six on the Now Then stage at The Rovers Return at 9pm.
For more information visit:
For venue details visit: http://www.phm.org.uk/visit-us/how-to-find-us/
Line-Up for the Debt Records stage is as follows:
12.00 - 12.30 : BECCA & THE BROKEN BISCUITS
12.35 - 13.05 : SARAH McQUAID
13.10 - 13.40 : RICHARD BARRY & THE CHAPS
13.45 - 14.30 : HONEYFEET
14.40 - 15.10 : KAYA & CAPTAIN TEMPER
15.15 - 15.45 : PHILLIOUS WILLIAMS
15.50 - 16.20 : RED TIDES
16.25 - 17.00 : JOHN FAIRHURST
Facebook event page here
David Rybka Celebrates Mexican Independence
13 September 2010
One Hundred years after the 1910 Mexican Revolution and two hundred since the nation’s Independence, Wigan-born David Rybka releases his debut record.
Best known as the leader of The Victorian Dad Band (currently recording an album for Elbow and I Am Kloot’s label Skinny Dog), David Rybka has spent the majority of 2010 touring Mexico, exploring new creative terrain and writing a special collection of songs for release on Debt Records.
The record - entitled “Out Here” - won’t be available until November but the recently repatriated composer felt compelled to draw attention towards the country that inspired the songs, with a free download on what is arguably the most important day in the nation’s calendar: Independence Day.
“The country gave me so much - I was playing with amazing local musicians, performing in all kinds of places (even a maximum security prison) - I didn’t want to just release a record, I wanted to express what the country meant to me, almost as a Thank You rather than just a series of songs. 16th September is Mexican Independence Day and that’s when we’re giving away the single “Mexico”. No cost, no mailing list to sign, no catch - it’s not much but it’s my small homage to a place that altered the way I look at music.”
Rybka’s Mexico booking agent and creative consultant Jon Bonfiglio - who has previously organized tours there for Nancy Elizabeth, John Smith and Louis Barabbas - notes the importance of the record both in its honesty and tragic incongruity:
“A century after the revolution and one of the measures of progress here is 30,000 drug killings in the last four years… the Mexico in Dave’s music is a very different Mexico; it’s the Mexico of the glancing blow, of personal release by difference. I think in time (if not already) Dave will regard it as something of a dream, one in which he was briefly, humanly happy.”
Mexico has a history of attracting British creatives, inspiring the likes of D. H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley and Graeme Greene. David Rybka is the latest in this prestigious line and we look forward to showing the world what he made of his experiences there.
The single “Mexico” will be available for free download exclusively from the Debt Records shop from Thursday 16th September 2010. The full EP is on general release on 8th November 2010.
Barabbas, Barry and Becca on BBC
08 September 2010
BBC Introducing in Manchester will be celebrating BBC Radio Manchester’s 40th anniversary with a song for every one of its 40 years.
The initiative, which showcases under-the-radar talent, has asked 40 local artists to cover famous tracks by past acts that have strong connections to northern city. From the Hollies to 10cc, New Order to Girls Aloud, each song has been hand-picked to denote a year in BBC Manchester’s 40 year broadcasting history.
From Friday 10 September to Sunday 12 September, these 40 recorded tracks will be played out on BBC Radio Manchester’s daytime schedule, giving the next wave of fresh, new northern talent, further opportunities to be heard by a wider audience.
Chris Long, Producer of BBC Introducing in Manchester, says: “We were asked for ideas to celebrate 40 years of BBC Radio Manchester and the idea instantly popped into my head for 40 of the acts that I work with on BBC Introducing to cover 40 Manchester musical moments. We’re trying to showcase the fantastic musical history we’ve got and the brilliant musical future in Greater Manchester.”
Full list of Artists and Tracks:
1970 - The Travelling Band - Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) - Graham Nash grew up in Salford
1971 - The Christophers - Oh You Pretty Things (Peter Noone) - Peter Noone is from Manchester
1972 - Blind Atlas - You’re A Lady (Peter Skellern) - Peter Skellern is from Bury
1973 - The Ambersons - Magic Woman Touch (The Hollies) - Members of The Hollies are from Greater Manchester
1974 - Rook and the Ravens - The Air That I Breathe (The Hollies)
1975 - Christopher Eatough - I’m Not In Love (10cc) - Members of 10cc are from Greater Manchester
1976 - Kid British - The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy) - Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott spent some of his childhood in Manchester
1977 - Kristyna Myles - Grease (Frankie Valli) - Grease is written by Barry Gibb, who grew up in Manchester
1978 - Here Be Dragons - Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks) - Members of Buzzcocks are from Greater Manchester
1979 - Golden Glow - Every Day Hurts (Sad Café) - Members of Sad Café are from Greater Manchester
1980 - MAY68 - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) - Members of Joy Division are from Greater Manchester
1981 - Josephine - Rapture (Blondie) - Blondie bass player at time, Nigel Harrison, is from Stockport
1982 - Unconscious Jungle - The Look Of Love (ABC) - Martin Fry is from Stockport
1983 - Shmoo - Blue Monday (New Order) - Former members of Joy Division
1984 - Becca Williams and Richard Barry - Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (The Smiths) - Members of The Smiths are from Greater Manchester
1985 - Walton Hesse - She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult) - Billy Duffy is from Manchester
1986 - Selfish Lovers - Panic (The Smiths)
1987 - Suzuki Method - Hit The North (The Fall) - Members of The Fall are from Greater Manchester
1988 - Karima Francis - Everyday Is Like Sunday (Morrissey) - Morrissey is from Manchester
1989 - Heavy Feet - People Hold On (Coldcut and Lisa Stansfield) - Lisa Stansfield from Rochdale
1990 - Driver Drive Faster - Step On (Happy Mondays) - Members of Happy Mondays are from Greater Manchester
1991 - From The Kites Of San Quentin - In Yer Face (808 State) - Members of 808 State are from Greater Manchester
1992 - Twelfth Day - You’re The One For Me, Fatty (Morrissey) - Morrissey is from Manchester
1993 - Louis Barabbas & the Bedlam Six - Relight My Fire (Take That & Lulu) - Members of Take That are from Greater Manchester
1994 - Butler Williams - The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get (Morrissey)
1995 - The Reclusive Barclay Brothers - Over My Shoulder (Mike & the Mechanics) - Former members of Sad Café
1996 - Violet Youth - Forever Love (Take That)
1997 - Sophie’s Pigeons - The Drugs Don’t Work (The Verve) - Members of The Verve are from Greater Manchester
1998 - Samir Harmim - Sonnet (The Verve)
1999 - The Minnikins - Once Around The Block (Badly Drawn Boy) - Damon Gough from Bolton
2000 - Seerauber Jenny - A Song For Lovers (Richard Ashcroft) - Former member of the Verve
2001 - A Me B - F.E.A.R. (Ian Brown) - Ian Brown is from Manchester
2002 - The Gilded Palace of Sin - Pounding (Doves) - Members of Doves are from Greater Manchester
2003 - Envy - Sound Of The Underground (Girls Aloud) - Sarah Harding is from Stockport
2004 - Beat The Radar - Love Machine (Girls Aloud)
2005 - Tim and Sam’s Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam - Dare (Gorillaz) - features Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, who is from the area
2006 - Messner - Country Girl (Primal Scream) - Mani from Primal Scream is from Manchester
2007 - Bugs In Ember - Do It Again (The Chemical Brothers) - The Chemical Brothers met and formed at University of Manchester
2008 - Kathryn Edwards - The Promise (Girls Aloud)
2009 - Hans Island - Up All Night (Take That)
2010 - The Vanguards - Doubt (Delphic) - Members of Delphic are from Greater Manchester
Red Tides release WILD HOUR
02 September 2010
“Wild Hour” the new record by Debt’s jaw-dropping experimental folk outfit Red Tides is on general release from Monday 6th September 2010.
It will be available from the Debt Records shop and all the usual digital retailers plus selected independent outlets.
The Weekend Ahead...
24 August 2010
This weekend Debt’s home town of Manchester will be something of a ghost ship as all of our acts and label directors will be off making merry in the fields of England and Scotland.
Solfest in Cumbria will see the biggest influx from our roster with not one, not two, not three or four but FIVE of our acts gracing the fields with their talent.
Becca & The Broken Biscuts, John Fairhurst and Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six will be appearing on the Mainstage on saturday and sunday. Red Tides and Richard Barry will be performing on the Drystone Stage.
Honeyfeet and Alabaster Deplume will be playing The Wandering Word stage at Shambala Festival in Northamptonshire (also appearing will be Louis Barabbas solo acoustic - as well as on The Compass Stage later that same night). John Fairhurst will also be appearing at Aeon Festival in Devon. Meanwhile Monkey Poet Matt Panesh continues to wow the crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe.
www.solwayfestival.co.uk
www.aeonfestival.com
www.shambablafestival.org
www.edfringe.com
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
11 August 2010
Our acts have been in and out of muddy fields all summer - both in the UK and overseas - but there is one festival that takes the cake for mayhem and that’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Three of our number have shows spanning the full three weeks:
MONKEY POET is premiering Welcome To Afghanistan - his first play and one man show. That takes place at the Sin Club on Cowsgate Click here for more information He’ll also be doing his regular stand up poetry show (and album tie-in) Welcome to the UK complete with Debt label-mate Alabaster Deplume and some amazing people we met at Kiuperfest this year (including the puppeteers from the Something Something Company!) Details of that can be found here He’ll also be filling in a 9.15 solo slot with an hour of stand-up poetry at Sin Club.
SAM BUCKLEY, bassist and co-singer in Honeyfeet will be playing the part of “The Sex” in a new opera entitled “Man And Men” at Hill Street Theatre at 4.35pm every day except Tuesdays. It is a strange, other worldly production backed by a contemporary classical score. Written and composed by Joshua Goodman with libretto by Tom Riley. More information here
ALABASTER DEPLUME (pictured) will be appearing at Faceplant, The Forest on 17th August, at 8pm, compered by none other than Louis Barabbas’ enigmatic publisher A. Valliard. Venue info here
He will also be at Banshee Labyrinth, from 17th - 19th August as part of Monkey Poet’s Welcome to the UK at 6:20pm (see above)
Please enjoy poetry responsibly
The Becca and Louis Duet Series
28 July 2010
Becca Williams (lead singer of Becca & The Broken Biscuits) and Louis Barabbas (captain of The Bedlam Six) have begun a long-term project that will see them tackle some of music history’s classic duets.
The idea for the duet series was first floated on the Louis Barabbas facebook page and received an overwhelmingly positive response. A call for submissions was immediately issued and over the course of the day dozens of suggestions came flooding in with ideas for potential covers.
From this first batch Louis and Becca chose Summer Wine (by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra) to be the first in their series.
On 27th July they met up with Joel Roberts (Broken Biscuit bassist) at Fuel bar in Withington where Gus Fairbairn (Honeyfeet sax player) happened to be having a coffee. After a quick drink the four climbed the stairs up to the Debt Records press office where Debt co-founder Biff Roxby set up a small live rig to record the session.
Their version is faithful to the original. It is in the same key and tempo with similar orchestration. The only difference is that they have reversed the roles - Louis Barabbas appears as Nancy Sinatra and Becca Wlliams dons the tache to play Lee Hazlewood. In this new arrangement the song’s story of seduction becomes a more sinister animal. Louis’ delivery of Nancy’s choruses suggest that maybe the wine was spiked with something more than “strawberries, cherries and an angel’s kiss in spring…”
The song will be released as a free download exclusively through the Debt Records online shop on 4th August 2010 to mark the third anniversary of Lee Hazlewood’s death in 2007.
Here is footage of the four musicians laying down the track.
Honeyfest
14 July 2010
This year the UK’s most talked about new jazz-folk outfit Honeyfeet has been picked to open the 2010 Manchester Jazz Festival this month.
Times haven’t been easy for Honeyfeet in recent months. Their recent Spanish tour, whilst inspiring ecstatic audience reaction, was peppered with catastrophe - including two broken instruments and a defunct tour bus.
The five-piece (“graced by the Midas touch… plagued by the Midas touch”) stayed positive, however, and stayed tight. They are now back on home turf, putting the final touches on their new record “Scumbags” and getting ready for a lot of high profile shows around the country. As well as the Manchester Jazz Festival on 24th July, they will be the main support for highly acclaimed US performer C.W. Stoneking at the Ruby Lounge (2nd August) and among the highlights of the Green Phoenix Festival in Newcastle and Shambala in Northamptonshire (on 20th and 27th August respectively).
Tickets for the Manchester Jazz Festival can be bought here
Tickets for the C.W. Stoneking show can be bought here
www.greenphoenixfestival.org.uk/
www.shambalafestival.org/
www.myspace.com/honeyfeetmusic
Every Dog Has His Day
05 July 2010
THERE IS AN ANCIENT BELIEF THAT SIRIUS (THE DOG STAR) IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HOT WEATHER. THIS JULY, HOWEVER, SEES THE ARRIVAL OF A DIFFERENT POOCH AS LOUIS BARABBAS’ TELL-TALE HOUND IS BROUGHT TO SLOBBERY LIFE…
“Dog Days” (diēs caniculārēs) are the hottest, most sultry days of Summer and were popularly believed to be an evil time “when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid” (according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813). Consequently the Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of this period to appease the rage of Sirius.
Something similar happens almost nightly to Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six. There is one song that haunts the band more than any other - a song that tells the story of an ill-fated love triangle between a man, a woman and an eternally panting dog.
“This is the one the audiences always want,” remarks Louis, “it’s taken on a force all of its own, I feel like it’s reached the point where the song plays us, rather than the other way around… We’re not complaining - we love it - that’s why now, almost three years after it first emerged from its kennel, we are giving The Tell-Tale Hound its very own show.”
Sam Alder (co-founder of film company Plastic Zoo and new internet phenomenon Manchester Scenewipe) was approached to lead the project that would translate this twisted fairy tale into a visual feast. After working closely for many months with acclaimed animator Scott Lockhart the pair have done just that.
“It’s been a lot of fun but I see what Louis means… that dog really latches onto you - it burrows down into your brain like it’s sniffing out some long-buried bone. Scott and I got kind of obsessed with that dog… it got scary.”
This is not the first time Louis and Sam have collaborated. Sam recently provided illustrations for Barabbas’ collected lyrics (entitled “Love, Sighs, Regrets and Goat” - due out later this year through Irish publishing house The Tragically Flawed Press). The Hound video is the first in a series of events that build up to the book’s publication.
Louis says: “According to The Book Of Common Prayer the ‘Dog Daies’ begin on 6th July so that’s when we’ll be unleashing (if you’ll forgive the pun) the video for the first time.” The Old Farmer’s Almanac states that these are the days of the year when moisture is at its lowest. When better then to tell a tale set in “a dirty old town where it always rains”?
The video can be viewed on YouTube, metacafe, daily motion, vimeo, and myspace tv)
www.plasticzoo.co.uk
www.scottlockhart.co.uk
www.louisbarabbas.com
A Date with Yates
31 May 2010
This month’s Debt Records Presents… will take place on the first saturday of the month rather than the usual second friday (due to the Debt Set flying off to Spain next week for the Kuiperfest acoustic festival).
We like to think that the gigs we curate are something a little bit special, after all we’re musicians on both sides of the industry and know what works live. The upcoming show on Saturday 5th June, however, is something we’re particularly excited about. As well as a headline set from our newest signing Honeyfeet (one of the finest live acts of our age), we herald the triumphant return of Thomas E Yates after a two year sabbatical from the live circuit.
Tom has been on our radar for years - we met him in early 2007 at a Bedlam Six gig (when they were called The Black Velvet Band). He was an enthusiastic yet very shy first year student from Wigan seeking to size up the Manchester “scene” before plunging into it himself.
Since then he has developed his craft and grown into one of the most compelling and unpredictable singer-songwriters we’ve ever come across. It is with great pleasure that we host his live show this coming saturday at Fuel Bar in Withington.
Yates’ debut EP will be released on Debt Records this Summer.
Un-Convention's Day Of The Idiot
21 May 2010
The album that took only twelve hours to make can be freely downloaded from Un-Convention’s Sound Cloud site. The record is a re-imagining of Iggy Pop’s first solo release The Idiot, with covers by artists from all across the genre spectrum.
We are obviously most excited by track six as it is performed by Debt’s very own Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six (who managed to make a seven minute heroin dirge into something a little bit more swinging).
A slideshow of photos from the day can be found on the BBC Manchester website.
To learn more about Un-Convention and the wonderful things they do visit their blog page at unconvention.wordpress.com/
Andrzej Hood
14 May 2010
Hollywood Hood is no good. Our friend Andrzej Stepien, however, has got something that’s actually worth giving to the poor - a free song about Robin Hood on the day Russel Crowe’s misguided interpretation hits UK screens
Here’s what Andrzej has to say on the matter:
“Everyone knows Robin Hood wears bright green tights and mugs people like David Cameron, then he gives the money to the poor. Robin Hood doesn’t swan about saving England from civil war and he certainly isn’t played by Russell Crowe. Robin Hood is brilliant and Hollywood always seems to let him down. When I wrote this song I wanted to put across that central ethos of violently enforced altruism in a manner that even a child could understand and enjoy. Giving the track away as a free download seems true to the spirit of Robin Hood and will hopefully go some way to countering this film’s cynical dilution of the Robin Hood myth.”
Click here to get your free download (tights not included)
For more information about Andrzej Stepien visit his website at www.astepien.com or go to Fuel’s Open Mic night in Manchester every Wednesday.
Un-Convention's Invisible Band
09 May 2010
The last few days have seen two historic events take place: the first UK hung parliament in thirty six years and the first album to be recorded, produced, pressed and released in a mere twelve hours.
The latter is, of course, Un-Convention Factory. Eight bands, Sixty music industry professionals and three hundred people in a converted factory space recreating Iggy Pop’s “The Idiot” album to mark the thirtieth anniversary since Ian Curtis hanged himself while listening to it.
One of those bands was Debt’s own Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six who were commissioned to rearrange track six “Dum Dum Boys”. Despite receiving praise on the day from everyone from Har Mar Superstar to UB40’s sax player they don’t get a credit on the album sleeve. The artwork for the record was produced and printed in-house and somehow the band with the longest name (playing the album’s longest song) was left off the sleeve notes. This oversight comes as no surprise to Louis:
“It’s pointless getting annoyed about these things, it happens all the time and has characterized our musical career. We’re best known for our live presence but to the existing industry we’ve always been invisible - it’s apt for us to be anonymous on the only record that has any kind of mainstream appeal… it tickles my perverted sense of humour that anyone enjoying our track on the Unconvention album will have no idea who’s playing it. Besides, I’ve always said I’d rather be a myth than a legend.”
The whole Debt Records team were at the factory all day and were moved by the mixture of positive collaboration and useful discussion between current practitioners (coupled with the usual industry survivors wittering on about the good old days) - it was a curious harmony of new ideas, community spirit and optimism with a handful of irrelevant famous people wasting everyone’s time. A perfect mirror to what we now hesitantly call “the music business”.
For more information about the great things that Un-Convention gets up to visit their blog.
MAPS Festival Free Download!
03 May 2010
This news item is being written from the Debt Records stage at Manchester’s Northern Quarter Festival - MAPS (Music, Art, Poetry & Stuff). It’s a great day, we’ve already had Louis Barabbas and Al Baker playing stripped down sets, currently Still Down Gill are rocking everyone’s socks off and the wonderful Red Tides are on next.
Later on this mammoth all-dayer we’ll be hearing from Debt’s own Honeyfeet, John Fairhurst, Richard Barry and Becca & The Broken Biscuits, as well as Plain Sounds’ signature signing The Suns, Samson & Delilah from Little Red Rabbit Records, SR Gents and poetry from Matthew Wilson, Carol Batton and… of course… our very own Monkey Poet compering (and drinking).
To celebrate this monumental line-up we have created a special promo download, available free from our shop for a limited time only (no idea how long it’ll be there - until the next giveaway probably).
So head over to the shop and pick up yours. Or better still, get down to The Bay Horse on Thomas Street in Manchester and come watch some of these acts live!
News From Mexico
29 April 2010
For the last four months David Rybka and Honeyfeet’s Rik Warren have been touring Mexico with Debt’s creative associate Jon Bonfiglio. As well as the usual bars, clubs and festivals the pair have also been booked to play shows in a maximum security prison and the British Embassy. They are also working on an album with local musicians from Cuernavaca (which will be released on Debt later this year).
We finally caught up with Dave to get his thoughts on this latest tour, so far from his native Wigan…
“There is so much history, so much to understand… the Ruins and archeological finds are really inspiring. I have seen so much yet barely half of what Mexico is about. On my return I intend to delve deeper into its history.
And what effect has it had on your writing?
“It’s made me write songs that are very different to those ones I wrote back in England… the different climate, the scenery, the feeling - it all just adds to the creative flow that boils inside all of us.”
What can we expect from the new record?
“The project is with two Mexican musicians called Matisse and Andrea Valdez. We are producing a record consisting of two traditional Mexican songs and two European Folk songs, then two songs from each of the four musicians involved in the project. They sing and play on our songs and we play and sing on their songs, then see what comes out. It should be an interesting project for everyone involved.
And what are your thoughts on the prison gig?
“Blake wrote that the body is the soul’s prison unless all five senses are fully developed and open. He considered the senses the ‘windows of the soul.’ People in prison deserve a second chance most of the time, lets hope we awake their senses…”
Rybka and Warren will be reunited with the rest of the Debt Records community at Kuiperfest in North Spain this June before returning to the UK to get their Mexican collaboration album ready for a late summer release.
Cry God for Monkey Poet and St George!
23 April 2010
It’s St George’s Day and Monkey Poet is treating the world to an exclusive free download of his long-awaited debut record Welcome To The UK.
The album - which will be officially released by Debt Records on the day of the General Election - is based on Monkey Poet’s award-winning live show of the same name, an act that toured the world last year, gleefully vaulting customary genre divisions and inspiring no small amount of controversy for its political, sexual and occasionally downright obscene content.
Never one to tread the usual paths, however, Matt Panesh (the Monkey in question) has decided that a conventional live album just won’t do.
“It’s hard enough to entertain with just one voice and one body in front of a crowd but take away the body and leave the voice and it gets harder still… I thought the idea of a radio play with some acidic asides and poetry to emphasize certain points could be more effective.”
Effective is one way of putting it. Mould-breaking is another. Panesh’s signature enthusiasm-combined-with-rage is typically delicious here but all the more moving when set within the grey confines of a kitchen sink radio drama.
“The play was born out of a desire to reflect the society we live in… and to mock it! The album afforded me some amazing liberties - allowing me to push the boundaries of the original show and then laugh heartily when the cast subsequently ran with the ideas.”
He goes on to address the subject of poetry itself:
“I’m very protective of poetry as a form. I loathe people who want to identify it as Poetry rather than Entertainment. Entertainment covers anything that’s entertaining, Poetry allows people to don their righteous boots… It’s the opera syndrome, if you will.”
With this album Monkey Poet explodes the form entirely, with some elements taken from live performances, some set to music and others played out by actors. The collaborative element working under Panesh’s stewardship is certainly one of the record’s great strengths and features wonderful turns from label-mates Biff Roxby (from The Bedlam Six - who also produces the record) and the legendary voice-over skills of Richard Barry.
So does Matt believe this is the future for recorded poetry?
“Well, it’s not perfect but I think it stands as a blueprint for possibilities in this field.”
We wonder what he has in store for us next…
Welcome To The UK can be freely downloaded from the Debt Records shop for the duration of the St George’s Day weekend. It goes on general release 6th May 2010.
Find Richard Barry's Uncle!
18 April 2010
Richard’s Uncle has gone away (but you can find him in the Debt Records shop)
Richard Barry is one of the most fondly revered performers on the UK folk circuit and Debt Records is making it their business to bring his work to a wider audience (whether he likes it or not). In the past Richard has shared the bill with the likes of Bob Geldof, Kiki Dee, Midge Ure, Fairport Convention and Dr Feelgood but now, at last, he is taking centre stage.
When the doors were first thrown open at the wonderful Kasbahn studio in Cheshire Richard and The Chaps went over to lay down a couple of demos in the live room, helping our engineer road test the space and iron out any kinks.
The result was two lovely little tracks that deftly address some of the popular song’s greatest themes: loss of a loved one and waiting for your wife to get dressed for dinner.
We urged Richard to let us officially release this as a double A-Side but he insisted that he had something a little more special planned for his first release with the label. He did, however, consent to letting us stick them in the shop as a free promo, as a way of sign-posting some of the material those Chaps have in store for us later this year.
So, to mark our second anti-press release (whereby we endeavor to reward those who are already supporting Debt Records by giving away music for free) here is “My Uncle’s Gone Away” and “Continents”, free to download from the shop.
We would like to let you know about future offers, releases and events so in order to take advantage of this freebie we ask that you join our mailing list. It must be said, however, that everyone at Debt is generally too busy gigging, recording and drinking to send out lots of mail so you probably won’t even notice you’re on the list. Needless to say, you can unsubscribe at any time.
Below is a video of Richard Barry & The Chaps performing “My Uncle’s Gone Away” live at The Dancehouse Theatre last year.
Where's Molly?
16 April 2010
You may be wondering what’s happened to Molly Macleod Band. Well they’re still here and, in true underground fashion, they’ve changed their identity just as they were starting to make a name for themselves.
So what are they called now?
RED TIDES
Expect their first latest EP “Wild Hour” this summer…
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.
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.
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
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:
EMAIL THE MP3 TO YOU DIRECT
EMAIL IT DIRECT TO YOUR MUM
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.
Latest Becca Dates
20 February 2010
Becca & The Broken Biscuits have just updated us on some new gig dates, including a performance with award-winning folk sensation Jim Moray in North Wales and a mainstage appearance at Cumbria’s much loved Solway Festival.
Sunday 21st Feb - Nordoff Robbins Charity night @ Oddest, Chorlton.
Sunday 28th Feb - Appearing on BBC Radio Manchester (95.1fm) Andy Crane show. 12-2pm
Saturday 6th Mar - Supporting Jim Moray @ Trelawnyd Memorial Hall, N.Wales.
Sunday 11th Apr - Green Bohemia @ The Green Room, Manchester.
Saturday 24th Apr - Hope Mill, Manchester.
Sunday 2nd May - MAPS Festival @ Night’n’Day, Manchester.
Monday 3rd May - DEBT RECORDS STAGE at MAPS Festival @ The Bay Horse, Manchester.
Saturday 3rd July - Ymuno Festival, Conwy N.Wales.
Sunday 29th August - Solfest, Cumbria.
For up-to-the-minute news on Becca & The Broken Biscuits visit their myspace page or contact us to be added to their mailing list.
LOVE IS...
15 February 2010
You wrote to us in droves, like swarms of angry cupids, some wanting to take advantage of our Valentine’s Day album giveaway, some merely wanting to share their innermost feelings about LOVE.
So, what did you have to say for yourselves?
Here are a few of the responses we got (sorry, couldn’t publish them all - partly due to sheer numbers, partly for the sake of decency!)
LOVE IS…
…that indefinable feeling that sticks two together even when the glue stops working
… always being on your side even when you’re not on your own side.
…a hungarian poetry recital
…sadly slowing down my heart
…not buying your girlfriend a Valentines Day card or present, and her being remarkably calm about the let down.
…never running out of Marmite!
…champagne at lunch time and chunky Fanny Burney through a drunken haze in the afternoon.
…nearly as good as getting a free album
…freedom?
… someone that understands you when everyone else is left scratching their heads
… pain…
…never lost, just sometimes misplaced.
…everything
…A nice cup of tea being made for you just round about 3 in the afternoon. (biscuit/roll up optional)
…the only true adventure that keeps me guessing, sustained by action, communication and belief in yourself as much as trust in the other.
…a universal common thing that melt all the living things
…was and always will be exhausting- in a good way mostly.
…patient … a losing game … in the air … blind … just another word i never learned to pronounce
…very difficult and not hollywood-like at all, but usually worth the effort (if it’s really real…)
…like a new pair of Doc Martens, when you first get them you can’t stop looking at them, the longer you have them the better they become including creases and scuffs, you just love them for being them :-) x
…getting stuff free, especially good music!
…saying ‘I love you’ and doing (free) nice things every day and not just because it’s Valentine’s Day and the media say that you should spend lots of money doing it!!!
…food for the soul, devour it while you can!
…love is someone drawing on you with a biro
…the enemy of apathy.
…like a box of chocolates: you didn’t ask for it in the first place but you just can’t help dipping-in, pinching all the good stuff & feeling guilty about throwing away the hard bits.
…not what you think it is…
…wanting to spend all your time with someone, but understanding when they can’t!
…the slowest heart attack you will ever have.
…a pain in the heart, arse and wallet
…knowing someone has your back and you will always have theirs
…cabbage and chocolate soup.
…better than a warm trombone
…giving me a free download of an album. love is loving a free download. love is defining love.
…not for me
…a near-death experience.
…either a fools game or the most powerful force in the universe
…what happens when you didn’t believe in it anymore.
…blind… So why is lingerie so popular?!?
…a good excuse for a drink.
…usually over in the morning!!!
…like a plane ride - a huge amount of anticipation and uncertainty, a quick take off and takes ages to land. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes you get cheated. And it’s bloody expensive too.
…incurable
…an illusion lost in the mist of some distant misunderstanding, and a constant warmth embracing my solitary heart.
…never having to say ‘that’s disgusting’
…a fascinating combinations of chemical reactions in the brain. Rather than making love seem less special that fact we can understand it makes it even more immense.
…whatever you want it to be
…a green-eyed monster. No, that’s jealousy. Oh wait, what’s the difference?
…short-sighted
…the ultimate selfishness.
…not about looking in each others eyes …. it’s about looking in the same direction
…gleefully severing off an appendage of your choice then through the subsequent off-kilter blinking, nauseating pain and suffocating dizziness finding that the flailing, spurting stump has in its sanguinary writhings produced a dazzlingly accurate replica of your true and only heart’s desire, Les Dennis
…fighting the battle between my instinctive selfishness and the desire to make other people happy. If you can find balance from the chaos, you might occasionally glimpse real love.
…a morpheme which, through convention,now represents a feeling of affection from one human to another. Love is misleading. You don’t need to be loved back in order to love. But surely the more love you give, the more you will get back. Be loving.
…short and life is always over in the morning. …never having to go to Surrey. …the giving of an umbrella in a back street boozer in Salford.
…not a crackhouse, it’s a crackhome.
…Complicated… painful… obsessive…. hardwork.. but also beauteous, joyful, carefree and passionate….. to quote Tennyson “It is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all”
…complicated..frustrating…obsessive…hard work…and yet beauteous, joyful, carefree, passionate….
…difficult, frustrating, heartbreaking… but always worth it
…the tragicomedy that makes life more than an empty stage…and we all know something is better than nothing..
…free, at least, it should, but every year as the 14th draws near, we wrestle ideas from behind blind eyes and between deaf ears in a crass attempt to tempt the attentions of those who are subjects of our amorous intentions, only to find that behind the lines that divide the sexes, the lovers , the ex’s, that money talks, but bullshit walks………
…everything it’s cracked up to be. That’s why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.
…a dangerous and exiting poison that makes us think for a brief moment that our life has meaning. But when you’re alone, you realize that love is a horrible mirage and the only true love is the love for yourself. Women let me go…
And here’s a new one from Louis Barabbas:
LOVE IS…not some open road we walk in pairs. It is an open wound we salt with promises.
“Found Drowned” by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six is now on general release.
David Rybka & The Mexican Dad Band
13 February 2010
David Rybka is currently on tour in Mexico. He is the latest in a line of Debt songwriters to cross the Atlantic and bring the new Manchester sound to North America (the first being Louis Barabbas last November - the next will be John Fairhurst later this year).
He is touring with author, producer and raconteur Jon Bonfiglio, recently seen in these news pages in the context of his own world tour. In addition to the live shows Dave will be teaming up with a number of Mexican musicians (plus Victorian Dad drummer Matt McNicholas - joining them in March) to record an acoustic record fusing his own style with those of the local artists. The record will be released on Debt in the Autumn.
Last we heard Rybka and co were about to rent a truck and speed off into the mountains.
Let’s hope they actually get some work done.
Here are a selection of live dates:
13th Feb - El Limonero (Cholula), 26 Feb Galeria Rahel (Mexico City), 7 Mar Black Horse (Mexico City), 13 Mar Caso Spencer (Cuernavaca - Distrito Federal), 28 Mar Oaxaca, 8 Apr UNAM Morelos (Cuernavaca), 10th Apr La Turbina (Tepotzlan), El Hijo Del Cuervo (Mexico City).
For a full list see The Victorian Dad Band myspace page
Valentine's Day Giveaway!
10 February 2010
PRESS RELEASE - DEBT RECORDS’ VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY
LOVE IS…
A free album from Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six
Manchester independent label Debt Records is offering you a Valentine’s Day gift that’ll outlast all those bouquets and boxes of chocolate (and probably the subsequent marriages and children too). Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six’s debut album Found Drowned is available on 14th February 2010 absolutely free.
The twelve track LP - recorded over the course of a ten day caffeine blur in a crowded Withington house - was completed in January 2008 and is only now being officially released after two years of the band flogging clingfilm-wrapped hand-illustrated versions for petrol money at gigs.
The group have achieved much acclaim since their inception in late 2006, playing with the likes of Supergrass and Motorhead, rubbing shoulders with jazz veterans Sun Ra’s Arkestra, adapting poems by John Cooper Clarke and even winning the support of the Hell’s Angels. In spite of this success, however, the near constant destruction of instruments, vehicles and equipment has meant that there’s never been enough money left over to press a record. Luckily for the band, The Community Foundation of Greater Manchester recently decided to help out and this long overdue album (the first of three records anticipated for this year) will at last be on general release.
But why give the record away for free? On Valentine’s Day of all days?
“Because,” explains song-writer and front-man Louis Barabbas, “Valentine’s Day is a wretched, gimmick-stricken, expensive excuse to hate yourself and this album is, contrastingly, all about love. Granted it isn’t about the radiant, hopeful, life-affirming aspects of love… the material is sordid, obsessive, manipulative and cynical - the perfect soundtrack to Valentine’s Day.”
The songs - gleeful romance tragedies that range from swing to folk to rock and back
again - are peppered with love metaphors that you’d be hard pressed to find in a
Hallmark card (such as “Relationships are like chickenpox, you’ve got to get immune
when you’re young”). This is the crux of the giveaway - it requires an act of creativity on
both sides: Go to www.debtrecords.net, fill out the contact form with the subject “Love
Is…” and send off your own definition (or leave the space enigmatically blank) to
receive a secret Found Drowned download key to the tracks and artwork.
If you miss the offer, the record will be out through the usual channels on 15th February. Stay tuned for Mother’s Day plans…
And That's A Wrap...
01 February 2010
Filming for Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six’s video “Mother” is now complete. The crew wrapped at 06:15 on Sunday 31st January after twenty six hours of shooting (following weeks of set building, prop manufacture and storyboarding).
The sight of The Bedlam Six standing on nursery chairs with their heads in nooses over the course of the first night’s shoot was creepy enough, but nothing could prepare the crew for Louis’ transformation into the austere figure of Mama Barabbas during the final hours of filming. It seems there has now emerged a new level to the singer’s mania. We hope you enjoy the result.
For more information about the film company responsible for this project visit www.seriousfeather.com
serious feather shoots mother
30 January 2010
Principle photography is now well underway for the music video of Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six’s song “Mother” directed by Brett Gregory and produced by Serious Feather films.
The first day of filming took place on a closed set at a secret location in Manchester’s Northern Quarter - a space previously used by the likes of Ray Winstone, Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. The seven musicians entered a Dickensian nightmare-land of mist, masochism, gallows humour and soft-shoe shuffles to bring Louis Barabbas’s tale of filial anxiety to life.
Some behind the scenes pictures from day one of the shoot can be viewed on the Bedlam Six’s blog. More to follow…
Monkey Poet swings into studio
26 January 2010
Monkey Poet Matt Panesh has begun recording his much-anticipated debut album.
But it’s not going to be just any album…
Joined by a cast of incomparable actors at Manchester’s oldest surviving building Slade Hall (parts of which date back to the 12th Century), script read-throughs and recording tests marked the beginning of what is set to be an extraordinary undertaking that features a staggering salmagundi of poetry, drama, music and comedy.
The project is entitled Welcome to the UK, a radio-play written by Panesh and spiked throughout with live excerpts from his award-winning show of the same name.
Filled with Monkey Poet’s distinctive caustic poetry and enduring humour, the album looks set to redefine the recorded poetry genre whilst at the same time putting a lot of smiles on faces and questions in heads.
It will be available in the Spring.
Alabaster Abroad
20 January 2010
Debt’s resident absurdist wordsmith Alabaster Deplume, last seen buried in his home studio with Homelife’s Paddy Steer and members of Honeyfeet, has skipped town to play sax with Liz Green on her tour of Continental Europe. Below is a selection of their dates:
- 19 Jan - Fokus @ Jöngköping Bibliothek, Jöngköping (Sweden);
- 21 Jan - Fingerböllet, Kopenhagen (Denmark);
- 22 Jan - West Germany, Berlin (Germany);
- 23 Jan - Paris Syndrom, Leipzig (Germany);
- 24 Jan - Werkstatt, Chur (Switzerland);
- 25 Jan - better2gether, Reutlingen (Germany);
- 26 Jan - Graf Hugo, Feldkirch (Austria);
- 27 Jan - Rocking Chair, Vevey (Switzerland);
- 28 Jan - Papiersaal, Zurich (Switzerland);
- 29 Jan - Kohi, Karlsruhe (Germany);
- 30 Jan - Salle Ockegheim, Tours (France);
- 31 Jan - Mofo Festival, Saint-Quen (France).
Bedlam Break
15 January 2010
Debt’s in-house band The Bedlam Six will be taking two months off from playing live shows while they work on their second album.
After three years of near solid gigging they’re eager to recharge batteries, make plans and work on new material. Louis Barabbas, the songwriter, says “we’ve been playing the same set for months, it’s becoming slightly robotic. There are tons of songs ready to go, we just need to rehearse them. Also we’re determined that the next album won’t take two years to release (like the last one did) so we need to get going on that - it won’t record itself!”
Their last show before the hiatus is at the Dancehouse Theatre on Saturday 16th January.
We will, however, keep you updated with news and photographs from the studio, fresh recordings and upcoming live dates.
The Bedlam Six will return in March to play their first and second albums live - back to back!
Louis Barabbas commissioned to write the soundtrack for major motion picture
10 January 2010
Jog On Son and Boom Productions have asked Debt co-founder Louis Barabbas to write the music for their upcoming feature film biopic of BKB World Champion Paddy Monaghan.
This will be a major cinema release charting the childhood and professional career of the only undefeated bare knuckle boxer the world has ever seen. Paddy also reached international attention outside of the sport when he spear-headed the campaign to reinstate Mohammed Ali’s fight license after it was revoked following his refusal to go to Vietnam.
Louis is assembling a special team of musicians for the project including members of The Bedlam Six, Honey Feet and The Broken Biscuits. Pre-Production begins in March 2010. The working title is “The Rough Diamond”.
The Bedlam Six release first album
10 January 2010
After sitting on the recordings for nearly two years (occasionally flogging a few CDRs hastily wrapped in clingfilm at gigs) Debt’s in-house band The Bedlam Six will finally release their first album Found Drowned. The release will perversely coincide with Valentine’s Day 2010. The group are currently in the studio working on the follow up Love & Other Demons.
Debt comes to Mexico
10 January 2010
David Rybka, the enigmatic and unpredictable frontman of The Victorian Dad Band (currently performing in North Spain) is to be the latest member of the Debt Set to attempt to break into the Mexican music scene.
The tour has been organized by Debt Records affiliate and arts promoter Jonathan Bonfiglio (founder of the Spanish acoustic festival Kuiperfest). Bonfiglio organized a similar tour for Louis Barabbas in late 2009 and will be doing the same for John Fairhurst in April 2010.
John Fairhurst is the new sound of charity
10 January 2010
Music by Debt’s wildest signing has been used in a documentary about Traditional Heathcare, a charity set up in Australia to build and run sustainable healthcare facilities in India, Broom and Alice springs for very disadvantaged communities. www.thc.org.au.
Signed
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