The next Debt event is in Liverpool, running a stage at the wonderful @ThresholdFest on 11th Feb. Details here: http://t.co/Yla1OZOQ
Welcome to Debt Records
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
General 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
Debt At The Chapel
24 January 2012
Debt’s first outing at the wonderful Platt Chapel, and have we got a party for you! An unholy double bill comprising FIGMO and Physical Jerks.
Here’s what people say about F.I.G.M.O…
Imagine a thousand, no, a million golden eagles! Swooping to earth, talons extended, they are met by a whoosh of glory as the Virgin Mary fires out the Son Of God. From the flank, as yet unseen, a stampede of tyrannosaurs bring in the low-end. In the distance, but getting louder, volcanoes erupt in perfect precision……
Enough said.
www.wefuckingrock.co.uk/
The Physical Jerks
Physical Jerks are a ska/reggae/dub band who met somewhere in salford in about 2004. Brought together by a love of Phatt bass, offbeats, theremins and sax cadenzas they went on to carve an unwanted swathe across the manchester ska scene, engaging in sonic terrorism of the masses.
“…he mechanically shot his arms back and forth, wearing on his face the look of grim enjoyment which was considered proper during the Physical Jerks…” - George Orwell, 1984
WR Audio are providing the live sound rig and Roxby’s Wonky Disco will be providing the gap filling foot tappers. After F.I.G.M.O. finish off the live element of the evening RWD will bust out the serious boogie music for those still left standing.
Tickets £4
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
A Christmas Present For You...
05 December 2011
Christmas is creeping up on us once again.
But it’s not all bad.
We have a present for you.
Re-imaginings of classic Christmas songs by artists from the Debt roster.
You fill find a download link in our shop. There are no strings attached, no email address needs to be submitted or “likes” declared. Just some excellent music that happens to be a bit season-specific!
Gawd Bless Us, Every one!
Debt It Snow!
02 December 2011
We’re putting together a little Christmas Present for you in the shape of a seasonal compilation. Christmas carols and yuletide pop songs re-imagined by artists from the Debt roster.
Here’s a little taster of the sort of thing to expect:
The album will be available as a free download from Monday 5th December
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
Debt At The Mansion
18 November 2011
We bring you a massive Winter Weekend filled with delights for all your senses - from live music, film and DJs to seasonal market stalls and some lovely foodage courtesy of Fuel Cafe. A free glass of mulled wine and a mince pie will be available to all ticket holders.
Advance weekend passes can be booked online here (no booking fee).
Antwerp Mansion is located at Kent Road West, Rusholme Manchester M14 5RF
Saturday - Doors 7.30pm - An evening of live music and DJing. Hannah Moulette will start the night off, followed by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six then DJ Coops will spearhead the party which will carry on long into the night.
Sunday - Doors 2pm - A day of merriment. Market stalls featuring local produce and collectable items will be punctuated by intimate acoustic performances from T.E Yates, Dave Rybka and the showing of a Christmas film. Food will be available all afternoon from the wonderful folks at Fuel doing a spot of mobile catering. Then begins an evening with Honeyfeet, giving the band a chance to wow you with all the songs you don’t usually hear at gigs, as well as the hits.
Tickets - £5 for day tickets or £8 for the whole weekend (option to upgrade on the day).
Honeyfeet (Sunday)- Put simply, Honeyfeet are Manchester’s best ethio-trad, barrel-house pop, cowpunk and folk-hop band. Put even more simply, do not miss this! “This is a band with the talent to make you listen, the beats to make you move and the sheer confidence and audacity to pull the whole gosh darned thing together. They really are worth catching up with; your hips will thank you for it…. ” - David Edwards, Manchester Music http://www.honeyfeet.org/
Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six (Saturday) - Manchester and Debt Records’ very own ‘Dirt Swing’ aficionados will make your feet fall foul of dancing fever. “Excellent in every way” - BBC6 Music “Outstanding” - Drowned In Sound “A dynamite vest couldn’t have blown my tits off with such gusto..” - Front Magazine www.bedlamsix.com www.debtrecords.net
Hannah Moulette (Saturday) - Hannah Miller of the Moulettes will perform her incredible solo set. Prepare to stop jaws from hitting the floor. “Complex & beautiful. Intriguing & unique” -MOJO http://www.myspace.com/moulettes
T.E Yates (Sunday) - When left alone for long enough T.E. Yates will dream up worlds of stirring laments and fever-inspiring aural daubings about everything from trainspotters to doll assembly lines. “I can’t stop watching T.E. Yates” - Liz Green www.teyates.com www.debtrecords.net
Dave Rybka (Sunday) - Mr. Rybka of Victorian Dad goes all solo with his moving yet muscular songs. “Bright and ballsy, down and dirty, Rybka’s northern swagger sets the tone, a unique and original talent” - BBC6 Music www.victoriandadband.com
DJ Coops (Saturday) - With his obscure yet terrifyingly infectious records, Coops will not fail to make you boogie. “Absolutely and without question the best DJ in Manchester” - Rik Warren http://www.mixcloud.com/coops/
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.
Louis Barabbas joins the Un-Convention Advisory Board
09 March 2011
Debt Records co-founder John Louis (aka Louis Barabbas) has accepted a position on the Un-Convention advisory board.
Un-Convention is a global grassroots music event and community that meets physically and virtually to share ideas and debate cutting edge issues around music, technology and creativity, facilitating members engagement with their peers. Un-Convention is not about the business of music. The community is driven by a not for profit initiative that sees opportunity for the grassroots in the changes to the way music is being produced, consumed and sustained.
The jobs involved as part of this three year post include:
Advising on overall strategy and direction of Un-Convention, particularly in terms of issues such as branding, content, event strand, geographical reach, external image, organisational developments, significant policy changes, sustainability and growth, partnerships, identity and positioning of Un-Convention; and other major questions of strategy and direction that may arise
Help establish and develop Un-Convention’s position within networks of practice, locally, nationally and internationally.
Advise on fund raising activities, including identifying opportunities especially those most relevant to the focus areas of Un-Convention.
Act as a sounding Advisory Board for new ideas and developments for Un-Convention.
Assist the Executive Team to build and deliver cases for institutional change where these are required.
Provide appropriate and constructive challenges to the assumptions and operating routines of Un-Convention.
Act as an ambassador for Un-Convention and champion the organisation externally.
For more information about Un-Convention visit the website
Un-Convention Factory at Roundhouse Rising
24 February 2011
Un-Convention Factory is back and bigger than ever, this time at The Roundhouse in London as part of Roundhouse Rising on Saturday 26th February.
Featuring 6 special music collaborations with musicians including Jon McClure (Reverend Soundsystem), Viv Albertine (The Slits), Charli XCX, Lupa (Colombian MC) plus many more, top producer Jagz Kooner along with 80 invited music industry experts and 200 participants all involved in creating, recording and producing an album in one day.
The 6 bands involved will cover, or collaborate, on tracks from London Calling by The Clash. Accompanying the recording will be a selection of panels, workshops and showcases. The highlight panels feature Music As A Tool For Social Change - featuring people working on music projects in Sri Lanka, Brazil, Colombia and the UK; The Politicisation of Music; Sustainable Careers in Music (featuring Debt’s own Louis Barabbas); New Music Strategies; an Event and Festival Session with Huw Stephens (Radio One).
A range of new digital platforms will also be showcased including SoundCloud and Song Kick. There will be one-to-one consultancies for bands, hands on workshops and live music performance throughout the day.
More info can be found 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
Stage at Liverpool's Threshold Festival
08 February 2011
This weekend Debt Records will be curating its own stage at Threshold, Europe’s largest indoor arts festival.
Threshold is Liverpool’s newest grassroots festival, an annual event boasting over 200 live acts from the worlds of music, dance, theatre, art and photography - and much MUCH more - under one roof.
Spontaneous, innovative and independent, on the second weekend in February Threshold will transform Liverpool’s CUC into a hive of arty, musical goodies; bands, dancers, exhibitions, flashmobs, photography, galleries and games, by a feast of performers and artists who’re the best of the North West. Watch, listen - learn. Get involved. Step over the Threshold…
Threshold is a partnership between promoters Under the Influence and the Liverpool CUC and this means it’s a festival with a conscience. Every penny you spend when you come to Threshold - every pie and pint, sandwich and snack you consume - goes straight back into helping those with greater needs and fewer chances. Profits from ticket sales are reinvested into next year’s festival.
Advance tickets cost £5 a day, or you can enjoy the whole weekend’s events for a tenner. For more information visit the festival website
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!
What a Weekend!
04 October 2010
Well, Un-Convention Salford is now over (for this year). It was a fantastic weekend of entertainment and education. We were honoured to be involved in such a successful event that incorporates art, business and debate in such a productive and enthusiastic way, taking place in some weird and wonderful locations in Salford and Manchester.
Our stage at The People’s History Museum was an absolute joy to curate. Every one of our eight acts (squeezed into an amazing five hours) was at the top of their game. Below is a photo of John Fairhurst’s jaw-dropping set in the Edwardian Engine Hall. More photos will be surfacing on our facebook page in due course. Feel free to upload your own.
We’d like to extend our thanks and congratulations to the organizers of Un-Convention, in particular Jeff Thompson, Ruth Daniel, Jojo Crago and Gina Hewitt (the people who had to deal with us personally!). All did a great job. Here’s to the next one (wherever it may be).
Our next event will be Debt At The Dancehouse, our annual showcase extravaganza on 16th October. You can buy tickets here
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
Debt's Unconventional Research
20 September 2010
DEBT RECORDS WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS ABOUT THE NORTHWEST LIVE MUSIC SCENE FOR A SPECIAL UNCONVENTION PUBLICATION
Un-Convention is series of music events aimed specifically at the grass roots of the industry, the goal being to bring together like minded individuals to discuss the future of independent music.
Whilst a great deal of the weekend’s discussion is concerned with the recorded side of the industry, Debt Records (one of Un-Convention’s entertainment curators for the Salford event taking place on 1st, 2nd and 3rd October this year) is more interested in how current industry practices affect the live circuit - after all, historically it has always been the live scene that has shaped the trends of music market as a whole.
One of the things that makes Un-Convention so different from other music industry conferences is that each event is place-specific. Over the years they have run panels all over the world, working with local practitioners to tailor the occasions to fit the concerns of the region.
So, in light of this interest in context as well as content, Debt Records is compiling a document that aims to sum up the North West live scene, with particular reference to the Manchester and Salford circuits whose combined cultural legacy has been cause for celebration and derision in almost equal measures over the years.
Label co-founder Louis Barabbas says “I strongly believe that Manchester and Salford combined have one of the most inspiring live music scenes on the planet - that’s why I moved up from the South in the first place. I’ve now been involved in the live circuit for a while (both as promoter and performer) and that core belief hasn’t changed. I’d be lying, however, if I said it hadn’t been shaken a few times.”
The view of the Debt team is that better communication is key to maintaining a healthy live industry. Venues, promoters and artists all have to work together, they are all crucial components in a very delicate setup that has to keep one eye on the bank balance and the other on the cultural zeitgeist.
“The first step is for people to listen to one another” says Debt Records’ Events Director Biff Roxby. “Everyone has an idea of what the live experience should be - we all have a connection with it on some level, be it as a gig reviewer or as a commuter who walks past a busker on their way to work. We should share those ideas more.”
Debt are interviewing venue owners, performers, bloggers, photographers, band managers, promoters and anyone else who works in the live music business with the aim of bringing all the opinions into the same forum and hopefully facilitating the beginnings of a dialogue that may one day put to rest some of the sticky politics at the heart of what could be the best live scene in the world.
If you have an opinion about Manchester music (good or bad) Debt would like to hear about it. Please email any thoughts to info@debtrecords.net with the subject LIVE MUSIC
Debt Records will be curating the People’s History Museum Stage at Un-Convention on 2nd October 2010. Creative Director Louis Barabbas will be speaking on the “Building a Sustainable Career in Music” panel at 2.30pm the same day at Sacred Trinity Church.
For more information visit www.unconventionhub.org
Welsh Music Foundation is 10
10 September 2010
Debt’s Director of Communications Chris Mitchell is speaking on the AIM panel at the Welsh Music Foundation’s tenth birthday at the Wales Millenium Centre on Saturday 11th September. Details of the panel are below…
The Independents of Wales Session curated by AIM for the WMF’s Birthday Event
DATE Saturday 11th of September 2010 TIME 15:30 - 17:00 (approx finishing time) LOCATION Wales Millenium Centre, Japan Room Cardiff CF10 5AL
Panel
Pat Fulgoni (Chair) - Chocolate Fireguard
Sharon Matheson - AIM / AIF
Bethan Elfyn - BBC Radio1 Introducing Wales
Chris Mitchell - Debt Records
Guto Brychan - Gwymon & Copa labels
Audience: Independent labels / self releasing artists and manager Layout: Top table / theatre style seating
Format:
15:30 - 15:50 Presentation from AIM
- Introduction to AIM
- Introduction to Independents Day
15:50 - 16:45 Panel Discussion chaired by Pat Fulgoni
- The Independents of Wales
Begin with intro into who everyone is and what those on the panel do. Perhaps for the labels, mentioning a success story.
Topics for discussion may include:
- Why it is great to be independent
- The importance of independent artists and labels to a regional music industry
- The support provided to the independents
- What is missing regionally / why do so many move to London / go major
16:45 - 17:00 Questions from the floor
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.
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 Tickets in our shop
26 April 2010
Tickets for this year’s MAPS Festival (which takes place between 30th April - 3rd May) are available in the Debt Records shop
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
Mum's The Word
16 March 2010
We had a lot of responses about the Bedlam Six’s “Mother” release. Here’s a selection.
in the words of robert burns
“The mother-linnet in the brake
Bewails her ravish’d young;
So I, for my lost darling’s sake,
Lament the live-day long.”
- Connor Brook
It´s hard to raise a kid, but an english kid pfff. Congratulations for all the UK mother´s from México!!
The relationship between a mother and a son, it is the most sincere in the world.
- Juan Carlos
i saw my mum (and dad for that matter) in a whole new light when i became a parent. Awesome people
- Nik Sheppard
Even though i’m a pretty good mum myself, my mam is a thousand times better and i love her loads!
- Elaine Pickup
ohhh mother!! It’s always your fault. :)
- Mick
Dear Mum
Thank you for all the years of hard toil and graft that you put in to raise me, and the many more to come ;)
- Anthony Brown
Mother Nature……why she did make us this way? Sicko.
- Helen Crosbie
My mum the Mezzatron is a Irish robotic step boxing legend.
- J-Dog
My mum is fantastic because she understands me more than I understand myself. She’s beautiful and caring.
- Terri Lucas
I can’t be with my mum this year as I am at uni but I hope she has the best day :) She deserves it. Best mum in the world
- Hollie
can’t live with them, can’t be born without them!
- Gav
Oh mother, just look what you’ve started…
- Nim
Thank you for putting up with 13 hours of labor to eventually squeeze out this one of a kind jack-ass, i hope your proud, i know i am. i wouldn’t change anything about my upbringing.
I Love You Mum.
- Dan Kennard
never try to break the bond
- Gill Watkins
Mother why did you raise me this way?
- Bill Stockham
Thanks a bunch of bananas, you are probably the only good person around these days , much love ste x
- Stephen Ballinger
Happy mothers day mum! Betcha never thought I’d remember!!
- Anna Mellow
My mum’s Janet Jackson.
- Laura Jackson
It’s not mother’s day in Australia
- Oli Pope
I like the moustache of both mother and son.
- Peter
I was a horrid, thoughtless, selfish teenager but She has never let me down..Always there with a dustpan, brush and words of glue to mend the pieces of broken hearts and other tragedies of adolescence. Plus the get out of debt free card, hotel bed and board and the personal taxi service, She has raised a child that can now happily face the world and survive! I now finally appreciate all that my mother given me…except for the hips - she coulda kept them!! :) x
- Claire
Great mothers sometimes make pancakes on mother’s day, but rarely do that pancakes make great mothers on pancake day…. I’d like mine with golden syrup and vanilla ice cream, please.
- Martyn Cawthorne
I am only a good Mum because my children made me so. I have been a Mum
for the past 50 years with three great kids now grown up with their own
families, they keep me young by producing offsprings, I have 8
grandchildren and a ninth due in June, and 1 Great grandson.
xx
- Marie Boon
Some mothers do ave em
- Phyllida
Thank you for being so good to me without question or hesitation.
I love you very very much
- Ali
Hi, i’m not really up to a radio-friendly witty request. i just would really like the single emailing to me please. Happy Mothers Day!
- Gareth
Dear Mum,
happy mothers day , you are totally awesome and amazing at putting up with all my rubbish! well done!
Abigail xxx
Mother, why indeed did you raise me this way?????
- Adz
Happy Mothering Sunday to all the mothers out there….
- Miggs
Mother why did you let them lead me astray?
- Dexter
Well, this will be the first time I got a Mothers Day message! (You
going soft?) Lots of love,
- Mother Barabbas xxx
The single “Mother” by Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six is now on general release and can be purchased in the Debt Records shop (as well as all the usual digital retailers).
Save BBC 6 Music
10 March 2010
Below are some words from the Association of Independent Musicians about the BBC 6 Music fiasco:
TAKE ACTION NOW TO SAVE BBC 6MUSIC & THE ASIAN NETWORK
You will all by now be aware of the recent announcement that BBC 6Music and The Asian Network are set to close as part of a costs review.
6Music has been a vital platform for independent music lovers since it was established in 2002. With diverse playlists, passionate presenters and a focus on all that is cutting edge and iconic, it has been the first station to provide cutting edge music that would not be heard elsewhere.
AIM has been quick to respond to this announcement and spread the message that 6Music and The Asian Network MUST NOT CLOSE. AIM CEO Alison Wenham, Beggars’ Chairman Martin Mills and Bella Union Founder Simon Raymonde have all spoken out on the news and in the press to explain the importance of 6Music. Together with the BPI, we have sent an open letter to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson (you can read this here), and we will be submitting a formal response to the BBC Trust consultation.
We must all do what we can to keep these important stations alive…let’s make our voices heard!
What You Should Do:
- Click the link below to complete the BBC Strategy Review Online Survey - tell them how important 6Music is!
Email the BBC Trust: srconsultation@bbc.co.uk
Sign the petitions:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/BBCcuts http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/
Join the Facebook group to Save 6Music: www.bit.ly/aJ04tq
Show your support by listening to 6Music on the iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_6music/
Forward this message or send the links to all of your colleagues, artists, friends and family, and post the links on Twitter (use tag #savebbc6music), Facebook, Myspace etc.
The BBC will take note if enough people take action, so spread the word!
“Commercial radio can never replicate 6 Music’s cultural value - it’s not viable for us to do so. The commercial landscape has featured many fine rock music stations that have never made any real money - over time we water them down and gently shepherd them back towards the traditional commercial heartland. We will gain nothing from this closure yet the music industry will lose much.”
Steve Orchard (a former group programme director of GWR, who launched Planet Rock and programmed Classic FM, also ex-group operations director of Gcap, responsible for XFM and Capital.)
“Cherry Red Records is one of the 3 or 4 independent record labels that started in the late 1970’s and is still going strong. Last year it released over 500 albums. The majority were catalogue releases, i.e. releases of music that was no longer available. Many were from artists that were long forgotten by all but a very few. 6 Music were one for the few radio stations that played some of these tracks enabling people to become aware of some wonderful music that was virtually forgotten about. It would indeed be a tragedy if this opportunity was lost to us all. We should all do what we can to make the BBC wake up to the monumental mistake that they are in the process of making.”
Ian McNay, Cherry Red Records
A message from Domino Recording Co. Ltd…
We would like to make it clear that we are extremely concerned by BBC plans to cut BBC 6 Music from its schedule. BBC 6 Music is an extremely important and rare outlet for much of the music that we release on Domino. For many of us who grew up listening to, and learning about music from John Peel, we’ve come to appreciate this station of mostly free playlists, diversity, new things, old things, the unexpected. Indeed we’d argue that the BBC should be making this fantastic station more readily available via the masses of unused FM bandwidth.
Comments from just a few of our artists…
Noah Lennox (Animal Collective/Panda Bear)
“When I was a lot younger radio used to be the place I’d go to find new music and I feel like I would find it everywhere on the dial. Since then it seems like less and less stations are willing to or have the means to play new music. I miss unpredictable radio. Please support these guys…”
Alison Mosshart (The Kills/The Dead Weather)
“Please don’t leave us musicians and music lovers with such a void. We need BBC6. It is the only radio station we all listen too, and seemingly, the only station that plays anything worth listening too. It would be culturally damaging to lose this station. I highly doubt I would ever listen to radio in England again, if it were gone. And that goes for a great many friends and colleagues of mine. BBC6 has been very supportive to the bands that I have been in and supportive of my friends and label mates. We are all greatly appreciative of the fine work they do, and the open minds that they have. It baffles me why art and culture must always suffer and get the boot before sport or the generic music which EVERYONE plays already, anyway. We can get these trashy things anywhere. But we’re relying on BBC6 to encourage and inspire. To shut it down would be a real shame and a real mistake. Think of it as the Tate Modern of radio. We want it; we need it… because it’s unique and culturally significant.
Please save BBC 6 Music.”
Hayden Thorpe (Wild Beasts)
“The closure of BBC6 music would be a huge blow to British arts in general. I don’t know any other established vehicle, which allows for inventive and contemporary music to reach such a wide audience. I’m in no doubt the unrelenting support we have had from BBC6 has massively helped our career. This sends out a damning message to creative young people.”
Jack Barnett (These New Puritans)
“BBC6 was and is incredibly important to bands like us. In the world of ‘independent music’, where it can be difficult to survive by your ideas, it really is a unique and completely positive force. Its closure would be a massive blow to the possibilities of creative people doing creative things in this country.”
Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion) “The end of 6Music is such a disgrace and catastrophe, I learnt so much from it, and imagine that if I was younger I would have learnt more. A lot of people are going to remember this. This is so upsetting for music fans across the country.”
Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) “Please don’t close down 6 music and Asian network. It’s important to have stations on the radio that don’t just play mainstream music.”
Finally, a note from AIM Board Member Martin Mills…
Good afternoon,
My name is Martin Mills, and I run the Beggars Group of independent labels, the largest in Europe producing new alternative music, comprising currently the labels XL Recordings, Rough Trade, 4AD and Matador. I am also a board member of PPL and UK Music, and of the independent label associations AIM, Impala and A2IM. I chaired the Department of Culture Committee which produced the report Consumers Call The Tune, and was awarded an MBE in 2008. A list of artists signed to our labels who have recently been played on 6 Music is attached below.
I firmly believe that the BBC should not close 6 Music. 6 Music is a station for music lovers and plays music that largely is not heard anywhere else on the dial. Isn’t that what the BBC is meant to do? The BBC’s public service remit charges it to do exactly that - and 6’s output is distinctive, eclectic and unique.
Radio’s 1 and 2 do a great job at what they do, but are essentially pop music stations. 6 is the Radio 3 version of that, and is a home to great artists and music, particularly independent, who don’t fit in with its larger brothers’ programming needs - ‘album’ artists who have large followings like The National, who can sell out the Albert Hall, but who won’t fit on 1 or 2 until when or if they come up with a pop radio-shaped track. Then there are new artists like The xx, who got all their initial radio exposure on 6.
This is not an area that the commercial sector will fill - Virgin and Xfm both started off with similar ambitions, but commercial pressures diluted and normalised them. A station like 6 can only survive and prosper in the public radio sector. See annexed below * for what a specialist in commercial radio had to say about 6’s prospects in that world.
91% of listeners to 6 Music say that it introduces them to music that is new to them, and 89% say they hear music on 6 that they don’t hear elsewhere. It plays five times as many new songs as any comparable commercial stations. Last week its playlist of 28 titles included just six that were also on Radio 1, three that were in the national airplay top 50, and one that was on Radio 2. 80% of 6’s music can not be heard elsewhere on the dial. This is exactly what the BBC should be doing.
Please don’t believe that integrating 6’s programming into Radio 1 and/or 2 is the answer. They cannot avoid operating in a competitive radio environment, in which the criteria for play are tight, logical and well-researched. The kind of music that 6 plays does not by definition belong or flourish in that space, it needs its own station, not its own programmes, or its space within programmes.
6 Music is a big part of the reason that the UK’s music scene is so vital and healthy at the moment - and I don’t just mean UK music making, I mean the appreciation for and love of artistic creativity in music.
I have nothing against commercial radio. Commercial radio is commercial radio. But the beauty of the BBC is that it is a public service. It can put art and culture above commerce. That is precisely what 6 Music does. And that is precisely why we need it. You’ll hear tomorrow’s Bob Dylan on 6.
Thank you for listening.
Martin Mills, Chairman, Beggars Group
MAPS Line-Up
25 February 2010
Here is the line-up for the Debt Records Stage at Manchester’s MAPS Festival. Running order and stage times will be published nearer the event.
Where: The Bay Horse, Thomas Street, Manchester Northern Quarter
When: 2pm-10.30pm - 3rd May 2010
- JOHN FAIRHURST
- DAVID RYBKA & THE VICTORIAN DAD BAND
- SAMSON & DELILAH
- THE SUNS
- MOLLY MACLEOD BAND
- AL BAKER & THE DOLE QUEUE
- RICHARD BARRY & THE CHAPS
- SR GENTS
- BECCA & THE BROKEN BISCUITS
- STILL DOWN GILL
- LOUIS BARABBAS (acoustic)
Compere: MONKEY POET MATT PANESH
- DJ Sets from ROXBY’S WONKY DISCO
- BBQ (weather permitting)
Join the MAPS Facebook group here to be kept abreast of the latest festival developments and Manchester Arts news.
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.
Happy Valentine's Day!
14 February 2010
Well it’s Valentine’s Day and the Debt Set are scattered across the world wondering what all the fuss is about. But, since romance is the number one cause of song-writing, we thought that it was appropriate for a record label to get in on the action.
As you may know, Debt Records is giving away “Found Drowned” by Louis Barabbas and The Bedlam Six for free (today only!) as an antidote to all the rose-tinted mania. To claim your free download simply go to The Debt Records contact section and write a message with the subject line “Love Is…”. We will then send you a message with a special download key. Offer is open globally until midnight (we will take timezones into account - if you message us on monday we’ll probably just assume you’re in Samoa).
Many of you have already sent us your definitions and they’re absolutely brilliant! You’ll be hearing from us before the day is out.
In the meantime, give your lover a kiss from us…
(Illustration by Rebekah Joy Shirley www.rebekahshirley.com)
DEBT MEETS MAPS
09 February 2010
Debt Records will be working alongside Manchester’s formidable MAPS Festival to make the 2010 Mayday Weekend a truly memorable event.
The festival’s aim is to support and promote music, art and creativity in the busy Northern Quarter - and in Manchester as a cultural city - through involvement of the public in the wide variety of activities encountered in the area.
Unlike many city festivals MAPS has the full backing of The Musician’s Union with a programming and profit plan that follows a strict code of conduct.
Debt Records will be offering a free album made by contributing signees to MAPS weekend wristband holders. We will also be curating the Bay Horse underground stage for the all-dayer on 3rd May - a whopping eight hours of music, poetry and dancing. Our full line-up will be announced next month but so far we have confirmation from John Fairhurst, Al Baker & The Dole Queue, Molly Macleod Band and David Rybka. Monkey Poet Matt Panesh will be compering.
More details to follow nearer the time…
Debt On The Net
10 January 2010
The brand new Debt Records website is now fully operational. Amongst its virtual pages you will find the particulars of our principal signings, links to venerable contemporaries and doffed caps towards our collaborators.
At Debt we are all achingly aware of the fearsome oscillations buzzing up from the very nucleus of the music industry and, with that in mind, we intend for this website (our primary hub) to reflect this ever-changing environment. Though the fundamentals of our creed remain stolidly unyielding we do not intend to remain static in anything we do. Consequently the news page of this site will be regularly updated with reports of our artists’ releases, collaborations, tours and deals; we will also upload any interesting industry mutterings that come our way from the various schmoozy events we’re obliged to attend. The music player will also be perpetually fed with whatever new material our people are putting out.
If you’d like to contact us then be assured that is checked daily (including weekends) so feel free to get in touch for more information about anything we or our affiliates are up to.
COMING SOON: A magazine edited by the Debt Set with content contributed by writers from across the world as well as diaries written by our touring artists and poetry from the finest scribes we come across. Plus… no record label would be complete without an online shop containing physical records as well as downloads, plus assorted merchandise. Watch this space…
Signed
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