Album release day

I’ve never had an album out before. I have friends who despite having had top 40 hits with their bands have also not yet had albums out before. It’s something of an achievement, isn’t it?

So far today I’ve not done very much, despite having a bunch of actual stuff to do. It feels like an event! A special occasion! A day when I can do whatever I want! But I’m not sure what. It’s like arriving at the end of some sort of very long journey and expecting the world to fall at your feet and everything to work out perfectly and to never have to do any more work again. None of these things are true and I will suffer the rest of the week if I continue to believe them for the rest of the day. Gigs do not ‘just happen’, rehearsal rooms do not ‘just get booked’, radio edits are not ‘just approved’, and beating up record labels is not ‘just simple’. Realising that I am self employed and all of this ain’t nobody’s business but my own is, for today, a little depressing.

But none of that! I have read a bit more of Alex James’ book, which continues to make me feel excited about the world, pop music and all of the possibilities it is presenting. It has also reminded me of the existance of champagne. I’ve read some reviews (is this the best one ever? I think so, and GoodBooks do too), and eaten some raspberries.

This evening I am meeting the band at 7pm for, I think, quite a few drinks in Soho. Until then I think it is probably going to be finishing this book, maybe doing some real work (oh but there are brighter sides to life!), then going to the Wolseley for some champagne. I’ve started reading food blogs and it consistently surprises me how highly everyone rates what I affectionately call ‘the Wolly’, but it is the best place in the world so I shouldn’t be surprised.

Tonight I’m going to stay out until it gets light.

On reading ‘Bit Of A Blur’ by Alex James

I am only a third of the way through, and as Blur are one of my favourite bands (I think they are tied in first place alongside the Pixies) I am sure I’ll blog about this again. For the time being I will note that this book makes me feel stuff about my life as well as a tad more informed about “the second drunkest member of the drunkest band in Britain”, as the blurbs and reviews of this book constantly throw at us.

I am 19 years old and I live in London, I can get into most gigs I want to go to for free and I am not, on the whole, particularly short of money – certainly not any more so than any other 19 year old. There is no reason for me to not be the funnest person ever. But I have always been a particularly sensible sort of person (except for when I’m not. c.f. Brighton) and I quite like being in control of myself and my actions. Reading this book makes me think that really I would like quite a lot to spend more of my time wandering around London drunk, finding a headquarters (Alex James seems to understand the importance of an HQ better than most. I also understand the value of an HQ, but have yet to find anyone else who shares my belief in the importance of such a place) and watching tons of crappy/brilliant indie bands with my friends before lying in a gutter discussing the intricacies of, I don’t know, Foucault or someone.

I am not sure why I don’t do all of that, whether it really is just that I’m too sensible (I am, after all, a manager of a band, not a a member of one, and if I was less sensible and more talented I would probably not have found myself here), or I haven’t found the right sort of people to headquarter around with (-that shall be my new verb to describe these actions), or whether times have changed.

The early ’90s were, by most accounts, a relatively good time in the music industry and everyone was still quite excited by the fact that they had sold records to people twice by flogging the CD twenty years after the vinyl. Everyone had nice expense accounts and no one was freaking out about BitTorrent. If you went out it was probably to see an indie band, not to catch DJs at Fabric (sometimes that can be good. But it makes my head hurt after a while, in a way that the last four minutes of Leave Them All Behind never can). A conversation with one of the marketing bods at Columbia recently touched upon whether the rise of Franz/the Kaisers was “the second Britpop”, and she said (having been there the first time round) that she thought “yeah maybe…but where are the aftershows?”. All the shoegazing and aftershows make me wish that I’d been born about ten years earlier. Actually a lot of things make me think that, but that’s another story.

Sod all that. I’m probably just too sensible. The good life is out there somewhere! There is probably some merit in working out where to find it.

On another note I forgot to mention that I did a guest blog for Ged Doherty the other week. He is the chairman of Sony BMG and apparently asked me to write a blog for him after I spent some time insulting him and his record company when I was drunk after a gig. I don’t really remember that at all, so maybe I am more fun than I realised. And it makes me feel a little less indie guilt about GoodBooks signing to a major if I am slagging said major off to their faces. It’s not the people that I don’t like, just all the protocol and procedure and always, always the consideration for the bottom line. It’d be much easier if we all just went to the pub when times seemed tough.

Technorati: Blur, Alex James, Bit Of A Blur, Sony BMG, Ged Doherty, Foucault, Britpop, Ride, Why Aren’t I More Drunk More Often

The Illness

I’ve had a sore throat for a few days now. I was assuming it was down to not sleeping on Friday night, but a friend of mine has just complained of a similar condition. Perhaps Muswell Hill is being taken down…slowly, but surely. Either way I should get over it, though I did buy some chicken soup today in Temple Fortune which made me feel a tad better. Jewish chicken soup is a gazillion times better than Baxters broth.

Tomorrow is installment 2 of the GoodBooks Buffalo Bar shows, and comes off the back of quite a nice album review in this week’s NME. Not the best ever. But good enough. Yeah.

The thing about working for myself is that I am reluctant to spend money ever, so today I ferried around some amps and I will be doing more of the same tomorrow. A more sensible/less frugal person would simply cab them to where they need to be, but no! I am an idiot, and a poor one at that.

Here is a picture of me and Colin in Brighton. You can click to make it bigger, yeah! I think it’s ace because it looks like I have no neck. And that is where I will leave you, with the worst blog entry ever.

Technorati: nme, chicken soup, temple fortune, Brighton, Buffalo Bar

Take a drive to Primrose Hill…

At Glastonbury I met quite a few new people, including Sarah who manages Fanfarlo. On Friday we decided to meet for a drink before going to see Sportsday Megaphone, also known as Hugh – he played with GoodBooks in Cambridge last Saturday and was awesome.

Despite technical issues he was great – possibly not as good as Cambridge though I think that was atmosphere and PA systems rather than performance. Afterwards we went and met Colin – recently of DiS fame but now happier and more fulfilled working for Big Life Management – and his flatmate Paul. At 2am we decided to go to Primrose Hill. I quoted Blur a few too many times. It’s a beautiful view up there at night, Canary Wharf flashing and the London Eye all lit up and the Gherkin barely visible. We stayed there for a few hours then ran down the hill as aeroplanes…couldn’t quite stop running. Then someone had the idea of “Let’s go to Blackpool”, and that changed to Brighton, and then we set off. We got to Brighton at 6am and started wondering why no one else was about. Played on the beach till 8 then went and got Breakfast At Tiffany’s…we were all feeling a tad rough by that point. Then back to the beach for paddling and an ice cream (9:25am) and a trip down the pier.

Even though I knew Colin and Sarah both a bit we are none of us best of friends, but it was ace to just up sticks and do something a little out of the ordinary. Especially as it turned out Paul had never been to Primrose Hill or been to Brighton. Crazy. Next time it would be nice to not be the sober driver but it was still all kinds of fun. Unfortunately I am paying for the whole not going to bed thing with a sore throat. Bet I get a cold. GROAN.

Technorati: Primrose Hill, Brighton, adventure, new friends, Sportsday Megaphone

iTunes Festival

That was a bit of a day.

The iTunes Festival is on throughout July at the ICA in London. Lovely lovely venue. There are a lot of established acts playing (Paul McCartney to name but one) every night of the month and it’s being filmed for Channel 4, recorded for iTunes and broadcast on Xfm/Capital (well, some of them anyway). GoodBooks were supporting Editors last night there.

It’s a funny set up because all of the tickets are free and given out to fans of the headline band – so after a hectic day (post office closures/broken amplifiers/free clothes/buying black sheets all part of it) the band played to a room a quarter full in a venue they’d nearly sold out themselves two months ago. Jamie from the ICA told me beforehand that they’d had that problem with Loney, Dear last week too, and that iTunes were trying to sort it out. It didn’t help our situation that the band were told to go on at 7.30pm, 15 minutes before we’d been told and therefore told everyone – including our record company! I had to run out as they started to tell Ollie that they were on, and then leave the venue (no reception there. The only bad thing about the place!) to call our marketing guy Chris. But it all came good in the end – the band played brilliantly and all looked great, the lights were ace and the three trumpeters we got to play in Passchendaele were fantastic too (thanks chaps).

Afterwards I watched some of Editors – great live band – and then discovered ‘the green room’, which had a bizarre ceiling like a water bed, a massive freezer full of little tubs of ice cream, and a nice fridge which came in use because we’d finished the rider. I introduced myself and the band to Ged, Sony BMG UK’s Chairman, who as yet hasn’t seen GoodBooks live (and missed both bands last night) and is apparently embarrassed about it. Given that they’re the best new band on his label (yeah, I went there. Gash, gash, and kind of all right, to name but three) he probably should be. Anyway, despite my waryness towards major label chairmen we had a good chat, partly about blogs and how Ged thinks there’s no reason not to be honest or transparent in writing them. Which bodes well for my Ali Love criticism, then. That aside, I think honesty should be true for all levels of the industry – too much of music is sort of shrouded in this mystery and people not wanting to share tactics or secrets or whatever. GoodBooks – probably me as well – went through a phase of treating music like a competition in terms of “beating” other bands and it took a lot for us all to get out of that way of thinking. There aren’t a finite number of successful bands and talking about how to make good ones successful shouldn’t feel like you are always watching your back.

Still, there’s politics involved, and for every manager who’d carry an amp home from Finsbury Park on the bus at 11pm for their keyboard player (that would be me, then) there’s others in the team who have other acts to focus on too – I guess it’s all about reaching the top of their pile. And that sort of is a competition. Bloody hell. I’m not sure where I’m going with this…

Tonight GoodBooks are at the Buffalo Bar so I’m headed down there in a bit. Fingers crossed it’ll all go to plan. I am going to drive there so that I don’t drink, because when open fridges and aftershows are involved the next day always seems a little fuzzy.

I want to test out this videos thing, so here is the video for Passchendaele by GoodBooks. The single is out next week. Preorder?

Technorati: iTunes Festival, Passchendaele, GoodBooks, Editors, Ged Doherty, Sony BMG, ICA

Better Than The Clash

This evening my best buddy and I formed a band. We currently don’t have a drummer or a singer, and Dina can’t play the bass (yet!), but that’s all right, it just means we’re DIY as fuck. We spent the evening listening to Elastica, The Cribs, Breeders and Le Tigre with me going “Yes! Let’s sound a bit like that!” and then worrying that I was turning into a band control freak (a tendency of mine. Probably why I’m a manager). Dina drew the line when I started trying to push Saves The Day into the equation, which is probably reasonable to be honest. It’s just I love lyrics like “Is it his brown eyes? I know blue eyes get boring but I’ll wear dark glasses all the time”.

Though our band is probably a joke (we’ve decided to be called Better Than The Clash, because I kept on shouting that about Vaseline by Elastica), it did make me come home and start learning loads of Cribs songs on guitar. I haven’t played in ages so that makes me pleased. I’m in the process of trying to get my lip back with the trumpet too, because I enjoy it and, in a vague planning for the future way, the more I play and the more people I know know that I play, the more likely I am to be paid money for it at some point in time. Managing keeps me busy but mainly, I think, because my body does not keep up with what my mind wants it to do – the plan is always getting up seven hours after going to sleep, and it never works like that, I always sleep too much – so if I can start making myself even busier then I am going to force my body to work the way I want it to. Part of me wonders if, because I burnt myself out so utterly and totally in the last year of my A levels (till June 2006 – when I managed GB at the same time), I have been spending the past year attempting to recover from it, and to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised by that. I would love a proper holiday but just can’t afford to take one, timewise. So instead I am going to force my body through the pain of living and make it want to do things like play the trumpet and start club nights.

This weekend was good – I went to Rough Trade and reminded myself inadvertedly of how I do enjoy music really. Bought some Teardrop Explodes, Beirut, Roxy Music (obvs), The Blue Aeroplanes and Magazine. I sort of see what the fuss is about with all this Prince/Mail on Sunday lark, even if it is meant to be good for Prince (ie he makes money) – being given free CDs all the time, whilst wonderful, does mean I end up not listening to a lot of them. I think I undervalue the ones I get for free – there are albums I’ve had for months and not listened to (Death From Above 1979 for one), whereas I’ve done some pretty comprehensive listening of The Teardrop Explodes and The Blue Aeroplanes already. I paid for them and so they seem worth it. Funny how the brain works.

Today: the things I hate mainly involve contracts and diaries, and the things I love are mostly The Cribs.

Technorati: Elastica, The Cribs, formed a band, Better Than The Clash, Prince, Mail on Sunday, Dina Rickman, trumpet

Pre and post Glastonbury

Last week I kept on eating bacon despite it being bad for me. On Thursday morning I had a revolutionary experience in the form of posh breakfasts – Gareth (of Drowned in Sound/I Was A Cub Scout managerial fame) and I decided to hit up the Wolseley on Piccadilly and were so taken by its genius and brilliance that we reckoned we’d go there as often as possible with as many different people as possible.

From the Wolseley/DiS offices I went on to Glastonbury. That was a good weekend. As everyone ever has said long before me, Bjork and Arcade Fire were among the highlights. My best moment, though, has to be Africa Express on the Park stage on Saturday night. Damon Albarn, Baba Maal, The Magic Numbers, Tony Allen, Fatboy Slim and Terry Hall, amongst others, all on a little stage just jamming away. I used my production pass to great effect and ended up side of stage when they did Rock The Casbah – it was absolutely brilliant. My only regret of the weekend is not spending more time with The Magic Numbers – we seemed to keep on missing each other which I think was mostly my fault – but hopefully I’ll see them soon.

Can’t remember the past week at all really. GoodBooks did Loose Ends on Radio 4 on Saturday which was good fun – BBC bacon sandwiches are top notch – though meeting Rupert Everett and David Suchet first thing in the morning was quite bizarre. I went to the pub in the afternoon with Dan our Digital Man where we bonded and discussed the dullness of weekends. There’s nothing like working out how to exploit Facebook to sell records on a Saturday afternoon, and so that was good.

This week holds booking some gigs for Le Tetsuo and preparing for GoodBooks ICA gig for the iTunes Festival, plus a trip to Canterbury on Wednesday to see GB in the studio. I’ve only been to Canterbury once, I think, but I’m far more excited about hearing new GoodBooks tracks for the first time in a couple of months than I am with the prospect of a new cathedral to add to my non existant list of ‘Cathedrals What That I Have Gone To’.

Technorati: I Was A Cub Scout, Le Tetsuo, Glastonbury Festival, Piccadilly, Wolseley, iTunes Festival