It’s time we used the High Fives to recognise some of the people who work incredibly hard to support independent and unsigned artists. In a business where the highest levels have a “dog-eat-dog” mentality, you might be surprised to discover that at grassroots level the approach is much more cooperative and collaborative. All of the people mentioned below have collaborated with others listed and rather than mention this in the individual pieces, we’ll say now that they’re all lovely people and great to work with. Over to Allan for some background. As ever, they’re in no particular order:
You may have heard the name if you’re a bit of a rock historian; you may not. Tony played keyboards in the original Iron Maiden before they decided they weren’t a keyboard band before taking up a similar role in Cutting Crew in the mid-eighties. He’s been involved in club management and promotion, first at The Kashmir Club and, for the last twenty years at The Bedford in Balham. For the last two years he’s also been programming music at the new Camden Club in Chalk Farm. He’s a champion of new music and he’s still playing live and recording after forty-five years in the business.
Lorraine Solomons
Lorraine’s been a fixture and inspiration on the live scene in London and elsewhere for years now and she’s passionate about introducing new artists to the public. At her Success Express showcases across London, she always tries to introduce a couple of artists at each event that she hasn’t worked with before and has brought artists from all over the UK and the United States to London gig-goers. Her enthusiasm for her vocation is legendary.
Saskia Griffiths-Moore
She isn’t a promoter as such, but Saskia is a singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice who ounded the organisation Talent is Timeless which was set up to give exposure to songwriters over the age of fifty. Saskia has given freely of her time and organisational abilities to set up live events, organise merchandise, set up the annual competition including organising judges, and setting up recording sessions for the winners at Abbey Road studios. She’s energetic yet laid-back enough to deal with the inevitable frustrations that come with event organisation. She’s always fun to work with.
Ray Jones
Ray Jones, CEO of Talentbanq, has also been involved with the London music scene for years now. In his previous position as Development Director at Time Out, Ray took responsibility for the magazine’s Rising Stars live showcases. In August 2017 left to join the board of Talentbanq alongside Pablo Ettinger and Lord Mervyn Davies. Talentbanq was set up to promote new talent and to ensure that everyone involved in live production (including technical staff) received a fair fee for their services. The company has gone from strength to strength and celebrates its sixth birthday in January 2024. Ray’s very hands-on in his approach and ensures that artists and audiences have a great experience at every Talentbanq gig. It’s very much a team effort at Talentbanq and it’s only fair to mention the rest of the team who are James Gamble, Natalie Brundle and Tayah Etienne.
Ian Douglas Forteau
Ian was involved in various aspects of the music business before setting up So Live Sessions in 2018 with similar aims to Tony, Ray and Lorraine. Ian has the same aims the other promoters and seems to find some very different locations for his gigs, featuring a huge range of musical styles. It’s because of one of Ian’s showcases in Dalston that I met up with the wonderfully talented Amy Taylor who I’ve shot many times now. Here’s an interesting fact for you. Ian attended the same school as Ray jones, although not at the same time.
Natalie Tena of Molotov Jukebox
…….. and helps keep me sane.
This has even more been the case since my gallbladder recently tried to kill me and I spent several days in a hospital ward with absolutely nothing to do.
I loved recorded music for many years and while studying my HND I started to go to live events. This was how I discovered live and recorded music affected me in a way nothing else does. I felt like Jack-Jack in Pixar’s “The Incredibles” when Kari, his babysitter, puts him in his highchair. She puts on a Mozart CD and says ‘It’s time for a little neurological stimulation’. When she presses play, Jack-Jack stops being distracted, sits up, suddenly becomes focused and it releases his inner powers. This is how music makes me feel. On a normal day, I usually listen to at least one album on my own in the car, this helps me dispel the stresses of the day and calms the deeper turmoil of being the head of my family. Before her life changing accident and subsequent cancer treatment my wife and I jointly shouldered the chores and usual trials and tribulations of life. The disability she has been left with restricts her ability to do a number of things. I’ve taken on those things too.
During college, and the years after, I went to many music performances and enjoyed getting wrapped up in the atmosphere of the performance and of being in a crowd of like-minded people. My wife gets the same feelings from music but also going to see her football team play. As with live music, watching on TV is enjoyable, but being there is infinitely more.
My somewhat eclectic tastes in music – influenced by my brothers’ liking for electronica and the indie band music of the nineties – were powered in my 20s by being able to go to nearly 100 events and having access to multiple independent music stores, as well as the wonderful HMV (our local branch still survives and I bought some more CDs only the other day). Since the demise of many independent music shops I’ve found new music via a number of sources. Steve Lamacq and Lauren Lavern’s Radio Six Music shows (DAB only);music festivals; working with Caffè Nero Live, Talentbanq, Success Express Music and Laurel Canyon Music. Even through social media with the many artists I’ve connected with and through my photography.
As an early adopter of CDs, because I found I could listen to them at home, in the car and on the move, I’ve been collecting CD since I left college and now have access to over 15,000 songs via my iPhone, thanks to iTunes Match. Even today I get CDs, having discovered, through the death of a friend, that a digital only library dies with you rather than being passed on to your heirs.
Out of all of those albums there are a few that are so well produced and written, that paired with my Jaybird wireless ear buds, I am transported into a deep rich soundscape, enveloping my senses and soothing my mind whilst stimulating my inner self. I can’t express why the following give me this feeling – they simply do.
Love Over Gold Famous Blue Raincoat
Soft Control Tragic Kingdom
Not the complete list. However, I think it demonstrates a diverse mix of artists, genres and decades. What I like about the above is not their similarities but how diverse the styles are. However, the common elements are the commitment by the artists, engineers, technicians and producers to produce a dynamic and engaging performance.
An interesting thing to note for Jennifer Warner’s beautiful album: The Hunter, is I find the cover of the Waterboys classic song ‘The Whole of the Moon’, although an acceptable cover, sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the amazing production and feel of the rest album. My understanding is this was done to be the launch single.
Supermarkets selling CDs led to the death of independents by offering very popular CDs at lower prices stealing sales from independents. But they aren’t interested in low volume established acts or new unproven acts. However, if you get involved in the resurgence of the live music scene, you can experience emerging acts with all their passion and drive, in an intimate atmosphere. I’ve been to many smaller venues in recent years, and these are the melting pots for future major acts, I’ve seen new bands at several of the venues the global phenomena such as Ed Sheeran and KT Tunstall started playing at to only a handful of people.
Michael Butterworth
