Hi everyone,
Building on the other open mic guides for the North West, here’s a run-down of things happening in Lancaster. Post a comment if you know of any more:
Hey - just a heads-up for all the musicians out there. EXR, who run a lot of gigs in Manchester, run a weekly jam session at the Lounge Bar, Wilbraham Road, Chorlton.
The session is acoustic - they have congas, djembes, bongos, tambourines etc set up as well as a bass amp and a good PA/mics etc. They’re also looking to get a good percussion section together - anyone can join in. Also acoustic artists and bands are welcome to come and do a short set/jam.
EXR are running an acoustic competition at the same time. For more details on all this see: http://exr.org.uk/
Tom
It’s the Midem music industry festival this week. As always, loads of upcoming bands playing, some good, some not! Anybody got any feedback on the festival so far?
Every year, thousands of bands, artists, film makers and record industry types descend on Austin, Texas, for the South by South West festival. Kind of like an even bigger version of Manchester’s in the city…
2007 dates are from 9th- 18th March. (Music part starts on 14th March)
Official SXSW site is available here.
There’s a useful bit of software for musicians who use myspace - it can be found at Myspace controller - it lets you view a complete list of your myspace friends, which is quite handy!
Current open mics in Manchester (updated January 2008)
Here’s a list of many of the open mic nights happening in and around Manchester, UK. Please drop us a comment if you spot any ones not on this list, or ones that are no longer operating. Goes without saying, but do remember to always phone the venue before heading out to make sure it’s on - and make sure you’ve got the right venue (there are two different Trof venues listed below, for example!)
Please check with the venue before making the trip, to make sure the night is actually on…. and drop me a line or a comment if you discover that a night has changed before I do!
I’ve also got a guide on other non open-mics and acoustic nights in manchester
Here’s some info on where to go if you’re looking to play an open mic in Birmingham, UK… If you come across any new open mics in Birmingham, let us know by adding a comment, and we’ll add it to the open mic guide.
At the beginning of each October, thousands of A&R types descend on the city of Manchester to talk about all things music-related. In the evening, it becomes a great place to see music - as pretty much every possible venue becomes host to local and international bands.
Choosing which to go and see is always a tricky business. Things kicked off on Friday the 30th. My top choice was to see up-coming band Fleeing New York, followed by Eighties Matchbox… but as is often the case in Manchester, it had started bucketting with rain.
A queue formed outside Dry Bar in the Northern Quarter, and it soon became clear that the event would sell out, with us not making it inside. So we went to nearby Night and Day - which is a well-respected venue for new music.
In there we caught sets from Tricky Nixon, Children, and 3rd Dan. There were some good, tight performances. But something about a room full of record company types, and a pressurised atmosphere, took a bit of getting used to. And though the bands were good, there were no really memorable tunes to speak of. It’s hard to put your finger on what makes a good atmosphere, but in Night and Day there was certainly something a bit tense or hectic which didn’t add to the night.
The next afternoon we returned to Night and Day to gatecrash an industry party to celebrate the launch of a new Manchester XFM. It had a free bar. Much fun indeed!
But in the evening I decided to try somewhere a bit different. The Font Bar - which was free to get into - played host to the best acts from local Indie label Fat Northerner. There was some really good stuff, and the atmosphere was superb. Also met quite a few people I’d talked to the night before… turns out it’s a surprisingly small community of people who enjoy discovering good music.
There was also the chance to natter briefly to some of the guys behind Fat Northerner - and it restored my faith in the music scene here to know that there are people actively pushing new or innovative music.
There was a huge amount of other good music happening - and my own experience was probably a bit atypical. On Sunday I headed to Jabez Clegg for an indie-style festival. It was pretty empty to start with - no A&R types out here - but the atmosphere soon built up. It’s a surprisingly large venue - and I reckon it would be pretty good if filled with some large headline acts. A lot of fun watching some of the acts on here.
Finally, Bedlam that evening played host to some fantastic acoustic acts - including Emmy the Great, Man from Cov and lastly “Son of Dave”. This last was an incredible performance. The guy beatboxes, plays harmonica, rattles a shaker, and sings - all at the same time. With the help of a couple of delay pedals he’d set the place on fire. Sounded like a full deck and a drum machine to me - but no, all those beats had really come from his mouth. Has to be seen to be believed really.
A good end to the festival for me. Monday’s technically the last day… but instead I chose to wonder around Manchester, discovering random venues. Ended up going to Temple Bar and finally “Big Hands” with some mates. Both venues have supplies of interesting beers and - interestingly - are half-owned by the guys from Elbow.
Roll on next year!
Manchester’s In the City music festival kicks off this weekend - on Saturday 1st October 2005. It’s Europe’s largest street festival of music, and also a place for music industry professionals to meet and discover new talent.
Well worth a look for anybody who is in the area.
It includes the Acousticcity event. Here’s some of the bands you can see there:
Selfridges, Exchange Square
Saturday 1st October
Starting at 12.15pm
Bedlam
Sunday 2nd October
Starting at 7:45pm
Monday 3rd October
Starting at 7:00pm
It’s the Dartington International Summer School this summer. Well worth a look, if only for the concerts and events that are taking place up there.
Any musicians out there in the Devon area want to go to a new open mic night? Ade in Ottery St. Mary is organising one this Thursday (26th May) that sounds amazing. It’s an intimate candlelit basement venue with a good variety of music. If you’re interested drop me a line and I’ll forward you his contact details. I won’t be able to make it this time as I’ll by flying off to Slovakia to play the most interesting gig I’ve ever been asked to play - at a wedding in a castle. Can’t wait!
The Guardian’s new blog reveals how Yahoo are testing a new Creative Commons search engine. Creative commons licenses allow listeners to download music for free - and modify it too, as long as they don’t then sell the music or pass it off as their own. It’s a good thing for musicians, and worth considering if you’re unsigned and want to reach a wider audience. A stark contrast to the DRM models of Microsoft and Apple Itunes, which aim to stop people listening to or sharing music unless they’ve paid for the privilege.
The annual event for electronic musicians, producers and DJs is to be held on the 14th-16th April 2005. More info can be found here: Sounds Expo
Welcome to the revamped musicians' resources section of the site. Don’t forget, all the news stories here are also available as rss feeds - so you can use them in your news reader or web browser.
Dartington Plus are hosting another music symposium on the 25-30th April 2005, following on from the success of last year’s. It’s called South West Sound.
It will be a six-day event, taking in a wide range of different genres. This includes day 1 - World and Folk music, and day 5 - rock, pop and dance music. Last year’s event was excellent - there was a range of useful workshops, and opportunities to talk to people who’ve been involved in the industry.
It promises to be a really useful event. More details are Here