Yesterday

[jacey]

Had a visitation from a young band yesterday. We're thinking of having them on our label.
The Paul McKenna Band. Take a listen and see what you think. As an added bonus, one of the bandmembers brought his wife down and she's an embryonic writer. Just a few years out of university and interested in writing detective fiction. I pointed her at mevennen's Chen books, of course. We left the menfolk talking geek stuff in the studio and had good writing talk. I've told her about LJ, too.

Still thinking about music...mevennen are you still interested in getting together on that witchcraft CD?

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I've got to say that I wasn't overwhelmed by what I've heard (1.5 songs). It sounded a bit raw to me, well-practiced, but without that special soul and enthusiasm. The fact that I've walked out halfway during the second song tells me how little I enjoyed the sample. I can't quite put my finger on *why* it didn't work for me - too monotonous, maybe? - but I went and put the Corries on and I'm thus proving to myself that no, it's not that I wasn't in a Folk mood, it was just that particular band.

Sorry.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to infer from the Corries as being your yardstick for folk...
:-)
Good job we're not all alike.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Not yardstick, just having a quality that I didn't find in the sample I was listening to. I listen to a fair amount of folk, Scottish, Irish, English, and anything else I can get my hands on, in different moods and for different reasons.

Can you tell me what you don't like about the Corries, and what you like about this band?

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about this after I sent my reply, wondering if I'd sounded dismissive of what was essentially a Scottish folk phenomenon in the late 60s and early 70s. There's nothing I dislike about the Corries, though to be honest I've not listened to them for years. (It is about twenty years since they finished when one of them died IIRC.) My recollection is that they are a product of their time - the first flush of the folk revival when you could get folk on the telly and into the hit parade if you dressed it up in an arran sweater or a kilt. I recall the Corries as being very much the commercial end of the Scottish folk scene, expensively produced and pretty well manicured. Their big hit 'Flower of Scotland' has actually been used as an anti-English song (slightly different emphasis from pro-Scottish) though that's hardly their fault.

Now there's nowt wrong with being commercial. Some would say it's better to have some folk on the telly even though it's the sanitised version. My own early exploration of folk was via the Spinners. Pretty much everything I've said about the Corries goes for the Spinners if you substitute English for Scottish.

What you're listening to with the Paul McKenna Band is a bunch of very young musicians very much in the early stages of their career. Rather than expensive studios, you've got what amounts to a bedroom recording. So to compare the Paul McKenna Band to the Corries or the Spinners is not really comparing apples with apples. It would be a bit like comparing early Amy Winehouse with Frank Sinatra.

What I'm looking for when I'm looking for a band to sign for the label (that sounds much grander than it it, by the way) is potential. I think Paul's voice is distinctive; it's assured and confident and has a nice burr to it that sits well on my ear. It's not a classically smooth voice by any means (say like Dan Mckinnon who is one of my agency artists who has a voice like chocolate).

I like what I've heard so far of the band's songwriting - though let's face it nineteen year old songwriters have no way to go but up as their life experience grows - and I think the lads have made a very good first effort at arrangement with the percussion and flute being two highlights for me. It's very tempting - if you can play an instrument to play it hell for lather - and they resist that even though they have the skill.

I think their potential is enormous. If we work with them on their debut album what I hope we'll be able to inject is a little more light and shade and, of course, a studio quality recording worthy of the Corries.
:-)
We don't expect to get them on to the telly, (that's almost impossible with folk these days except for a few documentaries and the very occasional spot on Jules Holland for groups like Bellowhead), though of course, it would be a huge bonus if we did.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'll have to come back to this when I have more time and less stress in my life :-(

My impression of the Corries is different from yours - maybe I've been lucky in that the bits I've heard (Best of the Corries CD) is different from their average - they've always struck me as a pub band, with lewd asides and giggly attacks on the live tracks, and great drive.

On the other hand, I've discovered two bands that were completely new to me - one is the Sawdoctors, and I don't think that without this discussion I would have stopped to pick up a CD today by some guys in town today. They're called the Huckleberries and play a mixture of folk and bluegrass which is weirder and much better than it sounds.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I love finding new music. I'm listening to the Huckleberries right now on myspace. Fantastic stuff. yes I can see why you'd like that. Though for preference I always choose song bands to tune bands for most applications of musical consumption. I might like to play a Huckleberries CD as background music, but I'd probably not go and see them in concert because I'm as much engaged by the words as the tune in a concert situation.

Having said that I'm not a huge fan of having music on in the background. I tend to think music should be listened to not treated as musical wallpaper. I'm one of those people who hates piped music in restaurants and public places. If it's something I like (say a golden oldie) I'll embarrass myself and others by stopping conversations to listen or by singing along to it and if it's something I don't like... why would I want to listen to it?

I think it comes from being in the business for so long. I'm weird about music and very picky. I probably don't listen to nearly enough new stuff.