This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
Over the past 13 years being part of BBC Music Introducing has afforded me some unique opportunities, from visiting Abbey Road Studios to recently going Maida Vale Studios as The Recks recorded a live session there – BBC Music Introducing Live though was a rather different, but nonetheless impressive experience, and I’m not just saying that because they pay me from time to time.
Across three days the BBC’s new music project took over the Tobacco Dock venue in the docklands in East London for a huge number of talks, seminars, masterclasses, radio broadcasts and, crucially, live performances featuring names including Nile Rodgers, Jamie Cullum, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Slaves, Sleaford Mods and more.
Live music meanwhile came from a huge number of acts from the aforementioned Catfish to John, Hak Baker and, representing BBC Music Introducing In The Channel Islands, Monty Taft, as every BBC Introducing local show was represented somewhere across the weekend.
My role in all of this was a combination of observer, representative of our local show (along with Tim Hunter) and attendee. This meant that while there were a few things to do I got to experience the event as an attending musician or curious onlooker (I’m still not sure where I fall between those two stools) might.
Day One
After arriving at Tobacco Dock we took the time to explore and find the lay of the land.
Despite feeling compact the venue fits a lot in and at first is a somewhat bewildering arrangement of different spaces but once you get your bearings it’s really no more than five minutes walk between any two of the performance or exhibition areas.
With the help of the app it was fairly easy to navigate the various events on offer — though like any festival it’s impossible to even try and do everything so it paid to do a bit of forward planning about what to attend.
The first session I attended, almost more by chance than design, was led by jazz musician and radio presenter Jamie Cullum along with his band.
As part of an ongoing project that began in a live BBC radio session they took a current pop song and over the course of an hour reworked it to fit their sound.
This was a very impressive feat of musicianship as not only did they work out the basic music, in this case the current single from Harry Styles, they then took to rearranging it for a jazz trio before making the decision to invite three members of the audience up to add some harmonies on the vocals.
This set the scene for the weekend well as it combined elements of most of the other sessions I attended and showed the depth and range of expertise present both in the speakers and performers and those attending.
After a bit of a break to explore some more and soak in some of the live music going on I headed into a talk with Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis in conversation with Jo Wiley.
Unlike some of the other talks this one was less about advice for artists and more a general chat about the festival and Emily’s involvement in it; from appearing on the Pyramid Stage aged five to being one of the events driving forces as it reaches its fiftieth anniversary in 2020.
Along with her personal reflections and memories it was fascinating to hear that core team of around 70 expands to around 30,000 over the week of the festival itself while she also spoke about the new bands and musicians competition that they run every year as another way for upcoming artists to get a spot on the bill.
This was followed by BBC Radio 1’s main on air Introducing man, Huw Stephens, talking to Jake Bugg about his experience with BBC Music Introducing which dovetailed nicely with the Emily Eavis session as he got his first big break on the Introducing Stage at Glastonbury (possibly the same year as a then equally unknown Ed Sheeran).
Focussing more on how BBC Introducing works in a case like Bugg’s was great as he was one of the early successes for the brand and showed how it can take an artist from writing and recording music in their home town and getting played on local radio all the way through to becoming a full time, successful musician.
After that it was time for a bit of ‘networking’ in the bar before heading into the headline event of the day with Catfish And The Bottlemen, Zuzu and John playing a stand alone gig within the wider event, but I’ll go into more detail on that in a separate post.
Day Two
Having got my bearings on day one I began day two with a bit of a plan that started with a session with Nile Rodgers and his manager Merck Mercuriadis.
Billed as a look at music copyright and the ideas and theories behind it (which sounded rather dry though important, if I’m honest) the pair steered it more into stories about their respective careers but continuing to highlight the importance of who owns music and why it is a commodity, in their words, as valuable as oil and gold but much more reliable.
They highlighted this with a couple of stories about how Le Freak by Chic, Rodgers breakthrough, was overlooked and turned down 24 times by record companies but since one did pick up on it it’s been making him money daily ever since, and a further story about how the writer of Born To Be Wild has, since the songs release nearly 50 years ago, been able to live comfortably off royalties for that one track while doing anything else he chooses.
While this sounded a little far fetched for some of the aspiring artists in the room Rodgers backed it up with something that was a theme of the weekend — if you want genuine long term success be true to yourself and keep working even if it sometimes can feel fruitless.
After that was a panel about podcasting and specifically why some musicians have chosen to branch out into that area hosted by Essex MC Scroobius Pip of the Distraction Pieces Podcast along with musician Jessie Ware who hosts Table Manners and DJ, Tiga who hosts The Last Party On Earth.
This provided an interesting perspective for musicians already doing it as a day job around finding a way to make music a passion again rather than a profession.
It was also, as podcasts tend to be, just a really interesting chat about three people’s varying perspectives on what they do and how they do it – I doubt it will be but it would be great to see it released as a podcast itself.
This was followed by a conversation that really brought the possibilities of the local side of BBC Music Introducing to life as Abbie McCarthy of BBC Introducing in Kent spoke to Slaves’ guitarist Laurie Vincent.
The pair talked through the band’s career and how BBC Introducing had been pivotal in helping a two piece band playing punk rock and giving them a platform when no else would, even going as far as to play their whole debut set of recordings back to back so impressed with it were they.
Since then Slaves have obviously gone onto great things but have maintained that link with where they first got noticed while Laurie came across as a genuine and humble person who’s been given a chance to do what he loves which is always great to hear.
Another podcast related session next with a live recording of the new BBC Introducing podcast Does My Music Suck? hosted by Rob Adcock with guest Emma Banks of CAA who has worked as agent with people from Florence + The Machine to Marilyn Manson to Green Day.
The first half was a conversation with Banks that provided a great view of the role of agent for both bigger established acts and smaller, newer ones, along with some great stories including something about Manson, a used condom and a plate of sandwiches…
The second half of the session saw three tracks from the BBC Introducing Uploader selected for a sort of critique, though by her own admission being agent doesn’t mean having to know what music is objectively good or not.
Still it seems like a good way for new bands to get some extra exposure through the Introducing network.
And then it was time for what was, in many ways, my big moment of the weekend as Monty Taft took to The Platform stage representing BBC Introducing In The Channel Islands, and himself of course.
Though the set was only short it was clear he made an impression keeping one of the bigger audiences I saw at that stage all weekend engrossed throughout with his forcefully delivered but impressively technical songs featuring some deftly done, complex sounding loops.
His ferocious playing style was captivating giving a life and power to what can sometimes be a rather clinically precise process while all the songs had an instantly engaging nature making for a highlight among the sets I saw over the weekend (and I’m not just saying that because we nominated him to play).
Day Three
After mostly attending talks and panels on day two I thought I’d start the final day of Introducing Live by checking some live music and, given how much was going on, I took the approach of heading to a stage and just seeing what was on rather than picking anyone specific.
This started with Eden-Rae Lake in Studio Square.
With a strong voice and great guitar playing she provided a nicely relaxed start to the day and, as her short set went on, Eden-Rae revealed a voice that balanced a controlled delivery with a nice rough edge that showed greater depth than many young acoustic singer-songwriters.
This lead to the set ending with a very well done take on Janis Joplin’s Piece Of My Heart that did justice a very renowned song.
Back at The Platform Bristol trio Two Day Coma took to the stage looking like a fairly run of the mill indie band but, as soon as they began playing, it was clear they were something a little different.
With light vocal harmonies and music led by a mix of acoustic guitar and slide and finger style clean electric guitar combined with deeply confessional lyrics and an honest and open style of delivery they captivated for their short time on stage.
They were followed by Holly Redford Jones from Chesterfield who combined a jazz and almost lounge feel (and I don’t mean that in a bad way) with a lighter end indie sensibility to make for a strong and soulful delivery.
On top of that she brought a slightly knowingly self deprecating tone between the songs that showed the personality to create an all round engaging performance.
Down in the Marshall Amp Bar, a venue space that I only had the chance to visit this once but had the feel of being its own rock club thanks to the vaulted ceilings of Tobacco Dock’s basement level, I caught Skinny Living from Wakefield.
While guitar based indie bands are ‘dime a dozen’ this four piece showed something a little different with more vocal harmonies and a good groove along with hints at the folkier sounds from frontman Ryan Johnston’s native Northern Ireland making it no surprise that they then later played live as part of the BBC Music Introducing simulcast radio show.
Later in the day I also caught some of Hak Baker’s ‘surprise’ set at The Platform which showed a stripped back version of his sound highlighting the great combination of acoustic guitar and street poetry, with a bit of added atmospheric muted trumpet, making for a great final bit of live music for the weekend.
As well as the live music I found time for a few talks and panels as well starting out with Tom Robinson talking to Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods about his career.
This was particularly interesting as it showed something a little different to many of the other discussions with artists supported by BBC Music Introducing over the weekend as it was instantly obvious that Williamson is considerably older.
Robinson led the talk through Williamson’s musical career from his original interests back in the rave and club scene of the early 90s, through indie bands in the late 90s and finally to forming Sleaford Mods with Simon Parfrement in 2007 and finally gaining more mainstream attention with Andrew Fearn since 2013’s Austerity Dogs album.
This once again reinforced a lot of what had been said over the preceding two days around finding and making the music that is what you want to make and sticking to that while also having a dedication and tenacity meaning success can come at any time, not just when your in your teens or 20s.
Robinson also took the time to introduce a new band during the talk, the fabulously named Those Fucking Snowflakes who, unsurprisingly, have had trouble with promotion thanks to their name but that both Williamson and Robinson said to stick to their guns as if the music’s good anything can work (though I doubt they’ll be hitting the top 10 anytime soon by rights they should with a killer single like Stop Being Dickheads To Each Other).
After this I headed to another of the atmospheric basement spaces which felt appropriate for a panel on being in a rock or metal band featuring speakers from Metal Hammer, Download Festival and Kerrang Radio.
As a fan of heavier music this panel was right up my street but really backed up the same points made elsewhere across the weekend. On top of that though they added that, given the ‘underground’ nature of much of the music on discussion, the community around it is much more tightly knit which gives it a slightly different feel, even if its biggest festival, Download, is actually the UK’s second biggest music festival after Glastonbury.
With this they made the point that building not just a fan base but links with influencers within the rock and metal community, such as those speaking here, is essential and that a big part of doing that can be simple patience and self awareness around your music, but even more so than others I saw this weekend, all panelists seemed eager to meet any bands or musicians after the panel backing up exactly what they had said.
The final talk of the weekend was called Giving Up The Day Job and was designed to pull together a lot of what was discussed elsewhere but through the view of BBC 6 Music Introducing presenter, and long time aArtist in his own right, Tom Robinson.
He started out by making the point that there is no sure fire way to guarantee success in the music business (despite what the KLF might have once suggested) but that there are things that can help.
Given the title of the session Tom laid out the idea that you have to know what you want to achieve and have that as a specific focus, beyond just wanting to ‘make it’.
In this he suggested that goals like playing Glastonbury or getting played in national radio or other similar things are just steps on the way to ‘making it’ and that really making it should be considered when you can live comfortably through your music consistently.
This was something that he openly suggested he had been able to do since the days of the Tom Robinson Band, but that it hadn’t been easy for that entire time, emphasising that no matter what happens you have to keep working.
To emphasise that point he said that writing music and making tracks was the most crucial part of all this as without those you’d never get anywhere and that the more you write, no matter how good, bad or otherwise it is, the more chance you have of writing what he dubbed a ‘OMFG track’.
Adding that it can only take a couple of those to make ‘making it’ a feasible prospect.
While one could argue some of what he said was idealistic (something I doubt he’d deny) there was a strong truth and experience behind all of it and, as he said, there is no solid formula but writing and hard work are key to anyone being able to give up the day job and become a full time musician.
This rounded off a weekend that, even as something of a casual musician and person within the BBC Music Introducing network, I found fascinating and invaluable and packed with great music.
I’m not just saying this because of my connections with the brand but, if you are making music and want to play shows and get heard beyond your local pub, then you need to come to this next year.
Whether you are in a guitar band, an MC, DJ, producer or anything else there will be something worthwhile for you, but back to this years event and it was, on top of everything else, a fantastic opportunity to immerse myself in something that I love — that being new music and everything surrounding it.
And here’s a slightly randomly put together playlist featuring the artists and musicians I saw and heard over the weekend from Monty Taft and Those Fucking Snowflakes to Chic and Tom Robinson:
