new test

issue 006 june 2012

IT’s FESTIVAL SEASON! Perfect POP back at the TAP

OXFORD THE CITY OF ROCKING SQUIRES

SIMON SAYS @simonj68

brought to you by

and the

Perfect Pop Co-Op

Welcome t o T H I S , t h e S I X T H iss u e o f OU R N E W I N TE R A C T I V E MAG ‘ THE perfect popzine’ - B R OU G H T TO Y OU I N CONJUNCTION WITH R E C H A R G E D R A D I O . co m A N D T H E P E RF E C T POP CO - OP

Ahhh Summer.

It’s where the Sumerians live. And they’re ancient. So they should know.

Summer is usually the start of festival season, so we’ve done our first mag of our first festival season actually being a publication by discussing them. At length. In detail... and for free. Nothing costs anywhere near ANYTHING here.

We’re a big believer of free down here at SOTS/RR, so it was rather delightful that so many of you came to our freebie in Brighton last month. Jamie and Andy worked hard all day. No need of the pier at all.

If you have any festival stories to tell us, do let us know. We’ll publish the best of them. Just email them to studio@rechargedradio.com.

Happy reading!

JT et al.

JUNBILEE!

Hi all, big thanks to everyone who attended June’s Untapped at The White Hart Tap in St.Albans. I think you’ll agree if you were there that our first double acoustic bill was a great way to chill into a relaxing summers evening. We also continue to be delighted by the response to our ‘loyalty stamps scheme’, which once more saw those attending collect their handstamps on their specially designed Perfect Pop Postcards, which will ultimately enable all ‘pop fans’ to earn a copy of a live best of compilation featuring the best ‘bootleg’ tracks from our shows.

Don’t forget attendance to the TAP is FREE, so ‘earn’ is maybe not the best term, however, anyone purchasing any of the merchandise from our merchstand, will get an extra stamp per item... so infact you can earn... but you don’t have to!... If you missed it and want more info on the last and next TAP sessions, don’t forget to check out our back issues of the magazine at: http://issuu.com/search?q=sound%20of%20the%20suburbs

Contents Cover star: Festivals!

Welcome 2-3 From Recharged Radio

Round the Tap 4-5 All the news from our latest night!

Festivals!

By Molloy Hitchcock

6-7

A.I.M.S. 8

by Pete Renzullo

Oxford City of Rocking Squires 9

by C.Adams

Simon Says

10

11

Covers: Good or Evil?

12

by @simonj68

Ooh Matron

Recharged Radio’s new agony aunt

by Sam

Minki’s Magic Competition 12 Win tickets to the Vintage festival!

SOTS ON! and Schedule

13

Fancy making a contribution?

Dear readers, if anyone would like to contribute to the mag, by way of photos, articles, reviews or ads. simply drop us an email to studio@rechargedradio.com If you want to supply imagery it needs to be either 300dpi or larger than 20cm square if 72dpi, just so the imagery is of a decent quality if we want to blow it up. For copy we need 250 for a half page, 600 for a full page and 1200 for a double spread.

Thanks to: Design @8ecreative. Photography: 8ecreative, Bobby Zee Words: @simonj68, Pete Renzullo, Jamie Tayler, Sam, C.Adams, Molloy Hitchcock, Faye, Bobby Zee

facebook.com/rechargedradio @rechargedradio rechargedradio.com studio@rechargedradio.com

rechargedradio.com

Big thanks go out once more to everyone who made the lastest Session down the TAP such a success, This particular night saw us host our first double acoustic night and judging by the reaction and feedback from those in attendance, it will not be our last!

BOOTLEG B

A

C

K

TRACK

As part of our never ending quest to promote and publicise the acts who have joined the goodship PPCO and with the consent of the acts appearing we are most proud to bring you a gorgeously retro style Bootleg of last months TAP session. We hope that you not only enjoy the music, but it inspires those of you who couldn’t make the last one, to re-double your efforts for the next one

DAINA ASHMORE I‘m getting the summer, I’m getting the antipodes and we’re getting Daina Ashmore, she of 2011’s Dirty Little Secret –album and single. She’s even bought the sun out – thank fruck!

Kicking off with ‘Brave’ from the aforementioned cd and download ;-) a particular fave of her manager/web guru Lucy, it sets the scene perfectly.

Think Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes & Cheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club. This is the cup we’re drinking from folks. Next up is ‘Soar ‘(track 3) in case you were wondering (of course you are!) Here is new, so new Daina, just named it tonight, but there’s no dip in vibe. The set is flying which is appropriate with the freedom Daina’s breathy melodies conjure, Breathe (look at that for continuity!) is a new track whose inspiration as Daina tells us is drawn from mother nature and her curious penchant for disaster, but for me, it’s the last two tracks - ‘Tingles’ - shameless sun drenched saccharin head- swim and my fave of the night the simmering ‘Brewing’ that show Daina off at her best. Well done Australia.

Bobby Zee

http://soundcloud.com/theperfectpopco-op

B-SYDES You’ve got to be careful with being a solo artist these days - what with certain ginger kids pigeon-holing everyone on one side and the folk mafia glaring ominously on the other. However, B-Sydes (otherwise known as Benjamin Sydes - see what he did there?!) manages to tread carefully between the two camps. He’s got some great songs and his set at the Tap managed to draw in the audience sufficiently enough to allow him a nice bit of breathing space when he broke a string mid set and also, allowed him to make up for lost time by crying for more at the end.

This being a balanced review, we must make mention that an intimate gig does this man justice. He might feel a bit lost at sea in a larger venue as, to be honest, you do have to be tuned in to listen to his set. This isn’t, however, a bad thing at all; with his charming attitude, it’s easy to like Mr Sydes and feel that you can let him play for hours on top of his 40 minute set. It’s like bedroom music writ-large - totally enthralling and leaving you waiting for the next time you can listen.

Molloy Hitchcock

http://soundcloud.com/theperfectpopco-op

THE TAP ROUNDUP

Pictures courtesy of Bobby Zee

THE DIY OR DIE ORGANISATION

By the D.O.D.O

“The DIY or DIE organisation sound like a ghostly ice-cream van stalking the neighbourhoods of the as yet unwritten Tim Burton animation - Gothic Pop Victoriana”.

- Perfect Pop Co-op

ALBUM OUT NOW! Pictures courtesy of Bobby Zee

http://thedodo.bandcamp.com/

FESTIVALS!!!

So, it’s that time of year when festival season kicks off and will run through until late October. You have the chance to go to at least one; these days, you’re spoiled for choice.

But is this really a good thing? The rise of the ‘boutique’ festival seems to have been fairly rapid and with more and more taking place each year, one begins to wonder where it will all end!

Everyone is trying so hard to be ‘cool’ and go off to the latest 2-day extravaganza in a field, it makes me wonder; at what point did it cease to become about the music and more about being in with the ‘in’ crowd.

While that in itself is nothing new, it does make me slightly fearful for the bands who have to play the things. The internet, with all the doors it has opened, has brought about the downfall of filters applied to good and bad music and until lately, festivals used to be a good filter.

Online, everywhere that you look, someone’s sending you a link to a new band.

Many of these bands sound similar ... some pretty much identical. All come with rave reviews from such places as BBC Introducing/NME/etc. Many of these bands will go West before the year is out.

Many of them play a ‘boutique’ festival on the way through.

This annoys me.

The last filter seems to be cracked...

But let’s drill down a little further. For every ‘next big thing’ band, there is a ‘serious grafter band’. While the ‘next big thing’ will be chasing some daft dream that got fed to them by someone who (vaguely) remembered when mainstream music wasn’t purely dominated by glorified Saturday Night Karaoke affairs and record companies actively perused something interesting, rather than simply generic, the ‘grafters’ will have given up on that a LONG time ago and just settled down to the business of being in a band and seeing where it takes them - and enjoying it. In my experience, relaxed bands make the best music. Tense bands sound ‘safe’ and, well... dull.

I want to see

consummate e v a h o h w s r e m r o per f

’t n e r a t a h t c i s u m t a e gr r e h t o y n a m n i d e t n e s e repr s y o b y t t e r p T O N , places n i p o h s o h w s l r i g d n a e s u a c e b t e k r a m Camden M F X o h w d n a ’ l o o ‘c it’s ’. s s e n t a e r ‘g r o f d e p tip

These days though, the grafters tend to get stuck lower down the bill at ‘boutique’ festivals while the NBTs get stuck somewhere a lot higher up, despite the fact they probably only formed the previous November. I went to a certain festival in Cornwall last year and was surprised to find the most accomplished and polished acts there were stuck on at stupid times of day. One act was The Scratch, the other was La Shark. Both bands are fun, genuinely interesting to watch and musically challenging. The audience (that was there) seemed to think so too. Later on in the evening (when the punters were drunk and merry) came the NBTs. I can vaguely remember one of them... and that was purely because they played right before the headliners, The Subways. I can’t remember the previous NBT’s name though. And I was sober.

My point here is that this whole ‘boutique’ festival thing is living on borrowed time, as they’re not built on any substance. Instead of giving an opportunity to showcase the acts who genuinely have something to share with a large audience, the promoters/bookers of such things are just going down the most obvious route of ‘who has amassed the best industry quotes in the shortest amount of time on their press release’. Come on guys - put some bloody effort in and actually THINK about who you’re going to book!! If I’m going to hand over my hard earned oyster shells for what is going to be, for the most part, a shot in the dark, I do NOT want to be seeing the same sort of bands that populate 333 on any given Thursday or a band I could turn on XFM to hear. This is why I’m at this bloody thing! I want to see consummate performers who have great music that aren’t represented in many other places, not pretty boys and girls who shop in Camden market because it’s ‘cool’ and who XFM tipped for ‘greatness’.

This brings me to The Alternative Escape. It’s quite simple; if you want to put on an event you hand over your cash, you get a stage, you stick on an event and it becomes part of the greater festival. It’s due to this patchwork of events that the average punter can wander around and get to see and hear all sorts of bands without any obvious pecking order. It’s incredibly liberating. No real agenda apart from a whole bunch of people dedicated to bringing you GOOD music, performed well.

So if you couldn’t get down to Brighton this year, make yourself a note and come next year. I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed. Also, there’s PROPER, NON-SPONSORED fish, chips and ice-cream. Who could want for more?!

Australian Independent Music Scene

UP CLOSE WITH “PETER RENZULLO” – THE STORY BEHIND YOUR AUSTRALIAN HOST Make yourself comfortable. to the toilet.

If you haven’t already, go

Get a cup of tea, or coffee (feel free

after a couple of years I decided that I should set up my own little studio at home.

One good thing I got

to slip in a sneaky shot of Irish whiskey if you like

from the experience was my business sensibility when

- but if anyone asks, I never told you to do that.

dealing with clients.

In

So I started slowly, set myself

fact you can have that in writing: “I, Peter Renzullo,

up, and decided to launch the business by advertising

did NOT suggest that you should put Irish whiskey in

for artists to be part of a compilation album.

your morning coffee/tea”.

Now,

got 18 acts interested in it, and created the album

curl up in front of the fire and get all toasty, or if

FOLKLORE as the first official release through my studio

it’s warm outside, curl up in front of a fan and put

Scudley Records.

There, water tight!)

a damp flannel on your head – I have a story for you…

It

was

during

the

promotion

of

FOLKLORE

that

I

an

Many years ago, I decided “I’d like to work in a

Australian podcaster (and good friend of Recharged

recording studio!”.

So I got myself trained up on

Radio) ERKFM introduced me to Justin Wayne who hosted

the basics, recorded a few little bands at home and

The Justin Wayne Show. And from there, I was fortunate

started putting out feelers for possible employment.

enough to be accepted into the team at Recharged as a

I was lucky enough to have a friend that was in

radio presenter for my show “Close to Nowhere”.

the middle of sourcing a studio to record his next

years have gone by, along with over 70 episodes and

album, and he mentioned to the owner of the studio

countless artists featured from Australia and indeed

that he wanted to use me as a producer on it.

around the world, and I couldn’t be happier.

The

owner was only starting out himself and was looking to hire an engineer – perfect!

So I went to the

studio, did a few recordings with my friend, and the owner decided to take me on.

For a few months it

seemed like a dream come true … Until I discovered that the owner was a useless bullsh$t-talking, dimwitted, chain-smoking moron who was taking the money I

was

earning

for

the

studio

and

spending

it

on

prostitutes and cigarettes – but that’s another story.

Needless to say, I gave him a friendly “Don’t ever f#$%ing contact with me again!” goodbye and went to work for a shelving company as a labourer for a few years, to try and get out of the financial hole I found

So, what was the point of all this?

Why did I feel the

need to share my life story with you?

terrors and compulsive gambling next time …).

Anyway,

To be honest I

don’t really know how to answer that, only to say that it feels right.

You may find some value in what you’ve

just read, or it may have served as a time-filler while you head to work on the tube – either outcome works for me!

But I’ll leave you with a little pearl of wisdom:

“You may travel down a long and treacherous path in pursuit of your dreams.

But when a fork appears

in the road, and you’re not sure which way to go, don’t go down the road that leads you to work in a studio for a fat little balding f#%ker called Ken.”

myself in after it went pear-shaped at the studio (Geez this is like therapy, might get stuck into the night

Two

Peter Renzullo, 2012

www.facebook.com/closetonowhere

Oxford – The City Of Rocking Squires

B

eing a bastion of hitherto greatness via the oft cited Radiohead, Supergrass and further back, Ride, Oxford is firmly embedded on the musical treasure map for being a womb of burgeoning talent. Helped in no small way by its (in)spired history there appears to be a perpetuating outlet for bands and solo artists who, by their own admission or a subjective viewpoint, demonstrate an element of being “niche” or slightly off kilter.

Indeed, there appear to be far too many bands and soloists of genuine quality and not enough dedicated gigging venues to house them. The venue backbone of the Oxford gigging scene finds the likes of The Wheatsheaf, The Cellar, The Bullingdon Arms and these days, to a lesser extent, The Jericho Tavern, still plying their trade and being used by a plethora of local promoters showcasing a variety of talent. The demand still far outstrips the supply, which can cause a clamouring for local festival slots as and when they arise.

Whilst every artist under the sun will proclaim that they have something new to offer, those truly offering a “niche” product seem to fair rather well in the city of scholars.

In my own experience there are many receptive ears out there fluttering for something new and a general appreciation of such diversity in the local press which is both encouraging and refreshing when compared to the “arms-folded-entertain-me” approach from London. We have generally been very well received whenever we have played here and that is highly encouraging for a band sailing close to the wind of quirkiness.

Not that Oxford escapes the generic midweek apathy.

Like any second city, the punters can sleep for 5 days out of 7 and so only bands generating a buzz can bring them out on a wet Wednesday in winter. But weekends will find the streets buzzing with everything a Friday and alcohol can generate and this can be good for bands that have managed to secure a slot somewhere.

The Oxfordshire music scene offers a selection of well respected journalistic outlets in the shape of Oxford Nightshift, Music In Oxford, Oxford Music Scene, Oxford Music Blog and they handle the musical traffic rather well in terms of reviews, gig listings, features, forums and event promotion in their own right, keeping their finger on the ever changing pulse.

From my own point of view, an increase in the number of quality promoters and venues would lessen the difficulty we have found in trying to secure a slot, although there is the added danger of dilution where quantity sacrifices quality - so the balancing act continues.

And so, from its location alone, in being within an elaborate spitting distance of the capital, Oxford continues to generate a tide of new found talent and periodically present it to London on a silver platter. It’s enough to keep the wolves happy and the shires sated which is no mean feat! © C Adams 2012

We are once more excited and delighted to have secured the esteemed services of blog and twitter legend @simonj68 for his column in Sound of The Suburbs.

Simon Says It I’m

I

always moaning

seems like doesn’t it?

don’t mean to. I am actually quite positive about many things, but being from an era where we queued outside record shops to get new albums and concert tickets, unlike today’s ‘click and buy’ world, I do find more stuff to moan about.

I am actually a really nice bloke, or so the people I buy drinks for tell me, but once again a simple click onto a website and I am fuming with the British public.

Not the usual news that annoys me; like people putting the wrong town name in their SatNav and driving 200 miles before noticing, but on the BBC web page for entertainment today. Not the Jubilee concert with Cliff, Kylie and JLS – I mean, who do people think are going to perform at Buckingham Palace? Though Prince Harry is a regular at WOMAD festival, the line up for his Nan’s festival was clearly chosen by some men in suits who have never listened to any music.

No, what grabbed me were the dual stories of Gary Barlow’s album for the Jubilee being number 1 and next to it a story that 7 million people watched the final show of the series of The Voice. Seven million people and yet this show is seen as a failure in the reality TV world. As always, I have to be honest, the only parts of the show I have seen are the trailers for it and the clips on the news of the winner. Ground-breaking new music show it is not. Its premise almost made sense; judge on the voice not the look, but the talentless judges and public vote mean that a bland winner is all that can emerge. It’s BBC1 on a Saturday night, TV watched by people who buy albums by Adele in Tesco, so it’s unlikely that they’re going to vote for a controversial rapper or punk sound.

These are also the exact same people who will have bought the album ‘by that nice Gary Barlow’ this week. The sad thing is that for these people it is hard not to fall into the stereotype. They aren’t going to listen to independent music on podcasts or online; they aren’t going to trawl through blogs and websites finding new music. In towns like mine where even HMV has left, there isn’t even a choice for them. The only place that sells music in a physical format is Tesco – I am reminded of a song by The Dead Kennedys – ‘Triumph of the Swill’: go search that out on YouTube.

If you are limited in what you listen to and Radio 1 (or 2, or sadly even most of 6) is your only place to find new bands and songs, what else are you going to buy apart from what you see on TV? That is why the acts from the reality shows do well at first, because they are on TV. As soon as they are not, however good they are, they will struggle, as their audience will be on the next show season by then.

The flipside, and the positive flipside, is that for people reading this, you already know that there is another, better way, to get new music. The interweb is full of music, almost too much it seems. When you look at the stats of how much is uploaded every minute of every day you realise it is impossible to even try and listen to all of it, so you start taking recommendations from people you know online. If you know someone has a good taste in music you will trust them if they tell you of a new band/track/album to go and try.

The danger is that if you spend too muchtime online, the list of ‘to buy’ and even ‘already bought but not listened to yet’ gets so big, you have to take a step back every now and then.

I spend too much of my life on trains so I always have time to listen to a lot more music than many can attempt, and yet even I can’t keep up with a lot of the new bands. Add into this my purchasing of the back catalogue of many new bands I missed at the time, I seem to listen to more music than ever before and still have more I want to get to. Like travel, you can never see the whole world, and you can never hear all the music. All I can say is, don’t waste time watching reality shows expecting to see the next Sex Pistols – they would be in the novelty section these days.

There is so much great music out there; get involved on blogs, social media and music sites; champion the bands you like but be objective about those you don’t; put the time and effort in. Trust me, like so much in life, the more you put into it the more you get out of it.

Web: www.rumblesandgrumbles.com Twitter: @SimonJ68 Skype: rumblesandgrumbles

OOOOOH Matron...

Dear Matron, m worried. What me for me and I’ It’s the first ti should I do? uth Scared, Bournemo

Welcome to the new Recharged Radio AGONYco

ess. You It’s quite a simple proc d. are sc be n’t Do e. se Ah I out make sure reful. When you get it ca ry ve be to ed ne t jus things are quite fragile. e es th g, hin yt an on it h should you don’t catc Slide it in, gently. You . do u yo r ve ate wh it, Don’t bend sure you is perfectly normal. Make is th , ion ns te ght sli a feel u are doing, Make sure yo at wh at k loo ays alw cted. press firmly and that you don’t get distra d an it, do u yo g hin tc u do nobody is wa on problem. And, when yo mm co a te qui ly nt re pa That is ap as possible, ays put it away as soon alw t, ou it ll pu y all tu even like to keep it folded le op pe me So e. se ne yo it and don’t let an eas some people crumple er wh e, ibl ss ce ac y sil ea so that it’s y and You’ll find the best wa . re ca or ght ou th y an t up withou other, but be put it one side or the ays alw u yo at th d g fin will unsightly lump in the han an e us ca ll wi is th es . careful, sometim , a problem in your jeans ds en ek we at d an s er of your trous will ine to take money out ch ma sh ca a ing us e, tic With prac t on! let me know how you ge Do ! re tu na nd co se me beco

Cher Matron

lumn

Yes, tis true, I write to you for love and best wishes. But First! It is my grand intention to mak e good my promise I make to you under the arches, ma Cherie. Tell me, will you wear what you wore that day?

And shall I? Do write back, you saucy little minx!

Pierre, Chernobyl.

Ooh, well I never. Pierre! This IS a surprise. How on earth have you tracked me down? That one night was very special for me. I still have the feather you gave me from that chicken. That will forever remind me of what we had. Do you think it’s wise to rekindle it? After all, I’m not the woman I once was. And besides, I doubt it will fit me any more. Plus I think the elastic might have gone. I would love nothing more than to see you in all your finery again though. I do love a milkman ...

PS Is

it OK to drink the milk now?

Dear Mrs. Matron , It has come to ou r attention that you have an outs tanding balance What has gone wr of £1,524 on your ong? How can we account. pu t it right? If it payments and spre ’s si mp ly a matter of re ading the cost, ducing your mont please call us on hly 0871 124 1248 an Sincerely d let us help yo u out.

The Finance Team , Slough.

Now look here, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, I anything. If you insist am NOT Mrs Matron. I on calling me Mrs I’m ’m not a Mrs goi ng to come down there soap, you see if I don’t an d scrub all of your mouths . You’ll be blowing bubble with Carbolic s for weeks. And is th I’ve done 1471 and it at you on the phone that told me it was a withhe keeps hanging up? ld number. Withheld? I’ll from a pensioner? Disgus withhold you in a minute. ting. Nothing has gone wr Ch asing for money ong. How dare you imply nice young man who came it has. I spent that mo round for a cup of tea ne y in good faith. That and sold me those Ency There’s nothing easy abo clopaedias told me it wa ut this, I can tell you. s easy payments.

And how can I call that number when the phone’s been cut off?

‘Covers’ and public opinion

MINKI’s MAGIC COMPETITION!!!!

by Sam (long-time musically inclined rebel with new guitar strings and a head full of words)

“If your opinion is only worth 2 cents, you should keep it to yourself” ...Or ...“Why it’s good to play cover - songs and not feel bad about it!”

1: Covers in general completely rock! Why? It’s simple ... They are what inspired so many of us to play musical instruments, sing and learn to become performers and then write our own songs!

2: If covers are done well they evoke emotion in those that recognize the songs. You want emotion! (and I don’t mean karaoke!) Long gone are the days of ‘having to’ play only the cover songs that punters wanted. There are a lot more ‘cool’ choices now. You’re just as likely to hear a decent Radiohead song at a covers gig these days as you are standards. The Top 40 has become like The Top 400 with SO many music genres around. You can pick and choose and even shape your gigs to specific audiences. That can be fluid, not rigid.

3. Playing covers gigs can get you exposure and a loyal following of people who will keep following you with your original material if they loved your covers gigs.

4. Anyone who thinks it’s beneath them to play covers/gigs is an elitist snob. It takes talent, skill and dedication to emulate great artists and to do decent, if not gobsmackingly-good renditions of their songs. If you do it well, it can be more than just a covers gig, more than a tribute, it’s showing respect.

5. Covers are ‘IN’. It’s the flavour of the month to do ‘Tribute Gigs’.

Everyone and their dog is doing a tribute gig at the moment: revivals of music from Abba (iikkk!) to Hendrix, 60s, 70s, 80s… etc… These kind of shows are extremely popular, not only for nostalgic reasons for those who were there ‘back in the day’ (and can remember at least some of it), but for those who are being introduced to the music of a legendary past they wish they weren’t too young for (making up for endlessly hearing from older musicians and music aficionados: ‘oh, you had to be there’ - you may make them feel like they were there). Just as you ‘give of yourself’ with originals, you can do that with covers gigs. Even if it’s just rock ‘n’ roll in the suburbs, you can still make it count. It may as well be shit-hot rock ‘n’ roll in the suburbs!

6. Snobbery really shits me. I love a good cover. I personally know hundreds of them and I’m also a song-writer. I don’t see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. I used to be desperate to ‘be heard’ in terms of my lyrics; my story etc., now I don’t seem quite so compelled; after all there are SO many stories out there! Is it really ‘that’ important?

Well, maybe not for all of us. The musical horizon is an ever-changing view. If it’s important to you to ‘make it’ (whatever that means to you) then don’t hide what you do, just do it well. Those out there who poohpooh the idea may end up thinking you had a really freaking good idea, when they see people flocking to your covers gigs. It’s not shameful, so why use a pseudonym or alias? It’s not shameless to promote yourself and ultimately this is just another way to do it. Being flexible enough to traverse both paths and not lose sight of your primary goals should be seen as a ‘strength’ not a weakness .

7. Playing covers can make you a better musician, teach you about playing things you maybe wouldn’t have tried, and stretch your musical imagination. It can also put some money in your pocket, in the lean no-gig times, help you and/or your band to stay a well-oiled musical machine, performance and recording-fit, and even inspire you to write.

Which pretty much brings us right back to where I started with this topic; being inspired by covers! But just in case I’ve drifted too far, let me just reiterate, in case you missed the point? You can still be promoting your band as you are now whilst doing the meat and potatoes gigs. The two things CAN run concurrently! Give it a try!

The End.

If you love all things Vintage, you’ll love this!

Minki’s Magic Moments has 2 weekend tickets to give away to one lucky winner (worth an estimated £175 EACH) for the Vintage 2012 Festival from 13th-15th July. In its new home of Boughton Park in Northamptonshire, the festival is a glamorous weekend toasting classic style with music, fashion, film, art, design and food and features catwalk shows curated by Twiggy & Jo Wood; 250 vintage fashion and homeware sellers; fashion & upcycling workshops; vintage nightclub & dance lessons from across the decades; classic films; The Vintage Funfair and beautiful camping & glamping, plus music from from artists including Chic ft Nile Rodgers, Betty Wright, Swing Out Sister Big band, The Damned & many more.

To win the 2 weekend tickets, all you need to do is send us a picture of what ‘vintage’ means to you. It can be your favourite vintage outfit or item of clothing, or just something creative you think represents what ‘vintage’ is all about.

Send your entries to: minki@rechargedradio.com with the subject ‘Vintage 2012 Competition Entry’ and we will feature the best in all our ‘special places’ (oo-er missus).

The winner will be announced at the end of July 5th MMM show.

Check out

www.vintagefestival.com FFI and tickets

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/07.06.12-minkis-magicmoments/id382587726?i=116647065

THE RADIO SHOW TUESDAY’s 10pm with Andy Scratch and John ‘Vintage’ Viney

This months SOTS sees ‘Vintage’ Viney and myself once more delve deep into the suburban past, but this time with a little difference. As of now you will be able to hear not 1 but 2 new shows! ...

Instead of doing our usual 2 hours once a month, we’ve gone ‘bite size’, to hopefully suit your listening spans even better! So you’ll get one show on the first Tuesday and the second on the third Tuesday of each month! Following on from our successful ‘first guest’, Bill Johnson, on our May show - for June we are delighted and excited to present to you another doyen of the St. Albans music scene - Gary Hawkins, drummer extraordinaire, whose huge long list of featurings can only best be described from the confines of our show! Not only that but Gary has been engineering and producing music on the scene from way back and is still in huge demand as session player.

The next two shows are culled heavily from Gary’s vinyl collection and definitely not to be missed by all you vintage and vinyl junkies out there - with highlights including tracks by Clive Pig and the Hopeful Chinamen, The Bears, Bongo Joe & The Experience and Nick Haeffner. Don’t forget if you miss a show you can go to rechargedradio.com/soundofthesuburbs and listen again or subscribe to the podcast, all for FRRRREEEEEEE!

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/sound-of-the-suburbsjune-2012/id490137655?i=116724075

THE WEEK AHEAD: Tuesday, 12 JUNE 00.00 - 20.00 Best of: Music and show repeats 22:00 - 00.00 Sound of the Suburbs (rpt)

Wednesday, 13 JUNE 00.00 - 19:00 Best of: Music and show repeats 19:00 - 20.00 Metal Mumin 20.00 - 22.00 Minki’s Magic Moments (rpt) 22.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Thursday, 14 JUNE 00.00 - 19:00 Best of: Music and show repeats 19:00 - 20:00 Close to Nowhere 22:00 - 23.00 20/20 Hip Hop 23.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Friday, 15 JUNE 00.00 - 20:00 Best of: Music and show repeats 20:00 - 22.00 The Forum 22:00 - 23.00 I Land Music 23.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Saturday 16 JUNE 00.00 - 10:00 Best of: Music and show repeats 10:00 - 12:00 The Forum (rpt) 12.00 - 00.00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Sunday, 17 JUNE 00.00 - 19.00 Best of: Music and show repeats 19:00 - 20.00 Music Unleashed Top 40 20.00 - 00:00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Monday, 18 JUNE 00.00 - 20.00 Best of: Music and show repeats 20:00 - 22.00 Crawling Home 22.00 - 00.00 Best of: Music and show repeats

Hackney Road Studios THE Rock of London

Here at Hackney Road Studios, we know just how hard it is to get access to great vintage and modern classic gear without paying out the GDP of a small African nation, so we made it our mission to fill a studio full of legendary gear and then give it to you, the artist, for sensible rates - only £200 per day.

Try getting that deal anywhere else.

To see our full kit list - and details of how to book your session - just stick ‘Hackney Road Studios’ into Facebook.

Gearheads. We cater for them

www.facebook.com/rock.of.london