The Other Tribe - August / September / October 2013

Okay, so I've been a bit slack with the entire blog in the last few months. But I am back, and I plan to get this blog back up and running again. And I'm going to kick this off with The Other Tribe. They were there for me on the week I struggled picking a New Release, and if it weren't for Aiden Grimshaw, I may never had found this amazing band.

 


The Other Tribe, are a five-piece band from Bristol, consisting of James Hill, Miles Metric, Ollie White, Alex Oldroyd and Max Cleary. They were a six piece involving Charlie Brown, however Charlie has left the band as far as I can tell, with no reason behind the departure.  

They have released three singles called "Skirts", "Sing With Your Feet" and "My Girl". The former and the latter proved popular on my blog, as well as gaining high ratings from me. They also released a three-track single in collaboration with Kidnap Kid and Eats Everything. As well as releasing a free download via Facebook for the song "We Should Be Dancing".

This band may still be emerging, but "Skirts" got into the UK top 40, making this band my highest charting Artist Of The Month, so far. But their other singles have not faired quite so well, despite performing at many festivals including Glastonbury. 

 Their fans are all waiting for an album, but can they really release an album, that may be amazing, but not gain enough sales to chart? I think a couple more singles need to be released before hand to gain more popularity.

This band is an artist we all should be keeping our eyes on, because they will make it big, one way or another. As one of my previous five Artists of the Month have done. 

I can't wait to see what is around the corner for these guys. I'm kind of hoping a lot of great charting hits, an awesome album, and a sell-out tour. This band knows how to push themselves and they will get to where they want to go.
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Bowie Jane - July 2013

Bowie Jane has been on my radar for a while, she came across this blog and contacted me about a year ago. She next turned up at my university and left a signed CD for me (picture below). Now in July 2013, she has released a music video "Bad Boy" and is now Artist Of The Month on my blog. Her other releases include "Luv Bomb" and "Miss U Hate U". She is a big promoter of her music and it looks like she never stops working. She wants this so bad, and with everything she is doing, it wouldn't surprise me if everyone knew who she was in the next year or so. Following that line of thought, I did an interview with her...


 

 
Introduce yourself
I'm Bowie Jane from Melbourne, Australia, now living in London. I'm a singer/songwriter who loves jumping around on stage. Getting the crowd going is what excites me!!

When did you realise you wanted to sing professionally?
I first realised I loved belting a tune out when I was singing along to Bon Jovi as a kid. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I could make my voice do exactly what Bon Jovi was doing… I then started performing in choirs, musicals and then graduated onto songwriting and performing in pubs and clubs and eventually festivals!!

What artists do you look up to?
All of today's pop stars have to work really hard so I respect them all but my absolute favourite is Katy Perry. I really admire her dedication to her career given she had three record deals and lost them yet kept pursuing it through to her current success. She's also a fantastic songwriter.

What venue has been your favourite to perform at?
Australian Open main stage this year - it was beautiful weather, the crowd were singing along and I had a ball generally!! 

Which uni has been your favourite to visit? (Be careful I'm from Staffordshire Uni ;) Haha)
I loved Staffordshire Uni! Of course yours!! Haha… I also really liked seeing some of the old universities like Oxford etc. Although I haven't had a proper look around yet.

Do you play any covers of songs? If so, which ones?
I play heaps and heaps of covers - I love songs in general and my favourite is harmonising to the melody rather than singing to the melody (strange I know!!) I think my favourite cover may be singing "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.

If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be?
Sia and/or Katy Perry

Who writes your songs?
I co-wrote "Bad Boy" with my producer Jason Bond. We co-write all the songs together and have been doing so for the last 4 years which is great! We have a great working relationship!

What do you hope to achieve in the next couple of years?
How about Glastonbury next year!! Hehe… I would love to keep building the audience and then eventually be doing my own headline tour around the world. 

Who is your celebrity crush?
Hmmmm… that's really tricky…. maybe P!nk?

I saw many Facebook statuses from you about this year's Eurovision, who was your favourite?
Oh I love Eurovision!! Especially because I was living in Sweden songwriting last year when Loreen won. [My favourite was Krista Siegfrids - "Marry Me"]… that was a GREAT song!

What is your favourite music video you've ever watched?
Believe it or not my favourite music videos are videos that are live performance ones at massive arenas! If you watch them on a projector with surround sound speakers, it feels like you are at the concert.

What can you not live without?
Lipgloss - predictable answer I know, but I am addicted.

If you could meet any person (living or dead) who would it be?
Katy Perry

If you were invisible what would you do?
I would love to see how big record companies manage their artists and the tactics used to get the songs out into the radio world… that would be fascinating.

What is your biggest fear?
Walking on stage without any clothes on.

And Finally... What advice have you got for people who are pursuing music?
It's a long hard road so you have to make sure it's your true passion. If it is, you will get there in the end. It's not enough to write a good song any more so you really need to be involved in all aspects of the music industry and work ya butt off! But it's a great industry and a great life :)
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Echo Park - June 2013

Echo Park has been on my radar for quite a while, I was contacted by James, the bass player in February, asking if I would blog about the band. Four months later and here we are, James has kept in contact and Echo Park has released a music video for their single "Circles". Guess a lot can happen in four months.

 Echo Park is a five piece band consisting of Laurence Brundson, Michael Walden, Jordan Buck, Max Santos and James Gregory. They are currently getting ready to release their E.P. and have been touring quite a bit here in the UK. They were kind enough to find the time to do an interview with me, they are full of jokes and laughs and a band many people will get along well with. This is my EXCLUSIVE with these guys, and something totally new for Artist Of The Month.
The Band Members:
Name: Laurence
Age: 23
Role in Band: Vocals
Fear: Cockroaches
One Wish: Double length weekends
All-time favourite song: Newton Faulkner - To The Light
Guilty Pleasure song: t.A.T.u. - All The Things She Said 
Something Surprising: My mother dropped me in a river when I was 6 months old, that's not even a joke!
If you had a magic power what would it be? Ice Powers!
If you were invisible for the day what would you do? Spend a lot more time at Jessica Alba’s house. That's right….. MORE time! 

Name: Michael 
Age: 24
Role in Band: Guitar 
Fear: George Michael hiding in my closet
One Wish: A packet of Hobnobs
All-time favourite song: The Beatles - Got To Get You Into My Life
Guilty Pleasure song: Bruno Mars - Locked Out Of Heaven 
Something Surprising: Mother of eight
If you had magic powers what would it be? Loads of arms and legs so I could play all instruments at the same time so I can ditch all these guys who are just holding me back
If you were invisible for the day what would you do? A Jigsaw

Name: Jordan
Age: 24
Role in Band: Guitar
Fear: Scary Spice
One Wish: Tea with the queen
All-time favourite song: Echo Park - Circles 
Guilty Pleasure song: The Saturdays Featuring Sean Paul - What About Us 
Something Surprising: Divorced four times
If you had a magic power what would it be?  Also loads of arms and legs but not for playing instruments…
If you were invisible for the day what would you do? S*** on Max

Name: Max
Age: 24
Role in Band: Drums
Fear: Justin Bieber’s next album
One Wish: For Jordan to become mute
All-time favourite song: Fleetwood Mac - Second Hand News 
Guilty Pleasure song: Will Smith - Miami 
Something Surprising: I'm actually a woman
If you had a magic power what would it be? To make women orgasm at a glance (still trying)
If you were invisible for the day what would you do? S*** myself

Name: James
Age: 24
Role in Band: Bass
Fear: Snapping my banjo string
One Wish: For every person to hear Echo Park!
All-time favourite song: Led Zeppelin - What Is And What Should Never Be 
Guilty Pleasure song: Craig David - 7 Days 
Something Surprising: Hand Model
If you had a magic power what would it be? Pause Time
If you were invisible for the day what would you do? Steal the crown jewels

How did you guys meet? 
Jordan: Getting this line-up together has been a long time in the making! Michael, Max and I were friends from school and had been in a few bands over the years with various different line ups. We struggled over the years to find a singer but eventually met Laurence through mutual friends. I met James snowboarding of all places! Although not a great a boarder, he made up for it on the bass so we let him join.  

 How did you come up with the name Echo Park? 
Unfortunately there's no real story behind the name, Echo Park sounded cool to us so we just rolled with it.  

 What is the funniest thing you've done since you've been together? 
Probably our night out after our first gig, it was pound a pint night at the Pav Tav which got pretty crazy very quickly! If you were there for that, sorry!  

 You've performed at a number of places so far, what was your favourite venue? 
Probably our second ever gig at the 100 Club – It was absolutely packed and loads of our friends and family came down to support. Good party after!  

 Are you friends with anyone famous? 
James’ Great Aunt lives next door to Robert Plant… if that counts? 

 Yes it does count. So who writes your songs? Who wrote "Circles"? 
Recently, song writing has been a collaborative effort. One of us comes up with a riff, melody or chord progression, then we jam it and the song gradually develops. For Circles in particular, Mike wrote the song base whilst being majorly influenced by Jordan and the rest of the band through the various sections. 

What is "Circles" about? It’s about being fatally attracted to someone you can’t have and you know will only be bad for you. 

What has been the biggest challenge as a band so far?
At the moment we're all pretty spread out from each other, so arranging stuff can be a bit of a nightmare! As musicians we're not the most organised bunch… There's definitely some pro's though, Laurence lives in Southampton and has good relationships with promoters so there's never any shortage of gigs down there! We just played an awesome show at the Joiners and heading back in a few weeks as part of our EP launch, we'll keep you posted…

Who are your main influences? 
I'm not sure we have a main influence, we're pretty broad when it comes to music taste. I guess anything from 60's Rock right through to Radio 1 Charts. Hopefully this weird mixture creates something cool?! 

And finally... What is your advice for anyone starting up their own band? 
Don't Start A Band
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