Originally launched as a poll of readers of the Virtual Festivals website in 2004, the first proper UK Festival Awards ceremony took place two years later. Since then the event has grown each year, splitting off from Virtual Festivals to become an entity in its own right in 2009.

Now the Festival Awards company operates two annual ceremonies, the UK awards, which this year take place at London’s Roundhouse, and the newer European Festival Awards, which is held during the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in the Netherlands.

The UK event is now also accompanied by a conference of its own, bringing together the British festival promoter community to discuss issues affecting their industry. Taking place on the day of the awards ceremony, that will this year be held at The Forum in London with a keynote speech from industry veteran Melvin Benn.

Ahead of this year’s UK Festival Awards and Conference on 15 Nov, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke caught up with Festival Awards Ltd Managing Director James Drury to find out more.

CC: How did the Festival Awards come about?
JD: The awards were launched by Virtual Festivals in 2004 as an online poll of its readers. For the first two years there wasn’t a ceremony and the trophies were driven to promoters’ offices across the country! Then, following demand from the industry, an actual awards ceremony was launched in 2006.

CC: At what point did the event become its own entity, rather than something run by Virtual Festivals?
JD: Festival Awards Ltd became an independent company in its own right two years ago.

CC: When did you join the Festival Awards?
JD: I joined eighteen months ago, from Live UK and Audience magazines where I had been News Editor.

CC: What is your role, and has it changed since you joined?
JD: I take care of the day-to-day running of the company and its direction and I seek opportunities to expand and improve the business, often working in close relationship with the industry. Since I started, we’ve grown the awards to be at The Roundhouse, launched a series of regional seminars, added an industry website, and the European Awards have really taken off – it means my daily role is incredibly varied, which is very exciting.

CC: How has the UK Festival Awards grown since it launched?
JD: Since first starting as an online poll it has grown into an awards ceremony in its own right – the first one was at the O2 Academy Islington – and from there it expanded to Indigo2 at The O2 and, this year, at The Roundhouse. We’ve also added the UK Festival Conference, European Festival Awards, a festival industry website called Festival Insights, and a regional seminar programme called The City Sessions.

CC: You’ve introduced more ‘expert judged’ categories this year, why was that?
JD: The Festival Awards celebrates the hard work of everyone in the festival industry and my aim is for it to be as inclusive as possible, so all festivals can benefit. In the past, most awards were decided by public vote, but I recognised that for some festivals, their fans might not be of the demographic to go online and vote. By introducing more judged categories, it means that all festivals can take part – and it’s really produced results: last year we had about 170 festivals taking part, this year it’s just over 200.

CC: Why did you launch the Festival Conference?
JD: Our awards event is probably the only time you’ll get so many people from the festival industry in one place at the same time, so there was an opportunity to enable everyone to get together on the day of the ceremony, with the aim of enabling the festival industry to become stronger through better networking and intelligent knowledge-sharing. Many festivals are run by very small teams and there are few opportunities to meet other people in the industry and discuss common challenges, so the UK Festival Conference aims to provide a platform for that to happen.

CC: How do you see your conference fitting in with the other live sector and general music business conventions?
JD: While many music industry conferences will feature a session on festivals, the UK Festival Conference is dedicated to this sector, meaning if you work in the industry you can have a full day of focus on topics which are of relevance to you.

CC: What do you think will be the highlights of this year’s conference?
JD: The tragic deaths at festivals this summer have really brought bad weather protocols into sharp focus and I think that session will see a lot of interest, as will our Q&A with Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn – he’s at the top of his game not just in the UK but globally, so his insight will be fascinating. We’re also going to be giving festivals advice on what can be achieved with social media, as well as how – in such a competitive landscape – festivals can maintain loyalty and interest. What’s particularly exciting me, though, is our discussion of RFID technology, which I feel is about to take off in the UK following its successes in the US at festivals such as Bonnaroo and Coachella.

CC: How did the European awards come about?
JD: Many European festivals used to come to the UK Festival Awards. Following a meeting with Christof Huber from European festivals association Yourope, he offered to help us grow into Europe. Eurosonic Noorderslag threw its support behind the event (the European Awards is the opening event of the annual conference and showcase festival in the Netherlands) and we were up and running!

CC: How do the European awards differ from the UK awards, in terms of categories and voting process?
JD: There are thirteen categories in the European Festival Awards, while the UK has 23 awards, otherwise they’re very similar in format. We have over 200 European festivals taking part, from around 32 countries, which is an incredible number of events considering this will be only its third year. We are very fortunate to have the support of so many promoters from across the continent.

CC: As someone with an overview of the industry, do you think the UK festivals market is in good health at the moment?
JD: There have been many media reports of the decline of the festival industry this year, but although it’s been challenging, the market remains healthy and people are still very keen to attend festivals – even making sacrifices in other expenditure in order to get tickets. The fact that so many festivals, such as T In The Park, V Festival, Green Man, Kendal Calling, Bestival and so on, sold out this year is proof of just how popular festivals still are.

CC: What are the big issues affecting festival promoters?
JD: With the economy hitting consumer confidence – and therefore making them cautious with expenditure – it’s more important than ever to keep a tight control on budgets so ticket prices don’t increase dramatically, no mean feat with many costs going up. The UK festival market is one of the most competitive in the world and promoters have to exercise great skill to stay on top.

CC: How many festivals did you go to this year and what were your personal highlights?
JD: I was at twelve festivals this year – including one in China, which was an incredible experience. It was fascinating to see how this nascent industry is mushrooming, and how enthusiastic the public are about festivals there.

Musically, Pulp’s set at the Isle of Wight Festival was a real treat, as was seeing Odd Future at Gaymers Camden Crawl and Reading Festival, and Metallica at Sonisphere. But I think for me, the best thing about this summer has been the little snippets of conversation you overhear from people at festivals – from absolutely hilarious nonsense to the genuine excitement from people who’ve never been to a festival before.

In the next few days the government is expected to make an announcement about the future of so called Low Value Consignment Relief in the Channel Islands. This is the tax relief system that means that mail-order companies based in the Channel Islands, selling products back to customers in the UK, don’t currently have to charge VAT on goods under £15, giving them a 20% advantage over mainland retailers. LVCR has been used by mail-order operators in various industries, but its use – and, some would say, abuse – has been most obvious in music and film, partly because CD and DVDs nearly always sell for under £15.

Play.com was one of the first to build a whole company from the competitive advantage the VAT loophole delivered, but soon numerous firms, including many of the traditional bigger UK retailers, were basing their mail-order operations in the middle of the English Channel, so they could undercut the opposition and still make a bigger profit.

Of course some of the savings were passed back to the consumer, making these services very popular with music fans. But, some have argued, in the long term the music industry, and music fans, not to mention the British tax payer, have all lost out, because many of the traditional specialist high street music retailers – already facing the challenge of declining CD sales – just haven’t been able to compete with bigger rivals which have a 15-20% advantage on price, sending many over the edge. Independent retailers have been worst hit, but the big guys of entertainment retail have suffered too, even those that ultimately relocated their own mail-order operations to the Channel Islands.

After years of government doing nothing, despite increased opposition to LVCR, it is thought the Coaliton is about to phase the tax relief system out. Ahead of that, we spoke to Richard Allen, an import and export specialist who ended up running an independent record company, and who was one of the first to begin prolifically campaigning against the VAT dodge, and the way it skewed the retail market to the disadvantage of already struggling independent music sellers. He was involved in the setting up of the RAVAS campaign and website, which was arguably crucial in forcing the government to act. CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke found out more.

CC: What’s your background – how did you become involved in the music business?
RA: I was a commercial executive, and spent ten years in import and export. So I was present at the HMRC [Revenue & Customs] presentations at Heathrow when the customs barriers came down in Europe.

My life in music started off as a hobby that subsequently got out of control. I ran a label called Delerium from 1991 and the biggest signing was a band called Porcupine Tree, who are a now a well respected internationally recognised serious rock outfit. I spent twelve years managing them and traveled all over the world with them, so have a pretty broad experience of the industry from almost every perspective.

I also developed a cult online mail-order business from 1991 to 2007 called The Freak Emporium, which went online in the mid 90s and was frequented by the likes of Julian Cope and Jello Biafra, and acknowledged by Stuart Maconie’s ‘Freak Zone’ as a cool place to pick up the best music you’ve never heard before.

So, unfortunately for the offshore fulfillment industry and the government, I had a thorough background in both VAT and music retail, so have been able to get into the real detail of the technical arguments in the LVCR debate with some confidence. When it comes to VAT or music retail you certainly can’t bullshit me with pseudo facts!

CC: When did you first become aware of mail-order CD sellers capitalising on the VAT loophole?
RA: One of my employees asked if he could have some mail-order packages sent to the office. A few days later an armful of jiffy bags turned up with bright orange Play.com stickers on them. This must have been around 2003. I asked him why he was buying so much stuff, and he said: “It’s great – no VAT! – stuff the government!”

I wasn’t so enthusiastic. I immediately realised the implication of a VAT-free competitor, and explained to my employee that such competition in our market could threaten his job. As with many of my LVCR predictions, I was later proven right. I stumbled across the mechanics of Play.com and LVCR at a direct mailing industry trade fair in London, where a company in the mysterious ‘offshore fulfilment’ section of the show explained to me exactly how it all worked

CC: For the uninitiated, can you explain why Channel Island retailers don’t have to pay VAT?
RA: Basically, the Channel Islands are outside the European Union for VAT purposes, and goods that enter the UK from outside the EU below £18 in value (just reduced to £15) are exempt from VAT. This is because of the action of an import relief that was designed to reduce archaic manual VAT collection costs before everyone used a computer and the internet.

Some bright spark worked out that if you deliberately sent stuff out of the UK to the Channel Islands and then sold it off a website, you could then mail items back into the UK and avoid the VAT. They also thought nobody would notice this was going on, and for many years nobody did. Until I came along!

CC: At what point do you think the use of LVCR actually started to have a detrimental affect on UK music retail?
RA: LVCR had a gradual insidious effect up to 2004, but generally the offshore retailers operating then only matched UK retail prices and gave free postage. They also really only sold more mainstream products. Play.com, and a few minor players, were ruling the roost up to that point, so it made more sense for them to keep the extra profit from the VAT advantage rather than translate it into lower CD prices.

However when HMV – albeit reluctantly – moved its mail-order to Guernsey they decided to commence in an aggressive pricing strategy to gain market share. HMV started offering all new releases at £8.99, delivered free, even if they were over £9.00 from the dealer. Play.com reacted and a price war began.

This hit the specialist retailers the hardest, as it forced prices down to within the VAT advantage even on products that people really didn’t mind paying a premium for. Once margins dropped to within 17.5%, all UK mainland retail was excluded from the game. It was then that everyone on the UK mainland obligated to pay VAT started going bust. We actually told the Treasury this would happen. It was very sad watching the prediction gradually unfold into reality.

CC: What other sectors were affected?
RA: The horticultural sector had been doing this for years, but nobody really knew about it. Vast amounts of plants grown in the UK travel in a big circle during the growing season to packing centres in the Channel Islands where they come back again by mail-order through companies like QVC, or those adverts for plants you see in the newspapers.

The infrastructure of this industry provided the base for the ink cartridge circular shipping that followed, as well as the contact lens fulfilment business. After that CDs and DVDs were just a logical extension since they are popular, relatively cheap, and fit neatly into a jiffy bag. This was followed by memory cards, phone spares, garden items, toys, computer games, cosmetics, perfumes, car spares. You name it, it was a gold rush!

CC: How did you get involved in the campaign to stop LVCR?
RA: When I first properly came across this issue in 2005 I could see where it was heading. However, having met totally ignorant indifference within the music industry, the only organisation I could find campaigning on the issue was the Forum Of Private Business. It just so happened that in autumn 2005 they were giving evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Shops Group, who were compiling a report called ‘High Street Britain 2015’. I gave evidence on LVCR abuse at the hearings, and then I was part of a delegation that met with HM Treasury in early 2006.

From there it really snowballed. I realised the ultimate consequences of doing nothing for both my business and UK music retail in general. Frankly it was do or die. I wanted to save my business and the industry I loved.

CC: Both the UK and Channel Island governments seemed to initially pay lip service to the campaign, but little more. Was it frustrating in the early days?
RA: Understandably the Channel Islands didn’t want any attention. They denied everything or tried to blame it on this company or that company. Tesco’s got all the flak at one point, but they had actually complained to HM Treasury in 2004 that if nothing was done they would have to go offshore as well. I think that because Tesco got lots of flak over their domination of the high street they were an easy target, but really they were not a major player.

The UK government were also covering it up during Labour’s watch because nobody had the political guts to tackle it. Those in charge thought they would be vilified for damaging consumers’ interests. That’s an issue that was constantly raised before the current financial crisis, but the truth is you won’t be consuming much if you just lost your job because an offshore VAT-free company destroyed the business you work for. The issue here is the damage to the economy and business. It was so short sighted.

CC: The campaign seems to have gained a lot of momentum recently, why do you think this is?
RA: The battle went through a number of phases. In the early days every possible political angle was pursued. I met countless ministers and politicians, many of whom couldn’t actually understand the technicalities of the problem, which was extremely disheartening. With the previously mentioned FPB, we had two early day motions and an adjournment debate in parliament. Later, as things got worse, I was involved with a judicial review that was funded by Fopp and Music Zone, but they both then went under, so it couldn’t be completed.

Then, in December 2007, my own business had to close as it became impossible to compete. I had even seen CDs I myself had released coming back into the UK VAT-free, undercutting my own mail-order service and the few remaining mainland outlets that survived. It was surreal.

By 2008 I was on my own, and out of a job, but having a bit of finance I managed to carry on, and it was then that we filed a complaint with the European Union, because we believed (and a respected tax QC had told us) the way LVCR was being used, and the UK government’s failure to stop it, breached EU rules. On that I worked with a great guy called Martin Smith, who had previously worked for the FPB, and who knew how to work with the EU. Together with Martin I made real progress, and with the help of Simon Bowers at the Guardian the issue was highlighted in the press, so that in 2009 I started making contact with independent traders affected by the impact of LVCR in other retail sectors.

Chris Holgate, an ink cartridge retailer, set up the RAVAS [Retailers Against VAT Avoidance Schemes] website and then it just snowballed, and before I knew it I was an expert in horticulture, cosmetics, memory cards and all the other products being sold VAT-free. Retailers who were affected were overjoyed to find a focus for this issue. It’s very lonely being gradually strangled to death by VAT!

In late 2010 it was clear the EU agreed that this [the use of LVCR by Channel Island etailers] was abusive, and that same year the current government began to make positive noises, helped by our EU complaint and, I believe, a genuine understanding of the issues. Lord Lucas, in particular, has been a real ally and a bringer of light.

Ultimately, those that live by the sword die by the sword, and in this case LVCR abuse grew because of the rise of the internet, and our campaign to end it also grew because of the rise of the internet.

CC: What do you say to people who argue that, as music fans got access to cheaper CDs, there was a good side to LVCR?
RA: I can’t deny that lower prices through LVCR are good, but at what real cost ? With all the independents wiped out you can’t find any specialist music retailers, most shops are gone and the market is dominated by corporate companies with bland price-focused websites based offshore. I can’t see how that can be good for the consumer or the music fan.

Everything is now based on price whilst it used to be based on knowledge and advice. Less choice can’t be good. It was diversity and choice that made British music so interesting. However, I really think that something good will come back if this LVCR situation is corrected, and the eccentric specialist retailer can trade again. That’s assuming some of the other online monopoly arrangements that have developed recently can also be dealt with… but that’s another issue!

CC: Why do you think that the big music companies, and big music retailers, who seemed to turn a blind eye to the rise of the VAT-free mail-order companies, didn’t lobby harder over this ten years ago?
RA: I have to say that the UK music industry trade bodies, with one exception, have been pretty much useless in dealing with what is probably the most damaging issue for music retail other than piracy and illegal downloads.

More recently I have had the opportunity to work with trade bodies in other sectors, such as health foods, and they have been much more pro-active in dealing with this problem. The Entertainment Retailers Association, or BARD as they were, who were probably best placed to lead the legal charge, couldn’t do anything because its membership was dominated by those with offshore interests. Even when I explained to them how LVCR activity was breaching European laws.

The one exception has been Alison Wenham and the Association Of Independent Music, who have done a fantastic job supporting RAVAS at the EU through [pan-European indies body] IMPALA.

Other than that the music trade bodies have been utterly impotent. I recall meeting with the BPI to try and get them interested in the damage LVCR was causing. They just dismissed it as “an issue for retail”, even though it was resulting in their members having to dish out huge discounts to UK retailers to allow them to compete with VAT-free competitors. Of course the market distortion ultimately caused prices to fall and the UK has the lowest CD prices in Europe as a result.

When that letter supporting [a by then struggling] HMV went into The Times earlier this year, from all the various major label big wigs, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The best support they could have given HMV was to not supply offshore tax avoiders that were undercutting HMVs bricks and mortar business. Instead they merrily entered into TV advertising campaigns with them.

It’s hardly surprising, is it, that HMV is having a hard time, when you can walk into a store, find an album you want, then look it up on your phone and order it VAT-free, so for 20% less? As for the big music companies, they are far too slow and ponderous to be able to deal with an issue like this. If you have to justify everything to shareholders you have a major handicap, although if I was a shareholder in HMV I’d be asking some really awkward questions.

CC: We don’t know what the government is going to announce, but assuming LVCR is phased out, is it too little too late for British music retail?
RA: The damage was critical in 2008. They should have acted in 2005 or 2006 when the ‘High Street Britain 2015′ report recommended strong action on LVCR. Instead the silence on the issue was deafening. Hopefully, with a level playing field in VAT, we shall now see some green shoots.

Vinyl was very cheap in 2006, but the price seems to have gone up with no complaints. It shouldn’t all be about price anyhow. I like wine. I don’t buy the cheapest bottle I can find. I value it. The same should be true of music. We’ve seen the glory days, digital won’t go away, but hard formats have a way to go yet and nothing ever dies completely. You can still buy brand new phonograph cylinders.

CC: Do you think the online mail-order companies will find other ways of undercutting mainland retailers?
RA: I’m sure they will, but it’s up to the music industry to get their act together and help the government stop it, rather than join in on a ‘hand cart to hell’ like they have done with LVCR.

CC: It seems like fighting this campaign has involved a steep learning curve on the art of lobbying and the intricacies of the European tax system. What has surprised you most?
RA: Well, firstly the biggest surprise is that I got a result. I went in assuming all kinds of bizarre conspiracy theories, but realised that government is not always as clever or knowledgeable as people might assume and that many things happen by accident. Of course there are always some shady goings on, but that appears more to be people taking advantage of the situation when nobody is on watch. You can’t get anywhere in government if you don’t believe it’s possible.

I also had a great deal of help from people who agreed with my views. There are good people in government, as I said, Lord Lucas in particular has been very helpful, and a number of lawyers and other experts have given their time for free to correct what they regarded as an injustice.

When everyone is apathetic and believes that nothing can be done that’s when you have a problem. Don’t let party politics get in the way of common sense either. I really don’t care what the political party is as long as they make sensible decisions, and sensible decisions with regards to LVCR were sadly lacking for a very long time. I really hope the government makes the final sensible decision and closes this VAT avoidance arrangement down for good. I’ll happily pay 20% more to see UK mainland music retail flourish again.

Photo by Rebecca Maynes, courtesy of Classic Prog/Future Publishing

Steve Levine has been working in the record industry since the mid-1970s, when he joined CBS Studios as a trainee tape-op. Working as an engineer and later producer he has worked with countless artists over the years, including The Clash, Stevie Wonder, Ziggy Marley, Motorhead and, perhaps most notably, Culture Club – he produced their first three albums. He continues to produce today, but has also expanded his role, providing an incubator for new bands through his own record Hubris Records, allowing new talent the space and support to develop.

A prominent player in the wider record business, Steve has had roles in various industry organisations over the years, and, perhaps most notably, is currently Chair of the Music Producers’ Guild. He is also an accomplished broadcaster, most commonly popping up on the BBC discussing the music industry, the recording process, and new bands and releases. His most high profile radio project to date is certainly ‘The Record Producers, the BBC programme that explores the work of individuals whose recordings have had a lasting impact on popular music history.

Steve is set to take part next week in BASCA’s Songfest event, taking place at The Bedford in Balham from 31 Oct to 2 Nov. Ahead of that, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke caught up with Steve to chat about his long career, his current projects, and the role of the record producer past, present and future.

CC: When you joined CBS Studios as a trainee tape-op in 1975 what were your ambitions – did you aspire to be a record producer from the outset?
SL: Not really. Initially I just wanted to make records, but not as an artist. The first aim was to become a recording engineer. I was inspired by seeing a picture of Larry Levine, Phil Spector’s engineer. Though that was probably because I knew that role would provide part of the skillset I’d need to become a producer, and it’s a route many producers take.

CC: Different record producers seem to approach the job differently – some playing a more creative role, others more involved in the actual sound engineering, others act as the coordinator. What kind of producer are you?
SL: Very much all of those!

CC: Has the role you play as a record producer changed over the years?
SL: Yes, very much so. The role of record producer has gone full circle to that originally conceived by producers like [Sun Studios founder] Sam Phillips in the 1940s and 50s, where record production means recording, producing and manufacturing records.

CC: You joined a studio and worked your way up the ranks, whereas a lot of the new generation of producers teach themselves the ropes at home. Do you think that’s a good or bad thing?
SL: Home recording has its good sides, in particular you have much more time to develop your technique. But collaboration is also very useful early on in your career, so you can see how other producers and engineers work, and sadly that is much harder for the new generation to get with the demise of so many studios.

CC: Not only are bands now expected to write their own songs to be ‘credible’, because many now record their own first EP or album before getting signed, they often become producers too. Is that a good or bad thing?
SL: Good and bad. New bands must be careful of suffering from ‘demo-itus’. But learning the skills of record production can be useful, especially when they do start working with a producer, because if they can explain what they aspire to achieve in “production terms” that partnership can be much more successful. But I think ultimately it’s best for bands to have an external voice involved when making their records, if nothing else it often helps prevent internal squabbles

CC: With more bands self-producing, and record labels cutting budgets, does that make it harder to be a new record producer?
SL: Not really. With so many bands having to make their own first records, a new producer should find a band at that stage and help them develop the sound they are searching for. That’s a great way in, and both band and producer benefit.

CC: So, assuming the option to join a recording studio and learn on the job isn’t available, aspiring producers should look to hook up with new bands in need of some production help?
SL: Yes, definitely. Go to as many gigs as you can and find a band you think have potential, and who you think you could help develop and just ASK THEM!

CC: You now have your own label, Hubris Records. Why did you set that up?
SL: When I worked with 6 Day Riot we needed a way to get the EP, and then the album, out there, and whilst we had some approaches we didn’t like the “vibe” of the other partners, so we decided to go alone.

CC: Is the aim of Hubris to cut other labels out of the equation? Or is it more of an incubator operation – helping bands develop so they are in a position to sign deals with other record companies down the line?
SL: Hubris is definitely about A&R development – as you say incubation – the sort of development work that sadly the major labels just don’t really do any more.

CC: Where do you find the bands you work with via Hubris?
SL: They approach me. Or I go to gigs and hear them. Daytona Lights are a prime example of that – they supported Patch William and I loved them so much I had to work with them – they were so impressive live.

CC: How did the ‘The Record Producers’ radio programme come about?
SL: I have known Richard Allison since about 1994 and I was a guest on his Radio 2 show talking about record production. We had such a great response to that show, we went to see Lesley Douglas, the then controller, who commissioned the series.

CC: The record producer is often the unsung hero of pop music. Have you found an appetite among listeners to find out about the people who worked behind the scenes on our favourite records?
SL: Yes, definitely, the main focus of the series is to show the listener how, with many of their favourite records, it’s often the production tricks that they love as well as the song.

CC: You’ve covered so many great music makers in the series – which record producers past, present and future do you most admire – and are there any producers you’re yet to cover on the radio show that you’d really like to make a programme about?
SL: All the producers that I have featured I admire in different ways, however I think every producer past and present has to admire the work of Sir George Martin. I also love the work of HDH and Gamble & Huff, and greatly admired Norman Whitfield, who is sadly no longer with us, and I never got to meet him! But there are many other producers we want to cover on the programme, and we have more in the pipeline. Watch this space!

CC: You have a unique perspective on the record industry – obviously it’s just coming out of a tricky decade. Are you optimistic for the industry’s future?
SL: Very much so. I have never been busier – but you have to find other ways of earning a living, because the standard record producer royalty has very little value with so much piracy around.

CC: From Culture Club in the early 1980s to Daytona Lights today, you’ve worked with so many artists over 35 years, and a fair few at the start of their careers when you first meet them. A lot has changed in the music industry in that time, has what makes a great band with real potential changed do you think?
SL: Not really. I still believe great songs, and great ideas for songs, will shine through. The best artists are those who are willing to experiment, to be inventive and different, and who have hubris!

You may know Adam Ficek best as the one time drummer with a modest little band called Babyshambles. Though many of you will also be aware Adam has many other strings to his bow. His solo project Roses Kings Castles – or, as of now, RKC – has been brewing for a few years now, and the third album from that venture, ‘Plastic British’, will be released by Adam’s own label next month, with various limited edition packages available to pre-order now through the RKC Bandcamp page.

Ficek’s most accomplished album to date, it will be preceded by single ‘Kittens Become Cats’ on 31 Oct and a tour with the RKC band kicking off at 93 Feet East in East London on 25 Oct. CMU’s Chris Cooke spoke to Adam about the Babyshambles experience, the evolution of RKC, and the ins and outs of releasing your own records.

CC: How did you first start playing music?
AF: I first started playing music when I was about twelve after I got hooked on a cheap Casio keyboard. Plus there was always a guitar knocking about the house so I’m sure I probably had a twang on that too. Drums came a bit later during secondary school, I just fancied having a bash. The rest is history.

CC: So how did you end up drumming for Babyshambles?
AF: I was doing the usual musician thing of playing in loads of bands and doing some teaching to make ends meet. I’d definitely done my stint on the ‘Chitlin circuit’, spending years playing in bands who were chasing that elusive record deal, busy luring the charms of the most hip A&R person of the moment. In the end, with Babyshambles, it was right place right time. I was playing in another band which had the same manager, they suddenly needed a drummer, he said why don’t I do it, and there I was, suddenly a member of an already famous group.

CC: Babyshambles was obviously an explosive band to be in, was it a rewarding experience?
AF: Babyshambles had incredible highs and incredible lows, playing Wembley was an amazing experience and the fame thing was a buzz at first. Although I quickly realised the music industry wasn’t what I had imagined it to be. I come from a place of wanting to make music for no other reason than creating, so I became very cynical for a few years when I finally realised that the whole machine really dictates what products get media, which obviously is in turn dictated by money. I’ve managed to pull through the whole sausage machine process now though, as I make music for me. But, I digress. To answer your question, yes, Babyshambles was an amazing experience.

CC: How did the Roses Kings Castles project come into being?
AF: I wanted a platform to air my own compositions. I was writing for Babyshambles but lots of my songs weren’t getting used, so I set up an alias and created a MySpace. It was never intended to be anything other than a place to put songs online, but then EMI got wind and wanted to release a solo album, moving the whole thing on. As it happens, the EMI album never came to fruition – this was 2007, Terra Firma arrived as new owners, budgets and rosters were slashed and the project was halted. But with the album finished I decided to release it myself. It cost me a fortune – I was quite green at the time and made quite a few bad decisions. I learned the hard way shall we say, and I’m still trying to recoup on that project!

CC: Despite that experience you basically self-released your second album – albeit with a little help from a small indie label – and with your new album, that’s totally DIY again. What are the pros and cons of this approach?
AF: The big pro is that you control every element of the release. And that can be very satisfying. But there are many down sides too – there’s this fist-in-the-air punk rock chant at the moment “do it DIY, sock it to the man”, but it’s very hard for a DIY artist to compete with the big players, especially when it comes to getting media exposure. Despite everything happening online, radio is probably still the biggest platform for promoting artists and music in the UK, and that’s a media still locked into the “radio plugger pulls favour and gets an artist airplay” thing. It is possible to get some airplay working on your own, and to get exposure in other kinds of media, but it’s incredibly challenging. If you’re driven by the thrill of creating great songs you’re proud of, which I think I am, then it’s all very do-able, but if you’re looking for overnight fame, then more likely than not you’ll be disappointed – because big attention costs cash.

CC: Is there still a stigma attached to self-releasing an album rather than signing to a label?
AF: I wasn’t aware there was one, at the moment DIY actually has kudos attached to it. I constantly read about how big name bands are self-releasing and doing their own videos and things. It’s highly commendable, especially for those bands that don’t have the money to pay for someone to do everything their label used to do.

CC: Tell us a bit the new record ‘British Plastic’. What sort of album were you setting out to make, and is that how it turned out?
AF: With ‘British Plastic’ I wanted to make a much grittier album than the previous two. So the goal was to change the sonic make-up of earlier releases. I was slightly bored of the restrictions of using traditional instruments, and I didn’t want to play acoustically for a while, so I set about using a combination of computer generated sounds and more effected guitars. I also learnt to produce as I went along, mainly because the only way I could afford to do another record was to have a go at the production myself, so I set about trying to get to grips with Logic. The overall album turned out much as I had hoped, although in hindsight I could have shaped the production more. But I’m now really looking forward to getting out live with a four-piece band, a sampler and the new songs.

CC: You wrote most of the new album not long after parting company with Babyshambles. Did that experience impact on the album?
AF: Hugely. I was pretty broken when the whole Babyshambles debacle ended. It was an upsetting and unsteady time. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs, but it was a messy end to something I gave so much to. The impact of a break up is far worse in the music industry, because you suddenly wake up to all the people that were just there for the ‘good times’. But, as with most horrid things, they can be the most strengthening and reaffirming of experiences when the dust settles.

CC: You play every instrument on the album except one – you got your former Babyshambles bandmate Patrick Walden to play guitar. Why was that?
AF: I’ve always stayed good friends with Patrick, through his struggles with substance abuse and far before Babyshambles. Patrick plays like no other, I can play most instruments to a basic level but that’s about it. I needed some proper frenzied, angry guitar expression. They don’t come much better than the mighty Walden. He was just in the process of getting himself together, so it seemed only right I grabbed him for musical skills and kept half an eye on him. He’s now sober and the best he has ever been and I’m immensely proud to have him bless my recordings.

CC: You’ve abbreviated your performing name for the new album to RKC. Is that because you see this album as starting a new chapter of your solo career, or did you just want something snappier?
AF: RKC is definitely a new chapter. I now feel I’m close to where I want to be musically. I could have just kept my songs hidden for the past four years and released a perfect album now, compiled from the best of the songs I’d written in that time, but I like the way I’m laid bare by having released the other records as I went. Although I do cringe when I listen to some of the old stuff. There are songs on previous records that I would never release now, but that’s how I personally move on and develop, I like to air it all for people to see, I want my fans to experience my evolution. So, yes, RKC is a finer tuned, honed version of Roses Kings Castles.

CC: Having been in a major label signed band, and at the same time having played around with the whole DIY thing, you seem much more tuned into the way the music industry is changing than many artists. We read a lot of doom and gloom about the business. Are you optimistic though?
AF: We are in a challenging time, that’s for sure. I have put the idea of ‘monetising’ anything I create to the back of my mind. It’s sad, but I think music has lost its worth for the time being. But I’m clinging to the hope that the trend towards streaming and subscription services will give the musicians more of an income in the long term.

CC: And finally, and with all that in mind, what advice would you have for budding musicians?
AF: Do it because you get a buzz from it. If it’s the fame and fortune you’re seeking maybe go into an alternative career: set up a website or something.

Three years after taking up with the Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys and the band released their much-lauded debut, ‘Fuzzy Logic’ in 1996. This marked the prolific quintet’s first of nine successful LPs to date, with their latest (and longest yet) album ‘Dark Days/Light Years’ emerging in 2009.

Exhibiting rough yet ready solo promise with 2005′s Welsh-spoken ‘Yr Atal Genhedlaeth’, a lone Gruff further plundered the mysterious realms of psych-experimentation with its successor ‘Candylion’, released in 2007. Playing under the moniker Neon Neon, he and US producer Boom Bip also released conceptual LP ‘Stainless Style’ that same year. Gruff has since worked with acts including Simian Mobile Disco and Gorillaz, also collaborating with Brazilian composer Tony Da Gatorra on last year’s ‘The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness’.

Now nearing the end of a tour in support of his third solo LP ‘Hotel Shampoo’, Gruff’s biggest ever solo show will take place this evening at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. His latest single ‘Whale Trail’, which is taken from the soundtrack to an app-based iPhone game of the same name, is due out on 20 Oct. Ahead of all that, CMU Editor Andy Malt caught up with him for some chat.

AM: How has 2011 been for you? Are you pleased with how things have gone with the release of ‘Hotel Shampoo’?
GR: Yes, it’s a record I really love, and I was very happy that it was released internationally.

AM: Do you approach the writing of a solo album as a specific project, or it is more a collection of standalone songs written over time?
GR: The latter. My three solo records are all collections of songs written over time. Though there are lyrical aspects that tie them together as collections. It’s like putting together a coherent compilation album or something.

AM: What was it like working with Tony Da Gatorra. Did working with him have any particular influence on ‘Hotel Shampoo’?
GR: Tony is one of the most resourceful and inspiring people I’ve ever met. He’s a lot of fun to be around and he remains true to his convictions. I can’t hear any specific influence on ‘Hotel Shampoo’, but I think he’s influenced the way I think of music and politics and the correlation between the two. He manages to write political thought clearly whilst keeping his own very individual personality intact.

AM: You’ve written so many songs through your various projects now and your lyrics always evoke such vivid imagery. How do you keep that creative spark alive?
GR: I don’t often question it, but I don’t take it for granted either. Once I hit 30 years of age I started to take more notice of prolific songwriters like Serge Gainsbourg. He wrote over 600 songs and didn’t really get going till he was in his 30s. I’m on my seventeenth album as a songwriter but in that sense I still feel that I’m just starting out.

AM: Do you find it more difficult to write solo songs without a collaborator to bounce off?
GR: There’s no rule really. Logistically it’s much easier to write alone. But sometimes you can create something unpredictable and unique when working with other people.

AM: Speaking of collaborations, how did the ‘Whale Trail’ project – combining song with game – come about?
GR: I’m an old friend of Neil McFarland who illustrated the game. We were introduced by Pete Fowler, someone he collaborated with for a long time. You can clearly see that they are from the same universe.

AM: How closely did you work with the game’s developers?
GR: Very closely, they sent me ‘white label apps’ of the game as they developed it. So I saw the game develop gradually as they refined it. The music was written in reaction to playing it (to the point of addiction!). The song has three different tempos – the BPM’s calculated according to the optimum speed you need to tap the screen to play successfully. They also visited the studio (Toybox, Bristol) during the recording so that we could make visual and sonic decisions simultaneously, as I was recording the sound bed and voice over for the game at the same time.

AM: You’re due to play your biggest solo London show to date on Wednesday, do you have anything special planned for it?
GR: The whole tour has been pretty special. The incredible surf band Y Niwl are helping me play the songs. Michael Brennan, who mixes SFA gigs and who mixed the incredible My Bloody Valentine comeback shows, is on the sound board, and Spencer Bewley is projecting film loops with two 16mm cinema projectors. Plus Richard James from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci is opening up.

AM: Which other artists are you listening to at the moment? Do you try to stay up to date with new music?
GR: My comfort listening hours mostly goes on re-issues from the Finder’s Keepers and Light In The Attic labels. 80s Hindi and Tamil soundtracks are really sorting my head out right now! New music I tend to listen to randomly from blogs and websites. If something hits me I’ll end up buying it. Most of the sites seem to be US-based so I’ll end up buying US music like John Maus, Emeralds, Sufjan Stevens. Songwriters and instrumental bands who are grounded in playing but who aren’t too shy of technology basically.

My daughter loves Rihanna so I listen loads to her. And a lot of my neighbours in Cardiff are musicians so I’ll end up listening to records by H Hawkline, Sweet Baboo and Cate Le Bon. And Turnstile releases like Los Campesinos! and Islet. Plus new Welsh language releases are really strong at the moment, the new Jen Jeniro EP and lots of dark country rock by Cowbois Rhos Botwnog and Gwyneth Glyn.

AM: You’ve released music through major and indie labels, now you’re putting stuff out through your own label too. Do you have a preference? You don’t seem to be someone who’s ever had to worry about creative freedom (perhaps I’m wrong about that) but are there other freedoms any one method of releasing allows that sets it apart from the others?
GR: At the moment it’s really great to be able to release things thick and fast on my own label, with Turnstile and Wichita there to facilitate things. By the end of the year I will have released six singles in twelve months, which would be tricky to do on a bigger label.

But I’ve been extremely lucky and had mostly great if very different experiences on different labels. I’ve been on a tiny Welsh language independent run by a control freak and had someone really tamper with my work. But when SFA signed to Sony we were on our fifth album so, contrary to type, they pretty much left us to our own devices and, for example, bankrolled the recording of really risky (for them) DVD surround-sound albums which was amazing to get to do.

Creation, Rough Trade, Lex and XL were really nurturing and full of ideas and advice, and run by music obsessives that you can put your trust in. So when they have advice you end up taking note of it.

AM: And finally, are there plans for Super Furry Animals to work together again?
GR: Were letting people catch up with our back catalogue for a bit really. Cian and Bunf are at varying stages of finishing truly amazing solo albums. Daf has just co-written an album for his friend Wibidi in Cardiff. Guto has been touring the world with his childhood hero Sonic Boom, playing bass for Spectrum. In the mean time check out Daf and Cian’s label Strangetown Records and Cian’s digital techno label Som Bom.

This year marks 20 years since the release of Plaid’s debut album, ‘Mbuki Mvuki’, but Andy Turner and Ed Handley have actually been working together in various guises since the late 80s. Signing to Warp, the second Plaid long player, ‘Not For Trees’, came in 1997 and featured Björk on a track, which boosted interest in their particular brand of techno.

Since then, the duo have continued to experiment with each new release. Their last album, 2006′s ‘Greedy Baby’, was a collaboration with video artists Bob Jaroc. For the project, audio and visual elements for each track were created in tandem. This then led to two soundtrack projects, the duo creating scores for two films by award-winning director Michael Arias, ‘Tekkonkinkreet’ and ‘Heaven’s Door’.

In 2009, they began work on their seventh studio album, ‘Scintilli’, which was released earlier this month. The CD version of the record comes with special fold out packaging which, when constructed, locks the CD inside the structure and turns it into an ornament. Ahead of the album launch show at Village Underground in east London on 7 Oct, CMU Editor spoke to Andy Turner to find out more.

AM: Your last album ‘Greedy Baby’ was a collaboration with Bob Jaroc, was ‘Scintilli’ created with a visual aspect in mind?
AT: We weren’t directed by any particular visual pieces this time. We did want the work to be emotive though, but we feel audio alone can have a more abstract narrative.

AM: Can you explain a little bit about the processes you went through in writing this album – there’s been talk of chanting and days spent working on each beat?
AT: That’s not strictly true, but the writing process is akin to meditation. Usually we start by creating a sound palette before starting on a composition. When the music is moving us we know we’re on track. There’s many layers of tweaking from there to a finished piece but we try and keep that initial feeling or spark in mind.

AM: Is there an overall concept or theme to the album?
AT: It isn’t a concept album, but the title refers to many sparks, and that describes a feeling we have when we’re moved by music. It can come from any style or genre. We hope the album covers a bit of ground.

AM: The artwork for the CD can be constructed to create a kind of ornament with the CD locked inside it. How did that idea come about, and is it a comment on the CD as a format?
AT: We’re not huge fans of the format, but it was a desire to have fun with it not make fun of it that motivated us. Though, of course, we’re not alone in anticipating the format’s imminent death. Once solid state players become standard in cars there’s going to be no home left for it. But the quality and longevity of the CD was always poor anyway, the polar opposite of the qualities it was sold with initially.

AM: This year marks 20 years since the release of your debut album. How has your approach to creating music changed over the years?
AT: I think we’re still looking for the same feeling from the music but we’re less easily satisfied these days. Every aspect of a track is endlessly adjustable now as it can easily be stored and recalled. This wasn’t the case 20 years ago. Hopefully our writing and production skills have improved a little too.

AM: Do you have any more soundtrack work lined up? How does that compare to creating your own standalone albums?
AT: There are a few possibilities but nothing concrete. We enjoy soundtracking and have learnt a great deal through this type of work. We’re keen to find a game to soundtrack as this modular approach to writing is something we’d like to explore further, a degree of randomization is possible here and that’s an interesting area for us. It’s quite a different process from writing an album, less self-indulgent in essence.

AM: What can people expect from your new live show?
AT: We’re deconstructing the album to give us more freedom to rebuild it live, it won’t be as gentle or subtle as the release. We didn’t want a ‘loud’ sounding production from the recordings but it’s more appropriate live. Most of the video will be triggered from midi data which allows us freedom to improvise and adapt the performance to the environment whilst still providing a coherent audio/visual experience.

AM: And finally, what does the future hold for Plaid, beyond ‘Scintilli’?
AT: We hope to remain interested, boredom is a killer. More specially with regard to music we’d like move away from western tonality and explore other possibilities. There are a few notes missing and we intend to find them.

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche released his debut album, ‘Faces Down’, just after his 20^th birthday. His smart, charming songwriting skills quickly won him fans both inside and outside of Norway. This adoration has only grown over the course of ten years and five albums, with many comparing him to Burt Bacharach.

Following hot on the heels of his version of Muppets song ‘Mr Bassman’ for the recently released ‘Muppets: The Green Album’ covers compilation, Lerche is due to release his eponymous sixth album on 3 Oct, the first through his own label Mona Records. Recorded and mixed over three weeks, the album sees Sondre utilise his creative ties with fellow musicians residing in Brooklyn, where he now lives, including the likes of Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith and Nicolas Verhnes of Spoon and Animal Collective.

He will also play a headline show at London’s Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on 6 Oct. Ahead of all that, CMU Editor Andy Malt spoke to Sondre Lerche to find out more.

AM: How has relocating to Brooklyn influenced your songwriting on the new album?
SL: I think New York might’ve made me more confrontational and I think this album reflects that.

AM: Did the recording process for this album differ to previous records?
SL: It was faster and more intuitive. I only gave us two weeks to record and that was really exhilarating. It disconnected our heads somehow.

AM: Why, on your sixth album did you choose to go with an eponymous title? Is this album more ‘you’ than previous records?
SL: All my albums are me, for better or worse, but when I couldn’t find a title I liked it seemed sort of natural for this one to be self-titled.

AM: You’re often compared to Burt Bacharach, what are your thoughts on that? Does it create certain expectations of you?
SL: I like Bacharach’s songs a lot, always have. But he is mainly a songwriter and arranger, and I am mainly a songwriter and performer, so by default we are pretty different. But I take it as a fine compliment.

AM: Speaking of great songwriting, how did your cover of ‘Mr Bassman’ for the Muppets album come about?
SL: I was asked if I’m a Muppets fan, and of course I am, so I just picked a song from a long list they sent me and recorded it in my bedroom. Then I sent it to my buddy Kato in Norway and he added some banjo and the voice of Mr Bassman. It was really a lot of fun.

AM: Why did you choose to release your new album through your own label?
SL: I’d been wanting to do it for a long time and the timing was just right. I felt ready and my dear helpers encouraged me and we did it. It feels top!

AM: Does running your own label mean you are more involved now with the business side of things? Is that something you enjoy?
SL: It’s a fine line. I like being involved but I can’t deal too much with it before I feel funny. Luckily I have good helpers to deal with the business stuff. But I enjoy the freedom it provides me and the fact that I can communicate more directly with my audience.

AM: Would you go back to the traditional label system if it allowed you the same level of artistic freedom?
SL: Artistic freedom was never a problem for me when I was a major label artist. It was more just that the whole major label system fell apart, and after that it didn’t feel like a place for a small artist like me. So unless they offered me a particularly good deal, they’ve nothing much to offer me, which is totally understandable.

AM: Are you looking forward to getting back to Europe next month?
SL: Very much so. It’s been too long. I’ve a great band with me. It’ll be awesome!

AM: What are your plans for the future?
SL: More love, more music. Just doing my share.

It’s seven years since the release of the last Death In Vegas album, ‘Satan’s Claw’, in 2004. Various projects distracted founder Richard Fearless over those years, but in late 2009, now a solo project after the departure of Tim Holmes, he decided to being work on what would become the fifth Death In Vegas long player, ‘Trans-Love Energies’

Recorded in Andrew Weatherall’s Rotters Golf Club studio in Shoreditch, East London, the album sees Fearless take on frontman, as well as production, duties, as he sings on almost all of its tracks. However, he stepped aside for two, first single ‘Your Loft’ and ‘Witch Dance’, to allow Austra vocalist Katie Stelmanis to add her own touch to the record.

‘Trans-Love Energies’ is due for release through Drone Records on 26 Sep, and there will be a special launch show at Fabric in London tomorrow night, ahead of a full UK tour in December. Ahead of all of that, CMU Editor Andy Malt sat down with Fearless to ask some questions.

AM: Your last album, ‘Satan’s Circus’, was released in 2004. What have you been up to since then?
RF: Well, I went to New York and studied photography for a while. During that time I started another band, Black Acid, and I got more into producing other bands too. Plus I did a bunch of mixes for people – Yoko Ono, Oasis, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Horrors – and some film work for the Rolling Stones.

AM: Did you consciously take a break from Death In Vegas?
RF: I had been working solid on DIV since college and needed a break, yes. In fact, I kinda felt like I needed a break from music in general.

AM: When did you begin work on ‘Trans-Love Energies’?
RF: About a year and a half ago, when I moved back to London. My friend Andrew Weatherall had a spare room at his studio. So I moved in there and started to crack on with the new record.

AM: How do you feel your sound has developed on this album?
RF: Loads, I feel like I’m finally finding my sound. There’s a confidence in my production now, I feel. I would say it’s a much sparser record, and you’ve got to be really sure of every little sound if you’re going to strip tracks down to their minimum components.

AM: With the reference to Detroit-based 60s radicals the Trans-Love Energies Unlimited collective in the album’s title, does this reflect a political theme in the new songs?
RF: No, not at all. This album is a journey into my head, and everything on it comes from my heart. It’s about escapism. The message is about love and sound. The name was more referring to the team of people that helped me on this, musicians, engineers, friends. But saying that, having spent so much time recording in Michigan over the last seven years, it is also a nod to the Anne Arbor scene.

AM: How did the collaboration with Austra’s Katie Stelmanis on the album’s first single, ‘Your Loft’, come about?
RF: I had heard one of her tracks and loved her voice. My manager emailed her, and it turns out she was a DIV fan, so that was perfect.

AM: What was she like to work with?
RF: She was cool to work with. It was supposed to be a day’s recording but it took us a few weeks to nail it. I was trying to get her to under sing, sing slightly more nonchalantly, which I think is quite hard for someone who trained as an opera singer. But yeah, it worked out fantastic and I can’t wait for her to join us for some of the shows live.

AM: Are there any artists you’d particularly like to work with who you haven’t as yet?
RF: Beyonce. ‘IWYLA’ [one of the bonus tracks on the limited edition version of 'Trans-Love Energies'] was written for her…

AM: You’re playing a one-off show at Fabric on 22 Sep ahead of a UK tour in December. What can people expect from your new live show?
RF: Sonic annihilation!

AM: Which other artists do you think are particularly exciting at the moment?
RF: I saw a band called ToY the other night who I loved. I’m also listening to Indian Jewelry, The Black Angels, Matthew Dear, Horrors, and SCUM.

AM: What’s next for Death In Vegas?
RF: Erm… touring, and I just want to crack on with the next record asap, really. And something’s in the pipeline which could be fucking mental, but it’s a secret!

We’ve never done a survey of the most admired music companies, but we’re pretty sure if we did the Beggars Group would be up there in the top five. Almost 35 years since its first release, it’s admired for having achieved success and scale without ever seeming to sell out, for its reputation of being a particularly artist-friendly label, and for simply for bringing so many great artists and albums to the world.

Last night the artist and management community honoured the company’s founder and chairman Martin Mills by awarding him the first ever Industry Champion Award at the inaugural Artist & Manager Awards. To mark that occasion, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke spoke to Mills about the Beggars story, successes and the challenges of operating an independent record company in 2011.

CC: Most people know Beggars Banquet began as a record shop. When and why did you launch the Beggars record label?
MM: The label came in 1976, three years after the first shop. We had a basement rehearsal studio under our Fulham shop and we started managing a band who rehearsed there called The Lurkers. We couldn’t get a record deal for them because every label already had the token punk band they wanted (signed just in case ‘it’ all happened), so we started our own label instead. Nowadays that kind of thing happens every day, but then it was pretty unusual.

CC: What were your ambitions for the label in those early days, and have they changed over time?
MM: To put out the next record, mainly. Looking back, for the first ten years or so, there  were no real ambitions other than to survive and keep doing it. It’s probably still the same, were just more conscious of it now!

CC: You’ve grown your business over the years by forming alliances and partnerships with other labels and individuals, as well as through internal expansion. How do you decide who to ally yourself with?
MM: It’s a mixture of opportunity and instinct. Those partnerships are the core of the business. Over the years, there have been some that have worked and some that haven’t, obviously. But the current quartet – 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings – feels very right.

CC: The Beggars Group seems to be admired by pretty much everyone in the music business, including your major label rivals. Are there any specific things that have been behind your success?
MM: I think we’ve benefited from being totally independent, and having no commitments or obligations to any external shareholders or funders. It’s fairly obvious, normally, what the right thing to do is, but avoiding doing the wrong thing is harder. Doing the wrong thing is normally caused by financial need, or external demands.

CC: Are there any particular achievements that stand out for you in the building of the Beggars company?
MM: The answer, once again, has to be surviving, when most have not. And providing an environment in which we can put out music that people love and care about, and in which those we work with, artists and staff, can spend their lives doing something they love.

CC: Do you think the post-Napster challenges of the last ten years have been easier or harder for indie labels to deal with than the majors?
MM: Easier for indies because we’re natural licensors, we don’t have hang-ups about control, we’re less defensive and are more open to taking risks. Harder for indies because the four majors, or the two big ones in particular, are effectively monopolies that digital music services can’t do without. That gives the majors leverage, which can be unhealthy for the market and prejudicial to indies. Merlin was formed to address that.

CC: There has been much talk of the need for record companies to diversify into other areas of the music business, either by buying or launching non-recordings based music companies, and/or signing 360-degree style deals with artists. Is this part of Beggars’ strategy?
MM: No. Every year we reconsider whether we should be doing that, and every year we decide we’re right not to. I believe that 360-degree deals are a lose/lose. They mean you pay more than you should do for rights that aren’t within your skillset. Most of the time you just lose more money, and with the ones that work you end up with a resentful artist because you’re getting part of their income they think you don’t deserve. If you’re delivering real value in your non-core areas that can be different, and we have a few little ventures brewing away on that front. Fundamentally, though, we’re good at releasing recorded music, and that’s what we do.

CC: The management and artist communities clearly rate what you and the Beggars team do, hence last night’s award. Do you think indie labels across the board generally enjoy better relations with managers and artists than majors?
MM: I think that’s too broad a generalisation. I’m sure there are good and bad relationships in both camps. I do think, though, that the relationship between art and commerce is a fundamentally tricky one, and that the cottage industry nature of the independents makes positive relationships easier than for large companies who have to make their numbers.

CC: Do you see the relationship between managers and labels changing? Are managers more important now than in the past?
MM: Managers are always crucial. Of all an artist’s relationships, it’s the most important. I think the only way that’s changed is that the boundaries are blurring, in that managers can now be labels, and labels managers, and I think that’s healthy.

CC: In the 1980s, a lot of independent labels were bought up by the big guys, which was bad for the indie sector, but – as I see it – good for the majors, because it brought entrepreneurial free-thinkers into the big music companies. I think there’s an argument that the major record companies of today could do with recruiting some of the indie sector’s innovators, possibly through acquisition, even if that wasn’t so good for the independent sector. Do you agree?
MM: I think it’s almost always a shame when an indie is acquired by a major, and it’s hard to think of an example when that’s been ultimately for the best. I think they are very different environments, and pretty hard to transition between.

CC: Obviously Beggars itself has scale and a global reach, and that is strengthened further in the digital domain by Merlin, but are there ever times when you regret not having the budgets or size of a major record company?
MM: No. I can’t think of the last time we didn’t do something because we couldn’t afford it. We often spend more than the majors, because we’re not limited by budgeting processes. And, of course, Merlin and the independent trade associations are a vital access to scale for us when we need it.

CC: Finally, and I realise it’s horrible to make you choose – sorry! – but have there been any artists or albums over the years that you have been particularly pleased to have brought to the world?
MM: That’s an impossible question, it’s like choosing between your children! I love so many of the records we’ve released. Ones I’m listening to most right now include Warpaint, tUnE-yArDs, Cat Power and White Stripes, but that will be different tomorrow.

Having escaped a strange and sheltered childhood spent living with California’s infamous Children Of God cult, Girls frontman Christopher Owens became the adoptive protege of millionaire Stanley Marsh III, a Texan artist and ranch owner. Under Marsh’s patronage, he abandoned a short-lived stint in boy-girl pairing Curls, later taking up with production partner Chet ‘JR’ White in San Francisco to write and record Girls’ 2009 debut, ‘Album’.

The duo then garnered universal plaudits for last year’s ‘Broken Dreams Club’ EP, which further explored their penchant for penning lovelorn serenades and easy, elegant arrangements, something that has since become a defining characteristic of their finest work. Girls will release their new LP ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ via Fantasytrashcan/ Turnstile on 12 Sep, later embarking on a UK tour that’s set to launch on 8 Nov at The Globe in Cardiff. Meanwhile, Christopher Owens faces our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I initially wrote music for a group called Curls. There was a vocalist in that group who wrote lyrics to go with my music. When she quit the band and Curls broke up, I kept all my music, wrote my own lyrics to it, and then became the vocalist for this new project, which was named Girls. With JR on board as the engineer we began recording.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The songs on this album are the songs of mine that we felt were best to record at this time. They were written over the past few years, so there are a lot of influences. If I had to say ‘what’ in particular, I’d have to say life. Life influenced this record, because life influences the songs and the songs influence the album.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Usually we record the beat first, with a drum kit, then a rhythm guitar track and bass and any other things like keyboards. Then we record the vocals, and then lead guitar, and then any overdubs like percussion, extra keys or sound effects, and last are the backing vocals. Then we mix each track to make one song, then we mix the sound of that song, and then finally it gets mastered with all the other songs on the album. Then we listen to that and decide if it’s done or not.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Pretty much all artists do, there are the ones that influence the writing and then the ones that influence us sonically, then the ones that influence us professionally, and then we also pay attention to current music to see if there is anything that we feel we should be doing as well. Pretty much all recorded music gets weighed in to the decisions that produce a song or album. And then there are the artists that play on the songs, and then the artists that engineer and mix the records too, and they have a lot of influence over our sound at the end of the day. Then there are the labels that choose whether they’d like to release us or not, they are key in the creation of the records as well.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Congratulations.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
To record the songs I have written.

MORE>> www.facebook.com/GIRLSsf

Belgian alt-rock outfit Deus made their full-length debut with ‘Worst Case Scenario’ in 1994, later signing a deal with Island Records for the album’s European release. Founder members Tom Barman and Klaas Janzoons then oversaw several shifts in the band’s line-up before taking a hiatus from recording in the wake of acclaimed 1999 LP ‘The Ideal Crash’. Having regrouped in time for 2005′s ‘A Pocket Revolution’, they continued to tour and rehearse, also building their own studio in Antwerp, in which fifth album ‘Vantage Point’ was completed.

Described by Barman himself as “very Can meets LCD”, Deus’ latest album ‘Keep You Close’ was co-produced by David Botrill (Placebo, Muse) and Adam Noble (Guillemots) over a six month period. With the LP due out via [PIAS] on 3 Oct, the band’s next scheduled UK appearance will be at London’s Koko on 11 Oct. Drummer Stéphane Misseghers found a moment to address our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
Well, a band was formed in 1989 by Tom Barman, originally consisting of him and four friends. None of those friends ever made it onto a Deus album though, the band wasn’t even called Deus back then. They mainly played covers, but as Tom busked on the streets and squares of Antwerp, the urge to write original songs grew, and so the band Deus began to emerge. I joined in 1991.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
I can’t say we were especially inspired by anything really, except perhaps the joy of having great vibes in the band and the creativity that comes from that. It’s impossible to make an original piece of work if you have another brilliant piece of music stuck in your head, so I’d go further and say we actively tried to avoid other records when we wrote the album. If you are listening too much to something else, your song might turn out to be the same, and the last thing you want to be is a copycat of a band you really like, because they’ll always be one step ahead of you.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
For this record, we would record several jams during rehearsals, some of which we would then mould into some kind of a structure… and then we’d do the same thing over and over again until we thought: “Yep, we’re getting somewhere”. It’s fair to say that most of the jams we recorded were utter crap, but from time to time beautiful stuff happened. Sometimes we would then shelve a song for six months before picking it back up and finishing it. Let it sit there for while. It can be a painful process, the waiting, but it’s a good test. If we still like it in six months, you’ll probably still like it in six years!

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Hard to say at this point. I think with the earlier Deus stuff it was probably easier to put your finger on where we got the mustard, but nowadays… I don’t know. There are so many bands being thrown at us today that it has become an even bigger pleasure to listen to the likes of Neil Young, Beefheart, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Ennio Morricone, Hall & Oates, and listen how they did it, you know? But now and again we get blown away by newer bands such as The Roots, Tool, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, and we play their records until the neighbours stop singing along.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Deus songs are like a single malt: it takes a hell of a long time to make, but every time you open it, you know you’re gonna want more than one…

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Well, first of all… release it, and then tour Europe, the UK, and eventually aim for Australia in 2012. We also have plans to release an EP with some of the better groove-jams we did while making ‘Keep You Close’. So we’ll be back in the studio this month to put that together.

MORE>> www.deus.be

Freshly selected as BBC Introducing’s Oxford Band Of The Year, psych-rock quintet Fixers first got together a couple of years ago, coming to prominence as part of local live collective Blessing Force, which also counts Chad Valley and Trophy Wife amongst its one-time affiliates. The band reconciled Beach Boys-style group harmonies with kaleidoscopic drifts of retro electronica on their debut EP, ‘Here Comes 2001 So Let’s All Head For The Sun’, which came out earlier this year. Now signed to Vertigo, the band’s latest single, ‘Swimmhaus Johannesburg’, is out now.

Aside from a slot supporting Crystal Fighters at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 14 Sep, Fixers’ next live appearance will be at the SWN Festival, which takes place in Cardiff on 20 Oct. With all that yet to come, frontman Jack Goldstein spent a few spare moments in the sparkling company of our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
When I was a kid I used to do shows during lunch break at primary school, I’d stand on the step leading to the swimming pool changing rooms and I’d have a stab at a few songs. I couldn’t play my guitar but it naively sounded amazing in my head, the fact that no one watched me is testament to how much I must have sucked. Shortly after that I got bought a 4-track cassette recorder. I didn’t have a clue how to operate it and spent about two years just putting music tapes in it and using the EQ to make them phase weirdly.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The process was so primal. We were recording for a month, and it didn’t feel natural to constrain ourselves to any preconceived notions. So the inspiration is quite literally the time we took to record, the environment we recorded in and the manner in which we drip fed ourselves parts of our regular lives whilst recording. It seems strange to me that many artists take this for granted, there is so much conceptualism in it. To put it within context, I don’t like the idea of going back and doing the same process again with a bunch of newer songs.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Our tracks don’t really have meanings, they are more about the relationship of words. We align lots of words which we think correlate well together. How our audience react to them is fascinating, if people conjure their own meanings then who’s to argue with them?

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Brian Wilson, Arthur Russell, Mark Leckey, Van Dyke Parks and Kate Bush.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
You might not like it, I hope you do though. Don’t worry if you don’t, we won’t be offended.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I just don’t want to repeat too much. We have had some great experiences, which we’ve learned lots from, but I’d always like to try new ways of approaching things as opposed to simply revisiting the ways you nurture and become attuned to.

MORE>> fixerstheband.com

Brought up in Jersey, singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot released her debut album ‘Dear Frustrated Superstar’ via Polydor in 2003, though made more of a breakthrough in 2005 with its sequel ‘Fires’.

Despite working with songwriters including Linda Perry while preparing a third full-lengther, Nerina opted for only self-penned songs on 2009 LP ‘The Graduate’, which came out via Nerina’s own label Idaho. Breaks from recording have seen Nerina tour with Ray LaMontagne, James Blunt and Sheryl Crow. Meanwhile she and her Grammy-nominated husband Andrew share co-credits on the title track from Kylie Minogue’s most recent LP, ‘Aphrodite’.

After a prodigal return to Polydor, Nerina released her latest album, ‘Year Of The Wolf’, earlier this year. She will embark on a headlining tour of the British Isles at the Jersey Opera House on 16 Sep. Meanwhile, Nerina put her spin on our Same Six.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
My parents came home from an auction one day with a piano they’d bought for £50. They’d gone to buy a sofa, apparently, but my Dad had other ideas.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Without a doubt, being pregnant with my son, Wolfie. From the particular songs I chose to record, to the actual speed of the recording process because the clock was ticking the closer I got to giving birth! I had to get as much of the album done before I was out of the loop for a few weeks.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
It really depends on the kind of song. Sometimes it’s as simple as vocal and instrument done in one go and one take (like ‘If I Lost You Now’ on the new album) and sometimes it’s many attempts at recording the same song in different ways until it’s right. My song ‘Everybody’s Gone To War’ was recorded about four times until I was happy with the final version. For me it’s about presenting the song in its best possible light. The song should always, always come first.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
As a kid, I was massively influenced by Kate Bush and Elton John, and people like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Carole King. Then I got obsessed with Steely Dan, plus all the pop that was going on during my growing up in the 80s and 90s, so Madonna, Kylie, Prince, U2, Nirvana and Beck, I guess. But at heart, my first choice is the music that was made before I was born, I don’t know why exactly apart from that it’s generally amazing, and maybe because that’s what my mum was listening to around the house while I was growing up.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Maybe cherry pick from all four albums. I don’t think that I have one album that completely sums up who I am musically, because I am into so many different styles.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I’ve just come back from my first trip to Brazil doing music and it was a complete blast. I love going to new countries to promote my music, it’s so inspiring. I came back with about 20 records by people I’d never heard of before and have just been immersing myself in loads of new music I would never have found out about over here. It’s brilliant. So more of that work-related travel, I hope. While I was pregnant and during the early months of my son’s life, my travel was curtailed a bit, and I love travelling because it’s so inspiring. I feel that next year I would like to take a few months out to travel to South America again, maybe India, maybe the US, do a bit of music in each place and start writing for another album. I need to do something different, I don’t think I’ve really challenged myself over the course of four albums and I’d like to shake things up a bit.

MORE>> www.nerinapallot.com

Formed in LA, Fool’s Gold first unveiled their singular spin on Afrobeat-inspired dance-pop with an eponymous 2009 debut album. Once a freeform collective comprising twelve to fifteen members, they have condensed themselves into a quintet for their new LP ‘Leave No Trace’, which is due out on 5 Sep.

Fresh off their own European tour, the band have scored a somewhat lucrative slot supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers on their nine-date UK/Ireland run, which kicks off at Dublin’s O2 Arena on 7 Nov.

Ahead of this, co-founder Luke Top took a stab at our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
1984: By singing along to Duran Duran records.
1987: By hiding in a backyard tree with a small keyboard.
1993: By growing my hair and “reconceptualising” grunge via my very first band.
1994: By copying early Sonic Youth records, etc.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Love, loneliness, friendship, anger, obsession, chance, the pleasure principle.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Spiritual bribery.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Ron Artest, Thomas Mapfumo, Rene Magritte and Chris Farley.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
“Hey (enter name), how are you? Oh. Well, this might (choose one: help you/cure you/love you back/ruin you)”.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
That each listener really LISTENS to the album, and is in the moment while doing so (ie preferably the vinyl copy, with their phones and computers off). If people can do that, and strip away the need to hyper-categorise it, I don’t see why we can’t be as popular as a sunny day in Los Angeles.

MORE>> www.foolsgoldmusic.com

At the heart of Nashville-based indie outfit The Silver Seas’ winsome folk appeal is singer-songwriter Daniel Tashian (son of Barry Tashian, one-time frontman of 1960s cult-rockers The Remains) who, along with producer Jason Lehning, co-founded the band in 2002.

Having released their debut album, 2004′s ‘Starry Gazey Pie’, under their original name The Bees, the band followed up with second a LP titled ‘High Society’ in 2006.

As The Silver Seas prepare to self-release their latest album ‘Château Revenge’ on 19 Sep, they are also booked to play at Camden’s Proud Gallery as part of Music Week’s Breakout showcase on 14 Sep, with another show the following night at London’s Islington Academy. But before any of that happens, official band spokesperson Daniel pondered our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
On a piano at my grandparents house, where I learned to play ‘The Pink Panther Theme’. I used to hold down the sustain pedal and play with endless sustain, until my grandpa would yell across the house “let the damn pedal up!” But it was a musical family, everyone played or sang. And something captivated me as a child about both Peter Sellers and Henry Mancini.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Pot, coffee, arrowroot cookies, Belmont Blvd in Nashville, an Epiphone EF-500 guitar, all the relationships I’ve ever had, Peter Sellers and Henry Mancini.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We start playing the song in a club, like Grimey’s basement, then if it goes over well, we record the basic rhythm guitars, drums, keys and bass at the Toybox studio, then I take the tracks to my garage and add some layers of guitars and vocals, then the band comes and adds background vocals, then Jason mixes it at his studio. Then we take it to Jim Demain and he masters it.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Probably the most constant, long held inspirations I have are Burt Bacharach, The Beatles and, of course, Henry Mancini.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Would you like anything to drink?

Q6 What are you ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Our ambitions are, of course, to top what we’ve done and show everyone on our fourth record that we aren’t going away. Also, to evolve the sound slightly, but sill stick to our main sound, which is classic Tin Pan Alley stuff, mixed with some plastic soul.

MORE>> www.thesilverseas.net

The stage moniker of DJ and multi-instrumentalist Will Holland, Quantic released his debut album ‘The Fifth Exotic’ in 2001, having hand-delivered a demo version to the bosses at Tru Thoughts.

Now based in Colombia, he has since released eleven further albums under various guises, not least acclaimed soul-funk ensemble The Quantic Soul Orchestra, dub-reggae fusionists Flowering Inferno, leftfield indie-beat duo The Limp Twins, and Glastonbury favourites, Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro.

With the cream of his decade-long oeuvre collated on new double-album ‘The Best Of Quantic’, due out via Tru Thoughts on 5 Sep, Will found a spare moment to address our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I learnt guitar from my father who was an avid guitar and banjo player. My parents had an interest in all things folk, so there were autoharps, pianos, ukuleles etc round the house. My father worked at a technical college and he used to borrow synthesizers from the music department in the summer holidays and bring them home. I then got into sampling, my mother bought me a little sampler when I was sixteen, and it went from there.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
‘The Best Of Quantic’ is a retrospective of music recorded over the last ten years, since my first album with Tru Thoughts. It’s inspired by all that time in the studio, the hundreds of shows we’ve played, and travelling the four corners of the earth for that little something different.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
For the last four albums I’ve been working in Colombia, Panama, Brazil and the Caribbean with live musicians. I have come from a sampling and hip hop background, but I’m finding it increasingly more interesting to record live. The process normally starts with a sketch on guitar and then I arrange for a recording session with hand-picked musicians. Once you have a good rhythm laid down, you can really add anything on top you like, as long as the rhythm is heavy. I’m working more and more with Cali-based singer Nidia Gongora, she is just great.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Colombian musicians Fruko and Andres Landero; from Panama Papi Brandao and Manito Johnson; King Tubby and Joe Gibbs from Jamaica; Los Destellos and Coco Lagas from Peru; Rail Band of Mali; The Meters and Charles Wright from the USA; and The Peddlers and Pentangle from the UK.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Thanks for listening and check my website for more info. I try to make music in a caring and very particular way, like a good home cooked meal.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I hope it will both celebrate and draw a line under the last ten years, as there is much more music to make! I’m excited about my forthcoming collaborations with singer Alice Russell and recording more projects in Colombia, where I am based.

MORE>> www.quantic.org

A seventeen year old Charlie Simpson scored his first chart hit in 2002 with ‘What I Go To School For’, as lead guitarist in teacher-fancying pop-rock outfit Busted. When the trio disbanded in 2005 to pursue separate side projects, Charlie took up with progressive alt-rock band Fightstar, with whom he had been moonlighting during his latter years with Busted. The band released their debut EP ‘They Liked You Better When You Were Dead’, subsequently earning sometimes grudging (given Charlie’s boyband origins) critical acclaim across three successive albums.

Shortly after Fightstar elected to take a hiatus, with plans to reunite for a new LP next year, Charlie began work with producer Danton Stupple (Doves, Coldplay, The Cure) on his debut solo album ‘Young Pilgrim’. It was released earlier this month in partnership with fan-funding platform PledgeMusic, meriting a top ten UK chart position despite losing 30,000 units to the recent [PIAS] warehouse fire.

Following a slot at homespun music festival Harvest At Jimmy’s on 10 Sep, Charlie is set to open his first solo tour with a show at Bristol’s Anson Rooms on 18 Oct. Before that, we asked him to tackle our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started making music at around the age of eleven. I had a very basic set up which included a Tascam four-track tape recorder which I imported from the States, a cherry red acoustic guitar, a Sure 57 microphone and a lot a spare time.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
I think this record was inspired by looking at life in retrospect. ‘Young Pilgrim’ feels like a journey to me, and it was nice to look back over my life so far and be able to write about it. I dug out a lot of my 70s Americana records as well to feed my inspiration. Those albums will always be very special.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
I tend to start writing on either an acoustic guitar or a piano. Once I have found some melodies I like I then start to build the track up in my head, which usually means writing a drum part and then adding other instrumentation. I usually leave the lyrics until last, once I have nailed down all of the melodies.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
I would say that two artists that have been a great influence to me are Pete Yorn and Jackson Browne. I have been a fan of both these artists for a very long time and they have always been a big inspiration to me.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Get a decent pair of headphones to listen to it with!

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I feel as though my main ambition for this record was just to make an album that I am incredibly proud of, which is something I have managed to achieve. So anything from here on in is just an added bonus!

MORE>> www.charliesimpsonmusic.com

LA punks the Icarus Line formed in 1998, putting out their first EP ‘Highlypuncturingnoisetestingyourabilitytohate’ on Epitaph imprint Hellcat Records later that year. Debut album ‘Mono’, released in 2001, was succeeded in 2004 by acclaimed LP ‘Penance Soiree’.

Amongst a spate of line-up adjustments in the wake of the latter release, co-founding guitarist Aaron North quit the band to join Nine Inch Nails, leaving frontman Joe Cardamone to forge on with 2007 album ‘Black Lives At The Golden Coast’. Cardamone and his present bandmates recorded their latest full-length, ‘Wildlife’, in a fortnight, with production input from Ariel Pink and Giant Drag’s Annie Hardy, at Hollywood’s infamous Sunset Sound studios.

With ‘Wildlife’ due out via Cobraside/Roar Scratch on 29 Aug, the self-professed “motivated fuck ups who had no other choice” will be making their next live appearance, the first in a string of UK tour dates, at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on 10 Oct. Ahead of all that, Joe did our SSQ.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I probably started out making music by listening to all the records my parents played around the house as a child. My dad had a decent record collection and as far back as I can remember there were Beatles records playing in the house. And, according to them, I had a 45 of the ‘Star Wars’ theme score and listened to that relentlessly. I am told that I would hum it loudly on car trips until I fell asleep.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
‘Wildlife’ was inspired by living life. The record is a document of the things that were happening to myself and the people around me from the time directly after touring ‘Black Lives’ until the recording of the album. Although the themes aren’t completely different from any other record I have made, I feel like I am always trying to refine the way of saying them. I have always tried to write about a sect of society that isn’t well documented in mainstream media or just current “rock music”. Rather than ironically doing a parody of rock n roll, I try to have an honest more romantic approach to the genre. The record is more of a Los Angeles record than any of my previous efforts, completely written and recorded in the city.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Only since I have become a producer for other artists have I noticed how my own process is kinda fucked up. My process is a very unconventional approach at a conventional method. It is almost a synthetic organic process. The whole thing is an oxymoron.

I bring a rough idea into the jam room with the band. They are very in tune with what I want to do, letting me conduct arrangement and dynamics as we go. I will usually be playing guitar with them during the writing process to show key and feel. Even though we are jamming as a band, it isn’t a free for all. The band is out of control intuitive, with very little verbal communication they follow closely. As we play, the song develops because I have the best inspiration in the room in my band.

Arrangement lengths, and everyone’s individual parts, will occur to me spontaneously. Halfway through the jam I will hear the right bass part, either from my head or something Alvin does, and stop, lock it in, and then keep going. It happens like this over and over until the song takes shape. I wouldn’t do it any other way. This method has worked for me for years, and it helps to ensure a sound that is spontaneous and not too wrought over. It also allows for a little wiggle room, creatively, because in the early stages every one has a chance to impress my taste. If something great is going on, I will encourage it immediately.

It’s a fucked up way to write, but this is how a lot of my music comes together. I love to be in a room jamming to write complete tunes. I can do it all alone too, but it just isn’t as much fun. There is an excitement, of instant gratification, orchestrating on the fly. And that’s why I chose music in the first place, I can make something great take shape in a hour. What other art forms allow you to do that?

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Lately it has been people like Captain Beefheart, Mingus, Dead Boys, The Move and any other great rock n roll from the past.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Turn it up loud and listen to it again, then once more, and now again.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
My ambitions for ‘Wildlife’ were to make a better record than I had before. Something that gets to the heart of my message more closely. With every tune I am working on distilling the music to a pointier edge. I think that is the only way to remain excited about what I am doing here. I will do it again next time and hopefully succeed. It would also be a great thing to bring these songs to the stage and really do renditions that leave lasting impressions on people for years. That has always been the goal with The Icarus Line.

MORE>> www.theicarusline.org

East London-based duo Big Deal formed after Alice Costelloe, formerly of frenetic tween-pop outfit Pull In Emergency, was introduced to American-born guitar teacher Kacey Underwood by her mother. Burying speculation regarding their personal (and purely professional) relationship in a haze of retrofit guitar rumbles and overheard lovers’ tête-à-têtes, they began releasing a string of singles on Moshi Moshi towards the end of last year.

With their debut album ‘Lights Out’, along with new single ‘Chiar’, due to be released via Mute on 5 Sep, Big Deal’s next non-festival live date will be a free show at Falmouth venue Toast on 31 Aug, with more tour dates throughout September.

In preparation for more pressing engagements at this weekend’s Reading and Leeds festivals, we suggested Alice and Kacey limber up with a strenuous round of our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
Kacey: We started making music because we had to really. My band was falling apart and I was tired of holding it together. I had known Alice for a year or so and we just found ourselves in that old idiom, one door closes kind of thing.

Alice: We just sang together and something clicked. That sounds really cheesy but that’s me.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Kacey: It’s mostly our lives this past year mixed with our dreams for the future…

Alice: …along with a summer filled with lots of playing together, eating ice creams.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Kacey: We write together in our bedrooms then try and record straight away so we can hold onto what it is that works about it.

Alice: I used to have a bit of trouble working Garage Band, so my process involved a minute silence at the beginning of each track. I pretended to Kacey it was a stylistic thing.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Kacey: Any art that is made honestly, that could just as easily make you cringe. That’s the stuff that hits me the hardest…

Alice: …especially bands that can make both heavy big songs, but also can have just one guitar and voice and the song still shines through.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Kacey: Stop waiting for the drums to kick in…

Alice: …it’s never going to happen.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Kacey: I think we are ambitious in the sense that we want to make the best music we possibly can, and make it for as long as possible. Hopefully enough people will like the record to justify us making another.

Alice: And to continue to enjoy what we do. That’s important.

MORE>> soundcloud.com/big-deal

Shoegazing post-punk quintet SCUM first formed in 2008, releasing their debut single ‘Visions Arise’ on Loog Records that year. In possession of a superlative dark-pop pedigree, as well as a certain pre-eminence amongst the young London elite (bassist Huw Webb is Spider of The Horrors’ younger brother, moog-player Samuel Kilcoyne dreamt up the Underage club night phenomenon, frontman Thomas Cohen courts young Peaches Geldof), the band have toured with The Kills, and were selected by Portishead to perform at their recent ATP-hosted I’ll Be Your Mirror festival.

Now signed to Mute, SCUM are poised and ready to release their debut album ‘Again Into Eyes’ on 26 Sep. After their next live appearance at London-based alt-bash Radfest on 21 Aug, the band will share headlining plaudits with Wolf Gang at the nationwide Emerge NME Radar Tour, which runs throughout early October.

Ahead of that, drummer Melissa Rigby tackled our ever-formidable Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?  
When I first joined the band we didn’t really know how to make music at all. We just kind of started out making noise, but I had been classically trained, so after a while I started talking about structure and bringing in melodies – aspects that weren’t present when it was just a wall of sound – noise and drones.

As time went on everyone learnt their own instruments, Sam went from just playing the keyboard to learning the guitar; we all started learning more to bring in as many different sounds and influences to the album as we could.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?  
The surroundings we were in, we recorded in the countryside in a converted oast house in Odiham. The massive round room was the live room and cops, fields and farms surrounded us – the nearest shop was 20 minutes away. The greatest influence was that we weren’t in London or a city, so we could play all through the night with no curfew.  We had already written three quarters of the album by this point, so it was the last tracks that were really affected by this environment.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?   
Someone comes up with a riff or part and then we all play together, we keep playing until we get something good out of it. Everyone writes together, no one writes a whole song on their own, it’s a joint creation, we make a song by just playing to see what sounds best. A song transforms when we record it, we record all the parts and then add noise and electronic elements.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?  
When we were writing our album, we were listening to a lot of krautrock, Ennio Morricone, Brian Eno and Neil Young.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?  
The first time you listen to the record listen to it all the way through, although the album is in two parts it should initially be heard as a whole.

Q6 What are you ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?  
We’re off on an NME tour in October and hopefully once that’s finished we’ll make it outside of Europe, as we haven’t been that far yet, and I know playing in America would be the best thing ever for us.

Once we have toured this album we’ll definitely look to start recording the next one; it’s been a year since we finished up ‘Again Into Eyes’ so we can’t wait to get back into the studio and start writing again.

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