Spreading Their Wings: Eagle Live
- Sunday, 25 March 2012 19:49
- By Nic Wright
"I don’t believe there's another promotion company out there who cares enough to go that one step further. Most of them care for money; Eagle Live is the opposite. We do go further."
You can’t swing a cat around here these days without taking out a promoter or two. (Why would you be swinging cats around, anyway? That’s terrible. You might strain something.) There’re more of the little gig-elves than ever, so it seems, scurrying around booking the best and brightest, printing and posting and stamping eager little hands. The music-devouring punters are of the North East are spoilt for choice. Despite the Tyne:Wear gig ratio still tipping in Newcastle’s favour, there are a handful of promoters beavering away to ensure Sunderland keeps up with its Northerly neighbour.
Spotlight On: Spoken Words
- Wednesday, 08 February 2012 13:26
- By Nic Wright
If you happened to catch Frankie & The Heartstrings, Chapel Club or Munich live last year, chances are you'll have seen Spoken Words. Formed almost two years ago, the band's opening performance for Frankie & The Heartstrings at the end of December won them a pile of new fans, with Frankie Francis himself hailing them the “best new band from Sunderland”.
“The gig itself was amazing,” says Dan S Ward, the band's keyboardist. “The crowd was surreal, the largest audience I’ve ever played to.” The band have drawn comparisons to Joy Division and The Smiths, but as Dan explains, they're keen to carve out their own niche; “Me and the lads are trying to achieve that post-punk 80s sound with our own stamp on the tracks, which in my view makes us extra unique, compared to what you hear nowadays.”
Spotlight On: Amy Holford
- Wednesday, 08 February 2012 13:22
- By Nic Wright
The first time Manifesto saw Newcastle singer / songwriter Amy Holford play, she closed her set with an a cappella cover of folk standard ‘Wayfaring Stranger’; a risky move in a bar full of half-cut punters, even at a night with the respectful reputation that precedes Old Friends/Bookends.
Boy did it pay off though. That you could’ve heard a pin drop in that room should give you a rough idea of how special Amy Holford is. What Amy isn’t however, is easy to pigeon-hole. And that’s the way she likes it. “When I play my stuff, or write it, I don't hear a genre in my head. I know I love the blues and acoustic music, stuff with a soul, so when I play I just want to emulate a feeling rather than write to a mould. Not one person I've met has just one taste in music, it expands over loads of different styles, so why can't an artist explore?”
Outdoing Eleanor: The Union Choir
- Thursday, 24 November 2011 21:25
- By Nic Wright
Science (and by science, we mean, in absolutely no way scientific whatsoever) dictates that the perfect length for a pop song is two minutes and forty two seconds. Somewhere, the boffins agree, between two and a half and three minutes, but certainly no longer than that. Maybe three minutes is where the human brain begins to lose interest. Maybe most songs just don't need that huge horn solo in the bridge. The Union Choir's début single 'Eleanor' comes in a shade shorter than that at two minutes and thirty nine seconds. Coincidence?
Probably. The success of 'Eleanor' probably has more to do with it being a bloody good song. The first release for the melancholy South Shields pop band sold out its run of physical copies, and received glowing praise across the board. Now hot on 'Eleanor's tail, the band are knocking out a double a-side single through Cottage Industries' Singles Club.
Hollywood, Vines, Mistletoe and Wine: The Christmas Project
- Wednesday, 16 November 2011 14:40
- By Nic Wright
Washington Irving once said “Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart”. Gracious words there, from a man most famous for a story about a decapitated spook terrorising school teachers. True words nonetheless; charitable acts seem to multiply over the festive season. And the North East's musical community is no stranger to benevolent acts.
This year alone has seen numerous singles, gigs and events raising money for organisations ranging from Macmillan Cancer Support and Children North East to Japan's Tsunami Relief. But this Christmas, it's Operation Christmas Child's turn to benefit from the kindness of our creative types. Best known for their 'shoebox' appeals, the charity is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children around the world. Instead of filling up an old Clarke's box with colouring books however, Hollywood and Vines front-man Paul Barber has gone one step further. Paul has been hard at work putting together a compilation album, boasting yuletide-themed tracks from the region's top acts.
Read more: Hollywood, Vines, Mistletoe and Wine: The Christmas Project
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Spreading Their Wings: Eagle Liv…
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