why local news isn't just for local people

My local newspaper has often featured campaigns of local, and sometimes national interest.

Still raging on is the fight to save Chase Farm Hospital from closure by NHS bosses, as are controversial court cases against Enfield residents Andrew Symeou, accused of murder and held awaiting trial in Greece, and autistic computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who infiltrated the FBI and upset an awful lot of high powered Americans and is now facing extradition.

But one campaign that has been fought more recently has been within The Enfield Advertiser itself, as its own arts and entertainment section has seen its prescence within the paper drastically cut over the past couple of months.

Now, of course I have a vested interest in this, as well as writing for glasswerk and my own music blogs, I have also been a regular music contributor to The Enfield Advertiser since 2009.

I have always strived to be active within my local music scene, since back when me and a few friends put on our own club nights with ourselves DJing, as we wanted something to go to on our own doorsteps without venturing to Camden or beyond.

Since then, me and my close friends continued to DJ when a new promoter (and former Enfield Advertiser music columnist) breathed new life into the scene by putting on regular live music nights, becoming friends and fans of many local bands that graced the stage during these halcyon days of our local scene.

I have continued to follow those bands and how they have grown and splintered over the years, and when I began volunteering at a local council funded youth music project I was exposed to a whole new wave of exciting bands and artists, and met many more people, some of whom have remained good friends, along the way.

Being given the chance to write for my local paper and cover the bands I know and love was an ideal opportunity, not just for me to have my work published in a physical form but also to show support and spread awareness of a local scene, getting news of our plight, our hard work and our achievements into the homes of around 90,000 households across the borough of Enfield.

But now, just as is the case with music venues across the country, the entire entertainment section of The Enfield Advertiser is under threat, which may seem a stretch of an analogy, but I honestly believe that both have an impact on local music scenes and in turn the UK's future of music.

Sure, in this digital age we still have blogs, webzines and countless social networks, but as a medium it can become somewhat diluted and ultimately hit and miss in the grand scheme of things. And for those that still respond to a physical product, those that still read the liner notes of an album or cherish their collection of 7" singles, a printed article in a widely distributed periodical is something to be proud of, to clip out and keep, for their parents and grandparents, and even for when they themselves become parents or grandparents.

So it is a fight, not for myself, my role is purely voluntary (although jobs would be lost and strike action has been discussed), but for a local voice and for a local scene that I am extremely fond of and overwhelmingly proud of.

Mine may only be a small voice, from a small North London suburb, but I'm sure it is a voice that may be applicable and representative of small towns across the country, each with scenes that are just itching to be noticed by peers and a wider audience alike.

I was writing about music long before I become active within the Enfield Advertiser, and will continue to do so no matter what the outcome, but coming from a town that still has no real music venue despite it's ever-evolving vibrant scene and various campaigns and movements, to not lose an important aspect of our community seems to be something worth fighting for.

for more info, see previous article 'living for The Weekender' and the facebook event

Beady Eye

Beady Eye seem to be occupying a rather strange position within the music industry.

as times changed, Oasis it seems would stay the same, and the rise of Beady Eye is testament to this.

Oasis claimed an esteemed position as one of the UK's most exciting, most vital and most bankable bands during the britpop era, in a day and age when record sales hadn’t yet been severely rocked by the likes of Napster.

The love affair soured slightly when the unconceivably hyped third album, Be Here Now was released, facing a backlash from critics, and by the time Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants was released in 2000 the game had changed around them, as the whole album was leaked online ahead of its official release.

Despite these knocks, Oasis remained a well loved band right through to the very bitter end, garnering magazine covers and number 1 albums throughout their career, and accompanying tours would see them selling out stadiums across the summer.

But Oasis had become part of an old guard in the music industry, sternly sticking to the tried and tested path that had put them on the top of the heap, and so it is that the prescence of Beady Eye sees them as a band out of step with modern times.

Liam Gallagher must have been heavy-handedly coerced into allowing Bring The Light to be made available as a free download, having been expectedly outspoken on the subject in the past.

It was this first taste of the new band that reverberated around the internet and saw interest sparked as the track spread like wildfire and whether reactions were positive or negative were un-important , after gossip and speculation the second coming of Liam Gallagher had arrived, further tracks were teased out throughout the winter, with videos posted to youtube for Four Letter Word and The Roller, accompanied by a couple of low-key 7” releases.

Despite being this country's most scrutinised ‘new’ band, Beady Eye seem to have faced incredibly mixed reactions, they have still graced magazine covers and sold out shows, but radio hardly seem to have warmed to them, limiting exposure to newer audiences, and The Roller only scraped into the top 40 at number 31, yet only 2 weeks later the debut album crashed into the charts at a highly respectable number 3, placed only behind Adele and Jessie J.

Feedback on the album seems to have been overwhelmingly positive from most quarters, and those presuming the band would flounder without the songwriting and guidance of Noel Gallagher, had obviously been paying little attention to Oasis’ latter output, as Andy Bell and Gem Archers contributions had already been notable, and Liam’s growing talent has advanced in leaps and bounds since he penned the simple (and often mocked) Little James for Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.

Time will tell if Beady Eye can lay claim to the kind of devotion that had Oasis heralded as rock royalty and saw summer stadium tours become massive events in their own rights, with a supporting cast of bands that resembled a mini-festival. Their talent, their passion and their commitment is not in question at all, but if they can jump straight back in where Oasis left off and be accepted as natural successors without falling back on Oasis’ rich back catalogue is yet to be seen.

The album is unlikely to convert any nay-sayers that had no interest in Oasis but with a legion of die-hard Liam acolytes still standing firm, I'm certain Beady Eye have hardly noticed.

Beady Eye - Bring The Light
from the album Different Gear, Still Speeding



read my album review for Beady Eye's 'Different Gear, Still Speeding' on glasswerk.co.uk

The Fetts

some bands are formed out of mutual interest or a common bond that has brought it's members together.

the big question then, is how far do you see this thing through?

while the majority of local acts will knock together a number of demo recordings for their myspace and be content to play the occasional gig once in a while, there are also those that take it all a little bit more seriously.

The Fetts are one such band that have seen fit to give fans something solid and substantial to fill shelf space with, releasing their debut album, Transitions, last month and holding a couple of intimate gigs to celebrate this milestone with their true fans, launching the album with a gig in Hertford, swiftly followed by a recent turn at Enfield's own Bar Form.

the band, formed in 2008, have been passing out free CDs at gigs for a while now, serving as a taster for those that like what they have seen live, but now the entire album can now be ordered by those wishing to dig a bit deeper.

so what can you expect from debut, Transitions?

in a previous live review i noted that the band's sound was firmly rooted in 90's rock and the album delivers a substantial return on influential investments in the post-Cobain glory days when bands were making waves in a musical landscape reshaped by the invention of grunge, channeling the rootsy and raw music that still kept an eye and thoughts on lucrative arena touring.

This skewed Americana served up via North London fuses Counting Crows with Feeder in a slowburning melodic rock sound that reflects the high standards the band must have surely set themselves when recording this self-funded album at St Alban's Unsigned Studios.


The result is an album that grows more rewarding with each listen, particularly during the latter part of the longplayer where my personal highlights, Turning Point and I'm Not A Machine, come into play at the half-way mark and kick everything up a gear, not backing down until the accomplished album is brought to a close with the powerful, I Must Be Blind.

And when the album went on sale exclusively through Zavvi, dedicated fans soon helped place it at the top of their pre-order chart throughout January and early February, ahead of highly anticipated albums from Chase and Status and Beady Eye, proving that the three piece must be garnering something of a cult following already.

The Fetts - Not A Machine

The Brits 2011

it has been a good few years since i've bothered to tune into The Brits

not through any real feelings of resentment of the annual event, more that i'd simply become bored of it and didn't think that it was worth my time

but this year, sat in my new home with my girlfriend and having invited a friend over, i would have found it quite hard and socially awkward to have avoided this year's ceremony

i was out of the room when Take That kicked off the whole thing and only caught the very end of their performance, while i was busy putting away laundry my girlfriend informed me that Plan B had won the Best Male Amy Winehouse award (at least i think that's what she said) and then i heard a little bit of nattering about how Adele looked like she had lost weight and started 'dressing posh' as i hung out the wet bed clothes to dry

when i rejoined the viewing in the front room i added my two cents worth by contributing that since Arcade Fire had picked up Best Album at the Grammies, i fully expected them to repeat that success in the Brit's International Album category, and i was right

as the programme plodded along and a handful more Vivien Westwood designed awards were handed out a rather obvious pattern seemed to be emerging.

Arcade Fire who had picked up two awards performed their song, Ready To Start, early winner Plan B performed a couple of tracks from The Defamation of Strcikland Banks, Rihanna picked up Best International Female after prancing around for a while and briefly miming three tracks merged into one, and winner of Best Single and Breakthrough Act, Tinie Tempah took to the stage to breeze through a medley of his own recent hits.

It appeared that the awards had organised some kind of trade-off - 'here, have an award in exchange for performing, thank you very much!'

other nominations that had us slightly thrown were International Breakthrough, surprisingly won by Justin Beiber who had been convincingly sat at a table near where the awards were handed out while no other nominees seemed to be in sight, and the biggest guessing game was for Best Female since all of the nominees were actually in attendance and none of them had been up for their turn to sing

(Adele presumably had traded her performance this year for 2012's award and Laura Marling seemed as pleasantly surprised as we were when her name was read out)

one of the biggest awards, Best Album, seemed to be wide open, if not for that fact that Mumford and Sons were still waiting patiently in the wings for their chance to thank their management for setting up such a lucrative sales boosting exchange for three minutes of singing, after Take That had already swooped in for Best Group (nice performance earlier lads, well done)

and the height of ludicrousness was when Cee-lo Green undone all of  gobby James Corden's hard work jabbering on about this years's awards being carbon neutral or eco-friendly or some other equally green buzz-phrase, when he casually let slip as Corden questioned him about his travel arrangements, that his record company had laid on a private jet for him to fly into the country following his star turn at the Grammies.

all in all, 2011's Brit Awards proved to be a rather un-exciting and pedestrain music industry pantomime, headed up by a chosen few that will no doubt see the difference in their record sales next week.

Dan Le Sac vs Madonna Ciccone: update

facebook campaigns

when i originally suggested a collaboration between Madonna and Dan Le Sac i also debated the usefullness of whacking up a facebook page in support of my idea

perhaps i should have moved on it at the time, instead of letting my idea waft around the many empty corridors of the webnets that few people venture down

i still, for one, think it is a bloody great idea, and i'd like more people to know that i think it is a great idea

i'd like record company bigwigs and Madonna's hair and make-up artists to know that i think it is a bloody great idea, even if they don't agree

i'd like the word to eventually get back to Madonna, who will then completely embrace the possibillity...

but maybe first it should be best to aim a little lower and actually let Dan Le Sac know how i feel, even tho i doubt he has Madonna on speed dial, i do believe that it is far more likely i could spark his attention long before it is on the Queen of Pop's radar

perhaps right now is the kind of time that i need a twitter account, as aren't these the type of things that are worthy of retweeting, and everybody tweets and retweets and follows Dan Le Sac, right?
alas i am not yet ready for dipping my toes in that world of little blue birds and barely existent sentences

and since my little opinion piece on a possible Le Sac vs Madonna collabo has just seen print in the Enfield Advertiser, and i have also given it a chance to breath over at glasswerk, now seems a sensible time to heavily enforce the second wave , and see if anyone actually agrees with me...


so, for your consideration.....

please feel free to 'like' the officially unofficial facebook fanpage of Dan Le Sac vs Madonna Ciccone

DAVID LYNCH - I Know [dls doesn't know Remix] by danlesac

are record companies finally getting something right?

ever since Lars Ulrich put down his drumsticks and picked up the phone to start ringing his lawyer, it seems that record labels have been several evolutionary steps behind the rest of the world as music, and the way it has been consumed and marketed, has drastically mutated in the late 20th century since the catalyst of Napster changed things forever

but this week it was reported that two of the big boys, Universal and Sony Music (who between them boast the likes of Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Kings Of Leon, Rihanna and Susan Boyle amongst their top flight artists) have announced a new policy that will see singles available for immediate download to coincide with the new release debuting on radio.
which finally makes some sense, this can only have a positive effect for the coffers of the music industry, providing that it isn't already too late to reverse the illegal downloading habits of certain individuals.

of course, it was always the case that a song would hit radio long before it's physical release, meaning that those unlucky enough to be exposed to one of the FM frequencies throughout their working day would be completely sick of a tune they once liked by the time everyone else has had the chance to go out and get it into the charts.

and if you desired a single before its eventual release, the best you could do before was to have your cassette deck all ready to go in the hope that you'd catch your new favourite song being played, praying that the DJ wouldn't talk all over it, and then patiently wait for the tape or CD to hit the shelves of Woolies.

but those days are long behind us now.

along with the aforementioned cassettes, CDs and Woolworths, release dates have become a thing of the past, because in this digital age, if you want to look for it, it can usually be found, and when Fearne Cotton politely informs you that the song you just heard won't be out for two months, well.... you're just gonna have to download it illegally then aren't you...

Sony Music chairman and CEO Ged Doherty, seems to have got the message, confirming that "we live in an age of immediacy", while Universal Music's UK CEO David Joseph agreed, commenting that "for a lot of our younger fans and consumers the word 'wait' is no longer in the vocabulary."

"You hear something and want it. And if you search for it then you’ve got to make sure there is a legal site for that appetite." concluded Joseph.

And doing occasional turns as a DJ, I couldn't agree more, hearing a banging choon makes me want to take it out and share it, yet the medieval system of lengthy release dates makes it impossible to obtain the track legitimately and simply being restricted to songs that have already been released only serves to dilute the thrill of introducing people to new music and trying to give them something they may not have heard before.

it is quite likely that this will be too little too late to change the opinions and habits of those that don't want to pay for their music, and is unlikely to stem the tide of piracy that has been hurting major labels in their pockets, but at least it is finally a sensible, albeit delayed, decision from a couple of the major players in the industry.

Grenade (Bruno Mars cover) by Anhayla

The Freewheelin' Troubadour

a man with interests very close to my own heart has been following his dreams and desires to creatively produce works for anyone willing to pay attention to them.

The Freewheelin' Troubadour's latest venture has been publishing a collection of poetry accompanied by visuals contributed by a select number of artists.

made available for free, "Freewheelin’ in Monument Valley & the American Offerings" can be downloaded as a pdf, with a limited number of books also circulating, thanks to the generosity of those that donated towards the costs of publication.

the project was helped to fruition with a fundraising gig in August, and the finished article was celebrated with another night of music and poetry in October, both gigs curated by and featuring readings from the Troubadour himself, held at The Victoria in Mile End.

Originally hailing from Enfield himself, by his 20s, Dion Power had been displaced in Cheshunt where he began conversing in the musical circles that were enriching the current Hertford scene, eventually finding himself managing bands and DJing.

When The Freewheelin' Troubadour persona originally surfaced it was of a poetic soul, and his prose was featured on his own myspace blogs.

but owing his adopted namesake to Bob Dylan and surrounded by local musicians, such as The Knaves and The Black Tricks, it would not be long before these ideas were realised musically and a sole CD  entitled '10 minutes of darkness' was composed alongside a number of borrowed band members and was distributed in 2007, before a similar vision found form in late 2008 when the Freewheelin Troubadour began fronting his own band that sadly proved to be shortlived.

What followed was a soul searching road trip across America that found creativity reaching new heights via an amassed sense of freedom and an abundance of new found inspirations, and it is the poems from these few months that make up the short collection, "Freewheelin’ in Monument Valley & the American Offerings".

His return to London began with a search for somewhere to live, continued with looking for willing collaborators, and with the book now launched, The Freewheelin Troubadour is still searching for means and ventures to make his voice heard, whether it is through spoken word readings, organising gigs or an upcoming documentary that will be a testament to everything achieved so far.


to download your own copy of the book, head to to the funpowder plot

and as an extra treat, here is also a rarity for you, my own remix of The Night That I Die, the original of which was on the 2007 CD '10 minutes of darkness'

The Freewheelin' Troubadour - The Night That I Die (Hunchbakk Remix)