Sarabeth Tucek, Doug Walker @ Birmingham Glee Club, 27/02/08

Doug Walker is being groomed for stardom, that much is clear.  The story goes that he spent a morning handing out demos to Radio 1 staff one morning and Chris Moyles took one and ended up giving him 30 minutes of airtime that very morning.  A major label deal followed.

The thing is, would you take an endorsement from Moyles?  Quite.  Doug’s a very likeable character but his songs, with names like ‘Shine’, ‘Shed A Little Light’ and ‘Stay With You’ are blandly aspirational MOR.  The cynic in me says that he’d appeal to the core Radio 2/Radio 6 market of slightly older listeners who, crucially, still pay for CDs.

His frequent banter with the crowd seemed to be fueled by nervousness but there was also the puppyish enthusiasm of someone who isn’t yet used to their growing status.  Unfortunately, his attempts to rope his band into the fun were met with dead-eyed disdain from his charmless bassist.

So Doug Walker wasn’t quite my cuppa.  Even so I certainly don’t begrudge him his likely success, it’s just no coincidence that the better songwriters carry a few scars.  Doug’s smoothed-out sound gave me no edges to get any purchase on.

I knew little of Sarabeth Tucek before this show.  All I was aware of was that she sang on a Brian Jonestown Massacre album (she was in the documentary Dig!) and she was slated by Bob Dylan fans after having the temerity to accept an invitation to open for him.  I took both to be good endorsements (seriously, have you ever met a die-hard Dylan fan you didn’t want to punch?).

She was a very different proposition to her support act.  Whereas Doug took advantage of the intimate confines of the venue to fill it with lively sound, Sarabeth reined things in, almost making you lean forward a little to listen.  Whereas Doug chatted effusively between songs, Sarabeth gave the odd sharp smile.

Her songs were slow-paced, with the consistent elements of her soft, smokey yet precise voice and the excellent riffing of the tall, bearded guitarist with salon-fresh hair by her side.  She also seemed to act the songs out in her head if the changing look in her eyes was anything to go by – in fact there was something very compelling about those eyes.

Truth be told, I’d had a long day, I was tired and if I’d had the choice I wouldn’t have chosen to go and catch some live music.  As it happens, Sarabeth provided an excellent soundtrack to feeling a little weary.  She ran through most of her self-titled debut album with the better songs such as ‘Holy Smoke’ and ‘Something For You’ translating best to the stage.  For an encore she performed a Neil Young cover – his country-rock material providing a good comparison to her own material.

Mainstream success doesn’t seem as likely for Sarabeth as it does for Doug.  Both performers have a traditional and unadventurous style but I much preferred Sarabeth’s ability to conjure an atmosphere, even if it’s mostly downbeat, over Doug’s greeting card sentiments.  Sarabeth Tuck won’t change your life but I found an evening in her company very pleasant indeed.

Eels @ Birmingham Town Hall, 26 February 2008

Birmingham’s Town Hall, modelled on a Roman temple, first opened in 1834 and closed in 1996 for a £35 million refurbishment, only re-opening last year.  The original 6,000 pipe organ remains in place and towers over the end of the hall where the stage is located.  It takes a certain calibre of artist to belong there.

Mark Oliver Everett (‘E’) fits the description of ‘a certain calibre of artist’ and it’s not just the organ that loomed over his performance.  The various tragedies that have befallen the singer have shaped his songs and his performance is one of a man who has spent a long time rolling with some heavy punches.

Ironically, given his apparent detachment from family life when he was alive, E’s support act was his own father.  That is there was a showing of E’s recent BBC4 documentary ‘Parrallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’ on the subject of his father; the quantum physicist who developed the theory of parallel universes that has become a sci-fi staple.

E has been a prolific songwriter and, despite the recent release of a greatest hits package, the setlist drew material from all over.  ‘It’s A Motherfucker’, ‘Strawberry Blonde’ and ‘I Like Birds’ making early appearances.

The evening started gently with E alone at guitar, then piano.  As the songs built he was joined by the very able Jeffrey ‘The Chet’ Lyster who played guitar and drums, triggered loops and samples, bowed a saw and tapped out melodies on a xylophone.  E is no musical slouch and the pair showed their party trick of swapping places on the drums during ‘Flyswatter’ without missing a beat.

This lead to an aggressive ‘Nococaine For The Soul’, E shouting the words along to his heavier percussive style.  On the subject of vocals, E’s should stand as a lesson to every technically proficient but vapid X-Factor wannabe.  Although his range lies between hoarse and gruff he shows that a karaoke singer’s warbling is no substitute for feeling.

E cuts an odd figure.  Hiding behind his beard with his cap pulled low, his slight figure hunched, you’d take him for shy but the touches of broad cabaret would suggest otherwise.  Firstly there’s the mysterious, booming, paternal ‘voice from the speakers’.  Mid-set we were treated to comedy readings from fanmail and previous gig reviews.  The Chet also read from E’s autobiography; first the passage relating E’s arrival in Hollywood, then the story of an encounter with his spiritualist landlady shortly after his sister’s suicide.

‘Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor’, ‘My Beloved Monster’ and ‘Bus Stop Boxer’ provided further highlights and the night closed with two, single song encores, the first being a remarkable cover of Only Fools Rush In – E alone at the piano, digging at unintended meanings.

A note to all performers, however – commenting knowingly on the pantomime of planned encores does not excuse them.  You either play the game or you don’t.  By the time E left the stage for good the audience, previously keen to provide an ovation, were wary of being played with.  As a result E robbed himself of final acclaim and we were robbed of our chance to show our true gratitude for an excellent evening.

This review appears on Culturedeluxe.

Punch Records – Music Marketing day 1

I applied to take part in this course because of my involvement with Culturedeluxe Limited (as it’s soon to be known) – the spin-off record label from the Culturedeluxe music website. There are plans to develop the label and move it away from its hobby roots and I want to be prepared for the step up.

The course was taken by Miles Hesketh from Hedz, aka Mylz from hip hop night Heducation. He’s got a Masters in marketing so we were in good hands. The session started with a fair amount of theory but became more practical as it went on, covering branding, segmentation, positioning and pricing.

There were a fair number of (entertaining) digressions but it was good to be involved in some lively discussion where everyone was coming at the material from slightly different angles. The group included a vocal coach, an MC, a producer and some event managers and we’ll all be looking to apply the same information differently.

I took a few good things away from the session, some impacting the record label, some more relevant to my own day-to-day business. As far as CDX is concerned the following stood out:

Funding

We spoke for some time on funding which, although it isn’t strictly within the course’s ambit, was of interest to everyone, especially as Miles was able to give some insight into what might be available to creative businesses. This isn’t something I’d thought of as being relevant to CDX but I’m starting to change my mind.

Direct marketing

Every marketer I’ve ever heard has gone on about the importance of having a mailing list and Miles was no different. I understand CDX doesn’t have one anymore so we need to start collecting emails again asap.

Promoting Culturedeluxe more widely

Related to direct marketing, we discussed the ‘communications mix’ – the range of media in which CDX’s ‘voice’ is represented. We need to increase the amount of content on the site and also start making ourselves more noticeable, instead of waiting for new readers to discover us. I’ve got some ideas and am going to come back to this one day soon.

Focus

The music website has a good, strong focus and I could easily divide artists into CDX and non-CDX camps. I couldn’t say the same for the record label and I think this is a big weakness. The three releases last year were in different genres – glitch-funk, ambient and indie-folk. While there’s a mission statement of sorts on the site: “giving a voice to some of the world’s best new music” we need to set out exactly where the label’s heart lies.

So day 1 has provided penty of food for thought.

Next week we’ll be covering ‘Plugging: TV, Clubs, Colleges & Universities’ and ‘Street Teams & Fan Base Activitiy: Guerilla Marketing’ with Anna Goodman (Abstrakt Publicity) and Reggie B & Redz (Sony BMG).