Headliner 21 2 by Headliner Magazine

ISSUE #21

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US + THEM TOUR Radiohead

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UNI T Y

Roger Waters

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ENTER SHIKARI THE SPARK

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#21 From the Editor

“Making people realise they're not alone is so important. I went through most of my 20s not knowing what anxiety was...” Rou Reynolds, Enter Shikari Welcome to Issue 21 of Headliner Magazine, where we are proud to have local lads, Enter Shikari, on our cover. The St Albans-born electronicore pioneers are one of the most unlikely success stories, and on the eve of their fifth album, The Spark, be prepared for a serious curveball - less metal, more melody; less screamo, more swirling synths. It is seriously good stuff. A couple of the band also open up to us about dealing with and overcoming mental health issues, showing proper strength of character. Inspiring stuff. We’re also out on the road with two mega-acts: first, it’s off to Dublin with Radiohead; then we’re Stateside with Roger Waters on his Us + Them tour. Headliner goes backstage at both shows to talk to the sound and lighting teams, all of whom are as dedicated to their respective crafts as the artists they work for. Our studio stories take us first to New York City, then Los Angeles: mix maestro, Michael Brauer, the man behind Coldplay’s Parachutes, chats to us from Electric Lady Studios about mixing techniques, and creating his own bespoke plugin; and deep in the Hollywood Hills, Headliner columnist, Jordan Young, gives us the House 33 tour - an all-new, state-of-the-art, artist retreat. Inspiring singer-songwriter, Lucy Rose, has a new record, and a whole new outlook; we chat to her about it, following her stunning Glasto set. And the queen of UK garage, Lisa Maffia, talks to us about her So Solid Crew journey, and bringing the garage scene back with a bang with a swathe of fresh material. All this and much more inside - we hope you enjoy the issue. Paul Watson Editor

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HEADLINER | ISSUE #21

CONTACT Paul Watson paul@headlinerhub.com +44(0)7952-839296

Graham Kirk graham@gkirkmedia.com +44(0)7872-461938

Artwork Eimear O’Connor Jolien Hordijk

Contributors Adam Protz, Rhona Lavis, Henry Sarmiento, Jon Tessier, Jade Perry, Robert the Roadie

Contents #21 Cover Story

P28 / Enter Shikari 06

SWIVEL ON THIS

DJ Swivel suggests it might not be long before we’re building real relationships with computers.

SONIC VISTA INSIGHTS

Henry Sarmiento quizzes Jon Tessier about his love of Ibiza, and a new musical outlook.

A WIRELESS EVOLUTION? Lectrosonics’ new Duet is going where no digital wireless IEM system has gone before..!

MICHAEL BRAUER

The man who mixed Coldplay’s seminal debut, Parachutes, has developed a very cool new plugin.

JESSICA LEE MORGAN

This talented songstress is all about organic recording, as long as it’s done in a camper van.

RADIOHEAD

It’s off to Dublin to witness one of the lighting shows of the year. And maybe grab a Guinness or three.

ROGER WATERS

We head stateside to talk to Matt Napier, monitor man and more on the Floyd legend’s Us + Them tour.

LISA MAFFIA

We talk So Solid Crew, and brand new music, with the queen of UK garage herself.

COVER STORY: ENTER SHIKARI

St Albans born and bred, this self-made four-piece are one of the more unlikely success stories in rock and roll, but what a story they have. After pioneering their own electronicore sound and touring it the world over, they have thrown a real curveball with album five, The Spark. Gone are all the mega-riffs and screaming vocals, replaced by soaring synths, epic choruses, and incredible melodies.

HEADLINER | ISSUE #21

MCGOOZER

What a story this guy has, which has resulted in an eclectic and very nicely crafted album.

LUCY ROSE

After her stunning Glasto set, we ask this amazing artist to share her inspiring musical story.

THE LONGING

Prog-rock might not have the coolest rep, but these guys have added a real twist - and it works.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES The guys at Sound Image have taken their audio kit to another level with an Optocore upgrade.

BIG TOOTH

A great debut from a band whose melodies are almost as impressive as their Peroni consumption.

A TASTE OF HOLLYWOOD What is an artist retreat, exactly? We take a look inside LA’s quite stunning House 33 facility.

PRODUCTION VALUES

We ask the MPG Executive Board what constitutes a record producer in today’s industry.

PHOXJAW

Jade Perry talks music production with a very hard-working bunch of lads from the West Country.

ERASED TAPES IS 10

We descend on London’s Royal Festival Hall to celebrate 10 years of one of the UK’s finest labels.

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

This issue, Robert is wondering if a huge concert in North Korea could finally bring us world peace.

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Comment DJ Swivel

Swivel on this Remember that movie, Minority Report? It was always one of my favourites. It was one of the first movies that made the future real. Sure, there’s the whole psychics and pre-determinism thing, but toss that to the side and you have a truly realistic version of what a future society could feel like. No monsters, no aliens, no sharks with laser beams attached to their heads. In fact, from a societal standpoint, it didn’t seem all that different than our world today, but the technology had truly transformed the human experience. The scene where Tom Cruise is using hand gestures to manipulate the virtual screen, or the virtual concierge who knows your name and what you ordered last; or when they visit the hacker who gives customers interactive virtual reality experiences. Well, these experiences are right around the corner for us. As humans, we’ve created massive technological shifts on more than a few occasions: electricity, the printing press, the combustion engine, transistors, and more recently, the Internet and smartphones. These technological advances have truly reshaped out world, and we are now close to what I believe to be the next massive shift: mixed reality. What is mixed reality? In a nutshell, it’s a combination of immersive virtual reality, as well as augmented reality; the ability to superimpose virtual imagery onto a user’s view of the real world – whether via phone, like what Apple is doing with ARKit and the iPhone, or more immersive experiences with some of the upcoming headsets soon to be released. We’ve all been hearing about virtual reality for some time, but only now is the technology finally catching up with users’ expectations. Virtual reality had always been a gimmicky thing. Maybe your first experience with it was the old Nintendo Virtual Boy, or maybe at a theme park’s midway. Or perhaps you’re even familiar with some of the modern VR headsets from Oculus or HTC. But even with that, the whole experience hasn’t always lived up to the potential. But with the upcoming rumblings of a hardware release from Magic Leap, IR/LiDAR capture tech evolving, and new engine architecture from GenDev and

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Kalloc Studios, truly immersive and realistic mixed reality worlds are being built right in front of our eyes. Think Princess Leia’s hologram in Star Wars, but far more realistic. Imagine being on stage right next to Beyoncé, and being able to walk around her and experience her show from anywhere in the stadium. Or think about being in the ring and playing referee for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Colin McGregor fight. All of these things are only months away from being possible. And with new headset technology soon incorporating eye tracking, those holographic characters will be able to know where you are, and interact with you, creating a truly human experience. Pair that with advanced AIs like IBM’s Watson, and soon you can start to paint a picture of a matrix-like world, where we’re living two separate lives: our real life, and our virtual life. Which begs the question, how will we as a society deal with this massive change? Social interaction will no longer be just a human thing. We’ll be able to have, and maintain, real relationships with computer programs. Computer programs that look and act just like a real person. Sure, you won’t have that physical connection, but every tool will be available to recreate a very human emotional connection. Will it affect our real-world social interactions? What about productivity? Or what sort of privacy challenges will we have to deal with when these companies will be able to track your movement, location, what you see, what you hear, and how you act? It’s almost certainly going to recreate the modern workplace, allowing employees to dial into their meetings remotely, and will be there virtually, in their seat, watching the presentation, and everyone will be able to see the body language of everyone else. Personally, I’m excited for what these experiences will bring to the world, but sound off. Let me know what you think. Are you excited for this? Is it taking away from the human experience? What sort of experience could you paint in this new world? Tweet me @djswivel with the hashtag #swivelonthis, and let’s talk about it.

“Social interaction will no longer be just a human thing. We’ll be able to have, and maintain, real relationships with computer programs that act like a real person.”

SPITFIRE AUDIO

Sonic Vista Insights Jon Tessier

JON TESSIER: MULTI-TASKER Our good pals at Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza bring us their latest insights. This issue, it’s actually one of the guys interviewing the other! Henry Sarmiento introduces us to his production compratriot, Jon Tessier, to talk about moving to the White Island, and exploring new musical goals.

Jon, you have an interesting story care to share that with the readers? I basically grew up in Kuala Lumpur from 1992 until 2008. A lot of my musical knowledge was acquired during my time there. Back then, I was a metal-head, and I worshipped bands like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Napalm Death. You have to understand that a lot of this music was banned from the country at that time, but since I loved it so much, I found myself going to illegal black markets located at the top floor of dark and abandoned shopping malls just to be able to buy them! I didn’t do this often, because they slapped European prices on them (five times the value of a normal CD), but when I could, I spent the cash. I stopped going there when I began falling in love with other genres like hard rock, new wave, hip hop, and pop; and then I got into production at the age of 19. Now I enjoy being involved in all aspects of the creative process, everything from songwriting to engineering and production. How did you end up in Ibiza? Well, having lived my whole life in a foreign country, I felt a craving to reconnect with my roots. Thus, I decided to move back to France for my studies in business management. After studying for five years there, with a one year stint in Canada, an internship was required to complete my Masters degree, so I came to Ibiza in 2013 to work at a concierge company for six months. When all that was done, and since my objective has always been to apply the knowledge I acquired in business school to my music, I needed to gain some experience in a music studio; that’s how I found out about Sonic Vista Studios. I’m always balancing my time between the studio and working on my music!

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Did we spy a DiGiGrid IOX in your ‘Like the Sun’ music video..? You did! Because I am my own engineer when I record and edit audio, I can tell you that having something like the IOX is a total life saver when it comes to very clean and pristine pre-amps. One simple Ethernet connection [to my laptop] gives me the flexibility to move between different studio rooms easily; also, the headphone outputs are extremely powerful, and they sound amazing. The whole video was shot in Ibiza... It was, yes. After you [Henry] did an awesome job mixing, mastering and co-producing the record, I concluded that in our day and age, YouTube is the main discovery platform for new artists. I was never interested in making music videos because I didn’t like being the centre of attention, and I had no idea how to direct myself; but you’ve been a fantastic motivator, and pushed me to figure it out. I started writing down cool concepts of simple shots: banging on the kick drum and snare during the pre-chorus; walking around Ibiza town; little things like that will help you start filming, and you will capture more interesting footage along the way. We only used one camera called the DJI Osmo Mobile, and Jamie Edge - a music producer that we work with - was our DOP. He’d never filmed a video before, and did a great job learning on the fly. I edited the footage on iMovie, and voila! And the best part? The whole process took four days to complete. What motivates you most as an independent artist in 2017? My only experience in the modern music industry is playing in bands, producing my own music, and working at Sonic Vista Studios. The standard recording business is run by labels,

managers, and publishers, and we believe that now (more than ever) is the best time to run parallel to the standard paradigm and create our own independent business model. I also feel it’s very important for artists today to begin their careers independently, as a way to learn about the industry before rushing into a contract and signing to a label. Being independent is a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding, and I think the best term to illustrate the modern independent musician is the word ‘musicpreneur’, because you’re managing every aspect of the product (the song): from the conceptual stages (songwriting), to finding the right mixer, filming, videoediting, graphic designing, marketing, promotion, community management, CRM, and so on. It’s a full-on, product-based company, managed on a micro-economical level. I’m an artist that’s passionate about music in general - the business and the art - and I love the journey behind the independent/DIY route. So what next for Jon Tessier, then? Well, I definitely want to explore long-form music videos for my next projects. But aside from that, I plan to write and release more songs that inspire people, the same way that songs have inspired me. That’s really what it’s all about. It is indeed. Check out Sonic Vista Studios at the links below - it’s a phenomenal facility, and these guys are full of musical passion. @sonicvista www.sonicvistastudios.com

Lectrosonics Duet

A Wireless Evolution?

DUET: A WIRELESS EVOLUTION? Is the newly released Duet M2 system from Lectrosonics the ultimate solution for getting your digital wireless signal that step closer to the talent? Headliner investigates... Wireless is always an interesting subject matter in pro audio world, and as time moves on – which it does very quickly in this business – more technological advances are made, and more possibilities arise. In issue 19 of Headliner, we spoke to Lectrosonics’ CEO, Gordon Moore, a gentleman we tagged ‘wireless wizard’, and when we asked him what he thought the next step might be in the world of wireless, he said: “we have to go digital.” Lectrosonics’ Digital Hybrid technology has been very solid for some time, but Moore told us it had gone as far as it could, as new and different demands are always pushing things forward. Now, Lectrosonics has a new product which the firm believes will (forgive the cliché), ‘change the game’ in the world of wireless. I know, how many times have we heard that before? But, as I sit down with the team in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I can see they have a real point. I ask them to tell me a little more about the Duet M2T dual-stereo half-rack transmitter, and M2R diversity belt pack receiver.

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“Well, as time moves on, the availability of components gets better; there becomes more of them to choose from, and you can therefore cram them into a smaller volume,” explains Lectrosonics’ mechanical engineer, Brian Kurowski. Yep, makes sense. “We kept what we learned from our Quadra [wireless] system, and set out to make Duet more user friendly, and very straightforward to use.” I ask Kurowski to put it out there as if I’m an audio layman: I’m an artist without any real technical nous, but I have my set of moulds ready to go for my live shows. Why do I select Duet as my wireless IEM system? “A few reasons, actually,” Kurowski continues, with a smile. “Firstly, the sound will be far superior; Duet is the only IEM system available that is totally digital from the inputs all the way through to the RF, so the sound quality will literally be the best you are going to find. Secondly, you can get two stereo RF channels in the half-rack, so it frees up footprint. And thirdly, the receiver is very compact, too, so the talent will probably appreciate that.” I should also point out that the analogue

“The audio advantages are not just measurable, they’re audible.” in/analogue out latency is just 1.4ms – that is very fast – pretty much half of what most systems are. And by going ‘all digital’ through Dante, you’re only going to incur the Dante conversion latency, which is a tiny fraction. “Ultimately, you won’t notice it; so it really could change everything,” Kurowski reflects. “We’ve also added a bright, colour LCD on the receiver, so it’s easy to understand; the functionality is so simple. If you’re performing, you want a clear screen; and the Duet has a very modern, bright, full colour display, with colour codes, which allows for intuition: green, yellow, and red, all coded for the audio levels. So the menu structure is very straightforward.”

R&D

Unsurprisingly, Duet has taken a while to develop; and the firm has built on what it learned from its previous digital radio systems: D4, M4, Quadra, and so on. It’s been a big learning curve, Kurowski admits, but it’s all been about proving a point: “The bottom line is analogue FM is old technology, and Duet IEM is fully digital.

Lectrosonics Duet

What took us the time is honing the platform, and we have done that developing other products in the meantime such as D4 and DSW. These have proved very successful in their niches, so this is the latest move.” What strikes me about Duet is the fact it’s all running on Dante – that’s a very fresh approach, isn’t it? “Yes, I think it is, actually,” concurs Karl Winkler, Lectrosonics’ marketing and sales director. “We were an early adopter of Dante as an interface. We’ve been using it for four to five years - mostly for the networked audio stuff – our Aspen series has a Dante box, for example. But we could see the writing on the wall: Dante was being adopted by a wide range of manufacturers, and used as a central backbone platform for audio transport. And it allows for the flexibility in system design. “We could clearly see that would be an important factor [for an in-ear] to bridge the final gap. For example, there are wireless mic systems out there with Dante out, so if you imagine you go from your capsule, convert it to digital, then it’s digital all the way through the mixer, and out until it gets to the D/A converter right before the headphones. That’s an amazing thing. So we really are bringing that digital signal out one more level closer towards the talent. “Of course we think it’s better than

anything else out there. As long as you keep your sample rates clear – which is obviously dependent on your system setup – it will add minimal latency other than the conversion to Dante. The audio advantages are not just measurable, they’re certainly audible.” That really is a breakthrough. And what about applications? Surely this bit of kit will appeal to a wide range of users, not just your rock and roll stars and touring musicians? “Oh absolutely,” confirms Winkler. “Not only your rock and roll tours, but house of worship, theatre, installation, filmmaking, broadcast... The list is long! And the Duet’s Flexi List system allows users to quickly jump to other frequencies in the list; for example, as a technician, I could say, ‘I want to hear the guitar player’s mix’. Boom! ‘OK, now the singer’s mix’. Boom! You know? And you’re suddenly on their channel, and listening to their mix. Also, this is wide band tuning – just one frequency band for the system. This means it’s super flexible, radio-wise, for tuning, so it should really raise the bar.” In a nutshell, that means Duet offers coverage within the UHF frequencies of 470-608 MHz (138 MHz) in a single range. Pretty incredible. But I want to get an artist’s perspective, so I drop Foreigner’s Kelly Hansen a line – he’s in the midst of the band’s 40th Anniversary tour, and they have Duet

A Wireless Evolution?

in tow – but despite the schedule, he’s more than happy to talk about the product, and the band’s early impressions of it. “In my world of live performance audio, sound always comes first, so I was very excited to check out the new Duet digital system,” Hansen tells me. “I love that discreet, clean sound that this unit offers – but, of course, that’s something I have always got from Lectrosonics products. Duet is a whole other step up, though: the new smaller size and eye-friendly receiver menu are two awesome new practical elements; and having the ability to have Wireless Designer incorporated this way is an amazing advantage for my monitor engineer – especially on this tour, where we run into plenty of interference, and changing RF requirements multiple times per day! I am seriously so psyched about this!” So there you have it – Kelly Hansen isn’t just a rock star, he’s a very technically savvy artist, and if this is the kind of impression Duet is having on the touring world on its first outing, its future looks very bright indeed. For more on Duet, check out the link below. @lectrosonics www.lectrosonics.com

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MICHAEL BRAUER: MOTION MIXER Michael Brauer is one of the world’s most recognised mix engineers, and for good reason, having been responsible for Coldplay’s debut, Parachutes, John Mayer’s gorgeous Continuum, and most recently, James Bay’s beautiful 2015 release, Chaos and the Calm. Over the last couple of years – when not flying the faders – Brauer has been working closely with Waves Audio on the development of his own plugin. ‘Brauer Motion’ allows users to get the most movement out of their mixes - and that’s something Brauer’s mixes have become famous for over the years. Headliner sits down with the man himself to dig a little deeper.

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ICHAEL BRAUER WAS BORN IN NEW York City. He was raised in Paris for a short time, but returned to the Big Apple when he was just seven, so it’s safe to say he’s a true New Yorker. If you need further proof of this, the fact he worked for 20 years out of Quad, and has been resident at legendary recording facility, Electric Lady, for the last eight years should firmly underline that. Brauer has always been well known for his work with new artists: he helped break Coldplay, he put the mix magic into James Bay’s first album, and the same can be said for James Morrison, The Fray, Lucie Silvas the list is long and impressive. “I think the last record I recorded was James Brown, back in ‘94/’95,” Brauer smiles. “What a great experience, being with him for a week. But since then, I stopped; I just wanted to mix. When you have three sources of income: producing, engineering, mixing, that is the smart thing to do! But I just found that I really wanted to be an

accomplished mixer, any style that I wanted to go after. And to do that, I had to spend four to five years getting into pretty much all styles – my discography shows that.” It does, indeed. In the very early days, Brauer was mixing the likes of Luther Vandross, and other R&B artists. After a while, however, it got a little repetitious, and he looked to adapt to something new, to try out new ideas. “Sometimes, a style of music isn’t open to new things,” Brauer says. “It was a slow period breaking me away from pop and rock, and moving into indie and guitar bands; like anything, I would be doing one thing and wanting to do another. “I would dedicate a year to changing ideas, not doing go-tos, and if one song came along that was more rocky, I would try new ideas. And eventually, I just had the luck. If you constantly put the word out that you want a certain type of record, you’ll eventually get that shot. If it’s successful, that helps; if it isn’t, you just continue!”

Michael Brauer Motion Mixer

“using waves plugins, i can get the sound i want in 10 seconds.” Parachutes

Conversation turns to some of the seminal records that Brauer has worked on, starting with one that changed the musical world: Parachutes, Coldplay’s remarkable debut. “It was very generic to England when I got Parachutes, and my contribution to it really helped it cross the ocean to America. I owe my whole career to the British, and that’s because I understood the British sound; I loved it, and grew up with it,” Brauer explains. “When Coldplay happened, I was in New York, working out of Quad, which is where I did Parachutes. “When I mixed it, I was thinking, ‘wow’, because I had been working on that kind of organic sound for a year. I’d got away from shimmering, processed pop rock that was so successful – it took a year and a half to get that out of my mind – but I was still a pop mixer. So making sure the vocal is loud, and getting the message across, was still something I needed to do; and I had to force myself on some records to bring the vocals right up. “I had come across a few great singers in my career, but when I heard Chris Martin, I knew he was standout, and, of course, he was very predominantly loud in the mix. But he had to be loud; he had to be the storyteller. But his mixes were more indie, as if he was one of the guys in the band. There were other emotional records that year, but the template and the common theme throughout the songs [on Parachutes] fit together so well. From beginning to end, you want to feel it for 45 minutes. So it wasn’t that the songs were just amazing, but the album as a whole really tied together.” Brauer recalls when he had some Coldplay

material on his showreel, and went to LA to meet the labels – ordinarily, it would be five seconds of this, five seconds of that, and skip to the next track; with Coldplay, they got well and truly in the zone: “I think it was Yellow and Panic I had on there, and they listened to the whole thing; and then they asked for more! [laughs] They would hold all the phone calls, one guy closed his eyes for a whole song, asks where are they from, and who has their publishing. I must have done two days of 12-15 meetings, and it got to a point where I just played those two songs. Nothing made it aside from them. “So I knew I had mixed a record with a message. And it was all word of mouth, too. I’d go home and my wife would be playing it, my kids, and they told their friends – that’s how Coldplay became successful, word of mouth, not out of the box hits.” Brauer draws similarities between Parachutes and James Bay’s Chaos and the Calm: pop rock, but with a rawness. “It helped that Jacquire King produced and recorded that [ James Bay] record, but I received the files in much the same way I received Coldplay’s album 15 years before,” Brauer says. “Parachutes came on a two-inch, 24-track, which I hooked up to the console; Chaos and the Calm wasn’t much different. The only real difference was with Coldplay, I got every single track recorded, and then I mixed it, but now as there is more time, for James’ record, I got a few blends: two or three guitars mixed together. I could get them all individually if I wanted to, but they want it mixed, not reinvented, so it makes sense to do it that way.

With that record, there weren’t many tracks: seven or eight for drums, a bass, all the guitars, vocals, and percussion. So they weren’t really ‘stems’, they were just properly recorded again – just like Parachutes was – which was really nice.”

Brauer Motion

I am keen to find out Brauer’s mix techniques, and how they have (or haven’t) changed as technology has advanced. The best place to start is Brauer Motion, the epic sounding plugin that he and the Waves Audio team have put together. It was released a couple of months ago. “To me, when you look at the Waves Signature Series that Tony [Maserati], Manny [Marroquin], and Chris [Lord-Alge] have done... What’s left, really? They covered it all. I mean, Manny’s Distortion is a go-to, Chris’s CLA Vocals is a go-to, Tony’s vocal is a go-to – they all sit up there in my favourite plugins. Rather than spend 15 minutes going through one compressor and another, if I know these guys have something done already, I use it! Using Waves, I can get the sound I want in 10 seconds; it’s not a 20-minute process anymore! “So when it came to developing my own plugin, I wanted it to be about what I have always been interested in – and what I have become known for – how much movement there is in my mixing. I’ll often have things panning subtly – physically moving – and that’s my fourth pan position: L/C/R, and one with no home, that just keeps moving around! “That is usually when a mix is so chunked full of stuff, there is no room for another static position; it’s just better to have it move. I have been doing that for years. It started with a

13 Headliner

“i wanted to come up with a panner way beyond anything that had been done before.. ”

mixer; I would have a pan pot and would move it left to right, which you hear in a lot of Hendrix and Zeppelin stuff. That’s all manually done. It had an impact on me that instruments were moving around, so I waited for any opportunity for that to happen when I started mixing. “I wanted the listener to be grabbed, and invited into the mix. Then when software plugins came out, I saw some panners. They were OK, but again, not musical enough, so when I was approached about doing a plugin, I wanted to get into spatial plugins; that was the beginning of the conversation. I wanted to come up with a panner way beyond anything that had been done before, and this really is way beyond. And thank God for software! It’s not freewheeling hardware; you can automate and move it! It’s basically for anyone with imagination!”

Getting Surgical

Three years in the making is a long time – and understandably, the process has brought a lot of challenges: “The first year was rough, as it’s so hard to articulate what’s in my head in a spatial sense! I gave Waves starting points, but that was just that! And finally, we got to a point where I didn’t have to think so much, as Waves had got it to a point where it was simple, and that’s down to their crew, who have been absolutely unbelievable. “Incredibly, 60% of the technology - even in the plugin’s GUI - they had to invent from scratch. Unreal. Pretty much everything I would ask Waves to do, they would take it beyond what I imagined, and that is success. It’s like when I mix a song, people say I took it further than they imagined. But they took it all the way.” Brauer admits he now uses the plugin on every song, and plays with it every day. That’s testament to the results right there! “I took a Rhodes with no vibrato, nothing, and I started getting a tremolo feel to it, and a few other things. I also have a distortion you can add, modelled on a piece of old gear I have that I use, and it added so much feeling to the sound. The producer walked in and said, ‘you’ve made

it come alive!’ And it takes no time to do this; I’m just playing with it. And that is how people will react to it. Use your imagination, go with it, as it is just so mystical.” One of the Waves team told Brauer that the plugin’s GUI reminded him of a Jules Verne book, which was particularly odd, considering Jules Verne is, in fact, Brauer’s great uncle. Madness... “Crazy, right? [laughs] I literally grew up with all those [ Jules Verne] stories from my mother and grandmother and grandfather, so I heard about all the contributions he made. I think in the back of my mind, I had to come up with something, too, and try and continue the concept of imagination, because he would bring up things that hadn’t been invented yet; he was extremely clairvoyant in his books.” Brauer has two rooms: his main room boasts an 80-channel SSL 9000 analogue desk with six racks of gear; then there’s also a hybrid room, which he is particularly fond of. “The hybrid is really a ‘mini me’ of my main room gear,” Brauer laughs. “I am now very close to transitioning completely away from an analogue desk. You now can’t hear the difference between the two; most people are completely in the box, so I am still way behind! But as I transition, I don’t want any compromise.” And the process when approaching a mix - has that changed at all? “[smiles] Actually, it’s always gonna be the same kind of thing,” Brauer says, reassuringly. “I sit down, hopefully with the artist, and ask what’s going on with the rough mix. What I always talk about is feel, as that’s all we’re trying to do: improve the feel of a song. So what do we want to get out of it emotionally, and is the mix lacking any of that? I’m not thinking about what piece of gear – that’s just a tool. I don’t have a final vision like a producer, I just want to feel a certain way when it’s done; and when I feel that way, along with that comes the balancing and the dynamics.” For more on the Brauer Motion plugin, check out the link below.

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Artist Focus

Jessica Lee Morgan

JESSICA LEE MORGAN

Jessica Lee Morgan likes to do things with minimal fuss, which can’t be easy when you consider she is daughter of legendary producer, Tony Visconti, and folk songstress, Mary Hopkin. That said, she has gone her own way in the biz: she knows her tech; she’s an accomplished songwriter and musician in her own right, with new album in tow, and she also tours with her dad in Bowie supergroup, Holy Holy. We sit down in North London to find out more... Words Paul Watson “I’m blessed having Chris, my partner, involved in everything,” opens Jessica, as we order coffee. “We ran a studio in Cardiff – that’s now a portable studio, by the way – and recently, the time came to make another album; it’ll be my first since 2010.” Jessica admits she had ‘no fixed abode’ last year, as she was out on the road with Holy Holy, but she and Chris went to France for a couple of months of pre-production on the album, bought a camper van, parked up in an orchard (as you do), and started tracking. “[laughs] Being a camper van, it’s a decent size, and an irregular shape with soft furnishings, so it’s very good for tracking,” Jessica says. “Chris set up his Mac and Pro Tools, with a big Focusrite Scarlett – a little too heavy on power – and we did percussion,

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guitars, and vocals with that; and, of course, we had a bit of cider in the back of the van, too, which was nice! So the body of the album was done there. Initially, being pigheaded, I was saying, ‘let’s do this organically with no click tracks’, but, of course, we had to fix stuff. Rule number one: use click tracks! [laughs] But no, the record is actually 50/50: a bit of a patchwork: click, and no click.” Then it was back to Cardiff to a terraced house, as they needed to cut some saxophone. “We took the van up the A470, found a beautiful layby viewpoint, complete with burger van,” Jessica recalls, fondly. “We slept in the van overnight before starting recording; people were pulling up ordering burgers as we tracked. And it came out really well! Chris had the [Focusrite] Mini Scarlett

by then, which was great; we used a [Neumann] U87, and that was that – a nice mic, nice dead room, nice interface – that’s all you need, really.” Jessica recently completed the Holy Holy tour, which took her and the band to Hull, Glasgow, Manchester, and more; many of the shows were sold out. Chris was at all the shows, and her brother, Morgan, performed, too. Music is in the blood, evidently: Morgan mixed half of Jessica’s first record. Didn’t dad want to get involved at all? “He did say on the last US tour, ‘don’t you want to make a nice big studio album?’ And I think he was all ready to help, but I just fancied digging my heels in. The first record was such a mishmash – he produced half of it – and it sounded very slick, but going out live,

Artist Focus

Jessica Lee Morgan

“A nice mic, nice dead room, nice interface - that’s all you need, really...” people were confused. So I developed a live intimate show, so it was as if people were in my front room. And I put as much performance as I could on this record.” Which shows – it’s a very natural sounding album, recorded very nicely, and very honestly.

Making Music

We chat a little about Jessica and Chris’s old studio in Cardiff, which is now an audio post house which their friends took over: “We used to do local bands, had nice rooms, a foley stage, all sorts. Chris did recording for [TV shows] Torchwood and Dr. Who – plus we did a lot of community work for kids with special needs, which was very gratifying. But after a while, we gave it up, as there are lots of overheads; that’s the worry, having premises... And now we have the camper van! [smiles]” Which, evidently, is doing a great job as a portable studio. I ask Jessica about the process of writing the album. Getting the songs together was the longest part, she says: “Like all writers, I was asking myself, ‘is my music any good?’ And the answer is, you don’t know until people hear it! Chris thought they were great, so we went with it. Some are old songs of mine on there, some more recent. We started recording in September, and had

it finished by January, so the process was a few months, but that was pretty spread out. The advantage of the portable studio is that we don’t need to book it! Going into a studio for the whole day I find very stressful. Chris is exceptionally patient, and he works with my mother, as well, so he is very patient! [laughs] She is the same as me: if you can do it at home, why go anywhere else?” And where does Jessica plan on putting the album – as in, what channels will she use to get the message out there? “There’s a question..! We have had a label since 2005 – it was started by mum, as she wanted to put music out and didn’t want to play live or anything, so that bit’s relatively easy: bar codes, learn how to use PPL and PRS, and so on; but selling is the tough bit,” Jessica says. “So more gigs, more gigs, more gigs, I guess. My mum always said, ‘you don’t want a deal, you’ll get shafted!’ But I wanted to be the judge of that. However, the more I think about it, I agree with her. “I just read Kill Your Friends, a book about the music industry in the ‘90s; an A&R guy signs an act and doesn’t give a shit as long as he can reap the advances, and see how much he can put up his nose. “I did work experience my dad when I was

16 – he got me into a label – and I was in charge of listening to the slush pile. Short of the cold hearted murders, life back then was pretty accurate to that book! “I would say to any aspiring artist, own your own music, do your own PRS and PPL, hire a PR guy, hire a plugger, an agent, maybe, and then just do your best.” Jessica’s second album is the record she wanted to make, which is refreshing to hear: “I think the thing that helped me, now I’ve started touring with Holy Holy, is that every tour, I get a pep talk from Woody [Woodmansey, band member] asking what my plan is. But I can’t get that kind of exposure and not have something to back it up, so I had to have another album. “All of a sudden, you get people following you up close and personal who know all about you, so I felt I had to put something else out. I quit my day job to go into music – you have to. So I am willing to be a bit older in years, and a bit poorer. But what’s the worst that can happen?” Wise words, indeed. For more on Jessica, check out the links below. @jessleemorgan www.jessicaleemorgan.com

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On Tour With

Radiohead

ON TOUR WITH RADIOHEAD

It’s difficult to believe that OK Computer was released 20 years ago, and after Radiohead recently put out OKNOTOK, a remastered anniversary version of the now iconic ‘97 album, complete with a full side of previously unreleased material, it proved just how special that record really was. What’s also special is this band’s live show; everything is played live, without a click track, and behind the music lies a dynamic and uniquely designed lighting show. Put it all together, and you have something to seriously shout about, which we found out when we saw it for ourselves at the 3Arena in Dublin.

Andi Watson has been responsible for all things lighting related for Radiohead since the early ‘90s. On arrival at Dublin’s 3Arena, however, the first thing he wants to point out to us is audio related. “You’ve got to remember, they do it all themselves,” Watson explains, referring to the fact that most of the sonics throughout the show aren’t even samples. “In Idioteque, for example, all the noise comes from a synth. Jonny [Greenwood, Radiohead’s multiinstrumentalist] does so much, and there are literally no recorded loops; it’s all live, which means the tempos are always going to be slightly different.” Which might explain why Watson is so hands-on with his lighting. He is always on guard, finger on fader or button, which means

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a serious level of concentration is required “It’s certainly not a boring show to do,” he smiles. “But it is about focusing all the time; you’re doing things simultaneously, as some things go around a certain amount of times compared to others. Sometimes, it’s hand signals you’re looking out for, and you can easily miss them if you’re not ready.” Watson first worked with Radiohead in 1993. He was illuminating the support act at a small club show, and he’s never looked back. “I was only working with six par cans at the time, but Radiohead liked what I did, and asked me to be their lighting guy,” Watson recalls. “We once did a gig at The Princess Charlotte with just a rocker switch and two lightbulbs – one red, one blue... So it’s slightly evolved! But the thing is, in some ways, it’s

“We have 80 songs in this show - but they play them all except one...” still similar in concept: my job is still to create an environment for the songs to exist on stage, and because there are so many layers to what they do, I just have to fit around the songs visually; it’s still layering, and that’s why I use so many cameras. They’re just very clever lights these days!” True enough. Watson uses catalyst pods which are sent down over IP - essential when programming, he says, as there are a massive 240 layers of video, LED screen, and projector; and when the band do festivals, they have additional, separate screens to cater to. “We have 80 songs in this show, and we’ve been as high as 108 before [on the In Rainbows tour] – but they play them all except one, so you really do have to know the lot,” Watson explains. “I have worked with

On Tour With

them for so long now, though, I have a kind of visual language with the band; I don’t get a brief, or notes; they don’t get very involved, which is quite good, as they give me a lot of rope! [smiles] They are amazing for creative freedom, and they go along with any crazy or slightly odd ideas I might have.

Abstract Thinking

Being the 20th anniversary of OK Computer, Watson has put his thinking cap on once more, and his design is essentially an evolution of the original show he put together, which had a part of an ellipse on it. It’s all a bit abstract, he says: “The elliptical curved video screen is not cheap, and it’s quite tricky, but as with every show design, I do all the sketches and renders, and explain it to them – and they always seem enthusiastic. “On the In Rainbows tour, with all the VersaTubes, the only way we could afford to do the tour was to buy them, not rent them – but the band kept the faith and spent money on something pretty untested; I always have ideas on things we can do, and I am always designing the next tour with them in a way. Some of my ideas, the technology hasn’t caught up with yet, though!” The whole idea came about when Watson was talking with the band about the OK Computer anniversary: “I thought of that design at the beginning of the process, and that triggered the ellipse thing,” he explains. “I like trusses that curve

round, and I always try to do that, as it’s important to make the show look good for everyone. I remember one of the first shows I saw – Pink Floyd’s The Wall. We were in the cheap seats at the sides, and when the plane comes down and makes a hole in the wall, it makes a ‘V’ shape; there’s a video screen behind it, and I didn’t even know that was there as we couldn’t see it! That’s always stuck with me. “Because the screen curves, the more you can make it a semicircle, so the better chance of the band all being in front of the screen; I also make sure if you do an audience focus with strobes, I give everyone the same light, and it’s better everywhere, not just front of house – that’s very important to me.” Watson is very much into his art; he conducts lectures on lighting techniques and design, which he finds particularly rewarding. “I always want to tell my students about that magical place I like to be in with no gravity or cables,” Watson smiles. Magical place? “Yeah, that’s where the inspiration comes from. I design from light first of all, then it’s placements, fixtures, rigging, and infrastructure; it’s about going through that process, basically.” On this tour, Watson estimates there are around 100 lighting fixtures in play, and two front trusses: one for the front line, one for the two drummers and bassist, to keep the angle of incidence high, to avoid bounce onto the screen. “The screen for this tour is sprayed silver,

Radiohead

and covered in glitter, which you wouldn’t have known, but sometimes, noise comes from the projector onto it, and it makes it look almost like film grain; and I love how it looks,” Watson explains, enthusiastically. “It’s a process I didn’t win many friends over, as each video panel is 30cm x 9cm [per tile], and each tile has 24 screws... [smiles] To take all of them off and put on glitter is 110,000 screws to spray and glitter up... But it looks great!” The screen is the biggest fixture, of course, and then there are ‘the lovely GLP X4 Ls’, Watson tells us: “I have always been a fan of the [GLP] X4, and when we did this tour, I knew we would headline Glastonbury and Coachella; as lovely as those fixtures are, you need bigger for Glastonbury; and as I am locked into only LEDs, I know that there is a high chance I have to light the whole of Glastonbury, so the front two trusses - aside from the key lighting - are to light the audience.” In total, 14 x GLP X4 Ls are deployed to ‘rear light’ the band, with another six beaming in light from each side of the stage. “Those X4Ls on the sides really help with the show’s dynamics,” Watson says. “It looks amazing at the very beginning of the concert with them illuminating Thom [Yorke’s] face. This tour is a first for the [GLP] X4 Bars, for front light and rear light. I got them from Upstaging – I was chatting to the guys about fixtures, and they recommended them. “So we have X4 Bar 20s, and one X4 Bar 10, for Jonny Greenwood’s Fender 85, as he 19 Headliner

On Tour With

Radiohead

“Those GLP X4 Ls on the sides really help with the show’s dynamics...” has it behind him; the 20 was too long, but the 10 worked perfectly for lighting him up. “I do love those X4 Ls; the first cue of the show, with the slightly moving shadows on the screen, has a lovely intensity thing going on with the X4 Bars on the front. I just like movement of light and texture, and the beams and bars do that really well. “You know, it’s quite a brave thing to do in some ways, to open a show in front of 100,000 people with six X4 Bar 20s! [smiles] Everything is pixel-mapped, too; I don’t know why you wouldn’t, if you can, personally. I spend a lot of time doing all the rhythmic patterns on the pixel mapping.” Because Radiohead like to play quite eclectic gigs, from clubs to arenas to festivals, the lighting show needs to be scalable. “In the sense you can shrink it – as in compress it – yes, but we take nothing away,” Watson points out. “And that’s partly because I will never know what the set list is until we have built the rig! “I have done some tours where you go somewhere and lose two end sections of a truss, but we don’t tend to do that with Radiohead, as things tend to have a purpose; you are attracting the audience to look at something specifically, so you can’t get it wrong. We have six band members in nine possible positions during the set, so they move

20 Headliner

around a bit. So we sometimes have to squash it, but with arena shows, it’s always full height. Some of the songs are very expansive, and you need to represent that visually; at the same time, some are very intimate, and you need to understand that, as well – so you really can’t not have those extremes.”

No Alarms & No Surprises

After watching the Dublin show at the 3Arena, it became clear what Watson had been talking about – the band performance was entirely spellbinding, as expected, but Watson’s was equally so. It also became very clear just how much the band must have to trust him to get it all right on the night, so to speak. But that should come as no surprise, really, considering the type of working relationship they have forged. “They are very loyal to their people; when they first started out, they were very nice, and they still are,” Watson insists. “They collected a bunch of perfectionists who wanted to really care about what they were doing - and sometimes, it doesn’t make you the most popular person, really wanting things to be exactly in the right place or position. But the band are incredible perfectionists themselves, so it works well for everybody.” Radiohead’s schedule is never too crazy, as all band members have other projects; but

unsurprisingly, Watson is involved in most: “They go away from being Radiohead to keep that freshness when they do come together; and when they do that, they do the shows they want to do. And that’s how they like it: they like the audience to have a good time, that’s the whole point.” And a good time was well and truly had by everyone in Dublin on the night. Radiohead also smashed it at Glastonbury, of course, where, sure enough, Watson did indeed end up illuminating the whole audience with those GLP X4 Bar powerhouses! @radiohead www.glp.de www.radiohead.com

Andi Watson, LD

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US+THEM

ROGER WATERS HITS NORTH AMERICA

Photographs Kate Izor

FANCY WATCHING THE FORMER PINK FLOYD FRONTMAN PERFORM HIT AFTER HIT with a 10-piece band in tow? Us too (and them, apparently) *cough* Anyway, we caught up with Matt Napier, the monitor man and more for Roger Waters, on what looks like one of the must-see touring shows of 2017, where Waters and co. have been treating sell-out audiences to epic tracks from seminal Floyd albums, Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Animals, and Wish You Were Here. What’s not to like?

Matt Napier started working with Roger Waters last year for his shows in Mexico and Desert Trip. His previous engineer, Ian Newton, unfortunately passed away a few years ago: “a first class engineer, and a lovely guy,” Napier tells us. So it was an honour for him to be asked to fill such shoes. “I felt a lot of responsibility to do Ian’s memory justice, and make the gig work as smoothly as possible,” Napier says. “We didn’t have a lot of rehearsal time, so it was intense, but the shows went really well. Desert Trip was quite a unique experience, just from the huge scale of the show to the absolute dream set list that Roger put together; and this tour is equally as impressive. We have quite a few new band members, too, so it’s been equally as intense getting everything right. You just have to do this music justice.” The production for Us + Them looks pretty epic, to say the least – and this is down to a strong emphasis on the synergy between the music and the aural/visual experience. “The surround system that we install in each venue makes the aural experience very immersive for the audience, and the visuals are absolutely stunning. It’s a journey, to say

great guy to work for: “Roger is always fair, and very professional; if there’s a technical problem, as long as you’re honest, he understands..! A lot of younger musicians could learn from him,” Napier smiles. “With 10 people on stage to look after, it gets busy in monitor world, but we are all working towards the same aim, which is to put on a unique show. “Off stage, I can honestly say Roger is one of the nicest guys in the business. He not only learns the names of every crew member on the tour, but takes the time to chat to people; he’s one of the good guys!” WATERS IS A FAN OF JH AUDIO IEMS,

though his Roxannes are a little different to what you might ordinarily expect. But this, of course, is not an ordinary production: “Yeah, this is a pretty interesting one! So, embedded in the IEM are LED trackers. The cable carries the audio from the RF belt-pack, and also the tracking signal to a separate belt-pack. This allows the VYV tracking system to locate Roger wherever he is on stage,” Napier reveals. Fascinating stuff. “It allows the lighting director to have

“because of the jh audio roxanne, i no longer need sidefills to add the lf on stage...”

Waters’ impressive lighting rig includes 13 GLP X4 Bar 20s, which sit on their own ledge, downstage.

the least,” Napier says. “Unlike Desert Trip last year, we had a good period of rehearsals. There were a lot of new band members, but we had a really good band rehearsal period, where they really pulled apart and rebuilt the songs. “Although stressful at the time, band rehearsals are the best part for me as an engineer, as you get to be involved and help musicians when they are at their most creative. Roger really is the captain of the ship, and steers its direction, but he allows the musicians to explore their creativity and add their own flavour.” And what makes it that bit easier is the working relationship Napier has formed with Waters – although demanding, he remains a

any moving light track Roger, and to know exactly where he is, so every lighting cue is exact, even if Roger is in a different location.” Napier has been an advocate of JH Audio ever since the Roxanne model came out a few years ago, and always recommends the brand to the artists he works with. “It’s a great product; very musical, and the extra low end really helps on stage,” he says. “Basically, because of Roxanne, I no longer need sidefills to add the LF on stage. The other big point of the Roxanne is the stereo imaging; it really opens up your mix. “Other than a couple of wedges, the entire stage in on IEMs. What’s also so useful is the fantastic customer service approach that JH has; Andy and Sue Regan have been great

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“the sd7 is still the only real serious choice for a show of this complexity; nothing else comes close.” with helping us get the IEM/LED components working, even down to making the customised cables for us. It’s on a whole other level, that kind of one-on-one working relationship. Fantastic.” NAPIER’S MONITORING SETUP IS CENTRED

around his trusted DiGiCo SD7 console, and the channel count is pretty staggering. [Deep breath...] He is running 130 inputs (many of which are stereo), 21 mono auxes, 16 stereo auxes, three mono groups, seven stereo groups, 32 matrix inputs, 14 matrix outputs, and 24 control groups. Are we missing anything?! “[laughs] Well, I keep playing with other consoles, but the SD7 is still the only real serious choice for a show of this complexity; and actually, it’s not just the channel count,” Napier says. “The SD Series sounds fantastic, too, and the flexibility of the SD Racks and Mini Racks, redundancy, and user flexibility means nothing else comes close. “I also have two SD Racks dealing with stage inputs and IEM outputs, and a Mini Rack which takes care of some analogue inserts.” RF wise, Napier is also looking after coordination for the tour; he uses a TTi PSA 2702 to scan for local interference, and it’s all done on Professional Wireless’ IAS software. There are 10 musicians on stage including Waters, plus a number of techs under the stage,

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so that’s where the majority of the IEM mixes get eaten up, Napier tells us: “Actually, most of the musicians are multiinstrumentalists, and also sing, so there are a lot of things going on; at the last count, we had about 70 different guitars in play! “We also have a few discrete wedges around the stage to add a bit of weight, and we need a bit of extra stage volume for when we get to Another Brick In The Wall; we have a local kids’ group join us on stage, and they need to hear, as well.” To help deal with this incredibly vast setup, Napier uses snapshots on his SD7 quite extensively: 53, to be precise. “I run them all in ‘relative’ mode so that any changes in soundcheck can be adjusted across the board,” Napier explains. “All the snapshots are fired via SMPTE. All the music is live, but we also have a lot of sound FX running for the surround PA, which I also feed into the IEM system. Due to the massive visual element and video content, the SMPTE is always running. “It’s actually a godsend for me, as once programmed, I can let the snapshots/SMPTE control all the mutes, major level changes, guitar changes, vocal mics; that frees me up to actually listen to, and actively mix the show for Roger. Well... it’s a godsend now, but it took quite a few late nights programming to get it all running so smoothly!”

NAPIER HAS TALK MICS ON EVERY PERSON,

and uses Radial HotShot footswitches so that the band can talk directly to either him or their respective technicians without disturbing anyone else with any requests. “Luckily, I have a great team from Clair in Richard Burke and Nicole Wakefield helping me out onstage,” Napier declares. “I’ve been really happy with the gear, and the quality of the crew they have sent out.” In terms of effects, Napier uses a lot of the onboard features of the SD7 for the majority of his needs, and has a little extra outboard in tow, as well: “I have a Lexicon 480L for the vocal reverb; I know there are newer reverb machines about, but the random hall works so well with the IEMs that I keep coming back to it. I have an XL42 on the front end of Roger’s vocal, and inserted over the vocal on the XL42 is an Empirical Labs Distressor. It’s a fantastic compressor to use, especially when you are starting a new show with a new client. It can emulate so many types of compressor, and add subtle tones to its signal. “I also have another Distressor over Roger’s bass to add in some second order harmonic distortion and emulate an ‘Opto’ compressor. Then there’s my TC Electronic D-Two. There are quite a few delays in the music, and although I normally use the built in FX on the DiGiCo, the

“luckily, on this tour, the music is so phenomenal, it’s a pleasure to mix!” D-Two is very fast and easy to setup so it’s my go-to DDL when in rehearsals and someone asks for a delay. “Once I’ve got the settings, and everyone is happy, I’ll move that DDL to the internal console DDL FX, freeing up the D-Two for next time. “Although it’s important not to overcompress musicians’ instruments in the monitors, as they need to hear what they are playing, some compression is needed to keep the dynamic range of both the RF transmission and the IEM driver in that sweet spot. To that end, I have a couple of Al Smart C2 compressors working as bus compression on Roger’s mix. They’re great compressors, and glue things together nicely.” With so much going on all the time, perhaps it’s too difficult a question to ask what the biggest challenges are... Is it? “Well, we have a great team on the road; Chris Kansy does a great job of production, and Ski (Eric Piontkowski) is a fantastic stage manager. We have a great backline department with probably 400 years of combined experience, and Clairs sent out a top class audio team... So far, everyone is getting on really well,” insists Napier. “The biggest challenge [at the time of writing] is that we are three months into a four-month run, so quite frankly, I’m missing my wife and kids in a big way right now! It’s always a challenge on long tours to keep the enthusiasm up to a high standard, day in day out. Luckily, on this tour, the music is so phenomenal, it’s a pleasure to mix: Dogs and Pigs are the highlights of the show for me; really dynamic, fun songs to mix! And the biggest technical challenge? “Well, that would be the RF; the available spectrum is getting smaller and smaller over in the States, and the recent announcement from the FCC that the 600-700 MHz range is going, means it will make RF coordination even more interesting..!” Sounds like another conversation for another day, there..! In the meantime, we wish Matt and Roger all the best with the rest of the North American leg, which runs until October 29th. The epic Us + Them tour will descend on the UK and Europe in 2018. www.digico.biz www.jhaudio.com www.sonicevents.net

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Lisa Maffia Wah Gwarn

One of the biggest UK garage acts of all time is So Solid Crew – a collective made up largely of lads with attitude, with one exception: Lisa Maffia. Her presence and distinct vocal contribution to the group earned her the title ‘Queen of Garage’, and helped catapult So Solid to some serious successes: BRITs, MOBOs, and more. 17 years later, Lisa has a new solo album. It’s about collaboration, smart co-writing, and getting the right team behind her; and it’s sounding damn good, too. It’s been 20 years since garage

Lisa Maffia

Bringing back UK garage 26 Headliner

music first took the UK by the collar, and refused to let go. It’s a genre which Brits and Europeans will know well, our American readers, perhaps less so; the music clubs this side of the pond during the mid-’90s were pumping garage tracks out of every pore; it was a serious musical movement. Lisa Maffia was a big part of that, and is making new waves in a bid to bring it back, with a twist. As we take a seat in the Hilton Hotel in Victoria, Lisa is all smiles, and full of enthusiasm. It will soon becomes clear why this lady has achieved so much: she carries a huge energy, determination, and clear entrepreneurial edge. “When I came out as a solo artist first time round, I was doing R&B, but I really wanted to do garage. So I actually won Best Garage Act on a half R&B, half garage album,” Lisa reveals. “Then it kind of went away, and I used to think, ‘by the the time it gets round to me again, I’ll be grey and old, with a zimmer frame!’ [laughs] But then over the last few years, I genuinely wondered where garage had gone; grime was growing, and that’s great, but it’s pretty harsh and dark, and really young. And I guess I got to thinking, ‘this was us 17 years ago’.” ‘Us’ being So Solid Crew, of course – and it got Lisa thinking about how there may still be a niche for the genre, if she added a bit of a new flavour. “So four years ago, I decided I had to do it – bring garage back,” she says. “It would be self funded, independent, me as a solo artist, with no-one to write for me. So I built my contacts again, worked out if anyone was doing the garage thing at all, and built my little team. And [current single] Wah Gwarn was the first track I’d recorded in five years.” Immediately upon listening to the single, you know it’s from the same place: it has those classic garage undertones, and it’s commercial... But not too commercial, right? “I definitely rep the underground with my vocals,” Lisa beams. “I’m fortunate that I am still loved on the underground scene, so I definitely want to keep it that way! And these kids are ‘90s

Lisa Maffia Wah Gwarn

babies – so it’s nice to know I am still connecting; and the only way to do that is play with old school garage and give them new elements from today’s market.” Some 10 years back, when things had dried up a little, Lisa opened up her own booking agency. It was going to be key to keep the bread and butter coming in, and the only way to do that was go down that route, she tells me:

and Aaron would write, and the production team would produce around their vocals: “And it works brilliantly that way, and so I become a producer, as well, so even more royalty for me! [laughs] But it’s collaboration that creates the great tracks; I can definitely see that now.” Lisa hopes to release an EP in November, and then save the rest of the material for next year: “I think with everything being so easily

“It’s collaboration that creates great tracks, I can definitely see that now.” “I called it UC Bookings, which stands for ‘Under Cover’, as I was embarrassed! I didn’t want anyone to know I was buying myself a job, know what I mean? [laughs] And that’s how I have met the artists I am working with now. It all came from me contacting them about booking me for gigs!” One team that has been responsible for some of Lisa’s production is 4, a Southampton-based crew who she feels have a serious grasp of both new and old school garage music: “They just did the Pure Garage mix, and they are so sick,” Lisa enthuses. “They’ve helped develop me as an artist; and then I got Aaron Soul in to write with me, too; and that was the first track that I knew was going to work. And from that, we made 13 tracks. I had a great team and a lot of gigs going on; I was educating myself throughout that period, and I’m sitting with co-writers now, and they are incredible. We have vibe sessions where we all co-write together, and I am flying through tracks. It’s quite inspiring, really, and it used to be quite embarrassing not writing your own stuff!” Producers would come in with a beat, Lisa

accessible and immediate today, I need to make sure I can stay here, and not throw the lot out right away,” she reflects. “I think stage it, as the industry is so fast now. There are no poster campaigns anymore; you get 10 seconds, and if they don’t like you, you’re gone.” Back in the day, So Solid would record a track, get it onto pirate radio, and then onto white sleeve (a 12-inch record with no label whatsoever). “We’d sell it out of a van, and put it into Red Records and all the other distributors in central London at the time, and you’d test it,” Lisa recalls. “With Bound 4 Da Reload, we sold 500,000 records on white label over three years; and the same happened with Oh No; and that’s where it started with the underground campaign. Then maybe it’d be picked up by a label some years later. It was a hard graft, and right at the end, Myspace came about with a music profile. And if you knew how to upload to it, that was another thing!” Evidence, indeed, just how much the industry has changed during that period. Coming out of So Solid was another learning curve for Lisa; after So Solid was banned, she was also scrutinised: “It was a strange time; I remember being

searched at doors for guns, which was just ridiculous, but it was also part of the journey, so it meant we had made an impact, and that made me keep going despite the negativity,” she says. “At that point, I was seven years deep, and I then opened my own label, Maffia Records, and signed this group called North Star – the baddest boys in North London, mind you! And they went to number one in the Channel U charts, and stayed there for five weeks; I did it all off my own back, getting them gigs, and I even brought them along with me as I did my modelling overseas. “In that same period, I opened my own agency, was touring with Romeo [from So Solid], and was island hopping, so I kind of never really saw the gap after So Solid finished, as I always had so many things going on.” So now, it’s full steam ahead with the new material. What’s the plan? “Well, I did five tracks with 4, and another five I think with The HeavyTrackerz, who are phenomenal, so it’s been lots of people, and it’s been incredible,” Lisa admits. “I even worked with a 15 year old who’s created my third single, and he just has this brain for old school garage! I have no idea how! But it’s really quality stuff. We found him randomly online, so that was really cool. “But we have to reform garage, and remake it into something fresh sounding. Underground garage is grime garage, so we tap into grime, but it has a lot more melody and rhythm, it’s all a bit more positive. “It’s happier, more dancey; grime is a lot more tough and boisterous. Lot of girls are into grime, but they don’t tend to be ‘dressing up getting ready for the weekend’ type of girls. I am determined to bring back that feel with my music, and I can’t wait to see how it will be received!” We wish Lisa and her team the very best of luck with the record – keep an eye out, people!

@lisamaffiauk

27 Headliner

Cover Story

_Enter Shikari:

THE SPARK

01 Headliner

Amid bouts of insomnia, anxiety, and panic attacks, plus the release of new single, Live Outside, dramatically announcing a new sonic turn for the band, Enter Shikari are standing their ground. It’s approaching 20 years since Rou Reynolds, Chris Batten, and Rob Rolfe started making music together, known then as Hybrid. They became Enter Shikari when guitarist, Rory Clewlow, joined the group. Each of their four albums has undergone a noticeable shift, but their upcoming record, The Spark, will be their biggest curveball yet. Words Adam Protz Photographs Jennifer McCord

am sat with Rou, Rob, and Rory, a dream of alliteration, in Rob’s back garden in St Albans. He lives in the city’s conservation area, full of quaint Tudor houses and ancient pubs. With the exception of Londonbased Rou, the band have chosen to remain in their hometown. Presumably, St Albans offers some nice respite after the madness of touring. Rob’s adorable new Fenlander puppy, Teebie, is desperately trying to bite anything and everything, including my backpack. We start with the obvious: the band’s Black Mirrorinspired video for lead single, Live Outside, which is somehow equal parts Orwellian nightmare and hilarious satire. “Bob Gallagher, who directed the video, is such a lovely, soft spoken guy”, Rou tells me, looking sharp in a white shirt, Lennon-style glasses, and his overflowing, undercut hairstyle. “But he has such a dark sense of humour! In that last shot, which is so grim, I just remember him giggling behind the camera [laughs].” I mention that I found the video felt political, whereas the lyrics of the song feel much more personal. “That’s right,” Rob confirms. “We do like to sometimes do a video which doesn’t necessarily match up with the lyrics entirely.” “These lyrics are open to different interpretations,” adds Rou. “It definitely works politically, but the initial idea behind them was mental health stuff. But the two play hand in hand so much; the video is reflecting the monotony of capitalism and the entertainment industry. Obviously mental health is intertwined and affected by those things, as well.” Despite Live Outside’s black-hearted video, and touching on Rou’s recent personal troubles, it’s possibly the most uplifting track from the Shikari oeuvre yet — delightful yet ponderous pop that blends clean guitars, ‘80s synths, and a catchy chorus that will stay with you for weeks on end. The bone crunching riffs and Rou’s deathly bellows are gone, at least on The Spark’s first single. So while every Enter Shikari album until now has possessed a new sound, it would still be a variation on a theme, with the theme primarily being alternative metal. The music heard in Live Outside is a new theme entirely. I wonder what brought this about; a new set of influences? Growing older and maturing as people? Or the desire for artistic growth, perhaps?

“It’s not even a desire, it’s a need,” Rou insists. “The need to keep doing new things, and pushing myself. I’m quite fidgety as a musician, I get bored too easily. That’s played a part on all of our albums. But for this one, it really feels like our post-punk moment. “I’ve become disillusioned with punk and metal. There really isn’t much progression there — there are so many tours we’ve done with bands who sound exactly the same, and it’s so uninspiring! Intensity isn’t just achieved by shouting; there’s so much intensity in different types of singing and music. That’s what we’ve been exploring on this record.” And thankfully for the morale of the good ship Shikari, it’s a shared sentiment. “We are sick and tired of it,” says Rory, known to friends and fans as Rory C. “After playing Warped Tour quite a few times, watching some of the bands really is like watching the same band, but with different people in it. The chuggy guitar tone, the sing-y chorus, and the screamy verse. We just want to get as far away from that scene as possible. Changing up our sound is for our own sanity! And when Rou presented us with Live Outside in particular, I told him, ‘you’ve nailed it!’”

A SOUND DECISION

Shikari’s fresh new approach is quite the departure from the electronicore machine fans will have become accustomed to. “I’ve built up a lot of confidence over the last few years, in terms of being a singer and a songwriter,” Rou explains. “So I really wanted to push out of our niche, out of the ghetto of rock! And to write music that’s up there with the lineage of influences that we have.” I ask who in particular that was for this album. “It’ll be no surprise that the ‘80s British synth-pop scene has been a big influence,” Rob explains. “Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, The Human League. But also modern bands like Everything, Everything.” “Also, stuff like The Stone Roses, and Britpop,” Rou adds. “That’s the best pop music for me, when punk goes into that realm. I just don’t want us to be in this box of, ‘a noisy band’ or, ‘a crazy band’. Because actually, we write fucking good tunes! Hopefully the mainstream will stop ghettoising bands like us.” Of course, there’s also the fact that Enter Shikari have Headliner 29 Headliner 02

“Even though we are living in a time with amazing, forward-thinking pop music, it’s still being infiltrated by the Hollywood mindset.” always been a band with a message. So releasing more accessible, melodic music can only help that. There was, however, a tweet by Rou saying ‘narcissistic pop, we’re coming for you... our next album will bring our message to the masses.’ Which gave the impression he didn’t want to be writing poppier music, only he was willing to reach more people. “No, I write the music I love and enjoy,” he reassures me. “I’m the biggest fan of this band! Even though we are living in a time with amazing, forward thinking pop music, it’s still being infiltrated by the Hollywood mindset.” Which leads us onto Taylor Swift, who Rou has been pretty vocal about on his Twitter account. “The most recent example of this is the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster thing,” he says, with disdain. “Where you have to buy merch, and the album, to go up in the queue to get a concert ticket.” But isn’t that to knock out ticket touts? “I just think it’s straight exploitation. She’s only replacing the touts — she isn’t literally hiking the ticket price, but she’s making people buy merch, and her CD, just for a chance for a ticket for her show. There’s a lot of ways pop music will happily increase the pedestal, and the divide between the audience and the artist. That’s something we’ve never been about, and I still think there’s a need for those with a punk mindset to come after the pop sound, which is what I meant by that tweet!”

FIT BODY, FIT MIND

If you’ve been following the band’s Instagram posts and tour videos, you may have noticed Rou has got pretty serious about yoga and meditation recently. Knowing that adopting a mindful lifestyle can have such a profound 30 Headliner

impact on every aspect of one’s life, I ask if he feels that it’s seeped into his creativity for album number five. “I think so,” Rou says, after a pause. “I first used them as a tool to help deal with anxiety and insomnia. But the vast swathes of benefits, and the focus it gives you... I’m sure it helped. “I find the whole process of making music is meditative; it’s that sensation they call the ‘flow state’, where five hours pass, and I don’t even eat, because I’ve just been writing music all day. That’s one of the most euphoric states to be in, when you’re in the moment, and not thinking about anything else! “But it’s probably helped the most in calming down the anxious mind, when I’m writing a song and not constantly questioning myself. Now I think, ‘you’ve got this’ [laughs].” Some positive news of late is a number of figures in the public eye opening up about mental health issues. Rou, admirably, is keen to do that also with this record. “I think making people realise they’re not alone is so important,” he says. “I went through the majority of my schooling, and most of my early 20s, not knowing what anxiety was. Just thinking I was weird, and it was something I had to deal with by myself. “It’s so dangerous; and it’s heartbreaking to think about how many people are in that position. It makes it sound like it’s this grand and noble thing to open up and speak about mental health. But I found going through the shit that I went through for two years influenced this album; when I did speak about it on Twitter, I’d get 20 or 30 people saying they had the same thing, and it made me feel so much better.” The peak of this storm for Rou was

2015, which coincided with Enter Shikari’s triumphant slot on the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury that year. I remember being in the crowd myself and, though the band did give a 10 out of 10 performance, I did get the sense that Rou wasn’t quite himself, not bantering with the audience at all in between songs like he usually would. “Before we played Download that year, we had the Kerrang! Awards,” Rou recalls. “Award ceremonies send my anxiety through the roof — all eyes are on you, and having to be an interesting and funny rock star. I hate it. I know it sounds silly, complaining about having to go to award ceremonies! “The morning after that, I had a huge panic attack. I went to hospital, and for about four months after, I had insomnia - a generalised anxiety disorder, which turned into depression. I broke up with my long-term girlfriend, as well. So that was a grim few months! [laughs] We played Download three days after I went to hospital, and I hadn’t slept at all, and was just empty. Glastonbury was the same, I just had no energy. So the meditation, yoga, and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) thankfully got me out of that, for the most part.” Rou has gradually discovered he has a combination of social and health anxiety. He joins a long list of frontmen who are hugely extroverted on stage, and then much quieter in day to day situations, such as Prince, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury. It’s ended up being a shared experience between Rou and Rob, who also developed insomnia this year himself. “We’ve spoken a lot about the things that worked for him,” Rob says. “So I’ve also been loving the yoga, and the CBT has really

helped too. It’s good, being able to bond over things like that. It’s something different that connects us, rather than the music — I imagine Rory and Chris have that with their kids as a commonality.”

EVOLUTION

I mention that since Common Dreads, Shikari’s bitter, political record, the group’s impact has gradually become much more positive, with a message of unity. I ask if that trend will continue with The Spark. “When we wrote Common Dreads, we were much younger, angrier people,” Rob says. “We’re not the same people that we were seven years ago. I was reading somewhere that every particle in your body is exchanged over seven years, so seven years from now, I’ll have a completely different body! So it would be impossible for us to stay thinking on the same wavelengths as we were back then.” For Rory, one of the biggest changes on this new album was playing on a Fender Telecaster, the guitar much loved by the likes of Jeff Buckley, George Harrison, and Keith Richards. “I’ve never used one prior to this,” Rory says. “It’s the American Standard. I got the pickups for it from Shed Pickups, which is literally a guy making pickups in his shed. I had an Evertune bridge put in, because I hate playing guitars without one! I have always liked the way Telecasters react; they’re so ‘bitey’. Nothing else sounds like a Telecaster.” Enter Shikari have deservedly won multiple awards for their live show, not least after their landmark Alexandra Palace show last year. The Shikari live experience truly is one of the best in the world, and a huge friend to the band in this

regard has been Audio-Technica, who service all of their microphone and wireless needs. Perhaps because no piece of equipment is ever safe during an Enter Shikari concert, and AudioTechnica have been the most understanding. “We break a lot of things,” Rou admits, with a laugh. “We generally try to fix them ourselves; the soldering iron will be out for the show! But the amount of mics, wireless systems, and leads they’ve given us - they’ve been great. They’ve just customised my mic for The Spark tour, and it looks sick. They’re good friends now, and we’ve been through so many other brands, and these survive being thrown across stage the most! “Also, they just sound so great. Not only is it a customised mic, but it’s a broadcast mic — a dynamic mic that also looks like one off of Top of the Pops in the ‘80s! They used their BP4001 microphone as the base for customising it.” Rory is also a huge fan: “Audio-Technica just seem to do everything we need; their kit sounds really good, and is built really sturdily,” he says. “For demoing, we use the AT4033a mic, which is brilliant for general vocal recording, and miking guitar amps. I’ve also been using their wireless guitar system for a while, the System 10. “The reason we use it is because it runs on 2.4 GHz, the same frequency as WiFi. So when we turn up at festivals, we don’t have to pay for the bandwidth, like you would do with a traditional wireless system. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me they don’t trust it, because it’s new technology. But I’ve been touring with it all over the world for years now, and it’s never caused me any problems. I was using the Sennheiser G3 before, which meant having to have different systems

in different countries, and paying for the bandwidth.” Shikari also previously used Sennheiser for all of the microphones, before switching to Audio-Technica two years ago. “Our front of house engineer is the most picky guy in the world with sound, and he’s so happy with the way the mics sound at the moment,” Rory explains. It’s almost miraculous that Enter Shikari formed when each of the four guys was so young, and they still haven’t had a spectacular falling out, as so many other bands have in similar circumstances. “They’re just isn’t an arsehole in the band,” Rory concludes. “In my experience of other bands that break up, it’s usually because there’s just one arsehole that ruins everything.” With the foundations as strong as ever, and another huge UK and European tour upcoming, which includes their second Alexandra Palace show, it’s difficult to imagine what can stop the Shikari train. They’re also going after a real concerted effort to finally break America. “I’m so grateful for our support out there,” Rou says. “But I don’t feel like they always get us, as people do here. But I think this is the record that could change that.” And where will Shikari be in five years’ time? “We’re playing arenas now,” Rory states. “So I’d love for us to be playing stadiums!” Enter Shikari are one of the most unlikely success stories in music history, to the point where anything is possible. Including this ambition of Rory’s. Headliner will back the ‘Shikari for Wembley’ campaign, all day long. www.entershikari.com

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McGoozer Songs from the Mirror

We sit down with Glasgow-born singer-songwriter, McGoozer, in a quaint local pub to chat about his upcoming album, Songs From The Mirror, a collection of tales gathered from around the world which, rather aptly, was recorded in London, Nashville, New York, and The Maldives. Headliner investigates... McGoozer is no stranger to touring

MCGOOZER: SONGS FROM THE MIRROR Words Paul Watson

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or making music. He has hit the road pretty relentlessly in recent years with the likes of Mike + The Mechanics, Phil Collins, and even The Blues Brothers – and here’s a fun fact: he is also the voice of the McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ adverts! About a year and a half ago, after finding new management in the US with ShipWright Productions, things ‘started to ramp up in a big way’, the Scotsman tells us – this has led to a whole new focus, and refreshed musical work ethic. “Normally, I book the gigs, and do pretty much everything, but now a real team has been built; my manager, Steve Shippee (former CEO of major production company, Broadway Video), has helped turned it all up a notch,” McGoozer explains. Sounds like it. “Everything is really tangibly very different now, and since late December time, all my social media numbers have gone way up, and that’s opened a few doors, as well.” McGoo (as we’ll call him from hereon in) often picks up his guitar and streams live performances at random locations, which has led, “for some reason or other,” he tells me, “to a particularly engaged audience in South America.” But that’s only scratching the surface: “I was doing it on my own at first, but now I have the team, I have the right focus on what to do, where to put it, and when. It’s great, and Facebook Live has been a massive help to me. It all kind of spreads exponentially, and I’ve done it from loads of different places: studios, with just me and an acoustic [guitar], and the last one was at Yamaha’s flagship store in [London’s] Wardour Street, which I did with a band. I’d only ever done acoustic shows up until then, but the live feed was a new thing for Yamaha, too, so it worked well for both of us.” On Valentine’s Day this year, McGoo had

McGoozer Songs from the Mirror

taken himself out to the Maldives, which is where the initial inspiration for his album came from. “I took a ukulele with me, as it fitted nicely in my luggage, and I was there for four months, ” he explains. Not jealous at all, here. Honest. “I wrote what became the first single out there, just on ukulele, sent it to [my manager] Steve in the US, and I was layering things on top here in the UK. And that was the first song that started the ball rolling; the idea for the whole album.”

“Fred brought Will Hicks in to mix it, so again, the team continued to build,” McGoo recalls. “At this point, we were bringing in pluggers, radio people, stuff I’d never had before. That’s when I decided to do the Glasgow gig – my hometown, and somewhere, bizarrely, I had never really played before.” That turned out to be one of the best things McGoo has ever done – a massive family and circle of friends, most of which had never seen

“I took a ukulele to The Maldives, as it fitted nicely in my luggage, and I was there for four months...” McGoo wrote a lot of the stuff that is on the album out in the Maldives, and a lot more material that hasn’t yet seen the commercial light of day. “It was just a nice place to go and focus on music,” he confirms. “Here, I’ll gig, drive there and back, and that’s it - but I got shit done out there, basically!” After that, he headed out to New York City (as you do) to record at a studio called Sandblast, right on Broadway: “They do a lot of TV music for HBO: my first single, One and Only Girl, got synced to a People Magazine web series through that; so again, a whole series of events happening through various people plugging it into different areas. And it’s exactly what I’m after, really.” McGoo’s second single, Falling out of Love, was written a couple years ago – and in cahoots with Fred Abbott of Noah and the Whale. He’d always wanted to use it on something, so that, too, made it to the album.

him play, turned out to fill the venue. It also got him a big spread in the Daily Record. “It was a good opportunity to fill a venue up with family and friends! And because one of my brothers is the original drummer in Simple Minds, and my other brother is Owen Paul (who had a hit in 1986 with My Favourite Waste of Time) it meant I had a story to tell, so I got good press coverage. More of the Scottish press got involved off the back of that, and, of course, that has had a domino effect of sorts, too. “One of the songs [on the album] I wrote just a couple of months ago, and some of it has been stuff my fans would have known for 15 years; it’s a hybrid mixture of the musical journey I suppose. When I listen to songs I’ve written, I know that came from X time or Y time in my life, but it’s a continuity, and it definitely works as a full album.” This quite uniquely crafted record – which sounds great, we should add – also includes several Nashville co-writes: “different people I’ve worked with over the years,” as McGoo modestly puts it.

These guys include Grammy-winning producers, Gary Nicholson and Randy Kohrs. “A lot of album was recorded in two separate Nashville sessions, and, really, at two different levels,” McGoo explains. “Some I recorded pretty basically, and some really up to top standard; but this album is the cream of all of that, so I picked three or four from that session. It’s all about collaboration, and picking the best songs from this period of my life. Most of my life is gigging and touring, and to a lot of people, so you know which ones work well.” The record will be released on Right Track Records – the label also distributes through Universal, so McGoo and co. have some pretty high hopes, without getting too carried away. Success, after all, is people liking the record, first and foremost. “Colin Peter [head of Right Track Records] has been amazing; I have known him a long time, and he is head of the label. Between that, and the radio and TV pluggers - which I’ve never had before – I’ve known them all for 10 years, and they’ve all been supporters of mine, but only now am I in a position to say, ‘lads, I’m flogging my own stuff now, it’s now or never!’ “So it’s favour pulling time, and I love what I do anyway. My day job is singing songs, but this is the first time I have focused as fully as I can on my own stuff, so what happens from now is kind of unknown... But exciting all the same!” Songs from the Mirror is out on September 17th – we recommend it highly, not just for its eclecticism, as an album, but for this fella’s quite outstanding voice. Let’s hope the album gets the traction it deserves. For more on McGoozer, follow him on Twitter, and check out his website (links below).

@mcgoozermusic www.mcgoozer.com

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Lucy Rose

Safe & Sound

LUCY ROSE: SAFE & SOUND Two weeks after watching Lucy Rose wow Glastonbury-goers from the Avalon Stage, I find myself sat with the talented singer-songwriter herself in the garden of the North By Northwest, an Alfred Hitchcock themed pub in Islington, London, to find out how she overcame a creative crisis, and developed a whole new musical focus. Words Adam Protz

Lucy Rose was among the highlights of a particularly strong Glastonbury 2017, although one of the things that struck me the most about her set was her chatter in between songs. A number of times, she alluded to a big creative crisis she had gone through recently, and even expressed uncertainty about playing Shiver, one of her best known and loved songs. “I don’t want to say the same thing everyone says, ‘the industry got me down’,” Lucy says, her accent a blend of her native Warwickshire, and her adopted home of London. “Something more and more artists are saying, and in public. It wasn’t really that which got me down; it was more about feeling I wasn’t part of how music is put out, and enjoyed. Trying to find my place within the industry, and all that pressure to look a certain

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way. As you saw at Glastonbury, I like to do my own soundcheck, and people would tell me, ‘you shouldn’t do that!’” I tell Lucy it was a little strange, coming straight from the Pyramid Stage after seeing Barry Gibb [at Glastonbury], to finding her repeatedly pressing a note on her stage piano prior to her performance for the soundcheck on the Avalon Stage. So I’m relieved to find it was external factors surrounding Lucy’s second album, Work It Out (a more upbeat departure from her debut album, Like I Used To), that were bringing her down — and in fact, she had to fight to make it a record she could be 100% proud of. It’s all led to her divorcing from Columbia Records; her latest album, Something’s Changing, is out now with her new team,

“The fact I was unhappy doing music seemed very strange...”

Communion Records, a label whose name has perhaps never been more apt. “I was just fed up of arguing,” Lucy admits. “Especially with people who were meant to be on my side. People saying, ‘you should start co-writing’, and then having huge arguments about that.” Thank goodness she won that battle. The notion of an artist like Lucy sitting in a room with a rushed-together team of songwriters just doesn’t sit right. “I don’t want to co-write; I want it be authentic, and to be me,” Lucy says. “And then I was being treated as an awkward person, as if I was doing it just to piss them off! That was hard, feeling as though everyone hated me because I want to write my own music. It’s hard wanting to be yourself, and everyone

Lucy Rose

saying, ‘we want you to be different to you.’ It eventually made me lose my entire confidence in myself — feeling like, ‘does anyone want me to be me?’” And as many will know, Lucy isn’t the first, and probably won’t be the last to feel like this. “I do really like my second record, but it was tainted by the process of putting it out, and the pressures of what it needed to do to be successful,” she says. “At the end of the first album campaign, it was, ‘you haven’t been as successful as we wanted.’ And then doing a second album campaign and feeling the same thing. It got to a point where I thought, if I’m going to be unhappy, I might as well be sitting in an office doing something I don’t like. The fact I was unhappy doing music seemed very strange.” Lucy then stresses that she doesn’t even blame Columbia and Sony themselves, and that she does understand the business model, with all its quotas. It’s more a case of them having not been ‘the right fit’. A very mature statement, considering the unpleasantness she’s had to endure.

Something’s Changing

Such worldly wisdom may have grown from her recent experience travelling around Latin America, a trip which spawned the documentary accompanying her new album, also titled Something’s Changing. It’s available on YouTube now, or you can see it on the big screen, as part of Lucy’s upcoming cinema tour, in which she will perform in movie theatres after a screening of the film. It’s a really wonderful short film, which sees Lucy staying in the tiny houses of Latin American fans, playing to their families in living rooms, and also at gigs which were put on by the South American contingent of her fanbase. There’s a very moving moment in which a tearful Lucy has a big epiphany, stating that she’s so much happier with just a backpack, her guitar, and playing these tiny gigs, than her mainstream ‘success’ has ever made her. “I thought, if I’m going to go travelling anyway, it would be sinful to be in some of these cities and not play for people who have been tweeting me for years,” she tells me.

Safe & Sound

This trip, and having her entire worldview turned upside down, was the main inspiration behind the new record. Finally, I’m wondering if Lucy’s long term vision has been shaken up a lot, after these cathartic life events. “I feel like my long term vision is always changing,” she reflects. “But it really has changed now. I know it sounds cheesy, but I really feel like music is very much who I am, and in my soul — I know I’ll be making music forever.” And as it sounds like we came perilously close to Lucy Rose quitting and becoming a car insurance salesperson, here is something to be deeply grateful for: that this chain of events worked out beautifully in the end. Just listen to the new album, Something’s Changing, for evidence of that. @lucyrosemusic www.lucyrosemusic.com

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The Longing

Tales of Torment

THE LONGING: TALES OF TORMENT We chat to LA-based band, The Longing, whose highly anticipated album, Tales of Torment, is due for release later this month, about the recording and songwriting process, and why this particular brand of prog-rock is actually very cool indeed.

The Longing have had singles out in 18 countries worldwide, UK Record of the Week, and numerous TV and movie slots on MTV, Cannes Film Festival, and even a score for Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The band’s new record, Tales of Torment, is really a storybook of alternative tales, the type of narratives told from the perspective of the wicked witch and the twisted villain; a bittersweet canvas of angst-ridden frustration. Sounds pretty spooky, doesn’t it? On the contrary, however; Laura Bradley and the band have actually created what could be described as a musical hybrid, fusing sharp synths with intelligent orchestration, with a great lead vocal from Bradley herself. It’s melodic, it’s smart, and it’s well worth a listen. “Everyone in the band has a diverse musical background; we all share music school experiences and the influences of rock, pop, metal, jazz, and classical music from performing in other bands and our listening preferences,” opens Bradley.

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“Somewhere along the way, on our debut album, I envisioned a much harder sound for the music I was writing; I didn’t feel at home solely in the purely hard rock or metal world, but symphonic metal intrigued me. I wondered if it would be possible to create the hard driven sound that I wanted with our band, my compositional style, and a lyric soprano vocal floating above it all.” The answer was a resounding ‘yes’, thanks in part to John Huldt, one of The Longing’s producers, as well as guitarist and arranger. He pointed the band in the direction of an epic, progressive metal sound with those crucial hybrid orchestral elements. “Exploring this new sound was a fantastic experience, because what I desired was a completely different atmosphere from the bands that I was listening to in the genre,” Bradley continues. “I couldn’t completely describe the sound I was after, but I knew the songs I had written on piano were demanding of the musicians as well as the listener. It’s

been a remarkable experience to work with band members and producers, John [Huldt] and Michael Wallace (also the band’s guitarist and bassist), as both were completely nonplussed and dived in feet first.”

Production Profiling

Wallace is deeply entrenched in the prog-rock world, while Huldt’s experience is a fusion of metal and classical orchestration. It made for quite a combination of influences, and has helped evolve the band’s sound dramatically. “The songwriting lends itself to both the progressive nature and the symphonic aspect, as well,” insists Bradley. “At the end of the day, the music is mind-bogglingly hard for everyone to play, thanks to some of John’s crazy guitar parts. Everyone gets a little cranky when we woodshed new material, and the musicians have had as many as seven pages taped together for a single chart in rehearsal. That said, the final outcome of Tales of Torment is exactly the sound I wanted for The

The Longing

Tales of Torment

The Longing’s Laura Bradley looking quite content during filming!

“I love hearing stories about folk who sit down at a piano and write a tune in five minutes. Let me be abundantly clear, I am not one of those people... ” Longing, and my vision for the music.” Conversation turns to the recording process – unsurprisingly, it was also pretty unique! “The recording process on this album took the group effort down the rabbit hole of each musician tracking their own part in their own studio, on their own computer, with Netflix on in the background,” Bradley smiles. “In some ways, it is so much simpler than it was a few years back. I absolutely love the long days of working in a studio with the full band, but technology has advanced to the point where you can work from your home studio, send the track to your bandmates, who then add their tracks to the mix, without sacrificing the full-band-in-the-studio experience. “We still ascend the musical mountain the same way, but in this case, it’s one solo track at a time. As much as the recording process seemed to be very much a solo endeavour for each of us, on this record we stayed meshed as a band on a day to day basis from early morning until late at night. The last thing I would do before I fell asleep was to make sure we had all signed off on the day’s work, and were feeling optimistic about progress and direction. In general, it was a texting frenzy!

Each member of The Longing had a significant role in the process, but the core production came from Bradley and the production pairing of Wallace and Huldt: “I holed up for two months writing the music on Magnolia, my antique Chickering upright piano. She had a lot to say,” Bradley reflects. “Michael and I would then track the piano and scratch vocals in the studio together; from there, John took the scratch tracks and channelled Hans Zimmer in creating these magical arrangements. Once the arrangements were crafted, each of us would record our solo parts, and John and Michael began to piece the puzzle together. I would like to point out that tracking lead and background vocals in the heat of the Los Angeles summer with a ‘sometimes’ working air conditioner makes for a very strong, albeit sweaty woman..!” When it comes to songwriting, the process is never quite the same, Bradley tells us: “This album was quite an interesting journey, as I was given the deadline before I started writing the first song. No stress at all, obviously,” she smiles. “I tend to write a bucket of lyrics first so that I have a sense of

direction, assembling the bones of the lyrics, and the stories behind them. For me, it keeps coming back to the question I ask myself repeatedly in the shower, ‘what are you trying to say?’ “I want a beginning, middle, and an end. I want a story. I want a theme. I want a narrative. I want to be able to see the future video in my head when the song is done. I love hearing stories about brilliant folk who sit down at the piano and write a tune in five minutes. Let me be abundantly clear, I am not one of those people! I hem and haw over every word, syllable, and rhyme. I ask myself whether or not it makes sense, whether or not it’s cliché. I’m quite certain I have alarmed many a person at the local reservoir where I run, and the market where I shop, as I mumble lyric lines aloud while running, or choosing a bag of kale. But then, this is Los Angeles...” Have a listen to Tales of Torment. For more details, check out the links below. @TheLongingBand www.thelonging.com

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Audio Networking

Sound Media

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

Florida-based event production company, Sound Media, has a 20-year history of providing sound, light, and video services for live events of all shapes and sizes. As client needs become more complex, owner and operator, Lennox Foster, is constantly searching for innovative ways to improve his shows.

When it came time to update the drive system for his main PA rig, Sound Media owner, Lennox Foster, chose an Optocore system to simplify his setup, and improve the sonic qualities of his productions. Sound Media’s main production system includes two DiGiCo SD10 consoles, both of which use the onboard Optocore network links to connect to an SD Rack. The system processor for their PA feed is a Dolby Lake LM44, which they now have connected to an Optocore DD32R-FX. Foster had considered Optocore X6Rs that offered eight and 16 channels of both

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analogue or AES signals, but elected to use the DD32Rs because of the units’ ability to transport 64 AES I/O, which means more flexibility, and an increased channel count for his system going forwards. The DD32R-FX at front of house is connected to two more DD32R-FXs at the stage via two redundant tactical fibre optic cables that ensure his PA feed will always be delivered. The two DD32Rs send main and back up AES to 18 Powersoft X4 and nine K10 amplifiers as well as DSP control via the 100Mbit LAN connection created over the Optocore network. The amplifiers drive an

“We chose Optocore based on consistent and robust performance...” impressive array of Turbosound speakers. “We chose Optocore based on consistent and robust performance, low latency, ease of use, open architecture, and technical support,” Foster reveals. “Our goal was to obtain improvement in sound system performance, reduction in cabling, and expanded channel capacity. We have certainly achieved improvement in audio quality: both audio depth and detail resolution; and we can now use longer fibre runs, and eliminate grounding issues between front of house and stage. As a result, we can distribute and route AES to each amplifier, which we could not do before.”

Audio Networking

Sound Media

DiGiCo consoles utilise Optocore network links to connect an SD Rack.

First Time Out

For the new system’s first performance, it was deployed in the University of Miami’s Watsco Center for the Tabernacle of Glory’s annual four-day conference. It’s a huge event that normally requires hours of setup time for both wiring and deploying the rig. That was significantly reduced by deploying Optocore. “We were surprised at the ease and flexibility of programming of the Optocore system,” admits Foster. “It wasn’t scheduled to be used until October 2017, but after testing the units to demonstrate their capabilities, we decided to deploy the system in July, based on its stability and very consistent performance.” At the event, the Optocore system added additional subtle details and depth to the audio which was noticed by the client, who remarked it as, ‘outstanding’. On large events like this one, Sound Media is commonly tasked with providing additional feeds to production mobiles, and in the past, these last minute changes would have required running new cables. On this show, there were both video and audio trucks, and a video control location back stage. “It was always a challenge to route signal from front of house to the recording trucks’ location outside,” Foster says. “But using Optocore allowed us to reduce the amount of cables running to these locations. We were able to route all audio via fibre, which is fantastic. The front of house L/R PA feeds were routed to the video broadcast truck as a backup, and the audio broadcast master channels were routed to the front of house system console as a PA backup.” “Sound Media has made the innovative jump to offering a fully optical drive solution, which production companies are quickly starting to realise increases their systems’ performance, and cuts down on their setup requirements,” concludes Brandon Coons, sales manager for Optocore North America. “We look forward to working with Sound Media on shows of all sizes, and by choosing Optocore, Lennox and his team will have infinite possibilities for expansion.”

Sound Media’s new Optocore DD32R-FX

www.optocore.com

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EP Review Big Tooth

BIG TOOTH VERY JUICY

Juice is the debut, self-produced EP from South West London jangle pop newcomers, Big Tooth. The Twickenham-based five piece describe themselves as ‘dream pop’, and here is an EP that is positively dreamy, overflowing with promise. In fact, it’s tricky to get past the fact this is a debut EP, so accomplished is its sound. Words Adam Protz

Track numero uno, Morning Songbird, will immediately have your head involuntarily nodding and feet tapping away, as frontman, Joe Weightman, weighs in with trades between midrange vocals with a pleasing raspiness, and an ethereal falsetto which justifies this band’s ‘dream pop’ moniker. The easy tempo indie rock fuses with synths very nicely. The opening strum of Ruby is a jangly nod to Johnny Marr, but it’s all kept very contemporary when the programmed kick drum and claps add something of a futuristic R&B feel. When the proper drums kick in, the chorus is infectious enough to have you wishing you were clad in vintage denim, sipping on a craft beer in a trendy spot somewhere in London. The Whitney Houston-esque synth that gets involved towards the end is a real delight. I Wanna Make Love aptly slows things down — I swear I felt the lights dim themselves as this tune came on. The multi-layered backing vocals hints at the Bee Gees, which couldn’t be more appropriate as Weightman sings: ‘I wanna love you tenderly’. The guitar tones on closer, Crazy, is just jangle-dreaminess personified, and the hovering synths are crazy infectious. It’s a very cleverly structured song, and one that ensures the Juice EP is all killer, no filler. If Big Tooth can be this good on their debut EP, everyone at Headliner is planning on camping out overnight for their album. The instrumentation, the very assured vocals of their frontman, and the songcraft is very impressive. One for the future is an understatement — in a sea of jangle-pop imitators, Big Tooth are standing out very strongly. @bigtoothband

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House 33

A Taste of Hollywood

HOUSE 33: A TASTE OF HOLLYWOOD Yes, Los Angeles has plenty of state-of-the-art recording studios, but not so many like House 33, a stunning artist retreat located in the Hollywood Hills, which offers artists of all levels the whole nine yards, so to speak: first class production facilities, a movie theatre, views to die for, and an airplane on wheels. Headliner investigates. Words Paul Watson Designed by Innovative Theaters of Los Angeles, in conjunction with Headliner’s Grammy-winning columnist, Jordan ‘DJ Swivel’ Young, House 33 is a bespoke space designed to nurture the creative experience. It also benefits from uninterrupted views of Los Angeles, from downtown to the Pacific Ocean. “It’s a fantastic house in the Hollywood Hills,” Young explains. “We had some extra space, weren’t sure what to do with it, so decided to build a studio. But we wanted to make it more than a regular recording space. “LA has a million traditional studios where you go in, do your thing, and go home, but the focus and whole concept of this was to utilise

House 33’s control room with Young’s trusted Genelec 8351s.

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a house and space where artists could soak up the beautiful views to draw inspiration, and where different rooms could spark a certain type of energy. “For that reason, we encourage all artists to explore the place, and get in their zone so they can create their own unique experience.” In addition to the idyllic surroundings, House 33 also has a pool, a fantastic open plan living area with pool table, a 12-person movie theatre (also wired for recording), and, of course, the studio itself, which houses some fantastic audio kit, starting with the studio monitors, Young’s ‘absolute go-to’ Genelec 8351s. “The main reason we chose those

speakers for this room in particular – in addition to the fantastic sonics and overall performance, of course – is that they will literally normalise the sound of every room,” Young explains. “The size and shape of the room means people are working in a relatively small place; it’s not the largest studio, and you’re not necessarily going to come and do strings or a five-piece band here, so we wanted to make sure the speakers could make up for any sonic issues we may have, just due to the nature of the space. “Luckily, we built the room, and it sounds incredible; and a big part of that is that the Genelec speakers do such a fantastic job of just managing the space, managing the bass in

House 33

A Taste of Hollywood

Two Fenders, a Taylor, a Moog, and [AKAI] beat maker.

“The Genelec 8351s do such a fantastic job at managing the space; they take it to another level. particular, and things like that. They take it to another level.”

Hybrid Technology

Young can walk to and from House 33 from his own Hollywood pad, in which he built his own home studio, also centred around the Genelec 8351s. So designing the House 33 space was all about keeping a consistency with that, and all of his go-to audio equipment: “So in addition to my Genelecs, we brought in a ton of plugins including all the Waves Audio stuff, which is fantastic, plus some Plugin Alliance stuff; every plugin I use in my home studio, I have here, along with some very cool gear. “We have the Steven Slate VMS (Virtual Mic System); and a Telefunken 251 mic, which is amazing sounding. And then a ton more gear: four API pres, a Sub Phatty keyboard, an AKAI MIDI controller, and some lovely guitars, including a Fender

Stratocaster and a beautiful Taylor acoustic.” Young adds that the movie theatre sound also has tie lines, so not only can it be utilised as a live room, you can send audio out through the whole theatre system if required. Very versatile. For control, there is a Slate Raven touch screen, and an Avid S3; and the studio is running a Pro Tools HD rig. “So if you’re a mixer, and you like future technology, that’s there for you; and if you like real faders, that’s there for you, too,” Young explains. A true hybrid, then? “Yeah, when we say artist retreat, we wanted to create a space where an artist can live for two weeks and do a whole record; there are bedrooms, there is room for your guests, and we have a beautiful [Ford Excursion] truck that is basically an airplane on wheels, once owned by Tom Cruise! We can take you wherever you want to go.”

“It’s really about moving all of the inconvenience associated with making a record, and just allowing artists, producers, and writers to come and get creative. And as far as services, if you need us to hire a chef, no problem – we have a full service kitchen, so we can handle all of those types of requests.” There is room for everybody at House 33, and the pricing is very competitive with other premium studios in LA: not the most expensive, but of course, not the cheapest. “So it’s not so pricey that your average artist can’t afford to record here,” Young insists. “I don’t think it’s just for top, top artists, despite the quality; it’s for anyone who is looking to find that energy.” For more information, or to book a session at House 33, head to the website link below. @djswivel www.33.house www.genelec.com

43 Headliner

Production Values

MPG

PRODUCTION VALUES

Headliner is invited to London to meet the Executive Board of the Music Producers Guild to talk about the constant evolution of the music industry, occasional misconceptions, and the real role of a record producer. Words Paul Watson

It’s 5pm on a Thursday afternoon in north-west London, and I’m sat with Dan Cox, Bruno Ellingham, Cameron Craig, Andrew Hunt, and Mick Glossop – these fellas make up the executive board of the Music Producers Guild, a more than 3,000-strong community of producers and engineers from in and around the UK. Many of our readers will know this organisation well, but some will not – so we want to get the message out to all artists and aspiring producers who might not be as up to speed with this group of creatives as perhaps they should be. I begin by asking what might sound a stupid question, but due to such shifts within the music biz of late, perhaps not so much: what defines a record producer in 2017? “I think we almost need to redefine what a record producer is more than anything else,” opens Ellingham. “For example, I know many creatives down in Bristol who are doing [music tech] courses because they want to produce their own music, but not to actually be a record producer, without making the correlation that by producing your own music,

(L/R) MEET THE BOARD: Dan Cox, Bruno Ellingham, Cameron Craig, Andrew Hunt & Mick Glossop.

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you are a record producer. “I think that’s where the definition is still slightly stale; so a record producer is someone who produces commercially releasable music, not just someone who goes into a studio and records bands.” The MPG board may be all guys, but let’s be clear: this is no boys club (contrary to some claims in the past), and that kind of nonsense is something the MPG should laugh off; there is now a stronger female presence within the ranks than ever before, and that only looks like growing. Renowned engineers and producers such as Olga Fitzroy, Catherine Marks, and Manon Grandjean are all Full Members, and the MPG has recently welcomed a new generation of ladies, including Lauren Deakin-Davies (who became the youngest MPG Full Member at just 18), Rhiannon Mair, Penny Churchill, and Molly Lawes. I asked Deakin-Davies what she thinks the modern day role of a record producer is. “A producer used to be someone who made the executive decisions over the direction of the music, and planned the sessions. Then you

had engineers: the people who specialised in the equipment and engineering of the studio, and hired separately to the producer,” she says. “But as time and technology has moved on, so has the role of the producer; you don’t often find producers that don’t know how to engineer, especially on smaller projects. “It’s become a job for one person, but as well as having the technical nous, it still usually involves overseeing a project, making sure deadlines are met, and budgeting, as well as making everything sound good!” “There is this slight misconception that a record producer is somehow just involved with making the sonic imprint of the record, though, whereas it’s actually much more,” adds Andrew Hunt. “I know an artist who recently put her whole EP together, arranged for the scoring to be done, got all the musicians in, wrote all of the songs, but she didn’t see it like that, so didn’t credit herself as a producer, but that is a massive part of the role.”

Get Involved

Deakin-Davies is also an accomplished artist in her own right, going under the name DIDI,

Production Values

MPG

MPG Full Member, Olga Fitzroy.

“Anyone who is making music that could be defined as producing should just join the Guild anyway...” and can vouch for what Hunt says: “Being a member of the MPG really solidified my confidence in being a producer, because you have to qualify to be a Full Member,” she explains. “The MPG has also opened so many doors for me that I would not have been able to access if I hadn’t been a member; it doesn’t mean you can’t get those things, but the members are genuinely really friendly, and everyone wants to help each other because that’s how the network works!” According to Ellingham, anyone who is making music that could be defined as producing should join the MPG full stop. The theory being, the more people that jump onboard, the more that can be done. Right? “Yes, and when you do get your commercial music out there, you’re making that journey towards full membership anyway, as your credits are building up,” Ellingham says. “And when you get to the point where you have six credits, you’re suddenly part of the [Full MPG Member] team. It’s really about educating people to the value of being part of a louder voice, as it’s a very lonely job most of the time, being a producer. You’re on your own a lot, and we all sit in our little holes, really.” Six credits are required to become a Full MPG Member – they can be six individually released singles, so one full album will do the trick, as will some EPs. It’s a paid membership, but there is also a basic membership option, which is free, and an

associate MPG membership option, which costs, but gets you 50% discount on all MPG events (except the MPG Awards), and comes with various bolt-on options. These options also don’t require any credits.

Changing the Game

Much like the way we consume music today, the last few years have seen a serious shift in the way music is produced. 10 years ago, an A&R might have offered an artist a development deal, in order to nurture the talent; now, he or she is far more likely to ask the talent to do most of the groundwork before even considering signing them. This often includes carrying out the recordings. “And there are so many other things important to record producers, too: there’s rights management, and how to actually get paid,” Glossop explains. “All of this isn’t in your remit, as you’re in your room, passionate about what you’re doing, and doing it so you don’t really have to do a real job! So the MPG can help with all of that.” “Just because you’re 17 and working on a laptop in your bedroom, doesn’t mean you’re not knocking out the best records,” adds Hunt. “The MPG has been through a lot of changes for the better – and it is now a very vibrant and valid, worthwhile community. The whole board are producers and engineers, and we hang out with other members, who are producers and engineers! And the community

is that membership. And through that membership, we form a voice; it’s a correct, accurate, and inclusive voice – and the validity of that is down to the community. The better that becomes, the better the voice is.” And it really is some voice... Eight of the 12 producers on this year’s Mercury Prize list, and roughly 70% of the 2017 BRIT Award winners were produced, engineered, mixed, or mastered by one of the MPG’s Full Members – and it’s a list which boasts some serious recording royalty: Tony Visconti, Mark Ronson, Brian Eno, Trevor Horn, Nile Rodgers, and Paul Epworth, to name a few. But rock star producers aside, the bottom line, Ellingham says, is that whether you’re a new music maker or an experienced producer, the MPG door is well and truly open: “There is no stipulation that you’ve had to be doing this for 10 years to get Breakthrough Producer of the Year [at the annual MPG Awards]; the influence the MPG has at places like UK Music, and the fact we have a voice in that world, speaking out on behalf of the music producer community as a whole, is really valuable.” Ellingham also hints that part of the issue might be down to the British understanding: “If you’re an 18-year-old in America, making beats in Fruity Loops, and Nicki Minaj is singing over them, you’re more than happy to describe yourself as a record producer; but the same person in the UK 45 Headliner

Production Values

MPG

MIXING IT UP: Andrew Hunt in the zone.

“Nine out of 10 listeners respond to energy and excitement, and you can do that with Reason and a laptop...” doing the same thing probably wouldn’t feel isn’t quite as comfortable. That’s why it’s key that young people can get involved with the MPG, and feel part of that community.”

It’s Good to Talk

Conversation turns to some of the other elements of Full MPG Membership, namely the member forums: there is one for Logic, Pro Tools, and Ableton. “Let’s say you’re making grime today, and next week, as something’s kicked off for you, you’re being asked to remix some massive artist, and you’re having to coordinate orchestral sessions,” Cox says. Imagination in full force, I nod along. “So you’re all, ‘hang on, I haven’t got a bloody clue how to do this!’ But maybe if I put a call out to the [MPG] community, and ask for advice, I might be able to make it work. That, for me, is a part of our potential; and those forums haven’t been tapped into quite enough yet.” So every time a Full MPG Member posts in a private forum, every Full MPG Member registered in the forum is notified by email, and if they can help, they will. If not, it’s likely someone else will, right? “Yeah, that’s basically it! I mean, I am not super-experienced, but I’ve made quite a few records now; but I did a session at a place, brought that session back, and one file was corrupt, and I had no idea why,” Hunt recalls. “It was a drum overhead, and I put it out to the community, and Bruno and Dan had experienced the problem before, so they recommended a free bit of software which

sorted it out. That process took an hour and a half, and it was all down to the community. Without it, I’d have been none the wiser!” The MPG is also a great sounding board for younger, less experienced members, of course dealing with the day to day logistics that come with being a record producer, for example: “How do you register for PRS? What’s the infrastructure? I’ve made a record, how do I get it out?” exclaims Hunt. “As a young member, you come to our DIY event and hear people talk about this kind of thing; the way the industry is changing means the whole DIY thing is particularly important.” And the MPG isn’t just about London. There’s an MPG South West in Bristol; MPG Midlands in Birmingham; another which rotates between Nottingham, Leicester, and Leeds; MPG Scotland; and most recently, MPG Northern Ireland. So membership is on the up, then? “Now we’re projecting it wider, yes,” Craig confirms. “And also letting more consumers and artists know what it is, and what we do. Before that, membership was very low; now it’s a community of practitioners. “When we made that change, membership went up around 300 percent in two years; and since then, it’s gone up at 20 percent per year.” Solid growth, indeed. So how does the MPG plan on staying relevant as the industry, and the way we all make music, continues to evolve? “Well, we have to realise that a lot of people are coming at the job in a very modern way: a laptop and some free software,” Hunt declares.

“And because they haven’t gone on an audio course or trained as an engineer, some of these people perhaps think they don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re making it up as they go along, but that’s a ridiculous thought to have; people are doing things in creative ways, and we have to embrace that.” “Look at Paul Epworth,” adds Ellingham. “He’s defined himself by doing stuff that’s creative and exciting to listen to; nine out of 10 listeners respond to energy and excitement, and you can do that in Reason on a laptop. Look at the YouTube generation; people with a podcasting microphone singing songs and playing a guitar. That’s making records, too, in a way.” But they wouldn’t be eligible for full MPG membership, would they? “[smiles] Well, if someone gets in touch and says, ‘I produced six tracks, none have been released as such, but I’ve had 500,000 views on YouTube’, well... You know what, join in, kid! We will always look outside the box, too.” “We want to remain in touch with what’s going on as much as possible,” concludes Ellingham. “There are so many crossovers in music today, and that, for me, is very exciting. I think music production has changed as much as music has, and I think that is the bit the MPG has to reach out to.” Details below, creatives! Check them out. @ukMPG www.mpg.org.uk

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Photo: Paul Gärtner | Design: Bertil Mark

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Band Profile

Phoxjaw

GETTING PHOXY

It’s a Friday evening in an already lively, trendy pub in the heart of Bristol, where I meet with Danny Garland and Josh and Kieran Gallop who make up three of four members of Bristol-based rock band, Phoxjaw. Absent is guitarist, Glenn Hawkins, however, the band are quick to proclaim their affections for their missing comrade. “We love Glenn,” state Kieran and Danny in unison. “Where is Glenn? God bless his soul,” Josh proclaims.

“I needed headphones I could rely on to finalise a mix...”

With Josh Gallop being an established producer at Stage 2 Studios in Bath, Danny Garland went in to record some tracks with his band, and it soon became clear that he and Josh worked really well together. “I was getting some of my best vocal performances with Josh, and coming up with loads of new ideas there on the spot. We just clicked creatively,” Danny tells me. The pair went on to recruit Kieran on the drums and, realising there was something missing, Glenn Hawkins was soon enlisted as guitarist to complete the troupe. “He was a bit of a liability, but we took a

“We waited a year to release our first two singles, and I think it did us favours,” explains Kieran. “People would come and see us live, and ask to hear certain songs. Once they were finally properly released, they were loving it. Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen.” Talk turns to the song-writing process, which I’m told all starts with Danny and Josh. “Danny will bring me an idea which we’ll pop onto a demo, and try things out for different parts,” explains Josh. “Glenn and Kieran will give their input, and we’ll take it into the practice room. Stuff usually changes at that point, and then we’ll play gigs with it;

risk, and it paid off,” says Josh, with a smile. Phoxjaw recently released their first two singles: Victorian Dolls and Spin Club, which they chose to press to vinyl through Pale Wizard, a not-for-profit record label. “It was set up by the owner of Stage 2 Studios to help out local bands,” Josh says. “Without him, we couldn’t have produced the tracks to vinyl.” Although the lads have several albums’ worth of material, they believe it’s important that every release is done properly; and for that to happen, each song needs to be given the right attention.

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Band Profile

and if something isn’t working, we’ll change it. That’s the beauty of not releasing our songs right away, we can try them out first.” And what about the recording process? “We do the recording at my studio; we approach it song for song, recording-wise, and there’s no one way of doing it, which is really exciting; it has to serve the song,” Josh states. “We are trying to have a bit of an older sound, as well; to give it a bit of character, we tend to use old [guitar] amps and no drum samples. We want to sound like a band playing live - that Queens of the Stone Age sound, but with a bit of punch,” Danny adds.

In & Out of the Zone

Phoxjaw’s first release was a lo-fi recording, which Josh admits really pushed him out of his comfort zone, production-wise: “It was very much an experiment; we didn’t even record all the drums in my studio, as I hadn’t quite moved in yet, so some of the drums were done with Mat Sampson at Bink Bonk Studio, which was really cool, but was a massive learning curve for me.” So how does the production process differ between the Phoxjaw material, and working for clients? “I find it a lot harder producing Phoxjaw’s material; I question myself every second of doing it,” Josh admits. “I can be way more objective with someone’s work if it’s not my own. If it’s your own stuff, you just criticise yourself. I’m a total and utter control freak.

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I love doing it, but it stresses me out to the next level.” “The last release we did, Josh had to literally just say, ‘that’s it, no more’,” says Kieran. “Then we got them mastered by Joe Caithness at Subsequent Mastering. He did a really good job; it just needed that final touch to not drive me crazy,” Josh explains. Josh is a true advocate of Audio-Technica. His ATH-M50X headphones are real go-tos when he needs to get surgical in the mix. “I needed headphones I could rely on to finalise a mix, and not be second guessing myself with,” he explains. “I mainly use them for finishing up mixes on my laptop when on the move, but I also use them to track a lot with drummers and vocalists.” After trying out a few different brands, the thing that stood out the most for Josh was the level of detail in the Audio-Technica cans. “I love the way my studio monitors sound with the ribbon tweeter, and the fact these headphones made me feel like I hadn’t lost any of that important high-end information when switching between monitors and headphones really sold me. “From previous experience mixing in headphones, I always found I over hyped the bass in my mixes, and for whatever reason, when switching to the M50s, I never ran into this problem again.” As an independent band, I’m intrigued as to what Phoxjaw see as their main channel of income; the answer, it seems, is selling

Phoxjaw

merchandise, and booking the right gigs. “Being smart with the shows we book definitely helps; we’re trying to limit the amount of local shows we do to make them our own headliners. When we headline, it has to be an event,” Josh reveals. And as long as Phoxjaw continue to love what they do, and stay focused, they’re confident they’ll keep getting inspired. “Being in a band and making art with your best friends; that’s the motivation,” Danny says. “I think your music is like your identity as a person; your lyrics, and what you do in your music is your own kind of escapism.” “That initial feeling when you hear a song; it stays with you,” Josh reflects, as Danny takes over: “With super heavy riffs and heavy rock music, you’ve got to be able to grab the crowd by the throat; it’s got to be convincing. And if you don’t believe it, the audience won’t believe it, either.” Things are shaping up nicely for these lads, as they prepare to focus their energy on their new material, and playing shows across the UK. Success, they believe, is being able to make a living from writing music and touring, and ultimately, doing what they love. What about the end goal? “World domination, ” Kieran says. Of course. www.audio-technica.co.uk

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Review

Erased Tapes Is 10

ERASED TAPES IS 10 FESTIVAL

Getting through one year of owning an independent record label without going under is something to celebrate. So how do you celebrate the mad achievement of 10 years? A spree of concerts that take over a weekend at London’s famous Southbank Centre, plus an opening night at the Village Underground in Shoreditch. That should do nicely. Words Adam Protz | Photographs Alex Kozobolis Commencing on a Wednesday night in London’s Shoreditch, it falls on Berlin-born cellist, Anne Müller, to open proceedings. And in true Erased Tapes fashion, it’s a mesmerising, cinematic experience, as Müller expertly makes use of a loop pedal and her cello to create an orchestral wall of sound that is entirely beguiling. There’s an added bonus at the end of her set, when she throws her vocals into the mix, just to make it even more soul-stirring. When I interviewed Ben Lukas Boysen a year ago, he explained how he was very wary of performing live, as he had become a sound design-based composer, and had fallen out of playing piano. With that in mind, I almost hate him for how well his first ever public performance goes tonight; it’s a brilliantly assured show that blends post-rock and classical stylings, as Boysen is joined by a drummer, harpist, and we welcome back Anne Müller on cello. The composer himself sits

behind an array of keyboards and synths, as we are treated to music from his album, Spells, and more. A performer is born. Wednesday’s headliner is Daniel Brandt, best known as founding member of electronic group, Brandt Brauer Frick. But he more than makes his case as a solo artist tonight. Joined by a guitarist and trombone player, Brandt is either found behind his electronic setup, or his drum kit. It’s a set of Radiohead-esque proportions — you have to be paying very close attention to figure out which instrument is producing which sound, but it’s bafflingly brilliant. The trombone, in particular, is used in the most outrageously original way. We mostly get tracks from Brandt’s excellent debut, Eternal Something, and the audience love every second, even when the main man has to restart his laptop during the set. What a start to the festival. Wednesday ended up being a rather highoctane night, but as we find ourselves along

the Thames at the Southbank Centre on Saturday afternoon, Michael Price returns us to the diaphanous territory most would relate Erased Tapes with. Price plays one of the venue’s wonderful grand pianos, with some fantastic use of live delay. He’s on stage with frequent collaborator and cellist, Peter Gregson, who forms part of the string quintet. The Sherlock composer takes us through a number of tracks from his latest album, Entanglement, and brings out Shards singers for his newest material. Not only does Price set the tone for the weekend perfectly, it’s also ample proof that his efforts as a solo artist, next to his work in film, are hugely worthwhile. Following Price’s lunchtime recital, Douglas Dare sees in the evening with the festival’s first set of songs (Dare is actually in a minority of artists signed to Erased Tapes who predominantly uses vocals, another reason why the label’s success is so impressive).

Penguin Cafe: fantastically eccentric.

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Review

Erased Tapes Is 10

Kiasmos: raving in the Royal Festival Hall!

“The ‘fun and lighthearted’ baton is quickly picked up by Penguin Cafe, Erased Tapes’ hugest ensemble...” Also playing on The Clore Ballroom stage, he immediately draws the audience in, many of whom are sat on the floor so that they don’t miss out. It’s just Dare, his stage piano, and his drummer, but it’s a compellingly confident show — songs like New York showcase his brilliant voice and songwriting. Jaws drop towards the end, when Dare gets up from his piano and microphone, and walks to the front of the stage, all the while singing unamplified. As light falls outside, it’s time to head to the main auditorium for the main event, Kiasmos, with support from Dawn of Midi. The trio play their trademark, hypnotic grooves, seeing Amino Belyamani experimenting with the piano strings, Aakaash Israni on upright bass, and Qasim Naq throwing more syncopation into the mix on drums. The head-nodding gets everyone nicely warmed up for what is about to follow. Kiasmos walk out to a rapturous welcome, their diamond logo emanating steam on the screen. Despite this, there’s a slightly confused air, as people are aware they’re in a classical music venue, and should probably remain seated. But one song in, Ólafur Arnalds says: “let’s turn the Royal Festival Hall into a rave,” and everyone is immediately on their feet. People swamp the aisles, and there are two girls stood on their chairs, sunglasses on, euphorically filming the whole thing. It’s total insanity, in the best possible way.

Looped, Thrown, and many more of the duo’s piano-influenced techno keeps the energy at a manic level throughout. It’s an unforgettable end to the day, which deserves to go down in this great venue’s history. Saturday commences in the same vast room with Lubomyr Melnyk, the composer and pianist, whose beard is almost as everflowing as his music. He begins with a short speech about how “we all think we’re living in a material world, but it’s a metaphysical universe.” It could be said that this live performance is proof of that statement, being so arcane and entrancing in nature. He performs the ‘continuous music’ that it’s said he invented, and you can only reflect on how we’re yet to hit a bum note this week. Erased Tapes have set the bar very high, indeed. Next, it’s a big rush up two flights of stairs to catch Masayoshi Fujita, playing his vibraphone music in the Southbank Centre’s viewing room. He delivers a short poem before each piece, and experiments with using a violin bow on his vibraphone, with stunning results. As the music reverberates beautifully around the space, the sun spectacularly sets on Big Ben and the London Eye out of the window. Everyone present is fully aware it was a magnificent privilege to be a part of this moment. The final part of the festival requires everyone back in the auditorium, which

turns out to be the most fun and lighthearted portion of the week. Peter Broderick brings his playful approach to all things music as ever, with the help of some friends. This includes fellow composer, Greg Haines, on piano, and David Allred on upright bass, with whom Broderick released his latest record, Find The Ways. The duo perform the single from that album, The Ways, and the full Peter Broderick & friends ensemble performs classics, such as the truly wonderful With the notes in my ears. Broderick tells the crowd: “this is the largest space I’ve ever played in,” and it almost certainly won’t be the last time. The ‘fun and lighthearted’ baton is quickly picked up by Penguin Cafe, quite easily Erased Tapes’ hugest ensemble, who all walk onto stage together to the telephone-sampled refrain from Telephone and Rubber Band. It’s the first time this weekend that the Royal Festival Hall has been packed with musicians, and it’s a brilliant, foot-stomping hootenanny, as Arthur Jeffes and co. storm through newer pieces like Cantorum, and many of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra original classics, such as Perpetuum Mobile, and Music for a Found Harmonium. These fantastically eccentric musicians provide a very fine finish. Happy birthday Erased Tapes, and many happy returns. With great emphasis on ‘many’. www.erasedtapes.com

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%!*@

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

Sir Bob in North Korea? The chances are, you’ve never been to North Korea. I’ve got to admit that in my guise as a touring lighting guru, I’ve been to most places: China, Japan, Gulf states, Australia, etc. etc. I’ve travelled all across America and Canada more times than I can remember. I’ve even toured behind the iron curtain when there was a curtain; and I was even there in Berlin the day that bloke from the Floyd (not the dead one) played the concert, and the wall miraculously fell down. And everyone cheered. And then the East invaded the West, and it all went a bit tits up. But I’ve never been to North Korea, even though I’d really love to go. Why is this? I’ll fucking tell you why: bands just don’t go there! Not even the Hollies or the Four Tops! I’m sure that they would go if they were asked, but that Kim Jong Un, who sounds like a relative of Superman, won’t allow it. And why won’t he allow it? As far as I can see, nobody has ever spoken to him outside of wherever it is that he has his nuclear bunker. It’s all very well Theresa May saying that we need to open up dialogue with the umpa lumpa, but he doesn’t want to. He’s too busy watching Peaky Blinders for hair fashion tips or launching his homemade rockets just to piss everyone off. Of course, Japan are upset - they’re not allowed to have nuclear weapons ‘cos they were naughty once and America dropped a couple of nukes just to prove who’s boss. So ever since then, they’re nuke free. As, of course, are the Germans, but that’s another story. Where was I? Oh, Kim’s isolation. So if he doesn’t want to talk to anybody, we should send someone over. Trump’s just vile. We all know that, and have seen the brinkmanship that’s evolved. No, we need an icon with a proven track record of helping poor countries. You’ve got it, good old Sir Bob! He’d be great. He could get his hair cut in Kim fashion, and go over to meet the Supreme Leader. I’m thinking a huge great pop festival in Pyongyang could do that easily. A bit like Live Aid, but maybe call it Death Aid? They could get Status Quo (they’re partly dead), Queen (same), and David Bowie (clearly dead). Maybe even Phil Collins (almost dead) could close with old Genesis songs? They could mix it up with some of the big North Korean bands. You wouldn’t have heard of them over here, but they’re massive there. There’s Kim Crimson, Kim Zeppelin, and that famous girl duo, Mel and Kim. Their biggest girl band is Kim Aloud, but if it’s the boys you like, they could add Take Kim to the bill, and, of course, their solo star, Elton Jong. At Christmas, they could all make a record and call it, Kim Doesn’t Know It’s Christmas. Everyone will buy it (if they don’t, they’ll get executed), and all the funds raised can go towards the North Korea New Clear Guam Assistance Package. Sir Bob would be a wonderful host. He could curse and swear at everyone, and upset the Supreme Leader so much that they behead him (Sir Bob, not the Supreme one. That’d be treason). Just a thought...

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“Sir Bob would be a wonderful host - he could get his hair cut in Kim fashion, and go over and meet the Supreme Leader...”

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