VIEW FROM THE POP #5: When Tweet Comes To Shove

Bring Alan McGee vs. Drowned in Sound – Bring on the Twittergeddon!

"It's funny how your dreams change as you're growing old, You don't wanna be a spaceman, You just want the gold" - Oasis



Drowned in Sound has always been a site ripe for courting controversy – and say what you like about Sean Adams and his great successes (running one of the most important music sites within the UK... Nay the world) and/ or failures (Brett Anderson's fairly miserly solo album sales), the frenzied attack last week of Alan McGee on the website, launched primarily on Twitter – really had to be seen to be believed (and you can follow the discussion here on the forums)!



Posting all week from Alan McGee's official (and now sadly deleted) Twitter page, abusive comments flowed in earnest, and prompted a massive debate between Sean Adams and aforementioned Alan – with the full frenzy of the Drowned in Sound 'massive' pitching in on one side or the other..



"@DrownedinSound DROWNEDINSHITE.COM SOUNDS SO FUCKING RIGHT FOR YOU BUNCH OF GEEKY LOSING NO MARKS" he yelled, capitals a go go, before spewing a worryingly mental amount of "ALRIGHT WEE [or BIG] MAN" tweets to twitter-based celebrities, whilst attacking DiS about everything from the integrity of its readers to impending bankruptcy (which Sean, for the record, denied). It must be a hacker, so I and everyone else presumed – but as the tweets kept coming and, with no denial in site from any other McGee related source, it seemed to be all true.



In some ways it was hilarious... Comments on the messageboard about how McGee could defend the indefensible (18Wheeler was a name that kept on coming up), and his consistent, crushingly abusive (and often amusing) replies led to many a lol for me, and many others I imagine... But at the heart of the ranting, some worrying trends were emerging...



Alan McGee was considered by many a legend when we were all growing up and gazing in awe at the likes of Oasis, Super Furry Animals, Jesus and Mary Chain and Ed Ball (that one just me then) – but even the most staunch Alan fan can't help but agree his roster has been looking a hell of a lot thinner since the mid 90s (other than The Hives of course). So does it hint at desperation that McGee felt it necessary to bang on about how rich and successful he was? "Come back to me when any of you have made some kind of small success with your shite little lives."



Maybe I'm over-analysing here, and McGee was just trying to have a bit of fun at a site which in truth, has not entirely kind to his recent output. Or perhaps he was just on a massive bender - or the victim of a hack! Sean Adams though seemed rather shocked by the whole affair, speaking of evaporating respect for a former hero, and posting these words about the situation in a recent mail out. "I'd love to say this unprovoked attack came as some surprise, but really all I can think is when they say never meet your idols, that should be updated to include engaging with their growing old disgracefully on Twitter." I can't deny I felt for him.



Alan remains unrepentant – or sarcastic... I'm struggling to follow.... "AS I AM THE BIG MAN ANNUAL HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US I WILL BE BACK AS THE BIG MAN IN AUGUST FOR A WEEK I WASN'T TAKING THE PISS SEAN HONEST BYE". We'll be keeping an eye on it, if this all flairs up again.



Either way, I'm pretty sure Ruth at RockMidgets is up for the next big Twitter feud! Maybe with I, Ludicrous...? [I think we'd both deserve that name by the end of it..! - Ed.]



Follow Jack Pop and Alcopop Records on Twitter at @ilovealcopop

by Jack Pop

VIEW FROM THE POP #4: A Popping Good Christmas

You can roast your turkeys – these are the real Christmas crackers!

"Hark, the herald angels sing"



So merry December has rolled around again and across the world, lists are being furiously compiled for the best songs of the year, decade and such... I would go for something similar, but as Rock Midgets are putting together a far superior feature – I thought I might put together the greatest Christmas songs ever. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not the tawdry shit that even now is filtering through offices and shops to the great consternation of the right-thinking populous (of which the only saving grace is The Fairytale of New York which is a great, if criminally overplayed, tune) – these are the songs that SHOULD be played this Christmas.



I’ve gone for a top 5 – and here they are, in no particular order:



Malcolm Middleton – We’re all going to die



It may be an obvious concept, subverting Christmas and producing a song about as far away from joy and festive cheer as possible – but the Arab Strap front man deals with it magnificently. With charmingly witty lyrics about as morose as one can get, set to a melodic ditty delighting all and sundry, there were big calls for this to be Christmas number one. Sadly it wasn’t.

Fountains of Wayne - Alien for Christmas



Delightfully whimsical in lyrical content, this is nevertheless as strong as any Fountains of Wayne hit you care to mention. It’s backed with a f**king great B-side which details the torrid tale of an alcoholic supermarket santa who’s hit rock bottom. I want an Alien for Christmas/ I want an Alien this year/ I want a little green guy about 3 feet high/ with 17 eyes, who knows how to fly sings (FOW singer). Just great!







Chris Rea - Driving home for Christmas



Gravelly voiced friend of the old folk, it’s Rea in the ‘one that kids love’ shocker – as this lyrically banal homage to that festive drive home was nonetheless widely recognised as THE best mainstream Xmas track by an assorted drunken gathering in my house last night.. And who am I to disagree? For summing up all the loving excitement, the few minutes of the year you think your family actually are OK and all that festive anticipation – you can’t beat Chris!







Reuben – Christmas is Awesome



It’s rare that a Christmas song is nicely heavy, proffers howling banshee-esque vocals and the lines 2000 years ago a little boy was born, to save the human race/ Well, it's your birthday/so have a party/ We're sorry about all of that nailed to a cross business... And the world is all the poorer for it. So when Reuben bowed out with this classy number, royalist grandmothers cried as the queens speech gave way to three raucous gents telling us lo, Christmas really is awesome!







Luke Leighfield – I’m so confused by Christmas



This song may be a touch preachy at times, but there’s no way Luke is as cuntish as Bono J – and his self-released Christmas single of 2006 is a lush melodic hit, which actually reminds us what Christmas really is all about! Plus you can download it for free which is ever so nice of him.



http://lukeleighfield.bandcamp.com/album/im-so-confused-by-christmas-single



So have a butchers at these hits when wrapping gifts, gobbling festive treats and staying way on top of the Alcopops...



Happy Christmas everyone... Stay lovely!

by Jack Pop

VIEW FROM THE POP #3: Alcopop In The City

Jack Pop heads northwards to In The City and finds there's something missing

"Somewhere out on that horizon, Faraway from the neon sky, I know there must be somethin' better, And I can't stay another night In the city, oh, oh." – The Eagles (presumably singing about CMJ)



I always enjoy an industry-excuse for a weekend away, and after the delights of The Great Escape wowed me in Brighton a few months back – In The City was a mouthwatering prospect. With a couple of Alcopop bands holding the fort at Space, label chums BSM holding a bitching showcase – and plenty more on the bill around and about, it all promised to be a rather splendid weekend.



Myself and Kev BSM had booked in at the rather opulent Brittania hotel, a magnificent building in the centre of town, and were rather chuffed to be upgraded to an executive suite. Which, in essence, meant we were given a window. A dreary, greasy window. That looked out on a wall and the edge of a carpark. Glamorous.



The first thing I noted about the whole atmosphere of the festival though was, well, the lack of atmosphere – and as we trod through the fairly deserted streets, the usual convivial atmosphere that these kind of events give off was just totally missing. Sure, the venues were fairly busy when you got there and Stagecoach, My First Tooth, Talons and Hot Club de Paris all went down particularly well. But for whatever reason, and one could heartily speculate as to why that was (and I will do now), ITC was just not buzzing in 2009.



I think the problem really started with the fact that the event was taking place between Sunday – Tuesday (always an odd time to rock a big city) and with the cro-barring in of the 'all in' wristbands, this was a scheduling policy that probably didn't encourage the casual consumer. Couple with this the lack of big names, any semblance of a real big foreign scene that you just don't regularly get to see in the UK and the far more enticing CMJ over in NYC taking a number of the bigger industry folk, and you're running up against serious problems.



More than this though, one must question whether these showcases still have the same relevance in an industry who no longer have enviable amounts of cash to fritter away on the next buzz thing. Anyone who's read Niven's Kill Your Friends [A heart-warming book for anyone eager to learn about the music industry - Ed.] will no doubt recollect his imagining of the 'chang fest' industry bidding wars where coked up A&R men crowded to fling money at the hippest new acts. Well I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen anymore; and with major labels cutting budgets like D list celebs cut opening day supermarket ribbons, more careful planning, a lot less money and reasoned arguments mean that perhaps these industry-fests are a thing of the past.



It seems to me that without properly integrating the consumers to these events, as The Great Escape has arguably done so well (Thursday – Saturday night, by the sea, with all sorts of exciting bands on tap) they'll be done oh so soon. A good time was had, but it seemed to me – and everyone I chatted to at the event – that the institution of ITC is fading fast, and something is going to have to be done about it seriously next year to save this behemoth from wheezing its final breath.

Plus point: Scanning down the delegate list I noted that former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin was speaking (THE Pat Nevin). Sadly we missed him, having driven off to (even more) northern climes to sign the next Alcopop act. More about them later...

by Jack Pop

VIEW FROM THE POP #2: Creativity > Sainsburys music section

Jack from Alcopop Records on why numbers don't matter if you're Andrew WK

"Can you count, suckers? I say, the future is ours... if you can count" – Cyrus, The Warriors

Doom and gloom merchants will say that the music industry is dying, CD sales are declining rapidly and that no one buys any physical music anymore. Well, that's not the case...! You see that while it may be true that the massive record labels are hemorrhaging money like there's no tomorrow, forced to sell off old Fratellis stock for £2 a pop in TESCO (it really is £2 in Tesco) – this, gentlemen, is a time of great excitement.

Sure, Alcopop Records stock doesn't fill the shelves of HMV like it used to (ahem...), but for people willing to take a step away from the 'tired old CD in a plastic box' for £10 routine, the possibilities are endless – as are the number of motivated people who love new music, love physical packaging and ideas that entertain and inspire - and most importantly are happy to support the music scene they invest so much time, energy and involvement in.

Looking for a way to sum it up, I was drawn to the New Music Strategies blog who kinda summed it up nicely for me. "It's cheaper to experiment now. It's easier to reach an audience than ever before, and the economics are such that you don't need for corporations to be making billions in profit in order to make a decent living at it." True indeed, and what's ever more true is that creativity sells....

At its lowest level, the eager record buyer is now being assaulted with cheap deals offering T-Shirts, bags; download cards or other such merch as part of the deal – and further on from that, there are people getting their music out there and making a living from pushing those boundaries a little... From Sky Larkin releasing their single in the guise of a digital wristwatch, to the legendary Stiff Records pressing up The Wit & Wisdom of Ronald Reagan, an LP that was completely silent on both sides, which sold over 30,000 copies!

Closer to home we put together a compilation on a ye olde pirate treasure map presented in an Alcopop branded glass bottle, and those magnificent lot the Xcerts shunned your bog-standard venue to play their album launch on a boat in Loch Ness. This is all creativity that engages the record buying public, and suggests to me that while high-powered executives can be forgiven for casting a gloomy eye over Jamelia's sales in Sainsburys – those with lower overheads, a good idea and ways to make them happen can prosper, and generate a lot of interested eyes/ kind words and *shock horror* real physical sales as they do it.

Another artist who has caught the eye, continuing to keep people guessing as to what madcap scheme he's going to be embarking on next is the mercurial Andrew WK... A man I had to write into this column somehow as I wanted guestlist for his recent massive show in London (pictured). No denying though that he's a sage example, who after being heralded as the saviour of music by the NME was expected by some to fade back to whence he came, with rock anthem Party Hard his abiding memory! Well not a bit of it...



You see, where Andrew has succeeded massively is not just his incessantly brilliant, never-say-die brand of rock'n'roll anthems – but also in the creative ways in which he has promoted himself, evolved and treated his fans. There's too much to go into stage by stage, but for a man who has released a Japanese album of ring tones, apologized publically on YouTube to fans for having to cancel a show, starred in an American TV show that sees kids building things and blowing them up ['Destroy, Build, Destroy' - Ed.], not to mention signing autographs from an ambulance after breaking his foot and temporarily joining a band of 77 drummers, it shows that by mixing it up a little... People stay interested!

To quote Andrew from his song 'Your Rules'... "And we will never listen to your rules, We will never do what others do, If you want a fight, we'll fight with you, Cause we will never listen to your rules, no". A rallying battle cry that must be heard.... It's time to step away from convention, and start a new chapter in the music industry!

by Jack Pop

VIEW FROM THE POP #1: Somehow the connection is made

Jack from Alcopop Records in his first column for RM

"We're always looking, for something to hold onto... We're with our friends, they're the best thing we can find" sung Symposium in their late 90's mini album track Fizzy. But with the music scene being exposed to an every ready barrage of immediate worldwide exposure, free downloads, illegally available tracks and music streaming at its pinnacle – it really strikes a chord with me.

That is, that in these fresh, consumer-led modern times - great music is ever less about the mass consumer market buying highly marketed dirge by the barrow-load, and more about people, and to put it into a cliché, one's friends... As major labels finally baulk at the financial mess that they've allowed themselves to generate over the last few years, and major record stores panic buy Michael Jackson records and 3 quid DVDs in the race to stay afloat... This is the time for community led change – and time for music to become something special again.

I'm Jack from Alcopop Records (hello) – and until all you RM readers get bored of me, I'm going to be putting together a bi-monthly column about a whole host of bits and bobs from the musical sphere... Taking inspiration from my travels from gig to gig, or other things that crop up on a daily basis, I'll be keeping an eye on how things are changing, working, or not from an indie point of view. I'll also be recommending bands I think are worth a punt (and not all necessarily from our label ;-)).

I recently sat through an incredibly turgid talk at a music festival down south, where pretty low rent 'stars' of the music industry talked about the relative merits of Twitter for an hour and a half (at least there was a smattering of free booze at the end of it), and in short it was an absolute waste of time. To evangelise about one's inclusion within just one social media space seems so short-sighted.

That's because, as you probably garnered from the introduction, I think it's all about getting out there and connecting with people wherever you can. People who actively have an opinion and care about consuming music, in whatever way they see fit. The likes of Trent Reznor and Jimmy eat World do it so well (without meaning to sound like every other article written about music online), and it's up to the rest of the music industry, however big or small, to connect all over the place.

Doom and gloom merchants will blab on about how physical sales are dying and no one wants to buy albums anymore. Damn right, when they're in a bland, jewel case with nothing to distinguish them from anything else out there and no value ahead of picking the thing up online for free... There will be more about this next time, but the music industry now is about connecting and sharing experiences and genuinely ace things with passionate people, who know good shit when they hear it!

Talking of good shit, two artists who have been getting me extremely hot under the collar (if I wore a collar of course) in recent weeks are Owl City and I Wrestled a Bear Once, who received 4/5 on this very site. The former who were made known to me by a trusted musical pal (because they were touring with the epic Unicorn Kid), the latter coming to my attention because they pimped an awesome T-Shirt online which my friend and I saw on a drunken night leading to the inevitable purchase and discovery of said artiste… The first is one man project from US singer-songwriter Adam Young who morphs a kind of Postal Service style with an upbeat melodic overtone consistently bubbling away, while the latter are a post-hardcore collective of massive beatdowns, melodic metal style cut-aways with the odd video game sample thrown in for good measure. Not a million miles away from Rolo Tomassi, and damn fine. The two may be as dramatically different as bandanas and Kangol hats, but I'm absolutely digging them both.

Owl City has an album and EP available on Spotify, while iwrestledabearonce is unsurprisingly located on www.myspace.com/iwrestledabearonce.

Have a listen, and love one or t'other. Your money back if not completely satisfied...

Lv

Jack PoP

by Jack Pop