Happy New Year Baby!

Christmas Magic in the Air

As the festive season is fast approaching, it's good to begin to take stock of the year gone by and start to look ahead to the coming year. For The Summats, January 2015 will see the release of a new single, 'You Could Be James Dean'. This track, featuring Becky Dawson on lead vocals, was completed in October and is just about ready to roll.

As mentioned in the previous blog, this is Becky's first lead vocal on a Summats release and she has given a wonderful performance, the track also features some outstanding and very haunting lead guitar work from John Kettle. We are so looking forward to you hearing it, however given the impending festivities, we thought a January release would be wise, hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Becky in the studio

We haven't recorded a new festive song this year, although we really did intend to, time just got away from us. Rest assured, there are new tracks on the way, and we will be looking to be back in the Christmas song song business next year.

Something new which is very much available this Christmas is a short ebook I have written entitled 'Christmas Magic in the Air'. The book, which I am incredibly proud of, covers the whole back story around the writing, recording and release of 'All I Want Is Christmas'. We have had such great success with it that I thought it was worth putting pen to paper (metaphorically of course, I actually used a computer!) to let you all in on what has been a roller-coaster ride since the day we wrote it. I've shared a great deal of memories and anecdotes from playing in our first bands together way back in the 80's, which included sharing a stage with Rick Astley and takes us right up to the present day. Primarily it is based around what has been a tremendously popular song for us but there are also some great tips for budding songwriters and hopefully you will find a few amusing anecdotes which will give you a giggle as well as a real insight into the songwriting process. The book is available from Amazon in the Kindle store, if you don't have a kindle eBook reader, not to worry, you can download the free Kindle app from the Amazon store which will allow you to read the book on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Who knows, some of you who have supported us from the beginning may even be mentioned. There is certainly a big mention in there for Tunecore who act on our behalf as both our distributors and publishing administrators, we couldn't have done it without you guys.

With the above in mind I would like to say a huge thank you to all you wonderful people who have supported The Summats from day one, downloading our music, reading and sharing our blogs and Facebook updates etc. As a very special thank you,  'Christmas Magic in the Air' is available as a free download for the next five days, after which it will go back to its usual Amazon store selling price around the world. I hope you will take the opportunity to download the book whilst it is free and if you enjoy it,  please rate and review it afterwards, that will certainly help it on its way.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing 'Christmas Magic in the Air, the writing process, as far as books go, is obviously new to me but it is amazing how much detail comes back once you begin trawling your memories, I can definitely recommend it. It is very time consuming, which is something I never seem to have enough of, however it was written over two summer holidays in 2013 and 2014, writing a story about a Christmas song whilst sitting by the pool in Italy was an interesting experience to say the least! Hope you enjoy the book.

Our friends over at Segal Gardens have done us proud in their Christmas video. Damo Cummings has been a big supporter of The Summats over the past few years and really has done a brilliant job using 'All I Want is Christmas' as the soundtrack, You can check out their video at Summats Songs

Also worth checking out our friends over at www.festivesongs.com, the site is very supportive of The Summats and is also a great place to hear brand new Christmas music.

Good to see that Band aid is going all out to help worthy causes again this year, the track is possibly not as strong as in years gone by given the lyric changes and the new lineup, but, well, who cares! It's for a great cause.

On that note, I will sign off by wishing each and every one of you a fantastic Christmas and

Hope that you have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2015.

Thank you  for your support.

Take care and keep smiling

Baggers

You Could Be James Dean

The end of October saw us back in the studio to work on a new single entitled 'You Could Be James Dean'. 

The track features Becky Dawson on lead vocals and will again be produced by the brilliant John Kettle formerly of Wigan band 'The Tansads' and now a integral part of 'Merry Hell' when he isn't producing.

It's almost a year since we were last in the studio and it is good to get back to producing music again. The song was actually written about four years ago whilst I was still living in Australia but has never been far from my mind, I have been looking for an opportunity to get it recorded, Becky has produced some great vocals on it, the song is available from all good digital stores! Worth noting that it is also a big moment for Becky as it is the first time she has taken lead on a Summats single. Go Becks!

John and his band 'Merry Hell' have recently worked on 'The Armistice Pals'. This is a wonderful recording and reworking of Pete Seegers 'Where have all the flowers gone' and is to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war. In addition to John and his band mates, some of Britain's finest folk singers have contributed to the track, they were all joined by the late Pete Seeger's sister Peggy. It is a wonderful piece of work and and all proceeds from the single which you can downloaded here, will go to some very worthy charities not least of which is the British Red Cross.

Very sad to hear of the passing of Alvin Stardust earlier this week. The 70's glam rock star always seemed to be a thoroughly decent guy as well as great live entertainer and hit maker. His cover of 'Pretend' in 1981 was a brilliant track and one of my favorite singles of the 80's. Very sad to see him go before his time.

Last year the lovely people from Segal Gardens, which is a specialist residential and care facility in St. Helens, Merseyside, used our track 'Happy New Year Baby' in their festive video. Recently we were contacted again by Damian Cummings from Segal Gardens to ask if they may use 'All I Want Is Christmas' in this years video. We were more than happy to allow our music to be used and will share with you once Damian has completed work on the video.

The story of our Christmas song and the success we have had with it is the subject of a book I have written titled 'Christmas Magic in the Air'. It will be a short Kindle eBook and is scheduled for release in December if we can complete the final drafts and editing. The song has done some amazing things for us and gone to heights we could have only dreamed of, hopefully it will make for both a entertaining read and a interesting insight into the songwriting process, particularly for any budding songwriters out there.

Look out for both the book and the new single 'You Could Be James Dean' soon. Until then...

Take care and keep smiling

Baggers

Happy New Year Baby!

The end of year post, a time for reflection and looking towards 2014 with hope and expectations for the future.

The year is ending on something of a high for The Summats, All I Want Is Christmas - Single  had another awesome festive season, the views racking up on YouTube and the song continues to sell well across the world. People have been very kind with their comments and appreciation and seem to love this song more every year for which we are very grateful. DJ Dave Monks from BBC radio Merseyside also played it on the 21st December, our first BBC airplay, to say we were delighted would a huge understatement!
 

Our new festive track,  Happy New Year Baby  is also performing wonderfully, the single is selling really well across the globe with downloads coming from the UK and all the way across to Australia and the United States, we have high hopes for new years eve!

The song features Sam and Becky on the vocals and was produced by John Kettle at Jaraf House studios in Wigan. John was formerly the driving force behind Wigan band The Tansads, he is now a member and primary songwriter for the excellent Merry Hell, check out his work, you won't regret it.

We were very humbled when Damian Cummings from Segal Gardens, Berry Bridge & Oakwood - HWCGS Care contacted us to enquire if he may use "Happy New Year Baby' as a backing track for his festive video, we were delighted to be included, you can check out the vid here Segal Gardens.

 Our special thanks also go to Sammi Walsh at SJW Photos. Sammi along with her best friend and able assistant Amy held a Summats photoshoot in December, see left. One of Sammi's shots was also chosen as the cover for Happy New Year Baby.

Sammi is a extremely
talented photographer, who primarily specialises in music pics but can turn her hand to just about any other genre. We are hoping to work with her again for a new single early next year for which she will also be helping us out with the video.
Check out her site and drop her a mail if you would like to work with this amazingly talented young lady.


We would also like to thank each and every one of you for your support throughout this year, we appreciate you all and we certainly hope we have entertained you along the way.

Take care, keep smiling and may we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very safe, healthy and Happy New Year Baby!

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year Baby - Original 2013

It's only rock n roll.....Cardiff

We made our first visit, both to Cardiff and more specifically, the Millennium stadium recently, here's the lowdown. 

 

Second Severn Crossing

My daughter and I set off around midday on the 23rd July for the 3ish hour drive to Cardiff. The reason for the journey, Bruce Springsteen and the E street band were in town for the latest show in the Wrecking ball tour which has now been running since early 2012. The highlight of the drive was undoubtedly the Severn bridge crossing which is a magnificent piece of engineering by anyone's standards and is a very impressive way of crossing from England into Wales.  Norman Haste, was the man who led the construction of this iconic structure.
 

We arrived at the Premier inn, Caerphilly, which is around 9 miles away from Cardiff, around the 3.30pm mark, we had no choice other than to book into a hotel outside the city as the ones in town were either full or had hiked their prices to an extortionate rate due to the event. However, this wasn't too much of a problem, the lady on reception couldn't have been more helpful, after checking us in she asked if we were here to see Bruce Springsteen which was answered in the affirmative, she then gave us advice on getting the train from Caerphilly to Cardiff and even booked us a taxi cab to get to the station, lovely staff, great service!
 

The cab dropped us off at the station and I asked the porter when the last train was going to be heading back from Cardiff that night, for anyone who has been living under a rock for the past few decades, the length of Springsteen's shows are the stuff of legend, generally on this tour averaging around three and a half hours, although in Helsinki, he played for over four! The porter gave me the 'off the record' nod that officially the last train was 11.15pm although there is a further and extra 'last train' at 11.50, we were very pleased to hear this although why it was such a secret is anyone's guess.

The Rummer Tavern

Leaving the train at the Queens street station, to be honest, it looked like the city centre so we got off, we were originally heading for central. First impressions strolling around the city centre were good, this is a very nice city! After a long journey it was time for a wee drink and the first port of call was the' Rummer Tavern', according to the pub itself, The oldest in Cardiff no less. (We won't mention the Irish bar just up the road which made the same claim) However, the pub is three centuries old, a good old boozer, lovely atmosphere inside and the barman was more than helpful in providing us with directions to the Millennium stadium. I was tempted to go for one of the cask ales on the bar but it was a beautiful warm  summers day in Cardiff so we opted for a pint of Carling, which at just over £3.25 wasn't the most expensive drink we've ever had. I did have reason to visit the WC during our short stay, which provided ample proof to me that the pub actually was over three centuries old! Without allowing that to cloud judgement, the Rummer Tavern is a very nice city centre pub, definitely worth a visit if you are in town. You will find it directly opposite Cardiff castle which is right in the heart of the city. A Rummer is a toasting glass for wine, believed to have originated in central Europe in the 16th century.

We made our way towards the stadium, the barman was spot on with directions. There are a a number of very good bars, cafe's etc around the stadium but we settled for 'Revolution' which I'm sure later in the evening is a bustling bar full of the beautiful people, but early evening it looked like it was a comfortable place with lots of space to get something to eat. We went for one of Revolution's signature dishes, which, believe it or not, is a vodka pizza. As gross as this sounds,  it was delicious! The service could have been better at Revolution to be honest, we were told there would be a 25 minute wait for food which wasn't a problem with us, however the beers arrived after the food, which certainly was a problem, they had actually been given to another table. However, the waitress was very apologetic and that aside, the food was excellent.

We made our back out into the street and up the road to the stadium, the first thing which became apparent was the distinct lack of vendors selling unofficial 'merch' outside the stadium, not sure if this has been a conscious effort by the powers that be, maybe someone could enlighten me.

Prized Possession!

After handing over the much prized tickets and the lady's bag had been thoroughly searched! (check previous blogs for that reference, we entered the stadium.

The 'official' merch stands both inside and just outside the stadium were all out of medium sizes which was a bit of a downer for me, the sizes which were available were pricey, 25 quid a pop, (man of the people?) my daughter picked up a great ladies t-shirt for ten pounds! Best value by a mile from any gig we've been to over the past few years or so we thought, days later when she checked closer, the shirt was from the gig in Coventry back in June which should absolutely have been pointed out to her when she bought it. Whoever is responsible for running the merchandising for the 'Wrecking Ball' tour, shame on you.

Once we entered the main area of the venue we could see that the stage was at approximately the half way line, and the stadium roof was closed which would certainly assist the acoustics. We were able to walk around the left hand side of the main crowd and ended up with a really good view, about 60 to 70 feet from the left hand side of the stage, result!

Bruce and the band took to the stage at 7.40pm to 'This little light of mine' following up with 'Long Walk Home', my favourite track from the 'Magic album and one of a number of surprise inclusions along with 'Tougher than the rest' and 'Ramrod'. A sign request for 'TV movie' was duly delivered, the first and only time this track has ever been played live! 'Because its ridiculous!' said the man himself.
'Hungry Heart' and 'My City of Ruins' was delivered before Bruce was joined onstage by Eric Burdon from 60's group 'The Animal's' for a tremendous version of 'We got to get out of this place' which was delivered such a volume by the crowd, it would have done the usual inhabitants of the Millennium stadium proud! Great to see Eric Burdon, one of the few genuine British blues singers, still going strong. If you don't know the animals stuff, would definitely recommend checking them out. Most Of The Animals.
The night rolled on with the band in top form, 'Pay Me My Money Down' was a joy, then the lights came up for the final segment of the show and Bruce instructed anyone left in the place who was still sitting down to 'get up off of your welsh asses and lets see what you got!'. 'Born To Run', 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-out', and the pure theatre that 'Dancing in the Dark' has now become came and went in a blur. More than three and a half hours had passed when the band left the stage to leave the main man alone to close out the show with outstanding acoustic versions of 'Janey, don't you lose heart' and the simply stunning 'Thunder Road'. 

It's Boss Time!

It's incredibly difficult to explain the impact of a Springsteen show, the almost life affirming quality of a evening spent simply being part of this rock n roll extravaganza is hard to put into words. I've spent most of their lives trying to explain how good this band is live to our daughters, now both of them have seen for themselves what I was going on about all that time. Our eldest daughter, this time making the trip with me for her first Springsteen gig, left the stadium without a voice after singing and dancing the night away to many songs she was hearing for the first time. If you haven't seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform, do yourself and huge favour and catch them while you still can. I would also like to make special mention of the venue, very organised and comfortable environment to watch a show at what is essentially a sports arena, first class work Millennium Stadium

We headed to Central station and didn't have to wait long before the 'secret' last train arrived and we boarded for the journey back to Caerphilly. The only drawback of the secret train was that it was so secret, the local taxi drivers didn't know about and the taxi rank was completely deserted at the station. However, the nice lady from the premier inn had also given us a business card for a local taxi company, so the wait wasn't too long.

One of the best blogs I've picked up on over the past few months is Burgers and bruce, a food and travel blog with a strong leaning towards the boss. The lady who writes the blog actually got to meet the great man recently, well worth checking out.

The Summats single, 'Nothing's Changed' is doing very well, many thanks to everyone who has downloaded the track, you know we appreciate each and every one of you. We expect to be in the studio in September working on a EP and we are very excited to be working on a new festive song for 2013!

My songwriting partner Toe (Tony Brown) has finally picked up royalties for Australian TV airplay of All I Want Is Christmas, back in 2010,  I unfortunately have not, my royalties, I think, are with Tunecore who handle my publishing admin. The upshot of all this is I need a tax code from the U.S., Uncle Sam, I'll be in touch from blighty so sharpen the pencil!. Seriously, trying to get our royalties, PRS, publishing all worked out over the past couple of years has been a interesting journey, with some really good lessons for any new songwriters out there, but that most certainly will be subject to a blog all on it own! In the meantime, if you need advice now, this article will be very useful to you as a starting point http://www.tunecore.com/guides/sixrights

Till next time, take care and keep smiling!

Baggers

Camden Town

A weekend in the capital.... 

We visited London a few weeks ago, primarily to see The Fratellis at the Electric ballroom, but also to spend some time in the still, oh so very cool, Camden Town, here's the lowdown.

 

After a pleasant morning road trip from the North West to the South of England we arrived in London, capital of our green and pleasant land. Mistake number 1, don't drive into central London on a weekday, one reason, you'll be stung by the congestion charge and another, 25 quid a pop to park is no chuckling matter by anyone's standards. Well OK, if you are HRH you probably don't have to pay the congestion charge and your house is in the middle of town with a parking space, but if that's not you, don't do it! Park and ride in or take the train. I already knew all this as I tend to spend quite a lot of time there these days, so no excuses for me!

Following food and a couple of wet ones in O'Neill's, which is very fine establishment close to St. Pancras, it was back to the hotel for quick shower, change and out again, Took the northern line from Kings Cross, St. Pancras to Camden town station. The Electric ballroom is located at 184 Camden High Street,  a 30 second walk from the tube station, but even at this short distance it becomes clear that Camden is no ordinary town, the place was buzzing, people...some very strange people at that... were everywhere. The mandatory touts outside the venue to be ignored, one guy busking Oasis songs, quite random I thought outside of a Fratellis gig and lots and lots of very interesting shops.

We handed over the tickets and the ladies bags were thoroughly searched! We made our way down the ramp into the bowels of the venue, which incidentally, the local council keep trying to demolish, apparently they need to extend the tube station, seemed big enough when we passed through it! The venue has a bar off to the right of the stage and another one right at the back which we made for. The merch stand was selling t-shirts at 15 quid a pop, nice one Fratellis. Service at the bar was excellent, and with a smile, well done Electric Ballroom, good customer service doesn't take much and makes all the difference.

What a cracking place to see a rock band it is, all the attributes and atmosphere of a old school rock n roll hall which no matter how hard they try, the O2, Manchester Arena or similar places will never equal. The venue, which dates back to the 1930's, has seen a veritable who's who of rock n roll playing there, U2, The Clash, Phil Lynott, The Boomtown Rats, Joy Division, Oasis, The Smiths, Madness, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Public Enemy, Blur, Supergrass, Garbage to name a but a small few. Wings and Led Zeppelin have also used the place as rehearsal rooms! fancy that! I was very impressed to say the least and very pleased to have added this awsome place to the list of rock venues we have visited.
The Electric Ballroom, which was originally known as the Buffalo club, dates back to the 1930's when it was purchased by promotional  legend Bill Fuller, Fuller, who among a number of other places of note, e.g. San Francisco's Fillmore West, owned the club right up until his death in 2008 at the age of 91. The venue has also always been popular with the local Greek community, using it to hold wedding recptions, George Michael's sister held her's there.
The Fratellis took to the stage at approximately 9pm, opening up and rocking the rafters with 'Henrietta' quickly followed by 'Creeping up the backstairs'. we've seen this band now on numerous occasions, in various cities, even various countries and they never disappoint, they ripped through the usual set taken from their first two albums with a couple of new tracks thrown in, or at least they were new to me.'Whisky Saga' and 'This Old Ghost Town'.
So, perfect venue, stomping rock n roll band ripping up the place, what more could you want. Well
actually, you could do without the coked up tools who insist on wasting money buying tickets for gigs, then spend the whole event out of their faces spoiling everyone else's enjoyment. After about 40 minutes of trying to see around a constantly swaying pair of no marks in front of us, we retired to the bar, where we could still see the band and have a drink at the same time, this was after the pocket dynamo known amongst other names as my Mrs, had delivered a few strategically placed digs to the ribs of the aforementioned tools, that's my girl! Now you may be thinking it was just because we are getting past rocking it up in the middle of a crowd, however, the three twenty somethings we were with followed us to the bar ten minutes later! Despite the issues with persons in the crowd, The Fratellis were brilliant yet again. Top band! 

                                
The next day was spent at Camden markets, what a treat this place is. We've always loved spending time walking around markets, but this is something else. Alternative fashion, vintage clothing, music, you name it, Camden Market has it in abundance. You could easily spend a whole day there walking around the stalls and shops. I picked up a vintage jacket for only ten of the Queen's English pounds, the label in it said made in Yugoslavia, can't get any more vintage than that, the country hasn't existed for over twenty years! The only dampener was the weather, it was lashing down, but as a lot of the markets are covered it wasn't too much of an issue. However, we will look forward to going back when the weather is fine to spend the whole day there.

After a hard days shopping it was only right to go the pub for lunch! We first tried the World's End which is a pub roughly about the size of a football pitch and worth a visit all on its own! Unfortunately the kitchen was closed for refurbishment and we were starving, so after downing a quick pint we headed across the road to the Camden Eye, a lovely pub right in the heart of things which has almost a goldfish bowl like feel, the curved high windows allow you to look out onto Camden High Street, people watching, as you sup a fine ale and tuck into a pizza from the wood fired oven. The customer service, food and atmosphere of the Camden Eye is first class. A top place to hang out, highly recommended.
Later on in the evenng we were passed on the street by Julian Clary nipping into Sainsbury's, Clary has had a place in Camden for many years and has retained it even after all his much deserved success, which kind of tells you how very cool this town is.We really wanted to say hi to him as we've been big fans since way back in the dark ages.. or the 80's as we called them then, however, he looked in a rush and we didn't want to bother the guy so alas no pic for the blog.

We had dinner along Camden high street in a lovely mexican restaurant, Ay Caramba which has a really fun atmosphere, great food and lively typically mexician/Americas music playing. The place was packed when we arrived and we fully expected to be turned away as it was Friday night and didn't have a reservation, but the waiter asked us to wait for two minutes, then proceeded to squeeze us expertly into really nice table before bringing us sombreros to wear, which was a fun touch. Again first class customer service from another establishment in Camden. All in all, we thoughourly enjoyed our visit to Camden Town and will most certainly be back in the near future.

The Summats new single 'Nothings Changed' is out and available at all good online stores for download or streaming, very pleased to report that the feedback we have received on it has been first class to date. Nice to get a new track out there, there is definitely an EP to follow before too long! The track also marks the debut for the latest addition to The Summats line-up, Becky Dawson on backing vocals along with Sam. Watch out for a track titled 'You Could Be JD' featuring Becky on lead vocals which will be on the next EP

'Nothing's Changed'  was produced by Fractured Calm aka Danny Wyatt who has done a brilliant  job for us with the mix, please check out Danny's own work at soundcloud, we certainly hope to work with Danny again soon. The artwork for this single, was created by blogger extraodinaire, photographer and now budding artist  MrBen09,  we think it is an inspired piece of work. You can check out the video for the single at this link on Youtube

If you enjoyed the post or have listened to the new track, please leave a comment below, we would love to hear from you.

Until next time, take care and keep Smiling

Baggers

 

The Killers, Train and Boddingtons Chimney!

Two nights out in a row at gigs last month! I thought those days were over, but apparently not, saw The Killers play Manchester arena on Monday 18/02 and Train at the Apollo on Tuesday 19/02, here's the lowdown.

 

 

Night 1: The good lady and I made our way to the Killers gig on Monday night. It was the first time we had been to the arena in Manchester since arriving back to the UK from our nine year overseas 'lost weekend', the obvious thing we noticed was that where the iconic Boddingtons brewery had once stood for the best part of two centuries, there was now a car park and a Travelodge, well actually its a travelod, the g and the e conspicuous by their absence. Honestly, you turn your back for nine years, come back and they've knocked down boddies chimney! As my daughter pointed out when I gave her the bad news, they have literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot! Even though we were out of the country when it was bulldozed, I'm still amazed that this sad news didn't filter out to the colonies!

We arrived too late to check out the support act, although that's not strictly true, as we heard a little of them from the bar queue! This was after we were through the doors and Mrs Baggers handbag had been thoroughly checked, quite right too, never know what these women are carrying into venues! Always makes me chuckle, there are fellas walking in with who knows what in their pockets, yet the ladies get the treatment in case their choice of lip gloss should offend the travelling troubadours! Needless to say we avoided the merch stand, which at 25 sheets a pop for t-shirts, was making a killing, pun intended!

The Killers took to the stage at 9pm sharp, just as predicted by the missus! and what a sound, rocking the house within the first few bars of the first song. Mr Flowers throat was certainly back on form, this being the rescheduled gig which was cancelled in December. The guys ripped through a boatload of stomping tunes before a couple of treats came in mid way through the gig. First, in the shape of a singalongamanchester 'Don't look back in Anger', tipping a hat to the brothers Grimm aka Manchester band, Oasis.  A bigger treat was the appearance of Bernard Sumner, he of New Order fame, introduced by Brandon as 'The Sheriff of Manchester' they dueted on a New order track called 'Crystal'. Not one we were familiar with to be honest, but its video is apparently is where The Killers took their name from. Learn something new everyday! The gems just kept coming in the shape of 'Read my mind', 'Runaways', 'Mr.Brightside'. I came relatively late to this band, only really getting into them via Brandon's solo album, 'Flamingo' about three years ago, then backtracking through the Killers stuff. Mrs B has been into them from day one, so I'm grateful that she turned me on to them , this was a great gig and The Killers go straight into my virtual list as one of the best live bands I've seen, I would highly recommend getting to see them next time around. We beat the solid traffic heading home by nipping down past Strangeways and out via Cheetham Hill, home in time for a nightcap, result!

Train and Gin Wigmore

Night two: Monday 19th, Train at Manchester Apollo, picked up my daughter, and headed into town. After a beer and some fine food in Chinatown we took a cab out to Ardwick,  I strolled into the venue as her bag was thoroughly searched for suspect lip gloss! After we had checked out the merch stand, which at 15 quid, was far better value than the Killers, we gathered a couple of beers and headed upstairs to the circle, the bar was very quiet up there, note to self for next time, 'use upstairs bar!'. We were shown to our seats by a very kind lady with a torch, old school or what!
The seats were in a excellent spot, left of and approximately 40 feet from the stage. Result! The support act was in full swing, and what a performance. A young lady by the name of Gin Wigmore was up there, rocking the house along with her fine band of merry men. Kiwi Gin is new to me but I bought her CD (Gravel and Wine) on the way out, I never, ever buy support merch, so that's a good indicator of how good she is, check out her stuff.
I went to this gig because my daughter is a big fan of the boys from San Francisco and she asked me if I fancied it. So glad I did, Train delivered an awesome set, very different to the Killers, more showbiz to be honest, but extremely good value all the same,  a hardworking band who go the whole nine yards to ensure their audience is fully part of the gig.
Lead singer Pat Monahan has a great voice, even though he was obviously struggling at times with a sore throat in this gig and had been told rest it, he delivered a great performance, highlight of which was when he put down the microphone altogether and sang to the Apollo unaided, very, very impressive! Drops of Jupiter, Save Me San Francisco, Hey Soul Sister, Drive By were the obvious gems, but also Mermaids, Marry me and Bruises for which Gin Wigmore joined the band for a duet were also excellent. This was a great night out, thoroughly enjoyed it, not least of all because I rode a double decker bus back into town for the first time in more years than I care to remember, it was an electric driven double decker at that...Go Manchester!

I received an email from PRSformusic recently advising that they now have a overseas music reporting tool on their website, they also invited me to check it out as I've had issues previously logging known international performances of Summats work, TV, Radio etc. Good to see that they are making an effort even if its still only tiny steps, I will certainly check out the functionality and report back! Or at least I will once I work out why my windows 7 desktop isn't able to login to the PRS site, even though my login works fine from the XP laptop! One senses there is a move from PRSformusic to 'put its house in order', that would certainly be appreciated. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, all radio stations are now be able to provide full information on ALL tracks they have played, there is no need for 'sample days', anyway, rant over for now! Watch this space.

Until next time, take care and keep smiling

Baggers

How to win a bet - Dirty Old Town

If you fancy a tip on how to win yourself a bet in an Irish bar, stick around & I'll explain.

Ask someone where the classic folk song 'Dirty Old Town' is set & you will generally receive the following responses, Dublin?, Belfast? At which point, you can correct them & pick up your winnings as I've done in Irish bars previously, by advising that it  was written about Salford, Greater Manchester, where its composer was from.
The association with Ireland one suspects, is in the fact that it has been covered successfully by both
 The Pogues & The Dubliners,  it has actually been covered many many times by a very diverse set of artists, from Rod Stewart to The Specials.
The song was written by legendary folk singer songwriter Ewan MacColl, father of the late, great Kirsty MacColl, and also wrote, among others, the Grammy award winning 'The first time ever I saw your face'.
Bearing in mind that I've always loved the song, it was a very nice experience to be at The Matchstick Man pub in Salford Quays last December, when an old guy by the name of Jim, got up to sing, mercifully curtailing the tired old karaoke songs which were being ritually put to death in the bar & belted out a beautiful rendition of the the old song in homage to his hometown. Whilst the days of a good old singalong in North West pubs are largely long gone, as they are elsewhere in the UK,  it was especially unexpected as it was pleasing, to hear this authentic slice of northern gold served up in Salford on a cold December night.




Refreshments in Salford Dec 12

We were in the pub following the Squeeze gig at the Apollo, it is incredibly difficult to give a balanced view of this gig as I've been a fan for such a long time but in the interests of a objective critique, here goes!  Musically they were amazing, Glenn Tilbrook has lost nothing of his excellent vocals and remains a very underrated guitarist, some of his solos on the night were pure joy. When they played the hits and much loved songs we had all come to hear, it was awesome. However, they spent way too long self indulging in both new & obscure tracks which quite frankly, in parts had us yawning. Seriously guys, you know what everyone was hoping for, its not all about you, its about the audience you are entertaining, unfortunately it didn't quite come off & ended up a little bit disappointing. I suppose when you have been around as long as this band has, they have the right to a little self indulgence but come on, Squeeze, you can do better! Highlight for me, outside of the obvious 'Up the junction' and singalonga-labelled-with love, was Black Coffee in Bed, this track really works surprisingly well in a live environment.
One person who certainly didn't disappoint was support act  Paul Heaton, the ex Housemartins and Beautiful South singer/songwriter treated us to tracks from all phases of his brilliant career, with the emphasis particularly on the early Housemartins stuff, he was expertly assisted by his own three piece band, an acapello rendition of 'Caravan of Love' as a finale brought the house down. Without doubt, the best opening act I've seen for some time. I'm sure the crowd at the Apollo would not have complained at all if he'd have played on for another hour, outstanding!

The night was introduced  by comedian Peter Kay, another lifelong Squeeze fan, very random opening, but very funny! Fans of Corrie will be interested to hear we got a taxi to the gig from Streetcars! Alas neither Steve nor Lloyd was driving!
Gigs a plenty coming up this year, February will see us at both the Train & The Killers gigs in Manchester, The Fratellis are up next in Camden Town in April & Springsteen and the E Street band in Cardiff in July! Not bad for starters, hopefully going to be a great year for concerts!

Sad news about the demise of HMV but is anyone really surprised? The idea of a record store has been out-dated for years, surpassed with the no-nonsense, stock everything black holes that are Amazon and iTunes and generally the world wide interweb!. I loved mooching around record stores back in the day just as much as anyone else, but the music industry and how we peruse and purchase our music has changed dramatically, and for the better in this bloggers humble opinion. Instead of thumbing album or CD covers I now sift through the mountain of music at my fingertips on Youtube, if I like, I buy, there and then. I intend to cover more on the changing face of music making and purchasing in a future blog, but for now, HMV like the rest of the high street has failed to move with the times and is now paying the ultimate price. The high street has to reinvent itself, there are still, believe it or not, suburbs in a number of the UK's major cities and towns, where the High street is flourishing, they are doing so becaused they have evolved to adapt to the needs of their consumers and are vibrant places to visit, spend your hard earned pennies and simply enjoy being out in town. Unfortunately they are in a minority, more need to follow suit if we aren't to be completely taken over by the relentless march of betting shops, takeaways and hairdressers!

On a brighter note, a brand new Summats single will be released shortly, stangely enough via the aforementioned iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc, with a new EP hot on its heels before the summer. Its been a long time coming, our unerring ability to procrastinate never fails us! However, the tracks are largely ready to go with a little more effort put in, studio time coming up to finalise vocals, then its down to our friend and producer Danny Wyatt aka Fractured Calm to deliver the finished tracks, no pressure Danny! :) https://soundcloud.com/fracturedcalm

Until next time, take care and keep smiling.

Baggers 

Christmas Songs & other musings

The festive season is fast approaching, every shop window is being decorated & every store is playing the seasonal songs we all love to hear.

The Christmas song genre is obviously something very close to our hearts, especially as our own festive offering has been very good to us since its release in 2010, it has brought us mainstream TV airplay in Australia & made it to radio both in the UK and United States. 'All I Want Is Christmas'  was inspired by our love of the really great festive tunes, it seemed to us that no-one wanted to write good new ones anymore, we set out to both deliver a good old sing-along Christmas tune whilst paying homage to the great Christmas songwriters, time will tell if we achieved that but the single is going extremely well online again this year.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/all-i-want-is-christmas-single/id402973211

All I Want Is Christmas

In December we'll be heading to the Apollo Manchester to see Squeeze in concert. Been looking forward to this gig since about 1978! Never got to see them in their heyday, but I'm sure they will be worth the wait. Difford and Tilbrook are genuinely one of the finest songwriting partnerships to come out of the UK since Lennon and McCartney & deserve their place in the history of British music. Additionally, every night's entire set is being recorded and made available immediately as part of a 3 CD set which also includes the Packet Of 4 EP  - Squeeze's first set of new studio recordings in 15 years! Now so far as I'm aware, that's a first, who said the old brigade can't innovate! Pics to follow in the next blog. Will be great to be back at the Apollo, it has been a mainstay of the Manchester music scene for well over 30 years and has an atmosphere that somehow the bigger venues in the city aren't able to replicate, we've had some great nights over the years in the 1930s art deco former cinema which is also now a listed building, but especially gutted to have missed The Buzzcocks reunion gig there in May this year.

At the opposite end of the career spectrum, we are looking forward to seeing a fine young band later  this month. Loor a Los Heroes are a four piece indie band hailing from Newton-le-Willows and Ashton, we'll be seeing them at a gig in Warrington, I'm sure they are destined for a big future.
Their latest EP is excellent, check them out at:
http://looralosheroes.webs.com/
Whilst on the subject of new talent, please take time to check out an awesome new young female artist, A me B hails from Golborne and is an exceptional talent who can be heard regularly on BBC Introducing, Rinse FM and most Manchester radio stations, this young lady has a huge future in front of her, please check out her music at:
http://www.ameb.co.uk/

One gig we didn't get to see in November was The Killers, Brandon Flowers unfortunately had to leave the stage four songs into their first night in Manchester, he was suffering from a sore throat. The gig on the following night, which we had tickets for, was also cancelled. All's well that ends well though as the guys have rescheduled for February and it should be top night!

Another treat coming up in December will be a visit to Manchester's Christmas markets, this annual event is something that has grown and grown over the past decade, and is now arguably the best in the country, definitely worth a visit if you're in town and looking for pressies!

 http://www.christmasmarkets.com/UK/manchester-christmas-market.html

On the subject of pressies, there are plenty to be found at a great little online shop, lilyesque.com are offering 50% discount on all items to fans & readers of The Summats blog, be sure to use the discount code HO2012 at the checkout to get your bargains!
http://www.lilyesque.com/

Big news for the band as we now have two female vocalists, Becky Dawson has joined The Summats & will make her debut on the next single, due in June 2013. Becky has been rehearsing with us for the past few weeks and has co-written a track called 'Anymore' along with Sam, Toe and myself, a real band effort this one which the girls will take lead vocals on. The next EP track listing is almost finalised and we are looking forward to getting the songs out there for you as soon as we are able.

So much to pack into the blog this time, but hopefully got it all in there. Have a fantastic time in the run up the big day on the 25th, hope Santa brings everything you hope and all the musical treats you can listen to without your ears busting!

If you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment below, if you didn't.....go write on someone else's blog!..lol

Till next time, take care and keep smiling.

Baggers

 

Gigs & Books!

Travelled to see The Fratellis play at Leadmill in Sheffied last week, they rocked the place. So good to see this outstanding British band back together again, if only for a few gigs.

 

Jon Fratelli is one of those amazing songwriters who seems to go completely under the radar of the heaving masses for some reason. With the exception of the wonderful 'Costello music' debut album, his work has gone largely unnoticed. For the record, aside from the excellent Fratellis follow up, 'Here we 'Stand'. Jon has previoulsy collaborated with Lou Hickey as 'Codeine Velvet Club' using his real name of Jon Lawler, for a stunning set of songs in sort of rock/jazz fusion which deserved far greater recognition than it got, plus a great solo album, 'Pyscho Jukebox'. Roger Daltrey is a big fan, which is cool by anyone's standards! His work both with and without The Fratellis is brilliant, check him out.

 

 

The Leadmill itself is a great venue, reminded me very much of The Tivoli in Brisbane, small intimate with a really great atmosphere. It isn't a place I'd visited previously, but I should have, it has a great pedigree and a deserved place in the history of British music, shame on me for not getting there before now, the brawl that broke out during 'Chelsea Dagger' only added to the authenticity! Ah I remember the first time I had a beer too!
Speaking of The Tivoli in Brissie, I hear an old acquaintance from my mis spent youth, Rick Astley, will be playing there shortly, enjoy Rick, it's a great venue!
http://www.leadmill.co.uk/
http://www.thetivoli.net.au/

Another gig lined up shortly is 'The Killers' in Manchester in November,really looking forward to this one too, Brandon Flowers solo album in particular has just grown and grown on me over the past couple of years, now one of my favourites. My good friend, Mrben09 has managed to trump me however, with tickets to see them in Las Vegas during the Christmas break, lucky fella! Ben has interesting views on a number of subjects and is happy to share them in his blogs, well worth checking out.
http://mrben09.wordpress.com

 

Given the mountain of literature I've read on the life of Elvis Presley, I would have imagined there was very little left to learn, until I read this book. 'Last Train To Memphis' is the definitive account of the man and the musician. Painstakingly researched, informative and entertaining, the writer, Peter Guralnick, has drawn on accounts from people who were actually there and who are very much part of the story he is telling. For the first time the myth of Elvis is stripped away leaving a description of a likeable albeit completely driven young man. It is very difficult for anyone under a certain age (including me) to fully understand the impact Elvis had on 1950's America and shortly afterwards...the planet! To quote John Lennon "Before Elvis, there was nothing!". This book goes a long way to explaining how he redefined both popular music and popular culture.
It is a quite stunning biography, one of the best I have ever read. I would highly recommend it to both Elvis fans & anyone who has an interest in the history of pop/Rock music. I'm certainly getting mileage from the above text, used it to review the book too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Train-To-Memphis-Presley/dp/0349106517/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

 

Anyone who has followed this blog will know that we are having an interesting time obtaining royalties from Australian TV AirPlay, PRSformusic said we should expect payment in September, running out of days guys! We're going to have take matters into our own hands soon and travel back down under to get them! We may have to confiscate tinnies and snags...you have been warned!

On a serious note, our music has been played both on TV and radio without a single penny touching our accounts, I certainly dont expect to retire on the royalties, but I'd like to put them towards a beer!...cough up!

The new EP continues to take shape, albeit slowly. We are putting the finishing touches to a track titled 'One Day', recording session scheduled next week with our two, yes you heard it here first, our two female vocalists, more news on that to follow.


If you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment below, we would love to hear from you.

 

 

Until next time, take care and keep smiling

 

Baggers

                                             

It's Only Rock n Roll...Hyde Park

Wembley stadium, London, on the 4th of July 1985, that was the first time I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play live, the performance I witnessed that day was and remains the best live show I've ever seen.

Fast forward 27 years, 14th July, Hyde Park, London. Opening with a fantastic version of 'Thunder Road' as he had done on the bands first visit to London in 1975, Springsteen and his band of merry men and women set off on a 3 and quarter hours set of pure adrenaline filled rock n roll!

Some much loved people were missing, sadly no longer with us, in the shape of Clarence 'the big man!' Clemons and Mr. Danny 'now you see him, now you dont' Federici. Amazing that this band can still sound so good even minus those two hugely gifted musicians.
Although my wife and I have now seen the band on a number of occasions, this gig was made even more special by the fact that our daughter Mel was with us. Brought up on tales of the exploits and mammoth gigs of the legendary E Street Band, she had the opportunity to experience first hand the power and joy they bring to an audience, and they didn't disappoint. 'Born to run', 'Because the nigh't, 'Dancing in the Dark', Spirits in the Night', 'Born in the USA' among so many others all came and went in bursts of pure energy!
Springsteen was joined by Jon Fogerty to duet on 'Promised land', Tom Morello later joined the Boss for a rendition of 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' which was simply breathtaking. Then last and by anyone's standards, not least, Paul McCartney arrived onstage to rip through 'I saw her standing there' and 'twist and shout'! The sight of Springsteen and McCartney rocking Hyde Park will live with me and anyone else who was privileged to be there, forever! As this duo to end all duo's looked to be going into a third song...silence. The event organiser's had pulled the plug, afraid to lose their licence due to a curfew, the band had already played 30 minutes beyond the cutoff point. Shame on you Westminster council!
The ending didn't detract from what was a great performance from a true rock legend, I doubt we'll ever see his like again.


 Lo and behold, PRSformusic actually replied to inform us that they are following up on our Australian TV royalties directly with APRA which is, I beleive, the acronym for Australasian Performing Rights Association, in which case, great news. It could also be the Australian Professional Rodeo Association, which isn't so great, to the best of my knowledge, they dont owe us a bean!

The new EP should be finished before too long, both of The Summats are now based back up in the North of England so hopefully this  should speed up production. Speaking of which, we have a very cool producer working with us on a track titled 'Can You Hear Me Now'. Fractured Calm, aka Danny Wyatt is putting the finishing touches to the track, looking forward to hearing the finished work. It's worth taking time out to check out some of Danny's work at http://soundcloud.com/fracturedcalm

Until next time, take care & keep smiling.

Baggers

 

In the studio

So we're back in the studio, working a new single, which may become the first track of an EP, or the first track of an album! Who knows, whatever way it turns out, its good to be finally producing some music again. The primary holdup has been my move from Australia back to the UK last year, takes longer than you would imagine to get yourself settled, with all your stuff around you and in the frame of mind to create!

We have a heap of tunes in demo state, finishing them is the problem! The track we are currently working on is called 'Second Hand Store', originally written about two years ago, as you can tell, we dont work quickly! In fact, since we wrote this track, Libya has had a revolution, Qatar have been awarded a soccer World Cup and I moved back to the Northern hemsphere! Almost at final mix stage, will let you know when its out there.

Very sad news to hear of the death of Robin Gibb. For anyone who may think that the Bee Gees were all teeth and big hair, should check out what brilliant songwriters the brothers were, producing hits for both themselves & countless other artists across five decades. One of the finest musical talents Britain has ever produced, he will be sadly missed.

Logged into our band account this morning & lo and behold, some new royalties had arrived... this is from a new source called iTunes match, apparently a royalty payment is due when our tracks are played through someones itunes match account. Although a small payment, this was unexpected and much appreciated, also another example of how Tunecore & iTunes are helping independant musicians to get their music heard and ensure royalties are forthcoming when they do. Well done guys, now if only PRSformusic was so efficient!

I have a particular guitar melody, written about 15 years ago, which refuses to leave my brain! Its one of those tracks that I always play whenever I pickup the guitar. I'm finally going to get around to writing a lyric for it, it's amazing how a tune can just stay in your head, hanging around like it owns the place until you get around to finishing it! Its a lovely melody  and really does deserve a good lyric, like a little orphan, its just waiting for someone to love it, will let you know when I've finally finished it.

In December this year we'll be paying a visit to Manchester Apollo, along with our significant others, to see Squeeze, one of our all time favourite bands, and if that wasnt enough, they will be supported by Paul Heaton, ex of The Housemartins & The Beautiful South, more recently solo star and landlord of the Kings Arms pub in Salford!. Saw The Beautiful South at GMex in Manchester during the heady days of their success in the 1990's, never seen Squeeze though and excited doesnt even begin to cover it! They delivered a huge chunk of the soundtrack to our youth! So big night at the Apollo followed by a some appropriate refreshments in the city coming up, good times!

Check out the new video on Youtube which was filmed in Kent during winter 2011, the song was originally written in 2009 and was actually the first track we worked on after getting back together to write some new stuff after a gap of twenty years!. It was released as part of the 'May Street Bridge' EP in March 2011, still one of my favourite songs of ours, hope you like it. Until next time, take care & keep smiling :)

Baggers

PRS - Poor response service?

When is airplay not airplay? Strange question you might ask, stick around and I will try to enlighten you.

The Summats (aka Baggers & Toe) first commercial single was in fact a Christmas song titled All I Want Is Christmas, it was released in November 2010 via our wonderful friends at Tunecore (we are not worthy!) . The single did very well over that festive period, with mainstream radio airplay in the UK & primetime TV airplay on Channel Nine in Australia. In our naivety, we looked forward  to our UK PRS company (PRSformusic) following up with the various commercial entities who had used our work & ensuring the appropriate royalties made their way to us as songwriters & performers.

So here we sit in April of 2012 and guess how much we've seen of royalites to date from that airplay, bear with me a second while I consult our accountant, oh yeah, that's right.....Nothing!, Zilch, Zip....a big fat Zero!

Now I don't claim that Toe & I are starving musicians, I don't even claim that we are desperate for the royalties so our kids can all have new shoes!
 a:) Because our kids have grown up and can buy their own freaking shoes &
 b:) Music is our hobby, we do it for fun, just because we love it.
However, there are a lot of musicians and songwriters out there who are trying to pay the bills & do need to get paid!
When someone's creative output is broadcast via one of the UK's commercial radio stations or via one of Australia's primary TV channels, you would think something was owed to someone, somewhere. The TV show which used our work featured two Christmas songs on the day in question, 'All I Want is Christmas' by The Summats & 'Last Christmas' by Wham. Now, I'm no betting man, but if I were, I would like to bet that old George's royalties are already nestling in the G. Michael vaults! 

I am eternally grateful for channel nine using our music, I don't even blame them for the fact that we haven't been paid because whilst we operate for fun, its good to know that what we are doing is maybe good and can be appreciated. As I said earlier, this is about our naivety as songwriters, assuming that for any kind of broadcasted performance, a royalty is due. In this particular case we have provided dates and times of broadcast, that we are aware of, to our PRS company, still not heard a thing.

I am fully aware of the responses I'm likely to get from those in the know....'We only provide a snapshot of results from broadcasters', 'We follow up wherever possible to ensure that our members rights are protected". My response to that would be why don't you chase all the royalties that are due? We live in a digital age, it is the simplest thing in the world to download TV and radio playlists to a central location to allow statistical analysis by publishers, PRS etc.  Also, correct me if mistaken, the more PRS collects, the more PRS gets paid, simple enough eh?

Following on from the 'success' of the song in 2010, it also went on to further UK radio airplay at Christmas 2011, not holding my breath for those royalties either! What I will do is say is a big thank you to Tunecore for distributing our music in the first place & for ensuring we have been paid for the modest single sales to date. They do exactly what they say they will do & deliver on their promises.

So when is airplay not airplay? when it isn't recognised by the entities who are setup to protect your interests. I have, once again, contacted my PRS company to notify them that I still havent received any feedback on airplay that I know for a fact has occurred, when I hear from them...I'll let you know but.....don't hold your breath. In the meantime, if you have had similar issues obtaining or chasing royalties, overseas or otherwise, please leave a comment below and let us know.

Take care and keep smiling.

Baggers :)