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

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

 

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 :)