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Matt Meets Daughter

Contributor Mat Smith (sipnskimbrighton.wordpress.com) meets new Radio 1 favourite Daughter and reviews their in-store performance at good old Resident. 

Photography by Timothy Cochrane for Loud and Quiet.com

“Somewhere between being petrified and profoundly excited” That’s how front woman Elena Tonra described stepping out onto the small stage that jutted upwards into Resident’s shop front. Officially the smallest crowd of fans they’d played to since the band really took off in early 2011. It was as I stepped into Resident that this group of people who stood around me, were die-hard fans. I asked and all were really quite ecstatic about sharing quite a big moment of the band’s history: the release of their debut album.

The band quite literally slipped onto the stage, all three swigging from a can of Carlsberg for that infamous ‘Dutch courage’. Not long after the monotony of guitar tuning etc. the band hurriedly start playing; only a moment later to stop again. The crowd draw a breath of confusion before Elena announces ‘Shit, I’m in the wrong key…and so the shambles begins’. This didn’t deter the crowd who expectedly laughed but never the less, they eagerly awaited the first song. This first song was Human. It was a captivating start, one that I was certainly not expecting; a quaint song with a constant pulse in the beat. It reminded me of a place between dreaming and consciousness; where you hear the sound of your own pulse.

Once they’d finished playing, Elena quietly admitted “It’s been a strange day… and we’ve never played some of these songs in front of people before. I don’t know if that’s good for you lot or not?“ This rhetorical question was met by laughter; I’m not sure what the members of Daughter made of this. However one thing I felt being a part of that audience was that whatever they played, and no matter how many times they mucked up through nerves, this crowd would love them.

The second song scribbled upon Elena Tonra’s hand was Smother, the single that preceded their album (and our personal favorite). After that followed Still, and from the band’s first E.P: Youth. Easily their most recognisable song It’s strange that whilst Elena sang no one in the audience joined her (if they did it wasn’t noticeable). Rather the audience just wanted to let Daughter preform. It was evident that Elena was taken aback by this and during Youth she was constantly looking up at her guitar and smiling. She was among the real fans now, and she loved it.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and meeting the band afterwards was the absolute highlight. The members of Daughter stayed for nearly an hour after the show to make sure everyone who wanted to meet them was given that chance. All on the same day they released their debut album, did a radio interview and played a gig…some band!

M

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The Power(lessness?) Of An Open Letter - Part 3

(Continued from part 2)

And finally I come to what I now refer to as 'The Amanda/Sinead/Miley Saga' - you must have heard about this public row by now, but who's side are you on? And has any of it it done any good?

It started with an open letter from Sinead O'Connor posted on her website to Miley Cyrus, warning her about the dangers of 'prostituting' herself to the music industry and about being a bad role model for younger girls. Sinead pleads with her, asking that if she had any respect for her (in a Rolling Stone interview Miley explained the close up of her face and tears in her video wrecking ball were inspired by Sinead's 'Nothing Compares To You' video) or herself, she should re-think her current actions. 

Unfortunately, the tone of the letter did seem a little patronising and school-marmy with lines such as 'your body is for you and your boyfriend' even sounding very un-21st century. Miley certainly did not take it well, replying in a tweet saying: 'Before Amanda Bynes....There was....' and then posting a picture of a string of Sinead's tweets two years ago whilst having a mental breakdown. This was a very rash move from Miley, not only has she completely disregarded any of Sinead's advice, but she's unashamedly dragged her past mental health issues forward in a childish 'so what, you're mental' move, it also insults Amanda Bynes in a completely provoked attack. To make matters even worse, shortly after she posted a tweet of an iconic image of Sinead ripping up the then Pope's image, again as if to demonise Sinead in front of her fan base - most of which are probably Christians due to it being America's leading religion. Whether she knew it was a protest against child abuse within the church or not, at the time of writing, she still hasn't taken it down from Twitter. 

To cut a long story short, 'concerned' Sinead immediately changed her tack with a second letter of a much more accusing and slut-shaming tone, an example being: 'you are such an anti-female tool of the anti-female music industry... And I hope that you will wake up and understand that you in fact are a danger to women'

This was an unfortunate reaction, to Miley's hurtful response and rather starts to negate any intelligible points from Sinead's first letter - suddenly she does not care so much for the 'vulnerable' 20 year old.  

Shortly after Sinead threatened Miley with legal action if she did not remove the tweets, Amanda Palmer stepped in between the two and gave her own opinion, strategically trying not to offend either party - She even adds a few P.s's gushing at O'Connor in case anything in her letter is taken the wrong way. 

In my opinion, Palmer seems the most on-track - she expresses the view that whether a woman chooses to hide or show her body is her decision;

'I want to live in a world where WE as women determine what we wear and look like and play the game as our fancy leads us' (The 'game' being expressing sexuality)

Palmer believes that being informed and making those decisions makes you powerful and in control (as long as you think about why you're doing it and not doing so simply out of pressure);

'Let’s give our young women the right weapons to fight with as they charge naked into battle, instead of ordering them to get back in the house and put some goddamn clothes on.'

So far there has been no reply from Sinead - only more threats of legal action to Miley who still refuses to take down slandering tweets. So did Palmer's letter actually change anything? I think it brings a much needed and more balanced third perspective on the subject matter and hopefully it has made people around the world think twice about slut-shaming and more about a woman's right to showcase her body - or not. 

Words By Zoe Brownrigg

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The Power(lessness?) Of An Open Letter - Part 2

(continued from part 1)

First of all, It's not technically an 'open letter' as it is addressed to no one in particular, however it bears certain similarities; the need to express an opinion to the public and confronting an issue impossible to resolve on one's own. 

In the article, Mayberry shares a link to a recent Facebook post on her band's page; a screen shot of an inappropriate message sent via Facebook's messaging system. She explains sexually explicit messages, threats and misogynistic language are an everyday occurrence as she personally manages the band's social media pages and it affects her all day thanks to the ever-present web.

On why she wrote the article Lauren states:

'My involvement in this discussion is not motivated by a self-righteous or self-pitying urge. My hopes are that if anything good comes out of this, it will start a conversation, or continue the conversation which is already happening, encouraging others to reject an acceptance of the status quo, and that our band can continue to do what we are doing in our own way and on our own terms. For us, this has always been – and hopefully will always be – about the music, and that is what we will be getting back to now.'

Firstly, I'm glad that Lauren had the courage to write this article; yes by putting her stance on this issue in the public eye she invites even more abuse and criticism but by highlighting this important and unfortunately ubiquitous issue she certainly has 'start(ed) a conversation'; 385 people have commented on the article, with a further 1027 on the original Facebook post Lauren mentions.

The majority of responses to both the original post and article are supportive, however it is noticeable that an overwhelming amount of male responses are either jokey 'David Mateau Yeah Yeah yeah listen make me a sandwich and then get to the laundry' or downright ignorant: 'Kenneth Ho This is actually rather tame. I mean, the dude could think it, but probably shouldn't have said it out loud. If you take out the middle part of the sentence, it would've been fine.' From reading the comments it seems most of the male respondents are in denial about sexism in general - they try to justify it, make excuses for it, or simply ignore it by saying Lauren is 'over-reacting'.

After skim reading hundreds of responses, I saw only one negative or unsupportive response from a female: 'Calista Moffat She is a massive babe though to be honest'. This comment shows how sexism is so 'normal' in our society that even some females internalise it. 

Another important fact, is that most of the negative or unsupportive comments from males were made on the Facebook post rather than the Guardian article. Because The Guardian is a left wing media (and for the most part, it's blog will be read by it's left wing readership) it does feel a bit like Lauren is preaching to the choir, but perhaps it will encourage those who agree to stand up to the next act of sexism they encounter.  I wonder if the impact would have been greater if it was published by The Daily Mail, but I doubt they would have even published it, or if they did, I can imagine they would give it a 'whiney' 'bra-burning' angle.

However, if even a few perpetrators of everyday sexism think twice before their next sexist Facebook comment then it'll have been worth it. It's a very small ripple in such a big internet ocean, lets hope it encourages more female musicians to speak out against such treatment - if we make sexism shaming normal, then hopefully the tide will turn and sexism will no longer be accepted as it is by many today. 

And finally I come to what I now refer to as 'The Amanda/Sinead/Miley Saga'...(stay tuned for part 3 of 'The Power(lessness?) Of An Open Letter' coming soon...!

Words By Zoe Brownrigg

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The Power(lessness?) Of An Open Letter - Part 1

Perhaps like Stephen Fry, they feel morally and personally obligated to use their powers of influence to do good, for example, to boycott the Russian Winter Olympic Games on account of the country's homophobic laws and abuse. Or perhaps they want to speak out against sexist comments on social media like Lauren Mayberry (singer in Chvrches) - who has admitted crumpling under the misogynistic language and threats being posted on her band's web presence. On other occasions, they've wanted to give another celeb a scolding on their recent behaviour and warn them on the responsibility of being a role model Á La Sinead O'Conner to Miley Cyrus after her shocking VMA performance and new video release. 

But also, maybe, it's just to get a bit of good old fashioned press. Do they really think they can boycott the olympics/online behaviour of society/the amount of clothes Miley wears? 

In Stephen's case, the open letter has certainly helped raise awareness of the anti-LGBT laws and happenings within Russia but even he admits it is too late for a boycott or location move now. I'm sure his suggestions of wearing rainbows on sports kits and performing a new symbolic gesture on the podium (reminiscent of John Carlos and Tommie Smith's black-power salute at the Mexico Olympics of 1968, except Fry suggests arms crossed in front of the chest) will be taken up. Who knows, with such international political pressure, by some miracle Russia may just start to re-evaluate their stance on LGBT communities, if only to let them be. 

As much as I love Stephen Fry and his fight for LGBT rights, it does seem a little more than coincidental that this open letter is published just a few weeks before his documentary series on Homophobia, 'Out There'. The fact that the letter was publicly published instead of privately sent to David Cameron, meant that he obviously intended to grab our attention and start a conversation - one that he could continue in the documentary and consequently keep his public profile up; killing two birds with one stone. 

As far as i'm concerned, Stephen's letter is a powerful tool to raise awareness of the dangerous homophobia in Russia and a call to (peaceful) arms to help stop it. If Fry gets a few more thousand views of his documentary off the back of it, then it can only be a good thing.

Whilst Fry's open letter talks of abuse in Russia, Lauren Mayberry's article for The Guardian speaks of abuse happening everywhere - sexism on the internet...(Stay tuned for part 2 of 'The Power(lessness?) Of An Open Letter' coming soon...!)

Words by Zoe Brownrigg

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No Recognition For Independence?

On Friday the 13th September, The Guardian posted an article entitled; ‘My Bloody Valentine frontman slams Mercury prize list’. Expecting a typical-for-the-industry bitchy interview about how today’s music has lost all credibility, I found that after reading the article, the title was quite misleading (probably to draw in people like me looking for a bitchy rant). 

The majority of the article however contains less of Shields ‘slamming’ fellow musicians and more of his sulky attitude towards the Mercury Prize ethos. According to Shields,  a troubling side effect of going DIY is that it seems to a large portion of the industry, ‘We don’t exist’. 

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Shields declares:

“Our album's not a real album because it's independent. The corporate-ness has got to such a point where we've essentially been told that we don't exist. So, technically, that album doesn't exist. OK? It's not allowed to exist according to the Mercury prize."

The guardian has since confirmed that a major distribution deal is required in order to be considered for nomination. This excludes any self releases or even Indie label releases that don’t have such a deal, when deciding on nominees. Yet, being a DIY musician is not only becoming a more common and viable path to success, but is actively encouraged but the likes of large Industry festivals such as The Great Escape; titles of conferences at TGE13 included: 'Building profile as a DIY artist' AND WHAT ELSE? . So it seems a little odd to exclude these people when deciding ‘Albums Of The Year’. However, even the name of said category perhaps hints at a hidden diplomacy within the industry; not ‘best album’, not ‘most popular album’ but just ‘Albums Of The Year’ - suggesting they are merely picked from a list of those with major distribution deals and a certain level of media hype - a certain music media giant being another victim of Shield’s rant. He speaks on Music Week in the interview:

"Again, to them we don't exist. Ask anyone if they can find our name in that paper and they won't be able to. We stopped existing once we [self-released] this album."

This however doesn’t surprise me; to put it bluntly, Music Week’s main reason for existing is to sell advertising space to those who can afford forking out a few thousand pounds for a double page spread - the majors. It is therefore within their interest to keep up their relationships with the labels by publishing their news/reviews/releases. Sadly this means that an independent release, even by the likes of My Bloody Valentine which is their first in 22 years, doesn’t get a look in edgeways. 

Apparently Shields does not regret the band’s choice on their DIY approach even recommending it to “anyone in our kind of position,".  He does however then mention that they are thinking of widening their distribution channels to include iTunes as opposed albums only being sold from their website, Shields says it’s “just to see what happens” but I’m pretty sure it’s to try and get a foot in the door of the conventional industry’s world and perhaps a mention in Music Week. 

I finally got the short paragraph at the end of The Guardian’s article where Shield does some rather sulky ‘Slamming’ of mercury prize winners, as promised by the headline:

"God help" whoever wins, Shields said. Every act who has ever won the Mercury "suffered" in the aftermath. Even Primal Scream and "even M People". "Seriously," Shields advised, "there are sinister forces at work."

So why is he so angry about not being nominated then, surely they have escaped the risk of ‘suffering’ now - at least from the Mercury prize, but it seems that they are still doomed to suffer excommunication from the realm where the Major’s rule. 

Words By Zoe Brownrigg

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Our main boyz Demob Happy guerrilla gigging at #tge13 #interrobanged

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It's the first day of The Great Escape Festival! After conveniently forgetting my delegate pass (and thankfully sorting it out, thanks to amazing TGE staff!), I'm ready to network with my newly printed business cards and over eager smile! Will be posting videos, photos and summaries of music business convention talks over the weekend so stay tuned!

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#TGEcountdown 1 day to go!

Rile yourself up with 'Abraxical Solapse' by local boyz The Physics House Band and laugh at the silly people commenting and complaining that 'it's not house music'. No. It bloody well is not. It's the antidote to house music in fact. As well as playing TGE, they'll be at a little festival called Cobbfest which is possibly the cheapest festival around at £20 so grab those last few tickets!

You can also catch them at:

Concorde 2: Saturday 18th, 20:30

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TGEcountdown 2 days to go!

We have no idea what these guys are singing about, it sounds like a made up language...but it's probably spanish. Either way, they are not trying to sound pretty, they're raw, fun and definitely out of tune, but hey they're young and they're having a great time by the looks of things.

Join the party at:

The Hope: Friday 17th, 2:30

The Prince Albert: Saturday 18th, 1:30

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#TGEcountdown 3 days to go!

Want to see prostitutes turning into snakes to a soundtrack of Kate bush style vocals, harp and electro bass? Take a peep at Susanne Sundfor's video for 'Silicone Veil', but don't say we didn't warn you...what is it with people and creepy videos these days?!

See if Susanne's a human or snakeman at:

Green Door Store: Friday 17th, 21:00

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#TGEcountdown 4 days to go!

Chill out with some Unknown Mortal Orchestra this Lazy Sunday afternoon...although the video's a bit disturbing...puppets self pleasuring...*shudders*

Hopefully they'll be keeping their hands out of their pants and on their guitars at:

Coalition: Friday 17th, 22:15

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#TGEcountdown 5 days to go!

Watch Temples' 'Shelter Song' and be transported back to the 60s/last night's trip/to a better place with their catchy song and psychedelic video.

Soar to them on rainbow wings at:

The Haunt: Friday 17th, 22:15

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#TGEcountdown 6 days to go!

Make like Deap Vally and party like it's the 'End Of The World'! #sexy #dirty #rock

Salivate over them at:

The Warren: Thursday 16th, 21:30

Komedia: Friday 17th, 19:45

The Metro Hub Stage, Festival Hub: Saturday 18th, 15:00

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The Great Escape Festival COUNTDOWN

#TGEcountdown 7 days to go!

The almighty Great Escape Festival is happening in our local town of Brighton a week from now and we've secured ourselves some press tickets, thanks to Northbrook College. Just as well seeing as all tickets are sold out! We hope you got yours...

In the run up to the festival, we will be posting our pics from the lineup who are definitely worth checking out. The Great Escape is famous for showcasing the best, new up and coming acts, so we're sure we'll be seeing a few of these relatively unknowns headlining next year's festival circuits - just look where the band on everyone's lips at last year's Great Escape, Alt-J, have ended up!

So we are proud to present our first pick of the lineup - On An On with possibly our favourite song of the year so far Ghosts.

Don't Miss them at: 

Coalition: Friday 17th, 0:00

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The Great Escape 2013

It seems they are easing us in gently, hopefully after March 5th when the second wave of artists are announced a more excitable video will be produced?! However this does make us look forward to it though, 2 months to go!

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Three Is The Magic Number (For Girl Groups)

So as you've probably gathered, here at Interrobang music we have unhealthy obsessions with girl groups The Staves and Haim - which is pronounced 'High-m' by the way, thank goodness we've figured that out, 'haym?Highm?Hymen?' is not so good on live radio... (our Interrobang Music radio show is every Thursday from 5-6pm at www.nsr.fm in case you're wondering!)

In fact not only do both of these bands consist of three girls, but of three sisters! Perhaps it's the family bond which makes these girl's music so amazing? But here to prove that theory wrong are Stealing Sheep, a three-girl band definitely worthy of a place in Jack's basement (what?).

The Guardian says 'the music ranges from pop and psychedelia to folk and funk, or at least funk if it had been accidentally stumbled on centuries ahead of schedule in rural Englaeirdly, our favourite song of theirs 'Shut Eye' was used in a special 'Festival' edition of Hollyoaks (see here) but don't let that put you off, their kooky, up-beat and infectiously catchy sound will win you over in moments.