Warning: This may be the last day the Camden Assembly is left standing....
Posted in Fresh News | Comments Off on TALENTBANQ and ReverbNation : Feb 27th
It’s a topic that’s very widely spoken about ‘the future of music’. What with the downfall of physical sales and the onslaught of digital downloads there is a big question looming over our heads ‘how are bands suppose to survive?’. It seems live music through gigs/venues and festivals is the main source of income that all musicians wish for and can survive from.
It has come to my attention that there are lots of clever individuals putting together their own platforms for musicians and a lot of these independent driving forces are really starting to make a name for themselves (This Feeling being a prime example). These driving forces deserve the recognition for their love and passion for keeping the industry thriving and for helping and supporting bands or solo artists on their way. Let me introduce you to Ray Jones the leading creator of Talentbanq.
Yes believe it or not we can be early birds at Rizer! Ouch! Yes 9am we popped over to Kings Cross to interview Ray at the Vinyl Cafe over a strong cuppa. Most importantly we wanted to find out more about him, his music venture and what he has up his sleeve for the very near future!
Ray is very down to earth and what you see is what you get. Relaxed, enthusiastic and extremely focused, He’s out on a weekly basis checking out bands and unknown talent. He lives and breathes music. Ray’s previous background was working with Time Out for five years as a business development director. It was in this position that two of his responsibilities for The London-based Time Out was starting and organising a loyalty programme for members and a series called ‘Rising Stars’ where Time Out readers were given the opportunity to check out really hot and unknown bands. It’s during this time he accidentally fell into the music business.
Ray reminiscences on growing up with rock and punk and seeing bands like UFO at the Hammersmith Odeon or popping into The Hope and Anchor to watch The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. This is where he says he fell in love with live music particularly in the Rock area.
Rays background has been quite unusual and he quickly tells me he needs to fill in a gap! He’s spent a lot of time promoting London as a destination but mostly in the tourism sector. One of the big businesses he worked with involved him being on the board of a large touring company. They would bring people to London and secure their tickets for a cultural package deal which included top entertainment. This role for Ray built a commercial relationship with The 02 Arena and this is where he started bringing groups from both the UK and abroad with a package deal that included various shows at the 02 (most of which were prodiminately music based). At that time he would host the events and this is where he started to get absorbed by watching the shows and seeing it from the audiences perspective.
Ray has always had a hankering for small dirty basements in Soho a far cry from The plushness of The 02. He wasn’t into the glitzy events he wanted more spit and sawdust! The intimacy of small venue gives you a much better feel and atmosphere he tells me. So from big stadiums and large stages to smaller venues featuring unknown artists, this is where he found himself seeing it from the musicians perspective and how hard it is to get recognised in this major city. Ray firmly adds “It can be really unforgiving and quite frankly abusive especially when there are tons of sharks swimming around”. So along with two other friends they have produced a model that focuses on helping the artists and accelerating their careers to make a name for themselves.
Talentbanq have three commercial strands to their business. Firstly they are acting/representing as a live agent for 50 artists that have been hand picked. They along with the accreditation go out and promote each artist for the right venues/festivals and suitable audiences and the guarantee the artist gets paid. The second string to their business is they provide event management for people who want music but don’t quite know how to go about it they will event manage the whole process. They will provide the whole package including sound and lights! The third thing is in a few cases they will manage artists and look after their whole commercial wellbeing. They are currently in negotiations to manage three artists that are currently on their roster.
The TalentBanq launch at the 229 Club was a huge success with a diverse and extremely talented lineup. The night began with an intimate VIP Reception featuring: GeNIA, Natale Shay, Hollie Rogers and Joe Slater.
We were then ushered to the big stage in the Main Room where we were treated to CONCEPT, ANAVAE, Joe Slater and the closing and sensational band Coffeepot Drive.
Overall a splendid night with yours truly Ray Jones as a very entertaining and excited MC.
It will be very interesting to see what impact Talentbanq have on the industry and I can only wish them from us at Rizer every success.
Words Celine Hispiche
Photos Jeff Moh
Posted in Fresh News | Comments Off on TALENTBANQ CEO in Rizer Magazine
Hi Peeps,
So, for the second piece from TALENTBANQ PRESENTS, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Nadine from CoffeePot Drive. Nadine indicates they’re now in the process of relaunching with TalentBanq, so what better time to bombard you with info? Call it CoffeePot over-Drive.
‘What’s CoffeePot Drive?’, I hear you say. Umm, rude. Secondly, okay, let’s get some education on the go. Grab yo cortado.
Firstly, let’s just say that if The Blues Brothers and George Thorowood and the Destroyers had a love child, it would be called CoffeePot Drive.
Now, let me introduce to you to the legends (in bullet point format, ‘cos I’m efficient like that):
Let’s start the at what I like to call the ‘babyccino’ days of CoffeePot Drive.
It was MPG awards triple nominee producer**, Andy Brook, who first introduced Illy and Nadine to each other in the murky depths of mid-2013. Based in and around Croydon, South East London, the founding members initially took to the London circuit with their “acoustic vision”. After which, it was a kinda snowball process that took the band into the effervescent ensemble it is now. Coffeepot Drive has kept all original band members, they just can’t shake each other off!
After completing their first record in 2015, Edge of Town, their track ‘Hey Suzy!’ reached number one in the iTunes Blues chart. They’ve kept up the momentum by belching in-your-face grooves to their loyal following around London. You can usually catch them in places such as The Bedford, The New Cross Inn and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
Okay, now let’s delve into some deeper shit… What do they represent? Nadine explains the aforementioned Edge of Town is named after the band’s roots being on the fringe of London. In their track Warning Sign, they voice the frustration of the isolated and ignored, which resulted in the 2011 London Riots; an integral part of London’s modern history. Not only do they reflect contemporary issues in their song writing, they’re also advocates for mental health awareness and #diversitymatters.
In terms of musical influences, Nadine goes on to say they’re all heavily influenced by rock music – you can hear it in tracks such as Fallback. Despite the rock backgrounds, all members wanted to come together to make something different. I mean, Mark, their keys player, came from some crazy psychedelic bands, ya get me? So far, they’ve succeeded in their mission. You think you’ve heard something like them before, but then they throw in a rock or dub-esque twang and you’re like ‘nope, dis is fresh music’. Bringing it forward to 2018, their journey has taken them a long way from the aforesaid acoustic vision. Babyccino has morphed into Café Patrón. Think boozy rock ‘n’ soul, dude.
So, you wanna see them play, huh? You wanna sweat out the Blues with them? Get your arses to their REVERBNATION gig on 27th Feb. If you can’t make it, please wake up and smell the coffee by checking out their YouTube channel.
Posted in Fresh News, Uncategorized | Comments Off on TALENTBANQ PRESENTS: COFFEEPOT DRIVE
100 Wardour St Presents ‘Monday Marquee’ on February 5th with Joe Slater
Talentbanq’s Joe Slater is playing at one of Soho’s most famous venues on Monday February 5th.
Formerly known as the Marquee Club, the venue has seen the likes of David Bowie and AC/DC grace its stage.
This young Liverpudlian has been setting audiences alight with his live performances.
When asked by 100 Wardour Street for his bio he said with a swagger: “It’s not about the past , for me it’s all about the future”.
Catch him at 100 Wardour Street before he hits the big time – Joe Slater will not disappoint.
For more info click here
Posted in Fresh News | Comments Off on Joe Slater to play 100 Wardour Street : Feb 5
Former Editor of Time Out Magazine Dominic Wells reviews the launch of #TALENTBANQ
Who says the devil has all the best tunes? Coffeepot Drive rock the launch of TalentBanq at 229 The Venue. Photo by Brown Eyed Girl
What a night! This week saw the launch of a new live music company devoted to, as CEO Ray Jones enthusiastically put it from the stage, “discovering, nurturing, promoting and paying new and unsigned talent”. The company is called TalentBanq, and they have 50 artists on their roster already.
Some of the best were showcased at 229 The Venue in central London, and they ranged from excellent to ridiculously good. Definitely in the latter camp is Liverpudlian solo artist Joe Slater, whom I wrote about in December. The Oasis-tinged tunes were as mighty as the first time I saw him, and this time I could concentrate more on the lyrics. “Singing for my sorrow, drinking for my pain/ Close the blinds in sunshine, walk around in the rain” was one couplet from Slow Down I scribbled in my notes.
Joe Slater at TalentBanq: destined for stardom. Photo by PJ Photography
With his raspy voice, perfect pitch and soulful delivery, Slater is unquestionably destined for stardom, though he fared a little less well in the second half of the night, when we were ushered from an intimate venue into a much larger space. He was still magnificent, but a portion of the audience wouldn’t know it – those at the back kept talking through the performance, and Joe hasn’t yet developed the stage presence to get them to shut the f*** up. Would acquiring two more musicians help him transition to the larger venues he’ll soon command?
Another favourite from the December gig closed the night: Coffeepot Drive, still with their guitarists’ angel wings – one pair black, one pair white – and again getting the whole audience moving. When the keyboards were foregrounded they sounded a little like Deep Purple – if Deep Purple had a frontwoman with a gospel-powered voice, afro hair and knee-high boots, and swung as much to funk as to rock. You can imagine them wowing every festival in the UK come summer.
Some other shout-outs: Hollie Rogers has an unusually low-pitched and warm voice, giving real depth and emotion to her songs. I also bloody loved Anavae, a three-piece that had no problem filling the huge space. Their intro was pure showmanship: the lights came up on three drummers, one seated at a kit, the other two – a man and an elfin woman – standing bashing at drums to make a wall of sound like those Japanese drummer monks. After a minute or so, the two broke off into their natural roles – her singing, him at the guitar – but by then the spell was cast: the audience were hooked.
I’d struggle to describe or define their sound, which means it’s original enough not to be easily pigeonholed into a genre. But let’s try this: If Björk were to do heavy rock, it might sound a bit like this. The guitarist/singer duo, Jamie Finch and Rebecca Need-Menear, have been making music since 2011, and their experience shows. But whoever the drummer is they had with them on the night, he’s great – and I speak as the father of a talented drummer. I’d happily go see again.
Ray Jones, CEO of TalentBanq. Photo by PJ Photography
All in all, if this selection is indicative of the quality of artists on the TalentBanq roster, they’ll soon be supplying original live talent to every conceivable venue from pubs and coffee shops through corporate gigs to massive festivals. The talent behind the scenes is impressive, too. As well as CEO Ray Jones, who brings a surprising energy to the role of compere – like David Rodigan, he looks like an accountant, but can get a vast room hanging on every word – the chief investor is Lord Mervyn Davies, Chairman of the Royal Academy of Arts Board of Trustees and also of Corsair Capital. He joked: “I love fine food, fine wine, and great music, and I invest in all three – luckily two of those make money.”
TalentBanq’s Chairman is Pablo Ettinger, one of the founders of Caffè Nero and the man responsible for its promotion of live music. And TalentBanq’s Creative Director is the irrepressible Laura Westcott, a classically trained singer with a great ear for talent of whom I’ve previously written when she launched Soundcheque and then Music for Mental Wealth. She’s achieved amazing things since leaving The Times (where I have recently gone back to work), especially given her unusual handicap: she cannot recognise certain common words, namely “can’t”, “no”, and “impossible”. ?
Read the original post on London Hollywood here
Posted in Fresh News | Comments Off on Review of Talentbanq in London Hollywood
Joe, Joe, Joe.
Where do I start with this twenty-one-year-old Scouse?
Self-proclaimed “rascal from Liverpool”, he gives no freakin’ friggs from the North West of England. The “giver of peace, love, harmony and egg chow mein” – says it all, really.
Not really arsed about his Waterloo Road acting history, he states he’s a musician through and through. ‘Tis to be expected when you’re a self-taught musician of six instruments.
So, it’s clear he has quite the plethora of talent. I asked him what his favourite instrument was, he said the “harmonica” …???? … I didn’t quite know if he was taking the piss or actually really loved it. Either way, he also loves playing the drums; paying homage to the Phil Collins’ Cadbury’s advert.
I queried his nomadic lifestyle, which is split between the Pool of Liver and Don of Lon. He seemed to shrug it off, “I’m a traveller, a musician. The train journey’s shit but apart from that it’s all good, I like it”. Well that’s ruddy good then, isn’t it? ‘Cos he’s pinging his rock n roll to all corners of the UK, from Glasgow to Chesham.
After asking the age-old question of his influences, he said doesn’t know why he plays music…He just does it because it feels good. It’s a natural thing to do – it’s instinct – anything and everything can inspire him, even “the carpet on the floor”. Time stops and everything happens without even thinking about it. He doesn’t find inspiration, it finds him. DEEP. But, if he did have to choose, he draws “subconscious” inspo from the likes of David Gray, Beatles, Oasis and Pink Floyd.
When I enquired about his deep song-writing-ness, referring to his 2016 record, Floatin’, he said “listen here, I’m fuckin’ crazy…Fuckin’ a bit eccentric’’. He’s trying to find the fine line between craziness and creativity, where if you’re on the line and don’t go over the edge, you’ll find it’s genius. We’re all a bit ‘effed up in our own ways, he says, “you need to mangle your mind and then get it all back together”. After some more chat, he proceeded to invite me to play the trombone on his next track ‘Mangle of the Mind’. How could I refuse?
Anyway, apparently, he can’t stand Floatin’ anymore, ‘cos he finds it boring – he was still finding his identity and voice. I beg to differ, but you can make your own mind up, listen here. Joe says in 2018 his music is more mature [insert: cheddar], he’s found his lil corner of melody, which is a world away from the top 50 trap music saturating the charts. A salmon swimming upstream, some may say.
FYI, Joe’s got about three album’s worth of songs to catapult at you.
Ok, so, where can you hear him play next and endure some top-quality banter? Where can you see this rockstar-in-the-making play live?
TALENTBANQ is promoting Joe’s Shoreditch Showcase on the 20th. GET YOURSELVES THERE.
Keep your eyes peeled, please, ‘cos the venue is TBA.
Posted in Fresh News, Uncategorized | Comments Off on TALENTBANQ RADAR PRESENTS: JOE SLATER