Tuesday 29 October 2013

[Press Release] Half The Universe (is missing) / An insider's view - from the outside

London artist reacts to the trauma of 22.07.11 and gives away a
song for Norway.

Neal Hoffmann is a London based singer/songwriter who, after touring in
Norway with Ephemera in 2003, fell in love with the country and its people. He
has since been back several times and thinks of himself as "an insider on the
outside."
He managed to teach himself Norwegian by reading Norwegian books and
articles on NRK.

When the events of July 22nd 2011 unfolded, he was following the
developments online and, like thousands of others, could not believe what
was happening in Norway.

A lot has happened since. People have struggled with it in their various and
different ways. Neal did what songwriters do, he wrote a song.

He wanted to talk about the event but not about the perpetrator. He imagines,
that if you lose someone close, a part of your world disappears. The pain
cannot be put into words. It cannot be explained. An artist, however, can try to
approach it with his/her own view and understanding and see what will
happen. What happened in Neal's case, was a song called, 'Half the
Universe (is missing)'.

The song was recorded at Neal's house in London, using a Mac, guitars, reed
organs, basses and pianos. Drummer Jari Salminen recorded the drums in his
studio in Finland. Ephemera, (the lovely Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen
and Ingerlise Størksen) recorded the backing vocals at Tinnitus Recording
Studio in Bergen using their own intuition and creativity to record what felt
right to them.

Neal wrote the string arrangement, which was then recorded by Antonia
Pagulatos (violin and viola) and Celine Barry (cello) in London.

The mixing session was completed recently and Miles Showell was entrusted
to put the finishing touches to it by mastering the song at Abbey Road studios
in London. The reputation of the studio is, of course, legendary.

Half the Universe (is missing) will be released on 05.11.13, as a free
download and on various streaming services, including Spotify and WiMP.

The song can be heard here:
https://soundcloud.com/amphibic/half-the-universe-is-missing
The whole thing would not have possible without a little help from these
friends. Big thank you goes to:


Ephemera are a Bergen based band, consisting of Christine Sandtorv,
Ingerlise Størksen and Jannicke Larsen. They have won the
Spellemannprisen (Norway's Grammy) in 2002 and 2003 as well as the
Alarmprisen in 2003.

Antonia Pagulatos has played for George Harrison, Damon Albarn, Madness,
Tom Jones, Mark Ronson, Duran Duran and Leona Lewis.

Celine Barry, is an Irish cellist, she has played with Amphibic, The Divine
Comedy and the Tonic Fold and performs with various London orchestras and
quartets.

Jari Salminen works as a drummer in Helsinki. He plays with 'Poets of the
Fall' and various others.

Tinnitus Recording Studio is a recording studio in Bergen, run by Bjarte
Ludvigsen.

Josh von Staudach took time out and helped with some good ideas
concerning the arrangement.

Sascha Høvring took the picture of Neal in Bergen.

Additional info:
Neal Hoffmann's song 'Hungry Man', from Amphibic's second studio album,
was used on the American TV series, Switched at Birth.

Neal Hoffmann has recorded two albums for German Indie label Haldern Pop
Recordings. The albums were released with his band Amphibic, in 2004 and
2008. He has a current self produced EP called 'Fleetwood Road Session
Tasters' and is working towards releasing another album soon.

Contact:
Neal Hoffmann

Terje Øye


Press photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amphibic/

Thursday 26 September 2013

Record labels

I am already used to people setting up a record label/management company/booking agency etc without having any idea how to run a business and what is even worse no idea how the music biz works or still living in the “old days” and refuse to learn (new things).
Recently I have come across this, let's call it, “statement”.

Anyone looking to be signed to a […] record label. We will help all our artists with their EP and album sales […].

“Help artists with their EP and album sales” … That is your job as a label! That is why you take a large percentage of the record sales of each artist you have signed to your label.

Panos Panay (Sonicbids) says:

If you don’t invest in understanding the business component of your craft, you don’t deserve to call yourself a professional.
*

The end.


*Schwartz, Daylle Deanna (2010-10-20). Start and Run Your Own Record Label, Third Edition (Start & Run Your Own Record Label) (Kindle Location 1413). Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Thursday 5 September 2013

Freddie For A Day last night

Thanks everyone for playing and supporting last night! We've raised £102.80! Now, some rest. :)

Love, Peace & Queen!

Thursday 29 August 2013

Get Your Freddie Ready or Freddie For A Day!

I cannot believe how time sometimes flies. Our little party will be on Wednesday! Only a few little things need to be organised but most importantly: The costumes are READY :D
Everyone is welcome - with or without a costume! If you change your mind, we'll bring some extra tashes and you can get one for a donation.

The compere for the night will be Ms Federica "Freddie" Caron. A comedienne, living currently in London. Follow her on twitter! @NerddieCaron

Inverted Overlook, a band that is "simply a group of normal blokes playing AMAZING MUSIC". Their words, not mine. But I do not disagree! :) But see/listen for yourself.



Something Simple, sadly this will be their last gig ... as Something Simple. They have to change their name and will continue performing as Chasing Echoes!



And Strike feat. Heydon! A collaboration of amazing musicians, Britain meets New Zealand. ;)



See you on Wednesday!

Links:
Venue Website
Facebook Event
Donations

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Events & Guitars

So, I wanted to learn how to play the guitar and play a Queen song in six months to raise money for the Mercury Phoenix Trust ... Everything went as planned and then my hand refused to stick to the plan. Tendosynovitis - it hurts!
Anyway our little event will still be great! (Maybe even better without me torturing that guitar ;)) Three amazing bands and lots of people dressed as Freddie and Queen songs in between the bands :D

Links:
Venue Website
Facebook Event
Donations

Wednesday 5 June 2013

The next level

“I / We want to get to the next level!” I hear or read that from unsigned artists all the time. But what does the next level mean? Many artist use that sentence without knowing what it means (for them) at all. They picked it up somewhere but never put one thought into it (“Sounds kind of cool” … “No, it doesn't!”). In some cases I get the impression they think that there is an “One-Fits-all”-solution or that I am (or any music industry professional is) a mind reader. Of course, I usually have a rough idea what the artist could mean with that “next level”. But that does not necessarily mean the artist is on the same page.

It is very important in these days to know where you want to go as an artist. When you approach industry professionals it is important to convince them that you know where you are standing in your career and that you have at least a vague idea of where you want to be in the (near) future and that you are serious about being a professional musician / artist.

Think about where you (your band) are at the moment. Write it down! Then think about what you want to achieve next. Let's say you are gigging only local. Do you want gigs in other towns? Great. Write it down. You want to record an EP or even a whole album? Put it on the list. You want to go on tour? You want reviews of you gigs / EP / album? Write it down!
I am sure you can come up with a lot of things you want to do to “get to the next level”.
And next time you approach a management companies you can explain what “the next level” means for you (your band).