I've been reminded it's rather a long time since my last post. 'Tis true, apologies for that but I've not had a lot to say lately that I want to air in public. But fear not, recording is underway, the wrist is holding up so far and I'll be back with more waffle soon.
Meanwhile, don't forget we're in Kendal this Saturday playing at The Brewery, could be the last Banco live show for a few months so learn to live with the regret if you decide to go to that 'other' gig in London instead...
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
There goes another one
Richard Wright (keyboard player with Pink Floyd if you don't know) died yesterday.
I don't have many words to say except that he was by all accounts a really lovely person and he certainly had a major influence on my musical tastes and development. It is a sad passing and my thoughts are with his family and friends who must have lost someone very special to them.
There aren't so many key figures in music who mean so much to so many people without making a big fuss about it. He seemed gentle, honest and down to earth which is pretty impressive given the world he moved in, no huge ego on display, which probably explains why I didn't find out until today. No front page headlines, no rent-a-celebrities spouting inane anecdotes on the TV news; probably how he would have wanted it.
Thank you, Richard, for all you gave me. I hope I can emulate a little of what you brought to this world.
I don't have many words to say except that he was by all accounts a really lovely person and he certainly had a major influence on my musical tastes and development. It is a sad passing and my thoughts are with his family and friends who must have lost someone very special to them.
There aren't so many key figures in music who mean so much to so many people without making a big fuss about it. He seemed gentle, honest and down to earth which is pretty impressive given the world he moved in, no huge ego on display, which probably explains why I didn't find out until today. No front page headlines, no rent-a-celebrities spouting inane anecdotes on the TV news; probably how he would have wanted it.
Thank you, Richard, for all you gave me. I hope I can emulate a little of what you brought to this world.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Less is more
An eager Zen student arrives at a temple and says "I want to join the community and work to attain enlightenment. How long will it take me?"
"Ten years" replies the master.
"Well, how about if I really work and double my efforts?"
"Twenty years."
"Hey, just a moment. That's not fair! Why did you double it?"
"In your case," says the master, "I'm afraid it will be thirty years."
From "After the Ecstacy, the Laundry" by Jack Kornfield.
"Ten years" replies the master.
"Well, how about if I really work and double my efforts?"
"Twenty years."
"Hey, just a moment. That's not fair! Why did you double it?"
"In your case," says the master, "I'm afraid it will be thirty years."
From "After the Ecstacy, the Laundry" by Jack Kornfield.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Back to the studio
OK, I've been quiet for some time, apologies for that but I have been busy. First I went away for a break for a week or so then since I've been back I've been doing some maintenance on my studio.
Actually, maintenance isn't quite the right word. Ever since I built the studio 10 years ago there's been a big problem with bass in there. I won't go into all the maths and acoustic theory but in a nutshell the shape and size of the room means that a lot of the bass from the speakers gets bounced back from the walls, floor and ceiling then it all meets in the middle of the room and cancels itself out. I've tried various things over the years to sort this out and made some improvement but overall I have still heard very little of what is really come out of the speakers and have had to do a lot of mixing by guesswork and checking on other systems in other rooms.
All this suddenly got a lot worse a few years ago when I decided to start experimenting with 5.1 surround sound mixing. Again without going into the theory, the new speaker system I put in made the problem even worse and for the last year or so I have been scratching my head trying to work out what I could possibly try that I haven't tried already. Roll on to this year, and specifically the car crash in Turkey which put my immediate plans on hold, and I decided that as I had a bit of time with nothing else to do I would have yet another crack at tackling the problem.
So, I thought about it, I looked at what I'd done already, I talked to other people who know about these things and I read loads about similar problems. And I came to the conclusion, again, that what I had done before should really be doing the job.
But clearly it wasn't so what to do next? Well, eventually flawless logic won the day and I figured that if what I had done already should be working then I should do that again, in other words just do more of it. A lot more in fact. So, yet again without going into all the theory, I got hold of a large amount of acoustic material (mineral insulation used in the building trade if you must know) and built myself a load more bass traps. Now, this was actually quite fun as we had a few days of really lovely weather so being out in the garden sawing up pieces of wood was very pleasant. Unlike dealing with the insulation material which is made of kind of fibreglass and really itches if it gets in your skin. Picture the scene: me in the garden wielding a Black and Decker wearing shorts and sandals. And a pair of rubber gloves. (A prize to anyone who can convincingly recreate that in Photoshop).
OK, that's the porn out of the way.
So, did it make any difference I hear you say? Is my subwoofer shaking the room like Concorde on steroids? Well, frankly, yes. Really, at last, after 10 bloody years I've cracked it and finally my room sounds like it's supposed to and I can hear what I'm doing again. Makes me wonder how the hell I've managed to turn out all those album in there, I hope they've been sounding OK to everyone... For those of you who like to look at such things I've even taken a picture (of the studio, not me wearing rubber gloves).
Incidentally, more good news is that my damaged wrist, which I was told could be out of action for 6 months, is making remarkably quick progress and you'll be pleased to know that I'm planning to get back in the studio and start recording again as soon as I've finished tidying up the building site.
Which means even more good news: I should have plenty to blog about for the next few months...
Actually, maintenance isn't quite the right word. Ever since I built the studio 10 years ago there's been a big problem with bass in there. I won't go into all the maths and acoustic theory but in a nutshell the shape and size of the room means that a lot of the bass from the speakers gets bounced back from the walls, floor and ceiling then it all meets in the middle of the room and cancels itself out. I've tried various things over the years to sort this out and made some improvement but overall I have still heard very little of what is really come out of the speakers and have had to do a lot of mixing by guesswork and checking on other systems in other rooms.
All this suddenly got a lot worse a few years ago when I decided to start experimenting with 5.1 surround sound mixing. Again without going into the theory, the new speaker system I put in made the problem even worse and for the last year or so I have been scratching my head trying to work out what I could possibly try that I haven't tried already. Roll on to this year, and specifically the car crash in Turkey which put my immediate plans on hold, and I decided that as I had a bit of time with nothing else to do I would have yet another crack at tackling the problem.
So, I thought about it, I looked at what I'd done already, I talked to other people who know about these things and I read loads about similar problems. And I came to the conclusion, again, that what I had done before should really be doing the job.
But clearly it wasn't so what to do next? Well, eventually flawless logic won the day and I figured that if what I had done already should be working then I should do that again, in other words just do more of it. A lot more in fact. So, yet again without going into all the theory, I got hold of a large amount of acoustic material (mineral insulation used in the building trade if you must know) and built myself a load more bass traps. Now, this was actually quite fun as we had a few days of really lovely weather so being out in the garden sawing up pieces of wood was very pleasant. Unlike dealing with the insulation material which is made of kind of fibreglass and really itches if it gets in your skin. Picture the scene: me in the garden wielding a Black and Decker wearing shorts and sandals. And a pair of rubber gloves. (A prize to anyone who can convincingly recreate that in Photoshop).
OK, that's the porn out of the way.
So, did it make any difference I hear you say? Is my subwoofer shaking the room like Concorde on steroids? Well, frankly, yes. Really, at last, after 10 bloody years I've cracked it and finally my room sounds like it's supposed to and I can hear what I'm doing again. Makes me wonder how the hell I've managed to turn out all those album in there, I hope they've been sounding OK to everyone... For those of you who like to look at such things I've even taken a picture (of the studio, not me wearing rubber gloves).
Incidentally, more good news is that my damaged wrist, which I was told could be out of action for 6 months, is making remarkably quick progress and you'll be pleased to know that I'm planning to get back in the studio and start recording again as soon as I've finished tidying up the building site.
Which means even more good news: I should have plenty to blog about for the next few months...
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Apparently I said...
I know I've been a bit quiet lately and I'm afraid I can't think of anything interesting to say still, must be the weather or something. And, I'm about to go away for a week or so so won't be posting anything for a while again but I figure you might want something to ponder in the meantime so take a look at this.
There have been some technical problems with it, hopefully resolved by the time you try to read it (if it still isn't working check later as the are on it), but it means I haven't even seen it myself so I'm trusting Jonny to have written something nice (and trusting that I wasn't spouting total drivel the day we did the interview!).
Enjoy, I'm sure I was being very interesting...
There have been some technical problems with it, hopefully resolved by the time you try to read it (if it still isn't working check later as the are on it), but it means I haven't even seen it myself so I'm trusting Jonny to have written something nice (and trusting that I wasn't spouting total drivel the day we did the interview!).
Enjoy, I'm sure I was being very interesting...
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Seatbelts part 2
It seems my initial diagnosis of 'no real damage' after the taxi crash in Istanbul was a bit premature. Since then I've developed some serious pain in my left wrist which the doctor tells me is soft tissue damage (tendon, to be precise) and which could take up to 6 months to get better. If I completely rest it.
It's not the end of the world, although being left-handed it does mean I'm having to learn to do all sorts of things with my right hand which is kind of interesting, frustrating and frankly amusing at different times, but it is rather unfortunate to say the least. Particularly as I was planning to work on some new guitar-based music over the next few months.
This year is turning into a bit of a farce, actually. In January I started on 2 new projects, one a collaboration with some African musicians hopefully leading to touring and possibly an album, and the other a collaboration with a fantastic singer to record an album together. Both of these projects folded for one reason or another (to be precise the collaboration with the singer is only on hold until she can find the time to prioritise it) and plan C was the guitar-based stuff which has now gone down the pan, too. Add to that a tiny handful of live dates across the summer, some of which cancelled themselves before even getting up and running, and it all looks like a very empty year.
Funny how it goes, eh? Still, it does give me time to do other things (er, watch rather a lot of tennis for example) and I'm sure the enforced creative break will lead to bigger and better things in the end. But the in the meantime there may not be much new to report from planet Banco for a while so I hope you can all bear with me.
It's not the end of the world, although being left-handed it does mean I'm having to learn to do all sorts of things with my right hand which is kind of interesting, frustrating and frankly amusing at different times, but it is rather unfortunate to say the least. Particularly as I was planning to work on some new guitar-based music over the next few months.
This year is turning into a bit of a farce, actually. In January I started on 2 new projects, one a collaboration with some African musicians hopefully leading to touring and possibly an album, and the other a collaboration with a fantastic singer to record an album together. Both of these projects folded for one reason or another (to be precise the collaboration with the singer is only on hold until she can find the time to prioritise it) and plan C was the guitar-based stuff which has now gone down the pan, too. Add to that a tiny handful of live dates across the summer, some of which cancelled themselves before even getting up and running, and it all looks like a very empty year.
Funny how it goes, eh? Still, it does give me time to do other things (er, watch rather a lot of tennis for example) and I'm sure the enforced creative break will lead to bigger and better things in the end. But the in the meantime there may not be much new to report from planet Banco for a while so I hope you can all bear with me.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
It all started with...
I'm off to a big family 'event' this weekend so not much time to write anything, not looking forward to it to be honest but I'll tell you about that after it's happened. But I thought I would just quickly stir up the waters of controversy by giving a list of 10 albums which have massively influenced my musical output.
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Pink Floyd - any of them before The Wall
The Orb - The Orb's Adeventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Roy Harper - Stormcock
Erik B and Rakim - Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix) (Ok, it's not an album but it did change my life)
Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack
John Mclaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Jan Garbarek and Hariprasad Chaurasia - Making Music
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Obviously this is just a tiny sample of stuff that I've stolen ideas from, I mean been influenced by, and in the late 80s and early 90s we were mostly listening to 12"s and compilations so a lot of key tunes not mentioned here. (One which really must get a mention though is 'Everything Starts With An E' by E-Zee Posse, those were the days...). But anyway, there you go, nothing shocking I hope.
So, your homework this week is to work out which Banco tracks were obviously influenced by which artists (and no, you can't have 'Celestine' and Pink Floyd).
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Pink Floyd - any of them before The Wall
The Orb - The Orb's Adeventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Roy Harper - Stormcock
Erik B and Rakim - Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix) (Ok, it's not an album but it did change my life)
Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack
John Mclaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Jan Garbarek and Hariprasad Chaurasia - Making Music
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Obviously this is just a tiny sample of stuff that I've stolen ideas from, I mean been influenced by, and in the late 80s and early 90s we were mostly listening to 12"s and compilations so a lot of key tunes not mentioned here. (One which really must get a mention though is 'Everything Starts With An E' by E-Zee Posse, those were the days...). But anyway, there you go, nothing shocking I hope.
So, your homework this week is to work out which Banco tracks were obviously influenced by which artists (and no, you can't have 'Celestine' and Pink Floyd).
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Would you join this club?
Here's an idea. I've been looking a lot recently at the evolving music industry and the internet and wondering where it is all going. It's not news that filesharing has had a big impact on the industry (although exactly what that impact has been and whether it's positive or negative does rather seem to depend on whether you're a major record company or not) and things will continue to change and develop in the future in ways we probably can't even predict yet.
Radiohead pulled a great stunt with their last album making it available to download for whatever price you wish to pay and as far as I know have done very nicely out of it, but it was a risky stategy financially and not all of us are necessarily in the position to take that kind of gamble. Personally, I also still like physical CDs and records and I believe a lot of other people do too (and Radiohead made a physical version of the album available too to satisfy that demand) but there's no getting away from the fact that many people prefer the simplicity and cheapness of grabbing files off the internet rather than acquiring a hard copy. So, how best to satisfy both worlds?
Well, here's the idea. How about an annual subscription, something like £10 ($20, €15) a year gives you a digital (download) copy of everything new we release, whether it's a brand new album, live recordings, remixes or whatever. Maybe you would get them a little before the CDs hit the stores, maybe some of it would be available to subscribers only, maybe you could get the physical CD for cost price too. I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along. But in principle is the idea of a subscription something people would go for?
Or to look at it another way, would you like to support the arts by patronising your favourite artist? You give us cash to keep us alive so we can make music to give back to you, it's pretty much how Mozart, Bach and most of those old composer chappies did things and it seemed to work ok then.
Or would you rather support us by buying the music after we've released it in the traditional way, thus ensuring you definitely get something worthwhile for your money? I suppose it's partly a matter of trust but also one of involvement. By subscribing you would be directly involved in making the music happen whereas by buying the finished CD you just get to consume it. Worth the risk?
Radiohead pulled a great stunt with their last album making it available to download for whatever price you wish to pay and as far as I know have done very nicely out of it, but it was a risky stategy financially and not all of us are necessarily in the position to take that kind of gamble. Personally, I also still like physical CDs and records and I believe a lot of other people do too (and Radiohead made a physical version of the album available too to satisfy that demand) but there's no getting away from the fact that many people prefer the simplicity and cheapness of grabbing files off the internet rather than acquiring a hard copy. So, how best to satisfy both worlds?
Well, here's the idea. How about an annual subscription, something like £10 ($20, €15) a year gives you a digital (download) copy of everything new we release, whether it's a brand new album, live recordings, remixes or whatever. Maybe you would get them a little before the CDs hit the stores, maybe some of it would be available to subscribers only, maybe you could get the physical CD for cost price too. I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along. But in principle is the idea of a subscription something people would go for?
Or to look at it another way, would you like to support the arts by patronising your favourite artist? You give us cash to keep us alive so we can make music to give back to you, it's pretty much how Mozart, Bach and most of those old composer chappies did things and it seemed to work ok then.
Or would you rather support us by buying the music after we've released it in the traditional way, thus ensuring you definitely get something worthwhile for your money? I suppose it's partly a matter of trust but also one of involvement. By subscribing you would be directly involved in making the music happen whereas by buying the finished CD you just get to consume it. Worth the risk?
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Food for thought
I just received an email asking me to sign a petition about EU food production plans. Apparently, from 2009 all EU-produced food will be irradiated and may be treated with pesticides and chemicals but may still be called organic, along with a load of other changes including us losing the automatic right to grow our own food without needing to be licensed. As a strong supporter of organic farming I naturally find this rather worrying, and I hope this reality does come to pass, but it has also got me thinking.
I can see only two reasons why the powers that be would choose this path: either because they wish to have a chemically controlled, homogenised population akin to a herd of farm animals to feed the great capitalist beast, or because us humans face such an extreme food crisis that the only way to minimise starvation is to maximise food production by whatever means are available.
Let us assume for now that the first option is mere science fiction, or at least a rather extreme exaggeration of the truth, and that we are not that far down the road of totalitarianism yet. That leaves us with the reality where global population growth has outstripped our ability to feed ourselves and there simply ain't enough food to go round, leading to price rises, food demonstrations and emergency meetings of high level think tanks. Er, exactly what is in fact going on right now (I believe there is a UN food crisis summit taking place as I type this).
So, here's my question: if the only way to minimise the number of people dying from starvation is to maximise food production is it morally wrong to engage in organic farming? In the short term at least, the use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, GM crops etc etc... increases the amount of food we can grow, so surely not using these methods must lead directly to avoidable deaths?
I'm really interested to hear people's thoughts on this so, please, comment away...
I can see only two reasons why the powers that be would choose this path: either because they wish to have a chemically controlled, homogenised population akin to a herd of farm animals to feed the great capitalist beast, or because us humans face such an extreme food crisis that the only way to minimise starvation is to maximise food production by whatever means are available.
Let us assume for now that the first option is mere science fiction, or at least a rather extreme exaggeration of the truth, and that we are not that far down the road of totalitarianism yet. That leaves us with the reality where global population growth has outstripped our ability to feed ourselves and there simply ain't enough food to go round, leading to price rises, food demonstrations and emergency meetings of high level think tanks. Er, exactly what is in fact going on right now (I believe there is a UN food crisis summit taking place as I type this).
So, here's my question: if the only way to minimise the number of people dying from starvation is to maximise food production is it morally wrong to engage in organic farming? In the short term at least, the use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, GM crops etc etc... increases the amount of food we can grow, so surely not using these methods must lead directly to avoidable deaths?
I'm really interested to hear people's thoughts on this so, please, comment away...
Monday, 2 June 2008
It's small and I don't much like it
Pollen, that is. Today seems to be the first day of my annual hayfever season, it's come on really strong and really sudden and I'm not happy about it at all. I thought I might be getting away with it this year as I'm sure it normally starts earlier than this, but oh no, it's back and I'm sneezing like, er, someone with really bad hayfever.
I never even got hayfever until about four years ago, apart from literally one day when I was a kid. I've no idea why I'm getting it now but I've had to resort to nasty chemicals from the chemist as I can't blow my nose much more today without damaging an internal organ or two. I'm also seeing a homoeopath and praying they have a miracle cure but of course homoeopathy doesn't really work like that.
Oh yes, it also turns out the car crash in Turkey did a bit more damage than I thought and I have knackered wrist which the doctor tells me may be sore for up to six months. Bloody great, I love days like this...
Still, gotta keep things in perspective. If I've got hayfever it must be the start of summer and that is definitely a good thing...
I never even got hayfever until about four years ago, apart from literally one day when I was a kid. I've no idea why I'm getting it now but I've had to resort to nasty chemicals from the chemist as I can't blow my nose much more today without damaging an internal organ or two. I'm also seeing a homoeopath and praying they have a miracle cure but of course homoeopathy doesn't really work like that.
Oh yes, it also turns out the car crash in Turkey did a bit more damage than I thought and I have knackered wrist which the doctor tells me may be sore for up to six months. Bloody great, I love days like this...
Still, gotta keep things in perspective. If I've got hayfever it must be the start of summer and that is definitely a good thing...
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Always wear a seatbelt
Just got back from Turkey after what feels like a pretty full-on few weeks of gigs and travel. The last month has been a fascinating mix of flying, driving, gigging and meeting people but not really enough sleep at any point so right now I'm in bed with a cold which is telling me to chill for a couple of days. Well, if I must... :-)
I won't go into everything that's happened in Mexico, Soctland, Derbyshire and Turkey but I'll mention a couple of things from the last two days. In Istanbul I met up with an old friend and his wife who just happened to be in town for a few days same time as me (they live in the US and I hardly ever get to see them, even over there, so being in Istanbul at the same time was quite a coincidence). It was great to hang out and catch up and yesterday we had half a day to go see the sights so went to the Blue Mosque (pretty cool but not as amazing as I had been led to expect), the Byzantine Cistern (totally surreal massive underground water store all columns and arches, pure Indiana Jones) and most amazingly the Hagia Sofia. It was built (I think) as the main church by the crusaders at some time or another and it is massive, totally awe-inspiring and the most amazing place I've been for quite some time. Really made an impression on me so expect some music inspired by it soon!
And the other thing I want to mention about Istanbul? Well, we were joking at one point about how the seatbelts in the back of Turkish cabs don't work so you can't wear one even if you want to. So of course you know what happened next... On the way to the airport the driver managed to completley ignore the fact that the van in front of us had stopped and drove straight into the back of it. Thankfully we weren't going too fast so no major injuries occurred (as far as I know , I haven't seen the driver since) but it was a bit of a shock to say the least.
Hence the title of this post. It's the second car crash I've been involved in when I've been away for gigs (the other was in Japan) and has really brought home to me that if you spend a lot of time in cars, especially with drivers who may not have been getting much sleep for a while (e.g. after a Japanese festival), then putting the seatbelt on just might make a difference to your future quality of life.
But what do I know? I couldn't wear a seatbelt in Istanbul and I survived intact, but another 10 miles and hour faster and maybe I wouldn't be playing guitar any more...
I won't go into everything that's happened in Mexico, Soctland, Derbyshire and Turkey but I'll mention a couple of things from the last two days. In Istanbul I met up with an old friend and his wife who just happened to be in town for a few days same time as me (they live in the US and I hardly ever get to see them, even over there, so being in Istanbul at the same time was quite a coincidence). It was great to hang out and catch up and yesterday we had half a day to go see the sights so went to the Blue Mosque (pretty cool but not as amazing as I had been led to expect), the Byzantine Cistern (totally surreal massive underground water store all columns and arches, pure Indiana Jones) and most amazingly the Hagia Sofia. It was built (I think) as the main church by the crusaders at some time or another and it is massive, totally awe-inspiring and the most amazing place I've been for quite some time. Really made an impression on me so expect some music inspired by it soon!
And the other thing I want to mention about Istanbul? Well, we were joking at one point about how the seatbelts in the back of Turkish cabs don't work so you can't wear one even if you want to. So of course you know what happened next... On the way to the airport the driver managed to completley ignore the fact that the van in front of us had stopped and drove straight into the back of it. Thankfully we weren't going too fast so no major injuries occurred (as far as I know , I haven't seen the driver since) but it was a bit of a shock to say the least.
Hence the title of this post. It's the second car crash I've been involved in when I've been away for gigs (the other was in Japan) and has really brought home to me that if you spend a lot of time in cars, especially with drivers who may not have been getting much sleep for a while (e.g. after a Japanese festival), then putting the seatbelt on just might make a difference to your future quality of life.
But what do I know? I couldn't wear a seatbelt in Istanbul and I survived intact, but another 10 miles and hour faster and maybe I wouldn't be playing guitar any more...
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Sunday, somewhere in England
So the festival season has started and it hasn't rained yet. We're at Off The Tracks Festival in Derbyshire, wishing the motorbike racing just over the fence from the festival site didn't have to start at 9am.
I had a great gig last night, fantastic crowd here as ever who were well warmed up by Transglobal Underground who played before me. The night before we were at Knockengorroch in Scotland, another fantastic little festival which has the major benefit of being out in the wlderness rather than next to a race track (although the hotel we were in for the night was equally unpleasant to wake up to), so having a great weekend. And in sun a lot of the time too, excellent.
The only downside of all this is the mileage we're driving, I think we've done about 750 miles already since thursday and we have the joy of bank holiday weekend traffic to wade through on the way home today. Still, great to back at festis again, let's hope for a long, dry summer.
I had a great gig last night, fantastic crowd here as ever who were well warmed up by Transglobal Underground who played before me. The night before we were at Knockengorroch in Scotland, another fantastic little festival which has the major benefit of being out in the wlderness rather than next to a race track (although the hotel we were in for the night was equally unpleasant to wake up to), so having a great weekend. And in sun a lot of the time too, excellent.
The only downside of all this is the mileage we're driving, I think we've done about 750 miles already since thursday and we have the joy of bank holiday weekend traffic to wade through on the way home today. Still, great to back at festis again, let's hope for a long, dry summer.
Monday, 19 May 2008
The shop is open
Right, as promised yesterday our download store is now online. Happy shopping!
(If you really want the URL it's: www.banco.co.uk/downloads/ or http://disco-gecko.ithinkmusic.com).
(If you really want the URL it's: www.banco.co.uk/downloads/ or http://disco-gecko.ithinkmusic.com).
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Buy It Here
I was going to write a long piece about how the old way of selling records/CDs through shops meant that the artist got very little of the money that the audience paid for music, about how downloads make it possible for a lot more of what you pay to actually get back to the artist and about how downloads are enabling lots of small-scale artists to make their music available in ways they never could before. Then it occurred to me that everyone knows that already.
Ok, the big download sites such as iTunes still take a stupid chunk of the cash, and impose all sorts of restrictions on how things can be sold (they set the price, for example) but if artists can set up their own download store linked to their own website then most of the middlemen are taken out of the chain and you get more of a 'fair trade' situation where you know the money you pay is mostly going where you want it to, back to the artist.
It has been suggested that in purely capitalist terms an mp3 file has no value because the supply is effectively infinite, and it is definitely true that if you want to, and know where to look, you can probably download almost any tune you want for nothing. But, the great thing is that if you actually want to support your favourite artist so they can go on making more of the music you love then buying from their store will do exactly that and you know you are not just giving money to retailers, distributors, manufacturers, trucking companies etc. etc...
Guessed where this is going yet?
The Big Announcement:
On Monday we are unveiling our new download store. We will have available all the Banco albums and singles so far released since the 'Desert Wind' EP in 1993 up to the 'Kara Kum' remixes in 2006, plus some other goodies not easily/ever available before. We will be making them available cheaper than other commercial download sites and in higher quality than other sites, and the cash comes back to us so you know it makes sense to buy it here, right?
And those other 'goodies'?
Firstly: we are packaging all the remixes from all the singles from 1993 onwards into one 'album' (I'm not sure what you're supposed to call it these days when there is no physical album, but I'm sure you get what I mean). That's 24 tracks, including some very rare and one never even commercially released before, all for a very silly price.
Secondly: we are packaging all the Banco tracks from the old 'Ambient Dub' compilations from 1992/93 into another 'album'. 7 tracks, including the extremely hard to find (unless you have the even older cassette albums) 'Soufie', and all for an even sillier price.
And thirdly: finally available will be the full length version of the Banco cover version of Pink Floyd's 'Echoes'. That's the full 23 minute version in all it's humble tribute glory, Dave Gilmour guitar impressions included...
Later on we're planning to put up all sorts of other bits and pieces which won't be seeing a full CD release, including live recordings from various periods and possible collaborations with other artists. Also, we hope to be adding releases from some of our other favourite artists and friends so hopefully you'll be able to check out some other interesting music you might not otherwise have come across.
So there you are. A new store and new tunes (and old tunes) and a new way to support what we're doing. Announcements will go out on Monday and I'll also post the website address here, as well as a link appearing at banco.co.uk but remember, you heard it here first.
Ok, the big download sites such as iTunes still take a stupid chunk of the cash, and impose all sorts of restrictions on how things can be sold (they set the price, for example) but if artists can set up their own download store linked to their own website then most of the middlemen are taken out of the chain and you get more of a 'fair trade' situation where you know the money you pay is mostly going where you want it to, back to the artist.
It has been suggested that in purely capitalist terms an mp3 file has no value because the supply is effectively infinite, and it is definitely true that if you want to, and know where to look, you can probably download almost any tune you want for nothing. But, the great thing is that if you actually want to support your favourite artist so they can go on making more of the music you love then buying from their store will do exactly that and you know you are not just giving money to retailers, distributors, manufacturers, trucking companies etc. etc...
Guessed where this is going yet?
The Big Announcement:
On Monday we are unveiling our new download store. We will have available all the Banco albums and singles so far released since the 'Desert Wind' EP in 1993 up to the 'Kara Kum' remixes in 2006, plus some other goodies not easily/ever available before. We will be making them available cheaper than other commercial download sites and in higher quality than other sites, and the cash comes back to us so you know it makes sense to buy it here, right?
And those other 'goodies'?
Firstly: we are packaging all the remixes from all the singles from 1993 onwards into one 'album' (I'm not sure what you're supposed to call it these days when there is no physical album, but I'm sure you get what I mean). That's 24 tracks, including some very rare and one never even commercially released before, all for a very silly price.
Secondly: we are packaging all the Banco tracks from the old 'Ambient Dub' compilations from 1992/93 into another 'album'. 7 tracks, including the extremely hard to find (unless you have the even older cassette albums) 'Soufie', and all for an even sillier price.
And thirdly: finally available will be the full length version of the Banco cover version of Pink Floyd's 'Echoes'. That's the full 23 minute version in all it's humble tribute glory, Dave Gilmour guitar impressions included...
Later on we're planning to put up all sorts of other bits and pieces which won't be seeing a full CD release, including live recordings from various periods and possible collaborations with other artists. Also, we hope to be adding releases from some of our other favourite artists and friends so hopefully you'll be able to check out some other interesting music you might not otherwise have come across.
So there you are. A new store and new tunes (and old tunes) and a new way to support what we're doing. Announcements will go out on Monday and I'll also post the website address here, as well as a link appearing at banco.co.uk but remember, you heard it here first.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Torn between two lovers
It's a funny thing, loyalty. Sometimes it's the easiest thing in the world to commit to something and stick to it come what may but other times the world just doesn't make it that easy. Particularly if that world is based on competition.
Tonight I am going to watch a football match. A rare treat I don't get to enjoy very often, I'm off to the home of Bristol City FC with my mate Jon to watch them play Crystal Palace in the second leg of their Premiership promotion play-off semi-final (sorry, bit of a mouthful, that). If you're not interested then it won't mean anything but if you do vaguely follow English football, and the Championship (what used to be the second division) in particular, then you are probably aware that the gulf between the top 20 teams in this country (collectively known as the Premiership, what used to be the first division) and the rest of the ball-kicking population is pretty huge, so getting promoted to the Premiership is a pretty big deal. And it's all down to money.
You see, millions of people all over the world watch Premiership matches on TV and the money which that earns for the clubs is huge. We're talking millions. Lots and lots of millions. Millions of millions. Of pounds. It is estimated that the extra income from TV rights alone if a team gets promoted to the Premiership is worth about £40 million a year, which is enough to buy a whole team. And a pretty decent one at that. So, every year the top teams spend loads of dosh improving their squads with the pick of the finest players the world has to offer whilst everyone else has to choose between decorating the gents toilets or resurfacing the car park. Or maybe buying the odd player if they are feeling really flush.
It's just the way it is, free market capitalism at work, and as such not something to be too surprised about. It's the same mechanism whereby Madanna gets to ponce about on huge stages wearing solid platinum bras surrounded by a cast of 800,000 professional belly-dancers whilst some undiscovered genius with an accoustic guitar has to make do playing in the corner of an empty pub for half a pint of shandy (if he's lucky). The more commercially sucessful you are the more money you are given to go and be even more sucessful, etc, etc...
So back to City vs Palace and my opening comments about loyalty. Well, you see when I was a kid I lived in South London and the team I supported was... yep, Crystal Palace. A few years back they managed to work their way into the Premiership and have a year (or it might even have been two, I can't quite remember) of being beaten by vastly superior, and hugely more expensive, teams before being relegated back down to the Championship again. And I must admit I got rather fond of them again, having not really thought about them since I was 14.
These days I am fond of Bristol City thanks to my occasional visits with the aformentioned Jon to see them play and this year they have been very rude and gone from being promoted into the Championship at the start of the season to trying to get promoted out of the Championship at the end of the season without even hanging around for a few years proving they're good enough. Palace have at least had the decency to pay their dues for a few years before now aiming for the big time again and as luck would have it these are the two teams battling for a place in the play-off final (which will be against another team who are also trying to get promoted, but we don't need to worry about that for now).
So, my dilemma: will I be pleased whoever wins, or equally will I be a bit disappointed whoever wins? I would honestly like to see both teams win and be promoted but that can't happen. In the grand tradition of competitive enterprise for there to be a winner there has to be a loser, no way round it unless you change the basic principles of the game and reward teams for helping the other side help them put the ball in the back of a neutral goal, which frankly would be both dull and daft. So for this to have any meaning there has to be a winner and a loser, and it's what both sides signed up for and what they are there for so I have no problem with that. (Unlike a few other competitive exercises I can think of but let's not go there today).
One team will ultimately win, one will lose, and I'm in the fortunate position that I really don't mind which is which. On this occasion my split loyalties are a blessing. Really.
As long as City win. (Well, I haven't lived in London for a very long time...)
Tonight I am going to watch a football match. A rare treat I don't get to enjoy very often, I'm off to the home of Bristol City FC with my mate Jon to watch them play Crystal Palace in the second leg of their Premiership promotion play-off semi-final (sorry, bit of a mouthful, that). If you're not interested then it won't mean anything but if you do vaguely follow English football, and the Championship (what used to be the second division) in particular, then you are probably aware that the gulf between the top 20 teams in this country (collectively known as the Premiership, what used to be the first division) and the rest of the ball-kicking population is pretty huge, so getting promoted to the Premiership is a pretty big deal. And it's all down to money.
You see, millions of people all over the world watch Premiership matches on TV and the money which that earns for the clubs is huge. We're talking millions. Lots and lots of millions. Millions of millions. Of pounds. It is estimated that the extra income from TV rights alone if a team gets promoted to the Premiership is worth about £40 million a year, which is enough to buy a whole team. And a pretty decent one at that. So, every year the top teams spend loads of dosh improving their squads with the pick of the finest players the world has to offer whilst everyone else has to choose between decorating the gents toilets or resurfacing the car park. Or maybe buying the odd player if they are feeling really flush.
It's just the way it is, free market capitalism at work, and as such not something to be too surprised about. It's the same mechanism whereby Madanna gets to ponce about on huge stages wearing solid platinum bras surrounded by a cast of 800,000 professional belly-dancers whilst some undiscovered genius with an accoustic guitar has to make do playing in the corner of an empty pub for half a pint of shandy (if he's lucky). The more commercially sucessful you are the more money you are given to go and be even more sucessful, etc, etc...
So back to City vs Palace and my opening comments about loyalty. Well, you see when I was a kid I lived in South London and the team I supported was... yep, Crystal Palace. A few years back they managed to work their way into the Premiership and have a year (or it might even have been two, I can't quite remember) of being beaten by vastly superior, and hugely more expensive, teams before being relegated back down to the Championship again. And I must admit I got rather fond of them again, having not really thought about them since I was 14.
These days I am fond of Bristol City thanks to my occasional visits with the aformentioned Jon to see them play and this year they have been very rude and gone from being promoted into the Championship at the start of the season to trying to get promoted out of the Championship at the end of the season without even hanging around for a few years proving they're good enough. Palace have at least had the decency to pay their dues for a few years before now aiming for the big time again and as luck would have it these are the two teams battling for a place in the play-off final (which will be against another team who are also trying to get promoted, but we don't need to worry about that for now).
So, my dilemma: will I be pleased whoever wins, or equally will I be a bit disappointed whoever wins? I would honestly like to see both teams win and be promoted but that can't happen. In the grand tradition of competitive enterprise for there to be a winner there has to be a loser, no way round it unless you change the basic principles of the game and reward teams for helping the other side help them put the ball in the back of a neutral goal, which frankly would be both dull and daft. So for this to have any meaning there has to be a winner and a loser, and it's what both sides signed up for and what they are there for so I have no problem with that. (Unlike a few other competitive exercises I can think of but let's not go there today).
One team will ultimately win, one will lose, and I'm in the fortunate position that I really don't mind which is which. On this occasion my split loyalties are a blessing. Really.
As long as City win. (Well, I haven't lived in London for a very long time...)
Sunday, 11 May 2008
It's summertime
Today is summer. Well, maybe technically according to the calander it isn't, I never know when seasons are supposed to start or finish, but if you were here today you would agree it is definitely summer. Has been for a few days in fact.
Those of you unfamiliar with UK weather might wonder why that is worth commenting on (apart from the fact that us English have a reputation for discussing the weather endlessly) but if you've ever been here for Glastonbury Festival then you'll know that good weather right now is definitely worth commenting on. Last year IIRC it had already rained every day for about a month at this point and it carried on for another 3 months after that and that's no exaggeration. Well, a bit of an exaggeration maybe, but really not much.
So, we are all desperately praying that this isn't another false start and the annual monsoon isn't waiting just around the corner. The run up to Glastonbury always seems to involve biblical amounts of rain but maybe, just maybe, not this year. Please. I would dearly love to be able to sit around listening to some good music and chatting with good people rather than taking part in the annual re-enactment of the battle of the Somme, surely not too much to ask once every decade or so?
Anyway, back to today. Having been for a walk and picnic on the hills, a pint in a pub garden and a visit to the supermarket, and finding it to be still only mid-afternoon, I decided it was time to do some 'pottering in the garden'. That's something else the English seem to be renowned for although I most definitely am not, usually. But today I had a mission: to pot up my chilli plants.
Somewhere in the last decade I developed a fondness for extremely spicey food and, like many addicts, ended up going even further and trying to produce my own. So for the last few years I've been growing chillis, various varieties with various degrees of success.
This year sadly my initial attempts failed and none of the dozen seeds I planted in March developed into anything at all, I've no idea why except that the source of the seeds (central Bristol) may have been slightly less than reliable. So on friday, when it was also summer, we went down to Devon to get some seedlings from the fine folk at South Devon Chilli Farm and came home equipped with one Jalapeno Telica, one Hungarian Wax, one Pimiento de Padron and one Ring of Fire (yes, it really is called that).
BTW, I know it doesn't warn you anywhere in the blog title but I'm afraid I might be spending a lot of time telling you about my chilli plants over the next few months. Well, if you're reading my blog I assume it's because you want to know about what matters to me, right? Well, there you go, chillis matter to me. Not as much as perhaps my wife or my cat or whether Pink Floyd will ever re-form matter to me but enough to be worthy of comment. A bit like the rather good weather we're having, actually...
And so, having cleverly brought this monologue full circle I'll stop now. At some point I will tell you how chillis can play an important part in your experience of Glastonbury (or any other) festival but right now I need to go back out and sit in the sun and watch my plants grow.
Those of you unfamiliar with UK weather might wonder why that is worth commenting on (apart from the fact that us English have a reputation for discussing the weather endlessly) but if you've ever been here for Glastonbury Festival then you'll know that good weather right now is definitely worth commenting on. Last year IIRC it had already rained every day for about a month at this point and it carried on for another 3 months after that and that's no exaggeration. Well, a bit of an exaggeration maybe, but really not much.
So, we are all desperately praying that this isn't another false start and the annual monsoon isn't waiting just around the corner. The run up to Glastonbury always seems to involve biblical amounts of rain but maybe, just maybe, not this year. Please. I would dearly love to be able to sit around listening to some good music and chatting with good people rather than taking part in the annual re-enactment of the battle of the Somme, surely not too much to ask once every decade or so?
Anyway, back to today. Having been for a walk and picnic on the hills, a pint in a pub garden and a visit to the supermarket, and finding it to be still only mid-afternoon, I decided it was time to do some 'pottering in the garden'. That's something else the English seem to be renowned for although I most definitely am not, usually. But today I had a mission: to pot up my chilli plants.
Somewhere in the last decade I developed a fondness for extremely spicey food and, like many addicts, ended up going even further and trying to produce my own. So for the last few years I've been growing chillis, various varieties with various degrees of success.
This year sadly my initial attempts failed and none of the dozen seeds I planted in March developed into anything at all, I've no idea why except that the source of the seeds (central Bristol) may have been slightly less than reliable. So on friday, when it was also summer, we went down to Devon to get some seedlings from the fine folk at South Devon Chilli Farm and came home equipped with one Jalapeno Telica, one Hungarian Wax, one Pimiento de Padron and one Ring of Fire (yes, it really is called that).
BTW, I know it doesn't warn you anywhere in the blog title but I'm afraid I might be spending a lot of time telling you about my chilli plants over the next few months. Well, if you're reading my blog I assume it's because you want to know about what matters to me, right? Well, there you go, chillis matter to me. Not as much as perhaps my wife or my cat or whether Pink Floyd will ever re-form matter to me but enough to be worthy of comment. A bit like the rather good weather we're having, actually...
And so, having cleverly brought this monologue full circle I'll stop now. At some point I will tell you how chillis can play an important part in your experience of Glastonbury (or any other) festival but right now I need to go back out and sit in the sun and watch my plants grow.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Hello, I'm new here...
Ladies and Gentleman... my name is Toby and I am a blogger.
So, as you see, I've started a blog. Someone said it would be a good idea and to be honest there's so much I would love to share with you all and generally get of my chest I thought I might as well go public. I have no idea off-hand what I'm going to write about but I'm hoping to add something every day or two (do all new bloggers say that?) even if it's just a weather update. Who knows, it might even get interesting.
I'll leave it at that for now, give everyone time to find this and subscribe (please, makes it so much more satisfying knowing it's being read). Do spread the word to anyone you think might be interested and comments are always welcome (do all new bloggers say that?), not that there is much to comment on yet...
Hasta manana
T.
So, as you see, I've started a blog. Someone said it would be a good idea and to be honest there's so much I would love to share with you all and generally get of my chest I thought I might as well go public. I have no idea off-hand what I'm going to write about but I'm hoping to add something every day or two (do all new bloggers say that?) even if it's just a weather update. Who knows, it might even get interesting.
I'll leave it at that for now, give everyone time to find this and subscribe (please, makes it so much more satisfying knowing it's being read). Do spread the word to anyone you think might be interested and comments are always welcome (do all new bloggers say that?), not that there is much to comment on yet...
Hasta manana
T.
Tuesday, 26 September 1995
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