(image credit)

I should, retrospectively, have known better than to even bring it up in the first place really. Remember a few weeks back we all had a good laugh at the poor publicity chap who sent the Laura Critchley album to me, of all people, to try? Well I tried to keep it anonymous because, as amusing as the mismatch was, I have a policy on Song, by Toad of not slagging off small artists.

The way I see it, and I’m open to correction on this, if you’re big enough to be in the NME then you’re fair game because honestly why would you care what one lone internet gobshite thinks once you’ve progressed to that level. It’s a different story for small artists of course – they care much more about their own publicity, because there is so much less of it, and the whole thing is altogether more personal. I know it’s a bit false to say that successful groups don’t care about being insulted either, but ultimately they are big enough and ugly enough to look after themselves.

So when I had a laugh at the expense of Laura I was a bit unsure because I didn’t want to explicitly have a dig at someone starting out, but the whole package activated so many of my instant prejudices to such an extent I thought it really was quite funny. Inevitably who I was talking about ended up coming out, unfortunately, and then the poor lass was enthusiastically ripped into by all and sundry. Anyhow, Andrew from Big Print Music found the post and left the following comment, putting me very, very much in my place:

Hey – its always interesting to see things form a different perspective – even if its not what you want to hear… being the bloke thats behind Laura… in a business way that is..!!

Anyhow – quite obviously the PR team didnt send the disc to the right person for reviewing.. so thanks for evening listening to it – I know that people cant be all things to all people…

That said – I thought you might be interested to hear that all the photos you are talking about were done off the cuff – no stylist – no makeup/hair person – photographer was a mate… total budget £0. It was just what we captured on that day – and the reaction was positive which is why we ran with it.

Ho hum… I realise the music is very MOR/Mainstream – but at least she has cowritten all the tracks – and her voice is more than passable… she has worked bloody hard, and is vocally good live as she is on the record.

Anyhow – why am I warbling when the battle here is already lost…!!

Mainly cos I just wanted to put some kind of perspective to this thread… She does deserve some kind of chance in the industry – theres ALOT of other less talented people who have had success… Shes not manufactured… she’s made alot of decisions herself.

Anyhow – time will tell…

(oh – and actually I wanted to sign at least one of her tracks, and had put things into place – before Id even met her, so – no full verticle movement on a meet and greet…!!)

Andrew

So if I didn’t feel badly enough about it before, I certainly do now. So kudos to Andrew for not just calling me a cunt, which he would have been well within his rights to do, and a sheepish apology to Laura for being such a twat. It’s not my kind of music at all, of course it isn’t, but having a dig at someone just starting out, especially coming from a man with absolutely zero musical skills himself, is a bit out of order. When you make Top of the Pops all bets are off, but for now, I am sorry.

You can investigate Laura’s stuff here, if you feel so inclined, and here is a song that seems to be appropriate:

Billy Bragg – This Guitar Says Sorry
Gene – Sick, Sober and Sorry

Song, by Toad has been nominated as Best Music Blog in the People’s Choice Awards. I didn’t actually have to nominate myself, but you can, so it’s hardly an Earth-shattering achievement, however I think it’s important we muster a bit of a turnout at the voting booth for reasons I’ll allow Tim from The Daily Growl to explain:

more importantly, I want to see proper British music blogs occupying that top 10. Not like last year where the top 5 was taken up by ‘blogs’ by top-selling artists which I cynically see as just another promotional racket (yes, I’m looking at you Mike Skinner and Dave Gilmour) and others that weren’t really music blogs at all.

…let’s see a proper music blogger – i.e. a non-professional, just writing for sheer love of music – on the podium come 2 October.

He’s right – bollocks to the well-funded, slick-arse, sphincter-polishing, devil’s shilling-grubbing professionals. That’s not what a fucking blog is, dammit. However, fortunately it turns out you can vote for numerous different blogs using the same email address and it also turns out you can vote with as many different email addresses as you have, so get out there and vote for me as often as possible. Then make your friends do it too. Then go to The Daily Growl and Fucking Dance and vote for them as well – let’s make a dent for the amateurs this year, eh! Any of my other blog pals who are in the running, let me know and I’ll link to you buggers too.

And, of course, the reason for all this bollocks in the first place – the tuuunez! And it’s nearly beer time. Woo hoo!

Depeche Mode – Everything Counts
The Siddeleys – You Get What You Deserve
Elastica – Connection
Gene – I Can’t Help Myself
Cold War Kids – Passing the Hat
Decoration – It’s OK to be Fickle
Thomas Truax – Inside the Internet

Hello all.  I am a bit busy for a proper post today – off to see The Aliens, don’t you know – so I thought I’d rattle up some trivial site news quickly.

Firstly, I am only now getting back up to the level of readership I enjoyed at my old Blogspot address, which has taken just over a month since I moved over to WordPress.  Onwards and upwards, what.  I still haven’t managed quite the same number of Technorati links yet, but I’m getting there.  I’m a little bit surprised how long it’s taken for people to realise I’m here actually, but there you go.  So thanks, in particular to the folk who were so loyal as to make the switch with me immediately and give the new home a good housewarming.

Secondly, plenty of comments recently, and not a single ‘Yeah, dude’ amongst them, so thanks for the interaction.  Given I basically write this blog to hold the conversations with you lot that I can’t have with pretty much all of my mates, it’s splendid that you all chip in, so thanks very much.

Thirdly, and a little off topic, the number of spam comments that the Akismet software has stopped since I moved to WordPress overtook the number of actual comments some time on the weekend, and has since rocketed off into the distance.  On the plus side, hooray for Akismet which has snagged all but two of these comments, and those two it referred to me for moderation.  On the negative side, what the fuck are these idiots trying to achieve?  Do they really think you lot come here for some obscure indie tunes, a bit of viagra and a penis extension?  Is it really worth the effort of generating all this shit?  Do people actually respond with ‘Yes actually, I was considering a penis extension now that you mention it, and instead of a real doctor I thought those retards off the internet who can’t spell anything properly would be the very chaps’? Honestly.

So thanks all, and prepare yourself for even more pompous, ill-thought out proselytising in future.  And in honour of all your contributions we have some Gene:

Gene – Speak to me Someone

And because I went to their gig the other night but couldn’t be arsed writing it up, we have The Wombats:

The Wombats – Patricia the Stripper
The Wombats -  Little Miss Pipe Dream