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Off the record
Evening Standard 13.06.08
Hitting the spot: Franz Ferdinand achieved success despite signing for a small independent label, Domino
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Happy Independents Day
As you're hanging out the Stars-and-Stripes bunting for American Independence Day, spare a thought for the UK's independent record labels. This 4 July is also the first Independents Day, organised by the Association of Independent Music to celebrate those bands who didn't take the mainstream route to getting their songs heard.
A number of festivities are planned. Channel 4 will air a four-part documentary about the indie scene's history. An album is to be released, featuring current independent acts covering the songs of their forebears (The Raconteurs doing Teenage Kicks, Prodigy doing Ghost Town and so on) and on a second disc, the same bands picking tracks by the indie stars of tomorrow.
Running already until 19 June is an eBay auction of indie memorabilia, some of which is more desirable than the rest (what am I to bid for a signed Lisa Scott-Lee album?) but with all proceeds going to the Musicians Benevolent Fund and male suicide charity the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), it's for a good cause.
The mention of such adored British independent labels as Stiff, Rough Trade and Factory will always spark some enthusiasm with the public. However, the organisers of this awareness campaign face an uphill struggle — as in recent years the definition of what is “indie” and what is not has become vague.
Once-independent labels such as Mute and Deltasonic are now subsidiaries of major labels EMI and Sony BMG respectively. Meanwhile, as a musical term, “indie” has come to mean generic guitar pop that can be as soulless as the most manufactured boy band. Groups such as Kaiser Chiefs and The Fratellis have been derided as “ITV indie” and the DIY ethos of past heroes such as Sonic Youth and The Smiths can be hard to spot today.
“We don't expect the public to have a clear idea of the meaning of corporate versus independent music. When somebody buys an album they buy it because they like the songs,” admits Alison Wenham, the head of AIM, the organisation that unites those small-to-medium companies operating under the shadow of the big four major labels — Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI.
“But in these days of very dour headlines for the music industry, we wanted to make a statement that there are still hundreds of companies who do their jobs for the joy of the creative process. Being independent means a belief in fair trade, where artists work closely in partnership with their labels rather than working to the demands of shareholders.”
While the major labels have been slow to react to new technology, their smaller rivals are in a better position to adapt faster. And the success of Adele and The White Stripes on XL, and Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand on Domino, proves that a smaller operation is no barrier to major success. Radiohead jumped from EMI to XL for their daring pay-what-you-like album, In Rainbows. “When you're light on your feet, with low overheads, you're free to experiment and take risks,” says Wenham.
These risk-takers are of real value, as they are the ones who will eventually find the way forward for a business that is currently unsure of the right direction. Long may they keep the real spirit of independence alive.
Natural spot for British Sea Power
Through frequent gigging, certain musicians end up with a spiritual home — The Beatles at The Cavern, Patti Smith at CBGB's. British Sea Power are about to make their live debut at theirs, when they perform a free gig at the Natural History Museum as part of Exhibition Road Music Day on 21 June.
Since T-Rex are unlikely ever to perform here, it's hard to imagine a more wonderfully appropriate union of band and space. Avid bird-watchers and ramblers, three-quarters of the group hail from the Lake District. They sell T-shirts that say Heron Addict at their gigs and have written brooding indie rock songs called Apologies to Insect Life, Oh Larsen B (about an Antarctic ice shelf) and The Great Skua (a giant seabird).
Guitarist Martin Noble tells me he's excited about having just seen a skua in the flesh for the first time, on a week's holiday in the Outer Hebrides. He's also looking forward to a weekend of gigs at the end of August in the Tan Hill Inn in Yorkshire, the highest pub in England — but that's nothing compared to past shows in an underground Cornish slate mine, at the Scillonian Club on the Scilly Isles and nestled between Joanna Lumley and Ronnie Corbett at John Betjeman centenary concerts in London and Cornwall.
“It always enhances the atmosphere when you play in an unusual environment,” he says, which must explain why even the stages at the band's more conventional concerts are decked with extensive foliage and a stuffed owl. “It used to be harder to organise the stranger gigs when we were completely unknown, but nowadays we've built a reputation so we get a lot of offers.”
If you own a Victorian folly or a nuclear bunker, give them a call.
Tickets for the Natural History Museum gig, which starts at 9.30pm, are free from the Cromwell Road entrance from 10am on 21 June. www.exhibitionroadmusicday.org
NEW ON THE NET
Photographer Bruce Weber has revealed his musical passions in the wake of the cinema re-release of his 1988 Chet Baker documentary, Let's Get Lost. Weber is currently sharing some of his favourite songs at www.last.fm/group/chet+baker.
Stay Positive, the follow-up to The Hold Steady's breakthrough album, Boys and Girls, is available a month ahead of its release date. Streaming in full now at www.myspace.com/theholdsteady.
Primed to do nicely out of the vogue for retro soul is Bryn Christopher, who has already landed support slots with Amy Winehouse and Mary J Blige. His download-only debut single, The Quest, is on sale at www.myspace.com/brynchristopher this week.
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