Taken from the album 'Far Away Trains Passing By'.

Ulrich Schnauss - As If You've Never Been Away

Taken from the alum 'Goodbye'.

How to describe Ulrich Schnauss's music? Let's see. It's shoegazing heroes. Slowdive headlining a rave. It's krautrock plunging headlong into the celestial raptures of the Cocteau Twins. It's U2 if Brian Eno had ousted Bono and commandeered the band in 1985. It's Balearic with a view of the Baltic instead of the Mediterranean. It's art-techno for the heart as well as the head. It's stadium chillout, as immense as a festival field and as intimate as a bedroom. It's celebration and catharsis. It's vapour trails and meteor showers. And it's very, very good.
 
So far, the quietly spoken German who creates this music has operated beneath the radar. His first two albums, 2001's Far Away Trains Passing By and 2003's A Strangely Isolated Place, worked their way into record collections by stealth. People heard tracks played by Rob Da Bank or Tom Middleton, or chanced upon him on stage at the Big Chill or Bestival, or heard about him from friends. However they discovered him, they were hooked. XFM's Lauren Laverne called A Strangely Isolated Place "a life changer everyone I have forced to buy it loves it."
 
Ulrich's third album, Goodbye, is his first for Independiente. It is also the end of a chapter in his sound. "I see these three albums as moving closer to something I wanted to do right from the beginning but didn't quite manage," he says. "Merging songwriting and indie elements with electronic music. I've tried to take all the ideas to the maximum."
 
So the ambient tracks are more spacious, the songs more memorable, the multi-layered, guitar-heavy tracks more ragingly psychedelic. Just listen to the obliterating rush of Medusa, or the cloudbusting dream-pop of Stars (performed by long-time collaborator Judith Beck). At times, there are over 100 different audio tracks playing simultaneously: a tower of song. No wonder Goodbye has taken three solid years of in the studio.
 
If Ulrich hailed from somewhere less boring, things might have been different. Fortunately, he was born in 1977 in Kiel, an unprepossessing city on Germany's Baltic coast best known for its naval base. It seemed to the young Ulrich as if everything important was happening elsewhere.
 
He explains, "I was talking to Andrew Sherriff from Chapterhouse and he told me that being from Reading had a significant influence because the place was so shit that you had to create beautiful music to get out of that state of mind. I'd say the same thing for me. Kiel is probably the most boring, ugly place in the world. The whole city is grey concrete. Places like that inspire you to create something that elevates you out of reality for a few minutes."
 

Bands didn't tend to play in Kiel, but at least the NME arrived regularly at the train station, albeit four weeks late, and the british forces radio station was good. Around 1990, Ulrich discovered electronic music and shoegazing simultaneously: the Orb alongside My Bloody Valentine, 808 State next to Ride, Shades Of Rhythm beside Slowdive. He also followed up every artist namechecked by LFO in their 1991 single What Is House?: Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, YMO His core ideas about music were forged there and then.
 
"For me that was the magic of those days," he says. "You couldn't say if a band was electronic or rock. I'm not interested in purist ideas. I like it when things you don't expect merge and mix and something new comes out of it."
 
And because he never got to see his heroes in the flesh, they maintained an aura of mystery and wonder. "You make up your own idea of how things are. For me that whole early '90s scene was something I imagined, like a fairy tale - an alternative reality to what I was experiencing."
 
Ulrich worked as a psychiatric nurse as part of his national service. After that, he moved to Berlin, where he tried in vain to become accepted by the electronic scene. "I felt really isolated. I desperately tried to integrate but it just didn't work. I was trying to marry what I wanted to do with what was trendy at the time and I always ended up with a foul compromise. So I thought I might as well do what I want to do."
 
After a few years of watered down, pseudonymous productions which he'd rather you didn't seek out, Ulrich released Far Away Trains Passing By on the dauntingly hip City Centre Offices label. He was amazed they even wanted to release it; more amazed still when it became a cult success. With its abundant charm and unabashed optimism, it was the most pleasantly surprising electronic debut since Boards of Canada's Music Has The Right To Children.
Its more rock-influenced successor, A Strangely Isolated Place, received an even warmer response, from critics and other musicians alike. It led to Ulrich remixing some of his shoegazing heroes (Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, and Mark Gardener of Ride), as well as Depeche Mode, Justin Robertson, Lunz (Hans-Joachim Roedelius), and Longview.
 
Tired of the Berlin scene, Ulrich moved back to Kiel to make Goodbye. Most of his schoolfriends had moved away, so he didn't have to worry about distractions. His last two album titles spoke of isolation, but was that the pain of enforced loneliness or the comfort of voluntary solitude? Goodbye is equally ambivalent. "Emotionally, I find farewell situations interesting," he says. "Saying goodbye can be tragic or hopeful."
 
Like its predecessors, Goodbye constructs its own world, vast and vivid. When he's making music, Ulrich sees colours: one song might be red, another blue. Next time, he wants to "record an album based on more traditional electronic music structures - which could enable me to merge all these different influences beyond recognition". Meanwhile, this is the album he's been moving towards for over a decade: a sonic tour de force, an alternative reality, a life-changer.

Ulrich Schnauss - Look At The Sky

Ulrich Schnauss - Stars

Ulrich Schnauss - Medusa

Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

Travis - Sing

Travis - Love Will Come Through

Paul Weller - Out Of The Sinking (Live)

Paul Weller - Above The Clouds (Live)

Paul Weller - Brand New Start (Live)

Paul Weller - That's Entertainment (Live)

White Rose Movement - London's Mine

Taken from the album 'They Don't Know'

So Solid Crew present They Don't Know - without doubt the most highly anticipated debut album from a UK act this year. This album proves that they have the sheer talent, energy and originality to live up to the phenomenal hype. 

• The album features ‘21 Seconds’ and forthcoming single ‘They Don’t Know’ plus a remix of the track ‘Oh No (Sentimental Things)’ that first launched them into the mainstream consciousness early this year. 

• Other album highlights include the anthemic 'Ride Wid Us', the lyrically barbed 'Haters' and the clubland commentary of 'Rave Scene'. Their unique blend of R&B, rap, ragga and garage beats looks set to dominate the radio, clubs and charts in 2002 and beyond.

• So Solid Crew recently picked up 2 MOBO Awards for Best Newcomer and Best Garage Act

Their names sound like comic strip heroes. Their brilliantly raw and futuristic take on UK garage sounds like nothing else on this planet. And they've already been dubbed the Wu-Tang Clan of two-step. Ladies and gentlemen, meet So Solid, a 20-plus collective of super-talented London DJs, MCs and producers - and just about the most exciting prospect in urban British dance music today. Their third single, 'They Don’t Know’, on Relentless records, follows up from ‘Oh No (Sentimental Things)’ and their number one smash ’21 Seconds’ which platformed the crew's cutting edge blend of R&B, rap, ragga and garage beats, a blistering sound that's come straight from the underground raves and pirate radio stations of South London.

Leader of the sprawling So Solid family is 21-year-old MC Megaman, a smooth talking Battersea homeboy who has been promoting garage parties and MCing at jungle clubs since he was a teenager. Of the So Solid sonic sensibility he says: "It's a whole new sound. We're using straight R&B and hip hop sound but with a little bit of ragga flavour, and that's what makes the difference."

The So Solid collective originally came about a couple of years back when Megaman hooked up with now defunct pirate station Supreme FM and came into contact with like-minded souls like MC Mac and DJ PDS. Already promoting events like Garage Delight at the Colosseum and Chunnel Club, Mega decided to step up the So Solid brand, slapping the name on the top of flyers, getting some of those all-important tunes down on vinyl and self-promoting like crazy. 

After finally pushing past the typical disinterest from play-it-safe club promoters who didn't get the crew's ahead-of-its-time approach to garage, the word spread and the So Solid community expanded. Mega explains what bonds them: "There's a talent and a flavour that we all share. For instance Neutrino and Oxide started out in separate crews where they were the ones doing the main work. Things have just accelerated from there."

Now he says, he regards So Solid as "the Junior MAFIA of London". There's a community spirit that means "we are all family, we're not friends. We understand each other." The current So Solid line-up includes:  G-Man, Megaman, Harvey, Asher-D, Face, Morgan, Gilard, MC Mac, DJ Timeless, DJ Dan da Man, DJ Swiss, DJ PDS, DJ Oxide, DJ Static, MC Asher-D, MC Neutrino, AC Burrell.

With so many members you'd think things could all get a bit confusing at times. But, says Megaman, you can apparently split the So Solid membership into three basic personality-types. "There's the sweet boys, pretty boys - that's Romeo, Neutrino, Harvey, Morgan and Crazy. Then there's the ruff-neck guys, like me Face, G-Man, Asher-D, Swiss, Mac, Dan da Man, they're the hard nuts. And there's the normal, quiet, casual guys like Timeless, PDS, Statics, TW7, Gilard, Oxide. And then there're the ones who just want to be lazy, eat food and make money. That's Mr C! He ain't running around for no-one!" And last but not least there's Lisa, who's in a category of all her own. "She's our 24-carat diamond," says Mega affectionately.

Of course, there's more to So Solid than just a vibrant mix of diverse personalities. Their refreshing 'keep it real, keep it simple' approach to music means that the So Solid sound has a characteristic no frills, streetwise punch that walks all over so much of the over-produced bandwagon garage many major labels are now spewing out. Meanwhile, away from the raw energy of the mic, the turntables and the studio, there's a strong business strategy too. Megaman, who's nobody's fool, along with G-Man, Mr C and TW7 have rapidly built up a Puff Daddy style miniature empire from scratch over the past year and a half. So Solid Entertainment - now a limited company currently comprises a DJ agency, two record labels - Papermoney and So Solid Beats - a promotional division, and a distribution company. Megaman doesn't rule out merchandising in the future too - so look out for clothes and all manner of other goodies too. And let's not forget Delight FM, the radio station that sprung from the seeds of the Garage Delight raves. On a good day, with the wind blowing in the right direction, you can apparently catch the latest underground sounds as far out as Kent.

"We did it all ourselves and everyone wants us now," says Megaman of the So Solid success story. "We've been through our hard times and we struggled to get where we are. I was rags to riches but now I'm here. We did it from scratch, no banks, no loans. And we did it by helping each other."

With an ecstatic response from the crowds at Ayia Napa this summer, So Solid have already built up a loyal audience. As the word of mouth spreads via the rave and radio scene, Megaman admits he's not averse to a bit of the diamonds and champagne lifestyle either. He sees So Solid as something stylish - not necessarily about names and designer labels but about looking the part, and if that means dressing like a star and not a scruffy MC, so be it. "Everyone in the ghetto wants to make money and live the high life," explains Megaman. "To have a nice car and a big house and wear diamonds and nice clothes and party all night. It's all good! That's what we're going to portray in our music"

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

So Solid Crew - They Don't Know

So Solid Crew - Haters

So Solid Crew - Ride Wid Us

Taken from the album '2nd Verse'

‘Broken Silence’ is So Solid Crew’s opportunity to finally respond to those who have commented on them publicly over the last two years, and their first release since the landmark, platinum selling “They Don’t Know”.  Rather than rise to criticisms hurled at them, So Solid Crew did what they do best, produce cutting edge music with raw lyrics to address the furore that surrounds them – hence breaking the silence.
 
Replacing the UK garage beats for which they’re known, producer Mr Shabz has laid down a mid-tempo groove whilst brother Sef from The Reelists drops a mournful refrain to accompany MC Swiss.  Rising star Swiss – who produced much of the last album, and has now taken up the mic – shows his undoubted lyrical skills and points to the sophisticated spitting present on forthcoming album “Second Verse”.   On ‘Broken Silence’ MC Swiss effortlessly and eloquently paints a bleak and stark image of their lives, and the day to day struggles they encounter.

To accompany this release the So Solid Crew have again broken from their tradition of high tech, special effects videos as seen for ’21 Seconds’, ‘They Don’t Know’ and ‘Ride Wid Us’.  Instead they have gone for a low key, urban and gritty back drop, the sci-fi settings of previous videos having been replaced by the grim reality of life in London’s estates.  The cast comprises So Solid Crew members, strongly featuring MC Swiss, Sef, Kaish, Asher D, Mr Shabz and Megaman, who are supported by an eclectic mix of extras made up actors and members of So Solid Crew’s wider community.  Expertly directed by Max & Dania, who work under the production moniker MAD, the video truly captures the mood and essence of ‘Broken Silence’.  

So Solid Crew - Broken Silence

Taken from the album '2nd Verse'

‘So Grimey’ is an up-tempo, bass heavy track for the streets, which features on the remix MCs Megaman, Asher D and Swiss and r&b singer Sef from The Reelists.  The track deals with girls who are so grimey, but not in the conventional sense of the word…in So Solid’s world, ‘So Grimey’ equals good not bad!

Their latest musical offering is a gritty track about girls that are down for their guys, girls who will do anything for their men, girls who can wear Adidas shell-toe trainers and tracksuits and still look sexy…

Mr Shabz steps up to the deck on production duties, serving up a selection of deep and grimey head banging beats which the Crew spit effortlessly over.  The original album version featured just one rapper, the confident rising star MC Swiss. Swiss produced much of So Solid Crew’s first album ‘They Don’t Know’, but for ‘Second Verse’ he focused mainly on mic duties, developing his lyrical composition and skills to become one of the Crew’s most loved MCs.   
For the Mr Shabz produced So Grimey Remix, So Solids’ MCs Megaman and Asher D were drafted in, and they come up with the goods big time, combining super fast lyrics with their trademark no nonsense heavy hitting delivery.

For the video to accompany their release the So Solid Crew wanted to keep things Grimey, so they enlisted the help of video directors Max & Dania, who they collaborated with on the 2001 Brit award winning ’21 Seconds’ video.  The ‘So Grimey’ video is shot in a dark, moody and highly charged atmosphere, it feels like it might be a dogfight or a clandestine ‘knuckle boxing’ event, but it’s not the men who are doing the fighting!  Taking the script and flipping it is what So Solid do best, so it will come as no surprise to see them keeping their cool while they watch the scantily clad, grimey girls mud-wrestling in the club.  Sef emerges from the darkness to sing the catchy chorus -‘Girl you’re so Grimey, want you beside me, want you to ride with me, do what you do to me’-, the crowd goes wild, the girls get down and dirty, and it looks like So Solid have yet another smash hit on their hands. 

So Solid Crew - So Grimey

Taken from the album 'First Lady'

Lisa Maffia (her real name) lit up the So Solid LP with her hook-heavy choruses, and even provided a glimpse of her range with tracks like 'Skyla', but her solo debut was always going to be the place where she showed what she was made of. "This is my time to shine and show the musical ability that I've developed, learning from So Solid Crew as well: the styles that I've picked up, the singing-spitting style, the R&B slow style, the ragga style."

When Lisa started recording her solo material she wanted to draw in all her musical influences both past and present. Even though the new grooves were all created by in-house So Solid producers JD, AC Burrell, Swiss and Dan Da Man, the result is a record that is laced with music and lyrics that will force all those who think they've sussed the UK urban formula to reconsider.

First single 'All Over' is a stomping girls' night out party tune dedicated to Dior, Cristal and garage rave glamour. The So Solid studio squad and Lisa's distinctive vocal style have combined to forge a musical identity that goes beyond the standard UK scene. There's enough melodic punch and dancefloor swagger to beat American R&B's powerhouse producers on their own terms, and more than enough spirit and personality to prove that Lisa is, and will remain, very much her own woman. The 24-Carat Princess has proved her mettle; the music is Solid gold.


Lisa Maffia - All Over

Taken from the album 'First Lady'

Earlier this year Lisa Maffia scored a no.2 cross over smash hit with her debut single ‘All Over’ which sold 90,000, stayed in the top 10 for three weeks and the top 40 for seven weeks.  She now solidifies her centre stage positioning as a solo artist releasing her second single, the beautiful ‘In Love’ from her forthcoming album ‘First Lady’.  The rowdiness of her debut makes way for a sultry, summery love song – all Spanish guitars and staccato beats – that while not necessarily what you were expecting, is still unmistakably a Maffia production.

Able to blend sweetness and streetness on record and in the press, it’s not surprising she’s fast becoming an icon of high-rolling glamour and a model of determination for young mums everywhere.  She remains one of So Solid's most prominent members with photographers always zooming in on her assured, glacial glamour in group photos, and Lisa remains the group's most requested interviewee. 

With her inspired solo debut LP to be released on August 11th she has proved that she is so much more than just the First Lady of So Solid.  The So Solid studio squad and Lisa's distinctive vocal style have combined to forge a musical identity that goes beyond the standard UK scene.  There's enough melodic punch and dancefloor swagger to beat American R&B's powerhouse producers on their own terms, and more than enough spirit and personality to prove that Lisa is, and will remain, very much her own woman.  The 24-Carat Princess has proved her mettle; the music is Solid gold.

Lisa Maffia - In Love

Taken from the album 'On The Cobbles'

Four years since the release of his last studio album ‘'Glasgow Walker’, John Martyn returns with his 22nd studio album entitled ‘'On The Cobbles’ on 26 April 2004 through Independiente.

The new album was recorded at various studios in the UK and US including Woolengrange in Ireland, The Toolshed, Chicago USA, Doon The Cellar, Birkenhead, Swan Yard Studios, London, Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, Hornyold Road Studios, Worcestershire and at The Caliope Recorders, Chicago USA.

Produced and engineered by Jim Tullio and Garry Pollitt, ‘On The Cobbles’ includes collaborations with ex-Verve guitarist Nick McCabe on ‘Walking Home’; fellow label mate in the past on both Go! Discs and Independiente, Paul Weller, who appears on ‘Under My Wing’ playing Wurlitzer, B3 Hammond, acoustic guitar & backing vocals; the legendary Mavis Staples, lead singer of the Staple Singers appears as guest vocalist on final track, ‘Goodnight Irene’.


‘ON THE COBBLES’
Tracklisting:
1.	Baby Come Home
2.	Under My Wing  (feat. Paul Weller)
3.	Ghosts
4.	Back To Marseilles
5.	Cobbles
6.	My Creator
7.	One For The Road
8.	Go Down Easy
9.	Walking Home  (feat. Nick McCabe)
10.	Goodnight Irene (feat. Mavis Staples)

John Martyn - Go Down Easy

John Martyn - Under My Wing

Taken from the album,

Ben Taylor
‘Another Run Around The Sun’

Ben Taylor is a young man with impeccable credentials. He grew up in a musical environment second to none. With Carly Simon for a mother and James Taylor as father, a career in the family business beckoned.
An accomplished performer who’s fresh from touring Europe with Tracy Chapman, the 29 year-old singer/songwriter steps into the main frame with his new CD ‘Another Run Around The Sun’ on Independiente, October 30th. Preceded by the ‘Lady Magic EP’ on September 25th, this is the perfect time to discover an impressive talent in waiting.

Featuring 11 melody-laden tracks, all infused with an unflinching lyrical honesty, ‘Another Run Around The Sun’ is Ben’s most definitive, earthy work to date. Recorded in London’s RAK studios, it was produced by both Kevin Bacon & Jonathan Quarmby and explores an acoustic, stripped-down sound. His aching vocals strike an uncanny resemblance to that of his father’s, but with songs that explore recurring themes of “love and loss”, this is pure Ben Taylor – his own man. 

“This album is a natural progression of who I am and what I’ve been through,” he explains. “I wanted to make a record that I could tour by myself if I had to - something I could live with night after night. That’s how I feel about it, because it’s honest. There wasn’t a whole lot of me in some of my earlier recordings, but this one is entirely me. It’s the most self-accepting thing I’ve ever done.” 
Highlights of the LP – his 2nd, and first to be released in the UK - include the intensity of ‘Digest’ – an emotionally strong, dynamic song, the immaculate acoustics of ‘I’ll Be Fine’, the irresistible hook of opener ‘Nothing I Can Do’ and the lusciously wry cynicism of ‘Love’. Naturally, this level of public intimacy means each song wears his hear on its sleeve.

“For the most part they’re all hard to sing. A lot of the phrasing and the melodies are difficult, but on an emotional level I get choked up if I remember what I’m singing about. Although saying that, most of the time it’s a case of Dr Theatre - however sick you are, Dr Theatre will take care of it by the time you get on stage.” he observes.
                                                                                                          P.T.O
“I wrote most of the songs when I was out on the road, but I did 3 or 4 in the in the studio,” he comments. “That’s the best way to do it. It’s impossible to be prolific and distracted if you want to finish songs. You need to take your moments of inspiration and lock yourself in a room with them.”

Influenced by a variety of artists that include Paul McCartney, Donovan and Cat Stevens, his sound blends stark originality with ambling folk, rock and soul. Encouraged and inspired by his parents, he began performing live 5 years ago and has already toured to critical acclaim.

“They’ve both influenced me equally in very different ways,” says Ben. . “I learned the guitar by teaching myself how to play my Dad’s sound. He’s the one who really, truly taught me about music, but when I started writing songs my Mom helped me in a different way.”

Although his lineage may garner attention, it’s only Ben himself who can deliver his sound. “The main thing connections like that does is actually very positive. It turns people’s heads and gets you attention, but you really need to be prepared with something worth listening too. Right now, I feel ready.” 

Ben Taylor - Nothing I Can Do

Ben Taylor - Digest

Archive - Love In Summer

Archive - Take My Head

“Billboard Beauty”

We were driving through Bolton on a Saturday night watching the people going about all dressed up in what they consider to be a vision of beauty and came to the rapid conclusion that it was completely false. We live in a world constantly emphasising the ‘right’ things to wear, say, do and this is a contradiction of all that represents. And a criticism too for that matter.

Conor McGloin (Guitar) and Tom Marshall (bass) 

Kinesis - Billboard Beauty

Taken from the album 'When It Hits You Feel No Pain'.

Is Northern soul the coolest music ever? Probably. It’s hard to explain the passion and dedication of the Northern soul obsessive. The lengths you’ll go to find that rare seven inch. Every scarce seven inch is in itself an education in music, in music history and in making music. Oisin Lunny has more than enough of them. “It’s the only music that can make you dance and can make you cry at the same time,” says Oisin, soon to be much better known as First Born.  For as Firstborn he has delivered an eclectic album which marries the emotion of Northern Soul with the darkness of urban life, creating a melange of hip-hop breaks, soul vocals and techno sensibilities.


NME: “The kind of record that Massive Attack would no doubt love to return with"

MUZIK: “One of the most fearsome explorations of the dark side of the soul you’ll have heard – 5/5”

I-D MARCH 2001 "former Marxman Oisin Lunny hits on a winning formula and keeps on running"

TOUCH MARCH 01 " It's the Gothic head-fuck funk that David Holmes never managed"

BLUES & SOUL "quality all the way"

FACE : "An essential messy-night-out odyssey...plain ol' stomping".


Firstborn - Lay This Burden Down

Taken from the album 'When It Hits You Feel No Pain'.

Is Northern soul the coolest music ever? Probably. It’s hard to explain the passion and dedication of the Northern soul obsessive. The lengths you’ll go to find that rare seven inch. Every scarce seven inch is in itself an education in music, in music history and in making music. Oisin Lunny has more than enough of them. “It’s the only music that can make you dance and can make you cry at the same time,” says Oisin, soon to be much better known as First Born.  For as Firstborn he has delivered an eclectic album which marries the emotion of Northern Soul with the darkness of urban life, creating a melange of hip-hop breaks, soul vocals and techno sensibilities.


NME: “The kind of record that Massive Attack would no doubt love to return with"

MUZIK: “One of the most fearsome explorations of the dark side of the soul you’ll have heard – 5/5”

I-D MARCH 2001 "former Marxman Oisin Lunny hits on a winning formula and keeps on running"

TOUCH MARCH 01 " It's the Gothic head-fuck funk that David Holmes never managed"

BLUES & SOUL "quality all the way"

FACE : "An essential messy-night-out odyssey...plain ol' stomping".

Firstborn - Miracles (Feat: Mary Love-Comer)

Firstborn - The Mood Club

Taken from the album 'The Magic Treehouse'.



Ooberman - Shorley Wall

Taken from the album 'Tears From A Willow'.

Ooberman - Tears From A Willow

Taken from the album 'The Magic Treehouse'.

Ooberman - Bees

Ooberman - Blossoms Falling

Blackbud have played over 250 gigs...been given the nod of approval by Jimmy Page… toured the UK and Europe and shared the bill with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow, The Bees, Editors, 22-20s, Hope Of The States,  Babyshambles ….been taken under the wings of Youth, David Bottrill and Michael Eavis…been picked up by Fierce Panda…signed to Independiente….had a song in a Hollywood film….a Zane Lowe session and single of the week.  Quite a start for a band just into their twenties….

This young West Country trio have a sound as prodigious as their self-made achievements. Bold, epic, soulful, emotional, intense, uplifting: Blackbud do all of these, then top it off with the soaring voice of Joe Taylor. Musically, their collective backgrounds in college bands has forged a solid but imaginative foundation upon which Taylor (guitars), Adam Newton (bass) and Sam Nadel (drums) are building big-sky rock music and becoming (as described by David Sinclair in The Times) “truly an epic band in the making”.

‘Hearing Jimi Hendrix started me wanting to play,’ says Taylor, a naturally gifted guitarist able to conjure staggering sounds from his instrument. ‘I started off having classical lessons then I learnt on my own. Then a new teacher taught me how to pay Nirvana. That got me into playing guitar for *songs* rather than style. But I still study classical and flamenco. We draw from a lot of styles of music.’

Taylor, Nadel and Newton met at school in Wiltshire. ‘It was very music-oriented,’ says Nadel. ‘We did workshops in different kinds of world music,’ says Sam. ‘The first time we played together was at college, playing jazz. That experience rubbed off on us – as soon as we met properly and started playing, we played blues, jazz and funk because that’s what we knew. That helped us stand out when we first started doing gigs.’

Deciding to form a band in December 2002, their work ethic was immediately apparent. They secured a residency in a local pub. ‘They let us do two-hour gigs’ says Taylor, ‘mostly covers, Hendrix, Bob Marley and Stevie Ray Vaughan, learning to play with each other through playing the greats over and over again. Newton: ‘That was the first in the long line of corners of pubs.’

Over the following 18 months, Blackbud gigged and gigged all over the West Country and across the UK . Even when they were struggling with exam pressure their rock’n’roll zeal saw them still playing up to three gigs a week. Songs began pouring out of Taylor, and they recorded three demo CDs.

By summer 2004  and following capacity crowds at Glastonbury Festival appearances on the New and Avalon stages, word of mouth on Blackbud and their fanbase reached the ears of London record labels. Taylor: ‘We didn’t approach anyone. At that point we had no intention of looking for a record deal – we hadn’t sent any demos to record companies. People came to us”. And indeed they did…literally. It was important the band felt, that any interested parties visit them on their home turf, an experience, recalls Nadel, that proved somewhat surreal as a steady stream of record executives ‘sped along little country lanes to my house to see us play in my shed”.

After a tour of Spain with Hope Of The States (booked on the spot after a Spanish promoter heard their demo) Blackbud eventually decided to release a one-off single with Fierce Panda, as bands from Coldplay to Keane via Idlewild had done before them. ‘Livewire EP’, recorded at Rockfield in Wales, was a taster of what was to come: the title track was a sinuous, funk-flavoured tune dreamt up by Taylor after he’d come back from a Middle Eastern holiday.

‘I wanted to write something that had a groove to it,’ says this naturally explosive guitarist, ‘and this rhythm and melody just appeared, fitting together. It all tends to come all in one go, the music and the words in one stream of poetry.’

In terms of their long-term aspirations, Blackbud opted to avoid the major label offers and sign with Independiente, a label with a proven track record for recognising a band’s long term potential and thus giving Blackbud the time to grow and develop.

May 2005 and Blackbud squirreled themselves away in Olympic Studios in south-west London with Youth, the legendary producer who, most recently, was at the helm for the comeback album of 2004, Embrace’s Out Of Nothing. Says Nadel: ‘…for a very laidback guy he gets a lot done – he’s a hard taskmaster and very inspiring.’

The first three songs the band recorded with Youth comprised their first full release in November 2005, The Heartbeat EP.  Lead track ‘Heartbeat’ an intense, boiling song with a huge, squealing climax; ‘Steal Away’, a bridging song between Radiohead’s The Bends and OK Computer; ‘Corner Of The World’, a measured, intense ballad. ‘They’re all emotional songs,’ says Taylor, still young enough to feel diffident about describing the personal detail and shape of his own music, ‘powerful and heavy, or delicately crafted.’  Radio One’s Zane Lowe was quick to pick up on the band, making the ep ‘single of the week’ and inviting the band to record a live session.  ‘That was a big moment for us’, says Nadel. ‘I had listened to his show for a long time and now we were on it. It made things very real’. Jo Whiley followed suit giving the band their first daytime play on Radio One.

Blackbud - Heartbeat

Independiente Records formed in 1997, releasing records for seminal artists such as Travis, Embrace, Tinariwen, So Solid Crew, and Martina-Topley Bird. The label has seen a considerable amount of success throughout the late 90's and early 00's with critically acclaimed albums such as "The Man Who" by Travis, which became the 25th biggest selling album in the UK after its release.

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