I’ve always struggled when confronted with the question “what sort of band are you in?”
Elevator pitches have never been my strong point.
This little video might help. It attempts to capture the essence of the Bedlam Six in a minute and a half.
19 Monday May 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Video
inI’ve always struggled when confronted with the question “what sort of band are you in?”
Elevator pitches have never been my strong point.
This little video might help. It attempts to capture the essence of the Bedlam Six in a minute and a half.
13 Tuesday May 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Interviews, Recording, releases
inTags
a new band a day, album, ask me pr, commentary, joe sparrow, youth
My friend Joe Sparrow (head honcho at A New Band A Day and online coordinator for ASK ME PR) has begun a project compiling album commentaries with various artists. I recently became the first of his interviewees (aka the guinea-pig).
The full-length commentary for “Youth” is still being edited together (he’s probably trying to remove the persistent sound of clinking wine glasses) but here’s a little taster from the beginning of the interview in which we discuss the album in general terms.
For more information about the album visit www.bedlamyouth.com
29 Tuesday Apr 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Uncategorized
inTags
So sad to hear that Harry Doherty (writer for Melody Maker, Metal Hammer and many other music magazines, plus official Queen and Thin Lizzy biographer) has died.
Harry was an enthusiastic champion of The Bedlam Six, giving us a vital boost and sense of affirmation when we most needed it. We first met him back in the days of playing for beer in the corners of pubs – gigs in which stoic punters were required to duck and weave through the band (fingers in ears usually) just to reach the toilets. He came up to me after a show to say how much he’d enjoyed it. We kept in touch and later he joined us for the recording of our Memoir Noir EP, listening back to the days’ performances and generously donating to our teetering collection of empty wine bottles. He also contributed hand-claps to the record. Definitely a man with a unique sense of rhythm.
Harry was that rare breed: a passionate critic with an open mind. He was an early supporter of Queen and Kate Bush while other journalists were either ignoring or sneering at them (needless to say we chose to interpret this as a favourable omen). Even after quitting full-time rock journalism he was always open to the discovery of fresh talent, seeing no difference between the new songs he liked and the old songs he liked. Later when he came to write Queen’s official biography he got me invited to the book launch at Soho’s Groucho Club (where I briefly met Brian May and even touched his Red Special!), a place that didn’t seem to be a natural environment for either of us. It’s rare for someone in a largely unknown band to rub shoulders with rock royalty and not be made to feel inferior, but music is supposed to be a great leveller and Harry made sure those around him didn’t forget it.
Musicians and music critics alike could all learn a lot from him.
Honoured to have known you Harry,
with love from
Louis and the Bedlams.
To read some of Harry’s articles click here.
01 Tuesday Apr 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Collaborations, Recording, releases, Songs, Video
inIn 2012 some of the Bedlam Six and I joined Hope & Social in their crypt studio to record a version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Keep The Customer Satisfied” as part of the Crypt Covers series.
(I wrote a little piece about that experience here)
Here’s how it sounded:
They now have ten of these sessions in the can (also including our friends The Travelling Band and She Makes War among others) and have just released the set as an album (aptly titled “Crypt Covers Vol 1”) available here.
You should definitely have a listen, there are some absolute gems!
The members of Hope & Social have also just released a video of themselves listening and commenting along to the songs in the series.
Here’s what they said about us:
31 Monday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Debt Records, releases
inThe Bedlam Six gig calendar is disconcertingly bare. It hasn’t had this much empty space on it for at least five years.
We will be announcing new live dates soon but for the next few months I’ll be donning my “sensible label director” hat and working on the preparations for the Debt Records fifth anniversary celebrations alongside my co-directors Biff, Dan and Gemma. More news about that soon.
That’s not it for Bedlam duties though; we have some new music videos planned and will be starting work on arranging/demoing the songs for the next album in the coming weeks, so there should be no shortage of updates here and on our various social media nodes (even if Bessie our tour van is having a much deserved rest!).
If you haven’t yet listened to our most recent album “Youth” there is an entire website devoted to the record at www.bedlamyouth.com where it can be streamed and/or purchased in its entirety (plus there’s all sorts of information about the studio sessions and stories behind the songs scattered about the place).
En avant!
29 Saturday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Gigs, Pictures
inLast night’s Manchester show was a real joy. Great, responsive mixed crowd and just the right amount of happy accidents and sore joints by the end.
Here’s a photo taken from “the royal box” by Andrew Loynes.
And here’s one of us backstage with our friend Becca Williams (who was also our exceptional support act).
24 Monday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Gigs, releases, tour
inTags
album, deaf institute, gigs, launch party, manchester, youth
The Bedlam Six’s final UK album launch party (for this album anyway) will take place this Friday (28th March) at Manchester’s Deaf Institute.
Support comes from my good friend Becca Williams. Entry is £8 advance and £10 on the door.
Tickets and event information can be found on the venue website.
19 Wednesday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Debt Records, Recording, Songs, Video
inWe chose to round off the promotion week for the new Bedlam Six release with a public recording session. We thought it’d be interesting if the climax to all the album launch parties up and down the UK was an open studio event in which we’d start work on the follow-up record. The circle never ends…
The logic of this decision was, with hindsight, perhaps a little questionable. Yes there’s a certain poetry to one album segueing directly into another but, practically speaking, no musician is ever at the height of their powers after a stint on the road. I’d already lost my voice once while on tour and a good half of the band hadn’t slept for about three days straight.
But if there’s one thing I’ve discovered about such poetic gestures (or “PR gimmicks” as some people call them) it’s that they have a habit of bringing out the best in us. This little project was a lot of fun.
For us the first stage of any recording is to lay down some good quality demos that we can later listen back to and start forming concrete arrangements for. Once we’ve got the guts and general character of a song in place we can get a better idea of its final incarnation. Our audience tends to only see/hear the finished version so we figured it’d be interesting for people to witness these formative stages (where we decide on tempo, argue about harmonies, work out solos etc). Our label Debt Records is always harping on about making these processes more transparent so we agreed to be the guinea pigs for a new series of public studio gatherings. Thankfully it was hardly a chore, the location in question was the lovely back room of one of Greater Manchester’s best pubs: Salford’s The Eagle Inn. Even Guy Garvey turned up!
Here’s how we got on with brand new song “Lately”
And here’s a slightly more delicate number “Let Me Down Slow”
07 Friday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Debt Records, Recording
inThe last event in our album release week is nothing to do with our new album at all – it’s where we start working on the next one!
Details HERE
05 Wednesday Mar 2014
Posted Bedlam Six, Interviews, Recording, releases, Songs
inTags
At 9pm on Wednesday 5th March the Bedlam Six will be convening for a live stream of new album ‘Youth’ with us providing an increasingly inebriated commentary of decreasingly relevant and accurate facts about the record.
Follow this link to listen and chat with us:
http://mixlr.com/debt-radio
You can listen directly on your computer, tablet or smartphone using your browser (Flash is required).
Android users can use VLC or a similar media player to listen through a browser.
For Windows, Mac and i-phone a Mixlr app is available for free from the App store or form the following link:
http://mixlr.com/broadcast/