annie stevenson

This coming Friday 23 July annie stevenson Three Knots In Atlanta Cafe Drummonds will be a good one !!! "....you will find Annie Stevensons mix of slurring Pistols vocals and cheeky Fratellis pop absolutely irresistible." (UK Music Review June 2010 )

Can I just add to the mix mflow is the new way of discovering music through people

Good stuff my man, and as some folk have already said, the harmonies really are top You guys got any dates down in Glasgow planned ?

Surely in this day an age you must spend some to in "GITMO" getting an introduction to Waterboarding and electrodes to the testicles b4 you are allowed the privillege of a Facebook page !!!

Oh Robert you have slipped the mit there:O:O:O what has a girl to do ? Thanks to you we have added everybody who responded.Now look what you have started. btw ours is Annie Stevenson | Facebook

Caught some of this session on the wireless b4 our gig tonight, well good it was.

Grab yourself a FREE preview and/or MP3 download of our NEW EP "2010" on our last.fm page at 2010 Annie Stevenson Listen free and discover music at Last.fm

Alright mate, Whether you enter this competition is really up to you but I can give you some info on what it entails since we entered it last year. Ok first off, we were "selected" for an audtion at Glasgows Royal Concert Hall , which you will agree sounds very grand and if you tell your mates, aunties and Grannies that you are playing there they will probably be impressed. However the truth is you will probably find it is a hired room in the basement or somewhere . In our case it was a small room just of a big Hall where some wedding show was being staged. We know this because we got lost trying to find the room and had to walk through this event. Anyway we eventually made our way to through the hoards of young women whom we had initially mistakingly thought had come to see us, and arrived at the reception area. Oh I should have said at this point it was 8 am in the morning . Now the last time I saw a band playing at 8 am in the morning was The Beatles rehearsing in the Movie "Let it be" and we all know what happened to them shortly after that. Here we were joined by hunners of young hopefulls and who proceeded to wait patiently for their turn to shine. After a few hours had passed, and a few people had passed out having had no food, since none was available. ( make a note have a hearty breakfast before you arrive ) We were called through to the audition room. No sorry it wasnt the audition room it was actually a long queue which we had to stand in for another wee while, until eventually we got led before the judging panel. Now despite being informed prior to this that all equipment by way of amplification would be provided. It turned out that there was only one guitar amp. As we have two guitarists which our application form made quite clear,this gave us a problem. Never mind we were told one of you can just mime a bit.!!!! Before we played one of the judges asked us if we wrote our own songs, eh yes we replied. "How many" he barked, Dont really know" we said, "Ive done some and Tom has done some and then thers lots which we havent" ...Just give us a figure he demanded. "32" we said which was a completed random number , but he seemed happy with that and so we played. After that we returned to the waiting area for what seemed like an very long time. Now something strange started to happen, as the morning wore on acts who had already auditioned were getting called in no particular order and all without exception were getting told they had got through to the next stage. They were all getting handed nice glossy folders containing some stuff. Many folks where doing high Fives and jumping in the air a hooping and a hollarin when told this news. Bootcamp here they come. Since we wernt in this group we assumed we had failed to get through .Then after a while we got called over and got told we had got through as well in fact I dont think anyone got rejected , everyone was a winner oh happy days. We even got a shiny new folder as well. We opened the folder and then it dawned on us what was going on. The folder contained a contract and some information re the next stage. It also contained 50 odd tickets for this event which we were expected to sell to our friends for 6 a piece. This would entitle our friends to attend a gig at a large Glasgow venue in which we would be playing, yeehah, for all of 3 minutes since there would be a lot of other bands on the bill who had also been given 50 odd tickets to sell and there wasnt time for any more songs. It became clear that those audtions were just a means to ensure that a large amount of tickets were distributed to as many acts as possible. Maybe some acts did get rejected at this stage, I didnt see any. We declined to sign the contract and passed on the next stage. If that doesnt bother you then go ahead, if you think you can bring a large crowd and take them round the country with you as you play the various heats then go ahead, The bands that can do this usually end up in the final strangely enough. And the Prize, well a "20,000 -30,000 recording deal wouldnt cover the food bill for a major recording project, and If youd asked me who has actually went on to greater things as a result of this contest I couldnt tell you. If it wasnt for Mr Robert Knight earlier posting I wouldnt have known who actually won this thing last year. The fact that he knew this is a matter of concern ; ) I think the advice most guys on here have given you is sound. However maybe our experience is not representative and sometimes its better to make your own mistakes. .

Cheers mate, thats what I was trying to do. I can appreciate this topic is probably more relevant for a Glasgow Forum, thats why I chose to post it on there. I thought it would be a good idea to invite contributions from thid forum as I know there are some folks/bands from outside Glasgow who would appreciate access to a Forum like this for Glasgow. Having been accused of all manner of skull duggery for doing this, it maybe wasnt such a good idea after all. I'll Put it down to experience.

Good points. A few years back from what I can gather Glasgow had quite a bad reputation for pay to play and though it still exists Im not sure it is as prolific as it used to be. There may be an argument for saying that Glasgow maybe has too many venues which has the result of the live music scene spreading itself too thin. This led to sparse attendences over more venues. To many Promoters then went down this particular road to compensate for this. I dont know though Id be interested to hear from any promoters. I agree with you that ideally a venue should have at least a top drawing local act, wh headine, which gives the lesser known bands an audience to play to. This would also encourage more outside bands to get heard and if they are any good will start to become a draw in themselves and in time its a win win situation even for the promoter : )

Is there any mileage in the argument put up by some Promoters that someone has to pay for the venue and the Equipment hire, soundman etc and that is usually covered by either asking the bands to pay up front which they would have to do anyway if they were putting it on themselves or by taking a whack off the ticket sales which usually leaves the band with only a small portion of the takings. From the bands point of view this leaves them in the catch 22 situation that they can only play at venues or places where they can draw a decent crowd or the promoter will not be interested. For most bands this severly restricts where they can play. So whats the solution ?

What constitutes Pay to play ? Does that include gigs were the bands are expected to sell the tickets ?

It is not my site,. It is a fledgling Forum which if it gets legs may prove useful for bands and punters from other parts .. I was only asking for some contributions to help get things started. Its my opinion that the more music forums are encouraged the more all will benefit. Aberdeen has a good forum, as does Dundee, to the best of my knowledge Glasgow doesnt. Maybe we should just keep ourselves to ourselves in our own wee part of the country eh. Personally I dont think most folks are as parochial as that. Any one who wants to contribute is most welcome , those who dont , fair enough.

I'm also keen to hear your views on this subject on this forum although any contributions to the Glasgow debate would also be welcome,

Just started a thread on the subject of "Pay to Play" on The Box Music Forum, if any musos/ punters/promoters wish to contribute to this , click onto the link below and have yer say. Be interested in hearing the thoughts on this from you folks in the North East. BOX Glasgow Official Forum • Index page