infinitehive - Tumblr blog

[infinitehive]

Dancer on the roof of an 8th Street building in #NewYork - viewed from my #hotel window. Amazing moment. #dance #dancer #broadway #blackandwhitephotography https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ZPpdWD6ta/?igshid=1era0pl6dgb5t

[infinitehive]

Inspiration

Haven’t written for a while because I’ve either been relaxing or going at full tilt busy getting new records ready for your ears, but I thought now, with all the negativity in the world, would be a good time to write something a little more positive.

So I meet new and original-sounding bands all the time now, which is great, because growing up I only had Top Of The Pops, radio or magazines to tell me and my friends what music was happening, but this was driven by fashion. Independent or local music scenes were invisible to me back then, even when “indie” became the new “pop” in the 90s.  

Then the popularisation of the Internet and fast connections meant as a music fan, I could gorge on all my favourite stuff really easily.  I had made mix tapes as a youngster on my “ghetto blaster” (ask your mum) to listen to wherever I went with my “walkman” (ask your dad), so I already had a taste for eclectic playlists and embraced mp3 players as the next step in musical enjoyment.

But something went wrong for me in the mid-noughties.  You can have too much of a good thing, the access to “every single record/song ever” is too mind-blowing to conceive and a quick press of “shuffle”on my iPod classic in 2006 would take a listener on an incredibly complicated and potentially uncomfortable journey.  No matter how amusing it sounds, you cannot enjoy going from Britney Spears to Napalm Death to Saint-Saens on the same bus journey.

And managing 5000 songs, some of which require text edits in your database of choice (iTunes in my case) became an arduous task.  The 90s indie band “Suede” for instance, are called “The London Suede” in America, so in some cases (I still don’t know how this happened) I ended up with two copies of the same songs, or albums, or lost things entirely due to an exercise in alphabetisation. Massive Attack collaborate with several artists on their albums, so many of their songs are categorised as “Massive Attack featuring _ _ _ _”, so if I wanted to listen to a random mix of their entire repertoire, it was a chore to set up.  I was working on databases by day, then doing god damn homework on my music collection at night! Suddenly my linear 90s mixtapes seemed idyllic.

Then there are the artist disputes with the gatekeepers to this brave new world. One of my favourite bands, Tool don’t put their records on iTunes or Spotify, which has become the de-facto tool for my daily consumption.  When Prince died, the first thing I wanted to do was listen to “Purple Rain”, except he isn’t on Spotify either (well, one song is).  And while I have no time for Taylor Swift, I can sympathise with those who do when they can’t listen to her on that medium either.  There are ways around this and I am not the type to sit and mope, but faffing about downloading, or ripping mp3s, naming all the tracks, organising them on your computer, backing them up, copying them onto your phone, setting up playlists and then remembering to charge your wireless headphones still eats up valuable life seconds.  Isn’t this supposed to be the age of convenience?  No wonder so many of us turned to piracy since 1999.

Basically, I got bored with music. I stopped listening to my old favourites, there were very few new releases that excited me and I went from being an avid buyer of new music and classic re-releases to being someone who was disillusioned with the whole thing.

It’s fair to say the situation I list above is veering us into the negative, but for good reason, because I present unto you a solution: those local and independent bands I mentioned earlier? They cannot wait for you to hear what they are up to.  When I discovered Somaesthesia and campaigned to sign them to Infinite Hive, I was vaguely familiar with some of their influences and had heard of others, but perhaps didn’t have songs by the artists they were inspired by in that collection of 5000 files on my dusty old iPod, so having heard their record on the band’s Soundcloud and deciding that yes, fucking yes, I want to release this, I spent some free time investigating their suggestions.  Since then, I have absorbed Cult Of Luna, Meshuggah and Gojira, who are all great fucking bands.  But this was no revelation, in the last few years running Infinite Hive, working with bands like Three Days From Retirement had got me into the post-rock scene and now I regularly listen to Tides From Nebula, Tidings and Kapil Seshasayee.  Bryan Donoghue got me into Jake Bugg, the nutters in DUNT will bore the ears of anyone who wants to hear about Lagwagon and Pennywise, their guitarist Cab, who joined my band MEOW is a massive fan of Melt Banana and Mr. Bungle, so am I!

And setting up gigs for the bands is a joy as well, they shine me onto up and coming acts who they either know, or listen to themselves, who have just as much to say and new takes on classic tropes.  In the next few months, Matty & Floody, who have been organising shows in Edinburgh under the Infinite Hive banner have unearthed some absolute gems:  All The Best Tapes, Draws Creature Mask, Sapien and Our Smallest Adventures are all being added to band bills and playlists as I write this.

I like to have a handle on where a band is coming from, what they aspire to, not just from an arty-farty point of view, there are practical reasons, like is what they are doing actually original, or if I put this out, is someone going to accuse of ripping someone else off?  

Fortunately this doesn’t happen with bands on Infinite Hive, they all look forward, not back.  Join us.

[infinitehive]

Live For The Moment

I go to a lot of gigs: local bands, touring bands, huge arenas, tiny pubs.  The common denominator to gig attendance, the de rigour standard now, is the phone camera operator.  

This trend started in the 90s, the occasional hero would sneak a chunky, handheld video camera into a large venue (like Brixton Academy) and record the gig by a well-known touring band, then dump that footage onto VHS and sell it to friends.  This was one of the many practices that comes under the now-never used term "bootlegging".

Personally I bought quite a few bootlegs, from quite reputable sources too, this wasn't like American prohibition in the 1920s.  Decent recordings of famous bands' shows were common and at one point I had many VHS videos and CDs with gig recordings for bands like Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy to name but a few.  

The music industry reaction to this was a gesture of parental scalding, but very little direct action.  I think they secretly knew that the bootleg live gig copy was:

a) only of interest to superfans who bought everything anyway b) usually of questionable quality when compared to "official" releases c) free advertising 

By 2005, I was taking my own camcorder to gigs, but not large venues, this was a favour to my friends' bands.  I made videos of "Thermal Liberation" and "Kabuki", local bands in Edinburgh.  A local amateur opera singer asked me to make an audition tape for him. I'd film them, take the camera home, dump the footage onto VHS (done in real time) and then give the tape to the band, who would also often ask for my camera original tape too, to "protect their rights".  People got serious about their privacy or intellectual property.  Not like now when every dick, dick or dick shares pictures of their dick.

A couple of decades on and the home-made superfan live gig video is now rife and nobody can control the flood of shit quality digital bollocks out there (point b squared).  The music industry has been decapitated by digital tech and mass consumer demand for getting stuff for free, attempts to legally quash this behaviour are futile.  Can you imagine the outcry if phones were banned from gigs? Some big acts have tried to ban recording equipment, but a few audience members to high profile gigs (Prince last year comes to mind, god rest his funky soul) still managed to grab a few moments of their shows. 

There are some positive elements to this, local bands have the ability to spread their music to a wider audience and there is virtually no overhead to sharing the footage from a concert: your iPhone and a YouTube account (well, ok, you have to have a phone and contract, but you see what I mean).

Now I don't mind this at all, I love it when I'm at a gig with DUNT, or Bryan Donoghue and someone else is recording it. There's a local hero called Bruce who goes to load of wee gigs and films the bands, loading his footage onto YouTube the next day. He has a great quality camera and positions himself in such a way that he isn’t blocking the show too! Great!  What a guy!  Free publicity!  Please share this with all your friends!  

But it's getting out of hand at large gigs.  Look at this bullshit: 

Imagine if we were at the cinema and I held a fucking tea tray in front of your face during the entire film? That's a total dick move, right?  Now if you want to take a photograph of a gig, fine, but don't use an iPad! Are you taking drink orders with that thing?  You're blocking everyone's view, arsehole! And don't use the shitty flash on your phone either!  I saw Madness at the Corn Exchange a couple of weeks back and the number of people that night who went home with badly-lit shitphone pictures of the back of middle-aged men's bald heads (and a giant blurry smear of what might be a band on a stage in the background) was ridiculous! The flash has a range of about 5 metres, the band are already lit up!  And now everyone around you feels like they just got their brains zapped by The Men in Black, stop that shit!

I've ranted from a technical point of view there, but there is a more important point, one that is creeping into large gigs: live for the moment.  If you're in that auditorium, it isn't because you accidentally walked in whilst on a drunken stag do.  You wanted to be there, you planned to be there, so for the love of dog, enjoy being there.  It'll be over before you know it and if you spent the entire time fixing the autofocus on your Samsung Galaxy S666 under the delusion that it is powerful enough to accurately capture the moves of Suggs or the atmosphere of the crowd, you're going to regret it when you get home and watch that blurry, out of focus, blotchy video back with the TERRIBLE sound, that literally NOBODY is going to see.

Oh god I forgot about the sound.  The mics on your phone and waaaaay to underpowered to correctly record a powerviolence band turned up to 11.

And I bet most of you hold their phones the wrong way when filming too.  Don't get me started on aspect ratios.  ROTATE, THEN FILM.

I'm done.  Enjoy your next gig with both of your hands available, that way you can applaud the band, which is sort of why you went, right? 

Right.

[infinitehive]

Studio Report - The Tracks

I recently paid a visit to Edinburgh indie rockers The Tracks to see how they are getting on with their next record, the follow up to 2014's "Know We're Here".

The invitation took me to an industrial estate waaaay outside of Edinburgh, which due to google map glitches took me a silly amount of time to find.  My hangover, too, may have been a factor.  When I arrived, guitarist and founder member Dave, full of the giggles today, was there to greet me along with drummer Jim, who has taken over production duties for this recording.

Indeed, it was Jim who gave me a tour of their rented facilities, an aircraft hangar-sized warehouse stacked with gear.  PA, amps, guitars, drumkits, microphones. A gearhead's fantasy. Band wonderland. With a tea room.

"How much of this stuff are you actually using?" I ask, referring to the stacks of cabinets and flight cases.

Jim takes me to the farthest corner, where Dave's guitar was situated in a roofed, well-lit office area while an apple notebook sat in powersave mode.  To the left, an open door into a soundproofed room, packed with mics, taped into position around his drumkit.  He mics up a guitar amp for Dave and they treat me to a few riffs from one of the new songs, Dave recording on the spot, to a demo track played over headphones.  The Tracks are coming out of the traps hard with this record, guitarist Gaz is well involved with the process and they are determined to commit that live energy to tape this time around, now that they have perfected their sound during several shows in the last two years.

Singer Michael is next to arrive, wrapped in protective motorcycle garb like some futuristic paintballer, but dressed immaculately underneath.  He is in good spirits and determined to be in the studio as much as possible, hearing the songs evolve and tracking vocals as the rest of the band record.  He will be the last to add his contribution to the recording sessions, allowing the musical parts to grow on their own first.

"Just doing some coke, in the studio" Michael opines, relaxing into a chair like a traditional rock star and sipping some coca-cola.  He is interrupted by Gaz arriving, with snacks and wisecracks. "Motherfuckin' Gaz in tha house" Michael announces.  

"Hello." comes the less than gangsta-styled reply, affirmed with handshakes.  The banter flows, this band like to quote the American ghetto characters of "Pulp Fiction" and "The Wire" in their own company, in-between good old-fashioned Scottish swearing. Gaz has brought ginger cake though, so another round of very domestic tea is issued.

The four players immediately get set up to record drum and guitar parts, Jim plugs in a complicated matrix of microphones, amps, pedals, headphones, computer and "some other shit", Dave and Gaz bicker over who gets which sets of headphones while Michael silently hovers by a mic stand, ready to contribute.  

Eventually everything is working, so the ever multi-tasking Jim moves to his drumkit next door and warms up, thumping each drum in turn and making adjustments if needed.  He hits so god damn hard, anyone who were to enter that room would go deaf, fortunately, I brought earplugs, so I sneak in to photograph him practice, promising to stay away during actual takes.

Once he's happy, he pops back into the main room and starts the recording software.  A quick jaunt back into his drum room and he gives the count.  The room erupts with a dual guitar and drum assault.  This new song (no titles yet) is a stomper.  Michael sings along to the mix as the song grows, he is trying out a few tones, inflections, just practicing before he too finalises his own contribution, but it sounds great.  After a few takes, mistakes, laughs and some shouting, the guys are happy with the results and listen back, excitedly.  

I get Jim to pull a "Hulk" pose, he's pumped.

"Defintely the best song we've ever recorded" says Dave, enthusiastically, losing his head at the playback and laughing at Jim, who agrees in-between huge breaths having just played the same track at least five times.  

Gaz has some chat about using his third take as he felt that was his best, Dave jokes that he personally was note perfect each take.  

When I ask about bass parts, things are less clear, the band hope last year's recruit Drew will be in to record soon, but his position is less clear due to "real life stuff".  We retire from the studio to take some band photographs for future use and I call it a day.

The Tracks know that they will always find a way to sort out all the challenges they face and hope to have the record done and dusted soon.  It has a title, they know what they want on the cover and they have dates in mind to return to the live scene at the end of the summer, at the end of the day, this is a band that knows what it wants.

The World.

[infinitehive]

Recent Musical Discoveries

Been setting up loads of shows recently, my methodology is simple: I work with a core of seven acts on the label/that I manage, so I start there, band has a new record?  Wants to tour? Needs a show?  Ok, let’s pick location and date.  Done that?  Now I need a bill.  It would be easy to immediately engage with some of the other bands on Infinite Hive and I often do, but are they suitable? Cue a few band meetings to discuss...

Now, I have quite broad tastes.  At the end of the day, I like stuff that moves me, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever.  But can I go from one band on the roster to another and maintain that unknown-quantative-factor-often-referred-to-as-a “vibe”?  Hmm, sometimes aye, sometimes no.  We had a good show with Bryan Donoghue, DUNT and The Tracks last September (and special guests Captain’s Biscuit), but that doesn’t mean Devil’s Beeftub are going to work on the same bill as Three Days From Retirement.  Tone, style, pace, completely different.  I’m a fan of both, but I’m probably in the minority there (good).

So I cast out the net and start looking for other bands, strangers, that might want to work with one of our lot.  Cases in question this season:  SharpShooter, 3DFR and DUNT.  Let’s start with SharpShooter: I was in touch with guitarist Paula from Dundee rock band Bravado, about doing a gig swap - they gig here with one of us, we get a gig up there - it’s a good way of breaking into towns around the country that generally ignore your requests for gig slots.  There was another rock band from out of town making the same noises, so I figured, ok let’s set up a gig with SharpShooter and these two, see what happens.  Unfortunately one band could no longer commit, but with plenty of time to spare, I managed to get local metallers “Mooseknuckle” who are damn excellent and top-notch blokes to boot. And that gig is tonight!

Can’t wait to hear both bands live, should be awesome!

Moving onto the next Three Days From Retirement gig:  the guys want to have a show with bands of a similar ilk, they know what they want and regularly take steps to arrange things themselves (which is great, bands need to be pro-active, even those with people working with/for them) so I took a back seat there.   Once again, date and venue sorted early, next step, they contacted some bands.  First up we got Our Smallest Adventures, a really interesting instrumental act from just outside Edinburgh, they were in immediately, so I’ve been curiously checking their stuff out and can’t wait to see what they do next.  Our second support act was a band called Gigantic Leaves, but they sadly disbanded not long after I printed the posters for the show.  Annoying, but it happens.  I often say “Real life kills bands” but I don’t know the reason for their split, so let’s move on.  We were quick to replace them, so Somaesthesia will make their debut with their new vocalist (some guy called Stoo who is also in some band called SharpShooter - small world) with us instead.  Get on the Facebook event trail here and find out what happens next!

So yeah, it always works out in the end, and speaking of ends, DUNT are about to have a new beginning with their record  "Between Punk Rock And A Hard Place" coming out on April 1st, 2016.  Why this date? Well four hundred reasons really, but mostly: - because we thought it would be funny - it’s a Friday and that’s a good day for a gig - nobody takes this band seriously anyway, not even the guys in it, nor I (see first point) So who do I get to gig with DUNT?  Punks?  Metal bands?  A yoga demonstration?  Well this conundrum was made easier when Brittle Head Girl contacted me, asking if there was anything I could do for them.  Being a busy, but ultimately, nice, human being type thing, I opted to offer them the DUNT support slot, because they sound absolutely amazing!  Now I had a really interesting grungy, fuzzy bill on the go, who else could I add?  I started hitting Facebook pages hard, seeking out another local band who could compliment the other two, but still add something different, and boom-boom shake the room, I happened upon Tongue Trap.  Not only are they in the same realm as Brittle Head Girl, but also, they are a band that has female members.

Now I don’t want to procrastinate here, that’s not what I’m about, but the lack of ladies in local bands really astounds me in this day and age.  I like all kinds of music, I don’t really think about a band/musicians image, artwork or opinions too much, unless they really offend my own sensibilities, or that person turns out to be an arsehole or a criminal.  Don’t get me wrong, I know things like image are important and really add to the mix, but I’m here purely for the music and I want to hear as many different types and perspectives.  I honestly think you could stick whatever you wanted on an album cover and it wouldn’t phase anyone, but please, go ahead and use that illegible font.  This laissez-faire attitude is probably why I don’t have any extreme metal type bands on Infinite Hive, it’s sort of been done to death metal by a load of better known bands and a several of my friends!  Conversely a lot of people assumed I would have all kinds of twisted musical nightmares on this label, because I do surf that territory often, but I digress.

I know, we all want to go and see Party Cannon, right?

It’s really weird that in 2016, my third year running Infinite Hive and eighth arranging gigs that I am bringing this up. I’m not out to start a campaign or offend, it’s just my observation.  BUT: when I grew up, Grunge, Metal and Riot Grrrl bands like Babes in Toyland, Hole, Garbage, L7 and more were ripping the music scene a new one.  Love them.  There had always been mixed/female rock bands in my lifetime, but these were my generations’ women of rock and they mattered to me.  UK bands like Sleeper, Echobelly and Elastica to name but a few, soundtracked my late teens as well, but then in the last ten years...where did they all go?  

Ok, maybe I’m ignorant, but in the “noughties” the most visible bands were Coldplay (can’t stand), The bloody Libertines, The Darkness (don’t do drugs kids), Biffy Clyro (not a big fan either) etc, blokes, blokes, blokes. Am I missing something?  It seems the popular female artists were solo singers or manufactured pop, a bit too wistful or oversexed for my tastes.  Where was the rock?  Even the emergence of female rap artists failed to excite me.  I was into Muse and Xzibit, but I didn’t really like a lot else (new) of that period, in fact, I listened to a lot of old/established stuff, Bowie, movie soundtracks, the odd random chart single.  Only underground stuff, like Fantomas and Melt Banana’s new output during that decade made it to my playlists on a regular basis, so it’s no wonder I embraced local independent stuff recently, because the “mainstream” let me down.  Where was the variety???

Maybe it’s back?  I hope so.  More bands like Bravado and Tongue Trap I say.

Further listening for you: Pyre of the Earth The Captain’s Biscuit The Franklys

Amen.

[infinitehive]

Off topic: Star Wars trip selfies

So I went to see Star Wars before Christmas, but I made a weekend away of it, heading down south to visit family.  On the way, I decided to take a load of selfies to narrate my journey and here they are, along with some other pics to add to the story.

Let’s start the night before, the Infinite Hive Christmas gig.  “DUNT” and “Devil’s Beeftub” played great sets, with “DUNT” opening their show with a rendition of the Star Wars theme.  Friends of Beeftub “All The Franklins” won over lots of new friends and fans (including me) by opening the show and “The Dan Collins Band” rounded the night off perfectly, playing on in spite of illness like true folk punk (storm) troopers.

We gave the night a Star Wars flavour!  Check out the poster I designed:

Everyone was given Santa Hats and there was a nice buzz around The Banshee Labyrinth, which is one of my favourite pubs, ever.

I enjoyed mesel’.

But the next morning I was up early to get a train from Waverley to London, to begin my pilgrimage to Kent, where my family live and where I grew up, to see Star Wars with my crazy nephews!

I managed to stay off the sauce the night before, so I wasn’t too shabby.  My train arrived on time too.

Oh look, an Edinburgh landmark visible from the station!  I better get on this train, actually.

On a train, no hassles for me, first class (of course!).  This means a nearly non-stop delivery service of tea, munchies and actual legroom.  Everyone should travel this way.

Figured I would take a nap, make the journey pass quicker.  The wifi is sporadic on this journey due to tunnels and hills.

BUT I CAN’T SLEEP!  I’M SEEING STAR WARS TODAY and my family too, yeah, but STAR WARS!

I’m turning into some kind of Jedi in this hoodie.

Better distract my stupid face with a magazine.  Can’t wait for XCOM2, I really enjoyed the first...STAR WARS THOUGH. STAR WARS!!!

Time passes and train selfies are getting boring.  I read my magazine twice, listen to music, send texts, anything to pass the time.  

We get to London, I get my gear together and exit Kings Cross, crossing the road at high walking Mr John speed to St. Pancras to get the hi-speed train to my final destination.  I have 9 minutes to get between trains.

I get from one train to another in 4.  Flawless.

HIGH SPEED TRAAAAAAAAAIIIINN!  SO...MUCH...G-FORCES!

I love this train.  If only all trains were as fast.  It took 4 hours and 20something minutes from Edinburgh to London and my journey from London to Thanet is done in just over an hour.  Factor in the check-in times, security and waiting around of flying and there is little difference between this and flying.  Go trains.

This blog is not an advert for trains.

We are the Infinite Hive label, representing The Tracks, Three Days From Retirement and Bryan Donoghue, with records due from DUNT and Devil’s Beeftub soon.  Buy our things.

That was an advert.  For independent music.  Support  independent music.  

Still with me? Good.  A bunch of Kent locals get on the hi-speed halfway through the journey and start talking about football.  They know nothing about football. I am bored by their banter. “Sunderland will smash Chelsea” says one, who likes the word “smash” given his oft-repeated use of it.  

“This team will smash them, we smashed that lot last week” he continues.

As I am browsing twitter (a rare opportune moment having had little regular connection all day), a headline catches my eye via BBC Sport: “Ivanovic puts Chelsea one up in the 2nd minute”.  

I take this selfie to remember my moment of disappointment and desire to smash said pundit’s ability to speak.  Mate, you know nothing.  

Nearly there.  Now for a quick change of t-shirt in the toilet, into something more festive and relevant.  Always dress for the occasion:

Yes, it’s an AT-AT made to look like Rudolph the red nose reindeer.  

I arrive at my destination, to be met by my cousin. 

We had some text silliness with us mis-quoting Star Wars to each other and getting so excited about the movie that I got my train arrival time wrong and both of us forgot which side of the station we agreed to meet at.

“See you in the car park” I said

There’s a car park on each side of the station, I forgot.  We found each other eventually and he threw me into the boot of the car.  To the cinema!

We both thought we were seeing the film that afternoon!  So excited!  I smugly assumed my quick train connection (a mere 4 minutes in London, a new record for me) was a smart move, but it turns out the film isn’t on until 7.30pm, so we have time for a catchup, snacks and beers at their home before going to the cinema.

Family!

I said “look disappointed for the photo” because I find exaggerated disappointment really funny for some reason.  My nephews, like me, have a warped view of the world though, so one went for a deliberately negative emotion and the other went for the exact opposite.  I now realise I just look slightly astonished, so we all trolled each other and you, in some way or another. Ha.

After lots of chatting, snacking, laughter and seeing the boys latest toys and Wii U games, we all got ready. 

My nephews showed off their outfits for the cinema trip:

Not strictly a selfie, but they went to a lot of effort and ran around like maniacs all weekend.  

FINALLY At the cinema!  All excited!  The boys weren’t the only kids there, nor were they they only kids dressed up, but our evening showing was mostly full of grown-ups and our two know how to behave in the cinema so we saw the whole film uninterrupted.  Sorry to sound like a nag, but I rarely see films that kids see as well, so I’m just not used to the disruption many kids cause. Anyway, there was none, so the point is moot.

Check out my cousin’s cool stormtrooper 3D glasses.  U jelly?

So we saw the film, we all loved it.  The trip was totally worth it as my cousin and I could tell the boys all about the old films and we could all ponder what would happen next, after THAT ending.

To the final selfie of the day!  Back in the car, late at night after a loooong but fantastic film, which everyone loved.  We even saw it again the next day, in a smaller local cinema, not 3D, with other families horrible, impatient, uninterested children running around and shouting.  I hate other people, they ruin everything.  Our two behaved impeccably again, even though we arrived late and scrambled for seats.

This last pic was taken at the Burger King drive-thru.  The most satisfying burger I’ve ever had.  Tired, happy, fulfilled and with wonderful company.

So!  That’s my Star Wars story!  

I travelled to a Country Far, Far Away, saw one of my favourite films with people I love and didn’t go near the dark side, unless you count a couple of stouts and a beefburger.

But I’m never taking another bloody selfie again.

May the farce be with you.

[infinitehive]

How to end 2015

This is not a blog about current affairs “BREATHE BREATHE PANIC OVER OH THANK YOU I CAN’T TAKE ANY MORE SORROW OR DEBATE OVER THE INTERNET!” ...you are welcome, imaginary caps lock voice in my head...way too much bad news oot there.

No, that isn’t SharpShooter.

This is, in fact, a blog about gigs coming up to end the year with the bands and artists I work with.  It’s been a busy 2015 for Infinite Hive, The Tracks have been popping up around different places in Scotland, DUNT finishing their EP and artwork for it (we’ll drop it soon, promise) and great releases by Bryan Donoghue and THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT.

There’s also been SharpShooter and MEOW gigs, plus we have Devil’s Beeftub waiting in the wings with their debut EP.  So how do we finish off 2015?  Same way we started it!  GIGS!

Where are we now?  November?  Ok, Perth/Central Scotland folk, check out  THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT as they prepare an assault on awesome venue “The Green Room” on Friday 27th.  The band will be playing their new EP live for the assembled hordes and have some CDs to punt too.

The next night in Edinburgh, aforementioned cover bands  SharpShooter and MEOW will be helping Metal Nightclub “Opium” celebrate its 25th anniversary, with a medley of 90s hits and some obscure “remember this?” tunes!

On the 29th of November, acoustic folk wunderkind Bryan Donoghue will be supporting the legendary Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff on HIS acoutic tour.  Bryan will be armed with just a guitar and a mic, the only weapons he ever needs.  Check that out at “La Belle Angele” in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh.

Bloody hell, that’s all in one weekend!

Taking us into December: 3DFR support Poly-Math, We Came From The North and Lost Limbs in a post-rock showcase at The Banshee Labyrinth on Sunday 6th.  Think of it as church.  For shoegazer instrumental types.

Then finally (at time of writing), there is the Infinite Hive Christmas Gig - BAND WARS!  So-called because we are having this show on Friday December 18th, the same day Star Wars Episode 7 comes out!  I personally will be seeing the movie on the Saturday, BUT ENOUGH ABOOT THAT check the poster below which I knocked together lovingly and come see DUNT, Devil’s Beeftub, their mates All The Frankins and everyone’s mates The Dan Collins Band.

It’s a bargain gig at only six squids on the door, get there for about half seven, four bands, lots of fun, in Edinburgh’s Banshee Labyrinth.

Then a week later, some of us are going to be eating our own bodyweight in cheese.  And booze.

Woo hoo! Keep an eye on InfiniteHive.com in case any of the above changes!

[infinitehive]

Is Professionalism an Unrealistic Concept for an Artist?

One of my pet peeves is being let down, or having to let others down because of an issue that leads to the cancellation of a gig or a band member quitting or whatever.  The usual cascade effects.  Sadly, I have an in-built optimistic expectation that most humans are going to be reasonable people and all too frequently I am proved wrong with devastating consequences.

So a call for “more professionalism” or a “businesslike approach” becomes inevitable in order for someone to work in a more tolerable fashion, right? But should it?  I’ll be honest, those two terms leave me cold.  I think people that want to behave in an unnaturally non-human manner are a bit desperate, but at the same time I don’t want everyone to be slapdash and casual.  

Look at this standard google-image searched photo, these are some “professional” people in a “business” environment.

This image makes me cringe.  As someone who dabbled in stand-up and Internet comedy, who sees the world in a very skewed fashion but has also worked in offices a lot, my immediate reaction is to rip the piss out of this facade and go for the jugular in sarcastic fashion.  Anyone who has ever worked with me in a 9 to 5 scenario will testify that I cannot take corporate faffing about, seriously.

This picture is supposed to suggest a manner of acceptable behaviour to people who work in “a business environment”; well-dressed, professional, positive outlook etc.  But it just makes me think somebody somewhere expects people to be drones.  Who really wants to live in that superficiality?

First: the humans portrayed here, they’re all going to be models or actors - we know that - this is a corporate image from some company’s bullshit website, probably surrounded by text jargon that no human would actually use. I didn’t even check, I googled for it and avoided looking, in case my mind was immediately wiped by newspeak. Secondly, that office is WAY TOO WHITE (the background I mean), nobody could work there, it looks like a 19th century lunatic asylum during a nuclear explosion.  Most of the offices I have worked in have at least some colour and any good office manager (let alone psychologist) knows that monochromatic decor is depressing.  Thirdly, those fake smiles, like I said, these are actors, nobody is having that much fun at a meeting, ever.

Here’s a more realistic appraisal of meetings I have attended and the vibe I got from my colleagues:

Ironically this was taken by google searching too, again, probably from a company website page claiming to know how to make meetings fun.  Or from a church of scientology seminar, I dunno, I didn’t check.

So what has this corporate image - trashing got to do with me running music promotions?  Well compare the top image from the “fuckoffice” with this picture of a band having a great gig:

Chalk and cheese right?  That’s The Tracks, playing a stormer at The Banshee Labyrinth last month.  To get that photo, I had to fight through a crowd of happy dancing people and hold my camera aloft, taking several snaps blindly in the hope that one would turn out ok.  It was too loud to direct anyone to smile, or to pretend to be fascinated by this month’s accounting figures.  It is what it is.  Real.  Is it professional?  I don’t think so, but you could argue that the band are doing their job (entertaining the crowd) really, really well and that night was good business, if you’ll forgive me using the term.

However, leading up to that show, there were a few worries, concerns, mistakes, messages flying back and forth.  The usual.  The bands frantically organised practice sessions to get their sets tight.  Sometimes not everyone could make it.  There were exchanges of emails between me and members of each band to ensure everyone knew where to be, when and what equipment was needed on the night, but do you know what? I forgot to send the venue the running times until the gig was upon us, meaning the wonderful sound man (and he is wonderful, they always are) had to scramble together an unusual mic setup for the first band at soundcheck at the last minute. But he did it, the show opened on time and the evening was a success.  

So now I am much more up front about getting that sort of info to the venue well in advance.  I learned.  Does making this mistake make me unprofessional?  Do businesslike drones complete all aspects of very task with 100% accuracy?  Bullshit.  Nobody’s perfect and I never strived to earn any kind of title anyway.

However, in spite of all my probing and questioning, pinging messages to bands asking if everything is ok on a regular basis, a musician can suddenly drop me in it at the last minute.  Can’t do the gig, don’t want to do the gig. This is a massive risk in this business.  And some artists either can’t or won’t take this seriously. Whatever, shit happens, we all accept that, but let’s agree on one thing.  Never mind trying to fit what you have been told is “professional” or “businesslike” in whatever terms, just communicate.  That’s far easier to quantify.

Talk.  Pick up the phone and tell me what is up, or email me.  Don’t assume someone else has spoken up on your behalf or I know your every thought.  I am not a mind reader, nor a terminator, one in trouble, all in trouble, please always tell me what you need.  I would hope keeping lines of communication open at least allows for some room to improvise when problems are highlighted. I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes so I can surely help others problem solve.

And maybe that’s what being professional really is.

[infinitehive]

The Future is Infinite: Part 2

Right, you had your notice last month, WINTER IS BASICALLY HERE, BASICALLY so here’s an injection of “remind” so you know what you’re doing for live music in the next few weeks.

Friday 9th October THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT pop through to Glasgow to support Thola Burah, who are releasing their new EP.  Gig is on at 13th Note, from 7pm.

Thursday 16th October, Bryan Donoghue supports Ryan McGarvey at Bannermans in Edinburgh - DO NOT MISS THIS - the headliner himself is amazing and our own Bryan is getting better with every show.

Ticket link here, clicketty click!

On Friday 16th October, you have a moral dilemma.  Yes, I am asking you to decide between seeing THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT jam with Kapil Seshasayee, Steve Strong and We Came From The North at Opium, or to go up the road and catch DUNT on the bill with Critikill, Elk Gang, Sad Society and Babylon Dub Punks at The Banshee Labyrinth, both, of course, in Edinburgh!  Post rock or punk rock? Why not do both?  I will.  I HAVE TO. Things get easier toward the end of the month, Bryan Donoghue debuts with his new band “The Seekers of Enlightment” at Sneaky Pete’s on the 30th, supporting Georgia Gordon, then the next night, at the same venue (we might just sleep over)...

...HALLOWEERD 2015!!!

This could be the best HALLOWEERD yet.  Headlined by Neon Electrorockers “Metaltech” and ably assisted by DOOM Practioners “ATRAGON”, this annual metal and costume party, hosted by my band MEOW promises to be WEERD as fuck.  If you’ve been before, you’ll want to come again, if you haven’t, you should come.  I want to make you come.  You’ll enjoy coming.  Come.  Have you come yet?  Ensure that you can come by checking out this LINK TO TICKETS to avoid disappoint.  Always avoid disappoint.  Disappoint is bad. We do not disappoint.

Future’s bright. Future’s orange (blame Metaltech). Future’s Infinite.

[infinitehive]

Bond theme, 2015

In case you live with a bucket nailed onto your head, the new Bond theme came oot today - Sam Smith, singing “The Writing’s on the Wall” from next Bond film “Spectre”.

Sorry, independent music fans, I know I’m usually bigging up the latest Infinite Hive thing, but I can’t hold back on this subject.  I am a HUGE Bond fan.

Essentially, I heard the new song  once this morning on Spotify, my initial reaction was one of disappointment, so this article serves as a “first reaction to” if you will.   I love Bond themes. If you ask me to name 10 of my favourite songs of all time, I literally have to NOT include Bond themes, because I like so many of them. View To A Kill, Moonraker, You Know My Name, Skyfall, All Time High, Living Daylights, Live and Let Die, I mean I could go on. This one is dull. There’s no other way to describe it.  Even less popular Bond songs like "Another Way To Die" or “Man With the Golden Gun” had a sleazy excitement to it that warranted further listens. Even “Die Another Day” was a brave stab at doing something that was of it's time, by a popular and iconic artist (Madonna) whose own fame could have eclipsed the song’s own subject matter, but at least it got a reaction at the time (something its singer is notorious for).  Music should do that.  Always. But I can't even get annoyed with this tune. I was immediately distracted by other things in the world as I listened to it on the bus into work today.  The unusually poor Internet connection on my phone, a friend’s problems on social media, wandering thoughts, the steamed-up glass of my bus with no open windows became a concern (maybe it was oxygen starvation) when suddenly I caught up with myself and switched back to paying attention to the song at hand.

Which was boring.  It meandered, it didn’t excite.  I’m going to just add that while I don’t follow Sam Smith or his music, I don’t dislike him.  I think he’s a great choice for this kind of thing; Adele was obvious last time around and knocked it out of the park, Amy Winehouse would’ve been great too (Quantum of Solace eventually fell to Jack White and Alicia Keys for one reason or another), Chris Cornell was a brilliant leftfield choice who didn’t disappoint, but then I’m a biased SoundGarden fan.

There’s bound to be people out there that dig this new song, that’s the beauty of art: we’ll all react differently to it and I would never deny that fantastic human quality. But I can’t help thinking good reactions are going to be in the minority for this one. And that’s a shame.

I wonder if there is any correlation between the Bond themes and the Movies in terms of quality or sales?  The theme exists to promote the movie, that much is obvious.  Remember when other films followed suit?  Terminator 2 brought in Guns ‘n Roses, the Joel Schumacher Batman films used some interesting bands and songs as promo and in the 90s, there were loads of movie and TV “inspired by” soundtrack compilations: The Crow, Judgement Night, The X Files, Pulp Fiction; although Tarantino tended toward using old songs that he personally liked, rather than licence deals with popular contemporary artists.

What happened to that link between the charts and the silver screen?  My favourite band is Faith No More, one of their new songs is called “Superhero” - was that an obvious attempt to cash in on current movie trends? Would a song that brazenly named be pounced upon by a studio, or left because it was too obvious a choice?  I didn’t bother with The Avengers sequel this summer, because I’m fed up with those films, but I might have changed my mind if the end credits had FNM blasting out.  Yes, my name is Mr John and I am susceptible to marketing and product placement.

Surely in an industry dependent on “alternative revenue streams” the movie theme is an obvious one?  Going back to Sam Smith’s song, it feels like something from a bygone era, but lacking the bombastic energy of a Chris Cornell, a Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones. 

That’s the Spectre I wanted.

[infinitehive]

The Future is Infinite: Part 1

Got loads of gigs coming up, a real variety, which suits me, because I like having choice.  This article will cover October 2015.

First up; Bryan Donoghue is supporting US touring act Ryan McGarvey at Bannermans on Thursday 15th October.  This is going to be a great show, McGarvey has been turning heads and kicking open doors for the last decade with his guitar chops, so don’t miss that.  

Bryan will be playing at Sneaky Pete’s at the end of October too, debuting his full live band  "The Seekers of Enlightenment" on Friday 30th October, in support of Georgia Gordon.  I’m looking forward to that one because he’s kept this live band very secret, so it’ll be interesting to hear the (mostly acoustic) songs from his EP “Beautiful Chaos” re-interpreted.

And the day after that is the event which Infinite Hive is famous for: yes, it’s HALLOWEERD!  Not Halloween.  Not Halloweird. HALLOWEERD.  

Started in 2010 by my band, MEOW so I could dress up and arse about with my friends’ bands, this yearly gig on Devil’s Night has seen Lycanthrope (bless you Cameron) evolve into SharpShooter, introduced Edinburgh to Billy McPherson Jack and Phil Cooper (when he was in The Haiku), hosted the mighty Spectres and persuaded DUNT to take a chance and sign up with me when I started Infinite Hive. 

But moving on, this year we have the pleasure of hosting two of Edinburgh’s best bands.  The Sludgy, downtuned death rattle of Atragon, who desire only to bring about your doom through the powers of distortion, tube amplification & heathen rituals.

 and Post-Apocalyptic Electrometal Scavengers MetalTech.   Fusing electronic beats, coursing synthesizers, chugging guitars, pounding basslines and vocals with tongues firmly in cheeks, METALTECH have stunned and entertained audiences throughout the UK over the past 3 years and I can’t wait to unleash both of them at HALLOWEERD.   

Sandwiched between the two will be, of course, the annual outing for MEOW.  I have already chosen my costume for this show and cannot wait to get onstage and cause mayhem.  It’s going to be AWESOME.

Last year I was dressed up as a sort of glammed-up Rik Mayall, one of my childhood idols.  Before that I have dressed up as Jesse from Breaking Bad, Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, rapper Eazy-E, One of SlipKnot but with the head of a chicken, Papa Lazarou (League of Gentlemen), Glam Hitler and the Joker from The Dark Knight.  I always put my own interpretation on each costume, rather than go for exact mimicry and when we get around to judging the audiences’ costumes, I encourage the crowd to do the same.

If you’ve seen MEOW before, you know what to expect and we’d love to see you again, if not, now is your chance, because we may only have nine lives, due to some bizarre cosmic rules foisted on us by a corrupt Universe.  

Be mindful, not everything is infinite.  See you there.

[infinitehive]

DUNT back onstage for the first time in 9 months. Still gnarly as.

[infinitehive]

Hosting a show.  The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

How do I write up last weekend’s Banshee Labyrinth gig?  By being honest of course.  It went well.  It could have been better attended, it could have been worse, but in the end, it was great! Setting up gigs/events, your biggest concerns are about people.  Will the people involved in the bands be reliable?  Will the people working at the venue be helpful?  Will people actually come out and watch the bands you’ve put on?  Fortunately, in the case of the former two questions, yes, all the bands and venue staff were brilliant.  But the latter?  More on that later.

First up were The Captain’s Biscuit: fronted by a guy I’ve known for a few years via mutual friends, Jon, he simply asked me a few months ago if I would be interested in his folk band playing their murder ballads for one of my shows sometime.  I like to think I have an open and inquisitive mind about music, so naturally I said “yes” and asked him to open this night, seeing as it already mixed the acoustic singer Bryan Donoghue, with skate-punks DUNT and indie rockers The Tracks. It was fun for me to watch all the people from the bands meet, sometimes, believe it or not, for the first time.  There was some trepidation about the mixed line-up, but  The Captain’s Biscuit quickly dispelled that with some fantastic renditions of classic songs.

They brought a crowd too, so seeing as a lot of friends of the bands had not yet arrived (even though we deliberately started later than advertised, as usual), it reassured my people that there was at least a bunch of people to perform to.  We’ve all done empty rooms, it isn’t great for the ego.

So when  Bryan Donoghue took the stage, with accompanying guitarist John McRitchie, he was well at ease and the place had a nice atmosphere.  You can’t buy that (unless you pay actors to pose as fans, like North Korea did at the World Cup, but I’m not quite at Kim Jong-Un levels.  Yet.).  Bryan has just released his EP on my label and is fast maturing as an artist.  Next month he debuts his full live band (The Followers of Enlightenment), but Saturday was about showcasing new EP “Beautiful Chaos”.

And very well it went too.  I deliberately advertised this gig as a competitive two parter, Captain’s Biscuit vs Bryan Donoghue, The Tracks vs DUNT, this was for two reasons, one: I didn’t want to decide on a running order until the event was organised and two: to give the sense of two events for the price of one, two folky, acoustic acts in the first half, then the amped up denim and leather later on.  Wait, that sounds like a 1980s gay nightclub...oh well.  Roll with it.

Next up was  DUNT. Absent from the live scene after a horrendous run of difficult personal events for each member of the band (private unless stated elsewhere at the request of the band), singer Steve’s self-deprecation aside, they were genuinely apprehensive about this gig, but they had no worries.  The other bands and crowd alike genuinely enjoyed DUNT, whose fast-paced cynical skate-rock polarises most folk.  You either love them or run away screaming, tonight, mostly everyone stayed. Mostly.

Nice flourish at the end of their set, there.

So that left The Tracks to “finish” the night off and maintain the high standards set by all that came before.  Not a problem.  Like openers Captain’s Biscuit, the boys made a lot of new friends with a broad set that encompassed last year’s “Know We’re Here” EP alongside newer material, that bodes well for their next record.  The crowd enjoyed their finale “Shadows” so much that we decided to immediately get the video I managed to record onto their Facebook page, please check it out, it’s a stomper.

We also added another band onto the bill at the last minute, due to them having a cancellation elsewhere and just WANTING TO PLAY. A Modern Masquerade have the honour of playing the first Infinite Hive “after party” and it was a pleasure to meet them too.  Great band, we’ve been in touch about possibly putting on some shows in the future.  They’ve got a great attitude and top songs, seek 'em oot. thank me later.

Now, what about the “bad” or “ugly” side of putting on such an event?  Call me greedy, opinionated, jealous, bitter, or just mental but, six pounds for four (five) bands is a bargain, right?  Not according to some of the people who walked through the doors on Saturday night.  Whether halfway through a skate punk tune or at the beginning of the night during the Folk Murder Ballads, some people turned their noses up at the concept of paying for live music.  Some of the reactions were hysterical.  Fair enough if you aren’t into the band onstage at the time, everyone has differing taste, but laughing in my face and telling me to eff off for daring to charge you is another matter.

Bonus points go to the couple who winced over the possibility of paying, lingered for a minute to see if whichever act was on was worth their cash, then pretended to leave, only to exit completely after I spotted them hiding behind the door for the bar, when I accidentally dropped one of DUNT’s stickers and climbed off my stool to fetch it.  

Awkward eye contact, rumbled.  Run away! WTF really?  I bet they went to Foo Fighters last night.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Dave Grohl (Nirvana fan here), but I dislike shelling out 70 quid to see a stickman from a mile away, fire out greatest hits over a stadium PA.

(I am paraphrasing a promoter friend here, who bends over backwards to put on gigs and deals with so many cheapskate eejits, he could re-populate Madagascar with them).

Please, if this is you and you think musicians should be doing this for free, or you’re assuming we get a massive payout from venues just for being there, please do me a favour: next time you are planning on going out, either save up some precious money in advance so you CAN afford to get into shows, or just consider how much time, money and effort goes into what we do.  There’s a lot of choice out there, but one thing that unites them all is commitment.

And anyone who can’t shell out a few quid for four bands needs committed.

[infinitehive]

Please Release Me

Two records were dropped by Infinite Hive this past week and somehow I managed to make time to make a video for one and record some of the live stuff to share for the other.

Bryan Donoghue’s EP was first, so I filmed him at his EP launch gig at Elvis Shakespeare, a free in-store show that was well attended by friends, family and strangers alike.  Check his Facebook page to see the results.

Three Days From Retirement released their single “What Is Dead May Never Die” too, so I dug out some clips of them playing the song live over the last year and cut that to nuclear bomb test footage and clips of Edward VIII, whose speech is sampled on the song.  The powerful man who gave it all up for love, contrasted with military films of the most destructive force on Earth, while Matty, Joe, David and Floody jam hard in the background.  What does that mean to you?

Video is a fickle thing.  It takes ages to prepare, carefully record and edit something and there is no guarantee it will turn out decent, let alone be liked by anyone. The lighting on the day, actions of the performers, audience and so many other factors affect how it turns out. In terms of music videos for bands, it’s all been done before, so most up-and coming artists fall back on the “find a barren, abandoned or distressed location, film the band performing their song from different angles, use high-contrast lighting and add effects after editing best bits” method.  Yawn.

Occasionally actors or animation are used in music videos, to add a narrative, maybe to literally act out the lyrics of the song.  This we could do with Bryan, his songs are descriptive, evocative and in some cases, direct.  But wouldn’t that be too easy? Exactly, I favour a challenge, so Bryan’s songs are presented as they are, raw, so you can actually feel the soul in there and listen to what he has to say without being spoon-fed.  3DFR, being a lyric-free band (well, usually, but more on that another time) need something more visual to tease out the nuance of the track. Sometimes.  I’m not making legislation here, I just go with instinct.  Have a look at the live clip on Bryan’s Facebook page and tell us what you think.

And if you are looking for the EP “Beautiful Chaos”, here it is:

Download from iTunes

Download from Amazon

Find on Spotify

Get the CD direct from Infinite Hive

We hope you enjoy their music, that’s the main thing.  All the bands on Infinite Hive know each other, or their paths cross somewhere in the spaghetti of life, so they are very supportive of each other. No more so than this Saturday at The Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh, when Bryan, DUNT and The Tracks all share a stage to showcase their music.  

I love that diversity, we even drafted in local Folkies “Captain’s Biscuit” to mix things up.  I hope to see you all there.

In the meantime, 3DFR have a couple of gigs before they take a break prior to their EP release in November.  First up, they are at  Ivory Blacks in Glasgow, on Wednesday 9th September, then the Linkylea Festival, East Lothian September 11th.

And whether you go to either of those shows, or the 7th November EP gig at Opium in Edinburgh, you HAVE to hear this song! 

So here it is, in video form, “What Is Dead May Never Die”.

Download from iTunes

Download from Amazon mp3

Find on Spotify

And a free copy of both releases goes to the person who can tell me how both 3DFR and Bryan Donoghue ended up using atomic bomb explosions in these releases!  What kind of message are we sending here?

Answers on a postcard to the unusual address please.

[infinitehive]

SO MUCH MUSICS

Hello humans.

I thought I’d commit words to “paper” regarding what exactly Infinite Hive has in store for your planet.  

This week we released our second record, Bryan Donoghue’s “Beautiful Chaos” EP.  It’s on CD and download formats, check http://www.infinitehive.com/ for details.

But NEXT week we are launching the first official single from THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT - “What Is Dead May Never Die”.

And that’s not all: 3DFR have a brand new EP in the works, due in November.  More on that nearer the time.  Busy post-rockers they are.  

And what about DUNT?  Yeah!  DUNT!

“Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say But nothing comes out when they move their lips Just a bunch of gibberish And motherfuckers act like they forgot about DUNT”

(Straight Outta LeithTown)

DUNT’s long-gestating EP “Between Punk Rock and a Hard Place” has been a difficult creation.  Illness, accidents, tweaking of production, sorting artwork, several visits to and from the studios, suffice to say it’s been a difficult process for the band, but NOT one that broke them.  I promise to arrange its release soon. 

Right now the band are back to rehearsing after drummer Gary’s shoulder operation went well (a picture of him in hospital was my most-liked image on Instagram for a while...really) and will return to live duties on Saturday September 5th, at The Banshee Labyrinth with Bryan and The Tracks.

How about a Devil’s Beeftub EP? Yeah! We’ve got one of those!  After choosing 4 songs from a possible (very strong) 8, we lined this one up a month ago, only to have Salvador Dali’s estate refuse permission for us to use the artwork!  Seriously!  If the great man himself was alive, I bet he’d be well into their song “Buckfast Blues”.  We’re sorting out new artwork, so expect that record soon too.

But the main thing is, stuff is happening with Infinite Hive.  We’ve got a stable of excellent, wildly different bands, all of them have records coming out, gigs coming up and are committed to creating original music, or in the case of MEOW and SharpShooter: playing some of the classics and giving you a damn good show.

Any questions?

Mr John

[infinitehive]

Bryan Donoghue -  Beautiful Chaos

Today’s another historic day for Infinite Hive:  our second release, after last year’s “Know We’re Here” by The Tracks, is out today.

I met Bryan Donoghue via Matty from THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT, whose single “What Is Dead May Never Die” we’re releasing next week.  Bryan was that rare thing - an artist with material ready to go - this is why Infinite Hive’s output has been pedestrian, to say the least, lots of the bands I work with have become very patient with their output, preferring to focus on quality over quantity, that’s fine, but I’m running a business here!

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with Bryan’s material, here was a young man, with a lot of experience under his belt already, wise beyond his years.  I was also glad to hear the lyrical content of his songs, the guy actually has something to say.  When so many singer-songwriters are flapping about with guitar effects and banging on about “feelings”, Bryan Donoghue had an eye on the bigger picture.

Now he’s not exactly a Scottish version of Rage Against The Machine (who is?), but he’s got his finger on the pulse of what should be irking a generation.  Not enough singers/bands who come by my radar are doing that, so this makes him a breath of fresh air immediately.  But don’t take my word for it, please check him out, his CD is available for order (UK only) on my website:

http://infinitehive.com/shop.html

And the download is up on iTunes, with Amazon and Spotify to follow:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/beautiful-chaos-ep/id1022420965

This music kills fascists.

[infinitehive]

Bryan Donoghue -  Beautiful Chaos

Today’s another historic day for Infinite Hive:  our second release, after last year’s “Know We’re Here” by The Tracks, is out today.

I met Bryan Donoghue via Matty from THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT, whose single “What Is Dead May Never Die” we’re releasing next week.  Bryan was that rare thing - an artist with material ready to go - this is why Infinite Hive’s output has been pedestrian, to say the least, lots of the bands I work with have become very patient with their output, preferring to focus on quality over quantity, that’s fine, but I’m running a business here!

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with Bryan’s material, here was a young man, with a lot of experience under his belt already, wise beyond his years.  I was also glad to hear the lyrical content of his songs, the guy actually has something to say.  When so many singer-songwriters are flapping about with guitar effects and banging on about “feelings”, Bryan Donoghue had an eye on the bigger picture.

Now he’s not exactly a Scottish version of Rage Against The Machine (who is?), but he’s got his finger on the pulse of what should be irking a generation.  Not enough singers/bands who come by my radar are doing that, so this makes him a breath of fresh air immediately.  But don’t take my word for it, please check him out, his CD is available for order (UK only) on my website:

http://infinitehive.com/shop.html

And the download is up on iTunes, with Amazon and Spotify to follow:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/beautiful-chaos-ep/id1022420965

This music kills fascists.