Just how shit is British pub culture for live music?

It's been around six weeks since I've planted my once-nomadic musical roots firmly down in the warm and sun soaked soils of Lisbon. Still very much a learner of the language and culture, and in spite of being weighed down by the gastronomical demands of endless plates of grilled sardines and cod fish, I have been busy making some inroads to this new musical scene.

The Portuguese have a very different attitude to live music to that which I have previously experienced in the UK; in many ways this can be attributed to the culture and the weather - which allows warm lazy evenings to unwind slowly into the early hours of the morning - something the British climate outright denies us. Here the live music events often don't even begin till eleven in the evening and run on till the early hours, but the most note-worthy difference is the attitude of the audiences, who seems to receive live music with an unbridled enthusiasm and outright lack of cynicism so often seen in the British pubs.

Here in Lisbon the venues are often filled with seated punters, who've all come to the bar specifically to see live music, and have often paid to do so with many bars employing a minimum spend-per-head policy. Their attention is often firmly focused on the performance and musicians and all songs are greeted with a sincere, heartfelt gratitude and applause (regardless of the standard sometimes) and by the end of the concert most will be on their feet dancing and singing along enthusiastically.

I can't help but feel Britain could have much to learn about the way live music events are run here, but also can't help but worry that the ingrained pub-culture and natural cynicism of home may prove to be a barrier to this kind of free, easy and sociable fun that surrounds live music here. It may take a generation at least to change some British attitudes, where often even the best local musicians are treated as a "nuisance" by the pub-goers, and in many cases the fact there is paid live music at all almost feels like a kind of "charity" from the landlords - who often see the effect that live music actually drives their regulars away and there till takes downwards.

Trying to put a finger on the reasons for this seems difficult, but is it a case that many Brits are unable to truly see the value of and embrace something unless it has been given a thorough endorsement from an entire peer group, various media outlets and slapped with an expensive price tag? For example in late 2013 I recall going to see an unknown George Ezra in Truro playing to an almost empty venue on a shared bill with local musicians for free. He was superb. It was a well promoted show locally and George was already gaining a good reputation as a star of tomorrow... It meant nothing ultimately. Fast forward two years and George returned to Truro - this time at the much larger Hall For Cornwall venue - along with an expensive ticket price; of course it was a sell-out...

There are quality musicians and live performers playing around you every night of the week. Some of them could be the stars of tomorrow and you can go see them - often doing the exact same act - entirely for free just by opening your eyes and lowering your preconceptions. As I've seen here in Lisbon these local performances are to be treasured and can do so much to raise the standard of life in the community - how can a quiet night in the pub getting drunk really offer a viable alternative? It isn't money or cost - because most live music events are free or have entry prices that are less than a cup of coffee, let alone an alcoholic drink. For Christ-sakes, go and enjoy yourselves.

Adverb Ego Mirth Release

Whilst studying for my degree in Commerical Music Performance and Production, I have been regularly sneaking into the college recording studio to lay down tracks for my 'homework' and what has become my first 'proper' solo EP. After many overdubs and remixes I am finally able to release this work to the world, and here it is.

It is called Adverb Ego Mirth - a rather meaningless jumble of the letters that spell my name - and I have 'released' it in the manner of our times on my own little record label 'Less Economically Developed Music' - a far more accurately named entity reflecting my own limited resources. The EP is available to download from my own site, iTunes, Spotify and other such digital mediums. If anyone prefers an actual CD then you can buy one from my bandcamp page.

It is the product of much love and my own inimitable do-it-yourself style of music production with an emphasis on 'vibe' and other such meaningless tangibles. The four songs are from my more recent repertoire of live tracks - given a little touch up and arranged in a way that I am unable to do live without the help of some extra musicians.

Submarine - Mischief - Shadow Boxing - Home

Many thanks to those who have collaborated with me on these tracks to give it a little contrast and humanity: Amy Leggett who plays piano and keys and sings some harmonies, and also Bethany-Siobahn who provided some extra harmony vocals also...

The final icing on the cake comes by way of Cornish artist Ann Boo Whetter, who provided the striking artwork which is so important as the first bite is always with the eye. You can see more of Anne's unique work here.

I must also thank John Russell and Andy Cunningham, from Truro College, who supplied me with extra ears with which to mix and balance all the tracks into a listenable medium.

Please give the EP a listen, and if you like it do please share it amongst your friends on social media as this really does help me to reach new listeners. This music is created on starvation wages so these little gestures of love really do go a long way to claw back some finance from the grip of Apple and the others who largely consider the efforts of musicians to be a worthless commodity.

Love to all, and thanks for listening.

A heart warming seasonal story...

Many days and weeks ago, in the small Cornish coastal paradise of Porthtowan, myself and a few friends gathered together at the Unicorn public house to play some music to the demoralised local populace. Living in such a remote location as Porthtowan - where the damaging effects of the 1970's cod wars are still strongly felt - many people in the village hadn't heard live music in up to three or four days and their appetites were salacious. Hoards had gathered to welcome us to the Unicorn - itself named after a rarely seen beast - and much merriment and happiness ensued for all. It was a glorious night. Why I left the venue later that evening thinking ..."If only someone had taken a live audio recording of our musical antics tonight"...

Imagine my surprise, many days and weeks later to discover that someone had indeed taken an audio recording (warts and all) of many of the songs played that fateful night in Porthtowan. So here gathered together for the first and no doubt only time is that collection of songs. It's called Unicornicopia, and you can listen and download it entirely for free here and take a feint whiff of the magical atmosphere that was created that night...

Fuck you Chico time...

Over the past few years I have accumulated a modest little collection of home recordings of songs that I have written to alleviate the overwhelming feelings of under-achievement that I have to live with daily. If I was Prince, this would be a momentous occasion and ground-breaking look into the vaults of one of the true modern greats. If I was even Chico - the one who wasn't even close to winning an X-Factor competition sometime in the past - it might still be the kind of thing that Metro might share with a controversial headline.

However, as a member of the Cornish (not so) super-group 'The Beutons', this musical spattering of home demos will be of very minor interest to a very small and exclusive group of Cornish people and some of my more polite family members and friends, and to them I offer this intriguing insight into the creative process of an extremely minor musician.

On this collection of irreverent, but cheaply and efficiently produced, music... you will find the original conception and recording of Last Dance With Mary Jane, a little known Beuton song "Zombie", a song where I proudly rhyme 'Karma' with 'Llama', and my longest titled song to date: Don't Let The Door Hit You When You Leave. There are also a couple of other songs that are not likely to be heard or recorded again, Caravan, The Circus and the Blur-esque 'You Got It' along with the title track 'Spot The Difference'.

If you like what you hear, you should download the songs here, or give the EP a little knowing nod and share on your social media. If you do this, it'll help this musician to feel significantly more empowered and inflate my ego to a level that, if I were ever to bump into Chico - perhaps on the streets of London during a visit to a national tourist attraction - I could proudly look into his eyes as an equal and not have to avoid his gaze by casting my eyes to the floor.

Of course, I'll never be able to look Prince in the eyes - in part because he's so damn short and would need a box or some very big shoes.

It’s LAUNCH DAY!

Today’s the day, tonight’s the night and tomorrow we’ll all still have to get up and go to work as usual. It’s launch day for our EP “I Wasn’t Asked And I Don’t Want It” and we have our big launch gig tonight at B-Side, Bunters in Truro.

Far from catapulting copies of our CD directly into the Cornish skies, what our ‘launch’ actually means is you can now access our CD and music just like you would for any of them flash, spangly bands that you see on the telly.

BUY – You can download the EP, or individual tracks, from iTunes, Amazon and many other online music retailers. A reasonable chunk of the money will come directly back to us.

BUY (and actually be able to touch) – You can get your hands on one of the very limited edition 500 CDs directly from us via our bandcamp page. We won’t be making any more of these AND there is ‘deliberate’ error on the sleeve for the more eagle-eyed of you to spot which will no doubt add trillions of pounds of value to these CD’s one day in the future when mankind are but mere slaves to giant mechanically enhanced space bio-monkey warriors and rare Beuton CD’s could fetch a small fortune when you are having them coldly scanned on dross future BBC bore fest ‘Antiques Roadshow 2100AD’. Just a thought.

We’ll also have even more limited edition t-shirts for ladies and gentlemen of style and substance. These t-shirts were made ethically using only the drunkly-bellowed Glaswegian threats of our guitarist Dan whilst in Bali… definitely not at a sweatshop. All the money from bandcamp goes directly to the band with only paypal getting their customary nibble at it.

STREAM – You can stream our music – for which we will eventually receive a small royalty payment!! – on sites such as Spotify, Lastfm and my personal favourite Deezer…just search for ‘Beutons’ You should also be able to find us on those clever online search jukeboxes in the pub.

Below are a couple of picture that Paige Gibson took during our last rehearsal, on the eve of our EP launch we finally have a picture with all of us in eh Darren!

 

We managed to put a couple of brand new tracks into the set for tonight and we’re excited to be back on stage again after a rather loooong break. Don’t forget to get there early to get your hands on a FREE EP and also to see our rather dazzling array of wonderful music opening the show for us.

Charlie Carroll and Tom Gall are absolutely cracking local acts and well worth a listen, like, download, share scenario or whatever goes on these days. You can hear them here…

Charlie Carroll – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0zhuVL76sU

Tom Gall – https://soundcloud.com/tom-gall/time

See you soon.

A slice of Beuton pie. #1

Hello chumbalinas,

We’re very excited to announce that our new EP will be unsheathed and set free on March 1st. It’ll be available on a limited edition CD (available now to pre-order via our website) and as a digital download via iTunes, Amazon and streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer and Last.fm the like. One will even be able to put us on in the pub (providing they have one of them fancy internet search jukeboxes) if one so desires!

We spent a rather sleepy, but delightful and productive few days in December recording the tracks with top producer John Cornfield, who’s worked with Oasis, Muse, Supergrass, Razorlight and many other top bands. John’s really captured our live sound and we’re all dead chuffed with it (even Dan). As you can see from this photo, we had a relaxing and peaceful time in the studio.

The EP is called “I Wasn’t Asked and I Don’t Want It” and contains four-tracks what we wrote ourselves. Here is the cover artwork painstakingly drawn into her etch-a-sketch by our friend Paige Gibson…

With the recording out of the way, Daniel jetted off to Bali to source some ‘sweatshop cheap’ t-shirts and mingle with the local wildlife, leaving the rest of us to book a shed load of gigs, decipher copyright law, uncover distribution options, annoy everyone with spam and fix the van. Big dollops of sincerest thanks to all who’ve helped us create and promote this EP by playing it on their podcasts and radio stations, sharing the shit out of it on social networks and agreeing to come play gigs with us!



Dan returns to Cornwall this weekend – just in time to start intensive rehearsals for the EP Launch gig at B-Side@Bunters on Friday 1st March. As a thank you to everyone who’s supported us this past year or so we’re giving the first 50 people who turn up a free copy of the new EP on CD. If that’s not reason enough to be there early, we’ve lined up a fantastic bill of local musicians (we like having someone to watch too!) with Charlie Carroll and his killer looping talents, and then Tom Gall and his band and his amazing songs.

That’s enough for now, we’ll be back soon with news of our “Up The Wrexham” tour in April amongst other, no doubt irreverent, things.

The Beutons xx