Liam Bailey on getting to number 5 in the charts
“Chase and Status rang me after hearing You Better Leave Me Now and sent through a beat. I went into the studio later that week and wrote and recorded my part in about twenty minutes. It’s mad how easy it all was. The weekend it got in the charts I was completely off my Daniel - I figure that was the only way to celebrate. I got a call off my dad and he said “I’m proud of you son”. Playing it later to a packed Glastonbury crowd was the stuff you dream about when you’re a kid.”
David Baird on winning the NME Professional Music Photographer of the year award
“My award winning shot is of The Subways taken at 2000 Trees Festival. I knew Billy the guitarist would climb onto a specially built platform on the bass drum and launch himself in the air so I got in position and lined up the shot waiting in anticipation. I think I only took two or three photos of the jump but in this frame all the elements just came together to make a great photo. It was a great feeling to be recognised by the NME, a magazine which regularly contains photography by some of the best in the business. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!”
See a gallery of photos by David Baird
David Baird's website
Lou Barnell from Royal Gala on Nottingham's female musicians
“I’ve had four staggering years as a front woman in Royal Gala, playing everything from barges in Battersea, asylums in Dublin and erm… posh cinemas in Hockley. Being a woman on stage has huge highs and its complement of lows. I often forget I am one. I got changed on stage in front of 600 people at Headstock this year because I was late and I honestly forgot I had tits. I’m in awe of the sense of friendship and support between female performers in Nottingham. There so much talent that it’s hard to know where to start. All I can say is that I am proud to call many of these women friends."
Read an interview with Royal Gala
Read a longer version of this article
Jake Bugg on signing to Mercury
“I uploaded some songs to BBC Introducing... and Dean Jackson at BBC Nottingham liked them. A few weeks later I signed with Kitchenware management and Mercury came to my rehearsal. I was getting loads of label interest at gigs, but Mercury always turned up so I felt good about them. I played some big gigs this year; Glastonbury, Splendour, Glee, Rock City and support to Evan Dando, but none of it felt real until I signed that eighty-three page document. Behind me in the lawyers office were platinum records from Oasis, The Verve, Charlatans and The Stone Roses. I’m thinking, what am I doing here?"
Jake Bugg on Facebook
Ste Dealmaker on sorting a Scorzayzee live show
“I finally managed to put on Scorzayzee live at The Rescue Rooms and it was an epic set of classic after classic. Following on from Inkrument, Cappo and Phi Life Cypher, Scorz defeated his nerves to deliver a slamming hip-hop show without a gram of aggro. There was a moment in his freesyle over MJ’s Man in the Mirror when Karizma jumped from out of nowhere and hijacked the stage in a way only he could. My hair was standing on end and there was a room full of minds was blown.”
Mark Del on the rise of Notts Music
“While entering our fifth year doing this I’ve never seen more buzz, good vibes and momentum. Four local acts signed to major labels, the biggest Future Sound of Nottingham ever and the most Notts-tastic Splendour ever. A&Rs are inundating our city, more media outlets are devoted to Nottingham music than ever, our own hook up with LeftLion and Confetti and it all culminating in the scene’s first piece of major national media coverage; The Guardian article was a big, big moment. Plus there’s one more to come, Dog Is Dead headlining City – the biggest headline show by a Notts band in Notts ever! Bring on 2012!"
Tommy Farmyard on a year of promoting
“It’s been a fantastic year of gigs and I’m very lucky to have worked with so many amazing people. I could write a list as long as my arm, so much uber talent and so much of it under the radar. Most of the gigs I’ve organised this year have been at JamCafe or The Golden Fleece; there’s been carnage, sweat, tears, fantastic music and some very very special and emorable moments. Nottingham’s talent has really started to break through this year - all is good in the hood.”
Petebox on his Youtube smash hit
“I did a cover of Where Is My Mind because it’s an amazing song, simple as that. It’s recorded live using my vocals, guitar and effects going through a loop pedal and filmed by Nottingham director Simon Ellis. It’s amazing how well it has been received by folks and shared around the internet. I certainly didn’t imagine it would have had over 1.5 million views to date. The Pixies themselves even posted it on their site. Awesome.”
Petebox live video on LeftLion
Petebox website
Poddingham Paul on a year of recording
“With Nottingham artists signing to major labels and gaining worldwide attention, this has been an amazing year! On a personal level, the great thrill for me has been to interview artists for Poddingham, and then record them in live session with Team Poddingham - an outstanding group of Confetti students. Highlights are the raw live skank of Breadchasers, the emotionally charged, irresistibly danceable, Maniere des Bohemians and a Nina Smith session that sends shivers down my spine. Bring on 2012!”
Poddingham podcasts on LeftLion
Trev from Dog Is Dead on appearing in Skins
“It was collectively everyone’s first time on a proper professional TV set. We had to wait a long while before we started shooting, but I understand that is very common in film and television. At about 6:30pm we started playing our part, which consisted of miming the last 24 or so bars of our first single Glockenspiel Song, about thirty times whilst a large crowd of extras jumped up and down chanting the lyrics “We are a mess, we are failures and we love it” back at us. It was pretty surreal and pretty knackering.”
Katty Heath from Spotlight Kid on playing at Glastonbury
“We played Glastonbury on the BBC Introducing stage. It was the perfect slot because the crowd were fresh and enthusiastic. A huge audience was gathered to see The Coral, who were billed before us, but they cancelled (after getting stuck in the mud). So stage compere Tom Robinson warmed up the crowd by busking a few of his hits instead. I remember being backstage changing into my mud-free glad rags and hearing him belt out Sing If You’re Glad To Be Gay. We were buzzing from our performance for the rest of the weekend; it was a truly amazing experience.”
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