Eaten by Monsters Live Tonight

Yes indeed folks, it’s official; Eaten by Monsters are not zombies! But anyway, poor puns aside, it’s time for some self-promotion.  If you’re in the London area and at a loss for something exciting to do this evening, then pop down the the Zenith Bar in Islington.  Eaten by Monsters (a.k.a. yours truly) will be performing a little acoustic set for Musicborn tonight.

Don’t let the word “acoustic” give you the wrong idea though.  Just because Andy (the drummer) is off gallivanting with the India SoundPad tour doesn’t mean the show’ll be any less rowdy.  The whole thing’s somewhat of a last-minute affair, but it’d be good to see some of you dear readers there.

The Zenith’s quite a new bar, I believe, so for those of you who don’t know where it is you can find it here (the nearest tube stop is Angel).

To whet your appetites, here’s a stream of the lead track from our new EP Scaring the Pets:

 

Honey, I’m home!

As some of you have noticed, I’ve not been around much over the past month.  But there’s good news for all of you who’ve been left on tenterhooks waiting for your not-quite-daily dose of Eaten by Monsters goodness; I’m back.  First of all I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies to all the bands who’ve gotten in touch with me over the past month or so; quite a few of them were trying to spread the word about events that have now been and gone.  A quick perusal of my inbox, however, shows me that many of the releases are still current and worth reviewing, so there’ll be some real music-based activity here just as soon as I can absorb some of it properly.

Of the items in my inbox, it’s about a half-and-half split between soulless press releases and more personal appeals for attention.  I can’t speak for any other bloggers, and certainly not for any real journalists, but I despise press releases with a passion.  Don’t get me wrong, I make an effort to listen to all the stuff I’m sent regardless of how it’s presented, but a bad press release can have a considerable effect of my first impressions of the music.  It’s shallow of me, I’ll admit, but it’s the truth.  The submissions that do grab my attention are always the more personal ones.

Now by “personal” I don’t merely mean that they’re addressed to me; since the advent of automated mailing list software this has ceased to mean anything.  Nor do I expect to recieve a 100% unique email; If you’re promoting your band properly then you’ll be emailing loads of different people and can’t realistically be expected to attend to every single blog on an individual basis.  What I look for in a submission is simply good copy.  I want to read something that’s been writen by a human being, not a PR machine.  For the love of god you should avoid cliché like the plague [sic].  A little hyperbole is to be expected – these bands are selling themselves, after all – but meaningless phrases and trite comparisons instantly cheapen the experiece for a reviewer.

In my experience, honesty and enthusiasm always shine through in submissions, no matter how “unprofessional” they may appear.  I’m not exactly a huge outfit myself (insert scathing waistline joke here), and I’m not looking to write about huge arena-filling bands.  Anyway, this post seems to have drifted somewhat off-topic so I’ll cut the rant short.  I’m back, and there’ll be some proper new music stuff on these pages soon.  Your patience is very much appreciated…

 

Bearfaced Podcast 06: Part “B” – Tom Stephens and the Retreat

Here it is, as promised: Part “B” of Bearfaced Podcast 06.  Last week, in Part “A”, I was talking about the up-coming releases that have piqued our interest here at Bearfaced Towers, and this week I had the honour to be joined in the studio by Tom Stephens and the Retreat.

The whole band came in and recorded a couple of “live” tracks for us, and the next day Tom Stephens (lead vocals and guitar) and Tom Cornish (lead guitar and backing vocals) came in for an interview, where they deigned to play us an acoustic version of their new song Olivia.  The interview stayed surprisingly on-topic (especially given Bearfaced interviews’ past form) and as a result you can hear the guys regaling us with tales about being an independent band out-and-about on the mean streets of London, as well as enlightening us with regard to their songwriting process.  All lovely stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The band has undergone a bit of a line-up change since I reviewed their EP last year, and their “sound” has also evolved quite a bit too.  As always you can find the Bearfaced Podcast in iTunes, but if you’d rather just download the individual episode then you can do that from the Bearfaced Website here.

Tom Stephens and the Retreat – Olivia (Bearfaced Session)

Tom Stephens and the Retreat – This Town (Bearfaced Session)

 

Bearfaced Podcast 06: Part “A”

I’m sure you’ll all be overjoyed to hear that I’ve finally found the time to record another episode of the Bearfaced Podcast, and what’s more I had so much to talk about that it had to be split into two parts.  Next week I’ll release Part “B” which will be a live session and interview with Tom Stephens and the Retreat, but this week I’ve concerned myself with the up-coming releases that are getting all of us at Bearfaced Towers hot under the collar.

A lot of the songs I play in this ‘cast are mostly from recent blog posts (as they’re the ones I’m most excited about at the moment) but there’s a few other treats in there for your listening pleasure.

You can download the ‘cast directly from its page on the Bearfaced website, or if you’d rather subscribe (as I do) you can easily find it in iTunes by searching for “Bearfaced Podcast”.

 

No more weirdos, please!

My target audience, according to Google...

It could be argued that it’s nobody’s fault but but own – being as I chose the name for this blog – but it according to my WordPress “stats” page it appears that there’s a slow but steady stream of people (and I’m using the term loosely here…) who’ve been directed here after searching for “girls eaten by monsters”.

Sorry to disapoint, but you’ll find no “vore” or “BDSM” (ask your mother) here.

 

Bearfaced Session: Gitta

Okay, so I’m blowing my own trumpet.  But who cares?! My friends and I have been sporadically putting out podcasts from our Bearfaced Records platform since the early summer, but it now seems that we’ve evolved into a genuine journalistic concern.  It’s been quite a while since the last ‘cast (stemming from two parts busyness to one part laziness) but now we’re back in the ring in earnest.

Bearfaced Podcast 05 is laid over solely to the music of the wonderful and accommodating Gitta, who’s been causing quite a stir in the London circuit over the last few months.  She braved terrible tiredness, inclement weather and a blabbering, stuttering, ill-prepared interviewer (yours truly) to deliver some smashing performances of three songs from her current set as well as some interesting tales from her native Holland…

You can find the ‘cast in all good directories (iTunes, et al) or get it straight-from-the-source at the Bearfaced Podcast site, and I’ve attached a couple of the mp3s below to piqué your interest.

Gitta – Darker Days (Bearfaced Session)

Gitta – Let’s Get Lost (Bearfaced Session)

 

Say what?

I’ve made some spurious claims about being an mp3 blog lately, as well as contradicting myself with regard to not posting stuff from major labels, so I guess I’d best clarify my position.

Basically, posting downloads of other people’s music is a breach of the originator’s (the artist, composer, whoever…) legal rights.  Most blogs mp3 justify themselves by talking about “promotion for the artist” and other (quite frankly rather shaky) claims about new audiences buying CDs because they got a taster from a blog somewhere.  I certainly purchase music that I’ve found out about from blogs, and there’s a strong chance that the other people who write music blogs do too.  However, I’ll be the first to admit that I live in quite a rarefied environment when it comes to music (basically, I’m an obsessive) and your average reader/listener isn’t quite so geeky; meaning they can’t really be bothered to spend money on something when they can get it for free from blogs/torrents/wherever.  Also, it’s still just plain illegal, regardless of whether or not the artist benefits somewhere down the line.

All is not lost, however, as there are still some groovy artists and small labels out there who do think blogs can make a positive difference to their careers.  I receive a fair few presspacks and demos and CDs by people who want me to talk about and/or play their music; and I’m a tiny fish in an ocean of DIY music writers.  Blogs like Song, by Toad, and Daily Growl get by almost exclusively on content that’s been sent directly to them.  The bottom line is this; any promotion is good news for small/new bands and artists, and many of them are happy to let a blogger post a song or two of theirs.

So apologies for the long and rather dull post, but I feel it’s necessary to state that from this moment on, all mp3 download links posted in this blog are either available for free online elsewhere anyway (and I’ll always post a link to the original site) or I have the express permission of the artist to give the track away.

 

Once more unto the breach, my friends…

You may have read my post/rant earlier in the week about the coming war betwixt the major labels and the blogosphere, but now it seems that things are coming to a head.

The Daily Growl (an exceedingly excellent music blog, and a source of discovery for many of my favourite bands; from Esser to Rob St.John) has reported similar post-deleting atrocities occurring on his site.  But all is not lost: Ed, from the 17 Seconds blog, (and who’s Glasvegas post’s deletion caused such an uproar at Song, by Toad) seems to be rallying his supporters and preparing for a Big Push Over The Top…  So, I shall hereby nail my colours to the mast:

I shan’t post about any music from a major label.

This won’t do my Hype Machine rating any good at all, but hopefully do wonders to my credibility and self-respect.

And to celebrate, here’s some ever-so-slightly-relevant songs for you guys to check out:

Show of Hands – Sally Free and Easy

REM – Radio Free Europe

N.B: the irony of claiming to reject the majors and then posting an REM song is not lost on me; I’m just “sticking it to tha’ man”…

 

Another bloody music blog, anyone?

Curses! I’ve been trying for hours now to post links to some mp3s I’ve uploaded to Xdrive (recommended to me by the Hype Machine) but so far I’m not having much success.  However, once I manage to do it I’ll be a fully fledged music blogger.  And, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility…

Obviously, posting songs for free download when an artist wants people to pay for them isn’t really doing anybody any favours.  But yet there seems to be quite a community of music bloggers who do just that, and are often encouraged by the artists themselves.  For a new/small band the publicity can be a great help, and the blogs themselves can be a convenient go-to point for anyone on the prowl for obscure new bands to adore.  A pretty lage proportion of the new music I’ve discovered lately has come from music blogs, and as an “artist” myself I’m all in favour of submitting “promotional release” mp3s to blogs; at the level I find myself at, the exposure gained from being written about on a blog far outweighs the loss of revenue from a few sneaky downloads.

But clouds are gathering on the horizon, and it appears that there’s a growing atmosphere of resentment between the blogosphere and the major record labels.  I’ll let you read all about it at the Song, by Toad site, as he seems to have taken the matter to heart, but basically Columbia have started shaking their fist at Google, who have finally shown their true colours (the spineless b*st*rds) by obediently acquiescing to the demands of the label and deleting “offending” blog posts (and destroying legitimate intellectual property in the process).

More news on this will be forthcoming, but this post is getting a little long and ranty so I’d better put a stop to it right away.  Stay tuned, folks…

 

Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name…

Welcome, my friends, welcome to the inaugural post for the Eaten by Monsters blog. I guess I should start with a bit of background info. to set the scene regarding the birth of this exciting venture.

Basically, I’m a sometime musician/student/fainéant who feels he has the right to hoist his opinions on the rest of the world, regardless of whether or not anybody’ll actually listen…

My band is called Eaten by Monsters (hence the blog’s title) and you can find everything you’d ever want to know about us (and just a little bit more) here, which is not only my band’s website, but also the website for my entire label. That’s right, boys and girls, this cool cat’s a high-flying executive in the world’s smallest
no-budget indie label, Bearfaced Records.

On my site I have a little journal (a.k.a. an uber pretentious blog) documenting all my musical adventures, and a few friends and I release a semi-regular podcast charting the ups-and-downs of Bearfaced, along with some of the music/news/etc that’s caught our attention at any particular time.

But yet I was still left wanting. I craved a more personal and informal forum for airing my views; and lo and behold; I started this blog.

Here I will write reviews of stuff I’ve come across in my voyages through the cultural ether, as well as rant about various news items that stir up the bile in my belly.

So enjoy!

N.B: I guess this post’d serve quite well in the About page, so I might Ctrl-C it over there too…