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I think some of the more memorable
events for me happened on the recent De/Vision tour. I remember being
in Erfurt, (Germany) and everyone on the tour bus had gone to a local
bar after the show and got extremely drunk. We'd already accumulated
a huge stash of beer from our riders along the tour and so we did our
best to get rid of the lot that night. There was a lot of "singing"
and I believe I may have been involved in some "rapping" at one point!
I'm told there may even be video evidence of the mayhem somewhere!
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Geoff was also extremely amused the night I came onstage and announced, "We're tenek and this is our first song"! I thought I was just being helpful in pointing that out to the audience. I mean what if we came on and launched into our second song instead? We also had someone bring us some strangely shaped vegan muffins in Bochum. They tasted really good actually and so naturally, we scoffed the lot backstage. Life on the road can be very bizarre because you find yourself living in a weird little bubble with all these people around you in the same boat but its fantastic fun. I wouldn't want to do anything else to be honest! |
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We understand you've been introducing
songs from "On the Wire" into your live sets. How were these received?
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We've been steadily introducing new
songs into our set for about a year now. It's been really helpful to
us in finding out if the songs were any good or not. It's also helped
our writing process by being able to road-test the songs and find ways
to make improvements to them. We'd often try something new at a gig
and then go back and add it to the recorded version. We hadn't tested
any of the "Stateless" songs on-stage so this was quite a different
approach for us. This year in Germany, we found that our newer songs
seemed to go down better with the audiences than some of our older stuff.
It was interesting because a lot of the people weren't familiar with
our material so many of them were reacting to everything we played for
the first time. It was also the audience reaction which helped us choose
"Blinded by You" as our latest single due to the fantastic reception
it got at our Bedsitland gig in London back in April.
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We read that you will be touring
in Europe again to promote your new album. Will your live set be focused
on the new material or a mixture of old and new?
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I think the set for the European tour
in September will probably be more focused on the new material as we'll
be specifically promoting "On the Wire" although I don't doubt we'll
be playing some tracks from "Stateless". It all depends on where we're
playing and the amount of stage time we get on any given night.
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Do you have any plans to expand
as a band and introduce additional members for your live shows?
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At the moment, we think our live show
is working well as a duo and for the European gigs it's a lot easier
to manage with a more compact set-up. That said, as our songs continue
to become bigger and more complex to play live, we'll need to consider
recruiting a couple of extra musicians to join us for live work in the
future. It's definitely been discussed but we want to make sure we get
the right people who can fit in with how we work. In the studio though,
Geoff and I have a great chemistry and we're very intuitive in the way
we work. It helps us write and record very quickly and this is something
I feel could be disturbed by adding another band member.
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Well, we hope to be releasing another
E.P. before Christmas with some more new material that we reluctantly
had to leave off the album because of deadlines and I think Shaun has
one or two special things lined up for that. There's also talk of a
mix album in the spring which both band and label are very excited about.
We just want to keep the ball rolling while we're gaining momentum and
build on all the hard work we've all put in during the last three years.
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No doubt, there will be many more
gigs in both the UK and Europe and we hope to start writing again towards
the end of this year. There are always lots of interesting things on
the horizon for tenek. Unfortunately, we can't always mention them before
they actually come to fruition! It's definitely an exciting time for
us right now and we intend to enjoy it and push forward.
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Thank you for talking to Toffee
Bites Peter, we wish you every success with the new album.
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On
The Wire is out on 6th September from Toffeetones
and is available to pre-order from 9th August.
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| Tenek are having a launch party for the album at the Albert in Brighton on the 21st August. | |||
| The Albert, 48 Trafalgar Street Brighton, BN1 4ED | |||
| Click here for tickets. | |||
| Tenek will be playing at the Lexington in London on the 30th August with De/Vision | |||
| The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JB | |||
| Click here for tickets. | |||
| Details for their forthcoming European Tour are as follows: | |||
| 3rd September | Nocturnal Culture Night Festival: Sachsen, DE | ||
| 4th September | Lulu Club: Szczecin, PL | ||
| 5th September | Magnet: Berlin, DE | ||
| 6th September | Kir: Hamburg, DE | ||
| 7th September | Nachtleben: Frankfurt, DE | ||
| 8th September | Musikzentrum: Hannover, DE | ||
| 9th September | Saint: Oberhausen, DE | ||
| 10th September | Tante JU: Dresden, DE | ||
| 11th September | Lindenpark: Potsdam, DE | ||
| Check the web for further details | |||
| Tenek Weblinks: | |||
| MySpace | |||
| Facebook Group | |||
| ReverbNation | |||
| Official Site | |||
| Toffeetones Label | |||
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Dave
Charles broadcasts a new music show on 102.3 HFM (Leicestershire &
Northamptonshire) and worldwide over the net every Sunday night from
7pm. We caught up with him recently to ask him wassup...
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Hello Dave, can you tell us
what was the driving force behind you getting your own radio show?
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It's a long story so I'll try to be
brief. In a nutshell, I love it, seriously! Coming from a musical background
and playing in various bands throughout the late eighties and early
nineties, there was no outlet for any of us to get our music heard,
(unless of course you had Stock, Aitken and Waterman backing you). I'd
always flirted with decks and DJing so I gave up on drumming and decided
to work with slip-mats and knob twiddling instead. I'd always been passionate
about Radio and dreamt of having my own show so when the Ofcom licensing
laws changed recently; it meant that new stations were setting up in
my area. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get on board.
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From the start, I had no intention
of being one of those "gobs on sticks" endlessly repeating "that was..."
and "this is...". I wanted to create something for musicians who were
in the same position as me in back in my own band days. I'm happy to
say that audience figures for the show have proved that I was on the
right track. A real market exists out there for people like me who want
to hear new music. I do mix it in with established names as well though
so that new listeners won't be alienated when they start to tune in.
Like I said, I love it!
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they asked me to front their final
show. Unbeknown to me, the bosses of HFM were listening in at the time
and so when I applied to join them, they already knew of me and I got
the job. My first show for HFM went on air in February 2007, initially
running from 5 till 7pm. It took eighteen months to convince the bosses
that I needed a third hour to achieve what the listeners and I wanted
and so here we are today...
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How do you go about formatting
one of your shows? Do you have a formula or does it change from show
to show?
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I'm sure regular listeners might imagine
that I start each show with a handful of CD's which I throw in the air
and those that land face-up are the ones that get played! Honestly though,
I do try to put a lot of effort into producing a show that informs as
well as entertains, (on a budget of zilch pence I might add). |
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A new feature I started recently is called
"Chanson de ménage a trios". What happens is, each week we phone up one
of our listeners live on air and play them three new songs that have been
sent in to the show. The idea is to ask them for their opinion on each
one which I then pass on to the acts after the show. For every song that
gets aired, I receive three more to take its place. I also trawl through
the local press looking for upcoming gigs in our area that I think our
listeners would be interested in going to see. In addition, (due to our
growing internet audience) there's scope to feature bands performing further
afield. Another regular feature I enjoy is putting together is the weekly
dance mix to represent the hottest dance tunes around that might not get
airplay elsewhere. |
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I've always been keen to get bands and musicians
to come into the studio and perform live on the show. For some, this may
be their first experience of playing to a live audience and an opportunity
for them to get their music heard. I encourage a lot of listener participation
in the show. We get requests in during the week and recommendations from
listeners and we get a lot of emails, texts and the occasional phone-in
while I'm on-air which is fantastic, (good to know people are out there
listening). All this feedback gives me an idea of what our listeners want
to hear. So yeah, I guess there's quite a bit that goes into each show
although my initial plan of throwing CD's in the air is tempting sometimes. |
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new bands and
their work. In-fact it's getting to the point where it's becoming harder
to leave songs out of the show! |
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Do you have any leanings toward a particular
style of music or would you consider your tastes to be broad? |
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Every week it seems a new genre of music
is being created. I think the days when people were solely into one type
of music are long gone. The way I see it, it's now okay to like the latest
funkmeisters, dig the synth-popsters of the day AND rock out to the latest
hard hitting bands. Personally I'm happy whether I am listening to one
of the biggest names in music or down the village bandstand listening
to a brass band. Anything with a great tune does it for me! |
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Is there any type of music that you're
not so keen on and why? |
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Bluegrass! Do I really have to explain why? |
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Is it true that you listen to everything
that people send in to you? |
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I try my hardest but it is getting tougher
for me these days. A lot of music I receive is sent electronically so
I have a system where I categorise everything into the month that it's
sent. I've just closed last month's file which contained over four gigabytes
of music! |
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Because the show is being heard by more and
more people now; the major labels have started to catch on to what I'm
doing. Naturally, they're keen to get their artists heard too. Apart from
the obvious respect they seem to be showing small stations like the one
I work on; it also has the advantage of opening doors for us to talk to
some of the established household names in music which again, I think
makes good listening. |
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How do artists normally make contact
with you to appear on your show? |
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Sometimes bands approach me directly
but more often, I tend to approach them myself when I've been out to
a gig and liked what I've heard. Artists always seem happy to chat and
pass me a copy of their latest CD. This can lead to the next stage which
would be my asking them to appear on the show. If anyone reading this
feels they would like some airplay or appear on the show as a guest,
they're welcome to contact me. [see below]
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Is it true you spend a lot of time
on the run from the fashion police? |
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[Laughs]. You're talking about the
shirt I'm wearing in the photo's aren't you? I'll have you know I'm
wearing pages 36 and 37 of Kays catalogue, (only 25 weeks and I'll own
a matching tie!). Maybe someone out there could offer me some fashion
tips? I was at a press conference recently for Slash, (namedropping,
sorry). Unbeknown to me, the world's media suddenly descended on the
place; there were microphones and cameras everywhere! When I got to
ask my questions, the cameras turned on me and I must have stood out
like a sore thumb seeing as I was wearing white and everyone else was
in black! Does anyone have Gok Wan's number?
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Are there any bands that you've discovered
that you feel have the potential to become household names? |
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Three spring to mind. The Screening
have an arsenal of tunes and seem to have the right attitude. There's
J Marie Cooper, (why she hasn't been snapped up yet I'll never know)
and there's Tenek of course. Having been privileged to have heard their
new album there's four or maybe five songs on there that wouldn't seem
at all out of place on a major radio station playlist!
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What would be your happiest memory
of your time on the air so far? |
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There's a couple that spring to mind.
The legend that is Louis Gordon came into the studio and performed his
humorous musical tail of old "El Bummo" which had me in stitches at
the time. There's video footage of that on my MySpace for all to see,
(very funny indeed). Another time, one of my American listeners Celia
came over from Florida with her children to give them a special Christmas
in the UK after the sad passing of her husband and their father Rob.
Celia and her children, (plus a certain Mr. Brooks) spent the entire
show on air with me. That was special.
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As far as play-listing goes, it seems to
me that today's mainstream commercial stations, (and to a great extent
the BBC as well) seem to be doing everything they can to ignore real bands
and artists struggling to make a living. They appear to be opting for
a so called "tried and tested formula" of blandness. I often dip into
other stations and listen to what they are up to and to me, it's like
every presenter sounds the same with the same advertising campaigns, playing
the same five songs every hour etc. If that's what the majority of listeners
really want to listen to, then I have to say that I'm glad to be in the
minority. |
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Where do you see the future of broadcasting
in the next decade, particularly with new technologies and media? |
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Personally, I think DAB radio is a dying
swan, (or is that a dead duck?). It's expensive to set up and it's not
as good a quality as they'd have us believe either. I think FM will be
around for a while yet. In the home and office, more and more stations
are now streaming on the internet in near CD quality. Even with my show,
it's a great feeling to know that loads of people have "DC on their PC"
every Sunday night. |
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Finally, you're aware of much of the
music on the Toffeetones label. What would you say has impressed you the
most and what albums would you hold on to indefinitely? |
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What impresses me most is the quality and
diversity of the music on offer at Toffeetones. Tenek's new album on the
wire will be on my playlist for years to come, as will Louis Gordon's
work. I'm sure if the music industry pricked its ears up now and again
bands like Tenek would be able to breakthrough into mainstream. Then again,
do they really want that? |
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Shaun Brooks,
(aka Dubby) is in the driving seat of the Toffeetones label so if anyone
knows what's occurring he's the man to ask... |
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What is your opinion of the
current state of the music industry?
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A big question, brace yourself! There's
a lot of apathy inside the industry at the moment. The decline in record
sales and the subsequent dying groans of the bloated corporate dinosaurs
are all too apparent. It's an industry that's had a violent and irreversible
change thrust upon it with little evidence of foresight and planning.
Instead of fostering new music, most majors seem only interested in
conservative TV "talent" shows and milking their back-catalogue. No-one
seems to be going out on a limb and taking any risks because there just
isn't the money available. So many of the old ways of doing things have
gone out of the window now and seemingly, very few have been prepared
for the shift in the market.
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The way I see things is that this
should be seen as an exciting time for re-invention and a re-writing
of "the rules". I'd love to see another explosion like when punk happened
in 1976 as a backlash against the insipid AOR monotony that suffocated
the music scene a few years prior. I want to see more maverick entrepreneurs
move in off the streets and stir things up with fresh and exciting ideas
and innovative methods of promoting new music. Rather than mourn the
passing of old ways, I find it far more positive to talk to people and
ask them what they want and what their expectations are. The jungle
has new rules and survivors will be the ones that can adapt.
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There's no getting away from it, technology
has changed the public perception of music forever. On the one hand,
it's possible to reach out to a huge group of people and make them aware
of your music, invite them to your shows and generally promote yourself
without spending vast sums of money on advertising. On the other, now
that everyone has the same facilities, it can be incredibly difficult
to stand out from the crowd and be taken seriously.
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MySpace has proved that there's still
a need for some form of quality control. There are literally millions
of bands out there displaying their talent but we all know that a lot
of these pages contain some pretty dreadful music right? I think it's
caused a lot of music fans to give up on using it as a means to discover
new music. You simply can't see the wood for the trees. This is why
I think artists with the backing of even a small label like TT can benefit,
not just in terms of the financial backing of having someone invest
in your music but by having an experienced team on hand to help with
the myriad of associated aspects involved in selling music such as mastering,
production, design, artwork, promotion etc.
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Another thing is that there's no doubt
that compressed audio formats such as mp3 have driven down the perceived
value of recorded music. It's so easy and convenient to pass cloned
copies around to friends. It comes as no surprise to me that people
are unaware of the incredible amount of time and money spent on making
these recordings. They have by nature become practically disposable!
So why cry about it if that's the way things are now?
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I often hear that there are a number
of people who've had bad experiences with mp3 downloads. The main issue
seems to be the loss of a hard drive or iPod. Once the files are lost,
they're forced to buy them yet again! With physical products such as
CD's, you have a permanent storage solution. There's also the tactile
thing with a physical product. Files simply don't provide the rewarding
feeling you get from owning something you can hold in your hand and
with booklets and artwork you can read.
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Rather than seeing an industry in
decline, I see this as an exciting time with potential for flexible
and imaginative individuals to create new ways of bringing music to
the public and embrace changes in media and technology.
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What new media can you see appearing
in the future and how will Toffeetones embrace that technology?
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Everyone tells me that CD is dead
and that downloads are the way to go but my experience at Toffeetones
tells me otherwise right now. I'm not waving the flag for the compact
disc though. The problem with a CD is that it's a bit nasty isn't it?
It has a brittle plastic cover and a tiny 12 cm square booklet that
doesn't offer a lot of scope to display your lovingly created artwork.
Like most of us of "a certain age" we can look back with fondness at
the lovely 12 inch gatefold sleeves of yesteryear that were great to
look at and handy for one or two other recreational purposes.
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We've already experimented with different types of packaging and for a time, I was releasing a lot of our records in gatefold card digi-packs. The most ambitious of these projects being Louis Gordon's E.S.T. (Special Edition) of which I'm the most proud. However, the cost of packaging impacts directly on the cost of the music which, (as I've already mentioned) has less perceived value to customers these days. I think it's about time we had something new. The technology of the compact disc is now 27 years old for goodness sake! Talking hypothetically, I see the near future as being solid state. USB sticks are getting cheaper by the day and have far greater storage capacity than even Blu Ray discs which are more-or-less the extent of the limits of CD technology. |
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| The problem is that USB drives are small, ugly and hardly very tactile. What I'd like to see would be something which might seem a bit science fiction at the moment but is perfectly feasible. | ||||||
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How about something solid and tangible
like a hardback book with an attractive cover you can turn over in your
hands? A high capacity ROM chip could be embedded in the cover that
could transmit to your Hi-Fi or docking station via Bluetooth? The book
could have as many colour pages as you wish and a beautiful printed
cover. Likewise, the ROM could contain any digital media you wanted,
(audio, video or something completely new). I'm not talking about something
like an iPad here. That's an intermediary stage as I see it and destined
to become yet another redundant format. It's more ugly plastic and TFT
screen technology as far as I'm concerned. I think people want to hold
things made of natural materials. An object that would be desirable
which people would value and go out of their way to collect. The feel
of thick cardboard and the smell of fresh print, that's we're missing
at the moment!
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Are Toffeetones looking to sign
any new artists?
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Pete Steer and I both act as A&R for
the label and we're both approached on a daily basis by new people looking
to work with TT. It's something I enjoy and we listen to everyone that
gets in touch. We're always on the lookout for new talent and very specific
about what we like. Artist's need to bring in something new to add to
our label but at the same time, be recognisable as part of the overall
picture. Currently we have two new acts coming out on the label in the
next six months and we're looking very seriously at a third who seem
right up our street and are nice people to boot!
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Sometimes it can be a bit upsetting
to tell someone that they're really good but not quite our cup of tea
but we'd never consider signing someone unless we were totally behind
what they were doing and felt we could do them justice. As an indie,
our resources have to be managed efficiently. Apart from the writing
and recording, it can take our team up to four months to get an album
to a release date. I've always insisted on everything being done "in-house"
at Toffeetones. I consider it vital to our identity as a label. It's
important to us that our releases have a cohesive look to them. This
is why I'm now involved with all our artwork as well so that when you
pick up a Toffeetones CD, you know immediately where it's from, (very
much like the old 4AD albums).
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The one thing I always say to any
artist that wants to work with us is can you do this live? If the answer
is yes, my second question is likely to be when can we come and see
you? The way things are in the industry, it's never been more important
to be playing live. Most bands sell more music at their shows than they
do through shops and iTunes put together. Our world is saturated by
bedroom bands, (some of whom may be excellent) but if you can't put
on a show and bring in a crowd, there's very little chance of having
a career in music.
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| Saturday 21st August: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenek are holding a special launch party for their new album "On The Wire" at the Albert in Brighton. The album will be available to buy on the night, (two weeks before the release date 6th September). Tickets are available but are selling fast! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click HERE for more info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday 30th August (Bank Holiday): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenek will be supporting De/Vision at the Lexington in London. Again, early copies of the new album will be available. Also appearing are the band Greenhaus and the show will continue with a Depeche Mode party until 3am. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click HERE for more info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd to 11th September: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenek are on tour in Germany and Poland. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click HERE for more info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Our undercover agent Molly, (working
as a caterer at TT HQ) managed to catch sight of a few pages of the
"hush hush" folder that they carelessly left lying around
in the boardroom last week. After handing over our usual gratuity of
a bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream, Mol told us what she'd uncovered:
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"Well dear, there's an album
coming out from a chap called Alex Dunford in October that's been two
years in the making, (apparently). Then there's supposed to be another
Tenek EP before christmas and early next year they're talking about
a new album from Louis Gordon, (nice lad, likes a pint), an album from
a band called The Circus Girls and the boss has this idea for a tenek
remix album as well... I love them tenek lads you know, they're propper
bo I'm telling you!"
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There you go then...
next time we'll see if we can get her to contact the stalker that's been
driving past TT HQ in a big white taxi taking compromising photos and
going through their rubbish bins. If we get any dirt, you'll be the first
to read it here at Toffee Bites. |
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| Sunday 22nd August 7pm: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenek will be appearing live in the studio on the Dave Charles show on 102.3 HFM (and online). Tune in from 7pm! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click HERE for more info. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| As this is our first issue of Toffee Bites, we have four exclusive tracks to give away absoloutely free. Remember, if you like the music, support the artists by buying their music from the wonderful Toffeetones online shop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All mp3 files and the musical content are the
copyright of Toffeetones Ltd. All rights of the manufacturer and of
the owner of the work produced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring,
public performances and broadcasting of the recorded work prohibited. |
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Toffee Bites is produced quarterly by Toffeetones Records All content of this magazine © Toffeetones Records 2010 |
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