The World According To Magazine Gap

Hope everyone had a good summer.  We’ve been incredibly busy over the last few months and as ever I choose a convenient moment to summarise our activities (specifically the 11 weeks since the last blog of 18 July).

Montreux Jazz Festival – Performance Videos
In Two Minds

We decided to release 4 videos in a series from the show (out of the 17 songs performed), with the first one uploaded on 25 July, just two and a half weeks after the event.  “In Two Minds” is a brand new song and that was its debut live performance.  It is also the first song in fact that all four of us co-wrote together, which we did during the previous few months specifically in time for the show - we had hit upon an idea in rehearsal for a type of song that we didn’t have in our repertoire and which we felt would nicely complement the set. 

Although it was the first new video we had uploaded to YouTube since “The Promised Land – Live at The Stables” on 15 February, and therefore the first new content in almost six months, the reaction was unexpected and unprecedented.  In under a week it had received most than 625 superlative comments and 500 ‘likes’, and achieved YouTube honours of being the #7 most discussed and #27 most liked UK music video of the past week.  It would continue to stay in various rankings for some time and currently has over 820 comments and 650 likes.

Inside The Bubble

The second in the series was released one week later (on 1 August).  “Inside The Bubble” has been a mainstay of our shows to date; in fact we have performed it live more than any other song.  We had already uploaded to YouTube both the original video (featuring the album track) and the live performance from our show at The 100 Club in April last year (split into Part One & Part Two because it ran for over 12 minutes!). We had also previously released the audio track of our performance of it in Chicago in March 2010 (on SoundCloud).  But we thought it would be interesting to show how it had developed through all those shows.

So, whilst not a new track, we were delighted that it still received a flood of comments – within 24 hours it was the #5 most discussed UK music video and #92 globally!  It has now received over 200 comments.

Silver Lining

This time we left an interval of two and half weeks before unveiling the next video (on 18 August).  The original video, with footage shot during our recording of the song last year at Avatar Studios in New York, was the featured video on our channel for some time, and it is probably our most popular song on YouTube; certainly it had received the most attention until “In Two Minds” was released (with over 1,200 ‘likes’).  It was therefore great to release the live version by way of contrast and see what people thought. 

It was extremely gratifying, and indeed overwhelming, to get the feedback we did – our friends on YouTube really are the best!  Within 5 days we had received almost 400 comments, winning YT honours of #23 most discussed and #51 top rated UK music video of the past week.  At the same time, just four weeks on, “In Two Minds” was #68 most discussed UK music video of the past month.

Swansong & Something To Be Said

On 25 August, in gratitude to our friends from all the comments, we made available as a free download two other songs from the concert. You can still find them here: http://www.magazinegap.com/music

More Alive

The fourth and final video from the series went up on 2 September.  We had already uploaded our first ever performance of “More Alive”, which we performed at The 100 Club in April 2010, so again it was not a new song.  But it was a song that had grown through live performances and we had seen the connection people made with it everywhere we played.  It was therefore chosen as the finale for our concert at Montreux.  So at 10:25pm with the audience already having danced along to the third part of “Senorita, I See You”, which had preceded it, we began our last song.  By now the park was full to capacity and all 2,000 seemed to react to the song.  Hopefully the video captured some of that atmosphere, which certainly energised us!  Within a week the video was the #30 most discussed UK music video of the past week and to date it has gained over 375 comments.

By 18 September (just under 8 weeks since the release of the first video in the series) we had received a total of 1,860 comments across all four videos from, we determined, over 1,000 different people.  That was quite astonishing to us, and we remain so grateful to every single person who posted such generous and heart-warming comments. Thank you.

BBC Radio Norfolk – Interview & Live Session (5 August)

Returning to the chronology, on Friday 5 August we headed up to Norwich to be interviewed by Stephen Bumfrey on Norfolk’s top entertainment show, as well as play live in the studio.  It worked out really well despite being somewhat chaotic!  Alex and I got caught in traffic so were pulling into the city centre when we heard Cookie already talking on the radio.  5 minutes later we drove into the car park whilst Stephen was playing “Light & Shade” from the album.  He interviewed Tim and then played “Our Last Stand” whilst Alex and I made our way up (with acoustic guitar & piano) into the studio, through the maze of back doors and secret alleyways! 

Almost immediately Alex and I were talking on air, and when Stephen suddenly asked if we had a 3 minute song to fill the space before the travel, there was a pregnant pause whilst I quickly thought through our repertoire and then started “Something To Be Said”.   Unfortunately we hadn’t by then got the piano amplified so Alex had to sit that one out!  Fortunately it was all sorted for the next track, “Swansong”.  We had no idea how many songs Stephen was going to ask us to play, nor did we agree beforehand what songs to do.  Indeed, we’ve never rehearsed an ‘unplugged’ version of the songs, and hadn’t seen each other since we got back from Switzerland a few weeks before.  But we know each other so well now that a lot of silent looks and nods were sufficient to adapt to the environment.  We went onto perform two more songs, “Silver Lining” and “Slipstream”.

You can hear all of the interview & live songs edited together here: http://soundcloud.com/magazinegap/bbc-radio-norfolk-interview 

It worked out well – in fact, given the overall sound created in a small talk radio studio, the BBC Radio Norfolk editor David Clayton was surprised that what he could hear in his office was a live band playing so came down to watch.  Stephen later said that David only ever came down to fire people and has never appeared outside the window during his show before, so he was only moderately alarmed at first! 

“What’s Next?” – Music Video

The following week, on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 August, we filmed our first location music video, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Tamas Mesmer.  We started in London, around Liverpool Street station, moving east into the back streets of Shoreditch.  Then we drove out to the country, near where my mother lives outside of Oxford.  Close to midnight we shot some night-time footage of us performing, illuminated only by the lights of two cars.  The next morning, we headed out into the Oxfordshire countryside to shoot us playing among the wheat and barley fields.  The concept of the video is to contrast the city with the country life, showing an escape from the conformity of one existence with the freedom of the other.  With so much footage, we are currently in editing mode and aim to release it later in the month.

Project – Norwich (31 August)

Almost exactly 12 months since we opened our 2010 UK tour at The Brickmakers in Norwich (on 7 September), we returned to the city for a show at Project (although Play Fest, which we played in May, was actually located 20 miles from Norwich).  With Tim hailing from Norwich, and gathering great support from the local media, it has become our regional home with plans to do more in the city going forward.  The show at Project was essentially a warm-up gig to follow on from the radio interview a few weeks before and by way of promoting our headline show at the Norwich Arts Centre on 15 October.

It was also an opportunity to play around with the order of songs.  We played six – What’s Next? / The Promised Land / Couldn’t Make It Up (If You Tried) / Senorita, I See You / More Alive / Inside The Bubble.

Our planned show at The Underworld in Camden on 7 September was unfortunately cancelled due to the promoter’s own business difficulties. Therefore our only London show of the year will be at The Barfly in November.

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – Interview & Live Session (23 September)

On Friday, 23 September, we headed up to Cambridge to appear on Sue Marchant’s BIG NIGHT IN.  The show is simulcast each night across five BBC regional stations covering seven counties: Radio Norfolk / Suffolk / Essex as well as Three Counties Radio (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire).  We set up our equipment much as we had in Norwich last month and between 9:15 and 9:35 we were interviewed as well as performed “Slipstream” and “Silver Lining”.

Sue is a great character, and we had a lot of fun in her studio. She definitely threw some curve ball questions (“If Magazine Gap was a pizza topping what would it consist of?”) but that only made for a more entertaining show!  We also announced our first ever show in Cambridge, on Thursday 3 November at The Portland Arms.

You can hear all of the interview & live songs edited together here: http://soundcloud.com/magazinegap/bbc-radio-cambridgeshire

Silver Lining EP

This month we will be releasing the Silver Lining EP on iTunes! More to be revealed in the next 10 days…

Looking Ahead

Over the next few months we have 3 shows (Norwich, Cambridge, London), some more radio interviews, the EP launch, the unveiling of the “What’s Next?” music video and much more that we can’t reveal quite yet. As ever, thank you so much for all your support.

James

Hello again!  Well, it’s been quite an exciting few months since the last update at the end of March, as you’ll know from various Facebook postings for those keeping track.  As ever, from time-to-time we consolidate our news into a blog and it’s that time again…

Play Fest, Norfolk – 29 May 2011

Having ended our extended UK & Ireland Tour at the end of February, we had three months off before returning to the stage for the festival season.  We had two ‘warm-up’ shows in the UK ahead of Montreux, and it was fitting perhaps that our first stop, a brand new festival in Norfolk, took us back to where we had started our tour last September.  The weather was perfect as we played seven songs for our half-hour set in a mid-afternoon slot; the atmosphere was great, and the sound on the Main Stage was good.

Pritchattsbury Festival, Birmingham – 12 June 2011

Two weeks later, we returned to Britain’s Second City for a performance at the University of Birmingham for this renowned outdoor festival which helps students celebrate the end of year exams.  This time the rain belted down in monsoon fashion for most of the day, though all but held off for our 50mins / 10-song set at 9pm.  It was great to see the students in high spirits and enjoying our show, which was slightly heavier in sound than usual but no less fun!

Myspace: 16 June 2009 - 16 June 2011

We started our Myspace page on 16 June 2009 (as we also did our YouTube channel), and that is essentially the date we consider the official launch point of “Magazine Gap”, though we’d already recorded five songs for the “Light & Shade” album and were about to head to the US with another five songs in pre-production.  By coincidence, exactly two years later we welcomed our 200,000th friend to our page.  Given the ups & downs that Myspace has suffered in that time (with lots of people closing their accounts), it was encouraging that we had continued to build our profile and make new acquaintances.

Montreux Jazz Festival - 8 July 2011

We were absolutely delighted back in February to have been invited to play the 45th Annual Montreux Jazz Festival.  Set on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and pulling in some 230,000 people over its 16 days, it is the second largest annual music festival in the world (after, somewhat confusingly, the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada).  It is also one of the most prestigious in continuing to attract the biggest names in music across a range of genres; this year alone that list includes Paul Simon, Sting, BB King, Carlos Santana, George Benson, Bootsy Collins, Liza Minnelli, Seal, Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole & Deep Purple (whose famous song “Smoke on The Water” references the festival and its founder Claude Nobs), as well as newer acts like Arcade Fire, Paolo Nutini & Ziggy Marley.  Although jazz remains an important part of the festival, it has included an eclectic mix ever since the 1970s.  Earlier this year it was awarded the “Best Festival In The World” at the International Live Music Conference in London.

I first attended the Montreux Jazz Festival on 8 July 2002, when I saw Paul Simon perform at the Auditorium Stravinski, inside the Music & Convention Centre.  Just in front of that building is Parc Vernex, in which the outdoor Music-in-the-Park stage is built, which I noted at the time and thought it would be a great place to play one day.  It was therefore a thrill to do so and to work out it was exactly 9 years later to the day. Paul Simon was back there again the week after we were there.

With a capacity crowd of 2,000 people, the audience were buzzing – looking out we could see the same broad demographic we have encountered online manifest itself in reality.  We had young kids to retirees, and everyone in between dancing and cheering along with great enthusiasm.  After all our hard work it was extremely gratifying.   We performed 17 songs over 90 minutes, including a brand new song we wrote in time for the festival called “In Two Minds”.  We played all 12 songs from the “Light & Shade” album, plus 3 from the “No Coincidence” album including the title track which we’ve never actually performed before.  Another new song, “Ran For Cover”, which we debuted earlier in the year was also included in the set.

The weather was perfect in the end (having been tentative until the hour approached!); we started at 9pm with the sun setting and in our eyes (hence the shades) and played into the darkness by the end at 10:30pm.  With Lake Geneva just to the left, and the hills rising sharply on both sides, there can’t be many more places as beautiful as this to perform.

The stage set up and the sound engineering were absolutely first-class, as you might expect, but that gave our performance the extra edge to give of our best and we had such a wonderful time performing there.  Our thanks to Claudia Regolatti, who booked us, and the great crew who made us feel so welcome.

You can hear an interview we gave just before taking to the stage here: podcast.frequencebanane.ch/files/1310222128_interview%20magazine%20gap.mp3

We are currently working on the video footage, and should have something on YouTube shortly.   

Looking ahead

We’re now working on the general strategy for the next several months, so stay tuned for more exciting developments. Thanks for all your support and coming with us on this journey – without you, we wouldn’t feel so encouraged to power forward…

James

James has given a few interviews recently, and we’ve had permission to reproduce two of them here:

http://www.sonicshocks.com/MAGAZINE-GAP-interview.php   

MAGAZINE GAP - John Cascio couldn’t wait to find out more about this brilliant hot new band, so we got frontman James Keen to answer all his questions

What brought you guys together? With such varying styles it seems a bit odd that the four of you (formerly 5) would mesh in the way you did.  

Yes, and no.  The truth is that the walls between genres have been knocked down for many years, and today more than ever people’s tastes are extremely broad and, honestly, cosmopolitan.  The advance of the internet has of course made the world smaller and further allowed access to all sorts of music to be enjoyed by people from right around the world.  That richness is something to be embraced, and where that can be harnessed in some way and to some degree, then it is greatly rewarding and satisfying.  With regards our band, we all come from different natural musical inclinations, but share a love of musical exploration.  That openness to experimentation and finding common ground between musical instincts has been the cornerstone of the band’s ethos.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of healthy creative tension as we try to find that common ground, but out of a potential cacophony comes something all the more exquisite!We first explored this on my debut album, “No Coincidence”, which Cookie produced and played on (drums), as well as featuring Tim (bass guitar) and my brother Jason (lead guitar).  That album laid the foundations of what became Magazine Gap, allowing us to continue to develop as artists.  Cookie had shared a stage with Alex (keys) on one occasion for a session performance and saw something in his playing and responsiveness that he wanted to try with the band, so he was invited to join us for some live shows. The collective sound that subsequently developed was clearly much more that of a band than a singer/songwriter plus a backing group, and we consolidated our efforts into “Magazine Gap”. 

I noticed that the album “Light & Shade” was recorded at various studios across the UK and US, how did that work?  Was it difficult? 

It was a natural extension of the album being a journey, with each song having its own direction or leaning, that we should also record in different places.  We wanted to take the songs “on the road” and it made sense to record whilst out on tour.  We did a lot of pre-production beforehand, but still left a lot open to be determined whilst in the studio.  It was tiring for sure, but wasn’t especially difficult, despite limiting ourselves to a matter of hours in each place; it helps having an incredible producer in Cookie who knows exactly what he’s after.  The way we work is to record drums & bass together, with a guide vocal and often a guide keyboard to support the performance.  We then pick the best take (out of between 4-7 usually), then add vocals, guitars and piano on top.  We bring all the parts back to London and edit together (with additional tracking by brass, strings, percussion), but the performance and vibe on the track was very much influenced by being in those places, working with those great engineers in such varied recording studios.  We can’t now imagine “The Promised Land” being recorded other than in New Orleans, or “Silver Lining” in New York, or “Inside The Bubble” in Los Angeles or “What’s Next?” in Chicago, and so on.  The engineers seemed genuinely surprised at how quickly and effectively we worked, but it seemed straightforward to us.It was stressful, of course, but also wonderfully focused.  We recorded the title track in Houston on a Monday evening, flew to LA the next day and recorded “Swansong” in Hollywood that afternoon,  went to Padadena to record “Inside The Bubble” & “Something To Be Said” on the Wednesday before heading to The Mint for a showcase performance later that night, then flew to New Orleans for a solo show on Thursday, then the full band’s show on the Saturday in the French Quarter and finished up by recording “The Promised Land” in the 9th Ward (Bywater) on the Sunday. That was a busy week!

I’m from the States, I’ve been all over and to many different studios and venues, how did you find touring the US to be? 

We absolutely loved touring across America on both occasions we’ve been across to date, and the response of the audiences has been extremely gratifying, especially in different places.  We were eager to traverse the whole country and play in different areas to see whether the receptivity was greatest in certain places.  We therefore set about taking in the four biggest US cities, which are also the largest in the four US geographic regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, West).  We figured that how people might respond on the East Coast (New York, Cape May), might be different to the Gulf Coast (Houston & New Orleans) or the West Coast (Los Angeles).  What we have found, however, is that there has been no difference!  That in turn reflects the broader palette of music lovers generally.  Plus, even more importantly, has been people tell us that we have something fresh even to bring to the US, as opposed to them saying “Yeah but there are so many bands like you around”…  That hugely positive reaction has been interesting, and of course really encouraging.

What was the goal for the album?  I read on your website that it represented a journey, do you feel like that is what you achieved? 

The album is a representation of our carefully developed sound and style.  In this day-and-age you cannot wait for the music industry to ‘get it’ and finance recordings, and in any case you might lose much of your artistic integrity, so we set about creating a product that showed the vision of what we’re about.  It was a journey for sure.  We covered almost 25,000 miles to record the album!  During the recording process and post-completion, we have wanted to promote our songs as much as possible, both on the road and online, to test the water.  With regards social networks, our YouTube channel in particular has been really interesting.  We’ve received many thousands of comments, and we always make a point of writing a note of thanks back to them. In doing so, we find out more about them – age, location, musical tastes etc – and what’s been incredibly revealing is that we’ve got fans that range from 12 years old through to retirees, and in countries right around the globe; in particular, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Russia, The Philippines, Japan, and Australia.  And some have inclinations that you wouldn’t expect, such as metal and hip-hop!  So we cannot be too specific about our typical demographic, other than those who like what’s meant by the original meaning of “popular music”!!  But I would also say that we are still on the journey.

The vocals are sublime.  I’m sure you read my review, did I hit the nail on the head as far as my idea of influences goes?  If not which artist(s) really inspired you? 

Thank you very much!  You mentioned Rob Thomas, who I admire as a singer and songwriter, and think Maroon 5 are great, but wouldn’t say they were major influences.  Tracy Chapman definitely is.  Ever since I was about 18, my vocals have been compared to hers more than anyone else’s. I used to find that annoying because it’s not an affectation, but I’ve long been a huge fan of her folk-rock style as well as her voice; when I first saw her in concert in London I thought if I sound anything like her I’m really okay with that!  The artist that has most inspired me is Paul Simon.  His “Graceland” album had a profound effect on me – he managed to combine an overlying pop/folk vocal and lyrical content with a fusion of sounds that was distinct, powerful and unique.  He’s long been a musical adventurer of course, even back in S&G days.  The other two artists that really shaped my own writing are Bob Dylan and Neil Young.  Again, they have also sustained a career by moving through genres.  They are among the greatest pioneers in music, and most of the other artists I admire were in turn following in their footsteps.  More recently, the artist that has most captured my attention is Dave Matthews, and of course the band – their very successful fusion spurs us on!

I must say that the sound stands out in a crowd, are there any areas of your music you may change or will you stay solely with this style? 

Again, thank you, we appreciate that.  I would say that developing ‘the sound of Magazine Gap’ has been the main objective to date, even if that consists of various styles within it.  It is always important to have a thread that is distinctive but there are so many areas we’ve yet to explore, and our journey will continue and I hope our audience will enjoy the on-going development. Above that, our live shows always take our recorded, more radio-friendly studio versions, to another level again.  I think seeing us live is the best way to really understand what we’re about.

What can we expect next from Magazine Gap? 

A lot…!

http://www.songsalive.org/interviews?mode=PostView&bmi=582497

Interview with Songsalive! member James Keen about his band, Magazine Gap  

Recently, we caught up with one of our favorite European Songsalive! members, James Keen, as he got us up to date on his band Magazine Gap and their worldwide touring and new album:

1. Where are you from, originally and what brought you to your current city London?

You wouldn’t know it from my accent, but I was actually born in Australia to an Aussie mum and an English father. I initially grew up in Hong Kong, but went to school and university in London, and have been here ever since.

2. What style of music would you say you do?

We call it “eclectic pop/rock”, because it combines a range of styles including: pop, rock, folk, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, country, Latin, African…

3. What do you enjoy best - songwriting or performing and why?

Performing.   Songwriting is hard work, a fulfilling but time-consuming process to develop an idea into a fully fledged song. Excitement comes from the moments of inspiration when you hit on something, usually out of nowhere, but is sporadic in the labour of love that is the creation process. It’s also something I do on my own.  Performing, on the other hand, involves playing with your friends, sharing the spotlight with great musicians, and drawing on the crowd’s reaction to shape the show; it’s unpredictable and of course requires a lot of concentration but is extremely fun and immediately rewarding.

4. Who are your musical influences?

Mainly Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Sting.

5. Describe your favorite song you have written and why is it so special to you

“The Promised Land”. It was my first attempt at telling a story, of creating characters and a different world. I’d never been to New Orleans, where it is set, until the very week we actually went there to perform, and it was an unexpected thrill to record the song there. Made a special song to me all the more special. It’s the first song on the new album.

6. What are your goals for the next 5 years musically speaking?

To continue to develop as a recording artist, to try new sounds, and record in studios around the world. Would like the music to connect to more people as well, of course!

7. Tell us about your recordings and what’s in store next.

Because our music is something of a journey, it made sense for us to record in different places at different times. Some of the songs on the “Light & Shade” album were recorded, mixed and mastered before others were even written. It took 18 months in total from start to finish.  Most of us worked together on my debut album, “No Coincidence”, which was  recorded and mixed in the same studio in London. With that experience, we were confident about new working environments. We ended up using 12 different studios for the “Light & Shade” album –

In London:
The Dairy Studios
Soho Recording Studios
Beethoven Street Studios
KORE Studios
Alpha Centauri Recording
Metropolis Studios

In America:
Avatar Studios, New York
CRC Recording, Chicago
Piety Street Recording, New Orleans
Sunrise Sound, Houston
Capitol Studios, Hollywood
Firehouse Recording Studios, Pasadena

8. Where can we buy your music?

At the moment, the “Light & Shade” album is only available as a special edition CD (with unique packaging) through our website.  “No Coincidence” is available more widely, including iTunes and CDbaby.

9. What are your views about where the music industry is heading in your community, or on a global level?

It remains extremely risk-averse, even when the fundamentals are obvious. By that I mean it’s not rocket-science to know that a good voice, a good song, good musicianship, good sound, good vibe etc is something people will be drawn to. Yet, that doesn’t seem to be enough for some, and too much for others! Therefore artists are forced to be independent, which is not a bad thing as you will define yourself better as an artist, but the capital constraints means the playing field is limited until there’s a serious backer.

10. Anything pertinent you’d like to say about Songsalive!

Gilli Moon been extremely kind in supporting the band, and in fact has been a catalyst in many of our endeavours - we did our very first show as MAGAZINE GAP at The Mint in Los Angeles, where we headlined a Songsalive! event (the launch of The Art of Men CD which included two songs from the “No Coincidence” album). That evening gave us all the encouragement we needed to press on. The support that Songsalive! gives to independent artists is great.

It’s been more than a few months since the last update, and now that we’ve finished the tour and got some down time it’s a good opportunity to reflect on the intervening period.

Milton Keynes - The Stables (29 Jan)

We started the New Year getting ready for our biggest show of the tour at the end of January.  Ranked by PRS for Music as #6 live music venue in the UK (Link), The Stables in Milton Keynes is a stunning theatre.  It was originally founded in 1970 by the legendary jazz musician Johnny Dankworth and his wife, the jazz singer Cleo Laine. It was set up ‘in their back garden’, being in the old stables block in the grounds of their home.  The present building on the same site was constructed in 2000 and remains state of the art.  The Jim Marshall Auditorium seats 400 people on three sides of the stage, with the seats rising up like a traditional theatre.  The staff at the venue are extremely friendly, helpful and professional, which helped make it such a memorable experience; special thanks to Alison Young & Rachel Chapman.

For such an important show we brought up from London our own sound engineer, Nigel Glasgow, who had worked with us at Terminal Studios on the original live music videos; Nigel did an excellent job of engineering the show.  We also brought back the dynamic brass duo of Greg Heath on Saxophone and Joe Auckland on Trumpet, who joined us for about half the songs.  As with The 100 Club in December, we also featured Rob Bond on the Pedal Steel Guitar for “Nevertheless” and “Slipstream”, on which he performed another blinder.  It was also the first opportunity for Cookie to show his new Magazine Gap drum head, which received a lot of positive attention.

As proscribed by the format of the venue, the show was divided into two halves, which was the first time we’d ever had an interval in one of our concerts!  We enjoyed it though because we designed the show with essentially two beginnings and two endings.  Over the two and half hours we did 21 songs, including a brand new song for 2011 called “Ran For Cover”.  The set was otherwise made up of all 12 songs from the LIGHT & SHADE album plus 7 songs from the NO COINCIDENCE album, and topped off for the encore by our cover of “All Along The Watchtower”, which turned into an extended jam featuring all the musicians.

It was undoubtedly our best ever show, with all the hard work put in over many miles paying off, and for such a wonderfully diverse audience; from a girl in the audience taken to celebrate her 11th birthday and a range of teenagers up through every generation including people in their 60s and 70s.  The great reception from such a broad demographic was wonderful, and meant a lot to us.  It was also nice to hear from many of them first-hand at a meet-and-greet in the foyer afterwards.  We also received an extremely warm review from local publication Maybe Magazine (Link); our thanks again to Sarah Wilkinson for her kind words.  Chris Towndrow, our talented video editor, came up to shoot some behind the scenes footage as well as the live performance of “The Promised Land”, which he later compiled into a new live music video (Link).

Dublin - The Academy 2 (12 Feb)

The next step on the tour was our first trip to Ireland, with a showcase in Dublin at The Academy 2 in the centre of the city.  As a musical and cultural capital of Europe, indeed the world, we enjoyed walking around the town during the day, taking in the buskers on Grafton Street, visiting music shops, and getting our bearings of the main areas and historical landmarks.  The venue was similar to Audio in Brighton, being a cool club in the basement, and had an incredible sound system with excellent engineering by Connor.  It made for a fun performance and being back to the four-piece for the first time since Birmingham in November.

Bristol - The Tunnels (25 Feb)

It was fitting that our final date on the tour would be in the UK’s “most musical city” (Link), Bristol.  The Tunnels is an excellent venue, set up only last year by the gregarious, former England rugby star Gareth Chilcott, who also runs it in a very hands-on way and was extremely welcomingly.  The support act for the show was local band Jacanda, fronted by Chris Pritchett.  I met Chris on the acoustic circuit in London, and in fact I opened solo for his previous band at the Bristol Folk House several years ago.  We had long talked about doing something again in Bristol, and this was a wonderful opportunity to do that. Jacanda are a great bunch of guys, with a great sound (Link) , and we enjoyed their set immensely.

With great sound engineering by Kevin and a warm audience reception, we all came away feeling it was probably our best ever performance; hard to compare with The Stables, because it was such a different setting, but as a four-piece with a big sound on a stage that harnessed that power, we were very pleased with the show.  Just for fun, and without any warning to the band members, I decided to play Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (which we’d never played together before) instead of Watchtower and showcase how much the band is in sync by coming up with an arrangement spontaneously!  Being the end of the tour, and the 13th city, it was great to go out on a high.

LIGHT & SHADE - Reviews

Along the way, our album – which is still only available as a pre-release – has been picking up some great reviews:

“The fabulous group Magazine Gap will mesmerize you with their outstanding music, magnetic originality and creativeness.  The charismatic vocals have a captivating appeal while they use a colourful mix of instrumentation.”

RadioIndy

“There’s folk/rock/pop mixed with R&B/blues/soul with occasional Latin rhythms and jazz piano. The combination somehow works and James Keen’s voice stands out. Interesting stuff. ****”

Sunday Mail (Scotland)

“Sophisticated pop for all lovers of class”

VoluME Magazine (BBC Norfolk)

“This is a really good album with a truly eclectic air about it. It has a folk rock side to it with a wonderful heavy leaning to jazz rock too.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it but that’s exactly what this album is. Some fine musicianship is fronted by the singer-songwriter James Keen. Diversity is the key here.”

Classic Rock Society Magazine (March 2011)

“What I like so much about ‘Light & Shade’ is that it’s just so unpredictable simply because there are so many influences on here. Not only do you get a wicked disc full of great tunes I have to give the packaging the thumbs up! A pleasurable listening experience, this album should be on your ‘To Buy’ list. 9/10”

Street Voice UK

“An eclectic sound that combines folk, rock, pop, blues and jazz, it makes for an unusual album. As the band says “It shouldn’t work, but it does”.  There are folk-rock tracks shot through with jazz influences, and vice versa.  The album is lyrically strong and the vocals of singer-songwriter James Keen hold all the various elements together and fuse them into a distinct sound. 7/10”

Bristol Evening Post

“Sounds fantastic, with quality musicianship throughout.  Could even be suggested to fill the void that’s been left by the demise of Simply Red.”

Buzz Jack

Four-Piece / Jason

I’ve been playing music with my younger brother for a long time.  Jason first joined me on stage for my first ever solo gig in London to sing a duet on my song “Deep Suspicions”; we came full circle by dusting it off for at our gig as a duo in Chicago last September.  Jason was there at the beginning (both privately and publicly!). His lead guitar work became a key part of my sound, and he played in shows and on demos with our first band, before performing on all the songs on the NO COINCIDENCE album as well as the LIGHT & SHADE album.  He travelled with the band across the US and was there for the first ever official Magazine Gap show, which took place at The Mint in Los Angeles (August 09).  Unfortunately, Jason’s relocation first to America and more recently to Singapore has meant he has been absent for the last year; in fact, he’s never played a show with Magazine Gap in the UK.  The band has largely therefore evolved and developed without him and so, not without significant regret, we all agreed to formally continue as a four-piece, but to try to reintroduce him wherever possible as our very special guest.  We all owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his support and work in getting the band together. 

28,000 miles

We’ve worked out that the distance covered with the travelling we have done to/fro London for all the dates over the last 18 months is more than 28,000 miles!  That’s 3.5 times the Earth’s diameter…

Post-Tour

We’ve been working non-stop for two years through various tours, recording studios, music videos, photo shoots etc, and we have finally found some time to relax before we hit the road again in the summer.  We’ve got some festivals in the works, including the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which this year celebrates its 45th anniversary; it also just won “Best Festival in the World” at the international live music conference.  We are so delighted to have been invited to play the Music in the Park stage at this amazing festival.  I’ve been there twice, once to see Paul Simon and once to see James Taylor, so know how great the place is.  Has long been a dream to perform there, so looking forward to realising that in a few months.

As ever, stay tuned!

Cheers,

James

A lot has happened, and a lot of miles have been covered, since the summer and the last blog (four months ago now).  This autumn has predominantly been spent travelling around the country for our first ever UK-wide tour.  Having toured the US twice, it was perhaps overdue that we took to the road around our home country, and we were soon set to perform at key venues in most of the major cities in the UK.  As with America, this included the four most populous cities: London, Birmingham, Glasgow & Liverpool.

Norwich – The Brickmakers (7 Sept)

After the Cardiff date was pushed back until the middle of October, the Autumn Tour began with a showcase at The Brickmakers in Norwich.  It was essentially a home-town gig for Tim, who brought out the Norfolk Massive (respect!).  A two-tier stage with lots of space, a great sound system and a warm reception helped us feel good to be back performing.

Chicago – Goose Island Wrigleyville (16 Sept)

Briefly breaking off from the UK tour, I returned to Chicago in late September to join up with Jason, who was living there at the time, and perform an acoustic show; we were billed as “The Keen Brothers”, and it was our first time as a duo in over 6 years and a personal thrill to undertake. It was also great fun to reinterpret Magazine Gap songs much as we had started out on the acoustic circuit in London many years ago.  The flood lights of the iconic Wrigley Field, directly behind the venue, came through the window to add to the atmosphere. 

Personal highlight was performing “Deep Suspicions” for the first time in a very long time.  It was the first song Jason and I ever played on stage together, and includes a great duet on the choruses and 3rd verse; it’s not always easy getting Jason in front of a microphone, but I like the sound of our two similar voices in harmony.

Whilst in town, Jason and I met up with Rob Loutkotka of Collision Labs to talk about the album booklet and set the shape for the rest of the design.  Rob had already done a great job on the album cover, and we would continue to fine-tune the rest of the packaging for the next couple of months to get it all spot on.

Cardiff – The Globe (17 Oct)

Back in the UK, the tour resumed with our first visit to Wales.  The Globe Theatre is a wonderful venue (a converted art deco cinema) with a high ceiling and gallery level.  We were supported by an excellent local band Under The Driftwood Tree, who put on a great opening set.  We look back on that show as one of the best of the whole tour.  Just felt great.

Oxford – O2 Academy2 (22 Oct)

The following week brought us to Oxford, which has been my ‘local’ city for 20 years as my family home (from when we moved back from Hong Kong) is just outside and I spent a total of 15 months there studying business and law after university.  ‘The Zodiac’ was the venue in town and naturally I’ve longed harboured a desire to play there.  I was therefore thrilled to finally do so with Magazine Gap.  It has been recently refurbished and rebranded as “O2 Academy2 Oxford”, but has kept its great atmosphere and sense of history.  We all enjoyed being on that stage.  Support came from the talented Eilidh Forster and her band.

Exeter – Mama Stone’s (27 Oct)

We arrived in Exeter early afternoon and headed straight to the University, where we met Gareth & Lauren who this year oversee Xpression FM and conducted a radio interview with us.  We also performed our first live session in the studio; we performed acoustic versions of “Slipstream” and “Swansong”, which we’ll finally be able upload to our website before Christmas.

Mama Stone’s is owned and run by Joss Stone’s mother and oozes a cool, old school vibe.  We had good fun, and the set included “All Along The Watchtower” for the first (and as it turned out only) time this tour.

Liverpool – The Cavern Club (29 Oct)

Two days later we were in Liverpool, where we had long been looking forward to playing “The Most Famous Club In The World”.  The Cavern is truly unique, and being based in the heart of the city, continues to beat strongly as a major attraction.  Set in a deep cellar (which had acted as an air raid shelter during the war) it originally opened in 1957, and of course was made famous by The Beatles who played there almost 300 times between 1961-1963.  It’s become a rite-of-passage for all aspiring rock stars, despite its turbulent history; it closed in 1973, re-opened in 1984, closed in 1989, and lastly re-opened again in 1991. 

The original stage, which has terrible acoustics, remains the main tourist attraction (with regular acoustic cover sets).  A newer and larger stage in the adjoining room is where we played, and where Paul McCartney made his return in 1999.  Great sound engineering and audience helped make us feel extremely welcome and have a lot of fun performing.  Alex’s mop top hair cut was even more fitting for the occasion!  A major highlight in our live performances to date.

Glasgow – Nice n Sleazy (30 Oct)

The following day took us for the first time to Scotland.  It was a Saturday night and turned out to be celebrated as ‘Halloween Eve’; the centre of Glasgow, where the venue was located, was essentially a massive fancy dress party.  The Scots clearly go all out with brilliant costumes and make-up, which contributed to a great party atmosphere as our audience were coming from and going on to various parties.  Got a message from ‘Elmo’ the following day saying how much he’d enjoyed it!  The stage itself was covered in ‘spider webs’, and the previous act performed in skeleton costumes (sadly we’d forgotten ours).  Good night.  Fun and seriously funny. 

Brighton – Audio (13 Nov)

We had a couple of weeks off before resuming on the south coast, in the cosmopolitan city of Brighton, which has such a great energy.  The venue has a cool Miami South Beach art deco style exterior and is situated opposite the Brighton Pier, facing the English Channel.  Although essentially an underground club, Audio has one of the best sound systems of any of the venues we’d played and the engineering was first class.  It contributed greatly to our feeling that it was one of the best shows we’d done.  Great support set from Brighton-based funk-pop band, with an awesome horn section, The Grand Majestic.

Newcastle – The Cluny (16 Nov)

This was a city we fell in love with – our first time there on a freezing November night, and the people couldn’t have been warmer.  The Cluny is a great venue and another historical stop on the circuit.  We enjoyed the two support acts in Hattie Murdoch and Mike Gatto, and had a blast performing.  We will definitely be returning to Georgieland!

Birmingham – O2 Academy3 (29 Nov)

Our penultimate gig of the year was in Britain’s Second City and took place at the newly refurbished and very smart O2 Academy3.  It was a very cold Friday night but busy, with Adam Lambert and Interpol performing in the other two venues on-site.  We chose to mix up the set list that night to air some tracks that hadn’t been performed so often on the tour, such as “Light & Shade”, “Something To Be Said” and “What’s Next?”.  For the last few gigs, including this one, we had been going on stage without a set list and would decide which song to do next just prior to launching into it.  That gave us flexibility and was fun, but also kept us on our toes.

Album Pre-Release

We took the decision to fully release the album in spring 2011, but to put out in December a very limited, CD-only edition, in a special digipak to let our loyal fans to get their hands on the whole project.  We have of course been unveiling songs on the album bit by bit – on Myspace, YouTube, Jango etc – but to listen through from start to finish is the only way to experience the entire journey.

The artwork, as mentioned earlier, took the same care and attention to fine-tune as we did with the mix, and similarly we were really pleased with the results.  We finally sent it into production in mid-November and waited for it to return from being manufactured (as it turned out in Poland).  The release date had been set for Monday, 6 December and the first CDs were posted out to be delivered on that date.  It is currently on sale exclusively through our website: www.magazinegap.com/shop

Silver Lining Video

As documented in an earlier blog, we recorded a new song called “Silver Lining” at Avatar Studios in New York whilst there in March this year.  We also filmed the recording, and earlier in the autumn we began the process of editing together the footage.  Given our schedule and that Chris, the editor, was also flat out, we would return to make changes every few weeks.  We finally had it ready in time for the launch on 6 December, and it went live on YouTube that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHFiSmIiuc

London – The 100 Club (7 Dec)

After our successful show in April, it was great to return to The 100 Club for our album launch concert on Tuesday, 7 December, and our final date on the autumn leg of the tour.  Our special guest musicians included the return of Greg Heath on tenor saxophone, who delivered a sensational solo in “Inside The Bubble”; Greg is also a brilliant photographer and we used two of his shots as full pages in the album booklet.  Greg plays on eight songs on the album, so it was very fitting that he would be there for the launch.

We’ve worked with two trumpeters on the album; Henry Collins was our original guest trumpeter, who had previously played on a number of tracks on the NO COINCIDENCE album, including “Good To Go” and “More Alive”, and performs on three songs on the LIGHT & SHADE album, including “Our Last Stand” and “It’s All Good”.  When we came to record brass on the second set of tracks, Henry was off touring the world with Tom Jones but kindly recommended Joe Auckland to step into his place; Joe plays on five tracks on the album (including “The Promised Land” and “Silver Lining”), and joined us for our first 100 Club concert (as seen on YouTube).  This time Joe was off on tour (with Madness) but Henry was back in town and we were delighted that he could join us on stage for the first time.  On the NO COINCIDENCE album, Henry also recorded a stunning mute trumpet on “Oversight”, the version of which ultimately did not make it onto the album for fear of detracting from the vocal but was otherwise amazing.  So it was a great thrill to recreate that version for the first time live.  Our photographer that night fell ill as it turned out, so unfortunately we don’t have official photos from the night.  However, here’s a picture of Henry & Greg in the recording studio.

During the additional tracking on “Slipstream” in London last year, we felt that it would benefit from a pedal steel guitar.  Joe, our engineer, knew of a great player called Rob Bond, and we quickly tracked him down.  Fortunately, he was able to join us the next day and laid down a beautiful sound that added immense emotion to the track.  It was therefore fantastic that Rob was able to join us on stage for the launch, playing that song as well as “Nevertheless”; on both tracks he was stunning.  We will look to recreate that in Milton Keynes in January.

2010 – Round-Up

So, it’s been a busy year!!  It’s been hard work, but we’ve also had a lot of fun. The year started with completing pre-production on two new songs to round out the album.  This was ahead of our return trip to the US, where we recorded those two songs (plus an instrumental that appears as a hidden track on the album!) and performed in New York City, Cape May, Chicago and Los Angeles.  Back in the UK it was straight into rehearsals for our first two hour concert in Central London at the ‘oldest live music venue in the world’, The 100 Club, with guest musicians.  In May we headed back to the studio for additional tracking (acoustic guitar, brass, percussion, backing vocals) on those new tracks, followed by the traditional painstaking mixing process, before mastering in August.  After the summer, we were back on the road!  Then with the album complete, the artwork complete, and the production complete, finally the launch…

It’s been wonderful to meet so many great people across the US and the UK.  Along the way we have also been delighted to have been joined online by many thousands of people across Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and Jango, among others.  The support has been hugely appreciated. 

Our 2011 starts in January with our biggest ever show at The Stables in Milton Keynes, followed by a trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin and Belfast.  Lots more to come after that, but got to leave some suspense!

Have a great Christmas everyone and very best wishes for 2011!

James

(Source: magazinegap.blogspot.com)