Word from The Rapture – Dave Matthews, You Ain’t Got NO STYLE!
I attended In The City Yesterday, I left with some great thoughts to ponder, and was entertained by a few people in the industry, who don’t have a clue. Marc Geiger, and Tom Silverman, almost had a full on brawl during the Howl Panel. Listened in a bit while Tony Wilson interviewed David Massey, the President of Mercury. David broke Wang Chung when he was only 23, and somehow was able to wrangle managing 8 bands at one time, which I think, is quite impressive. He also broke The Killers, and explained how multiple labels passed them up, before he signed them on, and made them a massive success.
4:00 p.m.: The Howl Seminar:
Ralph Simon – Chairman Emeritus & Founder, Mobile Entertainment Forum – Americas
Marc Geiger – Sr V.P William Morris Agency, Ex-Vice Chairman & President ARTISTdirect Inc.
Tom Silverman – CEO & Founder, Tommy Boy Records
Ted Cohen – Head of Digital, EMI
Andy Gershon – SonyBMG
Patrick Moxey – Ultra Records
The “hot” panel of they day was the one listed below, where the panelists packed the room for a discussion that focused on pinpointing why music is seemingly better received in the UK than the U.S. It was a great discussion, no brawls, lots of laughs. Beyond the fashion implications put forth by Matt B Safer below, two stand out points seemed to be the sheer size of the US, as well as cultural differences. The U.S. has a massive film and fashion industry, where as, the UK does not. People in the U.S. focus on celebrity gossip and Star Magazine, and those in the UK, music/band gossip and NME. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s, manager Asif Ahmed pointed out that to stay relevant in the UK, you had to release a single every 3 weeks, while in the U.S, music had more staying power, and was less disposable.
Gabriel Andruzzi pointed out one reason for this was that most bands starting out, try to find their success, by making music that sounds like every other “hot” band of the moment. In his closing statement his advice to those trying to achieve and maintain success – “get out there and play a lot of shows, be good to YOUR band, and Be a good band.”
I believe him, he’s a wise dude, and being in The Rapture, he would know ; )
5:00 p.m.: Bring me your poor and huddled masses, and we’ll make stars of them and ship them back…
How to break your band in the UK:
Martin Heath – Lizard King Records
Jonathan Shalit – Shalit Global
Asif Ahmed – Schmanagement
Lesley Bleakley – Beggars Group
Mark Reiter – Q Prime
Mattie Safer – The Rapture
Gabriel Andruzzi – The Rapture
Steve Ferguson – Little Big Man
The “hot” panel of the day was
As reported by NME
In the City kicks off in New York
The Rapture discuss their UK success
14.Jun.07 1:18am
In the City of New York kicked off today with a series of seminars at the W Hotel Union Square, including one featuring Mattie Safer and Gabriel Andruzzi of The Rapture.
At the seminar entitled ‘How To Break Your Band In The UK’, Safer discussed the relationship between the music scenes of New York and the UK.
“I think it’s more to do with not just the music, but the lifestyle and fashion. The music that gets big over there (the UK) is usually part of some big package, there’s a scene that’s associated with it, there’s a look that’s associated with it and New York is also a big fashion town, so there’s always trends happening.”
And Safer was quick to point out an example of an American band who enjoy massive success in the US, yet are relatively unknown across the pond.
“That’s why Dave Matthews Band doesn’t do well in the UK” he continued “Regardless of what you think about them – it’s horrible style. For me, I think that’s a lot of it, even just beyond musical taste.”
The conference is the first In the City to be held in New York. A two-day event, each night features performances by British bands. Happy Mondays were forced to cancel their show tonight due to visa issues, but openers Pigeon Detectives and The Rakes will go ahead with the show which has been relocated to the Knitting Factory.
Tomorrow night’s headliner is Biffy Clyro, with support from Enter Shikari and Blood Red Shoes.
