Mark Bennett (CROSSHAIR BOOKING AGENCY) - One's to watch in 2012.

NOTE: I've tried to dig out and add links to the artists included below but if you are included below and would like links to be changed/added or Twitter etc adding please email micktcs@gmail.com and let me know the details.

Mick

Everyone seems to have an opinion on musical acts that they think might do rather well next year and some cracking lists have been around, but most of them contain the same people over and over.

Last Year my list included Tribes, Anna Calvi, The Milk, Wu Lyf, Vaccines, Treetop flyers amongst others and some of them didn’t do too bad.

Here are some acts that I like and hope will do well in 2012, in no particular order:-

1) Yellowire SoundCloud Facebook 
2) Silver Seas SoundCloud Facebook
3) The Targets SoundCloud Facebook
4) [ME] SoundCloud Facebook
5) Mad Dog SoundCloud Facebook
6) Binary SoundCloud Facebook
7) Janice Graham Band Facebook
8) Rachel Sermanni SoundCloud Facebook
9) Fractures SoundCloud Facebook
10) The Sea SoundCloud Facebook
11) She Keeps Bees SoundCloud Facebook
12) The Jess Hall Band SoundCloud Facebook
13) The Din SoundCloud Facebook
14) Jack Townes SoundCloud Facebook
15) The Staves SoundCloud Facebook
16) Gross Magic SoundCloud Facebook
17) The Carpels SoundCloud Facebook
18) The Troubadors SoundCloud Facebook
19) Peace SoundCloud Facebook
20) Morrisey and Marshall SoundCloud Facebook

There’s 20 bands that you might not have heard of.  Here are 12 acts you may have heard but you still must go and see them :-

1) Lana Del Ray SoundCloud Facebook
2) The War on Drugs SoundCloud Facebook
3) Sad Day for Puppets SoundCloud Facebook
4) Fanzine SoundCloud Facebook
5) The History of Apple Pie SoundCloud Facebook
6) Dexters SoundCloud Facebook
7) Catfish and the Bottlemen SoundCloud Facebook
8) Cold Specks SoundCloud Facebook
9) Jamie N Commons SoundCloud Facebook
10) DZ Deathrays SoundCloud Facebook
11) Life in Film SoundCloud Facebook
12) Kyla La Grange SoundCloud Facebook

Mark Bennett

You can follow Mark on twitter to keep up with the bands that he's booking and putting on and also just to chew the fat about new bands and his recomendations.  He's on @chbookingagency

I can vouch for a few of these bands and hope to be featuring them soon.  In the mean time I'll be checking the rest out.  You should too. 

Mick

NOEL GALLAGHER ON UK RADIO AND TV THIS WEEK

To kick off the new year Noel is confirmed to make a number of UK radio and TV appearances this week.

He will be interviewed Thursday morning on UK Radio 1's Breakfast Show. Zane Lowe, who is sitting in for Unfunny Chris Moyles for the first week of January will be chatting to Noel about the new single 'If I Had A Gun…' and his plans for the year. Fans can tune in from 8am or listen online HERE!

Noel will also appear on Steve Wright's UK Radio 2 show on Thursday afternoon. Tune in between 14:00 and 17:00 or listen online HERE!

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' will perform new single 'If I Had A Gun…' on this week's Graham Norton Show, which will air Friday 6th January at 22:35 on BBC1 and iPlayer (UK only). Noel will also join Graham on the couch for a chat.

Noel's fourth and last appearance of the week will see him chatting about all things football on UK Sky TV's Soccer AM show this Saturday 7th January. He will join hosts Max and Helen plus American Pie actor Seann William Scott and ex-Man City midfielder Dietmar Hamann. The show will air from 10am.

'If I Had A Gun…' - the third UK single from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - is out now. The single is available on 7", CD and download and comes with the exclusive track 'I'd Pick You Every Time'. Get your copy now from the official store HERE or iTunes HERE.

Mick

Merry Christmas and Here's a FREE LIVE ALBUM from ALL THE YOUNG

Merry Christmas Everybody.  I really hope you're having an amazing time full of love and music. 

Guess what?  As a Christmas present to everyone on their mailing list, ALL THE YOUNG are **GIVING AWAY** an album of the awesome King's Hall, Stoke On Trent show from earlier this year.  What nice lads they are.  If you want to top ALL of the presents that you have received so far this year then get yourself over to there web site now and get it. CLICK HERE.

Mick

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Peter Hook And The Light Announce UK Tour May / June 2012

The legendary Peter Hook and his latest band The Light have announced that they will be playing UK dates in May and June next year.  Following international dates throughout 2011 and the recent UK shows at The Lowry, Salford, which were all very well received Hooky is taking his Unknown Pleasures and Closer shows around the UK. 

Hopefully this will be the first dates of a larger tour.  God knows pretty much every older Joy Division fan wants it.  The dates announced so far are:-

Sat 25th Feb Buxton Opera House (Unknown Pleasures & Closer)
Fri 25th May Liverpool O2 Academy (Unknown Pleasures)

Sat 26th May Glasgow Oran Mor (Unknown Pleasures)

Sun 27th May Nottingham Rescue Rooms (Unknown Pleasures)

Tues 29th May Sheffield Leadmill (Unknown Pleasures)

Weds 30th May Birmingham O2Academy (Unknown Pleasures)

Fri 1st June London O2Academy Islington (Closer)

Sat 2nd June Oxford O2Academy (Unknown Pleasures)

The band play the album(s) sequentially and in track order and then follow with other Warsaw and Joy Division tracks, some of which neither Joy Division or New Order ever played live.

An excellent night for any original Joy Divison fan or for younger fans just discovering the band.

The tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY 16th December

Check out PeterHook.co.uk for full details

IC1s release Christmas charity single for SHELTER (+ win Kasabian Tickets)

The brilliant IC1s are releasing a Christmas charity single "KARMA (It's On Your Side)" in aid of the homeless charity Shelter on Monday December 19th on "25th Hour Convenience Store", the independent label belonging to the Libertine's, Gary Powell.

The track will be available for download and the ALL of the proceeds will go directly to support the vital work that Shelter do every day to help people faced with homelessness. It's a genuine quality Indie Rock outing that is well worth a few of your hard earned pence to go towards a brilliant cause this Christmas.  You'll be singing the chorus well into next year I guarantee it..

As the band's Jesse James, explains "People are faced with losing their home every single day in any given town or city; if you open your eyes it's right in front of you. Christmas is the perfect time to show some goodwill and help out. Shelter does sterling work and we are proud to be supporting them"

This will be the second release from the band who's debut release LEVITATE (click here to listen) reached number 24 in the iTunes Alternative Singles chart in a week when the chart was dominated predominantly by former high charting hits from acts such as Kings Of Leon, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys and others..

The single is available to pre-order HERE and there's a compettition via the band's Facebook page (HERE) to win tickets to see KASABIAN with support from MILES KANE.

The band are a firm favourite of Oasis discoverer and Creation Records founder Alan McGee who has been a strong supporter of the band from the start.  Since then - just a mere 14 months - the band have shared stages with The Cribs, The Charlatans, Tinie Tempah, Proud Mary, Badly Drawn Boy, Calvin Harris, Bloc Party, Tim Burgess and many more.

McGee says “They remind me of The Who during the Tommy period meeting punk rock. I have known Daniel the singer for 6 years and its great seeing him become great musically over the years. Its a tune!”

A highlight for the band this year was when they were invited to perform at Tim Burgess' personally curated 'Friends Of Mine' festival in Manchester, expanding the fan base to include Mani from the Stone Roses, who after seeing them exclaimed that he “fucking loved it” and since rumours have been circulating over the web that IC1s will be one of the bands to support the Stones Roses in 2012.

Other people championing IC1s include;-

XFM's Pete Donaldson - "They're a little bit Libertines, a little bit Ramones - but they're certainly 100% hundred percent London. WHACK JACK (click here to listen) must surely serve as a stomping, unifying crowd pleaser live. The punk rock chorus comes out of precisely nowhere and is the sort of thing the word 'tasty' was invented for"

Absolute Radio's Sarah Champion - "Love the band and name…Indie pop rock with attitude, particularly infectious!"

and Mark Beaumont (NME, The Times, The Guardian) - "A proper, no messing about rock band!"

Just in cased you missed it above, the single is available NOW to pre-order HERE and costs a mere £1.29.  Go on do your good turn this Christmas and get a cracking tune for your iPod into the bargain.

IC1 Facebook Page HERE
More tracks on the IC1 SoundCloud page HERE

Mick
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Looking for the future? Check out FRONTIERS.

Every now and then a band comes along that are THAT good that they make you want to swear.  Well I'm telling you, FRONTIERS are THAT FUCKIN' GOOD!!! 


Apart from good songs, which they have, they have that quality of bringing great bands to mind while remaining unique.  Amongst the bands they bring to mind are early New Order, The Cure, The Cult, Puressence and even a bit of Kasabian so you know they have a great sound before you scroll down to have a listen.

So who are FRONTIERS?

They are Jacob Austin,  Jonnie Barnett,  Charlie Burley,  Alex Noble and they are from Nottingham.  They've been around since 2007 and had a period of limelight around 2009 when they raised a few eyebrows, but they took a step back from the limelight and have re-emerged this year with a buzz of expectancy surrounding them.

They've written some new songs and thrown away some old and what they are playing right now is top notch.  Ladies and gentlemen, turn your volume up....... I give you FRONTIERS:--


Alibi (Demo)
Alibi (demo) by frontiersofficial

Sound Of Confusion (Demo)
Sound of Confusion (demo) by frontiersofficial

Yesterday's Child (Demo)
Yesterday's Child (demo) by frontiersofficial

In Persuit (Demo)
In Pursuit (demo) by frontiersofficial


Well what do you think?

"Excellent" is one of the appropriate answers to that question. You need to be involved with FRONTIERS. Here are some links that will help you find more songs and more info.... DO IT!!


Mick




FRONTIERS Official:-

Web page is HERE 

SoundCloud page is HERE

 FaceBook page is HERE

 MySpace page is HERE

NOEL GALLAGHER Live on Radio and TV Tonight.

NB: This was Thursday 3rd November 2011

Radio 2 are broadcasting Lord NOEL of GALLAGHER's gig tonight live from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.  The radio show starts at 8PM UK time but I'm pretty sure that the gig starts at 9PM UK time.

Even better news is that if you're in the UK you can watch the whole thing live on any BBC channel by pressing the RED BUTTON and also on the BBC Radio 2 web site.

Gonna be good.

The RADIO 2 Web page is HERE if you want to listen online.

Enjoy

Mick

WHERE'S STRUTTER? Need your vote. (It only takes a second.)

Easily my favorite band named after a missing snake, WHERE'S STRUTTER? are currently taking part in City SoundWave which is a competition run jointly by Key 103 Radio and Manchester City Football club

To keep it short, they are the best band in it and all you have to do is vote. (You could also win a pair of tickets to see EXAMPLE on December 1st.)

Click the link below, enter your name and email (NO JUNK MAIL UNLESS YOU ASK FOR IT), tick the WHERE'S STRUTTER? box, make sure you tick the Terms and Conditions box and click SUBMIT MY VOTE.  Done!

The link is HERE

Many thanks from me and I'm sure from the band.  You can check them out on their FaceBook page HERE 

Mick

THE CHAPMAN FAMILY Announce NOVEMBER OFFENSIVE TOUR (and wage war on The Government)

THE CHAPMAN FAMILY have announced an 18 date NOVEMBER OFFENSIVE TOUR kicking off tonight in Manchester. 

The tour, in the words of the band, is in homage to the gunpowder plot of 1605 and they are "waging war on the leaders of this country and all the apathetic zombies who have allowed them to fuck us into the gutter". 

We'll all have a bit of that eh?

The full statement reads:-

Remember remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason should ever be forgot...

This November in homage to the legendary plot of 1605 we will be waging war with the leaders of this country and all the apathetic zombies who have allowed them to fuck us into the gutter. We are declaring a state of artistic emergency from within the “music industry” where creativity, relevance and integrity have been replaced by the banal, the pointless and the derivative. We are raising our colours and heading once more into the breach and seeking out those of you who like us can't relate to the man sitting at the head of the nations table making decisions that neither help nor represent us or to the artists who claim to be like us and speak for us. Fuck them. This is our opening salvo, our November Offensive. It is a statement of intent and it is just the beginning.

The riots this August proved that if enough people can be mobilised under an ideal then they cannot be stopped. Whether the reasons for the violence and rage felt in our capital and throughout this country were righteous or not is irrelevant, it's the motivational message that matters. It's a message that resonated deep within us and it's the message that has inspired us. We have always striven to be a band that stood for something, to be a band where the word dissonance wasn't just used as a description of our sound, to be a band that were never afraid to say what we really felt and to never compromise or sell out our integrity. Now more than ever we feel capable of living up to what we always hoped we could be. We're tighter, leaner and more focused than we have ever been. We have two new family members who share our anger at the present and our hopefulness and optimism for the future. We are reverting back to the DIY ideals that built this band and are taking control of our own destiny.

Just as the plot of 1605 has resonated forever through history so too will this tour resonate forever through our history. It will be remembered as the time we stood up and spoke out against the injustices that we live through in this country every day, against the prejudices of our government and the grinning, flaccid cunt in charge, against the cuts to our public sector which have forced unemployment up to its highest level in 15 years, against the bible bashers and crazed anti-abortionists who want to take away the right of choice from the women of this country, against the openly racist and xenophobic beliefs of organisations like the EDL and the BNP and against the dumbing down and commoditization of art. We have a voice and we intend to use it and we urge you to do the same. Once more into the breach dear friends...

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Not sure I totally agree about the scruffy bastard rioters intent but I see their point.

The tour dates are:-

01/11 MANCHESTER Sound Control
02/11 LONDON Wheelbarrow
03/11 HIGH WYCOMBE Bucks Uni
04/11 SUNDERLAND Sumo @ Independent
05/11 STOCKTON-ON-TEES Georgian Theatre
07/11 LEEDS Hyde Park Picture House
08/11 PORTSMOUTH Edge of the Wedge
09/11 CAMBRIDGE Cornerhouse
10/11 LEICESTER Lock 42
11/11 CARDIFF Buffalo Bar
12/11 BRISTOL Louisiana
15/11 BEDFORD Esquires
16/11 NOTTINGHAM Dark Edge @ The Greyhound
17/11 HARTLEPOOL The Red Room
18/11 PRESTON Mad Ferret
19/11 GLASGOW The Art School
20/11 SOWERBY BRIDGE Puzzle Hall
21/11 SHEFFIELD Soyo

Get involved and get along to at least one of the dates.  If you've never seen them live before, your in for a show I'm tellin' ya'!!

Mick

Check out :-

The Chapman Family Official site HERE

The Chapman Family FaceBook HERE

and if you haven't already, then check out the album BURN YOUR TOWN HERE

12 DIRTY BULLETS announce UK tour dates.

After completing the 2 month American leg of their "Motown In Your Town" tour covering 30 major US cities and growing their following along the way, 12 DIRTY BULLETS have at last announced the dates for the UK leg of the tour.  Kicking off in Southampton on December 3rd, the band say they will mainly be playing songs from the much anticipated second album, but between you and me, we know that they're not getting out of the building without playing at least a few tracks from DOWNSIDES TO MAKING A LIVING.

This may well be the last time you get a chance to see the band in venues this small 'cos when the new album arrives the Bullets are gonna' explode.  Take my word for it. Get your tickets or get your sleeping bags.  One way or another make sure you don't miss this tour.  Dates as follows:-

DECEMBER:-

SAT 3rd SOUTHAMPTON - LENNONS
*tickets available on the door only

TUES 6th BIRMINGHAM - FLAPPER
*tickets available soon

WED 7th STOKE - OLD BROWN JUG
Tickets HERE

THURS 8th MANCHESTER - ROADHOUSE
Tickets HERE

FRI 9th LEEDS - EMPIRE
Tickets HERE

SAT 10th SUNDERLAND - PLUGGED INN
*tickets available soon

SUN 11th BATHGATE - THE ATTIC
*free entry

WED 14th LEICESTER - SOUNDHOUSE
Tickets HERE 

THURS 15th BRISTOL - THE CROFT
*tickets available soon

FRIDAY 16TH LONDON - KOKO
Tickets HERE

Get involved.....

12 DIRTY BULLETS FaceBook page HERE
Management, Crosshair Music HERE

Check out the band's first album "Downsides To Making a Living" on iTunes HERE
Latest single "Motown" from the second album HERE