Labour? Conservative? LibDems? Nah!!! Vote Ultravox Vienna for Number 1 this week! The campaign to get Ultravox’s Vienna to Number 1 in the UK singles chart enters its final week. The song spent 4 weeks at Number 2 in 1981, beaten only by John Lennon’s Imagine and Joe Dolce’s Shaddup yer face! So why not get more information here on the official Ultravox website, or go ahead and download the song from Amazon UK or Nokia Music (register as UK-based)
If Rage Against the Machine can do it, so can Ultravox.
Without repeating exactly what Ian Shepherd wrote on his production advice website, you should really watch this video. I can’t really write much about it that will really do it justice, so it’s probably a good idea if you just watch it first – like I did – and then see what you think about it. As Ian says on his own blog, there’s more to it than first appears. The real message will “shock, surprise and move you.”
Watch it, and then click this link to find out more….
Popcorn Slavery (mistrust remix) is out today on International Observer’s Popcorn Slavery EP (Dubmission Records). You can download the track on International Observer’s website or click the player to listen to the whole EP (mine is track 3). Don’t forget to share the player and spread the word. Some of my other tracks and remixes are on Soundcloud, and you can become a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter
Well, I’m certainly getting a lot of hits on here about kids using Facebook. Why’s that then? Dunno, really. Maybe a lot of kids go on it, and a lot of parents either want to monitor what they’re doing on it or don’t want them on it all. I like all this social networking thing. Don’t get me wrong. Think it’s great. Very useful, very now. Can’t see the world going back to a Facebook-less era. However, why are parents still letting their kids as young as six or seven going on Facebook? Why? What reason? Have they forgotten how to talk? Fine – if your relatives are halfway round the world. What about Skype. What about setting up your own family social network on blog thing. Anyway. The debate still goes on and it rankles with me that I still see all my kids’ friends on there. So what are the schools doing about it? Not a lot at the moment, but maybe it’s finally getting through to the schools that something should be done about it. Take this for example. Internet Safety for children. Maybe things will start changing.
So, why am I on Facebook if I’m not happy about young kids being on it? Well, I’ve been in touch with a few people from school, and I’m using it to plug my music. That’s it. That’s all. If you’re on Facebook and want to become a fan of my music, click here and “Become a Fan“. I’m also on Twitter.
The gratuitous plug.
I did a remix for dub band International Observer a while ago. The track is called “Popcorn Slavery (mistrust remix)” and is out on the band’s EP on Monday 22nd February. You can hear previews of it on my Soundcloud and Myspace pages, and it’s available to download from Monday on all major music sites, and the band’s own Bandcamp page. Spread the word.
Just read this article on the BBC News website about how the future of music is changing
“We all know what the alleged future of music will look like. The record industry will be reduced to a smouldering ruin, the album replaced by endless individual songs and music rendered pretty much worthless by the fact that it’s universally free.”
There are more and more musicians – like myself – who are abandoning making a physical product and putting their music out for free. However, I hope that some people are still going to make a record or a CD and that I’ll still be able to go into my local record store and handle a physical product instead of downloading some artwork on to my pc.