ONETASTE FESTIVAL 2009 SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER AT THE BEDFORD, BALHAM, LONDON.
New musicians, poets, alternative thinkers & practitioners, filmmakers, actors, DJs & dancers converge for the 1st time in a unique festival for London.
“…a series of MCs, poets, witty musicians, and beat boxers each took turns on stage, none of them outstayed their welcome and all of them were red hot. OneTaste deliver a night out that’s both theatrical and b-boy sharp. I wandered into the Glastonbury night with that rare, gleeful feeling I’d made a great discovery. OneTaste will go far….” Thomas H Green – The Telegraph

he most ferocious roots guitarist from the UK since The Yardbirds, 22-year-old Isle of Man born Davy Knowles returns to the UK with his band Back Door Slam and a brand new album “Coming Up For Air” produced by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton and mixed by Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, The Who and Paul McCartney). Davy Knowles has spent the last two years on a US blues pilgrimage wowing audiences in every state, even giving guitar legend Jeff Beck a run for his money, having just finished a support tour with him. He has rubbed shoulders with many other guitar greats, opening for the likes of The Who, Kid Rock, Chickenfoot, Joe Bonamassa, Lynyrd Skynrd, Buddy Guy, Eric Burdon and George Thorogood.

In just a few years Portico Quartet’s hypnotic music has taken them from busking on London’s South Bank, to a Mercury Prize nomination, to performing at the Royal Opera House (with support from Wiley and Chipmunk) and recording at Abbey Road with producer John Leckie. Famed as a nurturer of young bands (Stone Roses, Radio Head etc), Leckie has brought a powerful clarity to the band’s music and Isla is a darker, more mature, expansive statement than their debut, Knee-Deep In The North Sea. However, it is still very much a Portico Quartet album.

Bristol based producer and artist Catraz introduces himself to the world with his first single ‘Knock Knock’. A cleverly written and upbeat tale of house parties, alcohol and Latina women!

Catraz, real name Alex Lucas, has been creating waves in the Bristol scene with his medley of originally composed and sampled tracks that it is of no surprise that fellow Bristol luminaries, Tricky and Massive Attack are also talking him up as one to watch.

His music, which is inspired by an array of artists from Kool G Rap, The Clash right through to the Gypsy Kings, is refreshingly simple and home grown although Catraz prefers to leave his sound definition to the listener.

He has recently been featured and interviewed on BBC radio shows including Steve Lamacq, Colin Murray, Nihal, Veena V and with growing support from various online and local stations such as BBC Radio Bristol, Phats Beats, Pulse Radio, Select Radio and Star Radio.

Knock Knock is released on August 24th as a digital download on Sidewalk 7

InMe return with their fourth album, ‘Herald Moth’ this August on Graphite Records. An album that reveals a band who have matured and shaken off the early ‘emo’ trappings of their 2003 debut.

First single from Herald Moth, ‘Single Of The Weak’, is a real hybrid of sounds from early ska rhythms to metal, whilst other tracks ‘All Terrain Vehicle’ reveals Dave McPherson’s vocals at the top of his game, and similarly ‘The Art of Moderation’ and ‘Happy to Disappoint You’ reflects his under rating as a guitarist for the more technical progressive side. Whilst ‘Nova Armada’ just about encapsulates everything the band is currently about.

“We wanted to create lots of technical layers with an edge; to heavy, melodic tunes,” opens lead vocal/guitarist Dave McPherson. “With Daydream Anonymous we established a more mature sound and pushed our abilities as musicians. Now we’ve really stepped that up. The new album is darker, more epic and grander than we’ve ever been.”

Lyrically the album deals with the great hardships McPherson has had to come to terms with.

“I’ve had a particularly tough couple of years. Not to say I feel sorry for myself but things haven’t been particularly easy. Part of that was I gave in too much, became too weak and let everything get on top of me. The main theme throughout ‘Herald Moth’ is adversity really. It gave me a therapeutic outlet to spit out all the darker, negative things within me to become stronger at the end of it.”

In July 2006, bassist Joe Morgan quit the band and was replaced by McPherson’s brother Greg and in 2007 they went on to agree a new deal with Graphite Records for the release of ‘Daydream Anonymous’; the band’s most critically acclaimed album to date. In the Autumn of 2008, second guitarist Ben Konstantinovic joined.

“We’d wanted a 2nd guitarist for a long time,” Dave explains. “But the right guy never came along.”

Ben began playing on McPherson’s regular acoustic nights around the UK. Over time it became clear he was more than the man for the job. “He completely blew everyone away,” confirms Dave. “He has a maths degree and is a qualified pilot too!”

INME never limit themselves & in their 13 years of existence have constantly evolved to become the 4 man machine they are today. Their passionate and innovative attitude towards creating music has led to the creation of their proudest opus, ‘Herald Moth’ and to accompany this they will be heading out on a full UK tour in September.

September
16 The Royal, Derby
17 Newcastle Academy 2, Newcastle
18 53 Degrees, Preston
19 The Cockpit, Leeds
21 ABC2, Glasgow
22 Manchester Academy 3, Manchester
23 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
24 The Garage, London
25 Chinnerys, Southend
26 The Harlequin, Redhill*
27 Concorde 2, Brighton*
28 Oxford Academy 2, Oxford
30 Talking Heads, Southampton

October
1 Orange Box, Yeovil
2 TJ’s, Newport
3 Hobbits, Western
4 The Cavern, Exeter
*supporting We Are The Ocean

Tickets are on sale now at Aloud

Bears From Labrador return with their second EP El Cantar De Mio Cid this July after their acclaimed first EP – Wilderness released last year.

Here you will find bandits and pistoleroes, the great Bella Starr cutting down her enemies, El Cid riding Bavieca, brought to life in the twenty first century, face to face with modernity and wanting nothing but destruction, the heartfelt prayer of a lonely soldier in “Love” and the wandering killer and indifferent god of “Cruel As The Wind”.

The recordings were made in the bands London Fields studio and also in Cornwall’s Sawmills studios over the winter. The EP is part 2 of a trilogy (Wilderness being part 1) that will be finalised late summer with the third EP “Funeral Train”.

Bears From Labrador have just come back from the US after playing a successful 11 date tour. They are currently putting together a number of UK dates to support the release of El Cantar De Mio Cid.

So come on join the revolution!!

The fantastic video for Paul’s new single ‘In A Coma’ is now up online and features cameos from Ralph Brown (Withnail & Is Camberwell Carrot aficionado / Waynes World 2 / Aliens etc), Aaron King, Stars and Sons and old flat mates THE XCERTS. The single will be out to buy as digital download on July 6th and will be the second single to be taken from his new album Moon Rock.

THE BEAT Edition presents THE LAST CALL

Love dancing? Love music? Love to win €10,000 and rep your country in ‘The Eurovision Dance Contest’
Europe’s first 24 hour dance off! sign up now here www.thelastcall.tv

Core Facts

1. The Last Call is a brand new dance competition running from now until July 8th 2009, across Europe.
2. On July 7th, chosen contestants from around Europe will compete in a 24 hour dance-off at Matter (nightclub) at the O2 in London.
3. With a Samsung BEAT Edition DJ music phone, continuous playlist and a set of headphones, all 100 finalists must dance non-stop, hoping not to receive a single phone call or text from friends or family over the 24 hour period. If they do, they’re eliminated. There Can Be Only One!
4. The last contestant dancing will be crowned champion and will win €10,000 to spend on a night out with Swedish pop star September – and keep the change! Plus their trusted Samsung Beat DJ music phone.
5. Fresh from the huge success of her massive pop smashes ‘Cry For You’ and ‘Can’t Get Over’, Swedish superstar September returns triumphantly to the summer airwaves with the surefire hit ‘Until I Die’, released through Hard2Beat records on July 20th 2009.
6. September, a pseudonym for the stunning Petra Marklund, is a proud owner of a Grammis, the Swedish equivalent of a Grammy. She recently embarked on HARD2BEAT’s massive ‘Dance Nation’ UK Arena tour, performing to over 50,000 fans. This was September’s second major UK arena tour appearance in under a year, after playing on the huge ‘Clubland Live 2’ Arena Tour in late 2008.
7. From now until June 15th, anyone over 18 can enter The Last Call via the www.thelastcall.tv
8. In the lead-up to the final, each of the finalists will create a campaign page, with user-generated photographs and videos, and links to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, showing off their dance moves etc.
9. The entire 24 hour final will be streamed live and online through www.thelastcall.tv and a channel on the Beat DJ widget.

Paul Steel is back with an animated movie version of his critically acclaimed debut album ‘April & I’ on July 20th after a 10 week serialisation on his You Tube and My Space Channels.

VBS release their new video for Multiplayer directed and produced by Simon Deshon. – Multiplayer is out on Split Records March 2nd 2009