2 posts tagged “troubadours”
Tomorrow we're heading off to Berlin for the EMI song-writing camp. There are twelve songwriters from around the world and I am the only UK representative! Well excited. Many thanks to Peter Ende and the chaps at EMI Berlin for giving me this amazing opportunity to collaborate with some of the world's top writers. The event is taking place at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in Berlin, so no doubt I will be playing on some pretty swish geeee-tars! Yay!
After the EMI Camp, we have also been invited to attend Popkomm which is a fantastic world music and entertainment business international conference and festival. There will be a lot of music industry bods and up-and-coming musos there, so i'm gonna get my finest glad rags on! Ha! We've also been invited to Midem in Cannes which is another music conference(January 2009). Woop woop!
Just got back from an amazing few days in Hamburg. We have been offered a Major European Record Deal which is stupendously good news. It's a new model deal based around some great international partners, including a great distribution network, some amazing venues/stadiums across europe, a kick-ass marketing company and some incredibly successful directors / producers. I'm not really allowed to say anymore until the negotiations are well under way, but I will keep you all updated - it's all massively bonza and very artist friendly! To be honest, i'm pretty bowled over that all this is happening so quickly. Our management KRMB have done so so much for us in such a short period of time, and we're all incredibly grateful. Thanku kindly :)
We are finishing our debut album "Parrysland" in "Home Studios" (Hamburg - www.home-studios.com) with throughout December 2008. I recorded a handy-cam perspective of our first visit to check out this amazing studio complex, graced by the likes of One Republic, Lauryn Hill and Mariah Carey in recent months. One Republic were recording new material as we arrived. Scary! Acclaimed producer "Franz Plasa" will be working with us, as well as the "National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Germany" on string duties! Ahhhhhhhhhh, so excited. The desks were something else, and apparantly they will have the new hybrid SSL desks by december so we will be the first to use them! They also had the coolest gibson robot guitars and a gorgeous Taylor Acoustic that fell in love with. My heart aches. Watch the video and check out the chipmunk voice at the end - priceless:
Being on the road all the time has meant that i've had loads of time to get some really cool lyrics and melodies down, so there are lots of new songs in the pipe-line, and i'm really pleased with them. More to come in due course. Off to Berlin now, will blog upon my return!
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee haaar!
We've just come back from "the" most productive trip to Hamburg, EVER, having signed a 3 year WORLDWIDE PUBLISHING DEAL with EMI. Get in!
Our management KRMB set up a meeting with the head of EMI Europe, Peter Ende (a very powerful but very down-to-earth chap). It was important for us to go straight to the top of EMI with this project and get the backing of someone with some balls and vision. This is our man - what a visionary, inspirational character! The recent EMI troubles do not bother me one bit in the german office; Peter Ende runs a solid office like a bulldog meeting targets etc. I'm confident they will be really good for us.
We sat and listened to the album in his office with him (on a beastly sound system). I was bricking it, sweaty palms and all that, but apparently I acted as "cool as a cucumber!" Haha!
He absolutely loved it. Said he hadn't heard anything like it in months! Oh my word, I was sat there laughing! I couldn't believe what this powerful man was saying to us:
"You're an exceptional talent he said, we're going to have a lot of fun working with you"
We discussed what we wanted finance for, and Peter offered us a deal on the spot as a 'song-writer', and a very good deal at that. A great advance (according to our lawyer Adam Van Straten - http://www.vanstraten.co.uk), tour support, help with demos / our album, placement opportunities (movies, tv, video games, ringtones), co-write opportunities around the world, collection of my royalties and a host of other exciting ideas. There's been talk of our debut album "Parrysland" being placed with a number of different producers, namely Will Jackson of Pigeon Detectives fame (who we've been working with recently), Franz Plasa (50 cents, Mariah Carey etc.), and also Jeff Lynne (the lead singer of ELO and one of my all-time heros). I really want someone who is really up on their strings so I have a lot of listening to do.
I never thought i'd have such amazing opportunities, so I am grately thankful to everyone around me who has been busting their ass, mainly the band, producers and my management KRMB who have achieved so much for me in such a short period of time (three months!!!) Crazy shizzle! You all rock my little world!
However, this is just the beginning for us. We have a lot of hard-work to do now. The record needs finishing, and we also want to look to secure a record deal and some further finance now, as well as lots of fun gigs with cool bands and such.
The news stories of our deal have started already. The deals not even signed yet! We are signing in Berlin once our bulldog lawyer has done the do:
http://www.lcm.ac.uk/news/ashley-hicklin-emi.htm
EMI have booked me into a massive songwriting camp in Berlin already! I only met them yesterday! They don't mess around in Germany. If they like something, they go with it is what my management told me. They weren't half right! Get in!
I love hamburg as a city (Stumbled upon the red light district which was a scary experience! Never seen anything like it! It's all legal out there. Madness! And no we certainly did not induldge! Cultural experience only!)
Gigs recently have been ace, Carling Academy and Pigalle were unreal. Great venues and amazing response, thanks for all those who came down to support us. Videos of Hamburg / Gigs will all appear on line in the next week or so!
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