Monthly Archives: September 2007

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Ben Harper has experimented with many genres during his career including folk, blues, hard rock, country, jazz and reggae. He is certainly one who’s hard to categorise and as such has had opportunity to play with a whole host of varied artists along the way.

Raised in a musical family in California, Harper picked up the guitar at an early age and began performing publicly when he was just 12 years old. Shortly after appearing alongside Taj Mahal at a concert in 1992, Harper signed with Virgin Records. His first album, ‘Welcome to the Cruel World’, introduced him as a folk-influenced rocker with a soft musical approach and politically driven lyrics.

‘Fight for Your Mind’ (1995) features Harper’s precocious capabilities on the Weissenborn (a hollow-necked lap-steel guitar), while ‘The Will to Live’ (1997) and ‘Burn to Shine’ (1999), by he and his band the Innocent Criminals, definitely demonstrate a move to the more electric side of rock. The heavily world music influenced ‘Diamonds on the Inside’ was released in 2003 and the following year, he collaborated with the Blind Boys of Alabama on an album of gospel songs.

In 2007 Harper released the album ‘Lifeline’, which he recorded in Paris in just one week on a 16-track analog tape machine with no computerised assistance.

Singer/songwriter Christopher Carrabba ha been writing the soundtrack to emotional teens’ lives since the early 2000s. His vulnerable, introspective solo musings aided by an acoustic guitar and soul-baring song lyrics, go by the moniker Dashboard Confessional — named after a lyric in Carrabba’s song “The Sharp Hint of New Tears” — and began releasing material in 2000. By 2001’s ‘The Place You Have Come to Fear the Most’, Dashboard Confessional had evolved into a fully-fledged band, but Carrabba remained the focal point of the act.

Manchester progressive-rockers Oceansize have been causing a huge noise since their formation in 1998, supporting the likes of Biffy Clyro and The Cooper Temple Clause on recent tours.

Through a torrent of feedback and distorted guitars, Oceansize returned in 2007 with their album ‘Frames’ which Division took on for their online promotion. The combination of noise made on the web and by the band ensured Oceansize could not be ignored.

This campaign has been well received in it’s early stages and is ongoing as i type this shnizzle..

The King Blues started off as a two man ska outfit, consisting of Itch playing ukulele/Vocals and Jamie Jazz playing acoustic guitar and contributing vocals. Current Member Jamie Jazz use to work in a music/guitar shop called Rock Around The Clock up in north London in Crouch End/Muswell Hill, however Jamie realised that in order to put The King Blues at the top, he had to leave his job. The band expanded to include a second acoustic guitar and a bassist, before again expanding to include two full-time percussion members. Their sound was initially described as “soulful ska with raw folk and a punk rock attitude” or “conscious rude boy ska”. In 2004 they self released a demo EP entitled “All Fall Down” featuring 5 tracks recorded by Itch on guitar and vocals. The cover and CD body art was a stencil of a fuse bomb and the band’s logo, each one was hand sprayed.

In June 2006 their debut album, ‘Under the Fog’, was released on Household Name Records which coincided with increased touring and gigs. In November of the same year, ‘Mr Music Man’ was released as a CD single, also on Household Name. The single was enhanced with a video chronicling the band’s attempt to play more gigs in a 24-hour period than Status Quo’s record-breaking four gigs in one day. The King Blues managed seven. Their single ‘Mr Music Man’ was voted Best Punk Song of 2006 by Radio 1.

In 2007 the band was signed to Field Recordings, a label co-owned by Rollo Armstrong and backed by Island Records. ‘Under the Fog’ was re-issued in March 2008, and was preceded by two singles, “Come Fi Di Youth” and a new version of “Mr. Music Man”.

In May 2008 the band released a single from their forthcoming second album ‘Save the World. Get the Girl’ called “Let’s Hang the Landlord” to all those signed up to their email list . The song takes them in a slightly different direction, opening with a violin. The lyric is both autobiographical and true, detailing Itch’s life as a teenage punk . The track was also released on a split 7″ single, alongside ‘Mayday’, the debut UK single by Flobots.

Scottish pop-punks The Hedrons came to Division for online promotion for  singles ‘I Need You‘,  ‘Heatseeker‘ and  album ‘One More Won’t Kill Us‘.

The band went from relative unknowns to being featured on sites as broadly spaced as Rock Louder, Blastwave, Gigwise and Contact Music as well as being given exposure on the Virgin Media site amongst many more zines countrywide.

The band’s online presence was so markedly improved during the campaigns with Division that the band created history by becoming the first band to perform in the virtual world of Second Life, something which brought both support and publicity for the girls.

The Hedrons were also shortlisted for the BT Digital Awards ‘Best Artist Promotion’ category in September 2007 alongside other Division artists; Mark Ronson and Calvin Harris which is fantastic news and much deserved.