Parade

November 2011

My weekend: Bianca Claxton

ALL this week we’ve been doing Blackberry's Live And Lost. They dropped us in a cave on Sunday in Buxton and since then, every day we’ve had to get to a different location to undergo a challenge.

We’ve been using Twitter to appeal to fans to give us lifts and food and somewhere to sleep each night.

They gave us each a Blackberry and we’d just say “We’re stuck in Ipswich and we need a lift to Broxbourne; can someone give us a lift?” Whoever helped us would set a challenge once we’d reached each destination.

We had to play netball for one, which was really embarrassing. I hadn’t played since school. Another one had fallen out with is friend so we had to write a jingle and then sing it to her. She wasn’t very impressed, to be honest.

The worst was feeding creepy crawlies and lizards. Me and Sian were just a wreck.

We finished last night with a gig in London and it’ll all be shown on Channel 4 on Sunday.

Rizzle Kicks, Chipmunk, Professor Green, Example and The Wanted have all done it in the past. We were the first girls to do it so I think they expected us to be completely useless but we dealt with it quite well.

The hardest thing was not eating. We’ve been starving hungry. We normally eat a lot of carbs. And a lot of cake. Everyone always says how surprised they are at how much we do eat but because of the dance routines we do on stage, we need to keep the energy up.

Because we haven’t been able to do that this week, we were all quite ill, full of coughs and colds yesterday.

It’s been a bit crazy but we’ve had a laugh.

We wanted to have a sleep but we’re off to Blackpool today to do a signing for our album which was released this week. We’re really excited to have it out, finally.

It has the singles Louder and Perfume on it and the rest of the tracks have all the same kind of energy. So they’re girly anthems, not taking ourselves too seriously. But there are a couple of ballads on there as well as a clubby track. It’s a good old pop album.

Tonight we’ll be doing a gig in Blackpool for Children In Need, which should be a good one.

Tomorrow we’re doing another signing in London and Birmingham.

On Sunday I think we’ll be back home in London finding out how well ouralbum has done in the charts.

All five of us still live together and we’re still really enjoying it.

The only times we do argue are what to watch on TV. Jess watches MTV Base and all those car-bashing programmes and I can’t deal with them. They drive me mad. I always Sky+ Glee, America’s Next Top Model and X Factor.

I watched the Lion King on DVD the other day and had a good cry at that. It wasn’t the 3D version. I think that might freak me out.

We don’t get to see many gigs although me and Jess went to see Wretch 32 the other night. Most of the time we only see other acts who are performing at the same gig as us. So last Sunday in Ireland it was Jedward, The Wanted, JLS and we went on stage with Westlife.

So far we’ve supported Shakira, Alexandra Burke, Ellie Goulding and Black Eyed Peas at Alton Towers, which was amazing. We’ve also played with Shayne Ward, Boyzone, Westlife and at the weekend we did a gig with Jedward – and we love Jedward.

Next month we’re doing two shows with Mel C and I’m dead excited about that. We are all huge Spice Girls fans. They were just the best girl band.

Hopefully we’ll be doing our own tour next year.

At the moment our fans on Twitter are saying that we should support The Wanted on their arena tour next year. But I don’t think I could tolerate The Wanted on tour. They trashed our dressing room again when we were in Dublin. And of course it was Jay (McGuiness). It’s always Jay because he’s from Nottingham and that’s what we do.

Parade’s self-titled debut album is out now. You can see how Bianca and the girls fared with Live and Lost on T4 this Sunday or visitwww.blackberry.com/liveandlost

Notts-stars: Liam Bailey, Dog Is Dead...

March 2011

SHE cooks a mean meatball and avocado salad, does Amy Winehouse. Just ask Liam Bailey. The soul singer from Beeston, who released his debut single for Polydor Records two days ago, has been round her gaff for dinner.

“She’s a brilliant cook,” says the 25-year-old.

“Apart from me mam’s lasagne it was the best meal I’d ever had.”

Liam released two singles on Winehouse’s Lioness Records label, 2am Rough Tracks and So Down, Cold. Although, by that time, he was already signed to Polydor.

“They heard about me,” he says simply.

“Winehouse heard some stuff I’d done that was pretty rough, Polydor wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. I hadn’t even bothered playing it to them but Winehouse heard them and she put them out on her label.”

He adds: “She’s sound, you know. She’s a lovely girl. And she knows her music. She’s up there, one of the most iconic singers to come out of this country in the 21st century.

“Yeah, all right, she has her faults but I’ve got nothing but good things to say about her.”

Winehouse will be seeing him play in London next week, he says.

“We’ve been out a few times.”

Liam was born in Beeston. His dad is a factory worker, his mum works on the tills at a supermarket. It was his mum’s record collection that he feasted upon, from Michael Jackson to The Beatles, Bob Marley to Jimi Hendrix.

The family moved to Selston when he was 10.

Later, while living in Sneinton, he played in a number of bands around the city, including Bosco, but moved to London to live with a girlfriend and to pursue music five years ago.

“I was still coming back to Nottingham because I’ve got a lot of mates there and my family. So I’d have a jam with mates on a Friday night and play a gig on Saturday evening under the name Soul Parade.”

Polydor picked him up two years ago and his debut single, You Better Leave Me, was released this week to coincide with his current tour supporting Plan B around the UK. After that he’ll open for the hotly-tipped Jessie J but neither tour brings him home.

That said, he will be joining Chase & Status when they play their sell-out gig at Rock City next Sunday, to perform with them on Blind Faith, their Top 5 hit on which he sings.

“That was mad,” he says.

“I didn’t even know who Chase & Status were when I got a phone call from them asking if I fancied doing something.”

The song is included on the Chase & Status album, No More Idols, which reached No. 2.

Liam’s debut album, produced by Salaam Remi (Nas, Fugees, Amy Winehouse) will be released in May.

Another Nottingham name getting a lot of attention is Dog Is Dead.

“I rate Dog Is Dead, they’re good songwriters,” says Liam.

“Although I felt sorry for them. I was playing a gig supporting someone who dropped out so the promoter brought in Dog Is Dead. But the room was full of people from my label and some of my mates, so when I’d done my set everyone left. There was only me and a few of my mates watching them.”

There is little need to feel sorry for Dog Is Dead. After playing Glastonbury last summer, the five-piece from West Bridgford have been been all over Radio 1.

“The current single, River Jordan, was playlisted, which is pretty incredible,” says guitarist Rob Milton.

“We did a four-song session for Huw Stephens and I was interviewed by Jo Whiley for her show last weekend. She seemed really nice and didn’t emphasise too much how much she hated the band name,” he laughs.

The NME stamped its approval with a full page feature last week and in a couple of weeks they’ll be seen in an episode of Channel 4 youth drama, Skins.

Last night Dog Is Dead started their UK tour in Manchester.

“This is the most exciting bit,” says Rob.

Their current single, River Jordan, is the final instalment in their trilogy of singles on the Your Childhood label, following July’s Glockenspiel Song and October’s Young.

“We’ve offers from labels which we’re considering,” says George Akins, the band’s manager.

“It’s all pretty exciting stuff. The plan is to record an album with them this summer.”

Liam also rates Nottingham rapper Cappo, acoustic singer songwriter Nina Smith and knows The Petebox, the beatboxer who toured last year, opening for Diversity. He is also the drummer for Nottingham guitar band Swimming, who’ll be playing a set at Fopp on Tuesday from 5pm to plug the release of their new single, Sun In The Island. The single has been played on Radio 1 by Fearne Cotton and Rob Da Bank.

Other Nottingham talent to listen out for are Ronika, who shares management with Plan B and Hot Horizons, who are signed to EMI’s Zarcorp label. They’ll be supporting Dog Is Dead at the Rescue Rooms tomorrow.

Natalie Duncan recently moved to London to pursue her music career, having already recorded demos for EMI.

And there’s Parade, the new girl group, featuring Gunthorpe’s Bianca Claxton, who release their debut single, Louder, on Monday.

It’s expected to chart, particularly now it’s being used to soundtrack the new TV ad for Rimmel.

Parade have already supported Shakira and Alexandra Burke and this week it was announced they’ll be opening for Shayne Ward on his next tour.

And Nottingham’s national pop profile has already been raised by the success of boy band The Wanted, featuring Jay McGuiness from Farndon, a one-time resident of Carlton.

After a No. 1 single and Top 10 album, they’re releasing the official single for Comic Relief, Gold Forever, on March 13.

They also play a sell-out show at the Royal Concert Hall on April 2.

“My agenda is to make people know about Nottingham and that it has a very eclectic and quite substantial music scene,” says Liam.

“The industry should start going there to see what’s going on. I’m going to be reading the riot act to them.”

Parade

January 2011

                                                     

GIRL groups have a negative imagine as far as musical talent is concerned but don’t be too quick to judge Parade.

One of them, Gunthorpe-born Bianca Claxton, is a genuinely talented musician.

By the age of 12 she was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, was a finalist in the Nottingham Young Musician of the Year competition and, most significantly, had won a place at the Royal Academy of Music.

“I’d travel down every Saturday from the age of 12 until I was 18,” says the 20-year-old former pupil at Hollygirt and Nottingham High School for Girls.

“I did all my musical training there one day a week which was tough. It meant I didn’t get much of a weekend but it was so worth it.”

So how do you get from the Royal Academy to a girl group?

“I was still living in Nottingham but I was auditioning in London, mostly for musical theatre. The record label decided they were going to hold auditions for the group and someone asked me to go along but I didn’t think I’d get it because it was so heavily dance based. I’d never really danced before. I turned up to the audition in my Uggs and everyone laughed at me. Apparently that’s not appropriate for a dance audition.

“But I got it and within two weeks I was living in a house with the other four girls in London.”

That was October 2009.

“We’ve been in our own bubble since then, making the album and rehearsing. So this is the most exciting bit, seeing how people respond to us.”

Their debut single, Louder, due for release in March, had its first airing on Radio 1 on Sunday.

“We had a really good reaction to it. We’ve got incredible support on Twitter and Facebook. Our fans are pretty hardcore.”

The girls are getting to meet them on Alexandra Burke’s tour, which comes to Nottingham next week. During the day they have been performing in schools.

But they’ve already played bigger shows, supporting Shakira at the end of last year.

“That was insane. We were thrown in at the deep end because we’d be doing schools one day then playing the MEN Arena, Glasgow SECC and the O2, infront of 20,000 people. But that really made us up our game.”

And how was Shakira?

“She was really nice and sweet - and so petite. She’s absolutely tiny.”

Parade are doing a five song set on the Burke tour, including Louder and a cover of Cee Lo Green’s Forget You.

“That always go downs a storm.”

Bianca’s style, she says is based on Blondie.

“I just love that slightly rocky vibe. And I love her hair, obviously.”

Her first taste of the limelight was aged 11 when she entered an Evening Post/Radio Nottingham competition called Karaoke Kids, a search for the best young singer in the county.

She sang Shania Twain’s From This Moment.

“(Laughs) That takes me back. Blimey. No, I didn’t win.”

It didn’t matter because she was already an accomplished cello player.

“I love cello. I play it every now and then but it’s finding time really, with being on the road we rarely go back to the house.”

Bianca is yet to use her musical talents - she also plays piano - with Parade, having to focus on singing and dancing.

“Maybe one day.”

How have mum and dad reacted to the shift from the Royal Academy to pop?

“They’re chuffed to bits. It’s what they wanted for me all along. And they can’t believe it because no-one in my family has ever done anything musical.”

She adds: “I’m loving it. I’m having such a good time.”

Gig

Who: Alexandra Burke, Parade

Where: Royal Concert Hall

When: Monday, January 31, 7pm

Tickets: £30, 0115 989 5555

Web: www.royalcentre-nottingham.co.uk