George Akins - 'Nottingham's Mr Music'

May 2014

IN the book on a shelf behind George Akins’ desk, the writer refers to him a “Nottingham’s Mr Music”. It’s Jake Bugg’s unofficial biography that is as much about the local music scene as it is about the rise of the kid from Clifton to international star.
“Does it really say that?” he frowns, admitting he’s not yet had time to read it.
He’s not keen on the label but it sits well with the boss of a company that dominates Nottingham’s music map.
DHP Family owns and operates Rock City, Rescue Rooms, The Social and Stealth, where everyone from U2 and Oasis to Simply Red, Nirvana, The Smiths, Iron Maiden and more have played.
It promotes gigs in all of its own venues but also around the country, putting on around 1,200 gigs every year for the likes of Ed Sheeran, James Blunt and Lana Del Ray, winning national awards in the process.
There are other venues in Bristol and London, where it has a second office.
Rock City is also home to concert ticket agency Alt-Tickets.
In more recent years they’ve added artist management to the portfolio, enjoying success with West Bridgford indie band Dog Is Dead and Long Eaton’s Indiana, who last week landed her first Top 20 single.
The 39-year-old father-of-two, the son of Nottingham entrepreneur George Akins (George junior named his son George), recently moved operations from behind Rock City to the Lace Market, taking two storeys in a Victorian building behind wrought iron gates on Plumptre Street.
It’s next to St Mary’s School House where George senior left at the age of 12 in order to start making a bob or two for himself.
It is from here that DHP Family also organises festivals. There are five in all, the most by any promoter.
The indoor variety include Everywhere, Hit The Deck and next weekend’s Dot To Dot across Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham.
“Dot To Dot is our longest-running festival at nine years and it’s all about showcasing the new bands that are the future of music.”
DHP Family has been putting on outdoor festivals, mostly at Wollaton Park, since 1997 with the first City In The Park. More followed with the Corrs, Bryan Adams, Ronan Keating and All Saints, then Green Day for Distortion.
“Although they weren’t unsuccessful, they weren’t particularly successful events,” he admits.
“It is hard to make a one day production work. They were not profitable overall and that was why we stopped doing them.
”It wasn’t until we got into a partnership with Nottingham City Council that we were able to stage the Splendour Festival in Wollaton Park as a sustainable event.
“That has been a success since it started and long may it continue. “
Splendour is now in its sixth year but they’ve added a new festival to the summer diary in early June called No Tomorrow.
“It’s like an end of term party for students,” says George, who never made it to university, thrown out of boarding school in Rugby for smoking and drinking.
“We’ve made overtures to both of the universities for a number of years about getting involved in an end of term party,” he says.
“And we’ve seen the success of Parklife in Manchester and Love Saves The Day in Bristol. They’ve now become proper festivals running over two days and attracting up to 60,000 people.”
Each started out at 10,000, which is his expectation for No Tomorrow on June 7.
“The vision is for it to become a bigger event,” he says of the one-day festival that is targeted at students but is for anyone 18 and over.
“It’s delivering a beginning of summer experience and we’re confident we can do that.”
London Grammar, who met at the University of Nottingham, will headline, with Sam Smith and Clean Bandit joining them on the main stage. All three have number one albums.
Indiana, who is managed by DHP Family, will also appear, following the success of her Top 20 single, Solo Dancing.
Opening the main stage will be a student band, chosen through a competition between both universities.
“It’s a different vibe to Splendour,” says George of the annual festival that returns on July 19.
“That’s more of a day out for family and friends.”
Hence the mix of old and new acts.
“We try to have acts that have had more than one hit. Happy Mondays have had a long and successful career. Boomtown Rats don’t play very often and they had a number of hits back in the day. Scouting For Girls sold 8,000 tickets at the Arena a couple of years ago and they’ve had several top ten hits.
“The same goes for The Beat, who will also be playing the main stage.
“The newer artists are Tom Odell. Although he’s still on his first album there are five hit singles on there. And Foxes are likely to have a Top 5 album this week .”
While No Tomorrow will have two DJ tents, Splendour’s three live music stages will return as normal, the second being the Confetti Stage with Boomtown Rats, Reverend and the Makers and The Rifles.
“It’s a mix of indie and mainstream, old and new,” he says, with expectations that the event will match the 17,000 people that saw Jake Bugg headline last year’s festival.
“The line-up isn’t as Nottingham heavy as it was last year but it couldn’t have been any more Nottingham than that with Jake Bugg, Indiana, Dog Is Dead, Saint Raymond, Georgie Rose and so many others.”
Those have all played the smallest Splendour stage in the Courtyard, which continues to be a showcase of Notts music talent.
“The Nottingham music scene is very vibrant today,” he says.
“There is this excitement because we are producing so many artists that are coming through. We’ve had Dog Is Dead and Jake Bugg, Saint Raymond and Indiana are coming through in the next wave. A lot of industry people are checking out what is going on and the talent coming out of this city.
“Everyone is talking about it. It is a small industry and if there is a enough talk, it builds.”
Nottingham’s Mr Music has never had a go at being in a band himself. He’s not really had the time. At 19, six months in to a jaunt across the Far East and Australia, he was summoned back by his dad to join the family business.
“You just learn quick,” he says of those early years.
“I started doing some of the bookings, probably made a hash of it, learning from my mistakes.”

Dot To Dot at Rock City, Rescue Rooms, Stealth, The Bodega, Spanky Van Dykes and other venues, is on Sunday, May 25. Tickets are £20.
No Tomorrow is at Wollaton Park on Saturday, June 7. Tickets from £20.
Splendour is on Saturday, July 19 and tickets are from £10 to £42.50.
Tickets for all events are on sale from Rock City box office, call 0845 413 4444 or go to alt-tickets.co.uk.
For more about DHP Family go to dhpfamily.com.

Dog Is Dead

June 2012

IT will be their first publicised show in the city since December’s headliner at Rock City but Dog Is Dead have played in the city since, supporting Dry The River at The Bodega in April.

“It was so random,” admits singer, bassist and songwriter Rob Milton.

“They said ‘our support’s dropped out, do you want to do it?’ This was only a couple of days before the gig and we thought ‘yeah, why not?’”

They played under a pseudonym, which contained two words, Zombie was one, the other can’t be printed in a family newspaper.

“Joss, our stupid keyboard player, came up with a stupid  name because he decided he wants to be a hardcore metal drummer,” says Rob.

“You can tell I wasn’t a fan of the name.”

Despite that the gig was satisfying.

“It was quite funny and they have a really different crowd to us in Nottingham so that worked out for us. We were playing to a different audience than we’re used to.”

The gig was a minor distraction from finishing their debut album for Atlantic Records.

“We’ve been back in Nottingham wrapping up our album, finishing the last few tracks. And making it sound like a real album.”

Recording has been going on for a few months at various UK studios but the band decided to finish it at Random Recording Studios near Lady Bay Retail Park.

“It’s where we did all of our first demos,” says Rob.

“We decided to do it back home where we’re most comfortable, doing it with people with we know really well.

“We’ve had so much experience in big studios with some really great producers and learnt so much so we can get on with finishing ourselves back in Nottingham.

“It’s a nice peaceful way to wrap up a crazy four years of songwriting.”

A few of the potential album tracks were recorded with David Kosten (Bat for Lashes and Everything Everything).

“He was great. Then we did a few back in Nottingham with Guy Elderfield. Then a couple of weeks ago we did one with Trevor Horn. After topping the chart in 1979 with The Buggles’ single Video Killed the Radio Star, Horn, a CBE, went on to become one of the most successful music producers of the ‘80s.

Says Rob: “His discography is incredible. He produced all the Frankie Goes To Hollywood records, Pet Shop Boys, Seal...

“He came to one of our shows and apparently he doesn’t stay to the end normally but he did and came up to us afterwards. He said: ‘I love your band, I really want to record you.’

“We said ‘We said we can’t afford you’ but he said not to worry, he’s do it on the cheap.”

Dog Is Dead recorded one track with him.

“It doesn’t sound like the Pet Shop Boys,” he laughs.

“It still sounds like us. It was a phenomenal experience and sounds amazing.”

But whether it will make the final album is still being decided.

“We’re being really brutal about what we want to keep and which tracks represent where we are today. Although it would be wrong to ignore what we have done in the past.”

Prior to signing with Atlantic, they self-released three EPs that included live favourites Glockenspiel Song, Young and River Jordan.

“We still love those early EPs so re-recording them was always an option.”

Why?

“Because we’re much better players now. We can record them in a much more raw state and they sound better than the originals.”

With Atlantic, the quintet have released two singles so far, Hands Down and Two Devils. A third is due out in July.

Those will almost certainly make the final album, which is pencilled for release in the autumn.

“It’s going to be a relief to package up what we’ve been doing for the past four years and get that album out. We feel like it’s a record in demand. It’s not too polished.

“I think the whole beauty of it is how raw it is. It’s kids who grew up together at school teaching each other instruments, learning how to record them and play live.”

So which tracks will be included?

“We’re right in the middle of the decision making process but it’s going to be a fair representation of us. I think people will be happy with it. Although it’s more about us being happy with it.”

Their appearance at Dot to Dot on Sunday will kick off Dog Is Dead’s festival season that includes The Hop Farm Festival, T In The Park, Truck Festival and Summer Sundae Weekender.

After that it’ll the new album and another UK tour to promote it.

Rob is encouraged by the steady progress of the band and also the growing profile of fellow Nottingham musicians such as Jake Bugg, Ronika, Sam Beeton and THePETEBOX.

“I’ve heard a lot of great things about Jake Bugg and what he’s been up to. I think it’s something that Nottingham can be proud of, producing four or five acts that are getting a really decent amount of attention nationally but who are all completely different.

“We don’t have some linear scene which could be quite boring. I think that’s really promising for Nottingham.”

He adds: “We’re certainly not the only artist that has a real chance of making a proper career of it.”

Dog Is Dead play Rock City’s main stage as part of the Dot To Dot festival on Sunday June 3 at 8.30pm. www.dottodotfestival.co.uk

THePETEBOX

April 2012

How did you get started in music?

I started learning and played piano from being a kid, then upon discovering Nirvana picked up a guitar and started writing songs. I started playing the drums to be in a band with my brother John (also a member of Swimming) when I was about 15.

Where did the beatboxing come in?

I learnt about the concept from my cousin who had a few beatbox moves down but it was when I heard Rahzel that I realised beatboxing could be deeply skilful and musical. I was quite obsessive about it. I was fascinated by the mechanics of it and endeavoured to learn and create arrangements and shows focussing on beatboxing from then on.

But these days it isn’t just beatboxing is it as you use guitars and a loop pedal?

Making sounds wasn’t enough I guess and I wanted to turn what I was doing into music. That’s when I got the loop pedal. That saved my relationship with beatboxing because I was getting bored with it. I record and loop beatboxing to create the bed of the tracks, then I will sing lines over the top and sometimes add a guitar if it suits. I'm trying to create the kind of arrangements a band would. I record a full spectrum of sounds with my voice into my loop pedal, including basslines, brass sections, synth lines, textures and beats. Then I place perhaps more focus on the melodies that define and drive the tracks.

You’ve played Glastonbury, Bestival and V, toured with Diversity, played shows with Jay Sean and Foreign Beggars... any highlights?

I’m proud to have been part of all those shows but there's nothing quite like playing to an audience that's just there for you, so I'd say a few of the bigger festival appearances I've had have been highlights for me. Reading 2009 and V Festival 2011 were perhaps the highlights. I've also preformed at and seen the Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Monaco Grand Prix. That was pretty nuts.

Your cover of the Pixies’ Where Is My Mind? has had more than 1.8m hits on YouTube. How did that happen?

I recorded my version of it at the start of last year not really thinking too much about it. Simon Ellis filmed it in his kitchen and I uploaded it thinking it might get a few views. I saw it as a one-off but then it went mega viral and amassed half a million views in two weeks. A few famous people started posting about but the best thing that happened really was when the Pixies themselves posted in on Facebook, Twitter and their own their website. The thought that they've not only seen it but endorsed it blew my mind. The Pixies and Nirvana were the reason I started creating music. The success of the video sparked the whole idea to make a live, studio, video album.

And that is Future Loops, your debut album. Does it feel like it’s been a long time coming?

I guess so because I've been making music for a while now. Although it's actually only taken about six months to make it.

Unlike a regular album release, you’ve recorded each track in one take on video, filmed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Simon Ellis. Why do it that way?

There have been a lot of beatbox albums but they don't seem to capture the experience that people get from seeing beatboxing live. Making it a live, studio, video album was the best way I could think of to do that. You can see exactly what I'm recording, looping and playing live, so you know exactly what's going on. The fact that it's live I think keeps that point of interest that beatboxing carries. It's also a documentary of the exact takes that make the record. The listener can witness the moments that make up the record as they occur.

Why Simon Ellis?

A lot of your readers will know of his amazing, award winning film-making abilities. I knew he would really think about the visual side of things and he’s created a totally immersive experience. The look and style of each video is not only beautifully done but actually evolves and develops with the music.

Is there a particular style on the album?

I'm not too sure! It is a beatbox album but I'd say style-wise it's more of an indie album. I play my guitar a lot and some of the tracks have more soulful toplines. Some of them delve further into the more classic dance driven beatboxing and some have jazz type brass sections.

Are there other covers on there apart from Where Is My Mind?

I've done it half and half. I'm known for my reinterpretation of songs live and wanted to take that further onto my record so there are covers of Nirvana, Crystal Castles and The Beach Boys. I also wanted to put some of my tracks on there.

Will Future Loops be available as a regular CD and download?

You can get the physical CD/DVD or download it through iTunes and all other digital stores.

You are launching Futureloops tonight at Nottingham Contemporary. Tell me more...

We're presenting a screening of the album. The idea is the audience will see and hear the album as intended - projected onto a big screen and played through good, loud speakers. No-one's made an album in this way and we wanted to make an event around the whole idea of the album itself.

What's next for you?

I go on a tour to promote the album starting on May 29, including the Dot to Dot festival on Sunday June 3. I’ll be playing a few cool festivals over the summer, working on some new material with Swimming and then starting on a second album.

THePETEBOX and Simon Ellis present Future Loops at

Nottingham Contemporary tonight from 7.30pm to 1am. The screening takes place in The Space from 8pm, followed by an aftershow party in the Cafe Bar featuring Si Tew and DJ Joff. Tickets are £8 or £15 with a copy of the CD/DVD album, available from the gallery, from gigantic.com orthepetebox.com/futureloops.

Glasvegas

THEIR mix of Proclaimers, Jesus & Mary Chain and Phil Spector, had them among the top tips for greatness this year -- and Alan McGee calling them the best Scottish band in 20 years -- but five months in and they're barely out of the traps.
The album, one of the most anticipated by this writer in years, is finished but won't hit shelves until September, says guitarist Rab Allan.
"We finished recording it about two weeks ago and we're just getting some mixes through and it's sounding amazing."
"The only people that don't seem to like that we sing with a Scottish accent are from Glasgow. Which is a bit strange. It's probably something to do with The Proclaimers."
On their MySpace site they cite Elvis Presley, Spectorism, 62 Lily Street and Creation Records as influences. Phil Spector and Alan McGee's record label - once home to the Jesus & Mary Chain - are self-explanatory but what's the address?
"It's where James (Allan, singer) and Denise (Allan, manager) grew up."
James and Denise are siblings, Rab is their cousin
And Elvis?
"He's just the greatest rock n roll star ever. When me and James (Allan, singer and guitarist) started playing guitar it was Oasis. And obviously you find out who their influences are. It just keeps going back. And Elvis was the first superstar."
Better that he self-destructed at 42?
"It's sad that he died but I always think it's better to do that. James is going to disappear when we do this album. I've not decided yet if we're going to kill him or if he's going of his own will."
Who is the most likely to do an Elvis and burn out first? Maybe drummer Caroline McKay according to their MySpace blog, throwing up out of a cab window in New York.
"She is sick everywhere," says Rab.
"She's got a steady diet of alcohol that she maintains every day. If anyone was to do an Elvis it would definitely be Caroline."
Rab and James knew bassist Paul Donoghue so he was a natural to draft in to the band nearly three years ago but Caroline Mckay was recruited to play drums just because of the way she looked.
"We thought she looked pretty good so we taught her how to play the drums."
The album was co-produced by James Allan and James Allan and Rich Costey, the Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and Muse producer who discovered Glasvegas via their MySpace page.
"He was there before everyone. He got in touch and said when we do an album he wants to work on it with us. I didn't know who he was until I looked him up on the internet. When it came round to doing the album they asked who we wanted to work with. And Phil Spector's in jail anyway."
Alan McGee saw them with Carl Barat at King Tut's in Glasgow, the very venue he discovered Oasis.
"He just loved it and has been a fan of the band. It's funny because Oasis were the first band we loved, the reason we started a band. So at the time it was just surreal. Now he's just Uncle Alan. His enthusiasm is pretty close to what my mum's is. Which is a lot."
Are they concerned about the hype that surrounded them this year?
"For us nothing has changed, we don't feel any pressure," he says, simply.
Or having to tour these songs for what may well be the next two years?
"I've wanted to do this since I was 13. And I'm 25 now. And it's the best thing in the world. Last week two days in a row we had an hour and half's sleep but no-one's moaning. I've worked in a call centre. I've worked in a warehouse lifting meat from one box in to another, so you could say we're pretty grateful for the position we're in now."

A new single Geraldine, which follows the limited edition releases It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry and Daddy's Gone, is due out June 23 and will feature a cover of The Korgis Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime.
Glasvegas appear at the Rescue Rooms on Sunday at 12.30am as part of the Dot to Dot Festival 2008.