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.

Jake Bugg: The Biography

May 2014

The first book about Nottingham’s most successful musician also throws the spotlight on the city’s burgeoning music scene. Manchester journalist and author of Jake Bugg: The Biography David Nolan reveals why he wrote the book and why he thinks the city could be on the way to having its own Madchester...

Why write a book about Jake Bugg?

I was commissioned to do it by the publishers, John Blake, who are very keen on catching things at the right moment. The last two books I’ve done for them have been about, at the time they were commissioned, relatively unknown people: Ed Sheeran and Emilie Sandé. There’s an art to that. If you don’t get it right you end up with a warehouse full of books that no-one’s interested in.

So you’re a fan?

Yes. The hallmark of good music to me, most of the time, is that it’s played by a skinny lad with a guitar. I turn down offers to write books because I’m not interested in the music or I feel there’s no story there. With Jake, I like the music and it’s a great story.

The story being, that he’s the first major music star from Nottingham in a long time. If ever. And that he was leading a scene that is now enjoying recognition nationally. How long was it before you realised that was going to a major part of the book?

I was unaware of the whole Nottingham story at the very beginning. I am now. It runs through me like a Blackpool stick of rock. As soon as I came to Nottingham last summer and started talking to people, that was what came out; ‘We’ve been waiting for this for such a long time’. In addition to that people said to me ‘Please don’t let this be a flash in the pan. Don’t let Jake Bugg be another Paper Lace.’ I was asking people like you, Dean Jackson, Mark Del, George Akins... when this book comes out, is it all going to be ancient history or is this the start of something? And you all said ‘this is the start of something’. And the names mentioned were people like Indiana, Saint Raymond, Kagoule... you were all on the money. It made me wonder if this is the last time it will happen. This could be the last city-wide music explosion that will happen in this country.

Why?

Because these days you can just as easily access music from Idaho as you can from Beeston. All the walls that existed years ago have come down. It’s hard to imagine it happening again, like it did in Liverpool in the early 80s, like it did in Manchester in the late 80s, which was the last one.

You think Nottingham is going to do a Madchester?

It looks like you might. The success of the music scene has exceeded everyone’s expectations. And Jake’s success is international. There are fan sites and Twitter accounts from fans in Indonesia, Brazil, France... to think that this is the same lad Gaz Peacham at the Maze remembered tipping up with a guitar on his back using a boot lace as a strap and thinking ‘he looks about 12 this lad but if he wants to play he can play.’ Even you guys at the Post, who have supported him right from the start, must be thinking ‘even we didn’t think he was going to be this big!’ So it’s a great story. From after school gigs at the Maze to Splendour and the Arena... and beyond. For a writer it’s a great story.

What has been the reaction to the book?

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had tweets from Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, Poland, France... asking ‘can I get the book?’ That has completely taken me by surprise. It didn’t happen with the Sandé and Sheeran books.

And can they?

Of course. I’ll take one round their house if they want. With Amazon and Kindle, that book is a click away. It’s the same as music.

Did you approach Jake about the book, to tell his own story?

I approached one of his managers Jay (Hart) and initially he seemed interested but then backed off from the idea. I think it’s deemed to be a bit uncool to be in your own book anyway. And if he had been involved it would have changed the dynamic. It would have become like a ghosted autobiography. With an unofficial biography, I can write what I want. And I have.

What do you think is the key to Jake’s success?

There’s a musical history lesson with Jake Bugg, in terms of where he’s drawn it all from. People always mention Bob Dylan and Donovan but I can hear Glen Campbell, John Denver, Bruce Springsteen... and that is the secret of his success. He’s pulled it from sources than no-one else has. Three years ago if I’d have said the next big thing will be a teenage rockabilly, Johnny Cash, folk hybrid, you’d have spilt your pint.

Had you been to Nottingham before?

I’d been to the BBC with work before. Apart from that all I knew was that there were an awful lot of roundabouts.

And how did you find the city when you visited last summer?

I like that can walk everywhere. Everything is just 15 minutes away from the centre. And everyone was so open. If you had come to Manchester to write a book about the music scene, there’d be a gang of us at the train station sending you on your way. Because it’s a very insular scene.

What is your background?

I left school at 16 with no qualifications, was an apprentice journalist at the local newspaper, went on to magazines, radio, then television. I was a journalist and news editor at Granada, a producer and director, and worked on Tonight With Trevor McDonald until I left to write books. I got into it by accident. I did a documentary about the famous Sex Pistols gig at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1976 that everyone claims to have been at. And someone suggested doing a book about it. Now I write, do a bit of lecturing and training. and still some TV documentaries.

Jake Bugg: The Biography (John Blake) is out now, priced at £14.99.

WE gave Jake's dad, David Bugg, 40, from Clifton, a copy of the book and this is his verdict...

It's quite surreal seeing your son's life documented in so much detail, from the age of around 13 when he became interested in music.

I have to say it's a fantastic book and well written. There's a lot of detail about the Nottingham music scene and rightly so. We have a very diverse scene and it is doing remarkable things out there.

It's not just about Jake but also the environment where he learned his craft.

And all the key players are mentioned like the Post and Zoe Kirk, the BBC and Dean Jackson, and all the bands he was playing with during the early years.

There is some information in there about Jake that I didn't know. The first few chapters made me realise just how determined and hard working he was when he was 14 and 15. A lot of the gigs he was doing when he was that age, I was unaware of.

He didn't know how I'd react if he said he was playing in a pub in Nottingham city centre so he kept me out of the loop. There was a chance I'd say no. The idea of my 15-year-old son playing in a city centre pub on his own, in a room full of people drinking alcohol, doesn't sit well with me but I probably would have been OK with it as long myself or his mum went with him.

His work ethic during that period really impressed me.

Reading it was quite emotional at times. Mine and Jake's lives touched and parted on a number of occasions as he embarked on his music career. His mum and I split up when he was quite young but I was just around the corner and I'd still be a dad to him. But there were things about his music career that I wasn't aware of.

The part in the book where Dean Jackson told him to get some CDs together to take to the workshop at Abbey Road... I didn't know Dean had told him to do that. But Jake came to me and asked me to do the CDs for him. I thought it was to send to A&R people. It's interesting to see where I fitted in with the chain of events.

There are things that are missing from Jake's story, such as his passion for football. He had no interest in any music up until he was 12 or 13. He was playing for quite a few teams and he'd got medals, trophies and certificates. At one point he was being scouted.

Then, all of a sudden, his uncle Mark gave him a guitar and the football just stopped.

He was writing and playing in his room but it was all hidden. I had no idea until he came to me to record him. And straight away I realised how much effort he'd been putting in to this new direction in his life.

I had a 32-track at home that I was using to record my own music. I recorded him doing three covers: If You're Going To San Francisco (Scott McKenzie), Empty Chairs (Don McLean) and Vincent (Don McLean).

This was before his voice had broken. I've a copy of that recording and no one will ever hear it. I think Jake would kill me.

I had another 16-track that I gave to him there and then so he could learn about recording.

There are a few mistakes in the book, such as him being named after the boxer Jake LaMotta. That's not true. When we first fell pregnant with him, my cousin Carl Duffy and I were great friends and his son was named Jake. We asked if he'd mind if we named our son Jake.

And he was never Jacob. It has always been Jake. It was annoying me so much that I had it changed on Wikipedia.

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Oslo, Hackney

DHP Family, which operates four live music venues in the city, has expanded into London with the opening of the £1m Oslo

IT started life as a railway station but the two-storey Victorian building in Hackney is now home to the first Nottingham-owned live music venue in London.

Oslo, which sits next to Hackney Railway Station, is the sixth venue owned and operated by DHP Family, the city centre company that is best known for Rock City.

It also owns Rescue Rooms, The Bodega and Stealth, and a venue in Bristol called Thekla, promotes national tours for the likes of New Order, James Blunt, Nick Cave and Ed Sheeran, runs its own ticket agency, and manages artists.

The focus of the business, started with the opening of Rock City more than 30 years ago, has always been in Nottingham, where they also run the annual Splendour music festival.

Oslo, which opened at the weekend, marks their first venture in the capital.

“We had a storming opening night, the place was packed downstairs in the bar and upstairs,” says DHP Family chairman George Akins.

“We’ve brought something new to this part of London; great music, great food and great drink all in one place – and it’s gone down really well.”

The name is a dedication to George’s mum, who was born in Oslo.

“There’s a bit of family heritage in there, which we like; family has always been important to us.

“And she loves it. It’s the only venue of ours that she wants to come and see. She’s been telling all of our Norweigian family about it.

“Hackney is now twinned with Oslo, which was a complete coincidence.”

They opened an office nearby last year as part of the tour promotion side of the business.

“We book a lot of bands into London already so it made sense for us to have an office there. This is taking the next step and doing what we do in Nottingham so well, in London.”

The 600-capacity Oslo will operate as a live music venue, nightclub, bar and eaterie.

“It’s like the Rescue Rooms... but with food,” he says.

“Hackney is an up and coming area. It’s very cool, it attracts a lot of fashion businesses... and we saw a good opportunity there.”

Bands booked to play in the next few weeks include Dry the River, Chrome Hoof, Long Eaton’s Indiana and an NME show.

“We’re confident we can keep the momentum going and make Oslo one of the hottest venues in London.”

DHP Family is now handling tours for Ed Sheeran, James Blunt and Flaming Lips and recently won Live Promoter of the Year for the second year running.

“We’re putting on more gigs than ever before and they’re bigger shows. We’re putting Jake Bugg, You Me At Six and Frank Turner in to the Capital FM Arena.”

Among the festivals they organise is Splendour. So who do we have headlining this year?

“We’re still working on it but we’ll be announcing a few names for Dot to Dot next week.”

For more about Oslo go to facebook.com/oslohackney, on Twitter @oslohackney and oslohackney.com.