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.

Nina Smith

February 2012

My Nottingham

I’VE come full circle in terms of the place I call home. Although I grew up in Bakersfield, I was born in Sneinton and last month I moved into a flat just by Sneinton Market with my twin sister Katie.

Before that I was in Colwick and West Bridgford, which I loved because I could spend hours just sat by the river daydreaming.

Where I am now is an ideal location because it’s opposite a recording studio I use, near to a friend who makes my videos and I was always in the city centre anyway, either playing gigs or with friends, so it was a no-brainer to move there.

I’ve played all over Nottingham in the past few years: Rock City, the Rescue Rooms, The Bodega, Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham Contemporary and the Royal Concert Hall. That was my biggest show yet, supporting Belinda Carlisle.

It was a bit of a last-minute panic, as I was only asked to do it the day before but it was an amazing experience.

I had to race into town to buy a new outfit and I found one in Ark. That’s where I’ll usually do my clothes shopping. Either there, H&M, Topshop or Mimm in Hockley.

The gig was incredible. The audience seemed to enjoy it and even Belinda was dancing in the wings for a few songs. She was lovely and told me how much she liked my voice. I sold loads of copies of my EP, Lonely Heart Club, afterwards.

It’s a far cry from a show I did a while back at a community hall in Sherwood. It was a charity gig and we were half way through our set when the organiser stopped us and took the microphone. I thought it must be an emergency but she said: “Whoever ordered a sausage sandwich, it’s now ready for you to collect.” So funny. We had to laugh, then just carried on.

I hope to play Splendour again this year. I’d say it’s my favourite event of the year. Not just for playing. I went last year just to see friends playing in bands. It was a really good day. And night – we were literally the very last people to leave Wollaton Park. We were playing football with a milk carton and even the security staff joined in.

It’s odd I know but I don’t actually go to many gigs. I never have. When I was a teenager I was always out clubbing but I rarely saw bands playing.

I think the last one was at the end of last year when Swimming played Broadway. It blew me away. It was an audio-visual event where we listened to them from the next room through headphones. That was a bit special.

Other local bands and musicians I’m into are Just James, Cecille Grey, Parks – they’re proper men playing proper music – and Rob Green. His voice makes me melt. Ronika is a real ball of 80s hotness. I’m determined to touch her wild mane of blonde hair.

When I’m out it’ll usually be in Hockley, at Broadway, Bad Juju and Jam Cafe, which feels like a second home. I’ll tend to drink spirits. Vodka and Coke is a regular order but I do like cocktails. There’s a really nice one at Bar JuJu called Porn Star. It’s huge! It looks nothing like a porn star but it’s really strong. Which is how I like my men.

It was in Hockley that I last saw a comedy show. I don’t normally go and watch comedy, my sister Katie fills that void. She’s all the comedy I need. I did see Alan Carr at the Arena last year and he was quite good but a couple of weeks ago I did find myself at a comedy night in the Lord Roberts. It was actually really good. Quite camp and a bit stupid – which is also how I like my men.

I eat out a lot because I’m always on the move but it’ll be sandwiches mainly. If not it’ll be a fry up. I’m craving them at the moment.

If it’s a takeaway then it’ll be the nearest one to whichever bar or club I’ve crawled out of. Don’t ask me to remember which ones.

I know, I eat a lot of junk food. I should be rolling on to the stage but I’m always on the go so never put any weight on.

I did try a gym once when my friend got me a free pass for Virgin Active. But I just ended up going on the sun bed and using the pool.

I was a bit of a feral child so when I was growing up in Bakersfield I spent a lot of time in Colwick Woods. But my favourite outdoor place is the Arboretum. I love it there. Especially in the summer, obviously.

In fact, when the sun’s out I’ll tend to move out of the Hockley bars and head for Saltwater in The Cornerhouse. The roof terrace there is perfect for a sunbathe with a cocktail. And it attracts quite a few hotties. Which is really how I like my men.

Nina Smith plays The Pearl in West Bridgford on Tuesday as part of a Valentine’s Night special. For details: www.the-pearl.co.uk.

The Lonely Heart Club EP is available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter @NinaSmithMusic and Facebook www.facebook.com/NinaSmithMusic.

Splendour

July 2009


RESIDENTS of Wollaton, you won’t want to read this. Your back garden, that glorious park with its majestic hall on the hill, is Nottingham’s greatest asset.
This is the bit you won’t like.
Wollaton Hall and Park is Nottingham’s greatest asset to get the city on the national music festival map.
No other festival this summer has such a backdrop.
Imagine you were one of the bands on the main stage at
Splendour on Sunday. A sea of people, 12,000 or so, stretching up the hill to the breathtaking Elizabethan mansion.
OK, we’re not getting over excited. It’s not in the ball park of Glastonbury or Reading and Leeds or T In The Park or Latitude or any of those established summer weekenders.
It doesn’t even have the prestige of Summer Sundae in Leicester.
But judging by the positive reaction of bands, fans and organisers,
Splendour is on the way.
Suggs, singer with main stage headliners Madness, even remarked on the setting.
“Any idea how much that house costs?” he asked the thousands who’d spent a day getting wet thanks to a typically annoying British summer Sunday.
Out of your league big fella. Besides, it’s not for sale.
It had been a day of rain. And this may be a cliche but from what I witnessed during Madness, stood towards the back of the crowd, no one seemed to care. Oh that cliche: Spirits weren’t dampened...
They were singing along to My Girl and doing their best Nutty Boy moves.
And around a quarter were from outside the county, according to the city council.
So we’re starting to attract outsiders already.
Do we want them? Isn’t 12,000 people descending on Wollaton Park enough to deal with?
It can hold more. A lot more. It was more than double when The Corrs headlined City In The Park ten years ago. Remember them? Ronan Keating, All Saints, Squeeze and The
Pogues. The first one, a year earlier, was headlined by The Saw Doctors and pulled in 12,000 people. There are numerous big name bands who could shift, say 25,000 tickets.
And how about two days or even three? Last year’s inaugural
Splendour was a Saturday and Sunday but while 4,000 people on each day isn’t a failure, it’s not the numbers one would have expected for Kate Nash, Paolo Nutini, Rufus Wainwright and The Lemonheads.
Splendour band bookers DHP had said they’d struggled to find a suitable second headliner for this year. Blondie had been approached among many others.
Instead, the efforts – and budget
– were concentrated on just one day. And it worked.
There were more stages (three music and one for comedy), more stalls and more people. So it worked.
When it does go to plan on the day, when all the tickets are sold, when everyone had a good time, when there’s no trouble
– we want more.
Splendour will return in 2010 – the city council had budgeted for three years. But we want two days next time, don’t we?
While scribbling notes watching Ash headline the Big Top on Sunday, I was approached by two women curious about what I was doing.
I think they call them groupies. At least I’d like to think so.
One recalled the Heineken weekends in Wollaton Park of the late 1980s and early 1990s, sat atop her mate’s shoulders right near the front watching Blur.
Why do we remember them with such affection? Probably because they were free.
It could happen again with sponsorship. But with the recession looking like it’ll continue, securing a sponsor could be a struggle.
Besides, Splendour was £30 for a day. You pay more for an arena gig. If you were a city resident it was half that. A tenner for teenagers. Free to under 11s.
The council and DHP got it spot on this year. Please can we have more?

Ian Dury

October 98

IAN Dury has few reasons to be cheerful. After suffering from polio since the age of seven, the Essex punk veteran is now in a new battle against cancer - the very same illness that took his late wife Betty four years ago.

"It is a cruel and horrible thing," says the 56-year-old, who plays Rock City on Wednesday.

"I had an operation on my colon two and a half years ago to remove a tumour. It was touch and go whether it would return. And then, this year, in January, it had just raised its head above the parapet as they say and it showed up on the scan on my liver.

"It is very early stages and I'm not in any pain at the moment but although I do have moments of extreme unhappiness about it, it doesn't really frighten me. I don't know why."

Dury, a former art teacher, grew out of the punk movement in the late seventies, scoring a number of hits with The Blockheads including What A Waste, Reasons To Be Cheerful (Pt. 3), I Want To Be Straight and, most notably, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick which reached the No 1 spot in 1978.

However, despite charting alongside the likes of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, The Blockheads, he claims, never were a punk band.

"We were nothing to do with it. I actually couldn't stand punk bands. Malcolm McLaren got Johnny Rotten to copy my stage act and he did it very well. The visuals, the safety pins and all that caper, he stole from me, as well. But although I liked the Pistols, most of those bands were tripe. The energy was great and the rudeness was great but the music..."

With the release of a new album Mr Love Pants, many have seen his return as a major comeback move, although Dury himself says that he's never actually stopped recording.

"It's not that I've come back, it's just that I keep my head down if I don't like what I've done. I've made a lot of albums but I didn't really feel like talking about them. I didn't really like them very much," admits the part-time actor, playwright and Unicef Ambassador.

Over the past 25 years, Dury and the Blockheads have played Nottingham a number of times but unfortunately the distinctive group leader has bitter memories of the city. "My piano player walked off the plot in Nottingham. The roadies had just got his piano on stage and he disappeared. I think it was at the Boat Club," he says.

More recently the group appeared at last summer's What A Weekend festival at Wollaton Park, alongside the likes of notorious hedonist Shane McGowan.

Despite the ill health, Dury is far from a man wrapped up in self-pity. Rather, he is quite obviously enjoying his two young sons Bill and Albert, and his most acclaimed album since New Boots and Panties in 1977

"It's better than being brown bread I can tell ya," he laughs.