There’s a local music night
near to where I live called Notts In A Nutshell, which showcases upcoming
Nottingham bands and artists. Admittedly their ‘Notts’ remit is a little bit
loose, as they have hosted bands from Lincolnshire and Yorkshire before. You
could argue a very tenuous case for this; Skegness was where miners were sent
to recuperate thanks to the famous bracing air, so the connection to the
Midlands can be sort of claimed. Yorkshire however is a little different,
although I have always tried to picture it as a suburb of Nottinghamshire.
For three pounds (I do pay to
get in to the smaller nights as it is important to support this kind of thing,
plus I like to imagine that some of it finds its way into the pockets of the
acts) you get to take pot luck on the quality of the music on show. I was late
turning up and missed the first band who I was informed were shit, but had
turned up to see The CTRL, a band that I have supported and followed for quite
some time now. Blue Vulture were also due to play but had to pull out due to
personal business, depriving me of the chance to tweet that they were quite
good.
The Empires were on before The
CTRL (not that they were supporting and The CTRL were headlining, the night
doesn’t really work that way), a band that I hadn’t seen before but was
impressed with enough to talk to them afterwards about my radio show and that
I’d like to play them on it.
When The CTRL first approached
me with some tracks I was impressed with what I heard although they were far
from polished. I am not keen on 100% perfection so the fact that they were a
little rough around the edges is something that I didn’t want to hold against
them. Looking past all the obstacles, (something that a certain BBC broadcaster
who claims to support local music wasn’t willing to do) I recognised the talent
within and gave them their first radio play on both NottinghamLIVE
and The Sound of Nottingham UK. They played
what I think was their first radio session at my invitation, and went on to
become the only band in NottinghamLIVE’s
history to return for a second time. When they played at Christmas they did an
acoustic set for us, and I noticed then how they had progressed in such a short
space of time, but the problem seems to be Nottingham’s music scene keeping
them a level that they don’t deserve to be at. Notts In A Nutshell is a concept
that they have outgrown, but nobody seems to want them at the next stage. Two
of the city’s biggest promoters, I’m Not From London and Farmyard have done
their best to ignore them so far which isn’t right. Why they insist on sticking
to the same small roster of acts is a mystery when there are so many more out
there.
This is one of the problems
with Nottingham’s so-called happy family of music makers, your face has to fit
and you are expected to kiss the same set of arses over and over again until
you have passed this bizarre initiation ceremony. Not one promoter, broadcaster
or journalist was in attendance at this gig, myself excepted, which is often
the case.
They played a blinding set nevertheless
and showed that they are ready to go further. The first three songs were banged
out without a break, which were followed by new material (plus their signature song
‘Stone Cold Dancefloor’) and a rocked up version of ‘When You Say Nothing At
All’ reminiscent in style to the Reel Big Fish version of ‘Take on Me’. People
in Nottingham will remember that they performed the song during their acoustic
set at Christmas, (the song was also aired on the New Year edition of The Sound of Nottingham UK as part of the cover version
special). All they need to do now is hurry up and record all the new stuff for
radio play.
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