The bands name is Flashguns. Originating from London and Brighton have just finished their gap year which was spent playing gigs, various festivals, recording and picking up attention from various record labels, the likes of Columbia, Universal Studios, XL, Tramp Records and Geffen, however they remain unsigned. They are managed by September management.
They have just recently released a four track E.P. named 'Matching Parts, Similar Hearts', the main track 'I Dont Not Love You' received a lot of radio play with radio 1 DJ Steve Lamaque, Scott Mills, Huw Stevens and Nick Grimshaw. Previous to this E.P. they have released two singles named 'Locarno', and 'Time House Blues'.
They have been a band for around two years now, they formed at public school. The guitarist and the drummer had been playing in bands together for around three years. There influences include bands like The Smiths, The Cure, Weezer, Nirvana, The Killers, Biffy Clyro, Radiohead, Deftones and many more.
Their edgy, poppy sound attracts an audience from the ages of 12-40. They have previously toured with Jamie T, and are currently on the Bombay Bicycle Club tour, and have played the likes of Underage Festival and Reading Festival.
The three peice used to be a four peice, however their keyboardist left the band only recently due to family problems and his own personal problems. This has benefitted the band as he was always known to be the member holding them back. They have introduced a backing track into their live performance to replace him, and have also added extra vocal, keyboard and guitar lines. The use of the backing track has added a great deal to their live performance.
They have their own Myspace and their own Website. www.myspace.com/flashguns, http://www.flashguns.com/. Promising things are expected of them in the future.
Here we see the band backstage before their performance at Lattitude Festival, in Suffolk where they opened the festival on the mainstage.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
1. Musical taste can be a controversial topic- almost to the point of tribalism.
2. It is contentious because it defines and often signifies personality and lifestyle. Musical taste is about the way you dress, speak and sometimes act.
3. However, all commentators agree that Music and its trends - sit at the epicentre of popular culture.
4. Not only to the extent that an individual can derive a sense of identity but to the extent the global community can be changed by Musical Trends
5. The pop video is only one strand of a often multimedia campaign.
6. The overview is a diagram of the contributing and sometimes, conflicting forces behind music/media creation.
7. The Industry is dominated by 4 transnational corporations known as ‘The Majors’
Universal
SonyBMG
Warner Bros
EMI
Most majors also own, or licence, a string of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre. These companies are known as ‘major-independents’ Finally, there are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors. These companies often concentrate on a small number of artists, within specialised niches in the industry known as ‘independents’.
Most record companies organise themselves internally into several key areas:
Artists and Repertoire (A&R)
Marketing/Artist Development
Promotions
Legal
Financial
The industry as a whole has a complex relationship with a number of different media and puposes. Radio, TV, Print media, Film, New Media. There is a synergy and symbiosis that helps to represent and is reshaping fans expectations, who can be a recording artist / performer and the brand image of bands and record labels.
