1. On Making Music - Christmas 2015 offer
    Limited number of copies available for £7.99 + p&p [£4 off RRP]

    The perfect Christmas present for original music-makers written by BBC Introducing’s Adam Walton.

    It’s a great book. Very useful for bands. And we know a few of those…
    bandcamp.com

    Buy now (UK) at the following link: http://bit.ly/1SVDT87

    See reviews & info below.

    On Making Music is a critically acclaimed guide for original music-makers of any genre, encouraging originality and covering many different aspects of being a musical artist in 2015: songwriting, arranging, recording, getting gigs, management, making money, DIY releases etc.

    Adam’s book is a valuable attempt to offer guidance through the thickets that lie between holding down a chord and actualising your musical dreams. Absolutely everything is covered… dip in to it anywhere and you’ll find something useful, revealing or unexpected.
    Tim Holmes, 4 star review in Record Collector magazine (Feb 2015 edition)

    … as good a self-help manual as you could ask for on the subject of making music. If indeed Adam Walton does owe any sort of debt to the music industry, and many would say it’s more likely to be vice versa, then he has more than paid it with this excellent publication which, if followed, will certainly ease the way for many current and future music-makers.
    LOUDER THAN WAR, Dave Jennings, Dec 2014

    A genuinely intelligent and fascinating read.
    Sweeping The Nation

    Featuring interviews & quotes from: Alan Holmes, Andrew Falkous, Angharad Trwbador, Badly Drawn Boy, Carwyn Ellis, Charlie Francis, Charlotte Church, Clive Langer, Colin Newman, David Gedge, David Wrench, Deke Leonard, Donal Whelan, E, Elliott Smith, Frank Black / Black Francis, Georgia Ruth, Gruff Rhys, Huw Stephens, Ian Brown, Jarvis Cocker, Jeremy Gluck, Jim Bob, Jimi Goodwin, Jo Riou, John Hywel Morris, John Rostron, Jon Langford, Julia Ruzicka, Kim Fowley, Kristin Hersh, Liam Gallagher, Manda Rin, Marcus Warner, Mark Daman Thomas / Shape Records, Mark Foley, Martin Carr, Matt Robin, Matthew Evans, Mike Peters, Neil Innes, Owain Trwbador, Owen Powell, Paul Draper, Paul Gray, Polly Thomas, Ray Davies, Rhydian Dafydd, Richard Hawkins, Richard Parfitt, Ritzy Bryan, She Makes War, Stephen Moshi Moshi, Tjinder Singh, Tom Robinson, Turnstile Music, Van McCann, William Tyler.

    More info here: http://onmakingmusic.co.uk

  2. On UK Radio Play

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    The first edition of On Making Music had been available for 10 months before I realised it didn’t feature a chapter that dealt, specifically, with radio: why radio is still important, the benefits radio play can bring you, and how best to send your music to the right (for you) shows and stations. As you can imagine, given my job, that has been something of an embarrassing oversight which I’ll do my best to address fully over the coming pages.

    There will be echoes of advice from previous chapters, but any repetition regarding, say, the importance of researching which programmes you send your music to simply serves to underline the validity of that advice. This chapter, of all the many chapters in this book, is the stuff I know best. If you want your music to be played on the radio, I recommend you pay particular attention to the following pages. I’ll share with you insider information that may make the difference between a successful submission and one that remains unheard, unplayed and unloved.

    I’ve written this chapter to be self-contained and easily distributable. Please note if you’re reading this removed from the main body of On Making Music that topics like writing a decent biography and what constitutes the perfect demo are dealt with, in depth, in the complete book.

    You can download an electronic copy of On Making Music, for free, from http://onmakingmusic.co.uk.

    Physical copies are available to order (in the UK) from the same site or from Amazon (for international sales).
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Making-Music-Adam-Walton/dp/1502724669

    Please also note that the advice in this chapter is offered independently by me, and doesn’t necessarily constitute official BBC policy.

    For the sake of this chapter, ‘radio’ is any (music) transmission service – whether it’s broadcast to air via a transmitter, streamed on the web, or a combination of the two.

    Our focus will be on radio with support for new music in its DNA, whether that’s BBC Radio 1, 6Music, XFM, Planet Rock, Amazing Radio or your local BBC Introducing Show / commercial station’s music show.

    Achieving the daytime playlist on Radio 1, or on a syndicated commercial station, is mostly beyond the scope of this book. In the majority of cases, daytime playlists are the domain of large major and indie labels working with radio pluggers. It is rare for artists to earn a slot on daytime playlists without having worked their way up through specialist new music shows.

    I don’t recommend aiming for the top of that particular ladder right from the off, even if you have a rich investor who’s prepared to pay for a plugger. Unless you’re indisputably, four trillion percent ‘ready’, you have a (truly) great radio song and there is significant momentum behind you (the number of followers you have on social media etc.), you’d be wasting your money and your time.

    On Radio 1 there is a clear (potential) path from BBC Introducing local shows to the daytime playlist. In the last six months (Autumn 2014 - Spring 2015), Baby Queens, Pretty Vicious and Hana were picked up and playlisted by Radio 1 (there is an Introducing slot on their daytime playlist) after airplay on my show.
    Anything is possible if you have great songs and – key for most radio – great recordings of those songs.

    What good music radio has – and it’s the quality that also sets apart good music magazines and blogs – is authority. People trust a good station, or programme, to find music that will excite them. Radio’s towering advantage over printed or visual media is that the audience engage with the music first (as opposed to having to read about it and then click on a link) and they can do this while they’re doing a multitude of other things, even working. Radio fits very well in busy lives.

    Thankfully for the sake of the roof over my head and my Northern Soul 7” fetish, radio play is still regarded as something to which many music-makers aspire.

    In my opinion it is the single most efficient way to take new music to as wide an audience as possible. YouTube, and the like, offer a tremendous potential audience for new music, but on such platforms the ratio of good music to crap music is so low the great stuff is very difficult to find; not so much a case of trying to find a needle in a haystack as trying to find a needle in a bewildering multitude of random haystacks dotted all over the world.

    Viral YouTube phenomena do occur, but radio – and written media – have usually played a part in directing the traffic.

    The point I’m making is this: radio hasn’t been usurped by new platforms, it’s something that works well in tandem with other outlets for your music. And good radio almost always has a part to play in an artist’s genesis.

    In the early days of the internet, phony seers predicted that digital autonomy would herald the decline of traditional radio. The influence of state broadcasters like the BBC, or national independents like XFM, would diminish as people chose from a boggling array of DIY, entirely web-based stations that would address their individual tastes. Never again would anyone have to listen to an entire morning of Simon Bates fawning over Kylie and Jason on his Radio 1 show, just to hear a single play of the Stone Roses or the Pixies.

    Whatever rosy, nostalgic glow you think you may detect from that last sentence, trust me, there isn’t one… it was horrific. Things are so much better, now. Even on daytime radio*.

    In radio, it’s all about audience. Even at the BBC. Commercial radio needs advertisers, the BBC needs to represent and provide a service for the millions who pay its license fee.

    And the audience is still there. The phony seers I mentioned earlier, foretelling radio’s demise, were wrong. Yes, a minority choose to listen to bespoke, internet stations focused entirely on niche tastes, but the majority of people still trust the major public and commercial broadcasters to serve their musical needs.

    So it transpires that radio’s anticipated end was not just exaggerated, the opposite has come to pass: more people are listening to radio now than ever before (according to trends indicated by RAJAR figures):
    Over 90% of the population listen to radio at least once in any given week. And as for the theory that 15-24 year olds don’t listen to the radio anymore, that is also bunkum: 85% of them do every week.

    Even a specialist show like mine – broadcast in the graveyard slot, deep into a Saturday night – has a peak audience of between 5,000 and 10,000 people. That’s quite a gig, isn’t it? Extrapolate that to the millions who listen to Radio 1, say, and you’re talking about a reach from one play on daytime radio that would exceed the vast majority of music makers’ gigging audience for an entire year.

    Of course, the audience at one of your gigs are more likely to be actively engaged with you as an artist and your music, rather than passively lapping it up as they do the washing up or plagiarise an essay, but this is how a large proportion of people first hear the music they fall in love with.

    Some music-makers I meet are dismissive of radio (generally the ones who aren’t receiving airplay), and certainly traditional radio has little to offer artists operating at musical extremities. However, in the main, there are significantly more opportunities for a new artist to receive airplay now, in 2015, than there were, for example, when I was in a band in the 90’s. Back then, unless a plugger could get you onto the Evening Session or Peel heard and liked you, you were screwed.

    It was bleak and hopeless, and the very scenario out of which my radio show grew.

    Some parts of the remainder of this piece may read like a puffed up advert for the corporation I work for, but I promise you I’m not towing a party line. As a sub-contracted, freelance presenter I rarely get to see the party line, let alone tow it.

    Of the six public purposes set out by the Royal Charter and Agreement (the constitutional basis for the BBC as presented to Parliament) two are of particular interest to new music makers: the first of which states a need for the BBC to stimulate creativity and cultural excellence, the second of which states a need for the BBC to represent the UK, its nations, regions and communities.

    As part of its current charter (which expires at the end of 2016), the BBC also has to provide distinctiveness in its service; distinctive to commercial radio stations, for example. In musical terms that means a commitment to supporting and nurturing new music that either hasn’t yet realised a commercial audience or that has a cultural value deserving of support, irrespective of the size of audience that it commands.

    Of course, distinctiveness isn’t the only criteria the BBC is expected to meet, which is why any arguments about scrapping the Top 40 chart in favour of a weekly focus on doom metal is likely to fall on deafened ears. Literally. The BBC is also expected to provide a quality and valued service for those who subsidise it through paying the license fee (i.e a commitment to ‘entertaining’ its audience.)

    Counterbalancing giving people what they want with what they don’t know they want, yet – and what they maybe don’t want, as a whole, but what needs to be supported for cultural and artistic reasons, is the rub that creates the charge that powers the BBC’s music department.

    This is excellent news for you as a music maker. The BBC is committed to nurturing and supporting the best of you, from early demo recordings through to award winning album releases.

    BBC Introducing is the initiative that has been developed to foster new musical talent across the whole of the UK. Every region has access to a BBC Introducing show with a remit to celebrate music from its catchment area.
    The brand, as it is, signposts a potential path from having your early demo recordings played on a local Introducing show, to featuring on Huw Stephens’ Introducing show on BBC Radio 1, to being featured in Radio 1’s Introducing playlist slot, playing a BBC Introducing stage at the UK’s biggest festivals, through to winning Introducing Artist of the Year at the BBC Music Awards (as Catfish and the Bottlemen did in 2014).

    I know that some artists, and often – to my mind – the most interesting artists, feel uncomfortable about corporate branding, but in this instance the brand has been designed and implemented with new music makers in mind. It’s for you. It’s supposed to provide a visible platform for the best of the music that you make, regardless of genre. That’s certainly how it works on my programme. I’m happy to play anything of quality, from ambient field recordings through to the gnarliest garage punk. It’s unlikely those extremities will be supported higher up the Introducing food chain, but that doesn’t mean that support isn’t there somewhere within the Introducing network.

    I had been somewhat cynical that a one-size-fits-all approach works when you’re dealing with the remarkable variety of music, and the different tastes and audiences that these varieties attract, however BBC Introducing is a subtler and more flexible entity than I had given it credit for. I can, for example, forward pieces of music submitted for my show directly to teams working on the BBC’s urban, jazz, rock, folk and dance music shows (at Radio 1, 2, 6Music, 1Xtra etc.)

    BBC Introducing is evolving to celebrate and serve the variety in the music that you make. It’s not a sausage machine trying to standardise you for easy consumption. Really, it isn’t.

    The success stories that are most frequently mentioned – Jake Bugg, Florence & the Machine, Tempa T, Catfish & the Bottlemen – only represent part of the service that Introducing provides.

    Seems that I can do a pretty decent job of towing the party line, after all.

    As well as potential placement on the daytime Radio 1 playlist, BBC Introducing programmes are also invited to recommend music makers from their area for those major UK festivals that feature Introducing stages (Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, T In The Park, Bestival etc.) An Introducing show can recommend a limited number of artists from their area for each festival. Given that I played 741 different artists on my programme last year (2014), it’s clear that it’s very hard to secure a recommendation. It’s even more difficult to be selected for one of the stages. Fewer than 20 artists are chosen for each festival from the compiled long-list of artists recommended by the 35+ Introducing shows nationwide.

    These figures are sobering but it does give you a realistic idea of the challenge ahead, if playing an Introducing stage at a festival is one of your ambitions.

    Remember that you can request for your local Introducing team to put you forward. Programme teams will only recommend artists they have already played and are enthused about. If you have been played, request to be nominated for a festival with which you think you are particularly suited. Your local Introducing show will let you know whether they think you’re ready or not.

    Being ‘ready’ for radio is the key question, and one I would like you to ask and answer yourself, as honestly and objectively as you can.

    70-80% of the demos I hear are nowhere near ready to be played on the radio. Music makers in the hot flush of having recorded something that excites them are, all too frequently and understandably, the least able to judge the actual, objective quality of their work.

    I can beg you to be objective until I’m blue-in-the-page, but you’re not likely to listen to me, full – as you are – of hot excitement for the sounds you have captured.

    Here’s a progressive list of things that might help you record something as exciting for others as it is for you.

    WHEN REHEARSING… rehearse hard. Focus on the difficult parts. Make things interesting and effortless. Value flow. Highlight melody and spirit. Know your songs. Know them double if you intend to record them.

    WHEN WRITING… be brave enough to be yourselves; sounding like yesterday’s heroes makes you the musical equivalent of milk that’s on the turn.

    You’ll write the catchiest melodies in your head, away from the limitations of an instrument. Record fragments on a phone. Write arresting lyrical phrases or ideas in a pad / a note taking app. Don’t limit yourself to the patterns and shapes you already know.

    Write words that mean something to you. Find phrases that no one else is using. Avoid building a song out of ‘fire’, ‘higher’, ‘desire’ cliches (or similar). Be memorable. Write about what you know, and try to give a unique insight into your world and your feelings by using a vocabulary of your own.

    Listen / read / live out for inspiration.

    Capture the mundane things around you with poetry and drama, and a melody anyone can whistle, and your song will communicate. If your song communicates, people will want to hear it. If it sounds like people will want to hear it, radio will trip over itself to play you.

    WHEN RECORDING… choose your best song; not necessarily your newest song.

    Do contemplate (hard) recording only one or two songs: very few people at radio have time to listen to any more than that.

    Focusing yourselves on one or two  songs – and making sure you capture them as brilliantly as possible – will load the dice more in your favour. Given the amount of new music being made across the UK, it’s wise to make simple choices that will improve the odds of you being listened to and supported. One or two well-recorded songs, as opposed to an album’s worth of half-realised recordings and error-strewn crap, will improve your chances exponentially.

    Be your own worst critics. Don’t let mistakes through. If it’s out of time, redo it. If it’s out of tune, redo it. If there is a part that you have any reservations about out-staying its welcome, remove it.

    Long intros kill interest. Every second your finished recording is over three minutes will increase your song’s chance of being rejected (by the majority of radio).

    Provide a radio edit, if necessary.

    Radio edits are also necessary if you swear like a docker who’s accidentally rivetted their thumb to an iron hull on a frozen morning.

    Radio f**king hates swearing. All swearing.

    There is no watershed on radio. Despite the fact that you may hear the odd ‘piss’ or ‘shit’ in a Radio 4 drama, or an effing eff storm on BBC 2’s Mock the Week, you won’t hear swearing on BBC Introducing or commercial radio.

    There is at least one, notable exception to this ‘rule’. Huw Stephens’ BBC Introducing Show can now play recordings with swearing in them (according to the producer and presenter’s discretion, and with a suitable warning).
    Having said that, as a fair proportion of the music featured on Huw’s programme has filtered up from local Introducing Shows, I would highly recommend you submit clean edits in the first instance. If Huw or his team decide to play you and feel that the un-edited version of your track will work best on their programme, they will contact you.

    Remember that programme-makers are listening out for recordings they can play on their programmes. If your recording obviously transgresses a broadcasting standard (swearing; contentious, prejudiced or explicit subject matter; a bad recording…) it won’t get played, and whoever listens to it will curse you for wasting their time. The likelihood of them getting back to you to say: “despite the fact that we obviously can’t play this wax cylinder recording of All White Men Are C***s, we’d really like to invite you in for a session…” is slightly higher than your chances of having a winning lottery ticket knocked out of your hand by a unicorn riding a flying dodo.

    A great vocal can make all the difference. Be unstinting about the main vocal.

    One stray or over-strained note will kill your chance stone dead.

    Other people hear your vocal much more critically than you will hear it.

    Don’t fill in any blanks or make any excuses.

    If it’s not absolutely right, do not send it.

    Music makers who build a reputation for sending bad songs and / or unusable recordings will eventually end up ignored and un-listened to.

    Do not let this happen to you!

    WHEN PLANNING TO SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC… research the radio shows you send your music to! Five minutes listening to a radio show, scanning previous playlists, can save you energy and frustration.

    What I’m listening out for… music and music makers that excite me.

    This is impossible to define with any degree of accuracy and there are no rules.

    We’re in the realms of subjectivity, here, so I can only tell you what I’m listening out for. I wouldn’t presume to tell you what another radio show will get excited about. This is why researching stations and shows is vitally important.

    First and foremost, I want to hear a great composition that enthrals and convinces me. I want to hear spirit, originality, musical charisma, something that isn’t hackneyed, ripped off or half arsed. If it’s melodic, make it a melody that moves and / or intrigues me, and that I won’t want to forget. This is one of the greatest challenges for any composer.

    Singing root notes over a perfunctory chord sequence will not cut the mustard.

    It won’t even cut stale flour. Do not be bland!

    If your music is noisy, make it BLOODY NOISY!!

    You don’t have to exaggerate yourselves, but make what is important to you as a writer emphatic in your compositions and recordings.

    I want to hear great voices. They don’t have to be technically perfect, but they do have to have that elusive quality that will intrigue me and the listeners to my show. Soul, is one word for it, but singers who aim to sing soulfully mostly don’t. Sing whatever truth is in your heart, and sing it half well, and you will intrigue people.

    Secondly, I want to hear something that sounds like it could be the beginning of a great story. For this reason, it’s particularly exciting to hear new and young artists taking their first steps. If those steps are exciting. They don’t have to be assured. Competence is boring and stifling.

    The spirit of a recording should always outweigh the competence of the performers. Ideally there should be a marriage of the two, but spirit alone is always more attractive to the likes of me than competence alone.

    Acknowledging that there is a general, industry-wide interest in younger music makers doesn’t exclude older artists. There is no ageism at play, here. However young and new has an innate excitement to it that can be incredibly persuasive when choosing between songs that are of a similar quality.

    A lot of my role involves me choosing between songs that are, broadly, of a similar standard. It’s then that more arbitrary factors can come into play.

    Being entirely honest with you, a new artist – for a show like mine that focuses on new music – has an advantage over artists and / or music makers who have been around for a few years, without progressing much, either musically or in terms of their own story.

    Sometimes I’ll show a preference for artists I feel have a momentum behind them (lots of gigs, a release coming up, positive word of mouth about them, good reviews etc.)

    Other stations have been known to make playlist decisions based on the number of YouTube views and social media followers a music maker has. Well, it’s one gauge of popularity – however easy it might be to skew – if popularity is important to that station / programme.

    Again, researching who you send your music to is key.

    Does the show play demos?

    Does it play the kind of music you make? (Genre, duration etc.)

    Does the show support the geographical area that you are from?

    Is the show targeting an audience with which your music is likely to be compatible?  For example, Radio 1’s target demographic is the 15-29 age group. They’re listening out for music that will communicate with that audience.

    Find out which format you should submit your music in, and how.

    For my show, I want to hear demos (high quality .mp3’s) via the BBC Introducing Uploader (an entirely free and accessible method of sending music to BBC radio). If you’re already an established artist, and / or releasing a more substantive work that exceeds the Uploader’s limit of 3 recordings per month (full info on the Uploader here: http://bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/uploader), please submit download links directly via e-mail.

    The e-mail address for my show is: themysterytour AT gmail DOT com - Welsh artists / artists based in Wales only, please. I will not have the time to assess any recordings that I can’t play on my show. Sorry.

    I much prefer to receive my music via the Uploader, where possible.

    The Uploader’s monthly limit on submissions will help you to be selective about what you send to us. Being selective will improve your chances of support.

    Do Not submit your music via a social network (Facebook or Twitter), unless explicitly invited to do so.

    Do submit your music in a form that is immediately usable by the show: YouTube links / SoundCloud links without a download option are to be avoided.

    Do Not submit music to presenters while they are ON AIR… that’s the time they’re busiest and least likely to listen to you. It’s also the time your message is most likely to be buried under other communication coming in for the programme.

    Do make sure you identify your submission (clearly labelled CD / USB stick etc.) or a correctly tagged music file.

    There are billions of Unknown Artist - Track 1 demo submissions floating around out there. Your music arrives alongside music from thousands of others. If it can’t be readily identified or matched up with a covering letter / email, it will be discarded and un-listened to.

    This especially applies to tracks submitted via the Uploader. The BBC Introducing Uploader doesn’t automatically tag your files for you. If I’m downloading 250 tracks in one listening session (which can happen), I need to be able to quickly attribute the file I’m listening to, to the artist responsible.

    PLEASE TAG YOUR FILES!

    Love Your Demo! If you are a new, unplayed artist your submission is more likely to be listened to empathetically if it is presented as a demo rather than a full release. Calling something you’ve recorded in your garage a single doesn’t make it better or more professional than it is. It can, however, raise expectations above what you can realistically achieve in that environment. (Although some of my favourite recordings have been very lo fi, garage / bedroom recordings.)
    Timing your submission is key. Avoid public holidays, music festivals / high summer, in general. Programme teams are much less likely to be able to listen to your music if they’re not in the office.

    By the time they get back to the office, there will be a backlog of music and your recordings are less likely to be listened to.

    It’s remarkably rare for shows to be able to play an unsigned artist repeatedly, over the course of weeks or months. Try to maximise any opportunity with which radio presents you by formulating a plan of action.

    If your submission is an album or a single, provide a release date and try to stick to it. I’d suggest submitting your single, or the key tracks from an album, 3-4 weeks in advance of the release date. This will give radio enough time to listen to it and (hopefully, if they like it) play it prior to release.

    Submit too early (6 weeks, absolute maximum) and the likelihood is that airplay will be so far removed from the release date itself that it will have little beneficial effect for you.

    Submit too late and it’s possible that radio will ignore you because they may assume they have already missed the boat.

    No one likes to miss the boat.

    Given the amount of music that we receive, do not count on repeated plays, frequently that just isn’t possible. Try to make any play that you may receive count.

    Timing. Timing. Timing.

    Have gigs / live appearances lined up to coincide with any airplay you may earn.

    Ensure your social media is up to date.

    Ensure you have an up-to-date, short and factual biog (biography).

    Writing a good biog is the subject of a whole other chapter. In (very) short: you’re not selling double glazing. Don’t exaggerate. Let your music do the talking for you.

    If you feel even the slightest temptation to write that you’re the greatest this, that or the other (or words to that effect), delete / start again. No great band EVER had to declare it in their own, self-written biography.

    Write your biog in the first person. Third person biogs only sound more professional when they’re written by professionals, when that becomes necessary. When you start out you’re trying to forge a personal connection with people who you want to help you. Sounding full of bullshit will make this a lot less likely to happen.

    If the track you are submitting is a demo, consider making the recording available for download by the public, and make sure it’s clear where it can be downloaded from.

    Glossy press packs, with posed and airbrushed photos, can be counter productive in the artistically holier than thou world of new music radio.
    If we need a photo, we’ll ask for one.

    A bad photo will do you more harm than good. Trust me on this.

    Also, you know, less is more. If your music intrigues and the attendant press pack ruins that mystery, you risk spoiling the recipient’s curiosity. Sparking curiosity is much of what this game is all about.

    AFTER YOU HAVE SUBMITTED YOUR MUSIC…
    Be patient. Those of us on this side of the fence – The Leeches – receive a lot of music. At least give us a chance to listen to what you’ve done, in our own time.

    Music radio people are very keen to find great new sounds to play. We think of ourselves as intrepid explorers and your music is the hitherto undiscovered continent upon which we want to stick our flag.

    You make smouldering art; we have to photosynthesise off the best of that art. 

    We need to find the best of you to survive. And this means that we listen to everything.

    We may be incredibly judgemental of the first 20 seconds, but we do listen to everything.

    Cajoling us into doing so won’t help your cause. Imagine how you feel if you’re queuing for a bus or a gig, and some smart arse tries to push into the line. Yes, this is rock ’n’ roll and not a Sunday school trip to the Queen’s garden party, but good manners will serve you well.

    If you used the BBC Introducing Uploader, it will mail you when your tracks have been listened to.

    If you hear nothing after a week – a fortnight, e-mail the programme and ask them politely what they thought of your recordings.

    In an ideal world, of course, every artist who submitted music to a radio show would receive detailed constructive feedback, but all of these new music shows are run by very small teams and most of them are overwhelmed by the amount of music they receive.

    Most weeks I receive 150-250 different submissions (promos, demos via the Uploader, full releases from pluggers, USB sticks and CD’s at gigs…), if I spent 3 minutes writing the most cursory email to 200 of them, it’d take me 10 hours. Those of us who work on a freelance basis (as the majority of presenters do), have nowhere near the time to do that, sadly.

    But if you go to the trouble of asking us, we will reply.

    Don’t be too upset by rejection. I’m well aware that the recordings I listen to – even the absolute worst ones – are very precious to those who record them. Try to remember that it’s not at all easy to be played on the radio. Paying a license fee (for example) doesn’t entitle anyone to airplay. My responsibility is to my audience, first and foremost, and not to the artists who send me music.
    Fortunately I better serve those artists by trying to apply and maintain very high standards in the music that I choose to play, thus ensuring that there is an audience there to listen to and support those I do play.

    Stephen King – whose inspirational book On Writing was my major inspiration for On Making Music – collected a stack of rejection slips before his first novel, Carrie, was published.

    Don’t be too disheartened by rejection. It should sharpen, not blunt you.

    A minority of you will receive notification that your music is going to be played on air. I make a point of informing every artist that I am going to play them prior to broadcast. I know it’s not the most life-changing event, and I understand that a platinum selling album or a sold out tour is probably a little higher up your wish list, but radio play is a big deal.

    Radio play on my show is entirely predicated on the quality of the music that is submitted. That is – and always will be – my main priority. Artists who engage with programmes – for example, celebrating any airplay they do receive by talking about it on social media – do inevitably make themselves more visible and familiar to those programmes.

    It’s human nature that if you manage to put yourself positively at the forefront of someone’s mind, you’re more likely to be remembered for any opportunities that arise.

    The baseline is always great music, first and foremost. I’ve never played anyone on my show just because they Tweeted enthusiastically about a previous play they received. I may, though, have approached a new submission from that artist more empathetically and with more enthusiasm.

    Empathy and enthusiasm are handy partners to have in your corner.

    As I said earlier, much of this is about generating, entertaining and representing an audience, and not just for the numbers.

    Getting played on a show like mine opens your music up to a host of potential gig-goers, music-sharers (and buyers), record labels, promoters and bloggers all over the world. And it might be one of the first vindications your nearest and dearest see that you’re on the right track.

    All those questions about why you bother wasting your time making all those ‘strange noises’ or as to when you’re going to get a ‘proper job’ may quieten for a couple of weeks after radio play. Of course, you don’t need reassurance that you’re on the right track because you’re insouciantly convinced of your own greatness. It’s all just a case of the world catching up with you, isn’t it?

    Everyone needs reassurance, on occasion. Don’t shape yourself to receive it; but equally don’t shun it should it be offered your way.

    What I would like to impress on you again, here at the bitter end of the chapter – but not with any bitterness, I assure you – is the sheer amount of music we receive. Artists, their friends, families, representatives and fans, see the world almost entirely from that artist’s perspective. I’m at the other end of the lens, and there are many hundreds of lenses pointed at me every week. If you’re aspiring towards radio play on Radio 1 or 6Music, the lenses number in the thousands.

    Every week.

    Radio play might come quickly and easily if your music is excellent, ineffable, original and intriguing. But radio play is not easy. Don’t be too disheartened if the exposure you think you deserve is elusive or difficult to attain. Remember the numbers involved. Then transcend the numbers involved.

    Hopefully this chapter will have markedly improved your chances to have your music played on radio. Remember this, those of us who work in new music radio need you; but we also need to you to be as good as you can be. Good luck!

    *Even on daytime radio - Of course, there is an important discussion to be had about radio’s need to expose people to excellent new music alongside songs that are already popular. I’m sure Simon Bates playing the Stone Roses brought them to a far wider audience than when they were partitioned off to specialist music shows, but that’s a subject for heads of music at radio stations to wrestle with. If you make great music that’ll attract an audience, they’re far more likely to have that discussion and find in your favour.

    BBC Introducing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/introducing/uploader
    Amazing Radio: http://amazingradio.com
    Dandelion Radio: http://www.dandelionradio.com/contact.htm

    © Adam Walton 2015

    If you reproduce any part of this text, include the following credit:

    This text is from On Making Music, a guide to original music-making written by Adam Walton. The full text of the book is available as a free download (.pdf / eBook) from: http://onmakingmusic.co.uk

  3. On Making Music - Testimonies


    This is a selection of the responses that I’ve received so far for On Making Music.

    Please email any thoughts you have about the book to: themysterytour AT gmail DOT com or tweet @onmakingmusic 

    Many thanks / diolch.

    It’s a great book. Very useful for bands. And we know a few of those…
    bandcamp.com

    Adam’s book is a valuable attempt to offer guidance through the thickets that lie between holding down a chord and actualising your musical dreams. You don’t have to take just his word for it, because he has drawn on 20 years worth of contacts to support his advice with quotes and interviews from songwriters, bands, producers, club promoters, record label bosses and managers – everyone from Ray Davies and Kristin Hersh to Kim Fowley and Charlotte Church. Absolutely everything is covered… dip in to it anywhere and you’ll find something useful, revealing or unexpected.
    Tim Holmes, 4 star review in Record Collector magazine (Feb 2015 edition)

    … as good a self-help manual as you could ask for on the subject of making music.
    If indeed Adam Walton does owe any sort of debt to the music industry, and many would say it’s more likely to be vice versa, then he has more than paid it with this excellent publication which, if followed, will certainly ease the way for many current and future music-makers.
    LOUDER THAN WAR, Dave Jennings, Dec 2014
    http://louderthanwar.com/on-making-music-adam-walton-book-review/

    This book will be important for you. Please purchase & read.
    Welsh Musicians Union

    …the brilliant “On Making Music” by Mr Adam Walton. It’s a great guide for music lovers and/or music makers everywhere.
    The Joy Formidable

    RADIO Wales’ Adam Walton has spent 21 years championing Welsh music.
    His weekend radio shows have gained legend status, as has the man himself.
    Now he has ploughed all the expertise gained in that time into writing a book - On Making Music.
    David Owens, Western Mail, Saturday July 7th 2014

    A genuinely intelligent and fascinating read.
    Sweeping The Nation

    It was absolutely fantastic to hear Adam talking so knowledgeably and candidly not only about his experience both as a Radio DJ, but also as a lifelong music fan. His ability to make a direct connection with our students was really striking, and his enthusiasm for supporting creative approaches to music making came through clearly.

    The range of anecdotes and insights that Adam was able to share really cut straight to the heart of why we’re all so passionate about making and listening to music, and the career development advice that he offered was intelligent and absolutely on-point. Obviously, Adam was able to draw on the wide research that he’s carried out for his book ‘On Making Music’ which again made the stories and advice all the more relevant and compelling, and he spoke with genuine erudition and eloquence about his subject.

    However, what struck me as I came away from the talk was the thought that, for all of the thousands of pieces of music that he’s no doubt heard, in addition to the wealth of knowledge and experience that he’s built up throughout his career, Adam still has that raw, intuitive and infectious passion for music that remains completely undimmed – which was great to see and hear first hand.

    Matthew Lovett, Principal Lecturer / Academic Manager - Music, University of South Wales

    Adam came and spoke to our 80 of our students for a solid hour and a half. And they listened. It is as much as we can manage to hold their attention for 20 minutes. He must have been good.

    Some of them sent their music in to him after that and have been getting airplay as a result. It appears that their music is as valid as anyone else’s of their generation. We are constantly banging on about this, but they will not believe us. What could we possibly know? They believed Adam. Not only did he open their eyes to how to actually get music to the main media outlet in the UK but he also persuaded them that it is achievable for them. He did this in a witty and engaging style.

    Owen Lloyd Evans, Coleg Menai, Bangor

    All too often the music industry can seem like a closed group of elites that only a lucky few get access too. What exactly does pique the interest of radio broadcasters, record labels and management companies? It’s a busy industry that doesn’t often have time to talk, but every now and again a kind soul takes some time to share their expertise. And BBC Wales broadcaster Adam Walton has done exactly that.

    Walton has written a free, in-depth, downloadable guide for original music-makers of any genre. Titled On Making Music, it covers songwriting, arranging, recording, getting gigs, management, making money and DIY releases. Discussing the motivation behind his book, Walton explains: “It was driven by my experiences, both as someone who has listened to tens of thousands of demos over twenty years, hearing the same mistakes being made again and again, and as a struggling music-maker from a provincial town (Mold in North Wales).

    “My band and I made every elementary mistake imaginable: signing bad contracts, recording the wrong songs, believing our own hype, never submitting our music to anyone. It saddens me that music-makers in 2015 are making the exact same mistakes I was making in 1994, and this is my attempt to offer advice that will help them to avoid those pitfalls, and also to inspire them.”
    Rhian Jones, iMusician Digital 25th Feb 2015
    http://www.imusiciandigital.com/en/blog/on-making-music

    …a very informative read and it was great to have your perspective as well as that of the myriad artists, producers, promoters etc that you interviewed.
    Gareth Bonello (The Gentle Good)

    Dear Adam,
    Just to say how much I’ve enjoyed reading, and re-reading, your book.
    I bought the paperback edition and it’s been worth every penny. I hope you get some money for them because that must have been a lot of work - even with Scrivener.
    Thanks for all the time and effort.
    Best, Frank
    Frank Summers

    I read a lot, fiction and non fiction, can I just say, without gushing too much… this book is brilliant. In the true sense of the word. Witty, intelligent and Adam achieves his goal, may it long be considered a blue print for future music makers in this brutal industry we choose to partake in. I think Mr Peel, if he were still with us, would be advocating this as a christmas present for not only the unexperienced but the heavyweights of the division, a must read. Thanks Adam.
    Adam J. Qüæck, musician

    I’m always wary about buying these sorts of books, even though they’re the kind that I find most interesting.

    This was a pleasure to read from front to back. As a budding wannabe artist, it’s good to tick off the things you appear to be doing right, potentially correcting the things you’re doing wrong, and discovering things you didn’t know about / need to do in the future.

    This book can be read by anyone who’s writing/playing music as a hobby, to people wanting to enter the industry (or who just have, or are already in it etc..

    There are chapters relevant for everyone really. Helpful insights from people across the musical industry are also extremely useful. They all confirm Adam Walton’s self-confessed rambling, bringing confidence that he really knows what he’s talking about throughout this book, and that it’s not just been written by some randomer.

    The general consensus of the book puts emphasis on the fact that you should be making music for yourself, and moving forward with it how you want to, and not to please others, but also pointing out that by doing this you can stand out and hold your own ground.

    I’ll recommend this to every other musician I know.
    Philip Blake, 5 star review on Amazon
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3UX8P2E8SVL03

    Very comprehensive, dealing with everything from learning an instrument, finding band members, being a solo artist, songwriting, recording, mastering, getting gigs, how to make some money from your music (registering with PRS / PPL and MCPS - such a useful chapter.)

    The interviews with Catfish and the Bottlemen, Martin Carr and Joy Formidable are particularly insightful.

    Beautifully written. Lots of humour. I love the fact that the book encourages me to be me and to make my music and doesn’t just offer me a set of rules of guidelines to follow. It’s a collection of philosophies and approaches from lots of different people and when you’re reading you get to choose the ones that most make sense to you and what you’re doing.

    Highly recommended.
    thorn circle, 5 star review on Amazon
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Making-Music-Adam-Walton/dp/1502724669

    Fascinating. The good sense that pervades this book is exceptional. Based on interviews and advice from a variety of artists, there are inevitable contradictions, but then if there was one recipe for success, everyone would be doing it.
    Anyone looking to make original music should read this. It might save you from some of the pitfalls, it might inspire you, it might convince you to do everything your own way, it might do all three. It’s that sort of book.
    JPMP, 5 star review on Amazon
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Making-Music-Adam-Walton/dp/1502724669

    An Excellent read, As a long suffering Guitarist/Singer/Sometimes Songwriter I can relate wholeheartedly. Only halfway through at the moment - great reading.
    Mr David A. Catherall, 5 star review on Amazon
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Making-Music-Adam-Walton/dp/1502724669

    Just finished the book @onmakingmusic by Adam Walton. Inspiring, informative and thoroughly entertaining. A highly recommended read.
    @SongsDaveWrote on Twitter

    Really enjoyed your music guide Adam, beautifully put together.
    Chris T-T

    Just wanted to say that I bought your book about a month ago and I think it’s absolutely wonderful. I’ve bought 15-20 similar books in the last year or so (I think it works the same mental muscles as ‘bandalism’ - dunno if you’ve heard of that) and yours is the finest. I can see what a labour of love it was.
    Stu from Lux Lisbon

    Every home should have one…
    Stuart Michel - professional musician

    If you are in a band, work in music or are just a fan of music then you must read this book. Adam interviews musicians and bands behind the music. Written with intelligence by a man that obviously knows his stuff!!
    Joe NYC, 5 star review on Amazon.com

    So if you’re even remotely interested in music or an artist yourself, this is most definitely a book you need in your life.
    Dani Charlton, Amazing Radio

    Hi Adam, I just wanted to say I bought your book the other day, received it yesterday, have read half of it already, and think it is a wonderful achievement that I will personally cherish as a golden bough of guidance.

    It’s really great, so thank you for posting about it on whatever music group I found it on. It’s a genuine spark.

    I’d go so far as to call it a musician’s bible. It’s funny! It’s clever, packed, and it’s friendly.

    It’s the best thing I’ve read all year.
    George Toulouse, musician

    A great read by @adamwalton @onmakingmusic if you’re in a band pick this book up and don’t put it down till you’ve finished! Looks good, feels good, to the point, funny informative and a meaty read! Da iawn.
    Beltane Buzz

    In a band? Want to be in a band? Dreamed of being in a band? Got a son / nephew / god daughter / child who’s in a band? Buy them this, it’s by Adam Thomas Walton and, honestly, it tells them what they need to do and know, includes interviews with everyone from Frank Black to Future Of The Left to Radio 1’s Huw Stephens to Trwbador to Martin Carr , it covers recording, publishing, promotion, getting your song played on the radio. I promise you Walton has put thousands of hours into this and it’s no get rich quick scheme).
    Andy Black, Popty Ping Records

    The book has been my staple ‘bus book’ for the last month or so. Enjoyed it a lot. So many chapters – I like the bitesizeness of it. : )
    Owain Roberts

    This is an amazing book by Adam Thomas Walton!! I can’t recommend it highly enough. I have just been given a copy for Christmas and I can’t put it down. A must for any aspiring music maker.
    Bethan Nia, musician

    Music friends. I’ve downloaded a copy of 'On Making Music’ (still working my way through it) and it’s a fantastic and informative read for anyone playing music or working with it.
    Grant Tilbury, artist manager

    It’s a great guide for anyone working in or looking to work in music (especially as a music maker) and has vast amounts of information collected from years of experience and interviews with leading industry professionals.  We feature in one chapter discussing technology in music.  It’s well worth a read and is available on a ‘pay what you think you should’ sort of deal.
    Owlet Music

    Hi Adam.
    I’m currently reading On Making Music and just wanted to say I think it’s brilliant
    Loads of excellent advice.
    I’ve been in a band for a few years now and have already found lots of helpful stuff.
    I really like how you encourage artists to be themselves - a lot of advice I’ve read online is aimed at people wanting to be mega famous, so it’s refreshing to read something that’s focused on the actual music.
    Tom-Haas Vall-Haas

    I think that ‘On Making Music’ is set to become something of a standard resource for all of us who record and release music here in Wales and beyond and I recommend that you grab a copy NOW !!
    Ashley Cooke, Pulco

    Would heartily recommend to any musician. So many things to relate to. An extremely valuable resource.
    Rebecca Palin, Golden Fable / Tim & Sam’s Tim & the Sam Band featuring Tim & Sam

    …a breath of fresh air…
    Aled Wyn Hughes

    One of the best new reads anywhere courtesy of Adam. Now available on Amazon.
    Peter Dysart Erickson, music writer

    Interesting, encouraging and rather funny in places.
    Joseph Flatt

    Really inspirational and thought provoking.
    Steve Thomas

    Picked up your book the other day. very, very helpful! Thank you for taking the time to write it.
    Lucy Was A Decoy

    Just bought Adam Walton’s new book on making music. Cause he knows loads about music & has taken time to write it down.
    John Mouse

    Currently reading @adamwalton’s 'On Making Music’ book. Brilliantly written and sound advice for anyone in the business.
    @homes_music

    Hi Adam, I downloaded on making music this morning, I am just past the Martin Carr interview and I thought I’d message you to say that it’s fantastic! The Martin Carr part is probably the best interview on songwriting I’ve ever read, I can’t believe how similar his process is to my own. (Apart from the number one songs!)
    The book is great, I can’t put it down. The Welsh Music Foundation should start thinking about printing this and making it available to everyone starting or even established in music. Sorry for banging on, just wanted to to say thanks!
    Stefan James, Sweet Benfica

    Just finished reading your book. It’s a good read and full of useful information. Thank you.
    @bobbywhirlwind 

    A good read for any budding band (or anyone of a musical disposition really).
    Neil Crud

    Hi Adam,

    I just wanted to say what a good read 'on making music’ was. It was really refreshing to read a 'how to make it in music’ guide (if you will) that seemed to focus on what is really important- music as art, I suppose. The music industry makes it easy enough to lose complete faith in it nowadays, so to read something where each piece of advice on how to achieve success in music was qualified with the disclaimer that success in music isn’t really what music is about, was really great.

    It was good to just see it there in black and white, to focus on making something as good as you can, and for yourself as much as it can be, then the rest will come. To know that there was someone out there- in the position of getting new bands exposure, no less- that had this in the forefront of their minds, was nice in and of itself.

    I’m not sure if any of this was the point when you were writing it, but I just wanted to share what I got from your book. 

    Kind Regards,
    Ryan McNulty


    4 chapters in and I’m already feeling inspired and motivated. Really interesting and helpful read. Good job!
    Ryan March


    The moment I read ‘…being yourself and making music primarily for your own satisfaction…’ I knew I must read it. Thank you. It is outstanding.
    Paul Green

    I thought it would just be the usual workshop and seminar stuff but it’s not trying to make me fit in or be like anyone else. I love it. Thank you.
    Anon

    Essential reading for all musicians.
    Showcase Wales

    Just got a copy, great work!
    Clockwork Radio

    We just downloaded On Making Music - a guide for original music-makers by @adamwalton: gum.co/onmakingmusic You should too!
    Easy Music Merch

    After 5 years of being a songwriter, reading this helped me understand how the paperwork works. Priceless! More female voices though please.
    Elin Rhys

    Mr @adamwalton has written a guide for music-makers. On Making Music. I wholeheartedly suggest you get down on it.
    Ian Hughes

    @adamwalton really enjoying the book Adam. Proper labour of love, and something that I hope you’ll keep adding to. Well done chief ;)
    @Richie_Hayes

    I’m about a quarter of the way through the book at the moment and it’s really inspirational and thought-provoking.

    For an old timer (41!) who has been in the musical wilderness for about 10 years it’s great food for thought on re-igniting my career.

    Thanks in advance.
    Steve Thomas

    Dear Adam,

    Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read your work, and I appreciate the way in which you are involving readers in the development of future edits. Your unassuming nature is admirable. However, I would not be so bold as to attempt any critique on your understanding of the music industry.  

    I am convinced that this enlightening piece of work which seems to have been wrenched from your past experience and intermingled with your current day occupation and connections will be an inspirational foundation for the numerous up and coming artists. The minority of these people may go on to achieve popularity; the majority may scrape a living doing something they enjoy. I’d like to think that your book will inspire youngsters, who have an inclination to pick up an instrument, to have confidence in their originality and not conform to superficial rules, and as you so accurately put it in your ending words, ‘have fun’.

    I’m sure this book will achieve everything you had in mind for it. Your command of the English language along with your blend of wit and intellect bears a resemblance to a modern day mark twain. And sometimes, when my self absorbed depression gets the better of me, your comical verbalizations can be a sudden unexpected bowing branch to cling hold of when treading these murky waters.

    Peace and progress,
    Paul

  4. Excellent Louder Than War - On Making Music review

    image

    Those excellent people at non-poncey, communal, punk rock-fuelled music site, Louder Than War, have given On Making Music an enthusiastic and in depth review.

    You can read Dave Jennings’ review here: http://louderthanwar.com/on-making-music-adam-walton-book-review/

    A wonderful, early Christmas present.

    I don’t do faux cool, sorry. I’m over the bloody moon x

  5. On Making Music - download here.

    This book will be important for you. Please purchase & read.
    Welsh Musicians Union

    RADIO Wales’ Adam Walton has spent 21 years championing Welsh music.
    His weekend radio shows have gained legend status, as has the man himself.
    Now he has ploughed all the expertise gained in that time into writing a book - On Making Music.
    David Owens, Western Mail

    A genuinely intelligent and fascinating read.
    Sweeping The Nation


    The 2nd edition of On Making Music is now available to download as a .pdf / Kindle or eBook file on a ‘pay what you want’ basis (link & download info at the bottom of this page).

    This edition of the book adds in depth interviews with: Charlotte Church, Joy Formidable, She Makes War, Carwyn Ellis and William Tyler.

    I have also made the book available for Kindle and in eBook format. 

    I wrote it. My name is Adam Walton. I’ve been making a new music show for the BBC since 1993. 

    On Making Music is a wide-ranging guide for original music-makers, encouraging originality and covering many different aspects of being a musical artist in 2014: songwriting, recording, getting gigs, making money, DIY releases etc.

    It took me a year to write. It’s 450 pages long. It’s exhaustive but hopefully not exhausting.

    There is a full chapter list, here: http://onmakingmusic.tumblr.com/post/84122070293/on-making-music-contents

    The book features contributions from, and exclusive interviews with, a range of influential artists: Alan Holmes, Andrew Falkous, Angharad Trwbador, Badly Drawn Boy, Carwyn Ellis (Colorama), Charlie Francis, Charlotte Church, Clive Langer, Colin Newman, David Gedge, David Wrench, Deke Leonard, Donal Whelan, E, Elliott Smith, Frank Black / Black Francis, Georgia Ruth, Gruff Rhys, Huw Stephens, Ian Brown, Jarvis Cocker, Jeremy Gluck, Jim Bob, Jimi Goodwin, Jo Riou, John Hywel Morris, John Rostron, Jon Langford, Joy Formidable, Julia Ruzicka - Prescriptions, Kim Fowley, Kristin Hersh, Liam Gallagher, Manda Rin, Marcus Warner, Mark Daman Thomas / Shape Records, Mark Foley, Martin Carr, Matt Robin, Matthew Evans, Mike Peters, Neil Innes, Owain Trwbador, Owen Powell, Paul Draper, Paul Gray, Polly Thomas, Ray Davies, Rhydian Dafydd, Richard Hawkins, Richard Parfitt, Ritzy Bryan, She Makes War, Stephen Moshi Moshi, Tjinder Singh, Tom Robinson, Turnstile Music, Van McCann (Catfish & the Bottlemen), William Tyler

    The download link & donations…

    The absolute intention for On Making Music is for it to be as accessible and affordable as possible. If you’re skint, feel free to take a copy for nothing (leave '0’ in the I’ll Pay field and click the 'Get It Now’ button at the link below).

    http://selz.co/1mzQbpZ

    Otherwise, please donate what you think is appropriate for a 450 page book that took a year to research and write (£5 is the average amount of the donations that have come through so far).

    The donations are now all made through PayPal.

    All donations are much appreciated, truly.

    Benefits of donating…

    Donating towards On Making Music will mean that you will be notified  automatically when a new version of the book is available. Updates are planned on a quarterly basis (new interviews, fixes, updated prices & services etc.)

    Feedback & testimonials…

    I’d love to hear what you think of the book, positive or negative. Please e-mail your thoughts to: themysterytour AT gmail DOT com

    Happy reading and music-making!!

  6. Last 2 Sale Copies of On Making Music available now…

    Down to last 2 Sale copies* of @onmakingmusic - just £9 (RRP £12.99) https://selz.com/item/54524227b79872115c266109?code=LSNYINID - great Xmas present for music folk. 5* Amazon.

    *full versions in every way, just from the initial (cheaper) print run.

    Thank you / diolch
    Happy Christmas / ‘Dolig Llawen x

  7. Chapter of the Week: Catfish & The Bottlemen - On Getting Gigs

    Hard copies of On Making Music are available as the perfect Christmas present for the music-makers in your life, at a discounted price until midnight tonight (Sunday 14th December 2014).

    Order here: http://selz.co/1zGoSio [discount code: LSNYINID]

    The free, downloadable version is here: http://selz.co/1mzQbpZ 

    Congratulations to Catfish & the Bottlemen on winning the BBC Introducing Prize at the BBC Music Awards last Thursday!

    image

    Unusually, but appropriately for this section of the book, Catfish and the Bottlemen were one of the few Welsh bands who I grew to love as a live entity before I ever heard their recordings.

    They started playing the venue where I’m a resident D.J., in 2009 or 2010. When they first graced our stage, they were still a good few years off having legal ID in their back pockets, but they were already very good. Even then, when they were leather jacket-clad Bambis finding their guitar-toting hooves, it was clear that they knew exactly what they wanted to do.

    They had determination in their eyes and were very complimentary about the music I played before they went on stage. Butter me up once and I’m a friend for life.

    They’ve gone on to become one of the hardest working live bands in the UK. Now, hard work doesn’t, in itself, make rock ’n’ roll transcendent. Applying a work ethic isn’t a guarantee that you’ll turn into a great band.

    However Catfish and the Bottlemen also know how to write a great song. And they look good.

    All of the important elements were there, and they managed to align the heavens in their favour by driving up and down the country, for the last few years, playing anywhere that would have them.

    Soon, the venues had to get bigger to accommodate their burgeoning audience. Management and an agent came calling. This momentum, and the excellence of their singles, earned them praise and significant support on national radio.

    It was, almost, an old school, rock ’n’ roll tale. One you mightn’t have thought possible in the cynical tweens of the new-ish millennium. 

    Catfish and the Bottlemen conquered the U.K. by gigging it to death out the back of a transit.

    Apt, then, that Van is their singer’s christian name. He very kindly took time out during a frantic, sold out tour, and the recording of their debut album, to answer a few questions about their ascent, and about gigging.

    How did you get your first gigs? Was it all a disadvantage coming from a sleepy north Wales town?

    I used to get all our first gigs. I used to manage us, really. We started off playing in pubs around the North West to raise enough money to tour. We eventually got our own van and just spent about two years of our lives in it.

    We never really got given anything and that’s still the case. We’ve always had to work from nowhere if you know what I mean? We consider it a blessing as well as a curse, to be honest.

    Living so far away from everything disciplined us massively at such a young age. We got so used to the long drives up and down the motorways at all hours of the morning, it made us so strong as a band and mentally. I was heading off to a gig midweek in somewhere like Sheffield and then getting home at about 6am, going bed for two hours and then getting straight back up for school in the mornings. It was hard, man, but really worth it.

    What was it that made you ‘attractive’ to promoters, in those early days?

    To be honest I think it was our persistence. I never gave up pestering promoters for gigs. ‘Cause I was like fourteen and the lads were sixteen, I don’t think we got taken too seriously. But I knew if people gave us the opportunity then we could do them proud. After playing for a lot of promoters, I made sure they knew how appreciative I was of them. I used to go up and knock on their doors after the shows and thank them and all their staff. We’ve stayed close to a lot of promoters we played for at the start as they’ve been so good and loyal to us growing up as a band.

    You’ve always had a reputation for being thoroughly excellent people – obviously the music is the major reason you’re doing well, do you think that having manners and being good to people (audience / promoters etc.) has served you well, too?

    Haha, That’s lovely to hear that mate. I think that having manners and being good to people serves you well in life, not just in music. Why would you not be? My Mum and Dad brought me up to look after everything you love. So I do. I’m so in love with my life, the people in it and the people I write songs for, man.

    Does the experience of touring match up to the expectation?

    Yeah, It’s beyond expectation! We were happy playing to ten people in Dorset, in a pub we’d never been to before. We’ve always loved this. It’s what our band’s been about from the ground. We never wanted to make music to sell it, we just wanted to tour it, and get to know cities and the people in them.

    So, to come here (to Guildford) tonight… and the whole tour’s been sold out… is amazing. It’s a lovely town. Good people. Last time we played here was to about three people and tonight it’s sold out! 

    We make sure we stay behind for hours after the gig and meet everybody, have a drink with everyone. We couldn’t be more pleased. It’s the nicest thing possible, we’re just enjoying ourselves. It’s crazy that people are really into it. We’re overwhelmed by it all.

    Hanging out with your audience, was that something you picked up from the bands you went to see when you were younger, or is that just a natural part of your personalities?

    When I used to go and see bands, like everybody else I thought they were gods! I’d loved to have met them but I never got a chance to meet anyone, really. We were always jumping on the last train back to Llandudno. 

    There’s a lot of bands who are a lot more stylish than us, and a lot cooler than us – we know that… we’re just about making music. All we wanted to do was to play for people.

    I’ve always been about bands like Oasis, when they first came out, and The Stone Roses – not necessarily from a musical point of view, but the side of it where they could have been your neighbour all their lives. They became massive bands but it was still like they lived next door to you.

    Tonight we’ve turned up in Guildford and there’s two girls here, who’ve been waiting since one ‘o’ clock this afternoon, and I said, “You’re mad, waiting round for six hours, what are you doing?” I went in to get them drinks and t-shirts to say ‘thank you’.

    It’s just in my personality to do that. I just love meeting people. 

    Some of it’s a little strange. I met this girl the other week and she asked me to sign something, I did and she started crying her eyes out, as if I was some kind of immortal, which is mad. I said, “don’t get upset, we’re just normal people… obviously!” I just wanted to make it really clear to everybody who’s into the band that we’re the same as them. Shouldn’t need saying.

    I don’t know many other bands who are like that, so maybe inside of me probably thought it was good to be different to everybody else.

    I think it is. My experience of touring with bands is pretty limited. But I have spent time in the States with The Joy Formidable, and they’re like that with their audience. To me it seems like the most natural thing in the world to do, but some artists feel they need to closet themselves away. Do you think that that’s to try and maintain mystery? Or is it because they have quite shy personalities?

    A bit of both, probably. I think a lot of bands like to stay mystical and that kind of thing, and a lot of them… well, the hours are exhausting… you go to bed at five in the morning and you’re up at seven. You go soundcheck; you barely have time to eat anything and, when you’re done, you are buggered! Maybe it’s down to that as well. Because at the end of the night, when you’ve finished a gig and you’re all sweaty and horrible, the last thing you want to do is meet people.

    It’s just the thought that hanging out for an hour or two could make people’s night. That’s the difference between not doing it and doing it.

    I don’t blame anyone for not doing it because I guess a lot of it is down to personality and, you know, I’ve been told that talking after a gig is the worst thing for singers, and this girl I spoke to told me that Tom Jones, singers like that, don’t go out and see their fans after gigs because if they went out, and there was loud music on that they’d have to talk over to be heard, it’d wear out their voice.

    So there could be lots of different reasons. I don’t know. I just think it’s really nice for people to think that it’s their band, you know? Not just us four making the music, they’re part of it, too.

    On the last tour, I was saying to the crowd, let us know which songs you like and which you don’t, and we’ll put the ones you do like on the album. And the ones you don’t like, we’ll rewrite, or take off. I wanted people to pick the album for us, to be involved in what we’re doing.

    How do you think gigging has improved the band. If you look at those early gigs you did for us in Telford’s (Warehouse, Chester - see below), you were tight – which isn’t really a compliment for a band, I don’t think – but you were also good. Now, 3 or 4 years later, you have great songs and a real, natural musicality… is that the result of so much touring?

    Well, you know what you say about bands being called ‘tight’. There’s a good story about Roy Keane… I think it was Alex Ferguson who said: “the thing I love about Keane is that he’ll cover every blade of grass, right up until the last minute” and Roy Keane was a bit offended by that because he was thinking, “shouldn’t everybody do that? Shouldn’t everyone run until the last minute for their team?”

    He was offended at the thought that that was his quality. So, when you say about the ‘tight’ thing, if you weren’t being described as tight then you haven’t earned your crust, you’re not good enough.

    Unless that’s your thing, like The Libertines or someone, which is based around the looseness or spontaneity of being together. But there’s still a togetherness, whether it’s loose or not. 

    So with the tightness thing, I just think it’s quintessential for a band to have that.

    In terms of gigging, yes it was massively important in making us better. We couldn’t have been one of those bands that got picked up after a month of gigging. I know a load of bands who are together now, who are blowing up now. Bands like Royal Blood who have only been together for under a year. You know, they’re awesome. I think that it’s because they’re naturally gifted people. We weren’t born good. We were crap. We had to graft. I think anybody can do anything. I think, if you wanted to, you could walk on the moon, if you wanted it that much.

    So we were one of those bands that weren’t gifted from birth. We literally worked and worked and worked at it.

    Sometimes when bands work that hard, they can sound pedestrian, like they’ve put the spark out, but there’s a real spark to your music… is that something that you found through working hard?

    I think that if there’s a spark to something, it’s to do with the way we write. I don’t record anything or note it down. If I don’t remember an idea I have for a song the following morning, then 60,000 people in a stadium aren’t going to remember it.

    I never write anything down. If I write a chorus and I think it’s brilliant but I wake up in the morning and I can’t sing it, I know it wasn’t good enough.

    A lot of the songwriting I do is done at night. So it’ll maybe take me two hours to write a tune and then next morning, the bits that I remember I just glue up with other memorable bits, and then that’s done. I try not to overthink it.

    I read something interesting about John Lennon. He would write something down and then does his best to never go back and correct it because what he was singing there and then was the most natural and right thing for the song.

    image

    I’ve portrayed you in the introduction as if you had a conscious philosophy from the start to ‘conquer the country’ by playing live. Some people thought that that wasn’t possible any more, but clearly it is. Was it a considered strategy for you or were you following your instincts, just doing what you wanted to do?

    It definitely wasn’t considered. If someone had come and offered us a record deal and said “you’re going to be massive in a month”, would we have taken it or would we have done it our way? It’s an interesting question. Because we have literally slept in the back of a van for years and we’ve still got nothing. We do it for the love of it. 

    The main reason we did it was, we started in Llandudno and there was nowhere we could gig, really… nowhere really close. Chester was probably the closest place to home, or Bangor, where we could get a gig.

    You know, a lot of people wait for their door to be knocked on by a label but we had to go and do it ourselves.

    I’ve been to record companies, pretended I had a meeting with the head, and I’ve gone to them:  “you need to check this band out…”

    I met Geoff Travis, once (head of Rough Trade) and I was just a bright-eyed little kid and I said: “Got the new Strokes on this CD, here…” and I gave it to him, and I was expecting a phone call… as if I was going to get one! I was just a little kid and the CD was probably rubbish.

    We’ve always been about banging on doors. I’ve had it drilled into me from a young age. I was told, if you want to make something of yourself, don’t wait for it to happen, go and do it.

    That’s a lot of the mentality and another reason was because this is what we like doing. Me, personally, I don’t like being in a studio… I hate recording… I really struggle with photos and videos. For us it was just about imagining that we could sell out arenas. It was never about imagining we could get a number 1, it was just about imagining we could sell an arena out.

    Back to that point about banging on doors. Some bands, in removed areas, do struggle getting those out of town gigs, how did you do it? How did you approach promoters? It was more than just knocking on doors, wasn’t it?

    If you speak to any promoter from our early days, they’d probably say that I was the most annoying person that you could ever meet, because I wouldn’t give up. Now I’m friends with them all. In Telford’s, people like Stew (Etcell, who used to book the bands at the venue… a great, hairy Aussie) would book us just to get me off his back. Because I’d tell him lies and exaggerate a bit, tell him we were on tour with such-and-such-a big band… and eventually he just said: “All right, you little shit! Come and do a gig for us…” And he stuck with us and we stuck with him.

    I used to play football with the older lads in school and they used to kick the shit out of me, but I kept getting back up and towards the end they admired me. Me and my other mate got in their team. It’s one of those things where you keep on getting up and asking people to give you a chance, and don’t stop until you get that chance. 

    A lot of it was to do with that.

    Another thing we used to do was, we’d put guerrilla gigs on. Once we turned up to a Kasabian gig and I told the promoter we were on the bill, trying to sneak on, and he said “No way. You’re not getting on.” So we thought, while we’re here… so we revved up a generator in the car-park and, you know when thousands of people come out of the venue after a gig? We were there in ninja masks and we had a mate giving CD’s out for us, and we basically played to the crowd that Kasabian had just played to. And we’ve got fans  who come to our gigs now because of that, you know.

    We played in Warrington the other day, an acoustic set, in a full shop, and I mentioned that story and a dozen or so of the people there came up afterwards and said: “we were at that gig!”

    It’s about empowering yourself, isn’t it? It’s just about being positive.

    Yeah, exactly, that’s what it was all about.

    Ever since I’ve been a kid it’s been about that. When I was with my mum and dad, raised in the back of the car, just with love, every challenge, we’d find a solution. 

    I used to live in a B&B when I was a kid. Sometimes my mum and dad would have to let the extra room out, our bedroom, because they needed the money to keep going, you know? And they would let our actual bedroom out, with my little bed in it. They’d trick me and say that we were playing a game of hide and seek, and we’d sleep in the living room. Just to get by.

    I’ve been raised to feel that wherever you are, see the positive in it.

    No matter what happens, we’re bursting with positivity.

    How important is it for your set to have a beginning, a middle and an end? Isn’t it important for a gig to have a shape to make it more memorable?

    I think it’s massively important to have a good end. Our last song in the set, and the last song on the album, isn’t really a song… I don’t really see the point in writing a song, at this stage of the band, that is too deep. I just think it’s about writing songs that people can party to and really feel good about.

    Until you’ve built up a really big audience, save your deep songs for then.

    I think the last song should be about making the audience feel “Fuuuuck… they’re really tearing the place apart!” So, our last song… I wouldn’t even really rate it as a song, but to watch it live it’s just about that moment… this is big!

    I think it’s good to start with a bang. It depends, really. I think I know what the set’s going to be if we start playing bigger venues, you know – two thousand capacity and above, I think I know what we would start with. I like the idea of starting with a slow song.

    Live it’s important that you put your singles, or your hits, in the right places so that people have a sense of anticipation and of that expectation getting rewarded throughout the set. Because a lot of bands put their new single last. I always put our new single first! I think it’s quite a bold move to do that because you’re basically playing your best song, or the one that most people are likely to have been hearing.

    I like starting with a bang, ending with a bang, and in the middle just maintaining enough energy and power for the audience to think that we’ve really got it.

    We’ve always thought that every one of our songs are as good as each other, so exactly where we put them in the set doesn’t worry us. 

    Thank you Van McCann, the least worried man in rock ’n’ roll. Which goes some way to explaining why Catfish and the Bottlemen are one of the most life-affirming bands you could hope to see.

    Keep an eye on http://catfishandthebottlemen.com for details of upcoming dates (in the U.S. and Europe too) and information regarding their highly anticipated debut album. Follow @thebottlemen on Twitter.

    If we enjoy the ride even a quarter as much as they are, we’re in for a very good time indeed.

    Resident D.J. - Telford’s Warehouse, Chester. Every 2nd & 4th Friday. http://telfordswarehousechester.com - my spiritual home. A great venue that has been supportive of my musical adventures for over 20 years now.

    There’s a lot of bands who are a lot more stylish than us, and a lot cooler than us  - I’d dispute that strongly. Catfish do things their own way, regardless of fads, what’s ‘cooler’ than that?

    #30 PLAYLIST:

    On Making Music #30 [on Spotify]

    Catfish & the Bottlemen - Kathleen
    Catfish & the Bottlemen - Rango
    Catfish & the Bottlemen - Homesick
    Catfish & the Bottlemen - Fallout

    © Adam Walton 2014
    http://facebook.com/onmakingmusic
    @adamwalton on Twitter

    On Making Music is a guide to original music-making written by Adam Walton. It is available to download (.pdf) from http://onmakingmusic.co.uk

  8. CHRISTMAS PRESENT DISCOUNT WEEKEND!

    Looking for the perfect Christmas present for a music-making friend, or for you?

    This weekend only, I’m offering a *Christmas Present Discount* on physical copies of On Making Music (the downloadable eBook is FREE - see below).

    http://selz.co/1zGoSio [discount code: LSNYINID]

    Offer ends midnight on Sunday 14th December. Purchased copies of the book will be posted First Class on Monday morning.


    4/5 star review
    Record Collector - Feb 2015.

    This book will be important for you.
    Musicians Union

    A genuinely intelligent and fascinating read.
    Sweeping the Nation


    On Making Music is a free* book for original music-makers encouraging originality & covering many aspects of being a musical artist: songwriting, recording, getting gigs, DIY releases etc.

    It was written by BBC Introducing’s Adam Walton, founded on many years of experience as a new music broadcaster and musician.

    It features exclusive interviews with Catfish & the Bottlemen, Joy Formidable, Huw Stephens, Future of the Left, Trwbador, Charlotte Church, Colorama, Martin Carr, William Tyler et al and wisdom from Ray Davies, Black Francis, Kristin Hersh, Elliott Smith, E, Jarvis Cocker, Liam Gallagher & many more.

    *The downloadable version of the book is a FREE download here: http://selz.co/1mzQbpZ

    Testimonies & reviews: http://onmakingmusic.tumblr.com/…/on-making-music-testimoni…

    More info on the book here.

    Thank you & Happy Christmas / Nadolig Llawen x

  9. Buy a Printed Copy of On Making Music Direct…

    image

    I have a limited quantity of the physical editions of On Making Music for sale directly from me.

    I’m very happy to sign them, and if you’re put off by the P&P (which is the minimum I can post the books for), then you’re welcome to pick them up from me (from Chester).

    I’m sure this is how Stephen King works, too.

    Full details & purchase available here:
    http://selz.co/1wI4Mls

    Many thanks.

  10. On Making Music - printed copies now available!

    image

    Printed copies of On Making Music are now available from Amazon in the UK for £12.99

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Making-Music-Adam-Walton/dp/1502724669

    That’s as cheap as I (more pertinently they) could make it.

    It looks pretty good and hopefully reads better.

    It’s very strange having it sat here in front of me. Maybe this is how those of you who are in bands feel when your first release arrives? There’s a lot of my soul trapped in those pages. What if people don’t like it?

    I understand much better now, I think, the process that DIY and independent music makers go through releasing their own music. Great satisfaction, a couple of moments of pride, no small amount of terror…

    I enjoyed writing it. If anyone else likes it, it’s a bonus… BIG SMILEY IRONIC EMOTICON X