Un-convention Blog

Pat Fulgoni – Chocolate Fireguard / Kava Kava / Yorkshire Music

Pat Fulgoni is a singer/musician. Has sung for a wide range of genres from his own live solo blues album in the Czech Republic to drum n bass with Hospital Records producers Nu:Tone, London Elektricity and Logistic’s album “Crash Bang Wallop”; from house music (Subliminal NYC) to his live DIY rock electronica act Kava Kava who have played in China, USA and all over Europe.

Pat runs the independent record label Chocolate Fireguard Music Ltd and has managed to get his music in profile US TV shows such as Dirt, Weeds and John From Cincinnati and in video games like Stoked (XBOX).

He also does his best to promote Yorkshire music worldwide via the award winning Social Enterprise “Timeless Music Project” and “Music Yorkshire” organising regional CD samplers and new for 2009 the first ever Yorkshire Showcase at SXSW.

Websites:

www.myspace.com/patfulgoni

www.musicyorkshire.com

www.chocolatefireguard.co.uk

Richard Chamberlain (ex European MD, Tommy Boy)

Apart from being a senior lecturer at Bucks University, Richard used to be the European MD of Tommy Boy & GM of Go Beat (Portishead, Gabrielle, David Holmes). He also manage a few acts (Little Barrie, Killer Meters) and also consults for a few people (Warner Music – Urban repertoire, Dave Rotheray – ex Beautiful South and others).

Scott Cridland-Smith – Oxford Inspires

A retired DJ turned digital android, Scott doubles up as a broadcaster, writing and presenting BBC Oxford’s The Hub show, and as Marketing director for Oxford Inspires, the regional arts development agency, and so is intimately involved in trying to develop arts activity in the region. He has worked in music management and as a broadcaster at Radio 1 and other BBC and commercial stations. These days his particular speciality is the digital realm.

Ronan Munro – Editor, Nightshift

Ronan has experience of both the national and regional press, having been an NME contributor as well as editor of Nightshift, one of the longest established and best written local music publications in the country, and he’s seen many musical scenes and genres come and go in Oxford while always supporting new artists from the city and surrounding area.

Tim Turan - Engineer / Producer

Tim’s introduction to recorded sound was at age 3. He’s been a gigging and recording musician since 1974 and was signed to EMI in 1979 with The Car Thieves. He spent 15 years working in studios recording, engineering and producing. His pursuit of sonic perfection led him to expand into the world of mastering when sticky tape and razor blades were the tools of the trade. Since that time he has mastered thousands of records in hundreds of genres, from experimental jazz to death metal. Tim works as an indepdendent mastering engineer from his studio in Oxford and has won many awards.

He is a firm believer that you don’t need to go to London to make a great record.

Youth – Killing Joke / Musician / Producer

Martin Glover (aka Youth) is a highly respected and versatile UK-based producer and remixer, and former bass player from seminal post-punk band Killing Joke. He has produced or remixed for a diverse range of artists, including the Verve, Embrace, Crowded House, Zoe, P.M. Dawn, the Orb, U2, Bananarama, INXS, James, Wet Wet Wet, the Shamen, Texas and even Tom Jones.

He is able to turn his skills to almost any musical style including folk, rock, dance music and straightforward pop. Glover began producing while still with Killing Joke and left the band in 1982 to pursue solo projects, the first of which was the band Brilliant? which included contributions from Jimmy Cauty, later of the KLF.

He then worked with the successful dance act Blue Pearl before producing and helping to write the Orb’s first two albums. More dance-orientated productions followed in the form of work with Transglobal Underground and P.M.Dawn.

In 1991, he also formed Butterfly and Dragonfly Records, groundbreaking labels for ambient and trance recordings. In 1994, Youth resumed work with Killing Joke, appearing on their well-received Pandemonium and Democracy collections.

His most significant recent production work has been on the Verve’s hugely successful Urban Hymns, which topped the UK album charts for several weeks and included the UK number 1 single “The Drugs Don’t Work” and the UK Top 10 hits “Bitter Sweet Symphony” and “Lucky Man”.

The album won the UK’s 1998 BRIT Award for Best Album, while Youth won the Producer Of The Year award.

He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney.

Mark Gardener – ex Ride / Musician & Producer

Mark’s time in Ride has been and is well and, at times, not so well documented. They were the first chart act on the legendary Creation Records and the first major act to break out of Oxford.

With the knowledge Mark has gathered over the years, along with an understanding of being on both sides of the recording process, he is now mixing and producing bands and musicians alongside ongoing solo and band shows, songwriting and guest vocals with “rinôçérôse” and many other musical collaborations.

Steve Lawson – Solo Bass Player

Trying to pin down just what it is that Steve Lawson does can be tricky – he’s a solo bassist who spends a lot of his time making very unbasslike noises. He’s an ambient experimenter who likes pop tunes too much to go strictly soundscape, but is way too atmospheric to sit comfortably in the ‘instrumental rock’ category. His electronica leanings produce some amazing hi-tech sounds, but he resolutely avoids programmed beats, making the eventual hybrid of jazz, electronica, ambient, new age and ‘new acoustic’ influences infuriatingly hard to pigeonhole.

Having released six CDs on his own Pillow Mountain Records label, Steve has carved out a niche for himself as a composer and improvisor making music for the sake of itself. Whether playing completely solo, in his acclaimed duo with American singer Lobelia or in one of the many duo and trio line-ups to be spawned by The Recycle Collective, Lawson’s remit is to soundtrack the moment, to somehow put across in music the thoughts and emotions that can’t be put into words.

He’s managed to find a substantial audience, which has lead to headline shows across Europe and The US, major theatre tours in the UK opening for Level 42 and the 21st Century Schizoid Band, releasing six acclaimed albums, sold out shows at the Edinburgh Festival and reams of international press, radio play, and praise from critics, fans and fellow musicians alike.

Website: stevelawson.net

Twitter: @solobasssteve