Clown Magazine

2012-02-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Aaron English - Exclusive Interview with Jack Dorrington Editor Clown Magazine

www.aaronenglish.com

Your last release explain what the idea behind what you wanted to achieve with this album?Well, these are hard times in most of the world right now. I’m reminded of the mid-Sixties, before the whole social revolution of the hippie counter-culture came along and shook up the status quo. Nowadays, if anything as naïvely idealistic as the hippie movement emerged it would just be laughed at: we’re much more realistic in this day and age. With that in mind, I wrote these new songs from an optimistic realist’s point of view: times are tough, but what can you do? What would a revolution look like in 2010? To me, it’s taking the small step of getting out of bed in the morning and working hard at something you believe in. I believe that we’re all good at heart and that, one way or another, we can all find some common ground in the truly global challenges our societies face nowadays.

What’s been the journey from the original concept of this album to actually getting it made and finished?

Well, my last U.S. national tour ended in a bus crash. My tour bus was totalled, and most of our equipment was destroyed. I cancelled the rest of the tour and sent the band home. The songs for the new album were written over the course of the next year. Fans of mine came to my aid to fund the recording of the new record. In the meantime, a lot of fans came forward with music-biz jobs to help me recoup all of the capital I lost on the cancelled tour: I ended up touring the American Midwest playing steel drums in a Caribbean band, I ended up teaching songwriting at a university. Now the album’s out and I’ve got a hit single here in the States; I feel like that qualifies all of the effort from that difficult year.

What keeps you going as a musician?

It’s always amazing to hear that the music matters to someone. So long as I keep getting that feedback, I’ll keep making music.

Where do you want to be in the future, whether it’s on top of the world, or just plodding along?

I think everyone has a right to be making a living doing something that other people value. Being a singer/songwriter seems to be my "thing". If I’m making a living and there continues to be an audience for my music, I won’t complain.

So it’s your chance to convey to our faithful readers how you would describe yourself, your future plans and ideas, your musical and creative ideas you want to explore, in your own words please?

Touring America has been great, but I hope to get over to the UK and Europe and tour in order to find out whether the grass is, indeed, greener on the other side. The European and British festival scene, for example, sound like an absolutely blast. The US is a great music market, but it’s huge. Because of the country’s sheer size, it’s hard to take on unless you have a ton of marketing dollars behind you – and even then, it’s hard to be heard above the din.

Company Profile - Engineer Records

2011-06-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

"We'll get good music out there even if it kills us"

If you haven’t heard of Engineer Records then please allow us to give you a rounded profile of a record label that was formed in 1999, and has grown both here in the United Kingdom, European continent, and across the pond in the Big Apple, America.

Key facts about Engineer Records:

Formed in 1999 in England, and are based in the South East.
The label releases emo, punk, and hardcore music.
The label is run by music fans of the music they release.
Recently opened an American branch in New Jersey.

Engineer Records releases is currently over four hundred mainly cd’s formats but release music on vinyl, and also digital downloads. The current crop on there roster is Kyoto Drive, The Startover, Road to Kansas, Call Off The Search, The World Concave, and Nikson, plus many, many more acts and bands.

Going through there acts and bands you see musicians who have been in bands that have been bouncing around music scenes throughout Britain, Europe, and America.

Engineer Records have not only continued expansion on there own terms in different continents, but have secured a major development by there bands being played on music channel Lava TV, on satellite provider Sky.

So with bands having there videos played on satellite television, and also the exploits of the internet, it is helping Engineer Records remain independent, and giving people more than just what the popular music scene has to offer.

Well if this record company sounds good, and the bands they have, check them out!

Exclusive Interview - The Attic Ends

2011-06-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

www.theatticeends.com

Are you a bumblebee, or do you see yourselves as stargazers?

Half of us are are stargazers, and half of us are bumblebees, which keeps us balanced. You put a task in front of a bumblebee, they go from flower to flower getting it done. They can’t help it! That’s how they are programmed. But none of us are that short sighted. Stargazers live and breathe to make their dreams come true. When we are not flower hopping we are always looking-up.

Has the struggle to maintain and grow as individual and collective creative souls within the music scene any easier as time goes on?

It has definitely gotten easier. Once you are completely dedicated, which we all are, you can find your voice. As a group, we feel like we are just now finding our sound. We feed each others’ creative souls and foster each others growth by challenging each other and holding each other to task. We expect a lot from ourselves and having that support is what any creative soul needs to even be able to breathe in this crazy industry full of incredibly talented people and also so many charlatans. We need to trust each other to make sure we stay in the former category.

What project are you currently working on?

We are about to shoot our next video for the title track of our first cd Home, which was released on iTunes in December ‘10. We have been rehearsing, gigging, and supporting Home. We are really excited about writing songs for our next record. All kinds of ideas are flowing and sneaking themselves into the rehearsal studio. We are blessed to be in a position where we have discovered our sound and new riffs, beats, and melodies are just flowing naturally. For all of us, that’s our favourite part of playing in a band and we are having a lot of fun with that right now.

How has this project been that you’re you are working on? Adventurous, heart-wrenching, soul-searching, glorifying, triumphant, nauseating, confirming, validating, terrifying, exciting... It runs the gamut of human emotions, there are sometimes tears and a lot of high-fives!

Is your world opening-up to more exciting things?

Hells Yeah!

Are you leaving your nest, to fly around the world with your band and music?

Yes. That’s all we ever wanted to do. We love New York. We love Brooklyn. But we want to go to places like London, where so much great music that we all love has come from! We hear so many great things about the scene in Europe and we are definitely up for the adventure.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve done as individuals and as a band?

We wrote and released a cd onto iTunes in less than a year. That cd has been accepted by Pandora, and we are very proud of that. We are about to shoot our third video as well. We feel our biggest accomplishment has been that we have done so much ourselves, as an indie band.

Anything else you would like to say to our readership?

Music is one of the most important things in human life. Music is emotion, and we hope our music can touch some people out there. We look at it as a privilege to be able to contribute music to people’s lives, and we take it very seriously. We hope we can inspire people and help them get through experience they are going through. We have always turned to music, listening and eventually creating it as an outlet for emotion in times of pain and joy. Sharing it is what connects us all. That may sound a little cheesy but nothing is truer!

Clown Magazine presents....

2011-04-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Watch our latest video, our two robotic presenters!
Also why not help us to promote their good presenting skills by linking-up with us here at Clown Magazine, and not to mention with posting and linking our video presentation!

Many Thanks,
The Clown Magazine Team

Our new 24th Edition of Clown Magazine!

2011-03-31T02:53:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome,
It's been sometime since we've logged into our Blogger account, and boy we've missed Blogger, so sorry Blogger and the rest of the community from not being a Blogger more often.
Okay so we've finally got our first edition number 24 visit www.clownmagazine.co.uk to be precise, this year! So what have we been doing with our time this year!
Well apart from the dreaded snow, we have been upgrading our software, and also computers too! Because we are going to be moving and progressing our magazine further this year, YER! And in order to do these exciting new projects we need better software and hardware.
So now the stage is set for this year and we are back on course to deliver more news and features from the world of entertainement.
Thank you and we'll be having some friends joining us on Blogger highlighting there causes in the entertainment field, which can only mean one thing, better entertainment!
Cheers and take care for now,
Jack Dorrington
Editor
Clown Magazine

Clown Magazine latest edition #21

2010-09-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hello to all, and hope you are well. We have our latest edition number 21 online, so just visit us at http://www.clownmagazine.co.uk/ and we hope you enjoy what we have on offer in the world of music, films, and other pieces from the world of entertainment.

Welcome

2010-08-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow Blogger users and welcome as we are a new member here. This gives us another avenue to send you info on the latest in music, games, films, live shows and gigs happening around the world.