Resonate 05

Resonate 05 - 'The Great Music Scrum' - Conor McNicholas (NME editor), Polly Birkbeck (V2 publicist), Stephen Jones (Universal Publishing), Rachel Hendry (The Darling Dept - independent publicist). Chaired by Gemma Gracewood.

Schmooze-fest. Who am I kidding - what more did I expect?! The great thing about it was that for once having no agenda, I was able to relax a bit and enjoy myself catching up with friends, rather than giving little speeches encapsulating who, what, where, when, how and why. I learned two things:

• "The Scene That Celebrates Itself" -- a small, loose, conglomerate of like-minded bands who can be seen at each other's shows, frequently hanging out together within the same circle. [definition via]
• Of Universal Publishing's 800,000-strong catalogue, Elton John's 'Your Song' is the highest earner.

I also want to use the acronym 'MOR' (and maybe 'AC') more often, as in, "dude, the feelers are so MOR." Heh. It was a good afternoon/evening, my only complaints being that there needed to be better lighting on the panel, they needed to not all speak at once when relating gossipy industry anecdotes, and there was a whistly loud breather sitting behind me. I fear that last part was karmic retribution for upsetting the seating plan after the break.

The showcase gig at Sandwiches afterwards was quite a treat. Mon Ami were first. I didn’t see much of them but they sounded nice. Then it was the Phoenix Foundation. They played about five songs which was cool although I could have done with more. Rhian Sheehan was next, with Module, and also Jess Chambers for ‘Sunshine’. Nice.

EDIT: I've been talking to Ace about it, and as Blink points out here, the lineup was a little short-sighted considering the target audience was the guests listed above - all part of the UK indie rock scene. Ah, wasted opportunity! Nato, I've been feeling bad all week for not helping you sort out a gig. I think Blink's suggested lineup would have been a lot more relevant.