Friday 29 November 2013

Ralph's Top Ten Blogged Band Chart - 29.11.13


OK bands you know the score.....

the more hits your blog gets by the fans..... 

the higher you go.....

So Tweet it, Facebook it.....

and generally expose yourself.....






Now Mr Snuggles and me have been sitting with our heads down counting the hits on each bands blog to see who's got which place.  

So here it is.....

The Top Ten Blogged Band Chart .....










No 1..... The Gravity Drive


Since Ralph playlisted the forthcoming single 'Circles' by The Gravity Drive back on the 20th October for his Indie Show with Radio KC he's had numerous requests for more info, so being a Jack Russell and inquisitive by nature, dug deeper. 

The Gravity Drive are husband and wife duo Elijah and Ava Wolf who release their music on their own label, the aptly named Elijah Wolf Music. 







No 2..... Feral Five 




Feral Five - Skin EP

Ralph played London duo Kat and Drew Five aka Feral Five the other week on his Radio KC Sunday Show to positive feedback. Describing themselves as - "raised by wolves on a diet of punk rock, disco and roots" - they've had no small amount of critical acclaim for their debut EP 'Skin' including a 9/10 review from LouderThan War who said they “might just have released the best single of 2013”. They’ve also had the nod from Alan McGee.







No 3..... All She Knows


All She Knows released their first EP entitled ‘ASK’to critical acclaim locally as well sales all over the UK. They further released a video in the Spring of 2013 accompanied by an EP Launch Gig.  All She Knows have played in many venues all across the UK including the London O2 Arena and the O2 Academy in Glasgow. They've also sold out King Tuts , played for Real Radio's Bonfire Night and were the main support for The Specials After Show in Glasgow. 







Elia & The Low Tears.JPGWhat's the biggest compliment one of your fans can pay you? Well Elia and The Low Tears had a music video made for them by Romanian fan Alex Bade!  It currently features on their MTV Brand New UK Unsigned nomination page.  So without further ado Ralph's bringing you more music from the funky Elia and The Low Tears in a bid to convince you to vote for him in the upcoming awards.







No 5.....Plum


Betsy Thunder cover art
Building on the impetus of her SAMA Best Electronic Award earlier this year Plum (aka Shona Maguire) has released a new EP 'Betsy Thunder'.  Just after releasing the EP she played a gig in The Pleasance, Edinburgh supporting Conquering Animal Sound so in order to introduce Ralph's former man in Scotland, Malcolm Parry as a fully fledged blogger (Scottish Sounds) in his own right, here's his review of the EP and gig...









Ralph's love of crowd-funding projects knows no bounds, so when he heard that Liverpool band Xander and The Peace Pirates were using crowdfunder.co.uk to finance a trip to America in order to gain further recognition he was intrigued.














No 7..... Under A Banner


Ralph previously looked at Wolverhampton Alt Folk/Rock band Under A Banner back in May when they released a single 'Some Stories' to aid the soldiers charity Help For Heroes.  Since then the band have been working hard to produce their ¿Acoustic? EP and the result is a heartfelt collection of well crafted songs. 












Have Mercy Las Vegas were the third and final of Ralph's trio of lively and energetic folk/rock bands reviewed back in November of last year. They're causing a bit of a stir on the Glasgow music scene with their unique sound, which although largely folk and blues based, is hard to pin down exactly as they appeal to a wider audience










No 9..... The Assist



One of the tracks that's had a lot of feedback since Ralph gave it an Intro spin on his Radio KC Sunday Indie Show recently was 'Control' by up and coming young Walsall band The Assist.  They're a four piece Alt/Indie group with an infectious, bouncy Brit Pop-esque style that's proving popular not only locally, but country-wide despite their only being fully formed this year.






No 10..... The Darlingtons

THE DARLINGTONS - Don't Give Me Hope

Ralph makes no secret of his love of The Darlingtons track 'Bats' (closely followed by 'Watch Yourself'), both of which have featured regularly on his Radio KC Sunday Indie Show.  So it's no surprise his tail was wagging with news of their debut self-rele











Tuesday 26 November 2013

The Online Festival - Crowd Funder





As with everything in life we tend to outgrow things and The Online Festival is no exception. Over a year ago I wrote..... "where's the best place to go for a varied selection of unsigned bands I hear you ask.....where can I listen to anything from heavy rock, dubstep, electro-pop and acoustic flows......well it's The Online Festival of course.  

It's a one stop promotional shop for bands and individual artists to download their tunes and interact with each other whilst using its website and the social media phenom that is Twitter to promote them."







Since then The Online Festival. led by David Hubbard has made no small amount of effort to do just that by not only running the website and promoting online, but by organising three musical events and two compilation albums of artists featured on The Online Festival website. In order to take things to the next level The Online Festival are running a crowd funding campaign to raise the funds necessary to upgrade their website and online presence for the benefit of the musicians involved. 



Here's what David has to say.....



Ralph: The Online Festival already does a lot for it's members, what's the plan for the future?


Dave: "As the website has developed it has actually appealed to not only music fans but also the large amount of new bands, musicians, DJ`s and producers who are always looking for new ways to promote their music." 





"So as a result we need to improve and adapt our website accordingly so that it can become a lot more interactive for our members. At the moment we are limited as to what we can do because of the way the website was originally built. Our aim is to totally rebuild a big part of the site and to implement some new ideas which will hopefully appeal more to the artists who would like to use our site more to show off their music."


"We aim to improve our profile pages and redesign them so they can be used not only as a profile page but a place were they can link all their social feeds and online music together. This will help create a one stop bio page which can then be used to send off to record companies, radio stations etc. We also want to offer a better uploading and downloading service for our members music and videos with better options for leaving feedback as we know this is important. To go with this we will also be implementing a Weekly/ monthly chart so the more hits or plays the songs and videos get will reflect in the artists chart status. We want to try and link up with some record labels, recording studios and music hardware stores to offer some great incentives for topping the charts."



Ralph: What changes will we be able to expect? 


Dave: "The big change to the site will be the online festival internet radio which we aim to use as another totally interactive tool where our members get to do the broadcast. Basically we will be offering time slots to our members and they can then play whatever music they like to whoever is listening online. This is a great tool to use if you would like to show off your own music or maybe introduce people to a new band or musician you have just discovered."



"So as you can imagine to make all these changes it is going to cost us a lot of money and if we don`t make these improvements and changes now then we feel we can`t continue to help and support all the new bands/musicians and music people who have joined our site."


"We're asking people to please help us to continue building what we feel could be the largest online music community and help us to create a website that continues to grow and loves to support new music and new artists."




Ralph: What are the challenges facing you with this project?

"There are a number of challenges we face in designing this website and we are always open to new ideas and suggestions from potential donators and online festival members. We have set out a game plan on how to take this website forward but we do realize that there are always certain restrictions when it comes to website design. I have a website design and software company in place to help me build the new site and this will take a few months to take shape. Hopefully I can keep you all in the picture with screenshots and progress updates." 

"The big challenge if we do reach our funding target is to reach out and gain more members but I am confident that with a better looking and more interactive website this concept will appeal to a lot more people."


"So were looking to raise £15,000."


20131104120433-strobe_crowd
"This is the amount of money we need to get the website rebuilt professionally and make it look ,feel and work a lot better for our members. We have factored in for some fantastic rewards for your donations inc digital downloads, online festival merchandise inc special edition t-shirts and a very special compilation album on vinyl with songs donated from our members."



"If we don`t reach our target then people who pledge wont lose their money."


So the message is - If you love Indie music, whether as a fan or as a musician please give what you can to help this amazing project flourish in the years to come.  You can access the pledges from the links below...



£30GBP
Raised of £15,000 Goal
25 days left
Flexible Funding
This campaign will receive all funds raised even if it does not reach its goal. Funding duration: November 09, 2013 - December 21, 2013 (11:59pm PT).

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