LONDON TOWN BLITZ - HERE WE COME! / AGENT / ALBUM ARTWORK...

So! The time has come - The big move to London, we've been putting it off for a while, but now it seems we have no choice - it's all quite exciting really. Debut Album 'Parrysland' is now (more-or-less) finished! Just tweaks now... Massive shout out to producer Bruce Woods for all his help (and patience) with us. We're picky bastards, but it sounds sweet! :)

We officially have a new management team and are proud to be working (very hard) with Kevin Reynolds and Tony Patrick of KRMB Management, alongside all their associates. Contracts are currently being checked over by solicitors, but i'm pretty confident that i'm 100% behind these guys coz they're amazing chaps, work really freakin hard, genuine to the core (and i'm not being naive i've worked with crappy management before), oodles and oodles of faith in our project and most of all, these guys have been there (toured the world) and really really have our artistic interests at heart. Of course there's financial incentives, but who the frell doesn't have financial incentives in this business? Anyways, they have already booked us a blitz of London shows at some swanky-ass venues and showcase nights with some top promoters. If you can come, then do chat to us and i'll get u a drink - tap water anyone? :)

KRMB have already had some rave responses from some top industry people about our material. They've been looking to get us a good agent and are in talks with Kevin Moss from http://www.formula13.co.uk/artistbooking/ . All good shizz-ma-dizzle. They are also sorting our new website which is in the pipe-line, www.ashleyhicklin.com - watch that space! There is lots planned for us over the next few months, and i'm feeling pretty good about it all! Wooohoo!

Album art is an on-going process, but we've been working and planning for quite a while with an absolute legend called Simon Heaton (who really is the absolute shizzle dizzle). The guy's work blows me away. This is his initial mock designs - it's like a ye olde book cover - looks phit:

We've got a meeting with photographers tomorrow to discuss plans for our shoot. We pretty much know what we want, but i'm sure our management and the photographer / stylist people have ideas of their own too. It's gonna be BBC Radio 2 all over. Haha! i'm such a geek, but frankly I don't give a shizzle, Radio 2 is where the money's at...

Quite a few people are asking to hear the new album tracks, but i'm gonna resist until it's been mastered i'm afraid, sorry folks. It shouldn't be more than a few weeks now I reckon, promise ;)

DEATH OF CORINNE BAILEY-RAE'S HUSBAND...

What a sad day it was to hear about the death of the superb sax player Jason Rae. Seriously, if you ever saw the Leeds-based Haggis Horns play live you'd know what I mean. This guy was something else on a baritone sax. My thoughts go out to the Rae family and friends. It sure makes you think twice about dabbling in drugs and who you trust for that matter. The world lost a good guy on saturday, but I hope the Haggis Horns battle on coz they rule.

Apparantly we were played on BBC Radio Leeds on Saturday Night, but we didn't know anything about it! They got hold of our Live session we did for BBC 1 Look North and played it on the Graham Liver show.

We also had a good feature in the local Yorkshire Evening News Paper with a nice big picture overlooking Leeds with Christine Boothroyd who has sponsored a CD of Leeds hottest musical exports! And we're on it! Woo!

The lovely Troubadour Quartet layed down some strings for the album this past week. It was a barrel of giggles! Henry, first fiddle, thought it would be funny to perform in just his boxers for the duration of the session. It was pretty funny, until he nearly got caught by someone that co-owns / runs the studio we've been recording in. JD drummer maestro also layed down some drums in the studio (check out his guns and his Zildjan K cymbals - very nice indeed):

We played a really good busy London gig in the Wilmington Arms in Angel a cupla weeks back. A few managers from Supervision Managment Group (who look after Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand etc.) were there scouting and one of them (Dan Moore) approached me afterwards. He liked the set and had some good pointers for future reference. Top bloke. Big shout to Kevin from KRMB management who came down and is subsequently booking us for a load of showcases, absolute legend. The chaps from Underdog management & PR also deserve a big pat on the back for putting on such a good night. Mega success all round i'd say :)

Major Labels are NOT the place to be...?

Bob Miller (Corinne Bailey Rae's manager) rang me having watched our live video for BBC1 this week. He reckons we shoud all stay away from the major labels at the moment... He's not the first to mention such. Then a manager friend of mine sent me this:

http://www.powerampmusic.com/

Interesting stuff - Thoughts anyone?

Anyways, Bob Miller is busy in the US at the moment with Corinne, but he sent down a few industry types to see me playing to an absolutely rammed little venue in Huddersfield the other night - "Zephyr"? Megatron gig. One of the industry people was the lead guitarist from SMOKIE! Crazy! He co-runs a management company and they are taking me for dinner next week which is cool. I don't often get chance to sit and enjoy food for free :)

Leeds College of Music have released their first CD featuring 6 of their best exports - They featured our track "Memories & Faces" - I got sent for a photo shoot with this director woman (who was quite hot may I add - hope to god she doesn't read this) of a big company "The Chambers" who are sponsoring the CD. They are putting the CD in posh hotel rooms all across Leeds... Check out my picture in the cover art - It's in Leeds Town Hall in front of the big Organ! :)

Our Live session for BBC 1 is going to be aired on the Main "Big Screens" in Leeds & Bradford everyday for a few weeks every night - I'm hoping bigger screens don't stretch your face or belly or else we could all look like rite fatties :)

Looks like our single "Home" could be distributed by local Leeds label IVOLV.

In other news, i've been asked to arrange strings for a cool new band on Heavenly (Scar on 45), had 3 wicked gigs this week and a stupid amount of studio sessions (album is starting to sound polished), been teaching ignorant shitty kids how to sing opera?!"$, rehearsing, texting, calling and now i'm blogging. I seriously need to kip and take a dump :)

Until next time, adios!

Live Session for BBC 1 TV - Ashley Hicklin & The Troubadours

The BBC invited us to perform a live session with the full Troubadour band, featuring the string-quartet, harp, piano, bass, drums, guitar and vox's. We performed our single 'Home', due for digital release in late march via all major distributors (i-tunes, napster etc). This short video will be featured on BBC 1 'Look North' television in the coming weeks. I'll keep you all posted on a date...

You can watch it below or via you tube / myspace:

www.myspace.com/ashleyhicklin

Deal Broker / Gig & Studio Pics...

Loads of gigs this week... few pics courtesy of Stuart's photography in Leeds (Stu's mega!)...

Loads of studio sessions for the forthcoming album this week too... few pics courtesy of my phone!

In other news, Kevin Reynolds (KRMB Management) is now acting as my deal broker with labels and publishers. Possibly the nicest bloke on the planet (and he's well into my project and music - always a bonus! ha)

He's talking me up with Jimmy Smith @ Parlophone and Guy Holmes @ Gut Records this week. All gud stuff.

If anyone's about in London this Wed i'm playing acoustic in King's Cross @ Canal 125...