Daniela Bove

With gigs lined up nationwide from Newport Pagnell and Milton Keynes to Liverpool and the Isle of Wight, the attention towards Olney living Daniela Bove has been growing for a number of years now. With the Myspace fan count hitting nearly 25,000 it’s easy to see how this Bletchley born singer of Italian and East End descent is becoming increasingly popular with music fans. Listen to Deep Blue her last album and check out what inspires Ms Bove in life and it’s easy to see why so many people can relate to both her and her music – it’s honest, heart on the sleeve music. Growing up in the concrete jungle streets, hanging around rooftops and stairwells as she puts it “getting into all sorts of trouble and never quite fitting in”, a childhood love of singing was born and continued to grow stronger as the years progressed. Absorbing the life style of big city living the dedication to music quickly jumped up to a more serious level with Daniela moving to London for Uni life where she formed a Trip Hop band, gigging like mad for years, “living and breathing music 24/7.” In 1997 Daniela decided to go solo and took time out to concentrate more on her own song writing. A couple of years later she met a gentleman named Stephen Altman which led to an “immense” musical chemistry whereby Stephen became her guitarist, producer and good friend. Together they formed “a beautifully ambient sound.” Deep Blue, along with the contribution of Jimmy Naples is the result of that engaging meeting back in 1999. The creative coming together of this trio over the years was rewarded with the album release back in 2009. The result is Daniela’s pure, gorgeous and honest vocals floating over a blend of Folk, Electronica, and Trip Hop all of which flirt with Pop every now and again. I managed to catch up with Daniela albeit through email (I’m a busy boy). The result though is some really interesting answers.

So your roots lie in an urban lifestyle and trip hop, a sound I love myself – I feel like I can still hear some of the Massive attack, Portishead in your music now, I guess in the way you sing and express your lyrics and especially the sample style openings of ‘Higher’ for example – would you agree and also how has your sound progressed into what we hear today?

I did my apprenticeship in bands in London at a time when Massive Attack, Portishead and Bjork were at their most inspirational. I fell in love with the way they mix live instruments with samples and with the way that they, for me, kept music fresh and alive at a time when all you could hear were guitar bands and boy bands. I still need to feel a freshness and an excitement when I write a tune, and can’t wait to get into the studio to translate the new live songs I’ve written and performed with the Belongings into a sample-laden ethereal landscape!

So you went to Uni in London – what did you study?

I studied Business at the Uni of Westminster, which as fate would have it had a new, and now one of the best, Commercial Music degrees running in the country. I quickly hooked up with a bunch of musicians from that course and started my first band, which was called ‘Close’. The other members of that are now in the DJ collective London Elektricity or producing Syze Up – I was humbled by their talent! I also met Tom Baxter on that course who became one of my best friends, and with him, his sister Vashti, brother Charlie and best pal Spencer we gigged the London acoustic scene, all supporting each other’s gigs for the next 8 years!

I see that you began to jam at a tube station with a gentleman named Stephen Altman who you consider to be like a brother now right? How does the creative process work with you guys? (does Stephen work around your lyrics, hooks etc?)

No, I wasn’t busking! I was working for a music management company, Steve for a film production company across the road, so we knew each other’s faces. We got talking on the tube platform and discovered a similar love for folk and electronica. He was just starting out as a producer then, and I was just starting out on my own as a solo artist, having left ‘Close’.

It felt like the perfect combination, because although I write the songs myself on guitar and piano, I’ve never had the commitment required to

play an instrument well – and he was the exact reverse, he played piano, classical guitar, cello, sax, programmed beats etc.. but wasn’t that into song writing. So I played him my songs, he welcomed my awful playing with open arms, could spot the diamond in the rough and would play exactly what was in my head and say ‘Do you mean this?’.. my jumping up and down and clapping gave away the answer!

Much of it was recorded across the pond – Steve being LA based at this time (and still), and me being in the UK. So it was a slow and sometimes frustrating process, but one that was ultimately rewarding.

Who else would you say has been instrumental in influencing / shaping your sound?

For me music has to make you feel something; I realised this from a young age – so I don’t think I’m very genre specific, as long as what I hear makes me feel. My mum flooded my ear drums with The Beatles and Motown as a kid, my dad with Led Zepellin and Stevie Wonder. So now I love songs that stand the test of time with beautiful melodies and a bit of edge. My main inspirations have got to be Kurt Cobain’s musical genius and Bjork’s eccentric beauty. Stevie Wonder would feature highly as would anyone as a kid that I would listen to that had good harmonies in it, like ELO, Ten CC and now I’m loving today’s equivalents, Fleet Foxes, Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling. Oh not forgetting Madonna – she rocked my world aged ten!!

I genuinely really love Deep Blue, you say the Album ‘’reflects the cathartic outpourings of us both’’ (you and Stephen?) This statement seems to mirror your lifes important influences and inspirations. Am I right in thinking the music from this album is created to purify, heal the soul?

Deep Blue is a collection of songs I wrote in my 20′s and tells the usual story of falling head over heels in love, only to discover it wasn’t quite what you thought it was. Writing ‘Deep Blue’ was a part of my journey and a cathartic one at that! Steve and I sat back when the album was finished and couldn’t believe how chilled it was. Both of us being two of the most feisty folk I know, that rarely hold back. So I see Deep Blue as reflecting our other sides… our sensitive sides that few get to see. I dunno about purifying the soul – but it has certainly helped the process of growing as a person.

You mention that when you were living in the cities you felt comfortable feeling lost for a while – Deep Blue is an album that is an open ‘this is me’ experience, where you highlight vulnerabilities, wear your heart on your sleeve – Am I hitting the nail on the head, is this one of the most personal projects to date?

Yeah the nail has cut right through the wood! I’d spent years in a band where songwriting was a co-writing experience, and don’t get me wrong we wrote some amazing songs together, but I was going through so much as a twentysomething, and it needed to find a way out. Deep Blue had to be personal – it saved me stacks in therapy! And as a thirtysomething I no longer need to be lost in the crowd – writing this album helped with that.

Deep Blue was obviously released back in 2009, what has happened since and what plans do you have in mind?

My plan is to get some exposure for this album, because I’m truly proud of it. But at the same time, since finding a new band of hand-picked beauties, ‘The Belongings’, I now have a similar need to get into the studio as I had before Deep Blue. I think I’ve written another ten or so tracks that I’m really happy with – less floaty, with more of an edge. I’ve been gigging relentlessly with the band, playing alongside some of my old friends that have now soared to fame and fortune, meeting some ridiculously lovely folk along the way (Mr Mitchell and Acollective topping my list!!!!) and am loving the process!

I hear your music and I feel like with the right artists there could be a Deep Blue (the remixes). Would you welcome such a thing and would you rework any tracks yourself??

Is your other profession clairvoyancy? So far I’ve had two tracks remixed by world-famous DJ Hakan Lidbo, Ninth and the Solar remixed one of the songs from the album, Flatland another and if I can get hold of the vocals again from Steve, I have another couple of DJs waiting on them to do more remixes. As for a release, they tend to release them theirselves through their own labels. I am always flattered by anyone wanting to remix my songs. As for me doing it myself – maybe one day..

Are there instruments that you would like to hear in your future music? (I’m thinking horn sections!)

Funny you should say that.. the dark horse in The Belongings, Christopher Robin, the drummer, also plays the flugel horn – we have him playing on a few tracks! Sounds for the next album…hmmm… I can hear orchestras in my head when I write songs, and so yes, the likelihood is there will be strings, a theramin, some weird oohhh weeee sample sounds, who knows! We’re recording the band instruments of album two this summer at the drummer and bass player’s houses – and then I hope to fly out to LA to record with Steve to add the fairy dust that will make it what I imagine it to be.

Lastly we should mention the Belongings – Can you tell us a little bit about them, what you guys do together and where we can go to see you play?

The Belongings came in the following order.. I was recommended Gareth Warren by a drummer I know, who at the first rehearsal had already learnt about 5 songs and played them beautifully to me in a pub garden.. I was sold! He has become one of my best friends. We’ve had a few member variations but of the current Belongings, next came Nicole Collarbone, cello in arm! She wowed me with a musical ear to die for and a pixie-like charm that I warmed to immediately. No one laughs at my jokes, or me hers, as much as Nicole! I love her! Next came

Christopher Robin Davy – it became apparent in the first rehearsal that here was a hidden talent that needed exposing! His freestyle jazz drumming had me sold after one song. It then turned out he played the piano, flugel horn, guitar, sang – I was having him in the band, for sure! And most recently came the wonders of Kev Cooke on bass, who almost played for us when he was in Terrapin Trainstation a year or so back, but it never quite materialised. But when the vacancy arose again he was first in line and turned up knowing the entire album already and with a lovely manner to boot. I am lucky to have them all – I know that!

Our tour started at the IF festival last Saturday and sees us going to:-

Fri 23rd July Vicarage Party, Wolverton Wed 4th Aug The Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard

Sat 7th Aug Cayton Bay, Scarborough

Sat 14th Aug Across the Beaten Track @ The Blue Coat, Liverpool

Sat 14th Aug Zanzibar, Liverpool

Wed 18th Aug Softly Softly @ The Albert & Pearl, Islington, London

Sat 21st Aug Thorness Bay, Isle of Wight

Sun 22nd Aug Sno! Bar, Xscape, Milton Keynes

Sun 29th Aug Love in the Woods Festival, Devon

Sun 19th Aug The Living Room, Milton Keynes

Sadowsky have just set up a new forum on their website, home to all queries and community of Sadowsky owners and those lusting to get their hands on one.

http://www.sadowsky.com/forum

Sadowsky Guitars is a New York based manufacturer of high-end guitars and basses, mostly based on Fender designs. Roger Sadowsky initially started out by modifying Fender basses with active preamps, improving the tone and signal to noise ratio of older instruments but when vintage instruments started to become more of a rarity, and prices increased, Roger Sadowsky began to create entire instruments of his own; Sadowsky basses now provide the essence of the traditional Fender but with far more consistent construction, a wide-range of options and strikes a perfect balance of vintage and modern tones.

The two lines of Sadowsky bass guitars are the NYC range and the Metro range. The NYC series is very much like a custom shop and the Metro series has a set out standard range of instruments. Basically, those who don’t require fancy tops etc can get the same high standard of build quality for a lesser price-tag with the Metro range. I bought my Metro UV70-RW-ALD-5 in April of 2009 and has been my main bass since (for real bass playing anyway, I still use my Warwick for solo gigs). It feels great to play, and the tone is big while effortlessly cutting through.

Other players include Will Lee, Tal Wilkenfeld, Hugh McDonald, Marcus Miller, Nathan East, Willie Weeks, John Patitucci and Jason Newsted. There’s a reason why big names use these basses…

Before Daniela formed The Belongings, she had worked with writer/producer Stephan Altman and Jimmy Napes to record her debut album “Deep Blue”, which is now available for name-your-price download from Bandcamp.

Please take a listen (the whole album is available to preview) and, if you like it, remember to tell your friends!

Politicians, chairmen of major record labels and other figures who sit quite high in various entertainment businesses (so high they have become totally detached from the times, it seems) are singing the song that file-sharing is damaging the entertainment industries because more people than ever are downloading illegally, rather than paying for their music/films. Perhaps we should clarify early on that the entertainment industries and the entertainers are two separate entities.

Mandelson and the majors are looking to get this bill through as soon as possible, arguing that the industries need to be protected to provide support for new talent. The so-called support they provide to musicians is still in the form of recording contracts that put the artist on the worse end of the deal. It usually involves an upcoming artist/band being given a huge amount of money to record an album, the label spends a crazy amount of money plugging the artist through commercial channels (TV and radio), the artists are lucky if they get to ride a short wave of sales, during which the label take all of the income to re-coup beside a pittance of performance/songwriting royalties that go to the artist, and it is almost unheard of that the band ever gets to break even with their debt and start making a profit. I heard a scary rumour that a particular major record label has only ever had six artists break even on their respective deals; one of those artists being Bon Jovi. This industry model is out-of-date, and failing.

The questions that need to be asked here are: How are labels gauging success? What is it bands and artists need support for? Lets be honest here; the music industry gauges success by THEIR profits, and we are now living in a time where the band doesn’t need the label, but the label needs the band to make money. The truth is that the music industry is on it’s last leg, but this is not a bad thing. Despite Mandelson and the majors claiming they are still needed, the fact is it is easier than ever for new talent to record music and release it. These days, it doesn’t need to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to record an album. In fact, it doesn’t need to cost tens of thousands. Recording gear can now be acquired cheaper than ever. Sure, you won’t get a ‘big’ producer (charging the earth per hour), but who said you need someone who doesn’t know your songs to make them sound like something you’re not? The way it has gone means it is now easier for an artist to make their creative endeavor sustainable by doing it off their own back, rather than with a record label.

So, it’s possible for an upcoming artist to record an album on a small budget, their own budget, and have so far escaped the massive debt they would face with a record label. The next step is to get the music out there. How do you do that without a massive budget to get your track played on radio, a fancy music video on TV and glossy billboard posters on every wall in every city? Here comes the sweet and beautiful irony of this whole debate in favour of the Digital Economy Bill – file-sharing. Please don’t misquote me on that as a formula for what ever your definition of success is; there isn’t one, but file-sharing is an invaluable asset. With changes and advances in technology ranging from recording gear to the way the internet can be used, it seems the music industry was thrown a curve-ball it missed - instead of increasing prices, and limiting access to the product (Billy Bragg compared the proposal of throttling/cutting off internet connections to taking away peoples record players and still expecting people to buy the records), let people have it first and decide if they like it before buying it. Instead of fighting the trend of file-sharing, the labels could, and should, already be utilising it to their benefit. Statistics have shown that, on average, those who ‘illegally’ download music spend more in a year on buying music than those who don’t download music illegally. Does anything more need to be said as to the benefit of file-sharing for the entertainment industries?

However, I would like to go on to say I’m not defending everyone who ever downloaded music/film illegally. It is one thing to preview an album/movie before you buy it, but to go on to claim it as an album/movie you own and admire without paying for it, in my opinion, is disgusting. The problem is, where do you draw the line between legitimate sharing and stealing? I personally feel the answer is that the line should not be drawn by the artist, nor the law; the listener/viewer should have a moral obligation to decide when it is time to pay, and how much. As a musician myself, I’d rather my music be heard than for it not to be heard. I am also a listener, and if a song/album moves me and means something to me I will pay for it to support the artist, to help them release more music and keep doing what they do.

I have covered just a small part of what the Digital Economy Bill is. The real concern is that the bill may not be debated in the Commons, but may be pushed through in the “wash up”. This is alarming because the provisions discussed above are founded on a very narrow point of view, putting power into the hands of those who will abuse it, and includes far more questionable and, quite frankly, disturbing clauses that may give Mandelson the power to amend copyright laws as and when he pleases. All of this because profit bent industries are failing to recognise the difference between file-sharing and piracy. Piracy is a crime, and something does need to be done about it, but the Digital Economy Bill is not the answer.

‘Excellent debut release.. stunning…faultless production…this is the best debut album from a singer-songwriter that I have heard in a long time…’- ***** 5/5 – MAVERICK

‘England’s new pastoral-folk prince…an accomplished & mature writer, backed by the most gentle and thoughtful of settings…a charming debut in every sense…careful, considered and invitingly pretty and spatial…luxuriously appealing… ‘- AMERICANA-UK.COM

‘Outstanding debut…pastoral, romantic and lit musically by summer rays…this album is no routine singer- songwriter offering but some-thing totally engaging in melody and lyric…the cult starts here’- **** 4/5- MOJO

‘This album evokes a host of quality english songwriters…a sweet and promising debut…beautifully arranged…at 19 Emm has plenty of time to develop his craft’- ACOUSTIC

‘Striking debut from teenage English troubadour…For a 19-year-old, Emm’s songs boast a remarkable maturity and poise’- *** 3/5- UNCUT

This was Terrapin Trainstation live at The Pitz in Milton Keynes, some time in April ’08. I really miss playing this tune with the guys, and there’s some good shots of the Warwick in there too. The song is called ‘Take Me Out’, and was actually written by Sean Grant (the lead guitarist) who now plays for Buick McKane (follow the link for their new music video – it’s great!).

I’m aware I’ve left it quite late to blog here but we’re doing a one off gig tomorrow night at The Dolphin in Bletchley. It’s on the corner where Whaddon Way meets Melrose Avenue.

The Dolphin
Whaddon Way
Bletchley
Milton Keynes
MK3 7JZ

We’re really looking forward to playing and, even more so, seeing some of the regular attendees we were so lucky to have! Free entry, turn up from 8

John Seaton and Arun Entwistle have kindly invited me into their band ‘Hidden Image’. Things have been going really well. We’re currently recording a new EP which is turning out to be good fun, and hard work, and the plan is to make it an ‘official’ release rather than another demo. The track listing has not yet been decided, instead we’re recording seven/eight tracks and will pick the top four/five. We’ll keep you up-to-date with that! For now, you can hear previous demo tracks at : www.myspace.com/hiddenimagemusic

This would be as good a time as any to mention we’ll be kicking off ‘Stony Live’ on the 6th June at The White Horse in Stony Stratford. It’s going to be a lovely gig! I’ll update with address/entry cost, shortly.

Hope and Anchor
207 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1.

Nearest Tube: Highbury and Islington (Victoria Line and BR)

Bus Routes: 4, 19, 30, 43, 271, 277

Last night, we played an acoustic set at The Dolphin in Bletchley, which we recorded to use as b-sides for our various singles to come, so perhaps you’ll hear one or two of those songs if you buy our single that comes out on the 27th April! The launch gig is at The Pitz (woughton centre) in Milton Keynes, with The Shapes, and the New Cassettes as supports. It’s going to be a crazy crazy night and shall be the first opportunity for anyone to get their paws on the single, ‘Tell Me Why’.

Last night, I also heard some of the initial mixes for the album, and oh my, the guys at Liquid Studio are busting their back sides making it sounds preeeetty special… My favourite so far is ‘Can’t Go Back’, one of our older tracks but the ending is just so huge, and epic!

Whether you own a Warwick bass or not [ though you should...! ], if you admire them or just want to talk music… there’s going to be something to keep you interested, so come sign up!