(Continued from Part 1 , here.)

(Continued from Part 2, here.)

THANK YOU! GOODNIGHT!

During the years I combined writing for Artrocker magazine with my own Loud Horizon blog, I received in excess of 1500 promo copies of CD albums, EPs and singles. Every one was listened to with a view of reviewing. I resolved however, it was sometimes better to say (write) nothing at all than slag off a piece of work a band or artist had taken so much time, and probably expense, to produce.

Consequently, not everything I was sent made it onto the Loud Horizon blog. And only a select few made it to the review / interview feature pages of Artrocker. But there were some terrific bands producing exciting and interesting sounds that I did manage to help gain some traction: The Savage Nomads; Theatre Royal (who would later become big favourites of Radio 6 Music presenter Steve Lamaq); The Gaa Gaa’s; Paper Planes (later Astral Planes); Nacional (later For Abel); She’s Hit … I could go on! 😉

Many of the bands I featured were so kind in their appreciation, and would write to record their thanks. And it wasn’t only the ‘undiscovered’ bands of this world – I received messages from likes of Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople); David Gedge (The Wedding Present) and Bill Gould (Faith No More) amongst others.

Most surprisingly, acknowledgement came not only in the form of emails, T-shirts and free music …

I had met with, the brash, critically acclaimed three-piece, Glasgow based band Cuddly Shark on several occasions. Their drummer, Jason, originally from Elgin, had like me, set up his own dog walking business. His was on Glasgow’s south side, while mine was to the west.

I loved the band and they attracted plenty of interest on my blog – this was in the days it focused on new music and would attract several hundred reads a day. I also introduced the band to Artrocker and featured them in the ‘New Blood’ series.

And that was the limit of my involvement with Cuddly Shark. So you can imagine my surprise when their debut album was released … and I was name-checked in the ‘Thanks’ section! Yeah – as the ‘second best dog walker in the city’!

Pretty Girls Make Graves were (are – I see they are back performing) a post-hardcore band from Seattle. I had seen them on every visit they made to Glasgow. When, at very short notice, they were asked to step in to support Bloc Party in their sold out show at the 2,000 capacity Glasgow Barrowlands, I was too late to get hold of a ticket.

But vocalist Andrea knew this would be the case and contacted me to say she’d arrange complimentary tickets ‘on the door’ for myself and my two sons.

They were playing a blinder in front of a far larger audience than on previous visits to the city when they’d play King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. Mid-set, and in front of that capacity crowd who had come to see the headliners, Andrea held up the show. She had a message:
“Colin? Is Colin out there? Did you get the tickets?”

She had to ask twice – it was my lads who drew my attention to what she was saying. Once she’d spotted me, she invited me round to the green room after the band’s set where we chatted as Bloc Party metaphorically tore the place apart with their set.

Fight Like Apes went further! I was the first mainland UK blog / magazine to interview the Irish band on their initial visit to these shores. We did the whole Loud Horizon / Artrocker thing over the next few visits, by which time the band had been nominated for the The Choice Music Prize – Ireland’s equivalent of UK’s Mercury Music Prize. (They lost out to Two Door Cinema Club, if memory serves correct.)

I saw the band play several times, but the last was after they had garnered good national radio play and critical acclaim both here and back home in Ireland. Again, at some point mid-set, vocalist MayKay said she’d like to thank someone for all the help over the years … ” our friend Colin Jackson.”

Immediately, keyboard player Pockets, started a chant “One Colin Jackson, There’s only one Colin Jackson,” which the capacity crowd immediately picked up on!

Sure, King Tuts capacity is only 300 and the singing can only have a lasted a minute, but with everyone joining in, and looking for the sheepish, red-faced old bloke, it was very humbling indeed. 🙂

Yeah – it was fun few years, that’s for sure! I’ve made loads of new friends along the way and at the same time quite considerably bolstered my CD and record collection. I may now need assessed for a hearing aid – but that’s by the by. 😉

(Some of the bands who stayed with us while on tour in the UK / Scotland.)

And to think all this came about because a music journalist in old London town once told me there were loads of young people who wanted to write for music magazines and I wouldn’t write for the one he was involved with.

I told him straight up, “I will.”

And I did.

Go for it, kids! You can make it happen!

THANK YOU. GOODNIGHT!

🙂

(Attention: Colin Jackson has now left the building … Attention: Colin Jackson has now left the building.)