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From David Bowie to Miles Davis to the Proms: what happens to live recordings?

2018-08-14T09:03:28+00:00

From The Beatles to Miles Davis and Bananarama and everything in between, the BBC owns more than two million music copyrights from performances broadcasted live with a catalogue stretching way back to the 1920s.

This includes Top Of The Pops, Radio 1 Live Lounge, Later With Jools Holland, John Peel, the Proms, as well as concerts and festivals across the country. We also own programme scores composed in-house, such as by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which created the Doctor Who theme and for classic programmes like Blue Planet and Bob The Builder.

We license this to record labels or the artists themselves, for commercial release via the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, and also work with advertising, film and other TV companies

In practice it can mean providing bonus content from a BBC performance for additional songs on album reissues, a one-off EP for Record Store Day, a live in concert DVD, or a Peel Sessions release.

For example, two years ago we delivered additional recordings to Jimmy Page, in person, for the remastered Led Zeppelin: BBC Sessions compilation album that came out later in 2016.

Due later this year is an eight-disc REM at the BBC album, and this follows others in the series such as Bowie at the Beeb and The Beatles’ Live At The BBC.

It’s not only physical releases like CDs and LPs, as streaming rights for Spotify and so on are often included in licensing deals as well, and we’re working more and more these days with Vevo and similar sites.

When music appears in adverts, films, or in games, the industry term is called synchronisation, recently we have completed large global deals for LaCoste and Chrysler, and occasionally we clear samples of recordings that are to be used in other music.

Although the vast majority of these recordings have never been commercially released, they don’t just sit there doing nothing, as part of our work is to persuade record companies to make more use of them.

The agreement we made with AIM (the Association of Independent Music) a few years ago is a good example, which has facilitated deals with AIM members like The Fall, Kylie Minogue, The Moody Blues and the Pixies.

And, of course, sometimes recordings previously thought lost or accidentally deleted years ago unexpectedly turn up, which is very exciting - especially when it’s Bowie!

'Pure dead brilliant' 6Music Festival gets Glasgow seal of approval

2017-03-27T13:49:33+00:00

It was a weekend that defied stereotype, lived up to reputation and surpassed expectation. The sun shone on Glasgow, the city’s music scene came to life as more than 70 acts turned in show stopping performances. It was, pure dead brilliant - that’s a phrase I heard repeatedly over the weekend, a very Glaswegian way to describe something really great. The city outstretched its arms, welcomed us and helped us lay on a live music extravaganza. Yes, there were headline grabbing headline sets by the likes of Depeche Mode and The Jesus and Mary Chain but there were also wonderful daytime events which included a very special acoustic set from Edwyn Collins and an explosive late night rave with Simian Mobile Disco.

Chris Hawkins with fellow 6Music presenter Lauren Laverne at the festival

Glasgow takes pride in its music heritage. Quite rightly. It’s a city that has spawned legendary musicians, artists and comedians. In fact, the only other time I’ve been to Glasgow I shared a lift with the excellent comic, Kevin Bridges. The evening was knocking on and I laid it on thick how much I loved him. Really thick. I embarrassingly quoted a couple of his gags back at him, repeatedly told him that he was incredible and one of the funniest human beings’ on the planet. He politely posed for a selfie, after which I let him go and as we went our separate ways, I clutched his hand and sincerely said, "Cheers Jeff". Wrong Bridges.

Meanwhile, back to now, take either Glasgow or Kingston bridge over the Clyde from the city centre and you are a stone’s throw from one of the five venues that became home to 6 Music for three extraordinary days and nights.

Future Islands performed first on Friday and of course they did THAT song and frontman Sam did THAT dance.

Chris backstage at the O2Academy with 'Future Islands'

He's a man whose hips become possessed on stage, in stark contrast to Russell Mael from Sparks who was no less entertaining but was more like the organ player at a funeral. Sparks segued neatly into headliners Goldfrapp who were spectacular. It was Friday night and it belonged to Goldfrapp.

Goldfrapp headline Friday night at the 6Music Festival, 2017

Across town, at the famous Barrowland Ballroom, Ride and The Jesus and Mary Chain pushed their wah wah pedals to the metal and their reverb apparently reached space. An early start on Saturday to present the Breakfast Show meant that reverb was still ricocheting through my skull at 7am. I was joined by the fabulous Glaswegian singer songwriter, Emma Pollock. Emma’s a great Glasgow advocate who turned in a beautiful lunchtime set at our daytime venue, the Tramway.

Emma Pollock performing at the Tramway

Other acts on the daytime bill over the weekend included: mega creative Anna Meredith; Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, top novelist Ian Rankin and the always shy and retiring John Lydon - whose warm up came courtesy of a feel-good funk and soul set by superstar DJ, Craig Charles.

One of the weekend’s must see buzz bands were the Lemon Twigs. Boy, did they have some hype to live up to. They played at St Luke’s, a former church, around the corner and across the road from the Barrowlands.

Lemon Twigs performing at St Luke's

They nailed it and played an especially theatrical version of their hit single, I Wanna Prove To You. They definitely did, in spades. From Timbuktu’s joyous Songhoy Blues and the uber cool Thundercat to the electronic sorcery of Bonobo, Glasgow fizzed to amazing beats of all flavours.

From the window of the BBC studio’s at Pacific Quay on Sunday morning, I watched the sun dance on the Clyde, which helped provide a necessary zest for an afternoon at the Tramway. The Wedding Present cleared hazy heads and Father John Misty (with his accompanying pianist) turned in a beautiful, stunning, half hour festival ‘moment’. As the Tramway crowd dispersed, the Academy and Barrowland’s filled to capacity once more. Honey voiced Julia Jacklin and Chicago’s Whitney were far more than Sunday night support acts - they were hot tickets in their own right. I DJ'd before local heroes Belle and Sebastian.

Chris in DJ mode at the Academy, Glasgow

From the decks on the balcony of the Academy, every song I played was a step closer to what became a fantastic home-town love-in. The DJ charged with firing up the Barrowlands was the mighty James Lavelle. Of course he was awesome but then, you need ‘awesome’ to bring on a band who regularly play to crowds of more than 50,000. Depeche Mode electrified the old ball room. Its famous sprung dance floor was instantly in full effect. Fans sang every song back at Dave Gahan who lapped up the fully charged atmosphere.

Lead singer of Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan

He strutted, shimmied and soaked up every sweat drenched moment in a black leather waistcoat with an air of Freddie Mercury’s flamboyance. The British electronic pioneers played an off-the-scale set of 12 songs - a mix of old favourites and future classic’s from their new album Spirit. By 10.30pm the show was over but for a lucky 2000 of us, the memory of seeing one of the UK’s best band’s in such intimate surroundings will last forever.

Pure. Dead. Brilliant.

Chris Hawkins is a presenter on BBC 6 Music.

Follow @BBC6Music on Twitter.
Listen to Chris Hawkins' 6Music Festival Highlights show.
See more pictures and performances from Glasgow on the 6Music Festival website.
Watch selected performnces from the festival on BBCiPlayer.
'Highlights, Part 2' will be broadcast on BBC Two Scotland at 11.05pm on Friday 31 March.
Highlights from Depeche Mode's headline set will be broadcast on BBC Four at 10pm on Friday 7 April.

Lost and Found: My 1994 Story

2017-03-02T11:50:44+00:00

Katie Puckrik and Johnny Cash

The first months of 1994 found me slogging through East Village snow drifts in New York City. I was living in a friend of a friend's sublet in Alphabet City, which was just then finding its tentative way from smackhead rookery to bourgie boutiqueland. Those cold, chaotic streets mirrored my internal landscape: the demise of a long love affair had left me enervated and unmoored. I was also jobless, with my first big TV presenting job on Channel 4's pop culture car crash The Word now in my rear view mirror.

I felt terror and hope in equal measures, and the friction between the two was an accelerant that spurred me forward, however painfully. A lucky break and a new agent put me in the room with MTV, who were looking for hosts to cover that summer's 25th anniversary of Woodstock. My audition task was to improvise an on-the-spot interview with a musician from the NYC band Betty. By some fairy godmother twist of fate, the musician turned out to be Amy Ziff, a friend from back in my hometown carousing days at D.C.'s 9:30 Club. Our rapport was camera-ready, and I left that room on a high, a new career in a new town.

My agent now had the idea I was some kind of audition savant, and encouraged by my one-for-one success at MTV, took the plunge and sent me to Los Angeles to do the rounds for pilot season. I holed up in the dog-eared edge of Beverly Hills at a motel recommended by my LA buddies Sparks (who will play the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow later this month), and fielded scripts from all the proposed new television dramas and comedies, from Chicago Hope to Friends. (I was asked to read for the role of hippy-flake Friend Phoebe.)

Despite my agent's belief in my chutzpah, charm, and God-given effervescence, she (and God) had overlooked one thing: I wasn't actually an actor. I mean, I'm a hambone and an unmitigated show poodle, which technically puts me only two acting classes away from an Oscar, but at that time I hadn't had the two acting classes. To this day I shudder at the memory of my Friends audition, my zinger delivery falling flat, splat against the dead eyes of the assembled producers and writers.

Fortunately, I had my August Woodstock job to buoy me, but before that, another rock'n'roll dream materialized: I was booked by Channel 4 to present the very first televised Glastonbury Festival, along with my now 6 Music fellow presenters Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley, and Mark Kermode.

And so it was that the Marks and I found ourselves cavorting across warm, moonlit fields in June 1994, surrounded by the icons and young lions and lionesses of popular music. There, deep in the ancient heart of England's prettiest prettiness, I was struck by the blissful realisation that the snow drifts and terror had truly receded. The full goddess moon shone into my midsummer eyes, and I knew I was going to be all right.

Katie Puckrik is a presenter for BBC 6 Music

Listen to Katie Puckrik Sits In on 6 Music's 1994 Day, Friday 3 March from 1pm.

A Brief History of Christmas Songs on 6 Music

2016-12-16T16:12:58+00:00

Chris meets Santa

When mince pies appear on supermarket shelves in April, you know Christmas is just around the corner.

Playlists change and become a subliminal stimulus to start buying gifts and stocking up on party food and drink that you’d never in a million years consume at any other time of the year. Nuts in a bowl, a hundred weight of sausage meat in the freezer and a bottle of advocaat - they’re all synonymous with Christmas, much like the soundtrack that rings in our ears through December. However, when the mince pies first appear in shops, they’re met with a groan. When the Christmas songs start playing it’s hard not to feel, well, Christmassy.

As you open the door to your cupboard full of ‘stuff’ and pull out your decorations, the Christmas songs are in full swing. I’m pretty sure that anyone who says they ‘hate Christmas songs’, actually doesn’t. It’s not like hating a particular genre of music. You might not like rap, hardcore metal or Tuvan throat singing but Christmas songs come in all minor of shapes and sizes and they’re not always obvious Christmas numbers.

Coming up in my BBC Radio 6 Music Early Breakfast Show on Friday 23 December, I’m running a special feature – A Brief History Of Christmas Songs – which will feature more than a dozen tracks which I believe are the Tracy Islands, Buzz Lightyears and Furbys - the sought after Christmas toy equivalents - of festive music.

The programme is an hour-long special, telling the stories behind a selection of the greatest Christmas songs of all time. Each of the artists reveals how their Christmas song came about. Bing Crosby describes the first time the writer of White Christmas, Irving Berlin, played it to him. Berlin described it as "a nice little song, an amusing little number”. According to Andy Williams, “When Bing heard it for the first time, he took his pipe out of his mouth and said to Irving Berlin, ‘this one you don’t have to worry about’ ”. He really didn’t. Crosby’s version of the song has sold more than a 100 million copies since it was first released in 1942.

White Christmas is your absolute gold standard Christmas classic and I would happily spend my Woolworth’s vouchers on getting it to number one each year. Could that work, as a thing? White Christmas, always the Christmas Number 1. It would certainly avoid the annual battle between the X Factor winner, previous X Factor winners, social media campaign songs and hideous novelties. In my view, arguably the most irritating novelty song in the all too long history of irritating novelty songs appeared in 1993. A stalwart of Saturday night TV at the time, Mr Blobby - the giant pink beast - topped the Christmas chart with his eponymously titled track. It made Bob The Builder’s year 2000 Number 1 seem mildly credible.

Not all Christmas songs start life as intentional festive releases. Jona Lewie’s Stop The Cavalry grew into one, thanks to the addition of bells - both tubular and the sleigh variety. What started life as a protest song turned into a festive favourite in 1980. It’s now a ‘Best Christmas Songs In The World Ever’ staple and has doubtless helped keep Lewie in fancy fairy lights through the years. It’s reported that Slade earn in the region of £500,000 annually from Merry Xmas Everybody and Wham! are not far behind thanks to Last Christmas. George Michael says he and Andrew Ridgeley were watching the football on TV when inspiration for the song struck. I do love the image of George and Andrew sat on the sofa sipping from cans of lager eating crisps when the lightbulb moment struck, but by George - George nailed it.

A real gem that features in my celebration of yuletide tunes is a breath-taking version of a Christmas Carol, performed live on the BBC’s Top Gear show. Long before Top Gear meant cars being driven fast by middle-aged men, it was a music show presented by, amongst others, John Peel. Broadcast on Boxing Day 1970, Rod Stewart makes Away In A Manger sound like it was written just for him. Similarly, who can imagine anyone other than Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl delivering A Fairytale In New York in quite the same biting way? You can hear both Shane and the much-missed Kirsty reveal, in their own words, how the duet came about in 'A Brief History Of Christmas Songs’. You’ve listened to the best Christmas songs for years and now you can hear the stories behind them, told by the great artists who wrote them and made them famous / pension funds.

The show is available as a handy download and could be your perfect accompaniment for a journey this Christmas, to your present wrapping or turkey preparations. Or, simply sit back and enjoy the show with with us early on Friday morning. Merry Christmas.

Listen to 'A Brief History Of Christmas Songs' on 6 Music, Friday 23 December from 5am.

6 Music Recommends Day

2016-06-06T06:07:07+00:00

BBC Radio 6 Music plays a bigger range and breadth of new music than any other radio station, and on Tuesday 7th June our annual 6 Music Recommends Day is set to celebrate this commitment with a daylong playlist of brand new music selected and presented by 6 Music’s talented and highly-respected family of music specialists.

Instead of the regular daily schedule, our presenters will each host a show for one hour, starting with Shaun Keaveny from 9-10am through to Don Letts from 11pm-midnight. In what will be a daylong celebration of new music, listeners will be treated to Michael Kiwanuka live in session for Lauren Laverne (10-11am), Spring King live in session for Steve Lamacq (4-5pm), and Teenage Caveman live in session for Marc Riley (6-7pm), and Mary Anne Hobbs will be playing some fantastic exclusive new tracks – never heard on the radio before - from Mala, Nonkeen and Paleman.

Radio 6 Music is the sum of its roster of DJs and 6 Music Recommends is upfront new music hand-picked by these brilliant DJs broadcasting each week from midnight to 1am, Monday to Thursday and hosted by Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, Steve Lamacq and Tom Ravenscroft each curating hour-long programmes showcasing their favourite new music. These shows can also be downloaded from the iPlayer Radio App. 6 Music Recommends provides the shows and the playlists to guide listeners to the best new releases which have been given their seal of approval. Great new music we like, that we want to share with you – the listener.

Over the last few years, talking to listeners I’ve noted a greater interest in discovering new music. Tastes are becoming less fixed and there’s a growing curiosity. People of all ages are seeking new music.

The digital evolution is partly responsible for this growing trend in drawing new music to people’s attention. It has enabled an ocean of choice for curious music-lovers. But how best to navigate this ocean? It has become clear to me since I arrived at 6 Music in 2007 that traditional, non-algorithmic, human judgement is more important than ever in this respect. It is part of the purpose of 6 Music and 6 Music Recommends to guide people to the best music as quickly and consistently as possible.

Even though music is available in a plethora of digital platforms, the number one way people find new music is still via listening to the radio. By radio I mean “steam radio” not “stream radio” - great musical selections made by real music lovers, who like to talk a little in between the tunes. It keeps the interest going, and gives listeners a few surprises.

In most weeks we can demonstrate that nearly 100% of the songs we play are only heard on 6 Music. Day in day out what other radio station can claim to play new music by artists like Mogwai alongside Cate LeBon, Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve and Kendrick Lamar during the daytime. Last year, the weekly new release playlist has averaged out at nearly 80% of music from independent labels and 66% from UK artists.

But 6 Music Recommends Day isn’t simply a way to celebrate our commitment to a unique selection of new music it also celebrates the individuals who present and put together the programmes on our station. The enthusiasm of these people, of 6 Music’s presenters and production teams for new music is boundless, and it can be heard every day in the Station’s programming.

My hope is that listeners will love 6 Music Recommends Day - our dedicated day of great new music programming from some of the best new music radio practitioners.

Jeff Smith is Head of Music for BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music.

6 Music Recommends Day programmes will be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music from 9am until midnight on Monday 6th June.
6 Music Recommends is available On Air and Online, via its Playlist and the BBC Music App.

Independent Venue Week on BBC 6 Music

2016-01-25T12:15:00+00:00

In his BBC Radio show, 4-7pm Monday to Friday this week, Steve Lamacq is broadcasting from five cities around the UK, shining a light on the alternative music scene in each area and celebrating the venues which are its bedrock. Here he explains why independent venues, and Independent Venue Week is vital in the life of new music.

On my 25th birthday, I saw a new band from Oxford called Ride play at my local venue, The Square, in Harlow. It was a terrific night. The band did nine mesmerising songs in front of a crowd, probably numbering around 50 people.

But they were fresh-faced, serious, slightly fragile and absolutely compelling. And because they didn’t have a crew with them, my mate Graham Pointy Shoes did the lights for them.

You could tell they were going to be good. But it was the gigs they were doing around this time (at places like The Square and the Jericho Tavern in their home city of Oxford), which really helped shape them and prepare them for what was to come...

Within six months, helped on by reviews in the music papers, they had signed to Creation Records and their second EP was in the Top 40. There was no stopping them. Before you knew it they were 1990’s indie darlings, on the front covers of magazines and with a debut album in the Top 10.

Ride playing live at Maida Vales studios in May 2015

But where would they have got started without all the small venues where they practiced and perfected their set? The Square for example was a great place. It had a 250 capacity room upstairs for bands and a welcoming bar full of musicians and misfits downstairs. It became a second home for a lot of us. I saw Billy Bragg for the first time there, and countless groups who were either destined for distinction or for the dustbin; everyone from Birdland to Coldplay.

And after resigning from my job at the music paper New Musical Express and deciding to start a record label, it was in the Square bar that I was handed a demo by a band called Collapsed Lung (then featuring BBC radio presenter to be Nihal Arthanayake as their lead rapper). All sorts of people used to go to The Square. It was our little community. And a few years later when Collapsed Lung’s "Eat My Goal" became the first record made by a Harlow band to make the Top 40 in more than 30 years we all celebrated as if we’d won the cup.

But The Square isn’t unique. You’ll find little independent venues all over the country, all fulfilling a range of functions. Obviously they give people a chance to see live bands, but they also nurture new local talent. I’ve always maintained that without a venue, there is no scene. There’s nowhere to meet or rehearse or test out your songs (for example George Ezra, whose debut album "Wanted On Voyage" went to Number One in 2014, is weirdly a former student of the Harlow Square Rock School).

These venues are also wonderfully inspiring little hotbeds of creativity where you can meet and socialise and share ideas. And they’re not just integral to the current fabric of British music, but to its past as well. They are part of the story of pop music. Madness got their first break in a London pub called the Dublin Castle. Oasis were signed after playing a set at Glasgow King Tuts.

Record labels, managers and the media may all claim to have turned groups like these into stars, but it’s the venues that gave them their first platform. And I love going to these places. You see bands at the most raw and exciting stage of their career, full of adrenalin and hope. I’ve seen Blur close on 30 times, but I don’t think anything - even the celebratory first night of their Park Life tour in Nottingham – somehow captures their core art-rock spirit, like the first time I witnessed them at the Oval Cricketers.

It was a one room pub, with a stage down one end where the band (still called Seymour at that time) ricocheted around with singer Damon Albarn careering into guitarist Graham Coxon as he twisted these deranged pop noises from his guitar. It was a brilliant shock to the system.

Of course, The Cricketers is shut now. It closed years ago. And this is a worrying trend which is beginning to accelerate. According to a report last year commissioned by the Mayor Of London, the capital has lost an astonishing 30 per cent of its live music venues in the past eight years; 30 per cent!

Some will have closed due to poor attendances; many are just bowing under the weight of business rates and other overheads. In some cases venues make way for new developments or end up closing due to complaints over noise, made by their new neighbours.

This is why it’s important to stop and consider the significance of these venues. To remember that today’s bands haven’t simply arrived fully formed at the 02 Arena. They all started somewhere.

To help this cause, this week is Independent Venue Week, a seven day celebration of small venues around the UK and a nod to the people that own, run and work in them. It’s an event, now in its third year, with funding from Arts Council England, which has already garnered support from many major artists including Radiohead.

They’ll be all manner of gigs around the country providing the ideal opportunity to see some live music and experience the wonderful atmosphere of these grassroots venues. It’s also a way of saluting the promoters on threadbare budgets, who run these gigs often with very little thanks or reward (other than the knowledge that they’ve helped a band they really like). They are the unsung tastemakers of the music industry. And without them the scene would be a horrible homogenous thing.

I can’t remember who booked Ride on my birthday in 1989. I do know though that the band reformed last year and headlined festivals both here and in Europe and the States. Meanwhile on December 31st the Harlow Square closed for the final time. The site is reportedly going to be turned into flats. The promoters are currently weighing up whether they can afford to reopen elsewhere.

Steve Lamacq is presenter on BBC 6 Music

Find out more at the Independent Venue Week website

Late Night Prom with BBC Radio 6 Music

2015-08-04T09:00:00+00:00

Nils Frahm

On Wednesday (5 August), the Royal Albert Hall will play host to a late night performance. Prom 27: Late Night... with BBC Radio 6 Music will feature German musician, composer and producer Nils Frahm and his Erased Tapes Record labelmates, the American duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Here, curator/presenter of Prom 27, Mary Anne Hobbs explains how the production came about, and what to expect from the performance.

Prom 27 has been 11 months in the making. I first met Nils Frahm (pictured top) in Manchester last September to talk about the project. It felt like a wild and elusive dream, but we shared so much belief in the idea that we could bring a truly ground breaking performance to the Proms.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen

The first tune of Nils’ that I played on the radio was You, a very simple, intimate piano piece. I then talked with his record label about new material, and was given a world exclusive preview of Says, (my Track of the Year in 2013). Says is a piece of music with magical properties: it feels like Nils has taken the complex textures of what love could be and transposed them into sound and it resonated with a huge global audience that’s been building exponentially ever since. As I began to further explore the roster of the same record company, I found A Winged Victory for the Sullen (pictured above) and I was completely swept up in the beautiful atmospheres of their album Atomos, which was my Album of the Year last year.

Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory for the Sullen are completely re-imagining a future for music with classical roots. They are drawing in contemporary musical influences, using state-of-the-art production techniques, building their own instruments and staging mind-blowing live shows the world over. These artists have captivated a whole new generation of fans, many of whom have discovered them through my radio shows. So this is a narrative that we all share, a story we built together, which becomes physical at the Prom.

Wayne McGregor and his dancers have been deeply inspired by the work of A Winged Victory for the Sullen. In fact, the album Atomos was written as a score for a dance piece by Wayne McGregor and on Wednesday, his dancers will illuminate a part of A Winged Victory’s set, as their very special guests.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen will open the Prom, followed by Nils Frahm, and the two sets will intertwine in the centre. Nils loves to improvise, and A Winged Victory prefer to write and rehearse. So the process by which the collaboration will come together remains a mystery.

But as Francis Bacon once said, "The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery."

Mary Anne Hobbs is a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Find out more about the artists Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory for the Sullen on the 6 Music website
Listen to Prom 27 live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music at 10.15pm on Wednesday 5 August, or download the show using the BBC iPlayer Radio app
Watch the show live on the BBC 6 Music website from 10.15pm on Wednesday 5 August or BBC Red Button on Wednesday 5 August, 10pm-6am, Thursday 6 August, 6am-8pm, 10pm-6am and Friday 7 August, 6am-8pm (length approx. 75 minutes)
Mary Anne Hobbs’ regular show is on BBC 6 Music weekend mornings from 7am-10am
Listen to BBC Radio 3's Saturday Classics show featuring Mary Anne's track choices inspired by Prom 27
Read About the BBC blogs, Pre Proms Peek and How we select BBC Proms concerts for TV coverage
Find out more about other performances in the season at the BBC Proms website

Celebrating music’s alternative spirit - The 6 Music Festival 2015

2015-02-23T10:13:13+00:00

Hot Chip at the BBC 6 Music Festival 2015

If ever a reason for 6 Music’s existence were needed then the 6 Music Festival on Tyneside provided it. No other radio station on the planet would offer up the legendary Bryan Ferry on the same bill as sprawling guitar anti-heroes, Mogwai. To me, one of 6 Music’s greatest attributes is the ability to sweetly segue from a contemporary dance act like Hot Chip (pictured) to the genius poetry of John Cooper Clarke, as was the case this weekend. Such segues are our bread and butter. A half hour tuned to 6 Music can deliver you records you may not have heard for 30 years (or ever) alongside the latest, breaking sounds.

The three-day festival weekend, celebrating music’s alternative spirit, kicked off with superstar-6-DJ, Tom Ravenscroft introducing the band responsible for 6 Music’s number one album of 2014, The War On Drugs. Their soaring Friday teatime performance at O2 Newcastle Academy set the bar crazy high and was perhaps best, succinctly, described by one audience member as, “chuffing ace.”

Next up, a fiery Sleater-Kinney who chose the festival to play their first UK show in 10 years and were followed on stage by a top form Interpol. Shaun Keaveny and I introduced them - sharing a mic on account of lead singer Paul Banks not wanting to pick up any potentially contagious germs, which was an original new description of Shaun and myself.

Then came Mogwai who scorched the Academy’s sweaty roof off with their beautifully brutal headline set. I spoke to the band’s main-man Stuart Brathwaite immediately afterwards and he was at pains to express how much he’d loved it, and loves that 6 Music plays his records. It was a night when some had come to see one band and left with a new favourite.

Saturday morning and the sun danced on the Tyne as Bryan Ferry opened the Festival By Day proceedings, in conversation with Lauren Laverne. North-East born Ferry talked about his roots, suits and revolutionary records in his customary suave and laid-back manner. Meanwhile, in another part of town - about 100 yards up the road - Gideon Coe surreally discussed the merits of Tiswas with Dr. John Cooper Clarke.

A closely fought* pop quiz, officiated by pop-mistress Liz Kershaw, between myself and Shaun Keaveny saw a narrow victory for Keaveny. I was beaten by as many as Newcastle Utd that afternoon and while they were thrashed 5-0 away, their home city played host to a mind-blowing set by rock 'n' roll’s latest, greatest, invention, Royal Blood. Steve Lamacq played his usual part in the Brighton duo’s breakthrough and in fact, a glance at the line up tells you that Lammo has had a big hand in the success of dozens of bands on the bill. Royal Blood exploded all over Sage in Gateshead and headliners Hot Chip provided the perfect party for Saturday night.

Sunday’s 6 Music Festival By Day was based in the Boiler Shop in Newcastle and was a mix of live music, artists like Gaz Coombes in conversation, Cerys Matthews presenting her show live from the site and there was Beardyman’s crowd-pleasing, incomprehensibly brilliant beat boxing to create a genius Album In An Hour.

The 6 Music Festival 2015 climaxed on Sunday night with no less than 20 bands playing live under the Sage’s arching Norman Foster designed roof. With my now breaking voice reflecting day three at the festival, I introduced King Creosote to a crowd with pre-written Monday morning sick notes. To overcome the frailty of my voice, friendly advice from a local was to drink 10 pints and "you'll be alreet pal.” I failed to take that professional advice and instead was mercifully compos mentis to witness a spell-binding set by Public Service Broadcasting, a phenomenal show by the hip hop Young Fathers and and it was The Charlatans who crowned an incredible weekend with a sensational trip through their glorious back catalogue.

Reality now bites. The 6 Music Festival is done for another year but before the post-festival blues set in, there’s a chance to reflect on a coming together of alternative music’s very best as well as a chance for the station’s DJs to meet, drink and be merry with our wonderfully loyal listeners. Tyneside, we loved you. You were “chuffing ace.”

*Shaun Keaveny cheated.

Chris Hawkins is a DJ for BBC 6 Music

Re-live all of the 6 Music Festival online for the next 30 days

6 Music reaches 2 million listeners

2015-02-05T08:00:40+00:00

Today's Rajar results - the way the radio industry measures how many people are listening to radio stations - show that BBC Radio 6 Music has achieved what we refer to as a weekly reach of 2.08 million listeners. That figure makes 6 Music the first digital station in the UK ever to reach the landmark of 2 million listeners. A weekly audience of this size is quite a feat for a radio station anyway, but for a digital station which doesn't broadcast on FM, to attract such a healthy audience is a great achievement.

It's also a significant milestone for digital radio in the UK, one which underlines 6 Music’s importance to the sector. Most of all, this increase in listeners demonstrates that 6 Music continues to deliver to UK Licence Fee payers, responding with great positivity to the BBC Trust’s challenge five years ago: ”to grow its audience without changing the aspects which currently set it apart from other radio stations.”

We strive to offer you the listener something different at 6 Music. We celebrate music and artists with an alternative spirit, something which complements the BBC’s other national and digital radio networks. Together the BBC's radio stations deliver an unsurpassed range of music, speech, depth and distinctiveness to audiences across the UK.

6 Music’s presenters and production teams enjoy much (probably unrivalled) creative freedom to interpret this spirit and each day they apply their unique expertise with the ambition to make engaging and intelligent music radio for its discerning and passionate listeners. We do not take the appreciation of our audience for granted. Without you the station would not exist, nor would it need to. So, on behalf of all those who work at 6 Music, I want to take this opportunity to thank you all very much for tuning in and for supporting us with such passion over the years.

I believe our appeal is rooted in the great presenters we have on-air and the range of extraordinary music they play. Research over the last three years has consistently shown 6 Music’s support for a wide range of new music in daytime, with an average of 127 different new songs played during a typical week, 61 of which were by UK acts. In the most recent survey, 88% of all songs played on 6 Music in daytime, and 89% of new songs, were not played across the range of radio stations sampled. This demonstrates how 6 Music supports artists who find it hard to gain airplay elsewhere, and how station is a great destination for listeners who are seeking a broad diversity of songs.

We have an incredible array of presenters at 6 Music - the ultimate collection of trusted guides who connect with listeners through a shared passion for music. The line-up across the week is outstanding, with many presenters reaching out to new listeners.

During Quarter 4 2014, Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Liz Kershaw, Maconie’s Freakier Zone, Cerys Matthews and Iggy Pop’s shows posted record audience figures. This builds on the good performance in the previous quarter surveyed (Q3 2014) when Lauren Laverne and Shaun Keaveny hit new heights. All our programmes and presenters contribute to the station’s success, of course. Ultimately, it’s great to see 6 Music growing across the piece. Jarvis Cocker returns to the Station in March 2015 with his Sunday Service show. Iggy Pop did a fantastic job in that slot during 2014 and I’m pleased to say that we will be soon be announcing news of Iggy’s return to 6 Music. The addition of both these fascinating broadcasters to the schedule will make 6 Music an even more distinctive destination for listeners.

To support our fantastic line-up of front line talent, 6 Music also features an intriguing mix of one-off and occasional presenters whose curation and musical insight regularly delights listeners. Over Christmas 2014, the Three Wise Women, Neneh Cherry, Alison Goldfrapp and St Vincent all loaned their talents to 6 Music. On New Year’s Day, Lemmy rocked up to our airwaves, and Pauline Black from the Selector has just completed a month-long residency.

All these artists have very much enjoyed the opportunity to play the music they loved to an audience of music lovers. Over the last 18 months or so, this chance has been seized by many others, including Josh Homme, Jamie xx, Daniel Miller, Philip Selway, Katie Puckrik, Terry Hall, Green Gartside, Amy Lame̒, Dave Fanning, Rob Da Bank, David Roddigan, Viv Albertine, Miranda Sawyer, Alison Mosshart, Mike Skinner, Karl Hyde, Stewart Lee, Kate Tempest, John Cooper Clarke and many more.

This diverse range of talented music presenters understands that 6 Music is a station which shares the passion for music they want to share with people.

This passion is also demonstrated by our commitment to live music: we originate over 300 live sessions each year. A great achievement, lead by the efforts of Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley and their teams in London and Salford.

On a larger scale, an annual 6 Music Festival has now been established. Last year’s inaugural festival from Salford was received with great enthusiasm and later this month, 6 Music will assemble another exciting bill, this time on Tyneside. About 50 artists and performers have been invited to play and listeners can anticipate a range of great sets from Mogwai, Hot Chip, The Fall, Sleater Kninney, Jungle, Interpol, The Charlatans, Maximo Park, Kate Tempest, Neneh Cherry Royal Blood and many others.

In October 2014, 6 Music Live delivered one of the Station’s biggest multiplatform successes with five outstanding artists, Johnny Marr, James, Underworld, First Aid Kit and La Roux performing at the BBC’s famous Maida Vale studios to an audience of a million Red Button and digital viewers and listeners. These historic surroundings are a regular home for 6 Music sessions for both established and emerging talents, and this will continue through the year.

It was a huge honour when 6 Music won the Radio Academy Award for Station of the Year in 2012. At that time the Station had an audience reach of around 1.4 million.

Now with an audience of over 2 million, a multitude of digital devices and new products offers many more ways to consume 6 Music. This trend looks positive for the station’s future, as people are accessing 6 Music in a variety of ways. While most listeners still choose DAB we can see other consumption trends emerging. For example, 6 Music is was the first UK national radio station to attract more than a quarter of its audience via connected device; listening in the car is also growing, with more people choosing 6 Music on the move than ever before.

Reaching 2 million listeners is great achievement for a digital radio station. I’d like to thank every one of you, however you choose to tune in. Here’s to the future.

Paul Rodgers is Head of Programmes, BBC 6 Music

Lust for Life: Iggy Pop delivers The John Peel Lecture

2014-10-13T07:44:27+00:00

I’ll admit it. It’s been a while since I have attended a lecture. In fact, even when they were compulsory as part of my degree in Popular Music Studies (stop sniggering at the back…it is a real qualification) I think I was only present in body, not necessarily in mind and/or spirit. With all due respect to my esteemed tutors, things may have been very different had Iggy Pop been holding court in the musty halls of the music block.

Iggy Pop performing at Glastonbury in 2007

This evening at 7.30pm, ‘Mr Pop’, who confesses to having: “never given a lecture in my life” will hold his first one in Salford when he delivers the BBC Music John Peel Lecture as part of the Radio Festival 2014. He will tackle the subject of free music in a capitalist society and it is unlikely the ‘Godfather of Punk’ will pull any punches when discussing giving the system a shake-up.

Last year saw the first female lecturer, Charlotte Church who spoke about women and their representation in the music industry. This year Michigan born Iggy (real name James Osterberg) will be the first American to take the reins. At 67, he will also be the oldest speaker (just). Although two years Pete Townshend’s junior (who presented the first Peel Lecture) he will be one year older than Townshend was when he spoke in 2011.

Like Billy Bragg who delivered 2012’s lecture, The Stooges frontman got his first spin on UK radio courtesy of John Peel in August 1969 when the DJ played Little Doll from their debut album. Now a broadcaster himself (he hosts a show on 6Music) Pop has a great deal of respect for Peel: "I get the feeling that John was the kind of guy who would have done his job for nothing, as long as he felt great about it. So we have that in common.” This year’s lecture will have added poignancy as it marks 10 years since John Peel died in October 2004.

The annual BBC Music John Peel Lectures began in 2011 and were the brainchild of 6Music’s Head of Programmes, Paul Rodgers, who developed the idea with 6Music deputy editor Mike Hanson and then pitched it to the Radio Academy. Since then, each year 6Music has selected and invited a notable figure from the music industry to shape a debate and create insight around music and music-related media. The station works with the lecturer to find a subject that is current, and that the individual is able to use their personal experience working in the industry to talk authoritatively about.

On the night, Iggy Pop will be interviewed by Lauren Laverne, this along with the lecture will be broadcast live on 6Music. The event is being filmed for BBC Four and the broadcast of the lecture, on Sunday 19 October at 8pm, will include a Q & A session with invited guests.

So then this just leaves the burning question - will Iggy Pop deliver the lecture with his top on or off?

Jen Macro is digital content producer, About the BBC Blog and Website.

Iggy Pop will deliver his John Peel Lecture on Monday 13 October at 7.30pm. You can listen to it live on BBC 6Music and watch it on BBC Four on Sunday 19 October at 8pm.
His weekly radio show is broadcast on 6Music on Sundays at 4pm.
Watch Iggy talk to Kirsty Wark about the Peel Lecture on Newsnight.
For more information about the BBC 6Music you can visit the station’s website.
Follow @BBC6Music on twitter.

When Chris met Sir Paul Smith

2014-09-21T14:58:17+00:00

6 Music's Chris Hawkins with Sir Paul Smith..

Sir Paul Smith has no idea why he gets sent so much “stuff” but his office is more like an overstocked thrift store. I’m interviewing the legendary designer for BBC Radio 6 Music’s Sound of Style Season at his Covent Garden HQ.

The reception area is small and informal, decorated with framed art work and four floors below the 69 year old’s office, come conference room, come treasure trove. The immaculately turned out company PR delivered me to the great man and no sooner had she dutifully introduced us than she disappeared, leaving Sir Paul and I to bond and later, sit down for a half hour recorded conversation. It’s worth noting that often in this situation, a PR will hover over their client ensuring the interviewer sticks to agreed subject matter or even butt-in with an 'on message' response rather than honest but ‘off message' response.

The welcome to the world of Sir Paul is warm, charming and funny. Less Ugly Betty, more Betty Turpin as he guides me around his high ceilinged office which is piled high with books, records and rabbits. He inexplicably gets sent half a dozen porcelain rabbits EVERY WEEK. And he doesn’t know why. Fans sent him gifts, other fans followed suit and now the designer’s day starts at 6am hand writing letters of thanks for the daily deliveries.

Reception called one morning to say “there’s a lady with a bike outside for you”. She was bowled over that she got to meet her hero and personally hand over a bicycle that was made in the year he was born. He thanked her for this wonderful birthday present and asked how she would be spending the rest of her day. She said she had arrived from Russia that morning and would be flying back later. She hand delivered her present without even knowing if her hero would be there to receive it, such is the enigma of a Nottingham born boy whose dream was to be a professional cyclist. A nasty accident on his bike robbed him of that dream but a chance meeting with art students at a pub in Nottingham’s Old Market Square gave him the fashion bug that began with a shop in his home town and turned into a famed world wide brand.

As a student in Nottingham in the mid 90s I aspired to Paul Smith gear and whilst working for BBC Radio Nottingham was privileged to interview Paul Smith senior at the unveiling of his son’s blue plaque. His late father beamed with pride and enjoyed telling tales of his son’s endeavours and determination to make a name for himself.

Sir Paul happily tells me about the early years of his company and his burgeoning friendships with the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and David Bowie. However, he is clearly uncomfortable when name dropping. Our interview is very much more a conversation but when I ask him about his celebrity clients and friends we lose eye contact. This is clearly not through concerns about confidentiality, more because he is such a modest guy. He points out that many fashion houses fly in glittering stars to be photographed on the front row of their cat walk shows. This is not the Paul Smith way. His designs speak for themselves and it comes as no surprise that many of his staff have been with him for twenty or thirty years.

Chris Hawkins in conversation with Sir Paul Smith

His stories about bedroom listening to Bob Dylan against the wishes of his mother who hated Dylan’s drawl and his life of bohemia in the 60s are told fondly. He laughs out loud as he recalls measuring up Jimmy Page for a “bonkers” coloured suit and reveals a case containing an electric train set which he unpacks when meetings get boring. He has been at the top of his game for 40 years and his signature is world famous.

While part of the reason some people send Sir Paul Smith ‘stuff’ is because they know they will receive a signed note in return, part of the reason they know it will be personal is because he does not have a computer. He only recently acquired a mobile phone and his greatest revelation to me? He cannot draw. One of the planet’s most famous fashion designers cannot draw. Rather, his work comes to life through words on a page and for this child of the fifties those words keep on coming and the brand continues to expand.

I spent an hour in the company of a man who showed me his train set, a bag signed 'from PS to PS' (from life-long friend Patti Smith) and delights in dressing new sensation Jake Bugg, a fellow Nottingham lad. We chat about the inextricable links between music and fashion and as I thank him for his time I request an autograph. It perfectly matches the print on the shirt I bought with fifty quids worth of my student loan in 1995. I’ve got the t-shirts, now I’ve been there and got to meet this true English gentleman.

Chris Hawkins presents 6 Music's Early Breakfast Show

Listen to Sir Paul Smith in conversation with Chris on his BBC Radio 6 Music Early Breakfast Show (5-7am) every day this week, part of the Sound of Style season on BBC Four and 6 Music.
Listen to the interview in full via BBC iPlayer Radio and find a gallery of pictures on the Chris' show page.
Read Gemma Cairn's post about meeting iconic shoe designer Terry de Havilland, in 6 Music's 'Never Mind The Cobblers'.
Read more of Chris' posts for About the BBC Blog, including his Hay Diaries from May 2014.
Follow 6Music on Twitter.

Sole Music: Meeting 'The Rock 'n' Roll Cobbler'

2014-09-19T07:01:34+00:00

Radio 1's Gemma Cairney switches station to 6Music to present a documentary about shoe designer Terry de Havilland as part of The Sound of Style season.

You might think that bringing ‘fashion to the radio' might be somewhat tricky – how to bring to life the designs, the colours, the looks? But it’s the kind of challenge I love and hope to achieve with my BBC Radio 6 Music documentary, Never Mind the Cobblers, about legendary shoe designer, Terry de Havilland.

People know me today as a presenter, but I actually had a brief stint working in fashion in my early twenties. I mostly worked as an assistant stylist - dragging bags of luxurious clothing around the capital, fixing bow-ties with shaking hands whilst getting screamed at on high fashion campaigns, organising photo shoots and not being able to afford to eat. Fashion proved to be far too cut-throat for my soft core, but it instilled an awe for certain elements and along the way I met some wonderful people. And one of my most revered and loved is Terry. I often found myself in the mesmerising and enchanting grotto of shoe heaven that is his studio.

A shoe in: Gemma amongst Terry de Havilland's creations

Clothes, like music, can be as enchanting, as political as much art as it can be vacuous and fickle. The theatricality of fashion, its characters, the extraordinary nuggets in the industry that have influenced culture. Zeitgeists of the old and new are those with the tales and astonishing talent that I hold close. This I've found fun to explore on air. I have fought for live broadcasts backstage at fashion shows and developed a regular style barometer feature on my show before moving to early breakfast at Radio 1. When I heard that 6 Music were collaborating with BBC Four for The Sound Of Style, a season exploring the intrinsic link between fashion and music, I was compelled to get involved.

Every trailblazer deserves their story told, the glorious detail of their genius marvelled. I have been itching to tell this story for years. The story of a shoemaker called Terry de Havilland. Labelled 'The Rock & Roll Cobbler', Terry's shoes make shoe and rock ‘n’ roll lovers whimper. Not just because of how they look - mostly shiny, swirly, technicolor sexy dreams - but because of how they make you feel, and most importantly the stories that they tell. His name has been imprinted on the soles of designs since the 1960's, long before another shoemaking legend, Christian Louboutin, decided to paint the soles of his red.

Terry got into 'fashion' accidentally. His father was injured by some machinery in the family's shoe factory in the East End of London when Terry was just a young teenager so he took on the business. This he has done with such a vigour and remarkable energy over the years. During his twenties, living through those heady times, he breathed new life into shoe design. People queued from dawn till dusk to get their hands on a pair of his revolutionary three-tier wedges.

Fifty years on, he continues to make shoes. His cult status remains untouched and has continued to capture the imaginations of some of the world’s most innovative fashion tastemakers. His East End geezer humour, his tales of Kings Road back in the day, his effervescence and relentless belief in collaboration has led him to make shoes which have been seen on the feet of some of the biggest names of the day - David Bowie, Bianca Jagger, Viv Albertine, Marilyn Manson, Amy Winehouse, Depeche Mode, Noel Fielding, Alison Goldfrapp, Kate Moss and so many more over the years. There’s a reason they all want to wear his footwear. They are, quite simply, incredible creations.

I hope my show will illuminate the imaginations of 6 Music listeners on a Sunday afternoon. I’ll be their guide, chatting to Terry de Havilland about his fifty years of stomping and grooving through Britain's most definitive musical eras. He shares his rock ‘n’ roll tales of excess - car racing with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, attempting to set up a shoe factory in Nigeria with Cream's Ginger Baker, hand-painting Amy Winehouse's Zap Pow shoes for Coachella Festival and making shoes for his muse, Kate Moss. In Never Mind The Cobblers, expect lashings of golden disco dreams, prolific gigs, alluring fashion icons, great music and the ridiculous anecdotes that are always entwined with legends. We’ll hear from his legions of fans including Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Fred Butler, Viv Albertine, Ana Matronic, Tom Baker and Noel Fielding. It’s my contribution to The Sound of Style season, and also London Fashion Week (which can be about the past as much as the future) bringing fashion to life on the radio.

Gemma Cairney is a presenter on Radio 1

'Never Mind the Cobblers' will be broadcast on Sunday 21 September on BBC 6 Music at 1pm.
Find out more about The Sound of Style season on BBC Four and 6 Music and iPlayer.
An image gallery taken at Terry de Havilland’s studio and accompanying audio clip is availble to see on the 6 Music website.

Hay Diary: Sun, deck chairs and snoozing off lunches

2014-06-01T09:18:45+00:00

In the third and final of his Hay Diaries (if you haven't already, be sure to read his first and second installments), Chris reports on the unthinkable: the sun shining at this year's festival.

With over 700 events over the course of the last two weeks including star names like Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anthony Horowitz, Julia Donaldson and Paddy Ashdown Hay festival is a unique melting pot of big brains, alternative thinkers and brilliant performers.

Few festivals can claim such a beautiful setting, nestling in the hills on the mid-Wales border and on this final weekend of this years festival the sun shone, picnic tables were brought out and deck chairs gave the weary a chance to read, reflect or snooze off lunches.

With subjects ranging from scientific innovation to punk rock, Hay offers individuals, families and friends an opportunity to learn, engage and reflect on new ideas and benefit from others knowledge.

Chris with Kate O'Hearn, author of the Pegasus series

After many years of attending the festival, my 4 year old daughter’s highlight this year was celebrating the Gruffalo’s birthday in the company of it’s creator, Julia Donaldson. She also went to a reading of the kids book, Shifty McGifty. The story was told by the writers themselves, Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton with help from a budding bunch of eager toddlers.

I am now au fait with Shifty the dog’s world…he’s a robber dog who gives up a life of crime to pursue a cupcakes business. As a parent, that kind of imagination coupled with the performance element is joyous. Or at least it will be until about 8 o'clock when I fear the expectancy will be to produce props and musical accompaniment for bedtime stories.

I was hoping to attend a debate entitled ‘Is the planet full?’ but unfortunately it was full. Really. On this final weekend of Hay 2014 hearing the BBC hit comedy Rev star and writer Tom Hollander discuss the extraordinary success of the show is fascinating. They were joined by the writer of the newly published Rev Diaries, John Canter. Canter recalled his agent contacting him about writing the book…”John, we’ve got a project for you” to which the atheist author replied, “There is a God!” When Hollander was asked by an audience member how they cast the show (with the likes of Oliva Coleman and Miles Jupp) he said it was largely thanks to a fantastic casting agent and also because, “people do things cos they like the writing.” They could have cast Rev a thousand times over.

BBC Wales' Bethan Elfyn also presented from Hay this year.

Kate Adie passionately told the story of women’s plight during the first World War and shared a wonderful story about her grandmother. As the Germans were overhead in a zeppelin, Adie’s grandmother was charged to lay down and take cover. The zeppelin’s gondola was low enough for the German’s to make eye contact with the Brits below…Adie’s grandmother was furious. Furious that the Germans were so low to the ground that they would have without doubt caught slight of her petticoat. It’s charming anecdotes like that, enjoying a live performance on Bethan Elfyn’s BBC Radio Wales stage and knowing that you will always see or hear something random, unexpected or occasionally mind-blowing, that makes Hay special for me.

Here we are in the hills, basically in the middle of nowhere, listening to authors talk about their books; scientists share their theories and philosophers philosophising. It is a unique and extraordinary coming together of very clever people on stage sharing their knowledge, thoughts and oaccisiaonnly, crack-pot theories.

Glastonbury may boast magical leylines, Hay meanwhile offers up line after line of inspiration. To paraphrase Tom Hollander, people like writing. And that writing has left me feeling brighter, smarter and more intelligent…for a couple of days, at least.

Chris Hawkins is a DJ on 6Music

Read Chris' other blogs from Hay - Marvellous in the Mud and Planning Radio.
About the BBC's Hannah Khalil has collected links to some of the Hay coverage produced by BBC Arts in her weekly blog round-up.
Jon Jacob was backstage for Radio 2 during the 500 WORDS Final broadcast live from Hay last week - read about his experiences on the About the BBC Blog.
Radio 4's Broadcasting House was also at Hay for a special programme - journalist Simon Maybin explained how the production team sought contributions from the festival audience.
Director of BBC Arts Jonty Claypole also reflected on the weekend he spent at the Hay Festival.
Highlights from BBC Arts at Hay are available on the BBC Arts website.
Follow @BBCArts on Twitter.

6 Music celebrates Irish music with Dave Fanning

2014-04-15T06:19:56+00:00

How to tell the story of Irish Rock on radio? An hour a week for half-a-year might do it. 26 hours all-in. That would be ideal. For my new series on BBC Radio 6 Music which started on Sunday 13th April however, we’ve only got four hours. So, what we’ll have is less a history of, than a journey through, what I’ll loosely term, Irish Rock.

It’s 50 years this July since Them recorded their first studio session in Belfast. Them - the band fronted by Van Morrison - had mid-60s hits with bona-fide classics such as Here Comes the Night and Gloria. After Van from Belfast, it’s all the way down to Cork for Rory Gallagher. And it’s the connection between these two that’s the real starting point, because once you go back to their roots—that peculiar Irish phenomenon, the showband - you can start.

In the 60s there was a time when the only real way a professional musician could make a living was by playing in a showband, travelling the highways and byways across the country, packing clubs and dance-halls churning out the hits of the day – the songs of The Beatles, The Stones, The Searchers, The Hollies, The Supremes The Kinks etc. Van Morrison played in a showband called The Monarchs, Rory played in one called The Fontana. In between, in Dublin, Phil Lynott was in a rock band called The Black Eagles then Skid Row.

And it's the three of these - Morrison, Gallagher and Lynott - who constituted the frontline in the world of 70s Irish rock. And since we only have four hours, after that, we’ll go in all directions. Bypassing the decade-a-programme route, the first programme takes the album angle, not necessarily each artist’s greatest, best-selling or even best-received but, for various reasons, they’re as good a definition of what makes their music great as any other. Programme two is a collection of classic tracks from Irish acts, then in programme three I’ll alternate bands from the north with acts from the south, and for the fit’s acts only from this century, with particular emphasis on those happening right now.In that last show, there’ll be room for bands like Little Green Cars, O Emperor, The Strypes and solo acts like Adrian Crowley, Cat Dowling and Hozier.

Across all four programmes Van and U2 will obviously feature widely and with no interviews - just some set-up and context - the music is the message. From some of the bigger names e.g. Snow Patrol and Sinead O’Connor, I’ll feature tracks from what I believe is their more interesting, less commercial side. From internationally less well-known acts who’ve been making consistently interesting music this century (from Bell X1 to Adrian Crowley - 14 albums between them) there are so many fine tracks to choose from. And, of course, when it comes to great tracks from great acts there has to be room for the likes of Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back in Town, The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and such like.

We've been at this thing for 50 years; the British invasion didn't just happen to America. While we were as affected and optimistic as anywhere else, a certain innocence has been lost over the past decades, and the technological revolution which has democratized all of the music industry means that we’ve grown out of our adolescence into uncharted waters.

In the 80s we stumbled blindly, naively, even gloriously into the international spotlight, emboldened by the success of U2 and ignorant of the pitfalls, potholes and plunging chasms of the rock industry. It was a fun time - bands either soared past these obstacles on a rush of youthful exuberance or, as was usually the case, fell into oblivion. Irish rock bands enjoyed as much regular daytime radio airplay as the international pop groups of the day and rock was beginning to become a safe alternative career-choice to that of an electrician or an accountant.

If it was tough out there in those days, it's even tougher now. Playlists on radio have narrowed and today's audience, expecting to get its music free, makes it harder for bands to survive. But as 6 Music celebrates Ireland, we’ll get a mix of both the great and the new artists - those who craft their own styles outside the pigeonholing and maybe the patronising of an industry that hardly exists anymore. All that matters, all that we have here, is good music.

Dave Fanning is an Irish journalist and broadcaster.

Dave Fanning's 6 Music Irish Rock celebration started on Sunday 13 April at 1pm and runs for 4 weeks. It's broadcast every Sunday at 1pm.
Listen to the first show via BBC iPlayer.

Reflecting on the first BBC 6 Music Festival

2014-03-13T14:37:19+00:00

On Friday 28 February, at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, BBC 6 Music launched it's first festival. The station's editor, James Stirling, looks back over the two day event, which included a live performance of Everyday Robots by Damon Albarn, featured below.

Now that the dust has settled and we’ve had a chance to recover, I’m really pleased to share some thoughts on the first 6 Music Festival. An explanation as to how it came to be seems like a good place to start. 6 Music has been going for 12 years now and it seemed like the right time to host a two-day event showcasing everything we do on a daily basis at the station. Our aim was simply to celebrate the unique world of 6 Music with a live audience, but equally for those either at home or on the move. Thankfully, the BBC Radio iPlayer app makes that goal easy these days.

Of course, music is key to 6 Music, but we’re so much more than that too. So, along with three stages for live artists in the main Festival, we programmed a free Festival Fringe which showcased spoken word, a photography exhibition, a cinema screen, a collection of Independent Record Stores from around the UK as well as some amazing live performances.

Location too was really important when we were developing plans for the Festival. Musically, Manchester is such an important UK city. It has internationally recognised, genre-defining artists whose work spans the six decades of music you'll hear when listening to the network. We work closely with our colleagues at BBC North and over 30% of 6 Music shows are broadcast from Media City UK in Salford. Manchester was therefore a natural choice. We found a fantastic space - the Victoria Warehouse in Trafford - which worked as a venue, big enough to hold the audience, artists and stages. Across the Festival and Fringe, there were five stages in total. All looked wonderful, particularly the trees on our largest stage - certainly worth a look.

As Editor my role was to plan and oversee the production, joining together the various teams we had on site and at our broadcast base. A successful event takes a lot of co-ordination from all involved, especially given that the Festival content had a huge presence on the 6 Music website and Red Button as well as on the radio. Apart from the practical challenges of hosting 40 artists over five stages, we had 22 hours of live broadcasting from site. It can be difficult to work outside the comfort of a purpose-built studio - but the BBC has the best technicians and engineers in the world. That made the job a lot easier.

We knew there was an appetite for the Festival and this was reflected in the speed that the tickets were snapped up. And it helped contribute to a very special atmosphere on site over the two days with both the main Festival and the Fringe going down very well with those who came along. It was great to spot friends of the station, actor Cillian Murphy who recorded a show for us last year and voice of the Festival radio trail Maxine Peake. But a big challenge, and arguably the most important one, was to bring the Festival alive for those at home. The regular 6 Music programme schedule was transformed for two days, with the majority of our presenters teaming up tag-team style. Both the Festival and the Fringe were brought to life for the audience at home as the team explored the venues. Our presenters were key to this and were excellent at bringing the Festival to life for listeners wherever they were and I think that was reflected in the many messages we received from our audience at home saying how much they were enjoying the coverage. Plus what we did online as well was crucial. We’re really proud of the 6 Music Festival website – which we designed to look equally amazing whatever device you're using, from smartphone to tablet or computer. It was vital in helping us reach audiences who couldn’t be at the Victoria Warehouse to enjoy the Festival in person, offering audio on-demand, live video, galleries and the like. All the things you’ve come to expect from us, but all contained in one easy-to-access location – a window on a really special event for the station.

There were many highlights of course, but for the record, my personal favourites were: John Cooper Clarke’s two sets at the Fringe (hilarious), Franz Ferdinand, The National, Wild Beasts, Drenge and Damon Albarn on the main stages, the photography exhibition which documented a year in the life of 6 Music by Jason Joyce, the record stores, who came and traded for two days and all of the 6 Music presenters who performed DJ sets at the silent disco or on the main stage. The sight of a few hundred people wearing glowing wireless headphones, bobbing up and down to Don Letts spinning tunes is one I’ll remember for a long time, as will the sight of the Radiophonic Workshop performing the Doctor Who theme tune, which we played on Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone show. It was also incredibly exciting to see thousands of our listeners in one place, which we hadn’t witnessed before.

Initial indications of the numbers who heard or watched it are very positive. So, from my point of view the Festival was a roaring success.

We’ve collated some amazing photo galleries on the website where you can also enjoy many of the highlights from the Fringe and watch all 24 main stage performances until Thursday 1 April.

And as for plans for another festival … you'll just have to watch this space.

James Stirling is Editor, BBC 6 Music.

Listen to tracks from artists featured in the festival on the BBC Playlister.
Read Jen Macro's blog about performing live on Marc Riley's 6 Music show.
See more blogs about 6 Music.
Follow @BBC6Music on twitter