Sundae Promotions

Welcome to my new project!

Sundae Promotions is a Creative Live Events Project Management Team set up and run by myself and my team partner, Amy McArthur. Our mission is to challenge the perception of unsigned music and promote Birmingham's creative industries. We're going to do this by putting on a live event experience in a creative space rather than a 'traditional' venue. 

We want to bring back the art to live music and involve people in new music experiences as we feel live unsigned nights have become a little boring and standardised!

Not only are we working with and supporting Birmingham's creative industry but we want to offer platforms for talented young individuals and groups in Birmingham to showcase their talent - be it musical or media based! We're currently collaborating with music colleges around Birmingham and various university media projects to ensure Sundae Promotions is a creative community project that brings a little excitement back to Birmingham's music scene. 

I've been super busy working on this project for the past few months and we're really hoping it's going to be a great success and an event that people will remember as offering something different! 

You can keep up-to-date with the project on Facebook and Twitter. Please check these out as we'd really appreciate your support and as always, any feedback is welcome! 

Watch this space!

Talent: How to Use Twitter Professionally

I love using Twitter to update friends about my personal life (I'm a self-confessed tweetaholic!) but also to update about my professional life. Twitter is a great way to create awareness of projects I'm working on, work I'm involved with and following accounts related to my career interests. Therefore, when my friend and fellow media student, Grace Montgomery, asked me to get involved with one of her pieces about using Twitter with a career focus, I was more than happy to do so!

As a media student, I am aware of how important it is to have an online presence and Twitter offers a great platform to interact with people in your desired career field and create awareness of your skills and the work you do. A bit of self-promotion never hurt anyone! 

If you haven't got a professional Twitter account, get on it! While you're at it, don't forget to follow me and check out Grace's tips on How to Use Twitter Professionally (featuring some words from me). 

Grace writes a whole host of interesting articles for Talent, "a dynamic and innovative youth & entertainment project aimed at improving the life chances of young people in the West Midlands".

Interested? Check out the site here and don't forget to follow Grace's Twitter for updates on her work! 

Do you have a professional Twitter? Follow & tweet me so I can check out your profile and work too. 

Cornwall

This summer I spent a week in the beautiful Cornwall with my family and I didn't put my camera down! It was my first time there and I couldn't believe how much there was to take in. I tried to capture most of it in photograph form, both on my SLR and film. 

We spent the majority of  the week travelling around Cornwall to different spots such as St. Ives, Penzance and St Michael's Mount. Despite the terrible weather this year, we managed to hit the jackpot and got a glorious week of sunshine. Perfect!

The rumours about Cornwall are definitely true. It's really that beautiful. I could easily have spent the whole of summer there (and longer) exploring and taking an infinite number of photos. Fingers crossed I can persuade my family to go there again soon! It was well worth the 6-hour journey. 

I've finally uploaded a small selection of my photos to Flickr so if you want to see a glimpse of what I got  to experience from Cornwall then take a peek here!

Here's a little preview:

This set features some more shots from St Michael's Mount, Penzance, Land's End and the little village I called home for the week, Treen.

I'm slowly but surely working my way through the photos so hopefully I can put another batch up soon, however university work is priority this year so forgive me if I take a while!

I hope you enjoy the pictures, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

I'm still here.

It's about time that I apologise for my absence recently! 

In the last month I have moved from my hometown in Wales back to Birmingham to take on my third (and final!) year at Birmingham City University. It's an exciting time but also a very busy time. I am going to be calling on all my organisation skills for this year. 

My modules of choice this year are focused upon the music industry and PR. On the music front I will be studying the production module, Music Industry Enterprise and the theory module, Popular Music Culture. My third chosen module is Communications Management. I'm going into my third week back at university now and I an certainly happy with my decision to study these. The hands-on approach means it's going to be a semester of hard work but worth it in the long run! 

Of course, on top of my choices I have the two big modules. Like most third year students I will be working on my dissertation throughout the whole year. My question is based around representations, popular music and feminism. However, that's not all! I also have a production project to work on. It's only in the early stages at the moment but keep an eye out as I will definitely be updating you on it in the near future.

I will try to keep the blog up to date with my media work throughout the next few months but if you don't see me for a while it's probably because I either have my head in a book or I'm busy typing away at my assignments!

I'd also just like to take this time to thank everyone who reads my blog. I really appreciate it! Don't forget I'd love to read your thoughts on my posts so feel free comment. 

An interview with Kids in Glass Houses

Sadly the Merthyr Rock weekend has now come to a close and we'll have to wait a whole year for our next instalment of festival fun and great music from the Welsh town. However, to keep the blues away or to catch up with what the MRockers got up to, you can head to welovemerthyrrock.tumblr.com for posts and pictures of the fans' experiences.

But if that's not enough... then take a peak at my interview with Welsh rockers, Kids in Glass Houses! 

Ahead of their headline show, which saw Merthyr Rock out with a bang, KIGH took time out of rehearing for an exclusive on the MRock fan blog. Find out what front-man Aled Phillips had to say before the weekend about the festival, the future and the stuff in-between! 

How are you guys feeling about headlining Merthyr Rock this year?

Excited and a bit nervous.

Does it feel extra special to headline a festival in Wales?

Any show in Wales is special so headlining a festival adds that little bit extra.

Who are you looking forward to seeing this year at Merthyr Rock and why?

Future Of The Left. A hugely underrated band who deserve to be loved.

You guys curated one of the stages last year, how was that? How did you got about choosing the acts for the stage?

It was fun and challenging. We just looked at bands who don’t always get the breaks they deserve and tried to help in a small way.

So you did a gig at Le Pub recently – how was that? Why was it so important to you to help out?

It was great. It’s difficult being a small venue, making enough money to keep going and the gig world needs these small venues. Remember kids, small is beautiful.

What do you think of the impact that Merthyr Rock has had on bringing awareness to great Welsh music? 

Anything that gets Wales and it’s music into the national consciousness is important. Merthyr Rock is just the sort of thing that makes that happen.

The Smart Casual vinyls are looking awesome! You must be proud of them? Was it something you always wanted to do?

Most bands want a ‘record deal’, not a ‘CD deal’. Vinyl is great.

How has it been playing Smart Casual around the UK again? Any particular highlights?

It’s nice to re-visit songs that we rarely play these days.

Do you have any pre-gig or pre-going-on-stage rituals?

Nothing. That sort of things a bit naff.

Have KIGH got anything big coming up in the next few months/2013 that the fans should look out for? 

Album number four.

What have you guys been up to this summer? 

A few shows and a few holidays. Some drinking and some fornicating.

If you could create your own ultimate festival, which bands/artists would you have playing (dead or alive)?

Prince and Michael Jackson. Anything else would be filler.

What are (or would be) your favourite songs to get you pumped to go on stage or on a night out?

‘Nothing Compares To You’. Sinead O’Conner’s version.

What are your personal favourite gigs that you’ve been to?

The good ones that you can’t remember the next day.

What are Kids in Glass Houses’ five festival essentials?

Prophylactics, johnnies, alcohol, condoms and booze.

You can find the interview and much more on the Merthyr Rock fan blog!

Music Journalism Workshop - Merthyr Rock

On Saturday I had the fantastic opportunity to help run a music journalism workshop put on by Merthyr Rock. The workshop invited youngsters from around Merthyr to learn about the tricks of the trade and put their own skills in music journalism to the test. 

The workshop offered perspectives from two individuals at different stages in their career and working on different types of music journalism. The session was run by Rhys Milsom, music editor and sub-editor for various review sites in the online world, and he was joined by Arts Correspondent for Media Wales and Wales Online, David Owens. 

With participants ranging from 14 to 21, the workshop got them thinking about the sort of music career they'd like to go into, the music they enjoy followed by a hands on section which saw them writing about music that many had not heard previously. Rhys Milsom offered some great techniques for getting them to think about how you can write about the different elements of music and how to put it together into a review. 

Milsom and Owens offered valuable insights into their own career paths and how they got into the industry, along with some encouraging words for the group to inspire them to pursue their dreams. 

It was an excellent opportunity for aspiring music industry professionals and a worthwhile way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

On a personal note it was great to see people getting stuck in and getting over their initial nerves to take part in something productive and fun. I'd love to see more of these workshops about, I would have loved to get involved in something similar when I was younger. It's excellent to be a part of a festival that does much more than just put on some great music but gets people involved in so many ways! 

If you're heading to Merthyr Rock this weekend then make sure you check out the workshops and other opportunities they have on offer. Get involved, you won't regret it! 

Have you ever been to or helped out at a similar workshop?
How did you find it? I would recommend getting involved with something so worthwhile and interesting either helping out or attending!

Merthyr Rock - Kids in Glass Houses Interview

The countdown to the Merthyr Rock weekend has well and truly begun!

I've loved being involved with Merthyr Rock again this year as their blogger and had some great fun re-doing the blog and jazzing it up for the second year of the festival. If you've been following or checking up on the blog (I hope you have!) there's being a variety of news, updates, competitions and great music being posted and creating more excitement for the big event. 

But I also have some really exciting news about an upcoming piece I will be doing on the blog...

an interview with Welsh rockers, Kids in Glass Houses! 

Not only will this be a great piece for the fans following welovemerthyrrock but it is a fantastic opportunity for me to test my interview writing skills. Although my interviews have been very varied throughout the past with the likes of popular fashion bloggers, lecturers, campaigners and more, I haven't done as much work as I'd like to with bands... and where better to start than with one of my own personal favourites and Merthyr Rock's Saturday headliners? 

It's made even better by the fact that we want KIGH's fans to get involved too, so if you fall into this large bracket or even if you just have an interesting question then we'd love to hear it!

Check out the blog post here! 

MRock want YOU to message us (on the Tumblr) with the questions you've always wanted to ask Kids in Glass Houses or if you think you've got an interesting question that they'll never have been asked before then ask away! I'll be picking some of the best to go alongside my own interview with the boys.

Please check out the interview once it's posted up on the blog!