Canadian singer songwriter Veda Hille’s enchanting new album ‘This Riot Life’ is widely hailed as her best yet.
In this podcast, Veda takes us on a tour through the albums songs and explains her ideas and thoughts behind the recordings.
Some of the songs from the album are based around hymns, and Veda explains, how going through her Grandmothers hymn book was a truly great source of inspiration.
The new 4 track Download only EP ‘Fine Wires Humming A New Song’ is available exclusively to buy from the Ape store now (includes free artwork).
Monstrance, Martyn Barker drums, Barry Andrews keyboards and Andy Partridge guitar, recorded the tracks live in the studio, especially for Stuart Maconies FREAKZONE show on BBC 6 Music.
The four shimmering improvisations comprising this download only EP are “I am a Cow Devil”, “Children Love Our Dear Helmsman”, “Smelt me into Steel One Hundredfold” and “My first Words Were MAKE REVOLUTION”.
Also FREE to download with the EP is an 11 minute film for the track ‘I Lovely Cosmonaut’ taken from the 2CD album Monstrance. Buy
Ape has commissioned New York animator Eun-Ha Paek from the Milky Elephant collective to make a video for Veda Hilles song ‘Queen Of The May’ from her album ‘Return Of The Kildeer’.
buy
The animation is an emotive interpretation of the song and Eun-Ha’s work has been screened at many festivals and venues in the USA, including the New York Expo of Short Film and Video and the UCLA Film and Television archive.
Eun-Ha has also had an animation for “Simple Song’ included in the Residents Commercial Album DVD
An exclusive brand new track ‘Just You’ from the yet-to-be-titled forthcoming album from The Milk & Honey Band. The video was filmed in California (United States) and edited in Bob’s own studio at home in Brighton (England).
Overhear the third and final chapter of Andy & Barrys mega duologue concerning all that is known by the human race and a few things you might not have known about the marvelous Monstrance double album.
Andy reveals some of his Frippesque tales. Discover what feelings like Christmas are about, and a warning, don’t listen to this album with your freezer open.
You’ll be entertained and enthralled, and you might even want to buy the album.
Do you write and record wonderful songs or great instrumental music?
Does your band want a very fair deal with a small label that has great wordwide distribution and a great reputation?
Do you lay awake at night gnashing your teeth, convinced that your material, your art, would change the world if only they could get to hear it?
Then APE would very much like to listen to your stuff. Don’t be shy, send in your recordings and who knows, you could be just what we are looking for.
OK, so what are we looking for exactly? Hmmm, thats a rather tough one, its almost easier to tell you what we don’t want. Like…Dont send in amazing stuff made up of samples of other peoples songs. Impossible to get clearance for Dylan, Stones and Beatles bits no matter how good you think it makes your songs sound. Besides if they did clear them{in your dreams}, you’d end up giving all your royalties to the artists you’ve nabbed from. So NO nicking from your fave discs. Don’t send in just you mumbling into a cassette machine with no instrumental input, only to wrap the package in 6 sheets of foolscap apologising for not getting it together in time, not being a good enough piano/gutar/zither player,promising you’ll write the lyrics if you should get a deal etc. With current standards of home recording and the availability of cheap studio time, do you really have an excuse? Don’t send in a disc just to have me waste my time calling you up all enthusiastic like, when really you had no intention of wanting to put a record out, you just wanted a phone call from your hero. Bah! (yes, thats happened)
So what might it be that we at APE are looking for? As corny as it sounds, it will always come down to original songs, sparkling playing, an artistic energy, an unhealthy obsessive self belief and damnit, that mysterious element that hits the spot just for me me me. Peter Blegvad has it, Veda Hille does, and so do the Milk and Honey Band. The good thing about running your own label is you don’t have to follow trends and make only grotesquely cheesy commercial decisions for fear of angering the boss or losing your job. Hell! I AM the boss. My label, nobody to please but moi {and a few evil minions}, MWAH HA HA etc.
What do we prefer in practical terms? Ideally we’d want to hear finished quality recordings, remember what I mentioned earlier about home recording and cheap studio costs these days. Isn’t that expecting too much and besides, how do others do it? Well Veda rents a studio and engineer, the “Milks” record round at Bobs house and Peter and I recorded in my garden shed. Yes men, it can be done, as the old ad used to say.
Why don’t you pay me a big fat advance and I can then blow it on 6 months in Abbey Road? I suppose we could do that, but that’s what a major label would do and do you know what you’d get in return for it? Diddly squat dressed in legaleze. Thats right, a tiny royalty you’ll wait 10 to 20 years to see. The label would insist on owning the recordings forever despite the fact that you’d ultimately paid for them out of your pittance percentage. Thats the same as when you had paid off your mortgage, the mortgage company would STILL own your house. That’s how a standard record deal works.
Ah, I hear you cry, my mates mate was offered a 50/50 deal with a production company.? The other type of deal doing the rounds at present are these production deals. What happens here is you sign to a production company and they say, hey we’ll give you a 50/50 split. You think great 50% of the income from the album, fantastic deal, WRONG. What they don’t tell you is that they then go and get you a recording deal with a label and on whatever terms they like, not what’s best for you. You still lose your rights forever. Then you pay the production company back for the cost of recording the album they made for you. Trouble is , you’re on this great 50/50 deal! so the royalties they get from the label they signed your album to, you only get 50% of this, so if they get 15% royalty you only get 7.5%, which is less than a pittance. So this 7.5% goes to recouping the cost of the album not the 15%, which obviously takes even longer. They also always want the publishing, so it’s even WORSE than a label deal.
So in cold hard moolah terms Andy, what could I expect if I’m signed up? All artists on APE get a share of the profits on their albums, thats real profits, not a % of a % of an income. All of which means that although we like you to pay for your own recordings {which you’ll own, we only lease them from you for a while}, we do pay up front for a lot of stuff. Such as mastering, production costs, artwork, promotion, videos, press etc. When those Initial costs are paid back from the sale of discs and/or downloads, we split any profit. You’re paying me for fronting large sums to get you up and running. Basically, I’m taking the risk on you. Sounds fair? Look I couldn’t run anything rip offy after what I’ve been through. I like to sleep at night. Most importantly though, you get to keep your publishing, many major labels will insist on having that off of you aswell when you sign a recording deal.
What might we be reasonable in expecting from you the artist? Really that you have a wellspring of ideas, material and keen-ness, we don’t want to spend a long time putting you in the public ear, only for you to have had but one record inside of you {I suppose if the one was THAT fantastic we could forgive you}. Generally we’re thinking long term and assume you are too. A willingness to do interviews please, yes one potential signee refused up front to do interviews or be sent anywhere to promote themselves, so we could go no further. Of course if you love playing live, all the better. Gigs can be great for getting that name around, so we’re not going to stop you. We may even be able to put you in touch with some agents or people from that world.
So get writing, get recording and get posting. Even if you’ve sent in stuff to us in the past and heard nothing that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to like your newer, swisher, more marvelous material. APE really is an open door, if your fantastic, just walk on in.
Send your material to - Ape House c/o Weatherbox Ltd, PO Box 2126, Storrington, West Sussex. RH20 4WF. England.
Tune into the second installment, where Andy and Barry continue their chat about the complete history of everythingness and momentarily delve into the mighty Monstrance double album.
Discover the plight of Englands disappearing fields, what Andy was feeding Jack Wilde
and some classic reminiscences of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.
You’ll be tickled, tantalized and you might even want to buy the album
Listen to The Milk & Honey Bands main songwriter Robert White, as he takes you on a guided tour through their Ape debut album The Secret Life Of…
From his Brighton studio Robert unfolds the stories behind the songs of this magical album.
To reveal The Secret Life Of The Milk And Honey Band for yourself you can buy the album here.
Eavesdrop on Andy Partridge and Barry Andrews as they talk about everything in the known Universe and occasionally stray into discussing the marvelous Monstrance double album.
Find out how Barry met Martyn Barker, what Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre is really
made of, and their thoughts on such diverse topics as The Munsters, Norman Wisdom and Swans.
You’ll be amused, you’ll be amazed and you might even want to buy the album.
View the ad for the new Monstrance album. Edited and compiled by Andrew Swainson our designer who is responsible for all the beautiful Ape packaging.
