CAMDEN CRAWL APPROACHES

NOT too long ago a group of wise old music moguls gathered in Dingwalls for the annual “pick me” fest that is the Camden Crawl band allocation day.

As DJ Steve Lamacq described it in his Going Deaf for a Living blog: “It’s like picking teams in a school playground.”
Except a fair amount of young musicians I knew at school would’ve run a mile at the mention of PE.



So while we don’t yet know who the 14 promoters hosting gigs for the Crawl managed to wrangle for their chosen venue, we can still bring you a selection of the names that have been released so far.
St Etienne, Villagers, Frankie & the Heartstrings, Lethal Bizzle, British Sea Power and Simian Mobile Disco – the most high profile of the names we know right now.
Toddla T, Hadouken, Mazes, Young Dreams, The Qemists, Dinosaur Pile-Up, The Phantom Band, and Hudson Mohawke are also on the known list.

But there are a whole lot of not so well-known musicians that are worth a look-in.
You never know – one day Florence and the Machine’s playing to 100 people in The Crescent pub for the Crawl, the next, young Flo’s sharing the stage with Jennifer Hudson at The Grammys, playing the socialite’s entertainment in Gossip Girl and Dog Days is being assimilated into Glee choir’s indistinctive repertoire.



While the main headline acts are yet to be announced, rumours are rife.
Although I’m hoping Aerosmith will be among the headliners, I’ve a feeling Steve Tyler’s caught up judging a little talent show over in the states.

So here’s a basic summary of what it’s all about:
The Camden Crawl – one wristband, two days (April 30 – May 1), music, comedy, fringe arts, and interactive events, 250 live acts and special guests across 50 venues.
While there is music all day from the very start, there’s a whole bunch of other activities during the sunshine hours to help crawlers prepare for the hardcore trek around Camden (and Kentish Town) venues as dusk sets in.

The real games begin after the taxing music quizzes, comedy, spoken word and performance, visual arts and crafts, interactive events and games (see www.thecnj.com/music) are over.
I leave you with a brief summary of our recommendations.

There’s the Island Records showcase at the Enterprise featuring Tribes, Kid Adrift and Jon Fratelli, as well as Cocknbullkid and Rizzle Kicks (previously featured on this page).
Or take vantage on the Roundhouse Terrace for the Summer Sundae Weekender with Benjamin Francis, Leftwich, Delta Maid, Dog is Dead, Lulu & the Lampshades, Marques Toliver, 2:54, Beth Jeans Houghton, Dry the River, Peggy Sue and Young Dreams.

We don’t yet know who else is playing where so here’s a brief list of some of our picks from the rest: Visions of Trees, Paris Suit Yourself, DELS, Dananananaykroyd, Divorce, Japanese Voyeurs, John and Jehn, Wild Palms, Flats, Little Comets, P Money, Sound of Rum, The Chapman Family, Teeth and Fiction.

For tickets, as well as profiles of all these bands and the rest of the line-up, visit www.thecamdencrawl.com

GHOSTFACE KILLAH'S PROUD APPEARANCE + CAMDEN CRAWL 2011 + JANELLE MONAE, GODDAUGHTER OF SOUL + THE CUBAN BROTHERS, SAY NO MORE

WE HARDLY raise an eyebrow when rockstars and famous waifs stumble past us in Camden, but Ghostface Killah? He would turn my head. We hear, in True Wu Tang style, he caused a bit of a ruckus at Mark Ronson’s afterparty at Proud Camden last week – but where were the rest of the Clan?

• The first lot of names have been released for The Camden Crawl. My picks so far – the stunning Villagers who sadly had to pull out last year, former ROTW Frankie and the Heartstrings and Lethal Bizzle. Canadian comedian Tony Law on the Comedy Crawl will be memorable.



• Thanks to Camden’s rock ‘n roll mayor Jonathon Simpson for pointing out the Camden New Journal’s star appearance in Kentish Town’s rockabilly family Kitty, Daisy and Lewis’s 2008 video for (Baby) Hold Me Tight. But which page is being read?



• Show off your music knowledge at the Mayor of Camden’s Charity Quiz at The Monarch (March 2) – hosted by the mayor in aid of the Roundhouse Trust.

• Tiny soul superstar Janelle Monae, whose dancing owes the late great James Brown a major debt, arrives in Camden fresh from the Grammys to play The Roundhouse (March 1). Support from CockNBullKid.

• They’re crazy faux-Latin breakdancers with a penchant for taking their tops off and the Gumball rally - always breathtaking. The Cuban Brothers play Proud Camden on Saturday (Feb 26).

• I may not be the greatest fan of celeb DJs but at Proud does it in style. The club has taken over 02 superclub Matter with Proud 2 - Little Boots, White Lies, Mr Hudson, Hot Chip, Jazzy Jeff, Bloc Party and Tim Burgess are all lined up over March and April. Official public launch on March 5.

COCKNBULLKID'S POP THERAPY

COCKNBULLKID – that’s it, that’s her name now.
Dropping the prefix “the” is the first sign something’s different about Anita Blay.
Known for her electro tunes of the past, Anita’s turned to pop for her debut album.
Single Hold on To Your Misery (out March 7) is every bit the snappy pop song to which she aspires.



Anita – as CocknBullKid – is part of talent-pushing festival HMV Next Big Thing, a concentrated chance to see the picks of the future – across venues including Camden Barfly, Jazz Cafe and Relentless Garage for the flat rate of £10.
She plays Upstairs at the Garage alongside James Yuill, Trophy Wife and Visions of Trees (Feb 10).

Also chalked up at various venues are Jessie J, The Airborne Toxic Event, Skepta, The Chakras, and Chilly Gonzales (full line-up – www.hmvnextbigthing.com).
In fact, Anita has just settled in a deli after recording vocals for the eclectic Canadian musician Gonzales – who worked on her album – when she speaks to Grooves.
She said: “He’s charismatic, good fun to work with, very much an artist and quite independent. He pretty much makes things happen for himself so he’s good at giving tips and advice on how to make sure everything is yours. It’s becoming harder for people to control what they do. He’s quite old school in the sense that he takes care of every aspect of his career.”

While Anita absorbs his advice, she is well aware of the fortunate position she is in: “Although I’m signed to a big label (Island) I’m with an independent (subsidiary Moshi Moshi). It’s not like everything has to be turned up to 11 and have bells and whistles on. I’ve got the best of both worlds, the muscle of a major but the creativity of an independent.”

Album Adulthood touches on life as a Londoner of Ghanaian descent and some good old teenage angst – to an upbeat soundtrack.
She said: “My parents split up at a very early age and I was separated from my mum when I was about 12 so I grew up with a male patriarchal figure. I wasn’t raised by a woman in the most important times in my youth. While he was doing a stellar job – I love my dad to bits – there are certain quirks/things you can’t help but sometimes attribute to not having a female figure.”

Her father, a bus driver, is so proud of Anita’s work that he keeps all her cuttings.
She said: “Considering he was from a different background, from Ghana, quite traditional, he’s still quite open-minded and I think that’s shaped me.”

Anita grew up in Hackney, torn between where to ally herself – and her confusion over her origins –is detailed on the album.
She said: “The older you get it’s less of a clash and more of a fusion. There’s good and bad but I’ve learned to straddle both, be proud that I’m British and proud to be Ghanaian.”

An explanation of her stage name is also on the album: “A lot of people ask why I called myself Cocknbullkid. I’m not talking about anatomy I‘m referring to a cockerel and bull – it’s another way of saying to spin a yarn, tell a tale, bullshit someone. Something I’m fascinated with.”
At the moment it’s all about pop: “It is a craft writing a pop song – it’s a lot easier to be experimental and waffle on for nine minutes. Now three minutes, there’s something very satisfying about a pop song.”

Making the album has doubled as therapy. Said Anita: “If you’re old enough to be honest about how you feel and put it on a record, hopefully you feel better for it – almost exorcising your demons. I do feel a lot better. I listen back to songs and think wow I don’t feel like that anymore. I’m happy I’ve been honest about it. “

She added: “My dad’s really proud. I’m definitely a hard worker when it comes to music. That’s the only way you can feel any sense of achievement for something because you work for it. My dad’s a bloody hard worker. That’s part of the reason I’m so ambitious because I want to make him and my family proud. I want them to be comfortable, he struggled for so long.”
• CocknBullKid’s website is www.cocknbullkid.com and twitter name is @cocknbullkid