SFT Records and The Mekkits unite!

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|778 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have excellent news! Manchesters most un-Mancunian band The Mekkits are due to release their debut double lp “Pompeii / Vesuvius” next spring right here on SFT Records and we couldn’t be happier about it!

With the debut album release by The Alpha Machine due early next year it’s gonna be a very busy time for us and boy do we have a lot of treats in store!

There will 4 free singles made available here (accompanied by possibly the greatest music videos you are ever likely to see) in the lead up to the album launch which is currently planned to be a very special event indeed!

It’s the first time we’ve released a double album and while it’s still to be mastered I have to say it’s a quite phenomenal release to be a part of. While Pompeii will have you dancing and shouting out loud I believe the true genius of the band is fully exposed on Vesuvius, where a dark undercurrent runs throughout, it really is something special and a side to this band you may not have seen before.

To the band, it’s great to have you on board, let’s make this as successful as we’re all dreaming it should be. To loyal SFT fans, you’re in for a real treat I promise you.

“The Mekkits’ music is a bit like the weather: A Kaleidesope ranging from gloriously sunshiny singalongs to tales of dark stormy seas.” Go visit the bands website to find out more.

Recording with Clint Boon.

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|1512 Comments

An exciting and productive day was had by the SFT team as we recorded Episode 3 with a very special guest at XFM Studios. Big thanks to Clint Boon for his time and his great advice to new and unsigned bands.

You can listen to the podcast here or on itunes (search for SFT and subscribe!) from this Friday.

If you’re wondering what we at SFT look like, we’re the ones that aren’t Clint Boon.

See you all Friday!

Why Alan McGee is a complete fucking twat.

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|1060 Comments

For the story that inspired this rant see: http://www.nme.com/news/creation/59075 – I hope I never have to link to the fucking NME again but there it is.

Alan McGee, a man who has been as relevant to the music industry since the turn of the new millenium as the band he championed in the nineties, Oasis, has attempted to raise his profile by mocking the loss of the Sony DADC warehouse which housed a great deal of physical stock distributed by PIAS. The destruction, in case you weren’t aware, has left many independent record labels on the brink of closure and has certainly caused all of them to lose much needed revenue in difficult times.

Regardless of whether or not insurance claims will save the day, I can’t think of a single right minded human being that considers this anything less than a fucking tragedy. To celebrate what is essentially works of art being burnt to embers is an appalling stance to take and really does show McGee up to be a fucking cretin of the highest order.

It puts him in such a place that it’s easy to see how he lost it when Creation went under, from a piss poor attempt at a new label (Poptones) to weak ‘blogging’ for the Guardian it’s a wonder anyone in the industry has any time for the cunt at all.

He goes on in the interview to say that too many of the industry are drug addled and attempts to discourage new artists from creating music which is a terribly sad thing for anyone with such influence in the industry to say, least of all a former drug addled wanker like himself (do as I say, not as I do…). This whole interview stinks of hypocrisy and the bitterness that must eat at him everyday since he was chewed up and spat out by an industry that he must’ve thought he had wrapped round his little finger many years ago.

A pathetic stance to take and a pathetic interview that will do nothing to help new music or independents across the land that often do sterling work even in this harsh economic climate. Alan McGee, I think you’re a twat.

The Jed Show

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|713 Comments

To download right click here and save target as.

I honestly don’t know what this is. SFTs Michael talks to our favourite Londoner Jed Shepherd, or rather, Jed steals the show. 46 minutes of ridiculous stories and opinions finished off with an SFT family favourite, “Over” by The Hidden Messages. This could be utterly boring, it could be genius, to be honest I have no idea.

SFT Podcast – Episode 2 coming very soon!

SFT Podcast now on iTunes

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|177 Comments

Subscribe via iTunes (just search for SFT in the podcast section).

Why Leeds festival camera operators can get fucked.

By michaelsft|SFTBlog|915 Comments

Having returned from an excellent Leeds festival I feel compelled to draw peoples attention to one aspect that has bothered me for a good few years now, the festival has come a long way since it’s rioting past at Temple Newsam and the atmosphere is second to none these days, indeed it isn’t anything to do with the paying public that has annoyed me, it is the sexualisation and exploitation of young women featured on the large screens at the main stage. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no stick in the mud and I can appreciate these things happen but the intensity of it (especially on Sunday) was, in my eyes at least, absolutely fucking pathetic.

Unusually I spent most of my festival at the main stage and by Sunday evening I was absolutely sick to the back teeth of the screens being filled not by the bands playing but instead by young women hoisted on friends shoulders being egged on to lift their tops and expose their breasts so the crowd could cheer. Crowd shots are fine but there are two things I would love to point out to the camera operators, firstly there are also men at the festival that would be just as happy to be on the large screen and secondly, I much prefer to see close ups of the bands I paid to see.

People can easily dismiss this, after all it’s just a bit of fun right? Perhaps so but it is no exaggeration to say that every 10 seconds for every band (except the headliner) we saw close ups and camera zoom ins on young womens chests. Is this really to best example to be setting to anyone? In an industry where women are marginalised every single day and where they struggle to prove that they can rock and are as worthy as any man can we not try to be a little less misogynistic and sexist towards women, especially those at such a young age?

The young women in the shots may have enjoyed it at the time but I do not wish to be a part of something that is clearly taking advantage of them and I do not want to see such disgraceful scenes as camera operators zooming in on one young woman who at one point was literally stripped half naked by people around her simply because a camera was pointed at her. We should be ensuring young women retain their dignity and self respect not reducing ourselves to such levels.