The celebrations didn’t stop at the Shoreditch gig however –
The Charlatans’ frontman
Tim Burgess has also come on board to impart some advice to Ireland’s young bands. It has been 20 years since the release of the Charlatan’s debut album ‘Some Friendly’, and in the intervening decades Tim’s experienced both the high and low points of fame – and he’s happy to tell the young bands what to embrace and what to avoid. Unsigned bands had two opportunities to meet Tim – he was in Whelan’s in Dublin on October 15th before jetting down to Cork on the following day.
This year, the regional JD Set heats will take place in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford early in the New Year, and five acts will go on to battle it out in April at the grand final, which will take place in The Village, Dublin. That night’s victors will receive mentoring from Tim as well as precious studio time in Grouse Lodge. But that’s not all – they’ll get national exposure when their tracks are including on the official JD Set 2010 CD, which will be available with a future issue of Hot Press magazine. Details of how to enter are available from www.thejdset.ie, but note that all band members must be over 18 years of age. Former winners of the JD Set competition are The Coronas, The Chakras and Camogie Lovers, now known as We Cut Corners.
“When I got asked to do it I just could see any negative,” Tim said about taking part. “It’s a very positive thing, to give people advice – it’s always a bit weird giving people advice, but I mean…’cos we made quite a lot of mistakes I can always let people know the mistakes that were made and that there are people who want to take you for a ride.” When the Charlatans first got together in the late 80s, there were more record companies, explained the frontman. “There are more opportunities to make it without a record company,” he said of the current landscape. “I think it’s all about good management,” he added. The Charlatans are no strangers to using the internet to spread their music, so this is an element he will be able to advise bands on. “There are great opportunities to get your music out on the net. We did our last album and gave it away for free and it was really cool,” he said, adding that he spends most of his time online “looking at really obscure Japanese bands from the 70s”. The Charlatans are currently working on a new album, which Tim promises will stick to their “quintessential psychedelic English eccentric” sound, but with producer Youth at the helm, he hopes they will be brought “to a new place”.
After so long in the industry, he’s an ideal person to mentor a young band hoping to make it – his sage words of advice to anyone in a band will ring true with many. “My main thing is just do what you love, do what you want and all the ideals you have and all the belief you have, just instil that in your music and just bring all the music you love with you.”
To find out more, and watch videos and see pictures from the event, visit
www.thejdset.co.uk Aoife Barry
