23 January 2014
Coming to the end of an exhausting week in the smoke which has opened up a number of extremely interesting doors and has been nothing but positive all round.
Today was an in depth interview with Nicky Horne at Team Rock which touched on a couple of sensitive subjects and was definitely not what you might expect. Great to see him again and as always it was too short.
It’s a bit strange having done the interview with Planet Rock yesterday and meeting up with all the guys there as Nicky was around when I was making my “Fish on Friday” shows and we got to know each other quite well over that period. With the stations being in competition with each other I always have a slight feeling of awkwardness, like meeting up with best friends who’ve got divorced.
The Planet Rock interview was with the lovely Liz Barnes who worked on my shows when we won the Sony Silver and the NYC awards back in 2008. This time she was interviewing me for my favourite 8 top rock tracks of all time and like with Nicky we covered a lot of ground and had a lot of fun in too short a time. With “All Loved Up” now A listed on Planet Rock I am receiving the finest radio support I can ever remember and I hope when “Blind to the Beautiful” comes out in April that it spreads into the mainstream and beyond!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had concerted radio play on a track and if “Blind” can open up the album to a wider audience I’ll be well chuffed!
A meeting with the legal team from Parlophone looks like delivering me a licensing agreement for the “Vigil” album. I’d wanted to buy the copyright back and to get all my solo albums together but Warners corporate policy dictated otherwise and I have to settle with a licensing deal. This will give me the opportunity for a repackaged re release which will include a deluxe edition, vinyl and a standard edition which will only be available through fishheadsclub.com on mail order. The smallprint has to be sorted out but I don’t see any real issues and the Parlophone guys have been pretty understanding.
Most of the other meetings this week have been to do with publishing and digital download options and I am going to have to come back down in the next few weeks to discuss things further and advance all the ideas.
Last night I was out for dinner with James Cassidy who co wrote most of the “Suits” album with me and produced that album, “Songs From the Mirror” and the rerecorded material for “Yin and Yang”. He’s now heavily involved with his own company and was introducing me to a whole new digital world that to me is a “Pandoras box”. A hell of a lot to get my head round but at the same time it was pretty exciting. I have to line up the catalogue for digital distribution before “Blind” is released and James is acting as translator and guide on a world that I have to admit is pretty alien to someone who was raised on vinyl and physical sales.
Another business dinner tonight with my old label manager Rob Ayling who’s been advising me in recent years with Chocolate Frog. Again a chance to examine options and concoct cunning plans of sorts!
Early night on the agenda as I am back to Parlophone tomorrow and lunch with Mark Kelly before a train to Gatwick and a flight home in the evening.
It’s been a hecticated week and my Oyster card has been melting as I traversed the underground. As I sit here in the Columbia Hotel drinking my soda water and lime approaching 2 weeks of no alcohol I realised it’s the first time I’ve not had a drink in London since I first visited when I was 8 years old! 🙂
I’ll write up more about the trip when I get home. Lots more still to do and this weekend I’ll be sifting through the clips people have sent in for the “Blind” video. David Barras has told me there’s some great material been sent in to him. Keep it coming and if you’ve not got round to it yet there’s still time to roll a camera and get involved!
until next time! 🙂