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BBC Music Partners With The Great Escape

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The festival for new music, The Great Escape returns to Brighton 18-20 May 2017. With over 450 of the best upcoming international and local artists taking to the streets of the seaside town, the festival is a showcase of unique performances across 30 plus venues, including a 2017 Brighton Palace Pier takeover from punk-rockers Slaves.

BBC Music is the corporation’s strongest commitment to music in 30 years, comprising of new partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives led by Director Bob Shennan. Now they have announced a major new partnership with The Great Escape (TGE). In its 12th year, the festival will take place on Thursday 18 May - Saturday 20 May in Brighton. In addition to its already longstanding relationship with BBC Music Introducing; BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music will join forces with TGE 2017 to further champion and promote upcoming artists across these channels.

As part of the new partnership, BBC Music will take over the Paganini Ballroom for a spectacular three-night musical showcase; BBC Radio 6 Music will showcase their Recommends strand on the Thursday night; BBC Music Introducing will host Friday night and BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction will take over on Saturday night.

Artists announced so far include folk-rock sensation Marika Hackman, who will be performing tracks from her highly anticipated upcoming album, post-punk, post-grunge Goat Girl, a teenage quartet who have been making noise with debut track 'Country Sleaze', and the vibrant collision of soul, electro and West-African funk known as Ibibio Sound Machine. More artists will be announced very soon.

As well as having a huge line-up over three nights, BBC Music will also be bringing down some of their top DJs to broadcast LIVE from the TGE Festival Hub in Jubilee Square: Radio 1’s Mistajam (Thurs 7pm-9pm) and 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne (Friday 10am-1pm) and Steve Lamacq (Thursday and Friday 4pm-7pm). Delegates will be able to come down to listen and catch some of the artists who will play live on these shows.

BBC Music will also be getting involved in the TGE 2017 Convention, two days of discussions and debates exploring hot topics in the industry such as music media, exporting music worldwide, royalties and the impact of drugs within the music business. BBC Music will be taking over the Old Courtroom for their BBC Music In Conversation series. Mary-Anne Hobbs will speak to Kojey Radical, while Tom Robinson will share some insights with John Grant and Huw Stephens will also be speaking with a very special guest performing at the festival. These 'In Conversations' will be open to all delegates and festival goers.

The BBC Music News team will be out on the streets of Brighton and across the TGE venues, soaking up the atmosphere, chatting to artists and picking up all the latest news across the thought-provoking topics at the convention and reporting on what’s hot and what’s not.

James Stirling, BBC Music Editor, says; “BBC Music is dedicated to discovering and nurturing new British artists and The Great Escape is one of the best festivals to do this on the UK music scene. I'm very happy to be bringing TGE to life for our audiences across Radio 1, Radio 3, 6 Music, BBC Music Introducing and our digital platforms.”

Kevin Moore, The Great Escape’s Event Manager, says: “The announcement of this extended BBC Music partnership is great news for TGE - together we share a commitment to discover and nurture new music and we can’t wait to share our ideas and see this collaboration grow. As we approach our 12th year it’s important that we work with broadcast partners who share our vision and BBC Music do just that - which makes them a perfect partner for the festival.”

 

 

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Haley Interviewed At The BBC 6music Festival 2017

 

American singer Haley AKA Haley McCallum FKA Haley Bonar is in Glasgow to play the BBC Radio 6music Festival. She and her band were here last October touring her recent album, Impossible Dream. If you’re wondering about the change of name, there’s a blog about it here. TL:DR? A bunch of people were being dicks about her surname. Those people are obviously not Irish or Scottish. Packie Bonner is an Irish hero and he's a hero here in Glasgow where he played with Celtic FC. There are biographies of him downstairs in the Barras market. It definitely wouldn’t happen if she were a man. It's a shame.

“I don’t think it’s a shame” counters Haley, “I’m not changing my name because I’m ashamed of it. I’m changing my name because I want to take my mother’s name. It doesn't change anything about my heritage. I’m honouring the matriarchy over the patriarchy for the second half of my life. It's absolutely not a shame.”

She has worn an individual path, releasing records herself and through indie labels, “I like to keep things moving. I don’t want to stay on anything too long. I’ve released a record every other year for the last ten years but I don't usually tour for an entire year. This time it has been almost a year. So I find time to do other things and keep myself busy.”

“This tour is a little over two weeks. Not quite as long as the last time. But after this I’m going to continue working on a book of short stories. That's where my next project is.” She’s a keen writer but the book is new territory for her. “I’ve read at shows. I’ve put a couple of stories out on my Facebook page or my blog in the last few years but I’ve never published anything. I’m getting less terrified of it as it becomes a reality. I’m a writer and I’m familiar with it but I’m not a novelist, and I’m not about to be one, but it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m working towards getting some kind of publishing entity involved, and an editor and all these things. It’s really exciting. I just need to find time to work on some of the stories. I try to get some done when I’m on the road but it’s not easy.”

Not content with her solo work, the book, and her band, Gramma’s Boyfriend (“We've made two albums and we're just beginning the third record now.”) Haley is eyeing a new direction for her music to complement the new moniker, “I’ve also been working on some pop music. I’m going to release my first ‘Haley’ record this year. It’s a goal, a loose goal. I’ve a lot of other irons in the fire and goals to accomplish. I’ve been working with this producer. His name is Lazerbeak. He’s with Doomtree, a big hip-hop label in Minneapolis. I’ve been sending him the stems for different songs that I’ve worked on with other people and my own demos. He’s been adding things. We're collaborating back and forth. I want to release something that’s completely different than the last few records. I’m not really sure if it will be a full-length or an EP, but I’m working on it.”

Haley is on tour now:-

Apr 03 The Cluny, Newcastle,

Apr 04 Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich,

Apr 05 Thekla, Bristol,

Apr 06 The Dome, London.

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