Fans of Indie Rock, Jazz and Acoustic tunes need to prepare for a sampling of Birmingham’s musical talent - soon to be available as a FREE download.
Birmingham City Council is launching its first promotional CD and FREE download featuring bands and musicians from Birmingham and the surrounding area to create a 13 track CD and music download package called ‘B1’ – named after the postcode area from the heart of this rocking city.
Bands capture the spirit of 2007’s Birmingham music scene, and names to look out for include ‘Liner’, ‘Vix n the Kix’, ‘Mexicolas’, ‘Stanley’s Choice’, ‘Midas’ and ‘Robot’.
Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council commented “We are delighted that Birmingham continues to keep producing bands and musicians that showcase our city’s terrific talent. I am pleased we now have this excellent musical package to highlight the new, up and coming music scene the city is becoming renowned for.
“I hope this CD will give people from around the world a true taste of the dynamic young musicians Birmingham has to offer. I'd like to thank Tom at the Electric Cinema, and all the musicians who have been involved in making B1 a great compilation of modern Birmingham music."
“We are extremely proud of Birmingham’s young and upcoming musicians, and we want to share this wealth of talent with the world.
“Music has the ability to touch the heart of people, and we want to encourage talent that represents the heart of Birmingham. We want touch people from the surrounding area, the rest of the city, the rest of the West Midlands and the rest of the world.”
The exciting new project has seen Birmingham City Council work alongside the Electric Cinema’s Tom Lawes, who has produced the CD.
Along with being available for download the ‘B1’ CD is being promoted by Marketing Birmingham to leading music industry experts as a giveaway in an upcoming copy of Music Week.
‘B1’ will be available for general download for FREE from the Birmingham City Council’s website www.birmingham.gov.uk from Tuesday 4th September, to coincide with Marketing Birmingham’s arts campaign launch, entitled ‘Feel the Heat’.
Some of the gifted and talented artists will be performing tracks from ‘B1’ at Artsfest, taking place on 14th September, including:
Murdoch will be performing at ‘Indie Invasion’, the opening concert for Artsfest on Friday, 14th September at 6pm in Centenary Square along with Mexicolas who will be playing at 8pm.
Mexicolas will also feature on the Kerrang Stage in Victoria Square at 5pm on Sunday, 16th September, and on the same day Ben Drummond will be playing at Penny Blacks Public House at 2.30pm.
Jake Mason, 20, from the band Midas, said: "We're thrilled to have been included on the ‘B1’ CD and download. It's going to be a great chance for us to get our music heard by people who might not usually get to hear it.
“Birmingham has a fantastic musical heritage, and it's great that the next generation of musicians will be benefiting from such a high-profile platform which will hopefully act as a significant springboard."
Bands and musicians from ‘B1’ will also be performing at Gigbeth 2007 (1st to 3rd November) – billed as the UK’s most diverse music festival.
The tracks available to download from www.birmingham.gov.uk and will include the following bands:
Indie/Rock
Liner, Vix n the Kix, Mexicolas, Murdoch, Midas, D.Louis Baker and Friends, Robot
Jazz and Acoustic
Jo Hamilton, Stanley’s Choice, Lizzy Parks, Vijay Kishore, Ben Drummond, Toy Hearts
Notes to editors
A copy of the B1 CD is enclosed for you to listen to.
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