Who Are the Champions???

WHO ARE THE CHAMPIONS? GALTRES TO HOST THE FINAL OF FINALS

24 Jan 2014
Who are the champions? Galtres to host the final of finals
Which is the best young band in Yorkshire? The answer will be revealed at this summer’s Galtres Parklands Festival at Duncombe Park, Helmsley.

The four winners of the regional AMP Awards will for the first time enter a final of finals, to see which is crowned overall champion.

The AMP Awards, which showcase the best bands in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and York, have teamed up with organisers of the Galtres Parklands Festival for a grand final, which will run alongside the festival’s G-Factor competition for young musicians.

“This is a brilliant way for us to put more talented young people on our stages,” said festival director James Houston, who has also been invited to judge the York AMP final in March. “The AMP Awards are an established and excellent opportunity for emerging bands to play to large audiences. Galtres has always been keen on supporting the aspirations of promising young people, and this is a terrific opportunity to extend the reach of our event to schools throughout Yorkshire. Bring it on!”

Since the AMP Awards were launched in 2009 by staff at St Aidan’s High School (Harrogate) and Boroughbridge High School, as a combined musical/business skills event, this glamorous but friendly competition has featured 90 bands in its grand finals alone. Some previous finalists, such as Purple Mafia and Dukes of Bevington, have already played Galtres in their own right. Altogether more than 1,000 students have participated to date in the pupil-run business teams which help put the AMP Awards together each year, including organising each school’s pre-final heat for competing bands.

Josh Hill, co-founder and musical director of the awards, announced today: “We are proud to reveal that the winner from each of the regions – Harrogate, Bradford, Leeds and York – will now get another opportunity to compete. The AMP Yorkshire Grand Final will take place on Sunday 24th August at the Galtres Parkland Festival in Helmsley.”

Josh continued: “This new and exciting development means that young bands from all four AMP regions will have the chance to perform at one of the best family festivals in the country. Galtres Parkland Festival is now ten years old – combining eight stages of music and cabaret, fine food and drink sourced from across Yorkshire, and activities for all, from film making to music workshops.

“It is an ideal partnership event for the AMP Awards. Young AMP musicians will be performing alongside such successful bands as Bellowhead and the Levellers, demonstrating the festival’s commitment to young and emerging talent.

“It really is proof that, given the right support, young talent will emerge! Thank you to Galtres Festival for collaborating on this project and helping further the opportunities for young bands from the AMP Awards.”

20 Sneaky Rules About Being in a Band That No One Ever Told You

Cheeky re-blog today but something for everyone and really worth a read. Thanks to Rich Huxley for the heads up and to Sari for putting it together!

Sari Delmar

This industry is clouded with unspoken rules that define your band’s career every day. I’ve seen the frustration on both sides of the fence. Artists frustrated because they crossed a line they didn’t know existed and got shot down by a promoter/agent etc. and industry cursing a band because “THEY DONT UNDERSTAND!!!” Perhaps this keeps happening because no one has ever explained the inner industry politics to these artists. No one has ever said, “this rule exists to preserve this and when you are ignorant to it, it pisses everyone off!” Instead we go on cursing each other rather than working together.

Hopefully this will demystify some of the industry inner-workings and help create a common ground! Working on the industry side for so long, these are some of the most common conflicts I’ve seen happening again and again. There are loads more out there I’m sure, so feel free…

View original post 2,908 more words

Live to work or work to live

The finer things in life never come cheap and it seems these days that that is becoming more and more prevalent. But does this mean that we should spend every hour of every day doing the daily drudgery of life? Or is it merely that we have perhaps lost a little perspective on the important things? The difficulty comes when you’re striving and minute of the day and straining every sinew for something that you passionately believe in, but that doesn’t necessarily make the rest of your life any easier! So should we just give up and let things drift by, or should we continue to not worry about how high energy prices will go this winter and carry on regardless. I like to think that the cream really does rise, and that the things we truly value will always come to the top. What has this to do with the AMP Awards I hear you cry? Well on the surface of it, not an awful lot. But the team that delivers AMP does it because we all believe in the true finer things in life, the things money cant buy, the difference in a young persons life, giving them the chance to take the next step, a brilliant business strategy they have developed, an amazing photograph or the simplicity of a song they have created! Therefore when asked whether I work to live or live to work, I say that I do both, that working is working and living is living but how about we do both and enjoy the real finer things in life. Enjoy this Christmas and everything that comes with it but remember what matters!
See you on the other side!

Help us!

A bit of a rant this week so apologies, but I thought I ought to say something about this.
This week an OFSTED report has come out and has been very critical of the standard of music teaching in schools, saying that the Governments recent re-structure of music provision for young people has had no positive impact on standards. Whilst I applaud the continuing need to raise aspirations in our young musicians, how can they expect this to be achieved when a re-structure realistically means a funding cut! How can they expect young talent to be fostered when it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to find the opportunity and support that they need? Are they merely fostering a cultural divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’?
In the current culture of austerity with the faint wiff of rehabilitation in the economy, is it not time for some reinvestment in the cultural future of our nation, reinvest and let our future spread its wings!
Keep the music going!!!

Shameless plug

As promised this blog site is all about young music and supporting real live musicians so a big shout out must go to Summer City. A great young band who’ve been quiet for a while but I know that they are making good noises still and will be more visible soon, and who also helped me out massively at relatively short notice this weekend. So a big thanks to Ben, Benji, Kit and Alex and here is a link to one of their tracks so you can listen for yourself!

On the Wild Side

The passing of things always makes us ponder our own position in things, the “What if’s” of how we come to be at the place we are now. The death of Lou Reed, whilst remote to me personally, does make me analyze what it is I am trying to achieve. He once said, “The music is all people should die for it. People are dying for everything else, so why not the music?” I’m sure that there are many interpretations of this and everyone reads their own message into someone else’s sentiment, but I will give mine here. I’m not sure that dying for your art is necessarily a good thing and think that, that is perhaps a too literal interpretation, but I do believe that for us to create something, to do something memorable, then it should be done for doing’s sake and not because it fits what is already there, or because it fits someone else’s mould. So do something different, write something new, create something that’s worth remembering even if its just a smile!
And if that’s not enough here are a few things to do to cheer you up in the best county!
“Yorkshire came third in the list of top 10 world regions for 2014.
Alluding to the Olympics success of UK competitors from the English county, the guide said: “If the good people of Yorkshire were proud of their heritage before, the 2012 London Olympics only served to cement what they have always thought: that their county is better than – and really the best of – all the English counties.””

More than music

We have to be more than what we are!
Music is all to us but is it enough anymore? So many new and exciting musicians are out there trying to move forward with their dreams, and its not because they don’t have the ability! It has always been due to a modicum of luck, or fate, whichever you tend towards, that has spawned musicians and bands of the past. Yet these days it seems to be even more of a lottery! Or is there something else?
Perhaps what is now required is a greater sense of business acumen, an ability to market yourself on the never ending number of social media platforms, to increase the chances of someone that ‘matters’ picking you up! Or does this trend lead us toward the inevitable demise of the musician into marketing gurus. Of course there is nothing wrong with marketing gurus but they shouldn’t replace the music, or cast amounts of talent will go unnoticed into the ether! Please help us, listen to something new today!

Nothing for free

AMP has continued to develop and grow to what it is today with competitions in four areas of Yorkshire, with a raft of elements to the competition that allow young people from all walks of life to learn, practice, develop and perfect skills for the real world in a real world environment with guidance and input from industry experts. AMP’s brilliance is not just in its competition and finals, but in the people and support that have been and will be involved with the young people. It is often said that you get nothing for free, and maybe that’s true, but actually there are enough people out there who care about the skills of young people that they are willing to give huge amounts, and to them we give thanks as without them AMP would not exist.
PS
Gonzo’s
50 New Wakefield Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester M1 5NP, UK
Venue
Thirsty Scholar
When
Oct 15 8:00pm
to Oct 15 11:00pm

The story of AMP

I have been asked to write the story of AMP so far and its proving rather difficult. What seemed like an easy task to begin really failed to take into account the complexities of the development of this competition so far. Either that or I really do have memory recall issues. So what I would like to do is put it out there to all our AMP followers and people involved over the last 6 years and try to get your memories of what AMP has meant to you. So either message us on facebook, email me or however it works for you, but help us build up a picture of your AMP memories! Look forward to hearing your memories and once I have collated enough I will publish them all on the blog and website!
Thanks guys

Gig plug

King Chameleon
1 Brunswick Street, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF1 4PW, UK
Venue
Snooty Fox
When
Oct 11 7:30pm
to Oct 11 11:30pm

Its started

October is here and already AMP 2014 has begun. The last fortnight has seen the initial launches in both Harrogate and Leeds, with Bradford and York both happening soon.

Other news of note; There have been some very exciting developments in both Bradford and York with some extremely positive and potentially ground altering things happening in Bradford and York! Keep your eyes peeled for updates on those as and when they happen!

Finally the new AMP website is up and running so find us at http://www.ampawards.co.uk and see how the new site compares. Things to look out for on this are all the galleries of previous years, but crucially this year an up to date gig calendar of all the gigs that people let us know about, so if you want to publicise your gig then let us know and we can update the calendar. All info to josh@ampawards.co.uk!