Review: NME Awards Tour 2013

NARC. Issue #82, March 2013

NME Awards Tour: Django Django, Miles Kane, Palma Violets, Peace
@ O2 Academy, Newcastle (07.02.13)

With a mixed offering of the hyped, the blogged and Miles Kane, the good folk at NME kicked off their annual showcase in Newcastle once more back in early February. In previous years the tour has helped to launch artists such as Coldplay, Florence and The Machine and Arctic Monkeys to (arguably) legendary status, and with guitar bands taking the forefront this year without a token dash of Magnetic Man or Azealia Banks of yore, perhaps we'll be seeing 2013 as a year for the indie rock set-up.

Opening the tour was Peace, a Birmingham four-piece with vivacious summery anthems undoubtedly set to become a vital soundtrack for any dreamy montage this festival season. South London's Palma Violets followed, making up with their energy and catchy riffs what they lacked in originality, taking more than a hint of inspiration from The Clash and The Libertines in their sound and stage presence.

A sea of primarily Paul Weller haircuts muscled their way to the front for Miles Kane: Last Shadow Puppet and lad-rock hero. Resembling a double-leather-wearing excitable baby monkey, he sailed through crowd-pleasing hits 'Inhaler' and 'Rearrange' with more of an endearing charm than his usual likenesses of the Gallaghers and pal Alex Turner.

The anticipated act of the night was the Mercury Prize-nominated headliners Django Django, emerging to a Kraftwerk-reminiscent stage set-up in self-designed matching shirts. Their stunningly tight dweeb-barbershop harmonies complemented beachy guitar riffs and dramatic African inspired synth effects, 'Default' stepping up as the song of the night.

Published by NME

Record Store Day: The Movie raising money for UK cinema release

'Sound It Out' is currently appealing for funding from fans

TRAILER: SOUND IT OUT - A documentary by Jeanie Finlay from Jeanie Finlay on Vimeo.

A film charting the daily goings-on in an independent record shop in the North East of England has been chosen as the official film of Record Store Day 2011.

Sound It Out, which offers a fly-on-the-wall look at the last surviving record shop inTeesside, was originally screened back in March at South By South West festival in Austin, Texas. The people behind the film have launched a crowd-funding campaign in order to fund the nationwide UK cinema release. Click here for more information.

Originally a small project by Jeanie Finlay, the documentary - billed as "High Fidelity with a Northern accent" - portrays not only the vinyl obsessions of punters but also store owner Tom Butchard's personal rapport with a host of regulars.

Despite the slump in physical album sales in the download era, some independent shops have clung on - though Butchard is puzzled as to why his store, also called Sound It Out, has weathered the storm.

"It’s a poor area in Stockton so I don’t really know why it’s the only record shop in the area to have survived," he tells NME. "But people want to come in and see what isn’t in the charts."

Butchard is passionate about only stocking independent and unusual music: "Downloading has killed off a lot of shops. Over the years people have told me to sell chart stuff, but if I’d started I would have closed by now."

Adding to the plucky underdog theme is the fact that Sound It Out is not the product of a Hollywood studio; it is entirely fan-funded. Over 250 members of the public contributed towards getting the documentary to Austin, Texas for its world premiere. "Joe public has paid, and it’s incredible," says Tom.

But the store isn't likely to stray far from its North Eastern roots any time soon. Tom assures us: "I want to carry on as we are. People have been coming here for 20 years so I wouldn’t relocate, Stockton is home!"