Some of you might have noticed a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook talking about saving Plastic People in London, I wrote this appeal on the Laid Back blog, but I wanted to share it with you guys as well, just in case you only follow my personal blog.
It is not often I ask people to get involved with certain things, but this time I am almost begging you guys to take a couple of minutes out of your time and to get involved and to help us prevent the closing down of Plastic People from happening. You can do so by JOINING THIS FACEBOOK GROUP!
I can only write this post from my own perspective, so if you feel like you want to know more, there are plenty of great blog posts from more “old school” Plastic People goers like Laurent Fintoni and Wrong Tom, and appeals from top UK music bloggers such as Amelia from Put Me On It.
I moved to London in September 2005 and up until that point, I had never really found a group of people that could truly relate to my undying passion for music. I struggled for about 2,5 years in London until I finally found a place where there were like minded people to myself, people who had the same passion for music, and that place was Plastic People.
It was at Plastic People I had my first romance with electronic/beat based music, it was at Plastic People I had the privilege to meet artists such as Mr Beatnick, Floating Points, Bullion, Sound Species, 8Bitch, Simbad, Emanative (to name a very few), see amazing sets from the likes of Theo Parrish and Four Tet, and attend breath taking and booty shaking nights such as CDR and FWD.
This legendary venue as not only hosted fantastic events and presented some of the most influential artists/producers of the past 5 years I have been in London, but it has also nurtured, helped develop and pushed many of the artists that both me and you guys hold close to our hearts, artists who inspire us and who makes us want to achieve better as artists/writers/musicians/promoters/organisers/etc on a daily basis.
It is the only place in London were I feel like I can go, and I know that almost nobody (if anybody) will care about what I am wearing, what I do for a living, what country I come from, what colour my skin is, what religion I practise, you name it… The vast majority of people who go to Plastic People go there for one reason, the music.
There has not been a single occasion where I have brought somebody to that venue and they haven’t been received with a friendly and positive attitude, as well as leaving with a memory for life ( and I would recommend any of you to go there if it will still exist).
FWD with Zinc and Skream+Benga
If you think this matter doesn’t involve you since you don’t live in London, you are wrong. Because if you love independent music, if you love the art behind music and the people who make music, and you are for a place and a community that not only presents top quality music but helps develop, encourage, nurture and push new raw talent, then this issue is something that directly involves you!
So please, make your voices heard. Join the Facebook group today and get involved. We truly need every single one of you on this.
Thank you so much and much love to you all xxx
Hello my friends!
Hows it going? I hope you have had a nice weekend. Thank you so much to all of you who commented on the boyfriend post, who sent me emails, texts, tweets, who have come up to me and said they felt the same way. I know I have said it many times before, but I can’t stress enough how much it really means to me.
I know there has been a lot of negativity from me lately, and I have been feeling a bit bad about it, so lets just make a couple of things clear.
Not a day goes by without me being thankful for being able to do what I do. Yes I have been complaining a lot, but you have to understand that it is extremely difficult from time to time, and I need to vent my feelings and my thoughts in order to keep some kind of balance of sanity in my head.
When it comes to the boyfriend thing, I am not the person who usually big myself up, mainly because that’s not really my style, but let’s have a small ego trip for a couple of minutes and clear the air.
I am not perfect, but I can be more or less fucking amazing, sometimes by choice and sometimes by just being me. It takes a lot for me to be able to say that, but I guess most people who have met me would agree that I am genuine in everything I do and say. I am kind and I am trustworthy, I am very loyal and I care about the people in my life. I speak my mind and I am honest, and what brings me the most joy in life is when I can make the people I care about happy or when I can help them out.
Of course I have a lot of bad qualities too… I can be very lazy and messy, sometimes I am too honest and end up hurting people with what I say. I have a very hard time gaining back my trust in people who have let me down and I can be very mean and hurtful to people who have hurt me or treated me bad.
Why am I telling you this? Because I feel like you need to understand that I am happy with myself, and I am (in a way) fully ok with being single. I don’t want a boyfriend because I think he would be the missing part in my life that would then make me feel complete, because I am complete. And even though I am not perfect, I do work very hard on trying to be the very best I can be every day. Wanting a boyfriend is a purely egoistic thing, and Im not even going to deny it.
But I have to admit, you did raise a lot of good things in what you said, and I have decided that I am going to do my best to just be happy in the situation I am in now and to enjoy it, and let the rest happen when it happens I guess.
As for the subject on being thankful, some of you might have heard that I am currently starting up my own division of Laid Back here in the UK. There has been many questions and I will reveal everything in due time, but there is one key element in this decision that links to the “being genuine” and “being thankful” part of this post, and I want to mention it as it is very important for me.
I realise how lucky I have been to be able to have worked with Brownswood, and then later on being able to be part of Laid Back. Im not going to deny that I have worked my little ass off, but I have had the privilege to meet so many amazing people along my journey, people that I look up to and admire. And I just wanted to say it loud and clear that me proposing and agreeing to start up Laid Back UK has as much to do with you guys as it has to do with myself. I am not famous, my network of contacts is somewhat limited, I have no real money to spend on anything big. But what I do have is dedication, this urge and passion in my soul and heart to somehow help the people I know to succeed and to support them in any way that I can.
All that is so genuine and honest that saying it wasnt true would be like denying who I am and what I stand for. Yes I work hard, and of course I am doing it because I want to progress and I want to succeed with my dreams and goals and visions, but it has never been a one man game for me, and I hope most people who have met me can tell that. I want to help my friends and the people I look up to and admire in this industry to succeed. I am very aware of my limitations, but it is important to me that they know that they have my support in any way I can give it.
Why? Because at the end of the day, they are my inspiration, they are the reason why I wanted to work with music in the first place. And I am not just talking about artists, but I am talking about all you passionate people out there who are involved with music in one way or another (Im not going to name drop you all in fear of that I might forget somebody, but you know who you are!).
I would not be here if it wasn’t for you, and I wouldn’t be working my ass off if it wasn’t for you. I feel like success is something that should be shared and enjoyed with other people, and if I can be a tiny part of helping any of you succeed in what you set out to achieve, I will be very happy and honoured.
Right! Enough with this all. Go back to your Sunday lunch and enjoy this final day before a new week begins. Much love to all of you xxx
Gavin and Ben
Sam and Ross
Greymatter, Orsii and Alexnut
Laurent Fintoni and Om Unit
Alexnut in the mix
Greymatter in the mix
Kev Luckhurst
Ryan aka Illum Sphere, Orsii & Kato
Greymatter and Illum Sphere
Ross and Kato
I had such a great time last night at Graham’s (aka Greymatter) launch party. Big up to everybody who came down, it was so lovely to see you all!! Oh and if you havent, dont forget to get the album “Mind Over Matter“!
I am gutted that I can’t go tonight!
Still haven’t been to a Deviation session, SHAME ON ME!
If you’re in London, I’d recommend you to go and check out Kidkanevil at Vibe bar @7.30pm
Then head over to Gramaphone for 11pm.
That’s what I would do if I was free anyway…
