The StageLeft Podcast

The Oscar shortlisted composer Erran Baron Cohen joins us to dig deep into how the music industry has shaped him as a person, plus breaks down the creative process of writing music for the Borat movies, Da Ali G show, The Infidel (with David Baddiel), being signed to Miles Copeland III's label, and having Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Sting, Bono & Chris Martin perform on his original 'Dove of Peace'.

“I think it’s hard to not be exploited in the music industry at some point (of your career).”

You can find more of Erran's work at erranbaroncohen.com and you can contact us by emailing [email protected] to let us know what you think of the episode, or via www.thestageleftpodcast.com

Happy listening!

Chris

Jess Greenfield of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds talks openly about some troubling experiences within the industry that took place over ten years ago, the treatment she received for post-natal depression, how NGHFB bandmates model how to best support parents separated from children when touring, and what needs to change in the music industry.

Useful resources for those impacted by the topics include....

Music Minds Matter - 0808 802 8008. 

If you work in music and are struggling to cope then call Music Minds Matter, a free, 24/7 charity, which will listen, support and help. It doesn’t have to be a crisis, or even about music.

MIND - 0300 123 3393

Survivors Trust  - 08088 010 818
Monday- Thursday: 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-4pm & 6pm-8pm

Friday: 10am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-4pm

Saturday: 10am-12.30pm

Sunday: 6pm-8pm

https://maternalmentalhealthalliance.org/resources/mums-and-families/

Support for new parents juggling work commitments.

https://survivorsnetwork.org.uk/resource/helplines-webchat-services/ 

A comprehensive list of a range of free numbers and web services.

You can reach out to us too at  [email protected] 

Chris Simpson is one of only two people in the UK qualified to train people fully accessibly in supporting others experiencing a mental health crisis, and is also available as a personal and professional development coach should you need support for yourself or your business.

www.thestageleftpodcast.com 

Currently, an artist would need 62million streams on Spotify to break even on a £25k budget. This needs to change and our guest today Tom Gray is leading that change.

Tom is Chair of the prestigious Ivor Novello’s, and founding member of Gomez, and is doing more to try to change the music industry than most, through his Broken Records campaign which was backed by The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and many more, to ensure the fairer distribution of streaming royalties to artists at every level. 

Today we’ll be taking a deep dive into this topic, hearing how we as listeners can help, Whippin’ Piccadilly, and how the Ivor Novello's choose winners. 

There’ll be no Pussyfooting around.

Hosted and Produced by Chris Simpson.
Photo @scottishkenny

Liz Hanks is currently performing onstage with Pulp and James, and is the go to cellist for Liam Gallagher, Richard Hawley and Self Esteem. Hear about all these experiences, what needs to change in the music industry and the creation of new album 'Land' on our new episode.

Enjoy!

Imagine being an incredible singer- songwriter but finding time be in Game of Thrones and play Andrea Bocelli in "The Music of Silence."

What a career Toby Sebastian is having, hear how he tackles deciding setlists, what the music industry could learn from the film industry and how he walks the tightrope between feeling under from over rehearsed. 

Toby also currently is appearing with Kate Nash in Coffee Wars, available now.

"All the heads of every major label or big indie labels should be made to resign."

This episode was supposed to discuss Kate's new film Coffee Wars, but we began by touching upon the issues within the music industry that emerging artists need to navigate (such as being stolen from, a lack of inclusive design for women and how to identify trusted people) and we NEVER. LOOKED. BACK.

Within lies Kate's step by step process as to how the music industry needs to drastically change. It's very thought-provoking.

The film is great by the way, and you should see it. It's called Coffee Wars and is available on Amazon Prime. Kate's co-star Toby Sebastian talks more about the film in our next episode.

Arguably our most important episode to date. Bastille and Elton John backing vocalist Bim explains how the music industry has not been built for women, from the design of touring patterns to tour buses facilities, and covers what needs to change. We pick up this conversation in future episodes with Kate Nash and Liam Gallagher cellist Liz Hanks. We also are joined by Bastian Hues to ask questions from an upcoming artists' perspective. A thought provoking listen.

Imagine knowing you are about to perform live to a billion people watching the Royal Wedding. Bim, singer with Bastille and Elton John, walks us step by step of every thought process of how to perform under the greatest of pressure, when coordinating 'Stand by Me' at Harry & Megan's wedding, plus discusses playing MTV Unplugged as vocalist with Bastille and how to best get legal representation as an up coming artist to avoid exploitation.

Part 2 - possibly one of out most important episodes to date, will be coming soon. 

Today we discuss creativity with the mind of Dr Tucan Taylor Michaels, drummer & producer with international banging tune-makers Superorganism, one of the most ingenious, innovative, inventive, experimental and original bands of recent times, often using extremely random objects as instruments as a back drop to colourful pop perfection.

We also explore playing their first ever show on Later with Jools Holland no less, the merits of forming online, onstage tech failures, mixing Jungle and collaborating with Stephen Malkmus.

“Production can’t cover a bad song.”

We are also joined by Bastian Hues who asks questions as an emerging artist.

Do follow us on Insta, Twitter and Facebook by searching @thestageleftpod, we get a little adrenaline kick when we see a new follower, which is something we should probably speak to our therapist about.

Thanks!

“The sign of any good musician is the amount of sh*t jobs they've had."

Ivor Novello and Grammy winning producer Fraser T Smith (Future Utopia) takes a deep dive with us into the navigating the tightrope between commerce and art from his time as a co-songwriter and producer with Adele, Stormzy, and Dave.

Thank you to Kate Thornton & Denise Welch for making this episode exist.

Produced and hosted by Chris Simpson.

Future Utopia's new collaboration with Kae Tempest 'We were, we still are' is out now.