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Love, Peace and Music... Share The Joy
With so much excitement occurring right now on the alternative rock underground, a heap of music fans created the world’s biggest piece of art - it’s first rock’n’roll republic. In the uncoolest and shunned quarter of London, Rocklands has become a reality.
Life imitates Art. A weekly club (otherworldly hang out, more like), Pop Of The Tops was started at The Paradise, a tiny music bar in New Cross. Inspired by “If you book them they will come” (Wayne’s World). They came to a place, six miles from Buckhingham Palace, that most of the city’s many music industry/media shun.
Bands, aspiring photographers, artists, writers, film makers etc and their friends came and played, DJd, worked the cloakroom and box office, recommended and invited other bands, exchanged phone numbers and ideas, drank, danced, played on the games machines, made and watched music films and generally created a new (cross) art riot within a year. The effects are starting to become apparent in 2004.
The high quality of ready-adored bands that uncynically get involved in this day dream, is such that a remarkable percentage of them are already starting to bother and excite the industry and media - with many more waiting in the wings.
Bafta nominated film/video makers, Digital Sneakers were regulars and filmed a month (Oct 003) of what was going on for the posterity of music history. By the end of last year, Pop Of The Tops was overbooked with rising stars getting involved and Paradise was just one of the many places in the area where art and music were colliding.
The album, ‘The New Cross’ on local label, Angular Records (Nov 003), was acclaimed “a glimpse of the future” by NME earlier this year and put the area on the map as Art Rock central. With labels like TwentyFour Records and Filthy Little Angels, musicians/artists in every street and a glut of studios, rehearsal spaces, music courses and colleges, the area is starting to explode.
By Summer even the London Evening Standard was running a “how to speak New Cross” article on Saatchi & Saatchi’s interest in the area, Rolling Stone USA & Australia were among a host of overseas music press noting what was going on and Harry Potter was telling NME he was a fan of the anti-scene. The first definititve music movement of the 21st century. Some of the photographers found their work in national media, one webzine put on their own two day festival in August and the Digital Sneakers film “Rocklands - Live In New Cross” has made it to the cinema screen as part of this year’s Greenwich Film Festival and has had interest from around the UK to screen the DVD at fellow alternative rock circuit clubs.
It was previewed at a packed out Rocklands Rocks night in Soho's Metro Club to loud and excellent reaction from the crowd. The event was a triumph of talent over hype. There has also been a Rocklands Special on Xfm radio about the film and the bands in it and from October to December, the vibe travels around the UK on the Rocklands Rounded Tour.
Of course it’s all only in it’s infancy, many of the bands have greatly swollen their fan bases, but are still unsigned. The local council took away the Paradise Bar’s entertainment license in July but The Jedi will return. It’s a piece of art by a gang of penniless day dreamers. There’s such a buzz building.
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Pop Of The Tops regulars have become a travelling circus of friendly rock’n’roll nutters and anybody can get involved, still. Corporation:Blend and Nebraska are two of the bands that made Pop Of The Tops the tops. Now they are sharing the joy, so to speak. Since the club has been homeless it has travelled around London and thanks to local promoters on the wavelength (New Cross and Deptford have more in common with other so called “Uncool” parts of Britain than with the trendy London scene anyway) will call in at various ports of call as part of the Rocklands Rounded Tour. As usual, bands, other promoters, zines, photographers, webzines, writers etc are welcome to self promote and network with these (typically very approachable) great bands - Music Tourist Board
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