S-s-studio

This week Thos Henley came up to the studios where I work to do an almighty mega day of recording. At the helm was a lovely lady called Josie Lloyd, she's soon to graduate as a Tonmeister, which means she knows more about sound and recording than you do. She also writes music and plays just about everything.



Here she is with assistant Dan (thanks Dan!). I helped out a little on the production side, attempting to exploit Thos' vocals as much as possible. So, with 15 hours booked, we steadily worked through a bunch of Thos' tracks. By the end of the day we'd layed down 7 songs (guitar and vocals), and a BEAUTIFUL live set.



Josie and I will be working on the material over the next few months whilst Thos embarks on a European journey for a while. Expect a serious full length, and probably a bonus live set to appear by the end of the summer.

Playing Shop...

So, the Tape Club shop is now fully up and running! We have put up some items that are NOT available anywhere else - So if you fancy a Tape Club shopping spree, this is the place to be! Go here to start spending pennies.






Note that we have the final few copies of the Peter Lyons tape, as well as some unearthed copies of James Bright's full-length tape. This is well worth investing in - when he's famous you'll be pissed that you didn't pocked a copy of this!

Product Placement

So, some of us at Tapeclub are BIG Stones Throw Records fans... Stones Throw is one of the biggest independent hiphop labels, based in California, and they've been going strong for a long time - They have some mega artists including Peanut Butter Wolf ( awesome VDJ ), Madlib ( one of the best producers ever?), J.Dilla ( r.i.p.), James Pants, Mayer Hawthorne, OhNo, Omar Rodriguez ( you know, from Mars Volta / At The Drive In ), Koushik. Thats just a few, there's even more!


Anyway, the point of my rambling is thus - A bunch of us attended the Stones Throw on Tour gig at Cargo last weekend, and I decided to give Peanut Butter Wolf some Tapeclub tees... Now, I was flicking through the Stones Throw website, and saw that they have been keeping a tour diary. Turns out, that at 30 seconds in, our Tapeclub tee shirt makes a bold appearance in the dressing room. I know that is bordeline pathetic, but wow, it made my day......

Here's the video...


James Pants Video Diary : London from Stones Throw on Vimeo.

The last few days...

The end of this week has produced an influx of new Tapeclub developments. I was contacted by a guy who puts on events in London, and now he's going to help us put on some shows at some lovely venues ( The Slaughtered Lamb, Luminaire, Union Chapel). He works with the ElectroacousticClub and I thoroughly recommend you check it out here. In fact, we have penciled one in for June and it looks to be mega.

On other gig news, Myself and Dan will be starting a night in Guildford. It'll be mainly deejay only, with a few Tapeclub artists playing here and there... We are probably going to do a test night in a few weeks at the Guildford Tup - keep your eyes peeeeeeled! You know we'll drop the finest in old school hiphop/funk/soul/bay-area magic!

I was out diggin' the other day and I came across this awesome looking record - by a fella called Bobby V... When I got home, I searched everywhere but couldn't find any info on him...strange...

And finally, we have lots of recording in process at the moment - Mr.James Bright is working on a new mega album, James Moss is recording a mighty fine record with our man Gillan, Thos Henley is due to come and record with me and a fantastic engineer lady called Josie at the University of Surrey at the end of the month, and I'm busy working on a new single release, as well as a very special new remix!

So, its all go at the moment - I feel like I should put a picture in this post to make it more pretty...I know this picture of Mossy rules.

An Institution

Today I went to meet Sean at Rough Trade Records (the West London shop). Rough Trade is one of the most important independent record shops in the country, playing a large part in the Rough Trade brand ( which includes a label, now up and running again) that has sprouted and supported some of THE best acts of recent times.They have been kind enough to stock their shelves with some of our releases, and it would be mighty fine of you to drop in and purchase them. Its not too far from Notting Hill Gate, just offa Portobello road.

In fact, I just read that BBC Four will be airing a documentary about Rough Trade this week. Smart eh?

The Introduction

Welcome to the Tapeclub Records blog. This is going to be an intimate, colourful experience - I will be regularly documenting the things we do,the music we make,the people we love and the places we see. I hope this journey will be as exciting for you as it is for us.

Let me introduce myself - My name is Will and I run the label. I love records, and cola.

The label is coming up for 3 years old, and in our infancy we have already established a fine army of creative warriors. We have been voted DIY Label of the Week on BBC Radio 1, we've been in some music magazines, we've sold a lot of tapes, and most importantly we've become best of friends.

Let's meet two of my best friends and original Tapeclubbers - Mr James Bright and Daniel Walters.

James is a musician supremo. He sings and plays guitar, does some production and doodles a LOT. He works with Dan. Dan also doodles, in fact this is what Dan and James do. They are professional doodlers. They work at peagreen - the best illustration / design company in the South of England. In their spare time these guys help me do Tapeclub. Dan is the head art guy, he did that logo at the top of the blog, and pretty much 90% of the artwork - he loves 45s, is a dope deejay, and is one of the friendliest guys I know. James is one of Tapeclub's top musicians. He KNOWS how to party, is the most enthusiastic person I have ever met, and has more heart that most of the world put together. His music is spans beyond all conceivable genres, and he's my bestest bud. If you want to hear his sounds go here.

I will introduce you to the rest of the gang in due time, but for now, go to our shop and buy some merchandise. Help us to help you.