BrandNewMusicUK.com recently had the opportunity to catch up with Peter Cunnah and Alan Mackenzie from D:REAM. They reformed in 2008 and have launched their own record label releasing and promoting their new music.

http://www.myspace.com/dreamonvol2

Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to talk to BrandNewMusicUK.com I know you must be extremely busy.

Let’s start at the beginning – How did you meet and what did you both do before D:REAM?

A: I was a dj/club promoter in a London nightspot and my ex was Peter’s boss who knew he was doing music. He used to come to my nights and she suggested we hook up.

P: I’ve always been in bands since I was 15. I got into technology after splitting from my first band “Tie The Boy” in 1989. I was already sampling and sequencing. On meeting Al at the Brain club in Wardour st I was quite sheepish because he was really up there in the sceene but I had enough courage to ask if he’d have a listen to something I was working on “U R The Best Thing” which he did. And the rest they say is history…

Would you say that there was one thing that propelled D:REAM into the spotlight or was it a collection of hard work and shouting about yourself?

A: I think we were around at the right time. Dance music had exploded but very few acts were writing real songs around those beats. Obviously, the songs had to be of a certain quality and people took to them.

Was life hectic during the success of D:REAM?

A: My life is always hectic

P: Yes very hectic. I had a sense of direction to push this though. When someone hands you the ball like that you better run with it. So I did.

What is your most treasured memory of this time?

A: I loved it when we started and I was dj’ing at a place called Love Ranch. Playing our demos from Dat, straight after having been in the studio, and watching people go mad to them was amazing.

P: At the Love Ranch – Getting totally wasted and feeling for the first time that I absolutely belonged. A road to damacus moment in the early days of house when it was all about “E” bottled water and hands in the air.

Love it Do you think it’s possible to be a recording act without performing live and still be successful?

A: Anything is possible in the music industry. Christ, N-Dubz have made it!

P: Yes. But no where near as much fun as doing it live!

Is it true one of the original band members Brian Cox is now working on the large Hadron Collider project?

A: It is indeed but, as I have stressed to many people, Peter and I are the only members of D:ream-everyone else is a friend or a session musician.

P: Yes, Brian was my best man at my wedding we have sporadic contact these days as we’re all so busy but I do hope to hook up with him soon.

What happened to bring you back together and re-energize D:REAM?

A: We met, by chance, in a park in West London. All very strange but, ultimately, very fulfilling.

You’ve got a new single out and also an album as well, how can we get them?

A: The single, ‘All Things To All Men’ is available digitally on most providers. The album is being finished now and should be available soon. Demos are on our website www.d-ream.co.uk. We are also releasing a remix only digital pack of ‘Gods In The Making’ on Monkey Beats Records and following that with ‘Drop Beats Not Bombs’ very soon after.

Do you find owning your own record label more liberating than being tied into a major?

A: I thought it would be but it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be or hoped. We will see what the future brings.

P: I really would rather have other hands to help us do things. But the industry is in a right state at the moment so we thought we could just get on with it ourselves. Its not the easy option as funding is always a problem but the band pays for itself at the moment and were happy just to be able to make music on our own terms as it were.

What advice would you give to indie musicians or bands trying to achieve a similar success to you?

A: Find a sugar daddy who want to give you loads of cash to buy you success and don’t believe a word anyone says in this business. Honestly, keep on doing what you believe in and don’t believe a word anyone says in this business!

P: The only way to have mainstream success is still to do it with a major label. It comes at a price though.

Finally would you say you have achieved your D:REAM’s lol ? (Sorry, my wife came up with that one)

A: I never played for Hearts, so no.

P: I have ticked a lot of boxes. Then I found another page with lots of boxed unticked. Such is life.

Thank you again so much for taking time to speak to BrandNewMusicUK.com. Good luck with the new single “All Things To All Men” and the album and best wishes for the future.

You can see the video and listen to the new single now at www.d-ream.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/dreamonvol2

Way back at the beginning of this decade we’ve come to know as the ‘noughties’, it was The Libertines that first kick-started the new revolution of bands loudly and proudly proclaiming their London roots; name-checking both Caledonian Road in Islington and Vallance Road in Bethnal Green on their debut album, ‘Up The Bracket’. Later, rapper Dizzee Rascal also paid homage to his hometown through his rhymes – “I socialise in Hackney and Bow / I wear my trousers ridiculously low”.

Likewise, during the 1960s and 1970s bands such as The Kinks, The Clash and The Jam penned numerous odes to their hometown, most notably The Clash’s anti-Racism anthem “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”.

So it’s not that this was a new trend; it was just that London bands proclaiming their hometown pride had become scarce in music for over a decade. Previously, for example, in the late 1990s, Manchester had stolen most of the nation’s musical limelight, with the emergence of the massively popular ‘Madchester’ scene, as well as the rise of bands such as The Smiths and The Fall during the 1980s.

Today, London again seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance. A handful of recently founded independent record labels have helped breathe some new air into the somewhat smoggy London scene. Founded in 2004, Transgressive Records released early singles by recent Mercury Music Prize nominees ‘The Young Knives’. Its reputation for being synonymous with new cutting-edge British indie music soon saw it snapped up by Warner Brothers as a subsidiary. Likewise, the Angular Recording Corporation was founded in 2003 and gave the likes of Bloc Party their first exposure.

Meanwhile, London girls Lily Allen and Kate Nash were looking to the internet as their means of gaining mass exposure. Both soon took the mainstream by storm with their informal, colloquial vocal style (sample lyric: “You look well nice”) and both saw their debut albums hit the top of the charts.

London’s live scene is a deep ocean of talent, largely made up of acts massively popular in the capital, but yet to really make a mark elsewhere: acts such as Emmy The Great, who sits at the forefront of the London anti-folk scene, was the latest to perform a Black Cab Session, a gig that takes place inside a genuine, moving London black cab and then gets posted on YouTube.

And how about Wallis Bird, whose powerful voice and noisy guitar is sure to have her hailed as “the new KT Tunstall” in nationwide publications before very long; or George Pringle and her unique brand of spoken word electro. All of these musicians and more have healthy representation on the London circuit, and fans from outside the capital can get in on the act too – there are a selection of hotels in London available to suit all accommodation needs (just make sure your room hasn’t been trashed by an over excited rock star!).

In terms of the future of British music, London certainly seems to be a hotbed of talent to keep an eye (and ear) on.

Recently I got in touch with some friends and new indie music anoraks that were able to tell us a bit from the ‘inside’ – so here are the new indie pop music names that are expected to have a huge impact on our ears this year, organised into three neat little categories for your reading pleasure.

New Indie Music with a Touch of Electro

You will have heard teasers of this genre, set for explosion, within the more classic indie and pop songs of 2009. If you liked it, get to know names like:

• Free Energy – inspired by late 1970s-early 1980s classic rock, they’ll give you the type of song you’d go on a road trip to. Think AC/DC, and Thin Lizzy
• Two Door Cinema Club – a young new indie pop music trio who’ve toured with well known names like The Wombats
• French Horn Rebellion – a great new electro-pop threesome featuring two brothers from Milwaukee, who’ve managed everything from recording to releasing themselves
• Wild Beasts – they’ve been compared to the brilliant Maccabees and already raved about for their crazy and playful sounds, plus they’re amazing live.
• Delphic – from Manchester in the UK, these guys have already had numerous appearances in top festivals and on TV. And they deserve it – creating sounds you can play over and over again, Delphic really stand out amongst the genre.

Indie Music Pop Folk – A New Genre

Again, more ‘traditional’ folk styles were even creeping into mainstream music in 2009, but is set to feature heavily throughout new indie music pop and some rock in 2010 and beyond. Hurry up and and get listening to these people for great new indie pop music with folky undertones:

• Owen Pallett – previously going by the name Final Fantasy, Owen Pallett is a composer, a violinist, a singer, and an all-round great artist when it comes to fusing folk music with new indie pop music sounds
• Dan Mangan – Itunes named this guy “Best New Artist” in 2009, and now Vancouver’s newest and favourite indie folk-rock artist is going global – we can’t get enough of his music.
• Vandaveer – Check out the song Marianne, You’ve Done It Now. A great song on a great album, inspired by Dylan (who you’ll probably agree is one of the unofficial founders of new indie music!)
• Twilight Hotel – a Canadian duo producing exciting and varied new indie pop music within their genre. From the slower songs to the more fast paced vibrant tracks, don’t miss their stuff.
• Lindsey Thompson – more of a gentle sound, Lindsey’s clear vocals blend perfectly with soft melodies, and her lyrics complement her style perfectly.

New Indie Pop Rock and Punk

If the slower paces of new indie pop music don’t appeal, or your love for indie music stems from straight up punk rock, metal, and rock and roll, make sure you keep an eye on these bands: Screaming Females – although there’s actually only one Female in the band, these guys can deliver a brilliant performance consisting of passionate wailing and Jimi Hendrix inspired guitar playing

• Dinosaur Feathers – you’ll definitely find something unique and lovable in new indie music if you listen to Dinosaur feathers, a trio who simply love experimenting with sound.
• Evan Voytas – a young singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania, this multi-instrumental solo artist has perfected out an EP of rich and classic songs.
• Internet Forever – female lead new indie music with slight rock undertones, this trio is probably the ‘gentlest’ option of the list – check out their single ‘Cover The Walls’.

So Who Is The Favourite?

Previously, bands could only get heard through already established means, such as record stores and MTV. Because of the major costs associated with those channels, new indie bands could not gain recognition. Only indie rock bands on major record labels gained any popularity.

With the rising popularity of MySpace in the mid 2000s, indie bands started gaining momentum and popularity. New bands could add thousands of people as friends, and distribute free mp3s to every single fan connected to them instantly. Suddenly, the playing field for musicians was leveled. Indie bands that had never recorded a full independent album were instantly as popular as major acts who had toured for years.

An excellent example of a MySpace-popularized band is The Arctic Monkeys. The Sheffield band, who built up a substantial fan base through the internet in 2005, saw searches noticeably increase in the weeks leading up to the release of their debut single “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”, which went on to take the #1 spot in the singles chart the week of 29th October 2005. Since then, Hitwise data reveals that searches on the band had gone into overdrive, increasing by 62% ahead of the release of their debut album, “Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not”.

New bands should pursue every available avenue for promotion. Many free tools are available that will popularize an indie band, such as MySpace, along with Facebook and PureVolume. You can build pages that promote your band and provide avenues for generating a fanbase in areas that were not normally accessible before.

One guy on Twitter recently posted an interesting question. Actually, it was more of a statement. He said, “Who in their right mind would want to be a musician in this environment?” I though to myself, who wouldn’t? I think there’s no better time to be an indie music artist than right now.

Obviously, the thrust of this guy’s question was that a music career isn’t lucrative anymore. I say, but it was never lucrative to begin with. Sure, a few people became megastars and made millions, but what about everyone else? You were lucky if the labels even paid attention to you. And if they did and you happened to get signed, you were extra lucky if you didn’t get totally screwed. At least now, everyone has a shot at making a decent living in music if they put enough effort into it.

Clearly, the author of that tweet isn’t a real indie music person. There’s an interesting anecdote about a magazine editor who asks a millionaire investor why he keeps doing what he does. The editor asks, “You’ve already made millions. Why do you keep risking your money and time trying to make more? I would have quit after I made my first million.” The investor responds, “That’s exactly why you would never make a million.”

The point is that you do something because you love it, not because you care about the money. If you love it, you’ll do it well. And if you do it well, the money will come. Maybe it won’t make you rich, but at least you’ll be doing what you love.

You know what the best part of it all is? If you are a real music person, economics and popular culture are on your side. Pop culture killed Top 40 Radio. In 2005, an average of one U.S radio station went out of business each week. I love the very idea that when Kanye West releases his new single on the radio, nobody really cares.

On March 21, 2000 Jive Records released “No Strings Attached,” the second album by NSYNC. It sold 2.4 million in its first week, making it the fastest selling album ever. That was only eight years ago. My, my, how the world has changed. Now people are exchanging tens of millions of songs on the P2P networks instead. The vast majority of them aren’t top hits. Some of them might be yours. Hopefully.

It wasn’t so much that file sharing made us stop buying music, but that file sharing exposed us to the vast universe of music out there that nobody knew about. The notion that file sharing killed the music industry because it made people stop buying top hits is one of the most persistent myths out there.

Case in point: the other day, I’m typing something up at my computer. And as I’m typing, I’m listening to a song by a New Jersey based band called A Little Affair, which I wrote up a review for recently. Even though they have areas where they could improve, I think their tracks are kinda’ chill. I wasn’t listening to Coldplay or 50 or The Smashing Pumpkins. I was listening to A Little Affair. Why? Because I could.

The Top 40 era is coming to a close, and music is more popular than ever, not less. Take it from Rupert Murdoch. In a 2005 speech he said, “Young people don’t want to rely on a God like figure from above to tell them what’s important. They want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it.”

Their media is your opportunity. Forget the naysayers. If music is your calling, do it. Do it because you love it.