A Balance of Creativity - Do you make films?

2010-02-08

Our goals as musicians are to make music and put it forward to not only be enjoyed for personal experience but to also be
used creatively and complimentary in other industries. As a band we've already had some of our music used for adverts and TV
shows but we're always on the lookout to explore more creative avenues. That's why as we approach releasing our first independent album in the next couple of months we're hoping to encourage any budding film makers out there to put some video to our music.

We're after people who don't mind working for free as this could be a good opportunity for a portfolio and to get your work seen. So please if you're interested, get in touch now using the email address at the top :)

It'll be interesting to see how different film makers approach our music (even the same tracks) and we're not just looking to work with one but many different people so there will be a good range of creativity. On Easter bank holiday weekend we'll be showcasing all the videos here on the site and commenting on the message boards so sign up now!

Rant

2010-02-01

'Indie' music or whatever it's called now sounds a bit stale to me. Maybe people ran out of ideas of how to play their guitars or they're just playing it safe. To me all I see is a trend of almost barbershop-ish type bands flooding the mainstream (which ironically is more of a drought) and though these are perfectly fine it's just not exciting is it? I mean these are talented folk who have decided to focus on cute vocal harmonies rather than thrash out catchy riffs on their battle scarred strats; is that cool now? I just want to like a band again, a new band and one that doesn't carry the hype the front page of the NME brands them with. I've liked hardly anything pushed into the mainstream in the last few years. The last indie bands I truly liked were the Strokes and the White Stripes, so c'mon why did everything go from 10 to 4?

[Stephen]

Siôn In Magazine

2010-01-22

Mojo 20/01/10

2010-01-21

Diary #09 - New Year etc etc etc

2010-01-18

"It's the first diary entry of the year!" - OK  enough of the cliches and let's get down to it. I last posted a sort of bookend to 2009 in the last diary entry  but only to gauge how much I feel we've progressed with two new members in a tidy amount of time. That said, it's a new year and new motivation. We want to get these tracks recorded, mix and mastered by the end of February, It's proven to be  a  bit of a struggle (mainly with a dying computer) but it'll be worth it at the end! 

Regarding gigs, We last played in the Zanzibar hosted by Metro Manila Aide on the 29th of December which was a little odd for us as every other band seemed overly heavier than ourselves so I think we stood out a bit, haha. It's always a great gig in the Zanzibar though; the stage is great and the sound guys do a great Job. We're down for playing there again in May (I know, May?!), We also have a gig coming up in April supporting 'And So I Watch You From Afar' at the Masque again. The last time we played with them was amazing, first time on the stage downstairs and it was good. We'll hopefully have some stuff to give out too so buy your tickets! 

Finally, we also have a gig in Wednesday in Mojo. It's a venue we have yet to play in and to be honest I didn't even think it was a venue! There's a good vibe to that place though with all sorts of classic music memorabilia scaling the walls so I'm looking forward to that. Plus, we're playing with our good friends 'A Time For Burning' so it's a bit of a post-rock fest. Hmm, should it be post-post-rock nowadays? 

Anyway hope to see you at gigs and sign up to the mail list for gig and other news :)

[Stephen]

Live Gig Video Website

2010-01-08

Thought this might be of interest:

 

MoshCam.com

 

Mogwai's performance of 'I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School' is particularly good.

 

[Siôn]

A Snowy Scene

2009-12-23

A snowy scene from home.

[Siôn]

 

Diary #08 - MinionTV : Year One

2009-12-17

This will most likely be the last diary entry of the year so I may as well go over a few things that have been on my mind as well as sort of sum up the kind of year we've had.

To start with I have to say I'm extremely proud of what we've managed to achieve this year. MinionTV basically 're-booted' with two new members who brought about a redefined vision and style which allowed us to move on with confidence and have a hell of a lot of fun. We started gigging in February and from then on went on to play shows all across the main venues in Liverpool and have our music used in various TV and advertising campaigns as well as magazines and newspapers. Next year we hope to build on this with new recordings and our found experience. At this point I want to throw a shout out to all the people who have been down to see us and I know it can sound really cheesy to thank ' the fans' but we I'm been sincere, we wouldn't have the confidence to put another step forward without you :)

Another really great thing about the year has been how much (in our eyes at least) the scene in Liverpool has changed. Bands like 'Metro Manila Aide', 'Capac', 'A Time For Burning' and 'Dead Cities' have provided  a fantastic backdrop to an otherwise clinical soundtrack to the city. It's bands like these (and I'm sure there are more!) that motivate us and keep us interested in a developing scene. Having just been to ATP it's so inspiring to see bands you love all in one place, like a post-rock Toys R Us,

I mentioned recording before so I'll just give an update.I suppose it's almost a cliche to state that  'things never run as smoothly as you wish they did' but it's frustratingly true. Don't get me wrong we are about half way through the planned tracks on the list and are securely headed for a 2010 Q1 release it's just with it being the festive period there are many interruptions. Christmas parties, festivals and general festivities all contribute to the frustration but at least it's of no fault of our own. Having said that (and now somehow sounding hypocritical) it's all coming along really well and we can't wait to get stuck into next year with something solid behind us!

Gig-wise next year our plans are just to play bigger and better gigs and hopefully get to play ATP one day. Our last gig of the year is at the Zanzibar with Metro Manila Aide so we'll hopefully see you there :)

[Stephen]

 

Gig News

2009-12-03

We are playing the Zanzibar on the 29th of December with Metro Manila Aide. Last gig of the year!

Stereo Delay Recording

2009-12-01

Sessions

2009-11-30

Progress

2009-11-25

Diary #07 - A 12 Track Plan

2009-11-23

Wow it's been well over a month since I last posted! To be fair there hasn't been much of interest going on at MinionTV headquarters, well not until the weekend but I'll get to that in a bit. Firstly, I'll chat about gigs. We had two booked in for Liverpool Music Week but had to cancel the first one (in the Zanzibar) due to a death in the family. The other gig was in Bumper; a venue we've only played at once before and enjoyed but I don't think we were 100% happy with the sound. That combined with the fact we were on second with only a line check seconds before play time made us all a little nervous. Setting up has no longer become a chore for the guitar players in the band as we seem to spend all our spare cash on making things easier on ourselves (sort of a drip feed until the pedal treats). While Simon was setting up his drums pre-gig we all hopped over to Hardmans Pizza for some food. The gig went really well, in fact I'd go as far to say it was one of our best performances which was a damn shame considering who else was on the bill. Don't get me wrong, the other bands were ace but so unevenly matched that I doubt anyone was there to see us. That said, the sound was amazing so a big thanks goes to the stage manager and desk peeps. We were filmed at this gig too, be interesting to see how that turns out.

Now for what I was getting at before I went into gig journal mode. Sion, Justin and myself met on Saturday and discussed what the hell we were doing with our recording plan. Truth be told it's not worked out exactly how we envisioned it due to gigs, weddings and equipment annoyances. Therefore we actually came up with a plan which is a little more 'set in stone' than before and has at least three of us pushing it forward. We want to have 12 tracks done by the first quarter of next year which I suppose is basically an album,,, Seems odd to call it that without paying a big bunch of money for three weeks and having all your ideas pulled apart by some kid listening to Kings Of Leon or Jay-Z.

Soooo if all goes well we'll have something substantial to give out by March of 2010. and then who knows, gigs outside the city?

[Stephen]

Diary #06 - Music and Marriage

2009-10-14

It's been a while since the last entry so I thought it's better later than never to recap on what we've been up to lately. We had our very first gig at the Kazimier which is a venue we liked very much indeed. It has a sort of' Alice in a Burlesque Wonderland' atmosphere about it and is structurally reminiscent of an old playhouse. We were on first which was quite strange for us as it's the first time we've opened a night, so I suppose a little worried how many people would actually see us. Supporting HEALTH so we were just happy to be on the bill and we got to enjoy a really awesome band called 'Cougar' who are really worth checking out. A nice little stage and an invading smoke machine kept us vibrant but my favourite moment was hearing "Godspeed You Black Emperor!" being played after our soundcheck, the DJ has good taste :) Where else plays music like that?!

We also had a gig at Carnatic Halls which was fun but would of been more so if we managed to remember to bring a film for the projector ;/ There were a few bands playing that night all in aid of the Liverpool Band Society including Pocketbook Heroes who our drummer Simon also plays with, I think we played quite well and to be honest it was a gig we could let our hair down with.

That was also the last gig we had before Justin (the other guitarist) went to Las Vegas to get married. I think he's travelled to L.A in the time of writing this and I'm really happy for him and George and especially happy that all their friends and family were able to stream the wedding live (a bunch of us were on the message boards and skype at the time).

So with Justin away we've put gigs on hold for a couple of weeks (next one is at the Zanzibar on the 30th) and are in the studio writing and recording although it's mainly been writing if I'm being totally honest. Yesterday we wrote a new song called "Take A Bullet For The Rest Of Us" which is quite dark in it's waltz-ish tones but has a certain angelic feeling to it, I can't wait to play it live :)

Anyway enough rambling,,,

[Stephen]

Congrats Justin & George!

2009-10-12

Who have just got married about an hour ago in Las Vegas!

IR Monster on Photography Website

2009-09-29

Gianni Bianchini produces some amazing work all of which you can view at www.giannib.com. Our track 'IR Monster' has been chosen to compliment his stunning portfolio.

Yardsticks used to Promote 'The Mentalist'.

2009-08-13

Our track Yardsticks (which you can hear in full on the player) is being used to promote a new show on channel 5 called  'The Mentalist'. It should be airing now so keep a lookout ;)

Liverpool Echo Article

2009-08-12

We're on page 8 of todays Echo but you can also read the articleHERE.

Here's a scan of the page.

We Promote Lexus.

2009-07-28

Our track 'Battleships' is used in an advert for the new Lexus IS 250C model.

'Playmusic Pick up' Magazine.

2009-05-24

We're featured in 'Playmusic Pick up' magazine which you can find at almost every musical instrument store (Dawsons, Dolphin etc)

Featured in 'Sober House' TV show.

2009-02-11

Our song 'Don't Burn the House Down' is featured in an episode of 'Sober House'; a programme showing in America at the moment about recovering addicts.

Marla the Big Tourist

NewPath Aug09 @The Leaf

When Skyways Are Highways

NewPath Aug09 @The Leaf

No Grave But Sea

NewPath Aug09 @The Leaf

Daggers at Lily

IR Monster

Battleships

Simon & Sion Jam

Current Gigs

2010-04-01 - The Masque, Liverpool - With 'And So I Watch You From Afar'.
2010-05-28 - Zanzibar - Lovely Job Night

Past Gigs

2010-01-20 - Mojo, Liverpool - Definitive Promotions
2009-12-29 - Zanzibar, Liverpool - With Metro Manila Aide
2009-11-15 - Bumper, Liverpool - Supporting 'The Invisible' for Liverpool Music Week.
2009-10-05 - Carnatic Halls, Liverpool - Student Night!
2009-10-02 - Kazimier, Liverpool - Supporting "Health".
2009-09-25 - The Masque - Supporting 'And So I Watch You From Afar'.
2009-09-03 - The Leaf - Details Soon!
2009-08-30 - Zanzibar - The Matthew Street Fringe Festival
2009-08-28 - The Leaf - NewPath Night!
2009-07-31 - The leaf - We're playing at the leaf on friday.
2009-06-19 - Zanzibar (Liverpool) -
2009-05-26 - Carnatic Halls (Liverpool) -
2009-05-26 - Mello Mello - Headlining for Sound City
2009-05-06 - Liverpool University - Playing the James Brown Stage.
2009-04-30 - Bumper (Liverpool) - First time
2009-04-11 - Barfly (Liverpool) - Supporting 'And So I Watch You From Afar'.
2009-03-20 - Zanzibar (Liverpool) -
2009-02-12 - Liverpool University - Playing at the Bar

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