An article from Client Manager, Nikki Halliwell.
This year Horus Music was able to attend Liverpool Soundcity for the first time, and what an amazing year it was!
What Happens at Liverpool Soundcity?
As well as the multitude of bands that are showcased every year, Soundcity also holds conferences and panels debating various topics. Some of this years highlights included: The Rise of the Influencer, It’s A Digital Jungle Out There, Get In The Van – We’re Off On A Toilet Tour and Which TV Shows Use Music The Best. Each of these were around an hour long and included professionals from companies relating to each of the topics, as well as band members such as Jeremy Pritchard from Everything Everything.
The busiest of these panels are always the keynote speakers and this year was no exception, standing room only was available during both sessions. The first was Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth who was interviewed by Dave Haslam and discussed his early British influences mentioning Wire, The Pop Group, The Raincoats and The Slits.
The second was John Cale from The Velvet Underground who was interviewed by John Doran and talked about on stage violence and the fact that he still finds time to record and write music in his studio every day, even in his 70s.
The roundtable sessions are also a valuable opportunity to meet with up to 30 delegates and musicians in one session. We discussed pre-determined topics, and made new contacts and potential new clients.
What About the Music?
The plethora of venues taking part in Liverpool Soundcity all across Liverpool means there is music to cater to everyone’s tastes; if only there was enough time to see them all! People were queuing out the door to watch Courtney Barnett and unfortunately I was one of them.
The final day was jam packed with amazing bands and I was able to check out many of them over at the Aussie BBQ while savouring the free burgers, thanks to Sounds Australia for that one!
Among the many sonic delights, I had the pleasure of meeting Aussie singer Demi Louise who is currently touring to promote her latest EP. Later in the day I was able to enjoy the likes of The John Steel Singers, a blues artist called Mama Kin with a fabulous ukulele, Money For Rope, The Delta Riggs, the amazingly energetic Dune Rats, Kid Mac and of course Hermitude.
The last but certainly not least act that I experienced were the alternative/electronic musings of Jagwar Ma who packed out the venue at The Garage.
On the whole, Soundcity proved to be an extremely exciting event and one that I hope to also attend next year.
For me, Midem is the place to build your international contacts and profile, but it is also important to work on those closer to home and Liverpool Soundcity has proven to be the conference to do just that.
