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Post by blade on Sept 19, 2008 23:28:31 GMT
We all love Howling Bells - that's quite obvious otherwise we wouldn't be here. But how big do we want them to become? We all want them to be very successful so they earn the recognition and money they deserve but as a fan I would never like them to become a band that does a UK tour and only plays London, Manchester and Glasgow. Then they'd be too big, for me at least. I can think of a few artists that I used to like until they became famous and I'd hate for Howling Bells to become like that and I'd like to think that the band wouldn't want to become TOO famous either, because then they might risk losing their original fans, like us.
Just stepping back a bit, I hate to admit that I bought Dido's first album way before she became famous and now I'm rather embarrassed about that. I also bought KT Tunstall's first album before she became well known and the same with Avril Lavigne (1st album good, 2nd OK, 3rd poor) and Ashlee Simpson (1st album good, 2nd OK, 3rd not really bothered). I'd hate it if Howling Bells ended up becoming a 'stadium' band, even though we know their talent deserves that amount of recognition. I've always preferred to see bands in smaller venues like, for example, Shefffield University Octagon Centre, that hold about 1000-1500 and if Howling Bells can consistently fill venues of this size that's fine by me. Whether this matches the band's ambitions I don't know, but what about you?
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Post by blade on Sept 20, 2008 18:25:42 GMT
It is a dilemma. I have a tendency to go off groups once they become popular. It happened with the ones I mentioned above and also I remember I bought Texas's first album, which was great bluesy rock, but I never bought any others because they went commercial and now only make DIY Superstore background music.
That's the way it has to work if bands want to be huge commercial successes - they have to make commercial, bland music that gets lots of plays on commercial radio and in B&Q. And record companies want them to make records that will sell millions, so the band has to move away from what they started out doing. Hopefully Howling Bells won't ever resort to anything like this!
I agree that smaller venues are so much better. I went to the NEC once and I might as well have been watching a video. The stage was so far away and you could only watch the big screen, which isn't the point of going to see someone live. You want to get up close so you can virtually 'feel' them on stage.
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Post by houdini on Oct 1, 2008 10:17:45 GMT
Independiente had TRAVIS and PORTISHEAD. The guy that runs it is freaked out over the Bells, and rightly so. Hes a bit of a reclusive genius himself, I hear. They arent a multi national like Sony who are only interested in the bottom line - which got the world in the mess its in right now. Theres a lot of hope the dude loves good music. Bella Union just weren't prepared (I hear on the grapevine) to put their full weight into the band which is a shame for them because they had probably one of the best cd's of all time and let the Bells slip through their fingers. I'm telling you this tired ol' world needs the Bells and their music and you must make it known, their power which is a gift from above. We're gonna need the power and beauty in their songs. I want them to touch as many people as poss, so yeah big as Ben Hur, and they will be. I'll stand at the back of any tent or out in the parched sun or in the snow to catch a glimpse. Also Ive met them and theyre the nicest down to earth people ever
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Post by blade on Oct 1, 2008 18:47:00 GMT
Good answer!
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Post by velvetgirl on Oct 4, 2009 8:00:50 GMT
I agree to everything and I just wanted to add that they had some stadium gigs in the meantime. Though they just were the opening band a lot of people got to know them - so that was another step to the top. Juanita also said in an interview that she wants to become more famous with the band, so I don't think they will mark time and the third album could even become more "mass-orientated".
I wouldn't like that either, although I also got to know them on such a stadium gig. It was the same with Coldplay: Pre-Parachutes and first two albums just awesome and afterwards? Two albums just made to get more people into the stadiums... Now they have a lot of fans (girlies) listening just to X&Y and Viva la vida (can't stand these by the way). I hope that won't happen to the Bells however I wish them all the success they can get, they just shouldn't forget their musical roots.
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Post by chrome3d on Oct 14, 2009 8:23:11 GMT
Big enough that they can continue doing it full time for many years and being compensated enough so that they don´t need to whine about lack of money all the time.
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Post by velvetgirl on Oct 14, 2009 20:21:05 GMT
Big enough that they can continue doing it full time for many years and being compensated enough so that they don´t need to whine about lack of money all the time. Yeah, or that they don't have to job all around like in their first 6 months in London....poor guys. And whose fault was this Blade ;D? All for nothing because X&Y is a lousy album when you compare it to the HB - Debut.
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Post by mattchew on Oct 15, 2009 0:00:57 GMT
Listening to the material from their two albums it is unbelievable to me that they haven't made it big already. Why isn't MTV and Rolling Stone jumping all over them? I thought that Cities Burning Down would have been the one to do it. I mean, they had a great, really cool video for it, the song is amazing, Juanita is the sexiest woman in rock, and so yeah. If someone was to ask me what was the song that did it for me? I would say, "the Cities Burnin Down....that f*ckin Cities Burnin Downs.
Also, a thought, coming off a tour with Coldplay who is recognized currently as one of the most popular bands on the planet that more people would have joined the community here, but it hasn't happened. Do people still not know who Howling Bells are? Anybody have an opinion on why that is?
This is not an anwer to my own question but just a side note. They definitely need a new website up and running. I think it's been four months now and I assume ultimately that it is management's responsibility, so I think they need to get on that.
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Post by velvetgirl on Oct 16, 2009 18:07:55 GMT
I'm quite happy about the fact that MTV did not "discover" them yet. First MTV today is not the channel it was 15 - 20 years ago - only boring shows about C-Celebrities and other crap instead of good music videos. On MTV-Germany there is a weekly show called "Spin" with alternative music but I don't watch it regulary- so I don't know if the Bells were played yet. Second MTV and Co. would just have a bad influence on the band - so I'm not so keen about it. Don't forget luckily they are not a mainstream band yet- they still play beautiful indie music - that gives them some artistically freedom. I can only repeat myself: in my opinion they should not start making music for the masses and waste their talents in boring pop/rock songs. There are some people who liked them from the Coldplay gigs (you see on the myspace side and in a lot of music forums) but how should they find their way here? The link cannot be posted in wikipedia and it is quite hard to find this community. I think a I just saw this site in a longer google research but not everbody takes so much time for it. Otherwise some people who saw them on the gigs also said that they were too depressing to be a good opening act for CP -. Right after the concert I had a discussion with some user about it in the CP-board and told him if he thinks that the Bells are too depressing he should remember the music CP did some years ago. And you're right the HBs really need to have an own website and maybe even an updated twitter account (though Juanita hates it) - that's really important in these times.
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