Sweet Billy Pilgrim: This year's model?

[Ian Townsend]

With all the Sunday papers, Mojo, Uncut etc all over them like a rash it looks like Sweet Billy Pilgrim are this year's 'big' band to follow. It's turning into a kind of genre all of it's own. MOR (ish) Rock, not too noisy, mid- tempo, usually wistful and melancholic, appealing to maturer listeners ( late 20s / 30s / 40s).

It seems every bloody year a band like this appears and wows the 30-something journalists from leafy suburbs > mass press coverage > Jools Holland > Radio 2 > Mercury Prize > thanks. You can trace the pattern all the way back to Elbow. It's been a noughties phenomenon.

I think my ear has been destroyed forever by constantly listening to Swap CDs / mixes where deep-music lovers have lovingly pieced together brilliant selections of tunes from loads of different genres. Superb songs, well segued, always surprising, intriguing, mesmerizing etc.

This first 'single' from Sweet Billy Pilgrim is nice enough but...... I don't know....just seems cold, disconnected and melancholia / wistful by numbers. Video for single in the Mojo link.

Mojo Exclusive (http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2012/06/exclusive_sweet_billy_pilgrims.html)

Edit: And this lot are raving about it but it reads suspiciously like they haven't even heard it!

Purple Revolver Blog (http://www.purplerevolver.com/music/open-mic/122329-sweet-billy-pilgrim---crown-and-treaty-tipped-for-album-of-the-year.html)

[Runswick]

It's journalism Ian, pure and simple, linked to record companies who need to create big sellers to keep going. If a band also has a back story then journalists have an angle to fill more column inches. Sweet Billy Pilgrim were Mercury nominees in 2009, have continued to work at their craft and have released an LP that appeals to the large demographic of mid 20s to mid 40s cd buyers and downloaders. The music is not fast and loud, suggests maturity, has thoughtful lyrics and will be purchased by everyone who buys Elbow, Muse, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and so forth. In a strange way it mirrors the way that bands used to be promoted by record labels when they were signed. In this century there are thousands more media outlets, not just three influential music papers, radio shows and television programmes, so the selling is done more by journalists and writers who want to keep their websites fresh. I'm probably expressing it clumsily but there will for a variety of reasons always be a few bands every year heralded as the next big thing.

[Ian Townsend]

I probably sound like an old misery don't I? I think their single 'Archeology' is OK, very pleasant and all that, and the full lp may be a great cohesive listen which one single obviously can't convey. And full marks to them for staying with it after their initial spell in the limelight faded.

I think it's actually the mechanism that promotes two or three bands a year that irritates me the most, which is what I was trying to convey. It reflects the same narrowness as the stranglehold major record labels had over the music industry in the 70s. Mind you, when fantastic music is being made right now it's never been easier to find it!

[Gingham Kitchen]

Is this the same group that were in 'The IT Crowd'. I liked their keyboard player, but I think he's left the band.

[einekleine]

I think it's actually the mechanism that promotes two or three bands a year that irritates me the most, which is what I was trying to convey. It reflects the same narrowness as the stranglehold major record labels had over the music industry in the 70s.

And it is related to an almost steady annual drop in major label revenue over the last decade with no corressponding fall in the cost of promotion. There are fewer new big bands because there is less money to pay for them and the stakes are higher... thus safer to go for exactly the sort of band you describe above (I haven't listened as I think it might wither my soul) or rely on a reputation already cemented in the good old days or trust in the power of Cowell.

[Ian Townsend]

Is this the same group that were in 'The IT Crowd'. I liked their keyboard player, but I think he's left the band.
I never watched the IT Crowd but Graham Lineham who wrote it would apparently slip lots of his favourite things into the script so it's possible. He loves Guided By Voices apparently and included a poster of them in some scenes and a verbal reference in one particular episode.

(Now that's the kind of sh*te to take to Forum Tweets.:D)



And it is related to an almost steady annual drop in major label revenue over the last decade with no corressponding fall in the cost of promotion. There are fewer new big bands because there is less money to pay for them and the stakes are higher... thus safer to go for exactly the sort of band you describe above (I haven't listened as I think it might wither my soul) or rely on a reputation already cemented in the good old days or trust in the power of Cowell.
That steady drop annually in revenue must also be the reason major label employees don't have a clue what music their major label owns. But go on...whither your soul!

I always think Muse, Elbow, (and now Sweet Billy Pilgrim) is music for PE teachers to convince their friends they're intelligent.*




















*Big Band Funkmeister LLMod1 excepted of course. :p