Talk:Sandi Thom
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[edit] The song Lyrics
Normally it would not be allowed but it seems as if it has come from the official producers, so is it possible to make an allowance? MrDark 13:22, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
- You're allowed to quote reasonable extracts, which this article would seem to need. Tyrenius 14:28, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] From google blogsearch and trends
First references are in July/August 2005 - apparently she'd had a song played on Radio 2 by Terry Wogan : "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker".
Three people blog about seeing her live on September 22, 2005. It appears she played a gig that day. The song seems to have got further radio airplay in September and October. There are references to a "video" for the song as well. Then not much happening until February, when we get a claim saying she deserves "musical glory", and then finally on 7 March we get a reposting of a reuters story about this webcast thing.
So, no impact on Blogosphere AT ALL, despite the gigs from home thing being a succesful meme?
Google trends doesn't show very much before about April, when she'd signed.
Morwen - Talk 10:58, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
- Can anyone try to find out when these supposed 21 nights were? Morwen - Talk 14:37, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
- Also, why does google for ' "Viking Legacy Records" -Thom get zero hits'? [1] claims that "Brown was introduced to Thom by her Scottish multimillionaire backer, founder of Orkney Island-based Viking Legacy Records. Room With A View studio-owner and audio-wizard, Stephen Darrell Smith appears as one of four producers on Thom's debut, 2005, single "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker"." Morwen - Talk 15:02, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
- Arse, part of the article has been copyvioed from [2]
- Interview with her manager [3] here which seems to shed quite a lot more light on it, her manager Ian Brown (presumably not that one) being quite frank. Morwen - Talk 16:43, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
- There's a weird vagueness about the viewing figures for the webcasts, with the terms "fans", "audience" and "viewers" being used in different articles.
[edit] That Song
I don't know if she's being an ironic smart-arse or a just stupid hippie, but if she was a punk rocker with flowers in her hair all the other punks would kick her teeth in and the gob all over her. Not such a romantic image now, is it our San?--Crestville 11:50, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
- That grated on me too when I first heard it, but I think I know what might be going on. "Flowers in my hair" fits perfectly for a hippie chick in 1969, but note that she sings about "'77 and '69" - would 1977 be right for punks? If so, perhaps she's merging two different times when, subjectively at least, music was really significant and "going to change the world". The "punk rocker with flowers in her hair" is a composite of the two - she's not wishing she was literally dressed in a particular way at a particular time, but that the world could be like it was at one of those times (doesn't matter which... they're all the same... they're before she was born anyway...) when music was truely important.
- Or that could all be bollocks and she's just thick :-) PeteVerdon 21:13, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
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- By the way, any comments on my rewrite? I've written an lj entry about the whole thing here. It looks like we could have well been astroturfed mildly, but it might just be an enthusiastic fan, or whatever. Although I can come up with a plausible narrative linking the events of late 2005 with the tour, I don't have any references for it. It must have been pretty awful having the single go in at #55 when she'd been hyped so much, though. Morwen - Talk 21:23, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
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- Nice re-write--Manc ill kid 20:50, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
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- I never get why people need to ask this question. No one ever seems to slag off The Beatles because they are obviously NOT "the Walrus" and therefore their song can't be taken literally oh silly Liverpudlian scallywags, etc. Nor do they feel the need to question whether Queen really do think the world only rotates because of the ladies with large posteriors ("Fat Bottomed Girls you make the rockin' world go round"), but for some reason the lyrics of this song need to be held up to a higher level of scrutiny? I just don't get it ... --Stenun 00:10, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
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- She just wants to be a revolutionary. Sweetie Petie 14:45, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
The lyrics to this and other songs can be better understood in the context of their being written by a team of professional songcrafters - the same people who write hits for boy bands such as Westlife, Blue, Busted and The Noise Next Door. Men, and middle-aged men, such as those comprising Thom's songwriting team - including John McLaughlin, Ian Brown, Simon Perry - tend to have a different world-view to women, and young women at that. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.216.5.7 (talk • contribs).
- She wrote it herself and recorded it on a shoestring budget didn't she? BTW - everyone spent ages trying to work out who "the walrus" was - John had to write a song explaining there was no walrus and then another in which he accepted it. Then there was that stupid "Paul is Dead" theory/ People still talk about it. And women with fat arses do make the rockin' world go 'round.--Crestville 16:47, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
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- The song is credited to Thom/Gilbert. Gilbert is apparently a pseudonym for her manager. Secretlondon 17:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
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- I feel so violated. In that case, which one is the smart arse wanker? Or is it a little from column a) a little from column b)? Ahh, the punks can just batter both of them.--Crestville 09:17, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
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God, you are so arrogant. just because it doesn't make sense to you immediatly doesn't mean you can just slag her off on wikipedia. she IS trying to embody the two styles, like the smart person who commented after you said, shes not saying she actually WANTS to be a punk rocker with flowers in her hair, and if you listen to the rest of the song then you'll realise shes talking about the TIME when she thought the world was a better place.
- Yeah, I gathered that. I'll let you in on a little secret: I've heard the song and I secretly knew what she was getting at all along. It's what is known as a piss take, I'm guessing the clever person who followed me knew that and so did everyone else involved in this discussion bar you. I took the piss out of the song because it was written by an ironic pain in the arse (and her manager, apparently) and it does my head in. She prattles on about how it was recorded in her bedsit - get this: it fucking sounds like it was recorded in a bedsit. BTW, you can slag off someone on wikipedia just becuase you don't get their song. I wouldn't do it myself, but you can. You can slag anyone off for any reason whatsoever (unless its another user, obviously). It's not arrogance, it's the joy of the freedom of speech.--Crestville 17:09, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
Well, if its freedom of speech, then you have no right to 'bar me' from this discussion, or is that just your arrogance again? and so what if it was recorded in a bed sit? if she prattles on about it, she obviously doesn't care, i don't care, nor do the other 40,000 people who bought her record. who also don't care if her lyrics are 'technically' wrong to the imediate listener who knows nothing about her, aka you.
- I think I'd get more done talking to a brick wall. At the very least they'd not get the wrong end of the stick and proceed to swing it wildly. Example: "everyone bar you" in this context is not an invitation to bar you from the discussion, but rather a statement that everyone except [bar] you was in on the joke. --Crestville 15:19, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
1967 was the summer of love of course, whereas 1969 was the summer of the Charles Manson killings. When it comes to songs about 1969, I prefer Bryan Adams. At least there's a possibility he was sincere. - --bingo99 14:55, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
- Ha, I concur.--Crestville 17:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Dates
This thread on a music industry board has lots of info (see [4] for example). It is claimed that the last date was 16 March 2006. It is also claimed that she performed at the Windmill Pub in Brixton on the 13 March.. Secretlondon 14:05, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
Chris Macorkindale ( http://www.myspace.com/chrismacorkindale ) writes in his blog ((linked removed because of spam filter) - this has now been made friend-viewing only ):
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
SANDI THOM ROCKS! Current mood: tired Category: Music
Dear readers...I'm going to use this blog space to share my experiences of attending live gigs, listening to new music and to reflect the process of doing my own music.
Sandi Thom. Now there's a subject...don't get me started...oh, all right then! In my capacity as a freelance talent scout for the Windmill Brixton, I have recently been scouring low key venues in London for promising new acoustic acts. The purpose of this is, primarily, to assist my associate Mark Spall in putting on acts at the next acoustic festival at the venue (hopefully sometime in May with a barbecue, folks!). I'd just recommended two brilliant young singer/songwriters (Dominic Weeks and Rory Nunn) when I came across a news report on Channel 4 news (later repeated on the BBC). Apparently, there was a young female singer/songwriter who was broadcasting a webcast of a nightly gig she and her band had been performing in the basement of their rented house in Tooting, South London (a stone's throw from where I live) for the last two weeks. It transpired that, not only did she have a small audience in attendance each night, but upwards of 160,000 people had logged on to view the webcast.
I checked out her website, heard some of the songs (although I didn't have the chance to view the whole webcast), noting that she had management, a video and an album coming out. I then called my old pal Mark and he took her under consideration.
Next thing I know, the Windmill had a band cancellation and were looking to fill the night of Monday 13 March at short notice. Bingo! She's playing! Mark had contacted her management and she was only too happy to transfer the gig from her basement (don't blame her...performing to 10 people in a confined space every night would get me down) to the Windmill. Mark had also tried to contact Rory Nunn about playing, but I guess he didn't get the message in time.
On the night, support was from Michael Tyack and Will Summers from Circulus. They're sort of a psychedelic instrumental acoustic rock outfit with a strong mediaeval theme but, on this evidence, they reminded me of what Sid Vicious would sound like if he was an Elizabethan. Will exuded a certain downbeat urbane charm on flutes and Michael was positively a whirling dervish on guitar and drum (as much as you can be sat on a stool). It was entertaining in a weird sort of way, although it got a bit much when Michael started gesturing at the crowd with two curved swords. Don't ask...
Then on came Sandi. A decent sized crowd had arrived to see her and she didn't disappoint. She's only a little lady but she had a great voice that packed a punch. Both she and her band were tight as a gnat's arse, as you'd expect from a group that played together every night. Her songs varied from breezy uptempo nu-folk numbers to very effective slo-mo ballads. The only slight disappointment was that she chose to play two covers (Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City and Thunder Clap Newman's "Something in the Air"), which is not normally done at a serious venue like the Windmill, but was probably down to Sandi having to prepare a longish set at short notice. However, the quality of her performance was uniformly excellent, she has a bright future and we'll definitely have her back!
Please note that you can read more about Sandi Thom, Circulus, Rory Nunn, Dominic Weeks and the Windmill Brixton on myspace.com. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.216.5.7 (talk • contribs).
[edit] Recent original research
Citing google trends directly and particularly referring to companies house records is Wikipedia:original research, and we shouldn't be doing that. If the press is doing that we can certainly pick up on what they are saying.
However, in reality, there is a Legacy Records registered, company number SC264518, which appears to be the one involved (its registered office is in Aberdeen). This demonstrates the pitfalls of doing original research. Also, using google trends to check for viral marketing itself is flawed: obviously if something is being forwarded around between people, there will be no need to google for it (similarly, alexa probably won't find webcast traffic). Morwen - Talk 11:55, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
Who are the principals of the Aberdeen registered Legacy Records Limited? ie. who is Angus Sinclair and any others associated with this entity? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.216.5.7 (talk • contribs).
[edit] Seven-piece urban band
There's no evidence anywhere that she was in "an unnamed 7-member band which got to the semi-finals of BBC Radio 1's urban music awards." It would have been between 1999 and 2003, Radio 1 didn't have any urban music awards then, and how could a seven-piece band in a competition have no name?--Manc ill kid 20:50, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
- I think the hundreds of media stories saying she did would have to count as evidence, to some extent. It's an extremely unusual thing to fabricate. In fact, have a look here, which appears to be the competition in question: although it's not clear which year her band entered. seems to go back to 2002, at least. I've been unable to find stories specifically referring to the band in question, mind. Morwen - Talk 12:11, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
- Aye, but there's also been hundreds of media stories saying she's been compared to KT Tunstall and Janis Joplin. None of them have justified this by explaining that in such comparisons she comes out as worst.--Manc ill kid 10:09, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
One reason you may find it difficult researching this combo - the group did not use a name for its title, but, instead - used a symbol of a cat; it is, literally, a no-name situation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.216.5.7 (talk • contribs).
- God, she's as bad as the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince. -- Dandelions 16:28, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Controversy
Shouldn't the controversy over the allegations (Guardian) of her public relations funded rise to fame be mentioned in the article?
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/netmusic/story/0,,1786403,00.html --hugo 06:23, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
- It is. In fact that article is already listed as a reference.
- Nb just putting this link here for a moment-> [5] as it didn't fit with the referencing system used. We need a paragraph or two about the actual critical reaction (or rather: the lack of it), this should be used as a reference. Morwen - Talk 23:27, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Narrative flow
The recent reorder has been generally good: but it has broken the narrative flow of the article : in particular the first mention of the York & Wales gigs is now after the second mention of them. The story about the breakdown needs that context. Not sure what to be doing here? Morwen - Talk 23:30, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Infobox
I added an Infobox, not sure how complete it is/accurate. What's the standard for sorting out Genre's, and label wise I'm not sure how changes are listed, so it needs editing to make it accurate. I'm also putting Year as 2005 because that's when the single Punkrocker was first released.
[edit] Narrrrrrberth!
How come noones mentioned that just before she started doing internet gigs she went to an acoustic gig at Narberth?
Huh? HUH?
Jetamo
