While these days, rubbing shoulders with well-known faces at events such as Cannes Film Festival may be commonplace, Bury-born Joel Rothwell’s down-to-earth nature and clean-cut image have stemmed from the family around him nurturing his long-harnessed dream to become a chart-topping success. With a stylishly crafted formula of honest story-telling accompanying his guitar-driven electro-pop sound, the first of 4 inspired songs recorded with Brighton producer Toby Scott – ‘Just Don’t Know’ tells the story of a chance encounter, forbidden attraction and the inherent dilemma faced from within.
Rooted from a childhood spent with his eldest sister Rebecca imitating their musical heroes, the stars have never seemed too far out of reach, which has led to formulating a creative partnership which has seen them writing together for a number of years. More recently, through his father’s film company, Joel was able to enhance his credentials as a multi-talented performer in his latest film project SKINNED, which also featured his songs ‘Satellite’, and the as yet unreleased ‘Animal’.
It was recording and preparing to release his debut album under the Steelworks Studio label, under the support of songwriter and producer Eliot Kennedy (famed for working with the likes of the Spice Girls, Bryan Adams, Lulu and Take That), that led to Joel taking part in his biggest gig to date. The Vulcan Experience aircraft hanger at Robin Hood airport in Doncaster was host to a sell-out charity event that raised over £65,000 for Help for Heroes, in which he shared the stage in following none other than Gary Barlow.
From being wrongfully expelled from Bolton School until the age of 16, it was at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn where he nurtured his ability and pursued his dream of a career in music. Joel is now based at a studio in the vibrant Spinningfields area of Manchester, while also having spent time writing and recording at Tileyard Music in London alongside chart musicians such as Sigala, Mark Ronson, and Ella Eyre. Through a blend of passion, talent, and determination, Joel firmly believes he has what it takes to stand out in such a competitive industry and match the ambition of his dreams.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/thatjoelrothwell
https://www.instagram.com/thatjoelrothwell
https://twitter.com/joelrothwell
http://joelrothwell.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQN6VLKZZ6M
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Prophets Of Rage Live in 2017
Prophets Of Rage live in concert 2017.
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Voice of Aiko – Prescription Dream
In collaboration with Voice of Aiko, Arts Council England, and charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Enya Belak Gupta unveils a powerful new film to help tackle the global prescription drug crisis. Prescription Dream is a slick and stylish documentary that illustrates with chilling insight the terrible impact prescription drugs can have. The tense, unnerving tone employed throughout represents the helplessness and confusion of dependency sufferers. The film was released online on Wednesday 17th October 2018 with the aim of generating cultural discourse around this pressing issue. Working with Stakk Media and partner charities, the Prescription Dream will be released with a weekly vlog series sharing people’s personal stories of their experiences with prescription drugs. Voice of Aiko is also running musical workshops with those affected as part of the campaign.
What drove us to launch this project was hearing the shocking statistics and stories about what potential harm medications prescribed by the doctor can cause and how easily this can be helped by us just talking about it more, allowing people to make informed choices. We hope that with this emotional song, Enya’s stunning video, the artistic workshops and the weekly vlog we can raise awareness on this very important subject.
For more information please visit:
http://benzoinfo.com
http://www.w-bad.org
http://www.april.org.uk
http://www.mindincamden.org.uk/resources/articles/minor-tranxDirected and Concept by Enya Belak Gupta
Starring Calista Kazuko
Director of Photography: Aadhar Gupta
Edited by Enya Belak Gupta
1st AD: Elena Osipova
Gaffer: Sam Robinson-Horley
Spark: Ana Ferreira De Lima
Camera Assistant: Philip Reinking
Makeup Designer: Esmeralda Velia
Styling and Production Design: Enya Belak Gupta & Calista Kazuko
Color Correction: Teleking, Ljubljana
Grader: Fran Sokolić
Executive Producer: Aadhar GuptaShot at Leman Locke Hotel in London.
Music by Calista Kazuko, Samim Winiger, Miguel Toro & Jack Brown
In collaboration with London based charity REST (MIND) who provides support for individuals who may be experiencing difficulties due to Benzodiazepine dependency.
SPECIAL THANKS:
- Melanie Davis
- Jason Harrington
- Millie Kieve
- Locke Hotels
- Zoran Mihailović
- Sam Robinson-Horley
- Samantha Sheridan
- Lorraine Solomons
- Heather Yeomans
- Pink&Green Colors
About Voice of Aiko
Voice of Aiko is a creative collective of musicians, filmmakers, and artists joining forces to campaign for real societal change. Aiko’s first project Prescription Dream sees founder Calista Kazuko collaborate with fellow musicians Samim, Miguel Toro, and Jack Brown and filmmaker Enya Belak Gupta to spotlight an ongoing global prescription drug epidemic. In England alone, there are an estimated 1.5 million people suffering from medically prescribed benzodiazepine dependency, and more than 1 million patients are taking dependence-forming drugs unnecessarily. Antidepressants are also a major problem, with statistics showing that roughly 50 Americans die from prescription painkiller overdoses every day. In partnership with charities REST, MIND & APRIL, Aiko’s Prescription Dream project will raise awareness and open dialogue on this devastating issue. The campaign includes a series of musical workshops with Let’s All Create which use art to help heal those who have been affected. Voice of Aiko is grateful to be supported with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://twitter.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.facebook.com/VoiceofAiko
https://www.instagram.com/VoiceofAiko
https://tinyurl.com/voiceofaiko-spotify -
The Mootekkis – Against the Ropes
This booze-loving Tokyo-based 5-piece – Australian, American and 3 Japanese – garage rock’n’roll band was formed midway through 2008 by Jude (guitar) and Mike (vox) and two years later were featured on the front cover of Japanzine after winning the magazine’s nation-wide battle of the bands with their 2010 EP track “Hey…What You Want?”.
More recently a number of their tracks from 2014 debut album “Heckling the Dawn” have been used for the Skateboarding Japan podcast while their tune “The Whiskey” is the theme music for drinkers and skaters delight podcast Got Faded Japan.
Prior to this, in August 2012 they embarked on a 10-day tour of New York where they played Manhattan hot spots Bowery Electric and Piano’s as well as New Haven’s Elm Bar and a handful of basement and loft parties in Brooklyn – before this trip 2 members had never been outside Japan.
Brooklyn’s Ishmael Osekre, an organizer of the festival Aputumpu, had this to say after seeing The Mootekkis at a Bushwick loft party: “This was pure rock’n’roll in a way that most people around here haven’t seen for a long time…it was just amazing.”
The Mootekkis have had the good fortune of having a lot of good people behind them. In 2013 they crowdfunded their debut album and in 2014 they finished in the top 10 of Tokyo’s 126 bands trying to earn a spot at Summer Sonic thanks to immense local and foreign support.
They’re truly humbled and wholly committed to giving rock’n’roll lovers something new with decades of respect for what has come before.
The Mootekkis are:
Mike (vocals)
Jude (rhythm/lead)
Koji (rhythm/lead)
Yo’cchan (bass)
Takahiro (drums)LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/themootekkis
https://twitter.com/themootekkis
https://themootekkis.bandcamp.com