Originally from Bulgaria, but based in the UK for the past 10 years,
ILONA has had a life that makes her unlike many others. With a rich
blend of influences to draw on, combined with her passion for music and
the ability to speak 4 languages fluently, she is truly a unique and
original performer
Others have likened her voice to Shania Twain, Karen Carpenter, Adele
and even Sheryl Crow, but ILONA also has something very special all of
her own. A unique tone, a natural sense of dynamics and the ability to
sing a lyric, tell a story and make people know she means it.
Check out the single 'Love is Stupid' and see ILONA performing on Mon 7th Oct @ Fat Talent LIVE -Full Details
Skyes is a Birmingham based Rap Artist/ Song Writer.
The talented artist has opened concerts
for established Artist such as Mary J Blige, Angi stone, Jon b, Buju
Banton, Klashnikoff. Warmed up Fans at Watch the Throne Concert Jayz and
Kanya West (Birmingham Lg).
Most recently Sykes has collaborated with KID fusing Rap with Rock, Hip Hop and Dance. ‘Ghosts’
Ep is available on Itunes now, Electric Love video available on
YouTube.
Last Friday I was privy to one of the best dj performances I have probably ever heard.
I saw Peaches – AKA – Merrill Beth Nisker perform a hard core, get up and dance, mash up set in Elephant and Castle.
Outside the electro gender bending world she inhabits, few have heard of PEACHES. This is a damn shame and the principle reason in which I am blogging about her today and spreading the word of the importance of empowered rock stars!
She put on an amazing set, complete with a re-mix of the all-time classic: Edge of 17. The raw vocals of Stevie Nicks was accompanied by pumping fists and a brilliant lip synching from PEACHES herself.
She was wasting no time in getting down and dirty – even attempting a moon walk – and enticing the crowd to bust out their moves. Such fun she was, few could resist her, including my friend who decided to break the barriers and climb up on stage alongside her.
I was gutted when her set ended, and was on such a subsequent high all weekend having witnessed such a legend in performance. The world is crying out for more female djs – and more women who are not afraid to voice their opinions and say whatever vulgar thing enters in their mind. She is truly an inspiration.
She is as bold as a the front man in an 80’s rock band, her songs are as catchy as any manufactured pop group and she is brazen like no-body else. She will not be constrained by her femininity, and blasts through the shackles of sexism with lyrics and antics that can even illicit a raised eyebrow (and gasp) from those who have seen it all!
That fact that she is pushing 40 , was a former pre-school teacher and not marketed as the next ‘hottest’ singer, makes her even more of an anomaly in an industry dominated by pre-pubescent, insipid flakes.
She is a woman with balls – and she is not afraid to flash them about, play with her gender and deliver an unforgettable performance in the process!
SARAH LEANNE PALMER .....once you have heard her perform you won’t forget her name. She is a singer/songwriter living in London whose lyrical content has so much power and confidence it, deserves to be its own person!
Not just limiting herself to the mic Sarah Leanne Palmer also plays the guitar (electric and bass) and drums whilst still maintaining vocal control.
With all this talent it’s a safe bet that Sarah Leanne Palmer is going to go far. A strong vocalist, song writer and musician! How could she not?
We bagged an interview with the lady herself, and this is what she had to say......
Your musical style is quite varied with upbeat rock based tunes to the more slow bluesy style, what were your musical influences in your adolescent years?
My early musical influences are still some of my biggest influences today. I grewup with Tom Petty, Free, Talking Heads, Creadence Clear Water, Alice in Chains, Alanis Morrisette, Radiohead, Simon & Garfunkel, Steely Dan, Reef, Counting Crows, Jeff Buckley, Genesis, Suzanne Vega,The Black Crowes, Fleetwood Mac and more. My father had loads of videos from ‘The Old grey Whistle Test’ so I watched those endlessly.Artists like Captain Beefheart, Tim Buckley, Lynyrd Skyyrd, and Iggy Pop and so on.
If you were to describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it as an emotion or feeling, what would it be?
In a word…Exuberant.
Being a very creative artist, do you feel some mainstream acts sacrifice creativity and their individuality for the sake of fame?
That may be so, but sometimes I think they have to in order to get where they are.I don’t think the industry is as ‘pure’ or straight as it used to be.
You also play with a live band, which band/s are exciting you musically at the moment?
Kings of Leon, RATM, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Blackbud. Muse, Infadels, My Preserver, Imogen Heap, Gemma Hayes and more.
Do you have any words of encouragement for any unsigned acts or bands who are trying to break through into the limelight?
Enjoy what you are playing / writing.And don’t be afraid to take inspiration for other artists. In terms of getting noticed? Play as much as you can, give out free cd’s and merchandise etc. Cease the day! There is no formula nowadays as to how you get noticed anyway.
As a totally random none related question...
‘Hair of the Dog’ or ‘Aspirin and a litre of water?’
Hair of the Dog definitely!!
Thanks for your time Sarah, is there anything else that you'd like to add?
It a was Tuesday in the office - a lackluster day at the best of times - save for the private disco pumping through my head phones. I was revelling in the joy of 80's music!
I'm a huge fan of 80's music. I'm a child of the 80's, and as if by osmosis resulting from long car journeys, i can't go a day without indulging myself.
There is something awe-inspiring about power ballads; their synths, big drum beats and the inevitable key change are the ingredients for the perfect tune.
Take for instance A-HA's 'Take on Me'; a song so catchy it is still played in clubs today. How can a man who unashamedly sings in falsetto not be admired?!
Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' still stands the test of time. Here we have a woman whose voice is breaking as much as her heart is. There's an overwhelming sense of passion, we can't help but be carried away. The film clip is pure genius; the boys with the blue lights in their eyes - and at the end - was it all a dream? The song truly takes us on a journey; from the opening piano - to the crescendo- then back to the piano - we're as exhausted as she is.
These songs from the era of shoulder pads, greed is good and big eye shadow never scrimped on the video clips. The clips were as important as the songs. Madonna took her video clips so seriously, she saw it as art. Many of her early clips were in fact. how could we forget Vogue?
What has inspired me to write tonight, however, is 'Love is a Battlefield' by the brilliant Pat Benatar. I listen to this song occasionally, and I always love the intro - the chorus- the big drum beat- but it is the video clips which truly makes this a classic song.
Here we have a story:
She leaves home, never to be seen again and hits the hard streets of (presumably) New York lives it tough, but still writes home to her little brother.
Replete with gelled up hair, big beads, neckties and colored clashing clothes.
It is about 3 minutes into this clip, that we really see its greatness.
She's in a club, swarming with sleazy men. Her attention is caught by a woman yelling at a man to 'leave me alone'.
Pat won't be having a bar of this and she steps up, steps in and stops this white vested man in his tracks!
Not only that, she recruits all the other rough city girls and all together they take part in one of the best dance formation to grace music video clips. There are side steps, strong arm movements, samba like rhythm steps and lots of aggressive shimmering.
Their moves are powerful and strong - the offending man doesn't know what has hit him!
Not only that, she punctuates it with a glass of water in the face!
Take that you scoundrel!
Pat then leads her crusading dancers to the street and onto female liberation!
It's the ultimate in pop music feminism.
Compare this to clips now - where we have these insipid undernourished women wiggling their hips 'provocatively' and you realize just how important and inspiring Pat and her legions of dancers were, and are.
Confronted with the 'stars' of today's music pop music scene, These stars from the 80's would scoff in their shoulder padded strength!
So I was walking along today , rugged up in scarf, gloves and beanie cutting some vague figure of a woman. And a steal truck pulled up – containing two leering men who were leaning out the window. They made some obscene comments to which I ignored and went on my way, effectively putting me in a bad mood. To make it worse, the same thing happened at lunch – except this time they were suspended from above on scaffolding. In this instance, I twirled around and told them to f**k off. They weren’t happy with this reaction and made their feelings know. why is it though, that men feel so compelled to yell comments at complete strangers?
How common is it for a group of women to leer and undertake a gross sexual commentary of some hapless man? Not very.
As women, are we supposed to feel flattered? More importantly, how many times has it actively worked? Does this approach work? WHO has been spreading the word amongst men that women go wild when they’re yelled at from a Garbage/ Tesco delivery/ removal truck? Has a woman ever rushed across the street, ripped off her blouse and flung herself into his arms and BEGGED him to take her then and there?
Unlikely
So why do men do it? surely they’re NOT that bored? Is it to assert their manhood, their masculinity – their heterosexuality? Are they in such doubt of their persuasion that they need to yell at a woman on the street to emphasise that they love the ladies?
And What is the best way to respond? If you abuse them back, then it’s very likely they’ll continue with their remarks – or just laugh. Sometimes, if it’s a particularly nasty type of man, he’ll become even more abusive. If you ignore them, as you would a child, they may lose interest. Or they may not. The approach that has worked best for me is to stare (if they’re not in a moving vehicle) quizzically at their crotch, look perplexed and then stifle a giggle then go about your business. They have no idea what to do! This particular type of guy will have no idea what to do. The very fact that he is yelling is his attempt to assert his manhood. If you’re laughing at ‘what he has to offer’, then he’ll realize what a *!% he’s actually being. This is enough to stunt his words, quicker than anything else lol!
