Bristol Archive Records » mike darby

Moving Targets – Arnolfini – Punk Talk

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 12:42:32 +0000

Mike Darby and Shane Baldwin being interviewed by Richard Jones from Tangent Books
Here’s the listen back sound cloud link for the talk:

Moving Targets – Bristol Punk

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 12:58:52 +0000

What a week coming up at The Arnolfini, Bristol

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/…/bristol-archive-records-and-s…

Bristol Archive Records and Shane Baldwin (Vice Squad) in conversation
Saturday 30 July 2016, 17:00 to 18:00
£5 / £4 → Book

Founder of Bristol Archive Records Mike Darby, and former Vice Squad drummer and now punk writer Shane Baldwin share their stories about the Bristol punk scene in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s.
Bristol Archive Records is a record label and archival resource for Bristol post punk and reggae from 1977 onwards.

Bristol Archive Records archive provides an incredible historical account and document of all things from the Bristol punk scene including rare photographs of gigs and people from the scene, gig and club night posters, gig listings (including a remarkable comprehensive gig list from Richard Wyatt who attended a huge amount of gigs during the period 1978-1985), punk-oriented record labels and band discographies, gig and release reviews and stories from people active in the scene.
The record label element showcases music from the diverse Bristol punk and reggae scene from 1979 onwards, many of who are still active today. Many of the artists and releases are rare, unknown or never before released and the material has been lovingly digitally remastered from vinyl, ¼ inch tape, dat or cassette.

“Enjoy and never forget talent from the past, it deserves to be recognised & remembered.”
Bristol Archive Records have also kindly allowed us the use of their archival images for our commission with artist Phoebe Davies and students from UWEBA Graphic Design, which will be installed on a hoarding behind Arnolfini for the duration of Moving Targets.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com

Shane Baldwin was the drummer in the initial line up of punk band Vice Squad, formed in Bristol in 1978. Members of the band were involved in setting up the Riot City record label, which became one of the major punk labels of the era.

Today Shane is still very much involved in punk rock scene writing for a variety of publications and wrote the book ‘Last Rockers: The Vice Squad Story’. He is currently in the process of writing a new book about the Bristol punk scene of the late 70’s and early 80’s.
This event is part of the Moving Targets programme

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/moving-targets

Moving Targets
Friday 29 July 2016 to Sunday 11 September 2016, 11:00 to 18:00
Free →

Punk has more than one story

This summer at Arnolfini we embrace the unstable, the volatile and the unpredictable. In Punk’s 40th anniversary year, we draw on Bristol’s independent spirit and explore punk as an attitude that has more than one history and meaning.
Moving Targets brings an unruly summer season of music, performance, visual art and activities to the harbourside. Art works, sounds, events and workshops spill out of the building, taking over our foyer, leaking into the bookshop and café, and activating the outdoor space.
Arnolfini and the city of Bristol have a special relationship to punk. During July and August, join us to find out about other stories and ideas around punk and tell us what punk means to you.
Should we reject the future? Be angry, raw, fearless? Is there a place in punk for everyone?
Let’s step outside the gallery, make things happen, shout out loud, disrupt, improvise and make some noise!

Moving Targets includes:

A foyer takeover by artist Gillian Wylde, overloading with a frantic collage of images, sounds, video and text

Outdoor poster work exploring print as protest by artist Phoebe Davies and students from UWE Graphic Design in collaboration with Bristol Archive Records
Live radio shows by artist Jenny Moore and collective, gal-dem

Inhabit, a space to debate the future of our city, created by Young Arnolfini

Unmissable Music celebrating Bristol’s punk heritage

Plus a whole host of defiant performances, films, workshops, discussions and family activities.
*Our title Moving Targets is taken from and dedicated to Mimi Thi Nguyen and Golnar Nikpour’s amazing chapbook, ‘Punk is a Moving Target’, Guillotine press, 2013

Tags: Arnolfini, mike darby, Moving Targets, Punk, Shane Baldwin, Vice Squad

What a week coming up at The Arnolfini, Bristol

admin — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 16:55:25 +0000

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/bristol-archive-records-and-shane-baldwin-in-conversation

Bristol Archive Records and Shane Baldwin (Vice Squad) in conversation
Saturday 30 July 2016, 17:00 to 18:00
£5 / £4 → Book

Founder of Bristol Archive Records Mike Darby, and former Vice Squad drummer and now punk writer Shane Baldwin share their stories about the Bristol punk scene in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s.
Bristol Archive Records is a record label and archival resource for Bristol post punk and reggae from 1977 onwards.

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/moving-targets

Moving Targets
Friday 29 July 2016 to Sunday 11 September 2016, 11:00 to 18:00
Free →

Punk has more than one story

Moving Targets includes:

A foyer takeover by artist Gillian Wylde, overloading with a frantic collage of images, sounds, video and text

Inhabit, a space to debate the future of our city, created by Young Arnolfini

Unmissable Music celebrating Bristol’s punk heritage

Fresh 4 Party

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 07:41:43 +0000

DJ Mike on the mic @ The Fresh 4 party. Well not really! Making the official thankyou speech actually. DJ Krust (Fresh 4) and Ray (Smith & Mighty) in the background.

Mike Darby, Pinch and Richard King talk for Wire Magazine

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 13:38:10 +0000

Here’s the link for the talk held at The Arnofini, Bristol: http://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/in-conversation/

Left to right: Mike Darby, Pinch and Richard King

The Bristol Boys Book Team

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 08:42:45 +0000

Left to right:

John Spink (photos), Gill Loats (words), Nick Darby (design), Mike Darby (Bristol Archive Records), Richard Jones (Tangent Books/Publisher)

Stamp The Wax Interview

admin — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:22:16 +0000

Check out an interview with Mike Darby, Head of Bristol Archive -

http://www.stampthewax.com/2013/10/01/bristol-spotlight-bristol-archive-records/

October 19th in Bristol – Mike Darby asked to speak

admin — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 13:45:18 +0000

Mike Darby has been asked to speak at this upcoming event in Bristol

Subject matter:

This symposium will explore the histories and experiences of living in British cities to examine the relationship between the urban unrest of 1981 and 1986 and the more recent unrest of Summer 2011. Bristol, as the venue for this symposium, has a unique position in the history of British popular music and we seek to use that history to explore the relationship between the past and present and between Bristol and the wider national context. The Bristol music scene has a rich history that produced bands such as Black Roots, Massive Attack, Disorder, Roni Size, Portishead and the Pop Group. The multicultural nature of the scene often reflected the close proximity of communities where ethnicity, class and different heritages mingled and fed off each other. Many of these musicians created a narrative in lyrics, aesthetics, imagery and comment on the cultural and political scene within the city and nationally. Bristol’s example demonstrates not only the importance of the history of popular music, but also the role of musicians, audiences and music in making history happen. Other British cities have their own histories and peculiarities that are reflected in events such as these but also there are some similarities to the Bristol example and we hope that we can attempt to illustrate and reflect on those differences and links in this symposium.

We will bring together musicians, community participants and academics from a wide variety of disciplines to discuss a number of questions:
• To what extent can wider civil unrest be understood through the specific context of British cities?
• What is the role of popular music in making history and shaping historical memory?
• Do the riots in the 1980s and in 2011 fit together? How does the music and its narrative reflect upon, or inform how the 1980s is remembered, and how does that impact on how the 2011 riots where experienced?
• How does music help us understand the specific experiences of different communities?
• What is the relationship between riots, civic unrest and popular music?

Interview with Mike Darby for www.reggae-vibes.com

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:13:06 +0000

Music didn’t play a big part in Mike Darby’s early life until 1977 when his brother Paul brought home a copy of “My Aim Is True” by Elvis Costello and then a week later “Never Mind The Bollocks” by The Sex Pistols. The spirit of the Punk era caused that Mike found some confidence and believed that anybody could be in a band. Thus he was committed to try his luck and his first effort was Mike and The Molemen. The latter was the stepping stone for Mike to have the confidence to approach better musicians with the aim of forming The Rimshots. With one of the later line-ups of this band, he supported The Beat at The Locarno in 1980 and got a singles deal with a new Bristol based label called Shoc Wave Records. After the split up of The Rimshots, Mike had two more attempts at fronting a band before he moved into management picking up his little brother Neil’s band Fear of Darkness. The latter led into Love Jungle which led into managing Rita Lynch. Nowadays Mike Darby is an independent financial advisor and label head of Bristol Archive Records.

Q: Greetings, Mike! Over the last few years, Bristol Archive Records has been unearthing some of the most crucial British Reggae to see the light of day. How did your concept and dedication start?

A: We released a compilation called The Bristol Punk Explosion 1977 -1983 approx two years ago. It didn’t sell very well but it mapped out the template for the extensive sleeve notes, hidden unreleased gems and the pictures. As soon as I saw the finished product I knew I had to pull a Reggae compilation together and I knew that the challenge would be to get Black Roots and Talisman together on the same record. I had a white pop reggae / ska band in 1980 and The Rimshots had supported both of these awesome roots bands, the problem was that they had only ever shared the same stage once and there was history between the two groups. I knew or thought I could get access to other reggae material by making contact with Gene Walsh who had run Shoc Wave Records in the 80′s and had released Joshua Moses and Sharon Benjamin so the challenge was on.

Q: Your label’s Reggae catalogue started out with “Bristol Reggae Explosion”; full of exciting songs from virtually unknown artists. Did you anticipate the huge amount of material that must have come across your desk? There was enough material for two more successful compilation albums.

A: We’ve released three successful compilations up until now actually and are currently working on Reggae Explosion 4 which will be the end of the 80′s and then Reggae Explosion 5 which will be the start of the 90′s. We had no idea how much material was in people’s houses, under beds, on cassettes, old quarter inch, limited edition vinyl. I was introduced to Martin Langford who compiles the records and writes the sleeve notes, Martins memory of all things Reggae is amazing and my skill has been in finding the artists and engaging them in the project. The quality of the unreleased material is astounding!

Dan Ratchet

Joshua Moses

Q: The world now is familiar with the sheer brilliance of artists like Dan Ratchet and Joshua Moses , to name a few. Did these talents approach you?

A: No I approached Dan and then his producer Simba Rashe Tongogara. Both live in Bristol. Joshua, again living in Bristol was introduced via Gene Walsh who then introduced me to Joshua’s producer Mikey Taylor Hall. I had met Joshua once in the 80′s at a Domino game at Gene’s house, he didn’t remember but it made the approach easier as we had friends in common.

Q: Bristol has Reggae talent on par with London and Kingston and all points between; any more artists or groups coming out of the woodwork?

A: Wow thank you for saying that, the artists will be really happy. We are mixing a Vibes album at the moment, recorded in 1989 it features Popsy Curious, Winston Minnott from Cool Runnings and Veereal and was never mixed back in the day so was never released. Some killa tunes on here. We are awaiting the final delivery of a Restriction album, now this will be something special. Mikey Taylor Hall has given us unreleased material that he has produced which will appear on Reggae Explosion 4.

Q: Perhaps your greatest concept was to work with Black Roots and reissue some of their earlier works. How was it to work with these legends?

A: A privilege and a pleasure. Jabulani is a quiet man so it’s taken a while to build the relationship. Martin Langford came up with the concept of the Singles Anthology as he is a lifelong fan. We are releasing a Dub album of ‘On The Ground’ in the spring and will probably release on Vinyl only, a Limited Edition of Black Roots first ever album with additional sleeve notes.

Talisman

Q: There have been some incredible album launch concerts within the last year. Is there a chance of some international appearances?

A: Now that is interesting. Black Roots, Talisman and Joshua Moses all have the same agent and all are back out playing live and have made big British festival appearances this summer. All three have new albums either just released or ready for the spring release. All three would love the opportunity to tour in Europe, just ask a promoter to approach us. I’d also like to take The Bristol Reggae Explosion Live show out on the road. We played a monumental gig this summer with nine of the featured singers on the compilation albums all singing their track from the records. Talisman acted as the backing band and played a set in their own right – it was brilliant.

Q: It’s fantastic news that the Fashion catalogue is going to be reissued by your sister label. Are you going to be involved in this project?

A: I set the deal up with Chris Lane but it’s Martin Langford’s baby to put the track listings together. We are hoping for two new compilations in the spring. Fashion In Fine Style Significant Hits Vol 1 is out now.

Q: Your resident “minister of information” Martin Langford is a plethora of knowledge. How did he come on board Bristol Archive Records?

A: I was introduced by a DJ and Vinyl collector John Stapleton. We met in the record shop Martin works in on a Saturday. I told Martin about my plans for the Bristol Reggae Explosion Vol 1 and he just threw a few names at me that I either wasn’t aware of or hadn’t considered. It was obvious from that moment that we should team up and we haven’t looked back since. We both have very different skills and personalities but as a team we’ve proved unstoppable.

Q: Your releases show that you have a tight knit staff working with you. Did you anticipate the international success of your projects?

A: Not a clue. Steve Street who masters all the material is my brother in law. He was a studio engineer in the late 70′s and 80′s here in Bristol and recorded some of the material first time around. He later worked for Tears For Fears as their in house engineer at the Wool hall. Steve was in bands in the 80′s and believe it or not has made two Top Of The Pops appearances! We couldn’t run the label in the way that we do without Steve’s expertise and experience but also his unbelieveable commitment to quality.

Q: Mike, give thanks for bringing the Reggae gems of Bristol to the world. It has rekindled true recognition of original and authentic Roots Reggae Musik. Keep Jah Fire burning and sharing what this world needs!!

A: Thank you. The pleasure I’ve had in the project is delivering the finished cds and vinyl to the original artists and seeing them smile and be proud. First time around nothing much happened for them, now in 2012 and beyond they are all achieving their little slice of recognition and success.

Interview by Robert “Higherman” Heilman (October 2012) | Pics courtesy of Bristol Archive Records
(Please do not reproduce without permission)

http://www.reggae-vibes.com

Bristol Archive Records’ stunning journey:

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:46:07 +0000

Bristol Archive Records came from seemingly nowhere when the label in early 2011 dropped the acclaimed compilation Bristol Reggae Explosion. This release has been followed by several hard to find roots reggae gems by Bristol-based artists. United Reggae got a chat with label owner Mike Darby to find out more about him and his many projects.

Meet Mike Darby, an independent financial advisor, golfer and married with two children. He’s also the owner, head of people relations, chief detective, finding new material, head of A&R and boss man at Bristol Archive Records and Sugar Shack Records. If that wasn’t enough, Mike Darby is also a Director at Archive Publishing.

He started his music career as a singer in 1979 with the reggae/two tone/ska band The Rimshots. The band put out a couple of singles and played with The Beat, The Bodysnatchers, Black Roots, Talisman and acclaimed dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Six years later he ventured into band management and launched Sugar Shack Records focusing on British rock artists. The label recently switched direction though, and from 2012 and onwards Sugar Shack will be putting out contemporary British reggae acts.

In music terms, Bristol is primarily known for the genre trip-hop and artists such as Tricky, Portishead and Massive Attack.The reggae scene has however also been thriving ever since the 70’s in different shapes and forms, and the main aim for Bristol Archive Records is to put many more or less unheard of reggae artists on the map and put the record straight.

“For me it’s the untapped and unreleased gems that have fallen through the cracks of time,” explains Mike Darby, and continues:

“The expectation is minimal from the artists so its amazing seeing these people get a break some 25 or 30 years later, smiling, being proud and getting excited about roots music again.”

And the response on the releases so far seems to please Mike. And one word sums it up well.

“Amazing,” he states, and explains:

“I can’t believe the response from all around the world. The records sell, the artists have a second chance and we are one big happy Bristol family – taking on the world and spreading our sounds.”

Thanks to the success of Bristol Archive Records Mike has also changed direction of his other label – Sugar Shack Records. Its first reggae release is the 12” Sound History Volume 1 by AMJ Dub Collective, released on 23^rd April 2012.

“The success of the Bristol Archive Records means that Black Roots, Talisman and now Joshua Moses are back out in force spreading their message via live performances. It just made sense to support them and their new material by having a record label that can work with them,” says Mike, and further explains the company’s direction:

“All things reggae from Bristol and the rest of the UK if we can discover the talent on our other label www.reggaearchiverecords.com .”

Now back to the reissue business, and Mike’s recipe for finding new material to put out.

“Word of mouth, referrals, putting out great looking records and being nice people.”

It sounds easy, but it probably also means a great deal of work to compile compilations with hard to find golden nuggets or unreleased gems, Mike pays special praise to his Reggae colleague Martin Langford aka Dubmart who compiles the track running orders and writes the amazing sleeve notes, plus Steve street who does most of the mastering.

Jah Praises from Revelation Rockers is one of those gems. It was recorded in the late 70’s, but didn’t see the light of day until March 2012.

“Shocked, stunned, excited and motivated,” says Mike about his reaction when he heard about Jah Praises.

But this album is far from an exception in the increasing Bristol Archive catalogue, and the flagship compilations Bristol Reggae Explosion 1, 2 & 3 includes a great deal of unissued material. To me, it’s remarkable that a tune like Rise Up from Joshua Moses has been lying around in a drawer somewhere.

And happily enough Mike reveals that there are more to come.

“Joshua Moses’ Joshua to Jashwha 30 Years in the Wilderness is a must buy for any roots fan. It’s stunning.”

www.bristolarchiverecords.com

www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk

www.reggaearchiverecords.com

www.archivepublishing,net

Taken from: http://unitedreggae.com/articles/n936/032312/interview-mike-darby-from-bristol-archive-records