Welcome to the online home of Becki Biggins, a Grammy-Nominated, No. 1-selling singer, songwriter and saxophonist.
Have a look around, listen to tracks and watch videos, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if anything particularly takes your fancy, or if you have any queries. Enjoy!
I’ve been recording some of my songs at home. The idea is that the songs, the recordings and generally as much as possible is home-made and the recording of my first song, Just for a Day, kicks us off nicely!
Here’s a little film about the recording process – I talk us through some of the instruments that were considered for the song (mostly bought from toyshops), how they were used, and the lengths I took to find just the right sound (including raiding the glassware cabinet…) Enjoy!
Hello there,
If this is the first time you’ve visited, you’re very welcome! So are your comments, and your ideas.
Anyway, this is a short post about what I’m currently up to (sitting at my kitchen table, drinking tea), and what should come out of it.
Mostly, my days at the moment are spent in my small studio/study/office, recording the songs written over the past couple of years. As things stand at the moment, the aim is to release an EP of my own original songs, in around May, and to release a single at the same time. Currently the trouble is in deciding which song should be the first single (and maybe you could help me out with that decision when you’ve heard them), but actually I should be concentrating on recording the things. So, much recording is going on. It’s sometimes quite lonely, as I’m recording most of the parts myself, but happily my boyfriend Andy does stick his head around the door occasionally to cast an ear over what I’ve recorded that day. So, recording.
Secondly, a tour is in the planning. Happily, my funding application was successful, and Jazz Services (via the Arts Council) have awarded me some money. I’ve got 5 confirmed dates and some still in discussion; the confirmed locations will be in Shrewsbury (AKA The Shrews, my home town), London, Maidstone, Bristol and Cheltenham, and the ones that aren’t confirmed – well, I won’t raise your hopes yet with locations. These will all go up on the dates page asap and again, the tour will be starting in May.
Thirdly, I’m making some of my own short films. I’ve interviewed my friend Emily Wright from Moonlight Saving Time, Katya Gorrie from Moscow Drug Club, Ross Dines – he’s my great mate but is also the music manager for the Pizza Express group. You can check out those interviews on the Vids page. Also, just finished is a piece on the history of the entertainment industry in Soho, London, and that will be released very soon. Yesterday was very exciting, as I started a little film introducing the percussion instruments I’ll be using in my new track – the picture on this page is a screen-shot from the film, hence the ridiculous facial expression…
Lastly, I’m pondering how to pay for the things I can’t do myself. I’m very much a DIY, make-do-and-mend, crafty person, but there are apparently some things you need an expert for, like mastering (that’s finishing off your songs so that radio stations will play them), radio plugging (apparently you can’t just walk into Radio 2 and demand they play your song) and I think I’ll need some money in order to pay my band for things like festivals which don’t always pay. And if they do, the pay isn’t great. I’m thinking about Pledge music. If you’ve not come across this before, it’s a way of getting people involved in your music by asking them for financial support. In exchange, they get some cool exclusive things, like perhaps a hand-written lyrics sheet, or a mention on the album. Alright, these are boring examples, and I’ll think of FAR better ones, but you get my drift. If you have any thoughts on fan funding, or if you’ve had experience with Pledge (not the furniture polish – but the thought made me chuckle…) please do get in touch on the comments below.
And that’s it for now – enough to keep me going. This is, of course, as well as my bunting, baking and knitting (which seems to be increasingly taking over my life) and, if you’re interested, I’ll post some pictures and videos of my crafty activities too!
Take care, and please do get in touch.
Becki x
Here’ s my interview with Ross Dines – he’s the Music Manager for the Pizza Express group, booking in hundreds of gigs each year. If you’d ever wanted to know how to get a job as a music manager, or to get a gig at Pizza Express, this is one for you!
I also get to the bottom of dealing with those rather difficult musicians (although of course, only a couple exist…) and answer the question – is a manager really necessary?
All music is taken from my album, The Positive, which is available here.
Here’s my second foray into interviews! This time, I’m speaking to the lovely Katya Gorrie, of the band Moscow Drug Club. They’re from Bristol – ace. They play a brilliant combination of gypsy, swing and dirty-sounding Euro-folk – fab. They mix their own music with that of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits – could this band get any cooler?
The interview was filmed at my favourite bar, Hyde & Co in Bristol, so thanks to them for letting us use the bar, and it was filmed by Dan Stevenson and Andy Torbet. Thanks Chaps!
Enjoy, and don’t forget to share!
P.S. The next interview has already been filmed(!) and so will be out very shortly… But do you know who it’s with?!
