14th December 2009

London, UK December 14^th, 2009 – Meet Dean Heslop.

A multi-talented singer songwriter. The fusion of pop, rock and indie in his debut album, Dean Heslop, has listeners flowing to his rhythmic sound.

Dean teamed up with producer Chris Dando to put together his much anticipated debut album. The soulful and spirited singer incorporates elements of pop, rock, indie and dance into his music.

Dean combines soulful vocals with rhythmic melodies and thoughtful prose. His album is set to drop December 14, 2009 and is a captivating and emotive mix of music and lyrics that observes and celebrates the joys and struggles of life and love.

The brand of music is a mixture of “pop, rock, indie, and dance,” says Dean. “The album is all about love on a broad, grand scale. It’s about people individually and collectively, romantically and platonically. Who can’t stand to benefit from love?”

Weedspell Records – 14^th December 2009.

Wallclothing Limited and Weedspell Records sign exclusive merchandise contract

Wallclothing Limited announced today that it will be the exclusive distributor of branded merchandise for artists signed to Weedspell Records.

London, UK 20^th October 2009 – Wallclothing Limited announced today that it will be the exclusive distributor of branded merchandise for artists signed to Weedspell Records. Just in time for the release of GuvNor’s charity single, “Remembrance Day” on the 9^th of November. A special limited edition commemorative T-Shirt has been commissioned and is available here in the Weedspell store.

"Fans of artists on Weedspell are seeking out product offerings other than just the cd’s," said James Wall, MD of Wallclothing. "Wallclothing’s global resources and creativity allows us to deliver the latest in merchandise with appealing designs."

"Wallclothing is the ideal partner because it provides the fans of Dean Heslop, Transplant Research and the other Weedspell artist’s quality products that are cool and different." said Jonathan Beckerlegge, co-owner of Weedspell’s parent company, Atlanta based ACAL Corporation.

As one of Europe’s leading promotional companies, Wallclothing will draw upon 15-plus years of experience to keep the selection interesting, in-stock, and into the customer's hands. Under the terms of the agreement, Wallclothing obtains the rights to market, promote, distribute and sell Weedspell artists branded merchandise on www.weedspell.com and other outlets. The agreement demonstrates Weedspell Records desire to offer fans the finest quality and selection of products and their confidence in Wallclothing to provide excellent customer service.

James Wall MD of Wallclothing added "We are thrilled to be associated with Weedspell Records and we’re excited to be working with the artists on the label."

25th September 2009

Remembrance Day

Since the days of the Summer of Love in ’69, it has always appeared uncool for rock bands to support conflict and war. The music industry, in general,  have portrayed the image of being anti war and pro peace. Well....Guvnor have never pretended to be cool and, as Stu says, they are too old to worry about image, so here we have a song written about The First World War that hopefully will help the boys and girls serving in Afghanistan. Weedspell are proud to say that 50p from every download of any of the Remembrance Day mixes will be donated to the Combat Stress & Help For Heroes charities.

Remembrance Day started in 1977 when a very youthful Stu was playing in his first band, Barracuda. They wrote a song called ‘A Soldiers Dream’ and bass guitarist Stu sat and wrote some words to the Freebird style outro. Unfortunately he was too shy to take them to the band and so they remained in his head for the next 20 years or so. Ten years ago, whilst helping his son with school homework about the First World War poets, the words came back to him and the framework of the song followed. When a short time later, Stu teamed up with Zammo as a song writing partnership, Remembrance Day was truly born.

To date the release of Remembrance Day  is Weedspell Records proudest moment. The shivers go down my back from the opening bars of Deans intro to the final tolling bell. As Stu says when he introduces it:

“this is a song inspired the the heroes of the past, and dedicated to the heroes of the present”

Louis

Weedspell Dogsbody

‘Pray They Survive’

It’s the evening of Friday 17^th July 2009, the weather gods have decided to bring a world of shit raining down on Sunderland. Special invited guests are arriving at Hi-Fidelity Studios, where Transplant Research are recording their first album. Tonight is their night; it’s their record label signing party. After a sterling support set from local Sunderland metallers Cruentus, Transplant Research hit the stage. This is their celebration. These are their fans. Once you "discover" Transplant Research, you run a 90% risk to remain perpetually infected by their simply brilliant, addictive and mighty music. After the sinister and mechanical intro, Johnny “War Machine” Wall, Nez Armstrong & Psycho Jai possess every living soul in the pit. Welcomed as stars, they are actually ready for success. Very soon they’ll be entering the studio to finish recording their first full length album for Weedspell. We hear the new songs today, and some of the live favourites that have cemented their fan base and those especially invited for tonight’s celebration. Songs that immediately leave an awesome "taste" in everyone’s inner being.

Front man Johnny Wall (considered by his peers as the best punk/metal/thrash singer in the North East) looks excellent, his trademark purple tartan kilt in full flow. The set list couldn’t be better; opened by the strong “Destroying Angel”; it’s a bringer of wrath and sorrow. “Black Budget Boys” follows. Its then we hear “Horse”, one of the live favourites of the last few years. CEO Simon Robinson commented on the performance of Horse, “I remember the first time I listened to this track in the Hi-Fidelity studios; it’s the same emotion that floods through me now, it’s this song that made me want to sign them. Horse is like having lava flow down your throat”. As the set continues, the audience are now deep in powerful feelings of bitterness, anger, pain and sorrow that morph in to strength and endurance.

After “Innocence Lost”, we hear the poetic “Angel Bleeding”, a song that will tear your heart out, show it to you, smile in your face and then stamp it into oblivion. “Stone Cold” is followed by the preview of “Bring Me Home”, which immediately sounds cadenced and addictive. This song will be one of the next toxins against which it's impossible to produce antibodies. We have moved time from the future to the past and returned to the future with the same intensity in just 3 songs. "Are you fuckers ready for Battle Brothers" asks sinister Johnny. “Battle Brothers” moves like an obscure mechanism and offers a noticeable guitar intensity played by Nez. In each song the interlace between the guitar, bass and Jai’s drumming is mesmerising. The work of guitarist Nez and Johnny’s bass is a dialogue, the rhythm and emotion of one flowing to the other and vice versa.  

We are already used to the constant and elastic contribution of drummer Psycho Jai to the rhythmic onslaught, and let's add that Jai’s backing vocals get more and more authority with each performance. The band is empowered by this Sunderland motor behind the skins, a drummer of true animal qualities.  Transplant Research drive into the final number, “Take a Bullet”, melody and intense feelings crown this performance.

This is not the end of the story; before the crowd could even start to demand more from the lads, Johnny came to the mic and reminded everyone that this wasn’t just another gig; this was their celebration at being signed to Weedspell Records. It was something they wanted to share with their guests. CEO of Weedspell Records, Simon Robinson, walked onto the stage with contract in hand. Johnny, Nez and Jai signed their contract in front of the audience, sharing their moment to great cheers of appreciation and respect. Everyone there were now part of Transplant Research’s moment.

A special gig topped off with the evitable encore. Paul Crake joined the band for the performance of “Axe Man”, supported by a warm expression of affection from the band and audience, and a firm live favourite with everyone.  A reprise of “Horse”, which will be the first single off the album and finally, “Red Messiah”, which had the entire room joining in. Finally, thanks were given by the band to the fans, and to all who have walked together with them in these past few years.

Congratulations to Transplant Research – Natural Born Motherfcukers.

INTERMISSION signs worldwide record deal with  Atlanta, GA based ACAL Media & Entertaimnents UK  label Weedspell Records.

It was announced today (26th June), the band, who's identity is a closly guarded secret and only known to a handful of label staff, have signed with Weedspell Records.

8th May 2009

Powder Jay is finishing the latest track for his next studio album, so far no track listing exists, and which tracks are to be included is still one of Weedspell’s and Jay’s best kept secrets.  Planning an early 2010 release.

"We're mixing right now," Jay tells powderjay.com. He describes his new music as "gritty. It's aggressive. It's like hip-hop straight-up. I just felt like I needed to go back to that raw, gritty hip-hop sound but try to find a way to bridge it with what's going on now. I’ve been doing a lot of work with Nate Monoxide, and that’s producing some great results"

Jay says he has worked with pals Nate Monoxide, Joey Dimes and J Metott on previous releases, but he didn't anticipate many other guests on this next release. "I don't really do a lot of collaborations in my solo releases. I keep it in house." Jay says he's been working on this next release for the better part of a year, coming up with 40 songs -- 15 of which should make the album, the rest used for mix tapes or B-sides etc. Weedspell Records are considering putting out an EP before the Christmas period 2009, give everyone a taste of things to come; this rumour is still to be confirmed.

"Yeah, there's plenty of music to be done," Jay says. "So we can get out there and pull off live shows, and get this shit out there. That would be dope."

26 th April 2009

2009 is turning into "Metal Mayhem" at HiFidelity Studios in Sunderland as Transplant Research strolled in to wreak havoc.

Sunderland's premier metal outfit Transplant Research, have recorded the first five tracks for their forthcoming album. Freshly signed to Weedspell Records Ltd, this will be a release to make you run crying to your mommy.

Singer and bassist Johnny Wall said "We're aiming high with this album. It already has our label Weedspell Records chomping at the bit to release, but we're taking our time. We've sunk a lot of time and effort into this album and we've still got more to do."

Working with Dave Dorn at Hifidelity in Sunderland, the aim is to achieve a sound that will see them transverse all boundaries. The band want something to take their fans to place no man will ever forget. The result? As Dave Dorn has commented, "The opening seconds of the opening track will cause any listener to have an involuntary bowl movement, pure brutality!"

We at Weedspell describe them as "experts and instructors in a shit-kicking factory!” This is no understatement, but there's much more to this band than raw power. With Jai Wall, a drummer - part man, part machine with brain damage behind the skins; guitar and vocal assaults from Nez Armstrong; solid bass and vocals to make you bleed from Johnny, these guys have got a formula that will make you convulse into submission.

Keep an eye open, an ear to the ground, this summer, a Transplant Research assault is coming.

10th April 2009

It has just been confirmed by Weedspell Records. Dean is to release his first e.p. It will contain 4 tracks which may be included in Deans first full album, to be released at the end of the year. Details as follows;