BILLY THE MOUNTAIN: First Bangkok Band To Break Big On The Net?

Drifting to Valhalla, the new Billy The Mountain CD has enjoyed a 'phenomenal' reception on the Internet since its release in April and went 'live' on iTUNES around the world June 11, the band’s management say.

Billy The Mountain are based in Bangkok.

Band manager Tom Gray told the Bangkok Post: "The band's music has enjoyed phenomenal success since the CD went up on the Net and we've shifted a load of CDs and individual tracks. On one site alone - www.noisehead.com - we've had more than 80,000 listeners across the whole album...and all the tracks bar one -  including 'Mem Will Dance' and 'Love'- have gone 'GOLD' already - the Net equivalent of having seven Number One singles on one album!

"While all that was going on, the band's London office has done all the legwork to get the album to a bigger audience and from June 11 we went live on iTUNES stores around the world - iTunes U.S., iTunes Australia/N.Z., iTunes Japan, iTunes Canada, iTunes UK/European Union and then on other important Net retail outlets including Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, GroupieTunes, Amazon MP3, Lala and Shockhound. That means the band and its music is now represented on nearly 30 sites worldwide now with a potential audience of hundreds of millions!"

"Sales should go up a gear now we hope, as most of what we earn goes to the band's own special charity," Gray said.

Gray says the band has an eclectic rock-jazz-blues appeal.

"BILLY THE MOUNTAIN were born in the blues and then took a breath of Steely Dan, Little Feat, Dylan and Pink Floyd and came out the other end smiling. You'll hear that journey in their music which is delivered by some very fine musicians too. They say it’s great Sunday morning music!”

The band comprises Alex Pithie, a Scot, Dane Nicolai Kehlet and a team of seasoned session players. The band has embarked on a plan to supply three albums over a two-year period and to tour the albums internationally while retaining rights to ticket, merchandise and album sales on the road.

Gray of Acmebroadc@st Management Inc. says: “And this band will sell. We reckon they are the Pink Floyd of this new century - and throw in a touch of Little Feat and Steely Dan and you have a very powerful combination of grooves and rock steady tunes supporting cool lyrics and awesome musicianship - no shredders and no predictable cock-rock neither," says

“To great response, we ran some of the tunes ‘naked’ on the band’s own www.myspace.com/thebillymountain site and then the band - principally Nicolai Kehlet - took over production and the result is an album of eight or nine very special songs. And I have to say the big labels are looking to get their hands on this cool new music. But the band wants this to go to market via the Internet and we support that idea given that we have little alternative,” he grinned.

“But the songs are awesome and I predict this album - this breath of musical fresh air - is going to be a classic!”

Producer Kehlet says the first album - Drifting To Valhalla - was written and recorded in Asia and features the songs and vocals of Alex Zander Ran woven into a funky, laid-back fusion of blues and progressive rock ‘remniscent of days gone by, but with a modern production feel,’ he says.

“We had a lot fun producing the album at my own Paradise Studio here in Bangkok and we work well together with Zander’s great lyrics and tunes, and dare I say my ear for a good beat and an FM-radio-friendly vibe. The truth is we write interesting stuff together and by that I mean we love our own music and play it all the time on our own iPods, or in the car and at home. And if people want to buy it then that’s great too!

"Our fans tease us that we are the Floyd or Steely Dan of the 21st century and that’s crazy and scary…we are all Floyd and Steely Dan fans of course, but they are like gods to us…the idea that we are composers on the same planet is almost ridiculous. But we like the compliment that we might sound a bit like Little Feat and our new stuff is definitely going there - if anywhere at all.”

The band is already working on their second album working at Kehlet’s Paradise Productions Studio in Bangkok.

Ran describes the new work as “driven by a desire to not let Lowell George be forgotten and everything we are writing right now is kind of a tribute to him and his gift as a groovemeister, singer and slide god.”

“There’s a bit of Hendrix in there too and if we are exposing our origins and ages then so be it. It’s about time! I grew up listening and playing while those guys…Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Alex Harvey and Jimi and Zepp were changing the world and we're going back consciously or otherwise to a time when music was new and adventurous and worth queuing to see live. I just hope we can do the times justice.”

In late July Billy The Mountain won the www.BandForThe Day.com award just 48 hours after featuring on the site’s top ten UK chart. The band are currently recording in Bangkok’s Paradise Studios with Danish producer Nicolai Kehlet who did the honours on the band’s first album Drifting To Valhalla.

The BFTD site confirmed that, “Billy The Mountain has won Band For The Day and from everyone on the BFTD team, we offer our best wishes to everyone involved in their success. We hope (now) they will not only be seen and heard by thousands of people, but that they will sell a large number of their BFTD tracks on the day as our featured artist.”

Band manager Tom Gray said the award meant the band are now featured on the homepage of Band For The Day and that the winning song ‘Strange World’ now returns 71 pct of potential profits from sales on the site.

“It’s a great honour to be acknowledged by such an important music site and we will make the most of our day in the sun - telling everyone that we are today’s Band For The Day! It also means each time we are BFTD we have the opportunity to maximise our votes for possible inclusion in the Hall Of Fame and every single listen and purchase of our songs and Spikes and SMS votes will carry towards our final three song package vote total.

“And the icing on the cake is our kid’s charity makes more income from sales on this Band For The Day feature.”

 

BILLY THE MOUNTAIN

INTERVIEW

 

Why this name?

 

BILLY THE MOUNTAIN is the name of an epic Frank Zappa song and while you are warned to never use a song name to name your band, Zappa and his influence is way too important for us to give a sh*** about petty conventions - just like Frank didn't.

 

Do you play live?

 

We play live in Bangkok, in Asia and our master plan is to stay on the road travelling the world rasing money for kids.

 

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?

 

It's a whole new playing field. We worry about the quality of sound and stealing artists licks and mixes but this is the future and we sure hope it pans out that the musicians win a little more than usual. We have control to a greater extent but that don't pay the bills!

 

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?

 

We would because we are genuine artist, musicians who just live to play...plus we raising funds for kids to live better and having a deal gets the economics squared away and gets us playing 365 a year...and recording every chance we got..we got a hundred songs waiting!

 

Band History:

 

We are a progressive R&B rock band band assembled from all over the world and based in Bangkok where the vibe is unique and perfect for songwriting as you watch the world unwind in front of your very eyes. We also have musicians on 'standby' around the world ready to join the core band when we visit a country or region and give it up for the kids. Buy our music - feed a kid!"

 

Your influences?

 

We love Steely Dan, Little Feat, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits, Miles Davis. We love the blues and G Love and the Special Sauce...and Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys and Stevie Ray Vaughan..and jazz...and great rock from the likes of Toto and Led Zeppelin...we love all music.

 

How Do You See The Future?

 

We just want to tour our music. Take it around the world. Make money for the kids. The objective of our charity is to help fund the infrastructure to provide potable or drinkable water for all of the children in the world…not tart up our hotel or flaunt our assets in the face of deadly poverty. We are a band first and foremost and essentially in love with our own music then all music and then with whatever we do as a band to get your songs across to the potential audience which is one punter to 100 million punters.

 

Right now we enjoy a comfy cult status kind of vibe with thousands of fans on the Internet and more and more are finding out about us, pushing us out to the masses so to speak. That’s cool but a bit scary too. It’s almost better to be under the surface because we just get to write new material and play and record and plan what to do when the so-called Tipping Point arrives - if it ever does.

 

We’re no kid band with loads of corny licks and fancy clobber. We’re a rock band with roots in the blues and jazz and with songs that often border on pop too. We worry more about which guitar to use for a solo more than what we wear! And that’s what we love about being Billy The Mountain - you can’t just pigeon-hole us willy-nilly.

 

Our inspirations, our influences come from all over the musical universe, and if we sound like anyone it’s a happy accident - but I don’t think we do. I sing like me and we write like Billy The Mountain. What we dig is you can listen to us in your car, or stretched out on the sofa, fixing the car, washing the dishes, doing the ironing, surfing the Net…it’s great music to accompany life itself…and that’s where the songs come from too…life.

 

Like I said we are not young bucks trying to shred a path to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We’re past that and try to find music and songs and a vibe any music fan can enjoy and relate to. I bet Lennon and McCartney never sat down and wrote stuff to win awards or impress their peers. They just wrote songs spontaneously that made them smile first and that they hoped might make their fans smile too. We are not up there of course, but we are on the same wavelength … we like it, hope you do too.”

 

Favorite spot?

 

Our favourite spot is Vienna in the spring time - Bangkok or New York in the fall...or London in Summer..and Munich in Winter...and Paris any time!

 

Equipment used:

 

We use Fender, EMG, Suhr, Martin, Taylor, Gibson and PRS guitars. Custom built Billy The Mountain amps, Vox AC 30s, NNG, Fender Deluxe amps and all the usual good stuff bought or hired in

 

Anything else...?

 

We use Emma, T-Rex, Keeley, Analog Man, Jim Dunlop, Full Tone, Mad Professor, Austone, Hot Cake, Boss guitar FX pedals. Monster cables, NNG cables, Blue Sky Studio Monitors, Peluso Tube Microphones, George L cable and plugs, Shure mikes.