It's been a busy summer for us so far and we thought a short update on our activity was long overdue...
We've been, as most of you will know, recording for our debut album and we are chuffed to bits that this is now complete and it's sounding absolutely stunning. There is still much to do of course such as the final engineering and mastering which is taking place this month but all is scheduled for it's release in the first week of October.
We're keeping the album title under wraps for just a little while longer just so we can time the announcements to coincide with the feature track/single release later this Summer so watch this space, you'll know fairly soon. Promise.
Some advance notification also that we have booked two shows, one in London and one in Southend, to launch the album so that's something else we are really looking forward to as we cannot wait to start playing live again.
So that's it for now, but as things hot up over the next few weeks, we'll keep you informed on all the exciting news.
PR
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It was Wednesday, it was Chelmsford, it was a new venue for us. Chelmsford was also closed it seems:-/! Even our jaunt to the local burger establishment (Burger King this time around, we know how to live!) didn't reveal much activity. In fact even in there we were the only customers they had! So anyone familiar with John Wyndham's, The Day Of The Triffids, could have mistakenly assumed we were dealing with a sudden apocalypse in this mid Essex county town. In some respects, it was actually quite spooky.
Not to be deterred we followed the tumble weed back to the venue and waited to woo the vying crowd with our set. Fortunately 'the crowd' were everybody we brought in. Yep everybody - That is no-one visiting the venue itself, no fans(not 1) from the other band on the night and, lets face it, not even a poster in the venue announcing our impending arrival. What do these venues expect to happen if they don't market??
Nevertheless our crowd enjoyed themselves and the sound, with a knowledgeable sound man, in truth was very good.
And we even had a treat for the night:
Anybody desperate to hear a partial acapella version of Dancing Children missed a magnificent opportunity on Wednesday night when Nick's vocals, accompanied by the rhythm track only, brought the house down in Chelmsford for most of the first 2 verses!... Myself and Si caught up eventually once we'd worked out where we were in the song... but Nick was doing so well, we thought he deserved the glory, and Si needed to update his Facebook status anyway :-)
Hey, and we even were encouraged to do an Encore... And when we started it (Waiting To Cross The Road) we had a shout of 'You've saved the best 'til last!'... So why did we drop it from the set.. Oh I know 'Heat of the Sun'... too many songs you see and not enough time.
We take a break from the live scene now to concentrate on our album recording. More on that soon.
Bye for now :-)
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So, gig number 4 in 2011 was with us. A cold fresh night on the seafront in Southend and an audience younger than you’d usually see at a Protégé Reign gig.A nice time to reach a new generation and with the venue being Chinnery’s, a great arena in which to do it.
A stage fit for heroes, a lighting rig to complement and a man on the sound desk who knows how to set a level and deliver sound check quality music during our whole set.Thank you Steve.
Chinnery’s has hosted the best. We were glad to be in such company.
Sandwiched between two bands who delight in travel – “I prefer Space Travel” came on before us and “Tha London Undaground” followed, Protégé Reign brought the audience an electronica moment in time. And that moment in time is “now”.
Of course we draw our inspiration from Numan, Kraftwerk and others from the influential ‘80’s but with the addition of Simon’s haunting indie guitar sound over Nigel’s keys and synth, tonight we stamped a new genre on the pscyche of our audience. Our blend of music is now being described as new romantic indie. We like that – let the genre grow and grow.
The Heat of the Sun had its first live outing tonight. A song packed with emotional energy drawn from reflections on infidelity and duplicity. As Nick says when he introduces us….we sing songs about hope, despair, love…loves lost, loves haunted. The Heat of the Sun comes from the catalogue of loves lost and haunted….find me a single person who’s not been there.
We’re proud of this new song – a refuge for the hurt.
Rain, mid way through our set stopped the crowd. Drink orders at the bar were temporarily frozen. This beautiful song found new admirers tonight and by the second verse young minds at Chinnery’s had been captivated. If you haven’t listened to Rain for a while click on the song on this website. You’ll see what we mean.
Are Friends Electric was again applauded as our penultimate song and Dancing Children with Simon’s chiming strings ringing out completed our set.
Thanks to all our followers who turned out to see us tonight and welcome to the new young things who hear us for the first time.
This was the best of our intentions. Our next is in 10 days’ time.
Come see us in Chelmsford next on March 16th.
Set List
Soulfinder, The Heat of the Sun, Sensitivity, Rain, State of Love, Are Friends, Dancing Children
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So, we found ourselves then, on a dreary and rainy Wednesday night in Romford. Not altogether a mecca of midweek nightlife but there were a few that had braved the Essex towns unfounded reputation to come and see us and we salute those that made our performance, as always, worthwhile.
We had loads of time between arrival and performing so, soundcheck completed, we plodded on down to our pre show meal. OK, lets be clear, McDonalds is a meal of sorts and is generally the only eating establishment within close proximity of where we are gigging..
Actually, there were rather more punters in Mac'y D's than the venue at this stage but this surely was the draw of the Under 15 youth club that was set up in there. They were everso vibrant, throwing straws and sqeezing their spots, they were having a great time. We, without police escort, returned to the venue and watched an excellent debut performance from EKM. I think we shall do more shows with them in the future.
It's strange how each gig brings something new to think about and this was no exception. State of Love is beginning to get some excitement around it and, being the oldest song in our set, has therefore taken a while to grow on people... but actually, it's quite a good song!
Now all too often we have cramped stages and irregular pa systems and indifferent house sound engineers. But this venue was set up nicely with both a good sound, decent lighting and room to move on a reasonable stage (albeit a bit 'wobbly' in places).
At least Nick and Simon could jump around a little which does add to our shows for visual excitement!
Of course, with just ourselves and Electro Kill Machine on the bill we did not have the pesky drum kit crowding the place and taking up unnecessary room :-) Shhh... there may be a drummer listening...
Set List:
Soulfinder
Waiting To Cross The Road
Sensitivity
Mad World
Rain
State Of Love
Are Friends Electric
Dancing Children
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The heart of West End nightlife. It's theatre land. Full of beautiful people melting into a rich tapestry of talent and culture. Flashing lights and buzzing diverse atmosphere this is the entertainment centre of the Capital. Deep in the basement of a pub, in the shadow of the Trocadero, and around the corner to Ronnie Scott's Club, were an Essex Electro band playing it's part. Protege Reign said 'hello' to London's West End and are priviledged to say they were joined in the evening by no less than Britney Spears.
Sounds evocative doesn't it? It's easy to forget some of this when you get stung for parking and extortionate price of beer, get home in the early hours of the morning to ask questions about a Rock N Roll nightlife...so lets take time out and reflect...
Yep!! We just played the West End!!!
Well a bit of it anyway. Supported by a great crowd(that are making our shows so pleasurable)we braved the awkward stage set up, not so great sound mixing and awful lighting to deliver a 40 minute set of pure electro indulgence. All in the heart of the West End of London(I think I mentioned that).
Earlier, travelling to London for the gig, we discussed the merits of reducing the stack of gear we take on the road. Not only so we can use the rear view mirror of the car, or to preserve our backs, or the time it takes setting up and setting down, no. The real benefit is not worrying whether the venue will actually have a stage bigger enough to take all our equipment! This time we couldn't even have the synth rig on stage, there was just not enough room, so I set up to one side at the front. Problems with this- 1.Not great for band chemistry and 2.Being absolutely in front of the belting speakers means I can hear nothing today!
It posed additional technical problems, my vocal mic was panned to the other side to avoid feedback- so I couldn't hear what I was singing- and with it being SO LOUD right behind me I couldn't really hear anything other than drums! Frankly, for other reasons both Simon and Nick were experiencing similar issues so we played most of the set by memory rather than organically by ear. We did OK though...after all we have played them before...except the cover of the Tears For Fears classic Mad World. We're sure something was out of tune, but nobody seemed to notice(perhaps they thought it was our PR take on it and clapped and cheered politely in all the right places :-0 ) - cos they do that in the West End(I think I mentioned that)
Is it too early to talk of PR classics? We've played them hundreds of times so to us we have some PR signature tunes that encapsulate our sound. So I guess then for now we shall refer to them as crowd favourites. Rain, State of Love and Soulfinder are always well received. This time we finished the show with our Numan cover of Are Friends Electric? Equally as popular, still not dropped from the set :-)
So we had dancing, singing to the odd chorus and camara flashes(which given the 'very dark' stage was really quite useful!). No smoke machine though, shame, we like smoke machines, odd for the West End(I think I mentioned that)
We had though a brill brill time both during and after the gig and met some wonderful supporters. We really are making some great friends at the moment. It's awesome. We cannot wait for the Romford show now.
Ah, almost forgot, then there was Britney at our gig. Regrettably for me I didn't see her as I was positioned poorly but Si spotted her straight away during our performance of 'Rain' and struggled to concentrate on playing. He didn't let us down though. I couldn't see her because from where I was I could only see the side of the TV, but Si could watch the whole of the Toxic video as he looked straight at the screen!
I said it was diverse in the West End. Oh yes, we played the West End(but I may have already mentioned that).
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OK Lets Go!!
That is how Nick, after first describing our blend of electro pop to the anticipating audience, launched us into his first show with the band. With continued energy and full on commitment.. it was a mighty fine debut.
The Underbelly is an amazing venue. Conjuring up images of gothic pleasure parlours and sophisticated clubbing, you spot those new to the venue with ease as they gaze in marvel at the imagery on the ceiling or point with astonishment at the unusual stage scene... that of a Victorian drawing room with a large gold framed (not real gold of course) mirror that hangs on the stage's main wall. Very disconcerting though it is when you spot yourself in it while performing and realise it's therefore been a good Christmas.... So back to the diet then.
It could have been so different, only the night before the whole of Hoxton Square lost all electricity power. Playing by candlelight is possible... but powering up synths, electric guitars and PA systems cannot be done on AA batteries or by clockwork!
It was a fabulous crowd. We took a fair number of our own (from Southend, Cambridge, Brentwood, Grays, Haverhill, High Wycombe to name a few that the memory allows) and the venue was packed with a buzzing and excited audience.
In truth it was a good line up on the night with very good performances from the bands that began the evening so everyone was pretty warmed up before we took stage. So with us on form and the crowd on form, this was gonna be a good night!
We began the set with a couple of crowd favourites before introducing a new song for the night. 'Falling' is a very tender song that we had hoped to showcase at our last gig in November. Slower than most but the song still has the very recognisable PR blend of guitars and electronics. We shall certainly be playing it again. What followed is quickly becoming a signature tune of our live sets and so the place exploded when the unmistakeable opening bars of 'Are Friends Electric?' began. It will be difficult to drop this number to keep things fresh but fortune favours the brave as they say...
Nick then reminded us all just how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to be in places like this, enjoying the evening and certainly for us the pleasure of performing. The playing of 'Rain' therefore was a very humbling experience and extremely thought provoking.
The pace picked up then for 'State Of Love' and the vibe of the song together with the on stage connection made bewteen Si and Nick really encouraged the crowd to pretty much bounce on the floor, which made the yells for one more song at the end of our set all the more genuine. Their quest for more was only thwarted by the resident DJ playing a classic Tears For Fears number to subdue their cries!
This was a great gig then and one which we thoroughly enjoyed (though we do wish the stage was a little bigger when there are 5 bands on for the night). So now also is a great opportunity to say a BIG thank you to all those that travelled to see us and a massive embrace to all the new friends we made on the night.
It's easy to forget sometimes why we do this... The reception we received at this gig reminds us, keeps us sane, and hungers us for the next show at The Comedy Pub Sat 5th Feb. We plan something new there too. Come share some PR uniqueness... ticket reservation already available.
Once again, Thank you.
Si, Ni & Nick
Set List:
Waiting To Cross The Road
Soulfinder
Falling
Are Friends Electric?
Rain
State Of Love
Dancing Children
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2011 starts and PR have some very exciting changes afoot. The band sees Nick Burrows joining Protege Reign as lead vocalist and frontman for the band.
A nomadic singer, Nick has led bands around the UK in his vocal travels. Axe and Straw Dogs in Ipswich; Snake Jives and Standard Practice in Nottingham; Seven Yen in Worcester; Pondlife in Wales.
Nick's influences include Carter USM, Arcade Fire, Killers, Teardrop Explodes, Feeder and some of the great electronic bands of the 80's - Human League, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads.....
His experience of fronting bands and his professional approach were great attractions when deciding how best to approach our future.
Deep in his vocal tones and piercing in his gaze, Nick might remind you of a David Byrne/Gary Numan hybrid and has impressed immensely during rehearsals for our first show of the New Year at the Hoxton Underbelly, London on Jan 8th. His quick grasp of the PR material and strong vocal delivery will propel the band to it's next inevitable level.
Focus has clearly been on preparation for the London show but recording will begin again shortly so we shall have some material which includes Nick appearing very soon.
When Protege Reign are not rehearsing, writing or gigging you'll find Nick in the world of building business brands (including Protege Reign), supporting Ipswich Town (we could be cruel here), cuddling his wife Louise or taking his two girls to their acting and singing shows.
These lines of mine, take time... (now where have we heard those words before :-) )
Final footnote:
The band of course are extremely excited about what lies ahead but it would be remiss not to say a big thank you to Jai who parted company with the band a few weeks before Christmas. His contribution in 2010 is very much appreciated and we wish him well for the future.
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Testing Testing 1,2,3
That's not a soundcheck cry.. that's to us as individuals within the band. M25 traffic, A13 traffic and roadworks meant I arrived just a tad later than planned in a bit of a panic and rush! To be greeted on route, by the way, with the news Simon had been in bed all day with suspected tonsillitis and was 'drugging himself up' with un Rock N' Roll Ibruprofen to get him through the gig! And the final piece of our 'testing' night.. I'll touch on a little later.. :-)
Eventually then we were all set, having climbed the stage on numerous occassions (they could really do with steps up to the stage at The Railway) we completed our sound check which gave we trust a pleasing balance for our gig. We were happy then, but decided to be fair to Simon and cut a little shorter our planned 40 min set.
Our show began at 8.30PM and 'high' Simon was buzzing by this stage albeit having access to a strategically placed table to be used as a prop to lean against should he fall into relapse and a glass of water for good measure. You see this is show business! All was good for me despite getting a bracelet (yes a bracelet) caught between 2 keys during the opening parts of 'Soulfinder' - which gave me quite a stretch to C# before i could free myself! To be honest if the bracelet wasn't going to get me there was every chance the myriad of mic and audio leads surrounding my feet were going to entangle my legs like some grizzley from Dr Who!
Now the sound was loud. Usually when on stage you don't notice these things because unless the stage monitors are wrapped around your waist all that you get is a 'flavour' of what is being presented rather than the finished article as such. No technicality overload required for this space really but monitors are frequently tailored for your instrument so they tend to be instrument weighted accordinging - I would hear more keys, Si more guitar and so on. What I did notice though was how far away the crowd was. OK there were a number lounging on the seats that surround the main floor but the bulk of the audience, all totally engrossed on our performance nonetheless were about 40 ft away!.. So I reckon it may have been rather loud near the front :-)
So 3 songs in to the set we reach our cover for the night 'Are friends Electric?'. Past readers of the Protege Reign blog may remember the odd difficulty for Jai in keeping this song in his head. For some reason, beyond the wit of modern science, certain words tend to inexplicably disappear into the ether leaving the poor chap frustratingly searching for inspiration..
So test number 3 of the night was an instrumental version of the song!.. Which in itself was not difficult, as long as he returned to the stage to complete our set once we finished! He did of course, and finished strongly with the Phoenix FM Session version of 'Dancing Children'.
The crowd were appreciative and, as always, makes the whole event so much more enjoyable for us and we are very grateful to all those that braved the wooden 3 tier staircase to PR heaven :-)... Shame the £1 drinks were either Pale Ale or Mann's Brown Ale... does anyone drink that stuff anymore?.. I guess probably not if they're selling it for a quid!
So that was The Railway. We'll be back, with or without an autocue...
Ni, Si and Jai
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Well, we came home to Southend, we played our favorite venue, we most definately rocked a powerful set and we undoubtedly won a few more friends. It was just a great gig.
Jai was in top form, dressed as if he'd come straight from a wedding he held the crowd well and even found time to once again threaten them with violence if anyone shouted Sugar Babes when we start 'Are Friends Electric' (it's a strange habit Jai :-)) Ah yes, 'Are Friends Electric'... It may have sounded better with the extra unplanned, unrehearsed, incorrect additional 2 bars at the start.. ooops... no-one noticed though... it was filled well.
Resisting the chants to strip (after all he was only taking his tie off!) Jai demonstrated front man prowess by adopting a small collection of groupies from about the second song in... then woo'd them with the haunting 'Rain'.
It's a big stage at Chins so loads more room for movement (as long as you're not tied to a bank of synths of course) so, without actually moonwalking, Jai and Si wandered a bit (in a ministry of funning walks way at times).. which was nice, one can get lonely you know!
Here's a question... how does Simon scissor kick and not occasionally land on his extensive pedal board and box of tricks?... It's an art!.. or luck.
So almost the final word about the good looking synth guy...he did OK.. :-)
So that was it chinnery's. Without meaning to sound self indulgent, PR is designed for nights like that; thumping synths, cutting powerful guitars and epic songs purposely delivered by strong vocals; all presented through a whopping 6000 watts of body bouncing PA. The final words should be... Welcome to Protege Reign..
SET LIST for info:
Soulfinder
State of love
Rain
Are friends electric?
Waiting to cross the road
Sensitivity
Dancing Children
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Oooh how posh !
Great little venue in new trendy Hoxton.
We just about got there in time for the sound check.. but didn't really need to rush had plenty of time. Getting the gear downstairs is always fun at venues but having glass doors at the bottom of them was brave we think :-)
Parking was a breeze... if you wanted to pay £4 per hour.. so we made it difficult for ourselves instead and trekked a mile to save some pennies.
After we were set on the stage (which resembled an elegant parlour really - massive brush velvet curtains draped around the playing area and a large Georgian brass framed mirror on the wall) we thought we'd have a drink. So, remembering the parlour reference, we dispensed with our smoking jackets and sat on the sumptious sofas and thrones around the bar - YES THRONES!
An early accoustic no show meant we could hit the stage a little earlier and so we were on about a quarter to nine. Nothing to complain about our set from our perspective though in truth a little louder would have been nice. Oh, except it's strange when you hit a keyboard and expect to hear something.. that doesn't happen! We must fix that! Good response from the paying public for all our songs and even had 3 dancers for the Numan cover!... not sure we've had dancers before..
So next stop Chinnery's... Punk Night!... this could be fun...
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Protege Reign / Blog
Update
It's been a busy summer for us so far and we thought a short update on our activity was long overdue...
We've been, as most of you will know, recording for our debut album and we are chuffed to bits that this is now complete and it's sounding absolutely stunning. There is still much to do of course such as the final engineering and mastering which is taking place this month but all is scheduled for it's release in the first week of October.
We're keeping the album title under wraps for just a little while longer just so we can time the announcements to coincide with the feature track/single release later this Summer so watch this space, you'll know fairly soon. Promise.
Some advance notification also that we have booked two shows, one in London and one in Southend, to launch the album so that's something else we are really looking forward to as we cannot wait to start playing live again.
So that's it for now, but as things hot up over the next few weeks, we'll keep you informed on all the exciting news.
PR
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Gig Review - Barhouse, Chelmsford
It was Wednesday, it was Chelmsford, it was a new venue for us. Chelmsford was also closed it seems:-/! Even our jaunt to the local burger establishment (Burger King this time around, we know how to live!) didn't reveal much activity. In fact even in there we were the only customers they had! So anyone familiar with John Wyndham's, The Day Of The Triffids, could have mistakenly assumed we were dealing with a sudden apocalypse in this mid Essex county town. In some respects, it was actually quite spooky. Not to be deterred we followed the tumble weed back to the venue and waited to woo the vying crowd with our set. Fortunately 'the crowd' were everybody we brought in. Yep everybody - That is no-one visiting the venue itself, no fans(not 1) from the other band on the night and, lets face it, not even a poster in the venue announcing our impending arrival. What do these venues expect to happen if they don't market?? Nevertheless our crowd enjoyed themselves and the sound, with a knowledgeable sound man, in truth was very good. And we even had a treat for the night: Anybody desperate to hear a partial acapella version of Dancing Children missed a magnificent opportunity on Wednesday night when Nick's vocals, accompanied by the rhythm track only, brought the house down in Chelmsford for most of the first 2 verses!... Myself and Si caught up eventually once we'd worked out where we were in the song... but Nick was doing so well, we thought he deserved the glory, and Si needed to update his Facebook status anyway :-) Hey, and we even were encouraged to do an Encore... And when we started it (Waiting To Cross The Road) we had a shout of 'You've saved the best 'til last!'... So why did we drop it from the set.. Oh I know 'Heat of the Sun'... too many songs you see and not enough time. We take a break from the live scene now to concentrate on our album recording. More on that soon. Bye for now :-)
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Gig Review - Chinnery's Southend
So, gig number 4 in 2011 was with us. A cold fresh night on the seafront in Southend and an audience younger than you’d usually see at a Protégé Reign gig.A nice time to reach a new generation and with the venue being Chinnery’s, a great arena in which to do it. A stage fit for heroes, a lighting rig to complement and a man on the sound desk who knows how to set a level and deliver sound check quality music during our whole set.Thank you Steve. Chinnery’s has hosted the best. We were glad to be in such company. Sandwiched between two bands who delight in travel – “I prefer Space Travel” came on before us and “Tha London Undaground” followed, Protégé Reign brought the audience an electronica moment in time. And that moment in time is “now”. Of course we draw our inspiration from Numan, Kraftwerk and others from the influential ‘80’s but with the addition of Simon’s haunting indie guitar sound over Nigel’s keys and synth, tonight we stamped a new genre on the pscyche of our audience. Our blend of music is now being described as new romantic indie. We like that – let the genre grow and grow. The Heat of the Sun had its first live outing tonight. A song packed with emotional energy drawn from reflections on infidelity and duplicity. As Nick says when he introduces us….we sing songs about hope, despair, love…loves lost, loves haunted. The Heat of the Sun comes from the catalogue of loves lost and haunted….find me a single person who’s not been there. We’re proud of this new song – a refuge for the hurt. Rain, mid way through our set stopped the crowd. Drink orders at the bar were temporarily frozen. This beautiful song found new admirers tonight and by the second verse young minds at Chinnery’s had been captivated. If you haven’t listened to Rain for a while click on the song on this website. You’ll see what we mean. Are Friends Electric was again applauded as our penultimate song and Dancing Children with Simon’s chiming strings ringing out completed our set. Thanks to all our followers who turned out to see us tonight and welcome to the new young things who hear us for the first time. This was the best of our intentions. Our next is in 10 days’ time. Come see us in Chelmsford next on March 16th. Set List Soulfinder, The Heat of the Sun, Sensitivity, Rain, State of Love, Are Friends, Dancing Children
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Gig Review - The Bitter End, Romford
So, we found ourselves then, on a dreary and rainy Wednesday night in Romford. Not altogether a mecca of midweek nightlife but there were a few that had braved the Essex towns unfounded reputation to come and see us and we salute those that made our performance, as always, worthwhile. We had loads of time between arrival and performing so, soundcheck completed, we plodded on down to our pre show meal. OK, lets be clear, McDonalds is a meal of sorts and is generally the only eating establishment within close proximity of where we are gigging.. Actually, there were rather more punters in Mac'y D's than the venue at this stage but this surely was the draw of the Under 15 youth club that was set up in there. They were everso vibrant, throwing straws and sqeezing their spots, they were having a great time. We, without police escort, returned to the venue and watched an excellent debut performance from EKM. I think we shall do more shows with them in the future. It's strange how each gig brings something new to think about and this was no exception. State of Love is beginning to get some excitement around it and, being the oldest song in our set, has therefore taken a while to grow on people... but actually, it's quite a good song! Now all too often we have cramped stages and irregular pa systems and indifferent house sound engineers. But this venue was set up nicely with both a good sound, decent lighting and room to move on a reasonable stage (albeit a bit 'wobbly' in places). At least Nick and Simon could jump around a little which does add to our shows for visual excitement! Of course, with just ourselves and Electro Kill Machine on the bill we did not have the pesky drum kit crowding the place and taking up unnecessary room :-) Shhh... there may be a drummer listening... Set List: Soulfinder Waiting To Cross The Road Sensitivity Mad World Rain State Of Love Are Friends Electric Dancing Children
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Gig Review - The Comedy, London West End
The heart of West End nightlife. It's theatre land. Full of beautiful people melting into a rich tapestry of talent and culture. Flashing lights and buzzing diverse atmosphere this is the entertainment centre of the Capital. Deep in the basement of a pub, in the shadow of the Trocadero, and around the corner to Ronnie Scott's Club, were an Essex Electro band playing it's part. Protege Reign said 'hello' to London's West End and are priviledged to say they were joined in the evening by no less than Britney Spears. Sounds evocative doesn't it? It's easy to forget some of this when you get stung for parking and extortionate price of beer, get home in the early hours of the morning to ask questions about a Rock N Roll nightlife...so lets take time out and reflect... Yep!! We just played the West End!!! Well a bit of it anyway. Supported by a great crowd(that are making our shows so pleasurable)we braved the awkward stage set up, not so great sound mixing and awful lighting to deliver a 40 minute set of pure electro indulgence. All in the heart of the West End of London(I think I mentioned that). Earlier, travelling to London for the gig, we discussed the merits of reducing the stack of gear we take on the road. Not only so we can use the rear view mirror of the car, or to preserve our backs, or the time it takes setting up and setting down, no. The real benefit is not worrying whether the venue will actually have a stage bigger enough to take all our equipment! This time we couldn't even have the synth rig on stage, there was just not enough room, so I set up to one side at the front. Problems with this- 1.Not great for band chemistry and 2.Being absolutely in front of the belting speakers means I can hear nothing today! It posed additional technical problems, my vocal mic was panned to the other side to avoid feedback- so I couldn't hear what I was singing- and with it being SO LOUD right behind me I couldn't really hear anything other than drums! Frankly, for other reasons both Simon and Nick were experiencing similar issues so we played most of the set by memory rather than organically by ear. We did OK though...after all we have played them before...except the cover of the Tears For Fears classic Mad World. We're sure something was out of tune, but nobody seemed to notice(perhaps they thought it was our PR take on it and clapped and cheered politely in all the right places :-0 ) - cos they do that in the West End(I think I mentioned that) Is it too early to talk of PR classics? We've played them hundreds of times so to us we have some PR signature tunes that encapsulate our sound. So I guess then for now we shall refer to them as crowd favourites. Rain, State of Love and Soulfinder are always well received. This time we finished the show with our Numan cover of Are Friends Electric? Equally as popular, still not dropped from the set :-) So we had dancing, singing to the odd chorus and camara flashes(which given the 'very dark' stage was really quite useful!). No smoke machine though, shame, we like smoke machines, odd for the West End(I think I mentioned that) We had though a brill brill time both during and after the gig and met some wonderful supporters. We really are making some great friends at the moment. It's awesome. We cannot wait for the Romford show now. Ah, almost forgot, then there was Britney at our gig. Regrettably for me I didn't see her as I was positioned poorly but Si spotted her straight away during our performance of 'Rain' and struggled to concentrate on playing. He didn't let us down though. I couldn't see her because from where I was I could only see the side of the TV, but Si could watch the whole of the Toxic video as he looked straight at the screen! I said it was diverse in the West End. Oh yes, we played the West End(but I may have already mentioned that).
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Gig Review - Hoxton Underbelly, London
OK Lets Go!! That is how Nick, after first describing our blend of electro pop to the anticipating audience, launched us into his first show with the band. With continued energy and full on commitment.. it was a mighty fine debut. The Underbelly is an amazing venue. Conjuring up images of gothic pleasure parlours and sophisticated clubbing, you spot those new to the venue with ease as they gaze in marvel at the imagery on the ceiling or point with astonishment at the unusual stage scene... that of a Victorian drawing room with a large gold framed (not real gold of course) mirror that hangs on the stage's main wall. Very disconcerting though it is when you spot yourself in it while performing and realise it's therefore been a good Christmas.... So back to the diet then. It could have been so different, only the night before the whole of Hoxton Square lost all electricity power. Playing by candlelight is possible... but powering up synths, electric guitars and PA systems cannot be done on AA batteries or by clockwork! It was a fabulous crowd. We took a fair number of our own (from Southend, Cambridge, Brentwood, Grays, Haverhill, High Wycombe to name a few that the memory allows) and the venue was packed with a buzzing and excited audience. In truth it was a good line up on the night with very good performances from the bands that began the evening so everyone was pretty warmed up before we took stage. So with us on form and the crowd on form, this was gonna be a good night! We began the set with a couple of crowd favourites before introducing a new song for the night. 'Falling' is a very tender song that we had hoped to showcase at our last gig in November. Slower than most but the song still has the very recognisable PR blend of guitars and electronics. We shall certainly be playing it again. What followed is quickly becoming a signature tune of our live sets and so the place exploded when the unmistakeable opening bars of 'Are Friends Electric?' began. It will be difficult to drop this number to keep things fresh but fortune favours the brave as they say... Nick then reminded us all just how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to be in places like this, enjoying the evening and certainly for us the pleasure of performing. The playing of 'Rain' therefore was a very humbling experience and extremely thought provoking. The pace picked up then for 'State Of Love' and the vibe of the song together with the on stage connection made bewteen Si and Nick really encouraged the crowd to pretty much bounce on the floor, which made the yells for one more song at the end of our set all the more genuine. Their quest for more was only thwarted by the resident DJ playing a classic Tears For Fears number to subdue their cries! This was a great gig then and one which we thoroughly enjoyed (though we do wish the stage was a little bigger when there are 5 bands on for the night). So now also is a great opportunity to say a BIG thank you to all those that travelled to see us and a massive embrace to all the new friends we made on the night. It's easy to forget sometimes why we do this... The reception we received at this gig reminds us, keeps us sane, and hungers us for the next show at The Comedy Pub Sat 5th Feb. We plan something new there too. Come share some PR uniqueness... ticket reservation already available. Once again, Thank you. Si, Ni & Nick Set List: Waiting To Cross The Road Soulfinder Falling Are Friends Electric? Rain State Of Love Dancing Children
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New Frontman for PR
2011 starts and PR have some very exciting changes afoot. The band sees Nick Burrows joining Protege Reign as lead vocalist and frontman for the band. A nomadic singer, Nick has led bands around the UK in his vocal travels. Axe and Straw Dogs in Ipswich; Snake Jives and Standard Practice in Nottingham; Seven Yen in Worcester; Pondlife in Wales. Nick's influences include Carter USM, Arcade Fire, Killers, Teardrop Explodes, Feeder and some of the great electronic bands of the 80's - Human League, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads..... His experience of fronting bands and his professional approach were great attractions when deciding how best to approach our future. Deep in his vocal tones and piercing in his gaze, Nick might remind you of a David Byrne/Gary Numan hybrid and has impressed immensely during rehearsals for our first show of the New Year at the Hoxton Underbelly, London on Jan 8th. His quick grasp of the PR material and strong vocal delivery will propel the band to it's next inevitable level. Focus has clearly been on preparation for the London show but recording will begin again shortly so we shall have some material which includes Nick appearing very soon. When Protege Reign are not rehearsing, writing or gigging you'll find Nick in the world of building business brands (including Protege Reign), supporting Ipswich Town (we could be cruel here), cuddling his wife Louise or taking his two girls to their acting and singing shows. These lines of mine, take time... (now where have we heard those words before :-) ) Final footnote: The band of course are extremely excited about what lies ahead but it would be remiss not to say a big thank you to Jai who parted company with the band a few weeks before Christmas. His contribution in 2010 is very much appreciated and we wish him well for the future.
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Gig Review - The Railway
Testing Testing 1,2,3 That's not a soundcheck cry.. that's to us as individuals within the band. M25 traffic, A13 traffic and roadworks meant I arrived just a tad later than planned in a bit of a panic and rush! To be greeted on route, by the way, with the news Simon had been in bed all day with suspected tonsillitis and was 'drugging himself up' with un Rock N' Roll Ibruprofen to get him through the gig! And the final piece of our 'testing' night.. I'll touch on a little later.. :-) Eventually then we were all set, having climbed the stage on numerous occassions (they could really do with steps up to the stage at The Railway) we completed our sound check which gave we trust a pleasing balance for our gig. We were happy then, but decided to be fair to Simon and cut a little shorter our planned 40 min set. Our show began at 8.30PM and 'high' Simon was buzzing by this stage albeit having access to a strategically placed table to be used as a prop to lean against should he fall into relapse and a glass of water for good measure. You see this is show business! All was good for me despite getting a bracelet (yes a bracelet) caught between 2 keys during the opening parts of 'Soulfinder' - which gave me quite a stretch to C# before i could free myself! To be honest if the bracelet wasn't going to get me there was every chance the myriad of mic and audio leads surrounding my feet were going to entangle my legs like some grizzley from Dr Who! Now the sound was loud. Usually when on stage you don't notice these things because unless the stage monitors are wrapped around your waist all that you get is a 'flavour' of what is being presented rather than the finished article as such. No technicality overload required for this space really but monitors are frequently tailored for your instrument so they tend to be instrument weighted accordinging - I would hear more keys, Si more guitar and so on. What I did notice though was how far away the crowd was. OK there were a number lounging on the seats that surround the main floor but the bulk of the audience, all totally engrossed on our performance nonetheless were about 40 ft away!.. So I reckon it may have been rather loud near the front :-) So 3 songs in to the set we reach our cover for the night 'Are friends Electric?'. Past readers of the Protege Reign blog may remember the odd difficulty for Jai in keeping this song in his head. For some reason, beyond the wit of modern science, certain words tend to inexplicably disappear into the ether leaving the poor chap frustratingly searching for inspiration.. So test number 3 of the night was an instrumental version of the song!.. Which in itself was not difficult, as long as he returned to the stage to complete our set once we finished! He did of course, and finished strongly with the Phoenix FM Session version of 'Dancing Children'. The crowd were appreciative and, as always, makes the whole event so much more enjoyable for us and we are very grateful to all those that braved the wooden 3 tier staircase to PR heaven :-)... Shame the £1 drinks were either Pale Ale or Mann's Brown Ale... does anyone drink that stuff anymore?.. I guess probably not if they're selling it for a quid! So that was The Railway. We'll be back, with or without an autocue... Ni, Si and Jai
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Gig Reveiw - Chinnery's
Well, we came home to Southend, we played our favorite venue, we most definately rocked a powerful set and we undoubtedly won a few more friends. It was just a great gig. Jai was in top form, dressed as if he'd come straight from a wedding he held the crowd well and even found time to once again threaten them with violence if anyone shouted Sugar Babes when we start 'Are Friends Electric' (it's a strange habit Jai :-)) Ah yes, 'Are Friends Electric'... It may have sounded better with the extra unplanned, unrehearsed, incorrect additional 2 bars at the start.. ooops... no-one noticed though... it was filled well. Resisting the chants to strip (after all he was only taking his tie off!) Jai demonstrated front man prowess by adopting a small collection of groupies from about the second song in... then woo'd them with the haunting 'Rain'. It's a big stage at Chins so loads more room for movement (as long as you're not tied to a bank of synths of course) so, without actually moonwalking, Jai and Si wandered a bit (in a ministry of funning walks way at times).. which was nice, one can get lonely you know! Here's a question... how does Simon scissor kick and not occasionally land on his extensive pedal board and box of tricks?... It's an art!.. or luck. So almost the final word about the good looking synth guy...he did OK.. :-) So that was it chinnery's. Without meaning to sound self indulgent, PR is designed for nights like that; thumping synths, cutting powerful guitars and epic songs purposely delivered by strong vocals; all presented through a whopping 6000 watts of body bouncing PA. The final words should be... Welcome to Protege Reign.. SET LIST for info: Soulfinder State of love Rain Are friends electric? Waiting to cross the road Sensitivity Dancing Children
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Hoxton Square
Oooh how posh ! Great little venue in new trendy Hoxton. We just about got there in time for the sound check.. but didn't really need to rush had plenty of time. Getting the gear downstairs is always fun at venues but having glass doors at the bottom of them was brave we think :-) Parking was a breeze... if you wanted to pay £4 per hour.. so we made it difficult for ourselves instead and trekked a mile to save some pennies. After we were set on the stage (which resembled an elegant parlour really - massive brush velvet curtains draped around the playing area and a large Georgian brass framed mirror on the wall) we thought we'd have a drink. So, remembering the parlour reference, we dispensed with our smoking jackets and sat on the sumptious sofas and thrones around the bar - YES THRONES! An early accoustic no show meant we could hit the stage a little earlier and so we were on about a quarter to nine. Nothing to complain about our set from our perspective though in truth a little louder would have been nice. Oh, except it's strange when you hit a keyboard and expect to hear something.. that doesn't happen! We must fix that! Good response from the paying public for all our songs and even had 3 dancers for the Numan cover!... not sure we've had dancers before.. So next stop Chinnery's... Punk Night!... this could be fun...
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