Oliver Tooley of GUBIC:

Champion of the Unsigned Band Scene

  Lace: What is the name of your group?    
GUBIC: Our group is called GUBIC and you can find us here.
   
Lace: How long have you been in the music business?
   
GUBIC: On and off seventeen years

Lace: What Genre is your music?    

GUBIC: All genres are considered

Lace: Describe your musical style and inspirations.    

GUBIC: OK, so Glenn McDougall [Lace's Note: Glenn is the founder of FederalRadio.co.uk] told me to fill out this interview even though he knows it is aimed at bands. These days Gubic is more of a blog site, mainly about unsigned bands. It started out as an idea to try and get an unsigned band into the charts.

I figured that if there was a competition and everybody who participated promised to buy the winning single we could force it into the top forty and onto Radio 1 would have to play it. If it was a good song then others would buy it and it would get higher. The whole idea failed despite loads of interest. We even had a band on local TV and several mentions on BBC local radio.

Lace: Have you released an album? If so, provide some details.

GUBIC: In a sort of sense we did though it was never an album as such. The top ten songs from the competition would have made a superb album.
Destination, If I Ruled The World
Digital Earth, Charlatan Old Boy
Deferred Sucess, Make A Living
SjW, 4am
Bill Monaghan, So Close To God
Black Daniel, I Love You But Don't Touch Me Cos You're Sick (Radio Edit)
Anielka, Rain Is Me
Trail, City
Pablo Eskimo, Bunny Boiler
Limeshark, Not Quite Nashville

If you add in one or two that didn't make it into the top ten but deserved to such as:
Daylight Saving, Sunshine Is A State Of Mind,
Jann Klose, Doing Time
Scarlett's Wake, Smile I've Got Knives
Paint Box, Jar Of Nails

then you would have a superb 14 track album with as diverse a range of styles as you could hope for.

In many ways, although the GUBIC competition failed in its objective it did play a part in the birth of XRP radio and later spin off radio shows. It also got bands in touch with other bands, media, and venues, that may have helped them move their careers on a bit.

Lace: When the initial idea behind GUBIC failed what impact would you say it had on you?

GUBIC: The failure, initially, crushed me. I thought "what a total and utter waste of time" But then the messages of support came in from people like Glenn, and his colleagues at the time, who had launched a radio station and ridden a wave of enthusiasm from the competition.
From Musicians who had made contact with each other, and with new venues, and new media people.
From fans who had found new music they liked.
People pointed out that we had achieved local news coverage in numerous areas supporting their local bands, almost as much local radio coverage, AND one band got featured on Yorkshire TV.
Shortly after my assault on the charts failed there was an even more ambitious scheme called Storm The Charts, run by Wes White from Glastonbury (the town not the festival)
His scheme promoted about a hundred songs chosen from several hundred entrants and aimed to get all of them into the charts in a single week.
They said it would be considered a success if at least one song made it but they hoped many more would succeed.
Alas they also failed. I put my full baking behind the idea and supported it every step of the way. But it just was not to be.
Eventually I realised that it is not the way. Or at least not for little guys like me. I still support indie. music but now I realise that making the charts is not the objective.
Making a living is.
Make a Living, by the band Deferred Sucess, became our theme song and I guess it is all that anyone can hope for. To make enough money to keep making music and not have to get a "proper" job.

Lace: Where can we get your music?    

Oliver Tooley: Open mic night at The Chill Bar.

GUBIC: I would suggest checking out Federal Radio or XRP radio or any unsigned radio station of your choice. That is where you will hear some of the very best new music currently being produced. MUCH better than what is on mainstream radio these days.

Lace: Do you have any upcoming gigs? If so, where?    

GUBIC: Check out your local venue and just go along to support unsigned bands.
Buy the CDs or Tee shirts being sold by mates or girlfriends from a trestle table at the back of the room. If you don't support good new bands then you deserve to be forced to listen to Nicky Minaj.


Lace: What is your favorite song?    
GUBIC: I don't have a favourite song

Lace: In your own words, why should people check out your music? Provide any other info you think we should have here.

GUBIC: This is the first generation that can pick and chose between literally thousands of radio stations, and yet most of us still just turn on Heart, or Radio 1 [Lace's note: Popular UK radio stations, think mainstream top 40 type stations].

So you end up hearing the same old pap that is forced to you via a network of just three major record labels who can drop a radio station that doesn't play what they want them to play.

If you have ever seen the show We Will Rock You, then you may understand that unless you fight to hear good music both on the radio and at live music venues; unless you stop watching X-Factor, then soon that will be ALL there is.

Real music will be banned and you will ONLY be allowed to listen to the music of "GLOBAL-SOFT"

Please don't let that happen.

Lace: Great thoughts in support on indie music.  Thanks for being with us.

GUBIC: Thank you.