Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Lil' Chief Xmas Party 2012

Ever since we started the label we've been throwing these end of the year shindigs and they have provided some magic moments. NZ musicians blowing off steam, throwing rubbish bins, making out, strangling one another, red hot chili pepper only sing alongs over a bonfire of treated wood...this year should be prove equally as memorable.

This year we are going to host it at the Kings Arms. Fancy. This way all the bands will be able to play without fear of noise control shutting us down.

Bands are going to start at 8 so don't turn up at 11 and complain you missed someone fool.



No pre sales, just 5 dollars on the door. 

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Eversons - With A Little Help From Our Friends

Today we are releasing our first tribute album (well, EP). On it various artists showcase the brilliant songwriting of the Eversons fused with their own respective styles. Also it's a free download so make sure you check it out here.



The opening track features Lil' Chief chanteuse Princess Chelsea backed by the Eversons themselves. The result is a very Ronettes inspired rendition of "Kick Him Out"

Also on the EP, excellent local artists Street Chant and Matthew Crawley, Jonathan Bree of the Brunettes makes his first appearance flying solo, and Boa Constrictors a great band from the tough suburbs of Orange County.



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Princess Chelsea UK Release

Today is a big day for Lil' Chief in that we are releasing our first internationally distributed title. 

We have teamed up with Cargo to release Princess Chelsea's Lil' Golden Book throughout the UK and Europe.  

In the past Lil' Chief has physically released in New Zealand only and big time kool indie big boi labels like Memphis Industries and Subpop have released our artists in their territories.

Early UK reviews have called the album a 'brilliant debut' and 'one of the most unusual and original albums you are likely to hear this year' while some kool UK celebs and not celebs have been singing her praises via twitter.

We are confident this is a very important step in the Lil' Chief brand reaching a global audience, ahem, overseas.



Friday, October 5, 2012

The Eversons - Harlot

Across rock music history there is a rich tradition of people writing songs about messy breakups. Imagine a world without Blondie's "One Way Or Another", Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" or even Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know"? Sometimes, however, these songs can be a little too personal, and it seems that we've crossed the line with the release of The Eversons' digital b-side "Harlot" this week.

Lil' Chief Records unreservedly apologises to the person that the song has been interpreted as being a personal attack on, and to all others who were offended by the lyrical content of said song. Our initial impression of the song was that it was a love song to a sex worker, however we should have realised it's potential to hurt an individual and now recognise that it is both sexist and misogynistic and that we failed to screen it properly.

We understand that our handling of this affair may be seen as unsatisfactory by many, and for that we apologise too. This is new experience for us - in 10 years of business we have never experienced a strong negative response to a release, and within reason do not believe in censoring our artists. We will now certainly be more mindful of the possible impact that our future releases may have, whether they be A-sides or B-sides.

"Harlot" has been removed from Bandcamp at The Eversons' request, and will not be reissued in any other way in the future. (If it was a physical product, it'd now be as rare as one of those "butcher" cover Beatles albums.)

Songwriter Mark Turner issued an initial apology on Wednesday concerning the lyrical content, and the band and Mark have released a further apology today.

The core response to the song can be found here on the The Eversons Facebook page, while further discussion can be found on the Lil' Chief Facebook page and here. We've learnt a lot from these comments over the last few days, and so would encourage anyone that is interested in learning more to have a read or contribute.

On a side note, we have been dismayed at how nasty and threatening some of the comments have become, including threats of physical violence towards some comment makers. The song has clearly sparked an impassioned debate, but we ask that the small number of people using it as an excuse to air personal grievances and make physical threats, even when made in jest, refrain from doing so as this does nothing to help the cause but rather blurs the message.

Monday, October 1, 2012

The Eversons - Terminally Lame Single + Music Video

How exclusive are we!? Four weeks ago we celebrated this single and music video with an awesome release party in Auckland, yet we didn't actually release it. Obviously our intention is not to deprive the rest of the world the opportunity to actually experience this offering so today we are going to release it for free download and unleash the visual assault version as well.



"Terminally Lame" is a re-recording of the song as it appears on debut album Summer Feeling. 

The video was made by Trophy Wife Productions, the team behind the band’s first video for ‘Could It Ever Get Better?’