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Pete Ward announces new gig details

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Our long time friend, Mr PETE WARD, has just announced details of a new gig.

With a group of his friends, Pete (now a Theology Professor at Durham University) will be performing a set at the May event hosted by the Twice Brewed Brew House. Pete Ward 7 Friends will be performing a folk tinged and influenced set during the evening.

It is fantastic to see Pete performing again. His association with Plankton Records goes way back to the early 1980s when he met Plankton’s founder Simon Law on a mission in Hull. Their friendship grew from there and Pete went on to release a number of EPs/mini albums through Plankton right up until the acoustic folk tinged rock/pop mini-album “To Eric” by the duo TREVOR SPEAKS which consisted of Pete and percussionist/vocalist Dan Johnston. Pete remains a good friend of both Simon and Plankton’s other partner Keith Dixon

Most of Pete’s Plankton releases are available on all major digital music download and streaming sites Worldwide (just type his name into your preferred sites search engine) and some of Pete’s classic tracks appear on both the Plankton compilation albums “The First 20 Years” (PCDN 153) and “The Second 20 Years” (PCDN 174) and the slipcase set “Forty Years 1978-2018” (PCDN 175) – CDs available from the shop section of this website and also available on digital

Vince Anderson of Nine Beats Collective recording new live album

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Our good friend and NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE member Vince Anderson is RECORDING A LIVE ALBUM & video documentary TONIGHT with his fantastic band “Rev. Vince Anderson and his Love Choir” at his regular Monday night residency at Union Pool , 484 Union Drive, New York, New York 11211.
If you can, please go down and be part of a great ‘happening’. For those of us who have seen Vince live we know that when performing he truly is a force of nature!!!
The band will be performing their usual 2 sets at 10pm and 12.30 and there is no entry/cover charge but they suggest a donation of $20 when the hat is passed round.
The venue website is www.union-pool.com

New Plankton Playlists on Spotify

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Plankton Records partner Keith Dixon has just created and added the first three new playlists to SPOTIFY that feature the music of Plankton Records artists.

“I’ve been looking to do this for some time now” stated Keith, “with the aim of hopefully spreading the word on some of our artists and raising their profiles and having more people encounter and enjoy their music. It’s been great for me too as I’ve been listening to their music again!”

“Even though these releases are on my label and I actively helped create and release a lot of them you can easily forget how good this music is, because you are so busy work on everything involved in running a small independent label that you don’t have the time to just sit and fully enjoy previous releases unless you make the time to do so!”

The first three artists to feature on these playlists are PETE WARD, BEN OKAFOR & FRESH CLAIM

“There will be more Plankton Records Spotify compilation playlists coming” advised Keith “both artists based as well as other themed playlists”

Here are the links to the three playlists:

PETE WARD (Click here)

BEN OKAFOR (Click here)

FRESH CLAIM (Click here)

40th Anniversary 1 Hour Radio Special

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Flame Community Radio are broadcasting a 1 Hour Plankton Records 40th Anniversary Special programme across this week. The team at Flame asked Plankton partner Keith Dixon to choose 12 tracks that outlined the journey and different musical styles released by Plankton over the years.

Keith reports, “It was not a case of choosing what I think are the 12 best/favourite songs that we’ve released – which would be a nearly impossible task for me anyway! – but finding the 12 songs by 12 artists that I thought best painted a sketch or outline of our long history and I decided to base this around our recent ‘FORTY YEARS 1978 – 2018’ double album release. I did an interview with John Cheek from Flame in October and after the interview he got me to record links/intros to each of  the 12 tracks. I’m looking forward to hearing it myself via the RadioPlayer app!”

Here are the broadcast dates and times:

Monday January 7th @ 4.00pm

Wednesday January 9th @ 7.00pm

Thursday January 10th @ 8.00pm

Saturday January 12th @ 12.30pm (lunchtime) & 8.30pm

Flame Radio broadcasts in the merseyside are of England on 1521 MW/AM. You can also listen to them via their website (CLICK HERE) or via the RADIO PLAYER or XIIALIVE apps ir on Internet Radio and on-line via TUNEIN or PURE.

To find out more about the 41 track ‘FORTY YEARS 1978 – 2018’ double album set (CLICK HERE)

New NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE Remix single released

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A new year is here and we please to start the new year with a new release – a new NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE remix single released Worldwide on every major digital music download and streaming site/platform!

‘Wild World’, Barry’s self-penned and sung contribution to the critically acclaimed and much lauded NINE BEATS TO THE BAR album (available on CD, digital & double deluxe vinyl), is built on an old-school R&B vibe that grabs your attention and refuses to let go. On an album packed full of truly great songs, ‘Wild World’ was one of those that lept out and caught the attention of reviewers and radio programme planners alike. It was felt by us all that revisiting the track and remixing it would help with the up-coming promotional work in mainland Europe and the orginal album producer, and noted remixer, Tony Bean went back into the studio and created this brilliant ‘Euro’ remix which is now released Worldwide right at the start of what is hoped to be an exciting landmark year for the whole NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE project

Barry is a theologian, professor, writer, cultural commentator, artist, musician, composer and famously had a faith epiphany when on the tech crew of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” uber-rock ‘n’ roll tour. As well as being a talented songwriter, he has composed movie soundtracks and produced his own albums.

He travels globally, speaking on issues related to the intersections of theology and contemporary culture. He co-authored A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture and A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity and Entertainment Theology: New Edge Spirituality in a Digital Democracy.

NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE is a collaboration of world class musicians, artists, and songwriters who have come together from different continents, different cities, and different experiences, all on the trail of exploring the ancient wisdom of the Bible sayings known as ‘the beatitudes’. Their album NINE BEATS TO THE BAR is an eclectic soundscape of R&B, soul, rock/pop, acoustic threads, classical, jazz/funk, African vibes, and a hint of gospel. It’s a haunting, a cry, a new beat. It’s soul, adventure, lament, and rage. It’s a love song… and most of all it’s a movement.

Visit the official NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE website (CLICK HERE)

Visit the NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE artist page on the website (CLICK HERE)

Find out more about the NINE BEATS TO THE BAR album CD and digital versions (CLICK HERE) and deluxe double heavyweight VINYL (CLICK HERE)

Another extensive Plankton radio interview to be broadcast

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We’ve been really blessed by the amount of radio interest and support there has been for us regarding our 40th Anniversary and our music history and legacy.
Plankton Records partner Keith Dixon recorded an extensive in-depth radio interview in late October with John Cheek of FLAME Christian & Community Radio and it will be broadcast on different occasions on different days in the coming week. There will be several broadcasts but the main times when the programme can be heard are:
 
Monday, 31st December, between 1.30-2.30pm
Tuesday, 1st January, from 8-9.00pm
 
John also informed us that the Monday broadcast may be followed immediately by another hour-long show, featuring selected Plankton tracks where Keith recorded the links for at the interview. As we write this it’s not been 100% confirmed but we’ll see.
 
You can find FLAME RADIO on 1521 medium-wave/AM (Merseyside), Radio Player and Xiialive apps, internet radios and on-line at Tunein, PURE and www.flameradio.org – Christian and Community Radio serving Liverpool, Wirral, Runcorn, Chester and north Wales
 

Plankton Partners live radio interview

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As the interest and celebrations of Plankton’s 40th anniversary continues, Plankton Records partners Simon Law and Keith Dixon were the special guests of Patrick Sherring and his ‘Friday Night Extra’ show on Phoenix 98FM on November 23rd.

Simon and Keith were interviewed live about the history and music of Plankton. Simon also performed 3 songs live in the studio – including his new single ‘The Haven’ (which has been played by the radio station) and 3 tracks were played from the FORTY YEARS 1978 – 2018 2CD slipcase set.

It was a fun in-depth interview with both Simon and Keith sharing about their memories, thoughts and experiences of running the UK’s oldest surviving independent Christian record label.

You can listen to the programme via the Phoenix 98FM website. Just click on the link and scroll down the page to the player. Simon and Keith are on from approx 5 mins 40 sec to 1 hour (CLICK HERE)

New 40th Anniversary albums released

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To commemorate 2018 marking their 40th anniversary year, Plankton Records have released two new compilation albums – both available on CD (from this website!) and digital (from every major digital download and streaming site/platform Worldwide.
“In 1998 we released a compilation album too mark our 20th anniversary” stated Plankton partner Keith Dixon, “so we thought to mark our 40th anniversary we thought we’d release another compilation album covering the second 20 years (1999 – 2018) and Simon Law, Plankton’s founding partner, recorded a brand new song to represent 2018 and to close the album. I really pushed for this as Simon’s band SEA STONE, who’s album ‘Mirrored Dreams’ was Plankton’s first ever release in 1978, performed the first track on the first 20 years compilation and this would mean that Simon was on the very first and very last songs over the 40 years!”
“We realised that although we’d released the First 20 Years compilation in 1998, many people who might be interested in our history would not have that album so we have also packaged both CDs into a 2CD slipcase set to give the full 40 year history in the one set. This is called “Forty Years 1978 – 2018″ and it is also available in digital format on all major download and streaming sties/platforms Worldwide”.
“Compared to our 20th anniversary” continued Keith, “our 40th anniversary has attracted a lot more media interest. I’ve already been up to Cross Rhythms in Stoke-on-Trent to give an in-depth interview, I’ve spent an afternoon recording an interview with Flame Radio for future broadcast and Simon and I are going to Phoenix 98FM in Brentwood towards the end of November to be interviewed and Simon will be performing some songs live on air too. Lots of other friends and contacts in radio have been playing Simon’s new single and other tracks off the new albums and reviewers are going to be posting reviews in the coming weeks and months. As always, we are so grateful to everyone for their interest and support”
To listen to tract excerpts from FORTY YEARS 1978 – 2018 (Cat No: PCDN 175) and find links to buying the 2CD slipcase set and also the album on UK iTunes and Amazon (CLICK HERE)
To listen to tract excerpts from THE SECOND 20 YEARS 1998 – 2018 (Cat No: PCDN 174) and find links to buying the 2CD slipcase set and also the album on UK iTunes and Amazon (CLICK HERE)

New Simon Law single & video released

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The new solo single THE HAVEN by Plankton’s founding partner (and leader of Fresh Claim), SIMON LAW is now available Worldwide on all major download and streaming sites Worldwide – from iTunes to Spotify and every site/platform in between!
Said Plankton partner Keith Dixon, “When we decided to compile and release a new compilation album covering the last 20 years of Plankton’s history to mark our 40th Anniversary I wanted Simon, being the actual founder of the label in 1978, to record a new song to close the new album with. He said he’d written a new song so we went in the studio in early September to record it. I’d not heard the song before the day of recording and I was completely blown away by it. It’s a beautiful song, with a touching back story, and at the same time it is a trademark Simon composition. I decided there and then that it deserved to have its own single release – and it has also turned out to be Simon’s first ever solo release!”
A video has also been made for the single, featuring footage filmed at the recording session, which highlights Simon’s total involvement in the playing on the recording. It shows him singing and playing the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar and the bass guitar parts. Plankton partner Keith Dixon played the percussion parts on the single and his hands make some very brief appearances in the video too!
“It was a great session”, remembers Keith, “and on the video you’ll also see the hands of Ross Simpson playing the piano part. Ross was a vital part of the whole recording and contributed so much with producing, engineering, playing the piano and coming up with loads of great ideas for the song’s arrangement. He also managed to get Simon to sing so very high backing vocal harmonies too!”
To watch the video (CLICK HERE)

New single release awarded record of the week!

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The new solo single THE HAVEN by Plankton’s founding partner and leader of Fresh Claim, SIMON LAW is released digitally Worldwide on Friday October 26th. This single was recorded in September for inclusion on the upcoming Plankton Records 40th Anniversary compilation albums – more news on these soon – but it was decided to release it as a single ahead of the albums.
Said Plankton partner Keith Dixon, “As soon as we had the idea of releasing at least one compilation album to mark our 40th Anniversary I wanted Simon, being the founder of the label in 1978, to record a new song to close the album with. He said he’d written a new song and we booked into a studio in early September to record it. I’d not heard the song before the day of recording and I was completely blown away by it. It’s a beautiful song and at the same time it is a trademark Simon composition. I decided there and then that it deserved its own single release. And here we are!
We’ve alsojust learned that North of England radio station Lionheart Radio have made THE HAVEN their record of the week next week (w/c Monday October 29th). This means that it will be played across the week by all the presenters. Big thanks to Lionheart Radio (and our contact there Gillian Daniel).”
The single will be available on all digital music sites/platforms Worldwide – from iTunes to Spotify and everything in between. You can also watch THE HAVEN video on YouTube (Click here)