Creeping Bent is an independent label, established in Glasgow back in 1994, and regarded by many as a worthy, if longer-tenured, successor to the likes of Postcard.
It is run by Douglas Macintyre, who has long been at the heart of much that is good about the music and creative industries in Scotland.
Douglas, like many of his contemporaries in these challenging times, has been seeking out fresh ways to keep the revenues flowing. He recently turned to the increasingly popular Patreon model, which, for those of you who aren’t familiar, allows anyone on the creative side of things to enable fans to become active participants in the work they love by offering them a monthly membership, providing, among other things, access to exclusive content.
I’ve a handful of Patreon subscriptions, but there is no question that Creeping Bent is ahead of almost everyone when it come to offering value for money. It’s just £5 per month (plus VAT) and here, lifted from the relevant Patreon page, is what’s on offer:-
THE CREEPING BENT ORGANISATION is based in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, and has been operational in Scotland since 1994 releasing independent avant-pop products. Every month we will be sharing 4 previously unreleased tracks (sometimes more) from the future and the past, exclusively to Patreon. New albums by Port Sulphur, The Secret Goldfish, Monica Queen, Article 58 (and others) will only be released through Patreon.
Creeping Bent groups recorded several BBC session for John Peel, groups like Adventures in Stereo, The Nectarine No9, The Secret Goldfish, The Leopards. Recording BBC sessions on 6Music has continued on Marc Riley’s show, with live sets by The Secret Goldfish, Port Sulphur, Vic Godard, Sexual Objects being broadcast.
We’ll be posting monthly mini-concerts, as well as publishing unseen extracts from lyric books, the Bent notebook, photography, art, and memorabilia from the Creeping Bent archive.
We’ll be sharing short stories and written work from our FRETS WORDS publishing outlet, and exclusive posters from our FRETS CONCERTS acoustic concert series, which has thus far featured concerts by Lloyd Cole, James Grant, Teenage Fanclub’s Norman and Euros. Future concerts at FRETS (in the Strathaven Hotel) will feature The Bluebells, The Skinner Songbook, J.J.Gilmour, Roddy Woomble, King Creosote, Robyn Hitchcock, Robert Forster, Tim Burgess, Norman Blake, David Scott, Duglas T.Stewart, and Grant-Lee Phillips (among others). Exclusive edition posters for download from these concerts will be made available on Patreon.
Discussion will be random and inhabit that intersection where The Velvet Underground meets ornithology meets Truman Capote meets Georgia O’Keeffe, in other words anything goes!
I really do recommend this is a great way of supporting a fabulous label and for landing yourselves some amazing pieces of music. I can’t guarantee you’ll love everything that lands in your inbox (and there is usually something on a daily basis), but there’s plenty of gems to be found, such as this cover version of an early Josef K single:-
mp3: Douglas MacIntyre – It’s Kinda Funny
There’s also a fascinating short film been made to accompany the music, again available via the subscription.
So, what are you waiting for?? Click here for all the details.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 