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Behind the best: Young & Lost Club, London

In this week’s edition of our ongoing hat tip to some of the best independent businesses from around the UK, we tracked down Nadia Dahlawi, CEO of Young & Lost Club.

A local favourite previously commended by one of our favourite music bloggers, Tim from The Blue Walrus:

There are so many great people living and working in music in London, but I have to say the people I revere most at the moment are Sara and Nadia from Young & Lost Club. They have brought so so many amazing new bands to the fore over the past five years inluding Fixers and most famously Noah and the Whale

For any of our readers who aren’t aware of you, can you give us an intro to the business?

We are a small independently run record label and club night. We also do awesome DJ sets!

Where can we find you, and why did you choose to set up shop where you did? - What attracted you to that area?

We are based in Baker St but run our club night at The Lock Tavern on Chalk Farm road as well as many different events across London. You can find full listings of our events at youngandlostclub.com

What inspired you to start your business?

It goes; Once upon a 2002, two quiet fifteen year-old girls, best friends since twelve, read punk bible Please Kill Me and got heavily into Patti Smith and Television. Then the Strokes exploded the London scene and we got suddenly, irrevocably, heavily into new bands. Ran away from boarding school after dark and went to see these bands playing rowdy London shows. In 2003 we launched our first club night, during halfterm break. A Saturday showcase for Rough Trade, where the likes of Neil’s Children, Art Brut, Les Incompetents and Xerox Teens. Young & Lost Club was born at the tail end of 2004. “A record label felt like the next step.’’

We kept on putting out singles for the bands that we loved, like Good Shoes, Larrikin Love, Joe Lean & the JJJ, Johnny Flynn and Bombay Bicycle Club. We staged memorable early gigs from The Klaxons, The Horrors, These New Puritans, Vampire Weekend, Jamie T, Laura Marling, The Virgins, The xx, Friendly Fires, and every other buzz band of the moment.

What’s your philosophy in a nutshell? What would you say makes you stand out from the crowd?

We always wanted it to be like a real club; that people could feel they were a part of, and we wanted to do a good old-fashioned singles club.

Can you explain how your business works and what differentiates it from your competitors in the industry?

As its just the two of us we do everything ourselves, we are really fussy about who we work with and how we do things. With Young & Lost you really get a full package!

Do you have a signature product you could tell us about?

One of Y&L’s more signature products is our free digital club - every two weeks we give away an exclusive track or remix by a band we like.

What would you say is the secret to a successful independent business? What advice would you give to someone looking to follow in your shoes?

Be prepared to work very hard for little money and sometimes none at all at the beginning! It’s worth it though to be your own boss, when you are running your own company the long hours don’t seem hard.

Can you share a few of your favourite local, independent businesses with us?

We love Key Productions (based in Camden), they make all our Vinyl and CDs. They have great customer service and have always done great work for us.

Charcoal Grill is the best place to get a Lebanese meal in Central London. Very reasonable and always good! Be prepared to queue though, especially in the evenings.

Finally, what can we expect from you in 2011/2012? Anything our readers should be looking forward to?

We are expanding the free digital club and putting out an album by the awesome Being There.

Behind the blog: Flying With Anna

Inspired by the recent campaign with Day V Lately, we’ve been talking to some of our favourite music bloggers.

This time, we catch up with Annapurna Mellor of Flying with Anna about new artists and the best venues in London and Leeds.

What do you write about on Flying With Anna?

Lots of lovely things, mostly musical and along the lines of folk and alternative. I write a lot about new music as I think its great to support new artists and there are so many amazing ones about at the moment. I do gig and album reviews, features on various things and cover as many festivals as possible.

What prompted you to start a blog around that particular theme?

When I was 16 I went to Glastonbury for the first time and as a consequence started getting more and more into newer music and going to gigs around Leeds. After a while I found I knew a lot about new bands and set up my blog as a way to channel that. It’s more focused towards folk music because thats the genre I love and theres a lot of it going on at the moment which is very convenient for me.

Can you tell us who some of the bands/artists you’ve been championing recently are, and why?

I am currently in love with Rachel Sermanni, she’s a singer/songwriter from Scotland with the most beautiful voice and sweet quirky songs. I saw Matt Corby play Communion a few weeks back and was blown away, he has great things coming. I’m a big Summer Camp fan, and I’ve recently been writing lots about Louise and the Pins who I think are doing something really lovely and different. Also check out Stokes William, Roo Panes, Georgia Bruce and Laura Boyle!

Who would you say are the ‘local music heroes’ in your area?

Now I live in London and write a lot about the whole folk thing thats going on. In terms of that, I would say Mumford & Sons have achieved hero status. And Laura Marling too. I think its great for young bands making that sort of music, which in the past hasn’t been popular, to look at the success of these artists and others like Johnny Flynn too and feel like they could achieve what they have. The whole folk thing has really given me hope that bands can make music they love and be successful, you don’t have to go down the manufactured pop route anymore.

We’re looking for those stores and venues etc that you think do an outstanding job. Could you name the top three gigs you’ve ever been to?

Of all time… thats tricky! Glastonbury as a whole is the greatest gig on earth, but taking that aside…

1. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Old Vic Tunnels, London - the most incredible experience, true magic.

2. Mumford & Sons at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds - the first time I ever saw them live, it totally blew my mind and without that gig theres no way I would still be doing this. Really great venue too.

3. Arcade Fire at Leeds Festival - I’m not a big fan of Leeds as a festival but this Arcade Fire as a live band are incredible.

Any thoughts on who your artist of 2011 might be (or is it too early to tell)?

I think maybe too early to tell! I think these things often surface after festival season, last year I think Mumford & Sons won that game. But at the moment, I have high hopes for Summer Camp, Marcus Foster and Anna Calvi this festival season. And I’ve been waiting for about 3 years now for King Charles to get big, maybe this year will finally be the year! I’m hoping Edward Sharpe will play lots of festivals and if they do, the whole summer could be theirs.

Behind the blog: My Band’s Better Than Your Band

Inspired by the recent campaign with Day V Lately, we’ve been talking to some of our favourite music bloggers.

This week, we catch up with Ollie Russian from My Band’s Better Than Your Band about new music and his favourite London artists and venues.

Tell us about your blog

I cover the hottest unsigned bands, the coolest new acts, host exclusive tracks from bands I love and seek out the best new remixes every week.
As part of the Blog I also run ‘My Bands Better Presents’. These are monthly club nights that feature the best of the acts I’ve been blogging about.

My Band’s Better Presents @ The Bull & Gate is 1st Tuesday Every Month
My Band’s Better Presents @ The Old Queens Head is 2nd Friday Every Month

What prompted you to start a blog around that particular theme?

I’ve worked in the music industry for 10 years and after leaving Atlantic Records last year (Where I was in A&R) I decided to start a blog and share all the amazing new music I was finding with the world rather than keeping it all to myself. Now the blog is recognised across the UK Music industry as being the place to go for hot new tips!

Can you tell us who some of the bands/artists you’ve been championing recently are, and why?

Since the start I’ve always championed Wolf Gang having worked with them over at Atlantic and now it seems they’re really beginning to smash things. I cant wait for their debut album to be released this summer. Last year I was the first person to blog about Twin Shadow who’s done rather well. Loving hot new UK bands such as Yaaks, Dry The River, Dog Is Dead, Talking Pictures, Kyla La Grange, The Big Sleep, Sissy & The Blisters.

Who would you say are the ‘local music heroes’ in your area?

I guess I spend most of my time up in North London so in terms of where I hang out it’s acts like Tribes who are from Camden and just recently signed to Island, The Vaccines who came up through the Communion / Flowerpot scene. Then people like Frank Turner, Laura Marling etc all have come up via a scene that stems from Nambucca up in Holloway back in the day, the Communion nights based in Notting Hill, the sadly missed Flowerpot and now all still have strong ties with The Wheelbarrow, a new venue in Camden.

Could you recommend any local stores, venues, etc, you think do outstanding job. Could you name the top three gigs you’ve ever been to?

I couldn’t possibly whittle my top gigs down to 3.

The places in London though to check out the best gigs are The Old Queens Head, The Wheelbarrow, The Bull & Gate, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen and The Lexington. All are fantastic venues and always book the best new acts.

Any thoughts on who your artist of 2011 might be (or is it too early to tell)?

Already there seems to be so much exciting new acts coming through, especially UK acts, it’s been rather quiet for UK bands over the last few years. The super new stuff that I’m tipping for 2011 and beyond include Dry The River, Tribes, 2 Inch Punch, Ayar Marar, Various Cruelties