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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 19:34:45 GMT
Agreed, it's Allan who comes across slightly unfavourably rather than Eric or anyone else. To be fair though even he's not exactly Mr Bad Guy in the book, at least compared to Mike Love in The Beach Boys for example!
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Post by knut on Jul 19, 2015 8:38:56 GMT
As for promotion I find it quite satisfactory here in Norway. I got the LTAW DVD on prime time National TV, I've got Hollies features on National radio, last time this weekend - a 2 hours program on the 60s singles including Very last day, Stewball, What's wrong with the way I Live, Dear Eloise and Pay you back with interest. Earlier a half hour program on all Hollies vocalists. Before the Oslo Concert in 2010 we had a double page feature in Norway's largest newspaper and another 2-page feature in an Oslo newspaper before last year's Oslo show. We have 3500 followers to the Facebook site Hollies to Norway (visible in Scandinavia only. Some post have been promoted to 100 000. All Oslo shows since 2010 have sold out, in 2010 we had an extra show. Have a look at the Norwegian Wikipedia site. no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollies So, things can be done for this band.
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Post by cameron on Jul 20, 2015 11:20:08 GMT
It's amazing the effort that you put in to the band knut - I believe they owe their success in Norway to you! However, in their native England, they're largely forgotten. There's been no promotion for 'Changin' Times' other than a Facebook announcement and an announcement on their website. No interviews, no magazine articles, certainly nothing on TV or radio. The last one to receive a bit of promotion was 'Radio Fun' that had an official YouTube sample from EMI and Tony went on a local radio station but you had to live in Kent to hear it, unless you listened afterwards on BBC iPlayer. Whenever an article does come along, it's usually interesting and informative. But in the 30+ years of Record Collector, they've only ran in-depth articles on the Hollies just a handful of times.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 15:38:48 GMT
"Largely forgotten" - yet they still sell plenty of tickets whenever they tour. In truth it's probably been pretty much this way for at least 30 years (with the exception of the 1988 He Ain't Heavy reissue & TV appearances). Even the reunion album with Graham Nash didn't receive any promotional concerts or TV appearances in the UK (yet they promoted the 1981 medley!).
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Post by ladyjane9 on Jul 20, 2015 22:36:04 GMT
Regarding the US, The Hollies as they were are barely remembered and the current lineup almost unknown. Regarding the book, I am still on the fence but acknowledge its merits for major fans. Regarding Graham Nash, I give him a lot of credit for overcoming his "large ego," and being so forthcoming with all aspects of media coverage. I just listened to him talk at length with Howard Stern on his Sirius radio show for a good hour. Anyone familiar with Howard Stern knows that he gets a LOT of interesting facts and stories from his interviewees! I find it hard to accept the assessment of Allan Clarke as uncooperative--he recently recorded nearly 2 hours of interview material for Jason Barnard's global Strangebrew Podcast--maybe it depends how one approaches Allan because he seemed very friendly and forthcoming in 2014.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 7:09:36 GMT
Regarding the US, The Hollies as they were are barely remembered and the current lineup almost unknown. Regarding the book, I am still on the fence but acknowledge its merits for major fans. Regarding Graham Nash, I give him a lot of credit for overcoming his "large ego," and being so forthcoming with all aspects of media coverage. I just listened to him talk at length with Howard Stern on his Sirius radio show for a good hour. Anyone familiar with Howard Stern knows that he gets a LOT of interesting facts and stories from his interviewees! I find it hard to accept the assessment of Allan Clarke as uncooperative--he recently recorded nearly 2 hours of interview material for Jason Barnard's global Strangebrew Podcast--maybe it depends how one approaches Allan because he seemed very friendly and forthcoming in 2014. Allan seems to have become a far better interviewee in more recent years now that he no longer has the pressure of fronting the band, and Bobby also seems to have come into his own (Tony is still as taciturn as ever!). With his more outgoing and chatty personality, Terry could've become a good spokesman for the band after Graham left (but of course as a mere "employee" he'd never ever have been allowed to do such a thing). I don't think it's on youtube now, but in 1983 the reunion Hollies (Allan, Graham, Tony, Bobby) did a lengthy 25 minute group interview for a US TV programme called "Nightflight". Some fans have criticised Graham for almost totally dominating this interview, but often he'd pass questions over to the others yet they still all (except Graham) came across as very uncomfortable and awkward.
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Post by gee on Jul 21, 2015 9:25:25 GMT
This is so true - Graham 'Large ego' Nash takes alot of flak for dominating the chats...but if Nash said nothing WHO would speak up on The Hollies behalf ?
Nash, a longtime ex-Hollie, still readily contributes email answers & has sent memorabilia to Hollies fan conventions...when current band members said & did NOWT !
Tony Hicks has said he first spoke to Eric...who 'grunted' !, then Graham came over and was VERY friendly & chatty (chiefly in order to get Tony into their band !) but Nash was very much the public face of The Hollies mainly as nobody else wanted to speak to the public much (like Tony later became overall band manager as nobody else wanted to do the job)
Look at Allan Clarke sweating and clearly ill at ease fronting the group minus Nash in that Golders Green Hippodrome concert in February 1969 (and Allan had been lead singer of an international hit making band since 1963 by then !)
Bernie Calvert said Graham & Allan made him feel very welcome when he joined the band (again it was in their interests to do so, but they had a friendly attitude towards him)
Terry was an excellent 'PR' man too given a chance, I recall him speaking on the radio when he was still a 'Hollie' and he really plugged the band, and he even spoke of their earlier records saying how much he rated 'Evolution' (!) - Terry came over as 100% a 'Hollie ambassador'....how sad things have changed so much
I agree Allan has got better in his interviews & Bobby has emerged as a good 'interviewee' as well - there's an interview with Bobby in the August issue of 'Record Collector' magazine...where he says he'd like to work with Graham once more
But overall in the past the band just seem to ignore the 'PR' thing - I don't think it ever came naturally to most of them besides Nash - Carl Wayne really stood out when he took over from Allan as his excellent 'PR' skills were in another league !
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Jan T
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Post by Jan T on Jul 21, 2015 10:49:22 GMT
Look at Allan Clarke sweating and clearly ill at ease fronting the group minus Nash in that Golders Green Hippodrome concert in February 1969 (and Allan had been lead singer of an international hit making band since 1963 by then !) But overall in the past the band just seem to ignore the 'PR' thing - I don't think it ever came naturally to most of them besides Nash I believe it was in the Strangebrew interview, last year, that Allan said Graham's leaving was probably a blessing in disguise, because it made him (Allan) grow up and start taking on more responsibility with and for the band. He realized how easy he'd had it, when Graham would just step up and speak. As you said, Gee, it came naturally to Graham and still does. Even on the LTAW DVD Graham comes across (at least to me) as being far more relaxed than the others.
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Post by JamesT on Jul 21, 2015 11:15:26 GMT
As for promotion I find it quite satisfactory here in Norway. I got the LTAW DVD on prime time National TV, I've got Hollies features on National radio, last time this weekend - a 2 hours program on the 60s singles including Very last day, Stewball, What's wrong with the way I Live, Dear Eloise and Pay you back with interest. Earlier a half hour program on all Hollies vocalists. Before the Oslo Concert in 2010 we had a double page feature in Norway's largest newspaper and another 2-page feature in an Oslo newspaper before last year's Oslo show. We have 3500 followers to the Facebook site Hollies to Norway (visible in Scandinavia only. Some post have been promoted to 100 000. All Oslo shows since 2010 have sold out, in 2010 we had an extra show. Have a look at the Norwegian Wikipedia site. no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollies So, things can be done for this band. The key thing here is 'I'. You have done a mountain of work, Knut, and have to be applauded. But really, why is the band's manager not taking on more promotion etc? I recall something similar cropping up re: Manfred Mann's Earth Band - or as I call them 'Manfred Mann's Continental Europe Band' on account of their touring preferences. It was suggested to myself and a few other fans that we somehow bank-roll an appearance or two and self-promote if we wanted to see the band in Blighty more often. I won't include our response!
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Post by greengoddess on Jul 21, 2015 20:33:19 GMT
I'm surprised to see Tony labelled as taciturn. He seems so friendly on all the interviews I've seen. Perhaps I've missed some.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 21:38:38 GMT
I'm surprised to see Tony labelled as taciturn. He seems so friendly on all the interviews I've seen. Perhaps I've missed some. Perhaps I used the wrong word, but he nearly always comes across to me as a reluctant interviewee who really doesn't want to be there.
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Post by Gralto on Jul 21, 2015 23:55:35 GMT
I'm surprised to see Tony labelled as taciturn. He seems so friendly on all the interviews I've seen. Perhaps I've missed some. Perhaps I used the wrong word, but he nearly always comes across to me as a reluctant interviewee who really doesn't want to be there. +1
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Post by greengoddess on Jul 22, 2015 21:45:58 GMT
I must have missed some interviews. He always seems to be smiling and chatting away happily on the ones I've seen.
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