I’ve just got off the phone with Jimmy @ Parlophone A&R. An interesting call.

I was grilling him on the EMI deal (Parlophone is part of EMI Group) with iTunes, selling unrestricted MP3 files on the web, and the general state of the industry.

As always with A&R, he was fishing for new talent that they might be interested in signing. I mentioned The Hopper Ward, a Doncaster-based trio whos influences allegedy (according to their MySpace) include the classic songwriters of the 60’s and 70’s, American folk, rocksteady, psychedelia and Yorkshire Tea! It sounds weird, but they’re actually really rather good.

I also mentioned Area 15, another Doncaster band who really do seem to be going places (well, they’ve been on telly!). Pop, Punk, and a little bit of Emo. Apparently.