Mini Viva made an arresting splash on the pop world with their debut single Left My Heart In Tokyo crashing into the top ten and staying there for four consecutive weeks in September 2009. Their distinctive hi-nrgetic sound and glam look won them fans across the board. Britt and Frankee have since been putting the finishing touches to their debut album and are ready to release the absolute pop gem ‘One Touch’. Irresistibly catchy, yet still craftily knowing and with nods back to the floorfilling 80s sounds of Chicago house and hi-nrg, this is the perfect soundtrack to dancing round your living room, getting ready for a Saturday night on the town with the girls.

Mini Viva will also take to the road with everyone’s favourite dance troupe Diversity.

Full tour dates below:

Tue 23-Mar Margate Winter Gardens
Wed 24-Mar Cambridge Corn Exchange
Thu 25-Mar Rhyl Pavilions
Sat 27-Mar Manchester Apollo
Sun 28-Mar Liverpool Empire
Mon 29-Mar Wolves Civic Hall
Tue 30-Mar Glasgow Cylde Auditorium
Thu 01-Apr Newcastle City Hall
Fri 02-Apr Swindon Oasis
Sat 03-Apr Plymouth Pavilions
Mon 05-Apr Oxford New Theatre
Tue 06-Apr Leicester De Montford
Wed 07-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Thu 08-Apr Bristol Colston Hall
Sat 10-Apr Portsmouth Guildhall
Sun 11-Apr Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
Tue 13-Apr Nottingham Concert Hall
Wed 14-Apr Sheffield City Hall
Thu 15-Apr Brighton Brighton Centre
Sat 17-Apr Cardiff CIA
Sun 18-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Mon 19-Apr London Hammersmith Apollo
Wed 21-Apr Brentwood Leisure Centre
Thu 22-Apr Preston Guildhall
Sat 24-Apr Manchester Apollo
Sun 25-Apr Bradford St Georges Hall
Mon 26-Apr Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Here is some exciting news straight out of Radio 1 HQ, that they will be releasing more and more video footage for select blogs and of course you wonderful people to enjoy. To kick things off, we’ve got some exclusive Zane Lowe Maida vale sessions with UK rapper Giggs.

The videos are for ‘Don’t Go There’ and ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In’, and both videos go live at 8pm tonight!

You really don’t want to miss this!

Believe.

Our new venture, of which we will be exploring and expanding over the next few months is a features section. We will be interviewing some of the most exciting movers and shakers around the UK, along with some special but not necessarily commercially recognised people.

We will be featuring artists, musicians, bands, retail stores, individuals, and keeping the focus on THE BEST OF BRITISH. Features will go live on the 1st of every month.

I hope you enjoy what we’ve got in store for you, feel free to re-post interviews, providing you send us the love back with a return link. If you’re interested in getting involved in guest feature writing then drop us an e-mail to one of us on our CONTACT page. RISE out.

Featured so far:

Trousers London (www.trouserslondon.co.uk)

Phantom Limb (www.phantomlimbmusic.com)

HUSH (www.hushstudio.blogspot.com)

Mini Viva (http://www.miniviva.com/)

Dan Mumford (http://www.dan-mumford.com/)

Waste (http://www.wasteyourself.com/)

Hot Chip (http://www.hotchip.co.uk/)

Mark Jenkins (Fat Seagul) (http://www.fatseagul.com/)

Chris & Tibor (http://www.christibor.com/)

No-One Store (http://www.no-one.co.uk/)

Supremebeing (http://www.supremebeing.com/)

Resurrection Store (http://www.resurrection-online.com/)

Paul Sid / Retreat (http://www.retreatstore.com/)

Over the past 10 years Supremebeing™ have firmly established themselves on the UK clothing landscape, and they don’t want to stop there. They have managed to superbly negotiate the difficulties of keeping the soul, excitement and independant feel in a very successful highstreet brand. Based out of Cambridge and coming with a burgeoning reputation for forward thinking and directional design, we got to chat to David Newman about the goings on at Supremebeing™.

What’s your name, where are you from, what do you do?

Hi there, my name is David Newman I was born in Cambridge UK and I’m one of the team at Supremebeing™.

How and why did you start Supremebeing™?

We established Supremebeing™ in 1999 Yoc / Mozza / Skuff and myself in Cambridge, some screen printers, artists, designers and entrepreneurs. Born from a love of graphic design, art and streetwear, the belief was that with talent and hard work we could make a career from what we love. We had great designs; it was up to us to make it happen. The team began with tee and hoody prints that would become the foundation of the brand. It was here that the name Supremebeing™ first appeared; a strap line to a graphic which depicted one of the designers’ left hand missing part of a finger lost in a bizarre chip shop accident! This was Yoc, his mum used to call him a Supremebeing and said to him, that in the eyes of god we are all equal!

Created first Amongst Equals! All Supremebeing’s.

Renting a space at the screen printers where we once worked, we developed our own print techniques and produced a huge catalogue of graphics. The new designs could be printed to order from a stock of blank tee shirts in a rainbow of colours, giving unprecedented speed and flexibility. Supremebeing™ grew organically, evolving from graphic to garment design, and moved into new areas in response to meeting and taking on new talent. Our handmade ethic continued year on year as a base of like-minded customers steadily built around the world.

Today the apparel and footwear ranges still retain the original concepts of creativity, passion and exceptional design Supremebeing™ was based on, and it is committed to offering quality product with no gimmicks and a touch of good humour. This is our culture, our scene. We were sick of brands repackaging our culture and selling it back to us at ridiculous prices. We wanted to make clothes that represented who we were and also that our friends could afford…”

We funded it all off our own back and whatever we made from sales we put straight back into the company, the same as we do today!

How many people currently keep Supremebeing™ running day to day?

At our base in Cambridge there is a full time team of 14 of us:

Design: Yoc / Skuff / Billy / DQ / Sammy / Mary /

Web: Trip / Amy / Meado

Marketing: Simon

Logistics and Finance: Mozza / Kerry / Matt / Pete

Part time: James / Duncan

I fall somewhere in there too! I also feel that all our distributors around the world need a mention and our agents in London, its actually quite scary the amount of people that are involved with Supremebeing™ now day’s, we have over 10 distributors around the world who employ on average about 4/7 agents, the family is growing weekly, and the love we feel form the people we meet is amazing, without all involved we would never be where we are today and where we are going!

How did you make the shift into large cut and sew ranges, what was the first cut and sew piece you ever produced?

We started printing on hoods and crews as well as t-shirts then we meet a girl called billy about 6 years ago who was in her 1st year at Uni in Nottingham, she came and did work experience with us and we all developed a girls snowboard style jacket and some dope mens trak tops! From there we meet more designers and sort of taught ourselves with help from friends how the cut and sew world worked, Our first full collections we produced in Portugal for jersey and the jackets we made in China through a friend in Korea!

We still look back and try and work out where this big transition was but it was and still is very Organic, it’s all about the people we meet and how we help each other out!

Time lines are infinite they never seem to end so as far as how long did it take, we feel we are still very much on the journey! We also produce quite a large collection of sneakers twice a year, this is looked after by the one and only DQ the street cobbler! Keep your eyes peeled for all future development

Was the brand self sustaining in its growth, did one collections profits fund the development of the subsequent ones increase in collection size?

We design things hope people like them and buy them, then use the cash we make to invest in the next collection / ideas and so and so on! We do it for the love, We just try to keep the rollercoaster moving and hold on tight!

Was there a specific turning point when you feel the brand ‘took off’ as such?

Its nice to hear you feel we have blown up already we feel there is so much more love and passion to put in! Meaning hard work and time, we feel so lucky everyday and yet still feel a bit slept on! I still feel we have so much to do to get out there more!

How was the bricks and mortar flagship store experience, and the positives and negatives of moving to a web flagship?

We loved our old store, we were just in the wrong location and never really had the cash we needed to put into it! Rent in our hometown is so high! The shop inspired people so it served its purpose, shame it never made us any cash! To be honest it just lost us money, since going only on line we are starting to see some return!

We are looking at opening a space somewhere out there soon; in the mean time we are web focused!

The Supremebeing™ x Nooka watch is one of my favorite collaborations of recent times, how did that come about?

We like Nooka™, and originally met them at a show in Barcelona when they had just launched and chatted about a colab. We then went to see them in NY a year or so later and did the colab, we love colabs and are looking at doing many more in the future

How do you feel balancing the independent exclusive side of things with the more easily accessible highstreet face of the brand?

We are carful who we work with and generally work with nice people, it’s so difficult to have a balance, but I feel we have done well to maintain the brand and keep to our core values!

What is the vision for Supremebeing™ now, where do you want to head with the brand?

Keep it going / create more beautiful products for a beautiful future / take the brand to more people so they can feel it the same way we do! Our next big areas we are focusing are the US / China and as always the UK.
If you could collaborate with one artist, brand, musician….anyone.  Who would it be and why?

Hendrix or Bob Marley but im sure the team will all have the favorites! And shame they’re not around to do it meaning my choices. Living artist I guess I would say someone like Neil Young.

To keep up to date with the big news relating to Supremebeing™ head over to their website HERE, and to buy some of the immaculate product head to UNIFY SHOP!

Liverpool’s largest independent clothes store Resurrection have created quite the name for themselves. After getting in touch, we got a chance to sit down with Rob Pritchard and find out from the owner himself, just what’s going down over there!

Whats your name, where are you from and what do you do?

My names Rob Pritchard and I own and run Liverpool’s largest independent - Resurrection with my wife Lisa. We stock a vast and varied mix of brands including Carhartt, Lee, Zoo York, Merc, Converse, Onitsuka Tiger, Fly 53, Fred Perry, Religion, House of the Gods, Amplified and too many others to list. About 110 in all. We also stock a massive range of men’s and women’s vintage.

Ace, I personally can’t get enough of vintage and good ol’ Fred Perry but what’s Resurrection’s story, and what was the drive to make it work?

I founded Resurrection in 1988 when I was a student at Durham University. Originally it was a small stall that I used to run at the Student Union building once or twice a term. I’d take £100 on a good day and that seemed like an awful lot of money at the time as I was always broke. It was originally a purely vintage offering and stayed so in fact until about 2000. I started the store because I needed to make some money. I already loved scouring the charity shops, boot fairs and jumble sales for clothes for myself. One Easter holiday I decided to buy a bit extra so I could sell it on. I had some really cheap places I knew about and the initial stock cost about £40. It was a big gamble because that was pretty much all I had.

My father had died a couple of years earlier and my mum wasn’t in a position to bail me out if it all went pear shaped. After I graduated I carried on with the markets. I borrowed £700 off my sister and brought a really inappropriate old Land Rover to move stock around in. It leaked and stock often got ruined. It also drove like a tractor and did about 12 miles a gallon on a run. I soon paid her back although she still goes on about how she helped me out. In 1991 I opened a stall which was about 8 foot by 12 foot in the Quiggins Arcade. My Mum really helped me out in the early years by working on the stall when I was away buying or doing other markets. She became a well known figure herself on the Liverpool scene during these years and all kinds of people still ask about her. She still did odd days in the shop up to 4 years ago.

Over the years it increased in size and by the mid 90’s was making me good money. Lisa joined me in 1996 when we got married. Her input really helped move things on as she had a formal sales training and she also proved to be an excellent womens wear buyer. This isn’t why I married her though - when I met her I thought “what a Hottie”, and I still do now. In the last 4 years we’ve moved out of the Quiggins Arcade as the inner city development forced its closure. The move into primary retail space really was a big risk but it didn’t take long before we were making a big hit.

That’s quite a history! But what were the customers saying? Within the area, how well was it received at first?

Our first “big” store was at 25 Bold St. It was 3000 sq ft and seemed enormous. We opened that in 2006. We were in it 2 years before we’d outgrown it and now we have an 11000 sq ft store at 17-19 Bold St. The store’s always been popular. Even when it was a tiny stall in the Quiggins Centre we’d attract all kinds of customers - high profile bands and actors, young professionals, old professionals, students, normal people, Norwegians, all sorts. We’re definitely not corporate and people get that about us and believe in us. We also do things the wrong way sometimes just to see what happens. Like me buying that rubbish Land Rover all those years ago. We say it’s the Resurrection way. The staff play a big part in all this. I let them do their own thing as long as they are productive and don’t hurt anyone.

In terms of product we sell whatever I think people will want. I always aim to buy things that people will get pleasure from owning and wearing. I still get excited when I find amazing product, whether it’s something I would personally wear or not. Having such a varied customer base allows us to stock a really eclectic mix of brands and product. I still like to work on the shop floor when I can and have a lot of contact with my customers. I have so many regulars they alone could keep the business going. Some have been coming in for nearly 20 years. I’m only 41 so that’s nearly half my life.

When I select items from a collection I think in terms of buying for these guys. These guys are aged 9 to 70 so it gives me plenty of scope. Obviously with the brands we stock we appeal mainly to the 15 to 35 year olds, but there really is so much more. I find it hilarious when someone comes in who we’d have loads of things for, but for some reason they get overwhelmed by the offer and walk straight out again without really looking. It happens about twice a day when I’m on the floor. I get a real buzz when someone comes in and I think “now here’s someone we can’t possibly have anything for” and yet they get what’s going on and start finding things, or better still they start to get into stuff they didn’t even realise they would like. This happens a lot and gives me a real buzz. I feel like the store’s really made a contribution to their life.

What is it that you love about your area, do you have a big sense of pride in the locality?

I love Liverpool. I’m originally from Warrington which effectively should make me a second class citizen in the city, but I receive very little abuse.

My family were all originally from Liverpool and I grew up absolutely in love with the city. When the city was a real mess in the eighties I was so biased I still thought it was an amazing place. I love the people here, I love the scene, I love the architecture. I find it hard to fault the place.

I don’t like all the Smack Heads. Apart from that it’s a fine place.

Damn smack heads! So, what have you got going on at the moment, any interesting projects for 2010?

There’s always stuff going on. We like to do a lot of collaborations with local bands and artists. In-store gigs, photoshoots, exhibitions, that sort of thing. The web sites quite a big thing at the moment. It’s been live now for 4 months and we are shipping all round the world. So far this week we have shipped to New Zealand, Isarel, Germany and Russia and it’s only Wednesday. With the web site we will be carrying on the Resurrection tradition of not following the rules. I take notice of them, but then I think it’s best not to be restrained by them. For example, we have done the smart thing and attended Ecommerce courses, contracted an Ecommerce marketing company and taken on someone with lots of web experience, so that we have all the essentials in place. Now it’s all working and making money we can start to have some fun with it. There’s some funny stuff hidden in there for people to find. Just mischief at the moment but we’ve got the time now to really go to town on it. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from our on-line customers and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far. I didn’t think I’d be able to get my head round it so quickly being a bit of a techno phobe, but I like systems and some would say I was borderline autistic. It stands me in good stead for a lot of things in business.

You sound like quite the natural business man but for people interested in starting up an independent retail venue what would you tell them? What do you wish you’d known back when you first opened?

I knew absolutely nothing when I started. I think that’s good because you have to work out your own way of doing things. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone. They’re probably best working it out themselves.

So there is hope for the clueless entrepreneurs! But for you personally, what have been the absolute high points of the store?

Each time we expand and it works is a massive relief, if not a high point. Jared came in when he was hosting the MTV awards in Liverpool last year. He bought over £1000 of gear and loved the place. It didn’t mean that much to me at the time because I didn’t know who he was, but I really buzzed off the fact that although he was a very wealthy Hollywood star he homed in on the basement which is the part of the store that really reflects the origins of the business. It’s where all the Moddy/Indie gear is as well as the men’s vintage and he spent nearly an hour down there looking at everything. Every time someone finds the basement for the first time and really appreciates it, it reassures me that despite all the expansion over the years, we haven’t sold out. We’re still true to our roots, and what’s more people like what we’re doing

It’s Febuary now, the new year has barely begun but what do you want to have accomplished by the end of this year?

I want the website to be fully established and turning over good money. I always want the store to be the best it can be, so that goes without saying. I’ve been toying with the idea of opening a store in another city for years. I’m always put off by the fact the Liverpool store may suffer as a result. I’d rather have one brilliant store than two good ones. At some point it would be interesting if I thought I could have two brilliant stores, but we’ll have to see if that’s this year or not. I certainly won’t be sitting still anyway.

So, it sounds like Resurrection know exactly what’s on, and what to where whilst doing it. Kudos to the Pritchards for the epic creation of the Resurrection store.

A bit of news from the PF Flyers camp for Spring ‘10. Released from the PF Flyers archive of 1943, the Rambler Hi and Lo stay true to every original charm. The bold sport details of high-visibility hash mark foxing and pronounced diamond toe bumper are balanced with vintage style of two-tone stitching, fine weave 9 oz. canvas, striated toecap and inner webbing stripe.

The Rambler, inspired by the original archived design, brings forth the heritage of PF Flyers for Spring 2010. In 1943, and now in 2010, the Rambler remains a classic sneaker. Available now through PF Flyers accounts worldwide.

I have been told and witnessed the truth in the flesh that Scouting For Girls’ have a new single ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’. The single is out on 29 March, just ahead of their new album ‘Everybody Wants to Be On TV’ on 12 April. BOOYA.

If that isn’t enough the guys have also made a series of Scouting for Girls TV ‘webisodes’, where Roy, Greg and Pete give news bulletins on their new single, album and their charity London-Brighton bike ride for WellChild.  It’s fun and will bring a smile to your face.

Check out a couple here:

Episode 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2cl7TySuag

Episode 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzKXSW6cKlI&feature=channel

For the naive, in 2008 Scouting For Girls became the biggest selling new British band of the year. Having toiled for ten years unsigned, the boys sold over 900,000 records of their eponymous number 1 debut album, and were nominated for three Brit Awards (British Breakthrough Act, British Single and British Live Act) to become the UK’s most successful new pop band.

Fronted by exuberant showman Roy Stride, Scouting For Girls quickly became renowned for their contagious piano-led pop songs (She’s So Lovely, Heartbeat, It’s Not About You), that connected with a huge audience and reaped multiple sell-out tours. Those live shows grew as Scouting For Girls mania gripped, buoyed on by huge radio support, and venues were upsized across the country and sold out just as quickly. By the end of 2008, they had performed to hundreds of thousands of fans, and outsold bands twice their size in the live arena.

The initial recordings of their forthcoming second album Everybody Wants To Be On TV were ruthlessly scrapped after the Brit Awards in 2008, when the band decided it needed re-writing and re-shaping. Whole tracks were dropped in Roy Stride’s mission for a collection of perfect pop songs. The resulting album, produced by Andy Green at Helioscentric Studios in East Sussex, is unshakeably bold and confident, a genuine step up in sound that loses none of the band’s early charm but builds and expands upon it as infectiously as only they know how to be.

It is a welcome return by this everyday trio, writing a bright new chapter of British pop for 2010.

www.scoutingforgirls.co.uk

Believe

Sarah Blasko has been announced as the Special Guest on her fellow countrymen The Temper Trap’s 14 date UK tour in April and May. Having won the ARIA Award and Rolling Stone Award for Best Female and the coveted J Award for Album Of The Year with her 2009 release ‘As Day Follows Night’ in Australia, Sarah is relocating to Europe for much of 2010. ‘As Day Follows Night’, which was produced by Björn Yttling (from Peter, Bjorn and John) and recorded in Sweden, is Sarah’s third album but the first to be released in Europe.

If you’re keen to get to see the shows, you need to move fast….nearly a third of them have sold out already:

27 April - O2 Academy Bournemouth
28 April - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London- SOLD OUT
29 April - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London - SOLD OUT
30 April - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London - SOLD OUT
1 May - University, Cardiff
3 May - Rock City, Nottingham
4 May - Birmingham O2 Academy
5 May - UEA, Norwich
9 May - The Academy, Manchester - SOLD OUT
10 May - Newcastle O2 Academy
11 May - Leeds O2 Academy
13 May - Glasgow O2 Academy
14 May - The HMV Picture House, Edinburgh
16 May - Liverpool O2 Academy - SOLD OUT

The release of the album on April 5th will be preceded by her debut UK single ‘We Won’t Run’ on March 22nd on Dramatico Entertainment.