Interview with Angry vs The Bear

Angry vs The Bear (AVB) is a group of young talented artists who write their songs all together and truly believe they will succeed.

Mitzi Fox, Patrick and Darren had been part of another band previously and in 2008 decided to start their fizzy electro pop punk music group bringing Ross on board straight away.
They have come a long way since the debut of their first single Show Emotion and their fan base is incredibly broad and varied; Kill me, I am electric and We are the Enemy are just a few of their best known songs.

The innovative quartet from Colchester has already showcased at the SXS 2009 and 2010 festivals in Texas and describe their experience with great enthusiasm:
“When we first saw the crowd dancing outside the building that was hosting the festival, we thought they were queuing to listen to other groups. They were waiting for us, instead! We did not expect such amazing support at the beginning, as many other famous bands with record labels were going to perform,” they said.

People drove several miles to listen to this frantic group, who are already thinking of releasing their first album.
“We are looking for sponsor at the moment, as our plan is to do more touring all over the world. We are going on pure belief about what we are doing; keeping the faith and do what we want to is our leading though,” they added.

Talking about the name of their band, the group explained that Angry vs The Bear is all about evoking super human strength to defeat the thing you are most scared of.
“If you are determined enough you can beat anything no matter how nasty and big,” they added.

Lord Paul Johnson, who is their business manager, truly believes in the potential of the group:
“Angry vs The Bear are a breath of fresh air in the music industry, as they are miles away from the plastic sounds of X-factor. These guys are not manufactured and their individuality will make them great in the world”, he said.

Action for Employment (A4e) is a private British company that provides unemployed people with the specific support they need to find work either in their field or in other industries.
The following article has been written by me at A4e request.

Artist challenge at Action for Employment

Frantic music burst with sharp energy yesterday at Action for Employment (A4e) in Holloway Road to promote clients in the world of art and music to do the job they are passionate about and increase their opportunity.

Artist Challenge was the idea of Maxine Watts, Team Manager of the event venue and ex DJ, who knows how fulfilling a career in this industry can be if you have a love of music.“I saw a documentary on TV about people finding it really hard to get work in the music and when I came to work the next day I discussed this with my line Manager, Abu Najaar as I thought we can have an open day here just to set up placements for our customers wanting to get into the music industry and help them along to finding sustainable employment,” she said.

The opening of this unique event was held by the Branch Manager, Abu Najaar and Blessing Asomugha, who is the branch Work Boost Coordinator and the organiser of this artist challenge.

“Action for Employment is meant to improve the lives of unemployed customers taking part in the programme. Thanks to A4e eight hundred people from all backgrounds went back into work over the last 18 months, but there is still much we can do to support clients coming from the music industry,“ Mr Najaar said.

Ms Asomugha described how this event is a milestone in the history of the company.
“We did realise that it was hard to get a job for clients in arts and music and it was not our fault. Networking is extremely important, as most of the people working in the music industry started as volunteers.“We are going to achieve the task today; we have amazing providers giving opportunity to people in this challenging area. I want to think this is just the beginning of a dream for our customers,” she said.

A long list of well-established Work Boost Providers took part to the event: IMT Hurricane, Hillside Productions, BBC, Galaxy Radio, Flourish International, Viewnowtv.co.uk and Rolling Sound. They introduced themselves to the public, willing to look for new talents.

Hillside Productions Chief Executive Officer Lord Paul Johnson, who built up a fortune from nothing, described how he followed his ambitions to make the work done.
“It is hard for people in the music industry as there will always be someone putting you down, telling you to go and get a proper job, but this is your passion, so, never give up,” he said.

Mr Johnson is also the business manager of Angry vs The Bear, a punchy and innovative quartet from Colchester, who has already showcased at the SXS 2009 and 2010 festivals in Texas, despite having being together for just three years. Their exclusive live performance at A4e gave spectators the chance to appreciate titles like Kill me, I am electric, Show Emotion, We are the Enemy and Start a Rev, just to mention a few.

The day was also brightened up by the notes of DJ’s and several professional vocalists such as Janet Cofie, Kriss-S, Dylan Walshe, Geo Gabriel and Chichia Armstrong. They all gathered at A4e to put themselves in touch with some of the top names in creative industry.

Those who are talented enough but still need to gain all the important technical skills to work in the music industry had a chat with Phil Mc Donnell, director of IMT Hurricane. The company offers a wide range of technical qualification courses and mentoring programmes to unemployed people in the media and music industry. One A4e customer was secured a placement on the programme on the same day!

More than sixty customers from Holloway Road, Camden Town and Westminster took part to the event and some of them are already working even harder than before to achieve their dream.

“We still have lots of lives to transform and want to create more opportunities for clients. This is just the beginning,” Ms Asomugha said.

Got a degree? You will face hard times!

The unemployment rate for graduates has doubled from 10 per cent to 20 per cent since the economic downturn started in 2008.

According to official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), it also emerged that graduates have been hit harder by the economic downturn than the UK as a whole.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found that graduates of historical and philosophical studies, law and languages were more likely to end up in low-skill jobs, while those studying medicine and dentistry or veterinary science can reasonably find a job in their field of interest.

While student leaders said the latest figures risked deterring more young people from higher education, teenagers are now being told to consider whether university is worth the investment if they want to secure highly skilled jobs, especially after December 2010, when MPs voted to increase university tuition fees up to £9,000 per year.

It is definitely a hard time for those graduates who want to start a career, as most of them have to accept menial jobs in order to get into work and stay in employment.

Britain stays Conservative

Voters in the UK rejected the Alternative Vote (AV) by 69.7 per cent to 32.1 per cent.

According to the 5^th May Referendum results, those in favour of giving more voice to their political representatives, saw their dream of voting reform crushed for a generation.

Only ten areas in the country voted in favour of the alternative vote and six of them were central London boroughs: Islington, Haringey, Lambeth, Southwark, Camden and Hackney. The last one is also the strongest backing in the country, as 60.7 per cent of its residents voted in favour of AV.

But overall 60.47 per cent of Londoners voted to retain First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system.

Even though Britons voted “No” to AV by a resounding majority, the result is based on a turnout of only 42,2 per cent.

In addition to the first UK wide referendum in a generation, England had local authority elections on the 5^th May.

The Liberal Democrats lost almost half their councillors in town halls across the country, in line with the worst prediction fears, while the Conservatives exceeded expectations, gaining control of four councils, including Gloucester and West Somerset. Labour also celebrated big gains, especially in the North of England.

Britain stays Conservative, at the moment.

Yes or No?

The first UK wide referendum in 35 years will take place tomorrow to decide whether to change the way British people elect MPs.

The current voting system ‘First Past the Post’ (FPTP), according to which people put one ‘X’ for their favourite candidate and the person with the most votes wins, could be scrapped for the ‘Alternative Vote’ (AV) system.

Under AV, which is a more complex system, voters can nominate 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th preferences so that if their favourite candidate is eliminated, they can still have a say until one candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the votes. The order in which candidates are eliminated is vital to determining the final result.

People who will vote ‘Yes’ to change to the Alternative Vote want to give more voice to their political representatives and step away from a system designed for two-party politics only.

Two thirds of current MPs, many with jobs for life, were elected with less than half of the vote; that means today most people are represented by MPs most citizens didn’t vote for.

On the other side, the ‘First Past the Post’ system, which is the most widely used in the world, is also clear and simple; produces strong governments and allows voters to kick out parties they have had enough of.

The referendum is taking place because the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, demanded it during the coalition negotiations last year. And the Lib Dem are also the only major party united behind a ‘Yes’ vote.

The majority of Labour MPs, in fact, are backing a ‘No’ vote and PM David Cameron and the Conservatives want to keep the existing system too.

Some MPs fear the Coalition may now struggle to last the full five-year agreement, as bitter divisions emerged within the referendum campaign.

Whatever the outcome however, this is a once-in-a-generation chance to do politics differently and the Alternative Vote could be a very British revolution, as the result of this referendum is permanent.

In addition to the UK-wide referendum on the voting system many areas in England have local authority elections on May 5.

Polls will be opened all day tomorrow between 7am and 10pm.