Richard Durrant and LongMan Records form the cover story for the October issue of Sussex based "Business Edge" magazine.  The feature article tracks the progress of the label from Richard's dreams over a pint of Harveys in Wilmington Priory circa 1994, to the success story that is LongMan today.

Feedback from the article has been considerable. Our favourite comment here at LongMan was:   "...great to see a bunch of non-conformist, peace loving artists smuggled into the world of business...". The development of this truly independent, acoustic label tells an equally happy and optimistic tale.

Ungagged made a trip to London last night to talk and sing live on Talk Sport's Mike Mendoza show.  Mark, Tom and Richard sang three live tracks from the current album (Where the river meets the sea) and chatted about life the universe and everything with their charismatic host. They also managed a plug for the next Ungagged gig on November 22nd at The Sussex Arts Club Brighton.

Tickets available from LongMan Records shop.

This week Richard Durrant is putting the finishing touches to his recording of Steve Reich's "Electric Counterpoint". Having performed the work at venues up and down the UK for the past six months the recording became a necessity. "Its the most popular and requested thing I've played in the last twenty years," says Durrant.

"Electric Counterpoint" is scored for soloist and multipal, pre-recorded guitars (or guitar ensemble).  Durrant has chosen favourite sounds from his vast collection of guitars to create the most beautiful, minimalist tapestry of sound for his pre-recorded backing. Richard comments: "The classical guitar plays the live, solo line in the midst of  steel string, 12 string and other acoustic guitars. They're panned out in a wonderful, acoustic flower with two Fender Strats on the outer edges, and two electric basses at the very centre".

The recording will be issued intitially as a LongMan Records download available from all major sites (Itunes, Napster etc). More live gigs and a film are planned.

There's a brand new band on the LongMan label. They're ukulele based and they're as versatile as they are weird and unpredictable. They are Ukulele Rebels.

The band were formed to collaborate - a sort of ukulele playing Massive Attack. Their first single, featuring the enigmatic Cloth Man on lead vocals, will be available from late September as download only from all major digital outlets.

Boob Job (LongMan045ddS2) expresses Cloth Man's desire for us all to try and hold on to a more positive body image in the face of other, seemingly implausable, media led stereotypes....its also a great song!

Watch this space.....

You can listen to a sample of the single here. 

From 21st August the band Ungagged begin there assault on the download charts. 

A sample of the single "Pull Away" can be heard by clicking here. If you decide to buy it then please do so using an Official Charts recognised site such as Itunes or Napster. Other official sites are selling the single but you may have to search around. Sometimes a site will ask you to sign up and use their media player. I would recommend Itunes for this but other good ones do exist. We've chosen Napster and Itunes for now - but please browse around if you are unsure. The process is usually straightforward!

If you are already a Napster click here  to buy "Pull Away".

If you already have Itunes click here to buy. 

If you would like to sign up to Napster in order to buy "Pull Away" please click here.

For Itunes click here.

You can then either search for Ungagged "Pull Away" or return here and click the link.  You can always ask your computer to uninstal if you don't like the look of anything.

Good luck and many thanks for visiting LongMan Records and supporting Ungagged. A full list of gigs and other info can be found on www.ungagged.com . 10% of all single sales will go towards the equipping of a new arts centre in Shoreham, Sussex.

Richard Durrant (Director LongMan Records)