Save BBC 6 Music says The Holloways' Bryn Fowler following Proud Camden gig
Published: 19 March 2010
by DAN CARRIER
THE cost of running the BBC's Six Music is a tiny investment that drives Britain's music industry, according to Bryn Fowler, the bassist of The Holloways.
The indie band were appearing at Camden Lock's Proud venue on Wednesday at a fund raiser for homeless charity Shelter and to raise the profile of the campaign to save the station, earmarked by Corporation bosses for the chop.
“It is a great station, and vital to new music,” Bryn told Grooves after playing a DJ set at the former Horse Stables venue.
“And it is also not just one genre - It has a huge range and it is both new music and old music. When you look at the figures they say Radio Three, for example, costs more per listener and per hour than Six Music, but this is just not discussed.”
And he added that The Holloways have been supported by the station, which has become a home for the latest wave of British bands before they make it big.
“Our last single got play listed on it, whereas we got very little airplay on Radio One and Two,” he says.
And this is because Six's remit allows the DJ's to take control, he says.
“It is the same job One Extra does for urban music,” he says. “Not everything can go on Radio One. There is a real niche for it. They play stuff you just do not hear anywhere else, from different eras.”
The Holloways were joined by the likes of Kentish Town rock and roll siblings Kitty Daisy and Lewis, Master Shortie, Eliza Doolittle, a dj set by The Maccabees and Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jongs at the sold out event, and Bryn took a leaf out of the stations book sby playing an eclectic mix: “I chose Starship's They Built This City On Rock and Roll,” he said. “I thought that was pretty fitting.”
And he added that the station would be his choice of company round the breakfast table – if he didn't enjoy late night rock and roll so much.
“If I got up first thing, I'd stick it on,” he says.