RockTheNorth is an alternative community based around an interactive online forum providing media coverage and listings to all aspects of the rock scene in the North of England as well as supporting a thriving community. RockTheNorth Staff
Dave Masters - Co Owner, PR, Photography, Writer, Magazine, Bands
Lee Gale (Manic) - Co Owner, PR, Photography
Lizzie Bell - Press Officer, PR, Writer
Viki Rid
ley - Head Writer
Synopsis
RockTheNorth is an alternative community based around an interactive online forum providing media coverage and listings to all aspects of the rock scene in the North of England as well as supporting a thriving community. Having started out as an information resource for a very localised region, we have grown into a rich and diverse sub structured forum providing information about venues, gigs, news and discussions with users throughout the North of England. RockTheNorth.com also provides promotional opportunities for marketing to the rock and alternative communities with reviews (both for albums and gigs), event listings, gig and band photography, interviews and competitions. Expanded Description
www.rockthenorth.com
The core of what we do is based around a PHP bulletin board with a separate gallery based on Coppermine technologies. It is also fair to say that we’ve been held back by slow technological advances which prevented us from evolving in different directions. What started out being an information resource for a very local set of area’s and venues has now grown into a diverse sub structured forum giving information from around the North of England. We grow by demand and are normally requested by independent promoters or by local community users to set up new areas or locations. We believe that the community aspect of RockTheNorth should evolve, and devolve as required with the changes in the community. One side looks internally to its own community whilst the other projects externally for a p***c audience. The external side concentrates on the media coverage of events and global promotion that the general public may find of interest. All information on the external side is given freely to the public without the requirement to log in or surrender any details. The internal aspect of RockTheNorth is it's own registered community. Within this area topics are posted by the members for general discussion or for informational purposes. We also have a presence on various social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. History
How RockTheNorth Came to Be
RockTheNorth is equally owned and self-funded by Dave C Masters and David Lee Gale. The story of the creation of RockTheNorth is a complex affair that very much did grow out of demand. When Dave and Lee were teenagers going through to their early twenties the Rock and Alternative communities were a very close knit affair. Everybody would look out for each other and help out in any way they could. You could say that was a very strong family attitude to it all. At the time there was one main Rock venue in the Tyne and Wear area where people all from the nearby Cities and Town’s came. This venue was called the Newcastle Mayfair, Located where “The Gate” is currently now in Newcastle upon Tyne’s City centre. Unfortunately due to varying reasons this prestigious venue closed on the 21st August 1999. In the years that preceded the closure fragmentation within the community occurred. What was once one community or scene was now split up or didn’t exist at all. Distraught by this fragmentation, and if we’re honest, after many a drunken evening in the pub, it was decided by Dave and Lee that perhaps they should do something about it, albeit they’d not idea what. In March 2004 an opportunity presented its self. A friend of Lee’s, a chap named John Ord (DJ Oddy), was launching a new Rock Club night called “Sun Rock City” at a Sunderland city centre venue called Pzazz (Now known as Passion). As part of his promotion plan John wanted a web site web site creating and knew that Lee had a media degree and figured he would be a ideal candidate to create it. Lee accepted the offer and set to work. The web site “rockatpzazz.com” was the product of this by Lee. It was a simply affair to start off with giving the relevant information needed for promotion of the night. However seeds have a habit of growing into big tree’s, which is what certainly happened in RockTheNorth’s case. At the time Lee and Dave had a tenancy to take photos of friends and people that they happened to meet whilst out enjoying various Rock establishments in the area. After being in Sun Rock City at the Pzazz venue, and after several alcoholic beverages, they decided that it would be a good idea to take some photograph’s to put on the web site. It what was that point that Dave started to get involved with the project. At this time Dave was already running small community based forums for friends and people with mutual interests and had been for around 4 years or so. He thought he’d suggest to Lee that a forum on the rockatpzazz.com site may be a good idea and invite the members of the existing communities to move across into one global forum. Luckily for RockTheNorth’s future Lee also thought it would be a fantastic idea! A few months of frustration, swearing and items been thrown the first forum was born. Immediately a multitude of people signed up and an active online community was born. In early June disaster struck, as it so frequently does within the Rock and Alternative community, and the Leisure Company that owned the Pzazz Club went into liquidation. The night at Pzazz was going strong so it was deemed a new venue was needed. So without even a single week being missed the night moved over to the upstairs of the Night Club Sirens, based on High Street West in Sunderland. Whist Lee was concentrating on the coding and functionality of the web site Dave was starting to get more and more involved with the various aspects of running a Rock Night. When an coverage opportunity came up he decided he thought he’d try his hand at DJ’ing like he had done in the past. A regular slot was soon ensured. As the time went by the site continued to grow and additional club or event nights started up. Before long Lee, Dave and a fellow called Scott (AKA Pix) were running a live music night in Siren’s. This sparked further interests in the photography which both Lee and Dave did. Lee had had exposure during his degree to Gig Photography and general media type functions. Dave and Lee both agreed that not only should they provide pictures of people enjoying the nights but should provide coverage of the bands they put on also. It became apparent t that the technology and capacity of the current rockatpzazz web site was inadequate for their needs. To remedy this problem a lot more time effort and money would be needed to create a website capable of the aspirations of Dave and Lee. At much as they would have loved to go ahead with this they could not as the site and name belonged to John Ord. In the January of 2005 a meeting was held between John Lee and Dave in a public house called Baroque in Sunderland to discuss the future of the rockatpazzaz.com website. It was decided that when the web hosting was up for renewal in the March, Dave and Lee would take over the running of the community site including all costs associated with it. It was agreed that the only way they could successfully achieve this was to start again from fresh. In March 2004 rockatpzazz.com seized to exist. RockTheNorth.Com was born and launched immediately afterwards jointly owned by Lee and Dave. The only actual content that was transferred across from the old site was the photographs that Dave and Lee had taken at the various events. RockTheNorth from Infant to Adult
When RockTheNorth was launched Dave and Lee had formulated a plan on how to take the project forward. The plan consisted of two main focus areas to concentrate on that could be matured independently of each other. These focus area’s where “Internal” and “External” facing. The Internal facing focus was to support the registered members by providing resources, support and a community. The External facing focus was to provide global resource and information to unregistered members in a more published Media style. Along with the plan a strong set of ethics were created to rule over each of the focus area. These ethics are still in place and adhered too today. As the internal part of RockTheNorth was growing adequately to fit the demand and was keenly watched over by a selection of Moderators, Dave and Lee decided that it was now time to focus on the external part of the project. After investigating media methods and process requirements, Lee managed to secure Press photo access to the Demolition Ball in 2006, held in the Newcastle upon Tyne Arena, where the likes of Y & T, Tigertailz and Sebastian Bach where playing. The event coverage was a success and RockTheNorth even managed to secure the first interview with the Tigertailz for 15 years, which included the now late Pepsi. Given this boost, Dave set out to find out how to request and gain access to other events at different venues. After much deliberation and being fobbed off Dave and Lee were given the opportunity, thanks to A.M.G. to cover the United States of America gig at the Newcastle Academy. This was the first event to be fully covered by RockTheNorth. The team who covered the event were Dave and Lee doing the gig photography and Jen Caterer doing the written media coverage. Since this event RockTheNorth has not stopped! As time has gone by, RockTheNorth’s reputation has grown to the point where 3rd party coverage has been offered. Dave entered the ranks of Professional Gig Photographer after being commissioned by an independent 3rd Party to provide photographic coverage of an event and had the resulting work published in a German Music magazine with a circa of 50,000 magazines sold each month. More recently Manic has also entered these lofty ranks by successfully completing a commission. There have been many members on the external facing team over the years that have joined or dropped out as their situation in their live has changed. Shell Annabel helped out a great deal in the early days and assisted in raising RockTheNorth’s profile with sterling writing skills. RockTheNorth continues to cover as many events as current resource allows whilst still upholding a high standard in work produced. In more recent years RockTheNorth has scaled up its coverage to include festivals such as Bloodstock, Download to Newcastle upon Tyne’s local Evolution festival. Currently, these are the permanent members of the External team:-
Dave Masters – Co Owner, PR, Photography
Lee Gale - Co Owner, PR, Photography
Kirsty Appleby – PR, Photography, Writer
RockTheNorth is constantly looking out for keen reliable people to increase the ranks of the External team. RockTheNorth’s Mission Statement
At RockTheNorth we adhere to the following ethos and ethics. Give Back to the community. Encourage the community to thrive and support it. Evolve to suit the community’s needs as well as our own. To help out other people support the community. Give people opportunities that they wouldn’t normally get. Help and aid people’s career within the Media Music business. Help and aid people wishing to give back to the community themselves. Provide adequate web space for promoters to promote whatever they’re doing. Be open minded and listen to idea’s. To be as Democratic and fair as we possibly can be. Conclusive Statement
At RockTheNorth we don’t have to do what we do. We don’t have to spend all of the time we do providing the resource and take all the trouble and problems that arise with people or technology when doing this sort of thing. We don’t have to have to bare the associated financial cost of running RockTheNorth….but we still do all of it! We do it not only because we think its actually a good thing but also we do it to try and make your life a little better. If everyone had the attitude of just take take take the world would be a very depressing unfriendly place. Ask yourself, when was the last time you gave something back? Have you ever? Maybe this is the kick up the bottom you need to look around and start making YOUR own local Rock and Alternative community that little bit better, nay, surely were all just one big community, and if not, we should be! Oh, and if you need a hand with anything, please let RockTheNorth know! Dave Masters – Co Owner, PR, Photography
Lee Gale - Co Owner, PR, Photography
