Dragons’ Den: Indie band captivate dragons’ hearts… and £75,000 of funding
Monday, July 21st, 2008Peter Jones reveals his appalling taste in music
The dragons are back, and another set of would-be entrepreneurs are quaking beneath their icy stares, laconic put-downs and cruel jibes.
Tonight’s episode features a nervy indie band from Cambridge who “got to number three in the Austrian charts.”
Compared with Belle and Sebastian and The Divine Comedy, five-piece band Hamfatter have been pitching for a break for the last six years. Struggling away on the “toilet circuit,” the group had received a couple of offers from big labels but were put off by the draconian terms which were part and parcel of the deals. In a rather unconventional attempt to score funding, the budding rockers set up their own registered company, Hamfatter Ltd, whereby the band members act as directors, retaining all the rights and complete creative control, rather than relinquishing the majority of royalties to a record label.
When band manager first suggested going on Dragon’s Den to secure funding, his band members were less than enthusiastic.
“My reaction was, ‘that’s such a terrible idea’,” said guitarist James Ingham. “First of all, they’re no way going to give money to some band, and we don’t want to be ‘that band that went on Dragons’ Den’. But Jamie was quite persuasive.”
The band has already taken a leaf out of Radiohead’s book by releasing three albums independently without a record label.
“To get to the next level we needed the kind of massive backing that you get from a record label, but we didn’t want to go with a major company because they then take total control – what you release, when you release it, what you wear and so on.” said James.
That said, being free of the evil controlling record company corporate straight jacket hasn’t stopped Hamfatter looking and sounding exactly like a million and one other crap indie bands currently clogging up the airwaves.
In tonight’s episode, viewers will see dragon Peter Jones blown away by the band’s performance, agreeing to back them with £75,000 of his own cash, in return for 30% of all profits.
Lead guitarist Eoin O’Mahony, said: “A major part of our pitch was to show the Dragons how wasteful record companies are. We told them that last year, with a budget of £5,000, we released an album, recorded a video for just £750 and got ourselves on to the radio and into the charts. Can you imagine someone like EMI spending just £750 on a video?” The band has a new single coming out this week: “The Girl I Love.”
