To all waiting on the new issue, we've been told it's going to be another two weeks until we'll be able to post them out.

If you have any queries please contact Ev: ev@unsignedmag.net or Jack: bands@unsignedmag.net and we'll get back to you asap.

All pre-orders, advertisers, subscribers & bands on the covermount CD have been notified via email - PLEASE EMAIL US if you did NOT receive the update as we're having a few problems with our mailing system but as far as we're aware most have received their personal updates.

Thanks for everyone's patience with this issue and will update as soon as it's in our hands!

The mighty GODLESS FESTIVAL is back and will be held at The George Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent this Saturday 17th May.

Unsigned Magazine is proud to be sponsoring a stage!

There are over 30 bands playing from a variety of alternative genres including rock, punk, hardcore, acoustic indie, metal, goth and everything in between so definitely something for everyone!

Tickets are £5 + booking fee from Music Mania or £6 on the door.  Doors open at midday till 11pm.  There are two bars open 24 hours and a kitchen serving hot/cold food throughout the day.

We also have alternative stalls in the ballroom selling a huge selection of tshirts, CDs, alternative/goth clothes, shoes/boots, jewellery,, bags, artwork, fanzines and a whole bunch of other stuff so bring your £££s and pick up some awesome stuff!

For more info on lineup, set times and how to get there please visit: www.godlessfestival.co.uk

See you down the front!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and to thank you all for your continued support of Unsigned.
Look out for our new issue in the very early part of the new year (Jan/Feb) and we look forward to bringing you even more new music to check out.

Any advertisers wishing to book ad places in the upcoming issue please email us: advertising@unsignedmag.net
Alternative bands wishing to book a place on the accompanying covermount CD please email: bands@unsignedmag.net

Due to xmas and us not wanting to be slave drivers to our lovely contributors who not only work for free but are awesome people in general, we are "closed" for the holidays from today until 10th January. Emails will be answered during that time but please allow a couple of days for someone to get back to you. Magazine orders will be processed as normal but do allow extra time for shipping due to xmas post services.

See you all in the New Year!

Ev
Editor

New Video from LESBIAN BED DEATH - I Use My Powers Fot Evil
Produced by the excellent team at Junction15 Productions

Happy Halloween!

As part of Stoke-on-Trent's "regeneration" campaign ( sorry that should read "the creating more min wage jobs and ghetto style estates so that property developers can make even more profits campaign"), our beloved council has, and I dread to think how much money they spent on it, produced a musical theme tune for the city entitled "Moving Forwards Together".

The delightful and "inspiring" song will be used on radio comercials et al to raise some morale with the local people at a time when luxury apartments are being built on every scrap of land, of which no-one can afford to even live in them; low salaries are still the norm but don't worry I hear Tesco and Subway and creating more "worthwhile" jobs, I could go on.

I suppose all of this wouldn't be too bad if the song didn't stink so badly, I mean, wake up you council fat cats! Why didn't you approach one of our local bands? If they were after an inspirational "theme" tune, I'm sure one of the many many many talented bands and artists in the city would have created a mainstream, commercial hit that was actually interesting and at the same time promoted local music and engaged with young people, surely?

More info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/7063543.stm

Steel Sky Records are a new record label in the North-East of Essex, with an inital project to create a compilation CD of some of the best bands in Essex. Details of how to submit are posted on our current myspace website (www.myspace.com/steelskyrecords ), submissions will be accepted from Sept 1st to an email address and / or postal address. We really want this to be an amazing CD as it's got so much potential.

Thanks,
Rob of SSR

Hi everyone

NEW email addresses for getting in touch with us are:

info@unsignedmag.net - (general enquiries)

advertising@unsignedmag.net - (all advertising / sponsorship etc enquiries)

orders@unsignedmag.net - (want a copy of the mag and need help ordering? and all other ordering enquiries, drop us a line on this email)

news@unsignedmag.net - (press releases / general PR contact / independant label bands)

bands@unsignedmag.net (all unsigned bands use this email please! tell us about yourself, see if you've been reviewed etc)

gigs@unsignedmag.net (forward your gig review requests to us / festival review requests etc)

comps@unsignedmag.net (enter Unsigned competitions and win goodies! see the mag for more info)

And our NEW website (soon to be updated - we promise!) is www.unsignedmag.net

The new email addresses are going to be set up asap, in the meantime for ALL enquiries regarding Unsigned (advertising / stocking / general etc) please email me on ev@unsignedmag.net

PLEASE NOTE: all of our old .co.uk emails have now expired so if you have tried to contact us in the last week on one of those it's likely we won't have received your email so please re-send and we'll get back to you.

Cheers

Ev
Editor

Well finally the Prime Minister's Office have responded to the music laws petition that we signed months ago and that many of you lovely people signed too. We've been helping to spread the word about this and below is what the guys in charge have to say:

Read the Government's response:

Thank you for signing the epetition expressing concerns that the new licensing act is restricting music and dance.

The Government recognises the vital role that live music and dance play in our national life and wants to see it expanded not reduced. So there is absolutely no intention of restricting performances through unnecessary licensing regulations. But it is also the case, of course, that some live performances can impact on the wider community, not least through noise, public safety or nuisance to local residents.

So the aim of the Licensing Act was to streamline the system which had grown up over many years, reducing unnecessary burdens but giving local communities a greater say in the licensing decisions that affect them. The Act, for example, has removed the need to apply for several different permits to put on events and enabled more venues to put on performances.

Overall the evidence so far does not suggest that the Licensing Act has had a negative impact on the amount of live music. Research for the Department for Culture, Music and Sport (new window) into the impact of the new rules on smaller venues found that twice as many found the licensing process easy as difficult. It also highlighted the fact that bureaucracy and expense were only rarely mentioned as reasons for not applying licences.

But the Government does accept that some venues feel unnecessarily constrained by restrictive conditions. While those that have stopped hosting live music have generally been balanced by the emergence of new venues, we do recognise that the loss of an established venue can have an impact on individual musicians and music fans.

It is in response to these concerns that DCMS has already set out areas where it thinks changes might be made to reduce further administrative burdens. The Government also set up the Live Music Forum in 2004 to monitor the impact of the Licensing Act and to recommend how government might better promote live performances. We expect to receive the Forum's findings and recommendations in the Summer and will look closely to see if action is needed.

More info about the petition and the response can be found at:

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12238.asp

What does everyone think?