Tilting Sky

For almost 15 years the name of Craig Hill has been synonymous with the local music scene. As the founder of The Tilting Sky, Craig promoted gigs at venues like The Waterfront, Open and Norwich Arts Centre, as well as running one-day and weekend festivals. Now, after an 18 month hiatus, The Tilting Sky returns with a gig at Norwich Arts Centre on November 30th featuring local favourites Morganway, together with The Turf Club Racebook, Sweet Crisis, and Lisa Redford.

Craig, before we talk about the Morganway gig, can you just remind us how The Tilting Sky came about, and where did the name come from?

I started promoting when I found it was really hard for my daughter (who was then 15) to get a show. For young people writing and performing their own music this was then extremely difficult. She supported The Yardbirds at Diss Corn Hall, and although it was not my event, it was my introduction to getting involved in promotion.
My son formed his first band at school when he was 11, a band called Vanilla Kick, and when they also could not find a show outside of school, I put them on. I then realised that there were so many other bands and musicians in exactly the same boat, and that they needed a platform for their music and for live performances. As soon as I put the word out, the floodgates opened.
The Tilting Sky was a name that we originally came up with for my daughter's band. It was just a case of finding two words which sounded good together. But she didn't like it. A chance remark about Elvis Costello's sparkly boots at an LCR gig meant that she instead called her band The Cracking Daisies, leaving The Tilting Sky available for me. Our strap line was 'The Tilting Sky – turning your world upside down'.

You have always been committed to promoting young local acts across a wide range of genres, as well as bringing big names to Norwich. The last Tilting Sky featured Texas born singer songwriter Jarrod Dickenson at the Arts Centre, and during your time as music programmer for Open you brought names like Glenn Tilbrook, David Ford, and Beth Rowley to Norwich. What is your mission statement now for The Tilting Sky in 2019?

In essence, I don't want The Tilting Sky to change, although I do want to see if I can put a different twist on things, and perhaps do some things a little bit differently to keep myself interested. But it was always about giving independent musicians who write and perform their own material a platform, and then letting the audience decide. That is still as strong a 'mission statement' for me now as it ever was.
I've never pretended to be a taste-maker. I believe that anyone who has learnt an instrument or has got a band together, and has written a song and rehearsed, deserves a chance to play. If they can perform, and they attract a crowd, then their future is in their control. And I will never slam the door on anybody just because I don't like a particular type of music.

Your All Room Takeovers at The Waterfront, and #OH events at Open provided showcases for local musicians over several stages, and all for a very modest ticket price. Can we look forward to more of the same, or will you confining yourself to the more conventional 'headliner plus support' evening events?

The one-day festivals like those that I started at the Banham Barrell gave a chance for anyone, not just acts like The Kabeedies or Ed Sheeran, to perform. For me, I need to be stimulated by what I'm doing. Whether it is a return to an all-day event at The Waterfront, or to try something a little bit different, perhaps across a few venues and moving across the city throughout the day. I've always liked the idea of putting live music on in spaces that have never hosted it before, just to keep mixing things up and to keep it fresh.



The musical landscape has changed enormously since you launched The Tilting Sky. I still have some Tilting Sky compilation CD's from 2006, a time when the artists featured only had myspace links as their online profile. Has the explosion of social media and streaming sites made it easier or harder for young artists to build a live audience, or to get their music heard.

When I started making the compilation CD's and giving them out at gigs, people were not really listening to music online. It was still the golden days of myspace, and at the time you could only upload one track onto your myspace profile. CD's, therefore, were still the medium that people generally used for listening to music. I think these days it is important for artists to stay focussed, and not worry too much about trying to cover all angles. I think it is still the live show that hooks people in. It is then important to make sure that a fan, having seen you perform, can go online the next morning and find you through a Google search, regardless of whether that takes you to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, or your own website.
And it is so important for music fans not just to listen to the headline act, but also to check out the artists further down the bill. One of those could become your next favourite band.

Looking ahead to November 30th, it has been a great year for Morganway with their appearance in the summer at Cambridge Folk Festival. This will be their first gig at Norwich Arts Centre since becoming a seven piece, and with their new lead vocalist?

Yes, and their continuing success is kind of a mixed blessing. They are gaining in popularity, and have new material and a new album already recorded. It now starts to get a bit more serious, and there is the question of when and how to release the album. Fans may have to be a little bit patient – at the moment it is genuinely a case of 'watch this space'.

So, how do we get tickets?

The easiest thing is to go directly to the Norwich Arts Centre website at www,norwichartscentre.co.uk , or call their box office on (01603) 660352. As we speak, there are still tickets left, but it will almost certainly sell out, so there may not be any left on the door.

And what else do you have lined up for The Tilting Sky over the next couple of months?

Well, I've got a couple of shows already lined up at the Waterfront Studio for February, a couple of shows in January at Epic, and I am bringing back Rocket From The East, a competition that I ran in 2012. Port Isla won that year, and went on to sign with Parlophone Records. It will be open to any artist with a social media presence who has written and recorded their own song in some way, even if only as a demo. The prize has yet to be finalised, but will hopefully include a recording session, a headlining gig, and a video and photography session. An announcement on how to enter will follow shortly on my Facebook page  and Twitter and through Epic, who will be hosting the semi-finals and final next year.

Remember to check Outline's listing pages for details of all upcoming local events, including those from Craig and The Tilting Sky.