Danny in the middle. His students making him feel old!
I developed Amped for over ten years (2005 – 2017) into a showcase gig at authentic London venues for talented 16 and 17 year old musicians to really show off what they can do. They were from all backgrounds and performed all styles with true style, displaying real creative talent. The genres ranged from rock to R&B, from hip hop to soul. And crucially they played authentic gigs (no school halls or churches) in and around Camden Town and beyond. They played their instruments live – quite the opposite of the plethora of karaoke identikit celebrity wannabes sadly striving to make a name for themselves on TV talent shows nowadays.
Our young talent actually wrote their own songs, played actual instruments and, thank the Lord there were no manipulated vocals and certainly no Autotune to hide the fact that they probably couldn’t hold a vocal melody. No dance routines either! They gigged at venues which are the real deal. Yes, it’s nerve racking but also so very rewarding. Many of them told me that they would never forget the experience. I’m so proud of them all!
BEAT and Woodhouse College pick students, mainly from the London borough of Barnet, but also Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Brent London boroughs. They must audition and pass a music theory test, and the standard is high. We can realistically claim that we have some of the finest young talent potential in a large area of North London.
All of this is the absolute antithesis to the reality TV vocal talent shows that grace our screens so routinely nowadays.
Every student must produce and engineer all of their own performances in our state-of-the-art recording studio at Woodhouse College.
This afternoon gig NEVER takes place in a church or school hall. Most 16 year olds I’ve come across know that isn’t very cool. And I agree.
I want to give them an authentic, tough, realistic but above all fun experience. To show them how gigging can be both extremely nerve-racking, thrilling and creatively fulfilling at the same time.
If it goes well and they’re inspired by the experience, they’ll have the bug for life.
The BEAT contemporary music technology A-level department at Woodhouse College was headed by Danny Kuperberg (2005 – 2016). And our wonderful talented alumni have a lot of success stories to show for it, for example:
Sophie Hiller: main backing vocalist on all of Tom Jones’ international concert dates. Sophie studied Music A-level at Woodhouse.
James Turner: Works at The Dairy recording studios. James is chief sound engineer. He’s mixed and recorded for Joss Stone, Nitin Sawhny (who owns the studio) and other international star names. He also helps on live sound and PA at Glastonbury. James is a talented guitarist too.
Michael Jablonka: Brilliant blues lead guitarist. Has toured internationally with countless acts including NDubz. His own band The Dark Tides, is highly respected within the industry and often plays backing for name acts.
Our students mainly gig in Camden Town, legendary hub for much of the UKs pop and rock talent.
They also gig in Crouch End where Danny lives. Crouch End is very much a part of the London studio and musician scene. Konk studios, owned by Ray Davies of The Kinks, still hosts name bands, and over the last forty years, has been the home for some of music’s most legendary recordings. Our base here was The Music Palace – now trendy indie cinema The Arthouse.
The Church state-of-the-art recording studio in central Crouch End was formerly owned by and was the studio home of Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of The Eurythmics. It later belonged to David Grey, the piano singer-songwriter. Now it is the creative hub for Paul Epworth, the multi-grammy winning key songwriter and producer behind Adele. He also composed James Bond’s Skyfall theme.
Coincidentally, Dominic Betmead, a Paul Epworth collaborator and signing with his new Wolf Tone signings, is one of Danny’s clients.
Here is an example of some press coverage for our Music Palace Crouch End gig all the way back in March 2011:
