MA student releases hit EP CD
MA Music Education: Instrumental and Vocal Teaching student James Hargreaves sees his new EP, Good To Be Back, going in at #7 in the charts.
James Hargreaves is an MA student studying on the Music Education: Instrumental and Vocal Teaching (MA). James is a guitar teacher based in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and has been teaching guitar since 1998. James has recently seen a lot of success with his YouTube channel, James Hargreaves Guitar, which has over 8000 subscribers.
As part of an online effort to try and bring back Rock & Roll music to the mainstream charts, he started the #takebackthecharts movement (strongly influenced by the British indie rock bands of the 1990s and the 1980s). James started out by releasing his first CD single of original music (the 'Good To Be Back EP') demonstrating how it can be done. The four songs on the CD were mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London by Frank Arkwright (who also mastered Oasis, Blur, the Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, and Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind', the biggest selling single of all time). The mastering was crowdfunded by viewers and subscribers of his YouTube channel.
The EP was named in a vote by viewers of the YouTube channel. The EP was released on Friday 28 May 2021, and when the charts were released on Friday 4 June, it went straight in at #7 in the physical singles chart.
James said:
"Getting into the top 10 in the UK physical charts is a massive tick off the bucket list! But, fingers crossed, this is just the beginning… Hopefully there is much more of the adventure to come. Following graduation from my MA course at the University of York, I hope to continue to grow and build my new record company, Hargreaves Records, and to also be able to show other people how to do the same thing I've done. It all boils down to the big dream of seeing British rock and roll music back in the charts, where it belongs, eventually hopefully once again dominating the top 40 and the top 10."