Svengali
Svengali is a new Internet comedy show, written by Dean Cavanagh and directed by Phillip John, that centres around Dixie (Jonathan Owen) and his girlfriend Michelle (Sally Phillips) in London with the dream to break the band he is managing. It’s filmed on location in London taking advantage of such great landmarks as the Foundry, EC2 and Boogaloo N6 as set back drops.
Jonny Owen, Dean Cavanagh and Phil John were in different bands as young men. They signed deals with record companies, put out singles and waited for the world to recognise them as the greatest band since the Beatles, the saviours of Rock and Roll. Sadly (for boys) this never happened but they had a plan.. If the real world didn’t think they had the greatest bands in the world then they’d invent a world that did….and that’s exactly what they’ve done with Svengali.
Jonny plays Dixie the manager of the Premature Congratulations, leading lights in the hot new movement ‘New Wave Retrodelia’. Everyone knows the industry is on his arse. Tired old bands do tired old stadium tours to overweight families on a day out. But bubbling under the surface are the sexiest, funkiest, scuzziest most beautiful band on the planet..a band that make Brian Jonestown Massacre look like The Batchelors…and this band are going to save music, but in the mean time they might just drive Dixie insane.
Already seeing himself surrounded by sharks like the classic A&R man ‘Horsey’ Dixie has to battle his way through an industry full (as Hunter himself said) thieves, pimps and tramps. Svengali is all about one mans journey to the dark heart of Rock and Roll. It’s a rip roaring ride through the belly of the beast that eats young men and women for tea and still looks forward to more for supper. This series written by Dean Cavanagh (Wedding Belles), shot and directed by Phil John (Wedding Belles) and starring Jonny Owen (Wedding…you get the picture!) is the most brilliant and accurate portrayal of the industry ever. Starring Alan McGee as himself with cameos appearances from the likes of Bonehead (Ex Oasis) , Carl Barât (Libertines/Dirty Pretty Things ) and other credible musicians and artists it IS the final word on Rock and Roll…check out episode 1 below:
All episodes of Svengali now available free from iTunes.
The Pocket Devils.
The theme tune to Svengali ‘Starmaker‘ was written by Jonny Owen in 1995. Intended for release that year it never saw the light of day as the band split for a myriad of reasons the main one being they couldn’t be in the same room for more that 5 minutes together anymore. With the success of Svengali people have been asking what the theme tune is exactly? And is it available? Well the good new is that the song will be available for release in January 2010. The lyrics were written about notorious Small Faces manager ‘Don Arden‘ but seem to have even more relevance today what with the X Factor dominating popular culture. You can check out the song at the start of each episode or on the ‘Svengali’ Facebook fanpage. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/svengalipage?ref=ts