Well, my three day tour of swinging London is over, and it has a big, gaping hole in the middle where Hit Factory Live should have been.

“They Say It’s Gonna Rain” and rain it did. So, the Hyde Park venue was declared  too wet and too dangerous to put on a show, and that was that. Luckily, there was the Energise Records night on Tuesday, where Peter Wilson, Sammy Paul and Nicki French all performed their hits and mingled with friends and fans, some of whom had travelled a long way to be there (I spoke to people from Hong Kong, Sweden, France, Ireland, USA, Holland, and Austria). It was quite heart-warming to have people come up to me saying how much they enjoy my music. Now I know that you all actually exist and are not just login names on YouTube 🙂 This was also the first time Matt Pop and Peter Wilson ever met in person, despite having worked together for over 4 years. Ah, the wonders of the Internet…. And Andy, who runs the Matt Pop Fan Page on Facebook, was also there and we had a lovely lunch together on Wednesday. He presented me with a very interesting list of questions, all sent in by members of the  Facebook group. So I will be brooding on my answers this weekend. Expect to see the results on the Matt Pop fan page very soon!

Being one of the world’s biggest PWL fans, Peter was naturally heartbroken about the Hyde Park show cancellation, but he put on a brave face and gave us an exclusive performance of the unreleased Peter Wilson – Kylie Minogue mash-up of Take Me As I Am. (And some of you lucky people even got to take home the not-available-anywhere-else promo cd of it!) Coming back to Hit Factory Live: those of you who attended the packed PWL pity-parties across town on Wednesday will agree that you can’t keep a good tune down, and dancing our heads off to Stock, Aitken & Waterman’s biggest hits was a great form of therapy. My heart does go out to everyone at PWL who have been working like mad for many months to organise this show, and to the artists that were supposed to perform, who must be as disappointed as you and I. But who knows – It’s Never Too Late…

After last year’s success of the album Stereo, spawning hit singles Intoxicated, Stereo and Twentyfour Seven, Peter Wilson is back with the follow up Laser Light. Many of the same writers / producers are on board again, including Matt Pop, Ian Curnow, Dave Ford and Pete Hammond. Peter also found a great new modern sound, collaborating with hit writer / producer John Von Ahlen, from electropop-darlings Parralox. There are 4 Matt Pop-produced album tracks, two of them written by Matt and Peter. Check out the track-by-track album megamix here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS7ZLbM-cPo. On the official Matt Pop YouTube page, you will find teasers for all 4 Matt Pop album tracks: http://www.youtube.com/user/MattPopOfficial?feature=mhee .

Download the album from Monday July 2, or get the 2-disc CD  with bonus tracks from http://www.energiserecords.com/ .

Matt Pop once again shares the bill with one of the most in-demand remixers of late, Mr. Mixmaster Pete Hammond. This time, on the latest single by Spencer, called The Quest For Pop. With a title like that, how could Matt refuse? It is an extremely joyful ode to the songs and artists we grew up with – well, if you are over 35, that is 🙂 Watch the amazingly cute video here: http://www.spencerofficial.com/home.cfm

You can already order the Matt Pop mixes on the Spencer site, before they become available through i-Tunes and elsewhere.

Tuesday night, July 10th (conveniently planned on the day before the Hit Factory Live concert in Hyde Park), Energise Records are having a little get-together in Lewisham, London. Peter Wilson, Nicki French and Sammy Paul will all be performing and Matt Pop will also be there to raise a glass to the label’s recent successes. Feel free to drop by to say hello, watch the performances, and enjoy a fun, pop-filled night 🙂