what’s in a name?

Well now, to the more observant , you may have noticed the name on all my social media has changed from 8:58 to Paul Hartnoll ( orbital ). I thought I’d have a little chat about that then.

I recently lost the use of my brand name Orbital , and had to think up a new one , which was fun as I picked one that had a lot of meaning to me . Nice. But having traded under Orbital for 25 years you, and the people you work with, are always going to want to let people know who you were . So all posters and adds for gigs , even stickers on the album have four bits of info. The logo, 8:58 , Paul Hartnoll and ( orbital ) . But having chosen a name that’s not too search engine friendly :- eight five eight, eight fifty-eight, eight hundred and fifty-eight, 8:58, 858 ,  2 minutes to nine, you get the idea, coupled with the desire to let people know who you are. Well, it’s all got a bit messy really .

Starting again like this with the 8:58 name has been a big learning curve, but lets get one thing straight here , I’m not talking about the music , cover , logo , ideas behind it . That I’m happy with , it’s an artistic choice that I stand behind.  However, on a purely business side , the 8;58 name may not have been the best idea!

Doing music that you like is one thing , but getting it out there to people can be trickier. I read an article by Caitlin Moran recently about dealing with depression, she was saying that she used a technique where she saw herself as a small friendly dog inside here head that needed looking after, needed kindness and exercise as a way of being good to herself, it resonated with me about how I view the business end of what I do . I’ve found that I think of it as a sailing galleon heading out from Southampton towards the new world, I’m steering the thing and I’m heading somewhere, I’m not too sure what’s there, but I know where it is, most of the time. I find that I have to make adjustments along  the way to Keep heading towards this mythical place. What I’ve found most important though, is that as soon as you know somethings not right you need to readjust as quickly as possible before you go too far off course and loose you way altogether. So with that in mind I’m steering this ship back on course ( for the meantime anyway ) And changing the name 8:58 back to Paul Hartnoll (with obligatory ( orbital ) of course ). Nothing against 8:58 it’s still the name of the album and the concept is still close to my heart but I’m just changing the name I go out as back to Paul Hartnoll . I’m keeping the logo, which has 8:58 written all over its face, but I feel I need to switch to simplify everything and help keep on course. As my wife Louise always says to me, ‘Keep it simple’.

One of the last straws in this decision is the amount of orbital fans and even friends that ask me what I’m up to now , when will there be a new record. When I tell them it’s out there they often look at me funny and say ‘oh I didn’t know, I searched on spotify for Paul Hartnoll and didn’t see it’. I then have to go throughout he whole , oh no it’s under the name 8:58 to which they usually look puzzled and say ‘why?’.

Don’t fight it Paul! Is what I’m saying to myself, anything that helps get it out to the right folks is good for me.It feels like the right thing to do at the moment so I’m going with it.

It’s funny as it doesn’t make any difference to the hard copy of the album as it’s always had a sticker in the corner that says:- ‘the new album from Paul Hartnoll of Orbital’ . Quite clear really isn’t it? It’s been staring me in the face from day one!

So that’s the current situation sorted , here’s the past…

So on to the next video,I had just got back from Australia and an illegal warehouse rave on new years eve 91/92 in Sydney ( I do have film of that too ) and we were asked to play at a 2000ad 15 years anniversary  party and charity event for great Ormond st . How could we resist that! I had been a long time fan of 2000ad comic, so off we set in a hired van , a little crew of friends fromSevenoaks, me and Phil, with Mike who ended up doing our driving and tour managing, not that we though of it like that then, Sally our good friend who went on to be a Photographer of choice for the early rave generation via the magazine , Volume.  Heres a little summery of the night with a good live version of fahrenheit 303 and crime.

Until the camera falls over anyway.

oh , and i’m starting the you tube channel again too , as when i started this I’d bumbled into a google auto channel by mistake, when i thought i was doing it on my 8:58 one (the one thats now become  Paul Hartnoll (orbital ) ) so all future uploads will be on this one below. if you subscribed to the other one please just subscribe to this instead. sorry for this minor course adjustment, and any confusion.

One place to put everything, one name to put it under. Keep it simple.