Charlie Soulsbry
Charlie Soulsbry runs North East Rising (NE Rising) and Park Avenue Records, both promotion companies in Newcastle for local talent. Charlie works with musicians from all genres of music and has been very successful in building up the Newcastle live music scene in recent years.
I run NE Rising & Park Avenue Records. In 2018, I noticed that there was a lack of support for a growing scene of ‘creatives’, so I set out to create a page that would tend to not only the needs of one creative art - but as many as possible. It’s pretty much one big network of artists and local business. I often get to play the ‘middle man’ role. For example just yesterday my former boss asked me if I could help him find a designer for his new brand. Within a few hours he had his logo ready to go.
"Anyways, it wasn’t long after launching that we began putting on events on a monthly basis. These consisted of open mic nights, garage parties and charity raves."
Due to the success of our open mic nights, we were able to discover a range of new local artists looking to immerse themselves into the world of North East Hip Hop, Grime and more. With the realisation that some of these artists were actually pretty sick, I pencilled in the potential idea to launch a record label to help compliment the talent that was emerging.
In 2019 we teamed up with Shutter Productions, a live video recording studio, in order to generate as much business for them as possible, allowing us to discover new waves of talent and then promote them on our page. Now we are recognised as ‘playing a large part’ in the rise of the North East music scene.
Last month saw the release of Park Avenue Records, which I founded with the help of my friend and artist Too Common (Tom Collins) and Mae Hyman. It wasn’t meant to launch as early as May, but with Covid-19 interrupting over 20 of our summer events, I needed something to occupy myself with during lockdown.
So far we are off to a great start, the music is great, the following is increasing day by day and we have already secured 5 amazing North East artists. I’ve also managed to expand my network massively this year, mainly through my internship with SSD Concerts but also by just telling myself ‘yes’.
With the label in full swing and Covid-19 taking its toll, it’s left NE Rising slightly abandoned. Feeling guilty about the whole thing, I looked over everything we have done so far. After a little while I smiled and decided it was time to redesign things. Currently I’m about halfway through everything - it’ll most likely be something we launch after lockdown is lifted to help to shine the light on us a bit.
*Photography by Matt Imlah
To find out more about Charlie's work follow North East Rising and Park Avenue Record's social media sites!