Posted by Dan Giri on 26/10/2005, 9:10 pm, in reply to "Re: bassist and guitarist needed for grunge metal band" When we were gigging heavily around the Manchester circuit, with the Yen and the Strap-Ons, many of the shows were put on by promoters like the Sov Twins, who put their own time and money up, in an attempt to create an environment where people could play to a packed crowd who attended the gigs with every intention of listening to new bands, even coming to promotions when they knew none of the groups that were playing. The Sov Twins' priority was to pull a crowd before making a profit- and in doing so they seemed to succeed in achieving both goals. This is a rare thing these days. There are way too many people who fancy themselves as promoters and operate under the misguided notion that promoting is a very easy thing to do. It isn't. It takes a certain degree of effort and commitment on the promoters part, otherwise they are wasting the time of the group they have agreed to promote! This could go on forever. It is indeed a sad state of affairs and it's true that many of the most popular gigs are attended by "scene hangers on", who would probably go to any gig where there is a remote chance that later in the year they can say "Yeah, I saw them before they were on the cover of the NME". I had a conversation about music with a guy after a gig I did recently, and at one point in the conversation the guy said "yeah.. I really like to listen to a band before they get too big, y'know?". No I don't know- I bit his head off as you can imagine. Why would this guy make the presumption that once every band has a certain level of success they suddenly lose some quality? This is the type of mentality I really hate. FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE! TREAT EACH PIECE OF MUSIC INDIVIDUALLY AND ASSESS IT ON IT'S OWN MERITS! HOW CAN ANYONE DRAW SUCH UNINFORMED CONCLUSIONS?!?
80.5.160.19
I couldn't agree with you more! It is unfortunate that your observations regarding the current musical climate in Manchester can be applied to almost every town across England. We seem to have reached a point where the UK and England in particular, has given itself a "Mecca-like" status for new music, and nothing could be further from the truth. And people are actually buying into it! I cannot think of a country in the Western world that creates a more stifling environment for new music to develop. The outlets for new music (including distributors, and promoters of live music) have found a way to profit from current trends by ignoring anything that exists outside the narrow field of music covered by the most popular music publications. The knock on effects of this make it all the more difficult to function as a musician who does not wish to 'follow suit'.
More than once recently I have found myself going to a venue to see a band to find out that they are on at some other venue, yet the last adversisement seen stated otherwise! I'm in a pretty good position to get information on gigs around Manchester, so if I'm struggling to find out about certain events, I wonder how many other people have no idea that some of their favourite bands may be playing/ have played recently without them knowing about it. It's an insult to the gig-goer, and an insult to the performers. DID DEERHOOF ACTUALLY PLAY THE OTHER WEEK, OR WERE THEY IN OXFORD THAT NIGHT? WAS ANYBODY STUCK OUTSIDE SATANS HOLLOW LAST HALLOWEEN UNABLE TO GET INTO THE MELT BANANA GIG, BECAUSE ALL THE LITTLE ROCKER KIDS (who had no idea who Melt Banana were) WERE FILLING UP THE VENUE? DID ANYONE ELSE GO TO THE DRY BAR TO SEE WOLF EYES TO DISCOVER THAT THEY WERE PLAYING AT JABEZ CLEGG, AND NEARLY MISS THE GIG? DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO THE HELL CHRIS MILLS IS, AND WHETHER HE'S WORTH A TRIP ACROSS TOWN TO THE STAR AND GARTER TO SEE? AM I GONNA PAY £8.50 TO SEE SOME GUY I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT? WHY DON'T I KNOW ABOUT HIM? BECAUSE THE PROMOTER HAS FAILED TO DO HIS JOB. THAT'S WHY! WHY DID I MISS THE LOCUST, AND PIG DESTROYER WHEN THEY PLAYED. BECAUSE THE ASSHOLE PROMOTER FAILED TO DO HIS JOB. THAT'S WHY!
I have to calm down now. Almost forgot- Le Tigre have a strong connection to the grunge scene- during the early 90's, Kathleen Hanna's previous riot girl band Bikini Kill played many shows with the likes of Sonic Youth, Babes In Toyland, Mudhoney, and more, so although Le Tigre are more of an electronic pop thing, their roots can be clearly traced back to the early 90's American punk/alternative explosion.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread