state of the scene address by outgoing president of the music scene.
well well well music eh? so you thought it was about making records? oh god no. it's about making music.
this we all know. some bands do some bands don't some bands need a lot of loving and some bands won't.
point one. it aint high art. High art is high art. to get ito the high art game you gotta start young practise do the apprentership study the Bach the great composers play the music. along the way you will be told if you are good enough to interpret. that is step one. Once you are and interpreter of the greats you go along and then you might write something and get it marked by a master musician/composer instrumentalist in your field. Then and only then you will 'attempt' to be original if you are it will be recognised. simple. Rock and roll is masquerading as high art. It's detrimental. Look heres why. 'the history of it's outsider status' oh yeah the 'scene' has forgotten about that. It thinks oh yeah make music push it around the scene get everyone on board then we go out to the burbs. ding dong wrong. the burbs are wilder then the inner city smooch fest scene. people cussing and juggling jousting for good jobs money cars and houses. they see through this kind of inner city anal rubbing and say fuck you guys. that aint what we got..and put on the ignore ears. Now if you were roustabouting like elvis and it leaks out then they go oh yeah look this band clawed their way there like the old bands. I wish it would happen because obviously worshipping old men is really fucking boring and these old men are justifiably worth worshipping like acdc because they are a linear progression...read that bit again..linear progression. they have the b/w photos to prove it.
point 2. too much music. Ok heres the main point I spent about 20 minutes out wattering the garden and decided on a quick fix for the scene on this. too many bands all want time people tyr and accomodate but really too much OVERSUPPLY. remember economics 101 year 10??? anyone. to fix this. simple RULES.
RULE 1. a band must make a quailty QUALITY DISK for radio. Ok so you home recording arseclowns it's over. You can make it at home and push up the road push it around like manure on the veggie patch. it'll do it's job it'll make you better but the rule must be. cash down. effort made. then it gets a run.
RULE 2. the new run. A run is the disk gets playlisted for 2 months on all the indie stations. now this disk cost 10k remember because the band made the manure then got good spent the cash for a dip at finding the road up the ladder.
RULE 3. One band per musician. Oh you jackarses. I told you before that 'hedging bests' is bad. People like 'in for a penny in for a pound'. One band at a time. must exist for 12 months before first home made ep. gets pushed around the scene. that's fair. commit It's like relationships, bands girls. fucks sake commit. if it falls apart it's the sam as not committing except you didn't waste the interim period looking for casual flings.
RULE 4. writers are not critics. critics are LEARNED. if you are a writer write. if you are a critic CRITIC. In the states they have critics TRAINING by which a writer writes all this analysis of the MUSIC not the INTENTION or MOTIVATION, no they just write oh at 2:12 a choppy electric guitar comes in etc etc...WRITE ABOUT MUSIC. don NOT write about motivation. see music is technical. you write about thta and it's understandable. Motivation Indieness, Intention faux 'art pass' writing is crap, means nothing, it says hey I know nothing about music I'm trying to make this bunch of kids into fucking Brett Whitely with a guitar. Brett Whitley is Brett Whitley, you look it shows, you listen it shows same shit. Stop telling people to suck eggs. Just write analysis be technical. People dig that because it shows music as a technical subject like all the other technical things like fucking design and commercial art and fucking houses and being an architect like george. remeber the great George seinfeld joke about him being an architect? yeah well he bullshitted his way into the yankees but never actually DREW A BUILDING.
nuff for now. I need to have a rest. I'm bored.
Point 2.1 too much art, 'Slayer. excellent detail and all that, but it's mostly surplus to requirements. all we (and i am the voice of the many headed) want to know is who pays the bar/dinner tab, where's the best cockers p. and by best i mean which one has the better browsing, and what the well dressed young coolsie is wearing this year.
I disagree on that one. See I say make it technical the writing on the work. art is only art until everyone loves it, then it's not art anymore it's timeless. It sets something. So art must be made but must not be accepted to be anything more then a linear attempt at 'movement' within art thought. so for example..a band like this band that has CM in a twist is making some art. it blends this and that//twists it this and that way. if it was a simple write up job of oh yeah ROCK! oh yeah ROLL! then nobody thinks its arts they just decide IF THEY LIKE IT
just represent the 'art' like anything else. just say oh yeah ROCK! ROLL! if they like it if the mainstream jumps on then look it's win win. it's always a smirk to oneself if the art got through.
best review I ever read of my work was clem in 05' she said in beat yeah! great! and left it something like that. so simple so pointed and readable like 4 words.
no half baked 'art pass' crap. just yeah!
writers GOTTA WRITE for the music NOT FOR THEMSELVES. it's a circle of shit. musos are making music for themselves and for writers to write about. circle jerk. STOP.
some aren't. Get the drift. ok if it's circle jerk music ok circle jerk write about it. if you sense it's not and it is people music write like that. That's why I had a crack at CM yesterday. this band is loved. don't 'art pass' wink wink I know I can understand I empathise. FUCK THAT EVERYONE IS EMPATHISING IE FILLED ROOMS>.. made himself look dumb..people out there are smart. all these scientists and people in high jobs they need no fucking lecturing on rock and roll. they need INFORMATION.
Shut up and play some fucking LIVE music for once, honestly. you're so out of it
I see.
OK, I've got a couple of minutes to spare on this argument...
If all a writer does in writing about music is describing the music in technical terms, wouldn't it be better (and easier) for the audience to just LISTEN to the music? So, by that logic, why write about music at all? I don't think it's a ''circle jerk'' to talk about music in a context other than the music itself. Pop(ular) music doesn't exist in a vaccuum - it's part of everyday life. It ain't ''high art'', but that doesn't mean it can't be analysed and discussed critically, in terms that are meaningful to people other than the musician who created the music. Writing about music is not an ego-stroking feedback session for bands to let them know how wonderful and creative they are. They should be believing in whatever they're doing already.
very true. I will but I aint making stupid records on my label being an idiot. of course! who knows when maybe one day. that's the thing and it brings me to point 4.
point 4. look musos aren't label guys! it's good for PRACTISE. like yeah PRACTISE learning but fuck if I want to play and make a record for sale really I need other people etc. sole indy guys like me what a shit fight! I mean between relationships with musicians and label and scne and other musos and writers and everyone ele personally for me it was like being in a spiders web. I couldn't fucking do shit. I found myself swelling on everything but the music! and then I'd stp out make somehting go knows what ok might have juggled it ok sometimes but really it was STUPID, worth a crack at though cos I learned how stupid I was and it was.
i think critics critique.
they are. that's why they did it. but for LAYMEN, LAYMEN. I mean a layman is someone who isn't a professional. they need it technical to go oh yeah! sure people in the streets etc..
look I'll consede BALANCE. One thing I did notice in the CM peice is Craig DID write about some music. It was the USA style in parts just some parts slipped back to art pass..art pass stupid.
specially on bands that are crossing over. (even if they don't want to) they are the best crossover bands
yes they do. but I do not use french words. and q's are reserved for art pass style.
what's wattering? please lay off the gardening analogies
sorry it's like waffering. I'll try but the fuschias are pretty. they demand metaphor and analogy and maybe an album or two. damanation this getting old shit again! evrything is about gardening! and how cheap whiskey is and dreaming about an austin healy 3000 for 120 grand that I'll never have! damn! time ran out. darkside of the moon came true!
I'm actually gonna chime in seriosuly here. Y'see, I hear this from lots of bands. I know of bands that have sunk major dollars into getting a ''radio quality'' recording. I can understand the motivation behind it. But y'know something, when I choose stuff to play on radio sound quality is WAY DOWN on the list of things I consider, far below stuff like strength of songs and performance. If the song is good and the recording doesn't have any major flaws than that's cool. Most of the other DJs I know are the same. If you want to get your stuff played on, say, MMM than that's a different story but without industry backing your chancews of that are pretty slim anyway. Indie or indie-ish? You can get a sound in your room that would have cost super big bucks 20 years ago. Get the album done and save your money for other things, like gigs and sending your disc out to as many radio stations as possible.
critics relay music through their own perception, it's all subjective. that's part of the joy. it's just a conversation, that's all.
is this a spill over from the Eddy Current crossing over thread?
thanks for sharing, freaky deaky!! :)))))))
sounds like its more to do with John Edwards crossing over.
a bit timmy--trying to discuss it all yeah
hey JRB I never said I'm right! I agree with you.
maybe ammend it:
point 5. a band must state on the cd case EXACTLY their aim with the music. ie corssover/ wolfmother fame/ blues realists/
just so we all know.
anyway I'm out it's all fun and games really. discuss it all make threads have fun but bloody hell it's been ages since treetops nearly got there. drones are sort of faltering or soemthing I dunno. PLEASE get a band over the edge, ta.a
whats your band/ bands you have played in ''president of the scene''?
im so eager to know.
be scene, not heard.
Wow, the Living End have been around for a long time. Nice to see that their grammar has improved.
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