^ Excellent. NOW were discussing things properly, and THIS is the way things move fwd.
if somebody in the UG metal scene is willing to sacrifice their pub metal stardom by laying down their guitar and actually help out where it counts: ie with organising events and helping bands they should do everything in their power to help young bands irrespective of genre get gigs, help them record, lead by example in other words.
I wouldnt have a problem with this, but young bands need to get with the program. Its a two-way street...
The interesting underground bands not on the set list will fall by the wayside. That?s it ? there can be no dialogue between art and commerce, it is absolutely destructive to art because greed and stupidity always wins, especially when getting paid for it.
Partly because underground means (by definition) they shouldnt be popular to the masses, and partly because members in said bands are
not organised or industry savvy enough to capitalize on or create their own opportunities, really reverts back to the bands ultimately being to blame.
One thing Ive learnt in this industry over many years in both the original and cover scenes is that nobody is throwing you a free bone. Youve gotta go out there and do it yourself, and if you dont have THAT side of your game down-pat, you really have no other option other than to flail about aimlessly till someone throws you a lifejacket...IF they care enough to even throw you one.
I agree, greed and stupidity often Triumph. But
thats the game and the only way around it is to learn the game and exploit it to your own advantage.
I have lost count of the number of times bands have approached me for gigs, or seen me about sponsorships with gear etc - and they have NO idea why wearing ripped jeans, Cannibal Corpse shirts and having no press pack/bio is the wrong way to go about it...
When good money is put into an event or a band, it is only good business sense that organisers get a return on their investment.
If this means watering down an event or changing it in some way to encourage a wider cross-section of the community, it is the RIGHT business decision to make. Ok, granted, if key bands or styles were not represented, then perhaps a wrong decision may have been made along the way, but thats why people like yourself should be INVOLVED in these processes, and not AGAINST them. Who knows, maybe next year, given the event was successful, there may be an oversaturation of the stuff you DO want to see.
Events will not be able to cater to tha majority if the majority turn their back on it.
Another thing ? one problem continually plaguing metal promoters is hostility form publicans. Either we break too many glasses or spill too many beers or don?t gamble enough etc etc etc. Now imagine if somebody sympathetic to the cause was in charge of a bar? It would make things so much easier when organising shows. Or in the very least try to develop rapport with that particular industry ? that sort of industry support we definitely need,
We actually have a few venues here that cater for niche styles of music, and although they tick over, very few of them actually flourish or make a large impact on moving the scene forward. Its absolutely awesome that the emotional side of these venue operators allows for and supports niche styles of music, but crowd sizes are often smaller, profit isnt great and the facilities eventually dont allow for a band to really shine in said venues.
Truth be told, I see more smashed bottles and issues at NON-metal events. I think venue operator use the whole 'rowdy metalhead' excuse as a nice way of saying they arent intersted.
who would charge you 1000 bucks to see Britney Spears lip synch. Fuck that, don?t want to be anywhere near that.
Neither do I, but you cannot argue that her concerts are packed. The beauty is, you dont have to be anywhere near it if you dont want to, but complaining that everybody is stupid for wanting to see it does nothing more than discredit yourself, because youre hugely outnumbered.
I used to get this kind of reaction a lot when I was playing around with a NWOBHM band. Sure, it was cheesy, but it was fun and we were organised. People used to complain that we used to get on the bigger bills and get all the support shows and good distro in Europe, blah blah, but at the end of the day, we got those opportunities because we CREATED them, using our own kowledge of 'the game' and ultimately I believe we turned quite a few opinions around. We didnt try to tell everyone they were wrong, we just used the situation to our advantage. If everyone hates what you do, take their pre-conceived ideas of what you are, turn it on its head and see the difference.
My $0.02
