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Post by tomleucine on Jul 17, 2010 10:49:06 GMT
We played in Satan's Hollow in Manchester on Thursday supporting an established band called iSPYSTRANGERS. It was heavily promoted online and with flyers but still only managed to pull 30+ people through the doors.
Compare this to a get we played last night in Speakers Corner which bought in a similar amount?
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Post by Matt on Jul 17, 2010 14:27:44 GMT
been all over the country this year and last year. Punk's scenes thriving, espcially in the north west (there are FIVE punk/ska/hardcore gigs on in the Manchester area alone TONIGHT!), only the odd quiet gig really (even on a Monday night), must be something in the cider Locally, I mean, we live in a dreary part of the country, very little culture apart from that that is historical, the scenes hardley gonna be amazing, but it's not dire either.
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Post by Juzzy on Jul 18, 2010 14:30:59 GMT
went to a dont flop hip hop battle event in manny last sunday and it was rammed out. Homegrown hip hop seems to flourish at the mo, specially the battle scene which isnt technically music but draws the crowds for the humour.
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Post by neilcrud on Jul 18, 2010 14:52:44 GMT
Saw Future of The Left last nite in Wrexham with about 40 other people - a band like that should be pulling 400...
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Post by adamwalton on Jul 18, 2010 15:15:15 GMT
Fuck, really? 40 people?
That's tragic on so many levels.
Latitude has had a big effect on gig going audiences this weekend, weirdly. Can't imagine there being much crossover between Future of the Left's potential audience and Latitude's, though.
I do know at least a dozen people who wanted to go last night but couldn't for excellent reasons. They had notes from mum, and everything. But it still doesn't add up.
I'm depressed about this. For the band & the venue.
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Post by juzzy on Jul 18, 2010 15:23:57 GMT
I wanted to go to that but it landed on the day the wifey is "term" . I think thats a good enough excuse, no matter how good FOTL are its not worth missing the birth of my first for.
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Post by neilcrud on Jul 18, 2010 16:07:33 GMT
They put the band on in the smaller room (where the bar) used to be, so it was quite cosy. Great gig though, Stokoz and No Room For Heroes played great sets too - review n pics will be online this coming week...
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gaz
Gasses a Lot
Posts: 81
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Post by gaz on Jul 19, 2010 21:08:29 GMT
This "scene" isn't dead, that's a load of ignorant crap. I think that some people expect way too much out of a relatively small population which is spread over hundreds of square miles and is one of the economically disadvantaged areas of Britain. I'm not saying that everything is perfect, but there are still plenty of good people putting on gigs, running venues, playing in bands etc.
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Post by borgdom on Jul 24, 2010 17:18:17 GMT
shit heads ruined the North Wales scene to many shit stirring scene kids and not enough straight forward musicians.
That horrible slaggy cunt skank whore wretch from upper old colwyn (no names need mention) ruined a good thing by forcing sides and dividing with lies. I hate that CUNT, and all those around her as well, the worlds ending and this is how it starts!
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Post by Quim Jim Fandango on Jul 26, 2010 19:16:46 GMT
Hmmmmmmm.
The Dirty Weekend reduced to a Dirty Day.....42 people turn up to see F.O.T.L....
Dunno if "the scene is dead" but it's certainly starting to smell a bit.
Thing is boyo's...everyone's quick to slag something off, but no ones putting forward any viable ideas or having any input...instead of moaning about it, help those who are trying to keep something going.The dirty weekend could have been a beklter this year, but because, I suspecty, of apathy, Dave's had to cut his losses and consolidate it to a day. It'll still be a good day I expect, with the exception of the usual penis heads who seem intent on ruining every gig they attend, but hey....it's happening. Go along instead of sitting on your fat festering arses and bitching about it on here.
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Post by bloodandlipstick on Jul 27, 2010 11:00:11 GMT
I think only the blindest of optimists would claim that the scene is anything other than stagnant at the moment, but the fact that we're having a debate about it on this message board is at least a starting point to try and improve things.
As someone with 30-odd years of experience of the scene as a fan, a journalist and a promoter, I can at least view the situation from a historical perspective and in broad terms I would say that we are currently going through a cyclical depression rather than witnessing anything that is terminal.
In large part I'd say that we're experiencing problems that have always existed for the most part but there are new factors that are making these problems bite rather more deeply.
Whether you like it or not, we live in an age where the population is obsessed with celebrity and the end product of this is that most of the money gravitates towards the upper end of the market.
What this means in practical terms is that most fans will quite happily spend a three figure sum for a weekend at a major festival or on the ticket, travel and accomodation costs of going to see their fave bands at a city enormodome, but will think twice about stumping up a fiver to see a batch of young bands at their local bar.
Are they right or wrong to do that?
I guess there's more kudos to be had from bragging to your mates about the amazing sound and light show that Muse/Metallica/Pink Floyd/Whoever out on, than bemoaning how The Exploding Jockstraps bass player tripped over a PA cable at the Dog's Arse in Mostyn and knocked his front teeth out.
However, my argument would be that it is possible to have the best of both worlds.
The actual cost to support the local scene in percentile terms, when set against the expenditure in following the major bands of one's choice, is miniscule and there is always the chance that you're going to stumble across some new, as yet undiscovered, musical gems on your own doorstep.
At the end of the day, it is the fans who are the lifesblood of the scene and it is up to all of us as fans to go out and support it at least some of the time or risk losing it completely.
If the fans can be persuaded to support their local scene, it is then up to the venues, promoters and musicians to provide the kind of gigs that will encourage the fans to give their support on an ongoing basis.
Venues are businesses and while some places are run by idiots and thugs, the majority are managed by decent people who will support gigs to the best of their ability if they are seeing the financial benefits of doing so.
In most instances, the role of the venue owner (apart from selling the alcohol, obviously!) centres around the security aspects of the night and they need to understand that putting on gigs is a bit different from hosting the local darts league or having DJ Darren Dim playing choons for Tracey and Sharon to dance round their handbags to!
It's quite simple: if they don't want to upset old Arthur's tinitis in the snug room, they shouldn't host a hardcore night and for everybody's sakes they need to employ doorstaff who aren't going to view a moshpit as an excuse to crack some skulls.
On the other side of the coin, it is also up to the fans to treat the venues with respect if they want gigs to continue.
Remember, a venue is a business and isn't going to remain open if each gig ends with the toilets trashed, dodgy-looking powders all over the tables and complaints from the neighbours about pissed up gig-goers crashing out on their patios.
Promoters need to realise that it's not enough just to book bands, put a couple of posters up in the venue bogs and say "job done" because that isn't working.
Like it or not, it's about sitting online and making sure that the info about gigs is getting circulated as widely as possible.
The local press don't want to know anymore, they're a pathetic joke, and flyposting carries the risk of a hefty on-the-spot fine so it's all about word-of-mouth, whether it be face-to-face or online.
Quality control has also got to be a factor because the days when acts were given a shot unheard and unseen are a luxury that can no longer be afforded.
For every Der Bomber that has come along fully formed and hitting the ground running, there have been countless new bands who were at best dreary and at worst falling apart at the seams, and while that can be tolerated in a boom period, it would be suicidal to try to sustain such an idealistic approach when it risks disenfranchising punters whose support is tenuous.
The bands also need to look at themselves, particularly in regard to the tendancy for a lot of bands to pull out of gigs on the day, leaving venue, promoter and punters high and dry.
I know and accept that there will always be genuine and unavoidable reasons for a late cancellation but, given the number of late pull-outs I suffered over the years, I can't believe that there is that high an incidence of sudden grandparental death in the country or that Luton vans suffer from such a wide array of mechanical failures.
When a line up bears little or no similarity to the one that has been advertised it short-changes the fans, making it that much harder to coax them out to the next gig.
I know that what I've written consists mainly of sweeping generalisations but hopefully they'll spark some more in-depth, serious debate - over to you!!!
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Post by juzzy on Jul 29, 2010 16:20:06 GMT
Matt Deficit has gigs constantly rammed out every time he puts one on in hendre hall, how does he do this ? : aesthetics. Dubstep spun by top DJ's through a sick rig gets a full house each time. The ticket prices are a bit pricier but the overall aesthetic value of the evening is tenfold. Using words like dubstep, rap and DnB is blasphemy on here as the "alternative" in alternative britain is for band based music and anything beyond i.e produced on decks, mpc and pc is thrown in the same genre as DJ Darren and his chart house mix down the boulevard.
The potential is there but from reading sum peoples views on fashion vs music and hearing outside genres disregarded with a generalised ignorance is the reasons why things will never move forward.
Certain older peers on here need to sit down and take a back seat (not you steve) to what gets what level of attention on here otherwise your arkaic judgements will be part of the great collapse while the dubstep, hip hop and DnB nights will continue to flourish, band music want make any connections to the largely accepted contemporary genres. You know a you come to my gig I'll go to yours replacing one of gigs with rave.
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Post by bloodandlipstick on Jul 30, 2010 8:22:22 GMT
I agree absolutely!!!
Take a look at the guestlist for the Dirty Bass 4 night in Prestatyn tomorrow night and you'll se EXACTLY where all the people who used to go to "band nights" (god, how I hate that term!!!) are hanging out now.
The big tragedy about not being able to get the alcohol licence back for Venue4Events (apart from the fact that the whole debacle cost me 12k!!!) is that the blueprint I had in mind for weekends was three rooms of music, one primarily devoted to live acts and the other two DJ-based, with a single price on the door and people able to wander between all three rooms.
In essence the night would have been a soundclash with drum n bass, punk, dubstep, metal, hip-hop, indie, hard dance and reggae all getting airtime.
The old idea of identifiable youth "tribes" is dead, the mixing and melding of music and fashion styles has seen to that, and so gigs/raves/whatever you want to call them are having to draw in disparate types of people rather than tapping into easily accessible niche groups.
The net result is the need for a new approach by those of us organising events and we are going to carry on struggling until we get to grips with that fact.
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