daryl, first up i've no intention to flame blank - i doubt i've mindlessly insulted him or said anything i haven't backed up with examples. if you don't like long posts, don't read mine, simple. i seldom post irrelevantly here because i have no time for that. i'm just trying to share things that i have learned over time based on whatever limited experience i have been lucky enough to receive.
Our scene needs to grow, slowly and in its own time, and while we need to find ways to overcome the geographical and infrastructural hurdles that seem beyond us (unless there's some major cash injection here), and in the meantime improve ourselves as best we can. Blank, your intentions I am sure are good and you're an advocate of tough love, but just saying "you're not good enough" only goes so far as a reality check. you gave your suggestions on how this can be addressed, i say that's a good start and that's to be appreciated. however i believe there's much more to it and fully understanding why this is what it is goes a long way to trying to find ways to fix and overcome these issues.
no one of us has all the answers and these are just my thoughts. i could be completely wrong or foolhardy, but i'm going to maintain that being proud of what we have here and what we've accomplished in a few short years despite all the factors against us, is good enough as any place to begin as a source of inspiration. NOW let's start to do the heavy lifting.
Actually, you inserted countless personal attacks into everything you said, judging my personality, based on what? My opinion? I never forced it onto anyone. Your basis of the argument seemed to be, that I had a character flaw, put down my opinion if you want to, but calling me arrogant, a music elitist, hipster, ignorant, based on the little you know of me, is pretty lame and stupid. This thread only blew up when you came in and the wall of text battle became the basis of it. Not to mention, you did take many things I said out of context, and the core of what I said got clouded with the main topic deviating constantly.
Anyway, onto the actual main topic.
If you see it, we actually feel exactly the same about the local scene. That it doesn't live up to overseas standards, but that we can move on if there is a mindset change! Both with musicians and with supporters. I think what shert said about the phillipines music scene is a very good example. And I think what I said earlier about sentimentality bleeding into your(and many others) judgment of local music holds water.
As for the speed of growth? I think Singapore's art scene has grown a lot in the past 5 or so years. We're opening up to many new things now. But it's quite possible that we'll become another bar-band city, if musicians continue selling themselves short by going half-way. I'm not saying they consciously choose to put in less effort, it's a product of the mindset which I talked about earlier, and lowering of the standard as a result.
I disagree with you on the point that the quality of bands isn't that great of importance, just because we don't have the infrastructure. But acknowledge the fact that yes they aren't really given the platform to do it, in the sense that they aren't being "forced" over here to improve themselves, whereas in places with higher standards they would be torn apart if they are terrible and thus will try as hard as they can to better themselves.
I also thank you for your segment on distribution and the like, I did not know that.
Yes, I advocate tough love in music that's for sure. Better coming from one person than coming from a crowd of a hundred, or a thousand.
Long posts, they tend to deviate a lot, and earlier has proven to not work, with things being taken out of context constantly.
Music anywhere, especially being a rock band, has proven to be tough pretty much anywhere. It's definitely a lot tougher here, but in the eternal words of bob the builder.
Can we do it? Yes we can!
