Problems -
1) Too many bands playing at free gigs
2) Too many free gigs for listeners
3) Adults are not targeted in most of these gigs - IOW gigs are mostly for teenagers
4) Need better musicianship. I can't count the number of times I hear bandmembers talking about their ipcoming album when they really should be working on more basic things. And they all seem to head to one studio, to one producer, both obviously overworked and I can't fathom how they fiind the time to produce so many albums. I want to add that whereever Lunarin did their recording, it was IMO, the best sounding guitars amongst all local recordings that I've heard, to date. Very ballsy and it shows that whoever the engineer was, he/she certainly knows their work. Instead of heading to some weeded place, I'd much rather head to this, 'alternative' studio.
5) Need better songwriting. Most bands either have one or at best, two good songs. That's it. Not enough!
6) Bands need to look out for producers to work with. Professionals and even great bands work with producers. Yet local bands seem to want to do it all on their own. And when they look for a producer, they inevitably find someone that 100 others have in mind, or worse yet, the producer is already producing 10 other bands - concurrently! DUH!
7) Bad taste runs too rampantly
8) SG musicians really have to stop thinking that they are God's gift to music. If they were, they would be playing in diapers or worse yet, in polo t-shirts, tucked out, like some 9-year old on their first day at little golf school! Get real people! If you can't appreciate the music you play then you should be doing something else or be playing another type of music. Mostly, people listen to a particular type of music or perhaps two or maybe even three genres. The music is oftentimes reflected in their lifestyle and if you can't appreciate these people, your audience, their lifestyle, then something is drastically amiss. So, if you appreciate your music, which your audience listens to and lives by, then bloody well show it. People want to see it as much as hear it. And when they see and hear, they experience something unique and special and it is incumbent upon local musicians to ensure that the experience is unique, lasting and bloody good.
9) Bands play for the sake of making friends rather than for the love of the music.
10) NS kills creativity and sucks out 2 valuable years
11) Foreign bands, the good ones of course only come here once in a ocuple of years, or maybe even once in a lifetime. Local bands actually have a distinct and true advantage over foreign bands when it comes to palying live music. you are here. Make it happen. DO sometihng positive. Don't prostitute yourself to death by playing free gigs for any two bit promoter that turns up at the door!
Possible Solutions??? -
1) Segment the island into North, South, East and West. This will create a sense of ownership amongst listeners and allow for a tighter fan following
2) Cut down on the number of free gigs. Start charging for gigs witihn 4-6 months or once a good lineup can be had. There is not a lot of difference between free gigs and payings in most of the gigs that abound. There are rare occasions but that's not sufficient. More prominent bands should refrain from playing at free gigs. Leave those type of gigs to newer bands. There are possibly a handful of bands that can demand a paying audience, and so be it. But a standard has to be set and adhered to. Organisers should look overseas for alternative gigs for these bands - more frequent overseas gigs will be good for experience and exposure and to actually preclude good bands from over-exposure locally, especially at free gigs.
3) Ship out bands, IOW stop having them in gigs, that do not meet a certain standard. Producers and gig organisers should start this ASAP.
4) If you can't appreciate that music, for the last 40 years+ has an important visual aspect then you should be a radio DJ. Dress up your part. Live with-in your music or you will never make it because it'll be crystal clear that you're just a wannabe. Nobody except your friends and hanger-ons will appreciate what you do.
5) Find ways to market local music to SG adults. They are the ones that need to be within the scope
6) GET MDC to setup a separate platoon to cater to local bands to help ease the NS nonsense that has killed or side-tracked possible innovators in the local industry.
7) Everyone has to ensure that the cream of the crop gets up there. To do this, EVERYONE should stop ass-kissing their friends or some they know or want to know and crap all over as to how good a certain band/musician is. Stuff like this just kills everything. Just think of the story of the boy that cried wolf.
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So much for the rant. I am hopeful that there are no hard feelings from my post. It is no doubt that being in a band is great - friends, chicks, music, etc etc etc. BUt let's face it and realise that even in USofA, no more than 1% of bands there make a great or even a decent living - if you count decent living as driving from town to town, day after day, then that's a different story; perhaps the percentage will be over 1%.
The chances of making it is really, truly slim, even at best, for the bests, here or anywhere else. The most important thing is to ensure that the best here have the best opportunity to make it outside of here. Strange, ironic, but so true. But first they have to be the best here.
Peace to all and continue making music but please do it from the heart, with lots of soul.
RoRK
