What do you like/hate about the music scene in your region? What do you think contributes to a stronger music scene? Do you even need a scene?
I can definitely see the benefits of networking with other musicians and working things out together. But of course there are negatives too- some of NZ's most succesful musicians have never really been 'scene people,' and there's a lot to be said for having everything on your own terms- no-one to please but yourselves. What's your opinions?
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We've always tried to be supportive of ...
We've always tried to be supportive of other bands around the country and hook up gigs or help out in any way we can, where we come from is a small town and when we first started playing we were probably the only band with original songs around our area, theres now about 30 original bands, it would be nice to think we helped create some of that and we do try and help out other local bands when we can.
As to being part of a scene we've never really bothered, from an outside perspective scenes always seem a bit mutually exclusive and we were never into excluding anyone, we've had all kinds of bands play support for us and we've support all kinds, it was always more important to support NZ music as an overall picture than shut ourselves into one scene, it can be a great and nurturing way to start out but if your band gets stuck in the mindset of being part of a scene it can become limiting, we've all seen those stories or comments about bands Selling Out their scene, thats just a by product of the jealousy that can develop when a "scene" becomes too insular, we live in such a small country that I don't think we have room for that kind of attitude...I just class all NZ music (regardless of genre, locale, or scene) as Rock'n'Roll, and like Mick Jagger said "I know, it's only Rock'n'Roll, But I like it, yes I do!"
I think being part of the scene can be ...
I think being part of the scene can be really important in terms of geting opportunities because its the way to get contacts. Its difficult for a songwriter sitting at home in the bedroom dreaming of "making it" to feel they can realise that dream on their own. Being part of the scene means encouragement from other musicians and finding a way to make it rather than hoping that "big break" will one day come along...
so true, you can't just wait to be ...
so true, you can't just wait to be famous, even "overnight" success stories have usually got several years of background to them, for example the Datsuns had 7 years of hard yakka leading up to their 'meteoric' rise to the top, thats why we're off to Australia in September, to further our contact base and hopefully help strengthen the Kiwi music scene along the way, we've always been open to giving a hand to the other bands around us whilst still maintaining our independance from the, SOMETIMES, stifling environs of a 'scene'.
i'm not amuscian but consider myself ...
i'm not amuscian but consider myself part of the scene because i do reviews and work in radio, and where i come from (timaru) when i was in high we had no gigs...no live music. in fact i sawe an interview with shihad and they said that the worst gig they ever did was in timaru because six people turned up and only two of them payed....but i digress.
any way we did start to get regular live gigs by touring bands but now the public have grown complacent and won't support the bands....it makes me REALLY mad!
It can be really tough in the smaller ...
It can be really tough in the smaller towns, because without that support network nothing happens. Hard to combat apathy aswell, to get people excited, to get them believing in the local music. I haven't always lived in Wellington- it's easy to take the buzz in this city for granted, but I know what it's like in the smaller towns too. Starting things up from scratch can be really difficult. I also reckon one person with the energy and commitment is enough to get the ball rolling. I don't think you have to be a muso either- in a way you're better for it!
//I can definitely see the benefits of ...
//I can definitely see the benefits of networking with other musicians and working things out together
I can see the benefits of this as well, but also what I have seen to be quite a big problem with this way of working in Wellington, is that we constantly see the same bands, over and over, playing together, because they will only play with each other. It's almost like a clique. Am I the only Wellingtonian that sees this? I'm not saying the bands are stupid for doing it, because all the bands rock, but it does get a little boring seeing them all play together nearly every weekend ...
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I agree- you get the impression as an ...
I agree- you get the impression as an artist new to the scene that there is something quite exclusive/inaccessable going on. It's less of a community, and more just bands who are friends- nothing wrong with that at all- but I guess since we're talking about strengths/weaknesses of music scenes, it's fair to say that an open, friendly musical community will grow faster and stronger than an exclusive musical community. I guess people who want a stronger scene should try to be more open-minded about meeting new musicians (a great thing about this website)!
Exactly what I was getting at, it's ...
Exactly what I was getting at, it's the whole country that should be a scene not just town to town, we got more help from other bands in isolated places without scenes than we ever did from bands in insular little cliques. Fair call on the Wellington scene, we're from just up the coast in Kapiti sometimes coming from outside into a tight scene like Wngtn you may as well say you have leprosy!
I agree, good point....
I agree, good point.
a scene is pretty much unavoidable, ...
a scene is pretty much unavoidable, whether it forms due to music or because of other reasons. the difference is that it doesn't have to be exclusive, and when the scenesters are snobby as all hell it sours the enjoyment of the events.
I think all a good scene needs is for ...
I think all a good scene needs is for people to forget their own agendas for a bit- meeting new musicians is actually quite fun, and you don't even have to like/enjoy/have heard of their music, or wonder if you'd enjoy having a gig with them. I think it's enough to just get people talking about music!
I think the lack of bands willing to ...
I think the lack of bands willing to support each other is a biggy, theres too many ego's/too much arrogance and not enough 'yep I'll help you guys out' kind of attitude.
When it comes down to it, I think 95% of bands are in this for the same reason - love of music/performing/desperate hope of avoiding a 9 -5 existance..
I think we need a serious injection of goodwill
I agree- there's no question that you ...
I agree- there's no question that you only do this if you love it. That should'nt be a question really, that they are as passionate about what they do as you are about what you do. I hate meeting musos who are so absorbed in their own music that they don't acknowledge the same passion in others, or consider what they're doing to be more important/better than what anyone else is doing... then again some people are just plain wankers...
I think the small New Zealand ...
I think the small New Zealand population makes it difficult to find other bands of a similar genre, hence, the 'Scene' isn't as tightly-knit as in other countries.
'Punk' bands like to hang out with other chain-wallet 'Punks,' 'Indie' kids watch Jim Jarmusch flicks with other 'Indie' kids, and the 'Metallers' are vandalising bus-stops with other 'Metallers' while the 'Rappers' stay at home smoking 'Blunts' with their 14-year old girlfriends. Unfortunately, there are too few people in each musical subset to comprise a 'Sub-Scene,' and thus, each New Zealand city or town has a disparate mix of people with different record collections and outlooks. They don't really come into contact socially, and no booker would have Pine play with Meatyard, so naturally there's no real unity between musicians of differing genres. That's why there ain't a whole lotta support between bands in the bigger towns - groups from smaller places, on the other hand, seem t'be quite well-acquainted with the other local musos. This is usually because there are only two other bands in town.
I do not know what this means.
I think one reason that bands and musos ...
I think one reason that bands and musos from small towns network together with each other and other bands from other small areas is to do with a feeling of solidarity as much as anything else, quite often in small areas there is a feeling of isolation from the rest of the country so banding together (pardon the pun)
is a great way to feel more a part of teh NZ music comunity.
There is a huge preception in small town NZ that the Big Kids form teh Big Cities are shunning us and negating what we do just because we're from a small town, oddly enough i've found over the years of playing around NZ that the place where bands seem most supportive of small town acts is Auckland, despite what the rest of the rednecks down here in Otago seem to think.
Maybe we hold some bizarre curiosity factor, or maybe we just have to work so hard to get noticed there is a grudging admiration for us.
The Auckland head-nod...
The Auckland head-nod
Nice topic. Best thread for a long ...
Nice topic. Best thread for a long time.
Everyone can see the issues, because face it there are a few floating about. Let's hope everyone considers where they fit in and does their bit to solve them, wherever they are.
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