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[Jake Wifebeater]

A bunch of has-beens in a covers band gets a huge ad? Fuck's sake, why do we even bother?

[Bob Double Jack]

Originally Posted by ghost

Jesus, they gave that article more space than Del's weekly column!

Del's weekly column is in the Evening Express.

also, from the type of article, it would have been the band that would have contacted the paper for the article, rather than vice versa. I know a lot of people get on the back of the paper for their coverage of the local scene, but there was a full page article on the mighty Fat Hippy records a few weeks back (which no doubt everyone who complained about it will complain again.)

Did anyone notice Driveblind got a review on page 3 a couple of weeks ago for their Drummonds gig before supporting the Charlatans? Didn't one of them work for them?
PArdon my cynicism.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/dis...tentPK=9590294

(by the way, yes i know that they are signed to a major label and this may have contibuted to the article - there are certain wrangles between getting stories and getting them printed).

What exactly do you expect the P+J to do? Like Bob DoubleJack said, those guys got that article either because they know someone who works there, or most likely, because they called up the paper.

Do you expect them to send someone down to every single one of the 100's of gigs that go on? These aren't special events. I'm sorry but I think you are just acting like you deserve media exposure.

The GoNorth thing, all someone had to do was ring up a few newspapers and get them to come down and cover it.

What exactly do you think the papers should be doing to cover the local scene?

[daveofficer]

the p and j have always been exceptionally keen to print any rumour regarding driveblind and i have no doubt that this is probably due to a member working for them at one point. can't remember which one it was who worked for them.

it doesn't matter that the band contacted them, why print that? when we were organising an all day gig at the beach ballroom we sent a press release to the p and j and the evening express to try and obtain sponsorship and they refused to even talk to us and this was with a man on the inside fighting our case(plus it was for charity). so don't take one article about fat hippy as anything other than a token fucking gesture. plus it was a tad patronising as well. as all p and j music articles seem to be, they seem to think it's all some kind of phase people go through. humour them and then they'll go away.

hopefully if people send them well constructed letters and emails then they might start to get the idea.

"Did anyone notice Driveblind got a review on page 3"

I'm sure Driveblind did since one of them used to WORK fro Aberdeen Journals explaining said coverage.

Originally Posted by daveofficer

the p and j have always been exceptionally keen to print any rumour regarding driveblind and i have no doubt that this is probably due to a member working for them at one point. can't remember which one it was who worked for them.

it doesn't matter that the band contacted them, why print that? when we were organising an all day gig at the beach ballroom we sent a press release to the p and j and the evening express to try and obtain sponsorship and they refused to even talk to us and this was with a man on the inside fighting our case(plus it was for charity). so don't take one article about fat hippy as anything other than a token fucking gesture. plus it was a tad patronising as well. as all p and j music articles seem to be, they seem to think it's all some kind of phase people go through. humour them and then they'll go away.

hopefully if people send them well constructed letters and emails then they might start to get the idea.

I'm with you 100%, remember the disappointment of the Beach Ballroom event never happening, and even though you didn't mention Point of Origin in your letter I still think you're alright. Haha!

[daveofficer]

Originally Posted by Stripey

What exactly do you expect the P+J to do? Like Bob DoubleJack said, those guys got that article either because they know someone who works there, or most likely, because they called up the paper.

Do you expect them to send someone down to every single one of the 100's of gigs that go on? These aren't special events. I'm sorry but I think you are just acting like you deserve media exposure.

The GoNorth thing, all someone had to do was ring up a few newspapers and get them to come down and cover it.

What exactly do you think the papers should be doing to cover the local scene?

i expect them to acknowledge it and to support it. we do deserve media attention. obivously i don't expect them to send someone to every gig that happens. but some serious articles and reviews wouldnt' go amiss. don't pretend that all it takes for the p and j to cover something is just to ring them, they are not interested. it's been tried. they fob you off or get it wrong. they need to realise that it's serious.

[Afro Droid]

Just sent this:

I writing to express my dismay that your newspaper found today's page 3 article on the band 'Mid-Life Crisis' news-worthy, especially given the number of original, exciting acts this city produces. Aberdeen's local music scene far surpasses any other in Scotland.

I'm sure that MLC are a competant group of musicians, and wish them the best of luck in their search for a singer, but as an active contributor to Aberdeen's music scene I find it insulting that the best our local newspaper can do in terms of coverage of our scene is an article on an amateur covers band.

Aberdeen's music scene is one of the most vibrant, busy and diverse in the country, with many local acts taking their music across the UK and the world, with little to no help from local media AT ALL. A recent article on Fat Hippy Records were condenscending and inacurate. This city's musical export does not begin and end with Driveblind.

I hope you can see what this city has to offer and start to give the hard work that a number of people do the recognition that it deserves - people like Dave Stewart at the Foyer, and Brian Youngson of Fudge fanzine - it's these people, after all, that help kids get off the street by giving them the opportunity to do something positive and creative.

[purplefrodo]

I don't know about you but i always thought the point of a local newspaper having journalists was so they could find what was going on in the local area...not just 'serious' news like "the stonehaven old peoples fund are organising a charity jumble sale this weekend" but also sport, music etc. So therfor sending a journalist to a gig once a week doesn't seem like a lot of hassle to me...or maybe i'm just ignorant. I just think its a sad day when the public has to phone the newspapers to get any decent articles published.

It depends if they have musically inclined staffer writing their music page. The Northern Scot at this end of the NE always has good coverage of both original and cover bands. They particulary like The Method, Crunch, The Blue Gum Ears and Small Enlosed Area. Mind you, the further West you go, the more diverse the music scenes get. While Aberdeen has a lot of great bands, it's a little limited in diversity.
If you get on at them enough they will write an article. I think the charity angle on this story swung it as a human interest thing. You have to remember, the P&J is a newpaper, not a fanzine. Although they could do a bit more.