Favourite ex-scenesters!

[Cloud]

from what i could tell' date=' the "old days" were gash, the gigs were boring all-local band line ups, the same bands and the same old faces that went to gigs.[/quote']

And that lot arguably were responsible for keeping something alive, no? If they hadn't been going to gigs and being "sceney", a lot of people wouldn't have entered the scene today to make it what it is.

correct me if im wrong, but i think things have changed a lot now, and for the better! there might be less of an insular music scene, but in terms of the quality acts coming to aberdeen for the first time (and coming back) thanks to the likes of RFR/moshulu, interesting music promotions, arkade, GFN, the tunnels etc things are better than they ever have been. lots of new faces coming to shows, more venues, more diversity and more risks taken

Are they actually better? Drakes has gone, Kef is barely putting anything on, The Tunnels runs massively under potential (capacity 300, so even pulling 100 people every night is barely using the place...), Moshulu has stalled as far as putting on big name acts that get headlines go, The Forum is lying unused, the AECC has failed miserably at getting lots and lots of big name bands up, the Lemon Tree is putting on more and more weird diverse stuff rather than stuff that pulls capacity audiences...sorry, but Aberdeen is a commercial failure.

which brings me to my point.....in essence there are less "scenesters" and more music loving people going to gigs. from what i have noticed a lot of people who actually go to gigs regularly barely use this board

Are music lovers really the best thing for the scene? Are they really music lovers, or have they simply latched onto a scene too? As far as I see it, there's scenesters in all the scenes here, some just take it more seriously than others.

For anyone that thinks the Aberdeen scene is great - why is the "scene" ran by independents? Is it a sign that Aberdeen has developed differently, or is it simply a sign that there's no money in it for the corporates?

People are waaaaaaay too serious about music here. Catherine will probably be a better judge of this than me, but I get the impression that she means that it was simply more fun back in the day. Why do Stayover gigs always have a great atmosphere? Why do Tears of Grace pull lots of people and have fun? It's simple, they don't take themselves seriously and don't present their music as being more than what it actually is.

Maybe all these diverse scenes are actually slowly killing the life out of the music scene rather than promoting it....

[catherine]

People are waaaaaaay too serious about music here. Catherine will probably be a better judge of this than me' date=' but I get the impression that she means that it was simply more fun back in the day.[/quote']

:-) that was my point exactly.

[Teabags]

i find the scene is just as fun, in alot of senses, more so.

but i also think Cloud is a dick, and everything i read posted by him sets my opinion of him in stone, so whatever.

[Guest Tam o' Shantie]

Why do Stayover gigs always have a great atmosphere?

abundence of westhill jailbait

Why do Tears of Grace pull lots of people

a ben sherman shirt and a gold chain makes the girls go weak at the knees

[Cloud]

:-) that was my point exactly.

Didn't you know it's an offence to enjoy yourself at a gig these days?

The sooner people stop pretending that the vast majority of local gigs are life changing, the better - audiences aren't stupid, they know fine well that what's being put on isn't actually the best thing ever, especially if it only costs a few quid. Some bands are good enough to leave you thinking "fuck, this should be on the big stage", but come on...we know that the bands aren't amazing. Pretending that it is doesn't do anyone any favours, and more importantly, how the hell can you enjoy a band if you're expected to think that it's the best thing ever?

It's funny how every scene has it's social norms and values though, and just how similar they all are.

Letting the patients run the asylum is always a bad idea...

[Teabags]

Cloud, just fuck off.

if you'd seen me and maxwell in the past, you'd know we had just as much fun. as do people that go to most of the gigs ive been to lately, ALOT more so than in the glorious past when everything was apparently less "serious"

the scenesters he was talking about, when they did turn up at gigs, they sat around looking bored. there's no denying this. anybody that knows me knows i went to well....80% of gigs at Dr Drakes in 2003/2004. and these scenesters were boring.

now, go away and spout your faux-knowledge bollocks of the music industry/scene at someone who is as fucking clueless as yourself.

[Cloud]

if you'd seen me and maxwell in the past' date=' you'd know we had just as much fun. as do people that go to most of the gigs ive been to lately, ALOT more so than in the glorious past when everything was apparently less "serious"[/quote']

the scenesters he was talking about, when they did turn up at gigs, they sat around looking bored. there's no denying this. anybody that knows me knows i went to well....80% of gigs at Dr Drakes in 2003/2004. and these scenesters were boring.

Different memories and all that. Your opinion was that they were boring, other people loved them..so who to believe? I'd rather make my own mind up, and what I saw/experienced was of gigs being fun.

now, go away and spout your faux-knowledge bollocks of the music industry/scene at someone who is as fucking clueless as yourself.

I'm sorry, did I touch a nerve?

edit : Maybe if people just stopped worrying about their status, what they've been doing "for the scene" and all the rest of it, things would be a lot better? as it stands, there's no respect at all from a lot of people towards different scenes to theirs, people are getting personally attacked for their opinions and all the rest of it. If people want to be professionals at what they're doing, maybe they should start acting like it. If they don't want to be professionals, then maybe they should stop pushing their amateurish opinions onto others

[Larsen B]

abundence of westhill jailbait

Hahaha, top marks for that one.

[The Milner]

haha westhill jail bait, that is a good one, pitty most of our crowd doesnt actually come from westhill any more, but who really cares? We puill a crowd every gig thats all i care about.

As for the rest of this shit, your all silly, yes it was fun a few years ago, but its still good now, just in a different way, gig attendances are up by miles compared to what they were over the past year or so, there are better bands coming through all the time for instance, Edgar Prais, Genevieve, Weapon, Right hand left, Reasons are Red and We Shall Be Blessed are all amazing who bands who are going to do wonders for aberdeen in the next few years.

[stuartmaxwell]

Didn't you know it's an offence to enjoy yourself at a gig these days?

i remember the days in drakes when abody used to sit/stand and nae move about looking bored as fuck. didnt look like they enjoyed themselves

The sooner people stop pretending that the vast majority of local gigs are life changing' date=' the better - audiences aren't stupid, they know fine well that what's being put on isn't actually the best thing ever, especially if it only costs a few quid

[/quote']

which local gigs are you talking about? i rarely go to local gigs these days, most oif the line ups are shit and i feel like im getting the piss taken by paying 3/4 squid for local bands.

take a look at the gigs i rave about form my previous posts.

[Scenester1]

Does it really matter if people enjoyed themselves a few years ago in Drakes? This thread is such a waste of space. Get over it people

[stuartmaxwell]

And that lot arguably were responsible for keeping something alive' date=' no? If they hadn't been going to gigs and being "sceney", a lot of people wouldn't have entered the scene today to make it what it is.

[/quote']

whats your point?

Are they actually better?

by a fucking mile, i am consistently being blown away by gigs. i find it harder and harder to get impressed but many of the awesome international acts/touring bands/outta towners and even some local acts are settign higher and higher standards for aberdeen

Drakes has gone, Kef is barely putting anything on, The Tunnels runs massively under potential (capacity 300, so even pulling 100 people every night is barely using the place...), Moshulu has stalled as far as putting on big name acts that get headlines go, The Forum is lying unused, the AECC has failed miserably at getting lots and lots of big name bands up, the Lemon Tree is putting on more and more weird diverse stuff rather than stuff that pulls capacity audiences...sorry, but Aberdeen is a commercial failure.

ill give you that, but it pays to look further than commercial success etc we are not looking at abdns music scene as a business, we are looking at it as a music scene, and regardless of capacity venues, i think we are doign great. great bands, more people goign to gigs, better gigs. venues are not goign to become capacity over night. aberdeen is a relatively small place, but i think we are holding hour own quite admirably against the likes of glasgow/edinburgh. more and more touring bands are saying aberdeen "best gig of the tour" etc

Are music lovers really the best thing for the scene? Are they really music lovers, or have they simply latched onto a scene too? As far as I see it, there's scenesters in all the scenes here, some just take it more seriously than others.

people paying money to go to gigs, cheer, have fun and buy merch from bands. fuck thats the worst thing ever for the scene.

get a fucking clue

For anyone that thinks the Aberdeen scene is great - why is the "scene" ran by independents? Is it a sign that Aberdeen has developed differently, or is it simply a sign that there's no money in it for the corporates?

as i said before the scene is not a business. music scenes are generally abotu music an dpeople who love music.

Maybe all these diverse scenes are actually slowly killing the life out of the music scene rather than promoting it....

im biting my lip here. i dont want to get banned again but this statement and you in general make my blood boil

[The Milner]

why do people always resort to personal abuse when they disagree with something?

[stuartmaxwell]

i never got personal there

[The Milner]

i never said you did

but other people have, and im not just meaning this thread.

[Cloud]

whats your point?

Point is' date=' rather than denouncing it as being a load of rubbish, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to

by a fucking mile, i am consistently being blown away by gigs. i find it harder and harder to get impressed but many of the awesome international acts/touring bands/outta towners and even some local acts are settign higher and higher standards for aberdeen

But...does this not just mean that Aberdeen is pulling itself up to the level of most cities? I don't think there's anything special about Aberdeen at all, apart from the fact that it does kick well above

ill give you that, but it pays to look further than commercial success etc we are not looking at abdns music scene as a business, we are looking at it as a music scene, and regardless of capacity venues, i think we are doign great. great bands, more people goign to gigs, better gigs. venues are not goign to become capacity over night. aberdeen is a relatively small place, but i think we are holding hour own quite admirably against the likes of glasgow/edinburgh. more and more touring bands are saying aberdeen "best gig of the tour" etc

Is all of this sustainable in the long run? I'm not going to point fingers at anyone, everyone's had bad gig attendances, but how secure are things, really? It seems to me that the whole thing is built like a deck of cards about to fall.

as i said before the scene is not a business. music scenes are generally abotu music an dpeople who love music.

The scene is not a business? That statement in itself sums up exactly what's wrong with Aberdeen - if the promoters don't even view it as a business, how can the business owners (the venues) expect to ever survive? There isn't a bottomless pit of grant money to be had, and the grant money has to come from somewhere. Is it any wonder that the corporate bigshots aren't involved when the scene hasn't even developed a professional attitude towards things?

im biting my lip here. i dont want to get banned again but this statement and you in general make my blood boil

Why get angry over a statement? Maybe if there was only one or two big shots controlling things in Aberdeen, the place would grow..as it stands, things are far too fractured. The GC Guide and Aberdeen-music do an admirable job of trying to bring things together, but their efforts are very much in the minority.

At the end of the day, you can put the best gigs on ever, but if they don't fill the place, they don't feed people and so they starve...small consolation promising them food in the future if they starve to death waiting, isn't it?

[stuartmaxwell]

is this boy for real?????????????

cloud, you talk like you are some big shot businessman or something.

talking of food chains, survival and general smart thinkign with gigs, can i draw your attention to this....

there was once a boy who was a promoter with a local collective. for months he put on gigs and then decided to stop doing it. he then started spraffing nonsense on internet messageboards.

he then decided to put on a gig of his own.

the line up should have pulled 100-130 people. (with a no brainer list of bands that should have pulled easily that amount' date=' if not more) but he chose to put it on in moshulu which has at least a 600 capacity and high operating costs, he hardly promoted the gig and nobody knew it was happening. with the impending bomb about to explode he chickened out of it and left other people to take the responsibility for it.

the gig bombed and about 70 people turned up

he then laughed about it afterwards stating that "it had nothing to do with me" etc

[/quote']

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not a great example of knowledge or sound business sense

[NARC]

tv tanned...oh wait' date=' he was never a scenester, just one of those keyboard jockeys that NEVER goes to anything unless it's the wildhearts. booooring.

[/quote']

God this regular member's good, whoever he/she may be....the words "nail", "hit", "on", "the" and "head" immediately spring to mind

[Demon Of The Fall]

abundence of westhill jailbait

[The Milner]

is this boy for real?????????????

cloud' date=' you talk like you are some big shot businessman or something.

talking of food chains, survival and general smart thinkign with gigs, can i draw your attention to this....

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not a great example of knowledge or sound business sense[/quote']

to be fair tho that really wasnt his fault, its was a combo of bad planning and bands pulling out, ie us at a very short notice.

shit happens maxi you know that, ive seen worse attended gigs than that, and if i do remember correctly there was a lot of shit with the tickets not turning up until about 6 days before the gig which left them no time to sell them also the gig was left off of the moshulu gigs thing for some reason. Also as far as im aware it wasnt even clouds idea to put the gig on in moshulu in the first place, having spoken to him at great lengths about the gig before and after.

so please leave it out man, your bigger than to try and use half stories against someone and really at the end of the day what is the point? Clearly you know more than most of us about putting gigs on and shit you dont need to bring yourself down to trying to have a pop on a little message board.

[Cloud]

is this boy for real?????????????

Dangerously so' date=' it would seem. Otherwise you would've answered the points rather than making little swipes

cloud, you talk like you are some big shot businessman or something.

Maybe I am..

talking of food chains, survival and general smart thinkign with gigs, can i draw your attention to this....

Originally Posted by storyteller

there was once a boy who was a promoter with a local collective. for months he put on gigs and then decided to stop doing it. he then started spraffing nonsense on internet messageboards.

he then decided to put on a gig of his own.

the line up should have pulled 100-130 people. (with a no brainer list of bands that should have pulled easily that amount, if not more) but he chose to put it on in moshulu which has at least a 600 capacity and high operating costs, he hardly promoted the gig and nobody knew it was happening. with the impending bomb about to explode he chickened out of it and left other people to take the responsibility for it.

the gig bombed and about 70 people turned up

he then laughed about it afterwards stating that "it had nothing to do with me" etc

not a great example of knowledge or sound business sense

Try posting a factual comment if you're going to throw the toys out of the pram

I pulled out of the gig because quite simply, I didn't know what was going on with my own life and didn't want to commit to something when there was a chance that I wouldn't even be living here at the time. I didn't go in the end, but for a while, it was very touch and go as to what was happening.

Why was the gig booked for Moshulu and not say The Tunnels? CLS were trusted to get a decent sound out of the Jo McCafferty Band, and the venue was picked on the basis of knowing that putting "Jo McCafferty Band - as support to the Dresden Dolls" on the posters, particularly in Moshulu would've pulled a fair few people. There's also the fact that Moshulu are professional with things and wouldn't have double booked or anything.

If you want to criticise what happened with that gig, perhaps you should ask Moshulu and the promoter (Jester) what happened. I don't know, I had no input into things after handing over the reigns and I'm not going to throw mud around as to why.

Like it or hate it, you're no better than me

[PrincessHolly]

I sometimes miss "the old days" but then I remember that hanging outside One Up for ours then going home and talking about it on The Wasteland is not the most fun thing that can ever happen.

[trippinoneastereggs]

Is it just me or does this thread accentuate the cliqueness of the whole thing. Im sure a lot of people who weren't there in the "good old days" feel pretty alienated. I thought the "scene" was becoming a lot less cliquey then I discovered this thread

[Metarie]

I've got to say that it's the whole concept of 'the scene' that puts me off seeing local bands play. With a few exceptions I wouldn't pay to see local bands, but when I do catch them at work or as support I've been pretty impressed.

People do take The Scene too seriously, not just local music but touring bands as well. Aberdeen certainly doesn't make the best of what it has, but we're stretched too thinly. Venue wise we've got AECC, Music Hall, Moshulu, Lemon Tree, Snafu, Tunnels, Blue Lamp, Kef, Moorings, probably a few I've left out. The point is that there just aren't enough bands to go around.

The Lemon Tree might be putting on more diverse stuff recently, instead of what 'draws the crowd' but that's because the bands who play the Tunnels and Moshulu would previously have played at the Tree. Venues with similar capacity are always going to be in competition but it seems to me that the people who own these venues aren't doing enough to help each other out. It's a small city, they all know each other, most are probably good friends, and yet they seem to screw each other over all the time. There is one venue that has the monopoly on the bands which would draw the greatest crowd,I'm sure you can all guess what it is.

Rant over. And can we please abolish the word 'scene'. I think that's the thing that causes most of the strife.

Edit- Trippingoneastereggs, it's always been clique-y and that is the one big thing that pisses me off about it all. I can do without going to a gig and feeling like a geriatric (at the grand old age of 20) or a loser because I'm not accompanied by 10 friends all wearing converse, too much eyeliner and My Chemical Romance hoodies.

Bah.

[stuartmaxwell]

i cant read that last message you typed cloud, to stop me from getting wound up by you again i have put you on my ignore list

lalalalalala toys prams etc lalalalalala

you do your thing an ill do my one