Music in Aberdeen

[WoodyRATM]

i just read this entire thread and theres some good points and bad points.

The whole scene seems to be filled with metal bands (just an observation) but this dont bug me any. they play what they enjoy. granted there is also a large number of balls bands, but there are also some killer ones. ones's which spring to mind, my minds weapon, we shall be blessed, karloff, amy sawers etc etc.

and i do find there to be pressures of gigging (my band have just started and im already gettin pissed off)

i will admit that what gigs my band have done, have indeed had alot of our mates there. but they come cause the do enjoy what we play and we do try to encourage them to stay for the other bands.

but anyway who wouldnt want to play a show with their mates in the crowd. it helps ease things. . like havin people who you know wont come to the gig just to go "You're fucking shite!". . .i know hecklings all fine and well sometimes but to a nervous new band hearing that can be really demoralising(sp?). even though they should probs learn to like ignore it.

i play music cause i love it. i dont care what anyone thinks. people can think im shite, let them, i like what i play. If some awesome record exec offerd us a deal, i for one would take it. paid to do what you love doing. . . isint that like anyones ideal job? or would that be considerd selling-out?

on a final note, doing gigs IS indeed a good way to make a little cash. i mean like we're doing a gig in may and should be playing an hour set. we're gettin 100 quid for it. i mean like i know not many places would give you anywhere near that. but 100 for an hours work. . .when id probs normally be at home, still playing music and getting nowt. seems pretty good huh?

just my opinion. . .

[liamtw]

But as a musician don't you want your music to heard as wide an audience as possible? Isn't that creative satisfaction too? Nae argueing with your atittude' date=' just playing devil's advocate.[/quote']

everyone that claims to just do it for the music is a liar! i enjoy playing in a band as much as anyone else but hey part of bein in a giggin band is that you want people to hear your music and you want or crave recognition for what you have created and put out to the people who come to see you eagerly awaitin their judgement!

music is fun and after all it is only for entertainment purposes sometimes people take it too serious, but however contradictory (sp?) it sounds sometimes if you want to have a sell out tour etc you do have to buckle down and try your god damn hardest to impress thats what its all about!

you want people to hear and if your doin somethin right people will want to hear you however serious you want to be taken is up to you

[Guest Neubeatz]

Flush@theMorehensbar;Stripey's a clone, Stripey's a clone, That's so gay, lol lol lol...

Fuck aye!!!

[Guest neil ex]

I can honestly say that I haven't noticed any pressure for bands to be deadly serious and tour all the time' date=' let alone a lot of pressure. Where are you getting this from? I'm not having a go, just interested whereabouts this exists.[/quote']

I think he means that some scenesters can't believe that some bands (believe it or not) are content on playing a gig in Aberdeen every now and then. Not everyone wants to spend every single minute of the day working on their band but it doesn't mean they don't work hard.

[Guest Les Stroszek]

I've got a few opinions on this and I'll keep them to myself but I don't think that you should discourage young bands from starting or enjoying themselves by writing off a lot of bands as mediocre as the first post does.

[Edgar Graham]

i'd only ever be in a band to impress girls, i don't give a shit about the music.

[Hog]

I've got a few opinions on this and I'll keep them to myself but I don't think that you should discourage young bands from starting or enjoying themselves by writing off a lot of bands as mediocre as the first post does.

Very true. It can take a lot of time and effort to improve and gel as a unit. Line-up changes can be a nitemare or a blessing.

[stuartmaxwell]

lots of great gigs coming through and aberdeen is begginig to get established as a point on the tour map

not enough good local bands worthy of supporting them, but this will change in time when local bands are inspired byt he pros etc

a small venue/room/space 150ish would be great but the time is prob not right

aberdeen is certainly moving in the right direction though. would be good to see those who became dissilusioned with it over the last few years to bury the hatchet and come and give things a shot. too many of them still believe they are in the know and reckon its still gash

[Teabags]

this thread is fucking gash. can't believe I cae back from Dead Fest to this. Makes me fucking angry.

[stuartmaxwell]

you are fucking gash thurisaz

and you make me angry

im a detective you know...

[Guest Tam o' Shantie]

Have the balls to say "hey this is pish" and go and do something less boring instead

You listen to Rolf Harris.

[betamax]

I've heard people on here suggest that aberdeen has a "thriving" or "vibrant" music scene. I disagree. I think this is a delusion which has it's roots in a toxic mixture of mediocre "artists" or "bands"' date=' venues who are too willing to allow anyone to play, and networks of obsequious friends and naive children.

There are threads on here where people complain about poor attendance at gigs. Stop complaining! The attendance is poor because nobody gives a fuck about your pathetic band and your bullshit songs. It's that simple.

The venues that give a platform to this mediocrity are part of the problem. I'm sure they have their own, perhaps misguided motives that somehow allow them to justify putting on gigs with bands that draw miniscule, and often underage audiences. But really, is it actually financially viable to put on some crap bands early in the evening for an audience of kids that don't use the bar?

The level of creativity among the so called musicians that constitute the local "music scene" is utterly pathetic, with some very rare exceptions.

There is an obvious disregard for recordings aswell which I find bizarre. Perhaps these bands prefer to let promoters and venues take the risk on putting on gigs rather than commiting themselves to creating a definitive recording.

Anyway, your thoughts?[/quote']

Broadly speaking that is spot on if not a bit harshly worded. But yeh.

There are some exceptions obviously but the above definition covers at least 50% of whats happening in aberdeen. IE the majority.

So then add the 25% of covers and tribute bands put on mostly by the forward thinking Melon Tree, and you're left with a reasonable and random 25% selection of stuff that comes under the catagory of actual entertainment. Thats not bad IMO and just means you have to be discerning about what you attend and where you go for a nite out. Most towns are the same. Gone are the days (early to mid ninetees prob) when you could just wander into an aberdeen venue and more than likely accidentally see something decent. Its rare now. So much so that Id rather go to a club than be exposed the the 75/25 chance of a band being very shit or as decribed by Stripey (50/50 at best)?

Yo

[Guest Mr Blastcap]

I'm a bit confused by this mid 90's highpoint thing of the Aberdeen scene, honestly i must have been seeing different bands! i was thinking about this the other day- there about five or six bands that are kicking about right now that i really like and would have no hesitation in dragging "non aberdeen music scene memebers" along to see them- things are a lot better. circa 91-99 there was nothing interesting happening. i see it like this, if i saw Project ven hell on tv i'd grin, i'd be chuffed as fuck for them ( and not cringing), this was not the reaction when i saw Coast on telly....

there are more bands, this means there a lot of shit bands- but also happily there are more good bands. but the hated "aberdeen sound" of the 90's has been pretty much erased, bands are a lot more clued up now. and all that.

i'm getting major deja vu with this whole thing, didnt Dr Drakes get a telling off for putting on skate punk years ago on here, ach well.

[WeirdAl]

I'm going to say that people don't come to gigs because there isn't anyone to come to the gigs. Aberdeen is home to how many people who would come to gigs? Not many I dare say ... nothing compared to somewhere like Glasgow. The city centre is so underpopulated with gig goers that even the little farming/commuting towns (I live in one so I'm not having a dig) outside of Aberdeen have their own music scene. Anyway, of Aberdeen cities population, who is going to go to more than 2 gigs a week, which I would consider to be pretty hardcore? So obviously there are going to be quiet nights.

[betamax]

I'm a bit confused by this mid 90's highpoint thing of the Aberdeen scene' date=' honestly i must have been seeing different bands! i was thinking about this the other day- there about five or six bands that are kicking about right now that i really like and would have no hesitation in dragging "non aberdeen music scene memebers" along to see them- things are a lot better. circa 91-99 there was nothing interesting happening. i see it like this, if i saw Project ven hell on tv i'd grin, i'd be chuffed as fuck for them ( and not cringing), this was not the reaction when i saw Coast on telly....

there are more bands, this means there a lot of shit bands- but also happily there are more good bands. but the hated "aberdeen sound" of the 90's has been pretty much erased, bands are a lot more clued up now. and all that.

i'm getting major deja vu with this whole thing, didnt Dr Drakes get a telling off for putting on skate punk years ago on here, ach well.[/quote']

early to mid ninetees, I purposely never mentioned the appalling late ninetees, the era where everything went down the bog in the run up to skatepunk and nu metal etc

its not like there was any halcyion days for aberdeen musically, its just that there was a time when it seems less cringe inducing to go out and catch a live band than it does now....it was never brilliant, the few decent bands that played the one or two decent venues were probably weegies for all I know, but there was far less chance of the casual punter having to suffer wank metal, tribute bands or wee skoolie bands and the underage hordes

to be fair there was still only ever half a dozen decent bands kicking around, its just that there was far less shit ones getting payed to be shit, probably

quality control etc.

[Chris]

its not like there was any halcyion days for aberdeen musically

But there was Halcion Daze! Arf.

[soundian]

.... there was far less chance of the casual punter having to suffer wank metal' date=' tribute bands or wee skoolie bands and the underage hordes

to be fair there was still only ever half a dozen decent bands kicking around, its just that there was far less shit ones getting payed to be shit, probably

quality control etc.[/quote']

The "skoolie" bands and the underage hordes are the new musicians/audience of the future, maybe by getting them involved now will make for an increase in quality/attendance.

I'm sure your average casual punter would rather run a mile than drink a pint in a pub with "skoolie" bands and underagers running about.

If the venues didn't make any money on these types of events, I'm sure you would never see any.

The best form of quality control is, don't go to gigs unless you think you might like the bands.

[Guest Mr Blastcap]

The best form of quality control is' date=' don't go to gigs unless you think you might like the bands.[/quote']

makes sense that. the internet makes it easyer as well- most bands have mp3 thingys out there- so theres nae excuse anymore to sit through a set by one god universe or men lie. YIPEEE!

[Guest Neubeatz]

But there was Halcion Daze! Arf.

And much as they tried, they were generically retro!!!

[threeornothing]

The best form of quality control is' date=' don't go to gigs unless you think you might like the bands.[/quote']

Or forget about playing in a band if you can't stand opening up for a bunch of gimps who brought their playground chums along with them....

[betamax]

The best form of quality control is' date=' don't go to gigs unless you think you might like the bands.[/quote']

....however the public have voted with their feet, and all the muppets are crying that the venues are genarally empty, while theres thousands of music lovers in this city who now avoid gigs like the plague

maybe there actually something wrong with putting on a lot of low quality shite for a quick buck and hoping the public keeps on swallowing it

quality control should come from the promoters and venues* who have a responsibilty to provide something decent....for their own long term business aims if nothing else

*some promoters/venues have sussed this already

[Guest collapse in chaos]

All i get from this thread is that there is a small community of over-the-hill gig-goers who are so stuck in the past they'd like to believe that in the early nineties there was a much more thriving music scene. This is pish as there were quite obviously fewer promotors and also fewer and less varied bands coming to Aberdeen to play. I reckon the people who complain are just pissed off cos the music that people go to gigs for today is not their cup of tea and when they do go to gigs the relatively young age of the people around them makes them feel old and left-out, thus they reminisce about the 'good old day's. Just like the old people who used to get on at you when you were young. This thread should be re-named 'in my day lad things were so much better'...bollocks!

[The Milner]

What venues are generally empty?

More often than not gigs in aberdeen are well attended nowadays thanks to the "underage hordes" and "skoolie bands".

your just bitter cause your old and its now harder for you to get away with taking one of these kids home betamax, BUT there may be hope for you yet....................

[The Milner]

All i get from this thread is that there is a small community of over-the-hill gig-goers who are so stuck in the past they'd like to believe that in the early nineties there was a much more thriving music scene. This is pish as there were quite obviously fewer promotors and also fewer and less varied bands coming to Aberdeen to play. I reckon the people who complain are just pissed off cos the music that people go to gigs for today is not their cup of tea and when they do go to gigs the relatively young age of the people around them makes them feel old and left-out' date=' thus they reminisce about the 'good old day's. Just like the old people who used to get on at you when you were young. This thread should be re-named 'in my day lad things were so much better'...bollocks![/quote']

exactly on the button.

[Afro Droid]

What venues are generally empty?

I was wondering this as well, I'm in just about every venue in the 'deen at least once a week (probably with the exception of the Tunnels), and sure there are quiet nights, but most venues have a reasonably consistent turnover of punters. Maybe I'm just pished and seeing double though.