What this scene needs

[Alan Cynic]

Damn...you're right. I've got the D.O.S.E. release somewhere about.

Still....ours would be more up to date, (and using doric too!).

"Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sharny dubs"

[Stripey]

Sounds like copying to me!

But, if you're definitely listening to all the new stuff, from every country, and in every style, then well done!! (And not just the same old Bristol/DJ Scene stuff!) I've been enjoying the Magic Carpathian Project, and (although he's hardly new!!!) have enjoyed what I've heard by Pandit Pran Nath, so if you can burn me some of their music that'd be great.

However, I think we should agree to disagree....you're obviously hip to what's really happening out there, and I'm not particularly interested in technology-heavy things. Plus I'm not desperate to be so negative towards anyone.

It's not about copying, anymore than learning about different styles and techniques in artschool means anything you've painted is "copied" for example.

If you want to write new music you've got to be informed. I'm interested in what's going on in this generation right now, rather than what was going on 50 years ago, which is why I don't particularly like the backward looking attitudes of a lot of people in bands in aberdeen, infact I find it quite sad that so many kids in their 20's or younger up here can be so out of touch with the music of their generation, while they suck the nipple of the mainstream industry as it squeezes the last dregs out of rock in repackaged form.

I'm not interested in being negative towards anyone, it's just something that I feel pretty strongly about.

[Alan Cynic]

It used to be that art school was all about learning different styles and techniques from the past and present, but i'm led to believe that 'concepts' are more the thing with the young whippersnappers nowadays.

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying there, but having an awareness of past music blends well with an awareness of what's contemporary..you can learn from both. As in art...having the techniques helps bring the concepts to realisation, as long as you don't rely too much on the techniques, I think. ONLY listening to 'rawk' probably helps as little as only listening to dancey stuff, but why let it get on your nerves so much...feel strongly about it,yes...voice your opinion, yes,...but it would be possible to do all that in a massively less antagonistic way. And THEN we can have decent debates.

[Stripey]

It used to be that art school was all about learning different styles and techniques from the past and present, but i'm led to believe that 'concepts' are more the thing with the young whippersnappers nowadays.

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying there, but having an awareness of past music blends well with an awareness of what's contemporary..you can learn from both. As in art...having the techniques helps bring the concepts to realisation, as long as you don't rely too much on the techniques, I think. ONLY listening to 'rawk' probably helps as little as only listening to dancey stuff, but why let it get on your nerves so much...feel strongly about it,yes...voice your opinion, yes,...but it would be possible to do all that in a massively less antagonistic way. And THEN we can have decent debates.

You're right yeah, you do need an understanding of what went before aswell as an understanding of where things are going...but perhaps a fixation on the past is a bit of a cop-out, like I was saying earlier about the need to take risks.

I don't only listen to "dancey" stuff, for what it's worth.

[Jim Stax]

It's not about copying, anymore than learning about different styles and techniques in artschool means anything you've painted is "copied" for example.

If you want to write new music you've got to be informed. I'm interested in what's going on in this generation right now, rather than what was going on 50 years ago, which is why I don't particularly like the backward looking attitudes of a lot of people in bands in aberdeen, infact I find it quite sad that so many kids in their 20's or younger up here can be so out of touch with the music of their generation, while they suck the nipple of the mainstream industry as it squeezes the last dregs out of rock in repackaged form.

I'm not interested in being negative towards anyone, it's just something that I feel pretty strongly about.

I knew it wopuld happen at some point. A well put point in the debate from Stripey, and one that I can't really disagree with. I'm just done jumping up and down about things.

[Alan Cynic]

I'm knackered too!!

Agreeing with Stripey.......it comes to all of us, eventually.

*heads to pub*

[Jim Stax]

With the case of 'art school'. (find your own analogy, there is one) I find it very difficult to simply draw for the sake of drawing these days. Five years of over analysing everything has beaten me down. There is a huge desire to just mark make but the need to find a reason for every single line has made this very difficult. I watch my son scribbling page after page of pure imagination and I sit and stare at a blank paper. I do get around to making but it can be a very procrastinated journey, but mostly rewarding, in the end...

[Alan Cynic]

*not at pub yet...sorry!*

You're dead right....but the best of music is like that, too...you just do it, and hopefully something that's part of you comes out. If other people like it, fine, but it's a personal journey...over alaysing it makes it sterile.

To side with Sripey even more...perhaps the worst bands are musical Jack Vetterianos (sp?), but I'm sure there are other sides of the coin here in Aberdeen.

[Hog]

The scene lol.

Some bands " could name names" do fuck all apart from look after themselves.

Of course, its is not some kind of prerequisite regarding being in a band. However, some bands could help new bands who are just starting out. Will they help?

I have given up on what is "the scene". Its a lottery playing a gig. I have had tons of positive feedback regarding my acoustic stuff but am lucky if 5 people turn up to watch (not friends) and I honestly dont give a shit, I would rather play in front of a few people than force pals to see me for the squillionth time.

[HateEvent]

There's a reason people wouldn't come back and see you for a squillionth time.

[Hog]

Because they are blind from my shine.

[Stripey]

With the case of 'art school'. (find your own analogy, there is one) I find it very difficult to simply draw for the sake of drawing these days. Five years of over analysing evenything has beaten me down. There is a huge desire to just mark make but the need to find a reason for every single line has made this very difficult. I watch my son scribbling page after page of pure imagination and I sit and stare at a blank paper. I do get around to making but it can be a very procrastinated journey, but mostly rewarding, in the end...

A sketchbook is a useful thing to draw on (dont) - seeking out new things (experiential or musical or visual or whatever) is something which I find givesme those little bits of inspiration that allow me to sit down and sketch something out just for the pleasure of it, without needing to have any intention of turning it into a finished piece or whatever or feeling that there must be some purpose behind it. It's really good to be able to flick through your sketchbook and pick out the ideas worth developing, or take parts of a sketch and integrate them into a new project if they suit it and so on...i really think the analogy between music and the visual arts is quite worthwhile.

[all_his_engines]

Surely the essence of being an artist is creating music for yourself, not to fit in with some group of copycats and sycophants calling themselves a "scene"? I don't understand why people feel that there has to be some readily-identifiable group of artists with a similar, derivitive sound in order for a particular city to qualify as having a decent music scene.

I consider a good music scene to be an environment where a diverse range of artists are producing interesting, original music. They don't even have to sound anything like each other! Good music is good music, no matter what genre tag might be applied to it, and no matter how much the guitar bands might slag off the DJs and vice versa.

To my mind, there is a great deal of new, exciting music being produced in Aberdeen at the moment by a whole range of exceptionally talented individuals. It's just that not enough people know about it. People should not judge the musical importance of this city by how many mainstream Radio 1 chart bands we produce.

[Lemonade]

It's well out of it...kind of like Fraserburgh used to be, until some of the newer musicians started created interesting stuff in the last couple of years.

The Broch is the Scene!!!!

Fucking right!!!! I popped my gig cherry back in the Broch back in the mid 90s, there were some ace bands around in the Broch then! DOA started it all back at school, then the mighty White Death rose from their ashes and stayed around for years, while Black Aria and the original Twenty-Eight could always put on a blinding gig! Plus The Following (latterly Orson) from Mintlaw used to play Cheers quite a lot, and not forgetting the legends that were 36DD! Filthy Bishop managed a few gigs before petering out. These days The Band From Uncle, Twenty-Eight and Wilson Noble are all flying the flag for Broch-Rock!

My, I almost forgot about the Jaldy Bons. Rock and Roll in it's purest form - formed, played 2 gigs (including the Dalrymple Hall, on a stage once graced by The Beatles!), stole our hearts and split up. Come back Jaldys! The world misses you. 8-)

[rune]

Sounds like copying to me!

But, if you're definitely listening to all the new stuff, from every country, and in every style, then well done!! (And not just the same old Bristol/DJ Scene stuff!) I've been enjoying the Magic Carpathian Project, and (although he's hardly new!!!) have enjoyed what I've heard by Pandit Pran Nath, so if you can burn me some of their music that'd be great.

Nice to see that there are people on this board who want to move forward musically and not just resort to same old boring flaming.

[RicoAUBL]

i think everything is mostly the same as it's always been

i was thinking about this the other day

cos i thought.. mmm i dont know any of these bands (referring to various gig listings i had seen)

but as you get older and your social circles and circumstances change i guess sometimes you dont notice what's going on in front of you

there seems to be a large number of youngsters running around belmont street on a weekend going to gigs at drummonds and kef

so there must be something going on surely!?

i no longer have a list of all the bands

so i dont know who they all are

but there is still just as much going on - if not more - than there was 5 years ago

all this "whats up with the scene" "the scene sucks" "there is no scene" nonsense has been discussed about 1000 times on these forums

i have never seen any conclusions to the debate as yet..

i shall wait patiently..

long live AUBL!

:]

[FatHand]

How many times has this debate been dug up? I just wasted 20 mins reading through this. Why not just get on with making music (again nothing new as a response)?

I've got about a million ideas a day for bands/songs/production etc and luckily have the time, money and motivation to actually try them out once and a while. I have found that if you look for them (and you don't really have to look hard), there are many amazing musicians to try these idea's out with. Most of them don't post on here.

Have fun with your music whether you are Jimmy Hendrix or someone who has just picked up an instrument for the first time. Try something different if you can be bothered or play all the songs that you love in a cover band, or both; I know I do and I am not ashamed of any of it. I don't care if Stripey likes it or wants to rename the genre that I've chosen to class it as or someone wants to puke as a result of listening to my compositions (one of my favourite reviews ;-)).

Music scene is a quick way of saying there are lots of people into both playing and listening to music. I'm now more interested in an Aberdeen Arts scene. In my opinion this is the way forward. This, however, is a different discussion.

[stuartmaxwell]

if not more

undoubtedly

aberdeen was the pits 5 years ago

[Sam 45]

Somebody mentioned is their any form or scene in Glasgow at the moment and i don't feel there is. In the last 5/10 years or so too many venues have sprung up with the combination of too many bands filled with shit musicians and bollocks promoters. There are obviously the people who are doing good for the gigging community but i would say in general the Glasgow scene isn't doing much for the radar right now.

[HairyScaryMark]

One man's great scene is another man's vandalism against art.

It is an interesting idea heavily accociating styles of music with certain cities, states or countries.

Examples I can think of.

Texas Blues (white men playing blues rock on electric guitars)

New Orleans Jazz (trad jazz)

Gotenburg Sound (melodic death metal) - think i've only heard this term used a few times

Country and Western (suggests it has some connection with the wild west)

Seattle Grunge (some punk and 60's hippy music hybrid)

Mostly Relevant in above cases but after a certain amount of time styles spread throughout the world and the locations usually become less important for those styles.

Don't think we are likely to have an 'Aberdeen Sound' anytime soon.

[jcn]

Rock Austin is right: We should think of Arts and culture in Aberdeen rather than just music.

There is no point in slagging off people who play in bands and who are crap. Everyone has to start somewhere. At least they have the guts to go out there and gig, which is a lot that can be said for a lot of people.

There seems to be a defeatist attitude towards the arts in Aberdeen; if it isn't instantly amazing and perfect then people think it never will be. Sorry, but that's just bollocks. People should either support the arts in whatever shape or form it takes, or stop being fair weather friends.

People in Aberdeen just have to persevere. Musicians and artists in general can't improve if there isn't people willing to support and guide them through their development. Think of it as an investment into the community.

The arts in Aberdeen is only as good as the people who are willing to devote themselves to it. I would like to think of myself as one of those people, and I hope there are other folk who are willing to lend a hand to developing the arts in Aberdeen through both the highs and the lows.

[Flash@TMB]

I agree with Stripey. There is a simple choice. Either you can go and hang out with...

Spotty white kids playing naive soundalike songs to less than half a dozen mates in a dingy bar, and thinking they are "the scene

Or become part of...

big genre defining scenes that are generating a lot of fresh new music, all being done by people in their bedrooms infront of computers and not derived from rock.

[FatHand]

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Was just scroling down when my boss looked over my shoulder at the fat man in pants sitting in front of bits of computer.

[Stripey]

Flash@TMB is a great example of the pathetically ignorant, inward looking attitudes of people up here. Anyone genuinely interested in writing music who doesn't recognise the creative flexibility of modern, low cost digital home studios is a fucking clueless moron living in the dark ages, end of story.

Yes, hicks like flash@tmb may not understand the workflow of a digital production environment, may not know how to program a synth or use a sampler properly, but that's no reason to fear the technology or ridicule people that know how to use it effectively.

Some of the most interesting and thoughtprovoking music of the last 10 years has come primarily from people working at home using a computer as the core of their production environment. It's a new paradigm, don't be bitter because you are being left behind.

[ZeromiserY]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack neds off their heads outside Drummonds.

pretty sure we've all seen that