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why do bands from Aberdeen fail ?


maud 'dib

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This car crash of a thread keeps getting worse and worse. I think some of the author's posts are fueled quite heavily by alcohol, drugs, and confusion; which makes him appear highly incoherent and bitter, and renders the thread almost entirely pointless. 

 

Aberdeen artists very rarely go on to national acclaim or "cultural significance" (what a shit term) for the same reason that bands from Leicester, Norwich, Inverness, Carlisle, Derby, Shrewsbury, Stirling, Swansea, Southampton, Portsmouth rarely do. These places do not really have a cultural infrastructure which lends itself to the performing arts. Aberdeen based artists therefore have to go out of their way to gain attention from media, gig promoters, radio show producers, press agencies, record labels, blog writers, tour booking agents, and all of the things required for a band to achieve national attention. Sure, gig promoters, radio shows, blog writers, and record labels do exist in Aberdeen, but these are all at a very localised hobby level. So if the infrastructure is at hobby level, why on earth would the actual art surpass that? It is not a myth that artists require huge assistance from other parties in order to get to a level where it becomes a full-time vocation. There are one or two small exceptions to this rule historically, but these exceptions are generally not from the UK and the people involved were usually quite extraordinary individuals. 

 

In the central belt there is a palpabale infrastructure in terms of digital and printed media, booking agents, venues with forward-thinking in-house bookers, press agencies, music bloggers, full-time record labels (not to mention a plethora of incredible small-scale hobby labels), national radio shows, record shops, and gig promoters. None of these exponents have any need or desire to glance in the direction of Aberdeen because there is so much going on on their own doorstep; Aberdeen artists have to make their presence known in the central belt (and other musically plentiful places), and very few Aberdeen artists really make the effort to impress themselves on the central belt. A few self-organised gigs in Glasgow or Edinburgh here and there will not really suffice, but that is the extent to which most Aberdeen based artists pursue things.

 

I think the fact that the latest piece of excitement in the Aberdeen music scene is called a "Battle of the Bands" and it is arranged by the primary local label (in terms of prolonged local reputation) sums up Aberdeen quite wonderfully. This is a label with a good local reputation, yet it has to arrange a Battle of the Bands in order to find it's next "signing". In other more musically fruitful areas, this just doesn't happen. The labels are fully aware of the bands already due to the artist's presence and also the coverage they get from the local media and press. This is not a criticism, just an observation.

 

But I think the bottom line is, if a band's aim is to simply have fun and they acheive that, then they have definitely not failed. Regardless of how "culturally significant" or nationally-acknowledged they become during that period.

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This car crash of a thread keeps getting worse and worse. I think some of the author's posts are fueled quite heavily by alcohol, drugs, and confusion; which makes him appear highly incoherent and bitter, and renders the thread almost entirely pointless. 

 

Aberdeen artists very rarely go on to national acclaim or "cultural significance" (what a shit term) for the same reason that bands from Leicester, Norwich, Inverness, Carlisle, Derby, Shrewsbury, Stirling, Swansea, Southampton, Portsmouth rarely do. These places do not really have a cultural infrastructure which lends itself to the performing arts. Aberdeen based artists therefore have to go out of their way to gain attention from media, gig promoters, radio show producers, press agencies, record labels, blog writers, tour booking agents, and all of the things required for a band to achieve national attention. Sure, gig promoters, radio shows, blog writers, and record labels do exist in Aberdeen, but these are all at a very localised hobby level. So if the infrastructure is at hobby level, why on earth would the actual art surpass that? It is not a myth that artists require huge assistance from other parties in order to get to a level where it becomes a full-time vocation. There are one or two small exceptions to this rule historically, but these exceptions are generally not from the UK and the people involved were usually quite extraordinary individuals. 

 

In the central belt there is a palpabale infrastructure in terms of digital and printed media, booking agents, venues with forward-thinking in-house bookers, press agencies, music bloggers, full-time record labels (not to mention a plethora of incredible small-scale hobby labels), national radio shows, record shops, and gig promoters. None of these exponents have any need or desire to glance in the direction of Aberdeen because there is so much going on on their own doorstep; Aberdeen artists have to make their presence known in the central belt (and other musically plentiful places), and very few Aberdeen artists really make the effort to impress themselves on the central belt. A few self-organised gigs in Glasgow or Edinburgh here and there will not really suffice, but that is the extent to which most Aberdeen based artists pursue things.

 

I think the fact that the latest piece of excitement in the Aberdeen music scene is called a "Battle of the Bands" and it is arranged by the primary local label (in terms of prolonged local reputation) sums up Aberdeen quite wonderfully. This is a label with a good local reputation, yet it has to arrange a Battle of the Bands in order to find it's next "signing". In other more musically fruitful areas, this just doesn't happen. The labels are fully aware of the bands already due to the artist's presence and also the coverage they get from the local media and press. This is not a criticism, just an observation.

 

But I think the bottom line is, if a band's aim is to simply have fun and they acheive that, then they have definitely not failed. Regardless of how "culturally significant" or nationally-acknowledged they become during that period.

Eloquent bastard.

Norwich does, however, produce DJ's who are top class

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very few Aberdeen artists really make the effort to impress themselves on the central belt.

 

 

I'm finding it hard to impress myself upon Aberdeen, never mind the central belt.  But that's my fault - a combination of inaction, shyness, modesty and a nagging suspicion that I'm wasting people's time.  It's the anxiety that makes a 3 minute song seem to last 9 minutes when you're playing someone one of your tracks waiting to hear what they thought of it.

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As far as I'm lead to believe most people start bands to have fun and make some music. You achieve those two things you're not failing as you're doing what you set out to do.

 

Tom's battle of the bands gigs have been pretty well attended from what I've heard. There was more folk at the heat we played than gigs we've played supporting out of town bands that are reasonably well known. Personally I think it's a great thing Tom's doing. He's getting people down to gigs and promoting a heap of new musicians and bands from Aberdeen. GBOL.

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I'm finding it hard to impress myself upon Aberdeen, never mind the central belt.  But that's my fault - a combination of inaction, shyness, modesty and a nagging suspicion that I'm wasting people's time.  It's the anxiety that makes a 3 minute song seem to last 9 minutes when you're playing someone one of your tracks waiting to hear what they thought of it.

 

3 minutes? What are you, fucking Iron Maiden? 70 second songs FTW.

 

xx

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This car crash of a thread keeps getting worse and worse. I think some of the author's posts are fueled quite heavily by alcohol, drugs, and confusion; which makes him appear highly incoherent and bitter, and renders the thread almost entirely pointless. 
 
Aberdeen artists very rarely go on to national acclaim or "cultural significance" (what a shit term) for the same reason that bands from Leicester, Norwich, Inverness, Carlisle, Derby, Shrewsbury, Stirling, Swansea, Southampton, Portsmouth rarely do. These places do not really have a cultural infrastructure which lends itself to the performing arts. Aberdeen based artists therefore have to go out of their way to gain attention from media, gig promoters, radio show producers, press agencies, record labels, blog writers, tour booking agents, and all of the things required for a band to achieve national attention. Sure, gig promoters, radio shows, blog writers, and record labels do exist in Aberdeen, but these are all at a very localised hobby level. So if the infrastructure is at hobby level, why on earth would the actual art surpass that? It is not a myth that artists require huge assistance from other parties in order to get to a level where it becomes a full-time vocation. There are one or two small exceptions to this rule historically, but these exceptions are generally not from the UK and the people involved were usually quite extraordinary individuals. 
 
In the central belt there is a palpabale infrastructure in terms of digital and printed media, booking agents, venues with forward-thinking in-house bookers, press agencies, music bloggers, full-time record labels (not to mention a plethora of incredible small-scale hobby labels), national radio shows, record shops, and gig promoters. None of these exponents have any need or desire to glance in the direction of Aberdeen because there is so much going on on their own doorstep; Aberdeen artists have to make their presence known in the central belt (and other musically plentiful places), and very few Aberdeen artists really make the effort to impress themselves on the central belt. A few self-organised gigs in Glasgow or Edinburgh here and there will not really suffice, but that is the extent to which most Aberdeen based artists pursue things.
 
I think the fact that the latest piece of excitement in the Aberdeen music scene is called a "Battle of the Bands" and it is arranged by the primary local label (in terms of prolonged local reputation) sums up Aberdeen quite wonderfully. This is a label with a good local reputation, yet it has to arrange a Battle of the Bands in order to find it's next "signing". In other more musically fruitful areas, this just doesn't happen. The labels are fully aware of the bands already due to the artist's presence and also the coverage they get from the local media and press. This is not a criticism, just an observation.
 
But I think the bottom line is, if a band's aim is to simply have fun and they acheive that, then they have definitely not failed. Regardless of how "culturally significant" or nationally-acknowledged they become during that period.

 

 

I think this is pretty much what every sensible person really thinks (including even OP himself I would suggest). Well put.

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