Does Aberdeen Really Want Bands

[Cloud]

Christ almighty, I just read this thread and I've never heard so much bollocks in my life and I'll gladly admit to listening to power metal.

Stormhart, just what exactly are you talking about when you say you've been trying to bring bands up here and all the rest of it? It seems as if you're intent on namedropping "Vince" and "Bloodstock" constantly - yes, I've heard of Bloodstock, Nightwish played there last year and tore the place down, and Sonata Arctica played there this year and did the same..but there's a slight difference - Bloodstock is right in the heart of England in the Midlands, whereas we're 150 miles away from even Glasgow - which has what, nearly 2 million people within an hour's drive of it? Our catchment area is tiny in comparison.

Also - and this is more apparent in power metal than it is in a lot of genres - a bad hardcore band can cover up their failings, but if a power metal band isn't incredibly talented, they'd be torn to shreds as their failings would be painfully apparent. For that reason, the sheer amount of dedication required is beyond most bands here.

Our music scene is vibrant despite what anyone will say - Moshulu has done wonders in attracting bands who are attracting serious attention (I opened a copy of metal hammer the other day to find various bands who've played at Moshulu recently staring out at me), Drakes is diversifying successfully, Kef is still pulling touring bands up and the Moorings is incredibly diversive - so what's the big deal?

Don't sit on these forums and talk about how poor the music scene is - if you don't like it, give a few promoters and venues a call, put up the money and the bands and see how it goes. If the music is really as wonderful as you're claiming (I like it, but I don't think it has mainstream appeal outwith the absurdly talented bands) - then people will come. You can't just expect to sit and whine on a messageboard and expect your gigs to be well attended.

But please, stop with the bloodstock name dropping - it's a festival held nearly 400 miles away and doesn't particularly concern most people here. If you want to go and hold a show called Bloodstock Aberdeen, go ahead and do it - I hate to sound bitchy, but I don't deal with "maybe if we get a vibrant power metal community, then bloodstock will come to aberdeen!" - i deal with cold, hard facts. You can't artificially create a community/following without serious money - which is what it seems you're attempting to do.

[RicoAUBL]

i think we should all try and understand that there's a great number of people who go to gigs and like rockin' out to loads of different bands who DONT use this message board!!

i know it's hard to believe

but there's a world outside this internet thing...

and if you really wanted to put on big events

then dont just throw flyers around town, post on the board and expect people to jump up and down

do promotion in Dundee and the Highlands too

people from all over Scotland go down to Glasgow and Edinburgh for bigger events

so why would it not work the other way around?

something to ponder perhaps

unplug... go outside...

(not having a go at anyone btw... i havent read most of this thread... just my two cents)

[plug]

and if you want to support the Metal Scene

get your asses down to the Loft in O Donoghues tonight and jump around with Hot Mangu

9pm, Free Entry!

[/plug]

[Inkster]

This is just one whole bitchy thread. I agree with what cloud has said completely.

I think you have to make your name around here not just have one and expect it to be widely excepted. You can't go around sayin that there has to be a scene before I'll get so and so to put on a gig cos only 10 peple will turn up otherwise. You put in the time and money and effort and generally your efforts will be rewarded unless you're terribly unlucky.

[steve corps]

i have a feeling this vince bloke is made up, along with a few of those bands.

[GraemeC]

I have seen shit like this so many times over the years on this and other message boards, some twat thinking they can gain an audience through guilt....its all pish.

Its not a case of "if you dont go to see the small bands the big ones dont come" thats shite, its up to the small bands to work their arse off to gain an audience, to get a good reputation, to get some gigging miles under their belt, get some good press then the audience will be there.

The main factor is that Aberdeen is just too far for touring bands to come, this is a small town 500 miles from London 150 from Glasgow....think about the costs for touring bands to play in Aberdeen, say its a four piece with three crew, transport, large van or small van and car Glasgow to Aberdeen, vehicle hire 50, fuel 30-40, hotel 150, crew costs 200, food 80 and what can a touring band expect to get paid? Kef or Moshulu...fairly well known band...500-600, Drakes or moorings 100-200...

And can I add that these venues have to rely on the pulling power of good local bands to make these gigs pay...or at least break even.

Any band needs to earn an audience, they do not have a right to expect one just because they have had two column inches in metal hammer.

[Ross]

aah you still have to Discover the migthy Deceiver up in Aberdeen then ?

www.deceiver.co.uk

Out standing in their field

[steve corps]

those men look like heroes to me.

[Inkster]

not gettin on the cover of any girls magazine any time soon me thinks

[GraemeC]

Is that their accountant hiding in the background

[Stormhart]

Calling bands like Hammerfall Nightwish Rhapsody Dragonforce and another 50 bands i dj no talent bums hmmmmmmmm i smell bs bigtime.Also want to remind you Manowar headlined over Metallica at Wacken.I dont mean to be bitchy but if the local bands are so great why dont they play festivals and outside north of scotland.I'm not saying that all bands dont come to Aberdeen but it as far i can tell ones who are going places dont.As for poeple not beleiveing there is a person called Vince well to be honest this getting tiresome and its noskin of my back if this happens or not.I will go and see Hammerfall next year in derby at Bloodstock whatever happens.

[Stormhart]

All Big metal festivals in europe has loads of powermetal bands playing and headlineing wacken includeing as usual unfor people have a problem of opening their mouth and not reserching a subject properly Vince and Bloodstock for an example.As some people have pointed out all rdy to lazy.As for bands who no real talent they do their own music and get it sold.14th April 2003 - BLOODSTOCK VOTED NO. 1 !!

The BLOODSTOCK Festival has been voted the number 1 Gig/Tour for 2002 by the readers of Powerplay Magazine. This is an amazing feat considering the top five looked like:

1. BLOODSTOCK

2. Wacken

3. Sweden Rock

4. Monsters of Rock

5. Gods

Just a qoute i pefer actions over words.

And all these great festivals have Power bands playing and headlineing.

Stormhart

[jester1470]

Calling bands like Hammerfall Nightwish Rhapsody Dragonforce and another 50 bands i dj no talent bums hmmmmmmmm i smell bs bigtime.Also want to remind you Manowar headlined over Metallica at Wacken.I dont mean to be bitchy but if the local bands are so great why dont they play festivals and outside north of scotland.I'm not saying that all bands dont come to Aberdeen but it as far i can tell ones who are going places dont.As for poeple not beleiveing there is a person called Vince well to be honest this getting tiresome and its noskin of my back if this happens or not.I will go and see Hammerfall next year in derby at Bloodstock whatever happens.

There are bands that do play outside Aberdeen at festivals, look at Element 106 who played a big festival this year down South, OK it's in the North of Scotland but Jo and Baby Karma are playing the Keith Chaos Festival next year. Jo's also played the Kirkmichael International Guitar Festival. I can only talk about the bands i know, i'm pretty sure others will also have played. Just cos they haven't played the place you like doesn't mean they haven't played. I'm sorry but much as i admire your attempts at promotion you seem to have very little clue about how these things are actually run, and as Graeme pointed out its not easy to get bands up to Aberdeen and bands must be willing to play to smaller audiences.

Cheers

Stuart

[Inkster]

Woopee!!! Some stupid poll has made them top.So what does that prove considering it's missed out T in the Park, Leeds/Reading, Rock AM Ring the one in Denmark I can't remember, Donington and loads others I can't remember.

Polls are published all the time and only concern the people who made them and participated cos they are bias towards what they want to support.

[GraemeC]

I see a few problems with this...

Putting on a festival with a very narrow appeal is fine if you have a large enough catchment area.

Putting on a festival with a very narrow appeal in a small catchment area with bands that even the fans of said narrow genre havent even heard of.

Trying to promote a festival with a very.......blah blah blah!! by telling people how wrong they are for not falling over at the chance to go to a festival.....you know the rest.

Promotion is a tough old game and selling a gig like this in a little backwater like Aberdeen is going to be very very tough.

So come on think about it...if you go to a gig with a band who are possibly very very good and there is an audience of 20 who's fault is it?

The band can take some of the blame (ot their management) self promotion is very important.

The promotor can take a good chunk of the blame for not doing his job right....and he has the most to loose.... he booked a band with little popular appeal or didnt push the show enough....

The punters.....???!!! how the fuck can they be to blame?

[The Milner]

Calling bands like Hammerfall Nightwish Rhapsody Dragonforce and another 50 bands i dj no talent bums hmmmmmmmm i smell bs bigtime.Also want to remind you Manowar headlined over Metallica at Wacken.I dont mean to be bitchy but if the local bands are so great why dont they play festivals and outside north of scotland.I'm not saying that all bands dont come to Aberdeen but it as far i can tell ones who are going places dont.As for poeple not beleiveing there is a person called Vince well to be honest this getting tiresome and its noskin of my back if this happens or not.I will go and see Hammerfall next year in derby at Bloodstock whatever happens.

Right firstly i have never heard of a single band you have mentioned there, and no one said they were shit. But to be honest if they were as good as you make them out to be then surely aberdeen would know about them. Anyway your missing the point people are making, if these bands dont promote and try to get people interested then its their own downfall, they cant expect crowds to turn out if they dont. It happens all the time and people moan about shit attendances but half the time no one knows the gig was even on in the first place. Bar this message board there is very little promotion of gigs now a days in aberdeen.

Secondly good bands from aberdeen, well i think driveblind would piss over any of those bands when it comes to how well they have done. Le Reno Amps in the top 50 bands in scotland. Jo and emma have both played bigger shows than any of those bands i would guess as well. the list goes on just because you dont know about them doesnt mean they dont exist.

To be honest you've made yourself look like a sniviling little kid in this thread, if your so bothered go out and do something about it all please so we dont have to read more threads like this.

[Stormhart]

I,m not one who is narrowed minded for one i have wider vared music taste than most people on this server.And two i check something out before i start opening my mouth what so far hardly any of you have bothered todo is check some of the bands and you will find a lot of them are not powermetal.Powerquest Dragonforce Seasons End is Uk Powermetal.Strange that the rest of the bands dont sound like them dont you think oh i forgot you have already prejudged without listened to them sad story indeed.Rest are very hard and heavy and the singers dont sound like powermetal singers.The only real powerband is Seasons End in my eyes and being a power dj think im a wee bit more experienced in judgeing them.Ok were are dancing around the subject execpt for a few people it seems aberdeen does not want the Bloodstock roadshow and i will passing it on to Vince i will be linking this so he gets the whole story and recommending he drops Aberdeen.If he heads my advice thats his decision.

[The Milner]

I' date='m not one who is narrowed minded for one i have wider vared music taste than most people on this server.And two i check something out before i start opening my mouth what so far hardly any of you have bothered todo is check some of the bands and you will find a lot of them are not powermetal.Powerquest Dragonforce Seasons End is Uk Powermetal.Strange that the rest of the bands dont sound like them dont you think oh i forgot you have already prejudged without listened to them sad story indeed.Rest are very hard and heavy and the singers dont sound like powermetal singers.The only real powerband is Seasons End in my eyes and being a power dj think im a wee bit more experienced in judgeing them.Ok were are dancing around the subject execpt for a few people it seems aberdeen does not want the Bloodstock roadshow and i will passing it on to Vince i will be linking this so he gets the whole story and recommending he drops Aberdeen.If he heads my advice thats his decision.[/quote']

How do you know u have a wider taste in music than most people?? Do you know them all personely?? Dont try and come across all high and mighty and think you are better than everyone cause its bs as you put it.

[jester1470]

I' date='m not one who is narrowed minded for one i have wider vared music taste than most people on this server.And two i check something out before i start opening my mouth what so far hardly any of you have bothered todo is check some of the bands and you will find a lot of them are not powermetal.Powerquest Dragonforce Seasons End is Uk Powermetal.Strange that the rest of the bands dont sound like them dont you think oh i forgot you have already prejudged without listened to them sad story indeed.Rest are very hard and heavy and the singers dont sound like powermetal singers.The only real powerband is Seasons End in my eyes and being a power dj think im a wee bit more experienced in judgeing them.Ok were are dancing around the subject execpt for a few people it seems aberdeen does not want the Bloodstock roadshow and i will passing it on to Vince and recommending he drops Aberdeen.If he heads my advice thats his decision.[/quote']

No-ones actually saying the bands are bad, you're taking peoples comments about your naievete as an attack on this Bloodstock thing, tbh from the sounds of it it wouldn't do well up here because people in the genre haven't heard of any of the bands, doesn't bode well, and anyone expecting a huge attendance for a minority gig up here is goig to be sadly mistaken. The bands may be great players but not good self publicists, sadly nowadays you usually have to be both to make an impression.

Looking at Season's End for example - a band named after a Marillion album, a good start. It says on their site that their biggest date so far is the Whitby Goth Festival in front of 1000 people, it's hardly record breaking. If thats their biggest crowd to date then it amazed me that you can say that Aberdeen artists get nowhere, as mentioned previously Jo and Emma are both signed up to play in front of an estimated 8,000 audience at the Keith Chaos Live Festival next year and Jo's done a European Tour wherre she played to about 1000 people every night. Next year her dates include 4 with the writer of the current number 1 single Midge Ure playing to between 600-1800 people. Now I'm only using the bands that I work with as an example, but it would appear you haven't really done your homework as I know of several other local bands who have also done big things, Psycho a go go supported the Wildhearts several times, Driveblind can play to 300+ here every time they play, not to mention being signed to Atlantic (I think). To say that Aberdeen bands aren't getting anywhere is ludicrous as all the artists I've mentioned so far are from completely different genres,and seem to be doing as well as, if not better than the bands you've recommended so far !!

Cheers

Stuart

[Stormhart]

If you take a look at my bloodstock topic you will find Seasons End was mentioned.And i was recommending that they where one of the bands comeing up.Personally this is Vinces not mine.I have friends who has contacts with the band and i was hopeing to bring them up in the summer.

[Stormhart]

Im starting wonder what people are thinking of me here.For whatever you think of me i do want the best for Aberdeen and i cant stand some of the bands.But Vince wil have the final say on this not me.

[framheim]

this threads funny. how has it reached 7 pages of utter utter nonsense? i really don't get how stormhart and his comrade deceiver bloke can claim to have such a varied music taste when they're talking only about power metal(1 of only about 100 different versions of metal alone, let alone other music). and how can stormhart worry about aberdeen in general when he's only finding a lack of support for a power metal festival and lets face it this thread is hardly the a shining example of a focus group is it? i don't think anyone can judge aberdeen's music scene based purely on this thread or on how many people like power metal. and i think it's unfair and unjust for people to say no good bands have played in aberdeen in the last few years considering the huge amount of work and effort people have put in to get some fucking great bands up here that have sold out and been hugely popular that while they might not be power metal have been or will be more famous than fucking saxon ever were or will be. there's more to life than denims and leather.

and for the record the deftones are fucking metal. and nu-metal never existed.

[Stormhart]

Its finshed as far im concerned and i wont be the one who will be missing out in the end.Its a shame for local bands because in the end if Vince does not come they will miss out in getting noticed.And before you say im full of bs find out a few things first and you might learn not to jump the gun and will learn Vince promotor of Bloodstock.Supports smaller bands gets them to play at bloodstock and gets them noticed.He has lately taken out a live dvd out just for up and comeing bands at bloodstock.I hear a load of talking from people but im backing myself up with fact about Bloodstock.

P.s. Yes i know there is only a few metal bands here.

[Skull Commander]

I have not read the entire thread, as frankly I can't be arsed, but just to clear something up about what is metal and what isn't. Someone metioned earlier that Korn once admitted that they are not metal. Well Metallica once said the same in an interview when posed with the question 'how does it feel to be the biggest metal band in the world?'

They replied that they saw themselves as a stadium rock band, no different to the likes of R.E.M.

Just cause an artist has been quoted saying something, it does not mean that it's true.

And for the record, the chap a couple of posts up is right: Nu metal never existed. According to magazine Slipknot, limp bizkit, static X, amd orgy are all nu metal. How can this be?

[framheim]

if vince gives a damn about any of this can he post on this thread? who is vince? are you yourself actually putting anything on in aberdeen? do you have any idea about gigs in aberdeen outside of your power metal bubble?

i'm not saying anything about bloodstock, i'm sure it's an awesome festival. i'm sure vince loves up and coming bands. but why are you so down on aberdeen? have you even listened to anyone in this thread? have you even listened to anything that doesn't have a guitar solo in it? what do facts about bloodstock have to do with us?

and another thing why do you talk about vince like he's jesus? "in the end if vince does not come they will miss out". strange.

[steve corps]

i think we really should establish who this 'vince' fellow is before the thread goes any further.

for example, i believe he is some type of robot.

is vince some type of robot?