It's not the tools, it's what you do with them

A while back there was a quote from Dave Grohl going around, about real music being made with guitars and not computers - it was something he talked about on the last Foo Fighters tour and he repeated the comment in several interviews. It was clearly something he felt strongly about, and he saw rock music as being more "real" or legitimate than electronic music.

Go the whole hog

I've noticed a bit of a trend over the past couple of years, of bands playing a lot of shows, building a following, releasing an album (all normal so far, right), then disappearing from view - either splitting up or just reducing the momentum. It's something that I can't understand, and somehow it bugs me a bit - although I am easily bugged.

Burning bridges

There's been a lot of smack talk directed towards local bands lately and it's making me a little mad. So instead of internalizing it, I thought I'd use this week's post to address the issue in an attempt at free therapy.

The bands in question tend to be mainstream bands, who have had varying degrees of commercial success locally. They are generally bands who have been around a while, and have received government funding in various forms. And this is what seems to be getting people's backs up - that these mainstream bands have received significant amounts of funding, when other bands get nothing.

If it's broke, why ain't we fixing it?

The argument against downloading music from the internet gets thrown back and forth ad nauseum these days, with most people forming an opinion on one side of the debate or the other. Usually it's musicians and those associated with the music industry, and not necessarily the major labels, arguing against it, while people without any real connection to music (those people who don't want to go out and pay to see a band live, and generally don't offer any material support to musicians) arguing for it, with some exceptions on both sides.

In one ear, in the other

Hey kids, you're weekend is just getting started, so I know you're going to want some new tunes to listen to while you chill out, get drunk or do whatever else you do when you're not working or learning. Here's some songs that I've been getting into this weekend. Hopefully you'll find something you like, and you might even go and buy some more music from these people. Enjoy.

So why do I photograph bands? Here's why.

Some of you might have seen this story on my Facebook page, but I thought it's be interesting to repeat it here and go into it in a little bit more depth.

Last week I was out photographing a gig (Julien Dyne, Parks and Alphabethead, in case you're interested). There was a guy leaning against the wall next to me, clearly drunk - eyes almost rolled back in the head, using the wall to stand up drunk - who was watching me snapping away for a while.  I went to move to the other side of the venue, to photograph from the other side, when he grabbed my arm and asked, in a confused/aggressive/agitated way, "what are you taking photos of them for?"

Let's party like it's 1999

So it's a new year and that means new music for everyone.  Yay!  Hope y'all enjoyed some good tunes over the Christmas/New Years holidays, and if you're sick of what you've been listening to then here's some awesome new music.

Documenting our scene

Regular readers of these ramblings will know that I spend a lot of my time out photographing gigs.  I've been doing this for about five years now, on and off, following on from a stint filming gigs for bands.

To me photographing music is more than just trying to get a pretty picture of a band I like; it's about recording and documenting the music scene.

Bands come and go frequently and as they change so does the scene.  A band might only exist in the live scene for a matter of months, playing a few gigs, or be around for a decade. Both leave their mark on the local music, through the musical ideas they created and left behind but also through the movement of musicians between bands and cities.

Having a moment of those bands captured allows us to look back and get an idea of their legacy, allows us to  remember the excitement of seeing a band live, to recapture the atmosphere of that moment.  It's another way of keeping the music alive, long after the band has disappeared.

You can check out all my music photos on Flickr, or my personal favourites on my new-ish website Light and Noise.

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

A few weeks ago I headed out to a local music venue to photograph and review and up and coming band.  It was a cold winters night, I think there was some kind of big rugby game on, and no one turned up.

Here's my super group, where's yours?

There's been a fair bit of hype in recent years over "super groups", although they're not a new phenomenon at all.  A lot of the discussion is around what constitutes a super group and whether certain bands fall into the category or not - the Raconteurs state that they aren't a super group, despite having members from very successful bands; Them Crooked Vultures were definitely considered one.

Last weeks listening list, for your reading pleasure

Another mixed bag of musical treats got the call up to my playlist last week.  Here's the highlights:

Miles Davis and John Coltrane, two of the jazz greats, together?  What's not to like?  Well, the sound quality on Abstract Impressions mainly.  If you can get past that then this is a pretty good introduction to both musicians, and they're in fine form here.  It's not the cutting edge Miles, that phase of experimentation started shortly after this was recorded, but if you want to hear him, and Coltrane, playing some of the songs that made them both huge names, then this should do it for you.

This is the best damn party I've been to

First of all, apologies to any bands that may recognise themselves in this week's post.  My intention isn't to offend, upset or criticise, but to mention something I experienced last week; if it helps get people turning out to support live music, and bands recognising the importance of putting on a professional show then that's got to be a good thing.  Right?

Last weekend I was photographing a band called Luger Boa (you can check out those photos at Under the Radar, or the full set here).  I went along with low expectations, having seen them before and not really getting into their sound; when I left the gig I'd changed my mind about them and have been talking them up all week.

I have to admit, I'm still not a huge fan of their sound, although they've improved since I saw them a couple of years ago (I don't know what it is about the music I'm not getting; it's balls to the wall rock n' roll, and that normally does it for me).  What changed my opinion of them was their incredibly professional live performance.

Watching them, I was reminded of how important good stage presence is to a band, to the point that a band that lacks it doesn't tend to go very far or last very long.  Luger Boa knew how to work the crowd; before they even started they had someone come out and announce them with the declaration that "most people will only ever experience one truly great moment in their lives, and this is one of them".  The whole set they never stopped moving and, most importantly, they looked like they were loving every minute of it.

Contrast that with a "new band" night I went to earlier in the week.  While the music was good and the bands played well, for the most part there was little movement from the bands, not a lot of audience interaction and in one case the drummer got up as the band was starting and went to get a drink from the bar. 

The audience tends to reflect the energy and interest of the band on stage.  A band that appears disinterested in their audience and doesn't involve them tends to lose the interest of the audience.  Live bands perform because they want to play in front of an audience, if they don't treat that audience with respect, then it's likely to be reciprocated.  Conversely, put on a great show, be energetic, involve people, and even if your music still needs work you'll probably find your fan base grows quickly as people share their experiences and do the hype work for you.

Have you seen any bands that put on a great show that left you buzzing?  Or saw a band you thought were going to be great, only to find that they were a let down live because they lacked energy of presence?  Drop us a comment below telling us about it (you don't have to name the bands if you don't want to)...

Where's your favourite band from?

Last week I dealt with a question on my favourite albums of all time – something that comes up now and again when people find out I write about (or just have an obsession bordering on unhealthy with) music.  

I also get asked a bit about my favourite local band.  I’m not going to go into who that band might or might not be, or if I even have one – at least not this week.  What I’d rather focus on is the fact that people ask this question in this way, or at all.  It’s never who’s you’re favourite up and coming band/s; it’s usually phrased as a local vs national or international thing – us vs them.

If a band is good and you like their music, does it really matter (should it matter) where they’re from? When I think about the bands that I really like I don’t tend to separate them out into local or international, it’s just a list.

Sure, there are bands that I prefer over others, and my all-time favourites tend to be international, but I think that’s probably more to do with the fact that if they’ve got big enough to get exposure around the world, they’ve had more experience and with that comes a more polished and professional sound.

Local bands tend to still be local bands because they don’t have that experience and therefore don’t have the exposure.  It doesn’t mean I value their music any less and I’d put them into the “up and coming” category, rather than label them as “local”.

Being local, I also get the opportunity to see them more often that some of the bigger national and international bands that I’m into; with that familiarity sometimes comes a form of apathy toward the bands- whereas, when an international band tours it’s a novelty.

So, what can we do to change this way of thinking?  If someone asks about your favourite local bands, tell them who your favourite bands are – local or not; get in the habit of thinking about local bands as up and coming bands, rather than just local.  And most of all, get out there and support bands in your town, city, area.

What do you think about the way bands are labelled?  Is it fair to treat local bands as less important than bigger bands?  If you’re in a band, how does this impact on you?  Leave a comment below…

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blues... what I've been listening to this week

New Zealand's the New Caledonia make prog rock for robots and aliens.  Or is it alien rock by robots?  Whatever it is they're making they should keep doing it.  Lotus is an album that I like to keep coming back to because it always continues to interest and surprise me with its layers and soundscapes.  Minimal vocals mean you can really get into what the instruments are getting up to.

I bought me an illusion and I put it on the wall (or, how Guns n' Roses changed my life)

As a young child I was exposed to the usual mix of children's songs (Wheels on the Bus), 80's pop hits (Locomotion) and mainstream rock (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet was one of the first albums I can recall owning myself - on cassette of course).  There was also a lot of jazz and blues played in our house, which no doubt had some influence on my musical development; but more on that in a future post.

Then, at 8 years old, I heard Appetite for Destruction by Guns n' Roses for the first time and it completely changed the way I thought about music. 

You pay 10 bucks to see me, on a 15 foot high stage

SPIN magazine posed a question recently to their followers on Facebook – what bands formed after 2000 could possibly go on to sell out a stadium of 95,000 people? I think it had something to do with the size of the stadiums U2 have been playing?

There was a lot of debate on the topic, with no one really coming up with any worthwhile contenders, although plenty of older bands were named, although ineligible due to the “after 2000” caveat on the question.

And that, for some reason made me happy.