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Those of you, who are lucky enough to remember
the comedy program “The Comic Strip Presents”, will doubtlessly
remember the iconic “Bad News On Tour”.
It was bit like a poor mans “This is Spinal
Tap”, but MUCH closer to home. By this I mean anybody who has
ever played in a rock band would watch it and wince with
uncomfortable recognition.
In one toe curling scene, the band, Bad news,
perform in Grantham to the camera crew, the promoter, the caretaker
and his dog.
A row breaks out when the band protest the
injustice that the dog was allowed in for free.
This struck a note for me as I have been in
that situation. It may have been Pill as opposed to Grantham, there
was no camera crew, but there was a caretaker and a flippin
Dachshund called Domingo who went mental to the sounds of this young
group of rock wannabies, and there was nobody else there. Eventually
the caretaker switched the lights off in order to inform us that he
AND his dog had now had more than enough. Talk about taking the
wrong gig. Harry Fozzway and his Wah Wah Rabbits (featuring Madam
Gozimba and her Tromboning Dwarves) playing live at the Ham Green
Rotary Club annual dinner dance. We cleared the place faster than a
nun’s first curry.
The point to this memory, which would really
feel more at home amongst the Worst Gigs section of Bristol Rocks,
is that we have all had gigs where the turn out was fairly poor.
However, back in the day this was an occasional upset as opposed to
a fact of life that is now plaguing everyone on a regular basis.
Bottom line; 10 to 20 years ago, if you were
good, if your band delivered the goods, then you were pretty much
guaranteed that once people got to know you, attendance at your gigs
would be positive.
Just 10 years ago, an acceptable, but not
exceptional night at the Fleece meant a band bringing in about 150
punters. Even then you would get a stern look from the governor (you
all know who I mean).
Nowadays it would seem that a headline act at
that very same venue would be lucky to bring 25 people along with
them. My band The Mudheads were deemed crowd pullers on our
first gig back there with 55 people, and to be honest we were
gutted, and I had to sell my soul to Santa to get that many to
come.
There is no getting away from it, the good
folks of Bristol just ain’t going to see live local bands in the
numbers that they (we) used to. This is becoming a problem, not only
because it is discouraging the hell out of most of the musicians in
Bristol, but because without punters attending the gigs, beer isn’t
drunk, and if that happens the venue loses money. It doesn’t take a
drummer to work out what’s going to happen next.
I consulted with a local business man to try
and ascertain what is going wrong (when I say business man, I
actually mean our drummer CJ, who apart from being a screaming ball
of sweat, snot and energy on stage, has a respectable day job….well,
when I say respectable I mean……he’s important…ah what the hell…he’s
a manager for Virgin media…it isn’t our fault you can’t get your
ruddy broadband to work).
CJ made a very valid point. People do not have
the disposable income that they once did. With your average mortgage
or rent coming in access of 800 quid a month and your average wage
being 1200 a month, even your bass player can figure out that there
isn’t a lot of cash at the end of the day to spare. With bar prices
getting higher and higher, and off licence sales getting cheaper and
cheaper….well, figure it out. If you’ve only got ten quid to spare
each, you and your mates can go watch a band and have a couple of
bevies or you can stay in and get…..’as the newt’ watching Die Hard
for the umpteenth time…for the same money.
I did ask the question regarding Glastonbury,
and using his principle how can so many people afford to go there.
CJ’s reply made sense in that it’s their one ‘saved for’ music fix
of the year. Strikes me as odd though that punters would prefer to
get cold and wet with the serious risk of trench foot to watch Iggy
Pop, and pay goodness how much for the privilege (and don’t even
think about the cleaning bill for your car) than sit in a nice cozy,
dry and warm pub and enjoy a local band. And come July 1st,
the air in the pubs should be a darn site cleaner than one of Mr
Eavies’s cow soaked fields.
Of course it has to be said that it is a darn
sight easier to stay in nowadays than it is to go out. Home
entertainment is cheaper now than it has ever been, and for a grand
spent at Richer Sounds you can have cinema set up that would put
Cineworld to shame.
Everybody has a computer pretty much, and you
can stream live music straight into your tele if you have the know
how.
With digital tv, and hard drives you can set
yourself up with an evenings entertainment weeks in advance…..you
need never watch Coronation Street again.
Even when you do try and get out. Parking’s a
bitch in Bristol, and when it’s available it costs a fortune. Public
Transport is no better. You could always try walking of
course…better for your health and the environment, but when you are
wearing your best ‘going out’ clothes, you may not feel comfortable
strolling through Templemeads in your best platform boots and
leather bask!
Of course you then have to transverse the
revellers on a Saturday night. A thousand tanked youngsters (and not
so young) staggering around the city centre looking for a taxi,
kebab or fight, which ever comes first. I caught myself feeling very
old one Saturday night as I was trying to drive home from the Bunch
of Grapes in Denmark Street and having the van blocked by a haggle
of semi clad teenage girls. I actually uttered those immortal
words….”I wonder if her dad knows she goes out dressed like that”.
The spirit of Rock & Roll would have groaned in shame at my
momentary slip into ‘sensible’.
What ever the reason, more and more people are
finding it more effort to leave the comfort and safety of their
homes, and more effort to get out and support a local band and music
venue.
The sobering conclusion from our businessman
was that give it ten years and the local pub (for that read
virtually every music venue in Bristol) will be dead in the water.
Now this is one man’s opinion. You may disagree
(hopefully not violently). However, the one thing you can’t disagree
with is it is getting increasingly difficult for the majority of us
performers in Bristol to pull in a decent size crowd to our gigs. We
have to remember, the venues that stage music nights are businesses
and NOT charities. It does not matter how dedicated to live music
they are, they have a pub to run and staff to pay. If having bands
in costs them money instead of making it, then they are going to
have to knock it on the head.
Now this is the problem, but what of a
solution? This is not a situation that any of us that live for that
Friday/Saturday night fix of rock & roll can afford to ignore or
take lightly.
If we don’t work together to turn this
situation around, live music will die out in Bristol. Either that or
the limited numbers of venues that will remain will not be able to
pay you for your troubles, and as every musician knows, this is one
expensive hobby.
In the second part (coming soon) I want to have
a look at how your struggling local band can up the number of people
that would come and watch them perform at a gig.
If you have any suggestions that have worked
for you and your band I would REALLY like to hear from you and I can
include these ideas in the article.
Drop me a line either through Kevin at Bristol
Rocks, or directly to myself at
Mudheads@gmail.com |
