Anyway, something that's been bothering my circle of friends, acquaintances, and questionable Facebook denizens has been the Local Scene, and why one should (or should not) support it.
I am, in all honesty, blessed by my local scene, for it has a load of great bands, from Antlered Man, to Purson, to Cold In Berlin, to Vodun, to The Peckham Cowboys. Who are all rather excellent and you should listen to them immediately. I am still in mourning regarding Sissy & the Blisters. I managed to get concussed at one of their gigs, and whose album demos I downloaded and burned to CD, making cover art for it and everything.
But then, for every band like the ones I mentioned, there are other bands, who, for the sake of keeping the peace and avoiding too much shit-stirring, I shall not name (although my dislike of Savages is so well-documented as to merit a book in its own right, and no one listens anyway) who are part of this "local scene" and yet are about as appealing to my ears as a cat coughing up hairballs, or trying to create a skiffle band out of cardboard.
The adage goes that one should support the local scene. Implicitly there lies the word "unconditionally" at the end of that phrase, as if one is committing a grotesque act of treachery towards music if one doesn't pop off to the local to watch that rap-metal-EDM fusion band that has just started out. As one friend of mine argued, supporting the local music scene is like buying produce from the local farmers market: it gives you a much closer relationship to what is being made around you, and a much closer relationship to what you are consuming. In addition, there is the argument that all big bands started off as local bands at some point. Which are all valid arguments. Seeing the right local bands gives you a chance to be in on something unique or that isn't in the mainstream, seeing something grow in musical terms and in terms of where it plays, and so on. And there's no denying that the local scene is cheaper than the Hammersmith Apollo or Brixton Academy. |
| The local scene, all meme'd up and ready to go. |
But the other side of the argument is that if you support the local scene for the sake of principles, rather than because you like it, you're a sycophant or a hipster. And being a grey, be-trunkèd entity wearing sandals and a fedora that stands at the back, not really approving of what is happening isn't really supporting the scene either. Sure, it might get your money, but what are you actually contributing? If the musicians just aren't that good, or the songwriting isn't good, or you're just not into it, you're giving the impression that the opposite is true. If someone who can't sing in key is constantly told by local scenesters that it was "a good set" or that they rock, for the sake of supporting the scene, well, then surely that's damaging the local scene rather than helping it.
The other argument is that the emphasis on the local scene above all else can be borderline xenophobic. If you're too caught up in the local scene, you might miss that great band who have just started touring and who need to recoup the money they've spent on van hire and hotel fees. But to see them, regardless of how much you like them, would be against your principles, as a local band you're lukewarm about are playing on the same night.
Yes, that's an extreme and perhaps unlikely scenario, but that can be what it gets like. Some people will honestly dismiss bands because they don't live within walking distance, just as much as people will dismiss a band because they're not playing "proper" venues yet. But honestly, what's the difference? If there was a disco fan in late-eighties/early-nineties Seattle who saw all the grunge bands but didn't really get what the point of it all was, then does it matter if s/he had a closer relationship with what was going on around him/her, if s/he wasn't that into it anyway? If there was a rock fan in the same city who dismissed the early grunge bands as "not worth it" because the venues they played were too small and smelled funny, but once Nirvana hit the big time was parading their shirts around like they were the messiahs of rock, then we've got the same problem from two angles.
So yes, I love bits of my local scene, but am quite open about disliking other bits. And if my favourite bands from *insert city or country here* come to play, I'll see them too. Because in the end, it's about supporting what you like, and what you think is good. It pains me to say it, but if you heart 1D, you've got as much reason and right to see them as I have dropping everything because The Vintage Caravan are playing with Grand Magus, or trekking half a city over to see The Peckham Cowboys do a gig for a cat charity in a community-run, music-funding pub. Both of which were excellent gigs, if you're into what I'm into. And I'm sure the signing you wore that onesie to was equally good, even if I do not understand the appeal of it at all.
So yeah. The local scene can be great. It can be the place where truly great bands appear, and you find a load of like-minded people to enjoy them with. Or it can be a place full or mediocre, widdling guitarists and off-key singers who make you support the local bar instead. Take a chance with it, see what's out there, and don't be afraid of seeing bands that are still at the "playing in front of the pub toilets" stage of their careers. The smell of urine may be masked by the smell of finding your new favourite band, whatever that might be (probably a wooden floor soaked with alcohol). But contrary to what people say, if it really ain't your thing, there's no point in trying to jam it down your ears like a stressed person trying to give a cat its medicine. Go see what's happening elsewhere, and try again in a few months' time.
Keep your mind and ears open to the sounds of don the road, but never at the expense of what your heart's jukebox plays.
Now, if you don't mind, I'll be on a Sissy & the Blisters binge for the rest of the day.
The bands I mentioned here, excluding One Direction 'cause they're probably a lot richer and known-about:
Antlered Man
Purson
The Peckham Cowboys
Vodun
Cold In Berlin
Grand Magus
The Vintage Caravan
