Since the last time I wrote a proper post, we’ve played five
gigs – our first five gigs. Each of them represents a co-ordinate on an ever-steepening
learning curve for me, and there has been plenty of data to process over the
past few months. The bulk of the data has related to the management side of
things. I’ve received a lot of advice, and testament to the tailspin our
industry is in, all of it has been wildly contradictory. It’s reinforced the
truism for me that no one knows what the hell you’re supposed to do or who the
hell you’re supposed to do it to.
Far from being cause for despair this is actually really
liberating. It says to me that pandering and compromise have been completely
stripped of their usefulness– to whom do you pander? Towards what ideal or
audience should you compromise yourself? Fuck it, this is license to be
yourself, because if success remains elusive as it's likely to do anyway, integrity maintained is surely the
best second prize.
For all its frustrations, I think this is why I’ve actually
enjoyed managing the band up to this point, no matter how limited my capacity. As
band members one of the only things you have control over is yourselves - you can’t
control how people choose to see or portray or reproduce you but you can make
sure that the source material is honest. It’s a lot easier to keep this on
track when you are the nexus through which the info comes and goes.
Also, I don’t know if it’s getting older or having been
crunched through the machine once before but my irrational sense of entitlement (which was raging in my youth)
has pretty much been ground to dust and lost to the breeze. Every week I hear
just as many new bands that inspire and awestrike me as disgust me, so who the hell
are we to claim any special right? I’m not saying I’m above shouting “YOU’VE
GOT TO BE FUCKING JOKING!” at the radio every now and then, but having an
atrophied entitlement gland makes it a lot easier to manage the frustration and
resentment of working your arse off while your wallet empties.
As you can see from the first line I actually intended for
this post to be about the gigs but it went some(probably more boring)where
else. Apologies, I’ll write about the gigs next.
Briscoecorp AGM 2012 |
Eloquent, relevant you are so benevolent. Kissing buts? The smell of it. Giving fucks? To hell with it. JWL
ReplyDeleteBEST BAND PHOTO EVAH!!
ReplyDeleteDo what you love, love what you do....and that in itself will be the reward. It may not pay you rent, but hey, we have Centrelink and Australia Council grants for that.
I' Ll buy shares ......!! Loved the Good God show . Keep up the good work . When can we get our greasy little hands on the Album .....? cant wait ..
ReplyDelete