Trust me, you stand to benefit from David Kitt, Somadrone and Sunken Foal in your life, stuffed by a three-course meal and Dublin: The Movie. Taking place in the Sugar Club this Sunday 1 March, all this and more is yours for €20…paidback triple with a cosy feeling come summer that your squids helped hoist that banner, run this film and put a smile on the face of many an arts, movies and music fan. That’s the idea but it’ll only happen if you go…
Bloody hell but the music sphere is fucking boring today. I’ve been looking for something to talk about all day and no go…but thankfully, Jim Carroll interviewed Hideaway House’s Dylan Haskins and the transcript is On The Record.
For those who aren’t sure, Dylan is the mind behind the DIY Counterculture documentaryRoll Up Your Sleeves, exploring the role of youth culture in Irish society and how it compares to our European neighbours.
This is something we desperately need to address: what are young people doing for fun? What provisions are made to encourage and nurture burgeoning creativity? Beyond pubs and venues, where is music made accessible, taking away the financial aspect of profit, what remains?
I’m a bore on this subject, I know, I know…it does seem as though I expound the failures of our society to treat our musicians and artists with the respect they deserve, and deserve it they do. Considering how many gigs I attended last year (more than 100 but I ain’t arsed counting exactly), only ten were all-ages shows. I’d say 25% were signed bands, the remaining number of acts promoting, managing, releasing and supporting themselves financially. As far as public and media interest goes, the reaction to this hard work is ignored on a large scale but at least a number of people do attend shows, do buy records, do spread the word.
But what of those who aren’t making music? Who just love it? Record labels with barely any cash take chances on obscure bands with great sounds, risking something uncommercial in a grossly over-commercialised culture. I have some very good friends running gigs and have seen first-hand what a difficult job it is, how little thanks and recognition is involved, and yet the releases and gigs continue as expenses grow.
And what of those who love music but can’t make it, for lack of equipment, experience, space, confidence?
What of those who want to see bands but are too young, broke, demoralised? What about those who’ve never even experienced “the spit of the singer in your face kind of thing” because they don’t even know such a scene exists here, just like me, three years ago?
While bands are hard-pushed to support themselves as it is, labels have their hands full simply keeping their heads above water and promoters work for hardly anything other than the buzz of a great show, who’s left to propagate the seeds sown?
Us. It is up to decent, idealistic music lovers to take matters into our own hands now. We must reclaim this nation from the crap DJs, the useless media, our insipid programmers and mindless chartbusting cretins who continue to buy the latest imported dross. It’s time to take a hard look at what our country has become, its potential - music, art and space - and ask ourselves how we can change that. And Dylan has the answer:
“[DIY] can spring up in a little town in the middle of nowhere because somebody finds out about some band and realises the whole idea about DIY culture and spreads this to all their friends.
“We used any space we could get that wasn’t a pub. The old parochial hall in Greystones, Paddy’s Hall, had closed down to be turned into apartments but it was lying dormant for ages so we eventually got to use that space through the father of one of the girls who used to come to our gigs. We turned it into our own building for our collective, the Basta Youth Collective. We showed movies, put on loads of shows and built up a really good community of young people who were coming to the shows.
“One of the important things for me is that it is not always an audience that I know. I like to have a mix of new faces and old faces. It’s not a party or a club or an elite. I do want to encourage new people to come in. A house is always seens as something very private and closed off from the world but I want to get people thinking about how a space can be used in all these different types of ways. They don’t have to be this set definition as we understand them.”
I respect this guy Haskins so much, not because of his age (21), his inspiration (Kilcoole punks) or reputation (tipped by the Sunday Tribune as Hot to Watch in 2009) but rather, his recognition of Ireland as desperately lacking support it needs to further the creative potential growing amongst young Irish art and music lovers. While I’d love to do something to make a difference, I haven’t a clue where to start. I’m not a great writer, photographer or blogger but I feel inspired to be, if it results in more people supporting our culture. Dylan’s vision has already begun to make a difference here. People are waking up to the idea that you don’t need gold medallions or a mirrored ceiling to support bands, just an open mind, spare hours and a real desire for Change?.
Anyone get a nifty new camera for Christmas? Anyone lose theirs?!
If you’re fed up with having nothing to do, here y’are. Change? is open for submissions until January 15th. It’s an interesting project addressing unused potential in Dublin brought to you by the same minds behind Hideaway Records and Roll Up Your Sleeves, the critically-acclaimed 2008 documentary examining DIY Counterculture.
Photographer - person who takes photos. Fire off an email and get involved, it’s a positive and interesting project, one that could shed some insight on how to move ahead. “Year of the Recession” has already become the most over-used phrase of 2009…on day 6. What’s really being done to inspire and encourage our culture? Do you see endless waste of space and resources or a lack of amenities?
The point is not high maintenance or obtuse art, just vision. What you see, what you think we need. Free music for all, more than one penned-in skatepark? An ice rink that doesn’t cost a family €45? Empty orchestra halls or scores of people at gaff gigs?
Dublin’s first Independent’s Day, a celebration of Irish zine and music culture, takes place this Sunday in the Food Co-Op in Newmarket, D8. Instead of Nightmare Before Christmas at Blachardstown S.C. (robotic reindeer, rampage-inducing jingles and shit chemist gift-wrapping) why not:
I meant to post this sooner but forgot: if you’re free tonight and fancy some culture minus vultures, check out this comedic play Moonshine Travellersat Vicar Street. Gazz Carr brings the newly-reformed Butterfly Explosion to provide acoustic relief as a finale, and the band features Ghostwood Project’s Conor Garry on bass.
Love or hate ‘em, there’s no denying what a scream-out-loud, psychotic rock extravaganza this will be for the black-bedecked crowd in Iveagh Gardens tonight. I was there for The Fall on Tuesday night and it’s a really lovely location for this year’s fringe. Be sure to catch the Dagger Lees, my favourite of the three, before they hit HWCH this weekend….
I love this time of year. No one gives a toss about cloudy skies or warm cider, girls flash man-tanned ankles as lads look cool in skinny tees and shades - it’s summer as the Irish know it. This is evident to me because it’s festival time - not Oxegen, which was great fun but huge and exhausting or Electric Picnic which will be the same but real Irish festivals.
We should be flogging our summer calendar for everything it’s worth, spreading song to the young travellers who invade the country every year, thirsty for romantic Ireland. 100% fresh, green and Irish, the small festivals reflect the modern side of national heritage. Let’s show the bored EFL students we have more than jigs’n'reels on open-top buses, prove Mitchelstown’s a big cheese, that we enjoy different Wicklow follies and morning Dew in Tullamore.
Dead ol’ Blessington transforms into psychedelic Indie paradise as Knockanstockan kicks off today. Not so pretentious as to call itself boutique or exclusive and all the more boho for it, the festival’s emphasis lies on peace and love to a rumbling summer soundwave.
“We aim to cut the cost of great music for music lovers. At the moment we have almost 100 acts lined up over four stages and expect Knockanstockan 2008 to be a real indication of what Ireland’s music has to offer.”
The personal touch is apparent on the KS website which takes the form of a production blog, discussing all the aspects of putting together a top-notch fest on a budget. The three-day ticket fee provides the site with insurance, car parking, camping and transport from campsite to venue. Not-for-profit, proceeds from Knockanstock go directly back to the organisation fund.
Following on from my previous post highlighting the plans to lower closing hours across the country to 2:30am a peaceful public demonstration is planned outside Dail Eireann tomorrow afternoon from 1-2pm.
Peoples, get yourselves to Filmbase today at 4pm for the screenings of two cult Irish music documentaries: Darklight Festival’s cultural weekender kicks off with Shellshock Rock , “John T Davis’ lyrical snapshot of Northern Ireland’s burgeoning punk scene in the late 1970s” and The Stars Are Underground, 1996’s short film on the indepent Irish music scene based on The Frames’ song of the same name. Davis will be on hand for a Q&A afterwards. As an ardent fan of Norn Iron’s great new scene, I’m so there. Tickets cost €5.
(Check out the schedule: there are some brilliant films such as Heavy Metal in Baghdad and Tron…!!) Road Records follow up with an undergound art exhibition and book launch in the store’s basement on Fade Street afterwards with tunes from David Beattie and Maximum Joy’s Mici Durnin. What a way to welcome the weekend…
