Musically conscious...
We are those lucky people who lived our half years grown up with bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth and in general all these years which are often characterized as the golden age of metal music. But the progress in various fields and especially the technological progress helped our ears become more vulnerable and Iron Maiden were replaced by Sepultura or Slayer and eventually by As I Lay Dying and Norma Jean. We became those people with dignity I’d say, by respecting the old ones and always giving the glad hand to the - new and thirsty for fame - blood. But we are also those people who face the gradual but almost total twilight of the respectful way of life we’ve learned. Our corner’s diskery is now displaced by our web browser and the pocket money we were saving to buy our favorite cd’s without never regretting it, is replaced by the seeds and peers of our torrent engines. The little book of our cds or vinyls is now torned by our ease of having our line connected and simply click to our favorite band’s blogs. And I’m sure there are some reasons that made us turned into that kind of humans we once sang we would never become. Unenterprising.
Is it our fault? Is it the music business’s fault?
Mentioning the music business, I always and still believe that setting this “lady” as an aliby and putting the blame on her was always the easy excuse to not move our asses from the couch and try something more in the name of the thing we keep on saying we dedicated our lives in. It’s like America sometimes where everyone blames George Bush for the economy but all of them voted him. So let’s just imagine the fact that labels did not exist today.
The musical promotion has been far more free and accessible to every artist nowadays via myspace, youtube or other similar websites, which is a fact that leads into a total chaos where the simple fans that count much fewer than band members are so confused, don’t know from where to start their search-try and keep on bombing their heads with crappy staff until…?
Until they get sick and tired of this situation and pay their attention again to a signed artist as this statistically showed all those years that it is the most safe thing to do, (and I am sorry If I make you cry here), as music label’s signed artists per cent is full of bands that have worked hard to succeed from a cool hairstyle to a great production and composition numbers.
And isn’t that what makes you as a latecomer on stage immediately send your debut promo to hundreds of them, checking your mails like a maniac to read if someone found your music interesting and offer you a “whatever” contract? No fellows, you love the music business although you can’t admit it. You love it because deep in you, you recognize that it is almost the biggest chance for you to be heard worldwide, because you know that a good contract is going to be followed by a full promotion and booking require attention.
But let’s return to our main theme by re-examine a new possible answer. What about the price of the cds? Did they hit a so non-approachable phase that precludes any further waste of money than a few years ago?
The answer is definitely NO! We are the beginning of the so called “internet-freaks” generation and we know better than everyone that if we spend some time to look for some external websites we may find our favorite cds in half price or even less sometimes especially if this cd is a review-trusted second hand. And there is no need I think to mention that in our local diskeries, if we are a little patient, in less than three months from the release date everyone with no exception resume the price of the albums for biggest sales.
And that is finally the honest and my beloved part of this editorial which I always wanted to express, cause it has to do with us, I mean the fans who also have our own bands (or some of us we don’t thank God). What I am about to write at the moment reminds me my daily activities where I meet many friends or people I know and happens to realize that the 80% of them have their own bands and worse than that, most of them are just simple copies of what they are currently listening.
There is one common truth and it seems than not everyone can admit that. I mean not everyone can be rock stars in that life and follow the other bands in the Warped Tour just by wearing a VANS t-shirt or having their high school girlfriends scream in their local shows! And that is what I think I’ll use as a conclusion to the topic theme. My point is that if everyone have a daily and easy access to promote their bands almost the same way as the bigger ones, a worthy one should stay very lucky in order to escape the obscurity, because us -the fans - are daily bombed of a thousand invitations to check someone’s music and I am really disappointed telling you that I barely find a few bands who play in a fresh and original way, have a well-advised production, do not try to mix 100 genres in order to be a novel, and do not lack of basic imagination. A result to this is that people learn to like the unremarkable because they miss the good. We truly grab the medium band’s updates in order not to lose them too, buy their cds, listen it a couple of times and then get bored again and start from the beginning to find a needle in the barn.
Does this really worth the cost?
No! It is obviously more preferable to download this band’s cds than spending our money just to gain a few hours of sound pleasure. And there stay some good bands in obscurity, bands who no matter how much is their effort to spread their music worldwide, we are so bored of checking them too in their first appearances and debut works and just convict them to anonymity. Anonymously lost in the friend requests…
So is it the music business’s fault? No. It is our fault cause trying to persuade ourselves that we belong to the group of the “stars” we grow this situation bigger and bigger until we totally lose our personal spot and finally pass the torch on TV and mainstream radio broadcasts. And then we’ll cry over the ashes of Iron Maiden clicking the repeat button on “Wasted Years”.
“Let us be poised and wise and our own today” as some good friends use to say…
Disabled people..Us or them? Austria,2007 *Access All Area* seminar
I
never imagined myself working with people with disabilities. It's not
that I had any kind of problem with that but maybe the reason was that I
was not used to the view of those people in my country (and how could I
have it when they cannot even go for a walk because of the lack of
accessibility in Greece).
As a result to this, I could never imagine working WITH them FOR them,
for the improvement of their way of life. The same was before my trip to
Austria.
I was thinking in a stupid and childish way: Come on, it's just
holidays, I'll meet some friends, drink a bit and have some fun. But in
my heart I knew that it was not going to be like this. I was afraid.
Afraid of maybe showing to someone of the seminar's participants that I
am prejudiced against this way of living. But I was wrong… Cause they
helped me be wrong.
When they all smile the same way...
Graz,
22/10 – I remember the first time when I got there. I was with 4 people
from the Greek team, everybody able to do everything, so excited,
having in mind that we are going to meet with people like us from
different countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Romania), drink some alcohol, explore the city of Graz, sing and dance with our partners. Nobody of us was thinking that maybe not all of us have a voice or legs to sing and dance…
When
we entered the hostel we didn't know what to do so we were just
standing and waiting for someone to appear when we saw a guy in a
wheelchair asking us if we were the Greeks cause we were the last team
they expected. He was about 40 years old, a bald guy (we could notice
the scars in his head…by an accident?). The first surprise was there,
when I told him: "Hi, I am Rena" giving him my hand. He replied: "Hi
Rena, I am Wolfgang" giving me the opposite hand and that's where I
noticed that he had only one hand, the other was missing (being
sarcastic he announced after a while that his hand was sold 350 euros to
a museum based on accidents with electricity (!), kinda cheap for a
hand don't you think?) I recognized the name immediately: he was the guy
who organized the whole seminar. His signature was always at the end of
the mails that I was receiving before I go there. I thought: Oh my god!
That guy is left with just one hand and a head and he is able enough to
organize this big thing. What about us? I am working at organizing my
own European project a lot of time now and still haven't finished it.
Who is disabled now? Me or him?
He
told us about the program of the day: First we had to leave our luggage
to our rooms and after that we had the dinner and the group meeting to
find out who the others were. There, we noticed that there were at least
2 or 3 participants of each group with similar problems to Wolfgang. I
felt a bit strange cause everybody were looking at us when we arrived.
As I already told, I didn't want to give the opinion that we were
prejudiced cause we were all not disabled from the Greek team (at least
in the body)…
The first smiles were there!! Everybody
welcomed us in a warm way that made me feel ready to co-operate with
them. I went to introduce myself speaking to a few of the people there,
others without the ability to walk & others to speak. But it was a
great feeling. A drug for our self-esteem I'd say… The following days
were passing with an incredible fast way cause we were all friends,
carrying wheelchairs, working on our own project and trying to make it
accessible for people with special needs and learning difficulties. The
first time that I was feeling I am making a real work. A work that may
be a spot in the improvement of the world. I was always thinking about
the conditions in my country. So unorganized, without opportunities for
wheelchair drivers or blind people to live like normal people. No bars
in buses, no traffic lights with sound for the blinds or libraries with
Braille, no bar or pub with accessible toilettes and space for them… And
we, being able to do all of the things that others cannot, always
wonder why can't we have more and more and more attention from the
others or good luck. So who is disabled? Us or them? Are THEY disabled
when they dance by shaking the wheels of their chairs, or WE who don't
dance with them at all cause we don't face them like normal people?
Below there is a couple of conversations that were stuck in my mind after this seminar.
My discussion with Dumi:
I was born in 1979. Grown up like a "normal" person until my 22nd
years. Then I had a terrible car accident. An accident that changed my
life forever… I was in a coma for 75 days. After that I woke up and
couldn't speak, move or think. I felt like I was in planet Mars. I know
this might be funny but that's how I was feeling. One of the things I've
heard when I started realizing that I am still alive was: Did this boy
die? A phrase the doctor said with a cold way to my mother. It was like
he was speaking about a subject, not a human. I've met many kinds of
people in life Rena, good & bad. But I am lucky, cause the ones that
stayed were the good ones. The worthy people are still here with me and
helping me to have hopes for the future. I know there is no chance for
me to get better and totally healthy. Doctors said that, there is no
chance this is going to happen. Sometimes I wonder: Why can't I be as
healthy as I was before? Why can't I have a girlfriend as I used to
have? It's difficult for a girl to be with me, cause I have some special
needs. But I am happy that I am still alive and can always hope for a
better future. I live at the moment and wish that one day I will become
"normal" again and live this moment in a better way…
My discussion with Jasmine:
I
hate it when the people see me and because I am blind force me to do
some things just because they want to feel like they're helping me. For
example: I am going to pass the street and they grab my hand pushing me
to do it faster. I go to take the right bus and they still force me to
go to another one cause they think that it is the same for me. No thank
you!! I don't need this kind of help! What do you do when you need help
Rena? You just ASK for help. The same we also need. To ASK for help and
not face this stupidity by everybody when we walk the streets.
------------------------------------
Everybody
have disabilities... All of us… But at least we can help those people
to live the same way we do. They have the same right in accommodation,
food, entertainment. If we don't do something to provide this right to
them we'll stay ego-slaves for ever.
When music is "under the ground"...
But let's start with a small description about how a band is often formed.
Most of the times it is somewhere between 15-18 years old when a group of a few kids who have just listened one of their favorite latest releases, have a kind of an ablaze fire to express the feelings that music creates inside of them; a fire which cannot be described in any other way (definitely not in words) and decide to form a band as a tribute to the musicians responsible for these emotions (isn't that the reason that most of the bands in the beginning of their career are focused on covering already existing songs?). They decide which one is going to be their fiery tool (well the bass guitar still stays to the most lazy kid of the company!) and start rehearsing the best way they can with their crappy in the beginning instruments and amplifiers, trying harder day by day to improve their skills until they become worthy enough to give a show in the local corner's club, where their friends are going to watch it and of course there is no need to mention that most of the comments after that are going to be something like: "Guys you rock!"
And that is where the dream begins...
The band is excited and assured that they are able to offer a few things further, so they decide to stop covering tracks and they start composing their own ideas. The local show eventually becomes a bigger one, good comments are being said all over and the band decides to extend their proceedings more and more. Recordings is the direct plan.
And that is where the dream turns into a sacrifice...
The biggest per cent of the existing musicians nowadays lack time even from their survival acts like working, in order to achieve the best possible result for the music they love. Everything starts from the recordings, where energy and money are being spent (in Greece the average money someone has to pay per track is about 250 Euro) and ends (or never ending) to the promotion. Lists of record labels, magazines and booking agencies are being formed and the artists would rather run for their promotion than practicing. But that's the way it has to be done when you are "under the ground"... Are there any possible changes?That depends on the careful steps of the artist of course but on the music industry as well. Record labels may not kill music instantly but they are tactfully pushing them to the cliff, since they do not really care rejecting hundreds of new underground releases just because they couldn't afford the 100% crystal production, the catchy video clip or the cool long-sleeve tattoo in order to sell "image". And now I remember seeing recently on the internet something that really pissed me off and I am sure you'll have the same reaction reading that. I guess a new label trend prevails lately and some companies don't even report their address if you don't write how many profile views you have in myspace!!($!#%)
Secondly, magazines play their own big role. Although this doesn't pay me since I am also a magazine editor, there are a few problems in reviewing as well. It is a reality the fact that in many magazines the reviewers are not separated according to the music genre they prefer and so can criticize better, but they are in a general position to judge a whatever album, no matter if they ever liked the kind of music it is in it or not. That may mean only a few listens, or that the text depends on the reviewers current mood! Think of it, who would be able to judge dispassionately the latest Linkin Park album when is used to the sound of the new wave of British heavy metal?!
There are some people for whom when music becomes a job, respect and remembrance for their beginning is lost and can immediately doom musicians to oblivion. But fortunately, most of the bands of the underground help us think of our very first words. Music is a fire which cannot be expressed in other ways. Definitely not in words! As far as these groups of people exist, we shall never need to kiss any majors' ass in order to listen to the music we love and we will never worship any posing wannabes. Remember that our favorite bands were also once under the same ground...
-----SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND-----
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