The Nic, The Knack and The Apology

It’s remarkable what a great many things can happen to you when you’re unsigned and effectively your own manager. You set yourself up to do something that you think will assist you in promoting yourself and you find yourself meeting unexpected people, getting unexpected business cards, greeting unexpected guests to your first gig with a band and writing unexpected songs about how you missed out on something collectively important to a great many people so you could spend time promoting yourself. Our prime minister, Kevin Rudd, delivered his apology to the Stolen Generations of Australia last week. I slept in that day. I had it all planned out: I was going to allow myself a sleep in and slowly inch my way towards having enough energy to take myself out of the house and plaster posters for my first band gig in all the local suburbs and towns.

I started in Footscray, a totally misrepresented town where ethnic diversity and cultural intrigue is the norm of the day and one can spend an entire day wandering its streets and not see anything familiar (or at least unaltered) to conservative, caucasian eyes. All the towns and suburbs I visited are a lot like this as I live quite happily in the western suburbs of Melbourne, but nothing compares to the flavour Footscray emanates. The gig was going to take place at a Footscray venue called “The Nic”.

The other towns included Yarraville, Williamstown and Newport. I made a nuisance of myself everywhere I went, putting posters up in shop windows, cafe windows, train stations, noticeboards and just plain walls. Once I was ready to head home, I boarded a train in Williamstown where a leftover mX newspaper – a free publication on slae at Melbourne city train stations – was lying on a train seat. The front cover read as follows: “Who’s Sorry Now?” The word “sorry” was printed on the banner of the man in the photo on the cover and I was suddenly and somwhat guiltily reminded that today was the day Kevin Rudd delivered his apology.

However, the article on the front was more concerned with the response people gave to our opposition leader, Brendan Nelson’s, counter speech. Nowhere near as a enthusiastically as Kevin Rudd’s, it turned out. Almost violent, even, as though a massive crowd-gathering and celebration almost instantly turned into a defiant protest as people who crowded around some of the biggest TV screens in Australia turned their backs on him as he spoke about how we as caucasians “don’t need to feel guilty about the sins of the past”, or something like that. I tell you what, after experiencing a day like that, surrounded by many cultures and loving every minute of it (stressed and bothered though I was), it didn’t really impress me either.

I’m happy to report that the gig went well, though I doubt that there were many people there as a result of my efforts that day. Well, one or two. I had a habit that week of running into people who took an unexpected interest in my music and wanting to turn up, entirely apart from my promoting. One person showed up to film me, another agreed to look after the door charge and one person I texted brought all his (and my) friends along with him. It was a good day, the relief felt after several weeks of hard promoting and rehearsing and stressing, but I did feel like I owed something for having spent my time on this while missing out on an important day in our nation’s history.

I have since seen Kevin Rudd’s speech and was deeply moved by the examples of people he mentioned who endured such traumatic experiences and received such stubborness from recent governments as apology for the hurt caused them. I have yet to see or hear Brendan Nelson’s speech and I don’t really know if I want to. I think there may be a reason I missed out that day so I wouldn’t have felt compelled to watch his sort of “rebuttal”. I am also in the process of writing a song as a kind of apology for missing out on the apology. I really believe that songwriting has the same power to change and inspire the way speechmaking does. And if a formal speech and implementing of policy can be a form of apology, why not a song?

Much like all my songs, though, I don’t feel the need to be specific. I believe it is enough to merely address the issue at hand, which is expending energy on a selfish desire for promoting of personal product over pausing for a moment and reflecting on deeds of the past and allowing oneself to become open to change. That’s love, I guess, and forgiveness. Better late than never. That’s something I think the Stolen Generations can agree with, melancholy though that is.

The Year Ahead

by Ben McMaster

I’m looking forward to certain musical releases in the year ahead. From what I understand, we have albums due from the following major bands: U2, Coldplay, REM and Green Day. U2 and Green Day are coming off huge successes from their previous albums and will probably get away with products that are a bit more ambitious and experimental, but Coldplay and REM have a lot to live up following their last releases. Can they get former fans to return to the fold with their new releases? Coldplay have no other choice, really, but REM may be happy with their “veteran” status following their recent induction into the Rock’n'Roll Hall Of Fame. I still want to see them live. Also, I’m expecting a new release from my favourite band of 2006 this year, Augie March. They promised a quick release following the unexpectedly long break between their second and third albums thanks to major label genius, so as not to disappoint fans. I don’t think ANYONE was disappointed with “Moo, You Bloody Choir”, though.

Well, I seem to have revealed much about my own personal musical taste there. The year ahead for me and my music is looking interesting also. I fully expect to have released my first EP and have completed my first tour before year’s end. I have my first gig with my band this Friday and so far I don’t forsee too many problems. I just want people to turn up.

In other news, I see that U2 are thinking about taking the independent route, seperating themselves from their major label ties and braving the industry alone. A tour promotions company named Live Nation have apparantly signed The Rolling Stones and Madonna on an agreement that they would also distribute their CDs. And U2 want in. At least that’s what it says through the grapevine of atU2.com and Fox News. All things considered, this is not exactly a departure from a major corporate entity. In fact, the article I read goes on to mention deals that people like Paul McCartney, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell have with Starbucks’ Hear Music and then mention Radiohead’s departure from EMI to start their own label. Does anyone else see the major difference here? It seems most major artists agree that the way to leave major labels is to then tie oneself to what amounts to a corporate sponsor in order to keep their audiences’ attention. Radiohead, on the other hand, went the way of local artists like John Butler and Ben Lee, actually forming their OWN record label and distributing their sublime LP “In Rainbows” in the most revolutionary and generous manner. I intend to do some more research into this, as the independent releasing/recording strategy fascinates me as a currently unsigned artist, not to mention the possibilities it opens up. It seems somehow unwise to me to take the route of tieing in with corporations when your first intention was to sever your ties with major labels which are, basically, corporations themselves who are stuggling to keep up with the internet age. I suppose there is the tie-in idea of promoting music alongside a cup of Starbucks coffee and the like, but when Radiohead have already shone the light on the way of the future, I’m amazed there aren’t more acts jumping on that particular bandwagon (I know that there are some).

Fascinating, though, that U2 are considering taking this route, and here I was thinking they had one of the best major label deals in the world. Suprise, surprise. The new release is going to be very interesting indeed…

UPDATE: Jessica Paige is no longer my support act. I am now going to be supported by James Sidebottom. His website is: www.jamessidebottom.com

…

This is my, let’s see…fourth post now. And I find myself conflicted. What do I write about? Do I inform you of the efforts I have put in to get my music out there? Or do I rant on about something that really doesn’t relate strongly to my efforts and find some link? These are questions I have been asking before I started this blog, but they are also questions that arise in conversation from time to time. Do I choose to be a friend or a salesman?

Do I inform you that over the last four months I have had my time stretched between doing a small business course to hone my business and finance skills to better understand elements of conducting myself in the business of music and then actually starting a band and actually doing those music business things? Do I explain how over the last year I have been playing charity gigs, support gigs, cafe gigs, festivals and on the street busking with a guitarist who’s been more than faithful to the cause? Do I regail you with the tale of how I actually got to this point? The journey from Perth to the Sunshine Coast and the sudden discovery of the extent of my musical talent and ambition?

Nah.

Instead, I’ll put a biography somewhere on here and continue to promote my music and this blog. Information is useless without application, that’s something I feel I got re-confirmed today. I don’t know what efforts I can report on now…Oh! I’m going to be distributing my music soon. How I’ve yet to decide.

Cheers!

Day this, day that, “all Australian…”

Well, I can’t say I entirely agree with all that is posted in that blog of my brother’s there’s been some reasonable Australian music this year. I was a huge fan of The Panics, a West Australian band who released the brilliant single “Don’t Fight It”, a song that is simultaneously meditative and heartbreaking. As for Silverchair, Powderfinger and The John Butler Trio, it could have been worse. Operator Please could have been breaking the top 10.

Well, today is Australia Day and people’s passions seem to be torn between music and sport, showing, once again, our true colours. For those who are doing the true blue Australian thing and staying at home, there’s Triple J’s Hottest 100, Australia vs. India in their final test or the Australian Open Women’s final. For those unpatriotic types who care enough to get off their arses, there’s the Big Day Out, the various Triple J Hottest 100 parties and the aforementioned sports events in live format.

(Plus, I’ve just been informed, there is Australia vs. Wales in Lawn Bowls. Nobody would be going out to see that live.)

I’m the first to admit that I don’t know the first damn thing about sport. I’ve been watching the tennis and the cricket from time to time. They are perfect summer sports to watch: meditative, hypnotic and kind of superfluous. Winter, I have observed, is when Australians get PASSIONATE about their sport, something I will never be. I have been getting more and more passionate about modern music during the winters. For the longest time, I really only thought movies were progressing as an art form in our modern world, perhaps because there is more in mainstream cinema that is worth seeing than people think. Mainstream MUSIC, however, is not so. It’s getting better. Once again, we’re getting mainstream bands and artists that are actually better than some people in Indie circles think they are. That’s always a sign of change. But it’s still in complete disarray. The early half of this decade was a truly abysmal time for music. The single best artists I can think of from that period was Norah Jones.

I am grateful, however, for indie music as I am now aware of releases that I would have only heard murmers about in the past. Always a healthy thing to expand you taste to write better material. I don’t know what’s on the radio right now as I’m typing this, though. Some kind of wailing…

Well, I’ve managed to get Jessica Paige to be my support act for my first real band gig in Footscray, a cultural hive among many cultural hives in Melbourne. She’s definitely worth a listen. That is going to have to count as news!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…

What a terrible year for Australian music. Looking through the year-end Aria charts for 2007, I’ve discovered the an entirely new emotion: displexion. It’s a combination of displeasure, ‘perplexed’, dismay and cous-cous that’s bitter to taste and a horror to look upon. On the album charts we have Powderfinger, The John Butler Trio and Silverchair holding positions 2, 3 and 4 respectively — seems alright, but then consider this: these are the very worst albums that these three artists have ever released. But not to worry, we have plenty of depth to pick up the slack, don’t we? Guy Sebastian sneaks in at number 7 with his authentic sounds of Memphis. Uhh…Guy Sebastian, the dorky South Australian who participated in a social experiment, singing a bunch of songs that other people wrote, made famous and then forgot about because they have this strange ability to write new ones? Number 7? Hey, no punchline required here, the truth is amusing enough.

Ok, ok, it must get better. Number 8, lucky number 8, you are…The Veronicas! Oh, shit. Now, let me give you an example of how bad these two little…things, are; here’s an excerpt from the title track of their latest offering, Hook Me Up:

I’m tired of my life.
I feel so in between.
I’m sick of all my friends, girls can be so mean
I feel like throwin’ out everything I wear

Let’s pause for a moment and dwell on the brilliant imagery. Take line one and we picture a girl, 20, short, plain looking, can’t sing, can’t string a coherent sentence together; she’s sitting on a couch, in a dilapidated apartment, looking at the wallpaper with…displexion! Now, what does this lead her to do, line 4? That’s right, she goes for a trip to the local Good Samaritans box and dumps here unwanted clothes there. The Veronicas, take your hats off — well, actually, you don’t wear hats, so take your…on second thought, give yourselves a pat on the back. I feel as though I now understand the inner cognitive processes of a stupid, incongruent (oh, I steep that low), talentless (and soar that high) adolescent (you better believe I don’t pull any punches). Guess it goes to show that guys can be so mean, too.

But these are my opinions, and in the inimitable words of the Veronicas (believe me, I’ve tried, I really cannot imitate such a void of talent), sometimes I’m just a girl stuck inside of me, won’t you let me free?

 Edit: Oh, and Triple J’s hottest 100 was a disappointment. Firstly, because some good songs were left out (e.g. Phantom Limb – The Shins, All My Friends – LCD Sound System, Four Winds – Bright Eyes); and secondly, because some really awful songs were high up (e.g. Straight Lines – Silverchair, that stupid Jon Butler Trio song, and anything by the Kings of Leon).

A Band In Part

Well, I already have a new contributor. My brother, Christopher (otherwise known as “pierrecambronne”), well be on board as something of a music journalist. Unlike most music journalists, however, his style will differ between blog posts and he will offer no easy appraisal of music. I’ll leave all criticism to him, as I don’t believe it is very good taste for an unsigned artist to criticise his contemporaries. Please direct all “WTF? LOL!!” style comments to him for personal examination and gratification.

Yesterday was a curious day, apart from starting up this new blog. I have been rehearsing with a band now for several weeks yet in that time we have only had the drummer on two occasions. It seems that conflicting and irrational work schedules are preventing us from being able to schedule a rehearsal, say, a week in advance. I am not a stranger to this. My current guitarist and I have had to cancel several rehersals in the past due to erratic work schdules. Their hours can change from early in the morning to late in the evening at the click of a finger.

I am not criticising my band mates here. On the contrary, I am impressed with their devotion to the music and their willingness to put certain things on hold for it. But I am very alarmed at the nature of a great deal of workplaces these days, especially those that primarily employ young people. There is a very specific reason for our rehearsals: we are working towards recording a 4-track EP and then playing gis to support it. Is there no way that modern workplaces can work flexibly around people’s personal schedules (within reason; there’s no excuse for neglecting work for trivial things) so that everyone’s a winner? I am shocked that so many workplaces treat their workers like slaves, but I’m even more shocked that so many workers take it without question.

(In other news, my band mates are very dependable and spend time working on the songs whenever they have the chance. I have no fear of being under-rehearsed.)

Well, this has been more of a rant than I intended. I’ll make the next blog more objective.

Oblique Strategies in Rainbows

About a month ago I discovered Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategiescards. Each card has an oblique and often obscure strategy for moving through a difficult and stressful situation, specifically one that involves creativity. For my first post on this, a blog about creativity, I’ve decided to use Eno’s oblique strategies to help me get my muse. But what, you may ask, am I going to write about? I’m going to write about Radiohead’s latest album In Rainbows, of course!

My first card is this: what would your closest friend do?

In Rainbows is a vivid, varied and intricate album, layering subtlety over the enormous substrate of episodic sound. The lyrics are edgy, the music sublime, yet I’m still left feeling somewhat frustrated. Why? Because Radiohead are, ultimately, a band of bourgeoisie layabouts with pedantry for meaning and unimportant, aloof, existential, mundane and altogether ontologically puerile lyrics. The music is the height of socially unaware, humanist drivel, neglecting the community of an orchestra for the individuality of a string section.

Phew, that was a rant and a half.

My second card is this: listen to the quiet voice.

Radiohead have come up with a very pleasing, very like-able album with their latest effort. I think it portrays a varied and exquisite array of emotions and experiences, capturing them with subtle, simple lyrics and appropriately phrased musical arrangements. It’s an all-round success.

hmm…getting better. Now, for my final card: decorate, decorate.

In Rainbows is a sound-scape of hermeneutic intent, delving into the discursive elements of the res cogitans. This journey of phenomenology gains momentum when the arpeggio guitar lays bare the path to be taken in the fourth track Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. Radiohead emerges from this quagmire with a pensive ontology, fuelled foremost by a revolutionist nihilism that emerges from the maelstrom that ensues as the House of Cards (track eight) collapses and reforms in the next track Jigsaw Falling into Place. Ultimately, Radiohead have attempted a full scaling of the boundary that separates human being from Dasein by looking beyond the differences and into that which lays it bare: in rainbows.

Now, that’s more like it!

Hello from the world of Melbourne music and all that entails.

Hello. I’ve been putting off starting this blog for a while now, but I feel compelled to do it today. First of all, let me inform you that I am doing this blog for entirely selfish reasons. I need as many avenues as possible to promote my original music and it was recommended to me that I start a blog on wordpress updating people on my progress. I will also be providing coverage on the number of organisations I am involved in that have been set up to provide a means for independent musical artists to have a voice in amongst the noise of the mainstream in one of the live music capitals of the world: Melbourne, Australia. These organisations include: the Melbourne Music Co-operative, a wetpaint wiki started by singer/songwriter Jessica Paige and her manager Marion Gingell; the Independent Musos Network started by Anita Donlon, mostly for bands and artists based in regional Victoria, Australia, and; The Push/FReeZACentral, a government-run youth organisation set up to provide a solid grounding for Australian musicians (I am a graduate of their mentoring program).

 I will also, hopefully, get some blogs written by some of my fellow Melbourne musical artists. Jessica Paige I have already mentioned. There is also Simon Moro, Tim McMillan and a host of others. I have included theirs and my MySpace pages at the bottom of this blog. And if I have nothing to report on in terms of what’s happening in these areas, I’ll just turn the pages and comment on something that’s happened in the world that has to do with these areas of interest. I think it’s always important to keep abreast of the world of your chosen vocation and to have opinions on the happenings and share those opinions with others.

As a rather auspicious topic to start this blog off, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Heath Ledger, an Australian actor who was really just hitting his stide as an artist and who, at the age of 28, will now join that rather infamous list of movie stars and rock stars who passed away “before their time” (James Dean and River Phoenix are the first ones that come to mind). I am from Perth in Western Australia myself and I went to a high school that was always in competition with Heath Ledger’s more high-profile private school, Guildford Grammar. I remember 1999 being a very good year for me personally as it was when I truly realised that artistic endeavours were the direction I wanted to head in. There was a lot of buzz around this Heath Ledger bloke as he was starring in that teenage comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” at the time and already he was the most famous person in our high school, even if people didn’t necessarily like him or the movie. For the longest time I can remember always comparing myself to Heath Ledger and looking at his achievements at such a young age compared to the particular stage I was at. I never really felt he was anything particularly special until I saw “Brokeback Mountain” and I finally admitted that he had potential. I’m still really looking forward to his turn as The Joker in “Batman: The Dark Knight”.

Now, they haven’t confirmed whether or not he committed suicide and judging from the evidence on hand, it looks like it will never be confirmed. He left no suicide note, but surely someone taking that many sleeping pills wasn’t simply looking to go to sleep. I’m not one to pass judgment on such things, but I just want to express how affected I am by this, because of the nature of the industry he was in and how it seems to have affected someone who came from a VERY similar background to myself. I don’t see these sorts of things as “tragedies”. It was only one man, after all, when millions die every day. I just find the parallels impossible to ignore.

 Anyway, here are the myspace links:

http://www.myspace.com/benmcmaster

http://www.myspace.com/jessicapaigemuso

http://www.myspace.com/timmcmillanguitar

http://www.myspace.com/divineblue