With NCF, i felt the pressure of admirers not to disappoint, the pressure from myself to show an amount of continuity in aesthetic, quality, genre and more, and not just from release to release but from song to song. There is too, the issue of 'dropping the ball' with regards to being in the public eye. If you are out of action for twelve months writing, the press and 'the kids' will probably have moved on.
I've never been one to flog my wares for two or three years on end... touring one release until you force the issue on the masses, record labels etc. My creative attention span seems to be a a lot shorter than this trend. Modern answers to this? Side projects, singles versus albums etc. But it still exists in this environment which is controlled by scenesters, PR people, booking agents, labels, 'journalists,' and more bullshit people NOT actually doing the creative bit. If you are out of favour with some of these people, things can be very difficult. I'd also like to make the point, not all people that move in the mentioned professions are evil, some are the loveliest, most genuine and hard working people on earth ;-).
AAAAnnnny way.. I have decided that in future, I want as little to do with this world as possible. There must be another way right? The guys and gals which I live with have all got similar sentiments to me, we're all at the beginning of one career or another, but we're all still punk rockers... and we've been trying to work out a way of forging a creative outlet for ourselves in this age of blogs, internet socialness and a press in the UK that is as bullshit as it is today.
I don't want to be touring one EP in one band for two years... MAYBE getting some interest from a large UK indie.. supporting some lame US bands on some badly organised tours.... like I said, my attention span has already grown weary of this routine. I want to do my new band Jealous Again, I want to release some new NCF songs, I want to follow up the two or three other projects I have started in this last twelve months, And I want them all realised in way that justifies the creative work I put in... Recorded presentations, Collaborations with Artists for aesthetics, possible Live presentation of the material, where, when, with whom, how often, and most importantly, WHY?
I don't want to be tied to a 'Band,' I want to begin and finish projects, in much the same way an artist would. Writing, Recording, Ideas, Design, Production, Realization, Limited amounts of final product, to be sold as a piece art. Not a disposable download, not something thats here today, gone tomorrow... musicians put SO much time and effort in to writing and recording, the finished product should be EXACTLY how we want it, down to the paper the sleeves are printed on, the weight of the vinyl, and the price that is charged for the piece. Does this means paying more? probably yes. Does it means the customer is getting ripped off? FUCK no... people buy Screen Prints at ATP with band names on for upwards of £60 but don't want to pay a fair price for the music itself? weird.
I understand it though, who cares about mass produced, cheap CDs you can get in tesco, HMV or downloads for free?? But music projects, created, recorded, printed, limited, collaborative works with artists, limited and numbered... thats a different kettle of fish altogether right?
The Don't Look Back projects from ATP have inspired me no end... I saw Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation at the Roundhouse in Camden last year, and i thought, why didnt NCF just do that from the beginning? We forced ourselves into playing a set made up from parts of Dungeness and Black Ballads because we were in an environment where we had to entertain people. What I want to do is present my new work to people, not perform like a monkey while they get fucked and couldn't give a shit until we play Transgression. Bands at our level dont have choice over environment in which they perform, how much it is to see it, and to some extent have pressure on them to use content in which will keep 'customers' entertained as opposed to people seeing a creative presentation.
These ideas, along with ideas about visual arts, exhibitions, and all sorts of creative projects are starting to take shape in my mind, and about a few of us might be able to execute accomplished projects from all different creative avenues. Keep an ear to the ground!
No comments:
Post a Comment