"... Music of the future will not entertain..."
"... It's only meant to repress and neutralise your brain"
While I'm going through the mountain of photos we took in New York City, back in 2012, in preparation for the final week of the tour diary, some news stories stand out more than others...
Being a musician, albeit a semi-retired & now mostly studio-based one, it's been heartbreaking to watch the music scene in my home town slowly dwindle & die. First the advent of the 'DJ' - someone who turned up with, at first, 2 turntables & a box of records, meant that they were cheaper to hire on a Friday or Saturday night than a live band, even when they started adding their own instrumentation to the records they played (bongos? drum machines?? sampled 'whoos' for when the 'vibe' wasn't happening enough...?!?!?). Then the advent of the new residents who move into a house near the local pub, then complain about the noise until the local council takes away the pub's entertainment license altogether, meaning all you got when you went there on a weekend was the landlord's son's iPod playlist on a loop, at just loud enough volume to make you shout to be heard
As bands thus naturally died, some players tried to keep the dream alive with the acoustic duo, or acoustic guitar & backing tracks that can be turned down at any complainant's whim, much more easily than trying to convince a drummer to hit 'em softer... "No mate, I meant the drums, not the punters!"... but legendary venue after legendary venue was closed down, then knocked down & turned into townhouses, or at the very least, had apartments built on top of them after a 'renovation' halved the size of the place
Then in 2014, following a couple of drunken/drugged 'one-punch' fatalities in the inner-city area, Sydney's pubs & clubs were knee-jerk heavily legislated under what was known as the 'Lock-out' laws. Nobly intended to curb binge-drinking & violence, what these laws actually did was force even more venues to the wall, as patrons abandoned the inner city areas & punched on at their local pub/beer garden/club/whateveryoucallit instead. And, naturally of course, the Sydney Casino, in the heart of the city, was exempt from these laws... but they never had bands or musicians anyway... not even a 'DJ' - nothing to distract from the poker machine siren's call of beeps, bells & whistles. These lockout laws were reviewed in 2020. but, given it was the height of the Plague's first wave, nothing was actually done. Then, as we know everything shut down... & many places, not only venues but myriad other businesses, will never open up again
Artists in general, including musicians received no help from State or Federal governments during the Plague. None of the business grants, or income supplements were designed for people who basically live from one project to the next - how are they meant to continue to work if those projects are taken away with no compensation? They couldn't even go & get a casual job as a waiter, or bartender because... well, you know... So we've probably lost a chunk of creativity, as these people have had to abandon their dream & get a job in Marketing, or Real Estate - never any shortage of supply in those careers
Now, as Sydney's reputation as a living, vibrant city lies in ruins, finally the various governments have taken notice of all the dull, beige, cotton-wool-wrapped blandness & are trying to get things moving again... but not without a fight from those same old NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard!!) who want to preserve the 900%-increased real estate value of their extensively renovated, early 20th Century worker's cottage, in its narrow street & its quaint old corner pub "that's hardly ever open now, so it's lovely & peaceful & a great place for the kiddies"
While I'm going through the mountain of photos we took in New York City, back in 2012, in preparation for the final week of the tour diary, some news stories stand out more than others...
Being a musician, albeit a semi-retired & now mostly studio-based one, it's been heartbreaking to watch the music scene in my home town slowly dwindle & die. First the advent of the 'DJ' - someone who turned up with, at first, 2 turntables & a box of records, meant that they were cheaper to hire on a Friday or Saturday night than a live band, even when they started adding their own instrumentation to the records they played (bongos? drum machines?? sampled 'whoos' for when the 'vibe' wasn't happening enough...?!?!?). Then the advent of the new residents who move into a house near the local pub, then complain about the noise until the local council takes away the pub's entertainment license altogether, meaning all you got when you went there on a weekend was the landlord's son's iPod playlist on a loop, at just loud enough volume to make you shout to be heard
As bands thus naturally died, some players tried to keep the dream alive with the acoustic duo, or acoustic guitar & backing tracks that can be turned down at any complainant's whim, much more easily than trying to convince a drummer to hit 'em softer... "No mate, I meant the drums, not the punters!"... but legendary venue after legendary venue was closed down, then knocked down & turned into townhouses, or at the very least, had apartments built on top of them after a 'renovation' halved the size of the place
Then in 2014, following a couple of drunken/drugged 'one-punch' fatalities in the inner-city area, Sydney's pubs & clubs were knee-jerk heavily legislated under what was known as the 'Lock-out' laws. Nobly intended to curb binge-drinking & violence, what these laws actually did was force even more venues to the wall, as patrons abandoned the inner city areas & punched on at their local pub/beer garden/club/whateveryoucallit instead. And, naturally of course, the Sydney Casino, in the heart of the city, was exempt from these laws... but they never had bands or musicians anyway... not even a 'DJ' - nothing to distract from the poker machine siren's call of beeps, bells & whistles. These lockout laws were reviewed in 2020. but, given it was the height of the Plague's first wave, nothing was actually done. Then, as we know everything shut down... & many places, not only venues but myriad other businesses, will never open up again
Artists in general, including musicians received no help from State or Federal governments during the Plague. None of the business grants, or income supplements were designed for people who basically live from one project to the next - how are they meant to continue to work if those projects are taken away with no compensation? They couldn't even go & get a casual job as a waiter, or bartender because... well, you know... So we've probably lost a chunk of creativity, as these people have had to abandon their dream & get a job in Marketing, or Real Estate - never any shortage of supply in those careers
Now, as Sydney's reputation as a living, vibrant city lies in ruins, finally the various governments have taken notice of all the dull, beige, cotton-wool-wrapped blandness & are trying to get things moving again... but not without a fight from those same old NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard!!) who want to preserve the 900%-increased real estate value of their extensively renovated, early 20th Century worker's cottage, in its narrow street & its quaint old corner pub "that's hardly ever open now, so it's lovely & peaceful & a great place for the kiddies"