Panic Over

I decided to ring a couple of rehearsal rooms in Guildford in search of local bands for the gig. There are loads of covers bands but I got the names of a handful of older, original bands in the area. I checked out their myspace pages and emailed a couple of 'em. The first is called 'The Zone'. These guys are in the 40-50 age range, a 3-piece and they play music which it's hard to categorise but is essentially 'alternative' rock. They get back to me and are up for playing. The second band haven't responded yet.

Then I get this response to my Gumtree ad from a guy called John Idan, who sung and played bass in the Yardbirds from the early 90s until recently. He has own band, and he is interested in the site and keen to support it. I listen to his own stuff on myspace and, as you might expect it's heavy on the 60s and 70s influences. But hey, it's original and his being in the Yardbirds may well attract some of the older guys, that the first two bands would not.

I give him a bell and we talk for a while about the site, it's mission and ethos. He seems keen to play and to support the cause, even though I can't guarantee him a fee, which is very cool. It's possible that his band might be in Germany at the time so he has to get back to me when he knows more.

I am starting to feel Guildford coming together, which is a relief.

Be original or die

So I fired an ad out on Gumtree for bands for the Guildford gig. Slipped it through the net that catches those that are banned from advertising there, as I am.

Now, there are plenty of blues bands out that way (Surrey), just visit The Scratchers (at the Three Lions pub, Farncombe) website and you'll find a whole host of 'em. But what about non-blues, non-metal, non-jazz/funk bands that play original material? I know what I mean. I hate to say 'indie' or 'alternative' but these are the best descriptions for these bands.

If bands that made 'indie' or 'alternative' rock, which encompasses 'punk' or 'post-punk' by the way, and spans the late-70s to the present day; if they don't 'make it' - and they should have come to realise and come to terms with this by their late-30s - do they then give up on this music and turn their creative musicial energies to playing covers or the blues or jazz-funk, or do they simply give up? I'm beginning to think it's (mostly) the latter.

Does the imagination for writing original rock music disappear some time in the 30s? Or does interest (from your peer-group) in what your doing take such a downturn that you no longer have an audience, and you have to give up?

Not if you're Paul Weller, it doesn't but if you're not, you do start to wonder who the fuck cares? No one really buys records or CDs anymore anyway. There's enough music as it is. As Axevictim Colin Gillman points out in one of his blogs, you got iTunes, you got Spotify, you got LPs, CDs, Mini-discs, cassettes , too much of the stuff as it is. There are plenty of young bands making very interesting music. Or older established bands and musicians, like Weller, still knocking them out. Who needs an unknown 40-something doing what a well-known 40-something (or 50-something) does so much better, on a bigger scale. Besides, I don't even need to part with a tenner or more to buy his new CD, I don't even need to leave the house in order to get it, I can probably stream it for evermore on Spotify.

On the bright side - I hope there is one - one of my songs has been chosen for use in an independent feature film called 'Ambleton Delight'. It'll be playing on a radio in the background during a scene in restaurant kitchen. So I think, right, maybe this is a perfect time to give that song the publicity and promotion it deserves, that I should have given it first time around in 2003, when I was too weary and dissilusioned with the whole business of making and promoting music to bother with it.

So, I start by redesigning the CD cover to reference the film. It looks great. The film gets it's premier at the End of the Pier Film Festival in Worthing at the end of April, so I fugure I will try and get it played on local radio - that would be a start? So I write a press release on phoney Rock-Til-You-Drop-Records headed paper. Looks fine. But what is the chance of getting played on local radio, I wonder? Is it worth all the effort? And if it gets on the radio in Worthing, what next? Will anyone care? My therapist descibed me as a 'catastrophist' - now you can see why.

Ordered down from the Gumtree

So here we go again. It's cold - as usual this time of year. No one's got any money - as usual this time of year; though this year there's the fear and anxiety about losing jobs, homes, pensions, money invested, and more High Street retail favourites. When my daughter loses her scarf and gloves, as she did today, I'd normally pop down Woolies and by another for 4 quid or something. Hey-ho.

Hey-ho, let's go. We need hope. We need optimism. We don't need money. We don't need things to own. We need things to do. Things to cheer us up that have real value. Like experiences. Memories. Music. I know, let's start a club. And let's make it our own. Let's give mature music fans, musicians and bands an outlet. Let's hear some of this new music being made by older rock musicians. Let's give older musicians looking to meet others in their age-group a chance to do so. Let's give those with responsibilites and commitments a regular time and place to get out and talk music. Hear music. Watch music. Play music. Let's call it ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP.

So the good people at Bugbear, who promote gigs at the Dublin Castle have offered me the opportunity to do just that. I will keep you posted.

In other news: I have been banned from posting ads for the website on Gumtree. Apparently, I'm not allowed to post duplicate ads to different gumtree sites. This is a pisser.