Building a Scene

[SteveBrain]

So here i am, the new guy. I havent looked through too many posts here and am not too sure about post content, but here goes :


When i was younger, going to some of my first local shows at say ... 15, the scene was different. I remember seeing the voodoo glow skulls, with Thee pirates and Anna Baretta - there were so many young college students, smart people with political ideas - smart ideas, there was good merch with activist information and informative knowledgeable friendly people. Although i was young and felt to be an outsider ... i embraced the idea of the scene, it was positive.

Over a couple years, we've lost venue after venue, band after band, the musicians are gone, the promoters gone, the music stores gone, and people have given up. We had a few venues which would hold on for a few months, we had a few shows for a week, but when 2 or 3 people would show up bands stopped comming around. Its been months since a show.

Even when we were having shows, what was it? Young highschool kids, wearing their parent bought image, gossip and hockey players there *to fuck shit up* and get drunk. There's tons of gossip, tons of clique's, and its just like a punk rock highschool, and its BULLSHIT.

Now my friend has access to the venue which sadly gains christian influence because charity of the local mission - and we're starting things up. We want a smart scene.

Heres how i see it; Theres tons of depressed kids out there, there's tons of misguided kids, there's tons of talent, there's tons of initive, and there's tons of whatever-the-fucking-energy-that-is-rock out there - a music scene is what everyonebody wants - the young kids need to feel welcome to come out, the old guys need to support the scene, people need to bring their friends, they need to talk - go for coffee, have crazy jams, learn and contribute to positive music scene. If people come, bands will come, and if kids collabarate great music will be made. In a few months my friend will be offering professional recording for free and perhaps starting up an uber small indie label type thing.


So thats it, Im in Kamloops - Heart of the Thompson, musicless - yet hopeful.

Through these forums i hope to gain contact with many people involved in scenes throughout the province.

Any advice for getting the young kids involved and starting things up again?

[josiah]

having church support isn't necessarily a bad thing...we have a venue in abbotsford that's in a church, and the youth pastor who runs it is extremely open-minded.

my band, the hand, will gladly come play in kamloops sometime, probably with a javelin reign.

give me an email.

[e-mail]

josiah

[Marcus]

FUN 100 would probably be interested in playing sometime as well.

-Marcus [e-mail]

[SteveBrain]

josiah said:

having church support isn't necessarily a bad thing...we have a venue in abbotsford that's in a church, and the youth pastor who runs it is extremely open-minded.

I gotta say, your right about that. Our mission manager is very openminded, he was lacking at first because he's busy and has an inadequete secretary, but he's given full permission to my friend to run the venue at least once a month. We're considering out a volunteer work trade to use the space, which is otherwise unused, and perfect setup with arcade games, tables and chairs, and a decent sized area infront of the stage.

We work with what we got - Next year there will be some bigger shows put on ... *HOPEFULLY* at the IOOF hall, which has a capacity of 500+ i think, and is set up with fantastic PA setup.

Anyways, im really glad to see there's some interest ... I talk about building a scene every oppurtunity i get, and seeing actual interest from outta town is awesome.

Im having computer audio troubles at the moment, but ill check you guy's out soon.

Contact me at [e-mail]

[JohnnyRansom]

The Glorious Janitors will also be raring to play at some point. We play basically heavy-metal, sort of 80's style...nothing that's really a 'fad' right now, but it sure as hell rocks. Email us at [e-mail] and check out our website, www.gloriousjanitors.com

[guest]

80's metal is the biggest fad right now.

[adiisnointhewack]

Hey guest, whats wrong with "high school kids" going to shows? if you think about it, those kids could grow up to be "college students" some day. one thing about the scene that i don't like is when people discriminate against each other based on age. people grow, just give them a chance. oh, and when you were fifteen, observing all the older folks in the scene, you were a highschool kid too, so that makes no sense. someone may have looked at you with the same attitude you have towards the highschool kids today. so thats kind of hypocrytical on your ass.

[adiisnointhewack]

But dont get me wrong, i think its great that you're at least showing interest in creating something.

[guest]

ummm...I think you meant 'Stevebrain'...i'm guest and i fully support Highschool kids going to shows.

[Guest]

JohnnyRansom said:

The Glorious Janitors will also be raring to play at some point. We play basically heavy-metal, sort of 80's style...nothing that's really a 'fad' right now, but it sure as hell rocks. Email us at [e-mail] and check out our website, www.gloriousjanitors.com

Glorious Janitors is 80's rock. Not metal.

[SteveBrain]

adiisnointhewack said:

Hey guest, whats wrong with "high school kids" going to shows? if you think about it, those kids could grow up to be "college students" some day. one thing about the scene that i don't like is when people discriminate against each other based on age. people grow, just give them a chance. oh, and when you were fifteen, observing all the older folks in the scene, you were a highschool kid too, so that makes no sense. someone may have looked at you with the same attitude you have towards the highschool kids today. so thats kind of hypocrytical on your ass.

Definately a misinterpretation - for me, i was refering to the group of people that were comming to our show's ... they wernt there for punk or dance or anything really to do with the show - you know the one's getting fucked up, or posing real hard, or just being assholes.

Ive beent alking to all the highschool kids i can about it, on the bus, parties, where-ever. There's tons of young young kids that are more into the corporate punk, but i know lots of 15 year olds into bands like children of bodom and 3IOB - we just need to talk to them, and offer them a venue/forum for them to express whatever creative juices are flowing through them.

Its all good though, you just gotta connect with them - I remember i was always intimidated by the kids like me - but there's nothing more that i want than to build a good scene from the ground up, and i really need to communicate my message to do that.

[guest]

hundreds of kids will always pay the bucks to see corporate punk..

and if you're lucky you might get 100 for some indie punkbands... sad.

but, thats how a scene is created. small at first .

there's nothing wrong with a small 30 - 100 capacity show.

[emmanuelxgoldstein]

Definitely. This is all positive shit. Libertas Per Creo will be coming through Kamloops with New World On Fire in July. We're in the midst of booking cross Canada stuff right now. If you're willing to help out, we'd definitely be willing to play. I don't have the dates with me right now, but within the next few days we're finalizing the route to firm up dates. Email me or something,

[e-mail]

-Sean.

[Bary]

my band "Sans Nathaniel" would love to play Kamloops. i have family up there so i would love the chance to see them before and after the show. check out the lame ass site that we have


www.geocities.com/sansnathaniel


give my a email and we'll talk

[e-mail]

-bary

[SteveBrain]

Guest-guest said:

hundreds of kids will always pay the bucks to see corporate punk..

and if you're lucky you might get 100 for some indie punkbands... sad.

but, thats how a scene is created. small at first .

there's nothing wrong with a small 30 - 100 capacity show.

there's nothing wrong with a show that size at all. A really big show in this town would probably be around a 100 and i consider that quite good, especially considering i remember going to shows with 4 bands and 3 people.

but thats just the point - the kids will go out to see corporate punk - dispite what some might think - there are lots of kids who are into that and just havent moved past it yet. Its hard to understand what a punk scene is from the outside, and its damn hard to become apart when your 15 and everyone else is in leather and spikes.

So anyways, the younger kids just need to come out and see what they can be apart of - they dont need to be pushed and shoved or fucked with by the older kids, they need to talk to them about tee shirt making and their patches, or maybe what they think about their community, or about the bands they listen to, about what music means to them ... and about what they can do through a music scene.

communication can show people what they're missing.