Bloc+ August 2010

Hiya pals.

Is it just me?  Or does anyone else find it hard to get the time to actually listen to music nowadays? 

You might think that as someone who listens to music and books bands for a living that I would have all the time in the world to digest albums en masse.

To be honest though, I find it kinda tough to get the time with all the distractions that are out there now.

There has been a lot of chat of late about the demise of myspace and I definitely have to agree.  I have used myspace for years as a tool to get basically all the info on a band in one go.  From a booking perspective it was a godsend.  You could hear their music, see how often they were playing, see if they had any kind of following and most importantly...see if they were good looking or not!  Myspace today still offers you all that but no one seems to be giving it the dedicated time they used to.  I assume this is simply because there are so many other sites out there doing something similar and myspace is seen as the industry standard.  All the young un’s will be adopting the new cool sites so the older statesmen will stay stalwart and true to what they do so they don’t feel like Hadouken!  It’s probably very similar to what happened when punk came around, or rock & roll, Compact Discs, UK Speed Garage or clothes with writing on them!

I wouldn’t call myself a technophobe but I do find it really hard to keep up with it all now.  You have Myspace, Facebook, Soundcloud, Spotify, Band Camp, Twitter and probably more that I haven’t even heard of.  Then you have the bloggers, the podcasts, the newspaper supplements, radio shows and magazines on top of all that.  When you look at it like that you see how much there really is out there and the most surprising thing is that all of these resources are being used all the time.  With mobile phones being what they are now it’s (apparently) easy to manage all these things at once but I don’t really agree.  How do you get the time to go to gigs, sit back and listen to an album over and over again while still holding down a full time job and how can you keep a partner for that matter?  To put on a basic gig now you don’t just book a venue, email the bands,  get some posters around town and play the show.  Now you need a graphic designer and a computer science degree to publicise your gigs and no one comes unless there are 100 ‘confirmed guests’ on the online page.

But...is this a good thing?  Now we know everything about the band, who’s going to the show, we have a free downloaded single and can find out what people think of the show in an instant.  That’s pretty cool I suppose but ‘In the front row at the gig, soooo amazing!’ – If you’re enjoying it soooo much then why are you tweeting instead of enjoying it?  Everyone is saying that the music industry has been in steep decline in the last 5 years for all manner of reasons.  Think back to before all of this, the industry was healthy, the bands and labels had money and the rock & roll dream was alive.  Is too much info, distraction, availability and consumption destroying the seed that makes it all exist in the first place?

I can see us all just ending up talking online rather than meeting in person.  All you hear when you’re in a bar is ‘Did you see what I put up on Facebook?’ or the cardinal sin in my eyes, referring to people by their ‘online’ name.  Gads.

That’s where the other side of the coin comes in.  People have their own pride too, so they don’t want to spend their time online, they don’t want to be seen like 15 year old girls tapping away on their phones updating their status every 2 minutes with pointless drivel.  Are they right to do that?  Or are they missing out on a lot?  It took me ages to get a Facebook account and to be honest before that I felt pretty out of the loop as half the patter people were having was generated from something on Facebook.  Now I’m hardly off the bloody thing and feel like a dick.  Did you see what I put up on Facebook the other day? ;-)

Am I just being an old fart?  Should I just turn 30 and start shopping at Aspecto and leave the kids to it?

As usual, no definite answers – just food for thought.

Cheers

Crag

Bloc+ July 2010

July Flyer Text

Right.  It’s always good to start with a healthy ‘Right’ by the way.

Last month I got far too much stick for being too nice on the monthly flyer.  So, this month yer aw a bunch of dicks.  Right?

I’ll try and be more topical this month as it’s festival season, I don’t have any bands to book and tell you how good they are so I may as well just revert to my more comfortable ranty, moany demeanour.

First to get it in the neck are the drinks companies and promotions companies.  Being in the pub game for a few years now you come to realise some things about how the operation works and how much money is wasted on useless ideas.

I’m sure you have all been to a launch night for a drink or a bar opening sponsored by a brand in your time.  What did you take away from this? (apart from a worthless lanyard or an ill fitting XL T-shirt)  Everyone’s out for a freebie to be honest, no one is really caring about brand impact and cultural cross genre fertilisation, that’s why these launch nights don’t work.  It’s simply a waste of money and resources that could be much better spent on something that will benefit the bar and its clientele.  What we want most as bars is some free stock or a reduced price so we can make our prices lower for our customers – not bloody murals of Japanese cyber Goths or fatties with sirens.

Then you get the practically useless going out guides and award ceremonies that are so out of touch its unreal.  I don’t know what Scotland is gonna do when Sharleen Spiteri, Lorraine Kelly and Michelle Mone decide they can’t be bothered with it all anymore.  Bars that have been open for only a few months win awards in all manner of categories because the category is sponsored by a brewery that has a vested interest in the bar or they have taken out substantial advertising with them.

In 2008 ‘Music Pub of the Year’ was between 2 venues who shall remain nameless.  My research shows me that both these venues only opened in July and November of 2007!  Surely to be Music Pub of the Year you have to have been operating for at least a year, paid your dues and at least affected the musical landscape in some way.  This is no reflection on the venues at all and no offence is intended but it simply highlights how much of a sham and a waste of money it all is.  I couldn’t even find out online who won the award in 2009!  How prestigious can it be if Google doesn’t even know eh?  This isn’t a jealousy issue, it’s more frustrating – look at places like the 13^th Note or Sleazy’s that have been a hub for the cities musical culture for way more years than us that don’t get the recognition they deserve.

I’m not trying to be militant or anti-establishment about all this, quite the opposite in fact.  What I would like to see would be everyone working together for the same goal.  At the end of the day everyone needs to make money to survive.  What is overlooked is that without the pubs, the drinks companies would have no outlet for their product and without the drinks companies the pubs would have nothing to sell.

In the case of Bloc+, we provide live music for free so that we don’t have to force bands to sell tickets and the music can be heard by anyone.  We can survive this hit because the bands can play for less money as it’s free and people will spend at the bar easier as they haven’t bought a ticket. 

In the end it seems that we are taking the hit to sell more of the drinks companies’ products.  So, the Bands and the drinks companies are happy but we’re still left with the outlay to pay for the bands and equipment.  If a drinks company really wants to offer support I’d love to see them spend their money on Mic Stands, Leads, Band Fees, Sound Equipment and Listings Posters rather than giving us table cards for a cocktail no-one wants or a million scratch cards for shitey competitions and bits of branded tat that will end up in the bin.  I don’t mind having their logo front of house on a stand or speaker as it’s them who have paid for it and it means that we can bring you more great music and offer the bands a bit more support and a better experience for the audience.

I don’t consider it selling out; I consider it a means to bring ideas to life that Bloc+ as a small independent business simply cannot afford to do.

This month I would like a wee bit of participation from you.  If you are reading this then you are probably in Bloc+ regularly and know what we are all about.  If you could email your thoughts on what you would like to see happen in here.  Would you really mind having a sponsors logo all over the gigs if it meant we could bring you better stuff?  If you could have a dream line up (realistically! Not Pantera with Rod Stewart supporting!) in Bloc+, what would it be?  Or, just your general comments and feeling about the place and what we do here.

If you could email me on crag@bloc.ru with your thoughts then hopefully we can work together to make this place what you and I want it to be.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, told you I’d be back to the rant this month!

Crag

Bloc+ June 2010

All the young dudes, carry the news.

Usually I write this wee blog with abject misery most months and it does suffice as a decent moany soapbox, but this month I’ve had a wee fire set under me.  Well, to be honest it’s been lit since the start of the year. 

If you ask me, inspiration is hard to come by when you are in a job for a long time.  You get to the point where you are just running through the motions and you watch everyone around you succeeding and failing, friends come and go and everything changes completely on an almost annual, if not sometimes faster cycle.  This is precisely the reason that when people come along doing things in the right spirit you get all worked up inside.

As you will know from years of coming to Bloc, we don’t really work with anyone else.  This year I’ve started opening up to a lot more avenues and I’d like to take this chance to say a wee thank you to them and to let you lot know how good they all are. 

Firstly, the staff at Bloc+ who make the place what it is.  Everyone from thegorgeous bar staff and management who keep you from thirst with a smile and slap from time to time, Danny and the kitchen staff who make great food as if by magic considering the lack of kitchen facilities, Rory Corr who wastes his time looking at pictures of Van Damme every month to compile this flyer, Chris Cusack for his ‘intense’ sound engineering and dedication to the cause of new music you would never hear otherwise and to Ms Alana Stewart for helping me out with posters, listings, PR and whatever else I can throw at her.  And last of all, the bands who play at this wee dive and make it so special, without them we simply would not exist.  Thankyou.

This year you will have also noticed that we have been working with a very professional, courteous and enthusiastic bunch of individuals.  No, not the licensing standards officers, but... Detour Scotland.  You should know all about our exploits together over the last 8 months that have seen gigs that encompass the spirit of what we exist for and take you on a journey of new experience every month.  I wish them all the best of luck in their future ventures, through working with them I’ve seen what they have in them.  Hopefully they’ll give Scotland something unique to be proud of in the coming years.

On May 30^th we did our first outing of ‘A Wee Jaunt’.  The idea of the event was much like this blog, a chance to say thank you to all the amazing people who make these wonderful ideas come to life.  Bloc+Music and Detour Scotland took around 50 people on a wee jaunt around Glasgow that included our crew members from previous gigs and shoots, our favourite radio and online broadcasters and pretty much everyone from the Scottish press.  The point was to showcase our favourite unsigned bands in the most unique way we could think of and to further draw everyone’s attention to the future of the Scottish scene...the ones making it happen today in music and media.  The day out took in 6 venues around the city, around 30 performers and turned it all on its head with performances in back alleys, toilets, subways, gardens and even one in Tenerife! 

The main premise of this day for me was to illustrate what you can do with no money and a good intention.  I get constantly sick of seeing promotions companies wasting thousands of pounds on events that don’t need 15 staff members, flights from London, Logistics managers, PR teams and the like.  If more people realised that the future of the industry are graduating from Uni now and would gladly take the work experience then a lot more money would be available to do a lot more things that would inspire and ultimately make Glasgow better.

At the moment in this town you could present the hordes with Pythagoras himself unplugged, performing  the music of the spheres and no one would come unless someone on their courses band were playing their first gig too.  That always really gets to me because I know they would love the gigs that are on every night in Glasgow under the radar and would certainly learn something.

 Maybe it’s not the punters that need to sort themselves out though, maybe it’s the venues and the bands who need to offer them something new.  Are there any new ideas though?  We all have to work within the confines of our surroundings, equipment and abilities and if everyone was trying to do something new would there really be room?  Would we raise the bar of expectation too high so that only the rich could afford to ability to entertain the masses?

The best idea I can come up with is opening your eyes and ears to what people are almost throwing at you every night!  Bands are putting their music out for free all the time and venues are putting better and better line ups all the time. Stalwarts of this ethic (to name just a couple) are the likes of Predestination Records (.com) who have just released a download only compilation album featuring 23 bands for only £3, Glasgow Podcart  (.com)who provide an hours worth of new music, art and opinion weekly.  Can you really argue with that?

So to all of you conscientious consumers... come on, listen up, open your eyes and ears to what’s right on your doorstep.

And to all the young dudes, keep up the good work.

Crag

Bloc+ May 2010

I wish that I knew what I knew now, when I was younger...Ooh La La

This month I am mostly feeling old. 

I was reflecting recently on how I used to absorb gigs.  When I was 17-20 you would find me going daft at shows, stage diving, mosh pits and the like.  I was at shows all the time, I knew about new bands coming out, I bought music magazines and spent all my money on music and merch.  I felt like I had a real hunger for music and no amount of sweaty gigs could satisfy it.

As I hit my early 20’s I found that my habits as well as my taste changed slightly.  I was definitely more selective of shows I would go to and would save up the ‘gaun mentaaal’ for special shows or rare special occasions. 

And now in the tundra of my late 20’s, there’s very rarely dancing and screaming. I like to really observe and absorb gigs from a comfortable vantage, I like to have a nice pint and hopefully not get stuck behind someone taller than me (5’7!) and I often consider the venue and the sound quality as a factor in me attending or not.

To be honest I don’t really know what changed.  I certainly have more responsibilities and less money but then again I always had responsibilities and no money and I’ve never had a wife and children to provide for, so, was it just a case of getting older?  Is that just what happens to people? 

I think for the most part, and especially when you are younger your music taste and your social life are ridiculously intertwined.  Your music taste usually defines your social role, status, fashion, friends and hangouts.  This is your youth and it’s probably going to define who you are for the rest of your life.  But, if like me you really love music then it would be impossible to imagine being into the one thing for the rest of your days. 

From an older perspective now I definitely love looking back nostalgically at me with green hair down to my ass and piercings all over the shop emerging topless and bloody from a Biohazard show and spending the night in a bus station with my friends.  There are guys you see who are still ‘living the dream’ 10 years older and 10st heavier from drinking Cider & Black throwing 16 year olds around the Cathouse dance floor and it just kind of reeks of stupidity to me.  I know that’s pretty callous to say but I definitely feel happy that I’m not like that.

As this goes on I’m starting to see the brighter side in getting older.  It comes to us all and I suppose the more you fight it the worse you’ll look and feel because you simply won’t be able to keep up with the youth of today.  Your main responsibility when you’re getting older should be to keep yourself educated and stimulated.  You probably have a tight social group that doesn’t revolve around your music taste so you won’t always be searching for that new cool thing or group.  That is a very good thing if you ask me, and it opens up a whole new way of absorbing music that allows you more freedom, exploration and opinion. 

I seem to find myself looking backwards a lot now to music that I missed either because I wasn’t born yet or I simply just wasn’t interested when I was younger.  Is that healthy or am I just going to turn into a record store snob or jazz purist or the like?  Who knows?

In the end there are no real answers, and in this case no real questions!  Just food for thought though I suppose. 

Some words a friend said to me once kinda ring true when writing this, he said ‘Set me on fire’.  If you knew the guy you could easily take it literally but what he meant was that he just wanted music  to lose some sense of control to, to affect you, to make you think, move, cry, laugh and ultimately react.  The music you are into should be the music that sets you on fire, no matter what it is. 

I guess that gets a lot harder as you get older...just try not to think about it.

Crag

Bloc+ April 2010

Wolfgang Hitlerchrist

Thank you so much to all the bands and punters who made March such an amazing month, 2010 really has been the best year so far.  Extra special thanks to the Bloc+Jam boys Craig and Louis for providing the entertainment at our Birthday party, Graeme MacDonald for getting the Slow Club off the ground and the Detour lads Ally and Weaver for providing some of the best memories we’re likely to have in here.  Let’s make the run up to summer just as memorable.

So...my next rant is about this whole Nanny State, PC way of thinking that seems to dictate the norm of how we live and absorb things nowadays.

I heard recently about two bands playing a well known drink sponsored live music event in Glagsow who claim to hand pick emerging artists for their extraordinary raw talent who had to change their names for fear of civil unrest or misunderstanding.  Their names (who shall not be mentioned) had subtle overtones of violence or child abuse and were therefore forced to change their monikers or cancel the show.  These bands were not called anything like Burn the Priest or MC Weanstrangler which I can see causing offence to victims of abuse and the like but poetic verbalisations of human experience...from which the arts are born.  Surely?  And, since when did a drinks company or promoter dictate what a band should or shouldn’t be called!?

This is symptomatic of a bigger picture and the way the country is going as a whole.  More appropriate to Bloc is the recent changes to the rules and operating procedures of the licensed trade.  It is now illegal to offer a free drink to a disgruntled customer or simply ask if a sole drinker at the bar on the dregs of his pint would ‘fancy another?’  We can’t even offer performers at our open mic night a free drink for playing anymore.

I imagine in the future they won’t be able to have Shakespeare as required reading in schools because Macbeth deals in issues of violence and murder and Romeo and Juliet influences teenagers to commit suicide and engage in underage sex.

In my view, if things are going to go this way then we might as well destroy our world. Let’s go to nuclear war, let’s pollute, let’s flood the economy with Nazi bullion – if the world is going to be flooded with shades of beige then there’s no point living in it anyway.  Human beings are separated from each other by their own opinions, faults, strengths and experiences and that is what gives the world colour.  I understand that we live in an era of civil, political and racial unrest and that there is a ton of diversity in our communities and with that the world has to become more liberal and socially compassionate but the precedent is being set to the furthest right more and more every day.  The term far right might seem a little extreme and a tad inaccurate when you look at the bones of the matter but what really seems to be happening is that we are getting ‘far middle’... a new term I’m sure that fairly describes the state of play in the first world today.

So, far middle – if you had to define it you could say ; Unlike the far left which defines extreme, outside, subversive thinking and the far right which self governs it’s own reactionary, single minded ideologies, the ‘Far Middle’ strives for political correctness in a world with such vast diversities and tolerances.  It seems the far middle is way to try and keep everyone happy and dull the primal drives and instincts of society and individuals but at the same time is the biggest force that is keeping us segregated.  This segregation is built through fear, fear of offence.  I grew up in a modern society and I am extremely thankful for it, I see the world as the world...not my world, not anyone’s world and that is a beautiful, positive, constructive thing. 

But, as I said, the things that keep us together are also the things that keep us apart.  Tiptoeing around an issue or a person only will only highlight it or alienate it and the same goes for the individual or group involved.  What is it they say? Familiarity breeds contempt.

Get to the bar and get yourself a Balkan and please be aware...it’s not for everyone.

Crag

Bloc+ February/March 2010

So...I’m trying to keep up a bit of food for thought with this listings flyer every month.  I’m sure it will be hit and miss as far as my views are concerned but I also want to use it as a wee soap box to spout about bands and the like that deserve some exposure. Lets start this one with something close to all of our hearts, thoughts and fingers...the internet.

The internet has done so much for music in good ways and bad.  It is now so easy for bands to get their music heard, gigs promoted and tadgers felt.  But on the other hand, it’s getting harder and harder to make money and sometimes it feels like there’s just too much music out there for you to filter through, finding an exotic or underground band nowadays is as easy as turning on a light.  I remember when your music taste was dictated by what CD’s your rich pals or siblings had or what you read about in a magazine.  It seemed simpler, and it seemed like there was a system at work.  If a band was good enough to get to you then they must be worth their salt surely?  The most appalling thing I saw recently was a top music journalists top 50 for 2010...I mean, come on!!  Top 50!  Could you narrow it down a bit please?  It was basically every band kicking about at the moment...which really takes no imagination, care or opinion at all.  I feel sorry for the 2 bands that weren’t mentioned!  Enough exclaiming I think.  

Look at John Peel, a champion of all things eclectic that he believed in.  He went on about the fucking Undertones for 30 years! Because he loved them and didn’t give a fuck, that’s what it’s all about.   Maybe I’m wrong but there are only so many times you can hear a DJ or whatever going on about how ‘Faaaan (pause) Tastic!’ bands are that happen to be kicking around whatever region they represent.  Most of it I’m afraid to say is ‘Faaaan (pause) Fucking Average!’ and they, you and I know it.  But they need to garner listeners somehow I suppose.  It’s almost like when dubious promoters prey on bands that are still in high school to play over 14’s shows because they know that kids at school have a guaranteed market to sell tickets to and more importantly parents who will pay the cash for their child’s recreation.  A guaranteed audience holds no real merit in my eyes.

So, is this really a bad thing or...is it a credible platform for new music?  I think it may be a bit of both, definitely a necessary evil and almost certainly a par for the course.  Live shows are where it’s really at.  Any band can sound good with the technological advances in modern studio warfare nowadays but live is where a band can really shine.  I would like to see the resources of the government, regional councils, arts councils, television and radio stations put firmly on the development of live music.  This should include helping the band equip themselves with rehearsal time, tour funding, gear, qualified sound engineers, decent venues, breakdown cover and PR support.  

Scotland is the first to pin down their local heroes as national treasures (e.g. homecoming) but the last to offer them a grassroots support system to further their development.  It seems that you have to be unemployed to qualify for all the grants and courses that are already in place and I know that any self respecting human being isn’t going to give up their jobs and careers (which fund their musical ambitions) simply to go on a funded HND in musical performance or free recording.  

Look at Canada or Norway for example, their government support bands and artists, whom they understand are always on the breadline to further their own heritage and offering to the world, and they are much bigger countries than we are.  We are lucky in Scotland to be from such a small place but still have so much credibility in the world, great bands, great people and generally an air of style, substance and quality. It’s a real shame to see what our country spends it’s money on when it could be put to much better use.

Anyway, rant over. Hopefully there’s a bit of food for thought there for all of you who frequent our humble bar.  I’ll have more content through blogs on our webpages as there isn’t much room on the flyer.  Keep an eye out and get in touch if you have an opinion yourself and we can pick it up in the next flyer.

As Columbo would say, One more thing...

As I said, we like to shout about the worthwhile every month.  Not so much ‘ones to watch’ as ‘ones worth a watch’.  So, let’s introduce ‘Song of Return’, a band born of odd circumstance. Having finished an album with Atticus Ross (nine inch nails), Chris Gordon and Craig Grant of Glasgow veterans Union of Knives had an overstock of material and time on their hands (owing to a lengthy debacle over the release of said album) and so, with the attitude of being empowered by thwarted ambition rather than exhausted by it, they now take their new material into the live arena with a Glasgow all-star cast of members from 'take a worm for a walk week', 'galchen' and 'brother louis collective'. Grant and Gordon draw on a spectrum of influences and endeavour to create an atmosphere of both dysfunction and hope. They hope to release their new record in 2010 and in the meantime cut their teeth on the live circuit with a fresh band, approach and attitude.
www.myspace.com/songofreturn

Bloc+ January 2010

2010 – Year of the Tiger (e.g. Rambo)

So it’s 2010, the future!  I seem to remember a version of Streetfighter on the NES my pal had that was kinda futuristic.  It was called Streetfighter 2010 and was an offshoot where Ken had become a scientist and invented some sort of chemical pish that gave people super human powers and could travel between planets via a cosmic doorway.  Well, it’s 2010 now and we don’t have any of that so you’ll just have to listen to some more of my spraffin.

My top tips for 2010, when I say top tips...I don’t mean pure Franz Ferdinand quantum leaps to worldwide status.  I simply mean the bands who I can see doing well and upping their game this year.  Last year it was probably Glasvegas, Frightened Rabbit and Twin Atlantic who really worked hard and upped it the most.  Top of my list this year will have to be ‘Brother Louis Collective’ simply because when their album comes out in March it will blow everyone away and will be of a quality to be played on the radio all over.  The folkies, the rockers, the chin-strokers and the shoegazers will all be in on it much in the same way as Frightened Rabbit’s debut was received.  My fingers are heavily crossed for one of the most eclectic, talented and well respected (Even though Louis fae Edinburgh) bands around.

My personal choice for the band I’d like to see do well, and is also one that appeals to most musos across the board is ‘otherpeople’.  They haven’t been around very long, they don’t play or rehearse too often and still they’ve managed to produce some of the best music I’ve heard this year.  It’s nice to get excited about a band and this one just keeps throwing wee curve balls that always surprise, intrigue and excite me.  Be prepared for them finally getting a CD out there, they seem like a natural evolution to all the British indie stuff that dominated 2009 and their bandwagon will get seriously jumped.  The last band I can see doing well are ‘Make Sparks’.  A very hard working band that seem to take a lot of time in getting their sound the way they want it.  They will be the more mainstream guys that will probably tread the same kinda path as Twin Atlantic, e.g. the kids will severely dig them.  They have a great attitude & some really catchy songs and when that’s translated to the bigger stages of the festivals over the summer I’m sure it will really take off for them in some way.

There are always bands who you will love but you know that they will never really go onto bigger things, simply because their music isn’t mainstream enough for them to make real money from shitey adverts etc...  My favourites of this ilk that I’m dying to see up the ante in 2010 are ‘United Fruit’, ‘Hey Enemy’ and ‘VCheka’, all simply blistering bands live that have been working and improving for a couple of years now.  It would be great to see them get a fair deal on a good label, play some bigger shows and get out on some decent tours throughout the year.  But, you never know, maybe the record buying public will suddenly decide they like a good riff and these boys will get all over the charts

Anyway, keep your eyes and ears peeled for what’s coming up in Bloc in 2010.  It will be my last year here and I want to go out on a high.  We’ve brought you some absolute belters of gigs over the years and somehow managed to keep all the gigs free and keep the standard of music, booze, food and patter as high as we could.  Thanks to you all for making Bloc a really nice place to be, there aren’t many pubs who do as much as we do and still retain a homely, laid back and friendly atmosphere.

Crag