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