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Previous posts have mentioned the ‘Bones and Skin’ Tour that Kisschasy are currently performing around Australia. This post is focusing on the success of the band who have also worked very hard to be where they are today. I remember not too long ago the only radio stations that Kisschasy’s songs were being played on were Triple J. The band have played various shows at the Bar on the Hill over the past 5 years or so and admitted that the show at the Enmore Theatre on Saturday the 24th May was officially the largest they had performed for. It wasn’t until last year (2007) that the band’s music actually took off commercially with their left-field antics surrounding politics, human rights issues and animal rights. This tour is the last for Kisschasy for a while as they are off to try their luck overseas in America. One thing I particularly like about the boys is the fact that they were asking fans on facebook and myspace if they knew anyone overseas that they could stay with. It is obvious that the band are not making the ‘big bucks’ from their music however they are still willing to try and have the courage to continue doing what they love. I just thought that this was a wonderful example of what can happen when local Australian bands are publicised and promoted through magazines such as ours.
Check out more Kisschasy info on their myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11924263
To reiterate again what has already been said, the music industry is severly lacking academic research and evidence to support such opinions as the ones that have been made in this and previous posts.
This is Jess Smith signing off for The Musos 2008.
The concert I attended on Saturday night contained an all female rock band, The Donnas. As I saw women in rock was a suggested topic I thought that I would do some research into the frequency of female rock bands. After extensive searching for academic sources I came up with absolutely nothing. Now this band is probably one of the longest running female punk rock band of our time, starting approximately 15 years ago when the girls were only 15. The Americans contintued to pursue their chosen career path with a large amount of success.
Unfortunately, the Donna’s were booed by some of the underage fans who were eagerly awaiting the performance from headline act Kisschasy. As someone who had heard the Donnas before it is hard to believe that the young kids would be so derogatory towards a successful international band however it made me ponder whether the treatment would have been the same if the band had been publicised and published in magazines such as ours? Top 40 artists seem to frequent our pages and get the attention they do and sometimes do not deserve, if we could focus some of our energy into promoting bands that have truly worked hard to be where they are today we could possibly sell more magazines in the future. As I have noted in previous posts it is time for our magazine to raise the bar in the content we provide through some academic research and further interesting, left-field articles.
Over the past few weeks I have really enjoyed researching music histories and the live music experience. It is interesting to note how much attention is given to certain types of music in comparison to others. Pop music is covered in large doses in the media, with plenty of attention given to top 40 artists and their daily life shambles. This, I feel, is a shame. There are plenty of other topics which deserve coverage by the media and attention from the general public. The live experience and local music being one of these.
Here at Popular Music Press the team have attempted to present stories, articles, photos, media analysis and scholarly research on the live music experience in order to present an alternative topic and view to the general public. In doing this we hope that insight has been given into the struggles, benefits and general social debate on the topic.
Just to rehash live music is not all about anti-social behaviour and is not primarily driven by economic gains, as alot of media articles articulate. Instead the live experience should be thought of as a socially demanded activity that not only brings joy and entertainment but also social cohesion and a sense of community, as relevant theorists quoted in previous posts have suggested.
This sense of social cohesion and community has been argued by some as further intensifyed by technology such as the internet. The internet has rapidly changed the way we use, store, distribute and interact with music. This communication medium has opened up a world of possibility for musicians, allowing artists, particularly aspiring artists, to promote and distribute their work to thousands of people around the globe. However some believe that the impact the internet has had is indeed a negative one.
Musicians such as Sir Elton John highlight the possible devastation within the music industry that may occur as a result of the internet, not only on decline in sales and profit but also on the level of musical creativity.
There have been fears of technology wiping out the live experience. I do not believe that this will be the case any time soon. From the research I have conducted I have found that people will always enjoy the live experience. The audience craves the personal connection with the artist and the music they produce, they crave the raw sound and the whole product, the scenery, social interaction and embrace the music created right there and then.
There have also been fears for safety not only for the individuals engaging in a live performance but also the safety of society. Riots, rampage and drug and alcohol abuse have all been linked to the live experience. Although these are apparent, they have always existed and should not influence the demise of the live music experience.
Popular Music Press hopes that the live experience blog has opened up your eyes a little to the world of live and local music and has sent waves of interest and excitement through your veins. Let’s hope that in the future local, live music will receive more attention by the media and the government and the social and economic benefits it can provide are realised.
Thanks for reading!!
Concert stampede kills 10
SMH.com
February 10, 2008
Ten young people have been trampled or crushed to death as hundreds of music fans tried to force their way out of a rock concert in the Indonesian city of Bandung.
Witnesses told the Pikiran Rakyat newspaper that people inside the packed venue were trying to escape the crush just as hundreds of others were surging their way inside.
“Ten people were killed, one of them has not yet been identified. Six other people were injured,” Bandung police chief Bambang Suparsono told the Detikcom online news portal.
The dead are mostly teenagers. He said an investigation was under way into the incident late yesterday.
Detikcom, quoting another police officer, said the capacity of the building was for 700 people but that only around 400 attended the concert by a popular punk rock group.
However, Pikiran Rakyat said there were more than 1500 people inside.
Detikcom said at least 40 were being questioned, while a police officer at Bandung, the capital of West Java, said three organisers were being quizzed as suspects.
“The bodies of 10 people have been brought here but all but three have been taken by their family,” said Toto, a staff member at the local hospital morgue where the dead were initially brought.
Suparsono said the crush occurred as people tried to leave the Asia Africa Arts Hall in downtown Bandung.
One 19-year-old witness told Pikiran Rakyat: “Outside, there were hundreds of people pushing to enter. They were pushing at the gate.
“Inside, there were also a lot of people who wanted to leave, because the hall was so packed that it was difficult to breathe.”
Another witness told the paper that while the band was playing, hundreds of people forced their way in, damaging the entranceway.
Six dead in concert stampede
SMH.com
SIX people died and several were injured overnight in a stampede at a concert held in Tunisia.
The stampede occurred at a theatre at Sfax, 300 kilometres south of the capital Tunis, where a concert was being held for the TV program Star Academy Lebanon, an official said.
Rescuers rushed to the Sidi Mansour theatre, the official said.
This is also an intersting related journal article about the deaths that occurred at The Who concert in 1979. http://www.jstor.org/pss/800813
Comment on PANIC! Death at a Live Music Experience!
I totally agree that live music provides a more personal experience to the individuals listening to them. I went to a live gig on Saturday night at the Enmore theatre in Sydney. The headline act were ‘Kisschasy’ with supporting artists ‘The Getaway Plan’ and ‘The Donnas’. I have previously only heard a few songs from both the Getaway Plan and The Donnas however after Saturday night I was left wanting more!
I got back to Newcastle at about 3am and went straight onto Limewire and downloaded tracks, researched the artiists websites and went completely crazy as I have fallen head over heels in love with these two rock/punk/alternate bands (genres accoding to Limewire music sharing network).
I think that artists become more popular with live music..live music has more of an impact than recorded. I know that many of the bands that I am interested in today are a result of first seeing them live. I wonder if this is the same for many music lovers? It would be an interesting study to conduct and something that we, the writers and publishers here at The Popular Music Press should consider as a research topic.
