NEW ADVENTURES IN DIY
Dec. 6th, 2009 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogAbout a hundred years ago back in the mid-1990s, I had this joke about the DIY indie rock ethic.
At the time, the fashion was to blast underground rock bands who signed to major labels as selling out and being only interested in money and not music. Which got me to thinking that if yr music is compromised the moment people offer to pay you money to do it, then the only way for a band to make “real” music would be to break into a music shop, steal some instruments, break into a studio, record all their songs in one take and get out before the cops arrive, borrow/steal someone’s tape player to duplicate the record (cos CDs suck) and then go do some shows, refuse to charge admission and give yr fans the tapes for free.
Which would admittedly be awesome. But even Fugazi isn’t that hardcore. And anyway, I was only joking.
But then I saw this story about a indie band called Georgia Wonder, and how they’re going to go about recording a new album despite not having enough money even to set up a cheap basement studio:
It’s a dead clever idea, actually. And it will be interesting to see if other music stores see this as an opportunity to help unsigned bands get a leg up – and how that might contribute to the overall shake-up the Big Music Industry is facing.
Granted, you might want to be selective about which bands you let into yr establishment after hours.
Careful with that axe, Eugene,
This is dF
At the time, the fashion was to blast underground rock bands who signed to major labels as selling out and being only interested in money and not music. Which got me to thinking that if yr music is compromised the moment people offer to pay you money to do it, then the only way for a band to make “real” music would be to break into a music shop, steal some instruments, break into a studio, record all their songs in one take and get out before the cops arrive, borrow/steal someone’s tape player to duplicate the record (cos CDs suck) and then go do some shows, refuse to charge admission and give yr fans the tapes for free.
Which would admittedly be awesome. But even Fugazi isn’t that hardcore. And anyway, I was only joking.
But then I saw this story about a indie band called Georgia Wonder, and how they’re going to go about recording a new album despite not having enough money even to set up a cheap basement studio:
Georgia Wonder asked for and got the keys to Nevada Music, the largest music shop on the south coast of the UK (think Guitar Center USA). Both during store hours and after the store closes each night, they'll be recording their next album dubbed "Made In Nevada" using all the gear the store has on sale.
It’s a dead clever idea, actually. And it will be interesting to see if other music stores see this as an opportunity to help unsigned bands get a leg up – and how that might contribute to the overall shake-up the Big Music Industry is facing.
Granted, you might want to be selective about which bands you let into yr establishment after hours.
Careful with that axe, Eugene,
This is dF
