“…if picking up an instrument was the solution to all of society’s ills, Stormont would simply advertise cheap guitar lessons.” Derry songwriter Conor McAteer tackles the impact of Radio1′s Big Weekend in Derry, including the radio documentary that explored post-troubles Northern Ireland.
Before you read Conor’s thoughts I’d like to make a few comments myself. Having been involved with Radio1′s Big Weekend many years ago in Dundee, I have seen at first hand the incredibly positive, gigantic shot in the arm it can be for the local music scene. But as anyone from Northern Ireland will tell you, even the biggest bonfires eventually burn out.
Without the infrastructure to keep the local scene growing, it simply falls back into decline. With each venue that has closed in Dundee since, not to mention the lack of balance between local media coverage of bands with artistic merit vs. commercial potential, and that decline picked up as much negative momentum as the Big Weekend had created.
It’s only now in 2013 with Creative Dundee, Rusty Hip Collective and other organisations of that artistic mindset that Dundee is starting to build its own positive transformation in a purely natural, organic fashion.
The question remains – if you’re not ready for that shot in the arm, can it do more harm than good?
I’ll let Conor take it from here.
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Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a documentary for BBC Radio 1.
On being asked to write this blog, Andy emphasised that he was keen to get an honest view on the experience rather than any ‘BBC Spin’. I can confirm that the spin did not exist as the program was made by four young, first time documentarians, Michael, Emma, Jen and Naomi, all of whom come from Derry and its surrounding areas.
Having listened to the finished product, I feel that the four of them deserve a lot of credit for tackling hugely uncomfortable subject matter for broadcast on mainstream radio and for achieving such balance in the narrative.
Unionist and Nationalist backgrounds
Their idea was to bring traditional musicians from unionist and nationalist backgrounds together to come up with a rendition of Teenage Kicks by The Undertones (I would be the guitarist).
In some ways, I’m quite uncomfortable with the whole ‘post-troubles Northern Ireland’ PR angle – this story of our emergence from the bad old days to some bright new future where everyone’s culture is embraced and respected.
It always strikes me as incredibly simplistic, and the manner in which it is presented, in my view, is often quite patronising.
That said, as a proud citizen of Derry, it saddens me to see the place constantly associated with bitterness, hatred and violence and if a more media-friendly presentation will help highlight our many positive attributes then maybe I can put some of my reservations aside.
What attracted me to the project was certainly not the idea of people from different backgrounds discovering that, far from being different, they actually have much in common – if picking up an instrument was the solution to all of society’s ills, Stormont would simply advertise cheap guitar lessons.
And anyway, musicians across genres rarely walk into any collaboration with such skepticism in the first place.
What engaged me was the challenge of five people who did not know each other being given 2 hours to come up with an arrangement of a classic song and to hammer a radio-worthy performance into shape.
There was an element of risk.
Would there be any chemistry between the musicians? Would there be personality clashes? Would there be a collective willingness to experiment with the arrangement so that we could come up with a version of the song that stood apart from the original while still doing justice to John O’Neill’s writing?
This, to me, was far more interesting than the notion of bringing the two cultures together. It’s not that this isn’t a worthy and well-intentioned concept, and it is certainly worth noting that a lot of great work is carried out by community groups across the province, it is just that doing a one-off musical collaboration is unlikely to have any lasting impact.
Any perceived cultural divisions had absolutely no impact on our dynamic as a group and I, for one, never expected them to.
At this point, I realise I’ve spent a while talking about my feelings on the story behind the documentary. However, the point was just as much about what we came up with and the performance. The collaboration began with five strangers just talking about whether any of us had ever played the song before. Two of us had and in both cases, the arrangement and the tempo had been changed. We discussed whether any ideas could be taken from these arrangements and how the fiddle and pipes in particular, could be best utilised in our version.
Eventually, we decided on a slow, atmospheric intro before letting the song really take off for the second verse. We rattled through a couple of takes and decided to leave gaps for the pipes and the fiddle to shine. The drum seemed most effective when kept simple, although we tried a number of things before coming to this conclusion. Given more time, of course, we could have ironed out some of the rougher aspects of the arrangement but the time limit was part of the challenge and part of what made the whole thing such an exciting process.
The following day, we had a last run through our arrangement of Teenage Kicks before playing it for a small invited audience. The result was to be aired a few days later on Radio 1 just after Zane Lowe’s show.
Having now heard the broadcast, I am quite proud of our arrangement and the reaction to it but more than this, I feel that the overall experience was a hugely positive one. I got to meet a bunch of very talented people and work with them on a song I love anyway. Good times!
Wonderful Buzz Around The City
For the last week or so Radio One have been in town broadcasting shows, running workshops and putting on gigs in the Nerve Centre. It has created a wonderful buzz around the city and, of course, all this has been leading up to One Big Weekend.
The line up may not be particularly to my taste. The mainstream music I listen to has grown up now. It could grow a beard if it wanted to but prefers to shave every day before donning a most respectable shirt and tie and it now resides in a leafy and tranquil part of town called Radio 2. Sometimes it makes me feel old and a little sad, but ya like what ya like!
Of course, the line-up not being my cup of tea is certainly not to say it’s bad. Actually, objectively speaking, it’s fantastic. No marquee act like Beyonce or The Foo Fighters but it’s still an incredibly solid bill which caters for a wide range of tastes. For the indie kids, there’s Foals, Vampire Weekend and Biffy Clyro, for the pop tarts, they’ve got The Script, Little Mix and Bruno Mars.
For those who prefer their music a little more beats-oriented, there’s Pete Tong, Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris. Rig Sy, the presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s Across the Line, mentioned in his column for The Daily Mirror that his only real criticism of the event was the lack of any up and coming local artist. I would second this. The talent is undoubtedly here.
However, Radio One’s presence in the city can only be a great thing. It is positive publicity and people all over the UK and Ireland will travel to Derry to be a part of it with plenty more at home listening online and on the radio wishing they were here.
Personally, I won’t be at any of the concerts in the three day event. I gave my Friday tickets to my sister and my new band, We Are Aerials, is playing on Saturday in an event which will run parallel to One Big Weekend. This has been arranged locally to promote local artists and has been cheekily dubbed North by North West.
We’re on around 6 and even though it’s going to be a fantastic night, much as I like Little Bear, I don’t care if they raise Jimi Hendrix from the dead to play a guest solo on ‘I’d Let You Win’, I’ll be damned if I’m missing the Champions League final. By Christ, I love football!
‘WE ARE AERIALS’ CAN BE DISCOVERED ON SOUNDCLOUD AND FACEBOOK.
DEBUT ALBUM DUE IN SEPTEMBER.
CONOR MCATEER’S SOLO MUSIC CAN BE HEARD HERE
