This is a “warm up” post for a much more important readership. Today I am giving both barrels to unsigned bands who play warm up shows. You, and possibly your management, brought this on yourselves.
You should be aware that this is not a real blogpost. This is merely a “warm up” post for a much more important readership on a bigger website.
A readership that I want you to know is far more important than you are, reading this right now from your less important status as a reader of this tiny, insignificant blog.
Do you see how utterly pompous, self-important and ridiculous that sounds?
That’s how many Scottish unsigned bands sound right now with their pluggery of T in the Park festival “warm up” shows.
You’re not playing the main stage guys, and unless you’ve got major production values to organise then you should take a long hard look at yourselves. Is it any wonder the average sound engineer who does live venues has a long list of stories about how much ego-tripping some unsigned bands embark on.
This is cringeworthy behaviour that no doubt your management has suggested as being the professional (!) way to approach your career (!).
When I mentioned warm up shows by unsigned bands on Twitter this morning, tech writer Gary Marshall had this response:
And podcast host Alex made this observation:
I’m going out now to see Ghost Mice (USA) so I’ll continue this later. Wonder if theirs is a warm up show for a real audience, one worthy of hearing their creative genius?
POST-SHOW: that was fun. Probably scrawl a few words down tomorrow. Reading this post back, it boils down to people who don’t know any better trying to be “professional”. What you have to realise is that the music comes first, everything else is just different grades of bullshit.
If you don’t write truly amazing music (art) or make best friends forever with the industry’s most influential bean counters (commerce), it won’t matter how professional you think you are. You’re on the wrong path.
As a wise man once said, PLAY FROM YOUR FUCKING HEART.
I do recall a band being to play an itm? show and they replied “that’d be a good warmup for out tuts gig later in the month”.
We found an excuse to not book them after all.