The "frustrated musician" is a cliche
that many have heard at one time or another. I moved to Vancouver from
the Lancashire town of Wigan in the fall of 1981. Over the last
thirty-three years, I have stepped in and out of the local music scene.
In the 80's I was heavily involved in student radio, In 2000, after
having a family, I decided to immerse myself back in to music.
Since
September 2006 I have managed a band, I have booked gigs, rented
equipment, sorted transportation, I have hired people, fired people, had
people call me names and even had a bass player run off with my wife.
In the last 8 years I have had over 50 musicians go through my band. I
have booked dates for many other bands, I worked as a sound tech, stage
hand, I lugged gear at all levels and at all kinds of venues; I totally
love what I do and yet I continue to be frustrated by many aspects of
Vancouver's music scene.My first musical "moment" was seeing Status Quo
play "Down Down" on Top of the Pops in 1974. From that point on I knew I
wanted music in my life and I wanted music to be a major part of my
life. I came to believe the ultimate expression of musical appreciation
is to be a musician, sadly the worst and best part about being a
musician is usually other musicians !
However, music was not
first and foremost in my life. When I competed as an athlete it was
always about me. I had no one to rely on, no one else had to show up on
time. I trained alone for the most part and only teamed up with a coach
in the last few years. I am not a team player, I find the
inter-dependence on others very challenging, playing in a band is all
about dependence, whether it is to play the right notes at the right
time or show up on time or not hit on my wife.
Musicians
come from all walks of life and bring in to the room all kinds of life
experiences and not just musical. It's a miracle of human nature that
music can be created at all, somehow it magically gets created, recorded
and listened to and sometimes even played live. I often envy musicians
that can walk comfortably on stage and play a piece of music they have
never played, with musicians they have never met before, all from a
piece of paper, something I will never be able to do.
I
started in to live music as a teenager hanging out with friends who
played in a cover/cabaret band. I was a bit of a fifth wheel until the
band started playing the local Working Mens' Clubs in the north of
England. For most of 1979 to 1981 we were on the road in our old Transit
van, playing almost every weekend, I was their sound man and roadie. I
came to Vancouver expecting to do the same, it never happened and I'm
still waiting.It didn't take long to realise Vancouver was and still is
not the most friendly town in general and specifically when it comes to
music. My first memorable experience was getting kicked out of the
Pacific Colosseum by some union members at a Rod Stewart concert set up;
in my early 80's naivete little did I realise roadie work could
actually be unionised. As a result I got involved the with the student
radio station at Simon Fraser University and for eight years I hung out
with some great folks and interviewed many touring bands and performers.
I learned a lot about music, radio and eventually received my
Communications degree through SFU. Sure enough I watched many bands pass
through Vancouver on their way to some place else, however due to
certain factors Vancouver's own music scene had then and has now it's
own peculiar limitations.
So here are some factors that I
consider relative, in no particular order, to Vancouver's music scene -
the caveat is that none are 100% correct or accurate, this is just my
opinion – your personal experience may differ significantly.
1. Geography
- we are located in the corner of the continent - there are no major
populations to the north or west. Since 9-11 the route south is only
open to bands at a certain development level, eastward there are only
smaller towns and eventually Toronto. That is not to say the smaller
towns around in BC do not have their attraction for bands, the summer
outdoor concert venues are lucrative for certain styles, almost every
town has something going on. However, since these events are often weeks
apart with no midweek events, it is necessary to return to the home
base in Vancouver.
2. Distraction - Vancouver has lots of
other activities going on, be it sport and recreational and outdoor
based. Try playing a venue in Vancouver on a fireworks night or when a
hockey game is on. Music is only one of many activities on offer at any
given time. For most bands that do not have their own following, timing
your live event to not coincide with other big events is a skill. Venues
will give you the dates because they have a mandate to supply
entertainment regardless of what else is going on in the city – your
potential audience may have other ideas.
3. Weather -
every city has weather issues. They cannot be ignored - Vancouver
audiences don't mind the rain, the only exceptions are when the weather
drastically alters. For example if it has not rained in a week then all
of a sudden it rains for three days, people will stay home for the first
or second day then finally head out. Oppositely, after a long period of
rain people will head outdoors for an outdoor activity, before choosing
an indoor activity. Obviously, we cannot control the weather, however
taking it to consideration after a poorly attended gig or taking the
weather forecast in to consideration prior to the gig to add subsequent
promo time may be worth the extra effort.
4. Musical trends
- riding a musical trend is akin to surfing. In order to ride the trend
musicians naturally tweak their music, sometimes they gain more
audience, sometimes they lose it and re-tweak. I suppose a 100% true
"artist" performs and the audience accepts and applauds, for the rest of
us we seek to constant re-tweak our performance in order to find the
audience and develop our artistic skills. Vancouver has never really led
a musical trend, Vancouver has always followed. We have yet to see or
hear a musical style that wholly originates in the city, unlike
Seattle's grunge movement in the late 80's and 90's, it derived from
that city alone. Trends move in cycles, a trend in London or New York
may have a repercussive effect in Vancouver with some variant peculiar
to the west coast and some years later. It might be worth while to keep
up with musical trends in other cities to see what might happen in
Vancouver at some point.
5. Money - Vancouver is a very
expensive city to live in. Musicians have not seen a subsequent rise in
pay since the 1970's - average pay in 1975 was $100 per show per
musician, this has not changed. There are all kinds of theories about
how bands undersell themselves as they frequently do. The semi-pro scene
in Vancouver, where musicians have a regular day job, is reasonably
healthy, however the semi-pro scene does create its own vacuum. Many is
the time I have heard former pro musicians comment on how they had to
take on day jobs in order to keep playing. Of course many factors come
in to play to make this happen other than financial need. Musicians have
families and expectations change, couch surfing has its fiscal and
physical limitations - we eventually grow up ! There are very few true
professional musicians in Vancouver, those who are have been doing so
for 30 years or more and are trained through the various post-secondary
programs. It is not uncommon for a band leader to hire professional
musicians and lose money on the venture be it a recording or a live gig.
6. Venues
- in 1981 a decent cover band could play around the various pubs and
clubs in Greater Vancouver 4-5 nights per week. Those venues disappeared
in the late 80's and early 90's, more often than not were turned in to
strip bars. The removal of this "layer" took away a much needed
development step for Vancouver bands. Of course not all bands needed
this circuit and not all bands successfully moved out of it, however its
removal from the Vancouver music scene was significant at the time.
Ever since live music venues have continued to struggle with the massive
rents, distracted audiences and the rise of non-live music [dj's].
Venues come and go and venues for cover bands differ from venues for
original music. It is always a good policy to find the venues you want
to play, see what kind of music they favour and apply yourself. Be aware
that new venues are often managed by people who are new in to the
business and have little or no concept of what musicians do or how much
they cost. Most venues in Vancouver give the bands some proportion of
the door admission; most venues outside Vancouver pay a fee.
7. The Rise and Fall of the DJ
- arguably one of the more controversial aspects of live music, not
just in Vancouver but all over the world. Live music has always competed
with DJ's. Even back in 1970's in the UK, the DJ was considered rather
negatively by live musicians, a trend that continues today. In the last
thirty-five years DJ's have developed from mere players of records to
their own creative stream with various levels of creativity being
employed. DJ's saw a dramatic rise in popularity in the late 80's, no
doubt arguably related to two technological developments, the digital CD
and the development of the sub-woofer. Needless to say there are many
older musicians who remain baffled by the attraction of a lone figure on
a stage with a laptop a bit of smoke haze and some flashing lights. The
irony today is a "live" dj of any repute will cost a venue or promoter
far more than a live band to book. There are many venues in Vancouver
that are DJ only and it is ridiculous to suggest that live bands should
have a priority, human proclivity to change has determined otherwise. A
live band has never been able to compete with a dj, be it financially or
artistically. Even in its most simple form DJ's have less gear to work
with, they have less people to support [less stress] and overall can
travel from one venue to another relatively effortlessly and they have
access to far more music. There are numerous examples of live music
venues being turned in to dj only venues in Vancouver, musical trends
aside, escalating operational costs have pushed live musicians out of
the way for the fiscally conservative venue owner. However, the dj has
often priced him or herself out of the market and in doing so has
created a vacuum for live bands to fill. People in general prefer not to
hire themselves out for less over time; this puts the live band that
still pays $100 per musician is in a perfect position to get hired.
Venue bookers are now looking more to live bands that can be hired for
$500 than a dj for the same cost. Audiences are becoming more aware that
five musicians on a stage have more going on than the lone figure with a
laptop, some flashing lights and smoke haze.
8. The Vancouver TV and Movie industry
- artistic talent aside - the Vancouver film industry employs more
would-be musicians than any other industry combined. It is a natural
side-step for any musician to want to work in the film industry and it
is one industry most other North American cities do not have. There is a
finite human artistic resource in any given population, Vancouver's
artistic talent lies in the art of making television and movies. Had we
not focussed our film industry in the 80's our music industry would be
far more developed today. Considering all the artistic energy spent on
12-14 hour days, day in-day out on a movie set, there is little or no
spillover for music; there are simply not enough hours in the day to do
both. Needless to say the financial opportunities in the movie industry
far outweigh anything in the Vancouver music business.
9. The People
– Vancouver is a town made generally made up people from some place
else. This has an effect on the social strata of the city of which
musicians make up their part. However, musicians/people that were born
and raised in Vancouver generally have a deeper social network than
those who were not. As with other social groups musicians form
“cliques” and “networks” and it is not uncommon for such a network to be
formed around a venue/event and/or a musical style. For example there
is a significant Mod/Scooter crowd in town, they are very specific on
how they dress, how they travel and what music they listen to. If you
are not willing to adhere to their standards, you generally won't be
accepted in to their group. Musicians like to hangout with their peers,
this would involve musicians of a certain level of competency, musical
style and to some degree age, gender and ethnicity. Getting work through
a social network of musicians is as good as any source, if you become
accepted in to that network. The key is not to get frustrated and down
about the situation, start your own clique or scene at some venue or
other, amazingly people will show up !
10. YOUR ATTITUDE –
surprisingly, how you perceive and how you take in the Vancouver music
scene in turn reflects on how well you work with it. Many people simply
pack up and leave after a given amount of time; for various reasons I've
stayed in Vancouver. On the bad days I still want to leave for greener
pastures back in England and I regret the day I came here. Likewise, on
the good days when the sun is shining, the band is playing well and we
have an appreciative audience I'm very happy I came here. How you
perceive your experiences determines how you move on to the next. If you
continually blame the scene or other people, you must work to change
that. Your bass player may well be an asshole and he may well run off
with your wife at some point – my solution [after the initial shock]was
to wish them all the best and move on – it didn't last a year ! There
will always be musicians who can play better than you, have better
inter-personal skills, be better looking or drive a more fancy car -
LET IT GO
! Take small incremental steps to achieve your goals, make it happen,
use the positive support you have and run with it. This is not to say
you should ignore negative aspects, you still need to take them in to
consideration when making your next decision. In the process don't waste
time belittling others or approaching situations expecting a negative
outcome. I once put on a gig for three dj's where no audience members
turned up. I had to pay the sound tech $75 and I learned a significant
lesson in humility, there are no short cuts to a successful event.
If
you take in to consideration these factors you may still arrive at an
incomplete picture of the Vancouver music scene over the last thirty
years. Your personal experiences would be indeed different, however I
hope my personal experiences and perceptions have helped you in some
way.
Ian Gregson is a Vancouver based Musician/Actor/Author/Athlete/SoundTech/Podcaster/DJ and dad
Van City Soul Quartet http://vancitysoulquartet.com
East Van Soul Podcast http://eastvansoul.podomatic.com
Van City Indie Podcast http://vancityindie.podomatic.com
