Is the Dublin music scene dead ?

marc benham

Here is the story i am a guitar player trying to get a band together for a very longtime,with no success at all.
bass player are impossible to find and the few remaining can't play properly
or want to only play for paid cover band work!
and if they says they are interested they don't have the time to work with you properly cause they are involves with another dozen bands at the same time !
Drummers are easier to find but a guitarist and a drummer on their own can get bored very quick if there is no bass or other guitar,keyboard to underline the chord progression.
my things is original instrumental melodic blues rock so a singer is not too much of an issue
unless i want also do covers of songs i love,talking about classic rock here
so to find a proper singer here is another story don't see too many of them either.

Who is or what is to blame
Is playing instrument becoming a lost art because of the x factor pop crap ?
did MTV pop soft porn killed it with the new generations ?
Is it that Dublin or Ireland is to small to find proper musicians ?
Or is it the fact that i am too old and fat to be considered at all ?
Or it is because the music i love is not fashionable ?

listen to it on http://www.myspace.com/marcbenham77

and if you think of other reasons then tell me

cheers Marc.

The Gibzilla

I think your thread title is a bit misleading you seem to be having problems recruiting some band members which has nothing to do with Dublin's music scene it more so has to do with an individuals dedication to starting a band. Dublin's music scene is far from dead there's bands playing gigs on the circuit every night of the week and IMO some great ones too.
x factor and mtv are not to blame for you not finding musicians you can jam with. They merely supply the watered down pop music for the mainstream market.

My advice would be to keep looking and to make the best with what you can get.

marc benham wrote: »

a guitarist and a drummer on their own can get bored very quick if there is no bass or other guitar,keyboard to underline the chord progression.

What about the "White Stripes"?

Bipolar Joe

The problem is that people think playing guitar and drums are all about "HEY, I'MMA FRIGGIN' RAWK STAR! BEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWDOODLEYDOODLEYDOODLEYBAWAOWAOWAOWAOW!!!!" and playing bass is all "I wish I was Kenny G. BowbowbowbowBOWBOWBOWBOWbowbowbowbow." They're more likely to pick up a guitar, or take up drums, before the idea of playing bass even comes into their heads.

Quick test for everyone reading. Name five rock guitarists. Name five rock drummers. Name five rock bassists. If you managed that, which took longer?

I suggest learning the bass, you'll soon find yrself inundated with people looking for you to join their bands and ****.

Bottom line, everyone wants to be Mr. Rock Star, and playing bass doesn't seem very rock star to most people.

Rigsby

I agree with most comments so far. IMO the music scene itself has nothing to do with your problem. It is generally accepted that bassists are the hardest to come by. In general a bassist gets the least attention in a band, while the guitarist hogs the spot light. Hence, not too many take it up. Those that do, mainly do so because it is considered an "easy" instrument to play. It is not as easy as they may think, and you said yourself, that those you did find, could not play properly.

My only advice is to keep trying. Also, you might have more luck on ;

www.gumtree.ie


Good luck with it.

MilanPan!c

Hey man,

I hope you're not offended by this, that's certainly not my intention, just trying to answer your specific question.

The reasons are probably:

-The music style is a bit out dated.
-Even if it wasn't, if I went to hear your tunes, I would immediately close the page as soon as I saw you going on about Christianity. It's good to believe something, but people don't want to be judged or lectured to.
-Finally, you're a bit old to be starting a band (which sucks for you, I know - and it's stupid, but true). Most people online looking for bands are not in their 50s.

So, musical style, religious pressures, age.

That's my honest feedback. None of it is meant to offend and all is obviously my opinion.

Good luck!

bluefinger

The Gibzilla wrote: »

What about the "White Stripes"?

or the black keys, or death from above, or tenacious d. there's plenty more i'm sure

MilanPan!c

Umm... Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Rigsby

MilanPan!c wrote: »

-Finally, you're a bit old to be starting a band

Has not been a problem for Homesick Steve. AFAIK, he only became really well known in recent years.

guitarzero

1stly I want to say that I've never been as impressed by a myspace link in my life. Often bands big talk their way through posts then click the myspace and its the most underwhelming pill of cr*p. So well done, you're kick ass musician - Heavenly Shores and First Love especially, excellent...
The Bassist part, well, its as easy as asking yourself why YOU didnt take up bass .
I think if there is chemistry between musicians I dont think how many of them playing together really matters, be it just a singer+guitarist or guitarist+drummer, I think it boils down to your style and chemistry, the later which can very hard to find for some (me :mad:!).
As far as the music scene goes I think we all feel it differently. For example if you wanted to set up an Indie band or just do covers then I think you'd be gigging by the weekend, if you wanted to start a metal band you could just walk past central bank on a Saturday and start mingling. It really depends on what you are looking for.
Also, I find most people wanting to play an instrument dont do it for music, expression or creativity. To me they do it singularly for applause, the attention, getting laid, etc so learn a couple of Libertines covers and mesh around with their sound for a few "original" songs and you have yourself a few busy weekends of Battle of the Bands and wee taste of what it must have been like for the greats in their early years.

I asked myself the same question with regards to the music scene but I havent been around long enough to know how it was in the 80's, I'm 28. Things have changed and not for the better in my opinion, how many bands these days will sell out big arenas over America and Europe? Not as many as the previous decades for sure. Whether its to do with lack of input from Labels, myspace, that you can get away with being blatantly derivative, a culture of conformity, lack of creative drugs, flouride in the water, increasing passivity in people, lack of inspiration, I dont know but there seemed to be something in the air in the previous decades that resonates just as loud today yet what we have today is forgotten in a week. A contentious topic that would be worth a thesis.

If you're still looking for a someone to at least jam with then let me know, I'm a guitarist, I have no Jamming or Band practice but it could be good!

Rigsby

guitarzero wrote: »

If you're still looking for a someone to at least jam with then let me know

+1.


I am a bassist with a little band and jamming experience. Whatever I lack in experience, I make up for in enthusiasm.

discobeaker

bluefinger wrote: »

or the black keys, or death from above, or tenacious d. there's plenty more i'm sure

Wham!!!

Rigsby

The Gibzilla wrote: »

What about the "White Stripes"?

bluefinger wrote: »

or the black keys, or death from above, or tenacious d. there's plenty more i'm sure

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Umm... Ned's Atomic Dustbin

discobeaker wrote: »

Wham!!!

Yeah guys, I think we get the message.


It's just that music minus bass is not everyone's cup of tea.

Sandvich

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

The problem is that people think playing guitar and drums are all about "HEY, I'MMA FRIGGIN' RAWK STAR! BEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWDOODLEYDOODLEYDOODLEYBAWAOWAOWAOWAOW!!!!" and playing bass is all "I wish I was Kenny G. BowbowbowbowBOWBOWBOWBOWbowbowbowbow." They're more likely to pick up a guitar, or take up drums, before the idea of playing bass even comes into their heads.

Quick test for everyone reading. Name five rock guitarists. Name five rock drummers. Name five rock bassists. If you managed that, which took longer?

I suggest learning the bass, you'll soon find yrself inundated with people looking for you to join their bands and ****.

Bottom line, everyone wants to be Mr. Rock Star, and playing bass doesn't seem very rock star to most people.

Hah, quite true. Personally I love music with good bass work. The thing is that bass isn't always "necessary" for rock music, you can get away with synth bass and I think that's fine too and it's likely what I'll do for my own music to give it an electronic feel and avoid buying a bass and amp, kill two birds. But some people do such amazing stuff with Bass, I wish people realised that just because it's low down doesn't mean it has to be indistinct.

Part of the problem I think is with companies that make the gear. Bass amps nowadays are generally all trying to get that super clear, solid state sound. Even though SS guitar amps have come along way in replicating tube tone, most SS Bass amps don't bother to emulate a nice dirty bass tone.

When I first picked up a bass and realised how much more articulate it was and that "tone is in the fingars" actually has some relevance, I thought why would anyone ever want to use Bass distortion. Then, of course, I realised some of my favourite tracks were using awesome Bass fuzz/distortion. Passing a dirt box through a full range speaker will sound like **** so it's not a solution. Bass amps aren't quite full range but some still have tweeters, tweeters and distortion do not mix. Though I've heard some good "almost full range fuzz tones" in industrial/electronic rock, it can ruin the tone too.

For example Bauhaus's "Double Dare" had an amazing bass tone. In their live album from 98, Gotham, a lot of the guitar tone was improved, it still had that clangy quality but was fuller and more rockin'. The distorted bass on this track however, sounded much worse. Why? There was too much high end and it sounded stupid. Even if you turn down the "treble" on an amp, that doesn't always get rid of the fizz(anyone with a modeler that models a Dual Rec will tell you this), and also controls a fairly wide band of frequencies, you'll get a much darker tone. Some bass amps do have separate high mid and treble controls in fairness, but that could still sound watery.

Limiting yourself to one "almost flat response but not quite" tone, even if it gives you a lot of opportunities for your "Playing" to shine through isn't always a good idea. There need to be more "Iconic" bass amps I think. Also with Bass, you need a bigger setup. You can get away with a small bass amp but it won't sound as good, whereas you can get "authentic" guitar tones out of a Fender Champ with a tiny speaker. The weight of Bass rigs has been dealth with(but again, only if you want that "one sound")

Someone needs to make a Bass and Bass amp that's the "equivalent" of playing a Les Paul through a cranked Marshall stack.

Sandvich

bluefinger wrote: »

or the black keys, or death from above, or tenacious d. there's plenty more i'm sure

Just because music doesn't need bass guitar doesn't mean bass isn't still important. Plenty of music doesn't have electric guitar either. Rock music is of course focused on the electric guitar, so it'll generally be necessary.

A lot of these have bass added in with the recordings anyway, and have session bassists live.

AnonymousPrime

Who is to blame?

marc benham wrote: »

Is playing instrument becoming a lost art because of the x factor pop crap ?

If anything I would say the XFactor adds to the music scene: it gets rid of the get rich quick folk who you want to stay clear of anyway.

marc benham wrote: »

did MTV pop soft porn killed it with the new generations ?

Thats kind of the same question again. I am personally more concerned about the "Stone Roses" generation

marc benham wrote: »

Is it that Dublin or Ireland is to small to find proper musicians ?

The size doesn't help, but more than that, I would suggest that young people have have such a diverse range of pastimes nowadays, and playing music is falls off the radar for those who aren't serious and talented enough to want to break out of the rhythm section (I'm not having a go at basists, but merely observing the reality of the situation)

marc benham wrote: »

Or is it the fact that i am too old and fat to be considered at all ?

It certainly has an effect. When creating a band, musicians (myself included) like to get people at the same stage in life with the same goals.

marc benham wrote: »

Or it is because the music i love is not fashionable ?

What recently released first or second albums sound like yours?

I personally think your music needs accompaniment to be judged fairly, so with that said.....good luck.

(maybe try to coral some cover musicians into a pub band before suggesting a jamming session?)

marc benham

Tanks for all of your feedbacks after further though the music scene is not dead just very different from what i was used to!
the 70's and 80's rock were my time!
did the sex and drug stuff but played not too well in thoses day's.
Still getting better at it !
so that what happen with age,new fashion comes and goes and then you find out that you are not really interrested in what's going on anymore!
Sure L.A will be more easy to find musicians than Dublin!
but i love it here and i am married with a kid!
The fact is that games are also a big influence in the last 20 years and many kids prefer that than sitting down learning an instrument!
looking to be famous seems to be more important than the music itself for many!
Actually i don't even care anymore about getting a band now i got a boss me 70 for different sounds and a boss rc2 looper for drums loop,guitar backing tracks and even bass sound from guitar if i want!
A lot's of fun not as good as real people but at least i can't argue with it
and then turn on with no drama every time i feel like it

Take care all and cheers!

jazzme

The band-in-a-box software is great for jamming by yourself. I use it a lot especially there are not much jazz players around.

Hussler

Hi Marc,
Bass player here. You find any musicians yet? I'd be interested in having a jam if you could get a singer on board to mix covers with originals. Also know a drummer who might be interested. Were both working full time so could only commit weekends. Where you based?

PM me if you want more info.

Hussler

.....never mentioned were a bit on the old side and a bit on the experienced side too!!!! (40+). Haven't played that much for the last 10 yrs but have been keeping the hand in.....