Is there a true Dublin Music Scene?

EGerardB

OK, just to set the context, I am doing a Case Study for my final year in college.

The subject of the case study is "The Gap between why there is no proper Dublin Scene but there is more than enough infrastructure to create one."

So, I want to hear your opinions. If you disagree then please comment, opposing opinions will probably be even more useful. What bands define Dublin today if any? What genre can be said to be 'of Dublin'? Or if you agree, please offer your opinion too. I am well aware that there are several mini-movements in Dublin right now, but I'm interested in the BIG picture.

Cheers :cool:

MilanPan!c

EGerardB wrote: »

OK, just to set the context, I am doing a Case Study for my final year in college.

The subject of the case study is "The Gap between why there is no proper Dublin Scene but there is more than enough infrastructure to create one."

So, I want to hear your opinions. If you disagree then please comment, opposing opinions will probably be even more useful. What bands define Dublin today if any? What genre can be said to be 'of Dublin'? Or if you agree, please offer your opinion too. I am well aware that there are several mini-movements in Dublin right now, but I'm interested in the BIG picture.

Cheers :cool:

I think that subject doesn't make any sense...?

The Gap between:

why there is no proper Dublin Scene but there is more than enough infrastructure to create one


AND...?


If you restate that so I understand it (not trying to be smart here) I'll happily give my perspective...

EGerardB

OK, well I'm an working on the assumption that there are more than enough resources to maintain an active scene, between record labels, studios, venues, managers, agencies, etc. But there does not appear to be an identifiable 'Dublin Sound' if you like. Think in terms of the Seattle grunge scene or the Manchester Britpop scene, very definite styles associated with particular cities.

The 'gap' is: there can and should be a Dublin Sound, but there does not appear to be. Why is this the case?

Does that make things clearer?

Technocentral

Absolutely, take a look at the weekly music listings, loads of great Dublin bands of all genres playing together and individually on a regular basis. A lot of them in places like The Workman's Club, The Grand Social, Twisted Pepper etc plus with 100 Irish bands playing at HWCH this year, I would say its a very healthy scene.:)

Just seen your last post, If I was to define it I would say nowadays most bands are a mix of a huge amount of influences so its harder to pin down a definitive scene, lots would mix indie, electronica, classical and hip hop influences in the one band.

EGerardB

Technocentral wrote: »

Just seen your last post, If I was to define it I would say nowadays most bands are a mix of a huge amount of influences so its harder to pin down a definitive scene, lots would mix indie, electronica, classical and hip hop influences in the one band.

I agree, its a very eclectic mix and it makes it exciting to be a music fan in Dublin, so no complaints there at all. Part of me thinks that if there indeed was one single genre associated with Dublin that it would be stifling for musicians. So the fact that so many smaller scenes can exist simultaneously is quite a healthy situation.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Technocentral

EGerardB wrote: »

I agree, its a very eclectic mix and it makes it exciting to be a music fan in Dublin, so no complaints there at all. Part of me thinks that if there indeed was one single genre associated with Dublin that it would be stifling for musicians. So the fact that so many smaller scenes can exist simultaneously is quite a healthy situation.

Plus with nearly every genre ever having already been invented its much harder to be truly innovative as lots of it is tied in with technology , for example the invention of amplification led to rock and its off shoots, synths led to Kraftwerk and all electronic pop and dance music, samplers led to Hip Hop and Techno etc then mixing guitars and electronics like New Order did created the Manchester scene of the 90s, Happy Mondays Portsishead, Massive Attack etc.

D

In my opinion there is an active music scene in Dublin. There are loads of little studios dotted all over the place, with many pumping out albums from start up and established bands.

Sacksian

EGerardB wrote: »

OK, well I'm an working on the assumption that there are more than enough resources to maintain an active scene, between record labels, studios, venues, managers, agencies, etc. But there does not appear to be an identifiable 'Dublin Sound' if you like. Think in terms of the Seattle grunge scene or the Manchester Britpop scene, very definite styles associated with particular cities.

The 'gap' is: there can and should be a Dublin Sound, but there does not appear to be. Why is this the case?

Does that make things clearer?

You're right that there are more than enough resources in Dublin.

But the Seattle grunge scene or Manchester Britpop scenes were just a microcosm of the activity that was going on in each of those cities at the time. Generally, any "sound" or "scene" is, for the most part, a narrative invented by the media. That's not a criticism or cynicism, it's a fairly natural development.

What usually happens is that there is a breakout band from a given city, labels/managers/media then go to that place - they'll often focus then on similar bands because it's easier to promote them in terms of a bigger picture. Obviously, in a lot of cases, the subsequent bands will be friends/associates of the original band (because they have similar influences, like similar music, play the same venues, etc) but it can create a feedback loop where you then get younger bands aping earlier bands (and that then gets pretty tired fairly quickly).

One factor to consider relates to the size of the independent/alternative market here (in terms of consumption). It's a bit like the League of Ireland. It's generally not large enough to sustain enough activity to stop promising bands often moving to the UK, thus cutting themselves off from any scene that might develop around them (but also isolating themselves from a supportive environment). If they sign to a UK label and stay in Dublin, they can lose visibility within the label, so when the annual cull of bands comes, they might need to significantly outperform their UK counterparts to avoid getting dropped. Both scenarios are a regular occurrence for a lot of interesting indie bands that came from Dublin and went to the UK.

So, eh, post-colonialism is one answer, I guess.

There's not enough of an indigenous record industry or support for one (most music played on the radio is not Irish, for example) - I've often thought that some Irish bands that get promoted here and signed by the Irish arms of major labels are signed because they sound a bit like the latest flavour of the month in the UK or US (i.e. they're primed for export). Always seems a bit reactive, which isn't really a sustainable strategy for bands and musicians, but presumably covers the cost for the labels or they wouldn't be doing it.

The difference between Dublin and a lot of famous "scenes" is that, with the latter, there has typically been one (or two) independent record labels that had an interest in sustaining the scene locally, and were capable of doing so, which we really don't have. We have some really good independent labels but they don't have the resources (or the support) to get their bands on to tv/radio.

Another interesting thing I've found about Dublin is that, generally, you get a lot of fairly mixed bills and friends across genres, so there's less coherence between bands, even those who might constitute a "scene" - which makes it harder to generate the momentum required to maintain that sense of a "scene". Which relates to the original point about the narrative that's constructed by the media.

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Heisenberg. wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I don't see how, but we'll let it run.

Technocentral

Jaelynn Fluffy Boardroom wrote: »

I don't see how, but we'll let it run.

I totally agree, its more a question music fans would have an insight on than people who post general stuff about Dublin. First time I have ever looked at Dublin forum tbh (fine as it is of course).

Turpentine

Technocentral wrote: »

Plus with nearly every genre ever having already been invented its much harder to be truly innovative as lots of it is tied in with technology , for example the invention of amplification led to rock and its off shoots, synths led to Kraftwerk and all electronic pop and dance music, samplers led to Hip Hop and Techno etc then mixing guitars and electronics like New Order did created the Manchester scene of the 90s, Happy Mondays Portsishead, Massive Attack etc.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899.

Technocentral

Turpentine wrote: »

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899.

I didnt say it was impossible just more difficult.

The Scientician

Dublin has a scene or a number of them. Creating a "sound" would result in unnecessary homogenisation of bands, or lots of bands copying a few. That wouldn't be very interesting. I think electropop, indie pop, and folk are all pretty big in Dublin. And there's of course scenes that aren't confined but do centre on Dublin like the Richter Collective and the Popical Island Collective.

CianRyan

There's more than one scene in Dublin with piles and piles of bands.
I've spent my time in it and it's very alive.

http://www.moshspace.com is a decent place for finding out about bands/gigs in Dublin. It's predominately Hardcore, Punk and Metal stuff on there. Not a lot of anything else.

Edit: I should say, there's some NSFW stuff on that site and there's also a lot of arse wipes.