Is this it?

Gary D

I was just wondering can bands gigging around Dublin expect to get much bigger than playing a few gigs in the tbmc. or Whelans or perhaps goin on an irish tour? This is not a statement its a question so please dont start an argument with me.

I'm not undermining bands playing around Dublin at the moment as there are some brilliant bands that are alot better than the bands NME and hotpress try and flog to us, but i was at the doves last friday and the support were a band called The Thrills and as far as i know there from Dublin, yet i had never seen or heard of them playin gigs around Dublin but there fairly well known in Britain thanks to NME no doubt.

Anyway the question is do a band have travel overseas to receive any majorish success?

Tyrrial

well, i'm not sure if this is what you need to hear but Turn play a lot of Dublin Gigs and you gotta be crazy not to have heard somthing about them

Trev M

The Thrills oh Gawwwwdddd!

Gary D

I,ve seen Turn before and there a really good band, but i,ve heard the bassist is joining Idlewild which kinda backs up the whole 'your as big as you can hope to get' as Idlewild are a more commercially sucessful band,and i dont see why he would leave unless there was a disagreement or sometin.

polarbelly

i reckon (well, hope is probably a better word) that if you're good enough, no matter where you're playing you'll get noticed soon enough

yes the name is idealistic mick

the fnj

The problem is there is a difference between being good and being good enough.

There are plenty of good bands around this city but to be honest a lot of them will never make it because their missing that mystery X factor that some bands just have.

When Turn first arrived on the scene everybody who saw them said they were something special, people just knew they were going to go far. I know they didn't go as far as they should have, but they were dreadfully unlucky..

Same goes for Nirvana in the states, when they were starting everybody who saw them knew there was something special there.

If you are good enough you will eventually get noticed playing around Dublin and you will get A&R people knocking on your door.

Cozpyro

Most A&R cost record companies more in expenses than the bands they sign can make!!!

To add to the problem at the moment most record companies are only signing about two bands are year. Do the math. You have to be something special and in the right place at the right time.

There are other routes available than getting signed to a major but it can be heartbreaking and expensive.

You just gotta keep at in a love what you're doing. If its meant to be and all that....

Thomas from Presence

Bands in DUblin need to get out of Dublin. Professionalism abroad (States and UK) would wipe the floor with the creme de la creme of Dublins live scene.

There's just over 1 million people living in Dublin. If you rise to the top of the London scene (10 million+ people) then thats something that would get ya noticed. Dublin is too safe for its bands. Use it to fund your expeditions abroad and if you succeed in a bigger city then you have a hope of being noticed. Bands who live out there careers in Dublin are destined to appear on 'Tom Dunne Presents' show with The Revs, Something Happens and their other could-have-been chums.

Gary D

Unfortunately it doesnt really sound that encouraging.

the66electric

Get the **** out of here, that's my only advice.

Morn

Looking at purely numbers-wise how many cities are there in England that are bigger than Dublin? Plenty - whereas in Ireland they only get smaller - a lot smaller. In Dublin there are an awful lot of bands competing for a relatively small audience.

I personally think it's a good place to learn your trade as it were. There's no point in going abroad if you haven't got your act together! So think of Dublin as a training ground but the likelihood of anything much happening on a large scale is fairly remote...

DerekD Goldfish

The reason that the thrill's got noticed in england was that morrissey said they were great and got them to support them on his uk tour. Heard the single its ok but nothing special

Tyrrial

i'm just thinking....
it can't be perticularly bad to get noticed in Ireland.
well, most people's tastes are up the ásses, but i would like to think that it's just as difficult/easy as in any other contry...

i really don't know.... do you?

polarbelly

i've been talking to a guy in an english band recently and it seems to me that the road over there to "success"* is a very different one than it is over here

in england it seems that if you're good you get snapped up by the scouts (ie. the small independent labels) who then kinda sell ya on to the bigger labels, or something along those lines.

thats what happened with elbow anyhow




*depends on what you define success as obviously but in the trend of the this thread i reckon its big label success is what we're on about

the66electric

Elbow are the ****ing business. 'Scattered black and whites' is one of my all time greats.

I like things...

Raggamuffin

Yeah but to be perfectly honest if your a really good band i hardly think dublin will hold you back.

the only thing is that this so called music scene will hold you back.

Its must be awful for phantom having to play such dreadful irish artists (david kitt, bellX1) because after all their music policy is irish friendly which is a very good thing.

however i'm confused, some bands like the dudley corporation have managed to get a deal in the US and i don't really hear them that frequently on phantom.

I'm not taking a dig at phantom but to be honest if your a good band you'll be recognised by somebody.

Look at the way queens of the stone age were signed by pearl jam's bassist to his label.
Or Sonic Youth bringing nirvana on tour with them.

Not one irish band contained within the gigsmart/phantom circle has managed to rise above in order to become a dominant band and command respect internationally.

I'm not saying irish artists suck (gemma hayes for instance is just as good as some of her american counterparts) but Dublin won't hold you back aslong as you ignore it.

Dublin bands (i cna't really comment on bands form the rest of the country) lack originality.

the strokes, the datsuns, the hives, the vines all of them, just rubbish tools of a struggling music industry.

BEing a popular band in a scene does'nt mean your good, it just means people find it hard to tell you that your not very original.

Raggamuffin

and whats this "success"


just be quiet and practice

polarbelly

Originally posted by Raggamuffin
and whats this "success"


just be quiet and practice

read the full post

Morn

The Thrills didn't have to go to England to get noticed... they used to be called Freelance and played round Dublin a few years back and they just sent their CD off to Dreamworks...

Then Dreamworks wrote back saying they'd forgotten to include an actual CD with the package - they'd just received a box!

It all went on from there. Anything else they've done is all record company driven.

crashtestmonkey

Well, I tell you what. I worked for Universal Music Group (MCA, Island, Dreamworks), and we signed alot more than two bands a year, but maybe only two to three new bands had a hit single to get them nationally or internationally recognized. All the rest just kinda got lost and used as a tax write off (trail of the dead, deadsy, injected, and pseudopod to mention a few).
I think, no matter what, as a band, you cannot give up. Even if you do get signed and then thrashed, doesn't mean you are a bad band, just maybe not with the right label. The labels would rather not gamble their money away, so they keep pushing the successful bands, therefore minimizing the PR machine for the smaller new bands.
Keep practicing, use the internet to your advantage, and tour, even if it costs you everything. Dublin might be hard to get out of, but if you shine there, people will notice.
I'm in the same boat, but my band plays in Los Angeles, where there are over 10,000 bands all trying to do the same thing. Plus, it's hard to build a good following out here, because only musicians and industry go out to shows in L.A. Right place, right time is dead on.
Oh yeah, ELbow rocks, but they are not so big here in the states. Coldplay kinda controls that niche.
www.untyde.com

Shorty

Originally posted by crashtestmonkey
All the rest just kinda got lost and used as a tax write off (trail of the dead, deadsy, injected, and pseudopod to mention a few).

What?! What happened? I haven't followed this band in a while. But they released one of the best albums of this year. And are a rare example of a band going from an indie to a major and still keeping integrity.

o sleep

Originally posted by Morn
The Thrills didn't have to go to England to get noticed... they used to be called Freelance and played round Dublin a few years back and they just sent their CD off to Dreamworks...

Then Dreamworks wrote back saying they'd forgotten to include an actual CD with the package - they'd just received a box!

It all went on from there. Anything else they've done is all record company driven.

i'd say changing their name to 'the thrills' helped too. it seems like if you don't want to be a failure anymore, you have to call your band something along the lines of the strokes or the hives or whatever. you just won't get signed otherwise.

crashtestmonkey

Trail of the Dead fell off big time. I was following them on my A&R list of sales, and they sold only about 10,000 albums, and that was after a huge tour. They even played Jay Leno, yet, their sales may have dropped that week. There was a large buzz about them among musicians, but who knows, maybe they were hurt by internet downloads? Or maybe they are not a general public kinda band.

Shorty

But they haven't broken up or anything? Who do you work for now crashtestmonkey, if you don't work for universal anymore?

Candice

id advise people to go to france cuz the french music scene is so bad that even if youre half descent, they think you rock.

an example,
i've been playing gigs in dublin for over 4 years now, and sure ive had some interest, but thats in 4 years!!, now im buskig in france and on a DAILY basis, people approach me who want to work with me and record me. ive been here for three weeks, and ive already got something big in the pipelines(which im not going to disclose).

therefore i think that it is definately good to get out of ireland for a while. the scene there is too inbred, and unappreciative (as a generalisation)

the66electric

France eh? Would never have thought of that one. But there is definately a culture of musical 'in breeding' as you put it. Our escape has been planned from this creative bastille. Hopefully for the last 6 months of 2002 will be spent in London.

Morn

Last six months of 2002 eh 66e? Working on that time machine are ya

And o sleep - they didn't get signed after changing their name - the way I heard it was they were picked up as freelance - but they'd been dissatisfied with the name for a while - when the actual contract signing came they panicked and went with Cheating Housewives instead - seriously! Eventually they calmed down and agreed on the Thrills. To be honest I was always fond of the name Freelance - One of the first gigs I ever went to was to see them in the Blue Room off Capel street in my misspent youth...

the66electric

Too much booze for me. I, of course, meant 2003.

I used to help run the Blue Room with a bloke i knew. Me barely out of school. Ah those halcyon days...

crashtestmonkey

Shorty,
I got laid off right before christmas, those fu**s! Anyways, I'm over at the evil mouse (disney) and just trying to get it done on the streets for the band. We got a few big shows coming up and have someone pushing us to some A&R's for January, and also some radio play starting January, so who know what could happen.
I don't think Trail Of the Dead would break up over non-commercial success.:D

www.untyde.com

Shorty

You're in Untyde? You're in the USA? How did you find out about Phantom?

I don't think Trail Of the Dead would break up over non-commercial success.

Phew! That's okay!

You seem like your determined to get signed, so good luck with that.

Splinters

maybe im the only one who thinks the scene here isnt all that bad, well it at least has the potential to be dam good anyway. theres some cool venues around like dorans and the music centre that are very easy to get gigs in, admittly this does sometimes lead to fairly crap bands playing but it does also allow good bands to be heard without having to have a large following or a record deal first. i lived in luton for a good few years and ive seen the london scene and i assure you its not all that better than here. firstly the general standard of bands is considerably higher meaning venues and promoters can be very unwilling to give new bands a chance. for a small band to get a gig in a venue in london thats equivelant to the music centre its sooooooo much harder. i dont claim to know too much about the rate of bands getting signed etc over here but it does seem to be quite low, but saying that i could probably count only 5 or 6 bands ive heard on the local circuit that i thought were actually good enough to be signed. i recently heard a guy in bruxelles slagging off the dublin scene and he was going on about the **** attendance of his bands gig and that they put a few flyers around and spread the word about it etc etc, but i know this guys band hasnt got a demo put out and the majority of people who could have been potentialially in attendance wouldnt have a clue who this band are or what they sound like, so what the **** did he expect? i think if a band are truly good enough and go about things the right way really i dont see why dublin would hold them back. another point but one thats not exclusive to dublin is that with so much rock music making the charts over the last 2 or so years there is a very large young alternative scene in dublin, this means that in 2 or 3 years time when a lot of the kids who hang around temple bar look old enough to get into over 18's venues there could be a significantly larger crowds going to check out new bands and could make the scene a lot stronger. i might be wrong though

crashtestmonkey

SHorty
Yeah I'm in Untyde, and yes we are in the states. I happened across Phantom by browsing with Window's media player radio tuner. Saw that it said Dublin, and was interested to see what kind of music they preferred to play. Not half bad! Lot of bands I've never heard of, but that's kinda what I was looking for.
We are trying to get signed, it's really the only way to be able to go on tour unless you want to starve to death. Plus, I live on L.A., and it's a miracle if you can live on what you make by playing if you are not signed. Plus I think everyone wants to see their face on the Tv and buy a house for their mothers and play around with supermodels, right?:D
You ever hear of "The Exies?" Just saw a video from them. Supposedly they are supposed to be the next biggest thing since Oasis. WTF, wonder who their spin doctor is.