There's a been a lot of talk this morning about the announced closing of Toronto music main-stays The Big Bop and The Cameron House. While I am saddened by this continuing trend, I am no more surprised to hear of this than I would to find snow on the ground any day now. I saw it coming, it was as predictable as the seasons.
A lot of people are blaming this on a down economy but economic conditions like these are merely catalysts to expose who is running a legitimate business with value to the consumer and who is just catching financial shrapnel of a boom economy.
So I'm going to cut and paste some Facebook comments I made this morning that I think do a good job of explaining how I feel about the state of the 'product' that is the indie rock.
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This is what happens when we continue to devalue the live music product. No one can make a living, not the bands and apparently not the bars. It's going to be ugly for a while stilll. We're going to lose bands, good ones, bands that 10 years ago would have been signed and moving toward a career. Similarly we're going to lose once viable venues.
The indie rock product has suffered some poor stewardship. The public can only go to so many poorly executed rag tag half assed nights of overly loud, poor quality music before they start saying this is not something they want to support. This problem is bigger than one venue. Sure there are lots of good shows out there but there are a LOT of bad ones put on by so called promoters who care nothing for quality and only for 'draw'. The bar owners are no better by and large. If you can draw 50-150 people what you do on stage is irrelevant.
It used to be if you played queen st you had to go through some gate-keepers that had an eye towards quality first while having an eye on the business. The public trusted the bar's reputation. Now the public has zero trust in anyone in indie rock. I go to as many shows as I play and as a fan of music I barely want to go see indie shows anymore. The places are filthy, dark, unfriendly, the shows start too late and go too long and covers, if at all, are so low that no one can make money or invest in show production.
Indie rock is suffering because it's the wild west. There are no professionals involved with the bands anymore until long after they're needed. There's always exceptions but the fact is the product sucks! It does. And this isn't me saying the bands suck...the 'product' is about the night, the experience.
No one would be happier to be wrong but every city is going through this. Venues are closing and it's not because they've grown tired of counting the money.
As much as I dislike dance clubs...go see the level of spectacle and professionalism they give their customers and covers aren't cheap. The public will pay for quality. They'd rather spend 20 and get what they want rather than spend $10 and get something they don't. Further check out the involvement of the owners in promotion and event development.
Indie rock has some major problems and by and large we keep thinking the public is crazy and we're right. Ok...but let's not be shocked when these clubs keep getting turned into HnMs or Jamba Juices.
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Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 2:18PM
Reader Comments (1)
The music scene in Toronto started a slow death even years before Queen Street. There was a time when all bands and all clubs featured only "Original" music. And even during hard times, the cash flowed, the bars made fortunes and the bands were all paid top dollar for there performances. April Wine, Rush, Triumph, Goddo, Honeymoon Suite... the list is actually endless of great Canadian talent that traveled across our great Country entertaining us. Then a couple of evil things happened. First, was the birth of the "Tribute" band. How ridiculous was and still is that? Wanna see the Rolling Stones? Go see the Rolling Stones. Well because tribute bands were all made up of no talent "wanna be's", they worked cheap, and therefore greedy bar owners took to them fast and liked them. Next thing you know they were everywhere. Like a music killing plague. You can't blame all of the public, they are just consumers, The agents were the ones that did it. Not all, some remained true and real... thanks Vinnie! Anyway, instead of having to work at marketing a new brilliant original band, they simply had to make a phone call and say... "they play all Bon Jovi" and work real cheap"... Boom they were booked. The real truth is... at this point is exactly where Toronto original music bands started to decline. To write great music, one has to practice writing great music. When all you do is copy... you learn nadda! The second evil thing that happened was young bands, out of pure ignorance started to gig for free. Boy did club owners catch on to this fast. next thing you know... it was the criteria for getting hired. "Do they play for free?" No band should ever play for free. Not then, not now, not ever! The waiters make money, the owners make money, even the cleaners who come in at 6 am the next morning make money. There was then a total lack of respect for "rock musicians" from the Musician's Union. What union in any industry would sit back and allow this to happen? In any case it is the combination of these two factors that killed the music scene in Toronto. Queen Street was merely a symptom of an already dying life. Greed and ignorance equal a deadly combination. I hate to see any venue close, especially the one's that tried in any way to feature "live" musicians. And I must totally agree, that people would much rather pay $20.00 and more, to see a great original PROFESSIONAL band, than pay $10.00 to see something that really should still be in rehearsals for a few more years. Owners... go big time... hire talent!