Independent’s Day – Dublin December 2008 Pt I
By: Ken McGrath; photos courtesy of Sarah Usher
Blistering.com: Is it to show that there are good bands out there in Ireland that have good material and that can be taken seriously on an international scale?
Barry: I wanted to bring out music because I thought it was more of a testament to time than one night at a gig. You go to a gig and you leave and you could have been at any gig and you wake up with a hangover and you mightn’t even remember it. But I saw bands in Dublin, like Adebisi, and thinking ‘fucking hell, this is an amazing band, it’d be great to have something that stands the test of time’. Stuff that lasts longer than that one night.
Anto: I discovered some of the bands that you could see for, it was £2.50 for a gig back in those days, and you’d be blown away by those bands the same as if you went to a gig for £25. You’d see touring bands playing small gigs, amazing bands.”
It involves going out and finding local bands, or even bands who have been brought to your town by independent organisers, playing in those small venues instead of waiting for the big show to roll in. “It’s about taking control of things yourself on a local level,” Anto maintains. “Amazing things happen, you have to search it out.”
Searching it out sometimes means taking the time to go to a gig by a band you’ve never heard of, just based on a poster you’ve seen, or because the people who’re putting it on had a good band over before. “I think it’s even a thing,” Barry says, “you get into it and still so many years down the line there’s still a lot of the same people, but there’s no people flowing through and there’s new ideas. There’s a lot to learn. The Hope Collective, which Anto was involved in, brought over some of my favourite bands, like Refused, an all ages show during the day. Fugazi, No Means No, NOFX, Green Day. Mad when you look at Green Day to go on to be shit (but huge), you look at it in that space, the whole idea of The Hope Collective was that everyone who put on the gig paid into the gig. We did it today me and Anto paid in our €2. It takes away the ownership of things.”
“A community builds up over time,” Anto says. “Even I find, with people who buy the ‘zine off me, they come back to me and tell me what they think of it and give me feedback. It’s great because you have that connection with the people you’re selling it to. Same with a gig, I always try to say to the band ‘it was really good’, but obviously you’re not bowing down to them.
It breaks down the walls between band and audience. The band might be the ones playing and entertaining everyone there, but they’re still people, you can talk to them and realise that not all bands are untouchable. They’re not all in magazine photo shoots or on television, which can only help younger people who want to start bands, who are new to the music. It shows them that they can put on their own gigs, they can put out their own records. You don’t have to wait for the executives to come down and hand you a million-dollar record deal. You don’t have to go on that televised talent show you’re never going to win anyway. There are ways to do it for yourself."
Blistering.com: So, would you class Independent’s Day as a success so far?
Barry: I would definitely. There’re so many different people here. When you’re looking around you’re seeing the more politico’s and then the punks, the crusties and then randomers and I shouldn’t be putting genre’s on it, but there’s a mix of people from different walks.
Anto: And it’s not about the takings on the door. That’s immaterial, it’s not really why we’re doing it. Just more to put on the event and see how it goes.
Blistering.com: And I’m sure part of it is to show people that it’s still alive, the independent spirit.
Barry: And to show that there are so many groups, because people can be quite apathetic if they don’t know about different things around, like the community garden, which they might be interested in or Seomra Spraoi the social centre or just even the independent record stalls. To know that they exist, that it’s feasible and you can do it, which is DIY, do it yourself. To know that it’s out there and it’s not something further away or bowing down to bands. It’s actually your mates doing it.
Blistering.com: Finally, how important is it to remain DIY?
Barry: DIY and independence it’s really a belief in it’s own right, if it’s the way you wan to do things, (you need to) make it sustainable. There’s no point doing it DIY and being anti-everything and just boxing yourself in. I think there’s a certain element of that with labels who won’t do interviews and won’t vocalise things, more American labels I guess. It just becomes isolated in its own little bubble and I think that’s very poisonous. I think if you have a message why don’t you just say it.
Anto: I think it’s the way you get involved in your food chain, like in the Co-Op. If people want to take more control of the food they buy they can come down and contribute and buy organic food. Also, in getting from A to B transport wise they can jump on a bike and that’s do it yourself aswell. It’s about being self-empowered.
www.richtercollective.com
www.loserdomzine.com
www.ragdublin.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/kaboogiemusic
www.hideawayrecords.net
www.stitchypresshq.com
www.seomraspraoi.org
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