Comments on: Bands From Here

By: Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:05:33 +0000

Thanks for this – it’s a brave and generous idea to put up pitches. I like the idea. very much – it could have been a good focus for local talent and for fans.

By: dan

dan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:19:51 +0000

Absolutely agree that we need more local signposts and support for real communities. One place that does this is http://www.last.fm/events which automatically shows events based on your home town. Keep up the good work

By: Lee Hutchinson

Lee Hutchinson — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:27:25 +0000

Mmm. Can’t see why they didn’t see potential in it. Did you back up statements, e.g. “Many teenagers.. are intensely passionate about music” with stats? Would agree strongly that at a local level there is very little provision for enhancing local community cohesion amongst divergent youth groups – which is a great shame, because it’s not through a lack of drive/enthusiasm for greater cohesion on the youths’ part! All they need is a platform, as you say, to form new bonds and strengthen ties in their communities. Perhaps it’s because people who live in cities (thinking mainly of London here) are so used to participating in activities in a state of passive coexistence that they don’t see the need for positive collaboration between disparate groups? God knows. The ONE8 festival in Nottingham hosted a live music contest for young people in the East Mids, which was open to all music categories and it went down a storm – emos, hoodies, ravers, goths, indie kids, you name it, all converging on one site – had security worrying about “fights kicking off” etc. but there wasn’t a whiff of negativity all day – in fact, all I’ve heard from young people since (and likewise from youth workers at Nacro) is “When are we going to have another music event?” “We need to get together again” etc. We’ve run similar music events in Northampton for young people across the county and have found them to be equally popular – so I would agree that there is a strong need for reinforcing and consolidating the common interests of the young – at least, most definitely at a local and regional level.

By: Frankie Roberto

Frankie Roberto — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:24:50 +0000

Hi Richard. Glad you like the concept. MySpace doesn’t seem to have any of that feeling of ‘localness’. I like the idea of being able to see which small towns/cities have a thriving music ’scene’, and which don’t (I bet there would be some surprises).
It’d also be interesting to try and spot which bands are big locally, but have yet to break the national scene (like the way that everyone in Manchester was buzzing about the Ting Tings way before they were famous).

By: Richard Birkin

Richard Birkin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:17:38 +0000

Nice idea. In Derby we’ve had a series of forums over the past decade that start out as positive places…but they usually descend into madness in the way that YouTube comments also tend to. All you need is one person to ‘not feel part’ of the conversation and the hole house falls down.
There’s a project that some bands have started in Brooklyn called If You Make It (ifyoumakeit.com) to document the great things that happen in the local music scene (this includes visiting bands as well as local ones)…I think in this way it plugs the local scene into a wider national scene.
I like your concept though…there is a need for something more advanced and less anonymous than forums, but more tight knit and personal than Myspace.