Is It All Worth It?

It seems the challenges involved in playing and hosting live music, performance and art are almost limitless. Simply getting a venue to host regular events that draw a crowd is hard enough, and opportunities to actually make some cash are fewer and further between. A video Nicole posted paints a picture of how dire the situation is or artists of all types, yet more and more emerge every year, hoping to one day make it big, or even be that 1 in 50 Australian artists who earns a reasonable amount of money out of their creative work.

Let me direct you to a video clip by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The people interviewed at the start all moved to LA (an even more cut-throat, competitive world than Sydney) in the hope of becoming a star. On girl said she thought after 6 months to a year she was guaranteed to crack the market. She’d been there 6 years. Another bloke moved to LA in the early ‘90s in the hope of forming a band. The film clip was made in 2006. Actually making somewhere is about as easy as winning the lottery, but nevertheless, thousands and thousands of people follow suit every year.

These overwhelming odds seem to beg the question: Is it all worth it?

The final guy interviewed is a young, gangly nervous looking kid who says “I want to play music for my life. It’s what I want to do”. Have you ever hear an accountant or an engineer say that about their work? There’s a saying that The earth without art is just ‘eh’ and I couldn’t agree more. Becoming a successful artist of any kind isn’t meant to be easy. It takes years and years to master an instrument or a dance style or to form your own style of painting, and the rewards are very low. But nonetheless, people choose this path because of the enormous personal gratification that comes with expressing your creativity and presenting to people what you have worked on for so long. NightFusion does not want opportunities for this expression to die out because we are passionate about art and we want to do something that may just change people’s attitudes towards it.

Is it all worth it? Absolutely.

/by J.G

Stranger Things Have Happened

An article written by Triple J presenter Brendan Maclean regarding the closing of the Sandringham hotel sparked considerable controversy regarding the relationship between artists and venue owners. While it’s clear that Brendan’s article was written from a negative point of view following an unfortunate experience with the hotel’s management,  he does make some important points regarding how the Sando was being run and the pressures placed by management on the artists they booked. 

A follow-up conversation between Brendan and Matt Rule, owner of the Annandale hotel, investigated further the conflicting issues faced by both venues and musicians and how a lack of cooperation between the two results in far greater challenges than what need be faced. 

 Brendan: “But you put out a positive energy about musicians, that’s the difference. Whereas Tony, yes it’s hard to run a business, but he didn’t do that. He repeatedly put out PR releases that hung shit on musicians and fans… The way that Tony would pitch it to you though… it’s not ‘we’re gonna work together to cover these costs’, he would pretty much say ‘if you fuck up you will be fined’, and that’s not the right way to talk to any musician… There’s so much tension around that its almost like musicians are going ‘it’s the venue’s fault’ and there are some venues saying ‘it’s the musician’s fault’, but its actually neither.”

Matt: “And the pressure builds. If you’ve got a huge amount of costs going out there, and suddenly no one turns up, mate you go ‘what the fuck am I supporting the music industry for? When they cant even turn up on a Friday night?’ You do scratch your head.”

Brendan: “I completely agree that musicians have to be aware of how many people they can get. You have to have enough people to fill a venue when you agree to it.”

Matt: “Bands have got to realise they can’t play every week. Mates turn up at the start but then, as everyone knows ,that eventually dies. It’s a difficult climate for musicians, because you’ve got to play,  but if you play too much you don’t get a crowd. We are stuck in this circle, things aren’t the same as they use to be, the glory days when you would just go to see live music are gone.”

Brendan: “I agree, I think a lot of people are excited to hear what venues and musicians can do together, to make it stronger. I think what you do, putting on event nights instead of just an endless stream of bands that seems to have no rhythm, is working.”

 

Apologies for the long series of quotes. 

What is clearly lacking in the scene is cohesion. Everyone wants the same thing – bands want people to come and see them, venues want people to come and see the bands, and audiences want to have a good night out. It seems like there really shouldn’t be a problem, but somehow the dots aren’t connecting. It’s a stark reality, as Matt says, that the glory days of live music are over, and Brendan agrees that an “endless stream of nights that seem to have no rhythm” isn’t getting anyone anywhere. People still want to see live music and come to shows, the scene just needs a change of direction. 

This is exactly NightFusion’s goal. Instead of simply advertising shows with a bunch of different performance styles, we want to build an artistic community in Sydney, centered around regular events where all manner of artists have the opportunity to present their work to a crowd that is interested and can be relied on to attend because no two events will be alike, and it will provide a platform for artistic collaboration. Brendan stated “I think a lot of people are excited to hear what venues and musicians can do together, to make it stronger”. Venues and artists can work together to create something incredible, and I think this is how it needs to happen.

/by J.G

The Rocks Village Bizarre

I have come across an interesting event, which I did not know existed. It isn’t something that is held at a particular venue however it does still utilise the same idea of blending many different forms of art and performance into one night.

The Rocks Village Bizarre is an event held every Friday night from the 2^nd of November until the 21^st of December. The official program for this year will not be announce until October 11^th, however people can choose their own adventure as they wonder through secret alleys and hidden rooms at The Rocks. There is a multitude of activities to enjoy including lane-way performances, puppetry, poetry, interactive art as well as dance and hula hoop lessons to take part in. You will also find a pedal-powered cinema and a silent disco.

Silent Disco

Though this is a small deviation from my usual blog content, the concept used at this event is very valid as it stands in line with our vision and therefore is certainly worth a mention. I will definitely be checking this event out, as I am certain that there will be no chance of boredom with the vast range of activities going on. Furthermore, I feel that due to it’s content this event will be sure to draw a crowd, so I am curious to see for myself whether in fact that will be the case.

Performers in the Alley

/by N.E

Vaudeville

Perhaps to understand the movement of the live entertainment scene today as well as the possible direction it is headed in, it may be helpful to examine how it was trending in the past. The merging of different art styles and live performance into the one night is not a new idea. In fact, variety entertainment first started to become popular around the 1850’s, so lets take a look at the past and rewind back to 19^th century show business.

It is 1880, post civil war in America and Vaudeville is the new big thing to hit the streets. With an influx of immigrants, the American population was rapidly growing and numerous Vaudeville theatres were opening up around the country.

Running for several hours at a time, each Vaudeville performance was made up of twelve or more unrelated acts. These included musicians, dancers, actors, comedians, singers, ventriloquists, acrobats, animal trainers and anyone else who could hold an audience’s interest for more than three minutes. Not only was Vaudeville the first entertainment of its kind to allow a mixed-gender audience, but was also the first exposure to different cultures that Americans had encountered.

Hosting more than 25 000 performers over its lifetime, Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in America until the 1920’s. It catered for multiple economic classes with shows that ranged from small-town stages to New York’s Palace Theatre. Regardless of the size of the theatre, Vaudeville was an integral part of every American community. However, like all good things this form of variety entertainment was slowly fazed out as newer forms of entertainment began to appear. As cinema, radio and television began to dominate, many Vaudeville performers made the transition to these new forms of entertainment and with this the impressive era of Vaudeville was over.

Palace Theater New York at the time of Vaudeville

Jumping back to live entertainment today, different forms of performance and art styles tend to stick with their own kind, for example, a night out would mean either just seeing live bands, or just seeing an art exhibition. This can sometimes mean that certain art forms have a hard time surviving and attracting a crowd on their own, especially since there are so many new modes of entertainment constantly emerging. These art forms and live performance styles could perhaps benefit more, in terms of popularity, from a 21^st century Vaudeville style of entertaining.

/by N.E

You Can’t Play Nice when the Competition is Fierce

Lets face it; we live in a world where there are so many options for everything we could possibly want, creating a huge amount of competition especially in attracting the attention of a mass audience. Entertainment, live or otherwise is no exception and certainly falls into this classification. As Jeremy discussed in the previous blog post, Sydney’s nightlife is now very different to the way it was in the 70’s or 80’s. People back then did not have the endless variety of venues and forms of entertainment that we have today. Therefore they were much more inclined to visit their local live music venue for a good night out.

Today, people don’t have to look much further than the Internet on their laptops, or the numerous amount of talent related reality television shows to stay entertained for the whole weekend. Therefore, in order for people to make the effort of physically going out to a specific venue that hosts live entertainment, there really needs to be something extra about that venue to lure people out in the first place. This means that with all the competition around, live music venues really need to have something different going on that people are not accustomed to, in order to stand out and draw a consistent crowd.

Although the nightclub scene is very different to the live entertainment venues that our cause is focused on, it can still be used as a good example of what works and what doesn’t in drawing a crowd. There are a huge number of nightclubs in Sydney, so naturally the competition is fierce, but some clubs still attract a larger crowd than others. Clubs such as Rock Lily and Marquee at The Star, are beginning to integrate different forms of entertainment and attractions at their venues, as a tactic to stand out and draw a large crowd. On weekends, Marquee incorporates podium dancers to compliment the DJ in the ‘Main Room’ featuring a 30-foot projection stage, as well as a ballet dancer to compliment the spectacular city view through the glass walls. Do not despair if you are the type of guest that is more inclined to entertain than observe, as the second room known as the ‘Boombox’ which hosts a separate DJ, has a podium area specifically designed for guests to dance on. In addition to this, you will find a themed display that exhibits a live model which works to bring the scene to life.

Main Room at Marquee

As well as the more intimate lounge known as the ‘Library’ and the outdoor patio, at Marquee you will also find a section called the ‘Dressing Room’. This area is set up as a high-class beauty salon and is permanently host to the house hairstylists from Zolf as well as make-up artists. Here, guests can wonder in, take a seat at a mirror adorned with lights and be pampered for free whilst taking time out from the crowded rooms of the club. This area is also home to the Zolf professional photographer who will take snaps of the freshly pampered guests and upload them to the Zolf Facebook page the next day for guests to find, tag and share. If this all wasn’t enough variety of attractions in the one club, perhaps the additional cabaret show held on various weeknights or the masquerade themed nights are more your cup of tea.

Zolf crew at the ‘Dressing Room’ at Marquee

Obviously, live music venues have a different vibe and target audience to nightclubs and cannot really be compared as each would need to host completely different art forms and live performances to suit their type of venue. However, live music venues can certainly take on board the general idea of what clubs such as Marquee are doing in the way of combining numerous different forms of entertainment, as an example of what works to attract a large crowd. With so much to do at the one venue, a guest can not possibly be bored and so I feel this tactic could really help to increase the popularity of live music venues in Sydney.

/by N.E

Come together, right now

The Sydney live music scene is one that has been on a downward slide for years as a combined result of government legislature in the form of alcohol and music licensing, venues’ failure to adapt to a changing social landscape, an increasing amount of pokies machines in pubs (often at the expense of band rooms) and, probably most importantly, a lack of support from punters. All these complaints have been heard before, and despite countless blogs and articles in street press magazines being released begging, cajoling, challenging people to rock up and see a band play every once in a while, nothing has worked. As unfortunate as it is, the inescapable fact is that the 80’s and 90’s era of going to a pub and seeing live music as the standard Friday and Saturday night entertainment is over.

The Hopetoun Hotel, another live music venue recently closed. http://polaroidsofandroids.com/articles/the-hopetoun-hotel-closed-down-and-the-sydney-live/4235.html

Although the decline of the music scene is the most oft-lamented and widely publicised story of Sydney’s art communities, musicians are far from the only struggling artists trying to get a gig. As Nicole discussed in her recent post, dancers have just as much, if not more, difficulty finding a creative and lucrative means of performing. Similarly, in the visual art world, a recent flurry of private galleries closing, such as McGrath’s in North Sydney, Salmon Galleries at McMahons point and Marianne Newman Gallery in Crows Nest have made hosting exhibitions even more difficult for emerging artists.

While each of these communities face their own set of problems, lack of patronage, both of venues and audiences, is a common issue. So what if each of these art communities could work together in establishing a regular event hosted by a local venue, featuring a broad variety of performance styles and combining each of the respective audiences? Over the next weeks, we’ll discuss in greater depth the reasons why the various art communities in Sydney are struggling, and how these issues can be solved through a fresh take on our live performance scene.

/by J.G