A little background info first. I live in Shetland, UK, an island in the middle of the North Sea, with mainland Scotland being over 200 miles away.
Now, I've been in 2 bands here over the course of 3 years. I quit my first band after I realised that it was going nowhere. The singer was terrible and literally no one liked him or his singing voice, and as such, no one would come to see us. I quit at the end of 2011, and formed my new band, Høygir (http://www.facebook.com/hoygir).
Since the beginning of 2012, we have been working hard on writing original material. We've been doing well, we're on for having 8 songs by the end of the year. We managed to secure gigging with the local metal band, Ten Tonne Dozer - who went on a small European tour this year - whenever they weren't away.
Locally, there is also a "young promoters group" who work on giving young, local bands, opportunities to gig and get their name known locally. They were speaking this year about taking people down to Aberdeen, on the Scottish mainland to gig there. Of course, we wanted this. We wanted it bad. The news came about that they were going to be taking 4 bands, so naturally, we thought we would be a decent choice. We're young, we put on a good show with our own music (as well as covers, but the quantity stands at about 1/2 covers, 1/2 originals, to make up about an hour's worth of music).
We were asked availability dates last week, and unfortunately one of our guitarists wasn't going to be able to make it as his family is going to America on holiday. The rest of us were available and were willing to do it without him, and he was cool with that.
Then came the news about who they were taking. We weren't even contacted personally about it, the promoter's group decided to just post who they were taking on their Facebook page, and we weren't one of them.
Now of course, I was disappointed, but this turned to irritation when I saw who they decided to take to Aberdeen.
I saw that they decided to take the all girl pop-ish group (same kind of deal with setlists, covers and originals), an alt rock band (all covers), acoustic duo (members from my band have this as a side project, all covers), and a singer songwriter (originals and covers).
The thing that gets on my nerves is that they're taking acts that play only covers. Now don't get me wrong, I know it's how bands start and everyone has to start there, and I'm glad that the dudes from my band get to go south. But this is supposed to be an opportunity to showcase the music that young people are playing in Shetland. Cover bands are going to be a dime a dozen on the mainland, yet they're taking cover bands. The thing that really tops it off, that gets on my nerves the most:
One of the girls that is in the pop-ish band, also performs with the singer songwriter.
The hell.
She gets to perform twice and my band doesn't even get a look in, but 2 other members of my band can?
It really doesn't make sense to me, at all.
I know the summary makes me sound like a jealous a-hole but I can't get my head around why we weren't chosen.
Summary:
My band which puts on a good show (even with a man down), with original material, did not get chosen to play on the Scottish mainland (which could have been a massive break for us), but bands that perform all covers did, and one person gets to perform twice.
I've needed to rant about this since I found out. I find it just really unfair on my behalf that 2 members of my band get to go with their side project, and we don't as a full band.
Now, I've been in 2 bands here over the course of 3 years. I quit my first band after I realised that it was going nowhere. The singer was terrible and literally no one liked him or his singing voice, and as such, no one would come to see us. I quit at the end of 2011, and formed my new band, Høygir (http://www.facebook.com/hoygir).
Since the beginning of 2012, we have been working hard on writing original material. We've been doing well, we're on for having 8 songs by the end of the year. We managed to secure gigging with the local metal band, Ten Tonne Dozer - who went on a small European tour this year - whenever they weren't away.
Locally, there is also a "young promoters group" who work on giving young, local bands, opportunities to gig and get their name known locally. They were speaking this year about taking people down to Aberdeen, on the Scottish mainland to gig there. Of course, we wanted this. We wanted it bad. The news came about that they were going to be taking 4 bands, so naturally, we thought we would be a decent choice. We're young, we put on a good show with our own music (as well as covers, but the quantity stands at about 1/2 covers, 1/2 originals, to make up about an hour's worth of music).
We were asked availability dates last week, and unfortunately one of our guitarists wasn't going to be able to make it as his family is going to America on holiday. The rest of us were available and were willing to do it without him, and he was cool with that.
Then came the news about who they were taking. We weren't even contacted personally about it, the promoter's group decided to just post who they were taking on their Facebook page, and we weren't one of them.
Now of course, I was disappointed, but this turned to irritation when I saw who they decided to take to Aberdeen.
I saw that they decided to take the all girl pop-ish group (same kind of deal with setlists, covers and originals), an alt rock band (all covers), acoustic duo (members from my band have this as a side project, all covers), and a singer songwriter (originals and covers).
The thing that gets on my nerves is that they're taking acts that play only covers. Now don't get me wrong, I know it's how bands start and everyone has to start there, and I'm glad that the dudes from my band get to go south. But this is supposed to be an opportunity to showcase the music that young people are playing in Shetland. Cover bands are going to be a dime a dozen on the mainland, yet they're taking cover bands. The thing that really tops it off, that gets on my nerves the most:
One of the girls that is in the pop-ish band, also performs with the singer songwriter.
The hell.
She gets to perform twice and my band doesn't even get a look in, but 2 other members of my band can?
It really doesn't make sense to me, at all.
I know the summary makes me sound like a jealous a-hole but I can't get my head around why we weren't chosen.
Summary:
My band which puts on a good show (even with a man down), with original material, did not get chosen to play on the Scottish mainland (which could have been a massive break for us), but bands that perform all covers did, and one person gets to perform twice.
I've needed to rant about this since I found out. I find it just really unfair on my behalf that 2 members of my band get to go with their side project, and we don't as a full band.
