Aussie local music has been in the headlines of recent with the crisis in facing Perth finally being discussed earlier this week, and now a local muso has too spoken about issues within the local industry.
Melbourne singer-songwriter Lawrence Greenwood, more commonly recognised under his stage name Whitley, has never been shy when voicing his thoughts via social media, and as Rip It Up report, he’s penned a heartfelt open-letter to local musicians.
Inspired by the 2014 drama film Whiplash, the harrowing story of a prestigious musical school that explores the intense highs and bleeding lows of instrumental training and performance, Greenwood has publicly posted on his Facebook his bleeding views on the importance of appreciating Australia’s local music scene, and why music festivals are turning into money-sucking devils.
“Go take all that money that you spend on music festivals each year and put it towards the local music scene that you have in your town/city”He humbly speaks of his own career, noting of how difficult it is to put even one record out, and how artists much greater than he don’t receive the verbal or monetary praise they deserve.
Greenwood has a solution to these grievances, calling for live music fans to stop attending major corporate music festivals and instead, spend their money on local gigs in their cities and towns.
“Go take all that money that you spend on music festivals each year and put it towards the local music scene that you have in your town/city” he exclaims.
“Over a year, you will be able to use that money to go and see some real local music…and I promise you I’ll be proven right after 12 months that there are crystalline gems all around you.”
“I can’t help but feel like they’re keeping you there so you can just buy some expensive food, overpriced water for kids on pingers and a bucket load of piss so you can forget your problems for a short time. At a cost. A huge cost.”The ‘My Heart Is Not A Machine’ singer then offers his gratitude to those who do support the ever-important local musicians and the artists themselves, “They won’t ever get a multi-million dollar biopic to spoon feed everyone a dumbed down version of their life story, so that for two hours we can appreciate their sacrifices, passion, pain, failure, ridicule and the golden flash of redemption enjoyed before the credits roll and we walk out for the night.”
Then highlighting the sheer importance of attending a local gig, “All they will get is the satisfaction of knowing you supported them and that the art they make, and truly gave someone a feeling of connection in what can be a cold and indifferent universe.”
This kinder sentiment dissipates as he tears apart music festivals, “I’m not so sure that the interaction we experience at the major festivals are there to connect you to these artists.
“I can’t help but feel like they’re keeping you there so you can just buy some expensive food, overpriced water for kids on pingers and a bucket load of piss so you can forget your problems for a short time. At a cost. A huge cost.”
“I believe that without these complex ideas, and variety in opinions, we’re heading down a road that will not only be hard to come back from, it will be a fairly fruitless experience for the most bold and noble of things in our society – difference”Before firing his final, piercing shots, “Yes, you too can have an adventure of the spirits filled with more connection and insight than any pill could give you, and it costs $6 and leaves you with no comedown. You don’t need to have some fucking DJ press play and take your money when the soil is rich all around us right now.”
There is strong merit in Greenwood’s courageous words, despite his message at first appearing a little too general of all Aussie music festivals – which he was called-out for on the original Facebook post – he lays justification to his argument, “In Australia currently, a small group of people own the vast majority of the major festivals. For example, the one guy that owns Splendour In The Grass, owns Falls Festival and so on.”
“They’re [major festival owners] not going to stop trying to make money, so again in my opinion, punters should take a more complex and thoughtful position as to where they spend their money. I believe that without these complex ideas, and variety in opinions, we’re heading down a road that will not only be hard to come back from, it will be a fairly fruitless experience for the most bold and noble of things in our society – difference” he writes.
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Before summing up his opinions neatly, “Generally speaking, the larger festivals have become bigger and frequented more often while venues in the local music scene have been forced to close due to lack of profits, the Australian market is oversimplified, and branded in a kind of overt way…so it’s commenting on that.”
Whether you agree with Greenwood’s words or not, one must admit that this post is thought-provoking, and to be fair, each live music fan should foster their up-and-coming as well as established artists. It’s not difficult to spare $10.00 as well as an hour or so to catch the set of a bourgeoning musician to ensure your local scene is diverse, appreciated and most importantly, alive.
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