Our article “Is ItTime WakefieldMusic Collective Called It A Day?” received a wave of responses and created a
lot of discussion. Here is a follow up that reacts to the many points raised,
focussing on two key issues: The NAME of Wakefield
Ok, lets cut to the chase here.
Quite simply, if Wakefield Music Collective, with the same history, setup and
attitude was called something else, the article would not have been written. Simple
as. The people are passionate and fantastic. The name is misleading, misrepresentative
and just wrong.
Formers WMC member Tony Wade hit
the nail on the head when he spoke about band selection policy for Clarence. Whatever
the collective tried, they were damned for it. Not necessarily from the inside
(though as current member Martin Waterhouse points out, this is also a
nightmare) but from people on the outside who believed they deserve a say in
how it is run. Why? Rightly or wrongly, because it is called the Wakefield
What if I started a micro brewery
in my cellar? And I called myself Wakefield Brewers Collective. If I was kind
enough to invite every other brewer in town to join my collective - and they
refused – would I be a collective? Even if the beer I made was the best in town
and I was the nicest bloke around – would I be a collective? And some might
say: just let him be! He’s doing what he loves! Yes, that’s true. But it’s
still not a collective. And what about when CAMRA come knocking?
Because I’m looking at this from
a much wider angle of ‘my music’ and ‘your music’ and ‘my scene’ and ‘your
scene’. Running Long Division has given me a greater sense of what the outside
world thinks of Wakefield .
By the way - it’s not great. We need to change that, and I’ve been doing my
small part to help. But what happens if you Google that most broad and complex
of terms “Wakefield Music”? Wakefield
Music Collective is the top hit. Go look at it now. Pretend you know
nothing about Wakefield
and see what it tells you. What do you think?
It’s not a point about Web
design. It’s the name. If you are Wakefield Music Collective you need to be a
Wakefield Music Collective. It wasn’t the case in 1991 when it began, but
Wakefield Music Collective, by using the name Wakefield Music Collective, is now
representing our city to the whole world. What do we want people to see when
they look at Wakefield ?
If it feels it can step up to
that challenge, fine. From the evidence I have seen, I don’t think it can. I
don’t think one organisation or entity could, or even should.
If you got to the end of the
article, I expressed my desired solution. Wakefield
already is a collective, if we approach it with the right attitude. We work
hard individually at the things we love, but we open our minds enough to then
collaborate with others. It’s a fluid collective that isn’t bogged down in
red-tape, that doesn’t need to meet once a month to discuss the venue for next
months meeting. If Wakefield Music Collective altered its title but kept up its
hard work, it would be part of that collective. Does that distinction make
sense?
Also, some people saw the piece
as a criticism of Clarence Park. This was not the intention. Personally, I
would do it differently. But instead of moaning endlessly, that’s what I did.
Rob Dee makes a very good point in that Clarence is the only major all ages
event we have in Wakefield .
I have tried hard to make Long Division 16+ for the last two years but my
partners, Ossett Brewery, are not comfortable with it. That’s a massive thing
we have Clarence to be thankful for. Can it do more, and can we help it?
Another thing I have learnt from
this experience is that a lot of people have misconceptions about Rhubarb Bomb.
So, to be clear: Rhubarb Bomb is a fanzine.
I run it because I love writing about stuff. It is not funded in anyway. We get
advertising where we can from independent businesses (which are struggling now,
of course). If there’s a shortfall, which there usually is, I cover it with my
own money. So in that sense, it owes no-one anything. We released a 5th
birthday book in April. The very first
page says this:
THIS IS NOT THE STORY OF WAKEFIELD
This is not the story of
every band that ever strummed a chord or wrote a song or played a gig in the
smoky backroom of a forgotten boozer. This is not a discography of every record
Wakefield Merrie City
It’s not even consistent.
THIS IS RHUBARB BOMB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not
the Wakefield Musical Express. It’s something I do to amuse myself, and
hopefully others. I sit at home in my spare time writing, when I could be out
earning money or spending time with my girlfriend. The money I do earn is spent
printing a limited amount of pages. So naturally, I generally like to write
about things that I like or I feel are important.
But that isn’t a genre, or a
band, or a place. It is an attitude. A positive, DIY, independent attitude. So
I am constantly treading this line between the micro and macro political; is
this about me, or about Wakefield ?
Who am I responsible to? I question it ALL the time.
The zine was started by a close
group of friends who reported on the bands their friends were in, because
no-one else in the country was talking about them. I think many people still
think Rhubarb Bomb is like that. It’s changed a lot.
I discredit the claim we “perpetuate
this bullshit exclusive attitude” (Louise Distras). Example: this year we ran
an interview with Louise Distras. I’m not a huge fan of her music. I don’t
think it’s awful by any stretch, it’s just not something I would normally buy.
But the way she expresses and conducts herself, gets her voice heard and DOES
IT HERSELF is truly inspiring (even if she objects to us and our manner). So,
we wanted to know more, and let more people know what she was up to. Rhubarb Bomb
is certainly not a paper version of my record collection (that would be far too
depressing).
I have
learnt a lot of people judge Rhubarb Bomb by its online content. I think it was
naïve of me to think otherwise. But the physical zine is our ‘product’, it’s
the thing I love. For those who think Rhubarb Bomb are a group of people who “sit
in the hop at night with the lights off, sat in a circle blowing smoke up each
others arses while reminding each other that they are important, even if it is
just to their friends, who happen to be in the bands they mainly cover anyway.”
(Daron Dopestghost Green) or that our content is “a load of pretentious, pseudo-sophisto, neurotic
lifestyle-choice-orientated insipid, unispired drivel” (James Harrison) I
suggest you try actually reading it. I offer this list of EVERYTHING the physical zine
has covered in the last twelve months, including our upcoming issue, as
evidence that our scope is wide and our content diverse and challenging:
Philophobia Music,
Luke Haines, RB writers favourite music books, Living In Japan, Wild Swimming,
DC Comics, London Riots, First Wedding Dances, City Based Festivals, Promoting
Gigs, The Inner Swine (a NYC zine), The Philosophy of Battle Of Bands
Competitions, Vinyl Party, Mi Mye, Protectors, History Of LOUDER THAN BOMBS
Clubnight, Russell Senior (Pulp), Wakefield Cathedral turning into a music
venue, Red Riding Quartet, Imp, Unity Hall, The Passing Fancy, Skint &
Demoralised, Importance Of Supporting Live Music, Middleman, Cake Recipe, What
Wakefield Music Means To You, The Grand, Laura Slater (Bespoke Textiles),
Runaround Kids (Irish Tour Diary), Olympics, Retarded Fish, Buffalo Skinners,
Louise Distras, Motorways, Stephen Vigors Short Story, Fixing A Hole Records,
Music and Mental Health, Live & Unsigned Pastiche, H.Hawkline, The Spills,
Gareth Nicholls (Theatre Director), Beards In Music, Post War Glamour Girls,
Hip Hop Breakfast, Anatomy Of A Gig, Modernism, Helen Rhodes Short Story,
Wakefield Jazz, Why I Zine article (Edinburgh Zine), Geordie Shores &
Wakefield, The Do’s.
53 articles. Just 18 about Wakefield bands / labels /
venues. But all relevant to the type of culture we support.
We have evolved. Wakefield , as I said, is evolving. Nothing is
perfect. I still believe Wakefield Music Collective, if it continues, needs
some deep rooted changes, starting with that name. The idea that we could all
form an official collective is, I fear, too far-fetched. As Joel Rowbottom
rightly says there would be “Too many egos, too many agendas.” He’s right. But
if Wakefield Music Collective removes the idea, strongly suggested by its name, that it is a Collective of
Wakefield Music people, the idea of a more fluid style of collective can move
forward.
Dean Freeman
P.S. One final thing. If you still think Rhubarb Bomb is
very much up its own arse, lording it over everyone with its deluded
superiority, why don’t you start a blog or a zine? I am serious. I said as much
in the book: “I wish someone would come along and say, those Rhubarb Bomb guys
have lost. Here’s a zine that shows what’s really going on in Wakefield …” Go for it. It’s all part of the
DIY attitude. Stop moaning, stop just talking about it and go do it yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment