a 71 year old Kenny Arono is interviewed by Rick Beatoff

[Joey Goldberg]

those of us who wanted to do this at all figured out a way

the fact that you actually have to be clever and resourceful to make a good record is practically the only "filtration" we have left now that the industry is essentially a free-for-all

and maybe i've been a bit "short" in these posts but i'm just so beyond the threshold of irritation when it comes to people putting more effort into whining about how they can't make music anymore than they do even spending an ounce of time or energy simply trying to make it happen

i've dealt with so many complainers in my life while actually learning all this shit and making the records i wanted to make + helping other people do theirs i genuinely can't tolerate people acting like it's "impossible" now because someone's not reaching out to grab you by the dick and lead your stupid ass to Abbey Road to make some great record in this dream scenario that never existed

[Elphenor]

The Fall is a great example of a band that is dead on arrival if started in the present day

MES would have had to inherit the plumbing family trade

[Elphenor]

you're making it sound as if I think I'm a record deal away from making "Tommy"

speaking from a listeners perspective, yeah, I think specifically RocknRoll has sunk in terms of quantity of great original artists and I think it's due to simple economic realties

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

The Fall is a great example of a band that is dead on arrival if started in the present day

MES would have had to inherit the plumbing family trade

it would perhaps be a lot less popular but would that stop him from making music?

[Elphenor]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

it would perhaps be a lot less popular but would that stop him from making music?

I think so, but not for the most obvious reasons

from his autobio I drew that The Fall up until they signed to Rough Trade were dependent on the dole which was a lot more generous then

he was pretty near packing it in his entire career except labels, starting with Rough Trade, always picked up The Fall for another release

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

speaking from a listeners perspective, yeah, I think specifically RocknRoll has sunk in terms of quantity of great original artists and I think it's due to simple economic realties

but joey is right anyhow, people that want to record music, will do so and will continue to do so, no matter if a record label will jump on it or not. me and a large group of friends were always in bands or making music in whatever way or form and none of that was ever incentivized by sums of money from executives who thought they'd make some money off it too. the amount of current rock bands from here or elsewhere in Europe, the UK or the US is still enormous, they all still record their music in whatever way they seem fit with results varying from complete shit to absolutely amazing, as it always was, also in the days where rock and roll was still big business, so I've never lost a minute of sleep on that issue.

yeah it's hard and it constantly costs a lot of money and your first few recordings will likely not be very good, but in the cases of bands that don't see that as a reason to stop making music they likely pick some ideas up on what to do and not to do the next time. personally I'm not the biggest fan of going to rehearse every week and mostly just repeat songs because we need that repetition as a band but I do it anyway because I know it will mostly be worth my while in the end. and things cost a shit ton of money all the time. amps break down, you wanna buy new pedals, new strings. the rehearsal space is one of many fixed charges, so are the weekly train tickets to the rehearsal space. the relatively cheap studio still cost a big sum of money, and since we chose to go abroad to record we also needed to rent a room somewhere, London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. and then if you want it pressed to vinyl it will cost you another shit ton. the tour that's ahead will likely not break even. there's sure as shit not a record label involved paying for just only the recording costs and it's all fine, we do it because we like to make music.

and of those people that I personally know some actually got signed to bigger labels and got bigger sums of money to record which is good for them. so that still happens, also with weirder or not all too popular music. I think covid turned everything to shit for one of them and they saw "the dream" slip through their hands and yes, they still make music.

[smashingjj]

tl;dr - more money =/= better music

[smashingjj]

what a ridiculously unpunk thought, by the way

[Joey Goldberg]

del

i gotta stay off this board, lol

[Elphenor]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

tl;dr - more money =/= better music

well ofc, definitely

it's diminishing returns pretty quickly

I'm not talking arena rock money I'm talking enough to not have to work 40hrs a week until old age

that money doesn't need to come from commercial means either

krautrock was heavily government grant funded but significantly it was funded

[smashingjj]

i dunno man it just all starts sounding dangerously like saying "music used to be a lot better back in the day'

[Elphenor]

well I do more or less believe that

[TuralyonW3]

Joeri that is a ferocious bass tone on your new album man

[ourruseoffools]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

well I do more or less believe that

That’s because you have no involvement with the underground music scene whatsoever and are reliant on corporations to tell you what music is good.

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

well I do more or less believe that

fair enough!

[Ihaguitar]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

The Fall is a great example of a band that is dead on arrival if started in the present day

MES would have had to inherit the plumbing family trade

My current take on The Fall is that MES was a twat who hired good musicians.

[Ihaguitar]

Originally Posted by smashingjj

i dunno man it just all starts sounding dangerously like saying "music used to be a lot better back in the day'

It's kind of true.

[smashingjj]

nah, it's an opinion. an opinion typical for people past a certain age. every generation thinks music was better in the day time and time again.

[Elphenor]

Originally Posted by Ihaguitar

My current take on The Fall is that MES was a twat who hired good musicians.

sure but The Fall churned out at least (imo) 15-20 good records with MES as the only constant member

[TuralyonW3]

Originally Posted by Ihaguitar

My current take on The Fall is that MES was a twat who hired good musicians.

lol

[Elphenor]

Originally Posted by ourruseoffools

That’s because you have no involvement with the underground music scene whatsoever and are reliant on corporations to tell you what music is good.

nah but I wouldn't want to share identifying info

my favorite modern rock music these days comes out of the underground of Hong Kong

I also enjoy some of the new wave of shoegaze out of Philadelphia

[Ihaguitar]

I see some mature chap has edited Rick's name in the thread title.

[Joey Goldberg]

hey jj he responded to you