promoter responsibility (was: hidden from the audience)

[andrewduke@xxxxxxxxxx]

Dino:

I agree with your thoughts regarding promoting and
venues.  I think with the music we do, promoters have a
responsibility to work with us knowing that when we
perform that we will be challenging the audience simply
by the nature of *how* we perform, ie we tend to use
laptops and don't have vocals whereas the "typical"
performance today is still someone with a guitar,
usually also with vocals.

A good example:
at a performance this spring at a festival in
Vancouver, Kit Clayton and Sue Costabile played a set
that had no in/out privileges while they were on. 
Those attending had it made clear to them before the
show that they would need to arrive before the
performance started and couldn't leave during.  Now to
some this might seem elitist, but the result was happy
performers who played to an attentive, quiet, and
appreciative audience.

Bad examples:
Taylor Duepree and Richard Chartier's performances in
front of Laika in Montreal as part of Mutek 2001 are
still talked about for 2 reasons: #1 how good they
were, but also, unfortunately, #2: how the venue didn't
work.  For those who don't know the situtation, Taylor
and Richard were set up on the street outside the venue
(Laika) and played *into* the crowd in the venue
through an open window.  The street noise was often
more audible than their material (so it wouldn't have
mattered if the crowd was completely quiet).  (I played
Laika in the same situation at Mutek dans la rue this
past summer ie outdoors on the street playing *into*
the venue, but it worked because I was not doing
microsound; it was loud material with lots of heavy
rhythms and definite textures; it was a warm summer day
and it was just what I felt like doing; but if I had
done microsound, it would have been drowned out by
streetnoise, for sure).  Another personal example,
there was a festival here in Halifax this October and
they had hoped to have a night with just electronic
music performers, but it didn't come together.  I ended
up getting booked to play on a lineup with just rock
acts (rock rules in Halifax, hip hop is #2, electronic
music is practically non-existent); I wanted to play
first, when the crowd would be less hyped up and more
inclined to listen, but, I ended up booked in the
middle, and before a really popular rock act, so,
though I had a good turnout, there was a crowd that was
there while I was on, but they were there (most of 'em)
mainly for the act on *after* me.  I had intended to
start off with some challenging minimal material before
building with some rhythms, but there were so many
people talking and hyped up from the previous rock acts
on the bill that I quickly abandoned that and ended up
doing a set that I had not intended (much more rhythmic
and loud) simply to be heard over the din of those
talking.  My favorite two gigs this year were on pirate
radio here in Halifax; no crowd, just me getting to
play to those who chose to tune and listen cos they
wanted to.  That was very artistically satisfying
because I didn't have to "compete" with the crowd, and
though I didn't see the crowd, I still got feedback
from people who had tuned in. Andrew

albums out now: Sprung (http://bip-hop.com) 
More Destructive Than Organized 
(http://staalplaat.com)
Highest Common Denominator (http://pieheadrecords.com)
Physical and Mental Health (http://dialrecords.com) 
74'02 (split with Hypo) (http://tsunami-addiction.com)
check Cognition (http://techno.ca/cognition)
for upcoming appearance and release updates
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