interview city

I was stumbling around the internet and I came accross this interview that I did ages ago and forgot about. So...you know...have a read...


Tommy Comstock is very active in the DIY music scene in the south of England. He writes and plays acoustic songs, going on tours of houses around the UK, as well as playing trombone in The Psyche Out Musikland Big Band. He also puts on acoustic shows in his house, and electric shows in local venues. He has released several offerings on small label Vegetable Massacre Recordings, mostly available on short runs on cassette tape. This year, he has recorded a full-length album, and is planning to tour houses in the Netherlands and America with his music. He discusses the tactics of the music industry from a grassroots perspective.


What do you think the answer for small bands trying to make a living out of music, to downloading, and big bands giving their music away for free?

I’m not sure bands should try to make a living out of music, I think it’s very difficult to do and not really something I’d want to try. At the same time, I think the DIY community is something so insular and separate from the influence of Carling and Radiohead or whatever that you could probably tour the DIY circuit playing small pubs and houses, getting fed and paid and stuff, and what the bigger bands are doing isn’t even going to make any difference. I’m not sure my band is in competition with Radiohead over ticket sales or record sales so I say we just keep on playing DIY shows and they can do what they do and if it means I can download their new album for two quid then that’s even better.


What is your opinion on larger bands who are giving their music away to publicise themselves to gain money through ticket sales?

I think if that is their motive then its pretty lame but not unexpected. But to flip it on its head, I think if bands are giving their music away for nobler ends then it is something really cool that we should be supporting. At the end of the day, I guess no matter how hard we try to avoid it, our day to day lives are somewhat governed by the dominant system of production – and that includes the production and consumption (in absence of a better term) of art and music. Personally, I would be inclined to support any band that tries to subvert those systemic norms, whether it be Radiohead letting people download their music for free, or The King Blues being signed to a major but playing squat shows and free shows outside venues.


Do you think this will blow small bands out of the water?

I think maybe this kind of shift could blow some bands out of the water, but only the bands that try to play the mainstream game and lose. Maybe it’s not very positive to say so, but personally I’d be disposed to say that they deserve it. I don’t think it will make much difference to the DIY scene and ultimately I’m not sure it will really even change music on a wider level. I think people will continue to enjoy playing music and listening to music, and if there is a real incentive to do so, or they feel like its something authentic and genuine and something worth doing, people will carry on paying money for records. If I really like a band I might burn a CD off a mate, but then chances are I’ll go to their shows and buy a shirt or probably buy the CD or vinyl itself because it’s a nice thing to have. You feel like you’re supporting the band and they deserve it.
At the same time people will keep downloading and making mix tapes because not everyone can afford to buy every CD they come across. It’s kind of crazy, because although this whole download thing does seem to reduce music to its simplest purest form, which should be a good thing, in a funny kind of way to me it also seems like its kind of commoditising music as well. I’m not sure I like the idea of reducing art to just files on a computer that can be bought and sold.
I like having the art work and the lyrics. I enjoy the actual activity of going record shopping and the whole ritual of putting a record on the deck and sitting down to read the sleeve and listen to the songs, somehow that is lost in MP3s, and maybe that’s just the death rattle of commodity fetishism in punk but I think maybe its something I’d miss and maybe there’s something more to owning records and CDs than just accumulating products for the sake of accumulation, I hope there is. At the end of the day, despite the efforts of the major labels and the mainstream music press, I feel like music is just music and I think music will carry on just being music. Kids enjoy making songs and putting out records and talking about them and writing zines, and that isn’t something that’s going to just disappear. If it turns out that this whole thing drags down the mainstream music industry and maybe takes some of the fucking horrible bands with it, then I think that can only be good for music as a whole.

Does her heart beat like the rest?

I've been thinking about Maggie Thatcher, not one of my favourite pastimes but sometimes it is neccessary. Anyway, over the past few months i've been invited a few times to a street party when she dies (presuming she's human and she actually will die). This is where the problem lies. No matter how much I'd like to believe that shes some crazy inhumane mutant, I can't help but think that she proabably is an actual real life homo sapien. To begin with I really liked the idea of the street party, it seemed like a political thing and a fun thing, a worthy thing. But the more I think about it the less I am able to square it morally. I don't think I'll attend. At the end of the day this remains a celebration of someone's death. To me that seems pretty demented. Sure I had a celebratory pint or two when Blair left office but this is quite different. For all her (numerous, unforgivable, heinous) faults, i'm not sure even the old witch herself would have actually celebrated someone dying.

As for whether she should get a state funeral, thats a different story...

get off my cloud

So, I've had a pretty goddam unproductive weekend. In fact, since Wednesday I've done pretty much nothin, I don't mind so much. I've had fun.

Conclusions drawn...

Football fucking hurts if you are as unfit as I am
A 40oz and a joint at half time absolutely does not help
International students know how to party
Azzam is an excellent person to go to parties with
German girls are cute
Drinking hurts even more than football, fast forward 24 hours and both hurt even more
Pacmania is fucking genius
Whoever designed Sonic 1 for the Master System was a sadistic fuck
Oil barrels make good drums, for drumming
Grindhouse is fucking excellent
Playing Bombenalarm tapes incredibly loudly and swinging my walkman by its wriststrap is a good way to annoy those mobile phone music kids

Well, that list was pretty pointless really, not too sure why I wrote it.

Time for a shower, need some clean.

Peace

drunk football fans sound like zombies when they sing

Choir of Zombies

The football team lost today
now the pubs are all closed
and a choir of zombies
is calling out your name

we'll sing when we're winning
and we'll sing till we die
but our songs will sound like tears
if we lose tomorrow night

as long as we keep on singing
we'll look the bosses in their eyes
as long as we keep drinking
we'll deface the advertisers lies

we'll sing when we're winning
and we'll sing till we die
but our songs will sound like tears
if we lose tomorrow night

lets not lose tomorrow night
seize the day like the butterflies
lets dance and drink
and hide from the police

lets take tomorrow in our stride