“Fuck Game of Thrones! The main threat to the live music scene isn’t
downloading music, it’s downloading crazy-good TV,” says Kiwi legend and Face
the Music guest BLINK. ANDY HAZEL laughs, and then feels awkward.
Ahead
of his contribution to the Face the Music industry chat-fest, New Zealand music
mogul and man of action Ian Jorgensen, better known as Blink, is, as ever, full
of ideas. The man responsible for the legendary Camp a Low Hum festival, November’s
five-city Square Wave Festival and manager of Wellington’s latest venue
Puppies, is always happy to share advice.
“I
think I’m just confident in my ability to take on anything. I’m also a bit of
dick,’ he says casually. ‘I’ve had my fails like everyone else, but I’m always
willing to take on a massive risk, and New Zealand is a small place. The
benefit of being here is that it’s easy to reach out to everybody; you only
need to make an impact in four cities, so it’s simple for me to raise the
profile of an artist or band. In the US, you have to work hard for a long time and
you probably still won’t make a dent. The problem with New Zealand is that it’s
easy to get to the top and once you’re there, there’s nowhere to go. With my
festival [Camp A Low Hum] it’s a big as it can get, which makes you think,
right, now what can I do with this?’
Having
taken his can-do attitude around the country and around the world, Blink
collated his experiences in the book D.I.Y
Touring the World; a repository of advice on how to travel on next to
nothing. ‘Part of the reason I wrote the book is because every time someone
wanted to know anything, they’d email me; ‘Who puts posters up in Dunedin? Who
can mix us in Auckland?’ So I put out a book that featured everything I knew
about touring. Since I’d toured overseas, I put out another book that had everything
I know about touring the world.’
‘The
same piece of advice I tell everyone,’ he continues, ‘and what everyone at this
conference will be talking about, is this; people underestimate how hard they
have to work on any project,’ he pauses. ‘When I booked my first tour, I
wouldn’t start the day until I’d emailed at least 20 venues. I did that every
day for six weeks. Sometimes it would take an hour or two, sometimes most of the
day. Setting little goals before you relax achieves a lot. And another thing’
he says warming up, ‘people never think big enough either. With [his new
festival] Square Wave, it’s the first year I’m doing it; I’m kicking it off
straight away in 5 cities with 70 artists. If you’re doing the work anyway you
may as well make it big.’
Despite
his litany of impressive efforts and inspired bands, there are sad facts that
enthusiasm can’t overcome. “If anything, the music scene is dying in New
Zealand,’ he says unemotionally, “and it’s not because people are downloading
music. It’s because they’re downloading TV; that’s my competition. It’s Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones
and these amazing TV shows, that’s why people stay at home, and everyone I know
does this! No one stayed at home in the early 2000s, back then it was just…Friends, now TV is crazy good. If it
weren’t my job, I’d be home watching TV too. Fuck Game of Thrones!’ he laughs.
No comments:
Post a Comment