RushCoil
Offline
PDX

I have seen many posts on here (and the *other* site) that indicate that the chip artist ethos is basically, "fuck the audience. Do whatever YOU want and don't dare 'move around' or play anything the audience will like just to entertain them."

I have probably been in 20 bands in my life and played over 1,000 gigs from Korea to Belize.

I have never gone into a venue and said, "OK, guys, what can we do that will alienate the audience? XXX? No, we can't do that one, that's a crowd-pleaser, it has to be my 14 minute cover of Hello by Lionel Richie."

Can you guys enlighten me? Am I truly so old that I think I should entertain or tailor a set to a crowd if I'm being paid to entertain them, or is the exclusive point of all chip music to impress fellow chip musicians that may or may not be lurking behind the curtain?

Star Fighter Dreams
Offline
San Antonio, Texas

I struggle with that as well.

Edward Shallow
Offline
Scotland

Whatever your sound is - play it. Don't attempt to alienate your audience, but don't be worried about playing something that could alienate them. Your stage persona can be as passive or interactive as suits. End on crowd favourites, where possible.

BR1GHT PR1MATE
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BOSTON

100% no, "fuck the audience" just sounds cool to the <18y.o. set that is playing basement shows for mom.

/flamebait

RushCoil
Offline
PDX
Edward Shallow wrote:

Whatever your sound is - play it. Don't attempt to alienate your audience, but don't be worried about playing something that could alienate them. Your stage persona can be as passive or interactive as suits. End on crowd favourites, where possible.

Good answer. So don't compromise your sound, like trying to make some dark trance shit the day before for a goth club show when most of your stuff is IDM stuff.

I wonder about "beats" - like, do you guys typically pick upbeat stuff for these shows? Does anyone ever do their slower stuff?

Edward Shallow
Offline
Scotland

If I were playing a goth club show, it may encourage me to experiment with dark trance, but I wouldn't cater an entire show to it. I rarely play my 5 minute + tracks live and limit my slow tracks (anything under 120bpm) to no more than 2 per show, as I know they can be hard to digest in a live setting. I know I hate it when artists over saturate their sets with slow songs live, much prefer listening to them when time is not of the essence.

(i.e. Fuck double time breakdowns that last 10 minutes and fuck post-rock shows in general).

arottenbit
Offline
Milan, Italy

Audience is EVERYTHING in a live show.
What's the point to play live if you dont want to please them?

Jellica
Offline
England

I'm not going to go and make a load of melodic techno because I know I'm playing a gig in front of a bunch of kids with asymmetrical haircuts.

As far as I'm concerned, as soon as you starting compromising and conforming to what the largest percent of your potential audience wants or expects you to do, rather than what you want, then you cease to be an artist.

I respect artists like Nullsleep and Bit Shifer more and more now, not just for their constant hard work and dedication but also because of their decision to start experimenting with new sounds and possibly alienating part of their audience, rather than sticking to the heartfelt and friendly pop styles that they used to make.

However, I will attempt to entertain to the best of my abilites, talk to the audience, try make them laugh, try to get them round to liking me and dance like a prancing tit.

Last edited by Jellica (Jun 25, 2010 5:57 pm)

Edward Shallow
Offline
Scotland

Please them, sure, but your music shouldn't be compromised in doing so.

Dauragon
Offline
Washington DC
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

100% no, "fuck the audience" just sounds cool to the <18y.o. set that is playing basement shows for mom.

/flamebait

Yup.

herr_prof
Offline
Unsubscribe

I guess i don't understand what we are complaining about.

RushJet1
Offline
Lawrenceville, GA

When writing your music, "fuck the audience" is fine, do what you want to do.  Then the people who like your music and/or want to go to shows you may put on will like your music and you won't have to necessarily change your style to accommodate. 

Also I'd guess people play faster songs for most concerts because people JUS WANA DANCE and it's hard to mosh to a mellow song

Shriker
Offline
Hoxton, London UK

If you're making music that you enjoy listening to, your fanbase should be built of people with similar taste

bucky
Offline
philly
RushCoil wrote:

I have seen many posts on here (and the *other* site) that indicate that the chip artist ethos is basically, "fuck the audience. Do whatever YOU want and don't dare 'move around' or play anything the audience will like just to entertain them."

I have probably been in 20 bands in my life and played over 1,000 gigs from Korea to Belize.

I have never gone into a venue and said, "OK, guys, what can we do that will alienate the audience? XXX? No, we can't do that one, that's a crowd-pleaser, it has to be my 14 minute cover of Hello by Lionel Richie."

Can you guys enlighten me? Am I truly so old that I think I should entertain or tailor a set to a crowd if I'm being paid to entertain them, or is the exclusive point of all chip music to impress fellow chip musicians that may or may not be lurking behind the curtain?

Thankfully, I don't get this impression of the scene, at all! smile

I've been to dozens of chip shows and booked a handful as well. There's a very reasonable balance of being able to do what you want *with* respect for the audience. You may have taken the 'don't do obvious covers / crowd pleasers' sentiment too literally. I think most of us want to keep the audience happy, it's just that the chip scene is generally diverse enough (in musicians and fans alike) to not have to succumb to the extreme you presented in the other thread-

You plug in your shit and someone shouts, "PLAY MARIO!!!" and another, "Castlevania, no, do Zelda!"

You realize that you are little more than a novelty at this point. Do you...

Does that make any sense? It's definitely not about alienating or ignoring your audience, but most of us can get by without exploiting some sort of novelty. You can certainly please the crowd with music and a presentation that you know your growing fan-base loves. It's just that throwing in a mario cover for recognition is a potential exception that most of us would just find too corny and offputting. But otherwise, by all means, there's nothing wrong with trying to put on a great show for your audience.

TLDR- it's really not too different than other types of music. I play chip shows with the same mindset that I play with my 'pop/rock' band. I just wanna play music I'm proud of that hopefully the audience will really dig too... and that's probably the mindset of most performing chip artists.

Last edited by bucky (Jun 25, 2010 6:59 pm)

RushCoil
Offline
PDX

I am so impressed by the thoughtfulness put forth by the people on this site. Thanks for the wonderful comments. This community is amazing.

8bitweapon
Offline
Los Angeles

Just do a set of tunes that you enjoy playing, simple.

As to the "play mario" thing: I think that has the chance of happening whenever there are 8 bit sounds being played in a public space. Most people don't know you can actually have original music unrelated to a game coming out of these devices. Its my impression that people assume these are themes to games they havent played. Eduction at the front-line is everyone's responsibility. wink

Last edited by 8bitweapon (Jun 25, 2010 7:30 pm)