If you read my last post you know that last Friday a battle of the bands competition happened at the Hess Rec Center at UAF. What you may not know is that Paper Scissors won. What you most certainly don’t know is that I (Ryan Schmidt, drummer for Paper Scissors) having participated in two, winning one (very much losing the other) hate the idea of competing with local bands that I respect for nothing more than a cash prize. After all the bands had performed I was milling around the venue just shooting the breeze and found out, before it was announced, that Paper Scissors was going to win. Far from the happiness and pride victors are expected to feel I was instead burdened with disappointment knowing that the other bands (many of whose members are friends and peers) would leave feeling much like the majority of American’s did in 1993 six minutes after buying Bon Jovi’s highly anticipated “Keep the Faith”; disappointed (probably pissed). Whereas your typical battle of the bands winner promptly attaches feather to cap and holds no bones about educating all of their fandom (and otherwise) of their new status at the top of the pile, I couldn’t help but feel like Gomer Pile, eating a doughnut while the rest of my unit does pushups. Don’t get me wrong I (we) wanted to win. We wouldn’t have entered otherwise, but doing so, and the way it made me feel, gave me pause.
Being a musician in Fairbanks has many pros, easy to book gigs, receptive audiences, pay, to name a few, but it’s also renowned for its challenges. Paper Scissors can play the Marlin till we’re as blue in the face as its namesake and I would put money on the fact that no representative from any major music label or production company will EVER come and listen. I suppose I could be wrong but I’m willing to take some very steep bets. There are a number of musicians that are happy to jam here and there, but have other plans for their professional lives, but for the bands that aren’t, the bands that put hours, and days, and months, and years of effort into their music in an effort to jam not just here and there, but for the rest of their lives (you know who you are) a decision to relocate to the lower-48 is paramount. Granted it’s no silver bullet (though it may hit you in the foot) but existing in a more heavily saturated music market is a necessary step in making your band your business. You may argue that Fairbanks needs to find a way to become more noticeable and competitive. Maybe. It would change a number of things for the better, and a number of things for the worse. I like things the way they are. This place is unique, it’s beautiful, it’s weird, it’s great.
I’ll spare you the 500 pages of diatribe about every nuance of our music scene bouncing around my head right now, and make a concerted effort to finally, at long last and without further ado or one more moments hesitation…get to my point. Asking Fairbanks’ local bands to compete against each other for money is inherently at odds with what I see as the most integral values of this scene, and it falls on the bands to recognize that it’s not what we’re about and to decline similar invites in the future. It isn’t the competition that detracts from us, it’s what we’re competing for, money and “status” among respected equals. It’s petty and we should all be above it.
HOWEVER, when Elektra records organizes a battle of the bands here to determine the next band it’s going to sign…it’s game on!
Hi, just thought I’d drop a line and commend your effort with Art Machine. It’s a well written, thoughtful blog, and a benefit to the local scene.
I can empathize with the anticlimactic feelings resulting from a Fairbanks battle of the bands win. Although, you could always take the friendship argument to a utopian extreme where rather than slouching in failure, the losing bands are happy for their friends who won…unlikely, I know.
But while competing for a cash prize is admittedly shallow for the type of scene we have here, I think battles still have their place. Competitions with prizes of time in the recording studio or getting to open for an out of state act are definitely worth participating in, and are less likely to leave the winner with conflicted feelings.
Yes, any band aspiring to live comfortably on earnings from their music must leave Alaska, especially given the gross restructuring of the music industry. But I appreciate the combination of strong musician support and lack of livable earnings available to them that is characteristic of the Fairbanks music scene. I think it results in more instances of the stereotypical struggling artist, which in turn yields the authentic, quality talent typical of many local bands. Congratulations on your win!
thanks for your kind word about the blog.
i couldn’t agree with you more about the value of “battles” insofar as the prize for winning being something more likely to advance a bands chances of “making it” (recording time, big name openings etc…)
hey ryan, did you watch the today show this morning?….bon jovi was performing…just thought i’d mention that.