Ethos

Noel Gallagher always seems to be complaining about something. This time, it’s for the right reasons…well sort of. He’s gone in to bat for one of Australia’s newest and most-exciting upcoming acts, Jagwar Ma. They’re great you should check them out! Well very similar to here in Australia, UK commercial mainstream radio doesn’t seem to support emerging acts. In fact, they’re barely even given a chance. For me, this is somewhat disappointing, yet comforting at the same time. I’ll try to explain this conundrum that I’m having.

Photo: Noel Gallagher

A strong ethos of mine is; “Music shouldn’t be forced on people, it should be discovered by people.” There is so much joy in blind discovery or researching a friend’s suggestion. It gives you a chance to build your own thoughts and story about the band. I love the points in time that are defined by records that you and your friends are listening to. It becomes a soundtrack to your life. People are too quick to judge when music is rammed down their throats on commercial radio. Plus, a song can definitely lose a few notches of cool when a band you like hits the airwaves of commercial radio. I’ve seen it happen too many times!

Photo: Jagwar Ma

I think the point Mr. Gallagher was making is that these emerging bands should be able to show their talents through avenues where people wouldn’t normally hear. I agree with this side of things also. Many promoters in Australia say this type lack of radio support for Australian acts is destroying the local live music scene. Michael Chugg explains that many Australian acts are forced into making a name for themselves overseas.

This strikes a chord with me as I remember playing a gig with the Temper Trap in early 2007 and seeing them perform to about 10 people. You could hear a pin drop in between each song. Now days, you’d be lucky to hear a pint smash on the ground amongst the thousands of punters. This is all because they went overseas and capitalized on some decent mainstream radio play. It seems they were one the few that crossed the great divide of commercial radio overseas. They came back to Australia being one of the most hyped bands with heavy Triple J play. Eventually they crossed to commercial radio here too. I say good on to them, but do you think they’re cool now?