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Posted: 14/09/2004 - 13:06
by Hacky
Matrix wrote:LMAO - what a shitsorm over such a tiny thing .... oh well lol ....
Big time, but, let's keep the little babies safe from the big bad man.
:-)

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 13:12
by Chris Abbott
> No biggie, it's just that saying that kinda thing could get Chris
> into problems, I've seen it happen before on other forums,

:shock: If I wasn't worried before, I am now!

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 13:14
by Matrix
lol....

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 13:37
by Chris Abbott
<<<
Other wise the music is just mediocre cheesy pub band type, and not worth actually paying to see.
>>>
Hmm. I thought that was PPOTs best performance yet, and they have sold lots of CDs that sound pretty much the same. I think any band which has that lineup where you don't know the original music would probably fail to set you alight. People are paying as much to hear those particular tunes as they are to see the group perform them. If you reduce it down to absurd levels, no one would want to pay to see a group of people hitting stuff and plucking stuff in order to produce harmonic frequencies, when they can get harmonic frequencies for free in the outside world. :-/

But, in that if BIT Live went "big" (thousands)... well, you would need entirely different kinds of acts. Currently they don't exist! So... er... that's that then. The acts we've got are suitable for 3-500 people maximum, because once you get above a certain level enforced grandeur begins to take the place of musicality and intimacy. There are many things that BIT Live could possibly be, but I don't know if BIT Live would be upsizeable without becoming something completely different but with the same name. A C64 rock festival in stadiums? Strangely, not as exciting an idea as it once was.

PPOT played very well as a tight live band, and had a connection with the audience who loved what they played. I'm not sure you can apply any other criteria that would make any sense. Someone who didn't know the tunes thought they sounded cheesy. Well, it's 80s melodic synthrockpop. I'd much rather listen to the "top 20 cheesiest tunes" than the "top 20 best tunes" any day of the week, frankly, if it involves music with a catchy tune and an infectious groove.

There may have been a point there somewhere, I don't know. But it comes down to this: we can't force live acts to exist, so we make the most of the ones we've got, and be grateful they're growing artistically every year. We shouldn't any more try to please people who don't know the original music, because to them it's just guys with instruments playing songs they don't know.

Er...

Chris

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 15:01
by Hacky
Chris..
No don't get me wrong, all the bands were cool, way cool, but I mean (playing devils advocate) to our ears they were. I'm kind of a C64 geek yet not a C64 geek, so I can comment on what it sounds like to non-scene-fans.
:-P

I can see that you are whole-heartedly behind the 'scene get together' type format, which is cool. But my vote is for the bigger gig format; all those in favour say aye!<G>. Think of it this way... I mean, the average gig I either play at or go to, has around 2,000 to 3,000 people in the audience, all paying their £15 to £25 a pop, that's say an average of £50k takings for the night, not including t-shirt/CD sales etc. Now subtract your costs, say you're left with £25k min. So if somehow, and I see from your other post that you've already tried all the 'somehows' so this point is kind of intellectual at best, but I'll say it anyway so we can all dream, say more people knew about this than just the frequenters of this forum, Edge magazine for example this month had a whole thing on retro games, with a majority chunk of it on C64, if only they'd had a full page ad after that section, or mention in the section article itself, of the BIT Live gig, how many would then have come I wonder? As you've pointed out though PR isn't the be all and end all I'd assumed it might be. Back to that gig of 2k people though, 2k people turn up to see a band they don't really know, just coz it's a gig in a club and they're going out, most likely they're just going as they liked the sound of how the bands musical genre was advertised and thought "that's what I wanna go see".

If the BIT Live had more 'celebs' playing, and it was billed as come watch the guys who invented games/electronic music, maybe the appeal would be pretty wide? I dunno, this is all guess work on my behalf.

I just hate to see this costing you money out of your own pocket, and I SO want to see this thing live on into the future, as do we all, so a drastic format change may be needed, I dunno, but it's one possibility.

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 15:24
by floyd15129
I agree, i think if there are people playing who have done remixes of c64 tracks, it would make the whole gig come alive. iam sorry to say but just being stuffy about the fact that there are these regular bands playing and not being open to the idea of new ideas and suggestions is silly.
Visa roster were good, they made the gig for me, now what if some of the fans were allowed to jump onstage and do their own c64 remixes.
Somehow with a few updated ideas and talks between people, iam sure this thing wont die, but if its just another repeat of the rugular bands playing, its just not being very creative.
And chris the point you said about not letting anyone else on stage because we JUST have the regular bands, is PRESUMING that anyone who wants to do a track is shit.
well why dont we get people to do their own versions of tracks.
I dont want to say the c64 gig was bad i mean its cool its happening at all, but i think after coming to both gigs the one in brighton was the best for the fact it was more of a party type of feel instead of putting pretty poor bands in the limelight and saying there;'s nothing else out there. (exept for visa roster which were great) Hacky;s ideas about making it pay for itself are valid.......and i think by putting the gig in a mag one of the big ones would be valuable.
:)

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 15:40
by fnordpojk
Can't speak for anyone but myself, but if I want to do the club thing, I go to the club. If I want to do the C64 thing, I go to BIT Live.

For me, not having participated in the earlier BIT Lives so not being able to compare with anything, this was an enormous amount of fun. Not only was the venue great, but the people and feeling of connectedness was truly awesome. The music and people is what's important for me, not a demo party feel or a huge arena concert type of thing.

As to the music, well, if you're not into the whole C64 remix scene, you're probably better off not going to BIT Live at all, since it's all ABOUT the C64 remix scene.. heh. It's sort of like going to a Prince concert and standing around complaining about how much AC/DC rocks and why isn't Prince doing that kind of stuff instead?

And the quality of the bands performing.. next BIT, please do go up on stage and try to do better. I'm sure everyone would be pleased if you did.

That's just me, though.

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 16:02
by Bog
so I can comment on what it sounds like to non-scene-fans
Uhm... my girlfriend's a non-scene-fan, and she really enjoyed it. [/code]

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 16:03
by madfiddler
Hacky wrote:I mean, the average gig I either play at or go to, has around 2,000 to 3,000 people in the audience
Hey, tell me what you do then :) ?? Love live playing.

As for the comments about pub bands/regular bands and all that waffle...

PPOT - regular? the only band in the world who go out gigging the style and type of music they play.

Visa Rosta.... as above.. and very professional to boot.

Makkes lot... again... very different - I hate hiphop and rap personally, but their light hearted attitude, and lyrics... made me giggle... plus it's the fact it's a couple of guys you know, basically taking the piss out of themselves and everything else..

SID80's - a collection of C64 musicians, fans, current games composers who meet up a couple of days before the gig... once a year... and have a "live rehersal" *grin*..... admittedly there certainly were issues with stuff we played, but that couldn't be helped really. Perhaps if it was a paying gig for us, we could have rehersed all week rather than giving up our spare time for nothing... however, I'm the first to say... yeah... it wasn't the tightest set around ;) We did however introduce two new tracks into the set... and had a bass player that two days before the set had NEVER HEARD the music before... The next gig, we plan to have more new material, but there is only so much you can do.

I'm not particularly interested in someone coming up on stage, sitting in front of a keyboard and playing to a backing tape... half of the gig is the performance, let alone the music.. It's fun to watch..

I also don't believe that BITLive has that much to do with the remix scene from a musical point of view. BITLive is about people who loved and appreciated the music from the Commodore 64 - not the remixes (but have probably done or enjoyed the remixes too), who like to meet up, have a good drink, and listen to a bit of music that they may or may not have heard before.... Christ, would you complain to U2 because they played the same songs as their last gig???

Mark - a pretty poor fiddle player... apparently :oops:

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 16:46
by SIR'86
madfiddler wrote: I also don't believe that BITLive has that much to do with the remix scene from a musical point of view. BITLive is about people who loved and appreciated the music from the Commodore 64 - not the remixes (but have probably done or enjoyed the remixes too), who like to meet up, have a good drink, and listen to a bit of music that they may or may not have heard before.... Christ, would you complain to U2 because they played the same songs as their last gig???
For me the music is the gateway to the nostalgia. Music brings back memories much easier than images. When you hear those C64 tunes you're transported back to the eighties, and remember all the good times you had on your computer with your friends. And of course it helps when the music is performed so well, live and with an audience around you that's as into the C64 as you are...

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 16:49
by Bog
Mark - a pretty poor fiddle player... apparently
The only way that description could work, sir, is if you aren't being paid enough. No other definition applies.

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 17:37
by Hacky
madfiddler wrote:
Hacky wrote:I mean, the average gig I either play at or go to, has around 2,000 to 3,000 people in the audience
Hey, tell me what you do then :) ?? Love live playing.

As for the comments about pub bands/regular bands and all that waffle...

...I'm not particularly interested in someone coming up on stage, sitting in front of a keyboard and playing to a backing tape...
Hi man, please to make your acquaintance.
:-)

LOVED your fiddle playing dude! Had a real improv vibe to it, was fab! Really made me miss playing with an electric fiddle player, not done that in yonkies. As with all 'lead' type animals as your good self though, the dude on the desk needs to make sure your max volume you can twiddle to is equal to poor little old Ben's, as you drowned him out some there hot rod.

I agree with everything you said, pretty much, save for 'I'm not particularly interested in someone coming up on stage, sitting in front of a keyboard and playing to a backing tape'. Obviously not to a backing tape, but I think people would love to see it, think Chemical Brothers etc, picture that but in C64 remix mode.

>Hey, tell me what you do then :) ?? Love live playing.<

Not a musician full time & professionally anymore unfortunately, it simply just doesn't pay me enough, not unless I whore myself out in ways I just don't ever want to again. I've done a lot of tv advert music and alike, and it pays well but I hate it. I love doing movie soundtracks though, that's what I'm trying to get into now, but hey, who isn't. If you're into real arty obscure movies then you've heard my stuff in Two Parts Man, The Governor, Ascension, others, and if you have kids, then Goosebumps tv series, MilkyWay adverts, type crap, and if you go to the cinema or have satellite/cable tv or whatever, then I did one of the new 20th Century Fox's logo 'stabs' and a bunch of other crap too numerous to mention here. But mainly for 'money' I do, for want of a better description, 'IT Security' but it's not really that as such. So, that's my bio, now back to the slagg'in match.<G>

re 'we only had two days to reherse' etcs
Musicians will always make excuses, even when they don't need to.
:-)

I was thinking just now, what about as well as having a site for money donations, could there also not be a section for gear donations? I know that when you throw a gig everything that can go wrong will, and BIT Live has been lucky that nothing big time major has gone belly up, but it would be cool if people could donate the 'back up' instruments, guitars, amps, keyboards, lighting, whatever. I know there's a lot of music people on this forum, and obviously it would all need to be at their own risk, and they'd need their own insurance for their gear, but, it's an idea to throw onto the pile anyways.

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 17:43
by Slaygon
Hacky wrote:think Chemical Brothers etc, picture that but in C64 remix mode.
c64mafia springs to mind. =)

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 17:48
by Hacky
Slaygon wrote:
Hacky wrote:think Chemical Brothers etc, picture that but in C64 remix mode.
c64mafia springs to mind. =)
Was that Larsec's thing? If so, that was so damn funny! And completely not what I was expecting! Larsec has done one of my all time favo remixes, and I thought he was gonna do that kinda thing, so when he played an acoustic guitar set and that rapping thing, it kinda knocked me for six, was still ace though.

Posted: 14/09/2004 - 18:01
by Larsec
Hacky wrote:Was that Larsec's thing? If so, that was so damn funny! And completely not what I was expecting! Larsec has done one of my all time favo remixes, and I thought he was gonna do that kinda thing, so when he played an acoustic guitar set and that rapping thing, it kinda knocked me for six, was still ace though.
That was Makke's and my thing, yes... I can't play the mixes I make on real instruments, simply don't have the skills... So I must tend to do something different when actually performing, something that I can actually do... Well, kinda do .. :)