SMILEfest Interview - Laura Snapes

I spoke to Laura Snapes, features editor of NME, about female musicians, how to deal with entitled males and how to break into the music journalism world.

You said in the conference about the Reading and Leeds Festival line up that there were hundreds of other bands that have more credibility, what were some of that bands that you were thinking of?
Don’t make me name 100 (laughs)! There is so many! Slater-Kinney, Warpaint, St. Vincent and Wolf Alice.. I mean, maybe they are playing. Paramore! There are many, I am really bad at thinking of things off the top of my head. But the thing in these situations is when the bookers of these festivals are getting defensive, ‘yeah, well who could we book?’ and when people say that then it is evidence to me that they are just not looking very far and trying very hard. They are pretty happy with the way things are because their festival will sell out regardless of who they put on.

Do you believe that as a music journalist that it is harder to get into or do you believe that there is more equality and that it is based on how well you can write?
Yeah, I think that it is all about being good basically. I feel lucky in that I have never really come across any, or very few entrenched, chauvinistic editors or anything like that. I mean, to the contrary, I was really lucky when I was nineteen I started writing for The Quietus, which is run by two guys: John and Luke. And John was in his early forties and he was such a champion! If I ever got any bad treatment, I don’t know if you saw the thing in there, but the guy who gave me abuse, he was one of the editors that I meant, and I said ‘John, this guy has just said this to me’ and it was John who emailed around the other editors like ‘never commission this guy again!’. And there was a couple of times where people would be aggressive towards me and people like him are just such champions. It is such a good positive reinforcement to have people like that on your side and I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have it, but those are the kind of people that make it worthwhile. But no, I positively discriminate. Like a man, this dick, emailed me the other day asking for advice on a live review that he had written and I didn’t have time to do it, but he sent me about five more emails and I eventually got to the point where I was like ‘I haven’t got time’ and then he started having a go at me. I was like ‘get your male entitlement out of my inbox’ and he was like ‘Oh, you’re being sexist now are you?’ and I was like ‘what? To be honest with you if you were a woman then I would have read your review so probably I am sexist.’ But I don’t know, I feel more predisposed towards helping people who are not entitled young white boys. And also I think that all of the best young music writers are mostly women. If you made me name them then it would probably be ninety seven per cent women and three per cent blokes!

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to break into music journalism or feature writing?
I would say first of all to make sure that it is something that you are really, really, really dedicated to and passionate about! It is the kind of thing where I go to work, I work in an office and I work 10am to 6pm, but your work never stops because music is a thing that you are into all of the time. I have a friend that works at a financial magazine and she comes home and she is like ‘Oh, I don’t have to think about that shit anymore!’ So yeah, first of all make sure that you are super passionate and dedicated to it and just think about ‘what is it that I want to say about music and why do I want to say it?’ This is such vague but important advice: just work really hard at being the best that you can possibly be. In order to do that read the best music writers that you can. Read new stuff, old stuff in all different formats. Really study it and take it apart, sit and read something that you think is amazing and then think ‘what is it that is making this amazing?’ Pull it apart like you are in a school English lesson and think ‘this is how they are using adverbs’ and ‘this is how they are constructing arguments’. Look at the technical side of it and pull it apart a bit, because if you study that you will come to absorb it a bit as well. So yeah, just read loads and figure out what you think is smart. Do your best to not necessarily emulate it, but there was definitely a period where I emulated what I thought was good and then just off doing that you get into the rhythms of writing and  then you can kind of go off and fly! Do it your own way. You just need to have a ferocious appetite for music. If I get to the end of a year and I see music journalists saying that is has been a bad year for music, and you are like ‘really? You just were not looking hard enough’. It has to kind of be everything. I am not saying that you should work all hours by any means, I go home and watch House Of Fools like everybody else does, but it is kind of more than just a job.

What inspired you to want to become a journalist and write features?
It was a couple of things. I always loved listening to Radio One and I loved pop music as a kid, and then I would get to hear Jo Wiley and stuff when I was like ten/eleven, and I thought that I would really love to do what she does and interview people. I didn’t even know that the word was journalist or whatever! I was just like I want to interview people, I want to ask people who make music about how they do it and stuff. And then a few years later there was this musician that I was really obsessed with and I was like I want to meet this person, how can I do it in a way that is not just like ‘hi I think you are great’, but like a professional excuse to have a conversation. I was like maybe I could interview her or something? And then I just really liked doing it and it was just a way of like, using careers advice, young people are not given enough as it is and figure out how to make your hobby your job. My little brother is sixteen and there was definitely a time where he wanted to be a footballer, and it is like face facts, you are never going to play for Manchester United, unless something amazing happens! That does not mean that your dream is dead, because if you look at that one footballer and think about how many hundreds of people work in the industry around them. I mean, I only ever wanted to be a music journalist, I never wanted to be a musician or anything, but figuring out how to make your hobby your job, that is a thing that everybody can do pretty much, and I think that is a piece of advice that people are not given enough.  

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SMILEfest 2015 - Vinyl Revival

Music industry legends Tony Crean, Anya Strafford and Mike Smith gathered in JM315 on Wednesday, March 11 for the first SMILEfest conference of 2015, entitled ‘Digital Witness: The Future of Music?’.

One of the most common similarities between the three guests was that they have all changed job roles throughout their career, which indicates that to get into the music industry you need a wide variety of talents and skills.

Despite the conference being about the future of music, the main focus was on vinyl records, which could indicate that vinyl is increasing in popularity.

All three of the panelists shared a love for vinyl records: Mike Smith believes that vinyl is a ‘wonderful and romantic experience to share’, Anya believes that vinyl ‘helps to tell the story of an album more than a CD could’ and Tony believes that there is definitely an ‘emotional engagement’ involved with vinyl.

As vinyl is becoming increasingly more popular, the three guests all agreed that there needs to be more vinyl pressing plants in the UK. There are only two pressing plants in the UK and even major labels can struggle with an eighteen-week wait for releases.

When asked whether vinyl is more of a gimmick than a revival, Mike Smith said that he can easily get songs on Spotify, but he can remember where he was and when he bought every vinyl that he owns, proving that there is more of a connection with vinyl records.

The hour long session was concluded with the musical guests all agreeing that the best way to manage artists is to take time to build up good acts, and that bands need to have connectivity with social media and their fans.

Record Store Day is fast-approaching, with many bands releasing exclusive vinyl copies of their records on Saturday, April 18.

SMILEfest 2015 - Music and Misogyny

Last week some of the biggest female names in music took to the stage to talk about the problems that women face in such a male dominated industry. NME’s Laura Snapes, Mute Press’ Zoe Miller, BBC Lives’ Mel Lewis and tour manager Tre Stead joined forces on Wednesday, March 11 for the second SMILEfest conference of 2015, entitled ‘Blurred Times: Music and Misogyny’.

One of the big hot topics at the moment is the Reading and Leeds line-up being only 10% female, and it is safe to say that all four of the guests were horrified at this statistic. Zoe believes that there are whole sections of the music industry that have a problem with the number of female acts, but other genres such as electronic music have many women in a position of power and strength. Laura believes that many of the males in the music industry are discriminating and not even realising that they are doing so.

Another shocking fact that was mentioned was that females who work in the music industry feel the need to dress down to escape their femininity so that they can be taken more seriously by men. Tre spent years wearing jeans and no make up to try and look like the rest of her male colleagues, but now wears what she wants as she feels more comfortable in her job. Zoe also mentioned when she has worked with female artists and they feel the need to dress down because of sexism.

All four of the females have experience sexism in the work place. Mel has been called patronising names, such as ‘babe’ and ‘darling’, Zoe mentioned that when males come into the office for meetings they direct their questions straight to the other male members of staff, Laura has been talked down to due to her gender and when Tre first starting working with bands people would assume she was a girlfriend or groupie.

Despite many horror stories being shared, one of the most important lessons to be gained from this conference was that women in the music industry stick together and that people will be there to help you out when you are faced with sexism in the work place. 

Should cameras be allowed at concerts?

One of the signs which the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have used at their concerts.

Many concerts are all the same: the second that the lights go off and the curtain drops, many eager fans get out their digital cameras or smartphones, eager to capture the moment when their favourite band grace the stage. But many people take it too far, spending all of the concert taking shoddy pictures to show off on their Facebook page.

At a recent concert that I attended, three people stood in front of me were taking pictures and filming on their iPads. For the whole concert they were stood there, not moving, apart from to press the ‘capture’ button hundreds of times. It goes without saying that this was ridiculously annoying, not only because it was harder to see the band, but also because it has made me realise what is happening at concerts nowadays. People are more interested in showing off about where they have been than actually enjoying the music and the atmosphere. Is technology taking over our lives?

Artists such as Price, Beyoncé and Björk have all previously banned people from taking photos at concerts, saying that it is ‘distracting’ and that people should enjoy the show through their eyes, not through a screen. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are renowned for not allowing fans to take photos at their shows, but they have received a lot of support from both fans and critics about the bold move. With fans not desperately trying to capture images, they are able to be involved with the concert and forget about technology, for a couple of hours at least. Attempts to stop fans taking photos are not always successful, but many fans will happily comply with the artists’ request.

The alternative view on this is from aspiring photographers. Although professional photographers can often acquire photo-passes for concerts, many photographers aren’t able to or don’t believe that they should have to stand on the other side of the barrier to take photos. Many aspiring photographers discover their passion for music and concert photography by taking photos on their digital cameras during a concert, and then eventually move on to purchasing an SLR and taking it more seriously. By banning taking photos at all gigs, many people may not discover their talent or find the inspiration to attempt concert photography. Also, many fans enjoy just taking a few photos as a memory of the time that they saw a specific band and treat them as souvenirs from a memorable night.

They key point here is moderation: fans should be able to take photographs at concerts, but only a few and not for the whole concert. Maybe employing the three song rule that professional photographers get would be a good idea, as that way people would be able to take photos but they would not worry about taking them for the whole evening. It would be hard to enforce, but some people need to realise that concerts are for having fun, not for standing with your camera in the air for hours. 

Music festivals: are they really worth it?

Festival season is a time of joy for music fans of all genres, with so many different festivals around to cater for everyone. However, due to the dire state of the economy there is a common question that springs to mind once a festival line-up is announced: how much will it cost this time?

Festival tickets, as with many other products and items, often increase in price every year. The price increase is usually an extra £10 every year, which may not seem like a lot, but added on top of an already expensive ticket (plus booking fees, plus delivery fees) all adds up. This means that the common price for a five day camping ticket to a music festival is usually around £200. The high price often means that many music fans often substitute going on holiday for going to a music festival, meaning that once they are there they want to have the best time possible.

The ticket price isn’t all that needs to be paid for. Transport is another expense of the festival experience. Rising fuel prices mean that it is now even more expensive than ever to travel and car parking tickets at festivals often cost over £10 for the weekend. Many people car-share, meaning that it is more cost-efficient for both the driver and their friends. Many festivals also join forces with coach companies, allowing customers to get cheaper travel to the festival. Another key expense is camping equipment: tents, sleeping bags and wellies can end up costing a fortune. Food and drink inside the arena also isn’t cheap, often with a pint costing you £5! Bringing your own food and drink can help bring the costs down, but make sure that you don’t try and bring it into the arena or it will be confiscated.

Despite being expensive to attend, the main aspect of a festival is the music. With hundreds of bands playing across the weekend, you have the opportunity to watch some of the most popular bands in the world, as well as exploring the hottest new talent in the music industry. With so many stages, festivals such as Sonisphere and Download enable you to watch bands across five different stages on three different days: there is always something for everyone. With the average concert costing around £25 to see three bands, during the festival you only need to see twenty four bands/acts to get your money’s worth. For a dedicated music lover, this is an extremely possible situation.

All in all, if you embrace every aspect of a festival, rather than just paying to get drunk, you can definitely have an amazing experience at a music festival. With their popularity rising, it’s easy to see why so many people attend festivals every year. 

Smaller venues vs bigger venues

The debate on whether it’s better to see a band in a smaller venue or a larger one has been debated for many years amongst music fans, but is there actually an answer?

Many punk and hardcore fans do believe that smaller venues are better. DIY punk shows have been around for years, with bands playing in places such as basements, houses and small pubs. With no security guards or barriers, fans are able to be up-close and personal with the band, creating a more unique experience. And of course, if the band becomes popular, then years down the line you’re able to brag about how you ‘saw them before they were cool’ (but don’t be surprised if people think you’re a stuck-up hipster – you’ve been warned).

One of the negatives about smaller venues is that often the sound quality isn’t perfect, especially in a DIY punk show. Bigger venues often have a much better sound and technicians, due to their bigger budget and higher-quality technology. However, many fans don’t think the sound quality is an issue, they believe it is more about the atmosphere. At smaller venues fans are able to get involved with the show by crowd-surfing, joining the band on stage and being closer to the band.

Bigger venues have a much bigger capacity, allowing more fans to attend. This means that it is more likely for people to be able to get tickets, whereas smaller shows sell out much quicker. There is also a higher level of security, meaning that if something bad happens then there is always a security guard or member of staff to help you. Bigger venues also allow for a much more exciting stage, often with props, fire and impressive lighting. The atmosphere of a show can change how much that you enjoy the concert, and bigger shows often have much more exciting stage antics.
  

Many bigger and more popular bands often feel grateful to their hometown, often where they play their first shows and first start to gain a fan base. Once they become more successful they are able to play shows all over the world, but the shows that often feel the most emotional are hometown shows. Seeing a talented and popular musician suddenly play a show in a 200-capacity venue, with no stage theatrics to hide behind, is often a wonderful experience. Musicians who can prove that they are still in the business for the love of music rather than just money are often the ones who put on the best performances.

Both smaller and bigger venues both have their own unique charm, but all in all concerts are about how well the band performs, not about how many people attend. Personal preference plays a key part in which type of venue you prefer, but keeping an open mind will allow you to enjoy concerts in many different locations.  

Why you need to support your local music venues

It seems like almost every week that music venues are closing down across the country, regardless of how big or small they are. This is a crisis for not only music fans, but also those who work at the venues and those involved in the music industry.

Many people view concerts as something that will always happen, but once all the venues are gone there will be nowhere to see the ‘next big thing’ perform. Smaller and more intimate venues allow fresh, new and exciting talent to showcase themselves to the world, hopefully leading on towards bigger things. So many of the artists that you’re listening to started off in a tiny room, performing to people who may not have even known their name, allowing them to rise to fame due to their hard work and talent. Without local music venues, the music industry would be dominated even more by talent show wannabes who are only famous due to a television show. Hard work and persistence is something that gets taught to children from a young age, so why should the music industry be full of people that got to where they are from doing nothing?

Local music venues are also somewhere that people can go to watch concerts last-minute, allowing people to discover new artists for a small entry fee. Supporting venues and new artists is not only helpful to the music industry, but it also allows you to spend your money in a way which helps so many people. Many local concerts are charity gigs, which end up raising huge amounts of money for those who are in need. Drink prices and ticket prices are also usually a lot cheaper than bigger venues, meaning that you get much better value on a night out.

Although the economy is not in great shape and times are hard, continuing to support your local venue will not only help to save the music industry, it will help future talented bands to find a way to achieve their goals. 

Why metal elitism needs to stop – now!

As a female metal music fan, I’m often quizzed about what bands I like. Understandably it’s a harmless question, however, many people don’t just want to know who you like: they want you to prove that you actually like them by naming albums and members, as if you’re a poser wearing a band shirt from Primark. Although pretending to like bands is ridiculous, many metal fans are too sceptical of others’ music tastes and act as though what other people like affect them.

As well as being sceptical, many metal fans also don’t believe that if you like metal you should listen to other genres. Personally, as someone who listens to lots of different genres of music, I’m often criticised for listening to things that ‘aren’t metal’. This new wave of criticism is something which is giving metal fans a bad name and becoming too judgemental. If someone who listens to Slayer also listens to Rihanna will the world explode? No - which for a fact is definitely true as that someone is me. Only listening to one genre of music is fine if it is your own personal choice, but judging someone for experimenting and having an open mind is not.

Making those who listen to the so-called ‘weaker’ or ‘less heavy’ genres of metal feel insignificant is something which people should feel ashamed about. One key example of this is metalcore: many metalcore fans are insulted because of the music they listen to, which makes no sense. If someone is happy listening to something then why should it concern anyone else? They aren’t forcing you listen to it or like it, so what is the problem? Not agreeing with what people like because it’s ‘not metal’ is a ridiculous concept and should not exist.

Music is something which is meant to unite people and make them feel better, and judging people for their music taste is something that needs to stop. Bullying people in any way, shape or form is unacceptable and is part of the reason why the younger generation receives so much hate in the press. If you’re one of the few metal fans or even just music fans who insult people on the basis of what they listen to then you need to re-evaluate your priorities in life. Maybe even try turning that hate into a song… 

Metallica at Glastonbury: a triumph for metal or just desperate times?

It was recently announced that metal-giants Metallica would be one of the headliners at Glastonbury Festival. This surprising announcement has left both metal fans and Glastonbury-regulars stunned, but will this be a pinnacle moment in Metallica’s career or a festival washout?

Metallica are a heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Since forming in 1981, they have made a huge impact on the metal music scene, with ‘Master Of Puppets’ being regarded as one of the most important albums of the genre. They are part of ‘The Big Four’, which is a collective term for the four bands who are seen as the most inspirational and popular thrash metal giants of the eighties, alongside Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The lyrical content of their songs include war, death and religion. Metallica are renowned for their impressive live shows, but will they be able to impress both critics and festival-goers?

The 175,000 capacity festival has previously hosted bands such as Coldplay, REM and The Killers, which usually caters to the pop/indie needs of the crowd. The most obscure headliners previous to Metallica are probably The Cure and The Rolling Stones, who aren’t exactly heavy metal bands. This will be the first time that a metal band has headlined, let alone played, at the Somerset-based festival. However, in 2008 the media caused a riot over the announcement of Jay-Z at Glastonbury, yet when it came to the actual performance he blew everyone away. This goes to show that people shouldn’t be so judgemental when it comes to genre or style.

Only time will tell whether Metallica impress the crowd at Glastonbury, but it’s safe to say that the festival organisers are definitely trying to keep the line-ups both fresh and unique. Maybe there will be thousands more Metallica fans after Saturday 28^th of June? Who knows? 

Don’t wear the shirt if you don’t listen to the band

Recently, many people have been choosing to wear band shirts and merchandise for artists that they don’t listen to. It’s a strange phenomenon, and it needs to stop.

Wearing a band shirt used to be something that expressed your love for a specific artist: it displayed that you enjoy a band so much that you choose to inform the world about it. Band merchandise is one of the best ways to support an artist, as most of the profit goes towards them if you purchase it from their own website or a concert. However, most of the time people are choosing to buy band shirts for bands that they don’t listen to, from shops such as Urban Outfitters and Primark.

Conforming to a specific trend or look does not make you cool, it only makes you look like a poser. Seeing so many teenage girls in Ramones shirts isn’t vintage, it’s confusing. The Ramones were not overly popular in their time as a band, but for some reason Primark is selling their shirts in every colour, and people keep buying them.

Personally, I have made lots of friends from talking to people about the bands they like from the merchandise they wear. Band shirts are a great conversation starter, and they always help people to find a common interest. It is awkward being asked about a band that you know nothing about, and pretending to like them because you like a shirt is embarrassing.

People need to be more confident with what music they like, life is too short to pretend to like something to fit in. Be true to yourself and support the bands that you personally like. 

Are covers ruining the reputation of 'classic' songs?

“Everything is a copy, of a copy, of a copy.” – Fight Club, 1999.

It is often said that the music industry is running out of fresh, new ideas to give to people. Bands are racking their brains on what songs to create, often not getting enough inspiration from the modern world. As with the film industry, there seems to be a lot more re-makes and covers being created, but are they unique or just an insult to the original band?

California-based record label Fearless Records are infamous for their contribution to cover songs. They have created many tribute albums, including ‘Punk Goes Pop’ and ‘Punk Goes Metal’, which involves bands on their label covering songs that are out of their comfort zone and usual genre. Many of the songs which are covered sound good and receive positive reviews from bands and critics alike, but some aren’t so successful. One example of this is Falling In Reverse’s cover of ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’. The rap song, originally by Coolio and L.V, was a huge success, unlike the cover. Ronnie Radke’s vocals sound awkward and the screaming breakdown doesn’t work with the style of the song. Many rap and metal fans dislike the cover, making it seem as though it is a parody, rather than a cover. Asking Alexandria’s cover of ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails has received similar criticism, along with hundreds of cover songs over the years. Many fans cringe whilst hearing bad covers of their favourite songs, and many see it as the ultimate insult when someone says that they prefer a cover rather than the original song.

There are many successful cover songs which happen to do extremely well in the Top 40 music chart. Ellie Goulding’s cover of ‘Your Song’, originally recorded by Elton John, reached number two in the UK Singles Chart and it is one of Ellie’s most successful songs. Similarly, Lily Allen’s cover of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ by Keane reached number one and was one of the most popular songs of the year. Covers seem to be used a lot in adverts around the Christmas period, and these are often the most successful. Covers are also good when used at a live show: for example, if a metal band covers a pop song fans enjoy it as it is something different and breaks away from the stereotypical set list.

The music industry is full of monotonous songs with no musical direction, and covers are often seen as being used when there are no more fresh ideas. When performed correctly, covers can be the ultimate tribute to an artist, but terrible song covers don’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon.