Are bands too nice? The campaign to bring back scowling
Er yeah, are they? Are bands too nice these days? Nice . In particular, do they - quite a lot of them - dutifully thank the other bands, the audience and the promotors midway through their sets? Yes, yes they do. Good manners: it's the British disease (on top of a knee-jerk post-empire superiority syndrome). Thank you. No, not at all, thank you . On stage, all these pleasantries are boring and overly-cosy. Fine, the other bands may have been good (or tolerable), and the fact that a few dozen people have dragged themselves along to the gig is also OK, but it's nothing especially noteworthy. And likewise the promoters are ... just doing their thing. Promoting. Maybe even making a little bit of money. Ditto the people running the venues. I reckon this over-thanking behaviour is especially rife in the DIY/small venue scene. Everyone knows everyone else. They're often doing stuff against the (economic) odds. It can lead to an overflow of gratitude, which ... grates. No, too mu...
