the other press >>> CULTURE New Music West 2002 Tyler Bradford Culture Editor New Music West May 8-12 1400 artists applied for New Music West this year. 1400. It’s rather awe-inspiring that so many musicians are pursuing dreams of a career in music. And everyone involved with the festival, “from the bands who made it and those that didn’t but still attended, to the staff, volunteers, media and record label A&R reps, came togeth- er over this past May weekend to celebrate the excitement of these dreams coming true. For the uninitiated, New Music West started in 1987 as The Rock Conference, an annual event that would showcase local up and com- ing artists in concert with established acts. Maureen Jack organized the event and nurtured it through its early years, until 1992 when Jack changed the name to Music West. At that point the annual festival took a major leap forward in popularity amongst both the fans and the music industry, as it grew to not only showcase new music, but also include a conference and forum for artists. In 1998 the festival was taken over by John Donnelly, who worked hard to bring the festival even more credibility and changed the name (once again), by adding “New” to Music West. This year, the festival changed hands once again as Frank Weipert, Umeeda Switlo, former CFOX DJ David Hawkes and talent coordinator Tara McDonald came together to put on one of the best (and most successful) New Music West's in recent memo- ry. This success is greatly hinged upon the fact that so many artists applied — double the number from last year; partly due to the organizer's switch to a much simpler electronic submissions format. In years past, artists were required to send a demo by mail to the selection committee, which was often expensive as you needed to pay for the hard copy demo as well as courier fees. Whereas, this year, acts only needed to upload a few tracks to the internet and send in their fee. Unlike years’ past, the new process also allowed for direct feedback to the artists through secure online forums. While the system is still imperfect (many artists who didn’t make it complained of overly critical comments from judges, and ina few cases, not hearing back at all), the majority of people involved felt it was a superior system and far more efficient. The showcases, which are still the core of the festival, ran Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and were outstanding with few complaints other than a few late starts and venues that were at (or in some cases over) capacity and sold out. Even then, with 250 bands at over 37 venues around Vancouver, one could always move on to another venue and check out a new act that may be better than the one you meant to see. For a full rundown of my musical misadventures at showcases across New Music West check out my NMW02 notebook on the next page. Friday afternoon, the conference section of New Music West opened at the Commodore Ballroom with keynote addresses by local rocker Matthew Good and Gene Simmons of Kiss. George Stroumboulopoulus of Much Music was the host for the event and gave a nice introduction to Matthew Good, describing him as a musi- cian who is unafraid of what is on his mind. Good, who talked about artistic vision and staying true to one’s self in an often confusing industry, stressed the importance of finding a marriage between mak- ing money and keeping your integrity, but unfortunately his speech was at times convoluted and self-righteous. His subtle slagging of bands that have found more success in the business than his former group came across as bitterness, while his constant name and quote dropping came across as elitist, which is too bad as his talk was a good counterpoint to the presentation given by Gene Simmons that followed. Gene Simmons, the legendary leader of Kiss, a band known more for their spectacle, merchandising and back stage antics than their rock anthems, came out to tell the crowd that “it’s all about the money”, but not before a video mon- tage of statistics and propaganda on the mer- chandising machine that Kiss has become blew us away. (Did you know that Kiss once sold $1.2 million dollars worth of merchan- dise at one show at the Tokyo Dome?!?) While Simmons didn’t win over too many fans with his sexual innuendos and crass attitude, his talk was filled with an hon- esty and truthfulness that one couldn't help but respect. He focused on trying to get bands and artists to go into the music business with their eyes wide open, as it is just that, a business. Simmons emphasised that you need to be honest with yourself and that many need to realize that once you start to perform to an audience, you’re not just an artist anymore, but rather an entertainer. Early on in his talk, he singled out a female photographer in the crowd, who told him, “You make it hard to be a women in this industry,’ to which Simmons smirked and replied “Honey, you just make it hard.” While his speech hit home with many, his lewd remarks and indifference towards many moral issues undermined his stature and credibility. After Simmons, who was mobbed for pictures and autographs, was a two-hour “A&R in the Round” session in which artists had the opportunity to talk with 25 representatives from various record labels from (Sony, Universal) all the way down to the lesser known inde- pendent labels such as Endearing and Mint. While it was fun to watch all the hungry artists trying to make their mark with the various A&R reps, | couldn’t help but think of cattle being herded to slaughter. After the “A&R in the Round’ session, there was a short “Songwriters in the Round’ session featuring Tom Wilson, Fred Eaglesmith, John Harlan and a guest appearance by Colin James in which the songsmiths talked about their craft and what inspires them. Disappointingly not many stuck around for the songwriter’s session which contained one of the funnier quips from Eaglesmith, “I think every song’s a hit, other people just don’t hear it that way.” And for me that summed up what an artists’ attitudes should be, as in the end, music is about making yourself happy, not about making money, no matter what Gene Simmons tells you.