COMMENTARY

Rip It Up, Issue 187, 1 February 1993, Page 4

COMMENTARY

JEREMY MILLER

is the

Planning and Development Manager for the Independent Broadcasting Corporation, a company that owns and operates seven commercial FM radio stations in metropolitan centres of New Zealand.

1992 was a great year for local music—constructive even. For radio it was exciting to see local product researching stronger than ever with more and more airplay for kiwi acts. Slowly but surely things are improving. More singles, more airplay, more audience response — and not just from the likes of the small but loyal BFM crowd, but from the masses, ordinary average New Zealanders.

There are many reasons for this development, but one who deserves credit is Karyn Hay. Clearly Karyn's support for the local industry has had an effect, many radio programmers have examined their commitment to local music and this marked a turning point for some commercial stations. This industry has a chequered past with respect to local product, but that's now history, you've got to look to the future positively and with optimism. One thing that does hack me off though is when some "expert" reviews a record and resorts to the old cliche of criticising radio while they're at it. Consider this, here's some of the kiwi acts heavily playlisted on Auckland's 91 FM during 1992; Straw People, Crowded House, Shona Laing, Greg Johnson, Maree Sheehan, Annie Crummer, Jan Hellriegel, Exponents, These Wilding Ways, Nine Livez, Muttonbirds, Margaret Urlich, the Chills, Ngaire, Push Push, Semi MCs and Ted Brown, not to mention critical exposure for the likes of Kantuta, Scarf, the Warratahs, Headless Chickens, Dead Flowers, Head Like A Hole and Supergroove amongst others on Counting the Beat, a Pagan/91 FM produced show now syndicated on 14 commercial radio stations. If that's not proof of a growing commitment to local music then I don't know what is. Trendy young music critics who want to perpetuate a "commercial radio equals no support" myth are wasting time and space. The proliferation of new radio stations is seeing niche formats evolve as stations "narrow caste" to specific audience segments. This means a much greater variety of local product is getting to air, and that's quite an exciting development. Smart performers are already taking advantage of this. Today, there's a large variety of material on air in New Zealand, but you have to remember that radio is about selling audience to advertisers for a profit. Commercial radio does this by providing entertainment noteducation. No profit equals no radio station. Additionally, a Programme Director of a commercial radio station would be arrogantto act as "teacherto the masses". If people learn something via radio listening, fine, but for my money the audience listens first and foremost to be entertained—and they have plenty of choices these days. A song is enjoyed, entertains or whatever, because of what it is, not where it comes from. A hit is a hit (whatever the format — be it country, rap, rock, top 40 or whatever), regardless of nationality. Most bands now release their singles on DAT or CD and that's great because that's the technology their competitors are on — so at least they're on an equal footing. DCC and Mini Disk will be another quantum leap. Some

local studios are capable of almost anything with very high production standards evident. There's tons of experience around, people like Mark Tierney have an instinctive feel for what's going to work turning out world class music in the process. Home cassette recordings generally can't compete with the investment and technology that's gone into more professional efforts so people who submit these are generally out of the ball park. Even more experienced musicianscan sometimes

underestimate the market. With no

disrespect intended, I recently told Debbie and Kim that I hadn't playlisted 'Black and White' because it sounded a bit home made (especially compared to Jan Hellriegel, Shona Laing or Margaret Urlich). They were very polite when they replied that they'd funded the entire project out of their own pockets—l felt pretty bad about that, but the fact is that the market has evolved and developed since 'Melting Pot'. There is a ton of experience involved with the 'Black and White' single, it's just that many other local acts had big budget efforts on the market at the time which made it harder for Debbie and Kim to compete. Record companies aren't in business simply to supply radio stations with free records just as radio stations aren't in business simply to sell records. Both industries are in the profit business. That might sound cold and calculating to a struggling musician but it's a fact, this is no charity! However, there is some compatibility and naturally radio works closely with the record industry, hopefully for mutual benefit. For instance, I work with NZ On Air on a variety of projects and have assisted in judging the Apra and RIANZ awards. These sort of associations outside of "radio programming" help foster co-operation between parties with different agendas. Local bands can do much to help themselves (and most do), but equally they can handicap their growth. For example I was recently on a Quantas flight from Sydney to Singapore watching some rock videos when the Chills 'Male Monster' clip came on. I looked around and everyone else had taken their headphones off. I guess the weirdo images of a baby with a hole in its head are a bit much for most. The profit the band will make from that single was clearly hampered by the clip, I know I lost my enthusiasm for the song after seeing the video. The images might have suited the lyrics, but it restricted air play and confined the songs appeal to a more "select" audience. At the end of the day it was the Chills song, so they should make the video exactly how they please, the only limit is potential profit in appealing to a wider market.

Today's music owes much to technology, particularly in making recording facilities so much more accessible. Several years ago I interviewed Malcolm McLaren — we talked for about four hours and after the usual rock n'roll mercenary bit, he said rock as we used to know it was over. Super artists like Dylan and the Stones were dead and gone. "The cassette put paid to all of that, the beat is on the street. It's a fast forward rub out do it again world". How true that's become. With the exception of U2, the super groups have gone. New artists come and go faster. With a basic electronic keyboard and floppies you can make a recording at home or school. Anyone can do it. It's not the special privilege of the rich or famous any more. And now here comes DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) and Mini Disk, both allowyou to make digital recordings at home. Music has always belonged on the street and it's a very exciting time to be involved with it. Here's another reason why musicians have reason for growing optimism, there's a world wide trend toward growth in the arts. By the year 2000 the arts will be more popular than sport. This has massive implications for the music industry. Global choices and trends are available almost everywhere. The downside is that increasing choices may remove a local feel as "more of the same" is on sale everywhere. This trend toward the arts is already evident here. Rugby crowds are nowhere like what they used to be. As consumers we have far more entertainment choices and there's heaps more coming. Digital broadcasting and Fibre Optics will allow consumers to purchase a new album or video instantaneously off a menu on their TV with billing via credit card or phone company. Imagine buying a new album instantly without a trip to the shop! Retailing will change forever, the consumer will become the "programme director" with interactive TV and radio — choose which news stories you want to see instead of someone else's bulletin, use your remote to pick which camera angle you want to view on the golf, select which type of music format you want to listen to right now, sick of it? choose another. Servicing these demands will be a massive industry — musicians, producers, engineers, computer experts and so on have some exciting opportunities ahead of them. With more media choices, the word of the critic will be further watered down, accordingly the criticsare probably the only ones with reason to be pessimistic but most of them are good at that already.

JEREMY MILLER

Michael Franti of DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY is an unusual interview subject: he's intelligent, articulate and actually listens to questions. Matthew Hyland spoke to him for about ten minutes on his opulent hotel balcony, and the conversation went something like this: You supported U2 on their "Zoo TV" tour last year; was there any sign of your music or politics being taken to heart by middle American middle everything youth? "Well we've done all kinds of tours in the last year, played in all kinds of different situations. We toured with U2, with Arrested Development, now with Iggy Pop, but playing really big stadiums was difficult because there was always the danger that the words would just get lost, and ■ with us if you miss the words you miss a lot of 1 what we're about. But we found a lot of people 1 were up dancing and listening to what we were saying on that tour, 'cause we made an effort to reach out to them, we got flyers printed with all the words on them. But I also learned something really important from U2, I learned that the music's just as important, 'cause it carries an emotion; I don't even like U2's music that much, but those washes of feeling are something they're really good at. You can't always hear what Bono's saying and 98% of the time that doesn't matter, but the music suggests the rest. Their music does that 'cause it's based on washes of vowel sound, whereas rap's more about consonants and rhythm."

There's a lot more fluid "vowel" sounds between the beat and the voice on your record than on most hip hop, with your percussion and sample textures and Charlie Hunter's guitar. "Yeah, Charlie's great. This is the last tour he's going to do with us, he wants to do his own stuff, but he's still going to record with us. We've got a live drummer for those shows too." There's always the danger with "political" music that it'll produce that odious smug self-satisfaction that seems to have been the only lasting effect of the 60s, the feeling that just to have listened to the music gives you some moral high ground. It seems to me that something both you and Consolidated do is to use more words than sit comfortably with the music, to create a sense of awkwardness, of tension between music and politics, so the former never seems to solve the problems of the latter. "Of course listening to a song doesn't do anything about any real problems. We do use a lot of words, 'cause I'd like our songs to work like the music that really inspires me— Bob Marley, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Marvin Gaye, where every time you go back to the songs you discover something new. But the thing is with that, like our manager says, clever is stupid, being too clever just loses it, something simple can be the most eloquent and elegant."

I've heard your transition from the Beatnigs to Disposable Heroes described as a tactical decision, a strategy to get a message across to a bigger audience. Was it that kind of compromise? "Accessibility is a relative concept: some people find us more accessible now, some say we're still not accessible enough. We're still not played on mainstream radio in America, while some quite hard core political acts are. But no, it was never a compromise, dance music, rap, soul are what I've always listened to. The first punk rock gig I ever saw was one we played at. We signed to Alternative Tentacles 'cause they were the only label who were willing to sign us. So it was a whole new scene to me, not something I disliked, just new." Could you ever imagine diluting the music deliberately for the sake of infiltrating MTV-land?

"We'd never do stuff we didn't believe in, but the whole point of political music is communication — I know hardcore punk bands that say 'we'd never sell out' and that's fine, but they're just using one emotion — youthful angst, frustration, whereas we're trying to reach out to the joy in people. If you look at Bob Marley, his message got more and more radical as he went on but people kept listening 'cause he was connecting with those feelings. Communicating politically's about making people think about new ways to live their lives, and a big part of that's the freedom to party and have fun, to hang out with who you want to, look the way you want to, make love to who you want to." And a critique often levelled at both rock and rap is that they're redundant outside a "drink fight and fuck" frame of mind. Leaving aside the possibility that the best defence against that argument is "so what?", it does seem that you're trying to work outside those limitations with personal narratives in songs like 'Water Pistol Man' and 'Music and Politics'. "Yeah, we are, 'cause if you want to affect people's hearts and not just their minds you've got to talk about the things that happen closest to them. And the very things that happen between people, between friends, lovers, whatever, is reflected in the way government's deal with others, in both situations everything.'s based on violence, machismo, power. So I always write in the first or third person to communicate on a personal rather than just an ideological level." . In 'Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury' you attack quite vehemently the idea that self-destruction can be in any way rebellious, yet here you are touring with Iggy Pop who, rightly or wrongly, is seen as the embodiment of that aesthetic. Does that count as a tacit acknowledgement that in some cases a refusal to "have your life together" can be a rejection of the Reaganite/ New Age cult of "self-improvement" and "personal responsibility"? "Well to tell you the truth I haven't really thought about that that deeply, but that song wasn't so much about rock 'n' roll self-destruction as about the community I come from, the black community, and how it's all very well to say I've been fucked around and I'm angry but you've gotta look at the effects on the community. Joining gangs, setting up illegal businesses, selling crack are short term solutions, but going out and shooting other black people hurts the whole black community. I'm not making moral judgements on doing illegal things 'cause I've done plenty and I still do, but we've gotta see past these short term destructive options. What Iggy's doing is different again, there's a whole different context, he's got a responsibility to his friends and family and the people he works with and as long as he's got that he can do what he likes." So are you afraid of being separated from your community through the power that goes with being "famous 'n' dandy"? "Sure I am, that's why the song goes 'what will we do . . . Power does corrupt and I've been looking for a connection with the creative force to help me stay true to myself. It's not something I have now, just something I'm looking for. I don't mean it in a Christian way, either, 'cause I was brought up in a Christian household and it didn't do shit for me, but when I feel good I do feel connected to the god or to some creative power, 'cause when I see the trees and mountains out there it must be more powerful than all the human shit fucking it up."

MATTHEW HYLAND