Yesterday I talked about the need for spaces for music outside of pubs and clubs. A couple of weeks ago, Liz Pelly at the Boston Phoenix talked about much the same thing. In lieu of any viable, funded arts spaces for young musicians to use instead of bars, many musicians in Boston have taken to running and playing house shows. Liz’s post highlights just how important house shows can be to a small, tight-knit scene, providing a comfortable, free space that people can work together in. When you’re playing in a house, you don’t have to worry about how many people show up, you don’t have to worry about losing money or even what time the bar closes and when the DJ is supposed to start. You can just be relaxed and concentrate on what you’re there to do; play music.
Unfortunately, it would seem like the authorities in Boston have a different idea of house shows. They regularly fail to distinguish between them and house parties. Essentially, they fail to distinguish between one type of noise and another. One is positive, the other has the potential to be deeply negative. You can reason with one, though not with the other.
Reading Liz’s post, I felt like it was possible to substitute Dublin for Boston in almost every case. I’m told that house shows used to be a pretty regular occurance around town (and I’ve even been involved in a few myself) but in the last year or two, I can only remember hearing about less than a handful. This is probably because fewer musicians live near the city centre and it’s pretty much impossible to travel across the city for something like a house show, seeing as all public transport (the little that is useful) stops before midnight. Also it’s quite difficult to find somewhere to live (or even practice) where you won’t wreck neighbours head’s because there are flats everywhere and actual houses are generally really expensive.
I was thinking about house shows of the past and I kept coming back to the Box Social. I never went to a Box Social – blame youthful ignorance – but I’ve come to know many of the people who played, organised and attended those gigs on the South Circular Road. For the unfamiliar, the Box Social took place mostly in a shed out the back of a house on the South Circular and it played regular host to acts like Patrick Kelleher, School Tour, Catscars, Children Under Hoof, Hunter-Gatherer, Squarehead, Porn On Vinyl, Boys Of Summer… You get the picture. People like Cian Nugent, Laura Sheeran and Thread Pulls played and even Gnod made it over from Salford. This was all in 2009 and many of those bands have gone on to prove themselves some of the most interesting, individual and talented acts in the country. One even got nominated for the Choice award, eventually.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what I’m getting at here. One of the most vibrant and exciting “scenes” Dublin has ever seen developed in a shed at the back of a house because they had the space to make noise, hang out, form bands and try out new ideas. It’s pretty clear that the government isn’t going to step in and provide these kinds of spaces so we’re going to have to do it ourselves. If you have a house, ask some bands to play in your living room or a shed in your back-garden. Invite your friends, make a Facebook event, whatever. Talk to your neighbours beforehand, see if they have small kids or have to be up early for work. Don’t piss them off by ignoring them, they’re part of the community too.
Dublin is crying out for new places for art to happen, away from venues with massive overheads who need to make money every minute they’re open. Taking matters into your own hands is one way to make things better.
