At some point in our lives, we’ve all shown interest in watching a live musical concert. We’ve searched high and low for flights and concert tickets, posted about our attendance and felt privileged to be part of the audience. However, do we really need to travel so far to watch a performance? I’m close to positive that the Maltese music scene cannot provide the same experience, given that the travelling experience understandably overrides the idea of a local gig at a random bar. We have very limited amount of resources and opportunities to help us promote our material here. The biggest opportunities we might be honoured to be a part are perhaps "Rock the South’, "The KSU Campus Fest ", "The Farsons Beer Fest ", and for the blessed, "Isle of MTV’.
Maltese musicians are at an abundance in Malta, and talent is not so far from our home. We might know or recognise a few from the “over involved” students at our secondary school that used to take care of the sing-a-longs during the weekly mass, or the ones who never failed to be part of the annual school concert. Those who persisted on and found mates with similar interests, have formed bands which may or may not are yet to be heard of.
Being in a band is much more than the rocker or indie image some might find disturbing…it’s expression. Consider it our counselling session and our ticket off the ground. And like all form of tickets, be it a flight, concert, party or speeding ticket, it comes with a price. Be it our equipment ranging from a couple of 100’s to 1000’s of euros, the garage rent that allows us to enclose ourselves in a well-padded, air, noise and heat insulated concrete vessel, or the merchandise we decide to provide that sits around in boxes and shelves, it is all sponsored by our government stipend or minimum wage jobs we take up. Call us crazy, but we enjoy it. And for what? So we can create events on social media, invite all our virtual friends, to perform in front of our closest of close friends and update them with our latest song we have written, in the midst of the dungeons at the Marsa or Birkirkara garage complexes.
In case the question crops up, no, we do not find pleasure in performing our over-rehearsed set list in front of a dozen people. Especially when the audience has made an unspoken agreement to form a semi-circle of unsurpassed ground surrounding the stage. The disappointment persists, knowing that you have played the best combination of crowd pleaser cover songs to get the place dancing and feeling the vibe. But all you are left with is your extremely supportive friends or relatives, trying hard to give you a taste of what crowd involvement feels like.
We’ve all dreamt of having a roaring crowd calling out our band’s name; actually wanting more and not just yelling for an encore to make us feel better. Having the lead singer’s voice buried deep within a badly timed and off tuned choir, singing the words to a song you wrote. That’s the dream: being recognised by a crowd and maintaining a fan-base. Yet, we do not know how to get there. We have not yet found the secret in getting a good turnout at a gig, which might shine a light on the bar manager to consider paying us for our services. However, do not for a minute think that we are going to stop trying. We’re still going to share our original material and shower you with a cascade of event invites on Facebook. Letting you know that we are still active, in hope that one day you would be curious enough to discover what we sound like. Who knows…you might actually like it.