You say that you'd rather be really poor than scratching, saving, scrimping all the pennies

[venta]

There's a very sad article this morning: the recession is really hitting the music industry badly. Bands are having to drastically scale back their names in order to keep down touring costs.

Obviously the worst hit are the smaller bands of today, or bands whose career peak is long past. The article I read mentioned Vampire Saturday Afternoon, Primal Whimper, The Stone Carnations, Belligerent Femmes and Avenge Twice. But even the big boys like U1½ and Coolplay are having to make savings.

Some bands are really struggling, of course. British Sea Power's last tour flopped totally, because the posters advertising concerts by A Couple of Dinghies Off Dover didn't appeal to anyone. Black Box Recorder's promised new album failed to materialise because they just couldn't face recording as The Pilot's Old Notebooks.

Has anyone else heard about this, or know any bands which have been affected?

Comments

[deeteeuk.livejournal.com]

I understand Averagegrass have had to call it a day, and Mediocre Furry Animals are considering a hiatus.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Oh, the emo scene has been hit too; My Chemical Flirtation, Slight Concern at the Disco, 30 Seconds to Margate, Thirty Reasons, Taking Back Sunday (1 -3pm Only), Paraless... Brand New are now The Used, and The Used are now Ready For Recycling. Terrible times.

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

The Sisters Of Not Giving A Toss Because They're On Minimum Wage and The Eloping Present are scaling back, I hear Ned's Firework Dustbin have cancelled their comeback tour, and The Faintly Happy Division have been affected. There's some rumours about The Pet Shop Boys having to scale back to a stall in the market, too.

eta: Pop Will Eat Everything On Its Plate, The Keiser Chefs, Crystal Radiohead, Laminate Maiden... all doomed.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

Secondhand Model Army (One Careful Owner) are still pulling some fans in.

And Pith can still be heard playing some of their classics; Common Person, Disco 1900 and so on, though mostly just at school discos.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

9cc have had to turn the volume down by 10%, and Ben Folds Four by 20%. 10 Maniacs have really had to cut back.

Bus Calloway has had to resort to public transport and Dre BSc hasn't made it into post-grad.

Half Man Quarter Biscuit are on survival rations and Johnny CreditCard is no longer king.

Sheep on Methadone are in recovery and Vanilla Ice is now a popsicle.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Slightly Agitated Street Preachers are re-releasing Everything Must Go in a last-ditch attempt to raise funds.

10 Cent has taken to rapping for sandwiches.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

I hear that the recent They Might Be Dwarves concert was great.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

The Utah Samaritans aren't as good as they were, and the Rolling Pebbles are getting mossy.

The Fairly-attractive-in-the-right-light Things don't look so good nowadays.

Ozric Calamari are smaller but more crunchy and Nine Centimetre Nails have gone metric.

The Regional will be touring only parts of the nation. KC and the Overcast band will be providing the weather. Apparently Jefferson Hang-glider will be dropping in.

Warm Chip have cooled-off, and Groove Dinghy have no mates.

[metame.livejournal.com]

The Manics' latest show was a man shaking a "THE END IS NIGH" sign.

"Everything has gone" and "You tolerated this" remained crowd favourites, but I was more keen on older classic "La tristesse ne dure pas", and their ever poignant cover of "Suicide was painful".

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Well, Six Inch Screws haven't been particularly lively recently anyway. I do rather feel for Hedgehog Bush, though.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

In better news, its not affected the Electric Light Trio's sound at all and They Might be Pigmies can reuse Spinal Tap's staging.

[zotz]

It's dreadful. Magnapop have become Minipop, and Minipop have disappeared altogether. The Richard And Judy Chain have cancelled most of their concerts (but are still on TV occasionally if you can get the right channels). The John Spencer Skiffle Surprise are on hiatus, A The aren't as distinctive as they used to be, and Gogol Massageparlour may even have to open a mixed sauna instead.

Mind you, Mark E Smith's solo act The Trip have an interesting new psychedelic direction, The Entire Population Of China haven't been noticeably affected at all, and Skinny Puppy could have been invented for times like these. Could be worse.

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

and I guess my chances of seeing Carter The Once A Month If You're Lucky supported by the Viziers of Plop again have gone down the tube

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

The Foo Squabblers remain popular and the Reel Moderate Fish are doing OK. Heavy metal lives on with such crowd favourites as Napalm Injury and Aluminium Zeppelin both planning tours. Outside the world of rock I hear Tiny Boots and Florence and the Component have both done well this year.

There are even rumours that Gwen Stefani is getting Some Uncertainty back together for a new album.

There are some casualties, though. There's no realistic prospect of new material from About The Same Speed Pussycat.

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Velour Underground are facing severe delays and cutbacks in their next album's production schedule, Eccentricity are a lot less exciting but seem to have bucked the trend of losing money, and Peck have had to halve their make-up budget.

[metame.livejournal.com]

After some cutbacks to fit into an 8 character limit failed to save them enough money, I hear that Evanesce did.

[mejoff.livejournal.com]

Duke has taken his demotion so badly that he has flounced off the internet, and Marina and the bits of glass look set to follow. Luckily, Gary Secondhandman is looking at a cut-price comeback though, with VNV District supporting.

ION Minimo park and Linkin Lawn are combining their resources to gain more coverage.

The Cure are now Placebo, and Placebo have gone Homeopathic.

[condign.livejournal.com]

The ScantilyClad Commonwomen show that the cutbacks have hit Canada. And let's not talk of what happened to the Nylon Bus System.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

HardOvHeering Osselott are on tour, but not even arenas, just clubs and theatres now.

Green Afternoon are still doing stadiums part-time.

Politely Worded Letter Writing Campaign Against the Machine are revising their impact targets.

Dre, BSc has rejoined OVAN (Occasionally Verbally-Aggressive Niggaz), in order to share overheads.

On the bright side, Enough DJs have managed to cut without affecting front-line services (or grammatical correctness). I suspect they'll be the only ones.

[eviltwinemma.livejournal.com]

AC/DC are suffering rolling blackouts, and current soundalikes Airbourne are now Grounded.

Dave Mustaine has started moaning again that the crisis has affected Coupleodeths much more deeply than Metsomeica.

Deathstars are loving it, as they've had to downsize to The Millennium Falcon, which is much cooler.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

Older punk bands are not escaping unscathed either.

Reports of concerts by the Light Petting Pistols are coming in, along with Sham 46, who may even have to downgrade further to the Completely Bogus 23.
888 are also concerned about the future. As for me, I'm hoping to see Frankie Goes To Scarborough next week.

Of the stadium bands, Yes have also entered the tragic downward spiral, being first Probably, then Possibly, before being Pretty Doubtful and ultimately No.
Bismuth Balloon are talking about another concert, as are the Two Degrees and the Three Seasons, who are still in negotiations to get Frankie Slight Dip In The Landscape to join them.

Slightly untamed Willy Barrett has offered to sing a couple of songs.

Plasticca are particular badly affected by the recession, as are Bichead.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

A Few Anecdotes next album is The Silver Furlong, featuring the single Clothed and Shod.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Blue Shrïmp Cult are reduced to kicking over model villages. Monkeyz have had to trade in their animation for crudely drawn stills, with the lyrics in speech bubbles to add insult to injury. And Barefoot Hookers are simply having no luck at all and should probably not go into any supermarkets l-(

On the bright side, Bag Lady Gaga’s outfits are at least as eccentric as ever and The Poodle Posse are now reduced to going door to door to try to shock people.

[hjalfi.livejournal.com]

They Might Be Average aren't what they used to be --- the accordian's been replaced with a concertina. Nighthope can't afford the eye shadow. Sheepstein have had to turn the volume down, and Mike Brownfield is living in a highrise.