Very real threat to live music in the UK!
Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 10:23
I received this today regarding Electronic Noise Control:
Please see below for a petition to try and prevent a major threat to live music in smaller venues, making the installation of electronic noise control devices a requirement for having an entertainment license.
These devices (there are several in Bristol already) are a bloody nightmare, they're always calibrated far too sensitively and they're also always active, so even early evening gigs and DJs are affected. One gig we played at the Shakespeare resulted in our bass player having to give up completely, every note he played triggered the damned thing, and Chris Scott can make the things cut off just with his own voice, FFS. It played havoc with our equipment too, PA speakers and backline amps don't take kindly to having their electricity suddenly cut, and I spent half the night trying to coax our kit back to life again. It made a simple electric blues gig completely impractical, if we played quietly enough not to trigger the device you could barely hear us over the level of the crowd!
In short it's a blanket, generalised restriction affecting a large body of people, just to placate a small handful of complaints from residents. There has to be a better way than this.
It's definitely a worthwhile cause and they've got over 70,000 signatures so far, so here's hoping this is taken seriously.
Anyway, if like me you think this is an unreasonable and impractical system, please add your name to the list using the link below. Musicians, publicans and live music lovers such as myself offer our thanks.
Cheers,
D / CG
The petition is here - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoNoiseControl/
As you can see - this will have a very real impact on many places that those of us in the UK frequent. The petition expires tomorrow so time is of the essence.
Please see below for a petition to try and prevent a major threat to live music in smaller venues, making the installation of electronic noise control devices a requirement for having an entertainment license.
These devices (there are several in Bristol already) are a bloody nightmare, they're always calibrated far too sensitively and they're also always active, so even early evening gigs and DJs are affected. One gig we played at the Shakespeare resulted in our bass player having to give up completely, every note he played triggered the damned thing, and Chris Scott can make the things cut off just with his own voice, FFS. It played havoc with our equipment too, PA speakers and backline amps don't take kindly to having their electricity suddenly cut, and I spent half the night trying to coax our kit back to life again. It made a simple electric blues gig completely impractical, if we played quietly enough not to trigger the device you could barely hear us over the level of the crowd!
In short it's a blanket, generalised restriction affecting a large body of people, just to placate a small handful of complaints from residents. There has to be a better way than this.
It's definitely a worthwhile cause and they've got over 70,000 signatures so far, so here's hoping this is taken seriously.
Anyway, if like me you think this is an unreasonable and impractical system, please add your name to the list using the link below. Musicians, publicans and live music lovers such as myself offer our thanks.
Cheers,
D / CG
The petition is here - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoNoiseControl/
As you can see - this will have a very real impact on many places that those of us in the UK frequent. The petition expires tomorrow so time is of the essence.
