Britain's Got Talent?
You have probably heard me complain before about one of the things I dislike the most about being on tour. Missing my TV. I am not a guy that spends all day every day on the sofa, demanding someone makes me cheese sandwiches and milkshakes. But when I do sit down, on whatever day that might be, I can certainly remain there, in front of the box, for a lot longer than some. I watch a lot of sport, but rarely get into many series because I like to sit and watch things like that with other people, like my wife. On my own, I watch a lot of throwaway stuff when I get going, which is what makes watching sport easy to do. So with that in mind, being on tour is a massive positive in regard to me getting sucked in to whatever reality/talent show that is running at the time.
We had a great couple of weeks in Europe prior to last weekend, which meant I came back to the UK at the climax of the ironically named 'Britain's Got Talent'. I'm sure I don't need to patronise you by explaining how it works. Even America's got an equally terrible version of it now. In fact, on a programme I stumbled across the other day, entitled '50 Most Shocking Talent Show Moments', I saw a woman from a previous series of 'America's Got Talent', actually breaking various objects with her massive breasts. Quite how anybody interprets this as a talent is beyond me.
Anyway, back to last week. So the judges managed to whittle the competition down to a select few, which included a woman who sang with a dog in her arms whilst the dog attempted to make similar noises, a man who tried to make a musical show out of the fact he could pop his eyes in and out, and someone's Grandma playing on old organ like she's about to have a cardiac arrest with a smile on her face. And she made the final. I'll admit it, I'm amused and entertained by all this, which is why I end up watching it. But in a similar way to how people slow down on a motorway to check out a car pile up. Most of the time it's so bad, it's compelling to see how seriously people take things, sometimes, for literally 5 minutes of fame. Occasionally, if they are talented/odd enough, they might make a couple of tours of big venues and then trickle down through the club backwaters until almost everyone has forgotten about them because a new series of the same show has started, and the general public has moved on. It's a cycle so obvious, it still makes me wonder how every year people queue up for hours just for the slimmest chance of it all.
As an artist, there is a genuinely annoying side to this too though. Joe Bloggs is now subjected to entertainment, or in my thought case, music, that is so watered down, that people start to believe that it is ok to buy albums by people who are effectively creating glorified karaoke. Believe me, as a lot of people have known for years that I play in bands, I have been asked for my opinion on heaps of artists who have come off that type of gravy train. And it's difficult to offer much positivity towards them without sounding arrogant or rude, which is never how I mean to come across. To put it into context, there was a chap who nearly won the whole competition on Saturday who had quite a nice Joe Cocker type voice. It says a lot that I can't remember his name, but through entering an audition, and possibly playing a collection of no more than 3 covers on his acoustic guitar, he has achieved more TV time than we, The Boxer Rebellion, could ever dream of, through the hard working avenues that we have to pursue. I do not begrudge the guy, as it is not his fault at all, but it is frustrating to see people get so excited about someone who can sing a bit of Tracey Chapman quite well.
The other aspect of this is singles. What is a single these days? That's certainly a difficult question to answer. Back in 2005 we had the fortune (though we didn't think that way at the time) of being released from our record label in the week of release of our debut album. It was a weird time when it happened, particularly with a perfectly good new album delivered, but we all remember thinking that the writing was on the wall when our last single, 'All You Do Is Talk' was only being given a digital release, instead of physical as well. How times have changed. It's pretty much all digital now. Take a look at the current UK Top 40 singles charts and you will find Tracey Chapman in there at number 28 (incidentally, higher than we have ever had a single placed), not through any kind of campaign, but because this chap performed her song on Britain's Got Talent. And all this time, we're on the independent route, with a new single of our own, busting a gut to see who, if anyone, would like to play our new record. And not necessarily for a chart placing either, just for some album awareness, to continually put us in a more comfortable position to write and record album 4 (which has started by the way - the writing at least). In the process of my being entertained, it is equally enough to make me throw my hands up in the air and think, what's the point? But it's a different beast doing what we're doing. We're way beyond fame ever being important to us - our joke twitter followers count competitions when we're away will tell you that. But making music - our own music - that is credible to us and enough other people, to keep us sustained and growing really is our first priority. And until I lose it and enter The X Factor singing a Phil Collins cover, that is how it shall remain.
If you haven't seen the video for our new single then you can check it out here. We appreciate it is different for us, and it resulted in a lot of hard debate, but it is beautifully shot, and it's certainly better than 4 guys playing in a white room! We hope you like it.
And if you want to makes us feel more famous than we actually are, don't forget our twitter handles - @piershewitt, @adsharrison, @todd_boxer and @nathannicholson.
