Yikes! I bought this domain name ages ago hoping to start a blog and now seems as good a time as any.

My main feed on Twitter is going mental at the moment with steam flying out of people’s ears all over the show regarding The Northern Ireland Music Awards. The ensuing flame war has proven to be some entertaining lunchtime reading.

I’d raised a few concerns I had about the naming of the awards on local music sites Metal Ireland and Fastfude. It was, on my part anyway, friendly debate that’s essential if public money is being used for artistic purposes.

Chris Wright from PanicDots.com asked me for a quote about the awards for an article he was writing. As I am a long-winded git I instead wrote half a novel that took bits of the various posts I made online and compiled them into the piece you shall read below.

His article was entertaining though quite incendiary and not in the same tone as the opinion I provided him. He also did not mention my name in the quote so in the interests of openness I present it to you here in full.

That’s right mofos, more ammo for angry tweets on both sides of the argument! Alternatively you can take a chill-pill and read this as genuine constructive criticism.

My Original Quote

(the part used in the Panic Dots article is in bold)

The nominations in any award ceremony will always raise controversy; fans will inevitably be disappointed if their favourite band/actor/film etc isn’t nominated in their relevant category. If you are in this position I feel you need to accept it and move on. However if the title of the awards ceremony doesn’t reflect the scope of the categories then there is a genuine reason for criticism.

There’s a new NI music magazine called Molten that specializes in metal. Imagine they had an awards ceremony called THE NORTHERN IRELAND MUSIC AWARDS and only covered music enjoyed by their own readership (mainly metal, hardcore and hard rock). Then imagine when non-readers of the magazine complained about the narrow selection of nominees, only to be told that the industry professional judges could vote for bands of any genre. After asking who the judges are, think about what their reaction would be when told that the judges’ identities are a secret.

Would that be as deserving of the title of NI Music Awards? Clearly the answer is no. A better title would be the Molten Magazine Awards, in the same way NME have the NME awards or Metal Hammer have the Golden Gods.

This doesn’t sound like a good foundation on which to build a new awards show. The presumed authority Molten would appear to have to determine the best in all of Northern Ireland would very rightfully anger those not involved in the metal scene.

The NIMAs appear to be doing this, only it’s not metal; it’s a harder to define group of which a lot of the bands are regularly featured in AU Magazine.

90% of the NI music scene isn’t actually a music scene, it’s a social scene with bands playing in the background. The bands playing are dictated by the people involved in the social circles, a general interest in the genre and by the media consumed by the members of the scene.

The problem is not about genre, its about social groups. Even though there are bands for many genres up for awards, they are all bands that have featured heavily in the magazine and there are no nominees that are not regular AU material.

The metal scene is frequently being brought up in this debate, and with good reason. An example I always use is the metal band Gama Bomb from Newry. Over the last few years they have signed to Earache records, released two acclaimed albums, toured all over the world including the USA, played dozens of festival dates and secured high profile support slots for bands such as Trivium and Sepultura.

After so many amazing achievements by Gama Bomb as well as other NI metal acts why are they not nominated? It’s because both their fans don’t move in the same social circles as AU fans, therefore they won’t be featured in that magazine. In fact they’re barely known in NI unless you’re an underground metal fan. Radio play, magazine coverage and NIMA nominations are non-existent despite their incredible talent and hard work.

It’s not just those who follow metal music who have made this point. Well-deserving artists in Jazz, Blues, Hard Rock and Punk have all been neglected.

If the event had been called something like, ‘The AU Magazine Awards,’ or, ‘The AU/Oh Yeah Awards,’ the nominations and live performers would make total sense. Let me be clear, it’s totally normal for magazines to only cover the bands they and their readership are interested in. AU knows it’s audience and should be applauded for its talented writing and design staff. I read it regularly, mainly for the film and games features.

The implied wide scope of the event title however, coupled with the obvious ties the nominees have to the magazine, give other musical social groups ammunition to label the whole process as rife with cronyism and ignorance; even if this isn’t actually the case at all.

Added frustration ensues when people realize that they are partially footing the bill for it, since the event is sponsored by The Tourism Board, Invest NI and Belfast City Council; and organized by AU and Oh Yeah which rely on government funding to maintain their existence.

So there you have it folks, my eagerly awaited (by 3 people) take on the NIMAs with a few opinions/generalizations about the NI Music Scene(tm) thrown in for good measure.

Now please excuse me, I’m away to work on some new Mental Deficiency tunes so I can try and get an award next year