Don't Get Angry, Just Stay Pretty...

It's been a while since my last post... Lots has been going on.. mostly lost in the wonderful world of function gigs until I go to the States (I have bills to pay...).. Heading off at the end of this month for a showcase and other bits and pieces which should be interesting..

In the meantime I had an awesome gig at The Troubadour last week.. Really good fun.. Played with a fantastic double bassist called Richard Sadler (who plays with Jono McCleery a lot) and a guitarist called Bruce Knapp.. It was the best gig I've had in ages (in fact it's the first originals set I've done since the tour).. I closed the set with 'Fast Food' which for those of you who don't know it (it'll be on my new album) is pretty much a rant about the industry. More specifically about how female artists aren't really tolerated in the mainstream unless they're singing about love, or flowers or something similar. Anger is only tolerated if it's a song about losing a boy. Or something like that. So anyway... at the end of the set, I got some nice compliments, but two particularly amused me. The first compliment also came accompanied with some 'advice' that if I get bitter I 'shouldn't talk about it'.. the other compliment was 'I loved Wasted Time it broke my heart but the last song was too vitriolic'. Now before anyone jumps in and says I can't take criticism, I must say, fair enough.. everyone's entitled to their opinion... BUT.. it's interesting to me that both 'compliments' were merely reiterating the lyrics in the song:

'don't get angry..just stay pretty..'

..weren't they listening to what I was saying...?.. I don't know when it happened in music, but it seems artists aren't allowed to express themselves honestly anymore. When I'm happy, I write about it. When I'm sad I write about it. When I'm angry I write about it. Seems people don't like the angry bit.. It doesn't mean I'm an 'angry person'.. it just means I was angry when I wrote the song... which I will quote from again if I may..:

Take the self out of self expression
Then will I have something that you'll buy?
I'll be a puppet with no thoughts or feelings
And sing about love
Cos that's all we need...

If artists have to censor their emotions to make music that's palatable to the masses then I might reconsider my career choice...  Has everyone forgotten Patti Smith..? One of the most iconic figures in music, and yet she's pretty pissed off a lot of the time...  I reckon if someone offered her the kind advice at the end of a gig to 'stop being bitter ' and to sing more 'pretty' songs she'd probably gob in their face... Go Patti...

'.. these bitches are just too lame to understand
Too goddamned grateful to get this job
To know they're getting screwed up the ass
All these women they got no teeth or gum or cranium
And the way they suck hot sausage..' - Patti Smith - 'Piss Factory'

Patti_smith