the reason i suppose i'm concerned about the a silver mt zion thing is that godspeed were possibly the band who seemed the most concerned over the mcd situation when they were playing last time, so unless they were being completely disingenuous and misleading back then (and i don't think that they were), it seems unlikely that a silver mt zion (godspeed side-project for all those who haven't been listening, do pay attention please) would be leaping into bed with mcd. seeing as the situation last time was caused by a german promoter going through a uk promoter going through an irish promoter going through mcd, i suspect that we could be faced with the same situation now.
however, what's more worrying is the little sentence included saying "rumour has it that they may yet return around Easter of next year." mcd do not start rumours without some sort of basis in fact. therefore mcd want to get godspeed to play an mcd gig next easter, and you can bet they're not too concerned about the fact that the band might not want to do it their way. the time for action about this is now, before contracts are signed, before people are put in awkward situations, before the impression is given that we're just a load of meddling internet indie-fascists. i'll probably be emailing both band and record company later on.
as for the kabinboy/atd-i stuff, as far as i can see they've been put on a bill that they don't necessarily want to be on. one solution here might be to go around town with some pritt-stick and a load of photocopied strips and plaster mcd's atd-i posters with an explanatory note. (perhaps saying something like "the kabinboy will not be supporting at the drive-in, contrary to what this poster says. this is because they do not want to be associated with events run by mcd, whom they consider to be monopolistic and exploitative. furthermore, the kabinboy would like it to be known that their names were added to this bill without their prior consent. the kabinboy have never played at an mcd event, and never will. the kabinboy are an independent band." or something like that.)
apart from all that, there's this mooted idea about bands boycotting mcd gigs. if this is to be anything more than another nice litle pipedream, i reckon we need to do something concrete, like mentioning it to a few bands. if i remember rightly, the redneck manifesto turned down a support with ...trail of dead (or was it someone else?) due to the fact that it was an mcd gig, so it's not like this sort of action isn't without precedent. just off the top of my head, i think we could at least mention the idea to the redneck manifesto, estel, the jimmy cake, herv, c4 orchestra, stoat, joan of arse, coldspoon conspiracy, the satan clause, the asteroids, large mound and all the other usual suspects.
this is an ethical thing, and so of course the bands will have to make up their own minds, but if it could be demonstrated that there is a critical mass of independent dublin bands who were unwilling to slum it for mcd, then this could at least become something more than a clever idea, and bands who would otherwise sit on the fence about it might make a decision.
of course, now that i think about it, there are also a number of different ways to go about doing this. there could simply be an agreement amongst bands to politlely decline mcd gigs and mention to mcd that this is because of their attitude to mcd in general (rather than because, say, they haven't practiced enough). there could concievably be a public declaration of intent, with bands signing their names to a manifesto/letter/petition of some kind, which could then be distributed at gigs/in shops/all the usual places. however, this runs the risk of people getting cold feet and not signing due to the feeling that it's an act of bridge-burning, or recriminations and bitterness later if one of the signatories decides they will do mcd gigs after all.
however, it is an idea. any takers?
