The Hardcore Gig Going New Music Fan Project

Every now and then, something in our blood gurgles up and makes us want to achieve a goal. Most of these goals are sensible life decisions about work, family, or home life.

However sometimes our goals are a little more leftfield. We’re not sure where they come from, but once they’re in the head they cannot be shaken out. We call them our boy projects. Some are simple, like getting a letter published in the NME, which we blogged (starting here and finishing here) and only took a few weeks. Others - which are more complex and are somewhat longer, are done away from the blog. We will be talking about one of these boy projects involving our obsessive campaign and emotional journey to DJ in a marquee in a muddy field in the Isle of Wight dressed as an 80's synth pop star playing only the music of one Howard Jones in the Literary Tent at Camp Bestival, Dorset at 9.30 this coming Saturday morning for any early risers at the festival. It seems to have gone down in history as one of the most bizarre sets ever DJ'd at a festival.

Today we announce our new boy project. It may last just a few days; it may still be going this time next year, although for the sake of our sanity a time period of six months seems a reasonable period to impose as a maximum.

Have you ever travelled a huge distance to a gig to see a new or unsigned band that nobody has ever heard of? We have, quite a few times. It’s probably something about being a committed fan of new music. Driving 150 miles on a rainy winter night to see some shockingly bad 'next big thing' band play 6 songs in a smelly pub with a terrible soundsystem is a pretty common activity at Breaking More Waves HQ. Sometimes we review the gigs on this blog, others are just left or discarded to memory. We can measure this hardcore gig going commitment by a mathematical formula. Simply divide the total distance travelled by the price of the gig ticket. Free gigs don’t count. For example travelling 100 miles to see a band for a 4 pound ticket equals 100 / 4 = 25. Anything over 50 points rates pretty highly. It gives you status as a hardcore gig going new music fan. (HGGNMF)

So here’s a new boy project.

We will select a band. We will travel to see the band play a show. We will measure the total distance travelled and divide by the price of the ticket. It will be our HGGNMF points for that show. We will post a review of the show. We will then select another show. We will again measure the total distance travelled and divide by the price of the ticket. We will compare points - the objective is to improve our points score each time, meaning longer distances and cheaper shows are required. Effectively we will be travelling further to see less and less known bands, unless of course U2 or Coldplay play a gig for a couple of quid somewhere and we grab a ticket. We will continue this process for at least six months. The one caveat to our travels is that we will not travel outside of the UK (our wallet needs some protection).

In carrying out this boy project we are also asking for your help in two respects.

First as it gets harder to beat our previous HGGNMF points we will need to travel to gigs further away with cheaper ticket prices. We'll be appealing for your help to find gigs in towns miles from where Breaking More Waves HQ is based (Portsmouth) with cheap prices to help beat our score. Ideally we'll be looking for crappy pub gigs where entry is £2 or so in Manchester, Newcastle, maybe even Inverness if things get desperate.

As the gigs get inevitably further away we're probably going to find it hard to convince normal gig friends / lovers to travel with us. So we're looking for strangers / readers of this blog in faraway towns to hook up with. If you fancy it get in touch via email at robinseamer@hotmail.co.uk and express an interest, letting us know where you are based and your musical tastes. Or if you fancy a long road trip with us, that could also be arranged.

That is the new boy project. We’re calling it, for want of a better name, the Hardcore Gig Going New Music Project. It's all about racking up the points. To start with we're keeping it relatively local with a short trip along the south coast to Brighton to see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Ticket price £11.00. Miles travelled there and back 100. HGGNMF points 9. It's a low scoring start, but at least sets a benchmark.

We'll update on the blog at regular intervals on how the project is going.

Are there any gig venues in Inverness ? Just wondering......