“I had come over here with PiL then I came with my punk band Brian Brain. Every trip the States seemed cooler, more open, and liked the things I was doing more than England did. So I packed up two suitcases and moved. I started to get into the industrial scene, which seemed to me to be the next exciting thing after punk. Wax Trax records was in Chicago, Ministry was here, Revolting Cocks, Steve Albini was here; all kinds of stuff was going on. So, I just moved here.”
However, Atkins doesn’t believe Chicago remains the music-mecca it once was and of late he’s been looking beyond America to discover enterprising music locales.
“2006 I went to China. There’s great stuff going on in South America. Canada interests me a lot right now because the government puts so much into helping artists make a demo or a video and tour. Scotland has a huge arts council budget. It seems like every government except the American government helps artists and tries to keep the entrepreneurial people on the edge out of gaol.”
Despite disenchantment with America’s limited support for the arts Atkins counters that government funding isn’t causally linked to artistic achievement.
“Subsidising everything and giving people everything doesn’t work. I don’t mean to sound like a crotchety old bastard, but when you give somebody something it has no value. When somebody earns it and they lose the tips of their fingers and pieces of their heart and parts of their brain gouging something for themselves, it’s precious. I think it’s great to see governments and their budgets brought to bear to help artists, but it’s not proved that it absolutely works.”
In Australia, (government funded) triple j effectively dictates success in the alternative music scene. This often leaves artists sitting dormant, reluctant to go on tour until they’ve got a song on high rotation. Atkins objects to this sort of dependency on radio endorsement and advocates bands hitting the road to make fans in a hands-on manner.
“I think the minute you say ‘we’re just waiting for’ or ‘as soon as . . .’ I just go ‘right – stop. Stop. Stop’. Just get out there and do it. Get rid of this notion that you want to open for Pink Floyd in a stadium. If you could get the opening slot I guarantee that when you hit the stage, apart from the fact that the sound is crap and the lights aren’t focused on you, there’ll be more people outside waiting to get into the venue than there are people in the venue! So, give up that particular dream and stand outside talking to people with a backpack full of cold water and some demos and you’ll pick up ten email addresses.”
triple j also have the ability to transfer bands from seeming obscurity to public repute overnight. However, such a thrust into prominence is reserved for a select few and Atkins agrees that expecting a quick path to success is a misguided supposition.
“I compare this to the Great Wall of China. If you look at the Great Wall of China you just can’t imagine how they did it. But it’s just a pile of bricks, so stop imagining how they did it in a flash and start piling up the bricks. Once somebody gets famous, and they’ve achieved some kind of longevity, you’ll see them talk about the nine year struggle.”
To illustrate his point, Atkins adds with stern factuality, “I saw U2 play to 17 people in a bar in London and I left early because they were crap. They built from there.”
Considering how easily people trawl through music currently, Atkins attests it is essential for bands to venture beyond the act of making music to successfully operate in the music industry.
“You learn all of the other things that are necessary to be a successful band. Which is: how to meet people. A lot of us are insecure and shy – it’s hard to not stay in the dressing room all night pretending to be a star and to actually come out and talk to people and become a star. And: how to play a convincingly amazing show with bad monitors and horrifying diarrhoea, and still meet people afterwards. That’s the stuff that makes you a star. It’s not easy, it’s not glamorous; it’s just a shit-ton of really hard work and mastering a new skill.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
