Transition Year kicks off with a new challenge to the musical establishment as students across the country go looking for the Next Big Thing.
Ever heard a killer band and wondered why they were stuck in a garage while The Cheeky Girls were at Number One? If you're 16 years old and you know good music, it's really frustrating to have the likes of Louis Walsh making decisions about what you get to hear on the radio. Who knows better than you?
Transition Year students around the country are about to put their music where there mouth is. The BlastBeat Challenge is a mini-company programme for schools, due to be launched at the end of this month, which will see 18 schools spot, produce, sell and showcase their own bands. As we speak, each school is recruiting students to staff a mini record company. By November, an army of TY talent scouts will be trawling every school in the country.
Each BlastBeat mini music company will be made up of a chief executive officer, a marketing manager, PR manager, sales team, accountant, finance manager, production manager, talent spotter, promoter, event manager, lighting and sound team, security officer, photographer, video crew, web team, art and design team and a music journalist.
Every one of these roles will be filled by a member of the TY class in participating schools. The bands will be chosen from any school and it will be up to each mini-company to put the word out that they're looking for demos.
The next nine months will see the chosen bands in each region recorded, filmed, groomed and marketed to professional industry standards, but by other students. At the end of the year, after a series of local heats, a national Battle of the Bands will be held and CDs of the best music from the year will go on sale.
Anyone with an interest in music and the arts will have a role to play in BlastBeat, and that, according to its organiser, Robert Stevenson, is the whole point.
"Only 27per cent of teenagers are actively and regularly involved in organised sports. What are the rest supposed to do if there is nowhere to hang out and nothing to do except drink?" he asks.
Stevenson, who manages the independent Irish record label Treasure Island, has been running Blast gigs for under 18s for several years now, and he believes it's time to stop complaining about the young people of today and start giving them a real chance to use their talents.
Through the Blast project, where The Revs got their first outing, Stevenson has seen an abundance of talent and determination among the young musicians and music enthusiasts he meets. He's fed up with the negative attitudes of the establishment towards under-18s, who are criticised for everything from skateboarding to having sex.
"We're always complaining about the behaviour of young people, but we don't offer any venues or activities that fit with their interests. Many young people suffer from low self-esteem because they feel rejected or suspected by parents, school authorities, gardai and straight-edge peers. Many 15 and 16 year olds are seriously interested in music and the arts, but have no outlet for that interest. It's time to offer some of those 73 per cent of teenagers with non-conformist lifestyles an alternative."
Blast is a not-for-profit organisation that is focused on youth community building through music, arts and cultural activities. The project provides alternative leisure opportunities and a web community for people who cannot, by law, congregate in pubs and venues that serve alcohol. The average age of Blast members is 16.
The obvious next step for Blast was to take the venture into the TY classroom. Now, not only will the bands and the audience for Blast gigs be schoolgoers but everyone working in the background, choosing the artists and making the big decisions, will be a student too.
The range of talents needed for each mini-company goes way beyond musical ability. People with an interest in sound, for example, will get an opportunity to attend a sound technician workshop and assist the professionals at the Battle of the Band events. Students who are thinking about a career in marketing or journalism will get a chance to learn from the professionals and then put their learning into action throughout the year. Every aspect of music production, from designing CD covers to financial accounting, will come into play.
Although there will only be 18 Blast Beat mini-companies this year (three from each region), musicians from every school are invited to submit demos to the A&R reps from participating schools.
Every student in the country will be invited to participate through the BlastBeat website, where they will be asked to vote for the playlist on the BlastBeat CD. Next year the project will be extended to more schools around the country.
Stay tuned to Transition Times in The Irish Times on Wednesdays for updates on the Blast Beat Mini-Co Programme.
Send your thoughts on Transition Year to lholden@irish-times.ie
