Disappointment
Written by Majic Mushroom
Okay, picture the UK Scene. It's in disarray. Hardly anything is getting released, hardly anyone is doing anything.
"We need to do something", says a UK scener.
"A party would kick start it", says another.
"Yeah, that would rock"... the UK Scene says...
So, lo and behold, a few guys decide to take the plunge. They take time, money and effort to organise the first UK party since 1995.
Everyone knows about it, everyone says "I'm going, hell yeah!"....
The day of the party comes... We arrive, expecting about 50 people (we knew there were going to be some limits as to how many could go). "Hmm not many cars, perhaps most of them came on public transport?" How naive of me.
"Oh well, it's early yet, it's only the first day... It'll pick up tomorrow you'll see."... How incredibly optimistic of me.
The next day comes... No one else arrives.. Or the next day... That's it? The total number of people who made an effort to come to Deja Vu 98 is 15??
Yes... 15 fucking people. You UK Sceners should be ashamed of yourselves.
Do you recall that you ALL said, "A PARTY IS WHAT THE UK SCENE NEEDS", huh?
So, Tim organises a party and you all say "I'm coming to it yeah..."
Then 15 people turn up, and 2 of them were organisers.
I'm not having a go at the ones who said they weren't going from the start due to other commitments etc., but I spoke to alot of people on both the PC and Amiga who said they were going. I thought this was going to be the party to kick start the UK Scene again...
So, what up with that? Don't you care about the UK Scene?
The party place had more than enough room for alot of people, it was for three days, what's the excuses for not turning up? Don't give me the bullshit about travelling x number of miles to the party, "Ooh, it's too far", "Ooh, I dont wanna spend that long on transport".
Bollocks. I've travelled all over the country to parties and never complained about it once. I've driven for 11 hours to pick people up and take them to a party, and I didn't complain, and as for spending so long on transport, it doesn't bother you when your flying out to some holiday resort on a plane right?
So, it's all bollocks really... The party turnout is a summation of the UK scene's attitude: YOU SIMPLY CANNOT BE BOTHERED.
If that's the case, leave the scene now. How can you be a scener if you don't do anything? Don't claim to be active when you're not. Leave the UK to be built up again, by people that do care, that want to see it great again.
Nerve Axis have done a great thing for the UK scene. They have won the Assembly Amiga competition 2 years running, for us, that is a massive achievement, and full respect must go to them. Respect to Statix too, for proving quality CAN come from the UK, hell, it's good to even see something from the UK.
The question on my lips, is WHY is it like this? It never used to be. People used to be so enthusiastic, there were always parties, there were always lots of party releases, but now, there are no UK parties, no UK releases, and hardly any UK releases at foreign parties.
So, what are WE going to do about it? We got a UK website up, the novelty soon wore off. We got a mailing list up and running, hardly any mails come through it now... So what's up?
If you care about the scene, you have to put some work in to keep it alive.
If you have any ideas how to improve the UK scene, then mail me, I'd be glad to hear your suggestions.
Respect to the following:
Nerve Axis - Great work guys, keep ruling!
Statix - Keep the demos coming.
Tim + Spansh - Nice party, hope you can face another.
Tesko - Atleast we have the enthusiasm, eh?
Semtex, Mushy Pea + Grim
Yours, a very disappointed
- Majic Mushroom of Tesko