We had a short chat with Alan about his new podcast and the situation that he as a freelance journalist and musician has to cope with at the moment and what listeners can expect from the podcast.
First some hard facts: How often will you publish new episodes? Do you also plan on having guests in the podcast? Apart from YouTube – where will you share the episodes?
Right now I am trying to do one per week and stick to that, the days have been moving around a little but in time I hope to also nail that down. Eventually I think I will have guests, when I had the plan years ago to make a podcast the idea was to use the summer and festival season to talk to people in person but right now I am starting off trying to establish this on my own. Right now I am on Acast, Spotify and a few other platforms. It takes a while though….
Can you tell our readers, what they can expect from your podcast? Which topics are the most important to you – and are there topics that you would never discuss because they are too personal or controversial?
Well what I would like it to be is a witty, dark, entertaining, engaging and challenging, some history, culture and politics now and again but also some old stories of rock’n’roll excess, but very much steeped in black humour. Right now I think there are few podcasts, at least done by rock/metal musicians and definitely the genre is ruled by Americans. I think there is room for something from someone like me. Truth is I have 30 years of stories, and an Irish ability to tell them. It’s just a case of trying to get noticed and get people listening. Easier said than done as everyone seems to have a podcast right now.
How do you cope with this corona situation – is it hard for you to motivate you to do stuff and work creatively or does it even push you more?
I’m not gonna lie, it’s fucked, it’s like living in an open prison, or like I imagine a 75 year old does. With the trip to the shops the main act of the day. Different people have very different experiences, maybe for a young family without money worries this seems like an extended summer holiday but their experience is different to a couple for example who are growing to hate each other. For me I am self isolating on my own and yeah it is difficult, we are social animals and we are being asked to do what is antithetical to our instincts to survive, defeat this in isolation. I just worry what will follow on from this, massive unemployment and civil unrest and strict travel rules which affect our personal liberties as we sacrifice our inner data to biometrics. So yeah somedays I can barely get out of bed… most days seem the same, but… I am running 4-12km everyday… yoga, cycling, eating properly, writing songs. So I have some discipline but it’s not easy to stay motivated.
How is the situation in Ireland – are there any chances for financial help for self employed artists/musicians or are you completely left alone?
Well people who have become unemployed because of the Virus can apply for a special virus welfare, which I am eligible for but there is nothing special for musicians. Our government has offered one thousand 1.000 euro bursaries... so one million euro… for artists… but you have to prove you have no other income which is insane as all artists are trying to earn something, and 1.000 euro will just go on rent, and you have to prove your ‘venture’ as online potential. So in reality what it looks like they want is teenagers/college students who are Instagram artists or youtubers, not musicians or people who would be critically affected by playing live. I’ve had to even set up a Patreon account to try and provide another revenue stream. All of this starkly puts the tiny income we all get from streaming platforms as artists into sharp perspective…
I know it is hard to predict at the moment – but what do you consider a realistic scenario concerning the reactivation of live-events, gigs etc? How do you imagine the scene to go out of this crisis?
Well… firstly everything is just speculation, we really do not know how things shall look, but what I foresee is that all gigs this year will be off the table. I mean if governments allow people back out to gather and the virus comes back at the end of the year? Or people can get reinfected then they will never get the genie back in the bottle and people to re-quarantine. So the darker and starker reality is that we will need a biometric digital passport to travel, we already have a health app on our phone. A version of this we scan to travel, and gather. Which as we can easily imagine in the wrong hands… will add another level to the surveillance society we live in, under the skin not just over the skin. I just hope people realise this and don’t give away their rights easily, but my guess we will need a digital yellow book, like you need to show your Malaria info if you travel to the jungle. My most pessimistic outlook is this year is done… and so is most of 2021, and maybe at the end of 2021 when a vaccine is upscaled we might get 50-250 sized concerts, but as for big festivals were people travel from across the world in their 1000s? I hope I am wrong, but I cannot see it, the only thing that might save us is that people legally enter at their own risk and governments have to open things up for the economy… as it’s pretty clear... this isn’t killing people in the age group that go to shows/gigs/festivals.
Podcast: AGITATORS ANONYMOUS
https://open.spotify.com/show/0X3awdQbGJjCnxpVki3BQm?si=GnrYfqTGT7mDvHCa3X9UYw
Patreon :
