Do It Yourself? A Punk view...

The Music Industry has seemingly changed forever, and as a result more and more musicians are looking for unconventional and pro-active ways in order to capture the attention of the overtly sensationalized music press and generally unengaged public. In this interview, we take a look at a regional example and how they, as a band, decided to take matters into their own hands to get their music heard.

The idea of booking and organizing a tour yourself of a foreign country isn't that unheard of in countries in North America, Europe or Australasia, so why is it so rare here? Sure, there's visa issues, who to trust and potential travel problems, but really there's nothing stopping musician's getting out there and exploring, and importantly, securing that all important fan base.

For instance if you play a genre of music that isn't accepted (or at least has limited appeal) in your home town, touring is the only way to get fans into your music and following you. Sure, online promotion is important, but the age-old assertion that there's nothing more important to creating a buzz than a good live show holds true, even in this internet age.

One such example of the DIY ethic is Grand Hotel Paradox, a punk trio based in Dubai. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Chris Ryan for a Q&A about their upcoming Southeast Asia tour and how it all became a reality. On their own terms.

Hey Chris! First of all, what is a Grand Hotel Paradox? Curiosity’s got the best of me!

The name comes from an analogy by a mathematician called Hilbert. It’s called ‘Hilbert’s Paradox of the Grand Hotel’, so that’s where the “Grand Hotel Paradox” comes from.

Let’s start with the most obvious question – you’ve got one EP out, why go on a tour so soon?

That’s a good point! It was decided that we should just go for it, I’ve always had a great time touring so it was kind of a “Why not” type of thing.

Why Southeast Asia?

It turns out that I know a lot of people in bands over here who are from the Philippines, and our bassist Mike used to live in Singapore and I’ve never been over in that part of the world on a tour before so it made sense to head down.

Cool. So, how did it all become a reality?

Well the thing about punk music is that there is a kind of a worldwide DIY network of people who will put on shows for you and give you a place to stay and feed you, so pretty much anywhere in the world you want to play people will help you out, with the knowledge that you’d do the same for them. It’s something I’m really happy to be a part of, and that way you can cut out the bulls**t rock clubs and promoters who are there just to do their job and make their money.

Run us through the process you’ve experienced to book venues and plan an eight day tour all by yourself? We’re impressed!

Generally, you just try to get in contact with promoters, bands or venues involved in the scene over there and let them know what dates you’re interested in coming down and you work together on the tour schedule to see what works. Then it’s a matter of sorting out support bands, ticket prices, merch, backline equipment, the PA system etc. And then you’ve got to sort out how on you’re going to get to each city (and each country, in this case) and that’s about it. Its not rocket science by any means, but it takes a lot of patience to put it all together and make sure its organized so you don’t end up in a city with no where to sleep, show up at a venue with no backline equipment, or book a show with no way of transport to get there.

This tour is pretty short so it has been quite straightforward to book and has been a lot easier to sort out than some of the other tours I’ve done with bands in the past.

How much cooperation did you find from promoters and venues?

For the most part we’ve had a great response, and that comes down to dealing with the right people who you can really feel are behind your band, rather than someone who is doing it because they have to.

For anyone out there who isn’t familiar with the process – can you define the key points where difficulties came up?

To be honest, we haven’t had many issues at all on this tour but if I had any advice, I’d say to make sure that you can get at least a few decent local bands on the lineup because you can’t be expected to draw a huge crowd on your first visit to a city, but if another band can draw some kids in the crowd who are into your style of music, they can get into you and come again to see you the next time you’re in town. As well as this, you can’t expect to just book a show and have the masses come – in addition to the promoter spreading the word of the show and the band, its important to seek out interviews or features with local zines/music websites/forums/podcasts/radio shows/blogs etc. in the area to try to get the word out about the band and the tour before you arrive.

Do you advise other bands/artists to go on DIY promo tours? What does it mean to you as a band?

Yes, definitely! It definitely beats playing to the same crowd in your hometown all the time. Plus it’s a really great time and you meet some cool people - what I always say is that the good times are great, and that the bad times make the best stories. Also, you’ll find that you end up being a tighter live band once you’ve had to play every night for a few weeks or however long. And the obvious big reason is to be able to bring your show to people who are somewhere else and hopefully build up your fanbase that way.

Do you plan to document your tour? We’d love to see what goes on the road!

We’ll definitely be doing updates on Twitter @ghpofficial and we’ll do video blogs too. And I don’t need to say it, but like every other band in the world, you can follow us on a multitude on social networking sites all over the mighty internet.

Thanks for your time! And good luck with everything.

Thanks! Much love to you guys at Triple W.

For more information on the Grand Hotel Paradox tour - check out their facebook page!