Sinister: a long-winded justification of an ealier e-mail to this list.

[Lawrence Mikkelsen]

Colin Anderson obviously didn't like my comment "Steven Wells will be first
against the wall when the revolution comes!" comment, so I thought I'd
clarify. I don't give a damn whether people like Belle & Sebastian. I really
don't care. I'm not snobbish enought to say I want them to be mine, and
don't want anyone else liking them, nor am I silly enough to think that a
few plays of "Legal Man" will make them stars. My beef with Swells was the
incredibly bad way he handled the so-called "interview" with Stuart. (And
remember folks .... Swells has defended The Bluetones ... so getting high
and mighty about B&S's apolitical nature is a little rich.)

Stuart called Swells to try and justify the comments he raised at the press
conference. He did so coherently, and Mr Wells was not really able to have a
proper dig at him while he was speaking, and instead used the sneaky ploy of
making his final point well after Stuart had hung up and gone off to do
something creative and interesting. It's the journalistic equilivant of a
stab to the back, and in direct contrast to just how *nice* Staurt has been
in his recent interviews. (Defending Fran from Travis, saying fairly nice
things about STEPS, all things considered, etc. etc.)

 Basically, I think that Swells, and the NME, feel threatened because Belle
& Sebastian doesn't *need* the NME. Recently the music press in general, and
NME in particular, have taken great delight in building up and tearing down
bands. Look at both Gay Dad and Ultrasound as bands who were lauded and then
torn into all in the space of about six months. It's difficult for bands to
avoid playing the game, however, as the NME and Melody Maker are the most
comprehensive gig guides, and pretty much the only major network for getting
*any* publicity as an unsigned band. Belle & Sebastian have done things a
little differently though. They have a reasonably large fanbase who expand,
to a large extent, by word of mouth. There has been little hype (until
recently), yet TBWTAS did remarkably well in the album charts when it was
released, and has one on to sell a fair amount of copies. People have fallen
in love with B&S without B&S really having to play the game - do interviews,
photoshoots etc. They have a good website, their fans find out information
about them through their labels mailing list, and can buy their albums
directly from Jeepster. Much as Mr Wells seems to be attacking Stuart for
not taking more of a stand, I get the feeling the real reason is that he
wants to feel important as a "critic" or part of the "social consciousness"
or something. And pandering to bands like Primal Scream makes him feel like
he's doing something worthwhile by dragging along on their coat tails. Good
for Primal Scream. I agree with about half of what Bobby says, but just
saying I agree with them doesn't make *me* a revolutionary.

I guess my question for Steven Wells is, just what do *you* do to make a
difference?

Lawrence Mikkelsen
http://www.akn.quik.co.nz/mikelsen/aboutme

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