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There are some great local bands out there - do they all have to go global?

Just a thought. You can't venture far in the UK without chancing upon some great musicians (and some admittedly less so) doing what they love in a boozer in front of a handful of punters.

A freezing night in Poole last night, and there were at least two pubs with live music. These are guys who will never make it to Simon Cowell's iPod. Probably a very good thing, too. They will probably never make it onto mine, but they are doing what they love and often making a pretty good job of it. Covers or originals, there is some creativity going on.

So what if they never make it 'big' and spend their days pushing paper, tapping keyboards or installing taps? It doesn't make their creativity any less valuable or worthy.

As we struggle through one of the gloomiest winters and spring most of us can remember, with snow hitting many of us as we head towards Easter, there will be bands everywhere heading out to entertain us tonight. Most of them will never make as much money as they spend on their guitars and PAs, but they'll have a lot of fun and spread some good stuff around.

I'm often dismissive of covers bands, but who's to criticise them? Not everyone is a song-writer. My songs sit languishing in notebooks and one rubbish demo tapes - probably never to see the light of day. Love playing other people's stuff, though. Nd definitely love listening to all those bands don't around the country who are keeping it live.


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