Following an outcry about new public performance licensing laws threatening the future of live music, the 1980s punk rock star Feargal Sharkey has agreed to lead the Goverment's Live Music Forum study into the subject. The colorful chairman spoke to Viv Hardwick.
FEARGAL Sharkey says yup a lot. Possibly to hurry along an interview about him becoming the Government's new music Tsar when he'd not anticipated being collared by a regional newspaper journalist.
Incredible as it seems, Sharkey appeared to be under the impression he would breeze into the North-East's biggest ever music conference earlier this month, talk about his new role as Live Music Forum chairman and slip unnoticed into the crowd. Fat chance.
The 45-year-old was the keynote speaker at the North-East By North-East event at Stockton's Arc and he's also chairing a group being asked to plot the future of the UK's music business over the next two years. With virtually every kid in the country either playing in a band or dreaming of TV Pop Idol instant stardom, the former frontman of the Undertones is the man with his fingers on tomorrow's microphone.
Arriving in relaxed style, he double-takes "what-what-what" at the suggestion of press questions, explodes off around a corner at the prospect of having his picture taken and then swiftly returns to host a good-natured impromptu chat.
"Basically, there are three main things that the forum has been given a job to go and do. One of which, and I'd better get the technicalities right, before someone kicks me gently in the shins, is to monitor the impact of the new music licensing regulations coming into force and report back as objectively as possible whether they are detrimental or not," says Sharkey, who quietly confesses that this is a near impossibility because his team have been given the task of covering the whole of England and Wales.
"Our second job is actually the one which is the bigger challenge, and that is we've been given a duty to try and further develop, enhance, expand and promote both the access to and availability of live music in England and Wales over the next two years. That one is entirely up to us and if we do it, it's because of the amount of time, energy, effort, drive and enthusiasm of each member. This is of serious political interest and gives us a fantastic opportunity, particularly at the grassroots level where we can leave behind some kind of legacy.
"The third thing we've been asked to do is to provide a report to Government of the way that this work can be carried on in the future. Then the Government can decide if they act on some of it or all of it."
He says in answer to a question about being the best-known face in what some see as a pure PR exercise by Tony Blair and Arts Minister Estelle Morris: "The forum has to alleviate some of that natural cynicism concerning political interference."
Asked about his knowledge of North-East music, he points to 20-25 years of visits, including one last year to Darlington to study commercial station operations when he was on the board of the Radio Authority.
The forum is also carrying out a Mori poll, the first of its kind for music, over the next three or four weeks, aimed at 2,000 people involved in making or promoting music "to try and find out what the hell is going on out there". "We're hoping to have the first concrete ideas by the end of July to give us some sort of base to identify areas which need more support and encouragement."
He expresses doubt on the view that the UK music industry is in total crisis by pointing out that last year "something more than 50 per cent" of people went to a live concert.
"So in many ways, I might be inheriting an industry that's in a pretty healthy state. It's very easy for something like the generation gap to creep up on you when you least expect it. I remember watching Top Of The Pops as a child when a certain scantily-clad young lady sang My Boy Lollipop and that was supposed to be instantly disposable pop music of the time," he jokes.
"It's always been like that and always will be. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I think it's fantastic that my own children at the ages of five, six and seven can get into pop music through what some adults class as lightweight, disposable and not worthy of comment."
The reference here is to S Club 7 and Busted, and Sharkey only becomes agitated at this point because he's asked if a mention can be made of his seven-year-old's name, who recently told dad a Marvin Gaye track What's Going On is "quite a good song". A sweeping arm gesture indicates that this line of questioning is now closed. Although later he quips on the question of his son following in his footsteps: "Never. He's going to university and coming back with a degree in something quite interesting and will be 24 before he decides what he wants to do.
"I'm not one of those parents who endlessly take their children to ballet classes, violin classes and some sort of extra-curricular activity three times a week. I'm happy to let them decide for themselves what it is that motivates them."
Sharkey sees the future as bright because of the amount of music required for everything from mobile phones to commercials, and believes that opportunities for musicians will still exist in five years time, "they will just be different".
"I'm quite pleased there is a generation of 16-year-olds out there with a bad attitude. Good luck to them. From a personal point of view, and it is one that is shared by the forum, even if it's just one bloody North-East band gaining a rehearsal room that they didn't have before then we've done something that's worth doing."
And after three careers in the business as performer and mentor he advises the North-East hopefuls: "Don't worry about all the nonsense, concentrate on making that absolutely glorious noise. Without that bit, the rest doesn't exist."
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