I have never been critical of “talent” shows such as Australian Idol, The Voice and others as some of my buddies who were respected singers got a lot more recognition and hopefully better-paying gigs as a result of performing on TV. There is also some great new talent that has been discovered who I understand may have been cast away as they didn’t produce “the hit”. This generally is not the fault of the show but rather the shallow nature of record companies these days who have no vision.
Anyway, the way I look at it you are given opportunities and hopefully you get enough breaks to make people notice. I have worked with numerous success stories from these shows and I remember the first time I worked with one of the big names he had just become a “star”. I was system tech for one of his shows and was a bit stunned to see how many backing tracks were being used, despite it being a high-quality band. Watching the mixer guy switch between “live vocals” and “track vocals” throughout the show made me wonder how much live content I was actually hearing? A year or so later the same singer came back to the same venue with a stripped back production and it was all totally live. I was monitor op for the show and It was fantastic to see the improvement in his vocal ability and stage performance. Obviously the singer had been working hard and it really showed.
I have also seen the other end, especially the person I refer to the new kid in town. NKIT won one of these shows and instead of management realizing they needed to hone the artist’s chops live before they went on a major tour, they went for the quick buck and NKIT now is in the “where are they now” category. My experience with the geeza was fun, the car turned up early and I went down to the dock to let the talent and leeches into the venue. The talent was sound asleep in the back seat of the car and bounded out of the car when woken. We then had to find NKIT’s shoes which took a while!
Anyway, the band were on stage sound checking and I was amazed at the quality of musos and crew booked for the gig. We are talking about a lot of my buddies who are used to working with the best which was good to see, but I was wondering how much this was all costing. Eventually, NKIT went on stage and did a good gig in front of an adoring crowd. The limitations of the talent were apparent, but I hoped management would help get someone to nurture the person, but I guess quick-buck management were not interested. As I left the venue, I saw the product doing a meet and greet so wandered over and we hugged. The talent thanked me, I wished it well. From media reports later the talent self-destructed and was ripped off by quick-buck management. I just hope the talent is happy and the flame hasn’t been burnt out forever. The moral to this story is that if you are given your 15 minutes of fame, you better make sure you are damn ready to accept it and take the next step!
