The fact that there is -- at best -- very little money in noise is of course a contributing factor. It has its own advantages too, which have been discussed before. But the lack of suitable, or even reasonable, venues is of course a permanent problem. I like the idea of playing in a grimy dive bar with a guitar combo amp in the corner. As an artist this would be my preferable scenario. As an event organizer, it's a total nightmare. The owners of the bars are greedy and unreliable, and the worst problem is of course the alcoholic zombies who are constantly trying to outdo each other in behaving in the most idiotic manner possible.
I've played in a "proper rock club" a few times. The older I get, the less time I have for the rock'n'roll lifestyle and the rock'n'roll dream. To the point that when I want to listen to some "real" music (I think noise music is real music actually, but you know what I mean) at home, I find myself turning to classical music more and more. Almost everything about the rock and mainstream metal scene annoys me these days, and I've no desire to attempt any crossover in that direction. Of course, the feeling is mutual, so ...
What I and a few others have been doing for the last few years under the name Noise Space is fairly close to ideal in some ways. In other ways, it's a million miles away from what I want. First of all, they are not real UG events since they are funded and supported from outside. And whoever pays the bills, gets to set the boundaries inside of which things must remain. On the other hand, they provide a good venue, stage, sound system and even a professional sound guy -- all for free of charge. And I am quite obviously increbidly grateful for it. Not even the fact that the venue is inside a damn shopping center bothers me anymore.
I plan on trying out some experimental forms of performance on upcoming events. Encouraging audience participation, impromptu collaborations and jams by different artist combinations. That sort of thing. Noise Space events must be free of charge (one of the rules set by the owners of the venue) so we cannot ever have any "big" name artists, so we might as well explore this avenue of trying to go forward and keep things interesting.
I was briefly involved with the Kontula Electronic festival organization, who had great ideas for novel locations for shows. In libraries, swim halls, even on the subway (the gig was timed to begin at the Kontula metro station, and end when the same train returned to Kontula about 45 minutes later). Some of this was hit and miss. Jimi Tenor performed inside a glass cube of unknown function on the roof of the Kontula shopping district. The roof was so rotten that his foot when through it, and he was scared of pulling it free for fear of it causing the whole roof to collapse, and ended up playing the set with hi sfoor inside the roof. Immediately after we needed the sound system at the Kontula skateboarding hall, for the show of some bigtime Thai percussionist. So we had to haul the PA across the rooftops as quickly as possible, hoping it wouldn't collapse under our feet.
So, to sum it up:
As an artist: I'll take anything. As long as it has a half-way functional sound system and a roof of some kind in case it rains, I'm good. Art gallery, dive bar, cafe terrace, I've done all that. Like I mentioned before, no great interest in "rock clubs", but if someone else is doing the organising, I'm in there too.
As an organizer: again, the type of venue doesn't matter so much, as long as the owners and whoever else I have to deal with are reliable, know what they are doing and don't try to change the rules mid-game. Anybody who says after the show, I want more money than what we agreed, I will never deal with again.
As an audience member: again, anything other than the dumbass 20th Cen "rock" scenario, where there are "stars" on stage and the audience on the floor, giving them adoration, money and sex.
