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First and foremost, it's the loss to his family and friends that outweighs anything we could say about him.
Secondly, speaking for large numbers of my friends, this loss is completely intolerable. That so many people depended so much on one man to provide an outlet for their music is a ridiculous situation, and it strikes me that the best way we can honour him is to do everything we can to decentralise that kind of power. To many of us that involves doing nothing more than what we're already doing, with an added realisation that by circulating music that doesn't regularly get played - if it gets played at all - we're throwing new ideas at people who may take them totally to heart. Sometimes those ideas will stick, sometimes they won't.
Peel so very nearly played Hunting Lodge before he died. He had our single, and played at least one of the Mugstar tracks on the split. Maybe he didn't like us. Maybe he hadn't got round to it yet. Maybe he just listened to the side from the band who'd done a Peel Session. There must be so many people in the same position as the five of us in the band. That there are so few advocates for us is an appalling state of affairs, but thankfully it's something we can attempt to do something about.
Want to honour the memory of John Peel? Then if you can make music, and if you want to make music, make as much music as you can. Make it the best you can, and make it as brilliant and as individual as you are. Make music for the sake of making music, nothing else. If you want to play it to people, then do it. If you don't feel you can make music, help out the people who can.
The world is full of outstanding musicians, full of exciting bands. Ask not what music can do for you... X |
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