THE GONG FOR HARD WORK GOES TO...
THE SCOTTISH MUSIC AWARDS@ CLASSIC GRAND
The Scottish New Music Awards (SNMA), which recognises up and coming talent, are gearing up for their second year. The event, at Glasgow’s Classic Grand this Sunday, incorporates the Scottish Music Industry Awards and will honour recipients in 35 categories, covering everything from Artist and Group of the Year, to the people behind the scenes, with categories such as Music Course of the year and Radio Show of the Year.
It’s a project close to the heart of director and founder, Bruce Hotchkies, a Canadian born to Scottish parents, who moved back to this country five years ago.
After being involved in the Juno and Country awards in Canada, Bruce wanted to create a ceremony that would champion new music in Scotland. The SNMA is the result. He had been trying to get the awards off the ground since early 2010, with an initial budget of £25,000, which Bruce had hoped to raise through sponsorship.
When that failed to happen, he had to scale back his plans; last year’s ceremony was funded from his own finances.
Nominees had to tick three boxes: they had to be Scottish; had to have had music released in the last 18 months and not be signed to a major label.
Last year’s ceremony, presented by singer Edward Reid and featuring guest presenters, comedians The Wee Man and Sanjeev Kohli and singer Michelle McManus, caused controversy, facing a backlash from most in the music community. Several things went wrong on the night – such as the ceremony running 90 minutes early and award winners and presenters not being available to present and accept awards. The event was subjected to several scathing reviews.
Bruce jokingly describes this year’s upcoming ceremony as his ‘difficult second album’.
He said: “Last year, I was one person trying to put together a massive event, there weren’t enough people involved to control things on the night.
“This year we have a team of 15 helping out, including a stage manager and four assistant stage managers.
“Last year, no one was there to collect the first 15 awards. The reason being, the doors opened at the same time the show started, so people were there, but were at the front door waiting to get in.
“All in all, only two winners didn’t turn up on the night.”
IMPRoveMeNTS this year include opening the doors an hour before the ceremony and informing award nominees to arrive in plenty of time. Bruce has also had to deal with reluctance and negative feedback for the awards from industry insiders.
He said: “It’s supposed to be a night where the punk rock guys can chat with the urban guys, the rock guys hang out with the jazz guys.
“My ultimate goal is to turn the awards into something like Canadian Music Week or the South by Southwest festival, where it becomes an industry focused festival.
“Unfortunately, some people will always voice the negative.
“People say, ‘Oh, I’ve never heard of the bands who have been nominated,’ I say to that, ‘Isn’t that a good thing?’
“It’s supposed to be about new music and what I’m trying to do is open up people’s eyes to what is out there.”
Comedian The Wee Man will host this weekend’s event and artists performing include singer-songwriter Scosha, electronic outfit Kamihamiha, all-female rock trio The Amorettes and indie pop band The Plimptons.
“With all of the performers, you’re not going to have a chance to get bored,” said Bruce.
“This year we’ve added two new categories, in Pop and Electronic.”
Bruce is hopeful that the SNMAs can grow over the years to become a bigger event.
“It’s much easier to kick something down than it is to build it up,” he said.
“A weaker man would have crumbled, unfortunately I’m too stubborn.
“People are entitled to their opinion and you can’t please everyone all the time.”
The 2012 Scottish New Music Awards will be held on Sunday at 7.30pm at the Classic Grand, 18 Jamaica Street, Glasgow. Doors open at 6.30pm and tickets are £10. For more information, visit www. scotmusicawards.co.uk