Unsigned special: Realising your musical dreams - the scene

If you've followed this Unsigned special series this month, then the tips from our local experts should have pushed you towards being part of the happy family known as the scene.

A music scene needs thriving musicians, venues, studios and record shops

Often derided as just a throwaway comment by the youth, 'the scene' is much more than that. It exists, thrives or chokes in every town and city across the nation and provides the platform for musicians to perform, grow an audience and either earn a comfortable second income on the gig circuit or perhaps make it to the echelons of arena tours and chart successes.

The scene is only as good as its components. It needs good musicians as the glue sticking together willing fans paying for tickets and the comfortable, enjoyable venues that house the shows. Those artists feed into local music studios and record shops, keeping them afloat, keeping people in jobs, and helping pull music tourists in from around the country who will travel early to see a gig if they know they can meet local fanatics and pick up some hidden gems while in town.

It's a vibrant community, perhaps both boosted and hindered by the internet generation that connects more people through their love of music yet allows them to sit in their room and access it rather than go and have a chat with local oracles while poring over rows of vinyls or supping a pint.

Yet in Birmingham and The Black Country in particular, and Shropshire and Staffordshire too, the scene lives. Built on the foundations so kindly laid down by the rock and metal forefathers who grew out of this proud region, it is ready to host new additions to its congregation.

"I don’t think you're a city without a vibrant live music scene with good venues and good local bands," says Rich, one of the team at KKs Steelmill - the KK Downing-backed project bringing rock and metal to Wolverhampton's Starworks Warehouse.

"Local bands need to get out and play other cities on the "toilet tour" to find out how they work. It's all about hard work. What you put in you get out eventually, so don’t give up when playing to one man and his dog."

And at the Steel Mill, they want to keep that conveyor belt churning.

"We look for a local band with great tunes - heavy rock, thrash metal, anything, as long as it catches your ear," he continues. "Just make sure you have professionalism and enjoyment in abundance. If you don’t enjoy it. don’t do it."

It's not just the venues who can help either. For decades, record shops were the most likely place to discover new favourite bands before the internet arrived. And despite the competition, they still offer those great services, with an added personal touch you can't get via a keyboard.

Any record shop worth its salt, like most businesses, recognises when it needs to adapt. And that's exactly what Vinyl & Vintage on Wolverhampton's Cleveland Street has done.

"You can come and have an experience like a chat or watch a performance," says owner Claire Howell, who has a history of helping former The Ticket Unsigned acts such as Fall Girl and Cymbeline. "Customers recommend things to each other and it makes it more personal. It's not the kind of experience you can get from a supermarket.

"We had Cymbeline come and perform and they didn't really have anything to sell. I told them to get a few CDs together and bring them with them to sell or give away. Tell people they can get a free CD if they stay until the end. It keeps people watching you and they might end up as fans.

"Bands also do album signings here. We had Rock Goddess recently. They brought some merch and it sold out. We don't charge acts to be here we want to help promote them."

Musicians can just pop into the shop and arrange a date to play - mainly Saturdays - or give Claire a call.

"People need a platform," she continues. "They need to start somewhere and here they can practice playing in front of people. We have a stage built just for things like that."

There have also been growing calls for more female musicians to be given a fair crack at the music industry and join the scene. There are campaigns like NOT NORMAL - NOT OK working to make the gig experience safer in Birmingham, while fanzines like SlagMag and Go Ask Alice have launched to promote female artists and writers.

It's something that has impressed Laura Powell, one third of Shropshire former The Ticket Unsigned vocal trio Effervescent.

"We definitely think it’s important for female groups and individuals to be writing and sharing their music," she said. "There’s been a lot mentioned lately about women not being equally represented in the music industry, so we feel we should be supporting people who are doing that, as even at the level we’re at it’s been shown to help other young females.

"On our latest EP we covered topics such as mental health and relationships and have received messages from young girls saying how they’ve helped them.

"Being 16 and an all-female trio when we started, there wasn’t anyone in the same category trying to do what we were doing. Right from the start we realised we were going to have to put in more effort than those around us just to be taken seriously, and make sure we are always professional and well presented.

"There have been countless times where we’ve been overlooked or underestimated by people before working with us or listening to us play. But we’ve been lucky enough to have always had the same surprised, positive reaction."

Hopefully, even more new starters will get to experience this more inclusive, thriving scene soon. Good luck to you all.

WATCH: Former The Ticket Unsigned act Effervescent talk to Albert's Shed in Shrewsbury about music venues supporting the scene: