Two By Two

So here’s a new idea. It’s not even fresh out the oven. It’s still at the pounding the dough stage. For now I’ll call it Two By Two.

I’ve always wanted to build a more communal Homesong experience for artists. I felt that in all the Homesongs I’ve hosted, we touched on that experience the most when Rosie Nimmo and Norman Lamont came to play in Kintyre, and then later with Gary Carey and Kevin Farrell. Those felt far less of a lonely experience for me, even though I was playing the usual organising host role. I think it was more of a shared experience all round for everyone.

So maybe the seed was planted there, but it just sprouted up after reading an article Kevin Farrell linked to recently on Facebook. That’s your background reading!

The Idea
Two artists who live in similar locations link up, and then connect with two other artists somewhere else. Each pair would commit to organising two gigs over a weekend (each responsible for one, but working with each other) either in their homes, or someone else’s home, or even a more public location. Each pair of artists would go on separate weekends to play at the other hosts gigs.

Even though I thought the big task of “Homesong” was to find music loving hosts, I have increasingly come to realise that it is we, the performers, who are the most motivated to “find an audience”. And it really is our responsibility alone. We can’t wait to be “found” when the amount of music being made out there is so immense.

It’s on us. But why not make it a shared thing?

That’s it really at the moment. Maybe I just need to get the ball rolling to see if it works. I think I will. But, of course, I don’t know if IT will. That’s the nature of ideas for you, even if they get past the “pounded dough” stage.

They’ve still got to survive the oven!