Digipak, Website and Photoshoot analysis

Here I will be looking at some of the digipaks, websites and photoshoots used by the bands I have researched (Stereophonics, Rise Against, The Undertones, Arctic Monkeys) to help with the ones of our own will soon be starting work on.

DIGIPAKS
I have found it quite hard to find digipaks for the bands I have researched but anywhere i havent been able to find digipaks I will just use some front and back covers.

Arctic Monkeys
The digipaks used by Arctic Monkeys seem to follow a similar pattern of being mostly colourless, or completely black and white, as we see from the examples below. In the inside of the digipak in the 2nd picture we see photos of graffitti like art, which can be associated with their indie genre.

For the other bands I was unable to get any full digipak photos so I will just post some album front and back covers below.

 When looking at these covers above we can see that the majority are colourless or black and white, a lot only having simple logos, such as the 2 stereophonics ones and the Rise Against one. From this we can say that the dark colours are very popular for album covers and digipaks in this genre.

PHOTOSHOOT

When looking at the photoshoots from these bands it is immediately obvious that colourless and black and white photos are very common. The majority of the shots are also taken in run down, industrial looking zones.

WEBSITES

Again with the websites, 3 out of 4 are mainly colourless and black and white. This fits in with the photos of the digipaks and photoshoots above, and ultimately fits in with the genre. The only one that doesn't adhere to the colourless scheme is The Undertones' website, this is likely because not much effort has been put into the band website as they would rarely play anymore, and had the majority of their fame before 1995 when the internet wasn't even fully available to the general public.

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Conventions/rules

Here I will be looking at conventions and rules being used for Punk bands in their music videos. 

Examples of popular punk bands are:

-Rise Against

-My Chemical Romance

-Green Day

-Blink 182

A noticeable convention which the majority of punk music videos adhere to is having a lot of the shots in poorly lit rooms. When looking through punk videos it was one of the first conventions I noticed. Here we have the examples of this.

Rise Against - Saviour

Green Day -  Oh Love

Blink 182 - I Miss You

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Then again, sometimes bands would purposefully go against these conventions and have bright music videos, to go for a different effect. Examples of these are:

Green Day - Basket Case

Rise Against- Prayer of the Refugees













My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na

 Blink 182 - All the Small Things

The most common type of music video for this genre is of the band playing the song in a large empty room, with a lot of raw emotion on display (usually anger). The videos usually cut between this performance and a storyline that is ongoing throughout the video (but not always). Examples of this type of video are:

Blink 182 - After Midnight

This video cuts between the band playing and a story of a young girl in a mental hospital who gets the chance to release herself and feel happy with a boy who comes to see her. Pictures of both sides are shown here.

Rise Against - Make it Stop

This is another video that cuts between the band's performance and a story. The story in the video shows 2 teenagers in a college being bullied for being homosexual, one a girl and one a boy. Pictures of both are below.

Also for this type of performance music video we can have a performance with not a story but something happening along with there performance which relates the lyrics. Examples of these are below.

Green Day - American Idiot

This video does not cut to a story, the performance part has it from the view of behind tv cameras to fit in with the lyrics that they don't want to be controlled by the media, and they don't want the nation to either.

My Chemical Romance - Teenagers

This music video has the performance of the band instead of a story, cuts to teenagers running into the hall they are playing in. The lyrics say that teenagers scare him because they don't care about anyone, and the clips of the teenagers show this as they are pushing and shoving, and generally being ignorant. At the end of the video the teenagers climb on the stage and snatch the microphone off the lead singer, as well as trying to take the band's instruments.

The clothing worn by punk bands in their music videos is always very similar. The most common colour of clothing worn by bands in these videos is black, whether it is black t-shirts, black trousers or black jackets, it is always in there somewhere. This is often because the lyrics in the song are about something in particular that the members of the band feel strongly about (like government, media, bullying etc), and the colour black can help to symbolise this. Here is examples of punk bands wearing black clothing in their videos.

Questionare Questions

I asked people in the school to fill in a questionaire to help me with my research. I asked everyone to be truthful and below here I will type up the answers of forms that can relate to my research. 

The questionaire answers have helped me find out the interests of people within the genre, and also what type of people the public think would be associated with the genre.

PERSON 1

Name: Amy Nolan

Gender: Female

Age:17

What genre of music are you interested in? Rock, Alternative/indie.

Who are your favourite bands/artists? Twenty one Pilots, Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, All time low, Stereophonics, Hard-fi.

What type of person would you associate with the genre of music? What age would they be and what would their social background be? 

-Try to be different

-Tattoos

-Beards

-Different clothing styles

-Young/mid-twenties

-smaller/less publicised gigs

What are your spends and interests?

-Concerts

-Watch youtube videos

-Listen to music

-Watch tv shows

-Video games

PERSON 2

Name: Ronan McQuillan

Gender: Males

Age: 18

What genre of music are you interested in? Punk rock, alternative rock

Who are your favourite bands/artists? Weezer, Descaparecidos, Manchester Orchestra, Mystic 
Valley Band, Bright Eyes, Biffy Clyro, Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys, Mojo Fury.

What type of person would you associate with the genre of music? What age would they be and what would their social background be?

-Under 30

-Various social backgrounds

-Male and female

-Bearded

What are your spends and interests? 

-Music

-Guitar

-Cycling

-Socialising

-Reading

PERSON 3

Name: Adrian McAllister

Gender: Males

Age: 17

What genre of music are you interested in? Punk, Meltalcore, Rock

Who are your favourite bands/artists? Rise against, Sum 41, August Burns Red, Born of Osiris, Killswitch Engage, As I lay Dying, Parkway Drive, Darkest Hour, While She Sleeps, Periphery, Monuments, Dragonforce, Black Veil Brides, Bullet for my Vallentine, Sonata Arctic.

What type of person would you associate with the genre of music? What age would they be and what would their social background be?

-Any age but preferred to younger people

-Any social background

-Politically active people.

What are your spends and interests?

-Music (playing, listening, composing, producing, recording, mixing)

-Sport (football, gaelic football, hurling)

-Socialising

-Horror Films

-Video Games

PERSON 4

Gender: Males

Name: Eoin Johnson

Age: 17

What genre of music are you interested in? Indie rock.

Who are your favourite bands/artists? Biffy clyro, Arctic monkeys, Bloc party, Radiohead, Alt-j, the Black Keys, Vampire Weekend, The Pixies, The Smiths, Red hot chilli peppers.

What type of person would you associate with the genre of music? What age would they be and what would their social background be? 

-Teens and students

-People who wear new fashionable clothing

-People who play instuments

What are your spends and interests?

-Playing guitar

-Socialising

-Video games

-Listen to music

-Playing football

-Going on runs

-Watch tv shows

-Reading

-Looking stuff up online

PERSON 5

Name: Maria Jordan

Gender: Female

Age: 17

What genre of music are you interested in? Indie

Who are your favourite bands/artists? Ben Howard, Miley Cyrus, James, Morrison, Daughter.

What type of person would you associate with the genre of music? What age would they be and what would their social background be?

-Young person around 16-25 normally

-Interested in music

-Goes to a lot of concerts/gigs

What are your spends and interests?

-Chilling with friends

-Playing piano

-Going to concerts

QUESTIONNAIRE CONCLUSION

From the questionnaire answers we can gather that people would generally associate these genres of music with young people who like to be a different, who wear fashionable clothing, like to socialise and are possible political. Also the people here interested in the music had interests such as playing video games, going to gigs, reading and using the internet for various things.

Rise Against

Rise Against are an American Punk rock band formed in 1999 in Chicago.The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Zach Blair(lead guitar, backing vocals), Joe Principe (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Brandon Barnes (drums). Rise Against achieved considerable underground success with the release of their first 2 albums "The Unravelling" and "Revolutions per minute" on independent record label 'Fat Wreck Chords' between 1999 and 2003. The band then signed for major label 'Major Label Geffen' and achieved more mainstream popularity in the punk rock world, with their next 2 albums "The Sufferer and the Witness" and "Appeal to Reason" peaked at number 10 and number 3 in the top Billboard 200 chart in America. "Endgame" released in 2011 is Rise Against's most recent album which was received with a positive critical response.

DEMOGRAPHICS 

I search the internet for Rise Against demographics, mostly using websites such as last.fm to find information on listeners. 

AGES

For a rebellious punk rock band like Rise Against the music is definitely geared  towards young people aged 16-30 who want to rebel against the system. When looking the 5 available pages of listeners on last.fm, I found that every listener bar 1 was between the ages I expected, 16 to 30. In the photo of the crowd at a Rise Against gig on the right, all of the people in the photo are young males.

LOCATION

Rise Against in the past year have played in countries such as South Korea, Canada, USA, Germnay, Belgium and South Africa. This shows the wide variety of countries that the band has followers and fans in. When looking on last.fm I found that Rise Against have many listeners from various places with Germany and United States being the most popular listeners. Brazil and Poland also had a lot of listeners as did the UK. Countries such as Australia and Sweden also registered a few listeners each.


SOCIAL BACKGROUND

Associated with this punk style of music is people who want to rebel against the system and be different in their own kind of way. These would be people who 'mosh' at concerts and gigs. Rise against in particular would have a lot of listeners who are interested in politics are many of the band's lyrics are about politics and political rebellion. The band name itself 'Rise Against' gives an immediate feel of this. All members of the band are vegetarian, and all bar 1 are straight edge. The band are strongly against animal cruelty.


GENDER

Males would stereo typically be the more interested in the music. This would be due to the rebellious nature of the music and possible associations with violence and even moshing in the crowd at gigs. The anger that is felt through the music is also more often linked to males than females. When looking on last.fm I found that the majority of listeners on the site were male.

Stereophonics

Stereophonics are a 4 piece indie/rock band formed in Wales in 1992. The band currently consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals/guitar), Richard Jones (bass/backing vocals), Adam Zindani (guitar/backing vocals) and Jamie Morrison (drums). They have released 8 studio albums, including 5 consecutive UK no.1 albums, the latest being 2013's "Graffiti on the Train". Their debut album "Word gets around" released in 1997 charted in at number 6 in the UK, with singles such as 'Local boy in the photograph' and 'A thousand trees' still being some of their most famous work to date. Their most well known song is 'Dakota', released in 2005. The song is the band's only UK number one. The band is distinctive in sound due to lead singer Kelly Jones' raspy voice, which has been described as 'whiskey'. His voice has drawn criticism as well as acclaim. Having sold over 9 million copies worldwide, the band are one of the most successful rock acts to come out of Wales.

DEMOGRAPHICS 

To find demographics for Stereophonics I looked up various sites across the internet to find any information I could

AGES

Stereophonics' music is largely geared towards younger people. However as the band has been around for over 20 years they have quite a large following between the ages of 35-50, as these were people who would have liked their music when it came out. Having been to see Stereophonics on 3 separate occasions live I always noticed that the crowd was a lot older than me with the majority usually being between the ages of 35-45. When looking on last.fm I found that the majority of listeners were aged 16-30, with only a small percentage being aged 35-50. Here we have a photo of the crowd at a Stereophonics gig in Leicester and we can see from the photo that a big part of the crowd are older than usual for this genre of music, aged around 30-50.

LOCATION

Stereophonics have a considerable following worldwide, but would be most well known in Ireland and the UK, where they would be most popular. As well as doing a UK and Ireland tour, they have played shows across the countries of the world such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore in the past year. Also in the past year they've played concerts around Europe in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and France, among other places. The picture on the right shows a promotional tour poster for a gig they played in 2008 in Hong Kong. When looking on ask.fm I found that whilst there was listeners from all around the world, the majority were from Europe. The country with the most listeners was as expected, the UK. There was also listeners from Sweden, Poland, France, Russia and Turkey as well as others from Europe. The few listeners that came from outside of Europe came from places such as United States and Brazil (these 2 were the most popular for outside Europe), as well as Mexico, Indonesia and Venezuela.

SOCIAL BACKGROUND

Social background, again, for a band with quite a lot of mainstream popularity could be anything really. When they first started out they were a heavier rock band and would have had a smaller following, mostly young indie people who like to be a bit different. Their more mellow stuff since then has gained them a more wide variety of listeners, with songs such as 'Have a nice day' and 'Maybe tomorrow.'

GENDER

Again, this genre of indie/alternative rock music would be usually associated with males but having seen from expereience from crowds at their gigs, they have a large female following. When looking at the gender of listeners on ask.fm, I found that aroung 70% were males and about 30% were female. In the photo on the right of a Stereophonics gig in Belfast in 2010, we can see that a large percentage of the crowd is female.

The Undertones

The Undertones are a punk rock band from Derry, Northern Ireland formed in 1975. When the band were together from 1975 to 1983 before splitting up they consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill(rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley (bass, vocals) and Billy Doherty (drums). The band were reunited in 1999 with new members after the lead singer had left and have been together to the current day. Despite the political climate of Northern Ireland at the time, the band wrote more about teenage angst and heartbreak than the Troubles. The band released 4 studio albums before the breakup with their most popular song being 'Teenage Kicks', released in 1978. The song is still popular and widely known by people of all ages. The band are one of the most successful bands to come out of Northern Ireland.

DEMOGRAPHICS

To find demographics for the band I looked on ask.fm to find out various aspects about the type of listeners that the Undertones have. I also looked on youtube, google and setlist.fm to find more information.

AGES

When the Undertones first came out, they would have been very popular with the younger ages between 15 and 30. The punk rock scene at the time in Northern Ireland was a for those who wanted to go against the system and have a revolution of a sort. Because the band are old enough now, they would have quite a lot of listeners who would be aged around 50 as people who were 20 or so at the time will likely have regained some kind of interest. The photo on the right hand side is a photo of the band in the earlier years. So really the ages of listeners today could be both the young people of today or also the people who were young at the time they came out. 


LOCATION

At least half of the listeners of the Undertones on ask.fm are from the United Kingdom. This is becuase the band aren't overly well known outside of the UK or maybe even Europe, besides people maybe knowing Teenage Kicks. The band also have a percentage of last.fm lsiterenrs being from other places in Europe such as Sweden, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Denmark, Finland and Turkey. There is also from a small amount of listeners on the website from south american countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and also a few from North America in the United States and Canada. In the last year the Undertones have played 8 gigs, with 2 being in Ireland, 2 in England, 2 in Germany, 1 in Turkey and 1 in France. All these gigs were at small places as the band wouldn't have anywhere as near as much of a following as they did when they first came out. The band wouldn't do many gigs outside of Europe. In the past 8 years they have only played 2 gigs outside of Europe with both being in the United States.



SOCIAL BACKGROUND

The punk rock scene at the time in Northern Ireland was a for those who wanted to go against the system and have a revolution of a sort. The recent movie 'Good Vibrations' gives us an insight into this, with the Undertones (people acting as the undertones) featuring as a part of the movie. The music would still be today for punk rockers, who like to be a bit different. Here we have a poster for the Good Vibrations movie.



GENDER

The revolutionary music would have been mostly associated at the time with males, but this obviously doesn't mean that just men listen to the music. It was mostly at the time just listened to by both men and women who were young and felt they could relate to the music. Again, if we use good vibrations as an accurate, if anything over-stereotyped representation of the time, we can say that both men and woman were in this scene. In the screenshot of a clip from the movie on the right we can see that apart from the main actor who the film is about, the crowd are all young males.


Here I have a video of the band we are working for The Empires doing a cover of The Undertones' classic 'Teenage Kicks.'

Post by The Empires.