Music

Dan Mangan writes open letter to "Slagging Off" author

by Tyler Munro

By now you’ve probably heard of Slagging Off, a desperate-to-be-controversial blog revealed to be run by Ketamines guitarist Paul Lawton written with intent to “destroy the Canadian music industry.” To do so, it attacked easy targets with iffy jokes and sweeping statements, inexplicably calling Canadian institutions like Exclaim racist and taking cheap shots at up and coming acts the writer had to dig through Canadian Music Week’s bloated roster to find. Still, it wasn’t without merit. In the scheme of things the controversy it sparked was of the arms crossed, scoffed variety, but arguments made against the likes of FACTOR were worth sparking if nothing new. Since having his identity revealed Lawton’s reigned the focus of his blog in futher on these subjects, posting about the chunks of money big named artists like Metric and the Trews have amassed from government grants and asking where that cash goes. And until now, the response has generally been from pundits like us and the smaller acts he’d been trashing.

That changed today with this open letter written to Lawton by Dan Mangan, two-time Polaris Prize nominee and FACTOR recipient. We’ll post his letter in full below, but since it’s pretty long here’s the gist: that FACTOR isn’t perfect but the money isn’t as much as it seems; that trying to take young bands “off the road” while clamouring over the status quo is a flawed argument; that Lawton is clearly a smart guy, but one whose wit could better be used for bigger arguments.

Mangan says he’d like to meet Lawton at some point and adds that he doesn’t blame him for writing it. Like Lawton, his arguments aren’t perfect, but at least we’ve finally got a dialogue going.

In closing, he says “you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” and adding in one last punch, says he’ll “even let [Lawton] copy [his] successful FACTOR applications.”

Hi Paul.

I’m writing in regards to both your critique of FACTOR’s funding system and your recent interview published in VICE online.

Based on what I can gather about you, I do agree with some aspects of your general beef. However, I think your frustration is misdirected.

FACTOR doesn’t give money to bands to line their pockets. FACTOR gives money to 2-star hotels, shitty diners, toll-road attendees, gas stations, publicists, record stores, record distributors, record labels (including small “true” indies), van mechanics, guitar shops, camera operators, recording engineers, dingy basement recording studios, graphic designers, poster illustrators and a billion other variables in the world of a touring band. Bands don’t live off of FACTOR, they live off of the audiences that FACTOR helps bands to attain in a third party kind of way (hopefully).

You’re pointing the finger at bands that you don’t like. Their success is frustrating because you find that their art isn’t in line with what you want to hear. It’s frustrating because they have large audiences, and other bands that you prefer have smaller audiences.

Should there be a cap on funding? Perhaps. Should it be spread around as much as possible to facilitate as many poor, struggling and awesome bands as possible? Absolutely. Is it perfect? Nope. But nothing is perfect, you whiny, part-of-the-problem arse.

What you’re mad at isn’t FACTOR, it’s fucking LIFE. Van Gogh was starving and unknown when he dissipated to his own death in the countryside. The masses always adopt what is palatable, and genuine artistic trailblazers are never appreciated until long after the sweat of their toils has dried.

You seem like a genuinely smart guy. Your wits and talents and lust to critique the scads of endless bullshit that we face in modern society would be better suited toward a myriad of more deserving causes. The WORLD is full of things like patriarchy, nepotism, insider exclusion, old boy networks, suffering, unfair power systems, sexism, racism, blah blah blah.

FACTOR should be the least of your worries. They exist within the world of human interaction, and therefor are just as flawed as any other public institution. I’ve met a handful of people there, and just like you, they’re doing everything they can to maybe make an impact for the better given the inherent institutional/societal boxes that surround them. Despite your keen understanding of culture, I actually seriously doubt that you could do a better job. FACTOR is juggling an endless political quagmire of public policy changes, cultural changes, and the need to rationalize its existence to the government based on track record (ie: “Look what we did with Metric! It’s working!”) whilst trying to continually invest in young unknown bands (ie: “They could be the next Metric!”)

Is this really the biggest fish you can fry? Sometimes the world sucks, and you’ve chosen to shit all over the one fucking public institution that could help you broadcast your cultural frustrations. I’m assuming your general disdain for humanity makes its way into your music. I hope it does. Humanity’s foibles is one hell of a muse.

You say there’s no heavy lifting when it comes to truly critiquing Canadian music. I agree that there is A LOT of fluff out there. There are endless shitty bands grinding out audio pablum and regurgitating boring ideas. But shitting on everyone is actually the easiest option, not the most daring. What would be daring is to actually walk the walk, make some amazing music and get out there, play a billion gigs and inspire people to find truth and honesty rather than settle for mediocrity.

I get a lot more truth out of listening to The Constantines than reading about why Canadian music sucks. Action speaks a lot louder than words.

You’re shitting on young bands for being bad (hoping to take them “off the road”, as you say), meanwhile claiming that big evil seasoned bands are eating up all the cake and leaving none for the young shitty bands. These shitty young bands are doing everything they can to make it work, and you’re cutting them off at the knees. Maybe some awesome bands will form out of the ashes of when these bands break up? Is the idea of a cultural community completely lost on you? Another interesting idea: I would wager that all of your favourite bands slogged through the mud of industry BS to come out the other side, finding popularity while maintaining creative integrity. That takes some real balls.

You’re painting a picture where the ratty punk bars your band plays are the only places where truth can live. Sometimes it does live there. But for god sakes, man, open your eyes.

As for FACTOR “insiders”, I’d like to tell you a story. It’s my story. This isn’t meant to be a “LOOK WHAT I DID” story, it’s meant to be a reality check on “knowing the right people”.

It’s about a musician from Vancouver (approx. 4,381km away from the FACTOR office) who applied twice to FACTOR for support on his first album, and was denied both times. That same musician applied for touring support at the time and was denied. That same musician spent four years flogging that shitty first album to anyone who would listen.

This musician wasn’t very good at the time. But he played hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of gigs, trying to become a better writer, a better performer, a better person, a better singer and a better guitar player. Then he applied two more times for support on his second album, and was denied. Magically, on his third attempt, he got a grant for about $10K, which was a lot of money. It was well timed, also, because he was about $35K in debt at this point, having racked up various credit cards and bank loans on the costs of touring, recording, etc. over the span of about four years. It was the beginning of the tipping point, and once that second album was released, this musician’s audience started to grow and he now has a reasonably stable career in music.

For whatever reason, I had so much blind, naïve optimism in those early days that I was able to look past my well-acknowledged limitations and keep trying despite the fact that the odds were stacked against me. I’m not special, Paul. I didn’t have insider connections. What I did have was a large serving of gratitude for the opportunities that came my way, and an appetite to become a better musician. I wanted (and want) a life in music – to work tirelessly at a thoughtful and relevant body of work, and to assume that it could always grow and be better.

Since my second album was released, FACTOR has been wonderfully supportive. I wasn’t in your top ten hit list of FACTOR recipients, but had you continued, I probably would have been in the top twenty. Do you know why? Because I kept fucking applying and I showed them that I was serious and worth investing in.

Getting FACTOR funding is HARD. That’s frustrating to young bands. But in a miracle measure of karma, generally by the time a band has played enough gigs to stop being so shitty, they’ve probably gotten their ducks in a row enough to properly fill out a stupid application. There should be a Chinese proverb about delusional young bands who think they’re the god-damned Sex Pistols.

It’s probably worth mentioning that I was referred to pejoratively by the dude who interviewed you for VICE. In all honestly, it might have been the proverbial straw that encouraged me to write this letter.

VICE used to be awesome. About a half-decade ago, they cut through a lot of societal BS and gave a seemingly backwardly moral message based in unabashed starkness and “we don’t give a shit-ness”. They were like the Adbusters of youth culture. Unfortunately, VICE is now nothing more than another fashionably and vapidly self-loathing ad-merchant attempting to stay relevant by trying to be the loudest and most annoying asshole in a pack of online assholes. VICE jumped the shark of pop culture long ago and are now repeating a more hollow, more thoughtless and less insightful version of their previously creative brand of apathy. I’m not surprised that they jumped on your controversial story like ambulance-chasing predatory lawyers on a car accident.

I hope I get to meet you some time, Paul. I actually think we’d probably get along, and even though you’re probably receiving a lot of flack for your recent musings, I actually don’t think you’re entirely wrong. I just think that you’re fighting the wrong battle. And now that you’ve gotten some attention for it, I fear that the fodder will invigorate you to wave the flag even more vehemently.

Canada has hit above its weight for as long as FACTOR has existed. Our system is not perfect, I promise. Neither is the Polaris Music Prize. But if you really want to make a difference, cultivate a scene of thoughtful, truth-seeking musicians who give a shit and go ahead and make incredible music. I promise it will make you happier than sitting around refreshing your twitter feed, waiting defensively to refute all the venom you no doubt are now affronted by.

You just might catch more flies with honey than vinegar, my man.

Drop me a line any time. And when The Ketamines come to Vancouver, I’ll come see the show. I’ll even let you copy my successful FACTOR applications.

Yours,

Dan Mangan

For what it’s worth, Lawton’s already responded to Mangan, saying he “seems like the nicest guy in Canada” and drafting up a fake interview with him to keep the dialogue going. It’s also super long. Read it here.