The music industry is comprised of one of the largest, yet closest-knit communities on the planet. There is not a single person involved in the music business that has not been affected by the events that besieged our happy, yet crazy, world of rock n’ roll on November 13, 2015. Many people know each other in passing, have heard of each other, are friends, or have friends who have friends that were personally involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Social media circles were literally ablaze that Friday night and all day Saturday as tweet after tweet, pic after pic, scrolled through our multiple devices, as we all scrambled to hear the latest from the catastrophic events that were unfolding before our very eyes.
With the millions of personal accounts by those who were there along with glimpses of carnage, we could only assume the worst. We use the term “worst” as a placeholder; however, it wasn’t just the “worst.” It was a harrowing procession of images and words we could only watch from afar, and bleed from our souls as our brothers and sisters bled from their bodies.
We were maimed by distance, impotent to provide assistance or comfort, other then by opening channels of communication and flooding our social media with links and updates and small phrases of comfort. We all watched, and we mourned, and we sent our hearts full of solidarity and hope that the terror our brothers and sisters in France were experiencing would soon assuage.
Now that a week has passed, we remember those who have passed and we celebrate and count our blessings for those who survived. We’ve seen a community torn open from its center. We’ve seen communities open their doors, and others close them. Regardless of how people choose to react, we are still here, and that in itself is a miracle. We continue to stand firm as a music community. That will not change.
We shift our gaze to our own community, the music industry. This tragedy has scraped open a wound that for many may take a moment to heal. There are so many, “what if?” and, “if only!” situations we can imagine. We rack our minds and try to put ourselves in the shoes of venue owners, band managers, event promoters, and how they are reacting and processing the events that have left behind such a heavy mark. Will these incidents scar the future plans for bands touring both stateside and abroad? Will this cause a tightening of the reins when it comes to press access and who can get close to the acts? And will it cause venues and tour managers to require additional funding for increased and tighter security measures?
We reached out to Loni Reeder, publicist for Shaun Foist, Tom George of High Road Publicity, and Ann Squire, promoter for Axes & Anchors, who were all three gracious enough to provide their own candid opinions about where we are going to go from here:
Loni Reeder
“Fear cannot be the driving factor when making that decision of whether or not to tour overseas.”
“Obviously, there is now a very real, heightened level of fear by virtue of what happened in Paris – but regardless, safety risks increase when we eventually let our guard down thinking that it won’t happen again – and certainly, NEVER to us personally. We’re now living in a world where we can’t play those odds anymore. There are simply too many well planned ‘random acts of violence,’ if that makes any sense. The massacre in the club in Paris is proof of that – and terrorists tend to attack in our areas of comfort – where we’re not thinking of safety – where we’re only looking to have a good time, or simply going about our day-to-day. With this in mind, artists, like it or not, will need to be more proactive where their personal safety is concerned – and surround themselves with a team that makes their security, and the security of everyone a top priority. I believe here in the U.S., we have some fairly stringent security protocols already in place for larger venues. For instance, I know from Shaun (Foist – drummer for Breaking Benjamin) that the band has had excellent security during their tours this year – plus the music festivals they’ve performed at have been putting on these festivals for many years. Festivals have security down to a high art form. And I’m sure as the size of the venues increase, the band’s security needs will be met or exceeded. I don’t personally work for the band – only for Shaun – but I know Breaking Benjamin has a pretty stellar touring team in place already, and I know the band’s tour manager (John Phillips) is very proactive and thinks of every possible ‘on the road’ scenario – security included. With press access, depending on the level of the act, popularity and industry standing will probably continue to dictate access. Though, perhaps, more scrutiny might occur with regard to a writer’s media outlet – or if they have none, then their total blog/web site subscribers. As for overseas touring – speaking personally (not professionally) – it makes me nervous for artists. I’m not familiar with the security measures overseas venues take – and not only nervous for Shaun and Breaking Benjamin, I have a nephew who’s a member of ‘Set It Off’ – and they tour Europe frequently. But professionally, I believe if bands and their handlers boycott overseas touring, then fear wins – terrorism wins. No one wants to be a martyr to their career, but fear cannot be the driving factor when making that decision of whether or not to tour overseas. However, I believe pre-planning and extensive scouting of these venues. Extreme due diligence will be front and center for everyone in the music industry from now on, regardless of a band’s standing in the music industry.”
Tom George
“People should never have to worry about things like this. Seeing a concert is an escape that is supposed to be a fun time.”
“When you learn about something like this happening, it just makes you shake your head. Hearing that all those people died is heartbreaking. People should never have to worry about things like this. Seeing a concert is an escape that is supposed to be a fun time. Sadly, I don’t think any amount of security will stop things like this from happening. We live in a world where people strongly disagree over religion, politics, etc. In a perfect world, people could just believe what they believe and get along, but, unfortunately, that will never be the case. I feel a tragedy like this will make everyone work harder to make the world a safer place. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, and the people responsible are brought to justice to pay for their crimes. [It was] a very sad day in music and human history.”
Ann Squire
“The important thing is that we don’t let it dissuade us from enjoying the things that are meaningful to us.”
“Our prayers are with those affected by the tragic events in Paris. The solidarity we see reminds us that music lovers everywhere will unite to keep live music thriving. I think we can expect some extra security at events, but I also think people can understand and appreciate the reasons for it. The important thing is that we don’t let it dissuade us from enjoying the things that are meaningful to us. I was horrified reading about it, but I also can’t think of a thing that a venue or promoter could have done about it. It just boggles my mind that such cold and inhumane people exist.”
Ann was also very thorough and assured us that Axes & Anchors takes extreme precaution in terms of safety and security for their passengers.
Where do we go from here?
These are times for us to decide what is truly important. Will we allow terrorism to tear down the community that we have worked so hard to build? Will we allow violence to dictate our passions and riddle our paths with fear? We are strong. We may be rattled, but at the end of the day, we are here, standing tall, proud, and ready to rock.
Our fallen brothers and sisters were there in that concert hall, supporting the music they loved. If we allow the music to be silenced out of fear, we are simply allowing our freedom and right to expression to be extinguished.
The foundation of the music community is strong. No act of terror will be allowed to tear it apart. That is our firm belief and hope as we close the laptops for this evening and hope that the bands, labels, managers, production, venues, publicists, and most of all the fans of music will join together and say, “NO! You will not destroy what we love. You don’t get to take our live music away.”
