Waking Ideas

I recently talked to Kit Maxwell, a young man who recently emigrated from Scotland with his parents. Now living and going to school in Canada, he and I talked about the music scene for a short bit. He wrote a few paragraphs for this article, answering my questions about the music scene in Scotland and North America.

WAKING IDEAS: How do you compare the music of the United States and North America in general to the industry and scene over in Scotland?

KIT MAXWELL: The music in Scotland i must say far exceeds in originality and just better music than Canada and USA.

WI: That’s a little bit self righteous. What do you mean?

KM: It differs alot in Scotland, you see.

WI: You’re an immigrant, right?

KM: Born and raised in Scotland, until recently moving to Canada.

WI: So you’d say it’s a different experience? I mean obviously growing up in one scene and then being uprooted and having to find new music and bands to enjoy, especially in Canada, is going to be difficult.

KM: I play the bagpipes ok, So back in Scotland, if I where to play them outside my house at least thirty people would come to listen to me, they soak up the music and love it.

WI: I experienced that while I was there this past summer, even if people are terrible musicians there’s always a small crowd standing around talking and laughing. The Scottish really take their culture seriously.

KM: You see, the music there is cultivated and grown, from pubs to family backyards every song is given a flavour of the people who sing it.

WI: Have you heard any of the United States folk music? I know it’s not the largest selection or as popular as stuff on the radio, but it’s out there.

KM: You don’t see alot of good celtic or folk music in North America its mostly all a bunch of emo crap.

WI: It’s a shame that you see those bands as our ‘folk’ music, but I guess that’s what the corporate radio and media image is pushing. What bands have you heard?

KM: Justin [a friend] has shown me lots about Folk music from North America but if I showed him the wide variety of music from Scotland, I’m sure he would be blowed away.

WI: That’s one of the great things about the internet - you can find all different types and genres of music from all over the world.

WI: I know you’ve hinted at how you feel about this, but how does the music scene in Canada compare?

KM: Many things about the North America in the whole music scene is just fake.

WI: True, there are alot of very superficial people here.

KM: Some friends from my school [in Canada] introduced me to a genre called… Rap. My god it is the most crap products ever.

WI: Rap has very few bright spots, and most of the popular stuff it is just shameful.

KM: Honestly? Degrading your race by using slandering terms doesn’t make you sound cool. Urinating on things.. It’s just not cool. That’s a real difference here - back in my home, music was special. It was something to be loved.