For Sale

A dialogue with the save the Bunker campaign

ME:

Just wandering why no one has responded to my offer of a debate on the closure of the bunker that I have opened on my website, www.bunkerarchive.com ('for sale' section).

Seeing as the site featured in a recent letter to the echo and my name was used on the face book group page (both without permission) I was interested in a response to my thoughts on the proposed sale of the Bunker.

Seeing as a couple of hundred people visit the site a week, word would no doubt have filtered down to whoever is running the campaign, so I am a bit disappointed (although not altogether surprised) by the lack of response.

Oh well.

Save the BUNKER:

Word did not 'filter back'

ME:

Is that it...?

Listen, don’t take this personal...just interested in your response to my opinion on the sale of 29 Stockton Road.

Save the BUNKER:

I understand you have bad feeling towards the bunker, but you have to understand even if what it is now is a million miles away for what you lot started, it is still important to bands in Sunderland now, even if it is just there to make money. lots of people have no where else to practise and it worries me personally that many bands might see this as a reason to pack in. I can understand that when it was started it was not about making money but that’s what it became and the bands that practise there know this and are happy to pay and to have somewhere to practise where they can play as loud as they want without anyone complaining.

Things have moved on a little in the past week or so, and there is really no need for this campaign anymore. but things are very much still getting off the ground to the point where none of us still really don’t know what’s happening

Stephen

ME:

You have utterly missed my point.

I have spent more than a year building www.bunkerarchive.com not because I have BAD FEELINGS about it but because it meant so much to me when I was involved with it. Why is the Bunker important to bands...ask yourself that question. Because it is a cheap facility? That is the only reason I can think of that would carry any weight as an argument. It certainly doesn’t act as any great hub for the local 'scene' as far as I can work out. So what would happen if it closed?

Firstly, Bands would have to find somewhere else, right? To suggest that this would kill the music scene in Sunderland aint putting much faith in it as far as I can see. And to suggest that bands may "pack it in" because of its closure leads me to one conclusion, if bands are ready to throw in the towel when faced with such a set back suggests to me that their hearts are not in it and they should find an alternative outlet for their creative talents; bands that MATTER do it because their lives depend on it, not as a hobby while they do their A levels at Shiney Row. Being in a band aint for them. The music industry, like any other business, is cut throat, and if bands are serious about being in it and want to have any chance of surviving they need to be resilient, not bow out at the first (or even tenth) hurdle. If required, they should be willing to practice in a fucking shed.

Secondly, I have seen some of the 4x4's daddy drops people off at the Bunker in on 'practice day'. And although I know this isn’t the case for all of the bands that practice at the bunker, for some, finding an alternative shouldn’t be that much of a FINANCIAL burden at least.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the closure of the Bunker, IF it happens, still would not be enough, in my opinion, to galvanise a real ground swell mobilisation of enough COMMITTED individuals who are dedicated enough to give something NEW a try. Its too much hard work, it aint on a plate. Point in case. As part of the photography project I have carried out over the last year that compliments the Bunker Archive site, I left flyers all over the Bunker, offering FREE band photography for any bands willing to get involved with my research. I even knocked on practice room doors and handed out flyers in person. How many takers? Zero. Fuck All. A photographer offering that service at the Green Terrace Bunker or the early 29 Stockton Road Bunker would have had a line of bands round the block waiting to get their photos done.

And the setting up of the Bunker WAS POLITICAL. We had an agenda. It was a reaction to the times. We fucking believed in it. Can you honestly say that is the case with the majority of the current crop of bands that use the place?

And that is the crux of the matter and my main argument. Of course I don’t want to see the place closed, yes I think it would be a set back for local bands to lose a cheap facility, yes I think it might be time to move on and start something NEW and DIFFFERANT and NO, I don’t think enough people will give enough of a fuck to do anything about it.

I welcome your thoughts on my comments and will post them on the website if you contact me through www.bunkerarchive.com

Booga