Direct From...

For the past decade or so I’ve taken great pleasure in watching the Music Industry Whore flounder upon the jagged rocks of her own pigheaded greed. What an amusing journey it’s been. Still, the old wench continues to cling to archetypes from the Jurassic age. One such technique is the use of the words ‘direct from’ on posters. Not only is this a cliché-turnoff, it’s usually a geographic falsehood.

In the street press this week, the Mistletone label advertised four bands that it’ll be touring in the coming months. They are the Chills, the Bats, Wooden Shjips, and some outfit called Bright Black Morning Light. If I had the opportunity to bring said bands to the insatiable mass of heaving music lovers that is Melbourne, I’d be more than excited. What I wouldn’t do is put the words ‘direct’ and ‘from’ together at the top of the tour poster. Now, learned reader, this may seem pedantic and I admit it is a trifle trivial, but allow me to expand my argument, if you will.

The word ‘direct’ in the case of our example is used as an adjective, which according to the Random House Dictionary means ‘proceeding in a straight line, or by the shortest course’. Here’s my beef: If the Chills, on their (poorly designed) poster are billed as ‘direct from Dunedin’ why are Christchurch band the Bats only billed on their poster as ‘direct from NZ’? Wouldn’t it make more sense, in keeping with consistency, to put ‘direct from Christchurch’ on the poster? Is the word Christchurch too long or the city too uncool to risk the Bat's credibility?

As for the other posters, Bright Black Morning Light are said to be arriving ‘direct from New Mexico’. Is it possible to fly direct from New Mexico to Melbourne? I’m no travel agent but surely the band would connect to an international flight at say, LAX? Wooden Shijps’ poster makes no mention of any ‘directness’ which is puzzling since the quintet are likely to arrive direct from their hometown of San Francisco.

Call me a nitpicking shit-stirrer, but this ‘direct from’ nonsense has been creeping onto indie posters for a while now. Promoters, let the band speak for themselves, please. No flowery ‘direct from’ junk required.