It’s no big secret that in recent years, Malta’s music scene has experienced a growth in the number of club promoters and event organisers. Proof of this is the endless amount of flyers we all find on our car windscreens (held firmly in place by the wiper if you’re lucky enough not to have had it nicked) and, thanks to the modern wonder of the internet, an equally abundant number of e-flyers finding their way into our email inboxes, all promoting some event or other. Most of these are usually about mainstream events, which raises the question about what Malta has to offer for those with an alternative taste rather than the overwhelmingly predictable options being staged by most of the bars and clubs in our island’s key nightspots. Not much is probably the answer you’re juggling in your mind, yet even if it’s only a small number of them, there are actually some people who continually strive to offer something more genuine and above all, different to the commercial “four to the floor” prefab rhythms hogging pretty much every available space in Paceville or Bugibba.

One of the more prominent of these has to be AM Promotions, the event branch of Alternative Malta. Set up only a few years ago, this organisation is the brainchild of two people, Paul Mizzi and Luigi Pellegrini, with the team now expanded to include Tim Ellis and Jean Zammit. Together, the four of them have managed to raise the profile of an otherwise-underground scene previously restricted to sporadic gatherings if and when a suitable venue was available. Their collective efforts have translated into regular indie nights and perhaps more significantly, live concerts by local and foreign alternative bands. Another key factor is the organisation’s website whose presence and content – largely comprising news and reviews covering both the local and international alternative scene – has attracted hundreds of members to date.

In the relatively short time it has been active, Alternative Malta has succeeded in staging live concerts by foreign acts such as Willard Grant Conspiracy, John & Jehn, This Et Al and Sidecar Kisses, as well as a good number of local exponents, including Beangrowers, The Areola Treat, Vinnie Vintage and Retrophytes, to name but a few. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed, attracting the attention of not only new generations of indie music lovers but also some foreign counterparts. In fact, last year, Alternative Malta was appointed as the official representative of the Europavox Festival, an international annual event held in France that blends the concept of industry networking with the traditional music festival. A few months ago, Luigi Pellegrini and Jean Zammit of Alternative Malta headed a Maltese delegation at this year’s edition of the festival, where they met several industry professionals and scouted a good number of foreign bands for potential future events and concerts. I met with Luigi Pellegrini for his comments on the festival, the local scene and AM’s plans for the future.

Summer seems to be a quiet period for AM in terms of events. Is this because you all give yourselves a break, or are you just as busy behind the scenes as in the other months?

Summer isn’t an ideal time for our events. Many from among our crowd actually fly over to festivals abroad (apart from the obligatory UK, Spain and Portugal seem to have become very fashionable). Besides, the local calendar is at its busiest, and while it’s a fact that most of the events cater for a vastly mainstream audience, our crowd is a relatively small one, and losing a few tens here and there makes our events less feasible. For the record however, just last week we brought over UK acts Pete Molinari and The Burning Leaves for an intimate acoustic performance that also featured talented Maltese artist Carrie.

You’ve probably answered this question hundreds of times, but what sparked off the idea of Alternative Malta/AM Promotions?

The idea behind Alternative Malta was – and to a large extent still is – to serve as a point of convergence for locals into alternative and indie music. Unfortunately, despite having more local radios and TVs than ever before, audiences are being exposed to a very restricted picture of what’s happening out there musically. We wanted to show that there is more than meets the eye (ear?) and offer a bigger choice and encourage young people to be more adventurous in their musical tastes. So the Alternative Malta organisation (mostly via its website and internet forum) more than anything, serves as an umbrella for interested parties, be it bands, promoters and music lovers in general.

I guess the promotions aspect evolved as a natural consequence.

It all started off with a Christmas party which was meant to cater for 80 people but ended up hosting well in excess of 200.

One thing followed the other, and an even more successful second party convinced us that we actually had a bit of an audience to reach out to.

Getting our first band was one something we chewed on a bit more carefully, but after we figured out that a good band need not cost thousands and especially the tremendous feedback from the John et Jehn gig, we did not look back.

Bringing foreign acts over must be a headache, but the end result surely makes it worthwhile. How do you go about choosing which band to bring over?

It’s certainly not easy finding the right balance between style, substance, budgets and many other factors which one must take into consideration given the small-yet-still-very-diverse tastes within our audience.

The cost is always a major issue, and while we’d love to bring over The Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, etc, we have to look into smaller or even unknown acts that will be just as good. Some good contacts outside Malta and getting the heads-up also helps. This has been the case with John et Jehn, This et Al and Sidecar Kisses.

With Pete Molinari it was definitely a question of being at the right place at the right time, and just weeks after we had booked him he has started getting incredible reviews for his debut album which has just been released.

With the Willard Grant Conspiracy gig we were lucky to have a good mutual friend, and it also helped that Robert Fisher (of WGC) was going to be on tour in Europe, but at the end of the day our track record spoke for itself and was ample proof that we were serious.

It must also be said that the guy was totally up for it. Support from the American Embassy and the MTA was also instrumental. And last but not least being a bit mad and passionate doesn’t hurt, considering that we organised the entire thing in just three weeks!

The lack of appropriate live venues on the island must figure as one of your chief obstacles when staging concerts. Any suggestions on your part as to what could be done to remedy the situation?

It is indeed our biggest heartache, and the situation does not look like it’s going to improve. It will take many years for the private sector to feel that a proper concert hall is feasible and can be filled up all year round. My personal conviction is that such a project could work out in the long term, but the culture for live entertainment is still at its infancy. Meanwhile it is largely up to the government to step in. It is a pity that despite St James being a versatile venue, a concert hall was not incorporated. The government could upgrade existing spaces such as the MITP which has tonnes of potential. Alternatively, the government could provide incentives to private companies and/or NGOs by subsiding venues with a sound system, light rig, stage, etc, in return for which the venue would bind itself to organise a minimum of x amounts of events per year. This sort of scheme is very much in place in France, Austria and quite a few other continental Europe countries, and the results are there to be seen.

On a local note, do you find enough support from the media, and more importantly, from the authorities for your events?

So far so good, although one always hopes for more. It’s also true that we have so far organised relatively small events with our biggest audience being 500 people. It would be good to reduce tax and VAT in an effort to encourage the cultural sector to invest more and simultaneously become more feasible.

How did Alternative Malta’s connection with Europavox come about?

From day one, AM sought to establish as many international links as possible. When the Europavox promoters approached us we thought it was an excellent opportunity for our scene to get a profile overseas, and two years down the line we are very active partners and feel well respected.

There’s probably a lot to be learnt from such an event that could be applied locally to support the local music scene. Was there anything that struck you in particular?

The music business as we know it is undergoing radical changes, and a united European front is now a necessity. This was particularly topical behind the scenes at this year’s edition.

Do you envisage such an event being staged in Malta?

It would be great, but one has to be realistic. It cannot be an annual event, and we must know our limits. But there is indeed a lot of scope and the MTA, MCCA and promoters could at the very least sit round a table and explore.

Your final comments on the local indie scene and Alternative Malta’s plans for the future?

On the live front, the scene is unfortunately quite restricted at the moment. The void left behind by such bands as Lumiere, End of John, Hunters Palace and Particle Blue can be felt, but at least in The Areola Treat and Beangrowers, we have two bands who can stand up to the very best, while hopefully the very promising Vinnie Vintage will be joined by others and create a new generation of indie bands. On the recording front, things are a bit more promising, and there should be quite a few releases in 2008.

As for Alternative Malta, a major revamp of the website is currently nearing the final stages. We hope to keep up what we’ve done so far, get more people actively involved with the scene and certainly to book more quality foreign artists for 2008. As for the future, who knows? A festival and/or a small record label would be nice...

For more information, log on to www.myspace.com/alternativemalta