To celebrate our Outsiders issue, Clash are set to spend a week focussing on talent which lingers on the fringes, pushing back the boundaries yet never becoming absorbed by the mainstream.
Kicking off this Track of the Day special, Gareth Campesinos! muses on the notion of an Outsider.
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It’s difficult to know what exactly constitutes an “outsider” these days. In a time when any unique foible immediately becomes a selling point and becomes the focus of any interviews or even marketing that an artist might conduct, odd-balls become one and the same.
If we’re to assume an outsider’s somebody existing outside of or not accepted by society, then I’m not sure they’re existing and creating within the music industry.
The outsiders are those we’ve not heard. The freaks slumped over 4-tracks who don’t even have bands behind them, because as soon as they’re a part of a band they’ve got themselves some form of acceptance.
And this all sounds contrary, I know, but for a publication which encourages conflict and debate even in its name alone, hopefully that’s a positive thing!
Worst is, it’s given me very little scope for my choice of a Track of The Day, believe me I’m struggling, and so my eventual answer doesn’t even fully live up to my own scrutiny. But; Gucci Mane. Dude’s been in and out of psychiatric hospitals and jail and has an ice-cream tattooed on his face. Pretty outsider.