The next big scene

From time to time we see the emergence of a scene. A group of bands coming out of a particular area of the county, all with the same sound. It is often cultivated in the under-ground club scene; more often than not making it's way to the fore front after one of it's acts gets signed with a major label. The glam scene was honed and perfected on Sunset; grunge in Seattle; punk in London. Where will the next scene be? If you ask me it is right where you are sitting. The computer.

create the scene

It seems to me that music is not endemic to a particular area anymore. With the advent of technology we are all exposed to new sounds, and acts on a daily basis. 20 years ago living in NYC your exposure to glam rock would have been very limited; simply for the fact that the scene was out on the west coast. Now with tools like youtube, twitter, and facebook, bands have the ability to go far beyond their geographical reach; infecting us all one viral minute, after another.

I recently opened a twitter account (@vahlemusicrant), and I have been getting followers from all across the country (granted I don't have many). One of my followers is a band that I had never heard of until they started following me. Digital Summer is a band that is using the internet for self promotion and exposure. 20 years ago I would have had a very rare chance of hearing these unsigned talents based out of AZ. Now they are one of my favorite acts; simply for clicking a button. CHECK THEM OUT! 

More and more bands have the ability to do work from their home base, and get their music out there. Granted this opens the door for tons of untalented folks to get exposure, however it makes it all worthwhile when you come across a true gem like Digital Summer. So sit back and wait for the next big music scene to hit your computer screen. Hell, you can even create your own.

Play my favorite song! No, play my favorite album!

There is nothing better than seeing one of your favorite songs played live, but what about having one of your favorite albums played live. Even better right? There is a new emerging trend in the hard rock / metal community; bands playing from start to finish one of their "classic" (see prior post for definition) albums. Motley Crue has done Dr. Feelgood from start to finish, Megadeth plans on doing Rust in Peace this summer, and Metallica did Master of Puppets a few years ago. What is the driving force behind these decisions? Is it to increase old album sales? Keep their core fan base loyal? Prove that they still can rock like they once did? The answer to the question is unclear on all levels; however it poses anther question; do you really want to hear the whole album?

When bands first start touring they typically have a limited material to work with, and thus a "cookie cutter" show is created. 10 songs on their first alum, only one album out, pretty much guarantees that you will hear those 10 songs. But seasoned bands, as the aforementioned ones, have a catalog that vasts over 20+ years and multiple albums, so why choose just to play the same set over and over again? Seems to me that it would get boring for the band, and really downplay that their music has evolved, and become more complex over the past 20 years. 

As a fan I see this as a coin toss. On one side of the coin we get to hear an album in it's entirety; one that most likely we grew up with. We hear songs that probably we would have never heard live, simply because at the time the album dropped, certain songs were not popular enough to be played. On the other side we don't get to hear our new favorite songs. We have to hear songs on an album that we possibly did not love from start to finish.

I have not witnessed a show like this yet, and frankly I guess I would be at a cross road about how I felt about it if it occurred. There are pro's and con's to doing it. Dr. Feelgood is a great album, however it does not include some of my favorite Motley songs like Home Sweet Home, and Live Wire, and I just dont know how I would feel if I went to a Motley show and did not hear those two gems.

This is classic rock?

Once upon a time classic rock was defined as a sound; bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Deep Purple fell into the category. Slower guitar riffs backed with heavy drum beats were the prototypical characteristics, though as we all know, there is no set formula to a particular genre. Every now and then we would hear a new band, a current band, put out that great classic rock sound; JET happens to be a perfect example. Radio it seems has taken it upon itself to change the old definition of classic rock into something new. It is more about the date that it was released that makes it classic, not the sound. Granted there has to be an element to the music that made it popular when it was initially released; or why in the hell would we want to hear it again, but more and more I hear bands on classic rock stations that I am really dumbfounded are considered classic rock.

Motley Crue is classic rock? Really? So this would mean that, Britney Fox, Faster Pussycat, Poison, Def Leppard are all classic rock as well. Crazy to think right? Perhaps I am having more trouble with this because I grew up listening to these albums that are now considered classic rock. So maybe this is more about me getting old, rather than my musical tastes getting old.

It scares me to think that one day we might be calling Nirvana classic rock. There is nothing classic about sound that came out of Seattle during the early 90's. However with this new definition, this just might be the case. This opens the door for clumping all the genres that we to defined over the years of rock & roll into one lump sum: classic rock. Makes it seem silly that we as fans often fight over what type of rock music we listen to; as if it is going to even matter, cause in 20 years it will all just be classic rock.
  

Band! We don't need no stinkin band!

Browsing through my iTunes recommendations last night and I came across Brandon Boyd's solo release. Better known as the front man for Incubus; and being that it is a band that I am into, I gave the solo album a quick listen to. Then to even more of a surprise I see a solo album for Ed Kowalczyk of Live fame; then Brandon Flowers, The Killers; and another new Brett Michaels, Poison. The list goes on and on with front men of former great bands moving out on their own. This is not a new occurrence by any means, however it always surprises me how vastly different their solo projects are from their work with their previous band mates.

Granted there are front man that do solo gigs and their sound stays the same; Vince Neil is a perfect example. Nine times out of ten though, their work is a departure from what they do when they have their founding bands backing them. Makes me wonder; are front men in general creatively suppressed?

Roles vary from band to band, sometimes the lead singer just writes lyrics, sometimes they just sing them, and sometimes, in cases like Steven Tyler, they do it all. The role of the front man tends to be, in the grand scheme of things, merely for face value. Of course they should be able to sing, however more and more of them have some redeeming quality that sets them apart form the rest of the band; most of the time it is their looks. Stage presence sometimes supersedes musical ability, and what better way to have stage presence then to have a memorable front man.

All this being said you have to wonder sometimes if lead singers just get fed up with not having their creative voice heard. In the case of Vince Neil I can see this happening, it is clear that Nikki is the brains behind the operation; however I can not speak for the rest of the aforementioned singers. Needless to say Brandon's solo effort is horrible.

Our time is now...

The saying is, "timing is everything"; I couldn't agree more. On a recent train ride back from Vermont I began to listen to Three Days Grace: ONE X, and it dawned on me that this is an older album, and at the time it dropped I didn't even like the band. So what happened?

For me music reflects periods in my life, and what I can relate to at that time. Though I have always been a fan of hard rock and metal, it has not been until the last 3 years that I have been focusing my musical tastes to it.  I have not become more angry or hostile in the past three years (though some may disagree), I have just become more aware that this is the music lyrically that I relate too more. There was a time in my life where I would only listen to Phish, Widespread Panic, and The Dead; upon which those times were not any less hectic or aggressive.

Does this hold true for the masses though? Recently I went to go see Story of the Year, hands down one of my favorite bands. Though they are more widely known for their first album Page Avenue, the boys of SOTY are 4 albums deep, and all of them are heavily played in my rotation. About 4 years ago I went to go see them at Irving Plaza and at the time Anberlin; a great band as well; opened for them. To my surprise when I went to go see them at Highline Ballroom about 2 months ago the order was reversed, SOTY opened for Anberlin. This is not the first time in music history that this is occurred; however it was the first time that I have actually witnessed it.

The wonderful thing about all this, and I believe it holds true for everyone, is that we can all turn on an old album and have it bring us back to the time and the place where we first heard it, or got turned on to it. Music is not only a refection of our current emotions but as of our past ones as well. So hop in your car, or pop on your iPod and listen to an old jam!