The Trouble with People, and Music Scenes

We like to talk a lot about what we need to do to make our music scene more vibrant, and well-known, but there's a massive elephant in the room that needs to be addressed before any of that happens. We need a shift in mentality. Our salvation won't be found at some new bar, or even at an old favorite. It's not gonna be found on stage as a cover band burns through yet another rendition of “Play That Funky Music (White Boy)”, and it damn sure won't be found in an “upscale nightclub”. Great, just what we need, another place where lawyers, and various other out-of-touch suburbanites can go to talk about college sports.

One of the main things we need in order to get a better music scene is for people to get off their asses, stop complaining, and go to a show. That's it, it really is that simple. “Oh, but I don't know any of the bands playing.” Shut up, and go discover something new! What are you waiting for, the radio to tell you it's good? “But it's like five dollars to get in the door.” There's four bands playing, and you spent ten dollars for coffee this morning; stop with your lame excuses, and get your whiny ass to a show! You want live music? It's out there, go find it, and for the love of all that is holy, unholy, and chaotic neutral: stop thinking that the damn radio or television is gonna help you find anything.

If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone complaining on a radio station's Facebook post, “why don't you play (insert non-commercial and/or local band here)” I'd be significantly less broke. Let me clear something up to anyone who has any doubts: radio plays what they are told to play by a giant corporation, and they are not allowed to deviate from that list unless it's during “garbage time” aka Sunday night. Remember that unsigned show on the local Rock radio station? Yeah, that was late on Sunday nights, when no one listened. Then they complained that no one listened so they pulled it off the air. It's all a big joke. A big, fake, joke.

You want live music, but don't like what you're seeing available? Look up your local noise laws, clear out a room, buy some old mattresses for sound-proofing, and book some bands! I'm tired of all this bitching about “there's nothing to do”. False, you're just not trying hard enough! Take your cynical opinions about what a local band is, regardless of genre, and go watch them perform with an open mind. Everything sounds better live anyway, don't you know that? I feel like you would if you've ever been to a show. I can't stand pop music, but even I've sat through a happy-dappy pop set to see a band I was REMOTELY curious about. Why? Because I like live music, and bitching about a show's lineup doesn't help anything.

Let me specifically address the people of Upstate South Carolina for a moment: If you think everything going on here musically is crap, then I can assure you that the only thing that's “crap” is your attitude. Take it from someone who actively searches for new, underground, unsigned music; we're sitting on a goldmine here. Whatever you're into, it's happening right here if you'd just look for it. I've been to Acoustic Folk shows, Pop-Punk shows, and even Black Metal shows, all within 15 minutes of my house. What do you want!? It's here, I assure you! Nah, you're probably too busy complaining on Facebook to actually search for something you might enjoy. You're “busy” right? Yeah dude, taking buzzfeed quizzes takes a lot of time.

I feel like I'm not doing my job well enough, if I was, no one would complain about this music scene. Well, that's not true, people will complain about anything. (I mean, look at me, I'm complaining about complaining.) We could cure all known diseases, and establish peace on Earth, but someone would still find something to bitch about; it's absolutely ridiculous. People at the Rock club hate Rap, people at the Rap club... oh wait, there really isn't one because most of the Rap promoters are shady, and want to charge artists hundreds of dollars to perform for 6 minutes. Wanna know why there's not many Rap shows? There's your reason, right there.

I feel like most people don't really want a great music scene, or a better life, they just want to bitch. A lot of promoters don't want to build anything remarkable for the greater good, they just want to get over on people whenever they can, and look out for themselves. They want bands to do their job for them, and they complain when an out-of-town act doesn't bring 30 people with them to the show. Then the venue doesn't wanna pay, the band gets pissed, and decides not to return. It's a vicious cycle of people being too hard-headed to make any real progress. Like I said, we need a change in mentality.

Ultimately, it takes people to get off the couch, put the phone down, and come to a show for scenes to thrive. Until every single one of you complainers are ready to do that, just keep your mouth shut, and stay at home. I'm sure there's a re-run of some stupid, god-awful reality show you can gaze upon, slack-jawed, and bewildered. Maybe there's a few obscure TV stars from the 80's dancing around. I bet there's probably someone singing karaoke, and another person who's a ventriloquist. Why bother getting out in the world, out of your comfort zone, and experiencing something new when you can waste away in front of a box of advertisements, right? No thanks, I'll pass.

A lot of you musicians need to step up your game as well, no one is innocent in this, especially not I. Sure, you should hone your craft, and work towards making the greatest music you can, but you should also step up your overall professionalism. Preparedness is paramount to a great show. Whether it seems this way or not, everyone at the bar, house, club, wherever, notice when the show doesn't start on time, or when performers are pissed off at each other. Drama of any sort will kill the atmosphere of a show faster than that one drunk guy that no one understands, and who won't stop trying to “dance” with (read: dry hump) every warm body in sight.

Of course, this rant doesn't apply to everyone. I know a lot of people who get out there, and support whenever possible; they're all credits to their respective communities. Honestly, a lot of you are at shows more than I am, but I think any one of us involved will agree that the DIY community is a bit secretive. Understandably so, we don't want the police to show up. You just never know if you're getting a cop with a low IQ, and a chip on his shoulder, or someone who legitimately wants to be helpful, and do good in the world. When faced with the option of advertising a show on a grand scale versus avoiding potentially deadly confrontations, we'll gladly stick to being underground. Sorry some of y'all miss out on the fun because of that. That's a problem we seemingly can't do very much about; we've got to look out for our own safety first, and foremost.

Our music scene problem isn't much different than our humanity problem. We don't talk to each other unless it's on social media, and we all feel like we're too busy to care about anything other than ourselves. We're lazy, arrogant, and inconsiderate of others. In a nutshell, we just don't have our shit together, and it's holding all of us back. Yes, all of us. A bad set detracts from the overall experience, and contributes to an overall bad show. Everyone remembers the bad parts of a show, and it makes it that much more difficult for everyone else on the bill to dig the bad show out of it's hole. We simply just need to get better in every regard. Such is life, you must improve whenever possible.

Music is a great unification tool, we could possibly fix a lot of our problems just by gathering at a few shows, and doing this crazy thing called “talking to each other”. I don't know how many more times I have to say it before it sticks, but I'll keep going anyway. What we have here isn't perfect, but it's ours, and it deserves to be nurtured. Sometimes that means stepping back, and addressing our problems, even if it makes us uncomfortable. We must work through the defensive, and/or emotionally-charged statements, and get to the real issues.

As improbable as it might seem, I know that greatness can be achieved by everyone. I've seen so many people make so much progress, and I've even recognized progress in myself. It's great to congratulate ourselves for all the hard work we've put in, but we still have so far to go. As we head into 2015 full of the notion that we're gonna make big changes in our lives, please take these thoughts with you. Recognize that this diatribe isn't just about music, and understand that we truly are all in this together, whether we like it or not. We can be better, we can even be the best, but we have to work hard, and support each other. We shouldn't feel so alone when everywhere we go is so crowded.