Changes, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and the New Gravedigger Magazine
Put good in, get good out, reads the label of the Minute Maid I'm drinking. Strangely, I'm not really enjoying it. I'm just trying to finish it so I can get to the Tropicana Peach Punch I still have sitting unopened in my fridge. I am sitting in my room, listening The Fall of Troy's most recent (and final) album and lamenting about missing them next weekend at The Social in Orlando. March is a good month for concerts in Orlando.
I've been looking forward to a lot of shows recently. I picked up a ticket to the Coheed/Circa Survive/Torche show in April, The Fall of Troy and The Mountain Goats are both here next weekend, and most importantly, my heroes, The Dillinger Escape Plan are coming to the Social on the 23rd. I have class that night, but I'll be damned if I don't skip. Option Paralysis is the one thing I've been looking forward to all year, and I don't know if anybody's noticed, but its going to drop on the same date as their concert at The Social in Orlando. I won't even bootleg it before I go buy it. I digress.
Put good in, get good out. It's a great little slogan, one that I should apply to life, or at least to Gravedigger Magazine. I've been slacking for a minute; slacking hard. For a very brief while, I was doing ok by this blog, but then finals week hit me and my project load got heavy. I let the blog fall to the wayside, and when it came time to pick it back up, I got the idea in my head to separate from the Blogger network and get my own domain name and website.
It Won’t Solve World Hunger, But…
That girl in Paramore says, “God knows the world doesn’t need another band.” I take issue with that statement. I think the world needs a handful of bands, but bands that are not like anything we hear today. The scene is definitely oversaturated, but the problem is not that there are too many bands, but that a lot of the music out there is the same. Beige is the new color of underground music. Everything sounds the same, dull, bland and whatever the opposite of creative is. What makes it so bad is that when something starts to stand out, there is an immediate surge of copycats; thieves and petty thugs who prey on them, taking their style and songs and making the very thing that made them stand out, wholly unremarkable.
If we all work together to create and distribute original music, we can really bring pride to the underground music scene. People will start going out to see bands and bands will be able to tour better. Venues will be able to keep their doors open and the world will be a better place. It won’t solve world hunger, but it will bring more joy to people, and that is enough for me.
There is a great source of talented people out here; talented, but misguided. We have to realize that it is not about image, but a dialogue with the audience and the only way we can communicate effectively with the audience is to build a community around them. We can build a community more beautiful than anything ever before if we can just work with one-another to keep things fresh and colorful.
Soon to come: Live Reviews
As often as possible, I will try to bring you reviews of live shows I have attended. I intend to enjoy these shows myself, so I cannot promise a write-up on all of the bands that played that night. I will try to be as objective as possible, but this is just the opinion of one person. And by no means should you not go out and see these bands yourself and make up your own mind about them. That being said, I am a very choosey person, and not all of these bands that play are good. I am not sure whether I would like to post up reviews of the exceptionally bad ones… I probably will anyway though.
Now, I’m not all that sure how to review a live show, so the first couple may not be all that good. I’m counting on feedback from you guys to make this a truly great column… it’d also be great if I could get a cool name for this segment. I don’t do well coming up with cool names, so once again (just because I’m lazy like that) you do it! This is YOUR magazine, so claim it. If you want to write a review of one of the shows you saw, send it to me at gravediggermag@gmail.com and if it is objective, I’ll post it up anonymously or credited to you.
I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long, i've been working hard booking a summer tour for Shoot the Bull, but now I'm back and it’s time to chew some bubble gum and kick some ass… oh wait… I’m out of bubblegum.
Support your local music scene
Arch Bernard
These Boys bang… Hard
Vitriol
For fans of: The Human Abstract, Between the Buried and Me, All That Remains
Metal/Hardcore
http://www.vitriolband.com/
As soon as I told them that I wanted to write an article on the way that their band functions, the Lawrenceville/Alpharetta/Marietta based quartet, Vitriol, asked me to stay the night with them, eat movies, watch pizza and see how the band lives, practices, and plays. On day 1 of my interview with Vitriol, there wasn't much music going on other than the usual riding tunes. We rode around town, hanging out and talking; I got my chance to shamelessly plug my blog at the mall, Guitar Center and Blockbuster, where we went to kick it all while they were promoting their band and upcoming show at The Loft on Saturday, December 29 to anybody and everybody who would listen. The real purpose of me being there with them all was so I could hear them live because I will never endorse to you a band I have not seen play live, but before I got a chance to see them practice, I got a good chance to see what the members of Vitriol were like individually and as a whole, and the more time I spent with this band, the clearer it became to me that these boys bang... HARD.
The Reason
A community should be complimented by its music scene, and only with cooperation and support from the comunity can the scene within that community become something of substance, something that the community can be proud of.