There's been a bit of talk over Metallica coming for big day out and shit and not many guys really caring for them and they suck as the main headers. Well, I aint I big mullet black jeans and white sneakers fan but I used to be. Back in the days of early childhood angst, wearing skin tight jeans and a Metallica tee-shirt were the sure signs you were hard. Now days its baggy pants, a baseball cap on backwards and a sticky plaster over one cheek.
Oh, and maybe the odd gun in the back of your trousers.
I went to rolling stones in 95 thinkng it would rock my world and it would be an unforgettable experience. Well, as of late, the experience has been forgotten. And as for the climax of the show, the "build up to the fire shooting from what looked like a phallic... um... whatever it was", was incredibly lame.
The best thing that happened was the warm up band, the Exponents, who had the entire crowd eating from the palm of their hands. We were clapping, shouting and singing along to all the words. They were brilliant!
The big diff is the Exponents never "made it" internationally and were quite happy staying put earning a living the way they were. They've made more albums than Bowie has Greatest Hits and they've been around longer than Jesus Christ (and more popular I might add... oops sorry! Scandal heee).
The point I'm making? Well, Metallica is an international band, so big they can't play to an audience under 20,000.
WIth flashng lights and elaborate stage designs, you forget what the music is about and that's to entertain and some bands just forget that.
I saw Salmanella Dub and Trinity Roots a week ago and apart from the mind numblingly apologetic set from Pitch Black (who are those guys? A couple of skinny white dudes with red hair who are really good with computers. Woopee.) it was an unbelievably amazing concert only because they knew how to manipulate noise and mindfuck an audience without the added pretention of "we're so great".
Its really hard to make a living out of music, we all know that cos we've tried or we're still trying. We all, it can't be denied, crave for rockstar status but refuse to "sell out" which I beleive is our greatest downfall if we ever think we'll ever be a popular band.
Bands, beleive it or not, still hold regular jobs! Oh my god!
When rockstars were fashionable, you know, long hair makeup, wearing dresses, smashing up hotels and porking small furry animals, they became famous before they were 21. That's impossible to do today unless you got big tits, no stomach or you look like Justin Timberlake. Its hard to get a song on the radio even after you've passionately spent your dead fathers inheritence money to write and record it. You could have made the greatest single in the world, the one which everybody wants to hear, and enjoys hearing it. But that ain't radio worthy.
Maybe our own ears don't want to hear it. Maybe we prefer drivel. I hate being depressed by music! But I'll only hear that shit if its honest. Unlike Everclear who are forever-unclear (you like that? I was playing on those words) about wether they're depressed or not. Not, is probably the right answer. The basic meaning of their lyrics read like: "I hate to be rich, world famous and being able to eat like, I dunno, anytime I want to. I really have nothing to say now cos all I want to be is popular. Oops! I am popular, I forgot! I'm sorry, I'm just going to pop out skiing now, right after my butler wipes my pampered ass clean"
Its hard to figure out whats false and what isn't anymore, once you make it you lose touch with reality - does it really make music writing anymore enjoyable?
Man. I reckon the best music writers come from New Zealand. I still don't think its supported enough. We spend too much money on overseas shit. We don't need it cos we got everything right here! Our own hip hop, rock, metal, limp biscuits, popstars whatever. And they're tasteful (apart from the odd skinny white spakheads with flaming red hair. What the Hell is up with that? Come on fellas! I've seen old guys on the street with battery powered casio keyboards move more people! Get a grip! Tell ya what - learn to play an instrument.)

Oh fuck it! Lets get rid of overseas shit, but not lose touch. Keep the aguileras and eminems. They're still important, wether we like it or not. But we don't need that excess shit, the aguilera/eminem copies. Whoever the fuck that kid is who plays the piano and sings through her arse hole. The hip hop "wannabe destinys child but I cant write songs but I am going out with a gangster who's been shot in the face". the "I'm tall, under twenty and I'll let you see my ass if you buy my album". The dickheads, limp biscuit "yes I am hurting no believe me I am in so much pain life is just so hard I hate being rich I wish I was back at school instead of hanging out with these Penthouse chicks in my, um, penthouse okay lets rap about it oh I forgot we're heavy metal".
Doesn't it drive you insane?
We can make a living writing music. We don't have to go overseas to prove ourselves, we just gotta stop dreaming - you'll never be a rockstar!
And NZonair have to be a lot more supportive. They still only allow "commercial" shit to be played. You're song can be great produced to the best quality but I'm sorry, we just let the boring spakheads through or anyone who has an ex-All Black for a father.
Go bless Liam, god bless the Finns, god Bless the Datsuns, the Rungas, the Trinity Roots, the Salmanella Dubs, the Lucid 3s, Minuits, P-Moneys, the Scribes, the King-muthafucken-Kapisis, the Che Fus and Supergrooves, the Pacifiers and Fur Patrols and there are a shit load more we haven't even begun to hear about and fuck it! NZonair know that they're around cos they get sent new singles everyday!
I know we can support ourselves! Our own little industry! I know it!