Most bands are weary of 'pigeonholing' themselves, often in the belief that it cheapens their original expression- that their music is uniquely 'theirs', and that pigeonholes are for bands who don't mind copying others... but a lot of the time, the bands who are so defensive of their originality are actually the easiest ones for us to pigeonhole.
Why is it so easy for a musician to name the genres they like to listen to, but so difficult for them to name the ones they write for?
On that note, At Risk Youth are a sonic space avant garde blues punk nu-wave industrial psychadelic stoner soul funk indie rock band from Wellington, New Zealand- and proud of it.
Band Members
Pete (Motorsheep, Wholesale Drainage, Mesculin, Virgil, The Yes Men, The Panties) on Drums
Aaron (Po-ha, The Panties, Smelter) on Bass Guitar
Lance (Gravey, Ampersand, Po-ha, The Yes Men, Airbaby (UK), Smelter) on Vocals & Guitar
Simon (The Yes Men, The Panties) on Synths
Influences Many & varied... Trans Am, Outkast, Faith No More, Genesis, Helmet, Dinosaur Jr, Bloc Party, My Bloody Valentine, Vaz, Prince, ...
wanna check that email addy? i get a delivery failure reply.
how bout you mail me at taurineman@lycos.com
Im currently flatting in thorndon, but im in the market for a house, so at the moment im not sure where im going to be. Its looking like Karori central at the moment..
Keen?
Got some demo or something i can get an idea of what your about?? Might be keen. How old are you too, im 32. Not sure if thats an issue or not for ya :)
Wanting to kick off a 80s inspired synth re-rock/noise band. Have korg anal-log synth, but it needs someone to push its buttons. Need someone to do the beedly-beedly-beedly on the gat too. Let's put the drive, noise, and fun (and 80s synth cheese) back into rock music...
Weirdos with theramins (spelling?) or odd electrical musical devices welcome.
Then i might want to buy it, or might recruit you as my groove/noise-maker-in-cheif for a wellington band im trying to get 2getha.
Must have wooden panels on the side and loads of nobs and sliders to play with - eww er...
You guys should have seen this one comming...
Why even dignify this with a response? He/she doesnt offer any eveidence to their initial claim. Its just an inflamatory remark.
Some have asked why does Lena o post on this site if only to say negative things? simple, to stir, to get a reaction - look at the one he/she has managed.
YAWN - this is web-flamming 101 stuff...
I think theres a third factor here: How many people are standing on the other side of THE DOOR when you open it.
You can open your door as wide as you want but if theres no-one on the other side of it, it dont matter.
So you must also consider how to get people to be there waiting for the door, ie how to attract people. PROMOTION = TIME + RESOURCES
ie better promotion = more people at your door = more resources thrown at it -- which is governed by, lets face it, money.
So, the more money and effort you throw at promotion, the more there are at your door. How wide you open it, is largely irrelevant.
Still on the lookout! im back in wellywood now, and are keen to make the neighbours scream!
continued:
This is not by any means suggesting that established bands would choose to limit their audience, but in the end it is their prerogative.
I cut my teeth in a number of five for fives back in PN a long time ago, and they served their purpose well. which is to help assist young/new bands get their music out to some sort of public audience - something most new bands cant do by themselves.
I also like, and agree with your scalfolding idea, and we used to do that once we got more established and it helps the younger bands out alot (in fact i can remember you guys playing your debut gig with us back in PN). I havent seen too much of this going on recently, maybe this is where we are going wrong?
Maybe we should run an adopt-a-band scheme?
I also had a thought that the percieved lack of professionalism in new bands, may be a product of a shortage of cheap and easily accessable practice spaces. I can remember it common place to practice in your garage or lounge, and to hell with the neighbours, and everyone practiced all the time cause it was easy and free. Now society frowns alot more on 'excessive noise' and therefore we are confined to places like the factory etc (which are far from immune from complaints) at a cost and at an increase in inconvinience. So my theory, is that due to new societal pressures to be perfect quiet neighbours, we can no longer practice as prolifically as we used to be able, and thus performances suffer.
Just my point zero two cents...
>>I was having a talk along similar lines as this thread with taurineman the other day- he argued some bands do not have the intention to play to filled-to-capacity venues, or even subscribe to the ideal of getting their music out to as many people as possible. Some times 5 for 5 is all a band has got.
My reasoning was a counter to your arguement: that if you play to the public, you may as well not do it by half.
My point was that not all bands, and especially those who are performing their debut gig, might not want to perform to a sold-out venue. That a bands intented reletive audience size can be of their approximate choosing. To this end, the five bands for five buck model can be quite usefull - which is what we were arguing from the onset.
My email is taurineman@lycos.com
drop me a line of your plans. Im back in Wellies in the first week of feb.
Talk soon.
If you love playing more than yur momma and wanna play some kinda, as of yet-to-be-defined genre of music loosely based around rock/noise/pop/experimental then let me know. Guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, synth/sampler operators or maybe you can play the hurdy gurdy?
Im comming back from a overseas excursion to live in wellington again in a few weeks. I have my own drum set.
No metallers ;)
You will kick yourself if you fail to see Po-ha play. A rare gem!
I think the loudest gig i heard would have been (and were going back to my metal days here) Anthrax's Persistance of time gig at the Welly town hall in '90. My ears rung for 3 days, i couldnt hear anything for a whole day.
People who say things like i wanna go deaf, and sound dont hurt ears, then heres my two cents:
Im completely deaf in one ear. It is NOT due to sound damage, it was lost due to something called Sudden Sensory-Neural hearing Loss. Anyhow in the process of millions of hearing tests there was found to be a profound dip at around 4K in my hearing level in my one functioning ear. When we compared it to my school hearing tests, it was not there then. And co-incidentally 4k is the noisey high-pitched sound of things like guitars, snare drums, cymbals etc. This is what has been attributed to that dip in my hearing. It will never affect my ability to understand speech, as thats at a different frequency range. But it IS damage.
Secondly, you able-bodied people have NO idea what it is like to be hearing impared. Seriously. If i meet a person who actually wants to have a hearing loss, then i think ill hit them. Put in them plugs and look after it, once its gone you WILL regret it.
Is the rock revival spearheaded by The Datsuns, D4, BRMC, The Hives, The Strokes, The ... going to last and reverse the turntable-to-guitar sales ratio, or is it just a victim of greedy record companies and easily infulenced teens?
Jenni: just my two cents.
>>not really, these ideas only come from said senses/memories. i'm talking about the basis of ones
>>creativity here foetusboy. i think it is impossible for anyone to think of a "new idea" - "ideas" are just
>>old ideas, mixed, moulded and shaped to suit.
So in effect your saying that no idea can truly be new cause it is a combination of old ideas rearranged, altered, moulded. Correct? A new idea may be the sum of its parts (old ideas), but it is, in itself, neither of its parts individually. it is in fact, something entirely different, unique - new, even.
As for where i get my creativity from, its mostly from music, people, and social issues.
>>to all you musicians out there do u care who your audience is???
No, i dont care *who* they are. Not in an individual sense, at least. I would care if my music attracted people who harbour bad behaviour or attitudes.
>>if say ur fans started saying you were the best band in the world what would you do???
Buy them a drink and talk shit. To me, people can say what they want; but i play music simply for the joy of it. My joy, and the punter's joy.
yer, but ya cant mention your own music and your own influences - well i guess ya kinda influenced by your past. RIP drainage, the best lil' exp electro-rock act ever.
I hear a nasty rumour that the panties original drummer my be comming back to Wellington from London soon...
Check out The Postures, Karaoke Taxi, At Risk Youth Thursday 14th June at the Valve in Wellington. Tired after work? need some zing? ears blocked?? Well, we have the cure for your 9am Friday boring meeting - Deafness! Yes, new Deafness (tm) gives you the perfect excuse to avoid those boring morning work meetings. Act now! Come along and receive this marvelous gift for just $5!