(Pic: Copyright of Complex Magazine)
Is Guitar Music Really Dying ... or is it coming full circle?
So, there’s all this talk about pop music and how generic everything is becoming, how guitar music is “dying” and this Optimus Prime noise and rich kids in snapbacks are going to take over the mainstream subconscious in music... and this has been shown in underground music over the last year with two of my favourite bands, Holy State and Gay For Johnny Depp breaking up due to financial hardships brought on through this online massacre. But if you think about it, maybe this will work.Time has shown bland, shitty, corporate music movements (Fuck you Donny Osmond, Neil Diamond, N*Sync, James Blunt, Mika... etc) leads to absolutely awesome periods where everyone gets famous and fucked up and spends all their money and ends up back at square one for the cycle to re-start again. But that’s okay... if punk lasted forever we wouldnt have grunge, post-punk, indie, metal and its 666,000 sub genres and we wouldn’t have the icons and feelings and belief and drive we have. Yes, we have the douches pushing us down a greasy ladder with a carbon electric rod (they call it “dubstep”), but then again... would rock n roll be rock n roll if we could just walk into a room, get rich and become king of the universe? Bring me the horizon and architects are both achieving pretty wide mainstream success atm, QOTSA are taking over the festivals this year and bands like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam gigging and touring again it looks like there’s a damn fine chance “real” music is going to grab some pretty big balls again soon.
I forgot to mention amidst all this, I’m Greg, from a band called the God Complex (SHAMELESS PLUG: Check us out if you want, we’re recording our first EP this week). I recently turned 18, having gigged and wrote music since 13 and spent a short time running my own promotion and working around (most of the time for free) on expanding my local scene, and through this have learnt, at this point in time, in this part of the world, the vast majority do not give a flying Biebers arse about music they have to spend money on. But at the same time I’ve seen it grow... my local scene itself is being ready to explode, after one gig my band have been offered headline slots out of town, a young lady called Kim Jennett is being featured on TV and radio, as well as my good friend and “mentor” (sigh) Kye Jones progressing through BBC introducing and MTV ran competitions to the late stages and Metal frontman Harry Rule turning everything into gold (Affliction, Our Imbalance, currently The Omega Particle), as well as The Ambersons, The K’s and SlyDigs hailing from our shitty, stinky, insignificant town, as well as under-the-radar promoter Lee Harman I believe this bodes well for the rest of the country, with cities, your classics like London and Manchester, but also Leeds and that lot, and other shitty, stinky, insignificant towns we don’t expect to take over the world.
The usage of music uni’s and the (correct) use of the internet could lead to another 5 minute revival (Remember The Hives, White Stripes - garage revival?) which could lead to a further explosion, whether it be out of Warrington , Manchester, Leeds or bloody Brentford, it just takes that one band at one show to start it all. Skrillex in a way has opened it up for us, getting the mainstream world used to a “heavier” noise, Arctic Monkeys are staying alive really well and –deep breath- Ed Sheeran is doing well for himself as the flag flyer for “singer-songwriters” (NOT Jessie J... dick), which just shows if we keep working, ignore this “lack of money” malark and let these brainless dick monkeys like 1D (who’s face would look lovely covered in bricks) have their moment, get addicted to meth and die out, and just keep writing, and travelling and gigging, it will happen. Support your local scene, support each others scenes and move forward together, and we’ll be at the top of the ladder with the big stick soon. Peace out.
Greg Dixon
The God Complex
http://www.facebook.com/TheGodComplex------------------------------------------------
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