Post by "The Freq" on May 11, 2015 11:44:32 GMT -5
Is Rock Music Dead in the Soo? In one word..."YES". I've been asked this question numerous times over the past few years and as the time passes, so does audience interest in rock music and live rock bands. Sorry kids, but it's a fact. People ask me why, who caused it, what caused it, will it rise again. I can only give my opinion of the situation since I'm still an active musician playing rock music. You may agree or not, but my opinions are based on my experiences. You probably have a different theory. In either case, rock is dead or on it's last legs locally. A change has to come or rock music fans will lose in a huge way. Who the hell wants to be stuck with Taylor Swift or similar shit to feed their music appetite? Certainly not me.
So, here is my take on the "Rock is Dead in the Soo" scenario.
A number of factors contributed to Rocks Death. First... our radio stations or the lack of a good solid rock radio station in our area. You cannot play the same 200 rock songs on a radio station in rotation over and over again and expect an audience to get excited about rock music. Rock music is light years beyond 200 songs. I was lucky enough to have lived during the time when radio stations in the Soo actually played a band's entire album. Now, these clowns get a greatest hits album (if they have one) and just play the hits. We don't get to hear the other tracks that may be great but not hits. This is also killing the "Album" in my opinion. So, with that being said, rock bands are trying to find an audience that have only had their ears wet with 200 rock songs. Think about it? How can that possibly work? Well, it doesn't. That's the problem. Once radio became that corporate pile of programmed crap, the bottom fell out of rock music. Ok... we have the internet but the problem with that is, you have to go search for the music. If you don't know what you're searching for, then what? When radio had some freedom, you were exposed to all parts of a band's album and music diversity. Now, you hear their hit and the other 10 songs on the album are flushed down the toilet. It just doesn't work.
Local Media.... hahaha.......HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAHA HA AHAHA AHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
f**k them. If you don't stroke their dicks, you get NOTHING from them. I've ranted on them already so you know my opinion
of them. If you're a fan of local music media coverage, then meet The Freq,, the antichrist to local media. haha
Nirvana.... Sorry, but this band destroyed rock music. Now, everyone is trying to revisit the heavy metal scene that was huge before Nirvana killed it but sadly, you can't repeat history. It's a done deal kids. You love Nirvana and now you're going to pay the price. How did Nirvana kill rock? Ask any band that was famous before them and dead after Nirvana. The hype of Nirvana makes me laugh quite honestly. Sorry kids but simple song structure, loud guitars and drums beat to shit is not a revelation. Lyrically, they weren't poets. True they struck a nerve with the youth but now because of them, you have a rock music mess. The bands that followed Nirvana are where now?
Exactly. Gone like farts in the wind. Nirvana weren't heroes, they weren't even great musicians. They were a garage band. Garage bands are a dime a dozen. Even their drummer says it was luck for them to make it so why are people not getting it? So these days, bands can barely play their instruments, dress like slobs, write songs about killing their neighbour's cat and f**king a loaf of bread while screaming their 4 letter swearing at the world. And they wonder why the bars are empty and they have to have 4 bands in a night lineup to get 10 people to come out and see them, most of them their friends or roadies or their parents who helped out by driving them to the gig. Now, with all the bands playing "simple" using the same, full volume and no dynamic performance with all the swearing, guess what the big picture is?? YOU ALL SOUND THE SAME!!! If you all sound the same, an audience is going to fall dead into a coma because their is nothing to excite their musical taste buds. There is a world beyond 3 chords and the first 3 frets of a damn guitar!! Add the radio stations with that same simplicity and we have an epidemic of "sameness and dullness". In my opinion, if you limit your talents, how will you ever become unique. How will you ever make a "positive" impression.
Now, we have a bar scene locally that is such a joke that it almost makes me want to throw up. The past few years I've seen numerous bars struggle to find the right combination of music for their bars but all they do is confuse the living shit out of their audience. How can a bar have death metal bands on a Monday or a Tuesday, rip into a country band on Wednesday, have Karaoke on Thursday, have a 60's band on Friday and then not have any band on Saturday and then on Sunday have a DJ. That is a colossal clusterf**k. To add to this stupidity, the bars don't even advertise it as "metal night" or "country night" or whatever.... What does that do? Well, that means some 60 year old couple coming to your bar to see a 60's band actually walks in on a Death Metal band playing. Yeah..sounds funny doesn't it BUT what it does is, lose a customer. That is the bars fault period. Local bars have always sucked ass with advertising except for Lop Lops. They stick to a formula and in case you haven't noticed, it works.
Now we get to sound systems.... Why is it local rock bands always have shitty sound and lights? What is it with you people? We can't hear the vocals or we can't see you for the lack of lights? So now you want an audience to come and "see you" when they can't hear you or see you. DUH!!!!!!!! I'm a musician and I love seeing live bands but if I can't see you or hear you, you can't pay me to come and see you perform. Get this in your fat heads!!!! You are trying to "sell" a product... That product is your band and your music not your stupid ego or pride. You tell me how having a shitty light show and a shitty sound system helps accomplish packing a bar?
Anyone getting a mental picture yet?? When you repeat this over and over again, throughout a period of 4 or 5 years, do you see the audience getting bigger or smaller at your shows? Do you hear crickets at your shows?? Did the bar make any money? Did you make one buck?
Now that you've scared the audience away for yourself and for every other band in town, you're left playing to tables and chairs. Thanks for f**king it up for the rest of us by the way. The only way a bar is paying these bands is either, they have rooms to rent above the bar and money from that funnels down to you, OR you have a cover charge. Ok.. maybe you enjoy playing for FREE but I don't. There's an easy formula I like to follow... Create a good tight band, make it sound and look good, advertise yourself with photos and posters and banners, make money at it, and put that money back into the music. This has worked for me for years... What game plan are you following?
Rock music and country music were absolutely huge in this city before Nirvana style music killed it all and their influence spread. Basically grunge music. Rock bars like the EAstgate and the Royal had bands every single night. Not different bands... A single band per week!!!! They were that good that they could bring in an audience. That is no lie. Local country bands had 3 and 4 night bookings at the Canadian, Caswell and Rosy. Packed each night... single band. You tell me where the f**k up started? Your egos will say no, it wasn't grunge rock but if you shut your ego off, the rock music scene collapsed everywhere when grunge took over. Sure there were some good grunge bands but the radio market and TV market got saturated with it and other forms of rock were dropped or alienated out of the picture. Think I'm wrong? Put down your stupid cel phones and actually read a book. There are books about the fall of rock music. Once you've read a few books on the subject, come back and read my rant and let me know if I'm wrong or not. ;-)
So, tell me, what bars and what bands do the best business in town? What makes them so different? Why do audiences gravitate towards them? What do audiences want to hear these days? You think about that and let me know. ;-)
As for the music choice of local youth? I'll say this.. Rock music is the least of their musical tastes. Rap, techno and country are their mainstream. Why? Good question. Rap Techno and country are so simple that maybe it doesn't hurt their brains. I know it hurts my ears. haha. I also know that the lyrical intellect of most of this music is equivalent to that of a damp sponge. Please, I can only handle so many truck and tractor lyrics and I really don't give a shit about how big your girlfriends ass is. Has the human race become this retarded and small minded?? Please help us now if this is the case. Yes, rock music is scraping the bottom of the lyrical barrel too but not as bad as rap and techno. So.......with a younger audience having their brains turned to mush by someone's lyrical crap about someone's bouncing ass or some knob from the hood killing some idiot for looking at this bouncing ass, your rock band is not getting an audience in the door because they simply don't know what rock music is anymore. If they're not exposed to it, how does an audience learn? MTV and Muchmusic abandoned rock music. They've abandoned music in general if you ask me. Rock has no platform and without it, has no outlet and therefore, no audience.
Who's to blame for Rock's Death? Not me. I absorb rock music like a sponge. I also love jazz music and absorb that too. Good rock music is hard to find and I will not subject myself to local rock music radio stations in the Soo to get my taste of new rock music because that would be like hitting my face with a rusty axe That SUCKS !! I search for it but like I mentioned earlier... most audience's won't go searching... They want to be spoon fed music so it strikes a nerve with in them instantly. That simply won't happen in the Soo. The youth of today have no attention spans what so ever and the cell phone has become part of their DNA making them even less attentive to rock music, or complete words and sentences for that matter. ;-)
This is a true story. I get more people watching the videos I post of my bands on Youtube and Facebook then I will ever get as audience members on a live gig. On average, I will get 200 hits on a video I post on my Facebook page in a day, but I will never see 200 people come see that band live on a gig the first night. In the old days, the bar would pack. Look at the metal bands in town? In most cases there are more band members than audience members. It's true. Stop lying to yourself.
So what sells locally for live music? Easy, that tired same old shit that always sells here. I call it "Time Warp Music" that makes the Soo look like part of the Jurassic period. You also have that Canadianna sound that thrives at Lop Lops. All of it makes me cringe and want to throw up. It's also "simple" and I can no longer digest it. haha
So how do we fix it? Don't ask me. Brainiacs far smarter than I are still trying to figure out what the hell happened. There are also recording acts like "The Rival Sons" that are helping to bring rock music back to life again. God Bless Them!!
Get rid of that f**king shit on TV like American Idol. That crap is also aiding in the death of music because simple minded stupid people think that all they have to do is win a contest and they'll become a famous musician but it doesn't work that way in real life. GRRRR!
So local rock musicians and the bars killed rock in the Sault. Shitty musicianship, shitty sound and lighting, crappy song choices for set lists, non existent rock radio stations, bars being cheap and not edvertising or bars confusing their audiences with multiple styles of music in a week... Not paying their bands a decent wage!!!! hint hint!! Bands looking like slobs, swearing their heads off... being drunk as idiots on stage.... Need I go on??? Local musicians basically dug their own graves.. Oh here's another thing... Musicians who can't take criticism. Stop telling musicians they're good when they really suck. Grow some balls for shit sakes. Not everyone is a good musician. If you think the caliber of musician is up from years ago in this city, give your heads a shake.
So you want sympathy from the old Freq when it comes to the death of rock music in the Soo? Not a chance. I didn't kill it nor did I aid in it's destruction. I always wanted it to become bigger and better and fought for it on many forums. But, some slime balls thought I was full of shit. Well, Rock is dead and bands are playing to tables and chairs with 4 bands on a single night making enough money to buy Kraft Dinner for the 4 bands. You tell me how that's working out for you? Wink wink!!
WAKE UP PEOPLE!! What you're doing isn't working. Blame yourself. I was lucky enough to play in many bands at the peak of the local music scene. What we have here these days is a graveyard and you have no one to blame but yourselves. Thankfully, I've found an online audience that watch my videos. I sell my music online and people watch my vids. I don't have to haul gear or play in an empty bar that doesn't want to pay or advertise and I don't have to worry about local media ignoring all but their little club of musicians.
I suggest all rocks band start leaning towards online media and video and if you want to play live, forget playing locally. This city doesn't give a shit if you're alive or dead. Once you get your head wrapped around that concept, you'll be a happier musician and just maybe, you'll find an audience like me that doesn't revolve around local egoheaded musicians sucking the life out of the local scene or media who don't even want to know your name or that you exist. ;-) Try it.. You might like it. ;-)
Rock is dead kids. If you want to bring it to life, then rethink what you've been doing the past 5 years.. It's not working. If you want to keep lying to yourself and stick to your narrow minded ways, then by all means, finish the music scene off completely.
What this city needs is a "Rock Network". Nothing but rock. That means rock radio, rock video, a rock venue, rock advertising.
Everything 100 percent rock and only bands that are willing to make a difference. Also.. a rock fest in a downtown area. Rock events in the past were always been stuck outside the city... We need it local an central. Period. We also need an all rock online service that sells only original local rock band material. NOthing but rock.
"Freq's Rock Network" haha. If I ever win the lottery, I'd consider it ;-)
The Freq
So, here is my take on the "Rock is Dead in the Soo" scenario.
A number of factors contributed to Rocks Death. First... our radio stations or the lack of a good solid rock radio station in our area. You cannot play the same 200 rock songs on a radio station in rotation over and over again and expect an audience to get excited about rock music. Rock music is light years beyond 200 songs. I was lucky enough to have lived during the time when radio stations in the Soo actually played a band's entire album. Now, these clowns get a greatest hits album (if they have one) and just play the hits. We don't get to hear the other tracks that may be great but not hits. This is also killing the "Album" in my opinion. So, with that being said, rock bands are trying to find an audience that have only had their ears wet with 200 rock songs. Think about it? How can that possibly work? Well, it doesn't. That's the problem. Once radio became that corporate pile of programmed crap, the bottom fell out of rock music. Ok... we have the internet but the problem with that is, you have to go search for the music. If you don't know what you're searching for, then what? When radio had some freedom, you were exposed to all parts of a band's album and music diversity. Now, you hear their hit and the other 10 songs on the album are flushed down the toilet. It just doesn't work.
Local Media.... hahaha.......HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAHA HA AHAHA AHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
f**k them. If you don't stroke their dicks, you get NOTHING from them. I've ranted on them already so you know my opinion
of them. If you're a fan of local music media coverage, then meet The Freq,, the antichrist to local media. haha
Nirvana.... Sorry, but this band destroyed rock music. Now, everyone is trying to revisit the heavy metal scene that was huge before Nirvana killed it but sadly, you can't repeat history. It's a done deal kids. You love Nirvana and now you're going to pay the price. How did Nirvana kill rock? Ask any band that was famous before them and dead after Nirvana. The hype of Nirvana makes me laugh quite honestly. Sorry kids but simple song structure, loud guitars and drums beat to shit is not a revelation. Lyrically, they weren't poets. True they struck a nerve with the youth but now because of them, you have a rock music mess. The bands that followed Nirvana are where now?
Exactly. Gone like farts in the wind. Nirvana weren't heroes, they weren't even great musicians. They were a garage band. Garage bands are a dime a dozen. Even their drummer says it was luck for them to make it so why are people not getting it? So these days, bands can barely play their instruments, dress like slobs, write songs about killing their neighbour's cat and f**king a loaf of bread while screaming their 4 letter swearing at the world. And they wonder why the bars are empty and they have to have 4 bands in a night lineup to get 10 people to come out and see them, most of them their friends or roadies or their parents who helped out by driving them to the gig. Now, with all the bands playing "simple" using the same, full volume and no dynamic performance with all the swearing, guess what the big picture is?? YOU ALL SOUND THE SAME!!! If you all sound the same, an audience is going to fall dead into a coma because their is nothing to excite their musical taste buds. There is a world beyond 3 chords and the first 3 frets of a damn guitar!! Add the radio stations with that same simplicity and we have an epidemic of "sameness and dullness". In my opinion, if you limit your talents, how will you ever become unique. How will you ever make a "positive" impression.Now, we have a bar scene locally that is such a joke that it almost makes me want to throw up. The past few years I've seen numerous bars struggle to find the right combination of music for their bars but all they do is confuse the living shit out of their audience. How can a bar have death metal bands on a Monday or a Tuesday, rip into a country band on Wednesday, have Karaoke on Thursday, have a 60's band on Friday and then not have any band on Saturday and then on Sunday have a DJ. That is a colossal clusterf**k. To add to this stupidity, the bars don't even advertise it as "metal night" or "country night" or whatever.... What does that do? Well, that means some 60 year old couple coming to your bar to see a 60's band actually walks in on a Death Metal band playing. Yeah..sounds funny doesn't it BUT what it does is, lose a customer. That is the bars fault period. Local bars have always sucked ass with advertising except for Lop Lops. They stick to a formula and in case you haven't noticed, it works.
Now we get to sound systems.... Why is it local rock bands always have shitty sound and lights?
What is it with you people? We can't hear the vocals or we can't see you for the lack of lights? So now you want an audience to come and "see you" when they can't hear you or see you. DUH!!!!!!!! I'm a musician and I love seeing live bands but if I can't see you or hear you, you can't pay me to come and see you perform. Get this in your fat heads!!!! You are trying to "sell" a product... That product is your band and your music not your stupid ego or pride. You tell me how having a shitty light show and a shitty sound system helps accomplish packing a bar?Anyone getting a mental picture yet?? When you repeat this over and over again, throughout a period of 4 or 5 years, do you see the audience getting bigger or smaller at your shows? Do you hear crickets at your shows?? Did the bar make any money? Did you make one buck?
Now that you've scared the audience away for yourself and for every other band in town, you're left playing to tables and chairs. Thanks for f**king it up for the rest of us by the way. The only way a bar is paying these bands is either, they have rooms to rent above the bar and money from that funnels down to you, OR you have a cover charge. Ok.. maybe you enjoy playing for FREE but I don't. There's an easy formula I like to follow... Create a good tight band, make it sound and look good, advertise yourself with photos and posters and banners, make money at it, and put that money back into the music. This has worked for me for years... What game plan are you following?
Rock music and country music were absolutely huge in this city before Nirvana style music killed it all and their influence spread. Basically grunge music. Rock bars like the EAstgate and the Royal had bands every single night. Not different bands... A single band per week!!!! They were that good that they could bring in an audience. That is no lie. Local country bands had 3 and 4 night bookings at the Canadian, Caswell and Rosy. Packed each night... single band. You tell me where the f**k up started? Your egos will say no, it wasn't grunge rock but if you shut your ego off, the rock music scene collapsed everywhere when grunge took over. Sure there were some good grunge bands but the radio market and TV market got saturated with it and other forms of rock were dropped or alienated out of the picture. Think I'm wrong? Put down your stupid cel phones and actually read a book. There are books about the fall of rock music. Once you've read a few books on the subject, come back and read my rant and let me know if I'm wrong or not. ;-)
So, tell me, what bars and what bands do the best business in town? What makes them so different? Why do audiences gravitate towards them? What do audiences want to hear these days? You think about that and let me know. ;-)
As for the music choice of local youth? I'll say this.. Rock music is the least of their musical tastes. Rap, techno and country are their mainstream. Why? Good question. Rap Techno and country are so simple that maybe it doesn't hurt their brains. I know it hurts my ears. haha. I also know that the lyrical intellect of most of this music is equivalent to that of a damp sponge. Please, I can only handle so many truck and tractor lyrics and I really don't give a shit about how big your girlfriends ass is. Has the human race become this retarded and small minded?? Please help us now if this is the case. Yes, rock music is scraping the bottom of the lyrical barrel too but not as bad as rap and techno. So.......with a younger audience having their brains turned to mush by someone's lyrical crap about someone's bouncing ass or some knob from the hood killing some idiot for looking at this bouncing ass, your rock band is not getting an audience in the door because they simply don't know what rock music is anymore. If they're not exposed to it, how does an audience learn? MTV and Muchmusic abandoned rock music. They've abandoned music in general if you ask me. Rock has no platform and without it, has no outlet and therefore, no audience.
Who's to blame for Rock's Death? Not me. I absorb rock music like a sponge. I also love jazz music and absorb that too. Good rock music is hard to find and I will not subject myself to local rock music radio stations in the Soo to get my taste of new rock music because that would be like hitting my face with a rusty axe That SUCKS !! I search for it but like I mentioned earlier... most audience's won't go searching... They want to be spoon fed music so it strikes a nerve with in them instantly. That simply won't happen in the Soo. The youth of today have no attention spans what so ever and the cell phone has become part of their DNA making them even less attentive to rock music, or complete words and sentences for that matter. ;-)
This is a true story. I get more people watching the videos I post of my bands on Youtube and Facebook then I will ever get as audience members on a live gig. On average, I will get 200 hits on a video I post on my Facebook page in a day, but I will never see 200 people come see that band live on a gig the first night. In the old days, the bar would pack. Look at the metal bands in town? In most cases there are more band members than audience members. It's true. Stop lying to yourself.
So what sells locally for live music? Easy, that tired same old shit that always sells here. I call it "Time Warp Music" that makes the Soo look like part of the Jurassic period. You also have that Canadianna sound that thrives at Lop Lops. All of it makes me cringe and want to throw up. It's also "simple" and I can no longer digest it. haha
So how do we fix it? Don't ask me. Brainiacs far smarter than I are still trying to figure out what the hell happened. There are also recording acts like "The Rival Sons" that are helping to bring rock music back to life again. God Bless Them!!
Get rid of that f**king shit on TV like American Idol. That crap is also aiding in the death of music because simple minded stupid people think that all they have to do is win a contest and they'll become a famous musician but it doesn't work that way in real life. GRRRR!
So local rock musicians and the bars killed rock in the Sault. Shitty musicianship, shitty sound and lighting, crappy song choices for set lists, non existent rock radio stations, bars being cheap and not edvertising or bars confusing their audiences with multiple styles of music in a week... Not paying their bands a decent wage!!!! hint hint!! Bands looking like slobs, swearing their heads off... being drunk as idiots on stage.... Need I go on??? Local musicians basically dug their own graves.. Oh here's another thing... Musicians who can't take criticism. Stop telling musicians they're good when they really suck. Grow some balls for shit sakes. Not everyone is a good musician. If you think the caliber of musician is up from years ago in this city, give your heads a shake.
So you want sympathy from the old Freq when it comes to the death of rock music in the Soo? Not a chance. I didn't kill it nor did I aid in it's destruction. I always wanted it to become bigger and better and fought for it on many forums. But, some slime balls thought I was full of shit. Well, Rock is dead and bands are playing to tables and chairs with 4 bands on a single night making enough money to buy Kraft Dinner for the 4 bands. You tell me how that's working out for you? Wink wink!!
WAKE UP PEOPLE!! What you're doing isn't working. Blame yourself. I was lucky enough to play in many bands at the peak of the local music scene. What we have here these days is a graveyard and you have no one to blame but yourselves. Thankfully, I've found an online audience that watch my videos. I sell my music online and people watch my vids. I don't have to haul gear or play in an empty bar that doesn't want to pay or advertise and I don't have to worry about local media ignoring all but their little club of musicians.
I suggest all rocks band start leaning towards online media and video and if you want to play live, forget playing locally. This city doesn't give a shit if you're alive or dead. Once you get your head wrapped around that concept, you'll be a happier musician and just maybe, you'll find an audience like me that doesn't revolve around local egoheaded musicians sucking the life out of the local scene or media who don't even want to know your name or that you exist. ;-) Try it.. You might like it. ;-)
Rock is dead kids. If you want to bring it to life, then rethink what you've been doing the past 5 years.. It's not working. If you want to keep lying to yourself and stick to your narrow minded ways, then by all means, finish the music scene off completely.
What this city needs is a "Rock Network". Nothing but rock. That means rock radio, rock video, a rock venue, rock advertising.
Everything 100 percent rock and only bands that are willing to make a difference. Also.. a rock fest in a downtown area. Rock events in the past were always been stuck outside the city... We need it local an central. Period. We also need an all rock online service that sells only original local rock band material. NOthing but rock.
"Freq's Rock Network" haha. If I ever win the lottery, I'd consider it ;-)
The Freq
