When I was in high school, there were a few bands that everyone knew and, for the most part, loved. There was this one band Hugamutha who were a three-piece instrumental act. The bass player wore a ski mask and they often performed their sets directed at a cardboard cutout of a Star Trek character which was propped up against the kick drum.
In my youth, Hugamutha was the epitome of a “personal gem”. A band I loved that I was pretty sure no one outside of the Anchorage Bowl cared about. For the most part, that’s right on the money. Then the other day I was browsing Ted Stevens’ Inter-tubes and I realized that they’re still kicking around and they have a Myspace profile.Aye, there is the rub. Local acts aren’t local acts anymore. And God bless the Internet for that, because there are so many great local bands around the world that don’t have record contracts or tour managers or even the ability to vote (because, you know, they’re quite possibly 17 years old).
Right now all over the Internet, (mostly) teens are posting on message boards about their favorite local acts. These bands have no money, no marketing team, and no idea that hundreds of people are promoting the music for them. They’re posting links to Myspace profiles, giving out sample songs, telling people about tour dates, giving news on when the first album is coming out, and generally doing everything a dedicated label rep would do but for free and without cause to do so.
And do you know why people do this? Because they genuinely like the music and they want other people to like it too. And isn’t that the most beautiful thing about music and our ability to appreciate it? That we might want other people to enjoy the same things that we do?
There is a weird side-effect to all of this. As a band gets promoted and talked about amongst those who care, a weird celebrity begins to surround them. You could come across a forum thread extolling a band as if they were the most epic and amazing musicians in history but not know that they only have one four song EP available (Yndi Halda) or one three song demo (andydicktracymorganfreeman). Once you get enough netizen’s stroking the musical ballsack of a band, it’s hard to stop the snowballing effect of sack-stroking.
To summarize:
1) There are tons of bands worldwide to listen to that do not have a record you can buy in a store, so go wade through the massive amounts of crap that is on your favorite message board to find something decent to listen to.
2) Just because a band is getting vigorously sack-stroked on a forum full of teenagers does not mean that they are a) necessarily any good b) as good as they say c) known at all outside of a small circle of people.
3) A record contract does not preclude decent music and vice versa.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Nice blog. Yeah I remember those bands that were always my dirty little secret, there are a few.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:47 am
i agree with the first half of your post, but i think it’s a little elitest and ignorant to be saying things like ‘Just because a band is getting vigorously sack-stroked on a forum full of teenagers does not mean that they are a) necessarily any good’. while i consider music by bands such as simple plan, britney, good charlotte, etc, most pop in general as utterly shit, there are still people who consider it ‘good’. so yes, to them, those bands may be the bestest group to ever grace god’s green earth. so whilst i vehemently disagree with their opinion, i still respect it as valid because it’s theirs.
having said that, it’s quite obvious that brand new is the best band who have and ever will make music and arguing with this makes you fat.
June 8th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Brian, Hug-a-mutha just put out a CD set to release 6/15/07 . We are not too into giving away free copies, however in response to this post we have to make an exception. Send your address to myspace.com/hugamutha and we will send you a copy.
Adam
H.A.M