I got really into the band Thrice during my freshman year in college, right after their album The Illusion of Safety came out. At the time that record was honestly the hardest music I’d ever really listened to and enjoyed. In hindsight that seems completely absurd, but it’s true. I am a product of pop-punk. I once owned a Homegrown t-shit. I wore it a lot.
Proudly.
And I’m still proud that I did.
But that’s beside the point. The point is, when I was 19 I became a fan of Thrice and began reading regularly the tour journal they kept online. One day, either in conjunction with their signing with a major label or shortly thereafter in response to the boatload of shit they got for said action, they posted a link to an interview with the author Dave Eggers. The interview was in email form, to be printed in The Harvard Advocate, and was, I assume, conducted by some arrogant and annoying, totally immature and naive but too-full-of-self-to-realize-just-how-little-you-really-know college student. Basically, I could really, really relate with the interviewer. And this kid, (the interviewer) asks Dave Eggers (the brilliant author whose books I completely devoured shortly after finishing this interview) about what he has done, in light of his new-found fame, to keep shit real. Mr. Eggers answers the questions and then goes off on a pretty long rant about selling out. And that rant changed my life. I remember getting about halfway through it and having this feeling like, “Holy shit, I’m totally wrong about everything.” It hit me and just kinda sank into my chest, settling in my stomach as a weird combination of embarrassment at my stupidity, admiration for someone else’s brilliance, and firm resolve to never be such a dumbass again.
I’ve spent the last 9 years of my life trying my best to be less of a dumbass.
I hope it has worked.
Read the interview here. The real substance is a little over halfway down where it says “Now, the addendum.”
Enjoy.
The article and your commentary are fascinating. The whole thing really resonates with me, but I was a bit disappointed by the part of the interview that I read. It seemed to go from passionate intelligence to your basic defensive cynicism. I feel the need to explain why I think there’s validity in people’s concerns regarding “selling out” and “keeping shit real”.
I don’t think people write off bands who have “sold out” simply out of some base desire to dismiss in order to avoid having too much to think about. The idea of “selling out” is a vision of a band (or author, etc) that trades their ideals, their youth, their history, their old fans, and their “realness” for money. The truth of the matter is that it’s practically impossible to survive as a self-funded band (right?). When bands sign to labels, it’s a smart career move that allows them to do what they love for a living. Unfortunately, because we live in a Capitalist society, the trade-off is that the band no longer belongs to the fans – they belong to a company, and a company will do whatever is necessary to sell the band.
Some bands will get more say over their image and their actions, some bands will let the fame go to their heads, some bands only ever cared about the money, and some bands will think a lot of respectable thoughts about their situation that you’ll never hear because they’re stuck behind that wall. The shocking truth is that once a band is signed, it still contains real human beings.
To me, what’s important is the intention in those human beings. People’s concerns with a bands “selloutness” or level of commercial gloss doesn’t simply reflect our “unshakable need to reduce”, but our desire to relate to something GENUINE, and not something manufactured. When you’re listening to your favorite track and singing at the top of your lungs and in a very real sense letting yourself be vulnerable to this influence, baring your heart about it, you don’t want to hear that the singer is singing lyrics written by some poor unknown and that they could give a shit about their meaning. You’ve made a genuine connection with the music or the lyrics – as with relationships with people, you want the feeling to be mutual. I think that’s a legitimate, authentic concern.
Simply writing a band off because they’ve been signed is obviously narrow-minded, because money doesn’t automatically cancel out good intention or good content. But the unfortunate other-hand do that is that because of the corporate wall, it’s almost impossible to know whether the creators are cool people with real passion or not, hence the skepticism. And yes, there’s something to be said about the product – if the product makes you dance, who cares about the intention? If that weren’t true, I wouldn’t listen to Beyonce’s “All The Single Ladies” over and over again. There’s something potent about that regardless of everything I’ve said, but it remains the case that no one likes being tricked.
Speaking of making a big sound with a voice and a guitar…
Attica! Attica! - Catch Me If You Can
Listening to lots of Attica! Attica! today, thinking about a good friend. Aaron has been away on his bike tour for a couple months, but will be back in Portland soon.
I miss you, brother. See you soon!
Dang, I bet that was really fun with the small room echo. I want to be able to do this - create a big sound with just my voice and an acoustic guitar. And a toilet, if necessary.
A few months back I played a song in a women’s bathroom in Gainesville, FL. It came out pretty well I think.
December 6th, 2009
7 notes
comments
Reblogged: thechildrenofactors
First: thechildrenofactors
I just discovered the most interesting new blog follow. THIS GUY. Also he’s a singer in a band and I’m going to stalk his insider perspectives like whoah. Enjoy.
When I woke up this morning in the pitch black of the windowless studio my thoughts were as follows: What time is it? Dragons are fucking awesome!
I’ll elaborate on the latter.
For some reason, the full awesomeness of dragons didn’t really hit me completely until 8:30 this morning.
Dragons are like indoor plumbing.
I’ll elaborate on that too.
My whole life I’ve flushed toilets and turned on faucets and the like, and never have I given much thought to exactly how the water gets there or where it goes. But then if I really sit down and think about providing an effective fresh water delivery and removal system for every house in an entire city and, like, where does that water come from, and how do you even get good water pressure on the top floor of a building, and so on and so forth, pretty soon my mind is blown and I consider becoming a pot head and including an elongated “whoa” as a major part of my daily vocabulary.
So this morning I wake up and check the time and realize it’s 8:30 and then it’s like, holy shit, DRAGONS! I’ve severely underestimated dragons! LIke, dinosaurs are already pretty badass right? Yeah, of course they are! We’ve all seen Jurassic Park. They bite off heads and run fast and take huge shits and feign adorable curiosity and then are all like, BAM, poison in your face! Take that Newman! So yeah, the consensus on dinosaurs being badass is overwhelming. This is established. Ok, so now take a dinosaur, already badass, and then put wings on it, and then, THEN—like wings weren’t enough right?, cause they were—but we’re not finished with wings, for some reason wings weren’t enough, we weren’t happy with flying dinosaurs, so it’s like, “shit, let’s just make this flying dinosaur breathe fire!” Take that knights! Right? Holy shit! So now it’s like Jurassic Park is for pansies, and this is all before 8:32 this morning! And so now I’m like, Dude, I’ve gotta start incorperating [sic] dragons into my daily life.
Something this badass should be representing my totally badass lifestyle.
Right?
Right!
But then it hits me, Oh god, the nerds and metalheads already have a pretty strong claim on dragon imagery! Like, in the image draft for group identity the nerds and metalheads (who are like not always the same thing but would share a ton of circle area if I were to draw a Vin diagram) snagged dragons in the first round. And I’ve got nothing against nerds or metalheads, it’s just that I’m not a nerd or metalhead. Like, I’ve never finished a comic book, I walked out of Star Wars, and I just on this last tour figured out the difference between Slayer and Pantera. Seriously. So I’m pretty much not a nerd or metalhead at all, and I figure this out at 8:34am and for the first time am totally bummed that I don’t get to be in either group cause they have dragons and, well, we’ve discussed dragons.
So then I think, well, if I’m not a nerd or metalhead and don’t get dragons, I’m in some sort of general group of people and my group has a mascot, maybe it’s badass. So then I think, Well, of the stereotypical groups, like jocks and nerds and the like, I guess I’d be a shitty hipster. Right? Cause I’m not all that good at being a hipster, like I don’t put enough work or my parent’s money into being better at it, but, who are we fooling, I know the best route to ride my track bike to American Apparel. So, ok, I’m a shitty hipster and then I think, Well, the nerds get dragons, what do shitty hipsters get?
And it occurs to me, at 8:35am, just what my group’s representative image is.
It’s an ironic 1980’s unicorn.
Shit.
<3 JK. Not as charming as the 90’s stuff but way better quality and technically a better performance. One of my favorite Jamiroquai songs.
It’s Mr Moon who plays in tune,
Mr Moon who knows
And if it’s Mr. Moon who gives the sign then that’s the sign that goes,
I never know what to do till I’m there with you….
Gorillaz with Zeng Zhen performing “Hong Kong”. Love this song. Perfect for Seattle in November.
Um…
David Bowie
Jesus christ.
Holy shit and where did he get a two-headed wolf.
Hoooowwwwwwwlllllll.
early-onset-of-night:rebjukebox:dakradha:
Mountain Man - Animal Tracks
Good lord, this is amazing. Raw. Real and seriously folkbeautiful. What a fantastic little recording setup too. So reminds me of First Aid Kit.
