My Life Like Weeds

So it goes

On “hip polished” music…

creeveycrisis:

Looks like I touched a nerve with my reblogging yesterday and the comments I made about the list and the music on it - and that’s OK. I stand by my comments and I think that leads into a whole other discussion about how wizard rock is perceived by fans in 2012 vs. let’s say, 2007. The aspect of production values is something that’s come up time and time again when it comes to bands and their popularity/appeal and I definitely think it’s something worth talking about.

I think two points need to be made clear from the get-go here:

1) I always liked better production values FOR MY OWN MUSIC. Why? Because that’s how I heard it in my head when I was writing the songs. I *wanted* to have walls of guitars and booming drums, because my inner Billy Corgan was with me the entire time I was writing Crisis songs. That certainly doesn’t mean I don’t like wrock that’s just a vocalist and a guitar, or a vocalist and a piano, or whatever. I taught myself how to craft songs in that way via trial and error, reading voraciously online about production techniques and values, and using free or very low cost software (not cracked Waves plugs, that’s for damn sure), staying up until 2am trying different things. And if a musician is happy laying down one acoustic guitar track and 1 vocal and considering their song complete, then more power to ‘em. If that was their vision for THEIR song, then mission accomplished.

2) We all like what we like - that’s human of us. I’d never tell someone “sorry, you can’t like that” because how assholish is that? VERY. But by the same token I completely understand that someone who normally listens to rap music is probably going to be drawn more to MC Kreacher than they are Voldemort. Someone who only listens to modern pop music may not like early Harry and the Potters. Again - completely understandable.

OK, now that that’s out of the way!

Wizard rock started out very lo-fi and DIY/indie and has always (for the most part) maintained that aesthetic. It’s all about doing it for yourself, being happy with what you’ve created, and if others like it, then that’s awesome. I don’t think anyone seriously said “hey I want to get famous so I’m going to start a wrock band”… at least not in the beginning, anyways. Now with iTunes and YouTube “fame”, it might be a different story. But everything I listened to when I first learned about wrock was all about having fun and just creating something that others could relate to and enjoy. 

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  1. mylifelikeweeds reblogged this from creeveycrisis
  2. riddletm reblogged this from creeveycrisis
  3. oddlywitty reblogged this from creeveycrisis and added:
    I agree with everything Russ said. I’d like to add that I legitimately love the wizard rock community. I’ve met some of...
  4. wrocksnob reblogged this from creeveycrisis and added:
    Well said, Russ. A couple thoughts: Firstly, going back to that original mix, maybe this is just a personal thing, but I...
  5. creeveycrisis posted this