Gotta have a story...
Is music always contextual?
That is - does the music we like ALWAYS have some sort of story behind it? When you play a new artist for someone, do you have to preface it, as if to explain WHY this is so great? I always felt like music should stand on its own - that nothing I could say to DESCRIBE the music would ultimately lead someone to liking it more; if they liked it, they did, if not - there was nothing I could say to change their minds. However, as many of you know, TEV have been working with a national publicist, and I am beginning to realize more and more that the question on the press' lips isn't "How is the music?", it is: "What's the STORY?".
Do we have a story?
It's so subtle sometimes - because, with a lot of great music, it goes hand in hand, so there is no real 'fault' to having a story behind the music. For example, when I listen to Bon Iver's record, I find it to be okay. It doesn't blow me away...but when I tell people that, they say: "Well, did you hear the STORY of how it was made?" (He made the record alone in a cabin for 6 months).
Well yes, I did hear that story, but what does that have to do with the music? Without that context, the music seems rather bland to me.
However, maybe all music is always about context - some is provided for us, some isn't. Like the music I remember playing on the computer when I kissed someone I loved, that record stays with me as one of my favs (Bic Runga's "Beautiful Collision" if you're wondering.) And so, I will fully admit that, as good as that record may be, I hold it in higher esteem because of the context that I gave it - the memory I attached to it...and maybe that's what irks me the most about finding a 'story' with the new artists - I want to give it the story.
This is a troublesome problem that plagues TEV in other aspects as well, for along with a story..how do you 'pitch us' to someone? With our good friends Band Camaro - just think about it (I, in fact, have had this convo with more than one person whom hadn't heard of Bang Camaro):
Me: "Okay - so they are a metal band"
Person: "Yeah?"
Me: "And they come out on stage and have 20 lead singers...they tear the place down. They only sing shout choruses..."
Person: "Holy crap...20 lead singers?"
And then that person check them out. But with us - what do you tell someone?
"Um...they are a five piece band....um...they're good?"
So think about describing Bon Iver to someone who has never heard them before, and not being able to put a story, or context to it:
"Guy, acoustic guitar....he's good?"
What could our story be? We, in the Visuals, try so hard not to fall into that trap - but if it costs us new potential fans, then what is the point of being stubborn...why not give them a story? Should we lead with the fact that I am cripple? Does that have any bearing on my music? Yes. I suppose it does - a big theme of what I wrote about on this new record is me dealing with my condition. Yet - does this make the music BETTER?
No. It just gives us a story, something that can catch a writers eye - something to set us apart. A foot in the door, if you will. Perhaps we are being too snobby, too uppity, and too downright proud. Is it that bad to let people who need context for music they have never heard before have it, albeit artificially? I mean, we do need to remember, these editors who write for Rolling Stone, Spin, etc. when they listen to this music for the first time, it is in the car, or in an office...it's not when they are kissing someone for the first time, or hanging with good friends, or falling in love. Chances are that the memories attached to our record are going to be rather mundane - so maybe it behooves us to set the scene a little for them:
"Picture a boy, who grew up sick his whole life. A son of a musician, he always felt one step behind his father's accomplishments - never fully being able to satisfy the expectations that were placed on him. If every breath wasn't the best breath he took - it was failure. This pressure boils over and propels him out of his father's shadow as a wunderkind - playing multiple instruments, singing, and writing his first song at 10, recording his first full length record at 14. He meets a mad genius friend, a multi instrumentalist as well, who matches his obsession for music, and choosing their own outcast status in exchange for the time to meticulously practice and refine, they set off to change music.
Growing increasingly ill, as the disease that has no cure slowly cripples his body, he becomes increasingly apprehensive that, before long, he may not even be able to play guitar anymore, as his hands have become bent and swollen. He bands together with his compatriots, who all are focused on one goal and they leave their home in NH and move to Boston - carrying with them the album that has every bead of sweat, every loss, every uncertainty, every howl of desperation all captured, there, for everyone to hear."
And then I play you the record. Does it sound...better?
hmmmm.
-C
That is - does the music we like ALWAYS have some sort of story behind it? When you play a new artist for someone, do you have to preface it, as if to explain WHY this is so great? I always felt like music should stand on its own - that nothing I could say to DESCRIBE the music would ultimately lead someone to liking it more; if they liked it, they did, if not - there was nothing I could say to change their minds. However, as many of you know, TEV have been working with a national publicist, and I am beginning to realize more and more that the question on the press' lips isn't "How is the music?", it is: "What's the STORY?".
Do we have a story?
It's so subtle sometimes - because, with a lot of great music, it goes hand in hand, so there is no real 'fault' to having a story behind the music. For example, when I listen to Bon Iver's record, I find it to be okay. It doesn't blow me away...but when I tell people that, they say: "Well, did you hear the STORY of how it was made?" (He made the record alone in a cabin for 6 months).
Well yes, I did hear that story, but what does that have to do with the music? Without that context, the music seems rather bland to me.
However, maybe all music is always about context - some is provided for us, some isn't. Like the music I remember playing on the computer when I kissed someone I loved, that record stays with me as one of my favs (Bic Runga's "Beautiful Collision" if you're wondering.) And so, I will fully admit that, as good as that record may be, I hold it in higher esteem because of the context that I gave it - the memory I attached to it...and maybe that's what irks me the most about finding a 'story' with the new artists - I want to give it the story.
This is a troublesome problem that plagues TEV in other aspects as well, for along with a story..how do you 'pitch us' to someone? With our good friends Band Camaro - just think about it (I, in fact, have had this convo with more than one person whom hadn't heard of Bang Camaro):
Me: "Okay - so they are a metal band"
Person: "Yeah?"
Me: "And they come out on stage and have 20 lead singers...they tear the place down. They only sing shout choruses..."
Person: "Holy crap...20 lead singers?"
And then that person check them out. But with us - what do you tell someone?
"Um...they are a five piece band....um...they're good?"
So think about describing Bon Iver to someone who has never heard them before, and not being able to put a story, or context to it:
"Guy, acoustic guitar....he's good?"
What could our story be? We, in the Visuals, try so hard not to fall into that trap - but if it costs us new potential fans, then what is the point of being stubborn...why not give them a story? Should we lead with the fact that I am cripple? Does that have any bearing on my music? Yes. I suppose it does - a big theme of what I wrote about on this new record is me dealing with my condition. Yet - does this make the music BETTER?
No. It just gives us a story, something that can catch a writers eye - something to set us apart. A foot in the door, if you will. Perhaps we are being too snobby, too uppity, and too downright proud. Is it that bad to let people who need context for music they have never heard before have it, albeit artificially? I mean, we do need to remember, these editors who write for Rolling Stone, Spin, etc. when they listen to this music for the first time, it is in the car, or in an office...it's not when they are kissing someone for the first time, or hanging with good friends, or falling in love. Chances are that the memories attached to our record are going to be rather mundane - so maybe it behooves us to set the scene a little for them:
"Picture a boy, who grew up sick his whole life. A son of a musician, he always felt one step behind his father's accomplishments - never fully being able to satisfy the expectations that were placed on him. If every breath wasn't the best breath he took - it was failure. This pressure boils over and propels him out of his father's shadow as a wunderkind - playing multiple instruments, singing, and writing his first song at 10, recording his first full length record at 14. He meets a mad genius friend, a multi instrumentalist as well, who matches his obsession for music, and choosing their own outcast status in exchange for the time to meticulously practice and refine, they set off to change music.
Growing increasingly ill, as the disease that has no cure slowly cripples his body, he becomes increasingly apprehensive that, before long, he may not even be able to play guitar anymore, as his hands have become bent and swollen. He bands together with his compatriots, who all are focused on one goal and they leave their home in NH and move to Boston - carrying with them the album that has every bead of sweat, every loss, every uncertainty, every howl of desperation all captured, there, for everyone to hear."
And then I play you the record. Does it sound...better?
hmmmm.
-C
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