Lets not Forget the Music

Admittedly so far, I have focused particularly on the more pretentious characteristics which I have seen to make up the Indie/alternative scene, absent minded to the fact I haven't actually really taken a look at the music and the bands themselves. Clearly knowing this is not something that should be skipped, I am going to take a look at indie music based on my friends new band The Haunts, who are playing their first EP 29.05.09 (not that I am self promoting) but here is their myspace link anway http://www.myspace.com/whosthegrove.

One of the main things I found about the Brisbane Indie band scene, which I do believe extends past The Haunts, runs contrary to the definition of Indie music by Hibbett that was in our lecture. Hibbett defined the Indie conscious as music that cannot achieve mainstream success. However it was quite evident from speaking to the band members that this was EXACTLY what they wanted to do. Infact the same could be said for quite a few of the local Brisbane bands aswell. Yves Klein Blue for example are clearly starting to make it big aswell playing at festivals like splendour and having one of their songs promoted through a Mitsubishi add. This is by no way a forum in which to judge these bands, but instead shows the differences between the Brisbane Indie Culture compared to the more tradition definitions of the term. But at the same time, it is extremely hard to base a culture now on a term that was defined in the early 90s, as times have clearly changed.

But none the less, the band still exhibits tradition forms of musical styles defined to associate with Indie. The Haunts in particular show influences from rock, punk and abit of pop. Listening to their songs I did get the impression that the Killers were an influence which related back to what was said in the lecture by Bourdieu, in that indie music has co-opted music by the mainstream and refreshed itself with "objects from the restricted field". How 'restricted' their music sense may be is up to the listener, but I can definately say that The Haunts can be defined as Indie.

Do you have what it takes to hold a conversation with a music enthusiast?

So last night I found myself somehow immersed in deep conversation with (who they would consider) a complete music buff. There I was being bombarded with names of bands the likes of me have never heard of. As I have made mention earlier, whilst I do share somewhat of a same appreciation for music, you wouldn’t ever find me remembering names of bands to such a degree. It got to an extent where I truly believed that I was playing Trivial Pursuit: The Music Only Limited Edition, where if you got answers wrong, instead of loosing points your existence was questioned and you were seen as a mere empty-less vacuole. So I may be acting slightly melodramatic towards the matter, but is this really a facet to the indie/alternative scene? Is being indie all about the music? I started to get the impression that it was only deemed “cool” to know a band that nobody else knew, and in the rare occurrence that someone else knew about the band, it was then rendered obsolete. Has the indie/alternative scene really hit such high levels of pretentiousness?

I decided to then test a hypothesis that my housemate and I had been coining over some time. It goes as followed… One can hold a conversation with any music enthusiast by stating:

a) a) Their new music isn’t anywhere near as good as their old stuff, ever since they tried to be too main stream pop shit they have really lost it.

b) b) Yeah, how good are they live but… they are so much better live.

Instead of displaying my statistical graph which perplexes even myself I will try to demonstrate my results via literary means. Five out of the six people I tested our hypothesis on, truly believed we actually knew what we were talking about and were on the same level (I have made five new friends out of this by the way). The deviating one of the six was found to have no relevance to the artists they were talking about, as the band only released one EP and shortly after the lead singer died… leading to the demise of the band (I would be completely beyond myself remembering who these people were).

So all in all I believe my hypothesis was a success, and in doing so has helped to question how authentic the people are in the indie/alternative scene are? Was this at all my intention?... probably not, but it did contribute to the idea that this scene holds characteristics of extreme pretentiousness.

Initiation

So my other nights outing got me thinking about the time when I first entered and considered myself apart of the Indie scene. I shudder to think I used to buy my clothing at City Beach, dressing in surf and skating attire. Did I ever skate or surf at all for that matter? My fear of sharks and the injuries associated with any xtreme sports (as they like to put it), makes that question a definite no.

But anyway going back what I initially was talking about. It was a dark night (insert mysterious brooding music) ... the streets just started to flourish with the drunken youth that plague the fortitude valley as we hopped off the road cage more formally known as a bus. More seriously though, the step in was on the agenda, as I tagged along with a friend who was supporting one of the bands playing (The Moderns I believe they were called). I was sporting a new sense of attire for a change (compared to that mentioned earlier) which had been bought prior by mother dearest on her usual trips to the op-shops. Ironically it consisted of, a pair of black jeans that were slightly too tight, a black skinny leather tie in conjunction with a black vest... black obviously seems to be a recurring feature here (dare we say being indie/alternative is all about wearing lots of black?). Anyway, after all the bands had played I went to say my kudos to one of the supporting bands lead singers. To my surprise, he told me that I looked very familiar and asked whether I usually go to places like the step in and Rics (commonly renowned indie hangouts), and questioned whether I was in a band or not. Familiar face? Or familiar attire? Considering I had only been 18 for a week and never been to those places before, I can be almost certain it was the attire.

So this then begs the question. Is being apart of the indie/alternative culture characterised by a certain style of attire? Whilst not being the only facet, I definitely believe it to be one of the more predominant ones in the Brisbane indie/alternative scene. That night did entail my somewhat initiation into the Indie scene and I did also gain my appreciation for the music associated aswell (however that may have just been the idea of me thought to be in a band going to my head).

First Night Out

So... a 6am wake up call for work, two Berocca and a splitting headache later, here I am back at this blogging task. All in all decent night, didnt spend too much which was a good thing. What I learnt last night about the indie/alternative scene although was complicated by merely trying to characterise the scene itself. However, I was able to break it down to a few things; the people, the music and the attire. These features really stood out to me due to the way that they inderectly fondled with eachother, but at the same time were not always a necessity. It wasnt until I actually contemplated this from a semi-academic/educational level, that it really became evident how pretentious this culture could be. Whilst one would like to think most people at the gig were there to truely support the band, in most cases it really didnt come across that way at all.

Whilst im not the hugest music gig/festival/concert fanatic, I do hold an appreciation for music and the valliant efforts of aspiring local bands. This may been deemed slightly bias as I was friends with one of the band members, but I can definately say I was atleast there to support them. This didnt seem the case for others however. Upon entering the valley studios and going to the bar I was approached by a stranger who asked me, "Oi mate... do you know who is playing tonight?" This raised two things to me. Firstly, myself questioning the competence of this persons abilty to read considering the adequate amount of posters advertising who was playing. But more importantly, this guy clearly wasnt here to support the bands which was evident by his lack of knowledge as demonstrated above... so why was he there? I didnt dare ask him this personally but it did get me thinking.

Surveying the area, band playing in the background, it was quite clear that alot of people seemed to be taking no interest in who was playing at all. To my left a group of girls chatting away to themselves, and to my right a group of people leaning up against one of the walls clearly unenthralled by what was going on. Why were these people here? I should mention at this point that there was a cover charge to get into the valley studies that night... so why are these people paying money to gain entry to a place which associated itself with the bands playing that night... to not even watch them. Were they just careless with their money? Or were they there for alternative reasons?

This is when I really started to look at the Indie/alternative culture as "a scene" and this premise of "scenesters" prevails. As described by urban dictionary (not the most academical source but non the less gets the message across), "Scenesters encapsulate the sub-culture of a particular musical genre. One heavily relies on aesthetics and sartorial image to signify adherence to a particular scene". Judging from what I had seen last night, it is clear that the indie/alternative culture has become plagued with these scenesters.

After looking over what I have said, it is fair enough that one may say I am sitting on my high horse, but these are just merely my observations. It is evident that the indie culture has some clear lack of associations between its characteristics anymore. Where I once used to think the attire and the people were once a derivative of the music itself, it appears now that they have stripped themselves away from the music creating their own little subculture which doesn't necessarily need to involve the music.

Step 1

So tonight I will embark on my first outgoing of 'research'. More or less I have been invited out to see The Frets (local Brisbane band) play at The Valley Studios... or as my friend so adequately put it, in his invite.... "Dude drinks mine 2nyt! Frets... Valley Studios... keen? BYO goon sack!"

Lets see what the night holds I guess, and what contributions can be made to my 'academic research'.

So Here I Am

So here I am finally starting my first blog, completely perplexed... am I indie enough to be writing a blog about what is indie and alternative? Am I alternative enough to care? Or NOT care!? I cannot answer this, but my fringe is mighty annoying as it sweeps in front of my dark, brooding eyes constantly... as The Cure plays on vinyl behind me.

Anyway, stereotypes and light humor aside... the indie and alternative culture is what I will be planning to blog about over the next few weeks after (thankfully) my change of heart from my earlier focal topic of rave culture. Despite my opening lines... which may be taken in vain, I guess I would be considered apart of the indie 'scene' in Brisbane... hence you could say the appropriateness of this culture to focus on.

Being a common attender of places such as Rics, The Zoo, Common People, Step In and the Valley Studios (which are presumably 'indie' hangout bars/clubs in the Valley), I am hoping to make somewhat of a comparison between what could be considered the Brisbane indie and alternative scene and the characteristics of such. This is with the intend on comparing these characteristics with more global definitions of the culture. But anyway, enough rambling for now... and I look forward to the next couple of weeks "ethnographic reportage" (or alternatively 'excuses to go out').