I’m going to my first music competition in 20 years. There’s a variety of irony and symbolism in that assertion. The final one I went to was the Stoner Palms of Doom Pageant in September of 2004 in Youngstown, Ohio. The competition was held in a splendidly superb dive bar on the dive website of city. The bar was The Nyabinghi. It’s in that bar that my life was irreversibly modified.
This September, I’m going to RippleFest in Austin, Texas. I can be overlaying the occasion for MetalTalk with my trusted spirit/photographer, Melanie Webster. What occurred to me in 2004 goes to occur to her in 2024. That’s as a result of it’s a competition that covers the identical style of stoner and doom.
In 2024, this scene isn’t hanging on. It’s grown a lot and so quick, that it was the prime motivation for me to start out writing my music ebook in 2021. RippleFest would be the official ebook launch for Sonic Seducer.
And so only recently, I had a protracted and energetic dialog with Todd Severin, an ophthalmic surgeon in California. I’m a math marketing consultant, and we’re each child boomers. Our one hour dialog spent about two minutes on all that. The remainder of the time was speaking concerning the sturdy well being of rock music with childlike giddiness.
One of many worst falsehoods that actively circulates in our tradition–particularly amongst our age group–is that rock music is lifeless. Not solely is there zero fact to that, however the present well being of rock music is simply as ripe with creativity and underground may because the golden age of rock music of the late ’60s to the early ’70s.
Oh, I purposely not noted one vital element about Severein–he began the music label referred to as Ripple-music 15 years in the past. And Ryan Garney, soul screamer for the killer band Excessive Desert Queen, is the curator of RippleFest and an elder(one other one) of the scene.
Severein offered an excellent chunk of his useful comedian ebook assortment to get all of it going. Immediately there are over 60 bands on his label. Likelihood is most individuals exterior the radius of heavy music haven’t heard any of them–particularly those not from North America. Wo Fats, a band out of Texas, is any person I’d somewhat see than have front-row tickets to The Rolling Stones. I’m an enormous Stones fan and nonetheless enthusiastically play albums like Exile on Essential Avenue and Sticky Fingers. I simply have zero curiosity in utilizing any of my time to take heed to, see, and financially assist bands I grew up with in highschool.
Severin and his label are doing effectively. What meaning when it comes to {dollars} is that he’s breaking even. Selling the present stoner/doom scene is a ardour challenge. Identical with me. I’ve written three profitable books on arithmetic. Sonic Seducer is way extra a labor of affection. And, I’ve mentioned with Severein methods of earmarking a proportion of the earnings to start out a fund to assist present and new bands on the scene. Few of those bands have managers. Virtually all of the bands depend on gross sales of merchandise at reveals to easily maintain going. There are not any allusions to being commercially large. They’re additionally in it for the love of the music. Virtually all my favorite new music comes from right here.
The present stoner/desert scene is the most important music scene in your complete world. There are actually tons of of nice bands that span an increasing number of international locations. Once I was rising up, all of the bands got here from both North America or the UK. Not solely do the bands come from different international locations like Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, Greece, France, Poland, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and Japan, however there are numerous festivals geared to this type of music throughout Europe and North America.
The explanations you haven’t heard of any of it is because present rock music critics are constipated of their pondering, and have to promote the concept rock music is lifeless to make themselves look sensible and worthwhile.
There’s tons of cash in nostalgia. Anybody my age can convincingly opine to a shopping for viewers that the era of traditional rock was not solely the very best ever, but additionally the final cease for high quality music. That is gatekeeping 101.
Common writers, magazines, and enormous document labels are usually not enthusiastic about new rock music, which isn’t going to be a industrial success instantly.
What’s ironic is that this type of pondering was not a part of the embryonic motion of rock music within the Wild West interval between 1968 and 1972.
These identical people who celebrated one thing like being within the ‘Age Of Bowie, now dismiss the potential of underground creativity fermenting wherever in rock music. That’s as a result of they’re all paid-off ostriches, with their heads within the sand of monetizing Dad rock music. I’m a proud dad. In all probability older than most of those music critics. You possibly can end the irony of those statements in your head.
In fact they’re all unsuitable. The present rock music scene is totally on fireplace everywhere in the world. Immediately, not yesterday, is my favorite time ever to take heed to music. I’ve by no means felt so alive and nourished with rock music.
I’m younger at this time than I’ve ever been in any a part of my life. Being incurious to discovering the sides of heavy rock music is the bloody antithesis of what attracted you to rock and roll within the first place.
Rock music isn’t lifeless. Our authentic values and cause for loving it are.
