August 10, 2015.
Dear Reader,
If you have come across these words you are probably a complete exploratory weirdo in your own right. No matter how much you lurk in the shadows of the internet, other weirdos will find you as I have. There is no escape. If you have anything better to do than pour yourself into an idiotic self-indulgent web page, please do so now. If you want to go on fun music adventures with me, then feel free to continue. If there is a live music show of any sort going on near you, GO TONIGHT! You know you have nothing better to do. For the purposes of this blog you may call me by my true name. I am Captain Chaos: purveyor of oddity, self-proclaimed hero of the weirdos, destroyer of most inanimate objects that come in contact with me, belligerent vocalizer, orderer of pizzas (among other various titles). I use my powers for neither good nor evil. My alignment could be described as chaotic-neutral. I engage in many different types of endeavors, spreading my powers of chaos to all who cross me.
But in all seriousness, I've majored in music all throughout undergrad and grad school. I've learned more gruesome and specific details about the western-classical music tradition than anything you could have learned watching all the episodes of Jeopardy that ever aired. However, I've taken a special interest in ethnomusicological study. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this unnecessarily long and arduous word, this is the study of not only music itself, but of the social, cultural, biological, material, cognitive contexts that music resides in. If you have heard of ethnomusicology, your brain is probably conjuring up images of dudes playing Gamelan in Indonesia, or of African drumming; while those things are interesting and awesome, this is not what my blog is about. I'm here to study live (predominantly Punk, but also hardcore and metal) music right here in my home city of St. Louis.
As most of you have likely noticed, our culture has turned to the internet for almost everything. People make friends, buy their shit, fantasize, avoid reality, and otherwise live on their fucking internet-blaring phones. Something I've noticed is that people have started turning to the internet to find communities of people who share their same musical interests. As an example: the black metal music scene lives almost COMPLETELY online. Their bands don't play live shows (and if they do, they do so with a drum machine and it sounds like shit). People have reached out to each other and exchanged obscure band upon obscure band all within the confines of youtube, metal-archives, and bandcamp. This is a fairly common occurrence amongst many rock-derived musical styles in our culture. In the midst of all this, people forgot somehow that people used to exchange ideas about music without having to sift through forum upon forum, video upon video. Great bands were heard of my word of mouth. Cultures developed and people physically gathered together in order to further musical interests. In other words, live shows for the small local bands are slowly dying away. Everyone is making their own excuses... ( I don't have the gas money to drive there, I have to work, my pet fish died... whatever) This is unfortunate because something gets lost when all you've heard of your favorite bands is pre-recorded. If you have to decide whether you like a group based on a youtube video, you're more than likely to turn it off within the first 15 seconds and dismiss it while you move on to the next instantly gratifying thing.
Live shows offer something completely different. If you want to network with other people in your area who share your interests, go to a live show. If you want to learn something about the personality of the band you are listening to, go to a live show. If you want to go and actually experience scummy bars and basements and places with personality, go to a live show. If you like to discuss society and various perspectives on life and the human condition, go to a live show. If you want to get to the heart and soul of someone's music instead of just getting a small and insignificant taste, go to a live show! We are very fortunate in my home city of St. Louis. There lies a small flame of live music and cultural activity here. Young people gather and bond (in person,god forbid!) with each other over a shared love of musical stylings and culture. Live shows build a community for people. They drink together, they share ideas together. People talk about music, about life, about society, and about being in this moment. Young kids learn from their older counterparts here. Knowledge can be passed down through oral tradition just as well if not better than through a computer screen.
In short, I aim to do my own study of these live shows and the cultural occurrences that surround them. I will record my research and present my findings and opinions on what I have found in this blog. I plan to spend most of my time within the Punk, Hardcore, and Metal scenes of St. Louis. I want to capture some idea of what these bands are doing musically, but I won't go into a gruesomely detailed analysis. Instead, I want to focus on the audience. What kind of people go to these shows? What are some of the unspoken rules of conduct at these events? How do people interact with each other here? What are some of their ideas about the world and how are these ideas reflected (or not reflected) in the music presented? These questions will be answered, and many more. If you have any further questions about my research I'd love to hear them and try to answer them. Also, if you have any requests about certain shows you'd like me to see, or if you want me to explore a new type of music for you, I will happily do so.
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