unrefined records vs refined records (or) why kids like hardcore music so much PART 1

To me, something being unrefined means as pure and raw as it can get. It means just straight-up emotion. Not too much thinking, not too much preplanning about what you're going to say, just going up to a microphone and saying/singing/screaming about what is overflowing in your heart at that moment. Some of my favorite records of my youth, and still to this day, have been in this vein: Chiodos: All's Well That Ends Well, Dashboard Confessional: The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, My Chemical Romance: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, The Chariot: Wars and Rumors of War, Saosin: Translating the Name, Underoath: Define the Great Line, The Devil Wears Prada: With Roots Above and Branches Below...and many, many more.

Now, please don't get me wrong, I some of my favorite records are also the most refined and thought out I've ever heard: Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago, 1997: ...A Better View of the Rising Moon, Matthew Good: Avalanche, Lydia: Illuminate...and again--many, many more.

I'm not saying one way is better than the other by any means. In fact, I love them both equally.

But I have noticed a problem between the two. I have noticed that if a band writes an unrefined record, and follows it up with a refined record, it will generally not be received as well. Let me explain via a few of my favorite records, and then the same bands follow up albums:

Chiodos

"All's Well that Ends Well" vs "Bone Palace Ballet"

"All's Well that Ends Well"--->When I first sat down to listen to Chiodo's (official) debut record, "All's Well That Ends Well", I seriously had a tidal wave of emotions. The music was so fast, so unstructured, so adhd, it was amazing. And Craig Owens's voice just periced my ears with conviction and angst with lyrics such as "One day women will all become monsters...", "If your stomach feels weak then my work here is done", I knew this dude had something really rotten happen to him, and you could tell by his voice and lyrics.

"Bone Palace Ballet"--->Then a few years afterwards, enter the much more refined "The Bone Palace Ballet", a seemingly post-hardcore symphony. It felt structured to me. It felt planned. And Craig's voice had lost that conviction and angst that it had on their (official) debut record. It sounded controlled, it sounded like he actually choose to hold back, therefore creating a lot more of a dynamic record than "All's Well That Ends Well". Which is not a bad thing by any means. There are many great songs on this album, and Craig's voice does sound a lot better, in regards to technique, than their first one.

The Verdict--->When "Bone Palace Ballet" came out, I read one phrase over and over on message boards "There isn't enough screaming". At face value, this sounds really childish. These emo kids were upset that Craig Owens decided to scream less and focus on singing more? Well, not quite. What I believe they meant by "There isn't enough screaming" is: "Where'd the passion go?" With Owens choosing to refine his voice to fit songs like "A Letter to Janelle" and "Intensity in Ten Cities", he lost a lot of craze he had in his voice on the original record.

Dashboard Confessional

"The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" vs "The Shade of Poison Trees", "Dusk and Summer", " Alter the Ending"

"The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most"--->In 2001, Chris Carrabba released his second acoustic record under the name of Dashboard Confessional. To the average fan, Chris sounded like a kid who kept getting his heart broken in high school. That every single girl who looked his way he would fall in love with, then get his heart broken, and then write a song like "The Brilliant Dance" via picking up his guitar, writing a little poetry about the situation, then singing his guts out in GarageBand. With every note sang on this record, you would've believed that he recorded each song with the emotion of knowing that he was going to send a copy of each song to the girl he wrote it about. This was the first record I ever heard the term "emo" about (not to be confused with the really crappy bands and cookie-cutter kids that the term is slapped on today). And for good reason too, I believe. This record absolutely drips with heart break. Even today when I listen to "The Best Deception", as lame as it is, it makes me question if you can ever really trust a girl with your heart. Fast forward to the last track of the record "This Bitter Pill" where Carrabba sounds like he is practically crying at the end of the song he is just so dang upset.

"The Shade of Poison Trees" (etcetc)--->Let's talk about disasters shall we? On this and all the following Dashboard records, I feel like Chris is trying way hard to not talk about his high school heart break. I mean, sure, you can call it growing up, but I call it refined. I call it refined and awfully boring compared to his emotion riddled "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most". And as I stated before, I really do like refined records too. But "The Shade of Poison Trees" (and all the following) just sound soo boring to me. He is like...trying to write these songs that sound smart instead of songs that he is just wailing away at his beat up acoustic guitar and his cracking voice. But all his other songs (aside from "A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar) just feel like these boring ol' songs to me. Refined and very colorless.

The Verdict--->For the love of my youth and in and out of heartbreak states, Chris Carrabba, please go back to wailing on your guitar and voice. It's 3 records in and I still can't get used to this new and refined you. I am happy your life is happy, but you still have to have some sort of teenage-angst left in your bones!!! I don't believe that Chris Carrabba was meant to sing in any other style but singing/crying about some jerk girl that broke his heart.

My Chemical Romance

"Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" vs "Welcome to the Black Parade"

"Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge"--->The first interview's I read about "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge", I was almost shocked that Gerard Way said that this record was a concept album about "A character who was killed by gunfire, then makes a deal with the Devil to see his lover again, but first must bring the souls of a thousand men to Hell". To be honest, I think this is just Way being overly pretentious. This record rips right through you with brutal guitar riffs and Way's convicting voice and lyrics, a little short of 40 minutes of sheer energy and intensity. The band clearly holds nothing back on their major label debut, and it shows as it tears through the speakers and your ears and your face. A very obviously unrefined world debut of a good old fashioned guitars, drums, and vocal band. A rock band. And despite what Gerard has said in interviews, there is absolutely no way that his voice quivering and those harsh lyrics can be simple products of a concept album.

"Welcome to the Black Parade"--->I'm not a fan of good bands trying to be super pretentious. At all. I was never a big Green Day fan, but I about threw up when I heard their latest 2 albums. No matter how hard they try to be conceptual and political, Green Day is a punk band. As simple as that. I feel the same about My Chemical Romance. To me, as close-minded as it may sound or may actually be, they are a fast, driving, pissed off punk band. Simple as that. This out of total left field, overly epic album is just another example of a good band trying WAY too hard (i.e. Taking Back Sunday: New Again, Coldplay: Viva La Vida, Fall Out Boy: Folie A Deux). With an overly obvious concept that the band attempts to lace together, it becomes clear why the band did shows for this record under the name "The Black Parade" more than a few times, as opposed to their actual name--because clearly, this record is not the My Chem we all know and love.

The Verdict--->My Chemical Romance needs to stop trying soo hard to be a Queen/Pink Floyd tribute band and just be themselves. Don't get me wrong, "Welcome to the Black Parade" is an epic and musically fantastic album. In a scene that is over-saturated with more and more of the same thing, they did an amazing job with that record to set themselves apart from it all. However though, the intensity and aggressiveness of "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" is sorely lacking in this album. Making it a much weaker effort than the prior record.

Unrefined records vs records records

The answer--->From looking at these three artists, and looking at their both refined and unrefined records, I have found one thing for me to be true: I absolutely can not stand it when a band writes an extremely unrefined record, and then follows it up with a refined record.

However, if a band writes a refined record, holding a lot back and being very careful and dynamic with everything, and then follows it up with a brutal, emotional, and intense refined record, I can do that.

But for me honestly, it's all about the first impression of a band. If I hear a band being unrefined/super emotional with a record, that's how I'm going to think of them. But if I hear a band that is super refined in regards to their musicianship, or has the capacity to do both (i.e. Lydia), that's awesome too. While I do not want any of my favorite bands to make the same record twice, I do want them to continue to make records that are consistently better and (if possible) even more refined or unrefined, or a healthy mixture of both, than the ones before them.

Part 2: why kids like hardcore music so much (UP IN A WEEK)

My statement regarding The Kaleidoscope, Brighter

This summer has been pretty up and down in The Kaleidoscope, Brighter camp.

I have finally come to the extremely tough decision that I will be leaving the band. There is no dramatic story to this; I have been with the band for 2 years, since it started. I have seen 4 friends come and go from this band, some because of personal differences, and other because of different life directions. Now finally it is my time to leave too. This is not personal differences between myself and the band, but a different vision.

I am hoping that I will be able to play a farewell show with the band in Bowling Green, OH in the late summer/early fall, but I'll keep you updated about it.

The next step for myself is simply this: make music. I will not be starting a new band, I will not be starting a "solo project" that plays shows, no myspace, no facebook musician page, etc. I will be, plain and simple, making music. So be on the lookout for some new songs from me in the late fall, and some spoken word pieces by the end of the summer, both of which I am super stoked about.

Thank you for supporting me and all of my creative endeavors. Please continue to support The Kaleidoscope, Brighter also as they continue making music.

an analyzation and railing against "myspace bands"

Urban Dictionary definition of "Myspace Band":

1.	Myspace Band
	1. A band whose popularity comes from their popularity on myspace.com, thus lacking any REAL credibility in today's music scene. This lack of credibility comes from the simplicity through which their popularity is achieved: record songs with decent sound quality, take some pictures of yourself, and add as many friends as possible. This formula thus saturates the music scene with hundreds of thousands of bands that will never make it. Those that do, will have no lasting value. These bands typically will eventually replaced by a newer, more hip, band (See also: flavor of the week). 2. A band followed typically by only the "myspace generation" Myspacer1: "Brah, I'm telling you,(insert name of current flavor of the week band here) will be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day." LogicalGuy: "That myspace band, or any other myspace band for that matter, will ever be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"

Last night I went out with some friends to more or less finally see a band that we all talk a lot of smack about...basically to give them a fair chance.

What I encountered was more than disturbing, so please brace yourselves:

For starters, I am in a band myself. We love playing music, and we try everything we can to be genuine and not fake anything. That being said, we have to rely on myspace to get our music out to people, as do hundreds and thousands of both famous and local (such as we are) bands.

If you have not frequented myspace for a while, good for you. Lord knows I deleted my personal account years ago and even the band one doesn't see too much action. That being said, for those of you who are unfamiliar how a myspace band page works: you have a player with your songs on it, and the number of times your songs have been played next to each title. At the bottom of the player it lists the number of total plays you have. In the middle of your page is also your friend count, or, how many other myspace profiles are linked to yours.

Generally these two numbers can be used to gage how popular a band is. Well...no, not anymore.

For instance: We have 2646 "myspace friends" (saying myspace so much makes me cringe I feel like a 16 year old girl), and 14,000ish total plays of our songs.

The band I am ranting about has: OVER 1,000,000 total plays of their songs, along with OVER 31,000 myspace friends, along with over 12,000 comments on their page (TKB has about 400?).

So anyways, my friends and I went to check out this band that has played in the area a fair number of times, easily more than TKB has. So seeing these numbers, I am expecting at least 100-200 swooped hair teen-emo kids. We get there, they start playing. There are 4 kids that came to see them. Let me say that number again. 4 kids. 4 kids who were actually watching the band (sitting down @ a table, mind you).

To start bring this together, let's go over the facts:

BAND A (the one I'm ranting about)

friends: +31,000

comments: +12,000

plays: +1,000,000

kids at their show actually watching: 4

I haven't taken a math class since senior year in high school, but to me, those numbers simply do not add up.

BUT WAIT. Here is the catch. Unknowingly to a lot of younger kids who do not have bands (1/4 kids on myspace?), there are "bots". Bots are simply this: kids (or programs) that enable you to have hundreds and thousands of plays per pay (or per song), along with comments and friends. A tell tail sign that a band is using a bot is one of two ways:

1. Scroll through their comments and see how many are actually from kids. Better yet, kids that commented the band before the band spammed them with "Hey we're The LollyPop Gang and we have a new record out! Check us out and tell your friends!". Also note how many of the comments are more band spammers/general spam.

2. Their myspace player lists 1,000,000 total plays, the band has had a myspace for less than 2 years, and their actually DAILY play count is 9.

A main point of doing this, is so when said myspace band spams a record label with their crappy music and press kit and myspace link via email, the band thinks "Oh, the record label will see our myspace page and all our friends and comments and plays and sweet hair cuts and outfits that they'll just HAVE to sign us! I mean, we are SO LEGIT!".

Unfortunately for all these bands, record labels are NOT as dumb as the myspace band is, and are more than aware of their bullcrap tactics.

Whereas if you check out some up and coming bands I really dig, such as All Get Out and All the Day Holiday, you will not find millions of (fake) plays, millions of (fake) friends, or millions of (spam) comments. What you will find if you go to their myspace is music. Real. Genuine. Music.

And THAT is why THEY are on legit labels, and do all the sweet things that they do. Because they actually give a crap about music, and not about myspace.

I think if bands started to care more about making music that is genuine, and stopped worrying about their online image, it would be right around the same time hell would freeze over.

The lesson: bands can fake the number of friends, plays, and comments all they want, but the number of people at your show, and the number of kids that are actually into it, does not lie. At all.

i am a emotion junkie(?)

"An emotion junkie"

This is a phrase that I often think of to describe myself, but then totally forget about two seconds after I think of how and why.

I have had many conversations with my friend Justin Price, and they often strike me at odd times- days, weeks, or even years after they occur. I recall one conversation about a band called MuteMath, he was saying how he loves them, and I was saying how they don't really do it for me. I think they are a talented band, for sure, but they don't really have that "thing" for me.

He then said that he thinks it's because they're not emotional, or angsty, sad, or angry for me. I couldn't really tell if he was joking, and we both just blew it off and went on with the conversation. But last night while I was at a bar/club (the Cla-Zel) with my friend's Brian, Scott, and Brian's fiance Katey, it finally hit me what he was saying:

As I was listening to the cool, 80's music stop, and the house DJ start spinning, my mood suddenly went from stoked and happy to something similar to "What is this hell being laid on my ears?" as the tunes went from what sounded like Lil'Wayne to a million other dudes that sounded just like him, I was thinking "This music is so dull. There is no life to it. It's just going through the motions, with not a single ounce of emotion in it."

Then it hit me.

I walk around campus with my music playing, drumming on my legs, slightly to mildly head banging, adrenaline pumping, a smile on my face, not because I want to be entertained on the way to my next destination, but because I want to feel something. I want to feel stoked listening to Oh, Sleeper, Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada. I want to feel excited about life, I don't want to feel nothing.

When I watch movies, I want to feel the same way. I love suspense- because I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat. I love movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Vanilla Sky, The Butterfly Effect, because they are emotional movies. You can't watch those movies and not feel moved and touched by the characters on the screen.

After school, I get in my car, plug in my ipod, and rock out on the way home, because of how it's making me feel. When I get home, I plug in my ipod into my laptop and turn on much mellower music because it makes me feel relaxed and some of it even makes me want to fall in love, or feel like I'm the verge of it (The Album Leaf, Bon Iver, The Civil Wars).

I have my ipod constantly on play not because I want to be entertained by music, but because I want music to move me. I want music to make me feel.

This is why I can't stand typical club music, because there just isn't any feeling to it. Or why I can't watch sports on TV, or just TV in general, because there's just no feeling in it. Yes, TV and sports can be emotional, but they rarely ever actually make me feel anything.

From all of this, I call myself an emotion junkie. From the Chet Early Dictionary, 2010 1st Edition:

emotion junkie: someone who constantly wants to feel powerfully moved in an emotional way. light to mild cases take the place of people consistently moving themselves via mediums such as art, books, music, movies.

So I don't know yet if this will positively or negatively affect my life, but I do know now that it is a huge part of it, and I can't help but wonder if there are other people like this too.

I can count the times where it has been a burden to me though, cases where I will be extremely stoked on life, through listening to music, and be on this huge high- only for something during the day to go horribly wrong. This causes something like a bipolar feeling within me. I got straight from that amazing high to just feeling absolutely terrible in a matter of seconds.

Anyways, this is just how I see it. And my attempt to do a little bit of psychology on myself.

I believe that one of the keys to living the best, and most happiest life you can- is continuously try to understand yourself.

If Elvis Can Get to Know Fans, So Can You: An Analyzation of the Disconnect Between Smaller Touring Bands, Their Fans, & Why They Might Not "Make It"

I've been to my fair share of shows lately (mainly because TKB seems to be having a lot, not because I'm rich. Ugh.) and I've noticed something that is slightly concerning to me.

There is a total disconnect between bands and the kids that are coming out to support them.

Let me explain:

I understand that a band gets to a certain point and they simply can't take out time everyday to hang out with all the kids that went to see their concert. Really, I do. I also get that bands want privacy, and just want to be treated like normal people (well, that's most bands, excluding Brand New I think? I've heard they will only talk about music).

But when you're a fairly small band, to the point of you are relying on the local bands to get the general portion of kids out, I don't think there is any excuse for you to not be as nice as humanly possible to them. Because really, they are the only reason you can do what you are doing. You're not on MTV, you're not on the radio, you have no sponsors to speak of, no real label support, no ad campaign. You just have your music, your band, and your fans.

So why on earth would you just sit behind your merch table, with your headphones on playing air bass, be outside smoking a cigarette with other members of your band, texting friends back home---doing everything except going up to the kids that came out to support you and showing them how thankful you are that they came all this way to listen to music, and that you hope they even stay for your band, since a lot of them came to hear the locals anyways.

I think this is one enormous factor that is changing the face of music. Smaller touring bands (that fall under the category of bands that have to rely on locals) think that:

a) Because they're on tour, they must be really on their way to make it.

b) Because they're on tour, they don't owe it to the kids that listen to their music to take a few minutes and actually get to know them.

c) Because they're on tour, they have the right to bash the bands that are bringing out the kids for them.

All of these conceptions could not be more wrong. I am sooo sick and tired of seeing these bands on tour not pay a second of attention to a kid. Or to even humble themselves and just SAY "Hey, I know you came for the local band, but I was really hoping you could stay for us- it would mean soo much!"

Bands wonder why they won't ever "make it" and I propose to you that this is one of the biggest problems. They are forgetting that they are not these big rock stars that don't owe anyone anything, and they get far too caught up in the cynicism of music to realize how blessed they are and to make the most out of the opportunity they have.

I feel that if a band truly wants to get to the point where their music pays the bills, they must realize how important the people that are coming out to their shows, buying their shirts, and buying their music are. They need to sport an attitude of thankfulness, as opposed to one where they take everything for granted.

Because (I think) that if you're in a smaller touring band, and don't have it in you to get off your butt, put down your ego, and socialize with the kids at your show- you might as well just not tour, and give up on music as a possible financially supporting lifestyle.

Because as of right now, contrary to what your attitude shows, it is faaaaar from being just about you.

humbleness, and keep your feet in the cement

(humbleness)

Last night my band played a show for a few hundred kids. When we got off stage, it was safe to say we all knew that this was not our best show. Careless mistakes were made that could've been easily avoid, on everyone's parts. Some of this was band error, other was technical error. Either way you spin it, I was pretty bummed out.

We started packing our gear off stage as quick as possible, debating who should stay, should we go, how are we going to get stuff from point A to point B, blahblahblah. As a band we all decided to chill out and hang out by our merch booth.

It started as a trickling effect, then became a pretty constant flow, of kids coming up to us and asking for autographs and pictures, for merch, and just to talk. I made it a point to ask every kids name, shake their hand, make sure that they knew that I cared so much that they were supporting us this way. It was fantastic.

--------cut to this morning, 1pm, i'm still chilling in bed----------

(and keep your feet in the cement)

I was just sitting in bed, thinking about last night. And what a humbling experience. It was now easy for me to see how bands could get big heads with stuff like that, if they don't take a step back and realize what just happened.

Most of the kids that talked to us were middle schoolers and high schoolers. And what is one big theme for that time in your life? Searching! Searching for who you are, and looking for people and things that you can latch unto that help define you. And for that short time, we got to be part of that "thing". We got to help define that kid for .0002 seconds. But it was amazing none the less. It was awesome to know that God put us there on that night, to be able to touch those kids lives for just a moment. To show them that to us, they mattered, and that we were just as stoked to talk to them, as they were stoked to talk to us.

I just hope all of these kids that were searching that night, and every night, can one day stop searching. Because I know that what they are searching for can never be found on this earth. Because some days I am searching for the same thing they are. But God will find us, if we just let Him. If we just embrace surrender.

god my god my god, where have you been?

over 50,000 of your children dead.

God. My God. My God. Where have you been?

get these in ya claws boy