Standard of music , is it going down the drain?

[DoubleBlade]

I was at a particular gig held during the weekend and upon hearing the bands playing onstage , I could not help but really wonder....seriously what has the so called "standard" of music come to these days?

First and foremost let's not blame the organisers/promoters , soundman , bartender , stage manager etc but rather I would like to focus my area of discussion on the band's music itself. Blaming the bartender for getting your entire band drunk before your band's performance (attributing to a lousy performance) isn't the crux of the problem but rather the problem lies in the band.

Some observations noted during my attendance at the gig :

1) Overemphasis on fashion and all that "in trend" kinda image at the expense of their music.

2) Bands who try to growl like Lamb of God when in actual fact they are just tarnishing the image of Lamb of God.

3) Vocalists being extremely monotonous during the entire set

4) Drummers who could not keep a constant beat during the set

After having mentioned these few poins so far , shouldn't the band at least work on their standard of music first before going out into the gigging world?

Yes I know it is so easy for a band to land themselves a gig these days as compared to 3-4 years ago but do you think its all about quantity over quality or quality over quantity? You do the math....

 

[budakbone]

Some bands perform jus to gain experience n anyway it doesn't matter if they doesn't have e beat there,all it matter is that thay are having fun :lol:

 

[blueprintstudios]

yeah , sometimes standards aside.. some bands may suck on stage, but you actually see them have more fun than bands who're tight/skilled.

two sides to every story i guess.

 

[rottenramone]

..

hmm.. i guess if the crowd is enjoying themselves its ok eh.

stage presence/technicality/showmanship/originality counts when the said crowd are not your friends

 

[XLayaR]

Well...IMO...we shouldnt blame people if they aren't up to standerd and go play a gig.....we should just give our honest advice....But I'm sure the band will know they're own abilities and try to improve lah...Unless they're some obnoxious bunch

 

[wyldeboon]

to me it is still the quality,not quantity

 

[ShredCow]

1) Overemphasis on fashion and all that "in trend" kinda image at the expense of their music.

"Image is everything, you are nothing without image."

:lol:

Who care's if you can play like a pro but you don't look like it? Only the musicians bother and we don't make up anything near the majority of listeners.

 

[sofyan]

how old were those musicians you watched?

 

[shredded]

I'd say it's just because of their influences. People have a choice to choose who influence them aye? I guess that is why they listen to lamb of god so that they can get accepted in their clique/friends. So maybe they are trying hard to follow their friends, that they think they can do anything like.

Haha, think back when you were young, who were your friends that influenced you. School? Friends? Work? So, I guess this is the next generation of bands.

Sometimes we are so judgemental but we tend not to judge ourselves.

Wah seh, suddenly I sound so wise? But I'm not, this is just my two cents worth.

 

[DoubleBlade]

To me its okay to make mistakes during performance like drummer missed a beat , guitarist hit the wrong note or chord because we are only human but of course this should not be a common affair during a band's performance. Should this be a common affair , then it kind of reflects greatly on band's music.

Yes one can say ," Eh don't care lah my drummer missed a beat , Eh don't care lah my guitarist can't even play a A major barre chord...." I just want to have fun on stage! Don't you think its really somehow affecting the standard of music in the local music scene?

I mean if a bunch of crappy bands can just play like crap all in the name of having fun , don't you think it somehow will indirectly set a so called "benchmark" in the local music scene? I would refer to it as a negative benchmark to follow. Think of it as a monkey see monkey do kind of thing.

If sub standard bands continue to play sub standard type of music all in the name of having fun , other bands are gonna be like , "Eh that band plays like crap and still can have fun...that's the spirit man!!!! Our band should be like these bands....we should be "true to ourselves"!!!!" So in the end what happens is that a negative benchmark standard of playing is set and we have truckloads of bands who follow this negative benchmark. The end result? We see loads of bands neglecting their musicianship for the sake of fun.

Yes fun is one thing but too much of everything is never good. Yes all music and no fun would not help as well. There must be a balance between fun and musicianship and sad to say I don't see much bands in Singapore striking up a balance between these 2 factors.

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

I think the whole point of bands who get together and practise in jam studios is that they have already set themselves a couple of goals for the band.. and I'm sure one of the goals at the top of that list is getting the band to sound tight and together.

Of course alot of other bands are just for kicks and for people to hang out and chill, if they enter a gig thenit's good for them and they just want to have fun too.

That said, I'm sure if a certain "X" band plays badly, and there are other bands in the audience I'm sure they would be telling themselves that they would want to play much better than "X" band so as to up their own pride and also be able to hold their head high.

After all, nobody would delibrately want to be in a band that can't hold its own. The only exceptions are certain Punk-related genres, whereby the attitude of the music holds a higher priority over muscianship.

But that's my view lah. Peace.

 

[DoubleBlade]

Shredded : Lots of teenagers are jumping onto the "I think it's COOL to play in a band" wagon influenced by their friends and the media. This is what I've observed so far. Its fine with me if you think that its COOL to play in a band but like I said , too much of everything is no good.

These bands become so clouded by the fact that its COOL to join a band so much so that they don't do anything to improve upon themselves in terms of their musicianship and standard of playing. All they think about is that its COOL COOL COOL , HIP HP HIP to play in a band and nothing more than that. If that is case then these people ought to join a fashion parade instead.

 

[litford]

well, people coming up to play is always a good thing in the sense that at least there is an interest in the local band scene.

as for bad bands taking the stage, i suppose everybody learns, and i believe we have enough good bands to set the standard without worry that these bad/learning bands will set a new standard.

let them make their mistakes, it's a natural progression, and if they don't improve, image or technical wise, they'll stay where they are.

 

[AvonRellets]

It really depends on what kind of gig you're going to.

If the bands there are unknown to you, the band members look young, the gig has 20 bands ... chances are the bands are new, just starting out so you can't set your own expectation of the bands there too high. Hey I thought my first gig went great but now when i watch the video of it, it truly sucked big hairy ones.

And on the contrary, organisers have a part to play. Some quality control has to be exercised if they want gig with good music. Depends on what the organiser wants to achieve out of the gig.

All part of the learning process. Perhaps you should give the bands advice. If the bands take it and learn, good for them. If they don't then perhaps your earlier comments are justified

 

[wyldeboon]

its cool to be in a band... its nice to have fun.

but its not healthy to play like crap in a band. then......every1 will be like ..."spore bands no standard unlike bands overseas..." "y support local bands wen they suck" bla bla bla...

my band do have fun on stage AND must play well. if not,wats the point? wasting $ in gears n jams and writing. might as well dun go near a stage if there's no intention to play well. wana have fun oso can get by doin many other things.

 

[Dalif_Murderdoll]

Hmm...that is why i usually take down notes whenever a certain band is performing and work through it with my band so that mistakes can be minimised.Imagine some dude busyt scribbling notes while in a gig.Heh.

 

[litford]

i'd think he was a reporter writing notes about how good my band is. -)

 

[Dalif_Murderdoll]

LOL.....more like studying the band's overall and individual technique and presence la.Maybe you should invite me to one of your gigs and i will be happily doodle down notes for references. 8)

 

[ShredPusssy]

in my opinion, the general scene is going no where..its been the same for the past 15 years..no doubt there are more outlets for kids to showcase n get gigs(pay to play), the general standard is abt the same..
every band plays hoping to immulate the original band as much as possible..with onli a selected few actually taking the effort to improvise, improve and make their band standout.
i feel tat most bands r just happy being average standard bands n not taking any chances by trying to get creative.i guess tats y they r still paying to play for gigs.
to the few who said its alright to play like crap as long as they r having fun..then i guess these ppl shld hide in the studios n have all the fun they like..don forget..as paying audiences, we deserve our share of entertainment..this is an entertainment, u r on stage to entertain the crowd n not ur selfish self. if u still think its ok to play like crap as long as the band is having fun..then most prob u play like crap n r just glad to have ppl there who have no choice but to listen to the crap u have to offer.

 

[wyldeboon]

+1 to u pussy... beri correct