A little blog entry from a little emo band coming out of PA got me thinking:
Don’t expect a reunion show!
I write this because we recently celebrated our third anniversary. Three years are a long time for a band such as ours, especially when you take into consideration that many of our predecessors and inspirations barely made even one. By now, you’d think we’d have built for ourselves a solid fanbase, but the truth is, we still find ourselves playing to crowds of about ten people.
Far be it from me to pass judgment. I realize a lot of you simply can’t make it to all of our gigs, and I understand. We’re all working and going to school and engaging in other activities that prevent us from attending local shows. And some just aren’t into what we play, which is perfectly alright with me. If we were completely accessible to every last person, then we’d be doing something wrong. Do more people like Dashboard Confessional than Rites of Spring? Most definitely. But would Dashboard Confessional exist without Rites of Spring? Most certainly not.
Is it all so odd that a band entrenched in 80s and early 90s emo is somewhat making a humorous jab at the recent reunions of 2nd wave emo acts while placing themselves in something of a similar narrative. There’s something so interesting with all these tiny, almost neo-nostalgic, emo acts popping up in little “holes” around the country. The backwaters of Pennsylvania and Maryland, over in the Midwest… hell, there’s even a record label, Count Your Lucky Stars, the seems to focus on just these kinds of bands.
These little bands with such a similar sound popping up across the U.S. again is simply fascinating… It’s something to do with emo that I haven’t been fascinated with for a solid month. Which is partially why I haven’t really taken the time to update the blog, or work on America Is Just A Word. The passion for it is still there, I just don’t want to force it.
Time is a killer too. I figured grad school would be a time consumer, and a lot of the times it is. And when it isn’t, I just want to stop staring at a computer screen for the length of my day. And then there’s an entire world out there not strictly traced back to emo for me to write about. Like with True/Slant, or, now, The A.V. Club:
It’s been a fantastic experience writing for these outlets. It’s given me the chance to broaden my niche music-writing base into areas that I would otherwise not really be able to write about in the guise of this blog. Which is fine – I made this blog for a specific reason, and I’d like to keep it in the same general idea. And I like having the ability and opportunity to write for other places.
So, don’t call it a comeback… this stuff is always on my mind. Just sometimes I get a bit tired thinking about sifting through endless articles and blog posts about Twilight when all I want to do is uncover another Algernon Cadwallader or Shinobu. And darn it if a love of music isn’t what this whole thing is all about.
