August 2010 Editorial

When it comes to Punk Rock attitude is everything. I was recently at a gig where the opening band played a ripping set which included a cover of an all time favorite song of mine from an obscure British Hardcore band. They sounded great and under normal circumstances I would have been stoked to see a band pull off such a great performance. Afterward a member of the band approached me to see if I would be willing to donate any money towards his band’s tour fund. The funny thing was that I had just seen him post a message online talking shit about a hand full of local bands, so my response was "Man, your set was great and maybe if you didn’t talk so much shit on every other band around here I would be happy to support you and would even think about giving you some money, but it doesn’t look like I have anything to give."

The band that followed at the same show was admittedly not as interesting musically as the openers but their singer was a ball of energy. In between every song he talked about how stoked he was to be able to play and how cool it was that people were getting into their music. Everyone in the band was putting all of their energy into the set and after they played they hung out with everyone and generally just presented a positive attitude toward being in a band. By the end of the night I had decided that if I saw this band was playing another show that I would definitely go out of my way to see them. Even though my funds are pretty low at this point if they were going on tour and asked for a donation I would give them a couple bucks.

The irony about this whole situation is that there was a point in my life where I had a totally negative attitude and went out of my way to talk shit on bands that I didn’t care for. It wasn’t until I saw the scene shrink and bands start to disappear that it occurred to me that sometimes it’s not just about personal taste. While I might not dig most of the younger bands that I see, I appreciate the bands with positive attitudes who want to support Punk Rock rather than just boost their own egos. With age comes perspective and looking back sometimes I wish I could go back in time and slap myself up side the head for talking so much shit when I was younger.

-Ditch-
Managing Editor

 

 

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