The Cassette: Why I'll Be Letting This Fad Pass Right On By

Everything old is new again.  I suppose that could be a good thing, in one way or another.  For the modern music connoisseur, we are, once again, faced with a returning fad.  Not even a fad, really.  More like a moment in time when technology wasn't able to produce anything better.  

I am speaking of the return of the cassette tape.  Yes.  I'd wear those things out, month after month.  I used to spend entire days waiting for my favorite songs to come across the radio airwaves, and I'd hit that record button with some fury.  My early mix tapes were really something.  But hey, I captured it all.  On cassette.  Cassettes served their purpose.  Then, they died.  Thank God!  

Because compact discs were introduced.  No more fast-forwarding and rewinding to find the song I wanted to hear.  I couldn't afford the tape deck that auto-found songs.  No more fixing the tape-gone-bad with a pencil.

I suppose the only thing that the reintroduction of the tape will accomplish, is that it will force the listener to hear the entire record.  That's really about it.  

It's a funny fad.  I suppose the Millennials, or Generation Z, will have to learn the hard way.  Hopefully, when the listener spends  $70 on a Death Cab tape, they'll learn pretty quickly.

I loved my cassettes, but I am glad they're gone now.

Why Aren't You In A Band? The Story of Letting It All Go.

I field two questions quite frequently these days:

1)  Why did you move away from San Diego?

2)  Do you miss being in a band?

I’m not even going to start on the San Diego thing this evening.  Instead, lets go ahead and address the band.  

Jingle Ball - Arco Arena - Darin Brookner and I

I try not to think about my music industry days.  No, no, no!  Not because it was a bad experience!  It’s not that!  For me, there is a fair amount trauma (in the weakest sense of the word) surrounding our demise.  Not in a sense that we all hate each other.  More like what it was that I chose to walk away from.

Does that make any sense?   This is what I mean.

Being in a popular band and playing in front of as many people as we were created the most natural high, or biggest adrenaline rush I have ever felt.  We did it night after night.  Signing autographs, playing with bands we grew up listening to, touring the world, it was all insane.  It was beyond surreal.  Something that 99% of the world will never know. 

Australia -  The fans and I

 

Walking away from all of it was traumatic.  Getting a job and re-establishing myself as an average Joe was weird.  Watching it all fade away was hard.

I coped by blocking it all out.  I was never really good at it.  When I wasn’t able to block it out, I found myself picking up the guitar while trying to convince myself that I could do it all over again.  I know I could have, but where would I be today?  I think about that sometimes.

As I grew older, and started a family, I had to force myself to bury the past.  Having kids and being married sure helped me layer the concrete and dirt over that grave.  Funny how fast your priorities change when your love shifts from one entity to the other.  

My Family - 2015

I think I prevailed because I convinced myself that I would NOT be that 40 year old guy working at Guitar Center for the rest of my life.  I have a lot of friends who are still scraping by in the pop-punk genre.  They’re doing everything they can to remain relevant.  Even as the shows and venues get smaller and smaller, they keep plugging away.  I don’t know how I feel about it.  I suppose I feel bad for some, but I understand the rest. 

There are a lot of guys who have no idea what else they would do.  Google your favorite musician along with the phrase “I don’t know how to do anything else.” 

Walking away from music was hard, but not as hard as it would be to still be involved in it all.

I’ll tell you why.  I have a wife and three children.  In order for me to make it, this is what I would have to do.

I would have to write amazing songs that are different than everything you’ve ever heard.  Then, I would have to find a band with guys who all share common musical interest.  And we would have to play very well together.  There would have to be that “magic.”  Then we’d have to use our own money to demo all the songs.  We’d have to self-fund tours and play terrible shows until someone notices us.  We’d have to spend at least five days a week in the rehearsal studio for hours at a time ironing out and perfecting all the songs.  To make a decent living, we’d have to tour for 75% of the year. 

At the end of the day, my entire life would be spent with my band.  Not my family.  And my wife would murder me.

My rationalization, these days, is easy.  I already did the band thing, and I was successful.  It was a massive high point in my life.  I don’t have to do it again.  The desire is gone.  The memories remain. 

These days, I suppose I don’t mind talking about it as much as I used to.  I love telling the stories and showing the photos to people who are genuinely interested.  I think I don’t mind because the memories are getting a little fuzzier day by day.  I’ve been telling myself to start a journal with the stories that I am able to recall.  Something I can pass along to my kids. 

That’s all I’ve got.  I hope that answers your question.

Thanks for listening, again.

Steven

File under: Disheveled Journal Entry 

Growing Up With Tooth & Nail Records: A Summary Filled With Links

Tooth & Nail Records is releasing a limited edition documentary film and photo book to celebrate twenty years of existence within the independent music scene.  I remember when I heard about the label for the first time.  I had a friend in high school named, Justice.  He handed me a demo tape before school one day and said his band had signed to a label called Tooth & Nail.  I had no idea who he was talking about, and I had never heard of his band.  Some of you might remember Bloodshed.  That was him.  

I had a friend, Josh, who really pushed me into the T&N catalogue.  He showed me a band called MxPx, and I loved them instantaneously.  We used to listen to the “Pokinatcha” cassette while driving from Fallbrook to Oceanside [to surf] nearly every day.  I think the both of us went collector crazy from that moment on.  Rather than describing how each band played a role in my life, I’ll just rattle off a list and will link the band name to a YouTube video.

The Crucified  -  Plankeye  -  Starflyer 59  -  Ghoti Hook  - Value Pac  -  Joy Electric  -  Driver 8  -  Ninety Pound Wuss  -  Strongarm  -  Joe Christmas  -  Puller  -  The O.C. Supertones  -  Stavesacre  -  Slick Shoes  -  The Juliana Theory  -  Project 86 

Josh and I would go to all the Tooth & Nail shows.  We’d drive to Orange County, L.A., or wherever a T&N show came through town.  We went to all the festivals.  I still have most of the vinyl, CDs, and posters from those shows.  

I am honored to have been able to witness, and grow with this particular label and its artists.  I am excited to see the documentary and book.  For me, it will be a large bundle of material filled with a great dose of good memories.

I hope this brought back a memory or two for you.

The Truth About Christian Music

I am passionate about music.  My IPod is bursting at the seems with every kind of music imaginable.  Most of the storage capacity has been eaten up by rock n’ roll, punk rock, classic rock, and indie rock.  The rest is dedicated to my (true) honky-tonk country, doo-wop, jazz, and indie hip-hop records.  I love it.  The artists all speak to me.  They relate to my struggles and triumphs and their lyrics are brutally authentic and intentional.

.01% of that IPod storage is dedicated to the Christian music I need to learn when I play with my church.  Typically, I learn the songs and then remove them to save space.  I might have a dozen songs laying around that are tolerable.  I have to admit that it takes a serious amount of patience to listen to these songs even when I know I need to practice them for the service.  My mind knows that it only takes a single push of a button to bring Face to Face roaring into my speakers.

I don’t think it is fair of me to fault the players.  I think that they are truly motivated with every kind of pure intent to share the message of Jesus Christ in any way possible.  I cannot fault them for that.  

I think what troubles me is how the Christian market is used.  There is a common belief among fundamentalist / legalist Christians that any kind of music outside of the Christian market belongs to Satan and should be avoided at all costs.  So if you liked N.W.A., you would need to listen to some watered down “ghetto-Christian” rap from a Christian label.  If you liked Def Leppard, then you would need to listen to Petra.  If you liked Guttermouth, then you would need to listen to The Crucified.  The Christian market was basically saying that in order to maintain your salvation, you would have to listen to Christian music from Christian labels.  Can we be honest for a moment?  There isn’t a single Christian rock band that compares to AC/DC.  Not even close. 

The Christian market, to include consumers and record labels, treat their bands terribly (this is not the case for all labels).  I can remember when MxPx released “Life in General.”  Although they were on a Christian label at the time, Christian book stores refused to carry the record because the message wasn’t strong enough.  Many Christian bands experienced this type of exclusion from the Christian marketplace and do to this day.  The guys spoke of relationships, school, and popular culture issues that were relevant to their time (in a very tame way).  There was a lot of hurtful backlash from the Christian market and numerous bands distanced themselves from the Christian scene as a result. 

Thank God!

As my musical tastes have become finely honed over the years I have learned a very important lesson.  The bands who carry the strongest and most relevant Christian messages cannot be found on Christian bookstore shelves.  Many of these artists prefer to call themselves “Christians in a band.”  They change lives on a daily basis.  Their message is far more believable than what we will ever hear on Christian radio.  Why?  Because they relate to people!  They aren’t stuck inside that airtight Christian market box with a label that says “This Is What God Would Listen To.”  These bands represent Jesus to the core.  They are out in the secular market making friends and bringing the Good News to the street urchins and the “worst” of sinners.  They aren’t playing a safe show in a church filled with safe, healed people.  They are on the streets getting dirty.

Finally, there is my perspective as a musician.  To me, Christian music is a mass produced copy of an original painting done by someone else who was way better.  It sounds completely inauthentic, as if it was all pieced together by a bunch of paid songwriters sitting around a table at the label.  All of these songs are played by bands containing musicians who do nothing but walk through a revolving door.  While numerous amazing (secular) bands have been together for over decade, many of the players within the Christian market are lucky to make it to the second tour. 

And although the lyrics glorify God, I find no sincerity in most of what I hear.  Any songwriter can vouch for what I am saying.  Writing lyrics to a song is hard.  When the lyricist is genuine, the song turns into a masterpiece because the listener can feel the emotion driving the song.  When the lyricist is simply trying to make something that sounds good (and rhymes), it turns into a piece of painted plastic, devoid of anything one could call real.   

The best example of a true Christian artist is Dustin Kensrue of Thrice.  Kensrue’s lyrics are deeply spiritual and his band, Thrice, draws massive crowds whenever they play.  Kensrue indicated in this interview that he has had numerous conversations about his faith with people that agree, and disagree (with his stance) over the course of his career.  In my humble opinion, this is what it’s all about.  I wanted to leave you with a  small sample from an interview with Dustin Kensrue:

"There’s some disingenuineness or inauthenticity when you see or hear a piece of art or music that you feel like has an agenda. It becomes a commercial in a sense. You don’t want to hear or feel that way, so I’ve never done that. I’ve just tried to write about what’s going on. Sometimes that’s a little more revealed, sometimes that’s a little more hidden, but I try to write in a way that people from multiple backgrounds can engage with at least, even if they don’t agree with it, and that it will make them think, it will make them feel. I can’t control it after it’s out of my hands. I guess my hope is always that it wouldn’t leave someone unmoved in some way, that they would have to wrestle with it, that it would affect them in some way." - Dustin Kensrue (Interviewed by: Jonathan Bautts)