Keeping It Local

Many people enjoy buying produce from a local farmers market, getting their hair cut at a neighborhood barbershop or salon, chowing down at the little hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurant around the corner, and attending community art exhibits. It feels good to have a sense of pride about your hometown and the people who make it great, but there is a section of society that often gets written off as sub-standard or lacking credibility within the local scene...music. If a band comes from out of town, they appear to have this magical quality to them that just sparkles and gives off the idea that "I Am A Professional". That may or may not be true. They may be average music playing Joe's who all chipped in to buy a van and trailer. They might have learned that their music isn't appreciated by people in their hometown because they were seen as "locals", so they left. (Even Jesus wasn't appreciated in his hometown, true story) Local acts often only get booked at venues in their hometown to fill the timeslots on weekdays when the crowds are smaller, or as openers to national touring acts.

Why is this? And how can we change this negative stereotype about local musicians?

First off, the stereotype isn't a stereotype for no reason. Just spend 5 minutes searching MySpace for bands in your area. You will come across dozens of horrible recordings, cheesy band photos, and a general lack of talent. This doesn't necessarily mean that all the musicians in your area are crap. To filter through all this, you have to understand that only a small percentage of those people have any musical training and its most likely just a hobby, or far off dream of rockstardom. Also, check to see how old the people in those bands are. When I was 17, I could barely play guitar, let compose original music. Many of them are just now starting out in music and are so pumped to have a little part of the internet dedicated to them. You have to cut some of those guys some slack. But some of those guys are just horrible musicians. Go into any business/industry and you will find horrible employees that probably shouldn't be working there. Sadly, those guys keep the negative image of local musicians alive and running. Refine your search and you'll quickly find several quality acts that are living and working amongst you in your own town.

Secondly, to the local musicians, we need to step up our game. Those that want to do this professionally need to take this difficult occupation a bit more serious. We don't need to make up for those other guys, we just need to make our music the best it can be and not allow the "oh well, they're just locals" attitude creep into our psyche. Take some lessons on your chosen instrument (vocals included) and actually get good. Otherwise you'll never leave your dead end job to go on tour. Confidently market yourselves, not just to your friends but also to strangers. Sadly, strangers become fans quicker than friends do. Plus, unless you have a butt load of friends on the west coast, you'll never sell out the Troubadour or the Chain Reaction without strangers-turned-fans.

Thirdly, we who appreciate good music need to invest our time, loyalty, and concert ticket money in the art that our local musicians are creating (even the bad ones sometimes). Spread the word about your favorite local acts. Go to their shows. Buy a cd, because it helps fund their musical creative process. They may suck now, but who knows, they might get good and then you can say you saw them first...hipster points! Join a local band's street team. It's a cool way to help support your favorite bands by helping them reach outside their own circle of influence. (it's also free) By telling your friends about the band, selling concert tickets, handing out fliers for shows, etc you can often even get free stuff like merch, concert passes, and meet and greet sessions with the band and other awesome stuff.

In closing, don't simply consider local bands to be inferior. Give them a chance. And local bands, don't make your friends waste their time and money on you if you suck. Practice and make your hometown proud. Every band is a local band when they go home.

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I usually have a handful of locals in pretty steady rotation in my iTunes. What local bands are you listening to right now? Below are some of my current favorites with MySpace links to where you can listen to them. Yes, you can still listen to bands on MySpace without having an account and it's still free...despite some crazy internet rumors, even though MySpace is soooo 2004.

Machree (full album available for streaming on facebook)
http://www.myspace.com/wearemachree

Option//Control (they have free album downloads on their page)
http://www.myspace.com/optioncontrol

Paisley Birch (consistently beats us at Battle of the Bands)
http://www.myspace.com/paisleybirch

The Corners (not from STL, but still a Missouri band)
http://www.myspace.com/listentothecorners

Sing Me a Fiction (graciously allowed us to play at their cd release party)
http://www.myspace.com/singmeafiction

Wild Tiger (party time rock-n-roll)
http://www.myspace.com/wildtigerrock

The Great Outdoors (indie rock lullabies)
http://www.myspace.com/wearethegreatoutdoors

Inlow (Spirit-filled Missouri hardcore band)
http://www.myspace.com/inlowrock

Owen Pye & the Sunday School Band (singer/songwriter magic)
http://www.myspace.com/owenpye

The Pragmatic (they moved to Portland, but from STL area)
http://www.thesixtyone.com/thepragmatic/