Save Seattle Music Nov 14, 2022 at 1:48 pm

Seattle’s Music Scene Needs More Than Just Money, It Needs New Blood

Tyler Gross

Comments

1

I mean, it's an idea, and local art is good, but most fashion uses already burdened water supplies in nations barely able to survive and contributes to climate change.

Reduce reuse recycle - if art was designed so that component parts were easily reused, impacted the environment less, and both was recyclable under our current system and used recycled content that wasn't dependent on the petrochemical industry, that would be good.

2

I’m getting tired of these “Seattle’s music scene is dead” articles. There was no mention of the Freakout! Record label music Festival whatsoever that just happened in Ballard. There were about 180 bands that played over 4 days! Not all of them were from Seattle, but a large amount were from Seattle/NW. Probably many the author has never heard of, (so therefore the music scene must be dead). It’s the organic underground version of what Upstream tried to be and Seattle’s closest thing to SXSW. The festival organizer and fronter of Seattle band Acid Tongue, Guy Keltner, is almost single handedly keeping the local Seattle underground music scene alive. And it’s not like Freakout Festival is an upstart, no this was the 10 year anniversary! Many of the artists are on the Freakout! Records label which is basically what SubPop was to Seattle in the 90s and look how that turned out! Yet, very few people in Seattle seem to have heard about it. If anything, I’d start there and with funding grow Freakout! Music Festival to be NXNW and a showcase for northwest bands. For all those bemoaning about how Bumbershoot lost it’s way by no longer showcasing local bands and getting too expensive to be sustainable, Freakout Festival is what you should be looking for!

I play in a local band and my band almost never makes money. We are completely dependent on day jobs, but there are many many amazing bands still in Seattle. They just might not be where the average person is looking for them, so it comes down to getting more publicity, coverage, shows, representation, getting people in the door and generating ticket sales if the wheels are gonna keep on turning. Sure we can import some bands, but let’s find and support the bands here now! The idea this author is disseminating that there aren’t anymore local bands worth supporting in Seattle and that we should look to other regions to import them is utterly false and just goes to show how out of touch the author is with the local music scene like many of the other gen X ers in Seattle that whine about the “good ol days”. Well it ain’t 1996 anymore, it’s 2023. Time to get out there and go to cafe racer, central saloon, substation, sunset, clock out, black lodge, madame Lou’s, barboza, blue moon, bad bar, skylark, royal room, chop suey, el corazon, Conor Byrne, Vera project, sea monster, etc. Go see one of the many talented local bands that play there. Just because a band isn’t playing Neumos or showbox doesn’t mean they’re not good or the Seattle music scene is dead…the issue is everyone who says Seattle music scene is dead got old and doesn’t know how to look for it anymore unless it smacks them across the face.

Yes, the bands definitely need funding to keep it going, but my issue is by saying the music scene here is dead is a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead of writing articles ad nauseam that the scene is dead write about where they can go to see good music! Most of the time local bands only play to friends and other bands/supporters in on the scene and a few strangers that wonder in. If people outside that circle actually started going to shows at these smaller venues and bands could actually take a cut of the door or gasp just get paid to be there without having to beg every last friend and family member to be there just so it looks like they can draw a crowd, that would be the way to resuscitate Seattle’s music scene. Provide grassroots support of bands starting out here now instead of bringing in outside bands or giving money to bands everyone already knows about. Turns out the way to “save” Seattle’s music is by…actually participating in it! Or lazy authors like this will just keep perpetuating the false narrative the Seattle music scene is dead until everyone believes them and it finally is.

3

I’m getting tired of these “Seattle’s music scene is dead” articles. There was no mention of the Freakout! Record label music Festival whatsoever that just happened in Ballard. There were about 180 bands that played over 4 days! Not all of them were from Seattle, but a large amount were from Seattle/NW. Probably many the author has never heard of, (so therefore the music scene must be dead). It’s the organic underground version of what Upstream tried to be and Seattle’s closest thing to SXSW. The festival organizer and fronter of Seattle band Acid Tongue, Guy Keltner, is almost single handedly keeping the local Seattle underground music scene alive. And it’s not like Freakout Festival is an upstart, no this was the 10 year anniversary! Many of the artists are on the Freakout! Records label which is basically what SubPop was to Seattle in the 90s and look how that turned out! Yet, very few people in Seattle seem to have heard about it. If anything, I’d start there and with funding grow Freakout! Music Festival to be NXNW and a showcase for northwest bands. For all those bemoaning about how Bumbershoot lost it’s way by no longer showcasing local bands and getting too expensive to be sustainable, Freakout Festival is what you should be looking for!

I play in a local band and my band almost never makes money. We are completely dependent on day jobs, but there are many many amazing bands still in Seattle. They just might not be where the average person is looking for them, so it comes down to getting more publicity, coverage, shows, representation, getting people in the door and generating ticket sales if the wheels are gonna keep on turning. Sure we can import some bands, but let’s find and support the bands here now! The idea this author is disseminating that there aren’t anymore local bands worth supporting in Seattle and that we should look to other regions to import them is utterly false and just goes to show how out of touch the author is with the local music scene like many of the other gen X ers in Seattle that whine about the “good ol days”. Well it ain’t 1996 anymore, it’s 2023. Time to get out there and go to cafe racer, central saloon, substation, sunset, clock out, black lodge, madame Lou’s, barboza, blue moon, bad bar, skylark, royal room, chop suey, el corazon, Conor Byrne, Vera project, sea monster, etc. Go see one of the many talented local bands that play there. Just because a band isn’t playing Neumos or showbox doesn’t mean they’re not good or the Seattle music scene is dead…the issue is everyone who says Seattle music scene is dead got old and doesn’t know how to look for it anymore unless it smacks them across the face.

Yes, the bands definitely need funding to keep it going, but my issue is by saying the music scene here is dead is a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead of writing articles ad nauseam that the scene is dead write about where they can go to see good music! Most of the time local bands only play to friends and other bands/supporters in on the scene and a few strangers that wonder in. If people outside that circle actually started going to shows at these smaller venues and bands could actually take a cut of the door or gasp just get paid to be there without having to beg every last friend and family member to be there just so it looks like they can draw a crowd, that would be the way to resuscitate Seattle’s music scene. Provide grassroots support of bands starting out here now instead of bringing in outside bands or giving money to bands everyone already knows about. Turns out the way to “save” Seattle’s music is by…actually participating in it! Or lazy authors like this will just keep perpetuating the false narrative the Seattle music scene is dead until everyone believes them and it finally is.

4

I’m getting king of tired of these Seattle’s music scene is dead articles. There was no mention of the Freakout Festival whatsoever that just happened in Ballard. There were over 180 bands that played over 4 days! Not all of them were from Seattle, but I’d say at least 50% were from the Seattle/NW. It’s the organic underground version of what Upstream tried to be and Seattle’s closest thing to SXSW. The festival organizer and fronter of local band band Acid Tongue, Guy Keltner, is almost single handedly keeping the local Seattle underground music scene alive. And it’s not like Freskout Festival is an upstart, no this was the 10 year anniversary! Yet, very few people in Seattle seem to have heard about it. If anything, I’d start there and with funding grow it to be NXNW and a showcase for northwest bands. I play in a local band and my band almost never makes money. We are completely dependent upon day jobs. At the end of the day, there are many many bands still in Seattle. They just might not be where the average person is looking for them, so it comes down to getting more publicity, coverage, shows, representation, getting people in the door and generating ticket sales if the wheels are gonna keep on turning. Sure we can import some bands, but let’s find and support the bands here now! The idea this author is disseminating that there aren’t anymore local bands worth supporting in Seattle and that we should look to other regions to import is utterly false and just goes to show how out of touch they are with the local music scene, like many of the other gen X ers in Seattle that whine about the “good ol days”. Well it ain’t 1996 anymore it’s 2023. Time to get out there and go to cafe racer, central saloon, substation, sunset, clock out, black lodge, madame Lou’s, barboza, blue moon, bad bar, skylark, royal room, el corazon, Conor Byrne, Vera project, sea monster, etc. Go see one of the many talented bands that play there. Just because a band isn’t playing Neumos or showbox doesn’t mean they’re not good or the Seattle music scene is dead…the issue is everyone who says Seattle music scene is dead got old and doesn’t know how to look for it anymore unless it smacks them across the face. Yes, the bands definitely need funding to keep it going, but my issue is by saying the music scene here is dead is a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead of writing articles ad nauseam that the scene is dead write about where they can go to see good music! Most of the time we play it’s to only friends and other bands and a few strangers that wonder in. If people actually started going to shows at these venues and bands could actually take a cut of the door or gasp just get paid to be there without having to beg every last friend and family member to be there just so it looks like they can draw a crowd, that would be the way to resuscitate Seattle’s music scene with grassroots support instead of bringing in outside bands or giving money to bands everyone already knows about. Based on this being 1/2 comments on this article I guess the stranger is dead too.

5

This quote from a previous comment really is where its at: "Provide grassroots support of bands starting out here now instead of bringing in outside bands or giving money to bands everyone already knows about. Turns out the way to “save” Seattle’s music is by…actually participating in it! Or lazy authors like this will just keep perpetuating the false narrative the Seattle music scene is dead until everyone believes them and it finally is." I play almost every weekend at one small venue or another, and every small show I've been to in Seattle has fucking rocked, regardless of genre. The bands and the talent are here and they are hungry. We don't need imports, we need attention on the amazing music being made in your backyard. The Stranger needs to get the fuck out to some shows and start participating in the scene they are trying to "save"


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