Every Band in Dallas Fuckin' RULES!

Or so you would think if you only got your local music info from Texasgigs.com. The people at Texas Gigs always seem to have a nice word to say about everyone, and they use a lot of exclamation points, which can be frustrating when they're talking about the many Dallas bands that obviously suck! We don't know why they do this, but they do! I'm going to stop using exclamation points now!

We're not saying that they should write articles about how much they hate so and so, or really that they should do anything considering that they have a successful website and we have, well, a blogspot. The problem isn't really with them at all, since the site can in fact be a good resource for local music news, audio files, and other things that fans want (we check it every day). And of course its good that they want to help local bands get some attention. The problem is much bigger, and it stems mostly from local bands themselves. This is of course the "support your local scene, dude" attitude that so many people carry around with them. Until we started this blogspot, we really could have given two shits about local Dallas rock for the most part, even though we probably spent a lot more time than the average person thinking about, talking about, and listening to music. That is really the main reason we started this thing in the first place: to learn more about what was actually out there. And what inspired this particular bitch fest is a conversation we overheard last night in which someone expressed their belief that Dallas music sucks because no one cares about local bands.

Its too bad they didn't ask themselves why no one cares, because if they did they might have come to the conclusion that the product we're supposed to be supporting typically isn't that good. Of course we've blogged about this topic before, so you can stop reading if you're bored. Its just that people who want us to support their "scene" should ask themselves what happens when people go to shows that they really don't like, or listen to bands that aren't that great simply because they are local. What happens is that people go out and have fake fun. You know the feeling, don't you? You're supposed to go see your roommate's brother's emo band at some bar, and you go out and listen to the music and tap your feet and drink a couple beers and remark to whoever "hey these guys are pretty decent" and then you go home, wondering why you ever left the house in the first place. A lot of other people at the show probably did the same thing, creating an atmosphere that is lacking any real, well, fun. And then all these people start to get a bad taste in their mouths about local music, and they stop wanting to go see it, even when there might actually be something decent going on. Of course this isn't a phenomenon that is specific to Dallas... it probably goes on in every town of a certain size. Its just that going to see local music shouldn't be a chore. It should be something we want to do because its fun, not something we have to do because of some sense of duty to support the scene. And we also realize that local bands are often young or new bands, and that young new bands typically don't have their shit together quite yet. Thats all well and good, but we think we can tell the difference between a show that isn't good because the band sucks and one that isn't good because the band, while talented, just doesn't have a lot of experience. We bet you can too.

So what we're saying is "Support the local scene, bro.... whenever the local scene earns it." Which it does from time to time, as we have happily learned over the past month and a half. And when it does happen, no one needs to tell us to go see local music. We'll go because we want to, and we might even have real fun, which will make us want to go out the next time something is going on. But telling us to go see a boring band because they're local is like telling us to vote for George W. Bush because its patriotic. And we shouldn't have to use exclamation points to tell you that!