Put Down the Myspace and Get in the Van, etc.

“Bands are moving from being bands to being one and two pieces because of the economy. It’s really expensive to be in a band right now, so it’s easier to get acclaim by what you post to the internet.”

Like everything else he writes or says, this Eye Weekly interview with Christopher Weingarten is full of gems.  But the above quote–certainly not unique to him, of course–is one that I’m not sure has fully permeated indie as much as a lot of people (critics) would like to believe.

Not that indie rock isn’t being taken over by single dudes with laptops, making music in their studio apartments, because sure.  But the “expensive” part of the equation, especially re: touring the country, seems to be less significant.  In the past year alone, just going by memory, I’ve seen Here We Go Magic, Neon Indian, and A Sunny Day in Glasgow–all of which are the work, more or less, of lone dudes tapping away in solitude (Luke Temple, Alan Palomo, Ben Daniels)–perform in tiny little Bloomington, Indiana, in small 150-capacity clubs, but with full bands of 4 to 6 members.

Just spitballing here, but I think the issue isn’t the economic situation of the current moment as much as it’s a more strictly musical/technological variation on the same old ideas of creative autonomy and playing to audience expectations.  These are three artists who have chosen to execute a particular vision using technologies that can stand in for a studio or practice space crammed with collaborators, and as such they have the capacity to doodle around at their whim.  But when it comes to actually performing that music live, especially in indie rock clubs, I think a different consideration comes into play.

It’s definitely the default mode to use the Internet to get a foot in the door, but once you have to tour the same material, it makes sense to translate the music into something more recognizable to stare at–especially into something that indie audiences are going to expect to stare at–even if it’s much more expensive and less comfortable to pack a bunch of people into a van, or two big cars.  What I’m saying, I suppose, is that I don’t think that strict economic considerations alone are sufficient to explain this iteration of whittled-down indies, any more than it was sufficient to explain the White Stripes, Black Keys, Matt & Kim, Quasi, Mates of State, etc.

Filed under: A Sunny Day in Glasgow  Christopher Weingarten  Here We Go Magic  indie rock  Neon Indian  selling culture  tech  touring