Another band died before you heard them

[Undertoad]

This band was incredible. Born in my hometown, their shooting star burned brightly, but you never heard them before it burned out completely.

A combination of a certain country-ish twang, combined with a modern songwriting sensibility made them ideal for what the world wanted. A remarkable voice fronted them... until, right at the point of launch, she developed nodes on her vocal cords. After surgery, her voice lost the distinctive nature that made it ultra-special, and it was only special after that, which is not enough.

The main songwriter was addicted to a sort of low life, and apparently preferred dumpster diving to making any sort of honest living. He wrote some remarkable songs, but without her twang to make them something special, he was a dime a dozen guitarist/songwriter with nothing to make himself particularly distinctive. He enjoyed hearing that his act might be the next big thing... even three to five years after nobody said it any longer. He was not mature enough to understand what success really entailed.

They developed a set of songs that ran chills down your spine. They were authentic, grounded and ready for success. Everybody who gave them an honest listen, came away a fan.

They ran their 20 songs past numerous audiences, impressed local clubs and managers, hired any number of rhythm sections to try to make it work, but in the end it was futile and became another story of how a great act comes up with an awesome set of first-album songs, only to reach the point of discovery and come out of it with nothing. For every act you have ever heard of that made it, there are a hundred such acts that are as good as, or even better than, the ones you heard about. It doesn't help that for every act you have ever heard of that made it, there are 10,000 that suck.

R.I.P. act that could have been. I won't even mention their name for Google bait. Because there's no point. There are hundreds of similar stories.

[smoothmoniker]

Sorry to hear it. The world always has need of music that shakes your soul.

[lumberjim]

i cannot believe that the only version of Barney Gumbel's Film Festival movie that ends.....'don't weep for me, I'm already dead' is in some fucking oddball language.

Barney's movie is in black and white. It opens with a shot of a Duff
beer bottle on a windowsill. Gauzy white curtains billow around it as
the love theme from "M. Butterfly" plays. A hand grabs the bottle and
turns it upside down; the camera pans slowly down to reveal Barney's
lips on the other end of it.

The next shot shows Barney from above lying on a couch under the window.
As a voiceover, he says, "My name is Barney Gumbel. I'm 40, I'm single,
and I drink." The scene fades to a road where Barney lies in the
gutter, drinking another Duff, then lying down. The Duff pours slowly
into a sewer grating. "There's a line in `Othello' about a drinker:
`Now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast.' That
pretty well covers it." The camera shows a time lapse view of clouds
moving during the day, which turns to night, then back to day again.
Barney has become an old man, bald, toothless, still lying in the same
gutter. A tear leaks from his eye.

A woman watching the movie is moved.

Woman: It's brilliant: savagely honest, tender...he has the soul of a
poet.
Barney: You're very kind.
Woman: Excuse me, did something crawl down your throat and die?
Barney: It didn't die!
-- Methinks the man doth protest too much, "A Star is Burns"

Back on the screen, Barney sits in a chair and says, "My name is Barney
Gumbel, and I'm an alcoholic." The camera pulls back to reveal several
similarly-attired girls. Lisa says, "Mr. Gumbel, this is a Girl Scout
meeting." Barney asks, "Is it? Or is it that you girls can't admit you
have a problem?"

The scene fades to a playing record player, then back to Barney on the
couch, a rose held to his nose. "Don't cry for me," he narrates, "I'm
already dead." He puts the rose in the Duff bottle on the windowsill;
its petals fall off slowly, and the curtain billows in front of it as
"Fin" appears.

[Juniper]

I've known bands like that.

Oh, I so do miss being out and about and seeing and befriending live bands. It used to be such a big part of my life. Hubby accuses me of spending time in bars to pick up guys (and I certainly did a bit of that...) but really I was just in love with live music.

There was (maybe still is) a bar in Clifton (near the Univ. of Cincinnati) called Sudsy Malone's. It was such a cool place back in the late 80's-early 90's. It was a laundromat in the back, a bar in front, with a stage. You could do your laundry, get drunk and listen to local bands all at the same time. I never did laundry there, but I did a lot of the other two.

I met lots of local bands there, including a guy named Fred who had a band called Carload of Sheep, totally campy and wonderful. Fred is dead now, killed in a car crash. And Adam, who I just came thisclose to falling in love with, sigh...thought he was THE best guitarist in town, well almost, second only to another local guy named Chastain. And then there was the Robin Lacy & DeZydeco, Menus, the Afghan Whigs, and Over The Rhine.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Everyone should know bands like that... the kind that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up with a few intro notes.
That's the power of music... the greatest "drug" ever!

Here's a famous one...

,but there are thousands that are only heard by a few, for a short time... what a waste.

But alas, MADD has all but killed the live music venues, that aren't controlled by the music "business".

[elSicomoro]

I'm starting to wonder if bars and music venues are responsible for creating shitty bands.

Here in St. Louis, we've always had a lot of places to play music...shit, you can pretty much play at any fucking dive bar. But actual music venues seem to be multiplying like bunnies recently...and to me, it's just bullshit. We already have plenty of places to go plop down $5-10 and spend $3-5 on beers...fuck that shit! This place is the latest of them. It's a former dive bar now a music venue and bar in a shitty neighborhood. Here's another one that has no business being open, and that I suspect will not last long.

This kind of thing is exactly why I re-started Sycamore. Any fucking idiot can be in a band. I can kinda sing, and my sidekicks can actually play their instruments well, so...voila! Why not write a few songs and play some shows for some easy cash and free booze? Of course, maybe we're part of the problem...I dunno. I hope we can offer something different to the people.

Don't get me wrong...a lot of the venues here are interesting places. I've been to quite a few of them and some of them are really neat. But some of them have no business hosting music or even existing. So quit fucking open new shit, you fuckers!

Thank you.

[lumberjim]

can we get a little youtubage of sycamore live and uncut?

[elSicomoro]

Ummm...yeah...no footage right now.

I'm in the middle of a move, one band member (one of my best friends) is in chiropractic school and the third (my cousin) works really fucked up hours. Trying to get us all together in one room has been almost impossible recently. After the move, my cousin and I are going to sit down and record two covers...my friend may or may not be able to play guitar on it. Then I have to finish writing a few of the 900 songs I've started.

I'd like to play a show early next year...I just have to be more dedicated to it. And at the very least, we need a live drummer for shows.

[Cicero]

Ok who is it? Sounds like something I would listen to, even post break-up. You can also follow certain musicians from project to project and buy those albums if they are any good. Now I'm dying to know who it was. Maybe you can pm me?

[Undertoad]

http://store.itsaboutmusic.com/bravetheday.html

The samples there are of the demo when they were absolutely on fire. It's pretty much un-produced: they just stuck mics up and the band played. Same goes for the video of "oh my god" -- just two mics, a voice and a guitar.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by sycamore

So quit fucking open new shit, you fuckers!

Great idea, close those places down. Keep those bands in their parent's garages, where they get no exposure, no feedback, no chance to develop a following, no chance to learn & polish their craft. Then the public won't have to listen to bands not screened by the music "industry".

[elSicomoro]

There are plenty of places for them to play already...no need for them to play in front of 3 people when they can play in front of more.

[xiphos]

Pretty much every band I listen to is like this one


My opinion on music is that you shouldn't be in it for the money, you have to love the music you make. That's the only way to really write a good song. Live it. Breathe it.

[smoothmoniker]

Originally Posted by xiphos

My opinion on music is that you shouldn't be in it for the money, you have to love the music you make.

It has to be both. The only people who really make a living are those who fell in love with music enough to get damn good at it.

And the ones who never make any money at it, unfortunately, eventually stop making music and have to become insurance adjusters.