Quote:
Originally Posted by Veridical Fiction
That's the problem with a majority of highschoolers. No offense to any highschoolers here, but that's a typical age where people tend to restrict themselves to certain genres because of the pressure that cliques often apply. The result is that it can be hard to find a diverse musician at that age who cares about other people's tastes enough to be a productive member of a band.
Apart from communication, I believe that another very important aspect of musicianship in bands is allowing for members to be musically different enough from eachother that the sum of all parts creates a unique blend of different perspectives and emotions. When it's done right, it all clicks together and the result is usually a band that can offer something more than the same carbon copies most bands become. But in order for that to even happen, there definitely has to be a lot of communication and an ability to make compromises for the greater good of the band.
That's a hard thing to find in any setting, much less in a highschooler demographic.
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Plus it doesn't help that almost every guitarist in my school smokes week or does some sort of drug. I mean, I honestly don't have a problem with it. I'm definately not into drugs, but if somebody doesn't put the drugs before the band and can still play well, then I'm fine with it, although I prefer they not if they are serious about being a great band. The problem is that they do just the opposite. They would rather sit around, play covers of their favorite metal bands, smoke weed and tell people that they are in a band "with this totally awesome drummer" instead of playing music. It really sucks because the ones that do the drugs tend to be the most creative, not because of the drugs, but because they have creative thoughts and think that taking drugs will turn them into better musicians.
I believe that I am a skilled drummer and I try to play with good taste, but people often get confused when they hear me listen to and play with a noisy style such as Lightnin Bolt or The Locust and assume that I'm just some hyper ADD kid that can't play a steady beat. I listen to a very large variety of music, everything from the more experimental stuff such as John Zorn, Secret chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle, Sleepytime Gorilla Musuem. I listen to hip-hop such as Flying Lotus, Aesop Rock, and even more mainstream stuff such as Modest Mouse and The Shins. But when I'm listening to music, which bands are they going to stick in their head more? The noisy, dissont metal, or the more 'acceptable' stuff.