Band Management: Blog 32: Kick Starting A Revolution

Joshua Edward Keyes of Bandcamp said that everything new comes from the underground. The establishment, the corporations, create no new concepts ever. 
For all the underground artists – these last few years have been both long and the blink of an eye. Five years ago you could count the Asheville bands that played punk rock, underground, indie, surf, garage rock on one hand. The Stump Muttswere a rarity. The Lords of Chicken Hill were shocking. Bands and great music rose up and crashed down like tectonic plates of the earth. Something like that. The euphoria of a stunning show and then the crash and confusion of everyday living. 
So this is the work now. To create the best body of art. Because this is what will define the movement. Punk Rock is thought to be defined by 1977, by the first 100 days at the Roxy in London, when the look and the sound were settled. But The Ramones first album was out in 1976 and those short garage rock songs were the handbook for the punk sound. The provocative nature of punk was created through the live performances of the New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, MC5, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. 
So, what comes out of this underground art movement happens now. We choose the look. We choose the sound. We choose the artwork. We chose the language. We choose the images and photographs. 
And I bought a boombox – bright red – kind of small. I hear there is a guy at Sly Grog Lounge who can help me make a cassette. I am going to put a collection of my favorite underground songs – with the bands permission – and walk up and down Haywood – playing the sounds of the underground. Holy Crap Records Podcast Radio. Now I have a radio show. One cassette. 
I was hanging out at “Band As” practice this week.Kafadan Kontak Records has asked them to cover “Johnny” by Suicide. At it’s core is a rudimentary blues chord progression and lyrics about Johnny going out and looking for trouble. A droning E chord and a grinding drum loop. Now “Band A” is messing around with adding a Joy Division bass line, more melody, and maybe a third verse… Maybe this is the sound of the underground…