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Sure,
being a misanthropic loner that
never steps foot out of their home
studio is the cool and fashionable
thing to do, but is it killing the
industrial genre? Find out why your
solo flying music isn't making the
grade in today's music scene. |
The
average industrial musician is a lone
wolf—sequestered off in their home
studio like some type of medieval scholar—for
whatever reason unsuited, unwilling,
or unable to work with other like-minded
musicians. Maybe it's the Trent Reznor
influence ("Wow, one guy did this
whole album by himself? I'm gonna do
that too!"), maybe the only type
of people drawn to industrial are asocial
misanthropes, or maybe there are just
too few industrial musicians out there
to allow for collaboration. Or are industrial
musicians just a bunch of snobby elitists?
I'm
not about to try and lie to you and
say that I have the answer... in fact,
it's more likely due to a host of factors.
But I believe that it is safe to say
that unless the trend of the 'sequestered
industrial musician' ends the entire
genre will come to an end. Music—all
types of music—needs the type of
care, skill and precision that can only
come from the collaboration of many
musicians working together. Industrial
music especially, as an underground
genre, needs a level of cooperation
far greater than other more mainstream
types of music.
I
believe that it is safe to say
that unless the end of the 'sequestered
industrial musician' ends the
entire genre will come to an end....
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Trust
me, you will need some help for getting
your music out there and in front of
club audiences. Unless, of course, you
happen to be a great instrumentalist,
great arranger, knowledgable about audio
recording, mixing, mastering and engineering,
a good singer, a good performer, songwriter,
graphic designer, web designer, marketer,
publisher and so on. Very few people
have all of these skills at a degree
advanced enough to create a professional
musical identity alone; in fact, I would
venture to say that nobody has
all of these skills in-and-of themselves.
Face it—you're going to need help
unless you are some sort of super genius.
And trust me, no one is that good...
no matter how hard we try to kid ourselves.
Even if you were, you'd run out of energy
(or take thirty years) to get a quality
album recorded and released.
In
my opinion one of the things that is
hurting industrial music the most is
the lack of collaboration, and the lack
of real bands (that consist of
more than one individual). Due to the
division of labor you can perform everything
faster than before: songwriting, mixing,
recording... heck, you can even begin
to specialize in particular tasks. If
you are only an average singer and someone
else is better, let them focus on that
while you worry about building up an
impressive sample library for future
compositions.
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Think
you can do your music all by yourself?
Even if you were a genius you
wouldn't be that good.
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The
esprit de corps of having a true "band"
is a missing element in industrial music
nowadays. Ever wonder why there are
so many rock and metal bands around?
Well, for one, since everything has
to be played live (well, essentially)
each player spends money on a specific
type of gear. Not for the misanthropic
musician, who has to foot the price
of all equipment themselves; not exactly
an easy requirement! The added dynamics
of having bandmates to push you to practice
more, write more songs, and to generally
excel is also missing. Another factor
is live playing, another area that the
industrial genre is just falling apart
on. Industrial bands need to play out
more, and to play better shows that
are professional and feature more musicianship.
After all, who do you think is going
to be more exciting: a lone misanthropic
musician or a four or five musicians
on stage? I think it goes without saying
that, up to a point, having more people
on stage will create a more interesting
live show than a single person can.
So
what can we do about it? The first thing
that we, as industrial musicians, need
to do is get off our lazy asses! It
may suck at first, but you have to leave
the comfort zone of your own studio
and look for collaborators. Put want
ads, search the Internet, post classifieds
on DarkSonus, ask around the local music
scene, steal musicians from other bands...
but make some effort to find someone
(or someones... even better) to get
your act in gear. Trust me, sitting
all alone in your studio trying to get
something done all by yourself is not
nearly as much fun (or labor efficient)
as collaborating with a few other musicians.
When
working with other musicians never
forget that ego has killed more
bands than drugs have.
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But,
if you are going to work with other
musicians the first thing you need to
do is learn a little humility.
I know that this isn't a popular concept
with the fiercely independent, egotistical
industrial musician... but it has to
be done. Listen to their input, provide
your input—remember that this is
a collaboration. Everyone's ideas should
recieve ample amounts of attention,
regardless of what idea is used. The
concept is to write the best music,
not who's music it is; after all, in
a collaborative effort the music is
essentially everyone's creation. Never
forget that when working with other
musicians that they are your PEERS and
that you need to remain HUMBLE at all
times; ego has killed more bands than
drugs... trust me on this.
Here
are some ideas for incorporating collaboration
into your music, and to get you out
of the misanthropic musician rut:
1.)
FORM A TRADITIONAL BAND: That's
right, form a band. Don't use sequences
at all, make everything played live.
Find a synth player or two, a singer,
maybe a bass player and a drummer. This
is your band... now write some industrial
music. Gary Numan had a setup identical
to this from 1979 to 1983 and wrote
some of the most interesting electronic
music ever.
2.)
COLLABORATE: Find someone that sings
(if you don't) or plays an instrument
that you cannot. Don't limit yourself
to "strictly" industrial music
but try to merge your influences into
something new. Make a goal to write
an EP's worth of songs; perhaps a full
album. Maybe in time you will find a
few other players and form a real band.
If not, the experience will be fun and
may provide a lasting partnership.
3.)
PARTNERSHIP: Find another misanthropic
industrial maven and form a two man
group. One of you should focus more
on singing, preferrably the best singer...
although you could switch singing duties
song to song if you really wanted to.
Combine your gear together and optimize
it... possibly selling off duplicate
equipment (provided this appears to
be a long-term committment). Try to
create your songs as "live"
as possible so that you can play shows
with just the two of you using a minimal
of DAT or other forms of pre-recorded
music.
4.)
FORM AN INDUSTRIAL BAND: Why not
put together the traditional industrial
band? Get a drum machine, a singer and
two synth players. Play everything live
to the drum machine. Front 242 did this
for years; in fact, I'd say that their
best material was written using this
formula.
These
are just some of the possiblities available.
I'm sure there are dozens more I'm missing,
but I just wanted to hit the highlights
or most obvious examples.
In
my opinion, unless we—the
untested, unsigned artists—get
off our butts and start organizing ourselves
the industrial genre is dead meat.
Especially the younger musicians out
there, who are the future of the entire
genre. Old farts like me are way too
old to attempt to 'do it' and start
a career in being a recording artist.
Do it now while you are young and don't
have house payments.
The
first step to organizing ourselves is
to form bands. The next step is to start
playing clubs and winning over new fans.
Without this lifeblood, the industrial
genre doesn't stand a chance against
other types of music... Musicians that
are getting off their asses and organizing
themselves.
-James Meeker
