Monoculture and rockism

[boof_boy]

Weekend in Huddersfield with K. Weather hideous, but we did manage to get across to Dewsbury to do some charity shopping. Found an excellent pair of brown Loakes slip-ons (£8), plus The Smiths: The Complete Picture VHS (£1) and the BBC footage of the 1966 World Cup Final on DVD for 49p. Hooray

Comments

[tredecimal]

I don't know that you should have to 'try' to have not just four white dudes, skinny or not. I know I've never started a band with a personnel type in mind besides people with similar ideas. I do know it chaps my hide when I see flyers that say "FEMALE bassist wanted" or "All Chicks Only Band Seeks...", not so much because I feel like I'm missing out on something, or that I want to do the converse and not feel bad about it, but just because it seems equally retarded. Basing your band construction on gender is a gimmick no less than dressing alike, and gimmicks suck. Gimmickry dooms you to being just one of those godawful 'visual kei' bands. I can see picking people less on ability or commonalities, and based on personality or prior relationship, but that's about the only non-sonic thing that I think should be a salient factor. If you say you get along better with women than men, ok, maybe that's valid, but I think most people who say that have already made up their mind about all men. (including men who say that, and what that usually

[boof_boy]

Some interesting points ... and I don't support that women only thing, or 'female bassist required' type ads either.

[milky_vii]

uh, what if the band wants multiple female vocalists? or what if the members simply feel alienated by whatever scene they are in (for lack of a better term) and want to meet other creative, like-minded women? in a culture where you are a minority, perhaps it gives these people strength to seek out one another and work together. One day hopefully it wont have to be that way, but we are still working within a male-oriented structure. Music can be incredibly alienating to women, especially in say, punk and hardcore. I don't really think it comes down to gimmick. I'd personally really like another girl in my band so we could layer female vocals, and perhaps at one point I will have to place an ad seeking out such a member. Perhaps the band wants to discuss issues in regards to feminism? (though personally, I do believe it would good to see bands with mixed members speaking about feminist issues...it should be of equal importance to both genders and it's important not to alienate

[boof_boy]

Visual Kei? I'll have to look that up!

[tredecimal]

if the band wants multiple female vocalists?

To me, that would fall under choosing people for sonic reasons. Wimmens vocal cords just be different than men's! So more power to 'em. I think the gimmickry starts when you start to coordinate outfits and such.

Now, if one worries about feeling alienated, it doesn't seem likely that they'll ever get much past buying an instrument. I'm not the punk professor or whatever (and honestly don't listen to much anymore, 99% of it bores me, and I probably find 1 hardcore band every other year that I like), but giving a shit what other people think doesn't strike me as very punk. If you worry about getting ostracized or hurt feelings, those may not be the right genres for one to be working in.

from what I know, visual kei is a (mostly) japanese genre which does place a lot of emphasis on visuals and theatrics. Is this such a bad thing?Not necessarily a *bad* thing, but it doesn't seem very musical to me. That's 'performance' or 'entertaining'. Is Tom Jones a musician, or is he an entertainer/