thoughts on terrordactyls
elliott smith will never fail to keep me in awe.
anyways....
TERRORDACTYLS finally did it, played at the god forsaken cobalt cafe. after today i finally fully realized why everyone hates that place so much. i can deal with the dumb pre-teen wannabe scenesters and the dicky staff, but when you go up to play and the sound guy is just dicking around and doesn't get your shit together to play. also the fact that they don't even mic instruments is just ridiculous. i might as well play a show for my grandmothers 80th birthday, even the mosaic cafe in tujunga mics up amps and drums.
besides all that, we had another fun show. its always fun playing for new crowds and watch them try to fully grasp what they are watching in front of them. four kids, usually dressed up in random costumes (gangsters, ups employees, hellogoodbye track outfits w/ satanic symbols painted on, etc), screaming and making what seems to be completely improvised noise and calling them songs. Then, to be watching me throw myself from end of the crowd to the other (nearly injuring a few innocent bystanders) and Taylor grinding on any local kid, its no wonder why we always get a delayed and confused response after the opening songs.
once the crowd begins to take a feel for what hurricane they have just been thrown in they begin to loosen up and interact with us and we openly joke with all of them. todays topic seemed to revolve around our "use" of drugs and being from Sunland-Tujunga. two topics you can never go wrong with. With each passing song the crowds response always becomes more positive and they finally begin to get the logic behind the mayhem.
the crowd beings their journey from the earliest thrash/grind works of the band to a jazz dance anthem about kicking the stomach of your pregnant girl friend to a moving units type dance song about christopher reeves and finally what sounds like if the locust opened up their own disco in the 70s and orchid came to crash it.
this band has no boundaries and thats why i love it so much.
with people trying so hard to emmulate their idols and trying to fit molds its no wonder why so many bands, despite their hard work and determination, easily fall into the cracks of the music scene. yeah, the kids may be loving bands like Thursday and other similar groups (Thrice, TBS, Fall Out Boy, Etc) so it would seem the way to get welcomed into the scene is to fit the formula that works. yes, this does work for a while, but once the fad wears itself out *cough*grunge,numetal*cough* all the copycats are forgotten and the kids move on to what next mediocre wave of similar bands comes their way. we do admit to being guilty of this in the past, but what can i say, mistakes happen. one thing always remains true about all things, originality, although rarely expressed anymore in our so called "individualist" society, is always highly rewarded and remembered forever. even if the end product isn't the best, it still gets its credit for taking that step outside of the expected and pushing new boundaries for other people to experiment with and call their own. we want to take that step away from familiar grounds and see how far we can go with our ideas, but never forgetting my roots and beginnings.
yet, as random as it all sounds it is threaded with some sort of common string and what that string is?
we still have no clue, but we know its there.
we don't take ourselves, or much of anything else either, seriously. yet, then again we think we're the best thing to ever happen to humans. we're nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites then you say? yeah, we know we are, but unlike you we are the first to admit it and build something worth while with our time because we've moved on from worrying about such petty things, like your opinion. hard to think that a band like this got signed to a record label with songs about mud butt and having sex with bagels. maybe its a sign of the apocalypse finally coming, and if thats the case, so be it.
our music may be too much for most people and most can't relate to our powerviolence/electro stylings, but they all know how to have a good time with a group of crazy assholes in a rat hole being passed off as a venue. we are a live band and you won't ever get what were about unlesss you take the time to come out and see what it's truly all about. the music are only the cliff notes for our performances. it's one thing to read the script of a play compared to watching it being acted out in front of you and elaborated on.
TERRORDACTYLS is exactly what the "scene", or what's left of it at least, needs today. a band thats going to do a mental nut grab with each performance. it's sickening watching bands so worried about keeping up the image and hitting all the right notes with the proper technique that they forget that its a performance. if i wanted to hear the song being played like it is on the album i would of stayed home and went on myspace.com. sadly, kids put up with this and accept these sad acts as being a part of going to a show. as live musicians we are performers and a performer must get their audience to buy into the setting they are trying to create for them. otherwise, you've done nothing but waste the time of the people who came out to see you. 2 people or 2000 people, our whole hearts go into what we do and always will. once that changes its time to call it quits.
if music is not truly in your heart then what are you still doing here?
anyways....
TERRORDACTYLS finally did it, played at the god forsaken cobalt cafe. after today i finally fully realized why everyone hates that place so much. i can deal with the dumb pre-teen wannabe scenesters and the dicky staff, but when you go up to play and the sound guy is just dicking around and doesn't get your shit together to play. also the fact that they don't even mic instruments is just ridiculous. i might as well play a show for my grandmothers 80th birthday, even the mosaic cafe in tujunga mics up amps and drums.
besides all that, we had another fun show. its always fun playing for new crowds and watch them try to fully grasp what they are watching in front of them. four kids, usually dressed up in random costumes (gangsters, ups employees, hellogoodbye track outfits w/ satanic symbols painted on, etc), screaming and making what seems to be completely improvised noise and calling them songs. Then, to be watching me throw myself from end of the crowd to the other (nearly injuring a few innocent bystanders) and Taylor grinding on any local kid, its no wonder why we always get a delayed and confused response after the opening songs.
once the crowd begins to take a feel for what hurricane they have just been thrown in they begin to loosen up and interact with us and we openly joke with all of them. todays topic seemed to revolve around our "use" of drugs and being from Sunland-Tujunga. two topics you can never go wrong with. With each passing song the crowds response always becomes more positive and they finally begin to get the logic behind the mayhem.
the crowd beings their journey from the earliest thrash/grind works of the band to a jazz dance anthem about kicking the stomach of your pregnant girl friend to a moving units type dance song about christopher reeves and finally what sounds like if the locust opened up their own disco in the 70s and orchid came to crash it.
this band has no boundaries and thats why i love it so much.
with people trying so hard to emmulate their idols and trying to fit molds its no wonder why so many bands, despite their hard work and determination, easily fall into the cracks of the music scene. yeah, the kids may be loving bands like Thursday and other similar groups (Thrice, TBS, Fall Out Boy, Etc) so it would seem the way to get welcomed into the scene is to fit the formula that works. yes, this does work for a while, but once the fad wears itself out *cough*grunge,numetal*cough* all the copycats are forgotten and the kids move on to what next mediocre wave of similar bands comes their way. we do admit to being guilty of this in the past, but what can i say, mistakes happen. one thing always remains true about all things, originality, although rarely expressed anymore in our so called "individualist" society, is always highly rewarded and remembered forever. even if the end product isn't the best, it still gets its credit for taking that step outside of the expected and pushing new boundaries for other people to experiment with and call their own. we want to take that step away from familiar grounds and see how far we can go with our ideas, but never forgetting my roots and beginnings.
yet, as random as it all sounds it is threaded with some sort of common string and what that string is?
we still have no clue, but we know its there.
we don't take ourselves, or much of anything else either, seriously. yet, then again we think we're the best thing to ever happen to humans. we're nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites then you say? yeah, we know we are, but unlike you we are the first to admit it and build something worth while with our time because we've moved on from worrying about such petty things, like your opinion. hard to think that a band like this got signed to a record label with songs about mud butt and having sex with bagels. maybe its a sign of the apocalypse finally coming, and if thats the case, so be it.
our music may be too much for most people and most can't relate to our powerviolence/electro stylings, but they all know how to have a good time with a group of crazy assholes in a rat hole being passed off as a venue. we are a live band and you won't ever get what were about unlesss you take the time to come out and see what it's truly all about. the music are only the cliff notes for our performances. it's one thing to read the script of a play compared to watching it being acted out in front of you and elaborated on.
TERRORDACTYLS is exactly what the "scene", or what's left of it at least, needs today. a band thats going to do a mental nut grab with each performance. it's sickening watching bands so worried about keeping up the image and hitting all the right notes with the proper technique that they forget that its a performance. if i wanted to hear the song being played like it is on the album i would of stayed home and went on myspace.com. sadly, kids put up with this and accept these sad acts as being a part of going to a show. as live musicians we are performers and a performer must get their audience to buy into the setting they are trying to create for them. otherwise, you've done nothing but waste the time of the people who came out to see you. 2 people or 2000 people, our whole hearts go into what we do and always will. once that changes its time to call it quits.
if music is not truly in your heart then what are you still doing here?