Feed Them
After talking with Jim about Combichrist opening for Rammstein at Madison Square Garden, I've been doing some thinking.
VNV Nation, The Cruxshadows, and Combichrist need to get even bigger.
I don't like VNV Nation at all. I can't stand Future-Pop, and consider their live show uninspired. The Cruxshadows, as probably the most popular Goth band around, represent a travesty of taste to me. Combichrist is mac'n'cheese music - appealing, but not terribly good for you.
Yet, I posit that it would be beneficial for them to increase even more in popularity.
Why?
It's easy to forget Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails in the mid 90s, amidst the former's increasingly poor output and ho-hum shock tactics, and the latter's self-indulgent noodlings. But early on, they managed to bridge popular and underground music. A number of people thought that this would lead to Goth & Industrial finally hitting it big. We know better now. It's not like Chemlab entered rotation on MTV or Black Tape for a Blue Girl were featured on Unplugged.
But it did have an effect. Sure, we had plenty of you're-doing-it-wrong Mansonites and tourists ending up in the clubs. But the popularity of the Nothing stable legitimately brought a pretty big influx of people into the community.
I suspect a blow-up of a band like Combichrist could do the same. And that could make a world of difference with our struggling concerts and club nights. Right now we have a larger number of people that pay attention to the aforementioned three bands while seemingly being uncaring of the deeper depths of the genre, and a smaller group of passionate people that do care. If even a tenth of that larger audience were to cross over, it would do a world of good.
VNV Nation, The Cruxshadows, and Combichrist need to get even bigger.
I don't like VNV Nation at all. I can't stand Future-Pop, and consider their live show uninspired. The Cruxshadows, as probably the most popular Goth band around, represent a travesty of taste to me. Combichrist is mac'n'cheese music - appealing, but not terribly good for you.
Yet, I posit that it would be beneficial for them to increase even more in popularity.
Why?
It's easy to forget Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails in the mid 90s, amidst the former's increasingly poor output and ho-hum shock tactics, and the latter's self-indulgent noodlings. But early on, they managed to bridge popular and underground music. A number of people thought that this would lead to Goth & Industrial finally hitting it big. We know better now. It's not like Chemlab entered rotation on MTV or Black Tape for a Blue Girl were featured on Unplugged.
But it did have an effect. Sure, we had plenty of you're-doing-it-wrong Mansonites and tourists ending up in the clubs. But the popularity of the Nothing stable legitimately brought a pretty big influx of people into the community.
I suspect a blow-up of a band like Combichrist could do the same. And that could make a world of difference with our struggling concerts and club nights. Right now we have a larger number of people that pay attention to the aforementioned three bands while seemingly being uncaring of the deeper depths of the genre, and a smaller group of passionate people that do care. If even a tenth of that larger audience were to cross over, it would do a world of good.