Some of you may wonder why I stopped playing live shows around the Capital District. There’s a pretty good reason for that really is simply because I’m no longer interested in the scene. I’m pretty much retired from playing live music, but I’m not retired from making music, though. I will always play guitar and make music forever but playing live? I don’t know, I’m pretty much done playing live.

Some of you would probably read this post, get all offended and pissed off but that’s all good. I’m not afraid to be real. I don’t give a shit if this posts offends people ’cause I’m not afraid of the truth. The Capital District music scene isn’t as good anymore like it used to be.

Here are 8 reasons why in no particular order:

• Too many assholes and too much negativity around: Enough said? I have been a part of the musicians community around the Capital District for years now. Not everyone around here is gonna be nice. There are gonna be a lot of douchebags around here for sure just so you know. You will indeed be experiencing a lot of feuds with musicians and you won’t get along with everyone that’s for sure. Not everything about the music scene is gonna be positive. You will get backstabbed a lot, you will get criticized and bullied a lot too. That’s one thing I never liked about this area is too much negativity and drama around here. If there is one thing about the Albany region that has a problem is this right here… the attitudes. I can’t think of anything positive about the scene really.
• Too much arrogance: The huge egos of musicians never really ceases to amaze me. It has always been a huge problem and still is now.  In fact, it is getting MUCH worse. Too many musicians are full of themselves and many obsess with their own self-importance. Many of them can be pretty pretentious. Acting like they’re rock stars when they’re not. It’s still a problem even to this day. Many of them think they’re so talented and won’t be afraid to say so. While egos of musicians is a huge problem, the more established musicians and bands have an even bigger ego. They are much worse, in my opinion. If they have more success than you, they’ll make you feel like you’re unimportant. Don’t get me wrong, though… I know not all musicians are arrogant and egotistical but most of them are, though. It’s very rare nowadays when you’ll come across a humble and friendly musician. I know they are out there, though. All musicians are different.
• Scene is too liberal and area getting too political: Here is another thing that is frustrating me. The local music scene getting too political. The left-wing music scene is especially getting much worse under Trump as president. A lot of bands and musicians won’t keep politics out of their music and social networking. No doubt we have a very liberal music scene and it makes me want to avoid the scene like the plague even more. I’ll never forget the day when Donald Trump was elected president, all the local musicians and bands here got upset. No doubt most musicians around here are very liberal people. I’ve had many musicians refusing to support me ’cause of my somewhat “conservative” views. I’m guessing this is why the music scene lost interest in me but I don’t give a shit, though.
• Lack of venues: If you’re hearing things out there that people say the music scene is “thriving” don’t listen to them. We’ve had a pretty dead music scene for many years and it still haven’t change. There are no venues here and no places to play from where I am seeing. Venues come and go around the area that’s for sure. I’ve seen some of the most iconic and popular music venues close down over the years and now there is nothing pretty much. What’s the point of me going out there to play when there are no venues anymore? Don’t call craphole bar rooms a venue ’cause I won’t go to a bar ever again.
• Nobody goes to shows anyways: Usually when I go play a show in the area, it’s usually me playing to small crowd or no crowd at all. I may have performed in front of a large crowd a few times but that’s only because I opened for a few established acts in the past. It is hard to get people out to your shows. It isn’t because your music is bad, it’s not that… it’s just that not enough people support local music nowadays.
• Not a lot of good talent anymore: Honestly, I haven’t really seen any local band and talent that really grabs my attention. There are a few local bands and artists that I support around here but other than that, I haven’t really heard anything that I really like. I miss the old days of local music when there were great talent everywhere.
• Genres changes around here every now and then: Rock and roll and metal used to be pretty big around the area. Now this area seems to have switched to country, pop music, DJ’s, rappers and the hipster indie rock scene seems to be getting the most attention nowadays. What is going on?
• Promoters around here are actually pretty selective on who they promote: Without naming names, there’s a lot of online promoters who claim to be supportive of all local music and artists and bands around here but don’t believe the hype. I can’t count how many times I sent in music or requested to get interviewed only to get rejected every time. You can’t trust the promoters around here for sure.

So there you have it, y’all. Hope you enjoy the read but if you didn’t, that’s okay too.

Kev