Music is music. Whether it’s local or national, you have every right to be real about everything as much as you want to. I love “constructive criticism”, it’s what I do. That’s what this blog is all about. This blog have always been about “constructive criticism” on all topics. Being real about things. The reason I’m like this is because I’m one of those who feel that if you don’t like something and if you don’t agree with something… you feel the need to say it. Get it out of you and don’t hold it in. A lot of people seem to be keeping their thoughts and honesty to themselves. I don’t want to be one of those who pretends to be positive and lovable about everything. In other words, I don’t want to be a “fake” like most people. I like to be real. Being real helps makes my life much easier. Trust me… I am not afraid of the truth and not afraid to say stuff that everyone else is afraid to say.

If I want to believe that playing music shouldn’t be about the money, I have that right. It’s just what I believe in. That opinion wasn’t meant to offend or upset other musicians… I was just speaking of what I believe in. I never did music for the money… I am in it for the love of it… and there is nothing wrong with believing in that. I don’t care to get a big career in music. That’s not my goal. My goal is trying to become the best songwriter I can be and try to get better.

If I want to think this band and that band there is shit, I have that right. If I want to believe that musicians around here are complete assholes and unprofessional, I have that right to believe in that. If I want to disagree with the things they do like Battle of The Bands (and other competitions), going for pay to play gigs, playing shit venues, etc. I have that right to say it. If I want to criticize the way bands write songs and make their music, I have that right too.

For example, I am not into this band called Phantogram. A lot of people enjoy them but not me. I started to like that band at first but got bored of ’em quick. Their music is not my cup of tea. I can’t get into that techno electronica stuff they do. They are too pop for me. I think Phantogram is a bit over hyped as well. People seem to enjoy them ’cause they’re from Greenwich/Saratoga area and a lot of people around here support them for that reason plus a lot of Greenwich people who are friends with them like them too. I don’t have to enjoy them ’cause they are from around here. No hating… just giving you an example of “constructive criticism”. I don’t get all the hype of this band. I was sitting at the table at the Healthy Living store at the mall having a cold drink and heard Phantogram twice on the radio… they’re also all over commercials on TV.

With all this being said, there is really no music scene around here if you think about it. Nobody really goes to original shows anymore. There are hardly any venues around. Most went out of business. It’s almost impossible to get gigs these days. Especially with all the pay to play venues and scams all over the place. Crazy!!!!!!!!

There are so much talent around the Albany area but we pretty much have a dead music scene. We always have had a dead music scene and always will. It will never change.

I think it’s best to be real about music. I’m the one paying bands & artists for what they do and I wanna makes my money’s worth. I also want to do what’s best for myself since I’m a musician and songwriter as well.

The reason a lot of musicians get angry at my criticism is ’cause a lot of them feel that I haven’t had much experience in the music scene to prove my points so they wanna think they’re bigger and better than me all the time. Sorry to say but that’s all pretty assumptive. I’ve had years of experience in the music scene. You may not see it but I do. My years of local music go way back. I think I started supporting the scene somewhere in early 2000, maybe earlier than that. If I’m the one going to the gigs, I have every right to review of what I see there. I’ve been supporting local bands for years and played some gigs of my own as well. I played many open mics over the years.

I’ll never change who I am just because a bunch of musicians don’t like my honesty. That’s what a critic is supposed to do. Piss people off and get ’em going. If you can’t handle my criticism on here… then you won’t be able to handle criticism of other bloggers and music critics. Sorry to say but the bigger you get in the music industry… the more critics and bloggers will be writing bad stuff about you. That’s the name of the game in the music business. Not all music critics out there are gonna be positive about everything you do musically. You will get a few negative reviews of your music and your band. You have to learn to have balls and stay above the critics. If you can’t… then you won’t get very far at all and you’ll let the critics win.

My criticism and honesty maybe cynical and harsh — yes — but at least people are reading, paying attention, and I’m getting the job done. I’m happy what I do. No regrets at all!

Kev

Ya know, I am pretty disgusted at the way a lot of bands and venues are pricing the admission to get into shows in this day and age. I look at all the show flyers and sometimes when I go to actual shows myself, I see venues pricing gigs at around $10 – $15. This is one thing I really hate about the music scene is the pricing for shows. I think $10 or a little more is a bit too high. In my opinion, “local gigs” don’t need to be priced that high. A price like that should be good enough to go see some crappy indie band at some craphole club. I miss the days when local music shows used to cost like $3 – $5 dollars to get in. The reason the pricing of shows are going up is because there is so much talent around this area and a lot of people are going to shows. As long as the scene is thriving, they’ll raise the price.

Money. *sigh*

That’s all this scene seem to care about these days. It seems that it’s okay to play music for the money the way this scene is going. Why do you think Pay to Play gigs are on the rise in the Capital area? Pay to play is all over this area now which is why it’s almost pointless to be gigging these days.

I was never about the money when it comes to music. I’m willing to play shows where I don’t get paid at all and I don’t care how much I get paid. I’m one of those who feel that if you play music for money, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. I think musicians are a bit greedy when it comes to money and stuff.

Free shows are slowly fading away, I notice as well. I was always willing to play free gigs. Most of my gigs from the past were free shows. I only got paid from very few of them.

Music is not a day job for me. I don’t need extra income for that. I don’t want to make money out of my art. Something I’m proud of.

If I were to ever get back to playing live again, I would make sure I would play a free gig somewhere.

This is part of the reason why I don’t go out too much to see bands at local gigs ’cause I feel that the admission pricing these days are pretty ridiculous. $10 is too much to see some local band at some craphole bar — seriously, think about it for a few minutes.

Kev