smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne |
| Date | Wed, 10 Sep 2003 18:52:59 -0400 |
[Part 1 text/plain us-ascii (2.3 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
At 10:14 PM 9/10/2003 -0000, rickbilous wrote:
>See, I heard about the FOW months before being in Seattle (not many
>bands come to Calgary). I planned my vacation around going to see
>them. I didn't even have a chance to talk to the boys, they scooted
>off the stage right onto their bus. As I said, I love the music, but
>they really were "phoning it in".
I'm sorry, but those two statements are not logically connected. Phoning
it in is when you're on stage for the bare minimum of time and doing a
half-assed job of it. (The time I saw Cornershop last summer, THAT was
phoning it in, and I wasn't a bit surprised to find out that they broke up
as soon as that tour was over.) From what you're saying, the music itself
was about what you expected, but you're upset because they weren't chatty
in between songs -- which they never are and that's just the way it is
(baby) -- and they didn't hang out to meet the audience after. Again, I
can see why that might be disappointing to you, especially if you had come
all that way and built it up so much beforehand, but you can't accuse a
band of "phoning it in" just because they're not the "hey, howzit goin'" type.
>All that I ask is that they seem as if they were happy that people
>paid to see them. FOW music is silly, bouncy, FUN music. One would
>only assume that fun people make fun music - am I crazy?
Well, yeah, a little bit. This isn't a logical assumption to make in
either direction. Adam Schlesinger's other band is all cool and moody and
European-sounding: does that mean that after an Ivy gig he should stand
around in sunglasses, smoking Gitanes and reading Camus? Or does that mean
that bands who don't make silly, bouncy, FUN music can't be silly, bouncy,
fun people? That doesn't work either, since about the nicest musicians
I've ever met (James McNew, Wayne Coyne, Tim Gane, etc.) have tended to be
in bands that specialized in brooding, fairly dark and non-peppy music.
And, come to think of it, the biggest asshole I've ever interviewed was in
a band that's usually considered to be kind of lighthearted and jokey.
From what you're saying, Rick, it sounds like you're disappointed that the
FoW guys weren't who you expected them to be. But I just don't understand
why that's *their* fault.
S
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.