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| From | "rickbilous" <rickbilous@yahoo.ca> |
| Subject | Re: American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne |
| Date | Wed, 10 Sep 2003 23:24:55 -0000 |
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Stewart,
You obviously have your opinion, as do I. I suppose "phoning it in"
wasn't the best choice of words. As I said, musically they were
great, but they simply weren't enthusiastic. They could have had a
bunch of robots up there and the show would have been the same (if
not more interesting, from a curiosity point of view). I assumed they
would have "some" personality.
I just think you are coming from a different point of view from the
typical fan. I'm sorry, but I don't think there is any way that we
should be saying "Oh, poor Fountains of Wayne", you make a living
writing and playing music, you tour from town to town with a bunch of
guys, and spend the rest of your time drinking/partying (I don't
think they are the groupie type of band). When you play bars/clubs,
you don't have to worry about a crowd, you in fact have people paying
to see you play, wanting to buy your stuff.. Why would you alienate
your fan base?
It is certainly up to them how they play their shows, but they have
to remember that I (the fan) are going to tell people that I was
disappointed. Am I going to drive 10 hours to see them again? No way.
Add the two friends I brought with me times 4-5 fans who feel the
same way times 200 shows a year adds up to a lot of lost ticket
revenue. Do I care? no, not really, it's up to them.
By the way, I'm not blaming anyone, it isn't anybody's "fault". I
just think that bands need to think of the effect of "word of mouth".
I had the impression that Fountains of Wayne didn't care. And, if
they didn't care, why are they touring?
> 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
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