Reply #20: Hmmm. that's where you and I part ways. [View All]

[RandomKoolzip]

It doesn't matter what genre you play in, if you're not going to be proficient on your instrument, you ought to be into "installation art" or something. Music communicates best to the listener when the people making the musics are attuned to the possibilities and the nuances that their instuments provide them and are playing together as a unit, not as the extension of some art concept. If the point of Punk is to be aggressive, have an attitude, and piss off a lot of people, then a musician who can wrench the most in-your-face sounds out his/her instrument should be in demand. I point to Greg Ginn of Black Flag here, a guy who practiced five hours a day, rehearsed his band seven days a week, eight hours a day, until his band was capable of beheading an audience with their precision and drive. The world doesn't need another garage amateur with big ideas and no skill. The world needs more Corin Tuckers and Carrie Brownsteins, who are capable of developing their own musical language, getting their hands dirty practicing, and being able to kick ass so much better than those bands who think their politics or their "attitude" will do all the work for them.

I've always been suspicious of the "DIY" aspect that critics always claimed was the "heart" of Punk. I mean, how low should your musical standards go before it all dissolves into gobbledygook? The Sex Pistols could play together as a unit and developed their own approach to timbre and arrangement, specifically showcasing the interaction between a heavily overdriven rythym guitar and charging, eighth-note-riding drums. Anyone who says that they couldn't play is willfully ignoring the power of the music itself, and the ability that went into creating that power.