I need to vent...

[Yngvai X]

Alright, well basically I need to vent my frustration at various aspects of the music business/ prog/power scene right now, so excuse this rant...Up until recently I had been involved with a band (not my own) that would have hurt my career immensely had I not had the opportunity (or appropriate advice from my producer and good friend, Jeremy Krull) to pull out now.

I am sick of no talent hacks who think having a website, fancy artwork by well known artists, t shirts, forums, business cards, etc. makes a band any more legit, or professional than ones who don't, especially when the musical side of it is almost secondary, and is mediocre beyond compare. I am also sick of seeing these no talent hacks tout their coal as if it were diamonds and tear down the works of others who have the good sense to try to be something more than average and to stand out in this sea of bland "I-wish-it-were-still-1988-and-I-was-in-Helloween" power bands (or substitute the year 1988 for 1993 and Helloween for Dream Theater and you have the prog side of it). And most of all, I am sick of no talent hacks who think they can BUY their way into the music business instead of putting in HARD WORK and EFFORT and YEARS of slaving away at their craft and busting their balls on the road and in the studio. This is the ethic of a pop producer; not metal.

I'm going to play nice and not name names, but anyone who's known me personally in the past few months probably knows who I'm referring to. And if that particular person who I am referring to happens to read this, then I want them to know that they have no future in this industry and that everything I put forth musically will always decimate anything they could ever hope to produce.

Thank you and have a nice day.

 

[Jeremy Krull]

okay now this is the part where I say my motherfucking piece,

the first part is copied and pasted directly from a bulletin I did on myspace, if this offends anyone in anyway, deal with it. I am pulling no punches after this recent waste of our time and resource:

"YES! Bulletin time...

Alright, so some people close to my "camp" as well as Matt Moliti's respective "camp" know that this weekend was spent rehearsing with ***** "mastermind"/financier *** *********. Rehearsals/involvement have ended prematurely and permanently. I would like to take this opportunity to warn everyone about people in this industry, beware of folks with money. Unfortunately money is speaking more than talent or true passion for the art these days, and it is possible to get pulled into some really shady underhanded shit if you aren't seeing through the facade. So yea, I would just like to extend a hearty FUCK YOU to (you know who you are you talentless shaved ape). I would also like to apologize to the artists that I am currently producing and working with for the time I lost while being involved with this sham.

Which brings me to my next point, power metal sucks ass. The only remotely listenable power metal is the a-list power metal, like Stratovarius, Masterplan, Rage, and Helloween. Any other power metal wannabe bands can go fuck off, none of you have a future doing anything in this genre because it's all been done before and obviously only a few of you stupid, reluctant to shower, long haired shit guzzlers are delivering it with finesse and talent.

Which also brings me to my next point, anyone on my friends list reading this bulletin who is attending Prog Power 6 in Atlanta, GA, I have a request: Please attend the pre-show and cheer on OUTWORLD (featuring Rusty Cooley) with all your might. These guys have been busting their asses locally and worldwide trying to get their music and name out there, and they are going to absolutely dismantle all these other half-ass bogus stillborn skunk corpses pretending to be bands."

I also want to say, that I'm just sick of all the try-and-be's, I'm sick of mile-a-minute formula followers, I'm sick of brutally unoriginal hack over-funded Jesus metal, I'm sick of all this stupid ass shit, I'm sick of the sheep, the followers, the lack of originality, the same-ness, I'm sick of all this shit. And the worst part about this music industry is that the best talent gets stifled because of these same shaved fucking apes that buy their way into this industry and think because they have names and art attached to mediocre music that they can get ahead.

Symphony X needs another album to happen, now, all these stupid money-making wife having impotent rimjob receivers need to be put in their fucking place. I'm sick of seeing perfectly good promo, art, and print resources go to waste on C-list hack acts.

end vent.

 

[PTE3X]

Hey Matt and Jeremy points well taken. I agree

 

[Progbass]

Everything said on this page is absolutely true, keep on creating original music and try to get the spot in music business, eventually you will get what you want.

 

[dargormudshark]

too true

 

[No-Mercy]

i actually have a band in my grade that completely suck and dont give a shit about the music, but their drummer is rich as fuck and always says how hes just gonna pay his way through and hes gonna get all these famous people to come over and write with them, its fuckin ridiculous.

the thing that actually pisses me off, is that i think i can write and play so much better, and i actually have a passion and love for the music......and really dont give a fuck whether i mak 10 or 10 million dollars off of it, i just wanna do what i love. fuckers, im with you man.

 

[ThornsOfSorrow]

Same here. My band rarely even gets paid for shows, even at bigger venues. And when we do, it's not much. We don't care though, because we've been working our asses off for the past three years to get these shows. We used to get so frustrated when we found out that some other local band was getting a shitload of shows, or doing a small tour, or whatever just because they had money. Bands like that have nothing to be proud of, because they put no effort into what they do. Money is nothing to me. I'm just happy that I go out and play shows that I had to work hard to get, and people actually enjoy our music.

 

[Yngvai X]

Just to let everyone know, the person Jeremy and I are referring to is Yan Leviathan, and the band we're referring to is Avian.

 

[Rose Immortal]

Man. All I can say is I hope that Blind Guardian is on your "A-List" of power metal!

Anyway...while there are a lot of hack-acts, I think boards like this do a good job of spreading the word about the ones that are worth listening to. I have gotten a ton of good intelligence on the metal scene from you guys. And then there's my good old standby trick of tracking down the guests off of Ayreon albums...between those 2, I've been finding a lot of really good stuff.

 

[SyXified]

Which brings me to my next point, power metal sucks ass. The only remotely listenable power metal is the a-list power metal, like Stratovarius, Masterplan, Rage, and Helloween. Any other power metal wannabe bands can go fuck off, none of you have a future doing anything in this genre because it's all been done before and obviously only a few of you stupid, reluctant to shower, long haired shit guzzlers are delivering it with finesse and talent.

Yeah, okay, I'll buy that but its not like it's any different for shred or prog. In fact I'd say those two genre's are worse in terms of how many bands in them suck.

Shred: Jason Becker and Marty Friedman can write a shred song that is awesome to listen to all the way through. Paul Gilbert writes shred instrumentals that are unique and interesting. Most other stuff is like SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP in the most unintersting, non-unique manner available. Or you get guys who play fast but sloppy and have no idea that they are actually sloppy. Some play runs that if you said "play that slow" or "write that out as sheet music" they couldn't. Or if they could when they go to play it they get off time and just bumble their way through it.

Prog: All the best prog bands have a good sense of melody and progression. They realize that you can be progressive and still be appealing to people who don't just want to count time signatures to show off to their friends that they uncovered the rhythm. Way too many prog bands have a mentality of "lets write somthing no one will like" or that if its catchy its bad. Gimme a break! There is somthing to be said for writing a song that people will instantly like and sing a long to. AND IT TAKES JUST AS MUCH TALENT TO WRITE A GOOD POP SONG AS IT DOES TO PLAY IN 40 TIME SIGNATURES. If you don't want to believe that, go ahead and write a hit pop song if its so damn easy, I'd love to see it.

 

[Jax]

Okay, this was just passable when there were no names named, but now that there are, it's time to close this; it really doesn't belong here, & it can only erode into a crapfest from here.

I'm sorry you guys have had unpleasant experiences with the music biz & the people in it, and that your valuable time and resources were wasted. That sucks. But anyone who's been involved 'behind the scenes' in the business for any amount of time has had crappy experiences too, & have run into/had to deal with people who suck arse..it's just part of the whole package, sadly enough. The thing is, being fairly unprofessional about it on a totally unrelated band's forum isn't going to do anyone any good..know what I mean?

That said..I'll definitely be screaming my head for for Outworld in Atlanta..can't wait to see those guys. Perhaps we'll get them all at the TEoF lunch this year; Bobby and Rusty and I think Kelly have attended it before.