It´s too bad...

[LavagesOfTime]

Shoot, when I was a kid, the only time you'd get to talk to a band member was if you could find your way backstage.

I noticed that, in general, the less they are famous, the easier they are to get to talk to them. There are exceptions: I saw Paul Gilbert signing stuff and taking pictures with every single person in a 100+ people queue (but there were probably more, since the venue held 1500 people); Eric Martin is such a chatty guy; Jon Oliva is usually happy having lots of fans around him, replying to questions and such.

I remember Mike LePond getting out of the venue some 20 minutes after the show, and staying there long to chat with us. Unfortunately, stayin there with him for long (he's a nice guy) meant, to me, missing the others that went out from another exit!

 

[Mullmuzzler]

I noticed that, in general, the less they are famous, the easier they are to get to talk to them. There are exceptions: I saw Paul Gilbert signing stuff and taking pictures with every single person in a 100+ people queue (but there were probably more, since the venue held 1500 people); Eric Martin is such a chatty guy; Jon Oliva is usually happy having lots of fans around him, replying to questions and such.

I remember Mike LePond getting out of the venue some 20 minutes after the show, and staying there long to chat with us. Unfortunately, stayin there with him for long (he's a nice guy) meant, to me, missing the others that went out from another exit!

King's X is another band that stays and signs stuff after the show. They even put a table out and sit, chat, sign, and take pictures.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

One of the things that really excite me is seeing videos of the bands recording a new album: you get small snippets of music but at least you know what is goin' on. It costs nearly everything (bands like Threshold or Spock's Beard did it frequently in th past and in recent years) and it gives the fans something to discuss about on the forums
And yet, it's quite cool to go back to those videos after listining intensively to the new album.

 

[Yain]

And yet, it's quite cool to go back to those videos after listining intensively to the new album.

Yes thats it.

 

[CantoX]

Remember all the stuff going on before Iconoclast got released? All that awesome info we were getting and all the hard PR working to get hype for the album. Oh yeah, no you don't, because there wasn't any. I remember there being a single post about an update on Iconoclast and promising some new information from Romeo, and then 8 months went by without a single word, and then bam, they say that in a month Iconoclast is going to be released. I was like, "what in the holy mother?"

And then after Iconoclast got released remember the awesome video for their awesome single? Nope. They ran some fan contest months after Iconoclast got released and chose that to be their official video.

It's a joke man. I'm starting to think some of the band members get a hard on for how long they put us in the dark. It's that or some of them just don't give a shit. They just want to make their songs and go tour and that's it. Aside from that they don't feel any obligations towards their fans whatsoever. That's one of the biggest reasons why I, and probably why so many former members of this forum, stopped posting here so often. Allen probably got pissed and that's why he's going full steam with Andrenaline Mob.

Also, this is just a bunch of theories so don't take it too seriously, but damn man this band is good at being quiet.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

And then after Iconoclast got released remember the awesome video for their awesome single? Nope. They ran some fan contest months after Iconoclast got released and chose that to be their official video.

Well, I *guess* that's Nuclear Blast coming up with that idea, not the band. At least two more bands on that label did the same thing (Threshold and another I can't remember). Threshold went further, they chose the winner - a pro team - and hired them to rework it with some additional footage featuring Damian Wilson. But well, Threshold is one of those bands who really know how how to treat their fans.

Allen probably got pissed and that's why he's going full steam with Andrenaline Mob.

Portnoy quit the band this June, so I can't see such a bright future for the band

Aside from that they don't feel any obligations towards their fans whatsoever

Despite this appears to be the truth, I still can't believe it. What I don't really understand is why they don't feel the need to release even a simple message, like "We do care about you but for some reasons we can't tell, we can't do more than we do". That wouldn't explain anything, but at least I would say "ok, they have their reasons".

Also, this is just a bunch of theories so don't take it too seriously,

This time I agree :Spin:

 

[CantoX]

Portnoy quit the band this June, so I can't see such a bright future for the band

Waaat? Haha. That dude is having a mid-life crisis or something. Can't keep anything going steady and he's already been in at least 4 different bands since leaving Dream Theater.
This definitely sucks for Allen and I'm wondering if the group will continue with a new drummer or end up dissolving?

At least some good has come out of me posting less and reducing the amount I listen to Symphony X, and that is that I've found so many new bands and new music to listen to. Recently I heard this song by The Contortionist called Dreaming Schematics that's pretty sick and progressive. Also this song by Fit For An Autopsy called Still We Destroy is quite brutal. Google Play kicks ass for finding new music.

 

[Yain]

I agree with how the band is really good at being quiet, and I am also disappointed like most of you that theres no notification from them about why they are not talking here. Maybe they also forgot about this forum, and they dont even visit it, but obviously a tiny little message from them on the forum here, even one, would have been amazing to see. No matter how busy the band may be, theres no way that they cant find about 10 minutes of free time to drop by and write a message here for us explaining why they are not taking part in this forum. Therefore I think its not because they are busy, but because they are not visiting this forum at all or they are not sure what to say about their silence all this time.

 

[Wander]

Devin Townsend used to be very active on his forum, before the whole DTP thing took a flight. It was really nice to have him around, he's not an Portnoy-esque egomaniac. It was almost as if he was hiding from 'public life' on his forum.

I believe Devin actually stopped exactly because it eventually got too big. Someone asked him about it on twitter. Apparently people were starting to make news articles based on what he had written on the forum and stuff like that.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I agree with how the band is really good at being quiet, and I am also disappointed like most of you that theres no notification from them about why they are not talking here. Maybe they also forgot about this forum, and they dont even visit it, but obviously a tiny little message from them on the forum here, even one, would have been amazing to see. No matter how busy the band may be, theres no way that they cant find about 10 minutes of free time to drop by and write a message here for us explaining why they are not taking part in this forum. Therefore I think its not because they are busy, but because they are not visiting this forum at all or they are not sure what to say about their silence all this time.

I perfectly understand why are they being away from the forum: the more it is crowded, the more you find yourself involved in pointless discussions. This explains why members of small bands can instead handle it.

I blame them for a general lack of updates, messages and such, posted on facebook or the website. Spock's Beard have a pr taking care of the facebook page and another guy running the website, and despite the usual, frequent updates, they often post messages from the band members.
Other bands run their website and social networks by themselves, so you know what's going on (even if it's just something like "our bass player's side band is playing tonight, go see them").

With this said, I noticed I am listening to Symphony X more frequently than in the past

 

[Kenneth R.]

This forum is dead compared to the rest of the internet. 3 threads were updated today with posts I could count on one hand. Perhaps 20 people actually are active. I don't know how many lurkers there are, but they may join in if the band replied.

 

[Yain]

I perfectly understand why are they being away from the forum: the more it is crowded, the more you find yourself involved in pointless discussions. This explains why members of small bands can instead handle it.

I blame them for a general lack of updates, messages and such, posted on facebook or the website. Spock's Beard have a pr taking care of the facebook page and another guy running the website, and despite the usual, frequent updates, they often post messages from the band members.
Other bands run their website and social networks by themselves, so you know what's going on (even if it's just something like "our bass player's side band is playing tonight, go see them").

With this said, I noticed I am listening to Symphony X more frequently than in the past

Crowded? That nearly made me laugh....you cant say that about this forum because it is basically dead except the occasional replies here and there everyday. You cant know what makes them "hide" or whatever you may want to call it, they never said why and we're all just making assumptions here which is all we can do. This forum has an amount of activity similar to those "smaller bands" so theres no way the band wouldnt handle this forum. Actually even forums of large and popular bands sometimes have low activity like on here, but to call this forum crowded is more like a bad joke than reality.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

This forum is NO LONGER crowded, but it used to be. And go figure what would happen if any member of the band would show up.