Hance Alligood (Woe, Is Me) bespreekt ‘local scene’

Hance Alligood, bekend als frontman van Woe, Is Me, heeft onlangs een blogbericht online geplaatst waarin hij zich afvraagt wat er is gebeurd met de ‘local scene phase’, de fase waarin jonge bands verkeren voordat zij klaar zijn voor grote tours. Volgens hem zijn er steeds meer bands die deze fase overslaan en dus het succes in de thuisstad mislopen. Aan de andere kant is er misschien te weinig animo voor in de local scene. Check hieronder wat Alligood erover vertelde.

My theory is this: too many bands want to “skip” the local band phase and go straight to touring. 

Speaking from experience, there are circumstances in which a band gets picked up by a label, management, booking agent, etc., simply from spending the money to record at a reputable studio, without any real experience or hard work put in other than writing a couple of songs. I can name at least 4 bands from my own state that fall under this category.

They “skipped” the local band phase. In some situations, one or more members of this new band were in previous acts, whether they were just a local band or a band that had done a few tours and had been picked up by someone, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s just a band funded by kids with wealthy parents.

Well nowadays, it seems like everyone who decides to form a band doesn’t even try to put in work and gain any sort of success locally. And any bands who really wanna work to build up a local following can’t even do that anymore because there isn’t enough support to have a thriving local scene.

Local venues everywhere are shutting down or getting close to it because everyone is too focused on making it out of their hometown to even gain the interest or support from their hometown.

I know there are definitely other factors involved. But it seems to me like this is undoubtedly a huge part of why there really aren’t any thriving local scenes anymore. At least, it’s not the way it used to be.