Columns What's Wrong With Being Rock and Roll?
Written by Laura Robida
Something curious has happened. I’ve been spending a goodish amount of time lately seeking bands for our new podcast “Indie Noise Radio,” our Listen2This feature, and to swap shows with my own band and I’m starting to wonder what’s going on with the musicians out there. Somehow, rock and roll has disappeared.
The discussion took place one night at a local bar. Several of my bandmates and I were trying to pinpoint what the band’s image should be and we felt that it was imperative to tie our image to our sound. What is our sound? That was the hardest question to answer. Looking at our contemporary counterparts we can’t find many bands that play music like we do. You might be able to stretch and say possibly The Donnas. Possibly. Even that didn’t sit well (not because we don’t adore The Donnas but because we didn’t feel like it was a 100% good fit.) We didn’t feel like we’re classic rock nor are we glam rock (though I do tend to put a bit of glam into my guitar parts) and we’re not pop or punk or alternative. When all was said and done we realized that with all the genres upon subgenres out there, we just didn’t belong. We’re left with one option: we’re rock and roll.
It sounds like a cop-out response to the ever-asked question, “what kind of music do you play?” “rock.” But, in all honesty it was the only thing we could come up with that we didn’t veto. We’re not poppy enough to call ourselves pop and we’re not punk enough to be one of “those” bands. It’s very difficult to compare us to other bands because, unlike other female or female-fronted bands, our singer can actually sing (no disrespect meant.)
Aside from our own ability to pinpoint our sound, we’ve been talking to other bands in hopes of finding a suitable gig-swapping match. It seems every band fancies themselves as “pop-punk,” “punk,” “progressive” (I frequently wonder if these bands truly understand what a progressive band is…) or “metal.” Perhaps these bands are suffering from the same problem we are: they don’t know what their sound is. Or, perhaps they really are “pop-punk.”
What’s wrong with simply calling yourself what you are? If you play rock and roll that doesn’t seem to fit into a subgenre then maybe you are playing the genre itself. There’s no shame in being a rock and roll band. Why do you have to be pop-punk because your song is catchy? I’m looking for some rock and roll bands. Do you know of any?
