Btw, I wanted to, but I forgot to answer this post on my previous message... But Xero, how do you think Mike has done a big turn around in its philosophy? I mean, how would potentially heavier music be a barrier to experimentation? From my perspective, both can be done simultaneously. I would like to hear you views on this
Yeah, I was going to say this. Rock music hasn't been marketable for a while, that doesn't mean it sucks.
Oh, I definitely think that can be done. That's not really what I meant. I just think "obsessing" over how "soft" rock music is seems like a petty thing to worry about compared to experimenting and growing as an artist. You can do both, but one just seems sillier than the other. Also, people who are concerned with experimenting and progressing their own music and all that don't usually worry about what everyone else is doing. Why should they? I guess my argument isn't that heavy music =/= creative, it's that worrying about how heavy something is just doesn't seem like that big a deal. It seems kind of shallow.
^ Well, ok, I get your point now. I think the " experimenting and growing as an artist" modo is pretty much his implicit mentality about the band now, in a way that he doesn't have to express it over and over again anymore. I mean, at the end of the day, it would become kind of redundant to say in every interview "First and foresmost, I want to keep experimenting and continue my progression as an artist!". Stop, we know this, no need to repeat But once you got that mentality, you still have to give your music a direction to go. And that direction can come from whatever motivation you have at the moment. For example, with ATS, I think the main motivation behind the experimentating was to make their entire record a whole experience, with psychedelic sonic landscapes,. And also something as far as possible from the HT sound. Now, with this new one, the motivation behind the experimenting could be this obsession with "rock music going soft". I'm not saying that it will be this, but it maybe could, and that would in no way means the end of experimentation.
Well put. And about the phrase I'm quoting, it kind of matches what I said in an earlier post . So I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that, which is good.
Yes, I pretty much agreed with everything you said in that previous post Btw, just to further my point a little more, I know the band Arcade Fire recently released their new record which incorporated some new jamaican/haitian influences. The explanation to this comes form a trip some of the band members had in Haiti, where they were exposed to those influences. They then though " Oh, it might be cool to put some of that in our new music, and to blend it with our other sounds". They didn't forced themselves to sound like Haiti music, but it was a motivation behind their process, to try those new things and see if it worked out. It could be the same there, imagining Mike being frustrated with the current state of rock, and trying some things linked to that during the recording process. I just don't see how it would be shallow.
I don't think you can compare those two things. Arcade Fire is very heavily tied to Haitian culture and decided to make a more dance oriented album. They didn't look at the rest of music and say "hey, no one is dancing, so let's make a dance album." They weren't concerned with what the industry was doing or whatever. Arcade Fire: We want to incorporate the influences of a culture we've grown into an album that is much more dance oriented than our previous albums. Mike: Rock songs aren't punching people in the face like they used to. It just doesn't seem like the same thing to me. Mike has also previously kind of shrugged off the idea of purposefully making things heavy for the sake of heavyness. Now he's concerned with how soft rock music is? I don't follow. Edit: Also, if Mike is "frustrated" with rock music being soft as you suggested, he must realize that as the creative mind behind one of the biggest selling rock acts in the world, he helped contribute to that softness.
Not being groundbreaking = sucks? I'd say a band like Textures is pretty groundbreaking, or at least they use their influences from older bands in a cool, personal way.
I don't know if I'd say groundbreaking but Halestorm is a new(er) group that's fucking fantastic. Lzzy Hale is one of the greatest vocalists I've ever heard live.
[Erased arguing ] Eventually, this whole thread have probably looked way too deep into Mike's statements. Didn't he said like 2 weeks ago that he still had no idea of how the next record is going to sound?
Some of these bands I'm about to list have been around a little while but some have produced brilliant albums and or have boomed in popularity in the past few years. I've bolded my favourites. The Defiled Alter Bridge Avenged Sevenfold Halestorm Kvelertak Architects Ghost Crossfaith Five Finger Death Punch Killswitch Engage Airbourne Steel Panther Gojira Parkway Drive Bring Me The Horizon I could go on.
You still seem to be convinced that not new and innovative = automatically sucks. That's not what rock is supposed to be about. And I still think Textures is a pretty unique band with a modern sound. If you're going to tell me it's not, at least I'd like to know your reasons why.
Who started the whole "suck" thing? Mike said that rock music is soft and not innovative. All these bands mentioned here are doing nothing new... That's the issue here.
Not every group can revolutionize or redefine their genre. I think Halestorm does a pretty fantastic take on modern rock. I know you're not dissing them or anything. But they're heavy, not innovative, and insanely talented. I don't see why they'd need to be anything else or why that's even an issue.
^ I didn't start it, I was just saying that there aren't any recent albums that changed the game. The thing is that there aren't any bands lately that did that... and I believe that that's what Mike is talking about. So as long as the music is heavy that's enough? I'm outta here.
Finding Iris is a new rock band that just started out. I don't listen to much rock music (I rather Alternative) but you don't see many new rock bands coming out and becoming popular, it's all pop you hear about.