Aphera Music

I used to be in a classic rock band. Yes, in ninth grade I sang and played Elton John wearing a huge pair of sunglasses and a blue satin blazer. And in tenth grade I stood at my Korg Triton playing that oscillating organ part in ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. I cried after both shows – the first, because a video revealed that my out of tune voice ruined the performance for the entire band. After the second concert, our drummer, who panicked mid song and just stopped drumming for a painful 30 seconds, took one of the stools that resided in the back of our band room and smashed it against the wall until there was nothing left. Again, our performance was a disappointment but I saved and still have one of the splintered pieces of that stool.

Those experiences made me appreciate talent, skill and rock music. Our lead guitarist would come in with tendonitis from playing the finger numbing, ‘Big Love’, and our bassist could not only fly through ‘Roundabout’, but could step in and play any of our instruments almost better than we could ourselves. But when trying to play the epic classics, we slipped up, got nervous, and never really nailed the songs.

So even though The Who’s performance at the half time show was lively only due to the pizzazz of the lights, and the familiarity of ‘Pinball Wizard’ in the opening, I felt nothing but awe and respect for Daltrey’s I’m-way-out-of-breath performance.

When it was over I wondered whether it would be refreshing to hear indie music become all about showcasing skill on a particular instrument – if solos ran rampant through songs and if covering a piano or guitar part required training at that particular instrument. I think this would bring an interesting element to the indie music scene, but maybe it would also dismantle it into another genre completely.

As for indie music, there is something to be said for playing the synth with one hand, while holding a trumpet in the other with a guitar slung over your back. I mean, today’s music scene – at least the one we cover – is all about being the master of multitasking. And this is not easy either. I once watched my brother perform his own radiohead-esque composition. It didn’t go very well because he hadn’t practiced timing his loop well enough, while holding down another pedal with his foot, singing and playing the keyboard in between strokes of his guitar. This type of music takes its own precision, genius and songwriting skill – but maybe not the same skill that comes from mastering an instrument.

The Rustlanders

The Who’s performance left me nostalgic for some classic rock; for five piece bands where I can hear the guitar, keyboard, drums, bass and appreciate the members who can tame these instruments and make them perform at their highest potential.

The first song is from The Rustlanders, a band from my hometown State College, Pennsylvania. They are in the process of making a huge name for themselves – they’ve already opened for Keith Urban when he did a show in PA. The guitarist of my good-old classic rock band mentioned in my opening paragraph frequently jumps in and plays gigs with their lead singer in State College.

PLAY TRACKS

Next is Okkervil River – a really simple, down to earth rock-folk-indie band. I get turned on to bands with keyboard parts that are improvisational. I think this is because it’s a skill I’ve never really mastered myself.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 5:41 PM and is filed under Aphera Featured Artist, Music We Think You Should Listen To, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.