Its nice to know you work alone.

As many of you may know I have an unhealthy obsession with the Silversun Pickups. For those of you who don’t know them, they are an American band from L.A. who play a post-shoegaze style of music (or Nu-Gaze as I have heard it referred to). It’s similar or at the very least reminiscent of classic Smashing Pumpkins.

            The past two or three years I have gotten increasingly more into the music that they have been producing and it never actually occurred to me as to ‘why’ exactly they were appealing to me in the first place. I mean I could understand it on the very basic level of ‘they sound like the pumpkins…. I like the pumpkins…..I like them’ but it goes deeper (not much surprisingly but it does go deeper). The Silversun Pickups (to me) exemplify exactly what attracted me to music in the first place. They bring me back to a time of Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and yes The Smashing Pumpkins.  I know what you are thinking….’I thought this went deeper….I want my eight bucks back’, but no… its mine and this is where it gets a little deeper. It’s my belief that the reason I enjoy them so much is that it brings me back to a time where I was excited about music and art and it makes me optimistic for the future of the industry. It was a time where I could look at these bands with childlike awe (partially because I was a child) and become engrossed in the art. So few bands these days have captured the same find of feeling in me (save for some bands from Montreal. Most notably Wolf parade and all its side projects) and none have captured this feeling as purely as the Silversun Pickups. I know that they are not particularly amazing by most standards but anything that makes me feel the same way I did when I listened to Siamese Dream is obviously doing something right. You all may think I am crazy in my claims and you are right to say so but this was just one of the examples that remind me why I got into music in the first place.

            The reason I think this has been on my mind as of late is partially because I just had my first opportunity to see this band live and I have been trying to figure out in my head exactly what it was about this show that set it apart from all the other concerts I have attended. This explanation is the nearest I can figure as to why I am so into this band. I have no doubt that the majority of you will disagree with me but you all have similar experiences and personally I would like to hear them :)

This should be it for now. I dont wanna start this off as long winded as I fear it has already become. All the best

Kevin

P.s. here is a video from the concert I was at :)