we're also working furiously toward the completion of an epk. we've never done one of those proper and its about time. it has me thinking about transparency - should we be revealing the entrails of vacuity or crafting what we would like people to perceive as vacuity? a mashup? personally i like things that are very much real. call a spade a spade and all that. if you want to put it inside a nice frame or dress it in a blazer - that's okay - but it keep it genuine. otherwise it reeks of falseness.
this brings me to another arena of thinking though. it has to do with attitude. first let me clarify a few of my beliefs in this department.
1) you need to believe something is possible for it to become a part of your (possible) future. obviously this doesn't apply to things like contracting a disease (H1N1 anyone?). But for something like creating an infrastructure where you can pay your bills via the art you put together it applies in a very real way.
2) having said that - believing in something is not all it takes to bring an idea to fruition. necessary, but not even close.
I recently read a book titled, 'Empire of Illusion' by Chris Hedges. In one chapter, Hedges tears apart the world of positive pop psychology. The negative effects of living in a fantasy world are revealed.
I mention all this because I've always found art to be a way of expressing ideas (profound!). The ideas that interest me and inspire a lot of the things we deal with in our songs aren't always the best party ideas. And somehow entertainment has been largely marginalized as an unconditional "good time". But literacy requires self reflection. Doubt and scrutiny pave the way toward improvement. often the things with no voice are the most in need of a voice. we make music for literate people. If you buy into something like celebrity culture, I hope we can still make you dance, obviously keep listening if you please, but really... we might not be connecting.
I work (as part time as I can) for a corporation that boasts about how much they donate to charities yet pay their employees the minimum amount required by law. A law created by a government that operates in the shadow of business. Meanwhile as good consumers we're encouraged to purchase products (mostly future landfill plot junk), often manufactured under much crueler labouring conditions than 'minimum wage' in a first world country. If you want to critically discuss these types of behaviour you are breaking the illusion. You've got a bad attitude. (imagine the Savage from Huxley's 'Brave New World'.)
anyways, im digressing here which is what happens once i get going. the point i want to make is that I get anxiety as being branded as negative just by proxy. but i dont think vacuity would have been creating music together for this long if there weren't a whole lot of positive in it. for us and for you.
when i get thinking about an epk, i get worried about framing it so it doesn't look bitter. goddamn, the best moments of my life mostly involve this band, but i refuse to put on a shit eating grin and say to the camera, "Everything is alright! One day everyone on earth will be rich and famous. No one will be forgotten. All our troubles will wish wash away."
we're living in truly disturbing times. and as our friends over in the free press camp say - kick at the darkness until it bleeds light.
at the end of every day.
comes the night.
and we own the moon.
g.
5 comments:
There's a school of cultural anthropology pioneered by Victor Turner and academized (that's a verb I just made up to describe the process of intellectual careerism in the post-secondary education industry) by theatre scholar Richard Schechner as Performance Studies.
Turner and his contemporaries suggest that the "fake it till you make it" mentality is how we learn the roles that define our social lives. We may not initially believe in the things we do, but the process of doing them over and over again naturalizes them and brings us closer to being what we do.
Shit-eating aside, there's a lot to be said for approaching an issue from the position of possibility. I'm not so naive as to argue that things out there are great, or even very good, especially considering how far we should have come by now. I will however take this opportunity to point out the appeal of hope. I mean, it mobilizes the underdog and wins elections, doesn't it?
I think pop-psychology compounds issues of poorly motivated roles and excuses people from being accountable to one another. Confronting human suffering is hard work and more than most can bear so its no wonder we tell each other stories to make it more palatable. I think we just need to tell better stories - which is why what you guys is so bloody important.
Marc,
Excellent points you make. Hope is great. What I was trying to articulate is that although a lot of the subject matter we deal in is dark, our mentioning of it and persistance to continue making music is like a tiny becon of hope. Its our way. I hope it came across that way and not simply as an extended rant or justification for being pessimistic - something I try to avoid.
absolutely greg, and that's the sense i get from your music.
The tension between commercial appeal and the substance of your message (your subject matter) likely has a lot to do with reaching your audience.
It's funny how most people buy into what they already and it's hard to get them to embrace something new - and reaching a literate audience with your music makes sense because those folks (myself included) recognize your message and dig it, which is why I thought Margaret Atwood would be a good person to pass your music to.
Promotional tools like the epk relate your ideas and values to the uninitiated. The quality of your music speaks for itself in terms of appeal, but it's your full-time job as an artist, in my opinion, to persuade people in responsible ways.
Music is really good at persuading people to dance, drink, and sing. It's also really good at helping us remember things and evoking emotion. As an art form its a great tool for forming and consolidating communities of people with like interests.
You guys are part of a conversation about a particular meaning-vacuum that is usually reserved for the solitary pursuit of reading; but your trick (if I can call it that) is to get bums out of seats and engaged bodily with the conditions of our particular cultural milieu on an physical/emotional level. It's cathartic to an extent for someone who identifies with the 21st century phenomenon of the quarter-life crisis.
There's a dance craze that emerged this year in Paris called Techtonik that, despite being absolutely ridiculous on the surface is actually an expression of French urban culture's reaction to the likelihood of humanity's future being not very good. It's heavy stuff, but they're dancing it out because what else do you do?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziytUFRHoqI
Does everyone who dances the techtonik understand the underlying social significance? I doubt it. But there it is, in the streets of Paris, getting people together.
You're already doing what you want to be doing. There's no harm in tying a bow on it if helps get the message out: just use the most ethically sourced bow you can find.
Nice comments back and forth here guys, and I certainly don't want to be a prick here, but the quote " kick at the darkness untill it bleeds daylight ", was that not originally from Bruce Cockburns " Lovers in A Dangerous Time "?? Either way Vacuity you do inspire with your music that I enjoy very much and it is so refreshing, ( and please don't think I am being condescending here ) to see there is younger people out there who are intelligent, think, create, and are willing to learn and take action. Peace.
Matias,
Always a pleasure to hear from you.
I think you're right about the quote - either way it's a good 'un.
That doesn't seem condescending at all to me.
Peace.
g.
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