kiboshtube

Well said....is it a coincidence that my favourite band is The Slip? I think not...how interesting. The Slip I consider almost pure jazz, with a modern twist that is original and highly melodic. Lack of obvious melody is something that I think drives people away from jazz. Jukejoint is another one of my favourites and I was blown away by their performance at the May 24 Frontier Town Festival - I thought they were the best band there by far! The common 3 or 4 chord structures and the practice of presenting a catchy melody within the first 30 seconds of a song is what the popular culture is attuned to. Which is another reason why jazz is dismissed as kibosh to alot of people.

You're right, I did back down because I did not want to offend anyone inappropriately. I guess I can say now that I despise BNB and Nero, amongst many other jambands, that insist on pumping out song after song and jam after jam of "same-sounding-who-can-sound-more-like-you-know-who" stuff.

I agree with you on your point about Nero, but their attitude towards improvisational freedom is not enough to constitute a drastic change in direction or justify calling them original...they are merely re-vamping to a higher degree, that which was pioneered by "The Grandfathers" of jam-rock (i.e. The Dead, Phish, and jazz artists before them). Have a listen to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew from late 60's/early 70's and you'll know what I mean - now that is improvisational freedom.

But I think that the fans ultimately drive the direction of this scene as the bands will keep playing what the crowds want to hear. I just think that the people who are really there for the original music are being snuffed by the people who are there merely to be a part of something (or for the drugs and partying). My suggestion to everyone would be to go to a show sober and alone and try to make an honest opinion about how the music made you feel and what you think about it in terms of originality. You may think that I'm over-analyzing, but music is like an analysis and presentation of emotion and should be viewed as seriously as language. After having done that, if you find you still like the music then great, go support that band. If not, then try to ask why you didn;t like it and be honest with yourself.

I think most of the bands in our scene right now are going to die out (except for the long-time pioneers of the canjam scene - such as the FatCats). They are all pretty much doing the same thing and nothing impresses me anymore. I'm not judging here, this is merely my opinion, but I don't know what the big deal about Burt Neilson breaking up was...I thought they're music was unexciting, noodling, self-promoting, white-boy funk, of which there was already too much. And Nero is much like a guitar showcase of effects. I see so many musicians trying to be like other more popular musicians (who shall remain nameless, but I'm sure you can name a few) that it has become almost a contest to see who can sound like "so-and-so" the most.

Basically I think that the entire scene has been mis-directed, over-influenced, and under-nourished with good, original, well written music...so much so that the fact that the scene has lasted even this long at it's current size is staggering to me. A clique has grown around the scene with a certain snobbiness that makes me cringe.

I wish more people would realize that it's the music that counts and nothing else....and the music has faltered...

Being a musician, one of the biggest problems I see is that all the "jamband" music is starting to sound the same, or very similar to each other and to bands such as Phish, the dead, mmw, disco biscuits, etc. I think that it is getting pretty boring to hear "swirly guitar effect-driven-semi-funky-jingly-jangly-go-nowhere jams." Someone has got to do something original fast or else we'll loose more people.

Ever since Phish has been on break, I have been able to discover so many more types of music, and i've found a lot of stuff that I now like better than Phish for many reasons. I am not really a big fan of "jamband" - type stuff anymore...it has just lost it's flare for me and become so old.

I think that generally people are just getting bored of the same-old. I love the "scene" surrounding the music at shows etc, but the music itself is definitely waning.