Monthly Archives: May 2017

Drew Barrymore’s Basement

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Musician/Sound Engineer
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/2/17
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 23 year old musician who enjoys learning exchanging stories about legendary bands with his fellow musicians. This piece would be exchanged during a band practice  or when speaking with another musician to prove knowledge of game-changing bands.

 

“So, English rock group Radiohead found themselves in need of a place to record their new record, The King of Limbs, in Los Angeles. They ended up using – uh, I believe she’s – because she’s a fan, actually um, Drew Barrymore’s basement. And um, in the, you know, her name was included in the liner notes and that’s when people figured out. Everyone thought that it was like some weird joke. And then after some more, uhm, you know, further investigation, they found that uh, it’s actually because that’s where they truly recorded it. And then, that album was actually like, pretty universally, hated by fans and critics, initially. And then, a few weeks later, everyone was like “Uhhhh actually this is like some of the freakiest, coolest stuff Radiohead’s done!” So, make a album in Drew Barrymore’s basement. People might not like it at first. So, just beware.”

 

This is important to the informant because it is an example of a band whose popularity did not guarantee an understanding of their music. The informant learned this from a fan-rub website about Radiohead. This would be performed during band practice or when in conversation with fellow musicians to prove one’s knowledge of music.

 

Analysis:

This story is interesting because it demonstrates the fickleness of the music industry and its fans. Even though Radiohead was already a highly successful band, successful enough to have fans like Drew Barrymore, their music was not understood immediately by the media or their fans. Musicians that are trying to make it in today’s industry are hyperaware of the fact that people will not blindly accept what you put out. However, in telling the legend of the making of this album, it reminds musicians that success is achievable and negative reactions to one album does not end a career.

The Smiths Guitar

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Musician/Sound Engineer
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/5/17
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 23 year old musician who enjoys learning exchanging stories about legendary bands with his fellow musicians. This piece would be exchanged during a band practice  or when speaking with another musician to prove knowledge of game-changing bands.

“So, uh, some label executives were trying to woo The Smiths to sign with them. I believe it was probably the one that they ended up taking, so it was Warner in the US for distribution. And um, they, you know, took them out to the guitar shop – ‘cause that’s how you could woo people back then and they had the budget to do that kind of thing. And so, he saw the beautiful red, hollow-body guitar with all gold hardware, and it ended up actually being the guitar he used for like the entirety of The Smiths, and like a big part of their sound. But, uh, he sat down, and the first thing he played, the first thing that popped into his head that he did was the opening riff of “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.” Which is ironic, seeing as like, the guitar, you know, like spoke to him and like made him happy. But that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about the duality, the irony. That’s what The Smiths are all about.”

My informant learned this piece from a fellow band-mate. The Smiths is one of my informants favorite bands. Many modern-day indie-rockers look to The Smiths for inspiration and guidance on how to make music that is important but popular as well. This would be exchanged during band practice or when speaking to fellow musicians to prove one’s knowledge of music.

Analysis:

This piece is interesting because it has the nostalgia factor of what the music industry used to be with the line “‘cause that’s how you could woo people back then and they had the budget to do that kind of thing.” Today’s musicians envy the prominence of labels and flow of money that bands had just ten years ago. However, today’s musicians enjoy their freedom and the fact that most of them don’t have to answer to a label.

My Bloody Valentine

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Musician/Sound Engineer
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2/9/17
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 23 year old musician who enjoys learning exchanging stories about legendary bands with his fellow musicians. This piece would be exchanged during a band practice  or when speaking with another musician to prove knowledge of game-changing bands.

“I’m talking about the Irish rock group, My Bloody Valentine, who, I guess rose to prominence in like the late eighties – early nineties. They released a series of EPs, um, that they recorded, uh, and attracted some attention of, like, independent labels. So they were signed to like one of the biggest indies in the UK, or in like the isles, the British Isles. Okay, so basically they, uh, they finally got the go ahead to start recording a full-length album on Creation Records. And they hauled in a ton of, like, vintage gear – which was less expensive at the time. Like it was valued as like a cheap alternative to new gear. Like it wasn’t like vintage gear yet, it was like this is a crappy amp from the sixties. It was like, you know, and it was worth like nothing then. So they had these like huge stacks and basically started getting really experimental in the studio. Um, and then… they would get tinnitus – which is ringing of the ear – from how loud all the stacks of amps were and would have to take a break. And so they would spend like a week trying to record part of a song and then have like a big bout with tinnitus and have to stop and then forget what they even wanted to do. So this album took, like, a couple years and, like, basically almost bankrupted their tiny label. Uh.. and I don’t remember the exact amount, but I think the legend has it that it was almost like half a million dollars they spent recording this album. And, I mean, it ended up, like… being the completely different, like, scene-altering record that they were going after. But it was like a huge, uh, a huge, um… risk for the label to undertake. And I hope they made that back, I mean, this really is on everybody’s list of the best albums of that era and most influential for bands. I could list, like, a ton of bands that were heavily influenced by that album and the tones.”

 

My informant heard this story from one of his fellow band members. It is important to him because this band changed the course of music in his eyes and people have different theories about how this band came to have such an original sound.

 

Analysis:

I believe this is in line with what most musicians do when speaking to one another. They love to exchange stories about different legendary bands and add to the legend of that band’s music and influence.

Ghost Father

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Filmmaker
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 23 year old filmmaker who lost his father when he was nine years old.

“So the first story is the story of my dead father appearing to me. Um, so this happened about three months after my father passed away. I had just turned nine and we were having lunch in, uh, the kitchen of our house. And I’m with my friends and my brother and my mom’s making us chicken nuggets because chicken nuggets are the greatest. Uh, and I look up and directly across from me, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, in um, in a hallway, is my father. Plain as day. And i just instinctively say, “Hi Dad!” Everyone looks up and my mom just dismisses it saying, “Honey, no one’s there.” She later then approached me saying “I saw him too.” And since then I have seen my father on ten occasions.”

This would be told when recounting stories of lost loved ones or paranormal activity.

Analysis:

My informant was clearly missing his father. I and others I know often see images of those they have lost, especially if they were young when their loved one died. It is not out of the ordinary to think you’ve seen your loved one after they’ve passed, especially for children.

Summer Camp Haunted House

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Orange County
Performance Date: 4/10/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 19 year old student who enjoys creating films.

“Alright, so when I went to summer camp as a kid, we – there was, uh, we went to camp on this, um, sort of reserve in Costa Mesa. And there was this old adobe building that stood there. And it’s probably about a hundred years old. And, uh, it was real dark inside, you know, uh – when you first got to camp, you noticed it, but you didn’t really pay much attention to it… until storytime, when uh, some of the older kids would tell stories about the house. And they would talk about how old it was and how people were murdered on the property and how there were ghosts inside of the house, and that there was one ooold man living inside the house. There were days where me and a couple other kids would go up to the house, and you’d be full of nerves, and you’d just be like really, really… you know – just scared of the house. Um, and uh, one time, one kid was looking in the window, and he, he *laughs* he felt his legs go numb and fell while looking at the house. That freaked the shit outta everybody. And we all ran away. Me and another kid picked him up and carried him away. We were screaming and, um, so for the longest time, you know, I used to think that house had paranormal…connections. Until I worked there as a counselor. And um, I, one day we were outside and I notice a tour group going inside of the house. And um, it turns out that the bodies that we saw inside of the house were just a bunch of mannequins. Yeah, there were like creepy mannequins. It just turned out to be an old historic site. It was like on of the first adobes built in Costa Mesa. The mannequins were just there to be kind of like “this is how they dressed back in the time” you know. But those mannequins, like, it was just silhouettes ‘cause of the light, and sometimes you think they would move. But of course, that was just children’s imagination.”

This story would be performed when sharing scary or strange stories.

Analysis:

My informant, like most children, was taught by his peers to fear things that were out of the ordinary. As humans, we put people and things into groups to better understand and process the world around us. But when we are young, we fear the things we do not understand or do not know how to label. Therefore, we end up assigning paranormal or fantastical stories to the strange. My informant realized this and understood it when he grew older.