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Local acts struggle for support
Nearly every great band started off as a local act, playing open mic nights, skuzzy bars, busking for loose change and taking any opportunity to get their music heard.
The Red Hot Peppers were once a local band in L.A., Nirvana was a local band from Aberdeen, Washington.
These musicians would go on to do great things far from skuzzy bars.
Local musicians work during the day as anything from waiters to businessmen to bartenders, and stay out until 4 a.m. playing to often empty venues from which they will receive no money.
They tour all over
the country, packed in a tiny van with all their equipment while
sacrificing showers, sleep, food and comfort.
And it’s all because they have passion.
It’s a lesson we could all take to heart.
These people are living a life they love, even while struggling financially.
We love to claim a hometown artist when they succeed, but how many of us are out late cheering on our local favorites?
How many of us are purchasing the albums of the bands we see and like, instead of illegally downloading their songs?
North Carolina has an amazing and ever growing local music scene. It’s one we should all take the chance to get in on now.
Annuals, who opened for The Flaming Lips, hail from Raleigh.
John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats lives and often plays in Durham.
Punk
musician and former front man of D-Generation Richard Bacchus now lives
in Raleigh, playing with his latest project Richard Bacchus and the
Luckiest Girls.
He also runs the classy, hip and happening downtown bar, “The Landmark Tavern.”
The Never, Paleface, Bombadil, Portastatic, Bowerbirds, The Rosebuds and Superchunk all come from North Carolina.
CBGB’s was once a local bar, hosting small name acts; acts like Richard Hell and Tom Waits.
The
Soundhouse, England’s heavy metal club, also was once a local bar where
kids would fashion cardboard guitars and play along with their favorite
acts; acts like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.
All great music scenes, like the Seattle grunge scene or the New York punk scene had to start somewhere.
And they started with the unconquerable combination of talent and fan support.
Support local music, even if it is for no other selfish reason than to say “I knew them when.”
When the band asks for donations, give them a few dollars for gas or food.
Purchase their poorly recorded albums or hand screen-printed t-shirts.
Put their stickers on your car.
But mostly, go to shows and cheer loudly.
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