SMALL TOWN MUSIC REVIVAL

Moving back to a small town has its downfalls but one thing that has been invigorated by the move is my passion for music. As I've gotten older, I've had a fear of being one of those people that live in the musical past. You know who I mean. The guy that hasn't been interested in a new band in six or seven years unless it reminds him of a band he loved in high school. About three years ago I felt myself falling into that pattern. I went with the flow occasionally picking up a new band only after everyone else seemed to already know about them. It was depressing and made me feel old and done. Just before I moved back to Arizona I came across some European bands like Hundred Reasons, The Music, South, Sigur Ros and Soundtrack of Our Lives that I really liked and no one around me had heard of at the time. It made me feel good and I slowly began to seek out bands again. When I moved back to Pittsburg, two hours away from the nearest big city, I thought I was in trouble. But to my surprise it has been the opposite. I have had to actively seek out new bands like I haven't since . . . well since I lived in a small town before. It has been fun and very instructive. This may sound like a rationalization but I discovered that it's not age that keeps someone from the discovery, it's the attention level. No matter where you live there are always outlets to finding new bands and I guess having new experiences in general. I'm not saying that living in a small town is the greatest. It does have A LOT of drawbacks but it's not as limiting as I thought either. I know if I would have stayed in my rut I would not have come across great bands like Open Hand, Dungen, Travis Morrison, Death From Above 1979, Armor For Sleep, Jeniferever, Ambulance LTD, Bloc Party, Detroit Cobras, M.I.A. and Deerhoof to just name a very few that I now love since I started looking again about a year ago. I am very excited about music and can't wait to hear what's next.