AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL – VOLUME #5 (MARCH 6th)
(Written By: Trevor R. of Underground Music Unites) (Facebook)
Underground Special: Damn the Mainstream, Save the Underground
Post date: March, 6 2012 | By: Jeff Weidemoyer
Damn The Mainstream, Save The Underground
If you have been reading my weekly articles, you should be getting the gist of what I’m about and what I support. There are a lot of people out there that stick to one particular genre, but I am a rare “genre jumper” and I listen to EVERYTHING I can get my hands on! While reading the After School Special, I hope you will find some really amazing bands (in various genres), new radio stations, and people who really support the underground scene, and do it with a passion that most of us only wish we had towards something.
Now that I have told you what I support; let me give you a brief history on how I ended up doing what I’m doing and why I am the way I am, shall we?
I started supporting my local scene (Mandan, North Dakota what what) when I was probably 12. I know what you’re thinking “I bet that country music sure was a rockin” but actually, we had a huge crust punk and death metal scene and bits and pieces of other genres fused into to complete the circle of life.
The scene really started to pick up a few years later when a young feller by the name of Lane Hoffer (yes, Lane, I gave you a shout out) got into booking shows and started a sick festival called “Grind Your Face Off”. If you lived in the upper Midwest, most likely you heard of this festival, which lasted for quite a few years and showcased various bands from all over the world.
I stayed in that scene for another 9 years before I moved to the land of bad accents (well, only in the movie) of Fargo, North Dakota where I stayed for about 4 years, then I moved out of the freezing tundra to Phoenix where I currently am still residing. I have to tell ya, the metal, hardcore and psychobilly scenes here are booming!! There is not a single day that there isn’t a sweet concert going on as long as you got the cash so see them all and the people here really support their scene by promoting and getting kids into these shows.
To sum it all up, I have been supporting underground music for more than half my life (15 years and counting) and will do everything in my power to help out the scene whether it’s the scene in Pennsylvania, Washington, Canada, England or wherever. I have also helped out my local Hot Topic (West Acres HT in Fargo, North Dakota) bring in regional acts to do acoustic sets and to sell their merch and give them some exposure.
It’s pretty awesome to see how well the underground scene is doing all over the world. I pay attention to how well concert tours do and I have noticed that there have been a lot of tours selling out or close to selling out all of their dates and that’s impressive!! There were 2 A Day To Remember tours that were back to back that sold out every single date on the tour and also the whole Ghostbustour featuring Iwrestledabearonce, Eyes Set To Kill, The Chariot and more. I hope everyone involved with getting tours together continue to add the hard hitting lineups they have been to these tours because that’s what’s selling tickets.
Now that this intimate moment of ours is almost over, I wanted to end this article with a small list of notable bands to check out. These bands are working hard to get their music heard, so give them a chance and if you appreciate them, like their page and find out how to get their tunes onto your ipod (hopefully you do it the legal way).
10 Bands To Check Out (no particular order)
Thira (industrial/progressive metal) -http://www.facebook.com/thiraband
The Grave Slaves (psychobilly) – http://www.facebook.com/GraveSlaves
Spark A Riot (hard rock) – http://www.facebook.com/SparkARiot
Penthos (southern hip hop) – http://www.facebook.com/PenthosPoetry
Gone By Tomorrow (electronic indie rock) – http://www.facebook.com/gbtrecords
The Author (progressive hardcore) – http://www.facebook.com/theauthorband
Forty Winters (metalcore) – http://www.facebook.com/fortywinters
Rhythm Dragons (rockabilly) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rhythm-Dragons
Battlefields (symphonic blackened doom metal) - http://www.facebook.com/pages/BATTLEFIELDS
Aspersing Hosea (progressive metalcore) – http://www.facebook.com/aspersinghosea
Trevor Ronde Underground Music Unites www.undergroundmusicunites.com
