Shake it Around in the Underground

Astreal at RNDM: Insert your own "blue balls, big phallus" joke here.

Last night, I attended a non-stop local indie music gig at The Attic at Mox. When I told a friend of mine that I'd never heard of the place prior to this, she suggested I was 'straight' by which I assume she means I should get out more often. And she's right.

Much as I like a whole range of alternative genres, my knowledge of the scene (local and global) has always been at best vicarious--I read much more than I actually listen or attend. Reasons aside, the upshot of this is that I often romanticise the indie ethic while forgetting what it means to actually live the life and walk the talk.

It was only natural then that I felt extremely vulnerable despite thoroughly digging the music and atmosphere. Everywhere I looked, I imagined scenesters bearing down on me, faulting me for only having been to two full-blown concerts and going clubbing less than 10 times in my life. My inner child wanted to scream out "but nobody ever asks me to!!"...but I know that's just an excuse.

Tiramisu at RNDM: they're really as fun as they look.

Attending the gig also made me realise that the scene--in terms of both bands and groupies--is now beginning to fill up with people my age. I was surprised at the number of audience members I knew from my time in junior college. I saw people who recognised me, people who didn't, and people who probably recognised me but pretended they didn't because they either (i) felt awkward like I did or (ii) felt they'd moved so far ahead of me in coolness and were disgusted that I was now sharing the same indie air as them.

And it makes sense too. It's people of the early twenties age group that have the energy, resources and experience to realise their teenage rock dreams at a decent level of professionalism. It's also this group that has the pre-marital mobility and post-adolescent legitimacy to immerse themselves as audiences in the nightly scene. The musical influences are telling of this fact: two local bands I read about separately in Aging Youth and The Ridge claim influences from a number of Britpop bands including Suede. Of course, I cursed the fact that they beat me to it, but nevertheless it reflects the truism that people are most affected by the music of their formative years: Suede themselves were heavily influenced by the 70s-era glam-rock of David Bowie.

Goodness, all these bugbears coming out of just watching part of a gig? I must still have serious issues.

On a more cheerful note, RNDM unearthed my musical find of the week: The Analog Girl. Even though she only came on after I left with my girlfriend, I bought her EP (as well as every other CD that was on sale) on good faith, as part of my personal policy of supporting local musicians.