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For Philadelphia, the local alternative rock music scene has been an evolving, emotional roller coaster for its artists and audiences. Over the past two decades, local original talent has been accused of fading into the background, which has made way for club remixes and dance DJs. While the blame cannot be laid upon one major event, it is a culture that was affected by the city’s growth and mobility.
For decades the local noise was crawling with talent a new band at a new club every night. With hip-hop and DJ’s becoming more popular, venues that once featured unsigned bands every weekend are investing in disco balls and strobe lighting.
“If you really want to make it big,” assures Bob Wagner, a 25-year musician as well as a music journalist for five years, “there is nowhere to go anymore, if you really want it, you gotta go to New York or out to L.A.”
It is a problem recognized by musicians all around; from young rock bands to roots performers Philadelphia is not so forgiving to its artists. Playing for over two decades, Eubie and Levi, two roots musicians have taken to playing on the streets because the pay is a lot better.
“I’ll say it,” says Levi a percussion player, “Philadelphia has no clue how to treat their talent. The clubs are becoming pretentious and pay next to nothing.”
The general consensus is that no one is really interested in original content. Bands like Before the Accident Happens, Grandy and When Robots Dance say that cover bands are what is completely consuming the scene, claiming that Philadelphia has lost having a distinct genre because people are not going just to see a live show anymore.
“It’s easier for a band or an individual with a guitar to play a bar and sing songs everyone knows,” claims guitarist Chester O’Neil, “ people just love to hear songs they already know.”
The Philly music scene is not all doom and gloom despite the exclusive and now nonexistent venues. Artists are just becoming aware the game is changing, that the urban scene is affected by the vastly growing technology and the need to self -produce demos and albums is abundantly important. Also, Philadelphia local writers are banding together at Temple University for a “Music Bloggers Unite” forum on Feb. 28, to discuss ways to make the scene more alive.
“The one thing that never changed though is ‘the music,’” claims Wagner, “I mean the music in the sense of people will always love it and want to hear it. Bands just need to learn how to network themselves and produce their own content better to get the word about themselves out there.”
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