Drew (Brain Tumors - vocals)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2013? (In order 1-5)
I haven't been keeping up on shit because 2013 was fucked. But here are five releases that I thought were great - in no particular order:
- Yadokai - Final 7"
- Negative Degree EP
- Sickoids - No Home
- Wild Child - Viral Load EP
- Pisswalker - Demo
2. What band did you discover in 2013 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
Marilyn Manson. I'm not fucking around - I interviewed him earlier this year so I finally delved into his entire catalog and was pleasantly surprised. I was already into like, Entombed and shit like that back when he was popular so I had always ignored him. By no means has he created some sort of phenomenal output, but for me, finding mainstream music that I can connect over with "the average joe" is an achievement for me. Other than that, I reconnected with Type O Negative pretty hard this last year. Nomad, vagabond, poser - call me what you will. Oh! And fucking AC/DC - but only the Bon Scott years. AC/DC is by far the dumbest band to ever achieve commercial success and they're brilliant for it. Boring riffs, boring drumming, intolerable vocals - and yet, it fucking rules.
3. How will you remember 2013? (In terms of music)
I will remember 2013 as the year I was too busy dealing with real bullshit to delve into the white luxury of rock genres separated by largely indistinguishable minutia. And the year I started getting paid to make fun of music on the internet like a shitty white bald guy.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2014?
Brain Tumors have a split with Pisswalker from Omaha coming out on Lagerville Records. We have an eternal love for those guys and it's one of those rare times where people you already think are amazing form a band and it happens to fucking rip. Their guitarist, J.D. has booked awesome shows for us and probably hundreds of shows for other bands and he's like, fucking 21 or something. Places We Slept, Sister Kisser, Feral Hands, and Relentless Approach are also worthwhile bands from Omaha worth your time.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2014?
I have no idea. These days, I don't find out shit until it's already been out for months.
6. There is a lot of debate over streaming sites and royalties, namely with Spotify. What is your stance on the economic policies behind the current streaming services? Do you have a preferred one?
First, I'd like to say I value streaming services for the sheer reason that I'm in favor of anything that takes Aerosmith and other mediocre radio trash out of manual labor professions. Second, I'm hungover so this is going to be a bunch of tangential nonsense coming up.
I think I can speak for the rest of the guys in Brain Tumors by saying we don't make hardcore punk to make money so we don't care about shit like this -- I can't relate to someone that thinks the world owes them money because of the "work" they've put in to their "art." People work hard every day and get fucked out of money while lazy pieces of shit have a Scrooge McDuck chamber of money to swim through. Welcome to another unfortunate representation of our society.
Spotify lost 77 million dollars in 2012, apparently due to licensing fees. As the financial model of "make Chinese slaves create cheap goods we can mark-up 1000%" deteriorates in music, the bloated shit-heads at the top struggle to retain the money and the standard of living they're accustomed to. The money is hoarded. Less money leaves the top. Jobs in the music industry hardly exist and if they do, they're so low paying that no one lasts. Holding on is pointless as there's no ladder to climb -- no one's leaving the money. So the industry's finally fucked, which is probably the way it always should've been because heavily profiting off the brokerage of art is absurd.
The only people who "deserve" to make a living off of art are the people who were conned into it years back when it was profitable and now, at the age of 40, 50, 60, had the fairly modest money-rug yanked out from under them.
There's this David Byrne article about how these services are going to destroy creative culture, precipitated by artists being unable to make a living through their work and having to turn to more traditional employment. I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on that, not just because it's what we're personally forced to do as a band.
I'm a firm believer that struggle lends itself to the creation of good and meaningful art. Would you trust a rich man or woman playing the blues? Would you trust a comfortable and satisfied punk band? Would Vincent van Gogh have been capable of creating "Starry Night" had he received adequate care for his physical and mental health?
Also, our ability to creatively express ourselves is such a gift and a luxury that people in other societies don't have because they're too busy walking five miles to get barely drinkable water. How can we dwell on the injustice done to our artists when there are much bigger injustices to view even in our own society? Does it matter that some asshole had to go get a "real job" when our homeless shelters are overflowing?
So then I'm left at a cross-roads: What if David Byrne had to quit music 35 years ago and all of the money he made went to solve homelessness and provide lawyers for minor drug offenders? Would the world be a safer and more peaceful place?
Or would it suck just as hard because people are garbage, only we wouldn't have "Girlfriend is Better" to listen to?
And what about the artists that have altered our culture by bringing awareness to issues, or those who broke artistic barriers for the rest of us? What if fucking Chuck Berry had to quit before "Roll Over Beethoven"?
Maybe someday we'll have reasonable government-issued subsidies to assist artists. But probably not. In the meantime, work your fucking job and make your fucking art. If even ten percent of your income comes from doing what you love, congratulations - your life is officially rules harder than almost everyone else's.
