Austin: Live Music Capital of Cover Songs?

This blog explains why seeing The Spazmatics at Cedar Street is the anti-thesis of Austin’s live music scene. This is not about hating cover bands or '80s music, because I happen to appreciate both very much (just check out some of my Friday Jams). This isn’t about not respecting someone’s creativity. This isn’t about “hating” on some guys trying to make a living. This is about ensuring that people never confuse what has made Austin’s live music scene special for so many years and making sure we protect those special qualities.

Truth be told, this is something that’s been on my mind for the last year or so since I started writing my second book, Indisputable: A Fan’s Guide to the Live Music Capital. I have tons of interests, but going to a good concert to see one of my favorite artists or an up-and-coming band may be my absolute favorite. Needless to say, writing this book – and interviewing people like Susan Antone, Black Joe Lewis, and Charles Attal – has been extremely rewarding. I have learned so much about Austin’s live music scene from my talks with people like Momo’s owner and Austin Music Commission member Paul Oveisi, Transmission partners James Moody and Graham Williams and former mayor Will Wynn.

I am proud to say that after hundreds of interviews and concerts I can confidently say that The Spazmatics have absolutely NOTHING to do with Austin’s status as “the Live Music Capital of the World.” They’re corporate and negate Austin’s DIY attitude and independent spirit, they train Austin residents to think live music is easy, here’s the controversial kicker, they take attention and resources away from hard-working, talented and underpaid musicians in Austin.

Does seeing these guys qualify as partaking in Austin's live music scene?

Point 1: They’re corporate.

The Fun Fun Fun Fest lineup was just announced which makes this a perfect time to talk about independence in Austin’s live music industry and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to business. Over on Red River, and throughout Austin at places like Broken Spoke and Hole in the Wall, our live music scene is made up artists like Dan Dyer and bands like Soldier Thread. These venues are independently owned and these artists and musicians often go without high-paid management, big label backing, famous publicists and resources at their disposal. Simply put 90 percent of Austin’s bands are mom-and-pop diners compared to The Spazmatics’ Applebee’s. The Spazmatics are the same in Austin, San Antonio, Houston or L.A., yes…Hollywood.

Just take a look at their “client list” and you’ll see that they’ve played for all kinds of audiences, from companies like Motorola and Southwest Airlines to nonprofits and educational groups like Big Brothers Big Sisters and the American Academy of Physicians Assistants. I don’t know what they get paid for these gigs, but it absolutely kills me that they get hired for so many gigs when this city is full of worthy performers like Eleisha Eagle and Tje Austin. Every single time they get booked for another gig for some Dell employees or UT faculty group, more people start forgetting that they’re in Austin – a city unlike any other when it comes to live music – and they start assimilating into the people of any other city in America where ‘80s music is played on the radio.

Point 2: They train Austin residents to think live music is easy.

Listen, I’m not saying that getting a big crowd to show up while you play a bunch of popular ‘80s hits isn’t hard, I’m just saying that on the scale of 1 (covering Devo’s “Whip It”) to 5 (Pink Floyd performing “The Wall” for the first time), they’re at the low end of difficulty. This is an important thing to mention when talking about The Spazmatics because it does help to explain why so many people (and companies) would prefer to pay to see them play songs they’ve already heard someone else create and popularize rather than hear someone new who may follow in the footsteps of Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Los Lonely Boys, Spoon or Ghostland Observatory and bring even more attention to Austin’s live music scene.

Most people aren’t into live music like I am and maybe they just want to go to Cedar Street and have fun the same way people have fun at Scout Bar in San Antonio or Sammys in Houston or Key Club in LA…with the rest of The Spazmatics’ fans. I get that part, but if you’re going to pay $5 or $10 to see an ‘80s cover band you should at least know this: for most people who want to make money as musicians they don’t just piggyback on the songs and sounds someone else worked hard to write and make famous…most of them work even harder to create something brand new that speaks to their own life experiences, leverages their own creative talents and, more often than not, they don’t get 200 or 300 people to show up just because they’re at the same place every Wednesday.

LA's live music scene?

 I went to Lambert’s the other night to see Adam Ahrens start his month-long residency there and really enjoyed his show. I thought he had a really cool Elvis Costello-Johnny Cash-Hank Williams thing going on that was original in its own right while paying tribute to those aforementioned greats. How many people were there? I’d say 40 or so. Meanwhile, that same night, The Spazmatics got paid from doing songs created by artists who probably have more in common with Adam Ahrens than the very guys wearing Members Only jackets, Steve Urkel suspenders and singing their well-known tunes.

Point 3: They take attention and resources away from hard-working Austin musicians.

I could care less if The Spazmatics pay the bands for stealing their music for financial gain. I’ll leave that to The Police, Wham and everyone else to file their legal suits, if necessary. I’m more interested in the spotlight they’re stealing from non-famous musicians here in Austin who have to compete with them. No, Cedar Street isn’t a venue most original bands in Austin care to play, but I’m sure so much fun is had there on Wednesday nights that if you were to ask someone who attended to check out an unheard of act the following night, say at Momo’s or Club DeVille, they’d say “oh, I can’t…I just saw a show last night.” I don’t know about you, but I hope to never see a day when a tourist comes to Austin and says they’re here to enjoy the live music scene that so many have spoken highly of only to say they’ve been told to go to Cedar Street on Wednesday night.

Throughout my years living in Austin I’ve become friends with a number of musicians, talented ones who will probably never be able to get the draws and dollars The Spazmatics get. Why, you ask? Because they’re not created and managed by Perfect World Entertainment. Perfect World takes something that someone already had success with and packages it into a nice cover band – Austin is "blessed" with The Spazmatics – and makes money under the guise of a fun live music experience. For some reason this reminds me of what Lou Pearlman did with The Backstreet Boys and *NSync in the ‘90s, only they had original music.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned while writing a book about Austin’s live music scene it’s that there is a great divide among this city’s residents when it comes to distinguishing who’s fake from who’s real. Here’s hoping that no one ever confuses The Spazmatics for a real live music experience in Austin, because that’d be like planning to eat at Kerbey Lane Café and ending up in an Applebee’s parking lot.  

Comments

[Men Timberland Boot]

well this blog is great i love reading your articles.

[pinnacle security]

Very entertaining! Should see them live.

[Air Jordan]

Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know. Do you agree?