OVERHANG

We just read over all our old blogs. We're thinking of putting this *cino blog on our website--a big step since I didn't think the blog was a good idea at first. Now I'm glad we did it though. It has been quite a journey so far. The temptation, of course, is to think that the last year and a half have gotten us less than nowhere.

Whereas we started the blog with an "almost finished" album, then added a bassist and then a drummer and then got better and better gigs and were well on our way to playing at Martyrs Pub regularly (after our last show, we were told we could play at Martyrs any time we wanted) and a possible gig at Calvin College in the Spring, now we have no band, are in the midst of spending more money on a second attempt to get Joel a visa and still haven't finished the album. Does that sound like progress to you?

Despite the temptation to despair over such a story, we are starting to feel a renewed sense of conviction and resolve. The results of our labor are not up to us and not within our control. So just keep working and trust that good fruit will come in its season. That's the way the world has worked for thousands of years. Why would it be any different now?

So now it's summer and we're still laboring to find replacement musicians. Joel and I are starting to think that if our Dan and Matt are not replaceable, then we will have to implement some new strategies. After hearing Dan and Matt say things like "If I get in a relationship, she's going to know that I am committed to this band" and "I want to be in a band that takes music seriously. I'm tired of playing in bands that don't want to go somewhere with their music" but then seeing them do the opposite, it's difficult to trust people.

Joel and I don't know what indications to look for in a new bassist and drummer, however. How do we know that they won't turn around mid-way through, before the going really gets going, against their own proclaimed intentions. Was there something in Matt and Dan that we should have been aware of? If so, maybe we can avoid it with our next selections. Maybe there's a way to communicate to prospective musicians what it will be like to commit to this band before they actually commit? All of these questions make Joel and I want to just commit to eachother because we know at least we can trust one another.

And then we are struck by the sadness that our own optimism about the power of the spirit-filled community is waning. Maybe we'll just hire other people to play with various projects because it seems like money has more power than pure loyalty to a vision, we think. Do you see the devil working in these questions? The kingdom of this world is so visible that it's hard to keep your eyes on the unreality that there must be people out there who want to change the world with rock'n'roll, no matter what the cost.

Posted by Grant Elgersma at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I was in high school, I bought lots of cd's. My dad said that cd's seemed to be a bad investment, since you could only get a few listens out of them before they seemed out of date and you threw them away. So I tried to buy only the cd's that I would be listening to my whole life. Since then, however, I've come to appreciate the value of music on a different scale, making my old ways of justifying music obsolete.

Music seems to be exceedingly valued by our society. It's everywhere--radio, stadiums, movies, television, commercials. But quantity is no substitute for quality. Because we tend to value stuff as commodities, music has gotten really mixed up in the mix up. For example, isn't it kind of crazy that people pay the same price for a Hoobastank cd as they do for Jay Z's last album? The value, in terms of quality, is not even comparable. And why is it that lawyers and philosophers can pursue their craft with the support and comfort that our education system provides, while musicians scrap to get 25 people to their shows in order to pay for the gas to get there. Many small business owners are treated with respect and honor--entrepeneurs, we call them (because every good deed deserves to be called by a french word), but upstart bands are often considered "dreamers", people "going through a phase" and delusional youngsters who need to "get a real job".

Last week, I saw an interview with U2. The interviewer asked them what it would take for them to break up. "Two crap albums," Bono said, as he always says to this question. They've agreed to break up as soon as the quality of their music suffers. I like this answer because it shows that U2 accepts musical value as an important part of one's life decisions. Indeed, many artists, including Bono, claim that rock'n'roll saved their life. And in many ways, music does give life. So why doesn't it have more value in our society? Is it because, like Bush says, we're living in a culture of death? (tee hee hee--no, but seriously).

I'm not really getting over the break-up of Overhang as a band. In fact, the longer this separation goes on, the more frustrated I am by it. At the time Matt and Dan came to us with their reservations about continuing, I had a sense of disconnect. And I still do. The music we are making is of great quality. Its value continues to impress itself upon me. Dan asked several times what the difference between Joel and I and Matt and him might be--why we were willing to stick it out and they were not? There are many reasons, but one is that Joel and I can't give up on this thing because it continues to have value beyond the value of our own efforts. I try, but it is hard to see the "Another Hole For You to Crawl Into" album as just a group of songs two guys put alot of time and effort into. If it was just that, I may be quite depressed about the wastefulness of our efforts...even it it were finally finished. But I feel that the world needs music of quality as the world needs life. As much as the world is harmed by the likes of Hoobastank, it is blessed by the likes of Jay Z.

As people are caught up in the downloading frenzy and music is easy to come by, they might be tempted to forget that the value of music goes well beyond the value of a dollar--in fact, its value transcends our monetary system of values. If people knew how valuable music is, they might not be confused by why we continue to go further into debt, to avoid "getting a real job", to remain loyal to a bear of an album that asks so much of us--that threatens not only our financial security, but security in general. Working for something that is of great value is a risky investment, but our sense of its value must fuel our trust that it's worth it.

Posted by Grant Elgersma at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)