Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results. Fans want to discover another band to love but are afraid to visit a new venue to see one. Artists crave unacquainted listeners but play with the same three other acts in the same bar every couple of weeks. It’s the same old sermon delivered to the same old congregation, and after a while it starts falling on deaf ears. Why are we surprised that repeatedly doing the same things doesn’t accomplish much of anything? Are we crazy for thinking it might?
We’re creatures of comfort, I know, ones who find ease in the day-to-day routine. My mom is an elementary school teacher, and the easiest way to make her Pre-K class go bonkers is to flip recess and snack time. It’s amplified at an early age like that, of course, but it holds true as we get older, simmering underneath every decision we make: We know what works and tend just to stick with it, whether or not we want something more.
The problem with the bubbles we make for ourselves are the boundaries. There’s so much good, so many cool things out there, and it’s exceedingly easy to miss out on all of it when we stay only with what we know. But music is about excitement, not contentedness, and everyone — musicians and public alike — needn’t be afraid of trying something new.
An artist recently asked me what he could do to get more exposure. I told him to go play with people he never had before, in rooms he’d never performed in prior. Fans ask me why there isn’t any good hip-hop, electronic music (insert any genre, really) being made in Oklahoma, but there is. It’s out there. Fans need to seek it out, artists need to help facilitate finding it, and everyone needs to burst their bubbles.
Last Saturday, we at Oxford Karma hosted our launch party and assembled a willfully weird little bill, one that, on paper, didn’t make tons of sense. We had a left-of-center beat producer followed by a ’90s-inspired singer-songwriter, then a swagger-dripping rap duo all tied together with an indie-leaning folk-rock outfit. But it worked, and I was happy that we had a collection of artists who were reflective of the breadth of music we plan to cover.
The true (and unexpected) silver lining to it all, though, was having the crowd come up to us over and over again and tell us how much they loved an artist they hadn’t heard of yet and might not have otherwise. They were engaged by music that didn’t all start to blend into the same palate. Do I think every crowd member loved every act? No way, but at least everyone was actively being exposed to something different.
It’s less weird than you might think. I’ve talked to hundreds of musicians over the years, and very few of them solely listen to the type of music they make. Brandon Urie (frontman of Panic! At The Disco) talked to me at length about how much he adored Action Bronson, and there are few things as diametrically opposed to each other than emo-pop and Queens-bred hip-hop.
That’s as true of listeners as artists, too. A sampling of my favorite bands and musicians is as follows: Merchandise, A Tribe Called Quest, Bloc Party, James Blake, Metz, and Tame Impala. Very few of our tastes fit neatly onto a nice, tailored little bill, so why do we almost exclusively attend — or book — those that are?
Bands: I challenge you to find not only a new artist to play with at your next show but one that people might never guess you would play with. Don’t get locked in on the surface qualities. Dig deeper. Do you share an ambitiously creative spirit? A taste for rebellion? A love of a good hook (which can take all sorts of forms) or a smart lyric? Opposites attract, and sparks can fly when you pair something unconventional together that only begins to make sense as it reacts together in front of your eyes. Cross-pollinate, and help the whole community flourish.
Fans: Don’t be afraid to frequent a new spot. Grab an album you’ve never heard of before from the record store. Go to a show where you aren’t friends with any of the bands. Hell, attend a show where all the artists are unknown to you. The only way you can ever be pleasantly surprised by something is to open yourself up to that in the first place. Take chances. I promise that potentially finding your favorite song or attending your favorite show is worth it.
I know what I’m saying isn’t quick, easy, or sometimes even feasible fix. I don’t expect to see The Blue Door booking Sex Snobs anytime soon or to find Parker Millsap at Robotic (although I do love that visual). On occasion, these eclectic bills will be odd, or even disastrous, for bands to play in or crowds to witness, but growing pains are necessary for, you know, growth. Utilize the advantage of the Venn diagram overlaps instead of standing pat in your little circle.
Where and when there is an opportunity to blend our worlds, why not take it? Why not make an experience special for all parties involved? Get messy. Get uncomfortable. Exciting things are out there. Make it your mission to find — or make — them.
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Joshua Boydston was hooked by the Oklahoma music scene when he bought Yacht Club’s The Third Floor at Guestroom Records as a senior in high school and reeled in when The Boom Bang destroyed a guitar amp on-stage at Dfest in 2009. He’s been covering all things Oklahoma music for a variety of local publications ever since and hopes to jumpstart conversations on all things music (local and not) with Plain Sense, a weekly column for Oxford Karma.
