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Translocation

If I haven't said it already: despite spending a lot of time and effort with writing about post-hardcore/emo bands, I don't listen to them as much as I used to. I doubt I'll ever give up listening to this music entirely, but there's so much other stuff that I listen to. Still, a big reason why I wrote Post the way I wrote it was: talk about the people behind the music more than the music itself. You may never care to hear an At the Drive-In song, but probably can relate to their story of struggle. The same goes for every other band mentioned.

Well, there are times that I'll flash back to a story a band member told me in these last four years and really relate to what was said. As of late, the following quotes from No Idea's Var Thelin sum up a lot of feelings I've been having:

Another aspect to the backlash was that the band left No Idea. Their friends at the label felt the same way. “We were absolutely not cool with that,” Thelin says. For Thelin, the exit was a severe personal blow. “I believed in the music so much that I had to be away from it,” he says. “It was a good solid year where I did not partake. I didn’t go to the shows and I stayed away. I just had to because if I went, and this is not bullshit, I would have started crying because I really, really believed in it.”

Decisions like this would prove very difficult to not take personally, especially at a relatively young age. “The way that you hear certain records when you’re younger, you really take things to heart,” Thelin says. “You make the music yours. It’s part of you. And that’s what happened with Hot Water. I didn’t buy into it initially and then I really did. ‘I believe in this. I believe in these people. It’s more than just music.’ Anytime you leave yourself vulnerable like that, you sometimes get the other side of it. And that was me at the time.”

Sometimes the rug is pulled under you and you just don't really know why. This goes way deeper than wondering how many copies of Fuel for the Hate Game were pressed on green vinyl. The point is, this is why I approached Post the way I approached it. I might not cover every single band from this era, but at least I'm trying to go deeper than what an encyclopedia or liner notes would go to.

Comments

Man I can't wait for this book!
Rj said…
we need to get you a new agent or something. this book needs to be out there!

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