Last year, I took advantage of our University’s National Student Exchange program to attend the University of Washington in Seattle.
As in any exchange program, the in-school education that I received was awesome, but I definitely experienced much more by simply living in Seattle for a year than I did from any of the coursework I completed.
Growing up in rural Louisiana, I found it difficult to find new rock music that I could really get into.
I’ve always loved the sounds of the 60s and 70s, but for a while I thought that real, good rock music just wasn’t being produced anymore.
I wasn’t satisfied with what’s on the radio, minus KLSU of course, and I was pretty discouraged about the future of music in general.
I wanted something that angry kids in a garage could have produced, not something driven by major record labels’ desire to appeal to commercial accessibility.
I listened to new rock bands like The Black Keys, Jack White and Tame Impala, but I felt like most people these days just weren’t interested in the kind of music I wanted to hear. Then, I moved to Seattle.
As I soon learned, not just in Seattle, but in cities all across America, good new rock music is everywhere!
Of course, the local music that comes from bands in one city differs from what comes from another.
Northwestern cities, in general, are producing some of the most exciting, organically created music that I’ve ever experienced, and the music scene is magnificent.
Seattle had a breakthrough in the ‘90s with local alternative rock bands led by grunge acts like Nirvana and eventually, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice In Chains.
The grunge may have faded only a little, but the alternative scene has grown immensely.
It could be said that bands in Seattle are a dime a dozen. The sheer number of local people who are in a band is outstanding, but the quality of music one could find at a local nightclub on any given night is impressive enough to warrant the huge crowd that gathers to hear these bands.
It’s unlike anything I had ever previously experienced. With the influence of the decades of alternative rock music in Seattle itself and elsewhere, new local bands are providing a new sound that, in my opinion, is leading the nationwide direction of rock music more than places like Nashville, New York or Los Angeles.
Bands like Fox and the Law draw hundreds of people into bars to rock and mosh and enjoy their classic, yet innovative chunky rock sound.
Bands like Hobosexual channel old blues techniques like slide-guitar in fast paced guitar solo-esque verse riffs.
The ever-growing resence of funky, psychedelic acts like Psychedelephant draw kids to house parties for a sense of community through music, and just to dance. At LSU, it can sometimes be difficult to find good dance parties, let alone ones with live bands to provide funky tunes.
That isn’t to say LSU and Baton Rouge in general doesn’t have a scene. Our local music scene is growing faster than ever. It’s just a little harder to find.
What I’ve seen in Seattle and elsewhere should only inspire us to cultivate an even stronger local music scene right here in the city of Baton Rouge.
I believe it’s coming, but it will only happen with support from local people like you and me, so I encourage you to get out and listen to all the local music you possibly can.
