I went out on this snowy night to check out a couple of bands and one I've been wanting to see for a while now, Hooked On Sonics. I have to tell you, Hooked On Sonics has really done a job of confusing me when it comes to what modern bands are doing out there now and what is "ethical" from a musician's standpoint and from an audience standpoint. Let me explain.
There are different types of musical endeavors out there :
A) singles or duos who play acoustically with nothing but a
bare voice and guitar (or keyboard)
There are many very good ones out there! See Mr Blotto unplugged
B) singles or duos who play and sing with looping devices and or harmonizers
I have no basic issues with this as it adds a lot to the experience and
one needs the technical prowess to operate these while they're performing.
See Frank and Dave, Murph
C) singles or duos who play with backing tracks
This can be good or bad. Some small acts have some somewhat cheezy
backing tracks. Some have full karaoke tracks.
One I know has full backing tracks he recorded himself. See Gregory B.
I don't have issues with this as it took some musical ability to record those.
D) There are bands that perform with playing the instruments they have on
stage and singing with their own voices. To me, the purest band experience.
See Three Finger Fencel, Alex and the All Stars, Aunt Janet
E) Bands that perform with a limited amount of backing tracks that adds to
the performance. See Libido Funk Circus, the old Only Sons
(now Blonde On Board), and others.
F) Hooked On Sonics (I wrestle with whether it should be Hooked On Someone Else's Sonics)
This band has me wrestling in my mind as to whether massive use of backing tracks is OK or not. Thanks guys for getting me all confused.
Hooked On Sonics is a three-piece band consisting of guitar, bass and drums. They sound like a 15 - piece band at times because of the backing tracks they use on just about every some I heard in the first set. A three-piece should not be able to pull of an album version of Earth, Wind and Fire's September but all the brass parts were there as were the amazing EW&F vocals. It sounded GREAT.
The mix was great. The bassist is very good. His vocals were good but not great. The guitarist was good. The drummer was good. They are all good players and great showmen and they put on a great high-energy show. The song selection was great for striving to be a great dance and rock band as advertised. It's just that most of the music coming at the audience is not coming from the three guys up there performing. Now if they actually recorded the backing tracks themselves, I could give them even more credit. I don't know if they did.
From a musician's standpoint, I have to say that what they are doing is great because the audience, for the most part, has no idea what's going on up there and really doesn't give a crap as long as they're dancing and drinking and hearing their favorite songs. On the other hand, it's just not right in some ways in my own mind to be a "band" yet not perform all your music yourselves. This is where I'm getting increasingly confused with all this.
They performed Sweet Caroline, some disco stuff, some Jet and American Band (Grand Funk) among many other great songs. They were high-energy and had a good show and the audience liked them. However, as much as I liked hearing She Blinded Me With Science, I had to draw a musical line in the sand when the line from the recording kept coming up, "She blinded me with science" and nobody in the band even mouthed it into the mics. That kind of freaked me out ... from a musician's standpoint. Obviously, nobody from the audience cared or even noticed.
That's what this comes down to. The audience. Were they entertained? Obviously, as the place was crowded. (Crystal Lake - you take notice of this as there's no place like this in Crystal Lake) Is the band popular? Hell, yes. Is the band entertaining? Hell, yes. Is the band playing what the audience wants to hear? Hell, yes, again.
As this is the case, Hooked On Sonics is a very good band you should go out to see! Let me wrestle with these issues in my own mind. Maybe some other musicians out there could help me with all this!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=109010132
http://www.hookedonsonicsband.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi there - let me first off start by saying, thanks for coming to see us and thanks for caring enough to write this entire review. Very cool. And we have played with 3 Finger Fencl - they really are good.
I just wanted to say that, although we do augment our sound, we played almost the entire 2nd set without tracks. Also, I create them myself. I hope you come see us again (Wool St. March 28th), and this time come on up and say hi!
Keep up the good work my man!
Post a Comment