5 Things I Love About Indie Rock, Featuring Del The Funky Homosapien, The Lonely H, Neimo, and More

In honor of all the love we’ve been getting from 10 Links A Day, who were gracious enough to let us guest blog on their site this week, not to mention the awesome write up that Tilzy.tv gave us yesterday, I’ve decided to eschew my normal pessimistic outlook for one day and do an actual, honest to goodness, blog on the positive tip. Somewhere in hell, the Devil is wearing a parka right now.

Yesterday I posted a quick blog pimping our ongoing collaboration with 10 Links a Day, as well as bemoaning the fact that yours truly, The Shark, was not asked to be the inaugural guest blogger. Well, quicker than I could put on a pair of clean underwear after hitting the “publish” button (remember, I often blog immediately after waking up in yesterday’s underwear), 10 Links responded to my post with the following:

Honestly, when I complained about not being the guest blogger, I was just being a bit whiny. I wasn’t prepared to post 10 links of anything that I think you should visit. I go to like 8 websites a day, and half of them are either running or bowling related, cynically mean, or just flat out weird. You don’t want me guiding you around the web, I’d just send you links to dancing hamsters and hilariously awful David Lee Roth isolated vocals. (By the way, if you haven’t heard Running With The Devil – vocals only yet, PLEASE click that link. You’ll thank me later).

But now that I’ve been formally invited by 10 Links a Day, I can’t turn them down., they’re our new friends They’ve got me under the gun, and the pressure’s on full blast. I feel like Keanu Reeves in Speed – trying to get 30 some-odd innocent strangers off a bus while keeping it above 50mph, when all I really wanna do is bang Sandra Bullock before she goes and ruins her career by doing Miss Congeniality and Miss Congeniality 2. Except, of course, instead of a packed, speeding city bus loaded with C4, I’m on a stationary dining room chair alone in my apartment, there’s no bomb, no Dennis Hopper calling the shots, and the only thing Sandra Bullock is doing is frustrating me by not having any good nipple slips available on Mr. Skin.

It’ll take me a few more days (weeks) to cultivate my 10 Links, but right now, I want to share with you another list – My Top 5 Reasons to Love Indie, because let’s face it, if you’re reading this, you’re probably an indie rock fan, but do you really know WHY you love indie so much? Neither do I, but I’m really good at bullshitting – hey, how do you think I got this job? Qualifications? Ha! – so without further ado, here’s The Shark’s

5 Reasons to Love Indie

1. No bullshit major label censoring. Here’s a deep, dark secret that you can use against me – I worked for MTV Networks for 5 years, and dealt with tons of high profile, major label acts (yes, even Nickelback *shudder*). When we interviewed bands, we weren’t allowed to ask certain types of questions that were deemed “controversial,” even if they were laughably playful and innocent. Bands and artists were so well media trained that they painfully censored themselves to maintain their well-manicured image to the public. Ugh. You’d never hear a major label act talk about race like Del The Funky Homosapien
   
2. Indie artists, for the most part, embrace the internet. Sure, it’s not cool to illegally download anyone’s songs, but most indie artists won’t sue you for it, they’ll just kindly ask you to support them by coming out to their shows.
   
   Hell, if you still feel guilty, you can buy them a beer after the show. Which leads me to my next point…
3. Accessibility – Do me a favor, the next time you go to an indie show, hang out around the bar afterward. I’ll bet you my left nut that at least one or two band members will eventually sidle up to you and have a drink. That’s what I love about indie bands – they’re fucking down to earth. I know firsthand from interviewing them for Uncensored Interview that most indie bands are cool as shit, and love bullshitting with the fans, knocking a few back, even partying afterward. Unless you’re a 21 year old Double D groupie, you ain’t partying with Fall Out Boy after their Roseland gig, hombre.
4. The Fashion and The Fans – Sure, I knock tight jeans, Beatles hairstyles, and wildly ungroomed facial hair all the time, and unless I lose a bet where the other option is the death of my firstborn son, you’ll never see me sporting any of those in my lifetime. But at the same time it’s refreshing to go to a rock show and not be surrounded by dirty Nirvana and Pantera t-shirts, emo-rific haircuts, and 13 year old girls in black eyeliner with their parents standing awkwardly behind them. There’s something intrinsically cool about an indie rock crowd, whether they’re wearing skintight jeans and hoodies, sporting glasses and Into The Wild facial hair, or dressed like the band Stillwater from Almost Famous:
   
5. The Music – Let’s face it, major labels have been chasing the indie mystique for years, trying to create bands that look and sound somewhat indie, while keeping the music slick and polished. It hasn’t worked – you can’t recreate indie without the trials and tribulations of being indie. Indie music sounds like it does naturally, be it because of haggard equipment, old school production techniques, or just rush recording on the cheap. It can’t be faked. I’ll take a band like The Kills over The Strokes any day. This is why music is heading away from the major labels and back towards the basements, garages, and living rooms of aspiring artists and fans today – because bands like The Whigs, The Oaks, and Ungdomskulen are making great, balls-out fucking rock music that takes chances, while the majors are churning out another bland Daughtry album.