The Receiving End of Sirens of Boston, MA plays its farewell show at a packed Lupo's in Providence. (Future Breed)Additionally, my interest in this topic is somewhat personal - post-hardcore was a term that kept popping up a few years ago when I started listening to Saosin and The Receiving End of Sirens. I didn't exactly know what it meant or what its history was, but I knew I liked the sound. Having grown up on hard rock and heavy metal, then exploring other genres, and later making my foray into emo despite its stigma, this was a nice sonic middle ground between the two - thundering drum fills, distorted power chords, complex melodic guitar hooks, impressively high emotionally charged vocals offset by a good balance of screamed vocals, and introspective lyrics that I related to more directly than songs about British fighter pilots in the 1940's. In addition, some of these bands were incorporating electronic elements into otherwise straight ahead rock instrumentation, something I hadn't heard before.
Example of recent post-hardcore from Boston, MA; listen for balance of hardcore elements and softer ones, as well as electronic drum and keyboard samples.
The classification of the genre can become extremely difficult and muddled, with so many different words being used to describe similar sounds. I've explored the territory and have concluded that the definition is very dependent on the time period it is referring to. Currently, there are 3 ways it is being used: by strictly emo bands that don't want to be called "emo," by bands that overlap with emo but are heavier due to hardcore influences (I'll call this "modern post-hardcore"), and by bands that overlap with emo but emphasize pushing creative limits by incorporating elements of electronica/prog rock/ska (I'll call this "experimental post-hardcore"). The first is an example of how elements of subcultures are appropriated for mainstream use, sometimes with an accompanying perversion of original meaning. (Hebdige 1979, p. 94) The other two each cover one of the fundamentals of the most basic definition of post-hardcore: music that 1) "took inspiration from hardcore, while 2) concerning themselves with a wider palette of expression" (wiki, numbers added).
A big issue with genre classification depends on who is applying them - are the labels coming from people within the scene or from people outside the scene? When it first emerged, the genre was referred to by some as "post-hardcore," most likely people within the scene or at least with some respect for the music, but others referred to it as "emo-core," from "emotional hardcore." (Grubbs, 2008, p. 27) Bands seem more likely to reject labels than fans; Monty Are I frontman Steve Aiello initially said he didn't really think of his band as post-hardcore. On the other hand, my fan interviewees both seemed very comfortable with the term. I would speculate that bands don't like being put in genre boxes because it attempts to confine the music that they make. My fan interviewees, however, both claim to like/have liked other genres in addition to post-hardcore. In a global music scene that is more about micro-movements than large-scale movements that capture an entire generation, it's quite common to associate ones taste with a wide variety of specific genres. The advantage fans have is that they get to associate themselves with many labels, whereas bands usually get only one or two, so fans are less confined by labels.
Part of the use of "emotional" and its variations to describe post-hardcore are a reaction to the less masculine and more feminine nature of the sound when compared to hardware. (Aslaksen 2006, p.5) When vocalists stopped screaming the entire time, and moved towards cleaner, more melodic, and often higher range vocals, the perceived change and response from the more established genre was akin to what happened with twelfth-century polyphony. The music was denounced as attempting "to feminize all their spellbound little followers with the girlish way they render the notes and end the phrases." (McClary 2004, p. 30) Femininity entering a previously masculine sphere was scorned.
Whatever terminology is applied to the music, why listen to it? My interviewees agreed that the technical guitar and drum parts, as well as the heavy yet energetic feel of the music were key reasons. Also a balance between melody and hardcore elements, as Jeff (name changed) said "The reason I mainly listen to post-hardcore is because I like the instrumentals of hardcore but can't deal with the constant screaming of hardcore band singers. I feel post-hardcore is a good medium because they have an actual singer." This sonic middle ground between hardcore and emo is appealing to people whose tastes either span the spectrum, or have a line drawn somewhere along the spectrum that sets off whatever is too hardcore/too emo. This middle ground exists not only sonically but chronologically, as post-hardcore existed in the transition between the larger movements of hardcore and emo. The genre crystallized most clearly around Fugazi, the band that defined the genre, with roots firmly established in hardcore punk, but breaking free from musical conventions and exploring new ones to the point that "one could almost call them a post-punk jam band." (Wagner 2007, p. 69) Interestingly enough, none of my interviewees brought up Fugazi, which goes to show that the term "post-hardcore" is much more attached to the more recent definitions.
The band that defined the genre, mixing elements of hardcore with melody and introspection.
Now that I have defined post-hardcore, contextualized it historically, and examined why people might like it, I'll focus on what is unique, important, and interesting about the scene in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. While many bands named by my interviewees were larger, national acts from elsewhere, southern New England has a strong contingent of local post-hardcore bands: The Receiving End of Sirens, Therefore I Am, Monty Are I, Les Savy Fav, Vanna, A Loss for Words, Four Year Strong. Though the genre was born out of the D.C. hardcore scene, the D.I.Y. ethic that began punk and persisted through D.I.Y. labels like Dischord Records (Grubbs 2008, p. 6), was very translatable to MA/RI as part of what Steve Aiello calls "an East-Coast mentality." Bands are willing to work hard to be able to make and promote the music they love making, even if that involves taking on responsibilities usually reserved for record labels.
The other key element of this local scene is that there are resources enough for it to exist. Both states have a fair amount of venues within the size range of the audience, from churches and VFW halls to larger clubs. Having these venues available and willing to book shows gives the bands outlets to play at, ways to make money, and ways to move up the ranks by playing at certain venues. Although Steve bemoans the loss of several key venues, Adam brings up the point that there are still a lot of them, even if there have been some quality losses. The size and population density of the states (especially Rhode Island) is another advantage, enabling bands to do a lot of promotion themselves (i.e. postering and flyering every high school in R.I.), as Steve can attest to. Again, the intensity of the combination of D.I.Y. and East Coast work ethics is what makes this work possible.
A shot from Vanna concert at the International Community Church in Allston, MA (Vanna blog and journals)Though the term is thrown around liberally nowadays, "post-hardcore", when used appropriately, still points to a genre that took the sound and work ethic of hardcore punk, shook it out of its violent and principles-over-music stalemate, and created a more personal and palatable style of music. At its best, it balances the intensity, hardness, and energy, with introspection and melody, creating an appealing blend that sits in the middle of the spectrum between emo and hardcore. Though I can't say for sure, the genre's principles of sonic experimentation and expansion seem to be enough to outlast the mislabeled-as-hardcore emo that's on its way out. Only time will tell if this genre was merely a transitional period, or whether it is here to stay.
Word Count: 1,374
Works Cited:
Alsaksen, Matthew J. Middle Class Music in Surburban Nowhere Land: Emo and the Performance of Masculinity. Graduate College of Bowling Green State University, 2006. <http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/Aslaksen%20Matthew%20J.pdf?bgsu1147712034>
Grubbs, Eric. Post: A Look At the Influence of Post-Hardcore - 1985-2007.
iUniverse, 2008.
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. New York, NY: Routledge, 1981.
McClary, Susan. "Same As It Ever Was: Youth Culture and Music." Microphone Fiends: Youth Music & Youth Culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994.
Wagner, Cassie and Elizabeth Stephan. Left of The Dial: An Itroduction to Underground Rock 1980-2000. Haworth Press, 2005.
www.last.fm
www.lyricsfreak.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.urbandictionary.com
No comments:
Post a Comment