A couple of days ago the group whose street team I manage (
The Daze) got what we thought would be a great opportunity: an interview on morning radio and a chance to play live. Unfortunately, they got booked with Bobby Bones, a local radio diva. He cut up their interview, badmouthed them and refused to put the interview up on his podcast.
I was genuinely upset that a DJ would do that sort of thing. After all, DJ's are there to support and promote music aren't they? That's why they're called DJ's (disc jockeys).
To give you some perspective, let me list some of their qualifications: The Daze have been playing together for several years in Austin, recorded their new album with Rick Del Castillo and Wayne Ceballos (of Austin's Del Castillo and formerly of Bay Area psych oufit, Aum), played at reputable venues (Antone's, Stubb's, the Continental,the Carousel Lounge and Emo's to name a few) with bands like Del Castillo, The Steps, and The Ugly Beats, played several house parties as well as free shows on the South Lamar pedestrian bridge with other young Austin bands (Blues Mafia, Joker, Willy & the Surroundings, etc.) and have an in-store show coming up at Waterloo Records on the 11th as well as a CD release party at Antone's on the twenty-seventh.
If anything, they are the quintessential talented young band in a whole network of young and talented bands poised to be the next generation of Austin's live music.
In short: they worked extremely hard to get to where they are now only to have a mediocre dj slap them in the face because they're "too young."
In my opinion, he's jealous of the success that these three enjoy because they're being genuine and not putting up a celebrity front. People like Bobby Bones
should be scared. We're here. We're young, use vintage gear, write blogs and shoot 35mm. We're the next generation of the music industry and our independent bloggers, concert photog's, and home recording engineers are leveling the playing feild and putting big industry and big labels out of business.
Why? Because we're not out here for the money, we came to hear the sound.
Austin gets a lot of hype as a live music city and an incubator for new and innovative music, but when dj's like Bobby Bones start discouraging the efforts of younger local bands it becomes exactly that: a bunch of hype.
- MF
