Scenesters

Are you in the scene?

Well, what does that mean?

My pal back home told me she went to out in Glasgow last week with an industry guy

She was looking quite fly, and not on his arm, more detached maybe, observing, as you do.

The bar was very trendy and sceney.

Everyone in the club was talking about labels and name-dropping bands. If you didn't know who these bands were, you were pretty unconnected.

The labelpeople weren't even listening to the music inside. They were outside smoking cigs and drinking and yakking away about who was getting a deal and who was going to blow up and who had found who.

It sounded familiar to me.

I remember chasing the deal. Our big hope was that the scouts in London would come up to see us.

Once we put together a showcase for a guy from a label. This was before cell phones.

But he had indicated he would be coming and was excited to see the band.

We had a pretty good heaving crowd and a nice scene. The vibe was very alt rock.

The guy came, I guess, but late, and we never saw him. All I can remember is the big push and fanfare and excitement for someone we thought could shape our futures.

For all we really wanted was an end to the present tense that engulfed us in nightly pub gigs for little money, smoke and drinks and clothes that stunk and late night chippies and sleeping in until 11am, just to get up the next day to do it all again.

Scenes kind of happened sometimes when we played. Other times, no one was around, and we satisfied a pub liquor/entertainment license to keep them open later and get us paid.

We had to haul our own gear, set up and play three sets a night.

I remember playing The Roxy once, and being shocked at how filthy and unglamorous the backstage area was.

The scene is the fantasy that a great band's music can create for the people who come to be a part of something.

I don't think The Scene is the same thing for the musicians. Yet, it seems to fall on us to create something sexy and alive and mysterious and seductive.

Stars, perhaps, have those qualities? But when I look at old footage of Lady Gaga before she was a famous icon, I see someone who was like me. Someone sweating under poor lighting and belting and feeling and moving, trying to put a spell on the punters.

Someone told me once that people go out to hear live music because they want to get laid.

That might be true, and it might be the reason that so many people stop hitting a scene once they are older and married or settled in.

There can be an attitude of exclusivity around a scene. There can be a feeling of "I'm just not cool enough for this place, or young enough, or thin enough, or rich enough."

I think back to last week at Maui Sugar Mill, the dive bar. The scene there was messy and real. You didn't even know who would show up, what age they were, or how much prestige they had.

It was a mix.

I myself like that kind of American scene. No cover. Inexpensive drinks. free parking. And god knows what will happen?

If this makes me uncool, ok. Not fitting in is something I have gotten used to.

More and more I am rejecting the corporate kind of music, the labels and the industry.

Could I end up in it again? Who knows?

But this time, they'll have to impress me.