Two Lights! They're a band! They worry about money!

Your favorite fake bands from the movies...

maybe 'two lights' is an attempt to go viral by a secret PR firm

but would they get famous sleeping four in a van and eating cafeteria food? i don't think so. they are better off working the angles. the press, publicity, internet, etc.

Is this how it works these days? I dunno, my impression was that e.g. Soundgarden or the White Stripes did the four-in-a-van/caf-food thing before they became famous. Has the industry changed that much? (It's believable to me that it has. Just curious.)

OTM that this is insane btw:

And of course, if we do graduate — if we make it in the music business — we'll soon be earning a lot more money than even doctors and lawyers. Or so we tell ourselves...

Oh god that picture, I know so many fucking bands that look just like that. I'm in the UK too, obviously the indie-rock-boys-from-well-to-do-families look is universal. I bet they're really supercilious to the soundman / promoter / etc when they "rock some of the top clubs in New York, opening for some of their favourite bands".

Is this how it works these days? I dunno, my impression was that e.g. Soundgarden or the White Stripes did the four-in-a-van/caf-food thing before they became famous. Has the industry changed that much? (It's believable to me that it has. Just curious.)

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Saturday, January 28, 2012 6:59 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the other 2 people in the white stripes' van were a publicist and a banker writing blank checks iirc

the phrase "Third Best Vocals at the 22nd Rock Off" has so much pathos in it

it is too much sadness to actually think abt

That pic looks like a promo for an upcoming show on the CW or ABC Family. Given that, they probably WILL get big.

Man, I went to high school for a few years in their hometown and can't even get my head around this. I mean, the place had absolutely identical-looking/thinking dudes in the late 90s but they all gravitated to Vermont instead of Brooklyn. Wonder if this speaks to a more general trend where this super-particular kind of greyhound-caste LL Bean bro has turned to Keane-styled indie rock(???) in the absence of Phish...Bonnaroo cross-contamination?

I'm going to sound like a total snob now, but seriously I think battle of the bands are the most humiliating thing your could do...my last band got invited to some WB local tv affiliate/pizza hut thing were you got free ” professional” studio time if you won....barf

I'm sure the studio time is with some one that went to one of those tv add schools

http://i44.tinypic.com/1042nub.jpg

"hey two lights, can you write a piece for TIME - MONEY section?"

FUN HAS A PRICE!

Sorry, two lights. I invented 'doing it wrong' back in 2001 when I blew two months of Dairy Queen pay on a Vox 'Valvetronix' amplifier so my band could cover YYZ at local cafes on open mic night.

Ah, yes, the blank checks big labels used to give out to bands. They definitely didn't want you to pay any of that money back.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, January 28, 2012 6:45 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Bands didn't actually have to "pay back" their advances. The advances were "recoupable" out of sales. This was often abused by the labels, for sure, but it's not the same thing as having to pay back your advance.

I'm a paralegal at an indie law firm

I'm going to sound like a total snob now, but seriously I think battle of the bands are the most humiliating thing your could do...my last band got invited to some WB local tv affiliate/pizza hut thing were you got free ” professional” studio time if you won....barf

― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, January 29, 2012 3:41 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This is not snobbish. Pretty much the best way you can tell a band is wasting their time is by them entering a battle of the bands contest.

feel like their understanding of "making it" comes from repeat viewings of that thing you do!

― ban opinions (reddening), Saturday, January 28, 2012 6:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ahahaha

xp stopped clock, etc. As you say, the real reason not to enter a battle-of-the-bands is because it's a waste of time. Their reason is because they're snobs who won't do things because they view them as 'humiliating'.

I mean, their whole attitude reminds me of...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/content/images/2007/05/08/third_duel_396x222.jpg
"We paid for this seat, and I think it's a damn liberty that we should have to stand for it as well."

i would like you guys to know that i fucking ROCKED cape henlopen high school's 1999 homecoming weekend battle of the bands and have no regrets

What was the set list.

some very shrill, screamy originals and iirc a cover of "just what i needed"

my band experience includes one night as lead guitarist/vocalist for a band dubbed O0nglebinky that did only covers

Haha, my crowning high school battle-of-the-bands achievement also involved a cover of Just What I Needed, as well as a rendition of Pat Benatar's Heart Breaker into which I worked some sick two-hand tapping.

I think we need a new thread here.

co sign

Ah wait, we don't:

Battle of the Bands Nostalgia Thread

The worst part of winning those would be the conversations worth the producer who was running your free studio time.

”When I was living in l.a., I mic'd drums on the third wallflowers album...it was so amazing to see jakob work”

lmao

I judged a BOTB once. Made sure the weirdest group won. Pissed off the grammar school jazz funk combo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WOsuvVfFDk

lmao

This continues to be hilarious.

One thing I will say, they have succeeded through this episode in becoming the single most un-rock-and-roll rock-and-roll band of all time.

this reminds me of that punky brewster episode where she learns that the average cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 is $100k so she tries to take out a loan to pay henry back.

200K, if your kids are Two Lights, apparently

also where is nataly dawn's "you're doing it wrong" piece??

The Lefsetz weighs in.

Various other takes.

Oh!

When they said Cabs, I thought they meant Bass Cabs. Not Taxi cabs.

Anyway, Two Lights are now officially this years Rebecca Black.

And did she make a fortune out of people laffing at her on the itnernet?

Oh, wait, she, did.

(left typo in on purpose)

I guess what I want to separate out from the ridiculousness of these guys is this: there's a myth floating around that in the age of indie and/or the internet, you no longer have to spend money to *make it* as a musician, because computers magically make good-sounding records for pennies and the internet magically promotes music via "word of mouth" and "viral" whatever. This myth is pernicious and annoying, and it's especially dumb coming from people who are in some shitty band that really is just a hobby.

What about the myth that the only way to have a decent recording is to spend a bunch of money in a studio?

Anyway, Two Lights are now officially this years Rebecca Black.

And did she make a fortune out of people laffing at her on the itnernet?

at least she had a song that people got some form enjoyment out of.

there's a myth that people need to make good-sounding records

A truly terrible almost-year-old live review:

Two Lights unlocked the night, though they weren’t in unfamiliar territory as the rock band call New York City home. While the venue was still filling up, the four man ensemble easily captured people’s attention with their catchy songs and impressive guitar work. Keyboardist Abner Willis seamlessly transitioned between the keyboard, guitar, and vocals, showing off his diverse talents while his brother Harper played lead guitar and took over vocal duties on several of the songs. Behind it all, bassist Ryan Gross filled out their sound with a steady, propulsive rhythm. They weren’t an opener that you would have expected for an act like Astronautalis, but it didn’t matter; they had the kind of sound that any music fan would enjoy.

YES OF COURSE.

What about the myth that the only way to have a decent recording is to spend a bunch of money in a studio?

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, January 30, 2012 11:13 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Well if you're not doing that, you at least need a properly sound-proofed space, decent equipment (mics, preamps, software, mixing board, etc.) and you need someone who knows what they're doing with recording, and moreover, a lot of fucking time.

Astronautalis (born Charles Andrew Bothwell) is an American hip hop artist based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Astronautalis.jpg

Thanks wikipedia!