Hey, I know that guy!

If I have heard of a band and one of their songs has ever made me smile I will go see them in concert. Okay, if someone I trust to know my musical tastes says I will like them, I will also go. Alright, it doesn't take much for me to go to a concert, but it its even better when its one of 'your bands.' I love going to see bands I love, but there's this other thing you get to have happen sometimes that makes it just a little something else... a little more entertaining I would say. Yes, entertaining is the right word. When you know the person playing the music.

I remember the first time I went to see my cousin play a show- It was fantastic! The show was fun, they were good, and it was great- if odd- seeing these guys I'd known practically their whole lives rockin' out speed punk style... even the road to get to see them was epic (ok not the physical road, but the metaphoric one- I had tried to go see them three times previously but the first time the show got canceled, the second time I ended up having to work all weekend, and the third time- the third time I was soooooo close! Made it all the way to Waterloo and then *blamo* the great East Coast Blackout of 2003. Seriously. It was not meant to be).


Even hearing someone you know on CD... A few months ago I also happened across an old mix CD with one of my cousins old songs on it and found myself singing along for at least twice through before figuring out what it was... (Move to Bremerton, if you're one of like twenty people who has ever heard their album... geez I don't even know what band they were at the time! The Durty Sox maybe?) It made me remember who he was back then when they were writing those songs, just punk ass kids bangin shit out on their guitars... It definitely brought a smile to my face... Or this morning when I heard my friend Kevin's old band, The Dunn Project, and had a similar reaction (not the 'its not meant to be' one, the other one. The 'Ahaha I know that guy! Oh hey this is awesome, I like this music! Nice work friend, nice work!" one). You feel like you've got a little bit of an inside track on the music cuz you know one of the people making it, but then you also feel like you know them just a little bit better for having heard something they made...

The other way that this works is when you've seen a performer so many times, in such small venues that they get to know you- at first just by sight, then by name, then soon you're have actual conversations when you pass each other on the street, catching up and asking after each other's families... This used to happen to me with Old Man Luedecke back in Halifax, and my friend's friend Phil has an even more elaborate version with the loverly B.A. Johnson. Its kinda odd, but it seems somehow very Canadian.

This whole loverly making-you-like-the-music thing doesn't always work out perfectly, though. I mean there are bands I know whose music I am not super fond of- but knowing them personally does turn the experience from "Ho-hum" into "Well, I am smiling and bopping my head..." Case in point: I went to university with In-Flight Safety- never knew any of them well, but had friends in common so I saw them around- but I find their music, how shall I put this....? Boring. Fine, well played, but just Intensely. Boring. Nonetheless when I happen to pass by them playing at a festival or as an opening band, it makes me just a little bit happy to stand there and watch them for a few minutes. Not in an 'Hey guys, hey guys, I know the band!" sort of way, but in more of a "Hey I know you're just regular people from a regular place, and I think its kinda awesome that you're up there playing for loads of people" and I get this weird sense of pride. Again, not pride for me, not pride in something about myself, but being proud of them for doing what they love and getting some sort of recognition for it, even if its just playing their stuff and having people show up to hear it.

I suppose sometimes this also transfers to bands I don't know personally, but have just loved for forever... Like when I heard the Elliott Brood show in Ottawa was sold out- so proud of them. Or Arcade Fire making it big. Or Sam Roberts getting to play Massey Hall. Its weird, I have no reason to feel that way, but yeah- so proud.

I honestly think its one of the big reasons to see live music- you get to feel like you actually know the band/singer/guitarist/whatever. I mean, obviously you don't necessarily know them (except for when you do know them already, or come to know them though going to see them play...) but either way you get to physically, actually be in a room with them, to exist in the same actual physical space, and somehow that makes it all seem just a little bit more real. Its like seeing a work of art in person- anyone who says that a photo in a book is the same as the real thing has clearly never stood in front of their favourite statue or smelled their favourite oil painting (Yes smelled. Fine, think I'm weird, but you go stand in the JMW Turner Gallery at Tate Britain and tell me the smell doesn't transport you to a different era... also the light playing of the softly muted colour transitions... ok I'm gonna just leave it at that before I start to sound like an inaccessible art history text book...). But anyways, being in the same small space as someone making music makes the music make its way into you in a different way than just listening to it on CD.  (I guess I'm not really talking about stadium shows or crazy huge tours here, but really I suppose it works in those situations too, to a certain extent- perhaps the effectiveness is inversely proportional to the size of the venue...?)

I realize I have all but totally lost the plot here, so I'll just say this: If you know someone in a band, go see them play. Even if you don't love their music when you hear it on the crappy CD they recorded in their basement, even if you don't really know any of the songs, just knowing them will make it a fun experience. Also you can make embarrassingly awesome fan t-shirts and wear them to the show. And maybe baseball hats too. Hats are cool.