Hey everyone, I am going to use this blog to post all press I find on our packed-out show at the Sooner Theater for Norman Music Festival.
George Lang of NewOK writes in “Norman Music Festival ‘Seriously Fun Spring Music Event’” :
“On the stylistically polar end of Colourmusic’s noisy adventurism was The Non’s gorgeous experiment in orchestral rock. Playing to a packed house early Sunday night at the Sooner Theater, The Oklahoma City instrumental band recreated its October 2009 “Resound” concert with the Cloud Collision Orchestra, performing sweeping, virtuosic music as the strings, woodwinds and horns added power and cinematic beauty to their sound.”
More to come. Sorry to anyone who couldn’t make it in last night!
Wil
It’s been a week since our CD releases. I think my neck is still a little sore from two days of writhing around onstage, and my sleep schedule is wrecked.
First off, I would like to thank everyone who came out to all our shows. At about 260 the first night and 275 the second night, we had over 535 people come to our shows over the two days. It really was a humbling and rewarding experience to see all these people come out to two nights of music. I attribute this to the strength of the bands we played with - Sherree, The Uglysuit, Jacob Abello, Student Film, and The Pretty Black Chains are some of the best Oklahoma bands to ever be in the same venue.
I heard a few people tell me “you know? This is actually the first local show I’ve been to in months,” and I now feel responsible as a member of the local music community to attend more shows. For crying out loud, when you show up, you’re instantly glad you did.
Secondly, I want to tell you about what’s happening next with The Non. We are playing at The Marquee in Tulsa this next weekend, Jan. 29, with Dead Sea Choir and Scales of Motion, and we will head out to Nashville and Memphis the week afterward. This half year will be jam-packed with shows, and we couldn’t be more happy to play.
Additionally, we will be releasing our music in digital avenues such as iTunes and then in the future future we will make new shirts and probably vinyls.
Hope to see you later!
Hello everyone, we are playing Opening Night in Bricktown for New Year’s Eve. We play at 10 PM in Exhibition Hall 1 in the Cox Convention Center. See you there?
Also, our music was featured in Oklahoma City Arts Council’s TV ad for Opening Night.
I should have known something strange was going on when last week I heard Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” on The Buzz.
When I rolled out of bed (correction: rolled IN bed) and picked up my laptop this morning to obsess over all forms of social media pertaining to both personal and “business,” I learned that Oklahoma’s major rock station, 94.7 The Buzz, has officially changed its name to 94.7 The Brew.
First off, the name alone is ridiculous, implying that it will connect with stereotypically beer-chugging, high-fiving kinds of (qtd.) “brah dudes,” who supposedly are the desired audience for music. But this is a small digression - the most important part of this change is the style of music the station will now play.
94.7 The Brew will now play “Classic Rock’s next generation from the late 70s, 80s and early 90s,” according to their site. According to oklahomarock.com, this change was to compete with stations like 100.5 The KATT and 107.7 KRXO, both “independent” stations (in which I mean “not ClearChannel”) that specialize in classic rock.
Though I understand that there is validity in trying to compete with these stations, I think the greatest problem of The Buzz/The Brew, and in a larger scope, ClearChannel, is that they SIMPLY DO NOT GET THE MUSIC CLIMATE.
I believe that an important element of enjoying music, whether this is conscious or unconscious, is appreciating originality, or at least being thrilled with the medium in which the music is presented. Really, I just mean, people who listen to music should be excited in some way. To me, bands like Seether, Three Days Grace, and HINDER (all bands I consider to be seminal The Buzz bands) are trodding in styles of music that were arguably created in the early 1990s - 20 YEARS AGO. Playing their forms of grunge-pop, replete with the loud-soft dynamics and the gravel yowls of the lead singers, these bands play to a declining audience who are increasingly bored by the lack of “newness” in music.
This dissatisfaction with The Buzz and channels like it has led a huge part of the population to become entranced with the Internet and how easily one can find new and original music there. By now, radio takes second place to the freedom and independence of the iPod. This is the major problem The Buzz faces - it thinks that by changing its style of music, people will become more interested in the format and begin listening to it. The Buzz is wrong, simply because people do not (again, subconsciously or consciously) want to listen to the same songs, repeated over and over, causing listeners to question their own intelligence.
Where The Buzz/Brew gets it totally wrong, a new radio station understands its musical climate and those who live within it.
105.3 The Spy has returned to Oklahoma City this year, and though I can honestly say that I know about 5% of the songs played on this station, I am impressed with the originality of the music played on the station and the idea that if I stay on the station for more than an hour, I won’t hear the same song again.
However, I don’t love The Spy completely because of the music. Rather, I think The Spy embodies a new potentiality in radio - an independent station that embraces social media such as Facebook and Twitter that gives listeners a sense of empowerment. The Spy plays local commercials, actually takes song requests, and is actively engaged in the local music community. It’s so great that those commercials about Electro Lounge repeatedly mentioned The Pretty Black Chains. That kind of exposure is vital to creating a vibrant music community in OKC.
I never would have thought that we’d see the decline of ClearChannel radio, but I believe that channels like The Buzz are destined to fail, as long as they do not engage the listener. I understand that The Spy has a long way to go to prove itself, but I believe in it. More than that, I believe in the people of Oklahoma City, who ultimately have the power to support local music rather than feed the monster that is ClearChannel.
Let’s see this collapse of the style of modern rock as a chance to celebrate. 94.7 The Buzz has proven to us that this hideous style of grunge-pop does not truly have the listener support or clout to actually sustain a radio station. This is a huge collapse, and perhaps we can envision a world that will never have to play this kind of aural torture ever again.
Also, listen to The Spy!
Wil
Found some RESOUND videos on the YouTube today! Sound quality is really low but they capture the essence of the show, or something. Enjoy!
Okay, I’ll try not to overuse the phrase. If you haven’t already heard, “Tadaima” is a Japanese phrase meaning “I’m home,” but it’s also a greeting when someone comes home. So, “Tadaima”!
We hope you are impressed with our new changes. These are all steps we are making to promote our new CD and then start a busy year of playing shows, touring, and doing some festivals.
Scott Hill and Paul Wilkes at The Foundry Collective are responsible for creating all the art, photography, and design for our newly updated site, myspace, and twitter, as well as our CD art. They’re great.
If you get the chance, check out our new myspace at www.myspace.com/thenonband and please follow us at twitter.com/thenonband. We’ll be updating both regularly for the next month and I guarantee it’ll be worth paying attention for the upcoming news.
Once again, thanks for being here! Your support is invaluable to us.
