Long Island’s artists have always been on the cutting edge of genres in music. Lately the genre being contemporary Hardcore Metal; having bands come to fame like Glassjaw and Dr.Acula with followings of over 2,000+ people. In the past bands like The Strokes, Brand New and Taking Back Sunday – love them or hate them – were at the top of their genre, and also hailed from Long Island. In the late 80s and early 90s Public Enemy – known for almost starting riots and being monumentally influential on hip hop and rap – originated in Long Island. The roots of Long Island run deep through the soil bearing great artists like Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground and Johnny Ramone; both being at the forefront of Punk music as we know it. Maybe there’s a musical energy flowing through these suburban towns of a cluster-fucked society, maybe it was the mass orgies that supposedly took place in the 1800s; generating a heavily intoxicating sexual impulse and leaving the outlet to be music, or maybe it’s the spirits of native americans chanting and beating their animal skin tom toms eternally, I don’t know, but I do know music seems naturally inherent and copious here. The only problem is that in LI music venues and bars catering to local art are very scarce. While booking and promotion only gear towards middle aged consumers, interested in bleak cover bands for their suburban upper-middle class gatherings; the youth are stuck at home with little to no creative outlet, instead they shoot up dope, and hang out in the woods. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with that -besides statistical overdoses and ticks from tall grass- this is the kind of stuff that keeps the un-noticed art flowing. All that is being said is that there’s barely any venues attracting young adults, no places where young people could go and communicate, and maybe get high some place other than behind a dumpster in the Kmart parking lot. Venues that now cater to young adults are bars that don’t have proper security or locality for a fun night. For instance, at a local show in Holbrook NY, the suffolk county district of Long Island, a gun was pulled in the parking lot and cops pulled up; though the people that came out to dance to some live music were probably discouraged from going to a local show again, house band A New Bug came and played the following weekend; proving that there is limited options available venue-wise for live music to thrive. Frustration and angst brewing from situations like this, have sparked an ambition to really make a good music scene in Long Island, revive the waters that were once clear blue and are now mucky with green slime. We are at a time where local bands of all genres are coming together to throw shows by whatever means necessary; to create an outlet for young kids to get together and thrash, have a blast, high or not, having something to do and something to keep them moving. A group has been formed called Planet of Sound Productions who’s main aim is promoting local artists, booking shows & recording starving musicians for less than nothing. They’re plans to uproot the modern system of booking shows have appealed widely to a mass group of artists in this new Island scene. It’s not about fame-dom; it’s about art and expression, getting possessed and letting go. New local bands, being at the cutting edge of their own individual genre, have come together to form a free union: A New Bug, Soda Bomb, Incircles, High Bluff, The Sweaters, The Sub Atomic Waves, Entering The Sun, Destructasaurus Rex, J & The A-Holes, Philthy Phil, Sex in HD, Oh Scatterbrained Me, and many more; adding new great local bands and artists every show. No music industry to hold them back, or to pull the reigns corrupting their direction, this is the type of thing that lets creativity thrive and meet it’s own actualization. It’s a pure, genuine rock and roll agenda, and the momentum is already too great to stop it.
-Eddie Lo
anewbug 