Thursday, January 26, 2006

Guess that would make TDA super-lame

Bain Mattox -- a Georgia musician named like a Simpsons action hero -- trawls thrift stores for offbeat instruments. Nothing all that new there.

But he's got a funny insight that sheds light on the challenge Those Darn Accordions is up against when facing a world choked with a never-ending parade of bands and an alternative press pool composed, mostly, of shallow media hipsters (please don't hate me just because I tried to be one before I grew up).

"When people first hear that we are a band with an accordion in it, they’re kind of thinking, 'Well that’s sort of lame,'" Mattox tells The Red and Black.

How many people see TDA's name in the club listings when we come to town and say, "No way! I'd rather floss my toes"? How many people would like our music but get turned off by an archaic vision of Myron Floren? Does the name of our band help us (it's undeniably noticeable) or hurt us (it's apparently very difficult to spell correctly)?

I guess it doesn't really matter -- after 17 years, it's too late to turn back. But I wonder what would have happened over the years if TDA's founder had picked a different name -- maybe something not based on a Disney movie.

P.S. In the Red and Black article, Mattox's friend and fellow musician, Claire Campbell, tells a funny story about shopping for a musical saw at Home Depot that was almost enough to shake me out of the introspective funk triggered by that squeezebox quote. Pass the coffee, please, lots of sugar.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dude. I don't know about the business end of things, but from a creative standpoint, you don't WANT to be associated with an audience who automatically thinks an accordion is kind of lame.

The best things in life will never be appreciated by the majority of the population. This is why network TV is pretty boring, overall.

Celebrate the confusion and terror you engender in others. Embrace your pariah status--and be free.

-sam grey

9:47 AM  
Anonymous Bill from Reedley said...

A little bit on the same topic as the last post. www.zappa.com "The problem with doing a rock interview or understanding something not from the norm in the first place is that the person coming to talk to you (a) doesn't know anything about what you do (b) doesn't know about music in general and (c) has already made up his mind in advance before he comes to you what the answer ought to be to his precious little question. There's no reason to conclude that I'm there to make his life miserable, but you know, by the same token, if you want facts I'll give them to you -you want something else, go someplace else. I still think it's one of the smartest things I ever said, 'Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk in order to provide articles for people who can't read.'"
- Ben Watson interviews Frank Zappa October 1993 (Mojo Magazine)

12:20 PM  
Anonymous Bill In Milwaukee said...

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't go to TDA's shows too much to watch the band anymore. I go to watch the crowd. The expression on their faces, especially the first timers, is worth the price of admission alone. There's a certain smile, a look on the face that you don't see everyday. A recognition of the humor, the talent and just plain joy Paul and the gang can squeeze out of thier accordions, that is (as the commerical says) priceless. I defy anyone to go to a show and not have a smile firmly planted on their face. Nuts to those that don't get it. I'd rather party with the bunch that do.

Can you tell I like the band?

Keep on squeez'n!


*Bill In Milwaukee

6:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for the link to the article with the funny musical saw story!
Here is a different lady who plays the saw, who also tried out saws at a hardware store:
www.SawLady.com

4:56 PM  
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