Hype!

Grunge; it’s the music scene that got coverage throughout the world for its sound, slang, appearance and way of life. The documentary Hype! was played in front of a packed room at Gordon Biersch on Tuesday night, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Cinequest’s Halfdan Hussey.

Hype! delved into the Seattle music scene with interviews from those that were at the forefront of the movement, including Sub Pop Records, the label that gained the most attention during that time for signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney. I was impressed with how the movie used rare concert footage to trace the steps of grunge, from its subversive inception in neighborhood basements, to its explosion as a pop culture phenomenon. My favorite quote from the film was “every community has a pool of talented people that can come together to make things happen,” which is how Left Coast Live came about!

After the movie, Halfdan Hussey probed members of the Left Coast Live booking team to find out our perspective of the San Jose music scene as musicians and promoters, and what we felt was the “San Jose sound” and how we discover new music. It was apparent from the panelists responses that our scene is very musically diverse due to the melting pot of cultures and ethnicity in the South Bay, which is quite different from Seattle’s distinct sound that led to the whole grunge phenomenon. There’s also the benefits and hardships that come out of our valley being so affluent; especially how the high rent makes it almost impossible to survive as a struggling musician. Each member of the panel also picked two bands who folks should look out for this weekend at Left Coast Live:

Michael Grammer: The Park and J*Davey
Barbara Wahli: Northern Son and Ambience
Michael Brilliot: Beachkrieg and Lagos Roots Afrobeat Ensemble
Will Sprott: Lagos Roots Afrobeat Ensemble and My Pet Saddle
Thomas Aguilar: J*Davey and Darondo

The evening nicely culminated in the Gordon Biersch patio with a fun and lively performance by The Bingtones, much to everyone’s enjoyment!

-Barbara

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 1:29 am and is filed under News. Tags: Cinequest, grunge, Halfden Hussey, Hype!, Sub Pop Records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.