Fans wonder if music still indie when it's riding in a long, black limousine By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out
If you're not familiar with the music of The Pixies or Fugazi, you're not alone.
For two decades, the two bands and other indie rockers like them have stubbornly clung to their musical independence, eschewing major-label support and, as a result, receiving little or no radio play.
They weren't featured in national magazines. Their albums weren't carried in many record stores. They didn't ride limos to and from $30-a-ticket shows.
Still, thanks in great part to constant touring, they built small but dedicated fan bases among those who prefer to run with the ‘‘out’’ crowd.
Ironically, today's indie rock — which was once known as underground, or alternative, music — has never been more mainstream, as evidenced by two bands playing in the Valley this week.
Music journalists have been stumbling over themselves to praise Bright Eyes, who will play the Celebrity Theatre Thursday, and Modest Mouse, who will hit Mesa Amphitheatre on Tuesday. Both bands recently received fawning articles in Rolling Stone, and Bright Eyes creator Conor Oberst even got lengthy write-ups last month in Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly. “I guess, more than anything, if Newsweek is talking about the savior of indie rock, it's already too late,” says David Jensen, frontman for the Valley's premier indie rock band Before Braille. “We all know what history has done to ‘saviors.’ ’’
Jensen says the hype surrounding the 24-year-old Nebraska singer/songwriter is something Oberst would rather not be burdened with.
“I believe I know enough about Conor in speaking with him that the term is unsettling and not at all appreciated,’’ Jensen says. ‘‘Newsweek and Rolling Stone are just bandwagon publications in regards to music, but people who are unaware of Conor may read too much into it.”
Adam Panic, an 18-year-old pop phenom from Paradise Valley who, like Oberst, began writing songs in his early teens, agrees with Jensen.
“I hate to single out any one artist for anything that involves holding an entire scene on their back,” Panic says. “But the more Conor Oberst's name gets out, the more he becomes the poster child for all things indie.”
‘I'm equally happy — and sickened’
Unlike Oberst, whose albums are released on his own Saddle Creek label, Modest Mouse's most recent CD, “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” was released by Sony, one of the world's biggest corporate labels.
“To me, true indie bands don't sign with majors,” says Jensen, who runs his own indie imprint, Sunset Alliance. “It shouldn't be a sin to have a launching pad, but it does matter where and how you fly.
“I remember reading an interview with (Modest Mouse frontman) Isaac Brock years ago where he said he'd never sign to a major,” Jensen says. “He seemed upset that it was even suggested, but maybe he was kidding. All I know is that I like their new record and I am happy they are being played on the radio, and I'm equally happy — and sickened — when I hear their music in the background of minivan commercials.
The deal has obviously paid off for the Issaquah, Wash., band: ‘‘Good News’’ rose into the Top 20 and received loads of airplay for its single “Float On.”
“(Modest Mouse) are a good example of a band that holds up the indie ethic,” says Kimber Lanning, owner of independent record stores Stinkweeds in Tempe and Phoenix. “They turned down all kinds of stuff that they could be doing if they were just looking for a quick buck.
“I credit that to their management — Juan Carrera, who incidentally is from Phoenix. He steers them a lot and he ran a label called Slow Dime, so he was an indie record label owner, and that comes through in the decisions you see the band making.”
But Oberst and Modest Mouse have challenges ahead.
“Up to this point, Oberst has been very indie in how he's avoided many major-label traps,” Jensen says. “I don't know how long Conor will keep it up, but he's been pretty legit in that regard.
‘‘Again, in his case as well, ticket prices are scaring me. You don't have to do the ‘Fugazi Five Dollar’ deal, but seriously — even Pearl Jam works hard to keep tickets at or around 20 bones. I don't know how indie it is to charge more than $20 for your shows.”
“I would agree that it's not very indie,” Lanning says of the high ticket prices. “However, I choose to focus on the fact that he is fighting Ticketmaster, and the fact that he does have seven people on tour with him. So that really is the glass half full, or is the glass half empty?
‘‘To be honest, I am overjoyed that kids are listening to Conor Oberst rather than the Insane Clown Posse, so count your blessings.”
What's next for indie rock?
With his inventive lyrics and folk-hued acoustic music, it's easy to understand Oberst's appeal. “I love Bright Eyes,” Panic says. “I think Conor's lyrics are timeless in a lot of ways, so I think that the hype he's getting is completely deserving. He writes a great folk song. ‘Lifted’ changed the way I thought about lo-fi music. That album gave me my infatuation with natural instruments.”
“Conor Oberst has a lot to offer lyrically, especially if you are moved by music about relationships,” Jensen says. “I think Conor was about 18 when I saw him at (Phoenix club) Modified and I remember him as being a minimal guitar player and a below-average singer, but his lyrics and conviction struck me as honest and intense.”
So with Modest Mouse moving into the major leagues — much like early ’80s indie darlings R.E.M. — and Oberst riding a massive wave of publicity, what is the future of indie rock?
“I think the state of indie rock is moving at a huge pace,” Panic says. “Online avenues like myspace.com and purevolume.com are letting indie bands go on tour and have fans all across the U.S. Music is moving back to what it used to be about — touring and playing live — and the indie kids know how to do it best.”
Lanning, who believes “indie” and “alternative” are categories made up by major labels to pigeonhole bands, already is seeing the tide turn in her stores.
“We do sell a lot of Bright Eyes, but we have sold a lot of Bright Eyes for the last four or five years,” she says. “Once a CD gets into Best Buy, then it's probably not going to be my top seller anymore, and that's because the audience has shifted a little.
‘‘Now, the die-hard fans who have been coming in here forever, they are still going to buy it from me, but there is a whole other audience out there who doesn't even know I exist that are now being exposed to Bright Eyes, which is a good thing.
‘‘But for me right now, Arcade Fire, Low — those are things that are going to be my big sellers this year, and Best Buy won't even know who I am talking about.” Jensen has seen the trends come and go before from his vantage point as a musician. “Every five to 10 years, you get a new name and a new package. It gets so overwhelmed that it no longer has a real definition, then it gets another new name.
‘‘Or a clothing line,’’ he laughs. ‘‘ ‘Indie Rock Clothing’ — $150 torn-up jeans, $100 worn-out T-shirts, $200 Chuck Taylor-looking sneakers, $50 hair gel to make it look like you don't wash it, $100 Vampire Hair dye, purchased with a credit card sporting your favorite indie rock pose.
‘‘Priceless.’’
Bright Eyes
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix
How much: $18
Information:
Modest Mouse
With: Mason Jennings, Cass McCombs
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Mesa Amphitheatre, 201 N. Center St.
How much: $26
Information:
