Dear Friends,
Yesterday, Michael asked me to write up something about the Living Room Collective (LRC) that we could send out with our songs as we try to get some play on indie radio stations and such. I figured I could suss it out here this morning and then, if anything sounds good later, it’s that much closer to being ready to go.
As I love a good existential question, I have to ponder, “What is the Living Room Collective?”
Is it a band? Yes.
Is it a band in the traditional sense? No.
What does that mean?
Well, gather round and I’ll try and tell you. I think we are a band. We are also friends of the best variety, and even family. There is a lot of love and mutual respect and admiration in the room when we jam. It feels really good. Bands that have that kind of feeling going on before a note is even hit can do great things together.
We have a lot of comfort. It’s also growing, too, the comfort we have with each other. We are willing to explore because we know the guy next to us is there to catch us or reel us back in if we need it. The Germans probably have a word for that.
We aren’t a band in the traditional sense as I don’t know if we have a tremendous desire to “perform.” We want to make music with each other and for each other and to share with people via recordings, but playing live is probably not in the cards for us. We may occasionally do it, but I would be fine if that was very, very occasionally.
Let’s call it “rare.”
Rare public appearances seem right. When we played live last month, it felt great. I would totally do it again. It might be better to have a live drummer, or at very least a percussionist, but it’s not necessary.
Here is where I don’t think we are a traditional band, either, in that there will be other people who will come in and make noise with us. Whether they will have the same feeling of being part of the LRC that the five of us do, I don’t know nor do I care to ponder at this juncture. But there will be other contributors before there is no more LRC and that’s a good thing.
As far as the music goes, I think maybe we have invented a new genre: time-travel-core. When you listen to our music, you travel through time painlessly. There is no need to inhale gas or close your eyes. You just go to where the song takes you. More than any other band I’ve been involved with in the early stages, this music is different and free and seems to belong to the atmosphere itself.
We are five individuals, too, with a similar yet unique relationship with music. Each of us have a dynamic love for music yet approach our fandom from our own angle. When it comes to making music, we all love it completely, but still have our own way of doing what we do. It’s really nice when cohesiveness can come from marrying balance, passion, and willingness.
I can speak for myself here, but it just feels easy. Maybe this is because we are all willing participants hungry to see what we make next. I can’t wait to see what our next couple of songs will be like. We have riffs and jams we are working on, but something new seems to pop up every time we get together.
The Living Room Collective is alive. It is breathing. It is making sounds. It is a helluva lot of fun.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Ben and Michael finding the groove.