Narrating Personal Interest

During my high school years, I always liked rock and roll, but I never fully immersed myself in it. As I did not have a part-time job, I never had enough money, hence my inability to buy the latest CDs. The radio was my main source of new music and despite the obvious fact I never really liked the music they played, I constantly subjected myself to the surrender of the airwaves.

So many people went through an “emo” or “punk” phase in high school, yet it wasn’t ‘til I’d almost graduated I took much of an interest in the scene. Even then, it was only the most-well known bands who I listened to; the likes of Blink 182, The Offspring and Sum 41 made frequent appearances on my iPod playlists.

When I started university in 2012, it allowed me more spare time to search for and listen to bands from “the scene”. “The scene” was a loose term used to describe punk and metal bands who never received mainstream attention, yet thanks to the popularity of touring festivals like Vans’ Warped Tour and magazines like Alternative Press, had flourished and formed a strong grassroots community of fans.

As university allowed me more spare time to explore my hobbies and interests, I found myself drawn towards the scene, with its wide variety of bands and characters, while the introduction of Spotify into my life allowed me to listen to more of these bands than previously. My initial interest had turned into a full-blown musical addiction: I was listening to and discovering new bands at every opportunity and converting all my hard earned dollars into concert tickets and band merchandise. Most importantly, I felt a sense of connection and kinship with many bands and their honest, emotional lyrics.

My fate was sealed at Soundwave 2013, the (now dearly departed) heavy music festival which managed to pull some of my favourite bands (the aforementioned trio, along with Paramore, All Time Low and Billy Talent amongst others) together for a day of musical bliss.

Since Soundwave, the music of the scene has become an incredibly important part of my life, one which helps define who I am as a person. Having spent the last few years reading about the history of scene bands and delving deep into their discography, it’s a subject I’m comfortable I can go on and on for hours talking about.