Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney recently spoke his mind to Loudwire in regards to how the current commercial and economical climate has impacted the state of rock and metal. He also went on to discuss how the lack of support is affecting up and coming bands.
Speaking as part of a larger discussion on how Alice In Chains are shown at respect at rock festivals, etc., Kinney went on to say:
“People are up against it and it’s a little harder these days because of how it’s been devalued, so maybe people aren’t as personally invested in it because they didn’t go to the store to get it. There’s a million excuses why, but it’s kind of lost that luster and the mystique and it’s tougher and tougher as a new band.
The next Led Zeppelin is playing somewhere and they’ll likely never make it because there’s no infrastructure for it. They’ll never get a chance. People will probably never support them long enough to let them grow into the band that could be, and that’s a sad thing, and we’re all going to pay the price for that and it’ll probably be too late before people realize it.
That’s a sad thing because I love music, you love music, we all do, but we all take it for granted. It’s in the elevator. It’s everywhere. And when we do that we’re all just shooting ourselves in the head by not supporting the thing that you love. That really kind of saddens me. I want to hear that new band.
On top of that, these rock bands, rock doesn’t hold the place it did on the charts. It’s these lip-synching karaoke people, but it’s become okay. You can see how it’s changed. It used to be a cardinal foul, you couldn’t go to a concert and have a tape on and people pay $100 to sit there and watch you fake your s—, that was a crime. It’s totally fine now, apparently. Okay, that’s the way it is.
That’s horrible, you know. And it makes guys like us who really play everything, we’re at a huge disadvantage [laughs]. We actually play and stuff and you have these other people come out, hit the play button, and like, ‘Dance monkey,’ and they sing and they act like it.”
He further went on to say:
“It’s shocking that it’s acceptable because it puts bands like us and the Foo Fighters and people against it, but that’s another thing that kind of fuels me and keeps it going. We’ll hold the torch, but the sad thing is when Metallica and all these big bands put on these concerts that you would save up for and smoke weed and go see, those arena shows are going away. Nobody can hold those rooms, because they devalue the music.
Now the only way you can get those fans together is to have a festival, have the Costco rock, and that’s sad. The days of a band you really like and they have a couple of cool bands they’re going to turn you onto, those shaped our lives and it’s going away.
I remember waiting at shows and you hope to catch a glimpse of the band as they’re going into a show and it seems like those days are going away and it kind of sucks.”
Alice In Chains will release their fifth studio album “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” on May 28th.
