I’m depressed. Not for all of the obvious reasons, but because one of my favorite bands, Austin, TX based Voxtrot, have split. Actually, they split early last year, but this current bout of depression isn’t a delayed reaction, just a reaction to something I read about Voxtrot during a recent webstalk. The official Voxtrot website contains a letter from Voxtrot main man Ramesh Srivastava (a.k.a. The Voxtrot Kid) commenting on their decision to split, and stating that he was now – in addition to other things – waiting tables for a living. And it’s this last statement that depresses me beyond words.
But who are Voxtrot? you may well ask. You may further ask why you should care that a band that you’ve never heard of have split. Well, bear with me as I wallow in my own personal pain.
See, I first came across Voxtrot 4 or 5 years ago, courtesy of 3wk.com. As soon as I heard The Start of Something, I knew that this was, indeed, the start of something. Chock-full of wry lyrics over a catchy tune, it sounded like the greatest song Morrissey never sang, and I played it to death. Would’ve worn out the grooves on it, had I actually owned the vinyl. It was just a perfect pop nugget, up there with Rilo Kiley‘s Portions for Foxes, or The Buzzcocks‘ Ever Fallen In Love. Obsessed as I was, it was still a year or so later before I picked up their eponymous longplayer, and was distinctly underwhelmed by it. I think it just couldn’t live up to the perfection of Start of Something, so I shelved it along with all of the other duff purchases I’ve made on the basis of a single song, and didn’t listen to it for a long, long time. But then last year I decided to give it the benefit of another listen (as I did with Starsailor‘s With The Tides (better on the second approach) and Sparta‘s Wiretap Scars (still crap)). Maybe I was just approaching it from a different direction, or unburdened by expectation, but this time around I found much to love in it. Lyrics are clearly the most important thing to The Voxtrot Kid, but he spreads these across some great tunes.
So what happened? If they were that great, why didn’t they make it big? Well, I’ll concede that they were probably never going to set the world on fire, and possibly aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (although they are certainly on the extremely accessible side of my listening spectrum), but that’s not really the point. The point is that Ramesh is hugely talented, and a great lyricist, and now he’s waiting tables for a living. And that’s not right.
Maybe it’s not just the death of Voxtrot that bothers me. Maybe it’s the realization that this is what happens to bands that don’t make it huge. Clearly, only a very small percentage of musicians actually make a decent living, and an even smaller number manage to make enough during their careers to support them when they ‘retire (i.e. when tastes shift and they find themselves out of fashion/favor). But I’ve always assumed that the talented ones at least go on to lecturing in music, or become jingle writers, or something at least related to where their skills lie. No disrespect to waiters, but in the case of The Voxtrot Kid, it’s all such a waste.
There are a multitude of other bands that I greatly admire, and a few enormously talented musicians I kind of know personally (you know who you are, but I don’t want to jinx you by naming your band in type…), and it truly pains me to think that they may not be able to make a living doing what they are so great at doing. Maybe there’s just too much good music these days and consumers are having to spread their purchases too thin. Maybe record companies are less willing to take the time to nurture and support a band. Maybe it really is down to illegal downloading/filesharing (although I don’t believe that). Whatever the reason, the inability of talented musicians to make an honest living through their talents just depresses me. And not in the good way that The Smiths, Tindersticks, or The Antlers depress me, but as a crushing realization that life is like this and there’s nothing you can do about it.
As a show of moral support, this week I downloaded (and paid for!) everything Voxtrot have released that I didn’t already have (including Warmest Part of the Winter, which is only available on a compilation from Darla Records – thank heaven’s for single-track downloads!). That gives me just under 2 hours of music (28 tracks), which doesn’t sound like a lot for an entire career, but it’s a good 2 hours. It will also put ooh, about $5 in the pocket of Voxtrot, which also doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s the thought that counts.
Maybe I’ll start eating in restaurants in Austin, TX, quietly humming The Start of Something to myself, in the hope that I see a knowing spark in my waiter’s eyes. Just to let him know that he did reach people, that it was worthwhile, and that you should never give up on your dream.
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