A nice music fan from Bath, England wrote a comment on The Killers piece which ran in yesterday's Night&Day section and I wanted to share it with you. Feedback is good for my writing and I encourage everyone to tell me when I'm full of it. Thanks, cn
Anonymous said...
Hi Chris, I'm a British Killers fan tracking you down after reading your piece in SignOnSanDiego.
Ironically its a warm sunny day here in Bath in the UK today,so before I go back outside I felt I had to respond to your comments.
Great writing style.Wouldn't want to face you in open debate given your deep knowledge of things musical,and as for the clinical way you deliver cutting remarks,boy,the band will feel they've been slashed by a 1000 samurai warriors!
As you might expect I take issue with your content-
-I lived through New Wave,nothing the Killers does reminds me of that era,whaever Brandon says.
-I thought mentioning The Buggles was a low blow!
-Hot Fuss and Sams Town are different,thank God, and I ,for one love 'em both.
-having seen them twice now ,the show is getting better and better.
-you'll love the show at UCSD !,although your pre-conceptions might get in the way.
My only criticism of the band is that there is no froth when they perform, they bang out the music, set themselves right, then bang out the next track. That's fine for the fans who follow them and know every track,not so good for "potential "fans who, I feel, would welcome a little acknowledgement from the stage and at times a bit of a back-story about the track that follows.
Still, who am I to say, each to his/her own!
I look forward to your review ,and if you are coming over for Glastonbury,come and see us in Bath ,we are only 20 miles away.Flights are cheap in June also !
P.S. I was last in San Diego for Superbowl xx11 ! Must be the bands oldest fan,no good for their image,eh!
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10:10 AM
Chris Nixon said...
Hello to our friends in Bath --
Thanks for writing in and giving me feedback. It's just happens to be a cloudy day in San Diego with rain looming. I've gotten more feedback from this article than any I've written in a long time. There are lots of Killers fans out there who agree with you (using slightly more direct language), so I appreciate your "come let us reason" tone. A note on tone: This piece originally ran in the print edition of the Union-Tribune (in the weekly entertainment tab called Night&Day). The publication is going to a more "voice-driven" style, which includes less quotes from the band and more opinion-based writing. They want us to act more as critics than reporters. This is a new style for me so I'm still finding my feet.
That being said... I think you're comment about New Wave is justified. The original tsunami of New Wave encapsulized a pretty specific set of bands, including sub-genres like the New Romantics and . With time, the genre has broadened to include many different sub-styles and bands. Punk's the same way: A lot more bands are called and call themselves punk now than in 1980.
It's good to hear the Killers live show is getting better. I've seen them live and in person twice on a previous tour, and was not impressed. My paper (nor I) have the resources to send me to a show on this current tour, but I watched the band's recent half an hour show on Austin City Limits and dug around on YouTube for current live footage. I didn't get the sense that the live show had come a long way, but I definitely reserve the right to change my mind and hope these guys develop more of a stage presence.
But even if I rip on a band, it comes with the respect that these people are doing something artistic and creative with their lives and getting paid for it. So when you boil it down, it's pretty hard to criticize that way of living your life.
I also wanted to say that I have a deep love and appreciation for British bands and the musical knowledge of fans in the United Kingdom. Pardon the generalization, but music geeks in the U.K. know so much more about music from all over the globe than us here in the U.S. of A.
Thanks again for writing and the invitation to visit in Bath. I may have to take you up on your offer in the couple of years. Have fun at Glastonbury for me.
...And thank you for comparing me to 1,000 smaurai warriors. That may be the best compliment I've ever received.
Many thanks, Chris Nixon
