HOWI SPANGLER (BALLYHOO!)
DILLON DEVOE (MIME GAME)
I think that when you hit a certain age, you start finding other types of music that you relate to. I used to be really into ska as a teenager, I still listen to those albums from time to time, but it doesn’t connect with me emotionally as much. I don’t actively seek new ska bands to listen to. We all go through changes and we need music that makes us feel better about it. There are definitely artists that will stay with you forever, sure. I hope that we can maintain that connection with someone. Stay relevant and useful in some sense. We seem to have an “all-ages” type of audience. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I think you can look at the concept of “outgrowing an artist” in two ways: 1. The listener and the artist just aren’t connecting anymore. Artists and listeners grow at different paces and in different ways. Sometimes your favorite artists’ music just doesn’t speak to you like it used to. There is nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t mean that your growth curves will not cross again at some point. 2. The artist has become stagnant. In this case, I think it is a perfectly natural process that a listener would move on. As an artist, you cannot expect a listener to stick with you when you keep putting the same record out time and time again. As an artist, your duty is to push yourself, your boundaries, and your comfort zones. You cannot worry about outgrowing listeners or fans. Most fans can appreciate an artist who takes risks. If they don’t, then maybe those aren’t the fans or listeners you want anyway. Make art for the right reasons and everything else falls into place.
THOMAS ORGREN (TYPEFIGHTER) As a person, you’re always outgrowing parts of yourself to make room for new growth. The world changes around you, you grow as you experience new things and your favorite song, record, movie or piece of art just doesn’t resonate with you as much as it once did. I can still put on Pinkerton now and then and rock out to it, but I’m not the same 20-year-old kid whose primary concern in life was chasing girls who felt that record with every fiber of my being. I’d be a pretty boring person if I hadn’t outgrown that phase of my life in the intervening years. As an artist, that means you’ve got to keep moving forward, integrating new ideas, growing and outgrowing things, or else you become stagnant, one-dimensional and you might as well hang it up.
LOGAN PURDEM (VINYL THIEF) When I was twelve years old, I outgrew my favorite shoes; a beautiful pair of red Heelys. My mother finally convinced me it was time to move on and purchase ‘grown up shoes’ after much denial. Sometimes listeners can outgrow a band like a pair of shoes. As an artist, you strive to always grow with your audience.
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