It’s hardly news in Burlington that the Vacant Lots are blowin’ up. The garage-psych duo have had quite a run of late, touring the country with the likes of Spectrum, dropping by showcases such as SXSW and the Austin Psych Festival, and signing to hip indie label Indian Summer. For TVL, it has been a very good year indeed.
But it seems in the midst of his wandering, TVL founder and front man Jared Artaud may be souring on the scene in which his band cut its teeth. In a recent interview with music website Rock Edition, Artaud offers some provocative words on the Queen City and its music scene. Here’s an excerpt:
Rock Edition: What’s the music scene like in Burlington, VT?
Jared Artaud: It’s a small city with a big scene: a lot going on, but not a lot happening. In the 4 years I have been in Burlington, I have always tried to get the most out of this city, but I am continually disappointed. There is a lot of activity locally, but not a whole lot that is drawing me out to experience it. There is a lot of mediocrity in Burlington. I think there is a great amount of comfortability and conformity here that I don’t correspond with. Honestly, I feel pretty detached with the scene here. [There are] not a lot of people making music that I like seeing live either. I spent my first year here going to everything, every show, every night. It took me a year to find a drummer to play with!
It’s equally difficult to invite other bands to come and play here, with a low attendance rate and excitement surrounding live shows. I think the greater disappointment with the Burlington music scene is this unspoken notion of, “Well, they’re playing this Friday night, but I’ll catch them next time they play.” How does a local musician make a living with that kind of attitude? That really doesn’t work for me. There are also only a few cool venues to play. Consequently, the scene gets old pretty quick, if you know what I mean. It’s a city that has great potential but continually disappoints, because there is so little really happening here, [and so few] bands that are really saying something. Do you know what I mean? That’s the kinda sad truth of the small city.
We play so few shows here, mostly just incorporating the shows into our future tours and not doing a lot of one-offs. Maybe one to two shows a year, tops. The funny thing, too, is people are always asking, “When are you playing here next?” You tell them you are playing next week and they don’t show up! So why bother at all? I’d [prefer to] just concentrate on writing, recording and developing my ideas, rather than worry too much about when or if we should play here soon. There is also a continual trend with bands leaving Burlington for bigger cities. We’ll see what happens.
Curious sentiment from a guy who said this in a 2009 interview with Seven Days:
“There’s just something about Burlington,” he says. “I really believe that a revolution is necessary and that we need to redefine our values and explore new roads. I believe that art can pave that road. And I really believe that is happening here.”
Artaud points to the wealth of artists and musicians, new and old, currently combating what he calls “the decay around us.” When asked to be more specific, his eyes light up. “There are some really great bands doing things here that weren’t happening a year, two years ago,” he says. “There’s a revitalization of spirit. Rough Francis, Blowtorch, Nose Bleed Island . . . these are all people who are expressing in this new light for our generation.”
In his RE interview, Artaud didn’t air any grievances we haven’t heard before. Disillusioned local musicians have been grumbling about the perceived limitations of the Burlington scene for decades — often blaming fans, as if a packed house is a birthright in BTV. We’re not Brooklyn or Austin or Portland. And, for better or worse, we probably never will be. Still, Artaud’s apparent change of heart is interesting. Maybe the scene really has diminished in the last two years — at the least, it is always in flux, and ebbs and flows constantly. Maybe for Artaud, Burlington has simply lost its lustre. It happens. Or maybe tasting the riches of higher profile scenes has just made ours seem provincial and plain by comparison. Or maybe Artaud is dead on and Burlington needs a kick its artistic ass. Still, one can’t help but wonder how TVL would have fared without the support from bands such as Rough Francis and Blowtorch, and the Burlington scene at large that embraced them in their early days and helped put them on the map. Whether he’s right or wrong, as TVL continues its ascent, here’s hoping Artaud remembers that.
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Persistent snarkiness in a small town will come back to bite you, indeed, and Mr. Artaud would have done well to temper his commentary. But the B’ton/VT music “scene” (not sure there is one, but anyway…) does have some persistent wierdnesses. Audiences often have a studied jadedness that seems out of place for where we live. One notices the difference immediately when playing elsewhere, and lots of musicians have brought this up to me independently. The rules often seem to be: get as far away from the stage as possible, talk as loudly as possible through the entire show, don’t make eye contact with or acknowledge the musicians, and definitely don’t talk to them after they play. Hell, NYC audiences are often less aloof, and they actually HAVE seen it all. There is certainly a lot to Mike Luoma’s comment: it often seems like there are more people gigging than going out on some nights. But as we watch venue after venue struggle to stay afloat, and often fail to, I think some of Artaud’s criticisms are indeed warranted.Whenever this discussion comes up, I always flash to a scene in the late, supposedly “music-centric” Langdon Street Cafe. I was setting up to play and a gentleman who was seated right in front of the stage with his laptop open, studiously not looking at me, began talking loudly to someone on his celphone. “Well,” he said in an exasperated tone, “I’m going to have to move anyway, there’s some guy with a guitar here.” Yeah….
Man, I wish this guy would stop blowing my mind all the time with his avant-garde thoughts and genre-defying music.
Maybe Jared should move to a place where constantly wearing sunglasses indoors in dark rooms is considered acceptable.
Wow…your a pompous ass
“blowin’ up” is quite an overstatement. a 7″ on mexican summer, a handful of shows with sonic boom and others, and a little blog buzz doesn’t make a band popular or cool. when TVL started in burlington, they were playing shows several times a week, they were playing all of the time! then i think jared slowly burnt his bridges and pissed off people at almost every club in town with his faux rock star attitude, i think this is more likely the reason TVL rarely plays in town these days.also, there is plenty of interesting music happening in burlington and vermont. for a small city and small state, there are good things here (as jared admitted in 2009 but won’t admit now)move out of town if you don’t like it here! don’t complain! and good luck out in the world playing your postured, derivative velvet underground rock n roll.
The monkey house is not the only show that an engineer has had problems with Jared. I muted most channels and walked away from my console after being berated from the stage several years ago at art hop. Production crews are family here in Vermont people talk, the music is good the attitude not so much, sorry to hear he has burned bridges with many of the most talented people in our industry up here.
Disappointing but not surprising comments from TVL.Interesting that Jared complains about poor attendance at local shows, yet in this excerpt (and again in the full interview) he alludes to rarely going out to local shows himself. And it’s particularly difficult to feel sympathetic for Jared’s whining about no one going to his shows considering I’ve witnessed him berate audience members from stage at multiple TVL shows.
I recall one awkward night at the Monkey maybe two years ago when he interrupted the set to condescendingly question the venue’s sound guy… I don’t think he’s been asked to play there since. It’s not a good idea to get on the bad side of the city’s go-to promoter, methinks.He’s a hater. Just because his band is cool doesn’t mean he can treat people (or cities, as it were) like shit. You’re right — TVL wouldn’t be where it is today without the Queen City’s support.
I understand how it’s tough to play venues that aren’t packed for every show, but the fact that you have multiple venues to play allows young musicians and bands to get their feet wet before going out for more. Perfect examples: Lowell Thompson, Barefoot Truth, Japhy Ryder, Strangefolk, etc. The list can go on and on.Lets all remember this is coming from Jared who has only lived in BTV for 4 years. If BTV isn’t your scene, do us all a favor and move on..
Vacant Thoughts from The Vacant Lots… “the world didn’t stand on its head for me in Burlington, so the scene is lame”? This scene has been going for a long time, it’s been the “Next” fill-in-the-blank – Seattle, Austin, whatever… but it’s never “blown up” and I think that frustrates some people.Better to think of the Burlington & Vermont music scene as an incubator… sometimes the fact we DO have so many musicians and bands means the folks who would go to your show are gigging at THEIRS. Disappoints me to read these somewhat ungrateful comments from Jared.