We wanted to try someting new this issue, because Q&A interviews about what a band’s name means or what a band’s favorite bands are only have so much entertainment value. We present to you our guest commentators. Every month, we’ll choose a band to talk with us about the various topics we write about. That way, you can see what bands are really like beneath all the frills and all of the typical, pre-meditated responses.
That being said, meet The Valley Arena, this month’s hip guest commentators. From left to right, we have Chris Stevens, Dave South, Mike Nielson, and Warren Woodward. We could not have asked for a more amusing and informed band, so pay attention as they express their opinions about everything from music videos to transgendered individuals. We hope you learn to love them as much as we do.
Don’t let the fact that they’re from Southern California throw you. Like Warren says, “We tend to find that because we’re from the Orange County area, we’re lumped into the whole pop-punk, screamo sound. But we’re the band from here that doesn’t sound like that. We like dischord and dissonance. Don’t know what those words mean? Music isn’t an easy thing to define, even with an advanced lexicon. Check out thevalleyarena.com for music that will rock your world something wicked.
Here are some of their comments... keep on the lookout for their other comments throughout the issue!
... SAYS THE VALLEY ARENA:
(ON THE INTERNET)Mike: How does it effect your life? It ruins your life. I never went on the computer until someone signed me up on Friendster. I didn’t have an e-mail address. My mom made me one.
Chris: I think it takes over people’s lives, and they can’t separate the two.
Mike: A really nasty chick can take ten pics with makeup on from different angles and be an internet celebrity, but as soon as she walks out of her house, she looks completely different. So basically, it ruins lives.
Warren: It’s gone a long way in helping lonely, desperate people, though.
Chris: Bad for people. Good for bands.
Warren: It helped us with our band. Before we could get out of California, we had a few thousand people check us out that way.
Chris: I think it’s pretty amazing you can book a whole tour off of MySpace.
Warren: You can talk to every band and find people in every city to stay with, but I think people who have bad social skills just get worse and worse. If we meet some people in real life, they’re hella shy and won’t look you in the eye, but online, they’re real perverts. They’re like sexual predators with the chat window open, but if you hang out with them at a coffee shop, they won’t look you in the eye. The internet is great for bands and creepy people.
(ON GLOBALIZATION)
Warren: Last night I watched this movie called the Yes Men, about two guys who pose as reps for the World Trade Organization. They sneak into movies and do speeches like they are the WTO. The movie was pretty boring overall, but they made this great video about how globalization works. They showed how toilets from McDonald’s would funnel into the McDonald’s of third world countries in the future. Their value meals would be numbered #1, #2, #3, just like here, but their burgers would be made out of shit, with the numbers representing how many times the burger has been re-digested and shit back out.
Mike: Is that how you feel about it?
Warren: Yeah, I guess. We’re all pretty anti-globalization anti-WTO. We switched all of our shirts to American Apparel. It’s more expensive, but it’s worth it.
Redefine: What do you guys think about the whole argument that, “At least they’re getting jobs?”
Mike: We’re kind of interfering with their whole economy, and it’s better off if we would stay out of it and let them work it out on their own.
Warren: Ten years ago, we were moving factories down to Mexico, and the living conditions have not improved at all since then. No one is moving up.
Chris: The job looks better, but it’s not.
Warren: It looks better because it’s an American brand, but it’s only good for the corporation itself.