Boston UnsceneThey shoot Generation X movies and farm grunge in Seattle. They press all the major labels, magazines and video stations into New York and LA. Austin, Texas' annual South by Southwest is a recruiter's arena for shopping the Next Big Thing. The Washington sisters, Olympia and DC, hubs for the cross-country riot grrrl network, have K Records' International Pop Underground and Simple Machines working holidays, respectively, and then they make excellent compilations to document their excess. And there's Boston.
"When I think about it, it's amazing how many bands have come out of here," contemplates Peter Prescott, a long player in Boston, from Mission of Burma to the Volcano Suns to his latest distraction, Kustomized. "I'm not talking about Aerosmith, I mean to the left side. I mean Pixies, Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr, Julianna Hatfield. All that stuff is very popular, and it came from Massachusetts pretty much. I get the impression that people are always looking here to see what's going on."
Considering the success of these bands, in addition to the Throwing Muses, Sebadoh, Belly, Buffalo Tom and Morphine, Boston is clearly a rich source for indie pop and rock. Beyond the success of these bands is a burgeoning underground just below the surface of national recognition, generating a buzz that is broadcast daily over college radio. There is a cacophonous plurality of subcultures that isn't easily mass marketed according to gender, politics or threads. In contrast to the prescribed sound found in a "discovered" town like Seattle, Boston contains an incredible diversity, a variety pack of tune snacks. The band per baseball capita ratio likely equals those of New York and LA. The guitar rock reputation of the town and the reams of academic institutions create a tremendous magnetic field that attracts rockers from all rocks of life, and enthusiastic audiences with the appetites and funds to support a multiplicity of scenes. Can you call it a scene when it has no stereotypes?