The Beauty of Bands

I just applied for a photo pass that I don't intend on being able to receive... but it brought this to mind: I don't know what my favorite bands look like.

...and that's okay with me.

Now, this is where some may say, "But Jodie, isn't your favorite band 100 Monkeys? I know you know what they look like..."

The answer there is not a simple one... Are they my favorite band? Yes... and no...

When a stranger asks me my favorite band, I am (of course) going to say 100 Monkeys, for hopes in recruiting someone new to listen to their music... but if, say... Johnson were to ask me my favorite band(s) I would say Death Cab, Telekinesis, Imagine Dragons, Ingram Hill, Islands, Mumford & Sons, Devil Makes Three, Arcade Fire... etc...

Out of those bands listed there, I have only seen Imagine Dragons and Ingram Hill perform live. I'd be able to recognize all of Ingram Hill easily as I am, shall we say, acquaintances with the lead singer... and along with the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, but with Death Cab, Telekinesis, Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and Islands I wouldn't be able to recognize any of them... I would be one of those ignorant fools sharing an elevator with one of them and not say anything just because I don't know who the hell they are!

I truly am just in love with their music.

In all honesty, I do not spend a lot of my time (if any) listening to 100 Monkeys. I get the majority of it whenever I attend a show... and randomly I'll throw on Smoke or Ugly Girl at times just to relive some memories or to miss the boys a little bit...

It's not that I don't love 100 Monkeys or their music. Clearly, I do. In fact, funny story here, I started to like their music in mid/late 2008 and didn't know what any of them looked like (aside from that one fellow, duh...). I saw them for the first time at SBL in August 2009. (Jackson wasn't there due to filming in Can-uh-duh) The Stevedores went on stage and I kept thinking to myself that this band was absolutely insane incredible, even missing Spencer. "Man, the drummer is THE SHIT." I said.

During the toast (which not apart of Thunderdome at this SBL...) and this tall blonde lanky dude in a purple shirt came and stood right in front of me for the toast.

I honest to god had no idea who the fuck he was. Bill Bell asked all the bands and friends of Spencer to come on stage and do the toast... he did so... I thought he was just a friend of Spencer's. He looked at me and cheers'd his Jameson before he took the shot.

A tad later when he (and that drummer that I liked so much) took the stage for 100 Monkeys my mouth hit the floor. I had absolutely no idea that they were a part of the band!

I played it off with the people that I was with... they knew me as the biggest 100 Monkeys fan that they knew -- little did they know that I did not know what this band looked like.

Why?

Because it wasn't important to me. I liked their music and their style, that's all that I cared about.

Later that night I got to chat with Ben for a little bit... we were going to their show the next day at Lucky Strike and when I got back to the hotel I went to their MySpace page and re-read their bios trying to figure out who was who in the band. Jerad was easy - I spent a good twenty minutes trying to figure out which Ben was which. (This was before they had photos with their little personal bios) ...the next day I danced my ass off at Lucky Strike and after the show I got to spend a little time with Ben again - he gave me a cut out guitar pick from an AMC gift card and I got a photo with him.

The rest, they say, is history. He's got to be one of the reasons why I ended up liking the band as much as I do. If he wasn't so sweet and didn't spend as much time with me as he did those first two days/shows - lord knows where I'd be now.

When I saw the band again that November he remembered me. That meant even more to me.

This all started because I requested a photo pass to Death Cab's show in Alabama and their opening act is Telekinesis. I posted a song of theirs on my Facebook and as I was looking for the one I wanted I came across a video of Telekinesis performing at a radio station - I clicked it and it was the first time that I had ever seen the band. I had no idea that the drummer was in fact, also the vocalist and that the bassist was a hot asian chick.

I almost prefer to not know what they all look like... I almost prefer to not know their names, birthdays or marital status -- If I can keep ignorant on all of that -- if they're always just a band with music that I adore, then there's never any sort of bad association with it. Ignorance is bliss. I don't want to know who they wrote their songs about; I just want to apply them to my life.