The future of rock music has been uncertain for quite some time now. With the rising success of electronic music in the 2010’s and home recording becoming easier and more accessible, it seems as though rock music has really taken a hit in recent years. But you really can’t place all of the blame on the popularity of electronic music, there hasn’t really been a whole lot of good rock bands coming into popularity, and a lot of the older rock bands still making music have been making less than favorable tunes.
In the mid-2000’s the rock radio format saw itself steering away from nu metal classic metal on their playlists and instead choosing to favor post grunge bands such as Shinedown, Nickelback, Breaking Benjamin, and other; and rebranding itself as active rock to try to attain a wider audience. I said at that time that favoring the post grunge movement over the emo trend would prove to be a fatal move for rock radio and it seems as though I was right, as we now see a lot of rock radio shifting format to top 40 and country.
With all of that being said, I ask you, what is the future of rock music? What made modern rock music popular was the heavy guitar tones with anthemic choruses and an “us against the world” mentality. It seems like rock music has lost all of that…or has it?
I try to keep in touch with what’s happening in popular rock music and what I’ve seen in recent years has steered me away from rock music and I’ve found myself gravitating more towards modern top 40 and hip hop music, as rock music just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t good rock music out there, it’s actually quite the opposite.
Los Angeles based Davey Suicide has been gaining popularity in recent years, and with two albums now under their belt, and countless tours with bands such as Orgy, Twiztid, Blood On The Dance Floor, Static-X, and a major settlement with their record label, Davey Suicide is now ready to tackle the world.
Davey Suicide has it all; big guitar hooks, a mix of industrial and post hardcore melodies, with those incredible anthemic choruses that we all love, plus they have an image that will probably give your parents nightmares. Lead singer and principle songwriter Davey Suicide prides himself in being the voice of a generation of misfits, and a champion of underdogs of the misunderstood millenial generation.
In a private candid interview with Davey earlier this year, I mentioned that the band has taken some criticism for the repetitive nature of their songs, being that a lot of the themes in the lyrics seem to occur often and Davey told me that he plans to continue doing the same thing because sometimes people need to hear that they’re not alone, and that they can relate to his songs because they are his experiences, a lot of the same experiences that his fans have also gone through.
After a show in Cleveland, I stuck around afterwards, hanging out with the band by their merch table as they greeted fans, took pictures, and signed autographs. What I witnessed was a band that was just as eager to meet their fans as the fans were to meet the band. Davey talked to every fan, and he even knew of troubles they had been having in their lives and he inquired about if they were having those same issues.
Not only is their music is a reason why this band is on the cutting edge of what may be the next big thing in rock music, but they’re really nice, humble guys who truly care about their fans.
I’ve been raving about Islander pretty much nonstop since they first came out with their debut album, and I said this band would be the next big thing, and it doesn’t matter how many big things have come and gone since my first statement, I still stand by what I said. This band is hot right now and only getting hotter. You’ll be seeing this band blow up very soon and it won’t be just because of their close friendships with Korn and P.O.D., it’ll be because they deserve it.
If you’re into those big anthemic choruses that I mentioned early, as well as more modern, updated twist to the nu metal sound and fashion from the late 90’s and early 2000’s then you’ll love Islander. I recently got the chance to hang out with the band and check out their incredible live show and I highly recommend it, you won’t be disappointed.
Over the past two years I’ve had several opportunities to see, hang out with, and have conversations with the up and coming San Francisco band Death Valley High. DVH is a high energy hard rock band that you can not successfully attach to any one particular subgenre, even though they’ve told me they consider themselves to be death disco. The band recently unleashed their third album called “Cvlt As Fvck,” and there is not a single disappointing aspect to the album.
The band has already done numerous tour with Orgy, as well as getting to share the stage with 9Electric, Bobaflex, Killing Joke, Vampires Everywhere, and Filter. Make sure you check out these guys next year when they once again hit the road with Orgy, along with Powerman 5000 and Knee High Fox.
So, as it seems that in recent years rock music has been kind of disappearing, there are still plenty of good, new artists to check out. But that doesn’t mean that the new artists are the only ones out there, several veteran bands have put out good releases this year including Korn, Deftones, Flaw, Dope, Pierce The Veil, and many more.
Brandyn Chaos 