Wavves Theory
*MP3: Wavves - “So Bored”
“This sounds like snot, it’s totally disposable, it’s just a mess, it’s totally on drugs and drunk. I have to sign it.”
These were the now embarrassing and ironic words of Fat Possum Records president Matthew Johnson in a March edition of the LA Times in describing his then newest and hottest prospect, 22-year-old Nathan Williams, otherwise known as Wavves. It was a stupendously stupid thing for a supposed talent finder to say publicly about a troubled young man (“it”) who had clearly been living on short fuse of personal problems for a long while until they eventually caught up with him a couple of weeks ago in his now infamous meltdown at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. That it happened on the Pitchfork stage and was reported first by Pitchfork Editor-in-chief Ryan Schreiber, who was in attendance, is a choice juxtaposition I’ll save for later. That, of course, is where most of the irony and embarassment comes in, but isn’t that the way it should be, hipsters? Isn’t the idea of something so much cooler than the actual thing itself?
“It wasn’t so much of a breakdown as it was him being a baby. And that’s why I don’t like him. I’ve heard stories from others that he’s like a real dick. And just like a baby, thought he was really cool. But then when it came down to it, when the pressure came on he just couldn’t take the heat. Some people can’t do this.”
These were the embarassing and ironic words spoken by Black Lips bassist and idiot Chris Swilley in a Norwegian radio interview excerpted by Pitchfork a couple of days ago. There is a partial ring of truth to Swilley’s words. Williams was clearly not prepared for the jump from GarageBand in his parents’ house to European festival circuit, or apparently even playing live at all. Of course, he may have been more prepared without the dose of ecstasy Swilley admitted that his friend offered to Williams before the Barcelona show. Hey, man, some people just can’t take it.
Let us be eminently clear about one thing: drugs are harmful. Hard drugs have killed many talented people before their time and will kill more. It is now widely acknowledged that they are detrimental, not helpful, to the creative process. Miles Davis played jazz like no other, but he was an idiot for injecting heroin into his veins. That drugs no longer come between sex and rock and roll is a widely accepted ideal that has penetrated most genres which fall under rock’s wide umbrella. Drug culture as a thing to be admired exists only for untalented washouts and Rolling Stone Magazine, where it lives laughably on as a sadly aging house style of dubious colloqiualisms. Hey, man, remember how great LSD was? No, because it wasn’t.
If anything, indie rock has largely been the standard bearer for the kind of progress that can be made in this kind of music without anything but alcohol holding you back. But deep within the fold of indie lies the void of hipsterism, out from which flows a vacuum of creativity. It’s this vacuum that gives voice to the idea that using poor recording equipment somehow has artistic merit and should be considered a genre in and of itself. It’s this vacuum which causes record execs to cough up money and arrogant statements, tastemakers to declare greatness from the idea of something, not its execution. And its this vacuum which puts Ryan Schreiber next to the Pitchfork stage, watching the “it” his magazine helped create come crashing down. Now, that’s irony you can sell.
In the LA Times article, Nathan Williams comes across as an arrogant imbecile who speaks pretentiously about his “art.” His music is not art. It’s a placeholder for art, for the actual execution of art. It’s true that some people simply can’t do it, but those include people who still for some reason think that drugs are a necessary part of the process. Matthew Johnson is right. Nathan Williams as Wavves is a snot, totally disposable, a mess, on drugs and drunk. And so is the idea of Wavves.
(Erik Martz)
