the name circus. an ever growing weed of verbal nonsense allocating the listener, writer, critic and know-it-all to playing god and passing the judgement of what category a band belongs in. for a lot of bands, it is the pinnacle of annoyance be it a write-up in a publication, or the token person after a show that talks your ear off after you play, thinking he's got you pegged when in reality he doesn't have a clue.

an opinion is one thing, it's actually a pleasure when a person, regardless of good or bad, gives an opinion of what he got out of what you did, but why have all of these categories? is it to keep things organized? of course not. for myself, the thing i have tried to shake for years is the "gothic" tag. it's stupid, it's pointless and it segregates your music. who gives a shit if you're into the colour black and your songs are depressing. is johnny cash "gothic"?.

"indie" is another one. most bands that say they're "indie" are anything but. they're signed, someone else books their shows, does their promotion, does their artwork etc. one of the only persons i can think of that has always been "indie", if you will, is ian mckay and dischord records,(yes, i know there are others, don't start freaking out. it's just an example), operating from his mother's basement. i get the argument that "indie" is more of a "sound" nowadays. well isn't everyone supposed to be "indie" then, as in "independent".

ideally, in record stores you wouldn't have any categories. just a mass of records. think of all of the music you would be introduced to just from digging through it to get to what you wanted. one big section in a store called "music". sure there is distinction between "classical" and "metal", but tell me the difference between "grunge" and "indie". is "no doubt" really "alternative". they say they're "ska" and "punk", so wouldn't they be "skunk"? kind of fits.........pu!!hehe

all in all, my bitch is, enjoy music, play music, it's for everyone who wants it. throwing a category on it just closes doors.

.................things change...............