(Fill the comments section on this one, Classical Geek Thespians.)
Introducing Rockville, CA
Hunter, Deb, "The Douche," and club owner Shawn on Rockville, CAI'm not an anti-corporate warrior. I'll defend the mid-career works of bands like Weezer and Green Day. I thought
Enemy of the State was a good movie. I have no ethical objections with Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pepsi. All of these things come with inherent dangers and pitfalls of course, but they are mostly harmless to reasonable people. If you're not a struggling musician, under-appreciated filmmaker, or a chicken, then you aren't threatened by those things
Rockville, CA , the corporately-produced webseries about a fictional Echo Park rock club, comes a bit closer to home.
Rockville, CA is the brainchild of Josh Schwartz, the creative exec behind
Chuck, The OC,
and Gossip Girl.
From the press release: "The series takes viewers into the lives of a group of twentysomethings who gather regularly at the club to hear their favorite up-and-coming bands, blow off steam, fall in love with the wrong people, and then talk about how they've fallen in love with the wrong people. "
As a new media paradigm worshiper, I think Warner Bros. deserves praise for experimenting with
Rockville, CA. They're trying the short webisode format, which
is the future of episodic entertainment. They're digging somewhat deeper (though not deep enough) for musical talent, dealing with small label artists, and that
is the future of music. The social networking end has additional content, including extended performances by the guest musicians, which is also the future of the networks. There is without a doubt a genuine effort to get with the times here.
So let's pat The WB on the back for having
some right ideas.
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Rockville, CA has a "major" identity crisis
It's tough to understand what they're aiming for with the show, though. Is it a cynical attempt to re-brand "indie" culture as something more mainstream? Is it a sad attempt by the mainstream to replicate "indie" culture? Are they targeting Pitchfork readers with a corporately-produced show, or are they targeting The Normals with something pseudo-indie?
In other words, is
Rockville, CA "the OC re-set in Echo Park", or it is an effort to make a show about the "real" indie rock world?
The former is abhorrent, the latter is embarrassing, and it's not easy to say which is worse.
I watched the first four episodes of
Rockville, CA and admittedly they captured some of cliches fairly well. The skinny betamale music nerd (*aherm*), the young industry professional who left school early because she already got her foot in the door, the aging (but not old) club owner... these things ring as fairly true. These people also bop around in the club in t-shirts half the time, another accurate depiction.
Most amusing: the obtrusive photog who never speaks but is constantly photographing everything.
Still, the show is painfully inauthentic. The reason is simple: actual twentysomethings don't hang around rock clubs in Echo Park / Silverlake to "fall in love with the wrong people, and then talk about how they've fallen in love with the wrong people".
Actual twentysomethings hang out in Echo Park / Silverlake clubs because they like music, because they wish to support local culture. They aren't cliched archetypes secretly longing to be with their nerdy music friend;
they're adults with jobs, bills, and broken-down cars. You are more likely to hear a conversation at The Echo begin with the phrase "My shitty Civic..." than "Oh my god, that bassist is so hawt."
(Speaking of "hawt," the boring blonde bombshell waitress on the show has got
nothing on the naturally beautiful servers at Spaceland and if Hunter was a real "music geek" he would have been ignoring The OC-wannabe waitress for bespectacled Deb from the get-go, despite her odd attachment to the word "major".)
If The WB wanted to capture the LA indie rock experience then they could have started by featuring more LA indie rock bands. Only eight of the twenty acts on the show actually originate in Los Angeles, and even fewer of those eight actually play at the venues
Rockville, CA seeks to emulate. (Even stranger, a large assortment of UK / Europe-based bands guest on the show.)
The selections aren't particularly inspiring or memorable, either. I watched each of the original episodes twice and I have no strong recollection of what the featured music sounded like. Los Angeles locals Earlimart and Broken West are featured, and while those are two great bands, they aren't excitement-building acts, either; Earlimart fans won't flock to
Rockville, CA and the show's presumed target youth audience will probably not rave about Earlimart. The Kooks and Phantom Planet? What year is this, 2005?
Furthermore, the show's creator's music knowledge seems to be informed by press releases. When Hunter the "resident music geek" remarks "This band FUCKING ROCKS" and he's talking about The Kooks, I thought "No, no they don't. They're a fine band, but they don't aim to
rock." Inauthentic.
Also? Who would name their indie rock club "Rockville"? Spaceland, The Metro, Mr. Stubb's, Piano's, Bottom of the Hill, and... Rockville? Really?
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What might have been
Rockville, CA has an admirable goal: adapt to the new media distribution paradigm in full while incorporating independent, Generation Myspace music. But if they were experimenting with a short format, low budget, episodic series featuring upcoming independent music acts, why not go all-out?
Warner Bros. could have sought-out strong local unsigned talent. They could have worked directly with the music community in new and interesting ways. Why not make the show with 12 unsigned artists, put the featured songs on a comp, and sell it on iTunes for five bucks? Or they could have picked unsigned local bands from Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, etc; then put-on promotional shows at local venues across the country, sponsoring the drink specials and giving away merch (including the comp) to drum-up support. And if a particular act piqued interest then the WB would have had a direct hand in that development, stamping their own brand to the rising artist and gaining an inside track to signing them.
I could name five or so corporate business-oriented "why nots," (including "there's no marketing budget") but the point is that if the WB wanted a piece of the indie subculture pie and if they wanted to experiment with the internet short format then they needed to be more earnest in their efforts.
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The impact on the real Los Angeles music scene?A lot of participants in the LA music scene feel that the current indie rock aesthetic, driven by sites such as Pitchfork and Stereogum, sticks them with an unfair "Hollywood" label. I agree. Los Angeles indie rock is
severely dismissed by the blogging world to an ignorant degree.
Rockville, CA may not help the matter.
Personally, I think
Rockville, CA will fail (mostly because it is uninteresting) and will scarcely leave a mark on the cultural landscape. But let us suppose for a moment that it does not. If
Rockville, CA gains a devoted audience, what effect would it have on the Echo Park / Silverlake communities?
The worst case scenario would be a round of yuks from snarky music bloggers at the expense of our legitimate music scene. That would be unfortunate, but
Rockville, CA is only going to reaffirm the bad faith of existing disbelievers; it's not really going to turn off anyone new.
Best case scenario: maybe the show will take off and a couple lifestyle magazines will do a few "The REAL Rockville" articles. Maybe a few people seeking
Rockville, CA's idea of "indie rock" will find something brighter, more colorful, more interesting, more artistic, better.
That's the reward for anyone looking who wants to dig deeper. It's pretty major.
But you don't have to take my word for it. Check-out Rockville, CA for yourself.
