SEATTLE ROCK CITY

I just found this video on Facebook yesterday, posted by my favorite Seattle rock band, Ayron Jones and The Way.

Seattle used to have a huge music scene, particularly in early 1990’s. Grunge rock shifted from indie to stardom in that era. Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Pearl Jam were among the bands had the successful careers. As grunge was getting popular, the music shifted from Seattle’s original underground to the national mainstream. Not only the music style but also fashion with flannel shirts, dirty big shorts, and ripped jeans. Many college kids and musicians on magazines dressed like they wanted to be next grunge stars.

Grunge was eventually all gone, together with fashion. No more Nirvana. Chris Cornell quit to be aggressive, and Pearl Jam abandoned to be grunge (or evolved) after their second album. So I thought Seattle music scene was gone as well. That was why I didn’t expect to experience music scene when I had a vacation in Seattle for a week in November 2015.

I was wrong. Seattle still has their own original music scene. A unique scene with more variety and quality.
My discovery started when I found an amazing band, Ayron Jones and The Way, while I was walking in the Ballard neighborhood (see http://wp.me/p7aalS-2Y). That lead to finding a “straight roots” rock musician, Ethan Tucker. I found a wonderful DJ, Jay Battle (aka Qreepz), at a hip-hop party on Tuesday night. He released his own amazing electric music album. That was a good opportunity to know other talented acts like PassionThaTruth and Jupimatoon who Qreepz produced. I can’t categorize their music. PassionThaTruth is like the mix of electric/R&B/hip-hop and Jupimatoon is like sophisticated electric and pop. One thing I can say is they have their strong and good identity on their music. Thanks to advanced technology, I got to know all those talented Seattle musicians by social medias after coming back to New York City.

If I think back, Seattle always had one-and-only musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Metal Church, Queensryche, Sir Mixed-A-Lot, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Also, this city has Duff McKagan, the bassist and strong persona of Guns N’ Roses (I loved “Appetite For Destruction”) and Velvet Revolver.

Visit Seattle, Seattle’s official tourism bureau, created a very interesting YouTube video series called “Sounds by the Sound” about current local music scene and artists. The first YouTube video above including Ayron Jones and The Way was one of them. All videos are in depth and interesting, working together with Revolt TV. They are not only the tools to attract tourists to Seattle but actually high-quality music video journals. I can’t believe a tourism bureau made those because many other tourism bureaus would probably just have brief information with less research if they wanted to make similar. I truly wish I could find those videos before I went to Seattle, so I would be able to enjoy the local music scene more.

Other than top video, my favorite videos are as follows. The video below is a new good song by Ayron Jones and The Way. A mid-tempo song with raw and bluesy guitar and Jimi Hendrix-like sound make the song earthy and comfortable. I really think Ayron Jones should go to nationwide or worldwide, not only staying in the Pacific Northwest. He is a very talented guitarist and songwriter. I can’t wait their new album coming up.

Another is The Pink Slips. The vocal, Grave (Grace McKagan), is the daughter of Duff McKagan, but she doesn’t need such a celebrity status. Her originality is different with her father’s. Underground, avant-garde, coquettish, rock, punk, pop, energy, aggressive performance, and beauty…all in one. And she is still 18. I can sense that she is going to be big in the feature. Besides her vocal, the guitar is the key with this band. The guitarist contributes to make the band’s strong and driving sound.