ALL music is visceral, or should be and if it doesn't 'connect' then either you're not doing it right or you're playing to the wrong crowd.
Of course visceral means different things. It can mean loud and revved up and getting people over the top, or it can be slow and emotional and moving. In my case, the heavy grooves and loud bass/drums of reggae music should bring people to a primal place that makes people move almost involuntarily. When done right it feels ancient and deep and solid. We describe it to people as 'the heartbeat of the earth'.
When you hear a band that 'gets this' it can be a life changing experience. I remember the first band that I saw that did this and it was like going to church...a mystical experience.
YES! All music (like all art forms) should be a moving experience. I read a lot of posts from players (on TB in general...not this thread) that feel sometimes they are nothing more than background white noise while the crowd goes about their normal "bar" activities as if there was no band at all.
I blame the band. I hear plenty of excuses by musicians for why "it ain't happening", from "it's because of DJ's and karaoke" to the economy (there was no crowd), but I still beleive it's all on the band. If we can't light a fire, nothing can. Now, as musicians we are not going to connect with every single person in a club, but it's an imperative of the band, regardless of style or genre, to generate an energy in the room that cannot be ignored. That has nothing to do with volume, however if you want people to take notice, or really
demand they take notice, then perhaps that quiet, polite sound you're generating isn't getting your point across.
As interceptor had mentioned the
impact Skynyrd had on him, if your band is audacious enough to crank it up and as musicians your skills
as a band create this tightly focused "hammer", you can literally force people to immediately respond to the music you play. Only the band can create this unifying field of energy in a club. While patrons are milling about doing what anyone may do in a bar on any given night (band or no band), going about their business as individuals or small groups, only the band can provide them with a singular purpose for being there. Once you've grabbed their attention, only the band can keep it focused on this communal, unified purpose of sharing this energy.
Again, I lay it all on the band. It would be so easy to just do a mind numbing walk through of the same songs you've been playing your whole life to an inattentive crowd and just get through the night, just to get paid. But why even play music then? Is that the sole purpose of being a musician? I may be playing a song for the millionth time, but that song is just a vehicle for me to drive through the crowd and pick everyone up along the way.
There is nothing greater than whipping a crowd into an energetic frenzy. While playing music politely and quietly, so as not to disturb people's dinner or conversation, may be so politically correct and appease a bar owner, in the end is serves no useful purpose and everyone loses. I have yet to hear a bar owner complain about our loud volume because 10 people left over it, while 100 more people are in attendance because of it (and spending far more, per person, to quench the thirst of burning off this energy).
So yeah, I like it loud and need the equipment to do so. I see a lot of bands these days not understanding their purpose. But that has nothing to do with volume.
