As part of 37FLOOD's 10th Anniversary we have asked Louisville writers to talk about music, Louisville, culture, and what it's like writing about it all in the Derby City. We will be posting the interviews throughout the summer.
Syd Bishop is a music and culture writer and the co-editor of Never Nervous, founded in 2011, and covers music, culture, and sports in the Louisville area.
37- What is the name of the publication you write for?
SB- Kind of all of them, depending on when you ask. Almost
every week, I have something up at either Never Nervous, which I co-run, or the
LEO. On top of that, I contribute to Louisville Distilled and the JCC Communitypaper, and have worked with the CJ, the Voice Tribune, and Al Día en America.
And maybe more? Hell, I don’t remember. I just like to write about things and
tell the best story I can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
37- How long has Never Nervous been operating?
SB- Never Nervous has been around since August 2011. I remember
when Phil started it, I thought it was redundant, but here I am six years later
(and for the last five), running it with him, because it’s awesome.
37- How long have you been covering music in Louisville?
SB- In what capacity? I contributed here and there to things
back in the early aughts, so in that respect, I guess 17 years? But I didn’t
really get moving on the writing front until the summer of 2012. Phil
interviewed me for Never Nervous, and then invited me to contribute. We’ve been
at it since.
37- What made you decide to cover music in Louisville?
SB- I’ve been in bands for something like 20 years. A
combination of laziness, melancholy, and stress kept me from ever hustling to
get the word out about that, but I didn’t feel right having a chip on my
shoulder about it; no one owes me coverage. That said, it sucks to create art
in a vacuum, and I enjoy having the opportunity to give a voice to the
otherwise voiceless through my work. It’s hard cutting through all the static
to be heard –I mean really heard- and I want to give attention where it’s due.
I’m just as into writing about someone’s great success as I am some kid making
beats in their bedroom: it’s all good to me.
37- What has been the most exciting or rewarding post you have
written?
SB- That’s hard to narrow down. I’m not joking when I say I
write every day, and have stuff out every week. I’ve probably had about 500+
things published, NOT INCLUDING my regular contributions at Never Nervous. I
wrote a piece about a Shadowpact beef song that I really enjoyed, if only for
the sheer ridiculousness of the content (beef songs are an asinine waste of
time, but Shadowpact knew that). I interviewed Kevin Parker from Tame Impala,
Andrew WK, Shannon Wright, Kurt Vile, Little Shalimar to name a few; these are
all people I really admire or came to admire, and who I had to wonder how my
life had gotten to a point where this became my reality. It all sounds kind of
name-droppy though, right? It makes it hard to talk about this stuff.
Some of things I most enjoy are the pieces that think
outside the norm or that give room for some free expression. I’ve written a
series of Scene Etiquette articles for Never Nervous that I always enjoy. I
worked an oral history of the then Outskirts Festival (see now: Girls Rock
Louisville) for the LEO. That was fun, because I made it my mission to listen
and stay out of the way of the story as best as possible, which was no problem.
I’m thinking about writing a story about my daughter’s first show, as I write
this. She’s not even three, but it was just the best watching her have
fun.
37- Has there been a scandalous situation you have been involved
with during your time as a music writer?
SB- Sure there has, but that’s just par for the course. It’s
always been my experience that artists and the surrounding culture can be a
little extra, but you just kind of shrug and ignore it. I’ve had boring
interviews *cough*J Mascis*cough* and I’ve refused coverage for a few things
here and there, mainly because I refuse to work with jerks.
Really though, if someone is scandalous or over the top to work with, I just
don’t. I do this, because I love it, and if someone wants to take that pleasure
away, I’d rather just not talk to them. It’s not like I need the press or the
work myself, I’m there for them.
37- What Local music publications or writers do you keep up
with?
SB- Scott Recker, my peeps at Never Nervous, Michael C. Powell,
if the spirits are chilling. I spin a lot of plates and do my best to keep up
with whatever it is that I can, whenever I can. The good news is that there are
a lot of super qualified peers to be had in Louisville.
37- What are some of your favorite events you have covered?
SB- I don’t know. Like I mentioned a little above, I’ve got
kids, as in plural, and they’re both very young. So I’m a bit of a homebody
now, which is why it’s rad to keep writing, so that I can (hopefully) help make
our community a little bit better. I’ve been to thousands of shows, I guess at
this point, and it’s all kind of a blur. I am stoked on this year’s Forecastle,
which is a first for me; I’m definitely not the target demo to stand out in the
sun and pay $8 for a PBR. I’m like the ghost of someone’s future shitty
metabolism, and I always feel like that standing in a sea of 20-somethings just
feeling it or whatever. But how can you go wrong with PJ Harvey and Run the
Jewels?
37- What do you see in the future for Louisville Music?
SB- I see it very much like the past. I read chatter now and
again of people talking about the good old days, as if there ever were any
really. I get that in the 90’s there was this big wave that a lot of folks got
to ride, and they should thank Nirvana every day for that. Not discounting the
music at all, but let’s not play like our local indie scene was turning out
music meant to touch a frat brother’s heart either, so it was just kind of in
the zeitgeist at that moment. That bubble burst, and people act like all the
talent was drained or something, and that’s just stupid. There are tons of
amazing bands now and there has continued to be one for as far back as that was
a thing.
It’s a philosophical conversation for me, at the end of the
day. Louisville is this weird island of activity. We’re in the bible belt, but
far and away the most liberal place in Kentucky. We have historically been
overlooked by touring bands and the like, in lieu of nearby bigger “markets,”
like Cinci, Indi, or Nashville. I would posit that as a good thing though, as
we’ve had to go our own way for so many years that it’s just part of our punk
rock DNA as it were, like we’ll just do this thing we want and not sweat the
haters. That’s not a chip on my shoulder thing either; we get amazing bands
coming through, I just know that it’s not as much as bigger cities, which is
fine by me. We’ve turned all that inward and we’re stronger for it.
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The through line there is that a lot of the music that’s
come out of this city has had some melancholic quality to it, be that manifested
as sad, manic, angry, or something else, which I attribute sociologically to
the weather. It’s non-stop humid in a comparatively liberal island that is
largely passed over by touring artists, so I’d say we all get a little crabby
sometimes, even just subconsciously, and that passes on to our music. The
future then, is an evolution of that as filtered through the internet, which
brings all of the music to all of the people. So, I’m expecting some dynamic
shifts in the general atmosphere of our music culture. But hell, I could be
wrong. Write that on my tombstone.
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