A number of days ago, much like a person tends to, on occasion, go pass through an old neighbourhood they‘ve long since left, I took a stroll along The Gloria Records website. As I imagine many are already aware of, The Gloria Record were led by Chris Simpson and Brian Malone, who were members of Mineral, a band that parted ways a number of years ago. My reasons and, as a result, interests in music have, it seems to me, changed quite a lot during these last couple years, so my wondering about TGR came with some surprise. While checking in on TGR I came to learn that apparently the boys are, as they put it, not broken up, but are without plans to ever play together again. So it seems those of the emo lineage are promised a short life-span and yet, with this being said, I had hope TGR might be one of those who defy their genes and last just a little longer. Although I nearly lost all interest for indie rock in general, I kept tabs on a select few if only out of fleeting interest. Not to say I’m terribly ashamed of having once listened to emo and though I do horde old cd’s such as The Power Of Failing, The End Of The Ring Wars and How It Feels To Be Something On, under my bed as though they were dirty magazines, I do, on occasion, play them quite openly before other people. Just yesterday I wiped the dust off Kilowatthours’ Strain Of Positive Thinking and gave it a listen. The experience of listening to those old records has been like flipping through an old photo album you had, for some time now, all but forgotten about and having past scenes sort of flicker back into clarity.
Among other thoughts, this has brought to mind my wondering just how many other bands have unfortunately parted ways before I, as a listener, would have preferred. There are, of course, endless streams of such cases and I’d like to only briefly touch on a few:
*Though I’m somewhat uncertain, I doubt the people of Red Stars Theory shall ever craft any further albums together again, which, it seems to me, is a shame as But Sleep Came Slowly and Life In A Bubble Can Be Beautiful contained, what are to me, some of the best moments Bentram, Greeen and Moffeo ever made.
*Camden seemed to be a band of much promise. Yet, after letting go of two full-lengths and an ep, they halted Camden indefinitely. I’ve only listened to one of their albums, that being, the one named Reel Time Canvas, but I’d much rather they’d have continued on with space rock/pop excursions than the make-your-teeth-root synth pop Seidel is lost in at the moment with his new band Decibully.
*What’s in this stunted list is all that comes to mind at the moment and so I’ll stop writing.