What do you do when the local music scene starts to lose its luster? When the lineups no longer give you the auditory thrill they once did? If you're Gary Finesilver, creator of Orange County's newest promotional company, Pure F'n Talent, you take matters into your own hands.
Finesilver. Photo courtsey Gary Finesilver.
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"I started Pure F'n Talent because I kept bitching and moaning about how shows everywhere sucked ass!" Finesilver asserts. "I was making the effort to go out to LA, which in itself sucks ass because of parking, the scenesters and bands that suck ass. I bitched and moaned, not doing a damn thing about it. Finally, the Lord done come upon me and said, 'Muthafucka, if you don't like the shit that's going on, fix it your damn self,' to which I replied, 'Muthafucka, your work shall be done!'"
When pressed, Finesilver admits he made up that last part.
"I wanted to put on shows that I'd go to myself. Shows where people can look me in the eye and say, 'That's a great fucking band!' Pure F'n Talent has zero tolerance for sucking." He wanted to put on "shows where people stay for the whole night, not shows where people go see the band they came for, then fucking leave, like I usually do, because most bands suck ass!"
Finesilver assures me that his bands do not, as he so eloquently put, "suck ass," but instead "kick ass." Bands like Drop Dead Beats, Los Duggans and Ladyluxe. Just don't bring up the topics of emo or nü-metal around him. Finesilver has some, er, rather strong opinions.
"Death to emo because their mutant spawning must end! Death to nü-metal because they have forsaken their forefathers and desecrated their legacy!"
Whoa, tell us how you really feel.
"If you're whining about your dog dying or breaking up with your girlfriend, go away!" Finesilver reasons. "You're not welcome at Pure F'n Talent! If your lead singer sounds like Cookie Monster, that means you're not metal. That's weak, and it means you have no talent or stage presence! Blue, furry bastards aren't metal!"
So what types of music don't give Finesilver a cardiac arrest? Music reminiscent of a sound that's been gone for 50-plus years, like the Honkys and Squeezebox Sam; a sound that died in the '70s and '80s with guitar solos such as Tyranis and Motor Gun Hotel; high-energy rock of the '60s like the Black Fuzz and Thee Fine Lines; metal, real metal, such as Sinister Mob and Sakrificer.
"Our shows are not genre-specific," Finesilver explains. "I'm always asked, 'Who's your demographic?'—the reply to which I have no clue. But I know who my audience is: Me! I handpick all the bands, though I take referrals, but final call is still mine."
Sounds like fun, but being the brains behind an up-and-coming promotion company has its pitfalls, too.
"I have to convince some bands that I'm not a scumbag promoter out for the buck. Our shows aren't predicated on a band's draw. The promotion is called Pure F'n Talent, not Pure F'n Draw. We love our bands dearly and know that no band needs us at all; they can probably find bigger, better promoters and shows, so we're always thankful when bands do shows with us.
"All I ever ask anyone who attends a Pure F'n Talent gig is to give all the bands a listen. If you think they suck ass, by all means, you should leave . . . but I take hard F'n pride in making sure the bands kick your fucking ass!"
Uh . . . F'n-A?
VISIT WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PUREFNTALENT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
