Pushing the Envelope
The OC Music AwardsN new showcases shine, but whatNs up with those nominations?
This is the first year INve been around for the OC Music Awards, but from what INve been told, it wasnNt that big of a deal in the past, nothing that folks—either those in the local music “scene” or music fans—took very seriously. If you throw an awards show and no one cares, does it make a sound?
ItNs also the first year for the new OC Music Awards management team, headed up by Luke Allen of Gemini Studios. From everything INve observed, Allen and his crew seemed to recognize the previous problems with the awards and were ready to address them, to make things different (read: “better”) this time around. And given their well-run and well-attended weekly showcases—a mostly free series of Tuesday-night concerts spotlighting four to six local bands each week and wrapping up Tuesday at the Gypsy Lounge—theyNve clearly made some major improvements.
Which made the nominee list, announced last week, kind of baffling. Take Best Song, for instance, in which the Jakes and Aushua—two relatively obscure, unsigned acts—are up against the Offspring. You know, the same Offspring who have been around since 1984, have a couple of dozen modern-rock radio staples under their belt and have sold 16 million (and counting!) copies of their 1994 mainstream breakthrough, Smash. Sure, theyNre from Huntington Beach and still maintain a local presence—they played the 250-capacity Chain Reaction in Anaheim this past August—but common sense still raises a red flag when it comes to comparing bands just starting out to one who had BillboardNs No. 1 Hot Modern Rock Track for 11 weeks last year.
“There were no restrictions on relative success of a band that would exclude them from being nominated, as long as at least a majority of the members live in Orange County,” Allen writes via e-mail, adding that this is how the San Diego Music Awards, which he used as a model, have done it for years. “They feel it is great to have high-profile bands nominated alongside up-and-comers to help increase exposure for the artists.”
INm not necessarily advocating cutting higher-profile artists, à la “All right, youNre popular now. YouNre out!” But these nominations are pretty scattershot—though, as Allen points out, itNs not like any list could please everyone.
But if the OffspringNs inclusion is puzzling, some of the other choices are downright flummoxing. At least the Offspring had an album last year. The Vandals, who have been around nearly three decades but havenNt released a studio album since 2004Ns Hollywood Potato Chip, still managed to score a nomination for Best Punk. ItNs like hearing, “And this yearNs Oscar goes to . . . The Bridge on the River Kwai!”
Many of the categories themselves are problematic. Genre classification is not an exact science. I donNt know anyone who can call Death by Stereo “metal” with a straight face, yet there they are nominated for Best Metal. ThereNs both a Best Indie and Best Alternative category—both pretty outdated, meaningless and overlapping terms—and the same band, Venus Infers, are nominated for both.
The Grammys are notoriously terrible, but one cue could be taken from them here: Instead of nominating bands by genre, itNs much more reasonable to nominate specific records and songs in a given genre, so at least everything nominated would be current. And as with the Grammys, INm not even sure how much the actual nominations even matter. Not to take anything away from the artists; despite my gripes, there are some good choices in there. But people donNt watch the Grammys because theyNre rooting for any specific nominees in any specific awards—they probably donNt even know whoNs up for what—they watch for the performances and the hype surrounding the event. And, ultimately, the good work done by the showcases and, potentially, the event itself might (should?) overshadow the actual awards.
Allen describes the OCMAs, happening April 4 at the Grove of Anaheim, as a “work in progress.” And yes, he and his crew have made progress. But thereNs still a lot of work to be done.
A version of this column first appeared on OC WeeklyNs music blog, Heard Mentality. Peruse the OC Music Award nominees and decide for yourself at www.ocmusicawards.com.
