A POST THAT MR. BISCH WILL APPRECIATE

One of the bands I've signed and am A&R'ing is called Permanent Me. The band is comprised of 4, slightly enigmatic 20 year olds from Long Island, whom I used to sneak into the Orchard Bar on friday nights after I had already gotten them drunk at my apartment as an attempt to bond with them.

Dynamics between label person and artist can be a bit weird at times as any of the bands that post in the comments section of this blog can attest to. Sometimes it's up, sometimes you disagree on something, and it's down, but it's like family and blood and no matter what, you still love each other. But this sort of dynamic leaves things in a constant state of unease until enough time has passed and you're sitting around burping and farting with them and yelling at the TV cause Fuse keeps on playing the same shitty band that neither of you can agree on... or Fuse keeps on playing the same shitty band that neither of you can believe you both like.

Permanent Me are funny because they're from Long Island. I'm not quite sure what I mean by that, except for maybe that Long Island, for as close to NYC as it is, is still kind of like a foreign land. There's the scene. There's the politics of the scene. You pretty much assume that every kid from there thinks that Envy On the Coast is the most underrated band and can't figure out why they're unsigned. You pretty much assume that every kid from there worships at the massive cock of Darryl Palumbo or has been saving every last penny for the up and coming Brand New tour. Maybe, in their diary, they're plotting the ways they'll get the Movielife back together.

This is what you assume when you're only lasting exposure to Long Island is via MySpace and a handful of buddies. So imagine my MASSIVE surprise when the PM boys were geeking out to me in a conference room here over the fact that they were hanging out with Greg from the Oohlas, whom also used to be in Everclear. Apparently, Everclear is one of their favorite bands... but more surprisingly, the entire genre of 90s altrock is their favorite thing. They dont want to discuss Morrissey like every other band in their peer group... they want to talk about how fantastic Third Eye Blind is.

Now, the name Third Eye Blind, when I was their age, was a joke. It was representative of those shitty numbered bands from the mid-90s that you wanted to figure out a way to destroy. You were convinced that they were what was wrong with the music industry and that every band should sound like Radiohead. Regardless, you knew basically every 3EB single's lyric by heart.

When Permanent Me said that one of their favorite bands was 3EB, i think you could actually see the question mark form above my head. Dont get me wrong, I actually found out, by accident, that I loved "Wounded" and a friendship was forged thanks to realizing that... but everything else seemed ridiculous.

But now that PM tell me that that's one of their favorite bands, and I'm meeting more and more kids online who love that band, I decided that I should listen to some 3EB to get into the mind of that little band of mine. And now, i'm getting it. I mean, i get what they love. I get what it is about those songs that they're cheering. Weird.