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The Battalion
je 3
November 18, 2003
Rock your socks off
Seeking an alternative to country. Aggies find venues where they can rock out
By Will Knous
THE BATTALION
Brad Otts doesn’t just listen to music, he experiences it. For
him, rock music is his venue to self-expression.
“Rock is the most completely emotionally liberating expres
sion I have found,” said Otts, a senior recreation parks and
tourism sciences major.. “You don’t have to be politically moti
vated to listen to rock music. You just have to enjoy music, at least
be open to it and find the uniqueness in music. You can at least
respect it.”
Rock music is an outlet for passion and aspiration, it provides
common ground for students and teachers, and sometimes it can
be an opportunity for
growth. But so much of the
time, those opportunities
don’t come here at A&M.
When an outside observ
er travels to College Station
and sees Texas A&M and its
students, the last thing that
enters the mind is, “This
must be the rock music cap-
I of the world.”
Rock music does have a
presence here, but it might
rtai ri® USt * 5e a h arc ler to find
at a school known for its
agriculture and trucks.
“There is a rock culture
verywhere — it is just that
«
You knew there was a
rock culture here when
The Toadies came to
Northgate and it sold out
in a couple of minutes —
so it is here, just no^
much brings it out.
— Rani Haykal
senior biology major
t is not as big at A&M,” said Rani Haykal, a senior biology
major. “There’s going to be a rock culture no matter where you
go-
Rock is not just about the sound of the music.
“Rock culture has to do with the emotion of the music through
lands that express it. It’s supposed to be for feeling ... the way
music keeps you going — it’s a drive,” said Victor Lopez, a
senior international studies major.
Haykal agrees. He wears clothing supporting the bands he lis
tens to, attends their concerts and buys their albums. Endorsement
can take many different forms.
“Why keep quiet about something you like?” Haykal said.
“Everyone else here has an opinion about some
thing ... but I will wear band T-shirts and all that
wearing the clothes, listening to the music,
going to the concerts. I try not to be
too obnoxious about it.”
Serious rock enthusiasts
hold fast to their fixations.
“I’m not going to drop
what I like to conform to what
everyone else likes,” Haykal said
“I liked all this before and did it
all before, and I plan to contin
ue as long as I like it.”
Some students believe the lack of a
notable rock scene at A&M to be the
result of the surrounding community. College
Station is known throughout the college world
as a bastion of conservatism, and this might
be at least part of the reason there is not
much here for the rock community.
However, some say the rock scene is still
here, which is not surprising considering
College Station’s student friendly
atmosphere.
“There is no serious rock culture
here. Most people consider rock
culture more liberal, and when you
live in a conservative town it is
not going to be out there as
much, or you are not going to
see it as much — it is going
to be more of an under
ground thing,” Haykal said.
Despite their devotion,
rock fans often find little to
support them in the surrounding community.
“I see more of a country scene here — it is very
rare you see people into the rock scene, I guess
because it isn’t brought up here yet,” Lopez said.
Due to the scarcity of outlets for rock music in
College Station, rock fans must travel elsewhere to
get their fixes. Just like fanatical baseball supporters
take ballpark tours, faithful rock fans have always
made trips for their love.
“You have your guys who will drive to different
cities for concerts because you know you won’t get
them here. So I, and a bunch of my friends, will go to
Dallas or something to catch a show,” Haykal said.
Haykal has been able to get up close and personal with
some of his favorite bands.
“I was at a Toadies Halloween show and I met this
dude in the crowd and we got to talking about how much
we love the Toadies,” Haykal said. “Anyway, right
before the concert, he told me he was the Toadies road
manager and he gave me and my sister backstage, all
access passes. I ended up watching the entire show on
the stage and then got to chill with the Toadies, the
Hunger and Vallejo after the show till around 5 a.m.”
But most individuals still believe there is some rock
culture at A&M, even if it is not particularly pronounced —
and a few can prove it.
“You knew there was a rock culture here when the Toadies
came to Northgate and it sold out in a couple of minutes — so it
is here, just not much brings it out,” Haykal said.
But there are some who do come out and preach their love of
rock ’n’ roll.
Otts vocally supports all types of rock music, playing regular
ly around Northgate and the College Station area. Otts says he
plays rock music and supports it because of how it affects him.
Community is important to the rock music scene, but on a
more individual level, one of the largest concerns for the music
industry today is illegal file-sharing. But the local music scene
seems to only benefit from downloading. Even A&M professors
seem to be in downloading’s comer.
“I don’t think that MP3 file trading has done anything bad
for the local rock scene. If anything I would say its existence is
better for local bands. (A local band) can compress a disc into
MP3s and get their music out there,” said performance stud
ies professor Harris Berger.
Students are even more receptive to downloading and
see it as inevitable as well as needed to bolster the sputter
ing rock scene in College Station.
“I think (downloading) might help the local music
scene, I mean downloading might turn some heads here
because rock music needs to be brought here and recognized
more,” Lopez said.
Graphic by Tony Piedra* THE BATTALION
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