YOU LISTEN TO MAGRUDERGRIND NOW
Last week our friend Justin Foley from The Austerity Program made a very impassioned and well-reasoned argument as to why Magrudergrind shouldn’t have agreed to work with Scion. I really enjoyed reading Justin’s piece, and I agreed with almost none of it. For me, this really comes down to two issues:
- Yes, metal shows would happen whether or not Scion paid for them, but free day-long metal shows headlined by bands like Neurosis and Cannibal Corpse probably would not. To the kid who just walked in for the cost of nothing (as opposed to whatever they have to pay for, say, Ozzfest), the question “Who’s footing the bill for this?” is moot. Not hurting is that, in my experience, the actual advertising for Scion at Scion shows is incredibly non-invasive, especially when compared to the corporate sponsorship for most festivals.
- Yes, metal albums would get made whether or not Scion paid for them, but the more time talented and creative people get to spend being talented and creative instead of doing whatever they do at their day job, the more we all benefit. I’ll never complain that someone made it possible for an excellent band to make music instead of taking my order unless they ask that band to compromise their art in order to do so, which, clearly, was not the case in this instance.
And on top of all that, there’s the simple fact that Magrudergrind’s resulting EP, Crusher, is awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome. I’m so happy to have it, and I really don’t give a fuck who paid for it. I can promise you that at no point during my initial listens of the album did I think about cars. All I thought about what how fucking much I love this band.
And on that note, you can now stream Crusher below. I thought that Brooklyn Vegan was gonna stop giving away the album for free download after the weekend, but it looks like it’s still up, so go grab it if you haven’t already. You can also get it in CD or vinyl form here.
-AR
