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I dunno-
I've seen Technician and always thought their mimicry of Shellac was meant to be obvious and intentional and kind of tongue in cheek. In a way, its a pretty unique thing. I can't think of anyone else who has focused in on, not just the sound but also the visual and stylistic aspects of a specific band and then appropriated that as their own without being a cover or tribute band. It's also pretty gutsy if you ask me.

hey guys, thanks for all the insight, i learned a few things about us by reading this, first its apparent and obvious that both myself and ian have always been huge fans of a particular type of music. second is the phenomena of learning about how people respond to music, in our case its usually a crash course in "Who we sound like" versus "how we sound" of course we sound like Shellac, to even have that be said is somewhat of a compliment, however we are NOT shellac, nor do we set out to"try" to be like them on an aesthetic level (or anyone else) this to me is part of the fun of creating, coming up with "new" things is the driving force of being in a band some days. I think when you hear something that grabs you and fits with who you are its ok to use this as a point of departure for your own expression , to a point. Eventually all bands (or creative endeavors) have got to start somewhere, should an artist be berated for this , or should it be understood that creative influence is something like a teacher? I have a tendency to find other music that sounds like the stuff I like, I mean that is sort of normal is it not? I think the whole reason people play music is to try to capture that unreal feeling that music you like or enjoy imparts to you when you are listening to it. For that I say I like a lot of different types of music for different reasons, only in Technician, can I feel like its mine.Anyways thanks for listening to us and at least thinking about what we do, we have spent the greater part of fifteen years making this music because we really enjoy playing together and our friends really seem to enjoy listening , maybe you guys can check out the newest stuff(considering the materials available now for your consideration are more than five years old)when we are done recording it. maybe not. either way I have said too much already, cheers-Greg

I appreciate you having the guts to defend yourself in the face of a bunch of critics. I hope this thread didn't seem like an all out attack, as I figured most people dont get to hear what others think in an honest fashion. I guess its constructive criticism in a way. screw us, man, play what you want thats all that matters anyway.
at least people aren't saying you sound like dream theatre.

well for what it's worth, everybody in the band and otherwise can note that as of right now, out of the 10 votes that have been case, there's not a single vote for "crap".

FYI, member of members of Technician, the friend of a friend that at least one of you is friends with would be the guy who owns the monster, monster fucking warehouse, like 7 levels or whatever it is, with a whole bunch of cars and stuff. i'm remembering his name as Dan, though that may be wrong. i think he looks a little like jeff goldblum, but you didn't hear that from me.

i stood a few feet away from your drummer at a rock show in philly that i wrote a thread about once, i wanna say the band had "muscle" in their name, possibly "muscle factory"? we (my hostess and i) did not attend the bbq earlier that day, because i was told that one of the folks there would be a female drummer with red hair who likes voivod, and the lady who i was visiting (she's the friend of Dan) wanted me nowhere near her because of those four factors.

completely irrespective of the friend of a friend's friend thing, i started the poll and voted Not Crap. this was done based solely on the merit of your music. please also note that the "creeps me out" poll option was none of my doing. as i've heard a grand total of one shellac album, once through, i am very much not in a position to draw up such a comparison, or reaction or whatever.

but i gotta admit, if it's true that there's a harmonic percolator at play... it clouds my judgment. i suppose there's about a bazillion bands who use a JCM800 or a JMP or Plexi or whatever, and that's their tone. so in theory all of them could be accused of copping the sound of whoever used each of those amps first. i suppose what it really comes down to is the fact that it's such an obscure pedal, and pretty much anybody who's ever even heard of it, it's most likely because it's a Steve thing. FWIW.

whatever. i'd certainly like to hear the new stuff when it's done. i listened to all of the songs i found on the net at least a couple times through.

if you want, listen to the song linked in my signature, and tell me it sounds like some kinda middle-ground between Spiderland-era Slint and the melodic stuff Metallica did circa RLT or MOP. or give me the music created by any person who posts here, and i'll tell you what bands i hear in it. unless you've copped exact riffs, i say WTF, y'know?

cheers,

scott

I think there should be a poll option of "Shellike".

ian wrote:I think there should be a poll option of "Shellike".

A votre service, monsieur.

Thank you, kind sir.

Sometimes its difficult to tell whether its an insult or a compliment. Either way it makes me uncomfortable.I remember going out and buying the Neutrino album because someone said they sounded like shellac..then Carl was into the comparison-greg

I went to 'The Last Show' on Princeton's campus back in '00 or so. Can't really remember. I bought several recordings sight unseen or as the result of having just seen the band (Oxes, for instance). One was the Technician CD-EP. I had no idea. They had a spare little table set up and while I munched on PBJs I decided to purchase their CD. Well, a friend of mine who was in a band that played that afternoon saw me napping in the shade with the Technician CD atop my small little pile of indie swag. While I slept he quietly placed the disc under the pile so it could not be seen by the Shellac folk who, as it turned out, were near my sleeping chassis. He told me about this later and then said something about Technician being embarrassingly like Shellac. I shrugged. He played it and we both laughed at the obvious similarities. Creepy? I don't know. I just didn't care one way or the other. My friend then told me that his band had played with Technician once and that they had asked them if they liked Shellac, and the Tech boys responded 'no, not really.' That I thought was funny as it was obviously not true. I do like a dead pan lie in the face of a snide question (snide because the answer is obvious...why ask?).

Not crap, though I haven't listened to the CD since. Maybe I'll drag ass over to the shelf and give it a whirl.

Tell me about it, we had to hide from steve CONSTANTLY! when he recorded our final and last album together, it was kind of a drag. But the shame was too great for us to bear! The audacity of inspiration , i'll tell ya!