Music Monday - Foundwaves

Music Monday with Foundwaves

Fairly new to the web scene, Foundwaves.com is based in Boston, mainly covering Boston-area bands, but is prepping to add New York and Philadelphia. Based off upcoming concerts and bands playing in the Boston area, Foundwaves doesn't cater to any specific niche or level. Their coverage is based on live shows, reviewing and feeling a part of the performance.

"Perhaps what distinguishes us the most, however, is that instead of viewing ourselves as a traditional media outlet that observes and critiques, we see ourselves as participants in the music scene who actively support it and seek ways to encourage collaboration between musicians and other creative types through the creation of original content."

Music Monday Q&A

1. How long has Foundwaves been operating?

We're the baby of the music blogosphere with only three months of existence, but we're growing quickly. We have five contributing writers (about to add five more), over 20 photographers, and several videographers. Currently our coverage is limited to the Boston area, but we're preparing to expand to NYC and Philly in the next month or so and then other major cities later this year.

2. What makes Foundwaves different from others websites?

We base most of our music coverage around our weekly concert picks. We listen to 100-200 bands a week (seriously!) playing in the Boston area and pick 10-20 of them to feature. Which bands we pick is based on the music, not on whether the band is signed or not, just won an award, or is being buzzed about on the blogosphere. In fact, when we're making the decisions, we don't even know what venue they'll be playing at, and often don't even look at the name of the band. Because of this, we're able to find some amazing bands that a lot of other blogs overlooked.

Once we've made our picks we post show previews and/or show recaps for as many of the bands as we can to introduce our readers to new bands and motivate them to go out to the show or make them wish they hadn't missed it and determined to go next time. We do this through Foundwaves-exclusive photography and videos and our still-evolving Foundwaves show preview writing style, which is notably different from many other blogs. Rather than focusing on biographical, historical, and technical descriptions, our writers try to share the experience of listening to the music using imagery and metaphor. We feel this kind of writing better captures why we love music and encourages a more welcoming environment for all music fans, regardless of their musical background.

3. Do you think Foundwaves has a specific musical niche?

Our focus is primarily on indie bands. So then what is "indie?" ....We'll just have to say that we know "indie" when we hear it. There are plenty of independent, unsigned bands that are definitely not "indie" and there are plenty of signed bands that are "indie." The word really has no relation to "independent" anymore – it's just a word that somehow encapsulates everything from Pavement to Neon Indian and beyond.

4. What contemporary albums are you looking forward to coming out?

Since all of our coverage is built around live concerts, we don't really follow the album release cycle. We can, however, list some of the bands we're looking forward to seeing again the next time they play in Boston: Bad Veins, Hanne Hukkelberg, Leopold and His Fiction, Forest Fires, Conservative Man, Reverse........

5. How does Foundwaves support independent music and what is important about doing so?

In the age of file-sharing, we believe that the most realistic hope independent bands have in making even a subsistence living is through touring. However, at this point the small club scene is a long way from bringing in enough revenue to accomplish this. Therefore, our goal is to help grow the live music scene so that enough music fans are going out to these smaller club shows to support modest livings for independent musicians. There are so many tremendous musicians pouring their heart into their music for very little reward.

6. Do you think online publications are taking precedence over print magazine? What kind of effect do you think that has on bands?

The growth of online music media has been one of the most important developments in music. Print media is limited by the number of magazines and the number of pages in each magazine. Online media obviously has none of these limits, which means many more bands can be featured. In addition, music fans can immediately hear a band and or watch a video online, something that is impossible when reading a print magazine.

7. What blogs/publications do you read other than your own?

We don't want to play favorites with our peers!

8. What has been your most definitive moment since you started at Foundwaves?

Without a doubt, the most definitive moment since launching was receiving our first submission to the Song Muse series, a poem inspired by a song by the great Boston band, Magic Man.

9. If there is any musician/band you could interview (dead or alive) who would it be?

We rarely find band interviews that interesting, so we'd have to go with one of the most eccentric musicians ever: jazz composer and pianist, Sun Ra, whose life experiences included a brief abduction by aliens from Saturn. Really!

10. If you could be in any band (of all time), who would you rock with?

Without a doubt it would have to be Earth, Wind, and Fire in 1975.

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