It’s Gonna be a Bloodbath: Video Exposes Brutality Between Seattle Musicians
By Adam Drew
There’s going to be a bloodbath at the Crocodile tomorrow night. That is, if you take the Youtube mockumentary This is a Competition seriously. Which you probably shouldn’t.
Produced by Zachary Gore of Brite Lines and starring a number of notable local musicians and industry-related folks – including Alexandra from Cumulus, Ryan and Kim from Smokey Brights, Jake from Big Sur, DJ Troy Nelson from KEXP, author/writer Mark Baumgarten, and Columbia City Theater production manager Mark Jones – the video was released to promote the bands and their music, including Brite Lines show December 6 at the Crocodile with Portland’s And And And and fellow Seattleites &Yet.
This is a Competition is essentially a series of mock interviews with local musicians about how to succeed in Seattle, where the addressable market is saturated with talent. In it, Ryan and Kim explain how they were brought together through a mutual love of taking their musician friends out of the game through a variety of techniques, including “hitting them in the ankles with a crowbar.”
Baumgarten deadpans “if you really think music is about who is more poetic, or creative or has the most important things to say, you are a fool,” and Alexandra muses how she and other musicians “act like they love everybody but in fact there’s really nothing more enjoyable than watching everybody you know fail miserably.
With Sub Pop and bands like Mudhoney setting the tone for Seattle musicians combining humor with excellent music without it being totally annoying, it’s nice to see this loose collective keeping that rare combination alive. The real question is whether they will have enough time to make a sequel.
Take a look for yourself.
Tickets are still available for the December 6 show at the Crocodile.