Quitting Noise

[Atrophist]

I've gone through many different life periods, some good, some not so good, lived in 5 different countries, tried things and yeah I admit, quit them when I discovered they weren't for me. I "discovered" noise in my early 20's, but I was already approaching middle age when I really got into it. Like I mentioned in Olli's (EoD) documentary, this one is starting to feel like a life sentence. No complaints.

[Phenol]

People change, scenes change. I can't see myself stop listening to the music I like, but I can see my interest and thus real life engagement wane if the scene changes into something that's not for me. Through the ups and downs, it hasn't happened yet that I couldn't find anything out there to be excited about, but hypothetically it could happen and then I'd simply sit at home and listen to all that stuff I've hoarded through the years. Quitting listening to noise: never, quitting parttaking in the scene: possibly.

[tiny_tove]

Sometime things come and go. PLacing an enormous amount of effort in releasing stuff, producing records, organising/attending/performing at gig, making network (taht is still the thing I enjoy the most). All this is great until you face more moundane things like family, work, health issues etc.

Sometimes I am super excited, other times, like the past two years, I focus only on my own thing and very slowly develop new projects. I listen less noise today than (UNPC) oi/hardcore at the moment, but whenever I get good stuff for friends makes me feel at home.

The excercise of making noise, choosing (and buying or assembling) new gear, new software or new know how (MAX Jitter being a fantastic ally for the past decade) is and will always be stimulating, same goes for the visual parts. Despite power electronics for me is always linked to some kind of story telling, the noise behind it is and always been the most exciting part when it comes to try to create sounds and atmospheres you would like to listen yourself.

[NIT]

Lost track of noise a bit between my mid 20s and mid 30s. For whatever reason I spent my late 30s getting deeply reacquainted. Now at 48 I don't think it will stop.

[Nolan]

Noise as social organization around a genre, I have zero interest in that anymore.

Noise as a non-genre specific sphere of sonic possibilities, approaches, and frameworks for sound, I still utilize that in my music.

[Cheesecheese]

Interests change yadda yadda, I'm deeply entrenched in metal and sort of the same for other niche sounds like noise, hardcore punk and vaporwave (have to relax you know) and could never truly leave it. Do have to admit I feel like throwing it off when it comes to women, I don't want to them to know me as a stereotype, with ensuing rejection. But experience has learnt me that's only a lustful phase and it doesn't matter anyway, the morbid freak in me will always show its ugly head hah.

I am of the opinion that once one gets deeper in underground genres, the sounds and ideas will no doubt leave traces in ones brain. It's a matter of conditioning and in that sense, one can never truly 'leave', as it has made its mark in the psyche. I could never say I dislike noise, any explanation would be an excuse after me and my brain already decided it's good stuff. I could always see the merit in it and any further explanation for a sudden dislike would just be excuses I tell myself. Boredom of course can strike, but a change/fatigue ≠ leaving/quitting.

[groesk]

i'm also deep into metal, but i've found that i tend to take breaks from noise rather than quitting altogether. the culture around stuff like harsh noise is always interesting to me and eventually draws me back to the albums. i've found my musical identity and noise more or less is going to take up a quarter of it.

[Bleak Existence]

Quitting life is the shit.

[Balor/SS1535]

Quitting life is the shit.

Username checks out.

[Into_The_Void]

I tend to have different phases where I listen massively to a genre to the detriment of others, but never definitely "quit" anything, besides almost stopping to listen to techno/danceable music at home, I think I used to do more often in the past for few year and I basically don't do it anymore because - besides the few artists I like - I am fucking bored from that stuff.

Now that I am father I tend to avoid blasting noise or power electronics with depraved/anti-social lyrics in front of my 2-year-old kid so far, and I use headphones in case I still want to listen to it. Still listen to a lot of extreme metal with the kid though.

[Woundfucker]

This is an interesting topic and one I've actually thought about recently. A bunch of my favorite tapes/etc were made by artists who made a run at it for a few years and then either moved on to something else or disappeared completely. Conversely, I'll see people who have been around releasing noise for decades, but haven't recorded anything that has moved me in the slightest in 30+ years, who openly rant about how noise and/or power electronics owe them a paycheck.

I guess some people are just honest with themselves and know that once the inspiration is gone, it's time to pack it up. For some of those folks, the drive comes back and they have another killer run. For others, it simply never returns. I think it's probably better to just cease activity than waste plastic on uninspired shit or become the entitled veteran.

[englishwheel]

when i was teenager i listened metal. with family issues i grew up ( i'll not piss of anybody here to develop this ) i needed to go to something more mainstream ( student in computer science... really needed to see chicks and real world ).

with career issues and mid life crises i came back to extreme music... now, step by step, i notice i move from death metal to noise. fives years ago i listened metalcore, then back to extreme and now it's mainly sludge and industrial about metal).

I also notice now i appreciate a lot more some G.O album than some years ago.
I could also talk about reasons for going into noise scene older than most of people here... maybe totally different than other guys here and laughable.

Pretty normal to evolve with job, kids, family to raise.

Pretty normal to evolve into music tastes and a sign of good mental health.

[Bloated Slutbag]

Quitting noise is pretty normal. As is quitting noise whilst simultaneously ramming a Merzdisc up the ass and singing God Save The Queen and frantically jacking it.

All pretty normal and don't let them jerk it otherwise, damnit.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Pretty normal to evolve with job, kids, family to raise.
Pretty normal to evolve into music tastes and a sign of good mental health.

As I tend to listen quite variety of sounds and music, I never really get tired of particular style. Just might shift with % of what to listen to in specific period. Noise related is the only thing that may take significant % of total amount, where are punk or rock albums go through phases I may listen very little. What was said in this message that is not on quote, I find myself often actually liking more albums I didn't care much in past. A lot of releases that felt ok at the time and now, returning to it 5, 10, 20, 30 years later, suddenly many of the albums were way better than impressions were back then.

I don't dismiss getting married and raising family, not at all. Done that. I just have seen that many times it goes on route where all things man has been into, goes on full stop, and 15-20 years later sort of semi bitter divorced man returns to underground, catching up, haha...  While many seem to be puzzled about idea that one can (usually) do both. No reason why entire family should be listening radio or watching TV and not... industrial noise on living room. Like mentioned on previous page, I heard that man is sort of semi forced to retreat into garage or attic, with all his crap, while in the house, nothing can remind about unusual interests or involvement in culture. I can't really see why one would accept such dominance from partners, as it certainly goes way beyond any sense. I vote for approach where even the friends of wife and kids will hear the power of harsh noise so they are exposed to good things in life, and not just the illusions of generic routines.

[silentinstinct]

I've been thinking about this topic for the past week or so. I had attended noise focused shows around 2012-2014 (with less attendance in 2015), created some recordings during that period up until 2016. I'm not entirely certain but it felt like the Oakland Ghost Ship fire and the fallout from the incident had an effect on the los angeles art gallery and noise scene. I know a couple of the venues that would host noise shows either closed or stopped hosting events entirely. I had talked with a guy who was involved in one of the bigger venues here, one that still hosts shows, and they had to bring their event space up to code to prevent shutting down.

I had moved farther and farther north, away from the area that hosted most shows and my motivation for noise and experimental music in general waned. I have held onto my collection of noise tapes, CDs, and records. Once my wife found my collection of tapes, specifically the more fetish focused releases and asked me "what the fuck is this?! why do you have this??" She has known I tend to be more snobby when it comes to art, music and film in general so she wasn't very surprised when I had explained what noise is.

Life became a bit busy and I fell out of the noise scene and world. I would attribute some to the lack of major depression, loneliness and addiction problems that affected me between 2011-2017. I've seen Richard post every year about some tour that is suppose to happen and I've wanted to go see BLJ live again so hopefully the tour does materialize. The past few weeks I've gone through some instagram accounts of noise folks I was aware of and seeing some of the live footage the past few years, and reading through a mini book of an art gallery I went to a lot before they closed, really gave me a big sense of FOMO and sad nostalgia about not keeping up with things.

With Maniacsonly and stench forums ceasing to exist, I'm really glad to see this forum, special interests and freak animal still alive and well. The writes ups done involving the noise shows in Finland have been amazing and the White Centipede Noise youtube video about Oskar's recommendations and interviews has me diving back into noise. I've spent a little bit of money to get an audio recorder again, luckily I had all my gear I had used previously, and have decided to try and make some sort of "sound collective" in my area since I live near a big arts college. Even if it ends up just being me again, I'd be happy to just see what sound I go for and where it takes me. I was never big on performing live because I tend to suffer from some stage fright/performance anxiety but I think creating something and throwing it online would be fun.