‘punk-wave’ is a term that’s been on my mind for a good while now. “It’s a movement of punk, whereby a group of DIY electronic artists are taking the scene back and presenting their music to a flood of fans and causing the next punk scene, not one that comes from guitar but from synthesizers and the sheer human willpower to be heard. It is against, not for the current music industry. It is empowering artists and allowing them to be creative in all realms. Without hindrance, and without bias.”
When artists come together across the world naturally, then you know something grand is happening. This change is occurring on a virtual global level, and building each day. WEATNU took part in creating this change in August 2014. Without someone opening a door to the creativity of the future artist, a scene could not have been created. Without hindrances or corp rules, you find a beautiful thing happening. WEATNU being a new millennial punk movement, makes it tied to the Internet, but the first wave of punk came from the late 70s, fueled by rebellion toward your parents, anarchy and disregard to rules, including a protest against the music your parents pushed on you, anti-government, anti-propaganda and political issues. Punk was an aesthetic of its time, soon to be adopted by pop culture. Before the decade had ended, that culture became the norm for the music industry in a whole. Punk gave way to Post-punk, batcave, synthpop, New Wave, Goth, Darkwave, and so on. I did not have the pleasure of taking part of that scene as I was too young in 1983 “though I remember the music well at 6 years of age.” But being the last of Gen-X I can say I’m proud that my mid 90s teenage years were some of the best the world of music has ever encountered. As punk started to fade by the late 90s so did the music that fueled it and another era was born. We are the New Underground screams of punk, with its anti-corp attitude. The idea of #WEATNU was born from the unfairness that every solo electronic and experimental artist faces everyday. It’s a statement, one that is filling the internet slowly with its idea. It came out of a time of big media and major music fads of 2014. Fighting against the very system that pushes down creativity but instead rolls out the next cookie cutter single or album that makes millions. During that time, independent musicians were silently screaming to be heard. It takes only one idea to create a fire in others.
Where do musicians go when they want to be heard? The Internet so #WEATNU being born from social media came to its fruition by 2016. Culture cannot flourish when ideas are hindered, where the socialist attitude in the music industry takes away the spirit of music itself. Punk being the attitude of WEATNU, certainly embraces its past history. Punk is not something that is created for a whim but for the sake of change. WEATNU was that change, it was that idea that had to be created or the DIY / Electronic artist may have been lost to a sea of noise. (This was no accident) Musicians have a vision, they form the next culture, commerical norms come from the Underground. This underground we have created, we have formed and developed comes only from the human spirit and need to be heard, to have their music for once noticed by a sea of like-minded music lovers, not people fed by the machine that feeds the many their endless major chord and assembly-line wonders. Pirate radio and college radio played the underground for many years, void of rules, and ridicule. The music lover is tired of hearing top 40, they are tired of hearing about the next fly-by-night pop facade; which includes poser electronic music. WEATNU appeared suddenly overnight to fight this problem we were all facing, a future of uncertainty for the DIY musician. Music lovers and artists need to belong to a culture, just like each genre of music must have its scene, the next punk movement is born, the next scene is here. It will not go away, it will only get larger everyday, because people want change and they want the music to live forever. Artists are tired of the need to find a greater outlet to be noticed, to be appreciated. The modern electronic and even solo artist does not live off of money, money is the old term for record labels from the 80s, that time is far gone. WEATNU is freedom itself and a chance once again to be part of something that matters, something that is anarchy. Burn your corp flags, break down the walls, bring down the house and pile in with your second-hand gear and synthesizers, this new culture is coming soon to your side of the Internet. The prediction is WEATNU will not only be the symbol it stands for but a staple of life for musicians in the years to come. We all needed this, We.. are the New Underground. We are all one!
Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine
March 2016
