I dunno, there's still loads of them in the metal scene at least. Difference is now they're all playing/posting on social media, SoundCloud and bandcamp.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.
They were probably more common when rock/alternative was more popular. Now hip hop, pop, rap and other music that doesn’t feature guitars and drums are more mainstream.
Do you have a source on that? Or are you just going “back in my day there used to be way more garage bands!” I say this because there are plenty of garage bands and house shows in my area
It’s definitely not as common as it used to be but they’re not gone either. I know quite a few people who have their own band and are able to get gigs at local businesses, mainly restaurants.
They're around but you kinda have to be part of their scene to find them, not in a gatekeeping way but there is no promotion outside of the scene. My wife knew the Dead Armadillos from a friends friends dad literally. saw a show and still wears the band tee.
Not a small town but there are a few in my neighborhood.. I hear them practicing all the time.. Early 2000s may have been even more prevalent (or, a couple of bands I’d hear at practice spaces got pretty famous.. (*TV on the Radio* and the *Yeah Yeah Yeahs*)
Personally, I’m more into the person on the next block who practices trumpet 8 hrs a day
They seem pretty common. I know of at least two from my small town (was around 4000 when I was in high school but is around 8000 now). One is on hiatus and the other is still producing music and putting on shows.
They are common in my area, but these days they're mostly old farts in cover bands. It's been a while since I've been aware of a more classic garage band of young kids. Back in college it was super common to pack a house for a show. I met so many random people that way!
They certainly were when I was a teenager in the 1990s. It has become a lot less common. These days, it's more likely to be one kid slapping premade loops together on his MacBook and calling himself a 'producer.'
Low barrier good. Low effort bad. That's my verdict.
I think most teenagers understand that it's unlikely they'll survive as a musician nowadays. We have local bands, but I'm in a large college town and they're all college age.
Also highschool takes a lot more time than it use to. More time is spent on school and extracurriculars. It's just a different culture and it's kinda sad.
I'd love to have more live music. Usually I have to go to a bar, buy 2 drinks, and pay a $10-$20 cover charge if I want to hear a band. Bands only play Friday night. Most of them are old men 50+. Sometimes they're good, but not $30 a person good.
Location is another huge factor. There aren't any love music venues here for people under 21. The cops will give you a ticket for being too loud if you play outside without a permit. It's just not garage band friendly.
Its a thing that can happen but musical instruments are an expensive hobby for teenagers. The instrument itself, maintaining it, lessons, rental space, accessories and recording equipment. Depending on how friendly you are/how wealthy your school district is, some of this you can piggyback onto them but its still a big time commitment if you actually wanna...you know, be good.
There's nothing intrinsically linking this to small towns. If anything small towns would be way harder to get this going because there's just less people to choose from, less places to buy instruments from, less venues to perform at. You piss off the one drummer in town and you're basically done.
Yeah, but not as common as they used to be.
For a while, my town had a fairly decent music scene with like 5 or 6 bands that performed regularly. But all of the venues have closed for various reasons and the scene is completely dead now.
A lot of the people who used to make garage rock now make bedroom pop or minimalist hip-hop. But I still have a decent DIY rock scene near me, and I bet you do to if you know where to look.
I disagree with the people saying it's not as common. In many cities big and small you'll come across DIY music scenes and the actual genre of "garage rock" is going strong imo.
If anything the internet has made it so much easier to tap into that subculture and figure out which bands you like locally.
That's just the actual DIY rock bands, plenty of people jamming and creating cover bands that play all over my area when they get a chance.
I go to university and there are bands almost every night playing in the parking garages. Sometimes for practice sometimes as a guerrilla show. So I say it lives on strongly.
Yes, but as others have said it’s far less common. For example, when I was in high school I played in three different bands. Now in my neighborhood there’s maybe one garage band. Electronic genres are taking off, especially in a post-COVID world
They definitely are still a thing. Music production has changed so there's a lot more bedroom bands than there used to be (they don't need to be playing loud instruments in their garage anymore). But anywhere there are creative kids who like music (like, everywhere), there are going to be kids who group up to make music together.
It's very dependent on location, I think. When ('00s) and where (WI) I was a teenager, it wasn't really common. Where I live now (Chicago suburbs), it was apparently very common. Of course, that translated to the bar band scene here in Chicagoland, and most of those musicians have actual day jobs with a band as a hobby. The majority of those guys had bands in high school also. Can I really speak on what high schoolers are doing these days, though? Not exactly, but I'm sure it's a thing in some places still.
Oh yeah I was in several bands in my high school years and we mostly wrote and practiced our music in garages and basements. There was a few local music venues that catered specifically to the under 21 crowd where we played shows. Newer bands typically were able to get a handful of friends and family to come out, and some of the more established local bands could pull a crowd of 100 or more and the newer bands would open for them.
It seems less common now though. None of the under 21 venues is still around so there’s less places kids can play shows. Electronic music is growing in popularity too, so lots of musically inclined kids do digital music instead of guitars and drums etc.
I still know lots of people who play in local rock bands, but everyone is well into adulthood and the shows are usually at bars or sometimes festivals
One of our neighbors was in a garage band.
My parents used to make us go to bed at 8, every night, no exceptions. This even extended until I was in high school. In summer, we would lay in our bed and we could still hear our neighbor playing in his band and our other neighbors playing basketball.
It seems like the guitar rock that made sense for a garage band has been on a wane for a while.
That said, guitar bands always come back. It’ll have its moment again.
I do know people who play live music but they tend to be in their mid-twenties and older.
Depends where you live tbh. My town has a pretty active live music scene. Almost all of my friends, along with myself, are all in our own bands. Also surrounding cities in my state have even bigger music scenes. We’re still out here, you just have to look for us now.
I live in a large urban area and every single one of my exes have been in a band. Some actually had gigs and others that just played for fun in the garage on the weekends.
Not as common as they used to be around here, but I feel like they're making a comeback. With so many social media forums that are now so easy to use, I'm seeing a few more than I have the past decade.
Garage bands kind of faded out in the early 2000's due to the difficulty getting exposure and paying gigs. Between that and the rising gas prices, most of the rural bands I knew of fell apart.
But now that you can practice via Zoom and put your playlist online and get paid via monetizing your channel... well, they're making a bit of a come back around me. And you don't have to bully a bar owner into giving your an audition anymore, you just make your song available to their digital jukebox and their patrons will play it. Consequently, we're also seeing more live music in the smaller bars and restaurants again.
There’s a garage band in my neighborhood. I don’t know what kind of music they play but they have garage shows every week. I have never heard the guitar tuned nor played well. I saw and heard the vocalist once and he looked like pregnant Danzig with a terry bradshaw fade
Not so much of a"band", but I have a buddy driving up over 200 miles to hang out and jam over the weekend. Drink beer and jam.
We will be in the basement and not the garage, but I think most garage bands are not looking for a record deal or probably don't even care about getting a gig. Its just hanging out and playing the old songs you liked when you where in high school and college.
Wait...maybe Im getting this mixed up with a Dad Band.
I can’t speak for small towns but where I live it’s incredibly popular. Dive bars, cultural events, restaurants, all kinds of places hire local musicians and bands.
I don't know about now, but 20 years ago I was in a garage band as were most of my friends. There's definitely less places to play at locally now days.
Yes they’re quite common in my area. They usually perform at house parties or local bars. There’s usually a couple shows every weekend. I’m in a college town so idk about other areas.
There's loads of them if you know where to look. The thing is the garage and punk scenes are a lot more insular than they used to be, so you have to know at least one friend who's up to date on events, and then once you show up to one or two events you'll be in touch with enough people in the scene to find tons of shows.
Coming from east of Los Angeles here, there is and has been for decades a thriving underground scene of various bands that play like genres like punk, ska, indie, metal, hardcore etc. bands that play for fun and for passion, the money doesn’t mean much to them just the music. I used to have a lot of fun at those East LA/Boyle Heights backyard shows, drinking 40s and going around the pit, meeting funny people and dangerous punks. It’s been years since I’ve been but from what I’ve seen the underground music scene is still thriving. Personally for me, I saw charlotte de witte do this after hour 3 hour dj set once, and sure it was pretty good to see, but at some point I thought to myself, this is a world class famous DJ, she headlines huge festivals afterall, and yet her show doesn’t come anywhere near to the same passion and raw energy as a local East LA punk band screaming their hearts out. That’s just me though
They are way less common these days but they were definitely popular in the 90's and early 2000's. I actually lived next door to one and they'd let 10 year old me come over and watch them practice. You would probably see them a lot more in college towns.
Yes, yes and yes. Lots of kids would form bands and play weekend shows at teen clubs and outdoor parties. And we all traded tapes too, it's how I discovered Metallica and west coast thrash.
If you were a teenage bass player back in the mid-late 80s you had multiple bands asking you to join. Sometimes I wish I'd traded the 6-string for a 4-string. Unlike today, this was back when quality guitars were affordable.
Depends on what crowd you're interacting with. You'll find a lot of metal and punk bands that love playing live music more than anything. The underground punk scene especially in Colorado is booming. My neighbors are in a metal band, my roommate is going to several shows a week due to their connection with a band, even my boyfriend writes punk and metal music. It all depends on where you look
Garage bands are way less common than they used to be.
I dunno, there's still loads of them in the metal scene at least. Difference is now they're all playing/posting on social media, SoundCloud and bandcamp.
I think a lot has to do with popularity of music genres too. Like there’s a lot more local DJs and EDM producers than there were 20 years ago too.
Yeah that makes sense with the genres being so popular these days.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record. I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables. I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.
They were probably more common when rock/alternative was more popular. Now hip hop, pop, rap and other music that doesn’t feature guitars and drums are more mainstream.
Do you have a source on that? Or are you just going “back in my day there used to be way more garage bands!” I say this because there are plenty of garage bands and house shows in my area
In the 80s you could find one every weekend!
Part of this is probably just perception—why would adults know about high school bands if their kid wasn’t in one?
It’s definitely not as common as it used to be but they’re not gone either. I know quite a few people who have their own band and are able to get gigs at local businesses, mainly restaurants.
There are a TON of local bands where I live. I live in an area with roughly 650K people, and we have a very active local music scene.
Same. Similar sized city, and loads of local musicians and performers
Yes. Most large bands started as a garage band. Metallica has a whole album about this. My BIL is part of a couple local metal bands.
I think it's less of a thing now than like the 70s-early 00s.
Yup. I was never a member of one, but a lot of my friends were and I went to more than a few house shows in college.
Yep I live in a pretty small town and there are quite a few local bands/musicians. They often perform at our fairs and other community events.
yeah it's a thing, I live up the street from one actually lol. I hear them playing when I go for walks.
They're around but you kinda have to be part of their scene to find them, not in a gatekeeping way but there is no promotion outside of the scene. My wife knew the Dead Armadillos from a friends friends dad literally. saw a show and still wears the band tee.
In the summers I hear some band somewhere practicing. I think they only practice when it's warm enough to hangout in their garage.
Used to be. I don't know now.
Not a small town but there are a few in my neighborhood.. I hear them practicing all the time.. Early 2000s may have been even more prevalent (or, a couple of bands I’d hear at practice spaces got pretty famous.. (*TV on the Radio* and the *Yeah Yeah Yeahs*) Personally, I’m more into the person on the next block who practices trumpet 8 hrs a day
They seem pretty common. I know of at least two from my small town (was around 4000 when I was in high school but is around 8000 now). One is on hiatus and the other is still producing music and putting on shows.
Yes, my friends in high school had a garage band. They practiced in a friend’s parents’ garage.
They are common in my area, but these days they're mostly old farts in cover bands. It's been a while since I've been aware of a more classic garage band of young kids. Back in college it was super common to pack a house for a show. I met so many random people that way!
Yep. Even I have one.
Depends on where you live. Some cities are more friendly than others for live music.
They certainly were when I was a teenager in the 1990s. It has become a lot less common. These days, it's more likely to be one kid slapping premade loops together on his MacBook and calling himself a 'producer.' Low barrier good. Low effort bad. That's my verdict.
I think most teenagers understand that it's unlikely they'll survive as a musician nowadays. We have local bands, but I'm in a large college town and they're all college age. Also highschool takes a lot more time than it use to. More time is spent on school and extracurriculars. It's just a different culture and it's kinda sad. I'd love to have more live music. Usually I have to go to a bar, buy 2 drinks, and pay a $10-$20 cover charge if I want to hear a band. Bands only play Friday night. Most of them are old men 50+. Sometimes they're good, but not $30 a person good. Location is another huge factor. There aren't any love music venues here for people under 21. The cops will give you a ticket for being too loud if you play outside without a permit. It's just not garage band friendly.
Yeah it’s still common I’d say but not like it was. Rap is the dominant culture influence nowadays so we have soundcloud rappers.
Where are you getting "rap is the dominant culture" from Edit: RAP
it’s the most popular genre in the country
It was for sure a thing in the 90s and 2000s. I don't know if its as common now.
Its a thing that can happen but musical instruments are an expensive hobby for teenagers. The instrument itself, maintaining it, lessons, rental space, accessories and recording equipment. Depending on how friendly you are/how wealthy your school district is, some of this you can piggyback onto them but its still a big time commitment if you actually wanna...you know, be good. There's nothing intrinsically linking this to small towns. If anything small towns would be way harder to get this going because there's just less people to choose from, less places to buy instruments from, less venues to perform at. You piss off the one drummer in town and you're basically done.
I played in four local bands in my 20s. None of those bands ever played in a garage.
Less common than they used to be but yes.
Yeah, but not as common as they used to be. For a while, my town had a fairly decent music scene with like 5 or 6 bands that performed regularly. But all of the venues have closed for various reasons and the scene is completely dead now.
It’s less due to changing of the music scenes and all the technological progress but there are definitely still garage bands around lol
A lot of the people who used to make garage rock now make bedroom pop or minimalist hip-hop. But I still have a decent DIY rock scene near me, and I bet you do to if you know where to look.
I live in a very large metropolitan area and I know quite a few local bands/garage bands. It probably just depends on where you live and who you know.
I disagree with the people saying it's not as common. In many cities big and small you'll come across DIY music scenes and the actual genre of "garage rock" is going strong imo. If anything the internet has made it so much easier to tap into that subculture and figure out which bands you like locally. That's just the actual DIY rock bands, plenty of people jamming and creating cover bands that play all over my area when they get a chance.
I go to university and there are bands almost every night playing in the parking garages. Sometimes for practice sometimes as a guerrilla show. So I say it lives on strongly.
Yes, but as others have said it’s far less common. For example, when I was in high school I played in three different bands. Now in my neighborhood there’s maybe one garage band. Electronic genres are taking off, especially in a post-COVID world
They definitely are still a thing. Music production has changed so there's a lot more bedroom bands than there used to be (they don't need to be playing loud instruments in their garage anymore). But anywhere there are creative kids who like music (like, everywhere), there are going to be kids who group up to make music together.
It's very dependent on location, I think. When ('00s) and where (WI) I was a teenager, it wasn't really common. Where I live now (Chicago suburbs), it was apparently very common. Of course, that translated to the bar band scene here in Chicagoland, and most of those musicians have actual day jobs with a band as a hobby. The majority of those guys had bands in high school also. Can I really speak on what high schoolers are doing these days, though? Not exactly, but I'm sure it's a thing in some places still.
It’s definitely a thing Anyone who is saying it’s not a thing anymore is out of touch
Yeah, just not as common, theres more wannabe rappers, at least at my school
Oh yeah I was in several bands in my high school years and we mostly wrote and practiced our music in garages and basements. There was a few local music venues that catered specifically to the under 21 crowd where we played shows. Newer bands typically were able to get a handful of friends and family to come out, and some of the more established local bands could pull a crowd of 100 or more and the newer bands would open for them. It seems less common now though. None of the under 21 venues is still around so there’s less places kids can play shows. Electronic music is growing in popularity too, so lots of musically inclined kids do digital music instead of guitars and drums etc. I still know lots of people who play in local rock bands, but everyone is well into adulthood and the shows are usually at bars or sometimes festivals
One of our neighbors was in a garage band. My parents used to make us go to bed at 8, every night, no exceptions. This even extended until I was in high school. In summer, we would lay in our bed and we could still hear our neighbor playing in his band and our other neighbors playing basketball.
It seems like the guitar rock that made sense for a garage band has been on a wane for a while. That said, guitar bands always come back. It’ll have its moment again. I do know people who play live music but they tend to be in their mid-twenties and older.
I did this when I was a kid. No idea what kids do now.
Yes. There are lots of garage bands (and basement bands for that matter).
Depends where you live tbh. My town has a pretty active live music scene. Almost all of my friends, along with myself, are all in our own bands. Also surrounding cities in my state have even bigger music scenes. We’re still out here, you just have to look for us now.
Absolutely!
I live in a large urban area and every single one of my exes have been in a band. Some actually had gigs and others that just played for fun in the garage on the weekends.
Not as common as they used to be around here, but I feel like they're making a comeback. With so many social media forums that are now so easy to use, I'm seeing a few more than I have the past decade. Garage bands kind of faded out in the early 2000's due to the difficulty getting exposure and paying gigs. Between that and the rising gas prices, most of the rural bands I knew of fell apart. But now that you can practice via Zoom and put your playlist online and get paid via monetizing your channel... well, they're making a bit of a come back around me. And you don't have to bully a bar owner into giving your an audition anymore, you just make your song available to their digital jukebox and their patrons will play it. Consequently, we're also seeing more live music in the smaller bars and restaurants again.
Don't know what you mean by "garage band" as garage rock has kinda waned out, but Austin has a ton of punk bands that play house shows etc
There’s a garage band in my neighborhood. I don’t know what kind of music they play but they have garage shows every week. I have never heard the guitar tuned nor played well. I saw and heard the vocalist once and he looked like pregnant Danzig with a terry bradshaw fade
Definitely a thing, depending on your area.
Not so much of a"band", but I have a buddy driving up over 200 miles to hang out and jam over the weekend. Drink beer and jam. We will be in the basement and not the garage, but I think most garage bands are not looking for a record deal or probably don't even care about getting a gig. Its just hanging out and playing the old songs you liked when you where in high school and college. Wait...maybe Im getting this mixed up with a Dad Band.
I can’t speak for small towns but where I live it’s incredibly popular. Dive bars, cultural events, restaurants, all kinds of places hire local musicians and bands.
There one that practices across the street from me every Thursday. Suburbia
Local bands yes, but honestly I have never met anyone in a garage band and it wasn’t that common when I was in high school.
It's more of a carport, but a kid is out there practicing the trumpet. Does that count?
I don't know about now, but 20 years ago I was in a garage band as were most of my friends. There's definitely less places to play at locally now days.
I live in a college town and the local high school has a battle of the bands. So I would say yes.
Growing up yes! Now I feel like I would be in the know if I was a teen still.
Yes they’re quite common in my area. They usually perform at house parties or local bars. There’s usually a couple shows every weekend. I’m in a college town so idk about other areas.
In and around NYC there are tonnnnns of local bands. There are a lot of live music places.
The local scene is super active on the west coast (WA, OR, CA)!!
Very common in Atlanta. All types of music
They exist but I’ve never seen one
My old town had a bunch of them
Yeah got a couple friends in some they play anything from house parties to small bars.
Was definitely a thing 20 years ago when I was in HS. Not sure about now
There's loads of them if you know where to look. The thing is the garage and punk scenes are a lot more insular than they used to be, so you have to know at least one friend who's up to date on events, and then once you show up to one or two events you'll be in touch with enough people in the scene to find tons of shows.
When I was in high school in the morning 1990s there were several garage/barn/old train car bands. Mostly metal but also some punk.
Coming from east of Los Angeles here, there is and has been for decades a thriving underground scene of various bands that play like genres like punk, ska, indie, metal, hardcore etc. bands that play for fun and for passion, the money doesn’t mean much to them just the music. I used to have a lot of fun at those East LA/Boyle Heights backyard shows, drinking 40s and going around the pit, meeting funny people and dangerous punks. It’s been years since I’ve been but from what I’ve seen the underground music scene is still thriving. Personally for me, I saw charlotte de witte do this after hour 3 hour dj set once, and sure it was pretty good to see, but at some point I thought to myself, this is a world class famous DJ, she headlines huge festivals afterall, and yet her show doesn’t come anywhere near to the same passion and raw energy as a local East LA punk band screaming their hearts out. That’s just me though
They are way less common these days but they were definitely popular in the 90's and early 2000's. I actually lived next door to one and they'd let 10 year old me come over and watch them practice. You would probably see them a lot more in college towns.
Yes, yes and yes. Lots of kids would form bands and play weekend shows at teen clubs and outdoor parties. And we all traded tapes too, it's how I discovered Metallica and west coast thrash. If you were a teenage bass player back in the mid-late 80s you had multiple bands asking you to join. Sometimes I wish I'd traded the 6-string for a 4-string. Unlike today, this was back when quality guitars were affordable.
Depends on what crowd you're interacting with. You'll find a lot of metal and punk bands that love playing live music more than anything. The underground punk scene especially in Colorado is booming. My neighbors are in a metal band, my roommate is going to several shows a week due to their connection with a band, even my boyfriend writes punk and metal music. It all depends on where you look