I'm ugly enough to rock!

I was reading Arwen's blog and had an amazing insight. Let me back up just a bit:

See, I play guitar. I'm self-taught and I've been playing for quite a few years, off and on. I also play a little bass - also self-taught. I dream of being part of a big time band and playing in front of large crowds of people. And given the movement of the Indie Rock genre, I may have a chance. You see, I think I'm ugly enough to be in an indie band.

Let's start by exploring some of the current chart toppers in the indie genre. After that, we'll forage through my iPhoto and look for some pics of me. Let's see if I really am ugly enough to be in a hit indie band:




Here's the band that kicked off this whole idea: Death Cab For Cutie (or DCFC to some of it's more hard-core fans). I recently got all the albums they have released - including one that's garage recording from before they were even called DCFC - and they are all awesome. Their music is haunting, their lyrics are meaningful, and they are not very cute. And their haircuts in this picture don't help at all.












Now we have the Kaiser Chiefs. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only just discovered them. They (like Modest Mouse) were around for years before recording their first album. They are one of the bands that got me all excited about British Indie, and they are some pretty ugly dudes.












Ahh, the Decemberists. When you think about pasty white, doughy Portlanders with bad hair and unfortunate expressions, you think of the Decemberists. Fantastic live show, by the way. But not cute people.















While technically not a true indie band, the Plain White T's are on the fringe of indie attitude. And they are unfortunate looking guys. No wonder Delilah moved to New York City....













Here's Spoon. An amazing band who bring us totally new material on every album, while keeping the core of what the band is. And not only are they not very cute, they are on the older side of people in indie bands. And this picture make Britt Daniel's head look oversized and lopsided.



















The Shins. I think this picture says it all. Are you sure that gold teeth are the curse of this town? It's not something else?













The Arctic Monkeys. They are kinda like the Plain White T's in the fact that they aren't on an indie label, but I still consider them an indie-style band. While they aren't the most ugly blokes in the world, they aren't going to win any beauty contests either.
















Now we come to Arcade Fire. OMG, these are some seriously unfortunate looking folks! If you look for the video of them performing on Saturday Night Live, you will see what I mean: Win Butler (lead singer) has the most awful haircut ever. The cool thing is they are really talented musicians - they all play at least two instruments and trade off during live shows (or so I was told by the person who first showed me their music). It's just too bad that Win's voice is very similar to Isaac from Modest Mouse, so I can't listen to the band at all.



















Here we have Modest Mouse: the very definition of an indie band. They are all pretty not-cute, but look at Isaac Brock, the lead singer and guitarist. Gross! And this is actually a somewhat flattering picture of him!













I know that Radiohead isn't an indie band, but they are pretty ugly.

So there's examples of the bands: now we'll explore some pictures of me I found on iPhoto. Keep in mind I didn't have to look through the thousands of pics we have in iPhoto - I made this collection in about 5 minutes or less.




In this picture, replace my glasses with horn-rimmed ones, and replace my Adidas sweatshirt with a vintage western shirt with snaps, and you have an ugly indie band member, right?



















This was at the beach on our Anniversary this year. I think this hair style lends itself well to an indie band (see Colin from The Decemberists).



















I was playing pool, and Jason snapped a pic without telling me he was going to. I look either (a) stoned, (b) drunk, or (c) like I'm going to kill someone with that cue. Eeww.



















Even though this expression was on purpose, it's not very cute. Sure, it was on purpose this time, but I'm sure I make expressions like that without trying.



















I think we were drunk. I'm pretty sure we were drunk.













In the pictures of both Gina and I (where we aren't drunk), I seem to not be quite as ugly as normal. It's sort of a "cute by association" kinda thing. So if I ever am in a super-popular indie band, Gina might have to be there in secret so as not to make me too attractive.

















We are being Pirates. Those are our Pirate faces. Again, I think we were a little drunk.



















This is my old band In Like Flynn at our first show. The three guys who aren't me are the original members of Freddy: later I took over playing bass for the guy with the bow tie.












So there you have it. I think I'm ugly enough to be in an indie band, don't you? I need to get some different glasses and some uglier clothes, but I'm on the way! Get ready to see my ugly mug staring at you from a CD cover!