On Friday I got really stoned. I was walking my dog and overestimated the amount of exploring he desired. He usually does his typical route then wants to go right back inside. As I realized he was pulling me into new territory, I was too high to stop him - which I typically would do - and so at some point I told myself, “I’m just gonna let this dude drive”. Maybe this situation is more fun in a city - especially philly which changes every five steps - but it was incredible and I can’t wait to do it again.

I’m not going to try and connect that to some larger metaphor for the music scene in philly. It’s just a fun story.

On Saturday, I went to the Dream by Dream show at Black Squirrel Club in Fishtown - a show that was not as much of a show as it was a sermon (there were actual pews) where the pulpit was lighting bolts of reminders that you are a human being in a real place experiencing a real thing you could not get anywhere else.

Being an independent artist is something that requires you to try and fail and try again, with no guarantee of achieving the outcome you’re hoping for. This idea that hard work has a compounding effect towards success is just false - maybe not that it doesn’t work, but just that it’s not as guaranteed as the algorithm of ‘experts’ want you to believe. What bands like Dream by Dream capture when they do what they did at the Black Squirrel - is a REAL MOMENT. Something that breaks the spell of the black mirror and makes you god damn grateful that people are still gracing us with experiences.

“...if you listen to one second of independent music and don’t give something back to that world...you’re not welcome here.”

It’s not a knock on consumers (well, it sort’ve is) but we are all beholden to the system of content that’s created for us to consume - to bundle and listen and eat and eat and eat like there’s no actual sweat put into every second and frame of what you’re consuming. To be clear, I’m not talking about pop music where money is put into a vending machine of top tier producers and writers and musicians - and a top 20 song is spit back out. Listen to that all you want with no regard - make the rich richer - do you, I sure do. But if you listen to one second of independent music and you don’t give something back to that world - even just telling a friend about the band - you’re not welcome here.

What upandovr was built on was that exact ideology. We felt an imbalance between what we were consuming to what we were putting back in. This idea that so much future music was lost every hour of every day because artists had to give up their journey. This kept us up at night. We want to fight back. We want to do our part. We want to help create sparks of exposure and energy through any means necessary to tip the scales. If you want to contribute to that balance, our lines are open.

- Nick

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