I don't know about where everyone else lives, but here in Lawrence, I feel like the local music scene has died down quite a bit. I've noticed it ever since I moved here 7 years ago. Don't get me wrong, we have some great bands here in town, but in general I feel like there's not really much going on.

In previous generations, there were scenes in which people followed. In Lawrence, the particular big ones I remember have been punk, ska, hardcore, and emo. The only sort of scene that I see that exists currently seems to be hipster. The problem though is that hipster is not a type of music. With previous scenes, there were specific ways to act, dress, and play music. For better of for worse, it seemed to create a more tight knit community. With hipsters, you can pretty much dress however you want and listen to whatever you want. The only rule I see for being a hipster is that whatever you do, wear, or listen to, it has to be cool, or ironic in some way. This usually means that unless a band is particularly hot, who knows who may end up showing up to any given show. I'm generalizing, because in the past couple of years I slowed down on going to shows quite a bit.

As far as the good local bands that we have in town, they are all over the place genre-wise. And as for the shitty local bands, we have a growing number of white-boy funk jam bands that play regularly in specific bars around town that cater to the bros and hos.

Am I wrong? Does local music need a more specific scene than hipster to flourish?

Like-minded bands are networking online now, so they don't need to meet face-to-face anymore. That seems to be killing off any need for a "local scene". Sadly, that also seems to be killing off the small pleasures of discovering each city's local "sound". Although, you would think that they would at least be playing shows together at the local clubs, right?

But, it's the new reality. And, there are still good bands out there -- especially in college towns, I would assume. So, keep seeking them out in hipsters' basements and whatnot.

Are you talking about famous scenes? Or just cliques of musicians who all know each other and play shows together? Because Philadelphia is loaded with the latter.

I'm so out of touch I can't even hazard a guess.

Omaha has definitely hit a rut, and hasn't really produced any bands that can replace the aging Saddle Creek Bands. Also Saddle Creek has been a really shitty label lately, it's quite obvious the Rob Nansel has successfully pissed off most of the old scene with his management decision.
Lincoln, my true place of residence, has been pretty cool the past couple years. The local clubs have slowly revived themselves and we have new venues. None of the bands from here are ever going to make it nationally, with a small exception for UUVVWWZ, but things are a lot better here than they were around 2005-2006.

When I talk about "local" music, it's generally within a 70 - 100 mile radius, so when I say mine is still pretty strong and producing some great music, I'm really talking about the Northampton, Ma. area. Then again, I don't actually live there, so while I'm finding the bands, I'm not sure how regularly they're playing little clubs there, or if they're teaming with other local musicians.

You're not wrong, just getting old.

I'm sure there are several reasons you're feeling this way.

1) 7 years? The scene you have in your head is no more because people move on or do other things.
2) Sounds like you were active in that "scene" at the time so it probably felt pretty tight knit. Was it? Or did you just spend all of your time within that scene?
3) Nothing last forever

I mean, aren't all "scenes" revisionist history anyway? I went to UGA and everyone knows about the Athens scene of the early 80's but I assure you it wasn't all REM, B-52's, Pylon, etc. For every one of those bands there were 10 other bands playing Southern Rock or wanting to be the next Foreigner. Hell, during that time Widespread Panic were getting their start. By the time I got to Athens all of those bands were huge and long done being a "local" band but Athens had already morphed into something else. At that point the Elephant 6 stuff was going on but they were only a handful of bands in a town where there were around 300 bands, half of which gigged pretty regularly and were all over the map stylistically.

I consider Atlanta to have a great music scene but it's not defined by any one sound or philosophy which I think is great. If a band is good, they'll get noticed regardless of support from some "scene" IMO.

Point being, consider yourself lucky that you live in a town that has an infrastructure to support local bands in the first place. Different types of music to go see is a positive.

Atlanta has one of the best scenes in the country right now, never thought I'd ever say that.

im very pleased with my local music scene also.

Portland's scene is pretty thriving, although I'm a tad out of touch for the reasons Derris mentioned earlier. I always felt like Atlanta had a good scene in the late 80s/early 90s, and I'd wager it still exists today. You just gotta know where to go.

i like the scene where i live now. there could be more shows, but there are plenty of bands. it seems that most are totally content to play a show every few months and just practice a lot, maybe put out a record here and there. i'd love for there to be more shows by the upper tier of local bands, though. that doesn't compare at all to the scene in the town where i grew up. there were shows almost every weekend because they were necessary for word of mouth and just the socialization not just between bands but between bands and their fans.

lots of bands in Portland, however, the vast majority are fucking awful. i guess any city could be evaluated the same way, but it seems a lot of the bands here are comprised of 19 year olds who really don't know what they are doing yet. there are some exceptions, and some of the big indie bands operate our of here or have moved here now.

That's how scenes begin. Experimentation and emulation without fear of technical/business limitations.

The trouble, as I see it, is most of these regional scenes aren't given the time to develop before the bands are tossed into the dim limelight of internet buzz, then summarily tossed aside for something newer the following week.

This sounds pretty good to me.

great post

Spot on. See; Black Kids, Japandroids, Girls, Surfer Blood, etc.

City Center used to be the center of our scene, now City Center's over -- no one ever goes there.