Chelsea in Orbit won a few local awards last year for their self-titled CD. In an interview with the Philadelphia Musician Resource Kitchen, Greg from Chelsea in Orbit has the following to say about his home town and its music scene:
“The scene lacks enough quality musicians. Parts of South Jersey may as well be Kentucky. They don’t want to hear anything new. I’m not trashing Philly just for the sake of it. I love Philly, grew up in the area and have played often here and will continue to do so.”
He also compares New York to Philadelphia, which isn’t really fair. As of the 1990 census New York has about 4.5 times the population of Philadelphia (7.3 million vs 1.6 million). Obviously there are a lot more good bands in NY trying to get something going. If you’re a good band in Philadelphia you have the advantage of less competition.
Comments
5 responses to “Greg of Chelsea in Orbit: Philly Sucks”
And the Philly scene isn’t much better, you know….
If you’re going to make it, you’ve got be cheesy
Like one of the ’80s clones…
The song being quoted is “The South Jersey Music Scene Blows” by the Rubbs which is sadly no longer available online thanks to MP3.com’s new 3 song policy.
Hey Ben,
In my interview I was asked “what does the philly scene lack?” and I said enough quality musicians, fans and bands. Of course this relates to population. More people means more musicians bands and fans to pick from.
You also said that it was unfair of me to compare Philly to NY. If you read the interview I was specifically ASKED to COMPARE Philly to another music town, so I did. In that comparison, did you want me to say that philly is better than NY?
Also, your headline is “Greg of Chelsea in Orbit: Philly Sucks” Where exactly did I say Philly sucks? I went out of my way to make the point that I grew up here, love playing philly and will continue to do so, but Philly is what it is. If that is because it is less populous, then so be it.
And about your statement “If you’re a good band in Philadelphia you have less competition” That’s a good thing? If you feel you need less talent around so that you look better then I guess the Philly scene really is in trouble. Just a thought.
Thanks,
Gregg
chelsea in orbit
Gregg,
Thanks for taking the time to comment and email me about this.
The “philly sucks” headline is a little overdramatic, I agree. It should probably be, “Philly Sucks Compared to NYC.”
Less competition is definitely not good for music fans, but it is better for bands. If one band starts out in Philly and another in NY, I’d imagine the Philly band would draw attention sooner if they had roughly the same talent and appeal. But what do I know anyway?
Nice Rubbs quote.
/s/ a former Rubb