By Matt Elias
Yesterday, we brought you a clip from the new Web series "Rockville, CA." After watching the first four "Rockville" shows — er, "webisodes" — here's what we've learned about life in an indie-rock club:
» Any media type that's on the guest list will breeze through the front door, while paying fans have to wait in line. (This is pretty true, for the most part.)
» While a band is playing onstage, you can have a normal conversation without having to shout into someone's ear.
» All concertgoers speak in a witty, "Dawson's Creek"-type style, and their vocabularies know no limits.
» Drinking water at the bar is lame.
» Every club has a resident mute, who speaks only through her photography.
So maybe this show isn't really a gritty exposé on the indie-rock world; it's more what someone thinks it's like to live and breath the indie life. And maybe I'm out of the target demographic (although I listen to the bands featured on the show), but the characters seem over-exaggerated — like they're, well, TV characters.
While these episodes featured indie faves like the Duke Spirit and the Kooks, the music didn't have the same draw I was hoping for. What made the music so captivating in other shows from this creative team was that it lifted key scenes. Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" was as integral a part of the "Grey's Anatomy" season-one finale as the dialogue. But I guess we were much more invested in the "Grey's" characters at that point, and music brought the emotions to a whole other level. In "Rockville," the band onstage just serves as a backdrop to the action. Yes, the music plays underneath the scene, but it's not really driving an emotional moment.
We'll have to see what's next for "Rockville" and whether it really can become the next indie-rock launching pad.