Erik Ziedses des Plantes (Gazer, bass/vocals)
SPB: How do you find new music?
Erik: My current music discovery system has two tiers that I think does a good job of covering stuff happening more "above ground" and things happening on a more DIY level.
Tier 1: I have a regular rotation of websites that I've visited daily for years at this point, and that covers most of the stuff that comes out on the larger indie/punk labels and whatnot. I try and read as many music-related books as I can, about everything from hip-hop and electronic music, to vocoders, jazz, and a healthy batch of punk/hardcore related materials. Finally, I've tried to buy at least one music magazine per month this year.
Tier 2: As much as I hate about 95% of what people use it for and the self-obsessed, assigning-relevance-to-the-utterly-mundane culture it encourages, social media is pretty integral to how I discover music these days, due to the fact that I have a job that is fairly restrictive in how often it allows me time to go out to shows. I've often found out about new stuff by simply seeing what my friends are seeing and finding worthy to post about, or shows that they're booking around Ohio. I also consider myself very lucky to have made friends with several open-minded obsessives, record store owners, and downright curious types in the world of punk and hardcore, who are constantly exposing me to bands and music (both old and new) that I usually would have no idea to look for.
