...best comment(s) your band can get? We feel like we're achieving what we want to do when someone says that we sound "big" for a 3 (2) piece band and also when folks don't realize we're playing in an odd-time. I like to give drummers specific positive feedback at shows, too. I try to listen for tasty bits and if I hear one, I'll always try to compliment them on their right hand, left foot triplet combo, or whatever.

Good topic!

I think the best compliments are the ones when they tell us we play a diffrent sound of music that whats typically being played...With my band Ishen Tree we been deemed a Reggae band but in reality thats just a piece of the puzzle...So I love it when we play a reggae tune then follow that up with a punk song, then do a Top 40 pop ballad and then do a dense metal song....I guess being the oddball band that really doesn't fit any style makes us different so when we play with metal or punk bands and the peeps who come and see the other bands give us compliments that they didn't expect the stuff we were playing and tell us it was cool and don't get a Doc Matren booth thrown at us....

I'm not a very fast nor technical drummer so when I do something fast or technical its nice to get a compliment from my fellow musicians...

But I tend to offer compliments to bands that may of had a bad set since I've had many a nights where I sucked ass and nothing is worse to come off a stage in front of people after a bad set and all u hear are crickets....I always try to find something positive to say...

But as a drummer, I'm always checking out how the other drummer plays, to see how comfortable and poised they play, how they interact with the other band members and how they can draw in a crowd from behind a kit ...I was never really interested in their chops or how cool thier Gallop was around the kit, its more for me atleast, if their smiling and having a great time on stage with their bandmates!

John

The best compliment we get, and we seem to get it fairly frequently, is along the lines of, "I really liked your music. It's not at all what I listen to normally but you guys were cool." We've had several metal/shred dudes buy our cd and tell us they really enjoy our stuff. If our music can appeal to the non indie-pop/rock crowd, then I consider it a success.

The best complement, in my opinion, we've ever gotten was after Flyleaf. This very innocent looking girl probably about 18-20ish comes up gets a cd looking bewildered. She starts to walk away after getting it signed then stops and turns around and says "That was the most random, disorganized, and oddly chaotic live show I've ever seen...it was awesome." I think she probably hadn't seen very many bands live. Later on myspace I told her to go check out Melt Banana.

I don't really react much when people complement me on technical/musical ability. It's not really what I care about I suppose. Well, I constantly make an effort to improve my technical skill but I don't care to be complemented or to recieve comment about it. I mean I appreciate it and thank the commenter and all but in a week I'm not going to remember what they said.

A comment I remember is John the bass player from Ki at the time coming up to me and saying that he really felt like he could feel what I feel during our song Suffer. That was five years ago or so. That was a, stop what I'm doing, put my hand on his sholder, look him in the eye and say, thank you, type comment to me.

"You guys were tight!"

quote:

Originally posted by n8:
"You guys were tight!"

Or "good set".

I don't know about comments- I suppose any one I believe, good or bad. Maybe "I have your song stuck in my head."

But compliments: catching someone humming something of yours or listening to it when they don't know you are there. That's the way people really listen to and relate to music, not usually by talking to the musician, so it's very gratifying to know someone is approaching you as they would anything else, and not as they would a "local band" or as something that just happens to be in front of them while they are drunk.

or: having someone cover your song.

Here are a couple comments on an old band of mine, and one of the reasons I play music.

From a band in Indianapolis

my god. i don't know how many times my singer and i would sit around and listen to bully complex and just scream every word of it. it was such an inspiring record to us at the time. one of our main influences in illithed, for sure. at least for me. thanks for everything-alex

Guy in New Jersey

I remember first seeing you guys at a show Pat put on at the VFW in Bordentown. There was something so different about the sound, so unique it just grabbed me. I was just listening to the Bleed/Portraits of Past split 7" and wow, it still kicks ass. Good times and I'll try and scan some of the photos I have from those days. I was a crap photographer though, don't expect too much!

blowjobs

ROOFUS

How bout when you're done playing a gig and your girlfriend won't stop ranting about how great the other band you played with sounded.

I guess that is the greatest compliment I can think of... of course, if a tree falls in a pile of shit and no one is around to hear it, will it still smell like shit?

ROOFUS beat me, but I'd add free drugs and drinks to that.

i always enjoy being compared to bands i love, a few times cherry tempo would get the "you guys remind me of sunny day real estate" or "it brought me back to the days of mineral." while i don't really think those are super accurate comparisons, they were always flattering.

we got the 'sunny day real estate' and 'tool' comparisons the most