“Anything that does not spring from tradition is plagiarized. Begin drawing and painting like the old masters; after that always do as you wish, you will always be respected.”
– Salvador Dali
Dear Year Long Disaster,
Can I trade a quote with you? For years I misinterpreted the Kate Bush lyrics “You had a temper like my jealousy/ Too hot, too greedy” as “You had a temper like my gelatine/ Too hot, too greasy.” I mention this because misinterpretation is a common problem. So when you quote Salvador Dali as your album’s mission statement, I have to assume it was all a big misunderstanding. After all, plagiarism isn’t only something that “does not spring from tradition.” Sometimes plagiarism is recreating an almost note-for-note, dive-bar reincarnation of The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and naming it “Leda Atomica”.
In fact, let’s take a closer look at “Leda Atomica.” Let’s listen together, right now.
There are two discernible influences at play within the first minute. The first will be familiar to anyone with even the most basic knowledge of hard-rock-by-numbers, as we’re greeted with a chugging power chord for the first 30 seconds of the song known to every intermediate rock song the world over. Then, like a musical melting pot, we're given our second musical reference of the night. Catapulting into even more 4/4-heavy banality, vocalist Daniel Davies attempts to attach himself to every single vocal inflection heard on “Gimme Shelter,” through verse and into chorus -- only to be met again with our old friend Droning-Chug Guitar for yet another 30 seconds, when he’s inexplicably given a solo before meeting up again with a lackluster Rolling Stones-copying approach to vocal melody.
It’s a fair point that tradition is a necessary didactic base. Every musician has some kind of musical roots that you can trace back to. But rock-revival isn’t only about the act recovering genres; it’s about modifying them as well so that you don’t inevitably begin emulating other formulaic, identity-less revival bands. Because if you begin sharing more similarities to a godforsaken High School “Battle of the Bands” by churning out reheated, derivative rock, then, Year Long Disaster, you have to ask yourself: Am I in a 1970s hard rock cover band?
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