Support your scene -- whether it's San Jose, Calgary, London, an unheard of town in Montana, or New York City, it's your music scene, and you thrive in it. When you log into purevolume, type in your favorite band's name, and see their page has over 4 million hits, do you ever wonder how they got there? Let's face it: the mainstream is the same soulless beast it's always been, and underground is a playground for unique or under funded. Even if you don't fit in the two, the scene isn't nice to any band.

Do you think U2 was always touring in a 15-passenger luxury cruiser, posh interior and 4-star dining before being whisked away to play in Madison Square Gardens? I doubt it. Even U2 must have had their fair share of touring in a beat up van. Touring is extremely hard (especially for rock bands), and you shouldn't start sneering until you've tried it. It rubs you down, makes you so tired, so tired. Even for huge bands like Fall Out Boy, touring isn't easy, and they have pretty much all the accommodations. Imagine what it would be for an unknown hardcore band.

Touring isn't the only hard part of the business. It's the media, too, if you are in a well-known band. "It's hard to have your life on camera all the time in a sense. Something people outside the music industry wouldn't understand," Davey Havok - AFI.

Some bands also have to deal with faulty and pressurizing labels, and snappy critics. Also, even making a record can break down the strongest person. Take Gerard Way for example. In My Chemical Romance's latest album, The Black Parade, Gerard states the band had to pull him off the brink of depression. "It was the hardest album to make, because it cut open a lot of old wounds, and touched what I was feeling at the time in a way that almost hurts," Gerard says. His brother, Mikey, almost left the band during a time in making the record.

Yet millions of bands and singers continue to go through all of this to do what they love, and reach out to their fans. Fans. You and me. "At some points in the Pumpkin's career, the fans were the only things that got us through. We made music for not only ourselves, but our fans, too. We felt such a connection with them," Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins says.

So, how do you support your punk/hardcore/ music in general scene? I have a few personal stories coming up to help explain that, but there are many things you can do personally to give your music scene a foothold.

There is a general knowledge that the community gets more back if you buy from local companies. It's not always true, but in most cases, it is. So, if you know of a local record store, go there! Unless the service is bad, or the price of CD's are outrageous, it always helps to give back to your hometown music base. You tend to develop more of a personal friendship with the employees, and there are usually less strict policies, so you win both ways. Besides, like I said, it gives more back to your town or city to buy from local businesses, not just music store in general.

If you're looking for any kind of concert, try some of your own local bands. You are supporting the band in a more direct way. It seems that only headliner bands really get the crowds; change that! Besides, if you really, really like a local band, it's easier to get in contact with them, you could even become friends. Can you imagine riding your bike over to Keith Richards house for a movie!? With district bands, it's different.

Then of course, there are the diehard fans of the scene, that do the most extreme kinds of assistance.

Look, most underground bands barely make enough money for gas, let alone a hotel, and sleeping in a van with 6 other people is not much fun. Anywhere but the Chevy is like the Waldorf-Astoria, so people all across the world take in some of these unknown bands into their houses or apartments for a few nights.

Take magazine writer Jack Rabid for example. He is an amazing writer with a fabulous career and my mentor. He hosted punk bands in Manhatten for a long time back in the 80's. Some of his residents were Even Worse, Bad Brains, Steve Jones (of the Sex Pistols) Jello Biafra, (of the Dead Kennedys) and many more. Taking bands into your home is always risky, and Jack Rabid states that some of them, like Steve Jones, were junkies and took some stuff from him. It's always a chance, but many people in their 20's who have their own place do it, and it can be a great way to support your local music scene.

So, do you have any ways to give groundwork for your scene? Do you have any other ways?

Being a musician is always rough, but it's worth it for the way fans support their scene and their favorite bands.

Do you?

Glitsygrl