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Are you as tired as I am of hearing that rock is dead? That seems to have become the general consensus within the music industry over the past several years. The problem is, the only people who really believe that are the industry insiders who's agenda it is to drive consumption of the latest bedroom pop and mixtape hip-hop being churned out faster than Tech-9 can spit a rhyme. The people who love rock and alternative music are still out there in just as large of numbers as they (we) always have been. We're just having to dig a bit harder to find outlets willing to feed it to us. We can't count on modern rock radio to play anything decent post 2006 and I can't imagine where we'd be if not for Spotify's discovery playlists. 

Thankfully, it looks like a new broadcast platform may be gaining a bit of traction. Enter Sounds of the Underground, the first and only alternative music show focused on exposing up-and-coming artists while showcasing them alongside major artists and international talent. Developed by Johnny Zirkel, and airing on CBS, Sounds of the Underground is seeking to bring music to a starving audience once more.

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The weekly alternative music TV show generally features multiple artists on each episode, but this week they chose to put a special highlight on the Seattle quintet Dead Lakes. On New Language, the band’s first EP with SharpTone, Dead Lakes stake a claim of ownership across multiple genres, from irresistible pop and RandB to energized screamo. It’s a bold sound with huge appeal any fan of The Neighbourhood, PVRIS, or Bring Me The Horizon. 

The episode is available now on YouTube and will air on CBS in select markets on 11/10.

Tired of typical music industry politics keeping bands from growing, Zirkel decided to develop the show as a way to give artists of all levels the opportunity to reach new fans based solely on talent and drive, and nothing else. With the decline of festivals focused around the genre, Zirkel hopes that Sounds will fill that gap to help artists and fans connect and build relationships with each other once again. The ‘underground’ scene is not dead, and they are here to make sure it stays alive.

“Not one artist on Sounds Of The Underground had to do anything other than be talented and driven to be on the show,” Zirkel told Alternative Press. “They didn’t have to pay anything or sell tickets or win a contest or have a crazy number of followers or have a label. They just had to be talented and driven.”

SCHEDULE:
Episode 1: 10/16
Episode 2: 10/23
Episode 3: 11/10
Episode 4: 11/17

At the moment the episodes will be available on YouTube and  on CBS in Denver, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Detroit, and Miami. We can only hope that, with something this cool, it will take off and go nationwide. It's really cool to see something like this getting national exposure for developing Rock, Alternative and Hardcore bands, genres that seem to have been really taking a backseat lately to pop and hip-hop. 

Sounds of the Underground would not be possible without support from sE Electronics, Ludwig Drums, Mad Professor Pedals, Victory Amps, Positive Grid, Mackie, Chase Bliss Audio, TRX Cymbals, ToneTuga FX, and Roland.