This band is lousy.

Wow, what a productive comment, argylesocks! Please, honor us with more of your insight and wisdom.

Well, when I'm right, I'm right. No need to elaborate.

Re: argylesocks

Even the legion of hipsters writing for the rag that is Rolling Stone offer some semblance of reasoning in their reviews.

Nevertheless, I wish I had your courage in advertising my alternative lifestyle via adherence to subpop fashion trends. Argyle n Chuck Taylors r sooo hella punk r@wk, lol (^_^)

Yours in sarcasm,

K.C.

__Two__ of their songs that have come from a dream or meditation were (1)"Blue Eyes," (2)"Ocean Tides" and (3)"Above Dukha within Kensho."

Post writers can't even count to three? Wow. Just... wow. Doesn't anyone proof anymore?

And argylesocks, if the band is lousy please tell us why. I'm inclined to agree when the lead singer's inspiration comes from a spirituality he picked up sitting on the throne, but I haven't heard them. I must say, however, that the publicity photo taken in the stacks of Alden and "a sound that goes from John Mellencamp to AFI to Nickelback" is all I need in order to make an educated decision to never, ever allow their music to come into contact with my eardrums.

Still, I wish them luck and lots of it. They'll need it.

lulz, Kevin Casey. You couldn't be more wrong about me. I am far from punk. The user name is a nostalgic nod to my ridiculous former self. Trust me.

I say this band is lousy because well, the Nickelback, AFI and John Mellencamp influences (what a random yet terrible bunch) are apparent when listening to Turning Pages. Members of Nickelback should be shot and hanged for the disgrace the band has brought to the modern rock genre. Any band influenced by Nicklback deserves the same simply out of taste factor. I think that is enough to cover it, no? If not, I will elaborate more upon request.

Plus, the vocals are cheesy as hell and over-the-top.

Oh, and today's hipsters wouldn't touch Jann Wenner or his outdated magazine with a ten-foot pole. They all write for Pitchfork Media or some other pretentious publication, gee gosh don'tcha know.

Seems like The Post will make any band "band of the week" simply because they've run out of good bands to cover. Have some taste. I'd rather read no "band of the week" article than read one that profiles bands of little substance.

And who the hell are you? Some failed wanna be musician who gets upset because no one is writing about you? If you have such a hard time reading the "band of the week" about a band that you don't like and wasted so much time, why did you take the time to respond with a dickhead comment? I'm sure you're just some big tool and everyone can see through you and that's why you're getting shit all over by everyone else. To you curiosity, for someone to say we sound like Nickelback, AFI or John Mellencamp is just their opinion. We have no influence from these bands and I personally don't think we sound anything like them. Also, Blue Eyes, Ocean Tides is one song. Above Dukha within Kensho is a song that the lead singer wrote. It is not a Turning Pages song. There is no music and there will most likely never be. So why don't you have some respect for people who are trying to be creative and actually taking a step rather than sitting in front of your computer putting down others. Mike wasn't "on the throne" when he saw the book. He just happened to walk into the bathroom and see the book. Either way, if you've heard us and don't like us then that's okay. But don't put us down if you won't even take the time to listen to our music. Get a freakin' life and grow the hell up. As far as the Post comments, they are just getting dogged on because it's cool to hate the media these days. Keep hating on media and then when one day they're not around to spoon feed you that someone is trying to take advantage of you, you can eat the consequences. I'm just glad that your only audience will be the few people that take the time to scroll to the bottom of an article about my band to read the comments from a proven idiot.

Is Turning Pages a little bitter? If you're going to be a band, then there are going to be people who don't like your music - and say so. You should learn to deal with it and stop making assumptions that those who criticize your work are inherently immature, hate the media or are a failed musician.

Also, think about paragraph breaks once and a while.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've read on The Post's site in quite some time. It all just makes me laugh, really.

Well, turningpagesband, it sounds like most of your corrections need to be aimed at The Post, not those of us who point these things out.

Paranoid_android is right: you need to learn to deal with criticism (well founded or otherwise).

You might also want to learn how band reviews work. Often times people will read about a band (like this), read who the band is compared to (Nickelback, AFI, Mellencamp -- again, doesn't matter to us if this is accurate, but it sure should matter to you) and thus make a decision to pursue hearing and/or seeing that band. Next time, go over the material the writer has before you let them leave and write the review. Ask them questions. Clarify things. Make sure their material is accurate.

Oh, and insulting the people who read your review isn't really good practice, either. Instead of cursing at and belittling those who take the time to read an article written about your band (which you should be thankful of in the first place), you could say, "We play at the Blue Gator this weekend (insert name of person criticizing your band based on the article), you should come and then make up your mind! You might actually like us! I personally think we sound like (...)."

You'll get a much better reaction. Now people are going to see your "dickhead" response to the readers of The Post and judge your band based on that. By being a band you're pseudo-public figures. Keep that in mind.

See but here's the thing. I don't want to decide what the reporter is going to write. Any good reporter wouldn't just print what I tell them to anyway. I know how the newspaper industry works. I graduated from Scripps and I write for a newspaper company in Columbus. You guys are relying on the fact that I care what you think or if you come to my show. The truth is, we have fans and we want to make THEM happy, not suck up to disgruntled internet fighters. We don't care to make people who critique things before they listen to them, happy. If you're going to allow your judgment to be biased based on something you read, you should really evaluate who you let have an effect on your decision making. Try checking other sources. I have page upon page of comments from people who like us, would you dare read those? I have read and dealt with bad reviews and it doesn't bother me. I'm out there to play music and enjoy myself, not get rich or make people like you happy. I'm just glad she (Kelly) took the time to come out and hear us. If you don't like the music, don't listen to it. It is as simple as that. As far as the page break comment goes, it doesn't matter what I do because you're going to read this until the end anyway despite my enormous run on sentence because you care what I have to say in response to your little rambles. HA. But if you are that easily influenced by what you read you should really be careful. It's a good thing you stumbled upon a Post article and not hate speech (you might start advocating that!)

As a final word (I have a job and don't have time to sit around and have a cyber battle with any of you):
We work very, very hard to write music and play shows. If you want to take something away from that, go ahead. This was Kelly's interpretation of our music. If she wants to say we sound like Nickelback, fine. If you don't like it...Please..feel free to stay at home and read forums instead of coming to see our show. We don't make a living off of this and your absence will leave room in the bar for people that are there to support us, not tear us down.

I don't have a problem dealing with criticism because It simply doesn't bother me. I would suggest that if you're going to do what you call "constructive criticism," do it constructively. Don't just say, "they're lousy." If you think any of you can have a comment that will affect the way I live my life, you're wrong. I'm going to continue to tell you to keep your dickhead comments to yourself. Keep your $3 and don't come to my show. Boo hoo. BTW, I didn't say that they were "immature, hate the media or a failed musician" because they didn't like my music. Had you read carefully you would have noticed that. Those comments stemmed from the lack of respect in the criticism and the unnecessary and rude comments about the Post (a fine paper). Good day to you and I'm glad that you took the time to give me even more publicity by checking this site daily!!

By the way. This is the opinion of one person in the band, not all of the members. This is Nick. I apologize if this doesn't express the opinions of the rest of the band, hold it against me, not them. I really don't want to fight with anyone. Just please....please show some respect and think about the feelings of those that poured their heart into the work you're about tear down. Feel free to give an honest opinion of the music, just listen to it first or admit that you didn't when you give the opinion.

Hello this is Michael La Torre the lead singer of Turning Pages, first off I would like to take the time to thank everyone that bothered to look at the article despite the errors that may have occurred in the actual article itself or in the responses posted here. I would just like to say that I think it is weird that this got so far out of hand but things like this happen, and trust me as far as the "dealing with criticism" better, we've dealt with it pretty well before, though I think the posts by you guys and by my other band member may have gotten out of hand but I do agree with some things everyone said. For example I agree it is pretty difficult to send out the jury on a band just by looking at their picture and reading 3 paragraphs etc, but that is neither here nor there

To clear a couple of things up though, the whole Nickleback sound comparison actually stemmed from a sarcastic comment I made during the interview that the reporter didn't catch considering there were five people talking to her at once. I made the comment b/c I don't like Nickleback and a couple of the other band members do not, (not trying to start a debate about Nickleback)

As far as the Buddhist beliefs go, I actually happened to see the book in their bathroom I was not actually using the bathroom...I had been contemplating the change to Buddhism before that moment so it is a little offensive to simply attribute my religious beliefs to an experience I had defecating, but it's fine I am used to being judged about it.

I'm all about getting new fans, and frankly if you listen to my music and you don't like it that's fine I don't care b/c everyone is obviously entitled to their opinion, but don't call me lousy before you hear us. Again I'm not trying to fuel the fire here. I would like to say though they did get our myspace url wrong on the actual so anyone in the audience here interested IN getting our music near your eardrums can do so at www.myspace.com/turningpages99, or even come to see one of our shows, you can also catch us on the "Jukebox" show sometime next week on WOUB.

I would like to say to everyone involved in the situation I am sorry if things got out of hand but there is something I would LOVE to rectify our influences ACTUALLY include: Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, The Used, Pearl Jam, and many other artists.

Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up, I'm sorry things got out of hand but if you would like to check us out go to the website I mentioned before.

Michael La Torre

Well done, Michael. (The toilet jab was as a joke, but it didn't come across very well, apparently.)

Incidentally, things didn't get out of hand. These comment pages are rarely used for meaningful, intellectual discussion. They're mostly just for people to throw a bit of flame and criticize others (mostly The Post writers, and you can see why--my comment about clarifying things with the reporter still stands when it's this paper).

With the new list of influences and a corrected MySpace page, combined with your attitude, Michael, you might have made a new fan. You might want to think about being the official PR person for the band. If some other members (I won't name names) can get so hot under the collar over some anonymous, meaningless and ultimately pointless criticism on this little website, it's probably best if you handle it.

Like I said the first time, I wish you all luck.

Hey Curiosity, sorry it has become a little hard to discern between a joke and a rip on my Buddhist beliefs lately since they have come from all angles, but that is not a big deal :) b/c I'm happy w/ how I am obviously, I'm def not easy to offend. Yeah I saw things had got a little heated and I thought I'd try to set the record straight. I hope you enjoyed the music if you got the chance to listen to it. If not I certainly hope you do at some point! :) But don't let the argument fool anyone we're open to praise and criticism as long as they are both justified b/c to be honest I'd rather be criticized honestly than to be praised unjustly. That's just how I stand stand on that matter but I definitely hope that more people come and check out our music b/c we'd love to have EVERYONE as fans!!!

Michael La Torre

RE: "BTW, I didn't say that they were "immature, hate the media or a failed musician" because they didn't like my music. Had you read carefully you would have noticed that. Those comments stemmed from the lack of respect in the criticism and the unnecessary and rude comments about the Post (a fine paper)." - Nick

You did begin your original comment with the words, "And who the hell are you? Some failed wanna be musician who gets upset because no one is writing about you?" If this isn't some sort of assumption that the only person who would criticize this band of the week article would be a musician who is getting no press, then I do not know what is.

The phrase you used that assumed immaturity was, "Get a freakin' life and grow the hell up."

"As far as the Post comments, they are just getting dogged on because it's cool to hate the media these days." The negative comments seem to pick on your band more than The Post. Yes, some criticism is aimed at The Post, but you shouldn't assume that someone who dislike The Post's music coverage hates the media.

So yeah, I did take the time to carefully read what you had said.

Michael, like Curiosity said, you should be the band's PR person. You're level-headed, unlike some of your other band mates.