Yeah. Native and pretty much all the Grand Rapids bands are pretty popular. They seem to be quite popular with kids who are into the DIY hardcore scene, but I really don't think any of them are DIY whatsoever. Its pretty obvious when you look at it. When I went to the Comadre show in GR, they played with La Dispute and Native and it was so full I couldn't even get in the door, there was at least a few hundred kids there, the place was absolutely packed. In fact, I was at Dudefest 07, and the crowd at the Comadre show here reminded me of Dudefest. Not to mention, almost all the kids there were maybe 15-16 and dressed like douchebags to the max. So yeah, there is absolutely no DIY element to any of those bands, outside of Comadre.

haha yeah , i remember when i first saw how native was just, i was thinking "seriously?" they wore like sweatbands and typical "harcdcore" fashion fare.

They have a booking agent, but they still book all their own tours and shows and everything themselves. Benighted ****.

Yet another great, intelligent post from bardonodude.

That's the la dispute fans. they're all little scene kids that suck ****, but both native and la dispute are great musicians and people. La Dispute especially has worked extremely hard to get where they are, and it's totally admirable. Native as well. If you can't see how that's emblematic of the DIY scene working and actually DOING something, then get bent.

I apologize for posting three times on the same thread, but a lot of these opinions are totally ****ed and no one knows what they're talking about.

please stop trying to defend crappy generic bands

bros la dispute is so much better than american bands like a skylite drive or whatever theyre more like deeatro

Actually, pretty much everyone here knows what they're talking about. You don't need to defend Native or La Dispute to me. There's no need to get all bent out of shape because most of us here aren't really into those bands. No one here was making any cracks about them being awful at making music or that they were bad human beings. Bobby from Native is a super nice guy and pretty cool; I played a fest with them and they were super nice guys. I was (or maybe I still am) into the DIY scene here in MI and I know plenty enough about it. I've booked and promoted plenty of shows here in the Lansing area as well as letting bands stay at my apartment. Unfortunately, this city/state is dead on the vine, and pretty much everyone is leaving. Kudos to La Dispute for building up an army of 16 year olds who are apparently all into DIY music. Its far more than my ****ty band ever did or will do. Props to them.