***WOLF EYES EAR EXPLODE Image By David Owen Beyers***
It’s not easy to admit but I’ve ignored the warnings for too long. As of last month I’ve finally come around to the need.. for earplugs. We hosted a show at Studio 550, that was, in true Hassle fashion, a complete melee of fringe music from the extreme ends of the timbral spectrum. We had minimal loop-pop, dark solo soul, heavenly freak-folk and…the super heavy and challenging rock band GOLD DIME. I personally enjoyed every moment but I realized that it’s not enough just to have ear plugs available for sale.. at the table..if anyone asks. We need to offer when appropriate and provide when necessary. Even with a warning, attendees could not possibly know what they were getting themselves into..
This was a truly important moment of clarity for me both as a show booker and as a music fan. As a music fan I simply decided that it’s stupid not to protect my ears, but as an organizer, it’s my responsibility to protect everyone at the show to the best of my ability from harmful forces—including, but not limited to, extreme volume! So I wanted to take this opportunity to remind my fellow Compass readers the importance of wearing ear plugs (those fitted ones rule) and to officially announce that BRAIN Arts will now give out FREE EAR PLUGS at all of our shows moving forward. Sure, wearing them is still optional (get with the program you purists) but let’s not let $1 be a deterrent to your own auditory well-being. www.brain-arts.org
-Sam P
I recently sat down with local musician Randy Owen of The Owens to talk about this important issue…
He has an anecdote for you…
“This shit’s really critical! No joke. Last summer, I’ll never forget the night where I asked everyone after band practice if they could hear. They were fine, but as days went by, I thought I had a bad hearing infection. There was constant ringing, no matter the environment—even having the car window open felt like too many decibels. No regular MD could tell me what had happened, so I found an audiologist and discovered I had damaged my hearing so drastically that I was stuck inside the sound of my own body for over two months. EVERY day I would get up and say “fuck” lol because that was an easy “test” word. I called it, to see if everything was still distorted. It’s no joke, it’s affected my entire life where I now have to perform with ear defenders and really can’t enjoy the sound of un-muted music again. It happened to others I know, too, and I’m sure it’s happened to you and yours. A friend of mine was recording (already with an ear infection) and even the sound in the headphones reverberated so much that it blew her ear drum. Lucky for her it healed on its own but she was left living with a constant clicking sound to this day.
It is referred to as NIHL: Noise Induced Hearing Loss. The side effects are basically everything sounding like the megaphone-voiced teacher in Peanuts to very bad tinnitus, which actually never fully goes away. I should add that tinnitus is as much a mental battle as it is physically annoying. You know…when we are born we don’t yet know how to tune out hearing our own heart and pulse, but we get used to it quickly. Research has said that one can actually increase the annoyance by paying it more attention than needed. Which can be hard! Depression I will say, is pretty much the first inevitable battle. Fortunately, I went to an audiologist within 14 days of the happening that it was enough time to try steroids in hopes of rebuilding the hair cells in my ears.
So wear your ear defenders or earplugs and take care of one of your most precious senses, you can’t just go buy a new set at Shit-ar Center.. All in all, if you’re anything of a music lover and you get to the gigs, then your best friend should be a pair of musician’s ear plugs. You can choose from three different decibel filters: E9’s which are great for singers E15’s which are good for guitarists and E25s good for audio engineers and drummers. These will pay you back: the music is still there, it feels like you’re wearing nothing and guess what?! No more damage will be done!”
-Randy Owen
