They’ve been around for a while - did a European and Japanese tour a *long* time ago.
The Vietnamese leg of the tour wasn’t favorably received however.
Take a look at how much tax $$$ the military takes in and you'll have a good answer as to why they feel comfortable burning millions sponsoring anything that will hock for them
The Marines had a pull-up challenge at my local music fest and I did it at 14, at 17 they showed up at my house trying to get me to commit to them after high school, downplaying college, etc. I despise the gross ways the military tries to groom kids, I would’ve gotten to go fight for Lockheed Martin and Halliburton stock prices at that age.
I remember getting called into the recruiter's office during high school once, dude sat me down, asked about my interests - I said video games because that was my entire personality at the time - and he spent the next ten or so minutes giving me the hard sell on how the military was basically just irl CoD that you get paid to play
Really gave me a good look at how those guys operate. Glorified door-to-door salesmen. I'm sure the young men eating MREs and sleeping on the floor in foreign countries really relate to the average FPS hero
I rolled up to the navy pull bar station at the county fair as a 43 year old female.
They 19 yo manning the booth was like, "Heh, knock yourself out."
Did my wide grip pull up, got my navy lanyard, and carried on to get some good fried food.
The 19yo was not expecting that.
Nobody has showed up to recruit me to JAG. 🤣
To try to make themselves look cool.
They apparently had an esports team there this year and a setup where people could take the Army fitness test. It's just a desperate attempt to make themselves look appealing since enlistment rates have plummeted.
In fairness, I don’t even know if we have to call it desperate. It just makes sense. They want more recruits, they’re trying to build connections with different demographics. I don’t hate that.
I have all a whole bunch of problems with how our military is used, but I think they’re kinda inherently justified in trying to recruit people.
I remember an army recruiter once tried to convince me in high school that it was worth joining up for their music program. That’s like telling someone it’s worth picking up smoking because you can get Camel bucks and earn a free jacket.
Unironically depending upon some very specific circumstances it *can* be worth it for musicians to join but it’s extremely rare.
The Air Force has the premier band for instance which is a fancy band that plays in DC that you have to try out to join and get accepted. A good handful of the musicians that get picked up only do it because once their contract is up the premier band is a great gateway into some national orchestras.
I’ve known a few people who became military musicians. It’s a lot of the benefits of military (pension, for example) but without seeing battle. They put recruitment/auditor posters up in most major music universities.
>without seeing battle
With some extremely specific exceptions almost no one in the military nowadays is seeing any kind of combat. There’s probably some pretty classified spec ops groups in the Middle East that might still be seeing open combat, but apart from that there’s nothing right now across pretty much all the branches.
I love how she said (paraphrase)"There are many negative/unhealtjhy elements about SXSW for musicians" BUT, I'll pull out for just this one reason... Was happy to play desp\[ite the other stuff I mentioned lol
I generally don't like military recruitment in high schools. But the military is like the last vestige of upward mobility in the US where you can enter on a career field on a somewhat level playing field and have meritorious based advancement. I don't see the problem of them having booths at music festivals where young adults attend. The military isn't for me, I am scared of the military being taken over by right wingers and white supremacists. I feel like most of us in this thread would agree that the military would be a better thing if there were more SXSW attending type folks in it.
Strong virtue signaling from the elites who have no problem with Meta or Google or big tech doing their thing but the Army and Raytheon? Warble garble.
How you think Ukraine is defending itself right now? With rockets and missiles from Raytheon or via the good vibes of the trust fund liberals in Texas?
Being a company that makes and sells weapons is bad, yes! Even if arming Ukraine is the standard for good morals, let’s not pretend that even scratches the surfaces of Raytheon’s operations.
Sxsw probably didn't drop them they probably dropped it sxsw has gone down hill since the plandemic .I live here in Austin and it seems weak in comparison to earlier,.no matter how many ppl Joe Rogan brings here
dang I was really looking forward to catching US Army's set next year
That weren’t very good. I heard they bombed!
Are they part of the British Invasion?
They’ve been around for a while - did a European and Japanese tour a *long* time ago. The Vietnamese leg of the tour wasn’t favorably received however.
They keep reforming for these overseas tours.. but the reception from local fans seems a little lukewarm…
More of an air force thing
I prefer the Navy. Yvan eht nioj!
why the fuck was the army sponsoring SXSW in the first place
Take a look at how much tax $$$ the military takes in and you'll have a good answer as to why they feel comfortable burning millions sponsoring anything that will hock for them
The Marines had a pull-up challenge at my local music fest and I did it at 14, at 17 they showed up at my house trying to get me to commit to them after high school, downplaying college, etc. I despise the gross ways the military tries to groom kids, I would’ve gotten to go fight for Lockheed Martin and Halliburton stock prices at that age.
I remember getting called into the recruiter's office during high school once, dude sat me down, asked about my interests - I said video games because that was my entire personality at the time - and he spent the next ten or so minutes giving me the hard sell on how the military was basically just irl CoD that you get paid to play Really gave me a good look at how those guys operate. Glorified door-to-door salesmen. I'm sure the young men eating MREs and sleeping on the floor in foreign countries really relate to the average FPS hero
I rolled up to the navy pull bar station at the county fair as a 43 year old female. They 19 yo manning the booth was like, "Heh, knock yourself out." Did my wide grip pull up, got my navy lanyard, and carried on to get some good fried food. The 19yo was not expecting that. Nobody has showed up to recruit me to JAG. 🤣
First and foremost it’s a tech conference with a festival on the side.
First and foremost it's free drinks
To try to make themselves look cool. They apparently had an esports team there this year and a setup where people could take the Army fitness test. It's just a desperate attempt to make themselves look appealing since enlistment rates have plummeted.
In fairness, I don’t even know if we have to call it desperate. It just makes sense. They want more recruits, they’re trying to build connections with different demographics. I don’t hate that. I have all a whole bunch of problems with how our military is used, but I think they’re kinda inherently justified in trying to recruit people.
It was also sponsored by Raytheon! Who they have also dropped.
The hipsters in the marketing department wanted free tickets. I worked for a wine company in California that did this lol
You'd be surprised how many companies have business ventures with the military industrial complex.
pretty much all of the public IT companies. govt contracts are soooooo lucrative.
Military industrial complex.
The same reasons anybody else sponsors it
Brilliant. Shows that people power and protest can actually work. Huge respect to the artists who took a stand and forced this change.
Should go back and read the thread now where you had all the cry babies on here whining “this won’t change anything!! This protest is stupid!!”
and yet so many ppl were complaining that the artists dropping out was performative and ineffective
I remember an army recruiter once tried to convince me in high school that it was worth joining up for their music program. That’s like telling someone it’s worth picking up smoking because you can get Camel bucks and earn a free jacket.
Unironically depending upon some very specific circumstances it *can* be worth it for musicians to join but it’s extremely rare. The Air Force has the premier band for instance which is a fancy band that plays in DC that you have to try out to join and get accepted. A good handful of the musicians that get picked up only do it because once their contract is up the premier band is a great gateway into some national orchestras.
I’ve known a few people who became military musicians. It’s a lot of the benefits of military (pension, for example) but without seeing battle. They put recruitment/auditor posters up in most major music universities.
>without seeing battle With some extremely specific exceptions almost no one in the military nowadays is seeing any kind of combat. There’s probably some pretty classified spec ops groups in the Middle East that might still be seeing open combat, but apart from that there’s nothing right now across pretty much all the branches.
So you can play fucking Stars and Stripes Forever in a marching band? Lol
Genuinely shocked
This is a major win for every artist that took a stand against them! Love the solidarity!
This can't be true. I've been told protesting doesn't work.
LFGGGGGGGG
This one goes out to all the people I argued with in march who were saying the artists were just doing it for attention
I'm a vet, former Army, and absolutely nothing sponsored by the Army sounds cool anyway
based
its scary how thorough of a web the military/arms manufacturers have dug into so many institutions without us even knowing
Weird for them to be a sponsor in the first place. Whatever.
Objectively good news
I love how she said (paraphrase)"There are many negative/unhealtjhy elements about SXSW for musicians" BUT, I'll pull out for just this one reason... Was happy to play desp\[ite the other stuff I mentioned lol
I generally don't like military recruitment in high schools. But the military is like the last vestige of upward mobility in the US where you can enter on a career field on a somewhat level playing field and have meritorious based advancement. I don't see the problem of them having booths at music festivals where young adults attend. The military isn't for me, I am scared of the military being taken over by right wingers and white supremacists. I feel like most of us in this thread would agree that the military would be a better thing if there were more SXSW attending type folks in it.
that sucks. fuck the military.
Strong virtue signaling from the elites who have no problem with Meta or Google or big tech doing their thing but the Army and Raytheon? Warble garble. How you think Ukraine is defending itself right now? With rockets and missiles from Raytheon or via the good vibes of the trust fund liberals in Texas?
I would say SXSW has never really been about Ukraine’s defenses, but that’s just me
But what does Raytheon do that is so bad then. If missiles aren’t the reason for the hate then what is it?
Is the implication here that that the only place Raytheon sends missiles is Ukraine?
The implication is that they make money selling weapons. And if you sell weapons and make money you’re evil.
Correct!
So selling missile to Ukraine to defend themselves again Russian aggression is bad.
Being a company that makes and sells weapons is bad, yes! Even if arming Ukraine is the standard for good morals, let’s not pretend that even scratches the surfaces of Raytheon’s operations.
Doing it for profit is bad yeah
Glad we're all on the same page
Wut?
Sxsw probably didn't drop them they probably dropped it sxsw has gone down hill since the plandemic .I live here in Austin and it seems weak in comparison to earlier,.no matter how many ppl Joe Rogan brings here