folked up

So I've been talking to the former bandmate of some friends who wants to do a side project, and given my familiarity with both heavier tuneage and the folk music instilled at a young age by my parents and because he's a good guy, I said I'd be up for jamming but upon talking about what that kind of mashup would entail, it seems we've got some very different visions of how that would play out.

In theory, I should be all about folk-punk or folk-metal but in general it really does nothing for me since it seems to combine the worst offending elements of both genres in question to make something even worse. Or maybe I just don't drink enough for it to sound good, because both seem to be the soundtrack for people who want to get drunk and in touch with their inner primitive European or something. No offense to my fellow crackers meant, of course, but why does everything have to sound all chug-chug-oompah or as cornball as Celtic Woman meets Manowar?

 And the thing is, there's modern stuff that does take older elements and does it well, or at least in a more meditative minor-key way that hits me in the gut way more. I guess I can't say that people aren't taking old songs and old texts and adding to them, the prevailing trends just don't do it for me.