What are the Seattle and NW chip scenes like these days? (Page 1 of 4)

I agree. There are a lot of us up here. In PDX we have shows every once in awhile but up in SEA... "dey got shit movin"... as far as the chip scene goes.

I live about an hour's drive away from seattle, I haven't been to any chip shows yet (still fairly new to the scene) I've talked with chipmusicians in the area, and they're really cool. And Non-chip musicians also.

Things are on the right path in Seattle. We are booking monthly shows under the promo company X Bit.. we've brought in A_Rival and Rainbowdragoneyes in september. We're flying up IAYD for december, and flying more dudes in for the following months. We are actually making some money as well.

Circuits Ole is another almost-monthly show series we have going on.. I played the last one and it was fucking crackin.

I personally consider Crunchy Co. to be a thing of the past.. yes, they've been booking monthly shows at the video game store Pink Gorilla (which are fun) but Crunchy Co as a label is done according to da boss.

Yes, we sadly lost Ovenrake (to the east coast he's not dead).. and Fighter X has been on hiatus (which is supposedly ending this coming month), but we still have artists out the yang.

Active guys in Seattle are Electric Children, Bright White Lightning (chiprock band on Data Airlines,) McFiredrill (doing less chippy stuff lately but still active in the scene,) Live Animals, Turtlesaur, Orbital Strike, G Diffuser, Abducted by Sharks, and yours truly. If you haven't heard of some of those guys, you will soon. A_Rival is moving here at the start of the new year (I think he had a lot of fun) and Nicklepunk moved out here for a couple months just based on how much he liked the chip scene.

Couple hours south (in Olympia) we have Deepearth.void and Awesomecat who are playing regular shows, and a couple of other dudes I have not yet met (sorry guys).

Can't speak for Portland.. I haven't seen a lot of activity going on down there artist-wise or event-wise lately.

In Seattle, we've also got a yearly festival (Folklife) which we've had a chiptune showcase at for the last 3 years. Brought in Sabrepulse, Trash80, and USK for those shows.

We've got some pretty big plans as well that I'm not gonna delve into because I don't want to jinx them.. but if things continue at this rate, they will happen.

Get in touch and try to come visit while we're having an event I could keep talking, but you'll be more impressed if you come out and see for yourself lol

Oh and people are passive aggressive as fuck as well.. I've only seen a few fist fights in my life

dude I turtlesaur

I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea so much was happening in my own city.  I feel like 15-20 years ago this sort of thing was viewed as a novelty.  It sounds like that is changing.  I'm looking forward to checking out some of these events.

Rents in Seattle are really high right now.  Craigslist is rather shit.  You'll find better deals through local neighborhood papers.

There's a lot of new construction that should come on the market next year.

Seattle drivers are the worst.

Public transit is OK here, maybe even pretty good.  As long as you don't need to go East-West.  There are a lot of hills.  Many people bike or walk.

Ballard has a lot of cool shops and restaurants but it can feel like it's out of the way.
Capitol Hill is where all the cool kids want to live.  Usually they view the other neighborhoods as provincial.
Crown Hill is kind of meh but it's close to Ballard and Greenwood.
Fremont has lots of bars.
Greenwood is getting better, making a case for living up North.
Magnolia, on the top of the hill, is like the suburbs.
Maple Leaf is kind of far from anything.
The U-District has really gone downhill over the last 10 years.

Eastern Washington is nothing like coastal Washington (I think the east would become their own state if they had the chance). Things are much more rural over there and farming/produce bring in the most money. Once you get east of the Cascades, things flatten out fairly significantly.

I speak from much experience; my grandparents live in Spokane and Yakima. They and all of their friends are fantastically conservative.. so, if you're fantastically conservative, you will like it out there

Winters in western washington are mild. Last few winters have brought snow, but not much. It will not go below 0.. not even close.

Eastern washington gets much much more snow. Still not SUPER cold, but snow is consistently on the ground.

Rent in the actual city/east side is super expensive.. unless you find a shitty spot.

Traffic gets bad. Sorry. Its made me a more patient person though.. which is good?