Creativity Quote by Josh Silver

A throwaway line that doubles as both flex and shrug, Josh Silver’s “We’re from New York, so we have a decent following” captures how geography can function like a genre tag. It’s not “we’re great,” it’s “we’re from the place people look first.” New York becomes cultural shorthand: tastemakers, critics, club circuits, industry traffic, the idea that something is always “happening” there. The phrase “decent following” is doing careful work, too. It’s modest enough to dodge arrogance, but it still claims legitimacy. In musician-speak, “decent” often means sustainable: enough bodies at shows to keep momentum, enough word-of-mouth to feel real.

The subtext is a small indictment of the ecosystem. Talent matters, but access matters faster. Being from New York implies proximity to venues, scenes, and the kind of casual networking that turns into opening slots, press mentions, and the early mythology that bands elsewhere have to fight for. It’s also a subtle acknowledgement of audience behavior: New York crowds pride themselves on discovering things early, and that self-image can create a built-in audience for anyone local who looks even slightly credible.

There’s an edge of irony in how bluntly it reduces “following” to an address. It’s a reminder that cultural capital often travels with zip codes, and that the romance of the underground is frequently scaffolded by infrastructure. The line lands because it’s both true and faintly embarrassing - a candid admission that scenes aren’t just made by sound, but by where you can be heard.