Why did the author choose a continuous form?
Kim would always encourage me to wear baseball hats when we played because she said it made me look a heavy metal drummer, and since we weren't playing heavy metal that made it cool.
Richard Edson Extract from liner notes for the reissue of Sonic Youth first album
Why was the continuous "were not playing" used instead of not played as Sonic Youth (the band) never played heavy metal so "played" would have been better than weren't playing.
Does “when we played” mean “we were not playing”?