Horse the Band, really?

I can see myself thinking this is sooooo cool, ’cause I’m like you know, so groovy dude. This is so original because I don’t know shit, bro. My knowledge of music is so good dude, I fucking know that this band is the shit ’cause they mix Nintendo and metal together. It’s the new trendy shit, man: Nintendocore. Don’t  take it from me, that’s how they describe themselves. I love whatever is original, like Nintendocore. If it were generated randomy by some script, I’d love it still, as long as it’s original. Those time signatures allow me to claim credibility, even if they don’t make any sense.

—————————————————————–

 IWABO is a joke, a fake product like a lot of trendy crap with a pathetic lack of real originality. Horse the Band comes up with a concept that appeals to people who think that a Nintendo NES is the epitome of music. Fine. Or not. They play their junk on SiriusXM. So, someone somewhere  thinks we are dumb enough to like Horse the Band; hey, we went along with IWABO… This is sad.

My Dyslexic Blog Post #10

My Music, My Men

Carl Chambers is mostly known for his 1982 #1 hit, “Close Enough to Perfect” made famous by the band Alabama. Carl is one of those good ole boys with lots of talent and southern style. Luckily for me, I grew up two blocks away from Carl’s house & his “OutHouse Studios“. I use to be that annoying little girl that would hang out during his bands rehearsal and kept asking questions. He recorded my 1st all original album, as well as other recording projects throughout the years. Carl is like a 2nd father to me and holds a very special place in my heart! I’m so very thankful for all the kindness him and his family have shown me.

Visit: http://www.dizzyrambler.com
Carl Chambers on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/dizram

Joe Spann, I met thru Carl Chambers. My 1st memory of him was when I was a child & use to sing down at Carl Allen’s Catfish Cafe in Auburndale, Florida. The place was filled with bluegrass and talented musicians. Every Thursday night Joe and Carl would play and jam and I’d be right there amazed by how incredible they both were. During my late adolescents, Joe acted as my musical psyciatrist and recorded my “wanna-be” alternative rock album. That album was full of emotions and expereinces that only my music could help me unleash. Later, we went on to record my 1st acoustic album, “You Don’t Know Jack.” Joe is not only an amazing musician, producer, & songwriter… he is a wonderful friend too.

Connect with Joe Spann
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/joe.spann
Myspace:  http://www.myspace.com/joespann

My big brother Kevin Nowak is one of the biggest musicial influences in all my life. He tought me my 1st guitar chords and my very 1st lick – “On The Trail” from the movie The Three Amigos! Before I even knew anything about guitars I use to sneak into his room and I’d always put his tuner pegs face up in the same direction. I didn’t know till years later all I was doing was making the guitar extremely out of tune. That would explain why he’d get so freaking mad at me (giggles). We are one of the same or as I like to call it the ”Same Diffenence”. He currently is based out of Gainesville, Florida where his band “Liquid Limbs” just released “ORQUID” their debut album.  Even though he may not know it, he means the world to me in so many ways. Each time I see him perform it puts fire underneeth my skin and gives me more drive to do the best in music and life.

Connect with Kevin Nowak

Website: www.LiquidLimbs.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1254360473

Check out some of Kevin’s solo tunes:

Dreams ♫  Instrumental ♫ Your Sunshine ♫

Oops, I just looked at that last Antlers post, and it’s stupidly long. Apologies.

The gist is:

1. The Antlers are amazing

2. The Antlers are amazing

3. Epilogue is probably the best thing ever

4. The Antlers are amazing.

Additional points:

1. The Antlers are amazing

2. I miss them already. Sob sob sob.

3. They loved Nando’s. Darby loves the wings, especially.

4. The Antlers are amazing.

Randy Funke of Artists House Music shows how to set up a social network for a band using Ning.

If you had a spirit animal, what would it be?

Check out this amazing Ramona Falls video from Portland-based director/animator Stefan Nadelman. Ramona Falls plays with Helio Sequence this Saturday, Nov. 28, at the Crystal Ballroom.

Hey, Tina. Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been busy/lazy/trying to come up with excuses as to why I haven’t been on…

So, I’m back. And I suppose I’ll update you on my life a bit:

Paramore was amazing! We got there about 20 minutes after school let out (which means we waited in line for about 3 and a half hours) and we met these really cool girls from Wisconsin. We got to the front right away, and were extremely excited, obviously. The only problem was that by the time the second band came on stage, we were being pushed and shoved like crazy, and we couldn’t see. This resulted in the decision to go to the back of the venue, which was awesome because we could see, breath, get water, and buy t-shirts before anyone else. All in all, it was a good idea.

As for the rest of my life… Well, nothing too exciting has happened. School is school, and friends are friends. My band is going alright. We ended up kicking out Ele (our drummer) because she A. never showed up for rehearsals, and B. can’t play the drums. We also kicked out Josie, because she wasn’t really contributing anything. Will, Maureen, and I got together over the weekend and discussed some things pertaining to original material and shows. We’re going to be working on originals from here on out, until we’ve got a good handle on things. Next summer, we’re planning on renting out the Depot Coffee House with another band that we’re friends with, and we’ll play a show for family and friends. I hope you can come to it!

Well, I suppose that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with an inspirational picture of Alex Gaskarth.

~Rose

And this, my friends, is why I love him.

London Quintet Prego

by Jamie Mann

A band can only hope to project their sound to curious ears by evolving musically and creating music which invigorates its listeners. Prego’s pre-album releases are already solid featuring verses filled with ambience and allurement which ignite into vehement choruses that leave you temporarily immobile.

Should this band’s sound be deemed even more enthralling, 2010 should grant the quintet the chance to be everyone’s favourite ‘new’ band rather than mine and more importantly 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and NME journalist Mark Beaumont.

Such music has been written by Caspar Williamson (bass), Christian Wieland (guitar/keyboards), Edd Simpson (vocals, guitar, synthesizers), Paul Jennings (drums) and Will Leslie (guitar/keyboard).

Beaumont in fact set up Year Zero Recordings, (named after the London club at which he first witnessed Prego) solely to release an earlier Prego single ‘Cause and Resolve’.

The label was retired after serving its purpose: to help promote the band. As Beaumont stated, after thirteen years of observing new bands, he labelled Prego as “the first band I’ve ever seen knowing that I’d be a fool not to help put out records.” http://www.melodic.net/newsOne.asp?newsId=13829

After almost 2 months of recording their debut album, the London 5-piece embarked upon an October tour in support of Fightstar; Prego demonstrated to numerous UK cities the intensity of their many singles and the compelling debut EP Primaries which sold out its 500 copies of the original pressing; they then went on to unleash a set broadcast live on BBC Radio Suffolk.

Most recently they headlined a local Battle of The Bands in Ipswich, where 3 members originally hail from. After more than 4 years of performing, Prego will again project a soundtrack of melodic guitars, dynamic bass lines, diverging drums and colossal synths to blessed audiences. The release of Prego’s album is set to conceive a revolution for shoegaze rock and for the band themselves.

Prego’s sound has often been compared to the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Sigur Rós and Explosions In The Sky all of which they cite as strong influences. Though many have labelled their sound solely as Indie, Prego incorporate a variety of genres into their music which is diversified by experimental rock and also features rhythms and harmonies attributed to post-rock; the trio of contending guitars create a wall of sound which points towards shoegaze rock.

Genre labelling aside Prego must be heard to be understood. The video for the latest single “Cause and Resolve” created and directed by Grant Berry is featured below.

I talked to front man Edd Simpson and bassist Caspar Williamson about life in Prego and the processes of writing, touring and recording:

Could you describe the writing process, do you group-write often? Have you scrapped many tracks over the years when perfecting your sound?

Edd: “The writing process generally involves me penning the song in its most embryonic form (i.e. me and a guitar) and then it takes on a whole new life when the other guys put their thoughts and ideas to it. There are constantly ideas that go by the wayside, sometimes you think something’s great only to then hear it again and realise it’s actually crap!”

Caspar: “The writing process varies, however most of the time Edd will come in with the bare bones of a song, the melody and a verse/chorus mainly, then we will go at it as a group, it pretty much always becomes clear what sort of direction it will take. For example ‘Cause & Resolve’ started as a 6min post-rock song!

We have but some great tunes on the backburner for the time being until we figure out what we want them to become, save them for the second album I guess.

Other songs we have scrapped, such as ‘Three’ of Primaries, we will never play that song again as it isn’t Prego as we are now.”

What is your schedule like in Prego? I feel fans are always kept updated on MySpace blogs – the content suggests constant writing/touring/writing.

Edd: “The schedule over the last year has been very much about touring and recording and less about writing. The majority of the album has been written for a little while so recording it this year was the big aim, and thankfully we’ve done that.”

Caspar: ”We are pretty disciplined with the schedule, we rehearse/write at least once/twice a week, the band definitely comes first and it can be awkward at times when you’ve got other plans, but we are all going for the same goals here so we know where the priorities have to be.

We’d love to tour more; it’s just hard with no outside funding from labels or management etc. We won’t write for a while as the album has been our main focus and is being mastered just before Xmas so it’ll be all wrapped up.

We have a facebook group with around 800/900 people as well as Twitter so we are trying to branch out on the contact with the fans! We love getting emails, but as we do all this ourselves we can take a while to write back.”

What has been your proudest moment in Prego?

Edd: “My proudest moment in Prego was probably listening back to the album for the first time, it’s been 5 years hard work and I’m thrilled with what we’ve come out with.”

Caspar: “There have been too many proud moments to mention for me personally, but a few would have to be;
-finishing the album and having a body of work I am proud to play for people
-getting support from radio and press I never dreamed off (Radio 1, Jon Kennedy Xfm, Kerrang etc)
-Playing venues that I will remember for the rest of my life, notably Glasgow ABC, Manchester Academy 1, and Shepherds Bush Empire.”

How did the recording of the album differ to that of Primaries?

Edd: “It was a hugely different experience in every way I think. We’d only been together a very short time during Primaries and I think that’s reflected in both the songs and the production, we were less evolved sonically, and it was a very different line up and a different producer. The album was a far more cohesive and focused experience and I think we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve sonically as well.”

Caspar:

“-Better musicians
-More time
-Good friends recording and producing us, Guy Massey is the man.
-Much more pimp studios!
-Dare I say, all killer no filler!?”

Has there been a progression in sound compared to what the world have already heard of Prego?

Edd: “Without a doubt there’s a progression in terms of recorded sound on this record compared to what we’ve released before, it’s far more epic and expansive, and we’ve thought about the sounds we use intensely through the process of making the record.”

Caspar: “I think the album will surprise a lot of people, the most jaw dropping moments aren’t necessarily the ‘epic Prego’ tunes one there… you’ll have to wait and see!”

Prego have played several festivals, what have been the largest crowds you have performed for?

Edd: “We performed for about 3-4,000 people at Wireless festival, that was an amazing experience.”

Caspar: “02 at Leeds was pretty scary at the time, nearly 1000 by the end of the set, but since the Fightstar tour we have nearly doubled that a couple of times, Shepherds Bush had a lot of people, 2,500 by the end of the night, I’d say two thirds of that where their by our final song! It’s just exciting now, we wouldn’t be fazed by doing arenas and stadiums; the sound is built for it, the more the merrier in our opinion.”

Caspar, Could you tell me about the t-shirts and the artwork for the Vatican Sessions E.P. which you designed last year?”

Caspar: “Yeah the imagery for that came from my interpretation of Edd’s lyrics for ‘Cause & Resolve’ actually, it kind of had a running theme into ‘Vatican Sessions’
Edd told me the song had parts about when you are having horrible nightmares about really bad things that you’ve done, or events that have happened, and the point at which the dream gets so bad you wake yourself up, only to realise after a few seconds of consciousness that the problems are actually real and not just a dream.

I was interested in the space between the two, the constant battle of being trapped in a form of limbo or twilight, and the idea of escapism or being trapped in that world…it was all very Labyrinth!”

Prego Official Website: http://www.pregomusic.com/

Prego Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pregomusic

YES! EPIC GIANT HUGE WIN WORTHY YES YES YES!

Tickets on sale Friday from here. The Antlers’ world domination is now in full effect. Union Chapel! That’s so good! So happy for them! Yes! They deserve it. I really am so so so so so happy that they’re doing so well- people need to hear their wonderful music. 

March 3rd, 2010. MARK YOUR DIARY!

Come to the Tamesis Dock now! I’m aboard the boat now….

Come along, it will be lovely! I am awaiting my dinner…

It’s not just a place where the Liberty Bell resides, where Rocky ran up a whole lot of stairs, or where you can get soft pretzels fresh from the oven at 1 in the morning. It is also a place where gray concrete meets colorful community gardens and car fumes meet parades of many themes. Philadelphia is a place where we come home to see some of the most beautiful familiar faces and places in our world!

We were instantly in a world of comforts and familiarities, and it was actually an adjustment to have bright lights inside at night since we have become so accustomed to oil lamps and candlelight! Despite the changes, it didn’t take long to make our-selves at home at Beck and Gar’s, and it was such a treat to spend time with them, Addy, the Cooks and the Hannigans!

In addition to the ball game, Halloween was also approaching, and it was so fun to see our young niece and nephew in their costumes!! Later in the evening we had the great pleasure seeing our friend Ali and perform with Philly Bloco at the World Cafe Live – drums, Brazilian beats, dance grooves, and great covers from Stevie Wonder and the “King of Pop” (RIP)… Good times were had by all!

We also came home to attend our old friends wedding that took place at their homestead / farm in the heart of Germantown. The ceremony was beautiful to say the least, and, despite downpour during the reception, people had a fun filled time of socializing, eating, and dancing! There were also pictures taken and can be seen HERE. It is amazing and inspiring to see that city living can include so much backyard harvest, acres of vegetables, and harmonious communal living!

While in town, The Phillies beat the Dodgers and back to the World Series they went. Philadelphia was stirring just as it had been just weeks before we left in April. We spent a lot of nights with friends excitedly rooting and rallying around a TV. It was something special to partake in the celebrating of our home team’s successes, and to see so, so many people coming together with uniting a common interest. Such enthusiasm kept our visit exciting, and it is good to see that people are capable of making time and sharing such energy together.

Other awesomely notable moments during our visit included eating at some of our favorite restaurants, Michael Dur’s birthday, a sleepover in South Philly at Kristin’s, visits with our families; Pepe’s, Spivacks and Sunds (what a pleasure!), a fall hike thru Philadelphia’s beautiful and scenic Fairmount Park’s Wissahickon with Jay and Dot, and lots more…

Always representing the “City that Loves you Back.” Thank you Philadelphia!

View more photos of Philly, Phamily, and Phun on our Flickr page!!!

Weil Tom Waits’ Reibeisenstimme klang, als gurgele er morgens mit Whisky und atme Luft ausschließlich durch filterlose Zigaretten, bewarfen ihn seine Zuhörer einst mit Obst und Gemüse. Sein neues Live-Album “Glitter & Doom” beweist, dass die Stimme zwar geblieben ist – dass Waits aber sein Publikum, dieses “wilde Tier”, inzwischen vollkommen beherrscht.

Schon auf seinem im Jahr 1973 erschienenen Debüt-Album “Closing Time” weckt Tom Waits unweigerlich Assoziationen an einen betrunkenen Barpianisten – ein Image, das er auch danach noch lange Zeit pflegte. Waits lehnte es von Beginn an ab, mit seinen Songs den Massengeschmack zu befriedigen – selbst den der Jugendkultur nicht. Angesagt waren zu jener Zeit Glam-Rocker wie Gary Glitter und Marc Bolan oder Prog-Rocker wie Mike Oldfield und Manfred Man.

Doch Tom Waits sang düstere, melancholische bis depressive Lieder über romantische Verlierer, die nachts zusammengesunken irgendwo in einer Kneipe rumhängen und über warmes Bier und kühle Frauen lamentieren. Seine Songs klangen wie Vertonungen des berühmten Edward-Hopper-Gemäldes “Nachtschwärmer”, auf dem drei einsame Barbesucher ohne jeden Bezug zueinander sinnlos ihre Zeit absitzen.

Obwohl die Zahl seiner Fans und der verkauften Platten klein blieb, passte sich der am 7. Dezember 1949 geborene Künstler nicht an. Während sich die in den 1980er Jahren alles dominierende Popmusik seicht und eingänglich präsentierte, begann Waits mit seinen “Found Sounds” (gefundenen Klängen) zu experimentieren: Er verwendete fortan auf seinen Alben Gegenstände, die er auf dem Müll gefunden und zu Instrumenten umgebaut hatte. Angeblich setzte ihn sein Label deshalb vor die Tür. Der Chef der Plattenfirma soll sein Album “Swordfishtrombones” (“Schwertfischposaunen”) für unverkäuflich befunden haben, nachdem er einige Demos gehört hatte.

Ausflüge zum Film

Doch Tom Waits blieb sich weiterhin treu. In den 1990er Jahren wurden er und seine Musik bekannter – was auch an einigen Nebenrollen in Filmen lag, die Waits etwa in “Down by Law” oder “König der Fischer” übernommen hatte. Der Sänger hätte seine Popularität leicht weiter steigern können, indem er nur ein paar Alben mehr veröffentlicht und einige Konzerte zusätzlich gegeben hätte.

Stattdessen ließ Waits zwischen seinem 1992er Album “Black Rider” und seinem Album “Mule Variations” sieben Jahre verstreichen. Auf Tour ging er in dieser Zeit nicht und auch danach trat er nur sehr sporadisch auf. Dies könnte ein Grund dafür sein, dass Tom Waits in seiner inzwischen fast 40-jährigen Musikerkarriere keinen Nummer-1-Hit landen konnte. Obwohl sein Name inzwischen längst sehr bekannt ist, schaffte es noch keines seiner Alben in die Top-Ten der Charts.

Hassliebe gegenüber dem Publikum

Seine Aversion gegen Tourneen hat vor allem zwei Gründe: Zum einen hat er keine Lust, seine Familie über Monate hinweg nicht sehen zu können, zum anderen hat er schon seit dem Beginn seiner Karriere ein sehr schwieriges Verhältnis zu seinen Anhängern. Die Hassliebe entstand, als ihn sein erster Manager Herb Cohen im Vorprogramm von Frank Zappa & the Mother of Invention auf Tour schickte. Beim Publikum kam er damals nicht gut an.

“Sie kamen und schmissen Obst und Gemüse auf mich”, sagte er einmal. Seitdem sei das Publikum für ihn ein wildes Tier, das man nicht zu häufig füttern sollte, wie er einmal in einem “Spiegel”-Interview sagte. Und außerdem: “Lange Tourneen, der ganze Stress mit Hotels und fremden Menschen machen mich nur noch mürrischer. Und ich bin auch so schon oft sehr finster gelaunt.”

Abschied vom Barpianisten-Image

Wie gut, dass sich der fast 60-jährige Künstler im vergangenen Jahr doch überwinden konnte und auf Tournee ging. Denn so ist sein 23. Album “Glitter & Doom Live” entstanden – ein Mitschnitt in exzellenter Tonqualität der ausverkauften Tour, die Waits durch die Vereinigten Staaten und Europa führte. Die erste der beiden CDs enthält 17 Lieder, die fast alle im Verlauf der vergangenen 20 Jahren schon einmal veröffentlicht worden sind. Waits hat sie bei verschiedenen Auftritten während seiner Tour gesungen. Allerdings sind sie so gut zusammengeschnitten, dass es klingt, als handele es sich um die Aufnahme eines einzigen Konzerts.

Nur der Song “Live Circus” ist neu – ein Waits-typisches Spoken-Word-Stück mit leichter, musikalischer Untermalung, wie er sie schon in den 1970ern am Barpiano zum Besten gab. Die übrigen Lieder stammen in der Mehrzahl von den beiden Alben “Bone Machine” und “Real Gone” aus den Jahren 1992 und 2004, die wichtige Eckpunkte in Waits Karriere markieren. Auf “Bone Machine” begann er, sich von seinem “Betrunkener-Barpianisten-Image” zu verabschieden, und auf “Real Gone” ist er beim alten Delta-Blues und den Wurzeln des American Folks angelangt. Auf diesem Album verzichtete er erstmals komplett auf das Piano, das bis dahin so charakteristisch für seine Musik war.

Die zweite CD von “Glitter & Doom Live” ist ein reines Spoken-Word-Album, auf dem die vielen skurrilen Geschichten zu hören sind, die Waits auf der Bühne gerne zwischen den Liedern erzählt.

Gedanken an eine Durchfahrtsstraße

Auf seinem neuen Album präsentiert sich Tom Waits in Bestform. Der “Klabautermann des Röchel-Blues”, wie ihn die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung einmal genannt hat, faucht, krächzt und jault sich durch seine Texte, in denen er bisweilen Geschichten von am Straßenrand verlorenen Träumen erzählt. Dazu Musik, die klingt, als habe Waits Blues, Rock’n'Roll, Jazz, Gospel oder Zirkusmusik in einen Sack gepackt, diesen lange genug geschüttelt und zu Guter letzt noch mit aller Kraft darauf herumgetrampelt. Heraus kommt Waits eigener, kaputt-klingender Sound, der so wunderbar mit seiner Reibeisenstimme harmoniert.

Zwischendrin ist immer mal wieder eine dieser Waits-typischen, brüchigen Balladen versteckt, wie das großartige “Fannin Street”, das Waits ursprünglich John Hammond jr., dem Sohn der Blueslegende John Hammond, für dessen Album “Get Wicked” überließ, und das Waits für sein 2006 erschienenes Album “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards” dann doch noch aufnahm. Vermutlich hat noch nie jemand in der Musikgeschichte solch überdrüssige Gedanken über eine Durchfahrtsstraße in der texanischen Großstadt Houston gesponnen, wie Waits in diesem Lied.

Keine Hoffnung mehr auf Sonnenschein

Überhaupt der Blues: Der findet sich ziemlich häufig auf “Glitter & Doom Live”. Zum Beispiel “Get behind the mule”, Waits’ ganz eigene Verbeugung vor dem König des Delta Blues, Robert Johnson. Waits erklärte dazu einmal, dass das Lied von dem inspiriert worden sei, was Johnsons Vater einst über seinem Sohn gesagt haben soll: “Das Problem mit Robert ist, dass er morgens einfach nicht hinter sein Maultier kommt, um zu pflügen.”

Flotter geht es dann bei “Goin’ out West” vom 1992er Album “Bone Machine” zu. Ein manischer Bluesrock, bei dem es schwer fällt, sich seinem stumpfen und stampfenden Rhythmus zu entziehen und der den Hörer zwangsläufig in seinen Sog zieht. Eine Wirkung, die Waits Beschwörung “Make it Rain” vom “Real Gone”-Album noch wesentlich stärker entfaltet. Nach diesem Lied hofft niemand mehr auf Sonnenschein. Und mit “I’ll be back some lucky Day” beschließt Waits das Album mit einer Ballade, die wirklich jedes noch nicht versteinerte Herz berühren muss.

Kaum Überraschungen

Insgesamt enthält “Glitter & Doom Live” wenig Neues. Fans kennen die meisten Lieder bereits, wie das bei den meisten Live-Alben der Fall ist. Dennoch steht Waits nicht im Verdacht, sich mit der Veröffentlichung nur eine zusätzliche, leichte Einnahmequelle erschließen zu wollen. Es lohnt sich, das Album zu kaufen, und dafür sorgt Waits selbst. Er präsentiert seine Lieder live in leicht veränderter Form und trägt sie mit einer Innbrunst vor, die man von den Studioalben so nicht kennt.

Doch die überraschendste Erkenntnis des Live-Albums ist: Der fast 60 Jahre alte Waits ist noch immer ein großartiger Dompteur, der das Publikum, dieses wilde Tier, unter Kontrolle hat, mehr noch: der es begeistert und verzückt, wie der Szenenapplaus, der immer wieder mitten in den einzelnen Stücken aufbrandet, beweist. Schade, dass Waits das Tier nur noch so selten füttern will, zumindest in Deutschland. Hier trat er das letzte Mal im November 2004 in die Manege. Es wird langsam mal wieder Zeit.

“Glitter & Doom Live” ist am 20.11.2009 erschienen.

Erschienen am 20. November auf ARD.de

This was an amazingly fun shoot to work on! I feel privileged that I’m able to spend most of my time working with other artists…I find myself thinking is this work, or a hobby? Of course everyone has good and bad weeks, or months . But I must say, it’s nice to be proud of what you create. This concept has been in a notebook waiting to come to life for several months now, I want to thank Ashley Schultz for the initial concept. She’s great with brainstorming, photos always turn out well when she’s involved.:) Enjoy

I’m sure that many of you, like myself, had never heard of Jonny Craig before. I was looking for new upcoming shows in Texas, and what do you know? Rise Records had posted a bulletin about shows tonight and tomorrow night! So, me being who I am, searched him out and listened to the 4 songs he has available on his MySpace which can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/jonnycraig. You really do need to give him a listen! My favorite songs were “Istillfeelher part111″ and “7 AM, 2 Bottles and the Wrong Road”. That being said, “The Garbage Pail Kid Gang Bang” was a good listen, as was “Children of Divorce” but “Children of Divorce” was much slower and definitely a sad song. He is headlining his own personal tour (he had been touring with AFI as an opener), and will be playing in San Antonio, TX tomorrow night at the White Rabbit.

Also playing with Jonny Craig is Tides of Man and Sleeping With Sirens. Tides of Man is a band from Tampa, FL that has a killer sound that resonates with you. I really dug the sound of their song, “Empire Theory”. You can find their MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/tidesofman. These guys are another great band from Rise Records!  They have this sound that can be compared to The Mars Volta, Armor For Sleep, and lyrically to AFI. The band consists of Tillian Pearson on vocals and guitar, Spencer Gill on guitar, Adam A. Sene on guitar, Alan Jaye on bass, and Josh Gould on dreams. Check them out!

Sleeping With Sirens is the other band playing tomorrow night. They recently signed on with Rise Records as well. They were probably my least favorite of this line-up, based on what I got to hear on MySpace, but still not bad and should put on a good show! They are a newer band in comparison to the other bands playing. No clue where they’re from, but they do rock! They only have one song up on MySpace for now, “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn”. Has a solid beat, and decent guitar riffs, but honestly the music is a bit overdone. I didn’t feel it was very original, though they definitely have a LOT of potential. You can hear it for yourself (as well as add the band, show some support) at http://www.myspace.com/sleepingwithsirens. Brandon is on guitar, Kellin is on vocals, Nick is on guitar, Gabe is on drums, and Justin is on bass. Keep an eye on them.

Seriously, if you’re in, or near, San Antonio, TX it would be way worth your time to check out this show tomorrow night (November 24th!) at the White Rabbit! White Rabbit is located at 2410 N Saint Marys St, and their number is (210) 737-2221. You can also check them out at http://www.sawhiterabbit.com. If you go, let me know and tell me what you thought!!

-HP

Yes! Remember Scary Mansion? That band I’ve hardly ever blogged about? The one with the singer who is also a hugely talented illustrator? Yes? YES! I am just having one of those overwhelming moments of love for this amazing band. LEAH HAYES! Look at this thing she drew:

After a good show there is always, what I like to call, “DANGER TIME”. Danger Time is when I am so swoony and joyous that I am in danger of saying stupidly hyperbolic things and getting in the ’so good’ loop (where, like a stuck record, literally all I can say is ’so good’ solidly for about 5 minutes). 

Lucky after the Paris show I managed to reign in some self control and I don’t think I did the whole Danger Time thing. Partly because I was on my own and everyone was French and probably would have been confused if I went up to them saying ’so good so good so good’.

BUT! There is a chance for more Scary Mansion Danger Time! I am hopefully going to catch them in Paris again next February. I’m working on a plan. Last time, my dad was kind enough to put me in a hotel because my original plan was to just save money by not getting a room and just strolling about Paris all night. I think it will be cold in February and thus it makes sense to get a room. It will be fun.

So, the thing that made me all excitable for Scary Mansion was this video. I guess it was filmed back in April when Scary Mansion were in France. Leah’s voice is ridiculously raspy; she had a sore throat at the Paris show. I think the raspiness works brilliantly! Her voice is so wonderful. Leah and her sister Vanessa play Mighty and New Hampshire. Mighty is from this year’s Make Me Cry and New Hampshire is from Every Joke Is Half The Truth. I love Mighty but New Hampshire is my favourite. I love that song so so so much. Leah’s fragile voice is beautiful and works so well. Look forward to seeing them again. Listen to the new record, it’s great.

Scary Mansion AHOY!

Wow, everyone is being so kind about that Tristram video I made earlier. Thanks! Animation is time consuming and lots of work, but it’s really fun (!). I only made a jaunt into it the other day, because I wanted to tell the story of when some milkshake got on my shoe. Funny the things that inspire me. So here is my next project that I’ll do later this week…

My friend Alan runs the wonderful Wears The Trousers, who, along with Charlotte Richardson Andrews, have put together an album of beautiful songs. They’ve curated this fantastic album of cover songs, by artists such as: Anais Mitchell, Pepi Ginsberg, Josephine Foster, Marissa Nadler, Ane Brun and many more. What a giant epic win. The songs are all covers of songs performed by Odetta, who was apparently dubbed the “Queen of American folk music” by Martin Luther King Jr. Not bad, not bad…

The album opens with this sweet song Sail Away Ladies performed by Linda Draper. It’s so bouncy and fun. You can hear it over here. Alan and I are going to make a video for it. It will be colourful and hopefully reflect how lovely the song is.

In the mean time, be excited about the album! It’s called Beautiful Star: The Songs of Odetta and is out November 30th as a limited CD or as a download. Make your pre-orders over here. All profits are being put towards two different charities. 

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

The Tailors new record Come Dig Me Up is out imminently. I’ve caught the band play a couple of times (once on that wonderful day where Wildbirds destroyed my heart with My Heart at The Social), and you’ll often see the lovely Adam Killip at gigs about town.

The album is nine songs long, and you can hear a few of those songs on The Tailors’ Myspace. Animal Humor is my favourite. The band launch the album at The Social on November 30th,  tickets are just £5 or you can get two free when you buy the album from Rough Trade. What a steal! It’s a lovely record, well worth picking up.

I’m in complete awe of Peter Broderick. There is something so amazing about his creative genius, it’s so wonderful. He just reels out all this beautiful material. Here are two things you should download:

A Simple Sunday Song: Just something he wheeled off one Sunay (as you do).

Freyr: This one is so sad. If you go here you can see a photo Peter took of an email he received from his father, with Peter holding a photo of Freyr, his cat, over it. The email reads that Freyr has been missing for a while and is gone. Peter writes as a caption to the photograph:

The Summer is over, and the Winter is moving in quickly, steeling our gloves and snatching animals along the way. You deserve a symphony. But you know me, I’m too lazy to write you a symphony. You never seemed to care much for music anyway. This is the best way I can say to you, Thank you for what you gave me.

In the song Peter re-arranges the words in the email. It’s so sad, but completely amazing that he can take such a heartbreaking thing and write a song about it right away. 

You should keep an eye on his Flickr for songs and sweet anecdotes from his tours. And of course, listen to his music here.

This fine evening I meandered over to Royal Festival Hall to watch Lisa Hannigan play. More on that later. But while I was waiting in my seat, all cosy and comfortable, a familiar tune came on the PA. It was Bright Eyes’ song First Day Of My Life from 2005’s I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning.

Once upon a time, four years ago, I used to adore that record. Bright Eyes were one of my favourite bands. And I loved that song. I hadn’t listened to that song in a long time, and there was something really sweet about hearing it at The Royal Festival Hall, by chance. It made me go ‘awwwwwww’. I always think of records like friends, and it was like seeing an old friend who I haven’t seen in ages and giving them a giant hi-five and  hug. 

On the tube ride home I listened to some old Bright Eyes songs. It was lovely to revisit some of those songs. Awww.

Everyone is tired of that same old  phrase “you only get one chance to make a first impression”. It is repeated ad nauseum from business schools to beauty pageants and everywhere in between. As much as I would rather say to throw away the stuffy old phrases, parables and sayings, this is one that seems to grow more and more true every day. Especially in the music industry.

Of course it is important to make that strong initial impression, that is first and foremost. Second, having all the music, assisting materials, image, business elements and the presentation of these pieces in place is paramount and required. Third is knowing how to individually and specifically present to the person, company, or agency, and doing it the right way.

This last paragraph represents the gold standard that has been a requirement of the industry for years. The musicians that move forward are those that have all the elements in place. If they don’t, they might want to hold up on their forward motion and get those elements in order.

So why is it more important now?

The main reason the first impression is now more important than ever is because of the internet-based outlets like websites, social networks like Facebook, and online sales systems like CD Baby and iTunes, just to name a few.  Because of all of these resources, a new level of saturation has been reached. Years before every band had a website, a MySpace and other online perks, it was a smaller consolidated market, in which musicians had to work a hundred times harder to find a wider audience. Back then, we had mailing lists that we actually had to mail out. Yes, we spent hours putting stamps on postcards. Now the mailing list is actually an emailing list that can reach tens of thousands, and doesn’t really cost a dime.

The main point is that with the growth of the internet and the growth of the number of bands with such increased presence, combined with the decline of labels and deflation of the conventional music industry, it is definitely more important than ever to give off an impeccable impression. Industry professionals are seeing and being contacted by more musicians and groups than ever before, both amazing musicians and total hacks. The industry is being overwhelmed by “up and coming” artists, and many of these artists are doing more damage for the artists that are more prepared.

If it wasn’t hard enough, add in all those directories, lists and books that you can buy to get the phone, email, website and address contacts to thousands of industry contacts. The amount of music and promotion being sent both physically and digitally to people is at an all time high. Gone are the stories of Johnny Cash staking out the back door of a studio, to tens of thousands of artists mass emailing everyone they can with their music files and information. The staking out still occurs too and has in fact increased, thanks to all the contact lists that print addresses. You can find that “up and coming” artist with 15 cd’s on her waiting outside the building that she cant get in to, ready to hand off her disc In response, many companies now have altered their physical addresses to a post office or Mail Boxes Etc. box, just to avoid this onslaught of people.

Make an actual strong impression

Back to that first impression again. Frankly, it has to be incredible. You as an artist have to present yourself in a top-notch way that makes you stand out, while presenting materials that are also top-notch. The market is over-saturated with truckloads of artists, labels, managers and agents, and the bulk of them are unprofessional, arrogant, and unaware of what is required, as they base their presentation off the MTV dream.  The more unprofessional you appear, the faster you are going to be viewed as just another hack band. Even if the music is of the highest quality, and you have something that truly is marketable and industry-ready, you can easily blow your chances.  If you are the artist walking around with a boombox, thrusting it into peoples’ faces…stop. Whatever you do, you most likely are not going to be heard first. Your first impression is going to be basd on your ancillary materials. That strong first impression will be the critical step to get people to be motivated to listen to your music.

As much as you think everyone is going to listen to your music, many industry professionals will toss promo packages and discs before they listen to them, because the first impression is terrible. It’s not their job to listen, and with so many people sending so much music, there is no time to listen to it all.

Conclusion

So, what can you do to stand out? What can you do to deliver the best package that will make some one want to open it and listen to you in the sea of promo packages, discs and emails they have received in just that day? When you think in the mindset that every person or company you are sending anything to is probably receiving a thousand other packages, emails or discs that look just like yours, then you can step back, organize the right way, and regroup. Think how you can stand out in the crowd and present in a way that is going to bring attention in the best possible light. Think about everything from the cover letter to the envelope you are addressing. Think about your bio, your tagline, the content and information written about the band and the music. Make it right. Make it professional. Make it stand out. Make that first impression so much stronger than the bulk of others, so you can get them to listen to your music and get the second impression you really want them to have.

© 2009 Loren Weisman

Watch out for Loren Weisman’s “Realistic Music Careers 101 Seminar” coming to a city near you and Loren’s book “The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business” coming in 2010.

For more information on Loren, bookings or press inquiries, please contact his publicist and agent, Jenée Arthur at Rellihan Satterlee. Email: jenart@relsat.com Phone: 206-588-1998

From the Christopher Smith’s house show on last Friday.

His EP “Keep Sake” is available here.

-N.

Mark Swan – Lead Vocals & Keyboard

Christian Jaramillo – Bass & Vocals

Justin Cantrell – Guitar & Vocals

Zach Barker – Drums

Nicole Orts – Pocket Trumpet

Tiffany Cronick – Trumpet

Mark Malpezzi – Saxophone

Matt Sanchez – Trombone

November 23rd– w/ The Mad Caddies & The Johnstones @ the Bluebird Theater in Denver, Colorado – $13

December 5th– w/ Big D and the Kids Table & Sonic Boom Six @ the Marquis Theater in Denver, Colorado. Presale tickets available for $12 (no service charges added)! Call Justin at (303)-514-9595