Song We Like: Bad Art by Shred Flintstone

Oh – I could listen to this all day long, my beautiful raw driving garage rock. Hit the chord, spit out your mantra about Bad Art, and then hit four chords really fast. Nothing pleases me more than the simplification of music that forces the band/singer/creator to create these catchy hooks. Bad Art! Bad art! Bad art! Cinnamon likes the spoken word intro and the break 3/4 through the song – and I like the trash. Featured on our #64 podcast at www.hlycrp.com.

Band Management: Blog 31: Bandcamp

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“Band A” is back from a summer hiatus and has four shows and some recording in the next month. That’s what a band manager should do, right? It was nice to be back with the band. For the first three months of band management there’s been a certain caution (maybe annoyance) from the members toward my management style. But that seems to have receded over the break and now they’re all ready to go again. 
In terms of the wider world, I use this blog to ask questions to anyone I want about the music industry – and I want to explore not just the underground music scene but also the underground music media scene. I suspect there are 100s of podcasts covering the underground music scene, 100s of underground zines, comics, mini-online publications that would love to talk about “Band A.” Who else is supporting the underground music scene? – this will become part of the blog in the coming months.
Still, if you want to talk about the underground music scene you have to talk about Bandcamp. The Moby Dick of the underground music scene. The great white whale. At the start of the Holy Crap Records Podcast we were listening to at least 50 bands a week on Bandcamp to find new music. All the bands we played this past week use Bandcamp as their platform. “Band A” was found on Bandcamp by Kafadan Kontak Recordsand by Divide & Conquer Music magazine.
So this week on our “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” video interview section I get to chat with Joseph Edward Keyes, the editorial director, at Bandcamp.com. (We had some challenges technically, so the sound is a little wonky and you may have to turn it up – but this series is totally lo-fi on purpose?) I always wanted to know how Bandcamp works and what I can do to help “Band A” gain a bigger audience… Also, Joseph Edward Keyes is super nice and a totally legitimate music nerd… Thank you… The combination of the collapse of the music industry, of affordability of good recordings, and Bandcamp make the underground music scene possible… 
(Really, this was recorded using FaceTime and my computer recorded it on a really low volume – so I had to turn it up and the sound is not great…)

Band Management: Blog 30: What’s Not Working

I am managing “Band A” of a year – and I have an idea for direct psychic intervention of underground music into the larger world. Boomboxes. I’m gonna carrying one around playing the best of Asheville, Australia, world-wide underground rock-n-roll. Kind of think it would be fun if we all got second-hand boomboxes and walked around everywhere with them. 
Also, in case you didn’t know the Holy Crap Records Podcast name came about because 1) I did some street art stuff in NYC as Holy Crap (a combination of the sacred and the profane), 2) I am super interested in the legacy of all the great indie labels (Clare Duplace), and 3) We started a podcast…
We’ve had bands approach us to see if we want to put out their record – and I’ve told them we’ll know after a year of managing “Band A” if we can actually do anything to help a band. I don’t want to be bullshit – so if “Band A” gets significant publicity and playing at festivals then maybe we can actually be a label. 
Which gets me back to the boombox idea. The only problem with the boombox idea is you need cassette tapes. And then this leads Holy Crap Records Podcast toward releasing a cassette with our favorite underground bands (like BURGER RECORDS and Godless America Records)… Anyway, that’s a future decision, and in the meantime I think I’m going to start making Spotify playlist each month of the bands we played that month.. 
A couple of updates: 
1) What isn’t working: I sent out 30 packages of “Band A’s” CD to 30 publications and radio stations. Crickets. It wasn’t a genius packet like The Space Buggy – but it had a sticker and a pin in it. A couple of months ago I simply emailed 30 college radio stations about “Band A” and had three respond to me. So emailing actually seems to be working better than regular mail. Also, buying FB likes doesn’t work. I spent $5 on FB likes for “Band A” and I got three extra likes. 
2) Drunk Mums w/ Tongues of Fire and Tan Universe at The Grey Eagle. We have an event where the best of the Asheville underground Tongues of Fire is playing with the best of Australian underground Drunk Mums on Aug 1 at The Grey Eagle! 
3) This is the start of an epic month or so – we’re promoting Fleetwood’sand the Fleetwood’s Fest // Saturday line-up on August 10th. In case you didn’t know – Fleetwood’s has done an amazing job of curating and supporting the underground sound of Asheville and touring bands coming through. And we’re promoting the Beer City Metal-Fest that’s happening on September 12-15 at Sly Grog Lounge and 27 Club Asheville. Also The Styrofoam Turtles are headlining the The Orange Peelon August 10th…